Classic Who that I’ve seen - Tom Baker, hands down. I’ve never seen Docs 1, 2, 6 or 7. What’s not to love about T. Baker’s decidedly off-center portrayal of our favorite time-traveling alien? He played the otherworldly quality about the doctor to perfection.
NuWho fave is still Eccleston for me, despite his asshat attitude about the show, post-appearance. It’s his loss.
Otherwise, he was riveting to me, showing a deeply-nuanced portrayal of a man caught between hell and… well… hell, and unlikely - in his view - to ever find heaven. With the exception of Tennant’s (#2 fave) equally-absorbing performance, Eccleston’s doctor pulled me in and made me care. He and Tennant both made me cry, damn them both.
Smith? Eh. Nothing there, nothing to care about.
As a DW newb, I’m unqualified. I first saw an episode or two back around '83, as a housemate watched it. I found the episodes confusing and not pleasantly odd, while my housemate (eclectic blues/funk bass player, librarian, cosmetologist, equally comfortable among homeless winos or college profs) grumbled about how the last Dr was so much better than this guy strutting around looking like a preppie. It didn’t “catch” for me.
FF 30 years, watched an episode with Matt Smith while my son was watching. Confusing but interesting, so while my wife (who oddly shows no interest in DW despite the fact that it’s right up her alley) was out of town, I watched the whole season on demand. A bit out of order, since the episodes were inconsistently titled. Odder still, the first half (which I watched second) made more sense, out of order.
But here’s my opinion: Matt Smith is great. I particularly enjoyed the scene where he recites all the amazing experiences he’s had, as he tries to overload the memory-sucking monster/planet/whatever, only to be outdone by a mere leaf. Appropriately over-acted, as are most of his best scenes. I’m looking forward to catching the rest of his (earlier) episodes plus Tennant’s and perhaps others. I may just watch them all in reverse order. It’ll be a bit like watching Memento for the first time.
The one Doctor nobody’s mentioned yet is John Hurt. Granted, he’s only had a couple of minutes of airtime as the Doctor in last season’s finale, but…
#1 William Hartnell: Like him as a character, but he and the show never found their narrative legs, it seems like clunky community theater.
#2 Patrick Troughton: I’ve only seen a couple of episodes, but love his buffoonish Columbo take and want to explore more.
#3 John Pertwee: The start of the decent story line and companion era, I gobble up this whole kung-fu steampunk style.
#4 Tom Baker: My first doctor, and the first to show a more convincing emotional connection with his companions. My old-era favorite.
#5 Peter Davison: Some good episodes and companions, but wow was he dull. I cared more about watching the scenes where he wasn’t present.
#6 Colin Baker: Only seen bits and clips, but he hasn’t grabbed me to explore any further.
#7 Sylvester McCoy: Only seen bits and clips, but he hasn’t grabbed me to explore any further.
#8 Paul McGann: Haven’t seen, and haven’t been convinced that it is worth anything beyond fan completionism.
#9 Christopher Eccleston: The best of the modern era, for all reasons others love him
#10 David Tennant: Hit and miss for me, the most confident rock-star of the doctors, but his angry-side isn’t as convincing. My favorite individual episodes are all within his era.
#11 Matt Smith: A bit too much buffoonery and accidental stumbling into plot resolutions, not enough (any?) confidence. I like my doctor as a god with human foibles, not a human with godly ones.
New fan here (within the last year) and I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, but here goes…
- I’ve only seen the first two of his serials, but I’m surprised by how much I like him. His cantankerousness is charming in a way. The episodes themselves are slow slogs, though.
- Haven’t seen any yet. What I’ve seen from the Doctor’s Revisited special doesn’t appeal to me.
- Haven’t seen any yet. What I’ve seen from the Doctor’s Revisited special doesn’t appeal to me. The whole “trapped on Earth” business seems to take away a lot of what makes the show interesting.
- Saw a few eps as a kid and they didn’t grab me, but I think I’d like him now.
- I’ve only seen Earthshock from him. OK, I suppose. I was hoping to like him, since Time Crash led me to understand that 10 drew a lot from him. But he while he was OK, he was no 10.
- I’ve only seen Vengeance on Varos from him. Not as bad as I’ve heard people say. I thought his jerkishness was a nice throwback to early Hartnell. And Peri was indeed easy on the eyes.
- Haven’t seen any of his yet, but looking forward to it from how the Doctors Revisited special described him.
- Saw it when it first aired. Have little memory of him.
