Welcome to the home of the Doctor, no sorry it isn't the TARDIS it is parked out the back sorry. I do hope you enjoy your time.
I have been here before and for quite a while, Oh by the way if you want to welcome me to the Rave go for it unlike a lot of people in here I couldn't give two hoots and same goes for your rating stamps...All I can say is FILL YOUR BOOTS.
The people who know me well might pick up on who I am, especially my wife...I know who you are LOL...
On that I will not be interested in any form of Hanky Panky from anyone, I am not here for that I am not interested at all, go find someone else to play games with....I will block your sorry ass no if's ands buts or maybes, and I will post it in the Forums for everyone to see.
Well then who am I...Well I am a 43 yr old Australian. I have lived in Australia all my life and I never have or will have any intentions of living anywhere else. I am an Australian soldier and have been for over 20 yrs now and will be for a little longer yet. I am married and have 3 children 2 boys and a girl plus one very playful pup. I am the second eldest of 5 in my family of 2 girls 3 boys. My father passed away not long ago and his wish was he wanted all his children around him when he passed away, he got his wish, no other person in our family could draw all us together that was how much we loved and admired the man....he was our stepfather.
Ok that is about all you need to know about me and my life, if you want to know any more you do know where to find me..
The Faces of The Doctor
First Doctor ~ William Hartnell
Tenure: 1963–1966
First appearance: An Unearthly Child
Last appearance: The Tenth Planet (regular)
Number of series: 4
Appearances: 29 stories (134 episodes)
Companions on television:
Susan Foreman
Barbara Wright
Ian Chesterton
Vicki
Steven Taylor
Katarina
Sara Kingdom
Dodo Chaplet
Polly
Ben Jackson
in spin-offs:
John and Gillian
Succeeding Second Doctor: Patrick Troughton
Series Seasons 1 to 4
The First Doctor is the name given to the initial incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell during his tenure from 1963 to 1966, and by Richard Hurndall in 1983, after Hartnell's death.
Biography: At the inception of the series the Doctor was a mysterious character and little was known about him save that he had a granddaughter, Susan Foreman, and that they were from another time and another world. He had a time machine, the TARDIS, which was disguised as a police box and was bigger on the inside than on the outside. He and Susan were in exile as well, for unspecified reasons. It would not be until the last adventure of the Doctor's second incarnation that the name of the Doctor's people (the Time Lords) would be revealed, and the third before the name of his home planet (Gallifrey) was first spoken.
The series began with schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright investigating the mystery of Susan, a student who appeared to possess scientific and historical knowledge far beyond her years. Discovering the TARDIS in a scrapyard, they were involuntarily taken by the Doctor on a journey back to the year 100,000 BC, and spent two years adventuring through time and space with the Doctor.
It was during this incarnation that the Doctor first met the Daleks and the Cybermen, races that would become his most implacable foes. The TARDIS crew also observed many historical events such as the Reign of Terror in revolutionary France, meeting Marco Polo in China and The Aztecs in Mexico. When Susan fell in love with the human resistance fighter David Campbell, the Doctor left her behind to allow her to build a life for herself on 22nd century Earth (The Dalek Invasion of Earth), although he promised to return someday. The TARDIS crew were soon joined by Vicki, whom they rescued from the planet Dido.
At the conclusion of a chase through time, Ian and Barbara used a Dalek time machine to go home (The Chase), and their place in the TARDIS was taken by a space pilot named Steven Taylor. Together, they met another member of the Doctor's race for the first time in the form of the Meddling Monk and had an adventure in Galaxy 4. During the siege of Troy, Vicki decided to leave the TARDIS to stay with Troilus. The Doctor and Steven were next briefly joined by Katarina and Sara Kingdom, but both were killed during the events of The Daleks' Master Plan.
After narrowly missing the Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, the Doctor and Steven took on board a young girl named Dodo Chaplet. Dodo brought a cold virus to the far future, which nearly annihilated the humans and Monoids travelling on The Ark. One of the First Doctor's most deadly foes was the Celestial Toymaker, who forced him and his companions to play deadly games. Eventually, the Doctor managed to win the Trilogic Game allowing them all to escape the Toymaker's domain.
Eventually, Steven and Dodo left the Doctor as well, Steven remaining on an alien planet as a mediator (The Savages), and Dodo deciding to remain on Earth in 1966. The Doctor was then joined by Polly and Ben Jackson who would be the first companions to witness a most remarkable event.
The toll of years put strain on the Doctor's elderly frame. After defeating the Cybermen at the Antarctic Snowcap Station (The Tenth Planet), the Doctor collapsed inside the TARDIS, and before the astonished eyes of his then-companions Ben and Polly, his cells renewed themselves for the first time, giving him a completely new physical appearance and character — the Second Doctor.
Personality: From the beginning, the First Doctor was a mysterious figure. He appeared to be a frail old man, despite the eventual revelation that he was actually the youngest of the Doctor's incarnations, and yet was possessed of unexpected reserves of strength and will. (An early writers' guide by script editor David Whitaker describes "Doctor Who" [sic] as "frail-looking but wiry and tough as an old turkey".) He obviously held tremendous knowledge of scientific matters, and yet was unable to pilot his TARDIS time ship reliably; his granddaughter Susan explained this by saying that her grandfather was "a bit forgetful". He was abrasive, patronising, and cantankerous towards his human travelling companions, yet shared a deep emotional bond with his granddaughter Susan. He also harboured a streak of ruthlessness, being willing to lie — and in one case attempt to kill — to achieve his goals. Initially, he distrusted his first two human companions, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who were forced on him. Over time, however, as they shared adventures together, he grew closer to them, and the TARDIS crew came to share almost a family bond.
