Who is your favorite Doctor Who?

[DazzlerFan]

The recent Doctor Who on Disney + thread got me to thinking:

Who is your favorite Doctor Who?

Feel free to put your top Doctor or rank all of the Doctors. It would be interesting to hear why you picked Who you did. (Joke intended)

I never grew up seeing Classic Who. I tried several times to watch New Who, but just couldn’t get into it and didn’t understand it. Recently we randomly came across the Classic Doctor Who channel on Samsung Plus TV. One day I came home from work and saw 15 minutes of an episode of Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor. In that time I saw: a ghost, a plant monster, an old woman with a shotgun, a bag of salt, a laser, and an explosion of an old mansion. I was like “I don’t know what I just saw, but this was amazing!”

So my top three Doctors are:
1) Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker)
2) Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy)
3) First Doctor (William Hartnell)

I waffle on which I like better - Seventh or First.

The Fourth just seems so carefree, yet sincere and genuine.

The Seventh is comical, yet sly.

The First is caring, yet self-centered at times.

I’m no Who expert and I’ve not seen every episode. But I know I enjoy the classic show and I want to watch more. I like the rather low budget effects, the wacky situations, the childlike wonder of the main character, and the sheer escapist adventure of it all.

Oh, and David Tennent from the newer series seems cool too. It’s just that everyone talks so fast, I find it hard to follow and the inter-personal drama seems to overshadow the adventure oftentimes.

What about you? Who do you like?

 

[TazMan2000]

1. David Tennant
2. Peter Capaldi
3. Tom Baker


TazMan2000

 

[Rich D.]

1. Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker)
2. Ninth Doctor (Chris Eccleston)
3. War Doctor (John Hurt)

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

I'm super biased to Dr. Who where I only love the classic series...and by classic, I mean the first four Doctors. They're so distinct from one another and there's genuinely great stories from them. Every Doctor after, and even Season 18 of Baker's era, progressively lost more and more of what made the Doctor as a character and the series distinct. The Doctor became more contrived with the personalities cross-pollinating and the stories felt more skewed (condescendingly) to children, but having said that, there were still some gems in all that crap.

My list goes as such:

1) Tom Baker - There's a reason he's the peak embodiment of the Doctor. He's charming, dashing, charismatic, and so effortlessly likable. Paired with some of the series' best writing, it's no wonder he's still beloved near 50 years on now.

2) Patrick Troughton - Possibly the most influential of all the personifications of the Doctor and the most important in terms of laying the template for future iterations. His silliness, warmth, charm, and ethics all start with the Second Doctor's turn.

3) Jon Pertwee - Pertwee is great as the most stalwart, solid, and physical version of the character. Not only was he capable of solving problems with his mind, but he wasn't afraid to kick butt if he needed to. Often called the "James Bond" of Doctor Who, his interpretation may be the most unique as no other Doctor after him played him as a straight-forward, "action-hero" type.

4) William Hartnell - The guy that started it all, and it was a crotchety old man. All the staples are here but the most unique thing about the Hartnell iteration was his gray morality. Something that is either discarded or leant too heavily into in later versions. He really was an alien amongst humans and often times he'd rather not get involved in situations, or leave characters to die if it meant he'd get away. Hell, his first companions were people he kidnapped to keep his cover from being blown. He softens as his run draws on but this trait of his is only attempted a few times later on and to varying success.

Honorable mention: Peter Capaldi. He's a great actor and there are moments where you get glimpses of just how great he could be given the chance (Heaven Sent) but he, like all of Nu Who, is hampered by consistently poor material.

 

[Axlotl]

Tom Baker. Because he's the Who I grew up watching. I tried watching other classic Whos, way back when, but none of them held my interest.
I always wanted his scarf. My 4th grade teacher knitted one for her son, and she said she'd make me one, but she never did. Then my mom said she'd make me one, but she never did, either.

 

[LeoCor Replicas]

Tie between Paul McGann & Jodie Whittaker. Paul has that charismatic charm about him that really makes it easy to enjoy him as a character almost instantly, which works especially well in his favor considering his short amount of time on-screen (thank goodness for Big Finish!).

Jodie has that almost boundless energy about her at times, as well as being a chronic tinkerer, which I just love. She feels like she would be easy to to hang with, and stop the occasional invasion or two. Her evolution as someone who just wants to explore the universe, to not even knowing the truth about her own past, and struggling with the notion of accepting self-identity or absolute truth was quite intriguing to me.

 

[masterjedi322]

I’ve only ever seen nuWho (i.e. started watching with Eccleston), so my rankings would be:

1. Tennant
2. Eccleston
3. Smith
4. Capaldi
5. Whittaker

I think Peter and Jodie both could have ranked higher, but they were the unfortunate victims of poor writing throughout much of their tenure.

Sean

 

[Cephus]

Tom Baker. For my wife, it's between Baker and Davison. I like Tennant generally, but my list wouldn't include any of the nuWho crap.

 

[AJK001]

I grew up with Tom Baker so it is always going to be him. I was kinda surprised he didn't appear in the latest episode along with the other doctors, unless of course he isn't around anymore and I never heard about it.

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

I grew up with Tom Baker so it is always going to be him. I was kinda surprised he didn't appear in the latest episode along with the other doctors, unless of course he isn't around anymore and I never heard about it.

