All of the Doctor Who intro’s from start to finish
So what is a Whovian I hear you cry? The answer is simple it’s a fan of Doctor Who! What’s Doctor Who? Well put quite simply it’s a television show (although some would argue it’s real) about an alien timelord who travels through time and space, saving aliens, fighting baddies and what’s more he does it in an English Victorian police phonebox? Why a phonebox isn’t that a bit Bill and Ted=ish or Superman-ish? Well that’s to do with the ships chameleon chip breaking but that’s a story for another day. Oh yeah one more thing, he can’t die! What???? Yes he can’t die, just as our Doctor is about to meet his timely demise BOOM he regenerates into another Doctor, that’s a pretty cool way to outsmart the bad guys eh? Why is he called Doctor Who though? Well that’s easy no one knows his name and as he has a knack for saving the day he’s called quite simply the Doctor. So just to summarise, he’s a timetravelling timelord alien who travels round the universe fighting baddies in a Victorian English police box who can’t die. If you weren’t interested or a Whovian before reading this you gotta admit you’re at least a little bit interested now.
Every Whovian can remember where they were when they first watched Dr Who, who their first Doctor was and so on. My first Doctor was Sylvester MccCoy in the early 90’s. I used to remember being little seeing these crazy looking aliens trying to take over the world and hiding behind the sofa in terror but ultimately they were thwarted by a guy who could only be described as a mad school science teacher and I was hooked. I was quite lucky as I live close to a big regal house called Longleat House and for years it was home to the ‘Doctor Who’ exhibition. This was a collection of props from the tv series that Longleat had acquired as a tourist attraction. One day I went to the exhibition when I was about 5 or 6 and when we got to the tardis console (the interior of the ship) my mum said to me ‘You know Grandad helped build this’. What??? My granddad helped build the tardis? Was he one of the Doctors assistants? Am I an alien timelord too? In reality my granddad was the head electrician at Longleat House and it was his job to get the props repaired and moving but as a young kid I was awestruck at my granddad the Doctor’s assistant! That helped explain where my family’s love for Doctor Who came from and how it was ultimately passed on to myself to pass on and pass on. What do I mean by pass on and pass on? Oh yeah I sould have mentioned this Doctor Who is the longest running sci-fi program of ALL TIME, yes ALL TIME!!! 51 years and still going strong.
Ok now you know what Doctor Who is about and how I got into it I think probably the best way for me to explain Doctor Who to you is to go through each one of the versions of the Doctor and offer my thoughts on them.
1.Wlliam Hartnell
How would I describe William Hartnell as the Doctor? Terrifying, crazy,and an exasperated genius. William Hartnell was the first Doctor and as such he had by far the most creative control and scope to play with. The best way to describe him would be as your great granddad, crazy and fun one moment but terrifying and authorotive the next. You knew there was a line with this Doctor but you didn’t know when you had crossed it but once you had you certainly wouldn’t do it again. I never liked the first two Doctors much growing up but as I’ve got older I’ve come to see the first Doctor for what he was and appreciate it in a different light.
2. Patrick Troughton
How would I describe Patrick Troughton as the Doctor? Well his nickname was ‘The Cosmic Hobo’ for his often scruffy appearance, however I would describe him more like the grumpy elf from Snow White! Often clever but he frequently played the bumbling fool to get his enemies to under estimate him and more often that not it worked. He was one of the first Doctors to have a catchphrase such as ‘When I say Run, Run’ and ‘Oh my giddy aunt’. How would I sum up the second Doctor? Well quite simply he was an enigma wrapped in a cocoon inside a rubix cube. You never knew what kinda Doctor you were going to get and that’s what made it exciting.
3. Jon Pertwee
How would I describe Jon Pertwee as the Doctor? Well quite arguably he wasone of the ones I grew up with and that makes him one of my favourites. He was a kung fu master and had a dashing sense of style. He very nearly didn’t get the role as Ron Moody, yes ‘Fagin’ from Oliver Twist was the first choice but was unavailable. Jon re-invigorated the program with his fast packed action scenes quite simply the best way to describe his run would be like if James Bond met aliens!
4. Tom Baker
How would I describe Tom Baker as the Doctor? He was and forever will be the Doctor like Adam West is Batman (sorry Batfleck fans) Tom Baker will forever and always be the Doctor. He was quickly well known for his trademark outfit, his long flowing rainbow coloured scarf, hat and trench coat This was about as far away from any of the previous Doctors we had seen so far and tbh where you could imagine the previous Doctors as Doctors, Tom was different he reminded you more of that eccentric uncle. What’s more he would often offer his companions jelly babies when they were in moments of dire peril, who wouldn’t want a jelly baby to calm your neveres whilst being chased by a dalek I know I would!
5. Peter Davidson
How would I describe Peter Davidson as the Doctor? Hmm he’s kinda like that character Matthew from Downton Abbey. He was well known for his female companions thinking he was well rather dashing and sporting a cricket jumper that made him seem even more like the upper class incarnation of the Doctor. What’s more he was a radical step in a new direction with this Doctor being the youngest by far yet at only 29.
