Who's your favourite incarnation of the Doctor? (New poll)

Mr Rhode Island Red · 06-11-2014 5:46pm #1

Looking back through this forum it seems like it has been at least 3 years since a poll like this was done, so with Smith finishing his tenure and Capaldi nearly seeing out his first series, I thought it would be aptly timed.

So, users of this forum, who's YOUR Doctor?

(I'm leaving out minor "Doctors" eg. 10's Meta-crisis/DoctorDonna not included etc., although I'll include the War Doctor just to be chronologically correct)

*I've allowed multiple choice in the poll because I know that this kind of decision could be just too close to call for some people.

Wibbs · 06-11-2014 6:58pm

Eccleston and Baker for me.

Barney92 · 06-11-2014 7:03pm

I've only really seen that last 4, and up until this season I didn't think anyone would take the crown from Tennant but I've very much enjoyed Capaldi's doctor. He's been able to deliver both light-hearted and serious performances quite well I think.

Angron · 06-11-2014 7:03pm

Tenth, easily. He was the first Doctor I really saw (The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit), so Tennant's face is the first one I think of when I think of the Doctor. I enjoyed his energy, he had lots of good stories, and I loved when he was back for the 50th.

Frank Lee Midere · 06-11-2014 7:12pm

I started watching with tenant. Went back to Ecclestowne. My choice is Smith. I can watch him again but not very many of Tenant. Capaldi might get in there.

coffee_cake · 06-11-2014 7:33pm

Tennant or Smith. I started watching with Eccleston and he was good too. I also quite like capaldi.
Seen some of the earlier ones and likedem

Mr Rhode Island Red · 06-11-2014 8:30pm

Pertwee and Capaldi for myself

Ginny · 06-11-2014 9:30pm

Both Bakers and Smith, Smith really surprised me as the Dr. Didn't expect much from him at all when he was announced.

Mr Bloat · 07-11-2014 2:27am

Davidson was on when I started watching so I'll always have a soft spot for him but Tom Baker would be my fave, followed by Tennant although I have a feeling that if you polled again in a year or so, I'd be putting Capaldi very high on the list.

pixelburp · 07-11-2014 2:38pm

I was needlessly critical of Matt Smith when he was announced, yet in short order he showed a charm, wit and energy that won me over; heck he's arguably one of the more beloved incarnations of the role, up there with Tom Baker; and like Baker he seemed happy and willing to inhabit the role both in-front of and away from the cameras (such as at the Proms etc.) - Smith's spoken regret about handing in his notice also showed how much he loved the role himself.

I've always had a soft spot for Peter Davison though: while many of his stories were pretty poor, with one or two 'worst ever's coming from that era, imo Davison was the first to bring a little 'humanity' and vulnerability to the role, of there being a person behind the comic eccentricity; he also demonstrated the same impression of the old man in a young man's body that would later define Docs 10 and 11. Plus, not a lot of men can carry off a decorative vegetable

As for Capaldi? It feels too soon to judge him, though his performances have been the one consistently engaging part of the Series 8, even when the stories themselves wobbled. You can compare with the Colin Baker era in many ways: both incarnations, on the surface, are pretty egocentric, spiky individuals who belittle and dump on those around them. The difference between the two (aside from better writing and companions to work off) has been Capaldi knows how to pitch the barbs with just the right amount of pathos and vulnerability.

Mr Rhode Island Red · 08-11-2014 12:01pm

I'm surprised at the poll so far. I would have thought Tennant would have a landslide if the rest of the internet is to be believed

Angron · 08-11-2014 12:07pm

I'd expected it to be between 10 and 4 myself.

yaines · 08-11-2014 10:07pm

Tennant. Always and forever. Closely followed by Smith. Still not sure how I feel about Capaldi.

Agent Coulson · 08-11-2014 11:04pm

Tom Baker for me.

I would have liked to have seen McGann get a good tv run.

Wibbs · 08-11-2014 11:30pm

pixelburp wrote: »

and like Baker he seemed happy and willing to inhabit the role both in-front of and away from the cameras (such as at the Proms etc.)

+1 PB. Like you I was dubious about him at the start. TBH didn't think he had the acting chops(and looking at the early ones, I'd still stand by that), but he got sooo much better and brought for want of a better word a kindness to the role and as you say was great with bringing that beyond the role out into the real world too for the kids. Tom Baker did the same in his time. Both I think saw the importance of the character to the younger viewers, the non geeky fans, the kids who just hoovered it all up naturally. Fair play to Smith for that. Even though I'm still divided on him I gather Capaldi has done similar and kudos there too.

Also Starring LeVar Burton · 10-11-2014 2:33am

Eccleston for me. My first Doctor and he really grabbed my attention and brought me into the world of Doctor Who, so he'll always be my favourite.

ixoy · 10-11-2014 11:02pm

Of the first run, probably Tom Baker. His larger than life persona really filled up the screen and he captured the alien quality of the Doctor alongside the zaniness.

