h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Tom Baker was cast as the Doctor in the month that I was born. I started junior school the year he left. He was the only Doctor I knew for such a long time that he'll always embody the character to me.

It occurred to me recently that Tom Baker had the same effect on Doctor Who that Margaret Thatcher had on the Tory party. He took the series to heights of popularity and success it had never scaled before, but became so integral to it that all of his successors never seemed able to escape from his shadow.

Well, just a thought...

Tom Baker was the first Doctor I ever saw as a teenager. For a long time I thought he was the best.

Just five years or so ago I discovered the three that came before him and have been hooked. Now, my favorites are the first three in no particular order. An Unearthly Child is still as fascinating to me as it was the first time I ever saw it.

I think Patrick Troughton was the best actor among the Doctors. His Doctor is probably my favorite if I *had* to choose. I love the 3rd Doc and UNIT.

Troughton was a stunningly good actor. I much prefer him to Pertwee, I'm afraid, the Pertwee doctor is downright unlikable in many stories. UNIT had their moments though.

It seems to me that Patrick Troughton had the hardest job at being the doctor, as he was the first person to take over someone else as the doctor. I think that his performances were brilliant and he made a brilliant job at personalising the part.

However, my favourite doctor must be Sylvestor McCoy. He played more of a mysterious doctor who used his knowledge to defeat his enemies. However, it is strange to think that in episodes against the doctors worst enemies, like the daleks and the cybermen, he had a relatively easy time at defeating them.

However, I must agree that Tom Baker's time as the doctor was brilliant. He lasted for 7 years and did more episodes than anybody. What I think made him so special was his character. In each episode tom baker would show a different part to the doctor's character.

I actually enjoyed Jon Pertwee and I think that he suited working with UNITalmost all of the time. However, I don't think that the storylines were very good. The first two seasons with Jon Pertwee were great but after that they'd really run out of good episodes that could happen in earth.

Spook

Pertwee's first year was great but no way could they have gone like that, it just wasn't feasible. His second year is probably my least favourite as the Doctor is a pain in the neck and there's too much of the Master. Season ten is probably Pertwee's best in terms of the stories being any good and actually resembling 'normal' Doctor Who.

Although Pertwee was the first Doctor I remember watching, I grew up with Tom Baker as The Doctor. I'm also an unashamed fan of Peter Davidson (especially stories like "Black Orchid") and the second season of McCoy, where the Doctor went back to being alien and enigmatic instead of clownlike.

And yeah, Troughton was a great actor. The 2nd Doctor is often under-rated, I think.

Tom Baker was the one I remember most, but I liked Peter Davidson too.
Mind you, that might have been his looks! I was an impressionable young girl at the time.
I also used to like watching John Pertwee when they showed repeats though.

Wahay, the perfect place
I have to plump for McCoy when it comes to favourite, as I love things like Ghost Light, or The Happiness Patrol where he takes charge and thinks/talks his enemies to their end. None of that "Reversing the polarity" gubbins.
That said, there are high points to them all, An Unearthly Child, The Mind Robber, Inferno, City of Death, Caves of Androzani, Vengence on Varos, to pick one each. I distinctly remember seeing repeats of An Unearthly Child in the early eighties and being scared stupid by William Hartnell. Him and Daleks really scared me as a boy.

Ghost Light's okay, I just wish they'd hurry up and make the fourth episode (the one that explains everything).

Favourite stories by Doctor? Er - okay. The Aztecs for Hartnell, The Krotons for Troughton (controversial choice I know), Inferno for Pertwee, Pyramids of Mars for Baker 1 (tough choice where he's concerned), Black Orchid for Davison (best of an indifferent bunch), Ultimate Foe for Baker 2 (best of a rather bad bunch), and... oh dear... Happiness Patrol for McCoy (ask me again tomorrow and I'll say Delta, or Paradise Towers, or Fenric, or Survival, the quality of most of his stories was so consistent).

My favourite Doctor was Jon Pertwee.
I watched the series as they were screened the first time and hid behind the couch when the Daleks were on.

I also liked Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker was the most realistic Doctor Who for me, I guess I had a crush on Jon Pertwee

My favourite "companion" was Jamie {in his kilt of course}
Frazer Hines

Not many people mention the "film" Doctor, Peter Cushing with Bernard Cribbins "Day of the Daleks" I think it was called. I enjoyed that.