6. Colin Baker
How would I describe Colin Baker as the Doctor? Well put quite simply he is no relation to Tom Baker and that’s where the similarities stopped. Colin was only the Doctor for 2 years and unfortunately it did not give me enough time to warm up to him. Alas Colin’s run was trimmed down by the then BBC director advising the problem was too violent and demanded the show took an 18 month hiatus. What was the most memorable thing Colins run other than the lack thereof it? It had to be his pre-Justin Timberlake era noodle hair and his technicolour dreamcoat that only rivalled Jason’s. A note aside I have met Colin Baker the most out of all the Doctors and he is by far with the exception of Tom Baker the nicest and most passionate Whovian Doctor.
7. Slyvester McCoy
How would I describe Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor? Well he was my first, the Doctor that popped my Doctor Who cherry. I have to admit when I was first watching Doctor Who I was more drawn to the monsters rather than the Doctor. Sylvester McCoy was more known as being a comedy actor rather than a serious actor and that’s how he portrayed the role, injecting the humour element that had been missing since Tom Baker. However as the series progressed he moved further and further away from this comedy element and more into a sinister and manipulative Doctor using people for his own gains and goals. Again he was a victim of circumstance like the previous Doctor Colin Baker and unfortunately due to internal politics at the BBC his run was ultimately cut short just as he was discovering himself within the role.
8. Paul McGann
How would I describe Paul McGann as the Doctor? Well this is a hard one it had been several years since Doctor Who was last on our screen and BBC decided they wanted to reboot it and reboot it in style. Unfortunately for Paul this was in the form of a Hollywood style made for tv movie. With Fox and Universal studios contributing toward the film, it was Doctor Who but Doctor Who on a big budget. Gone were the tacky homemade monsters made of loo roll tubes and bubble wrapped replaced by CGI but alas it did not work and Doctor Who was shelved AGAIN! As for Paul McGann? He played the role to the best of his abilities however his clothing attire was terrible he looked like a cross between Beethoven, Mozart and something from ‘Interview With The Vampire’. As for his personality it just did not stand a chance due to the politics behind the scenes.
8.B John Hurt
Why have I put 8B for the role of John Hurt? Well to explain this you’ll have to read on that’s all I can say for now.
9. Christopher Eccleston
How would I describe Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor? He was a conundrum he looked like your dad who had just split from your mum and was having a midlife crisis, he sported a leather jacket, clean shaven look and was very serious with a dry witted sense of humour. This was an attempt at rebooting Doctor Who again as we had not seen the show for 9 years due to BBC waiting that long to pick up the contractual rights to produce it again from Fox. He was often very serious and very scary but he had a humourus side. Imagine Jack Dee as Doctor Who and you would get Christophers version of the Doctor.
10. David Tennant
How would I describe David Tennant as the Doctor? Well he was my favourite since Tom Baker. I initially had my doubts as he was an actor who was most famous role to date was as ‘Casanova’. He was also another young Doctor. But why did I like him so much? The answer was simple he was the Doctor who was most like myself, quirky, eccentric, caring and charismatic. He was a runaway success the ladies loved his good looks, the guys like his character. For me other than Tom Baker, David Tennant is THE Doctor. What’s more he got into acting to play the Doctor for that he earned many Whovian title as the best of the best because he was one of us.
11. Matt Smith
How would I describe Matt Smith as the Doctor? Well to be honest I was unhappy with his casting for a variety of reasons he was 26 years old when he got the part, I’m sorry but Doctor Who should not be younger than me. Also the other reason was I was unhappy was due to the actors who got turned down for the role who could have been far better, imagine any one of the following actors as Doctor Who (Paterson Joseph, David Morrissey, Sean Pertwee, James Nesbitt, Russell Tovey Robert Carlyle). So you can now understand that when he was cast like many other Whovians I was left thinking Doctor Who???? Matt was an ok Doctor I argued that he was only cast to save money and reintroduce Doctor Who to a younger audience and it worked however it did kinda alienate myself a bit.
12. Peter Capaldi
How would I describe Peter Capaldi as the Doctor? Well I was happy he was a Whovian like us he had been in previous episodes of Doctor Who and Torchwood and he brought back what we needed, age. True when Peter’s promotional photo’s came out he looked like a magician with a suit and cape but he was more like the Doctors of old. Think a mix of Patrick Troughton, Tom Baker and Christopher Eccleston and you got Peter’s version of the Doctor.
NOW FOR JOHN HURT!
I bet you thought I forgot about John hadn’t you? Well no I hadn’t the reason why is because he technically didn’t have a run as the Doctor. It was a well-known story that between Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston there was a mysterious Doctor. One that was filled with pain and misery and tasked with having to make a difficult choice. Enter John Hurt, to be honest John Hurt is one of my favourite actors and I was psyched at the prospect of him being the Doctor but alas it was a one-time deal to bridge the gaps between Paul and Chris. As for his character he would best be described as a broken man, a man who had to make a choice to destroy his home planet and race of people to save the universe.
There we go that’s the Doctors all of them from start to finish, I know I’ve left some of the ones out who had played various incarnations of the Doctors in one time episodes or spin offs or spoofs or tv movies ala Count Who (Peter Cushing). I hope after reading this if you weren’t a Whovian before you will at least give it a try now and open your mind to one of the longest running and successful science fiction shows of all time.
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