From the new run, Matt Smith. Also captured some similar qualities and managed to bring real pathos to the role.

After that in a rough descending order from the new seasons:
Capaldi: Brings an edge to the role that's been lacking since Ecclestone. Plus he's a little off his rocker.

Eccleston: Brought the alien in. Didn't stay around long enough though.

Tenant: Good actor, ruined for me by too much mugging and OT emotional drama.

From the first 26 (in descending order):

Slyster McCoy: "My" Doctor. This is the one I grew up with in many ways. Nostalgia is aided here by me mixing in my memories of the show with the novels that came afterwards.

Patrick Troughton: He basically created the character we know. He created the idea of the erratic, somewhat scruffy time traveller - far more so (IMO) than William Hartnell. Damn shame we lost so many episodes.

Peter Davison: Good actor, brought some real gravitas to the show after Baker's antics. One of the best balances up to that point of being both alien and he struggle to do right. Also "Caves of Androzani" showed how he could really perform great things with the right script.

Colin Baker: Yes, he got terrible scripts. He was really screwed over by the BBC producers. However, anyone who has listened to him on the audio adventures can see that he would have made an excellent Doctor under the right circumstances. Would have loved to have seen him get time with a companion like Evelyn Smythe.

Jon Pertwee: Never a huge fan of his avuncular performance. Found him arrogant and condescending (especially to Jo Grant). He seemed to want to hog the lime light a lot (meaning Liz Shaw had to go) and the James Bond slant didn't work for me.

William Hartnell: Sure he was the first but his Doctor was a bit of a git. Never warmed to him.

Not counting McGann or Hurt's takes on it because we never saw enough to judge.

Wibbs · 11-11-2014 12:30am

Actually I'd love to see McGann come back for a cameo. Only saw the US TV special, never got into the audio stuff, but he IMHO nailed it extremely well in that recent anniversary special clip.

Daith · 11-11-2014 10:30am

Tom Baker. Both Smith and esp Capaldi have grown on me though.

Doctor DooM · 12-11-2014 1:56pm

Wibbs wrote: »

Actually I'd love to see McGann come back for a cameo. Only saw the US TV special, never got into the audio stuff, but he IMHO nailed it extremely well in that recent anniversary special clip.

I would love for there to be an episode where Capaldi is on his own and remembers some incident in the past- and he's McGann...

Slutmonkey57b · 27-11-2014 5:23pm

Smith, easily the best so far. He has the widest range of any of the doctors, he's believably alien, and he's probably the best actor (tied with Capaldi) to take on the role. Tennant was very good, but far too much of a mugger (as pointed out above). Saying goodbye to Rose was his high point, I think.

Smith was able to show a much more considered hand, put in nuanced performances, and really projected the character.

Capaldi fell down this season when he did his contractual "this planet is protected" speech, it didn't have any of the menace that Smith put into his many variations.

knightfly · 07-12-2014 9:01pm

Although he wouldn't be my favorite Doctor, I've seen Matt Smith at a couple of convensions. I found him to be an extermely charming individual who went out of his way for the fans.

Sleepy · 08-12-2014 3:07pm

I'm a "nu Who" fan, having grown up in a house where sci-fi was considered "a bit weird" so my first doctor was Tennant (though I quickly went back to watch the Ecclestone era).

I think Tennant was let down by some of Russell T Davies writing (he was very hit and miss imo) and, oddly, it's the poorer episodes that stayed with me. So, for me, it's Smith though I suspect that in many ways, that's been down to Moffat's writing for 11.

Like others have said, I'd love to see more of Paul McGann's Doctor. His small role in the 50th was excellent and he really was the only good thing about the US movie.

Mr.Saturn · 08-12-2014 8:23pm

Is there any of Paul McGann's Big Finish work where you can't almost hear the sound of him turning the script pages as he dryly recites his lines? It was refreshing to witness an energetic 8th Doctor during the 50th celebrations.

Sonics2k · 14-12-2014 3:38pm

For a long long time it was Tom Baker or David Tennant, but Matt Smith completely won me over during his second last and last seasons.

The man has a face made of putty and is so wonderfully expressive in his actions, even his darker moods show a lot more than many other Doctors did at their best.

pixelburp · 21-06-2017 8:56am

I voted Peter Davison way back when this poll was first opened, and I'd still stick with that vote, despite the stellar work by Capaldi. In fact, from what I'm reading via rumours & chatter, the BBC are open to new ideas, hoping for Chris Chibnall to bring some new ideas & approaches to the show. The suggestions are that it might be a proper 'Peak TV' style 1-plot arc... but it wouldn't be the first time a genuine attempt to shake things up was done - and I'm not talking about the 'dark' McCoy era...