Here's the quote I found from Chris Chibnall, the outgoing show runner...

According to The Mirror, Tom Baker was “unavailable,” which at age 88 may admittedly be code for “not young.” but departing showrunner Chris Chibnell gave an interesting response for why the later Doctors didn’t show up: “Chibnall said he had not invited back any of the post-reboot Doctors because of what is being planned for next year to mark the show’s 60th anniversary. Chibnall said: ‘I didn’t want to tread on anything that might be happening in future, so those ones felt the right ones.’”

 

[AJK001]

Here's the quote I found from Chris Chibnall, the outgoing show runner...

According to The Mirror, Tom Baker was “unavailable,” which at age 88 may admittedly be code for “not young.” but departing showrunner Chris Chibnell gave an interesting response for why the later Doctors didn’t show up: “Chibnall said he had not invited back any of the post-reboot Doctors because of what is being planned for next year to mark the show’s 60th anniversary. Chibnall said: ‘I didn’t want to tread on anything that might be happening in future, so those ones felt the right ones.’”

Thanks. I don't know how true that is but I thought it was a glaring omission since the rest of the original Doctors still alive were included.

 

[JPH]

Davison.

Baker.

Tennant

 

[Jaitea]

Tom, Jon, David & Patrick

J

 

[cboath]

Troughton
Tennant
Baker

And Tennant/Baker and veritable tie frankly and neither are that far back from Troughton.

And i saw NuWho into Smith before i went back and caught all the originals - in order - including what recreations existed of the missing episodes.

 

[tcsmit29]

Ok, I'll be "that guy". I love Colin Baker, even the coat. No apologies. I started watching in the mid 80's when Peter Davison/C Baker episodes were new at the time. The Caves of Androzani is one of my favorite episodes. I really love all of the classic who doctors. They were all special in their own way. NuWho never felt right to me, although, I admit there was some really good material in those episodes. I stopped watching the show during Matt Smith's tenure.

 

[JPH]

Ok, I'll be "that guy". I love Colin Baker, even the coat. No apologies. I started watching in the mid 80's when Peter Davison/C Baker episodes were new at the time.

Caves RAWKED!

but as for your post, "three 'I's' in one breath/line makes you sound a rather ..."

 

[tcsmit29]

Caves RAWKED!

but as for your post, "three 'I's' in one breath/line makes you sound a rather ..."

Nice use of the quote!

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

... The Caves of Androzani is one of my favorite episodes...

Caves RAWKED!

Caves of Androzani is considered one of the best Dr. Who serials out of the entire series. The fact that it tried to create something as filmic and cinematic for Dr. Who at the time elevated the material. For the longest time, it ranked first in many polls done (if not in the top five). It is also Davison's best effort (though I also love "The Visitation"), which is a shame that it took to his final serial to get to that point.

 

[JPH]

Caves of Androzani is considered one of the best Dr. Who serials out of the entire series. The fact that it tried to create something as filmic and cinematic for Dr. Who at the time elevated the material. For the longest time, it ranked first in many polls done (if not in the top five). It is also Davison's best effort (though I also love "The Visitation"), which is a shame that it took to his final serial to get to that point.

Wow! I was so worried about Davison and he won me over on Castovalva!

I thought, the "bangers n mash," guy from All Creatures, ho boy, the show is doomed. He took the role and made it *HIS*. From his 180 switch in bump of direction, to his awkward interaction with companions, his Doctor was so much more real than previous Doctors. And dont get me wrong, Sarah Jane Smith was one of my faves. Leela and K9 were solid, sorry to Jamie fans.

 

[sbaxter]

Well, I have the caveat of there being a few I've barely seen. The only appearance by Hartnell (other than short clips) I've ever seen was his limited appearance in "The Three Doctors." Troughton I saw in that and his other apperances in later episodes. I've seen most of the episodes from the beginning of the Pertwee era to the end of Davison's run, and a very small number of Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy stories. I saw the Fox TV movie and virtually everything from "Rose" up to near the end of Jodie Whittaker's second season.

Unlike some, I didn't hate the Chibnall/Whittaker era of Doctor Who, but as with apparently quite a few others, my interest and that of my family just … faded away. When my wife and I talked about it, we both seemed to think Whittaker wasn't playing a new incarnation of the Doctor so much as reading lines that seemed to have been written for David Tennant, and that she was trying to play them as if she were Tennant. In contrast, new episodes during the David Tennant and Matt Smith years were eagerly-anticipated family viewing.

I think if I had to rank them, it would be a tiered result, rather than strictly numerical. I'd put Tom Baker and David Tennant on the top in essentially equal footing, with Matt Smith and Jon Pertwee slightly below them. Troughton next (partly due to lack of exposure overall), with Davison below him just a bit, followed by Capaldi. Whittaker comes last, but I don't know if that's her fault, Chibnall's fault, or a combination of the two.

I will say that while I love some of the "classic" Doctors, I generally far prefer the pace of the 2005 and beyond episodes. Some of the older stories seem to be padded more than the world's most obnoxious bean bag chair. Consider the Davison Doctor story "Earthshock" -- in the entire first installment, almost nothing happens. Certainly whatever of consequence that is in that first part could easily have been accomplished in about three minutes of screen time.

SSB