Who's The Best Doctor?

[woodwardiocom]

Among the classic seven Doctors, it's certainly possible for any one of them to be your favorite. But if it's not Tom Baker, I won't pretend to understand your choice...

Comments

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

There are other Doctors besides Tom Baker...?

[taura-g.livejournal.com]

Since I've only seen a very limited number of episodes for 1-3, 6 and 7, I'm really not sure I could venture an honest opinion.

I do have a very slight preference for Peter Davidson over Tom Baker, but only because he was my first Doctor.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

I'm also fond of Davison, but he suffers from his companions being an awfully whiny bunch.

(Of course, Baker had Sarah Jane, K-9, Leela, and Romana, and that's a very tough act to follow!)

[drwex]

All that, and more.

I was fortunate that my first viewing of Dr Who was Tom Baker/Sarah Jane and so that's who I've measured every Doctor and companion against ever since. Leela was better (imo) in part because I have a thing for companions that kick ass.

[beowabbit]

Wait, so in the Doctor Who world, the Doctor can only be male, but the Companion can equally well be a human female... or a little robotic dog?

(I hadn’t realized that K-9 was supposed to be a Companion.)

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

The Doctor has had at least two robot companions (K-9 MkII might count as a separate companion, and Rory might count as a robot), a couple aliens, and maybe a dozen male companions.

[minkrose]

Given the other comments so far, I think my icon is highly relevant to how the Favorite Doctor decision is made.


Technically, my first viewing was the first ever episode, followed by Eccelston. Later, I saw most of the others while Andy watched through most of them... I'd still say Tennant is my favorite actor, but I'm not sure any of the actual doctor characters are my favorite. I enjoy Doctor Who, but it scares me on a pretty regular basis, and we only watched a few episodes of Matt Smith before giving up. I think Eccelston and Tennant are the only doctors for whom I've actually seen all their episodes (I never even finished Torchwood, and I LOOOOVE Jack).

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

So you are stuck on Chaotic Good, are you? (http://dragonfett.deviantart.com/art/Dr-Who-Alignment-Chart-328375118)

I happen to vote for Patrick Troughton - maybe some day all the lost episode and full stories will surface (damn you BBC) - he was nominally the 1st one I saw, in the same way I saw the moon landing - way too young to recall anything I think.

I do recall watching eps with him during the early 70s PBS funding drives... although the first 'live' I saw was the 3rd doctor, and was the first really really strong memory of Doctor Who.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I actually have only a vague interest in watching the old DW. I'd like to see a few key episodes that will provide good background, but don't really want to watch them all. Also, I hate to say it, but the more I hear about Tom Baker, the less interested I am in him! (I should note that this is not because people make him sound uninteresting, but because I am pigheaded and mulish and other animal-related terms for "stubborn as all get-out.") I also was not keen on Tennant, the other big fan favorite. I mean, he grew on me as time went on, but only from "he's kind of obnoxious and I don't like him much" to "he's OK."

Then again, I also expected to hate Matt Smith, but have been surprised by the fact that I REALLY like him. I actually like him as much as Eccleston (my first Doctor), though I find Eccleston more attractive. Smith got more time to develop the role than Eccleston did, and he did an excellent job of it.

OTOH, I am also someone who seems to be at odds with other people in my opinions of the various companions in the new Who. I thought Donna Noble was obnoxious, for example, and was really glad when she buggered off. Amy was better. Rory was amazing. Martha was boring. Rose was not my kind of person, but surprisingly authentic and unpretentious. Jack was, well, Jack. Not liking Jack would be like not liking kittens.

[futurenurselady.livejournal.com]

Tom Baker, for sure! I even made a crochet version of his scarf for hubby a few years back.

[crazybone.livejournal.com]

Yes. Baker was my first and my favorite but Eccleston is a really close second.

[phil-masters.livejournal.com]

"First doctor seen" is always going to be an important factor. Which is why I'm always going to be biased in favour of Pertwee - who did have a good balance of the dandy and the scientist, the genius and the mortal, and the pacifist and the action man.

Tom Baker was good in many ways, and benefits from having the two best stories ever* come past on his watch, but he can be a bit of a ripe old ham sometimes.

*Sorry, did anyone have to ask? Talons... and Pyramids... of course.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

"Talons" has an awful lot going for it, including an almost Lovecraftian sense of minor events leading into deep time, future genocide, and the face of the cosmos, but I'd have to say that it suffers from its racism, and having been a bit too padded to make up six episodes.

"Pyramids" is excellent all-'round.

[phil-masters.livejournal.com]

I understand why people say that Talons... suffers from racism, but I could just never see it that way. The "Chinese" characters didn't seem to have anything to do with any Chinese people I met in the real world; they were a bunch of literary archetypes (okay, stereotypes) who lived and belonged in the world where that story was set. And even treating them seriously ... they were mostly a bunch of organised crime goons (as racist in that as a bunch of Italian-American Mafia thugs in The Sopranos or The Godfather), plus one misguided and amoral wannabe who was prepared to pander to European stereotypes to achieve his goals. And the chief villain and his robot enforcer weren't contemporary Chinese at all, really ; he was purely playing to the stereotypes for his own purposes.

As to the length - all I know is that it didn't feel padded at the time, it felt a bit epic. And having grown up with mostly 4-6 episode stories, that's how I feel these things should be told; developed, maybe a little leisurely, with multiple proper week-long cliffhangers. 21st century Who just feels rushed and glib to me.

(Though God knows The Day of the Doctor dragged a bit, with a lot of longueurs. It was a half-decent 50-minute story crammed into 75 minutes.)

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

You are not including Eight as a classic Doctor?

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

He's a special case. Also, if he's your favorite, I gotta assume you listen to a lot of audio dramas, cause the movie wasn't that great.

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

He's not, and I haven't.
(Remember, I dated rikibeth, and she watched a lot of Horatio Hornblower, hence the Matt McGann fandom.)
"Night of the Doctor", however, was great.

As for the classic Doctor, I don't have a favorite since I can relate to all of them, except that I hated #6 (though Number Six from BSG is a different story).