- Did not love him. He seemed like some random guy playing the Doctor. Never seemed to really inhabit the role. But he had some great moments and great episodes.
- He is MY doctor, and probably always will be. Perfection. I love his… I won’t say “humanity” since that would be an insult to a Timelord, but he more than any other I’ve seen seems to be a real person. He has wonderfully complex emotion, usually hidden and closed off, but you always feel there’s a reason for that too. He seems like the natural evolution of what this being would be after all this time traveling the universe. You feel like he knows all the answers but sometimes has to dig them out of a too-full brain. Also, he seemed to truly care for his companions, and sentient lifeforms in general, in a way I haven’t seen from many of the other doctors. And of course, excellent, excellent scripts helped.
- eh… I like him I suppose, but I always feel like Smith is trying too hard. And the scripts have meandered so much of late, it’s hard to love his seasons. And I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: he treats his companions like pets, not people. (Though I do like Amy and Rory in the end, once she got over her infatuation with the Doctor.) He has his moments, but I’m not going to miss him much, I think.
- Looking forward to it. Loved him on Torchwood, but haven’t seen him elsewhere. Can’t wait to see how he makes the role his own.
I suppose adding ratings for Rowan Atkinson, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, and Joanna Lumly is right out? Too bad, because I love “Curse of Fatal Death” and they were all wonderful Doctors in the limited time they had.
But the various Doctors are so tied to the skill of the scriptwriters it is hard to judge. Some of them clearly got short shrift - Peter Davison particularly drew the short straw, getting some of the worst scripts and annoying companions on top of having to follow Tom Baker. Paul McGann is a wonderful actor in a terrible movie.
Tennant and Smith I like better than many of their scripts. Two rounds of the Doctor as heartthrob superhero was a bit much, but both shone in certain episodes. I like Eccleston’s portrayal as the Doctor the best. Complicated, moody, erratic, lonely, and managing to be the only Doctor so far who was completely alien without dressing in funny clothing.
I’m a nu-Whoer, so I can’t speak to the early stuff. For right now, Tennant wears the crown. It’s a tight race between him and Smith, but he takes it by a hair, simply because Smith has, IMO, been saddled with perhaps the worst serieses since the reboot. I’ll just leave it at that, and not go off on a ramble about how Moffat has disappointed me.
Eccleston… he was my first Doctor. Right now, he’s eclipsed by Tennant, but I’ve not seen any of his stuff since the first time I watched it. I’ve got plans to rewatch with a friend in the coming weeks; given the perspective of many years of Whovianism and some of the comments in this thread, I wonder if the champ might have to lace up his gloves and defend his title…
This thread hardly needs another voice saying Tom Baker was the best Doctor, but damnit, he was the best Doctor!
I love Tennant’s portrayal, but the god-like powers that his version was given just made the show a little too safe.
What I loved about watching the show as a kid was how it scared me to death.
And the episodes with Tom Baker contained some real high octane nightmare fuel. (At least for a six-year-old.)
Part of this was his often dark, sometimes creepy performance, but a lot of it was the genuine danger that he faced in each adventure.
Yes, he was also funny and charming and eccentric, but this always complimented the spookiness of the show. Often the dangers he faced were due to his own boyish curiosity.
His was a character that seemed compelled by nature to stand at the center of danger and chaos.
He was a troublemaker, an outcast, an antiauthoritarian, and a philosopher.
A jester, but not a clown.
Very interesting - thanks, everyone. Where would you place the various Doctors along the British social spectrum, from aristo to pleb?
Here is my post from awhile back that included a poll.
The Doctors got ranked, from best to worst.
- David Tenant
- Tom Baker
- Matt Smith
- Christopher Eccletson
- John Pertwee
- Peter Davison
- William Hartnell and Sylvester McCoy
And a few more, like no votes for Paul Mcgann.
I read a blog post where someone went through all the regenerations and explained how the Doctors were connected. For example: Nine wanted to be someone cooler for Rose, while Ten wanted to be someone more detached after Donna… or something.
Quite intriguing - thanks!
Another question: Were any of the previous actors who played Doctors pushed out by the studio, or did they all leave when they wanted to, or when they had to due to age or health?
Colin Baker was fired at the insistence of BBC management. The ratings were at an all time low, and they used him as a scapegoat. Personally, I blame the scripts and managerial meddling for the ratings.
Another that almost fits is Davison. Troughton convinced him to leave after doing the show for three years, as Troughton had previously done due to his own fears of typecasting. Davison later changed his mind, but the die (and the role) had already been cast, so he wasn’t brought back.