Favorite Doctor from Doctor Who

Umbran · Sep 6, 2012

I've not watched any of the Matt Smith episodes yet, but otherwise, well, I've watched a lot of Who...

Tom Baker is probably my favorite, but I recognize that there may be some rose-coloring of nostalgia on that.

David Tennant is probably otherwise my favorite to watch. The others are all still good, honestly, and I probably couldn't rank them flat out - like ranking pizza toppings, it would depend on my mood at the time.

ggroy · Sep 6, 2012

Umbran said:
Tom Baker is probably my favorite, but I recognize that there may be some rose-coloring of nostalgia on that.

Same here. Use to watch the Baker episodes when I was a kid and pre-teen.

I haven't really watched the other ones much, other than watching random episodes whenever I was bored channel surfing. (Not enough to have an impression).

Mercutio01 · Sep 6, 2012

Having watched quite a few of the older series via Netflix, and every episode since the Eccleston reboot, it's still hard to rank them in any kind of real order. That said I prefer the newer Doctors to most of the older ones (Tom Baker being the one real exception), but I'm not entirely sure I can lay that on the actor as much as I can on writing and production values. Of the newer Doctors, Matt Smith is my least favorite.

I suppose if I had to pick my top 5 in order:
1. Chris Eccleston
2. Tom Baker
3. David Tennant
4. Peter Davison
5. Matt Smith

And depending on my mood at the time, I might rank Smith lower and move Patrick Troughton or Jon Pertwee up.

I first watched (circa 1990, not long after my family moved back to NJ from VA) old Tom Baker Doctor Who reruns from a UHF PBS station on a black-and-white tv.

horacethegrey · Sep 6, 2012

Umbran said:
I've not watched any of the Matt Smith episodes yet, but otherwise, well, I've watched a lot of Who...

I'm surprised. It's been nearly three years now since Matt took over, and you haven't watched any of his episodes yet? Bizarre.

Umbran said:
Tom Baker is probably my favorite, but I recognize that there may be some rose-coloring of nostalgia on that.

I've never watched any of Tom Baker's episodes as a child, so there's no nostalgia filter for me. Watching them as an adult, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that many of the Fourth Doctor's serials are brilliant. Easily some of the best in the show's history, and can even give the new series eps a run for the money. A number of my favorite stories are in this era, including The Ark in Space, The Talons of Weng Chiang, The Face of Evil, The Deadly Assassin, The Sunmakers, The Pirate Planet, and my all time favorite Doctor Who story, City of Death.

billd91 · Sep 6, 2012

Tough question.

I find it hard to compare across the hiatus. The newer series have production values that are so much higher than the old ones and television production technologies have improved so much that the contexts in which they are working are so different. That does affect the impression you get from watching. I almost feel that the older series can't get a fair review from anyone who started with the newer series.

Umbran · Sep 6, 2012

horacethegrey said:
I'm surprised. It's been nearly three years now since Matt took over, and you haven't watched any of his episodes yet? Bizarre.

Not really. I'm not big on sitting and watching TV by myself, and as I noted above, my wife feels little desire to watch. Earlier this year, I started carving out occasional times when my wife wasn't around to get caught up, but I'm still back in the Tennant span.

Janx · Sep 6, 2012

Umbran said:
Not really. I'm not big on sitting and watching TV by myself, and as I noted above, my wife feels little desire to watch. Earlier this year, I started carving out occasional times when my wife wasn't around to get caught up, but I'm still back in the Tennant span.

This probably won't work for everyone, but I found that my wife was a big ninny about such things. She didn't care for Star Trek, Babylon5, Iron Maiden, etc.

So I ignored that and watched it anyway. Before long, she's paying attention to the show, and then talking about it, and liking it and seeking such things out.

Some people just don't know what's good for them. While I wouldn't recommend forcefully forcing them, putting it in front of them by nature of "I'm doing this, you are welcome to remain in my presence" may win them over. Or not. Don't actually say it that way. That would be stupid.

lin_fusan · Sep 6, 2012

Love them all, except maybe for the Colin Baker era, but I have no ill feelings to Colin Baker himself due to all the background information about that era.

I pretty much don't have the reaction that other people have when a new Doctor comes about. Some people get upset, but I see it as a sad but exciting change and potential for new storytelling.

Thunderfoot · Sep 7, 2012

1) Tom Baker - enough said.... Still the best of the best
2) John Pertwee - Classic man about town, loved his "Airs" that he brought to the Whoniverse....
3) Matt Smith - nearly as nuts as T. Baker... Which is a good thing.
4) Patrick Troughton - Yes, bad writing and all, I liked the eclecticism of it all.

After that, I hated all of them, yes including Tennant and Eccleston, I'm glad they were part of the revival, I applaud what they did FOR the Whoniverse, wish their stays had been shorter.... And for what it's worth, I like David Tennant in just about everything else I've seen him in. Peter Davidson was passible, but the writing just made him look frumpy and dumb by comparison, he really tried, I'll give him that.

Orius · Sep 7, 2012

I've seen very little Who, so I can't really comment. The local PBS station had played reruns every so often, but not on a terribly regular schedule. I think I might have seen some episodes when I was a kid, and I remember watching some episodes about 15 years ago or so, but that's about it. There was also some TV movie that aired on FOX or something in the late 90s that wasn't too bad I thought, but I understand it was a flop or something. Besides that movie, I'm pretty sure the rest of the Who I saw was solid Baker, so pretty much whenever I read or hear about the show, I'm picturing his Doctor.