There has always been a special place in my fandom for that brief period in early 80s Who when it seemed to morph into a legitimately brave, experimental show; from the last Tom Baker run, up until around the time Eric Saward really ground in a grubby cynicism, Dr. Who had some genuinely philosophical, thoughtful stories that were as intriguing as they were abstract. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a 'Hard Sci'Fi' phase, but there was definitely something more ... sober about things.

You had stories like Warrior's Gate, Logopolis, Castrovalva, Kinda (and its follow-up, Snakedance), adventures that seemed to take a quieter, if not more mature approach to stories, with Peter Davison in turn being a more reflective Doctor & less mercurial than his famously eccentric predecessor. I believe a few of the writers were interested in weaving concepts of mathematics & psychology into their stories, and you could see that in the end result. Tom Baker's last story Logopolis centred around the very mathematics of the universe; Kinda was about the power of the ID & Ego (manifest as a giant paper-mach? snake!), while Warrior's Gate was about slavery, mirror universes and ... something. I love Warrior's Gate, it's a personal favourite from all of Who, yet I'm still not quite sure what it's about.

Of course, it wasn't perfect: said philosophising didn't help the pacing of otherwise slow-moving plots; the companions were pretty terrible, even ignoring the infamous Adric; and there were still clunkers amongst the gold (including arguably one of the worst stories in the entire run of Dr. Who, 'Time Flight', and the baffling nonsense of 'Meglos'). Plus, needless to say this sudden tonal shift didn't last long, nor ultimately go down too well; if anything it probably signified the start of a prelonged period of uncertainty for the show, and this briefly cerebral phase was replaced by cynical violence & mean-spiritedness (see: Eric Saward). It lost a lot of good will, much of its confidence, and ultimately that of course culminated in the cancellation of the show.

LordSutch · 18-07-2017 6:48am

John Pertwee, Tom Baker, & Christopher Ecclescakes

(Bit of a soft spot for Patrick Troughton too).

...always with Richard Delgado as the Master!

For Reals · 27-07-2017 6:28pm

Tom Baker all the way. Tennant just nudging Pertwee for second.
Sylvester McCoy...worst of all time.

Jelly baby?

pixelburp · 02-08-2017 2:16pm

RopeDrink wrote: »

Given McCoy's era defined a lot of how the NewWho would sail, I always find it amusing when people say they hate him (when claiming a NewDoc as a favourite - just feels a bit ironic). People barely even explaining why they LIKE a Doctor in the last two posts - it's even less informative/interesting to just senselessly bash them without explanation. [...]

I think with the latter 'Classic Series' doctors there was a sense of them trying too hard, particularly with the C. Baker and McCoy variants. In the case of the 7th Doctor you also got some really jarring tonal shifts too: McCoy's first season went for an intentionally goofy, pantomime portrayal present in what were themselves extremely goofy stories, an obvious response to the dour, grim C. Baker years; then there was this total shift in approach towards the manipulative, scheming Doctor that arguably informed the version that returned to our screens in 2005. Neither version sat well with me TBH, though at last the darker version had more storytelling potential, but the actual execution left a lot to be desired; now I don't know how much was the script, and how much was Sylvester McCoy's (and Sophie Aldred) acting ability, but it never clicked and felt ladled on way, way too thick.

Angron · 02-08-2017 3:52pm

I've been slowly watching my way through old Doctor Who, I'm only on the Third Doctor though. Of the first three, my favourite has been Second Doctor, followed by Third Doctor. Favourite overall is still Tennant though.

For Reals · 03-08-2017 2:49pm

RopeDrink wrote: »

Given McCoy's era defined a lot of how the NewWho would sail, I always find it amusing when people say they hate him (when claiming a NewDoc as a favourite - just feels a bit ironic). People barely even explaining why they LIKE a Doctor in the last two posts - it's even less informative/interesting to just senselessly bash them without explanation. On a different note, I found one of these 'marathon' videos to be quite interesting - bunch of fans watching all old & new episodes within 35 days and mass ranking each one. Some votes I wouldn't have agreed with, but the overall Doctor Ratings are interesting (more-so in Part 2 with the New+Old Doctors).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY_qWLAiPoc

McCoy was corny as hell, closely followed by Colin Baker's cheese. For me it's dramatic/acting skills followed by the stories. So the actor is responsible for their part. I would not hold an actor completely responsible for a bad script. Therefore, McCoy is the worst for me. Tom Baker the best because I loved the way he played the Doctor. Even with a rather limp story-line he brought life, (using an offering of Jelly babies to break a tense life or death moment was fun). I would have thought acting chops was a given?
As regards 'classic' verses 'new'. The effects are better. We still get the great and very poor, script wise. The Christmas ones have been generally pretty dire IMO.

Who's your favourite incarnation of the Doctor? (New poll)

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