My favourite episode?
The one with all the Doctors in....least favourites when the Doctor "died" and changed into a new actor.
It was like losing a friend.

Regeneration stories were so cool!

The 10th Planet has hardly any Hartnell in it; he's in failing health and it's clear that he's no longer as good as he was...
but he does pull out a lot of stops for the show and it's still an eerie moment when he collapses and "dies".

War Games was waaaaay too long, but I love Pat Troughton's prevarication at the end of the story before the dastardly Time Lords force him to regenerate.

I plain don't remember the Pertwee story's name, but the Spiders of Metabilis 3 scared the bejesus out of me. This was the first regeneration story I ever saw and one of my earliest memories, so it's got a special place in my heart.

Logopolis was a tear jerker, wasn't it? Watching Tom Baker "plummet" to his death was very evocative and the sequence where he actually changes form was great.
I miss Tom Baker's Doctor

Doctor 5's finale was also rather good, and very in keeping with his character. I rate PD rather highly as The Doctor, even though he doesn't, and I enjoyed nearly all of his stories. I was sad to see him go too.

Colin Baker's regeneration sequence was a bit of a let down and has led to more godawful fan-fiction than is strictly necessary (and some very, very good fan fiction too, I hasten to add) as people try to fill in the blanks.

Sylvester McCoy's departure was cut down rather but...rubber faced gurning aside I liked it too. We aren't likely to see the departure of McGann, which is a disappointment too.

Planet of the Spiders with Pertwee turning into Baker I in front of the Brigadier and some funny Tibetan Time Lord Chappie. The invisible spiders on the back thing was rather disturbing. But then it does have a ten minute chase sequence for no good reason. Hey ho. I must admit to liking the mystic side of regeneration as seen in Planet of the Spiders and Logopolis (Tom getting to meet his future self!) but my favourite will always be Caves of Androzani and Peter Davison just being so darn noble and heroic and dieing in the attempt. Oh, and its on UK Gold this Saturday.

In their own way I've loved 'em all.
I grew up with Pertwee (and was too scared too watch many of the stories), loved Baker (I must have done as I was watching him on an awful b&w portable as my brother was watching Space:1999 on the colour set), enjoyed Davidson as a student(and I still think he had many of the best scripts-Earthfall is stunningly well written, for example), tolerated Colin Baker, (speaking as a dirty old man, Peri was always worth watching..) and was old enough to know McCoy was having a ball doing it which made it fun.(Despite the weakness of many of the scripts.IMHO.)
I discovered Troughton and Hartnell later in life, and enjoyed them both.
A favourite? Troughton with a side order of Davidson, at a push, but I have loved them all in their different ways. When the BBC pulled the plug on McCoy, I was devastated. I couldn't remember a time when I hadn't been able to watch Dr Who, and part of my life was taken away. (I was born in '65, btw)
On a brighter note, a madman (in the nicest possible way) I know owns two daleks . They were last seen in one of the local boozers helping raise money for Children in Need, last year. My mate Spikey got to drive one, but I am alas, far too big to fit in a dalek.

Call the fan police! Someone's being nice about Earthshock (I think)!

The bod wants to drive a Dalek though so he can't be bad . Speaking as someone who has (I AM that sad ) it is a moment to be treasured. Oh, but NEVER try waltzing in one, it kills you

All I can say is that I can introduce you to a sizeable number of people who will happily vote for "Earthshock" as the best Who ever...And it certainly beats the **** out of any of the scripts Colin baker or Sylvester McCoy had to work with...IMHO

2 Daleks! Imagine the fun I could have at Cubs letting two at a time take turns {they would all fit into a Dalek} My sympathies, BluesShark, that you are too big to climb inside a Dalek - no doubt height/age has other advantages ;-) Did anyone read the "Tardis" thread at Camelot?http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F68913?thread=117005&latest=1 And I must let my Keeper of Rubbish Episodes of Doctor Who know about this place ;-)

Well, at the risk of being lynched, I'd suggest that a Keeper of Rubbish Dr Who episodes would have a pretty busy time!

True, true. I think you'll find the true fan understands that a large proportion of the show wasn't that good. But it still looks better than most of Blake's Seven, and I like that too.

Well, to be honest, anything would look better than Blake's 7 .
I seem to remember that it was a well kept secret at the time but in a line-up that consisted of such televisual gems as Nationwide and Panorama, Blake's 7 was the cheapest programme on a Monday night for the BBC to make.