Eventually, the Doctor began to enjoy his travels through time and space, taking people along for the ride and was always reluctant and sad to see them go, even when he knew it was for their own good. The Doctor's personality mellowed around the time of the serial Marco Polo, and he evolved into the more familiar grandfatherly figure that children loved. Despite his age, the Doctor was never conservative, and was always a bit of an anti-establishment figure, opposing tyranny and overreaching authority in all its forms.
It was also during this time that the Doctor first met what would become his most persistent adversaries — the Daleks and the Cybermen. It would be the latter encounter that would see the Doctor first regenerate; stating "This old body of mine's wearing a bit thin," he collapsed at the end of the serial, regenerating inside the TARDIS into the Second Doctor.
William Hartnell described the Doctor as "a wizard", and "a cross between the Wizard of Oz and Father Christmas". One quirk of the First Doctor was his tendency to become occasionally tongue-tied and stumble over words. Sometimes this was a deliberate acting choice: William Russell recalls that it was Hartnell's idea for the Doctor to get Ian Chesterton's surname wrong, calling him "Chesserman" or "Chatterton". This character choice also gave the series' producers the ability to use takes in which Hartnell flubbed his lines. Due to the series' tight production schedule, it was rarely possible to reshoot such scenes and dubbing the dialogue was usually not an option. Hartnell suffered from undiagnosed arteriosclerosis, which affected his ability to remember lines, increasingly so as his time on the series progressed.
In the original pilot, the Doctor wore a tie and relatively contemporary clothes. When the pilot was reshot, however, his costume changed to a more Edwardian ensemble.
Story style: The original First Doctor episodes had individual titles (see Season 1). This led to a problem as to the naming of the serials into which the episodes were grouped. See Doctor Who story title controversy for more information.
The programme was designed to be educational, so the stories were divided into two genres: historical (to teach about history) and futuristic (to teach about science), and in fact these two genres alternated with each other. However, by the end of the second season it became apparent that the futuristic stories were much more popular and the production team began to phase out the "historicals".
The debut of the Daleks in the second serial turned the programme from a children's series to a national phenomenon. It soon became a show that the whole family gathered to watch, with monsters that children viewed from between their fingers or from behind the sofa. Intelligent and witty scripts filled with far-out concepts compensated for the relatively low budget and unsophisticated special effects, laying the foundation for decades of stories to come.
Later appearances: Despite the regeneration, television audiences would see the First Doctor on screen twice more (not counting flashbacks or charity specials like Dimensions in Time). In 1973, for the 10th anniversary of the programme, Hartnell appeared in The Three Doctors which also saw Patrick Troughton reprise his role as the Second Doctor. Due to failing health, however, Hartnell could not participate in any of the regular filming, and his scenes were shot separately at Ealing Studios (not his garden or garage at home, as long suggested by fan legend).
Shortly after this filming, in 1975, William Hartnell died. In the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors, the role of the First Doctor was played by Richard Hurndall, although the episode began with a clip of Hartnell as the Doctor from The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Where the two specials fit in the First Doctor's chronology is unclear.
In Dimensions in Time the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) refers to the First as "the grumpy one". The First Doctor is seen as a sketch in John Smith's book alongside other past Doctors in the episode "Human Nature". In Time Crash, the Tenth Doctor says to the Fifth, "Back when I first started, at the very beginning, I was always trying to be old and grumpy and important, like you do when you're young."
The character has also appeared in many licensed novels, comic strips, and audio dramas.
Second Doctor ~ Patrick Troughton
Tenure: 1966–1969
First appearance: The Tenth Planet (Episode 4) (Uncredited)
Last appearance: The War Games (regular), The Two Doctors (guest star),
Number of series: 3
Appearances: 21 stories (119 episodes)
Companions on television:
Polly
Ben Jackson
Jamie McCrimmon
Victoria Waterfield
Zoe Heriot
in spin-offs:
John and Gillian
Lady Serena
Preceding First Doctor: William Hartnell
Succeeding Third Doctor: Jon Pertwee
Series Seasons: 4 to 6
The Second Doctor is the name given to the second incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by character actor Patrick Troughton.
Biography: The First Doctor grew progressively weaker while battling the Cybermen during the events of The Tenth Planet and eventually collapsed, seemingly from old age. His body renewed itself and transformed into the Second Doctor.
Initially, the relationship between the Second Doctor and his predecessor was unclear. In his first story, the Second Doctor referred to his predecessor in the third person as if he were a completely different person.
During this incarnation, the Second Doctor confronted familiar foes such as the Daleks and the Cybermen, as well as new enemies such as the Great Intelligence and the Ice Warriors. It was during this time that he first met Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, a military man who would later become the leader of the British contingent of UNIT, a military organisation tasked to investigate and defend the world from extraterrestrial threats.
The Second Doctor's time came to an end after he was put on trial by his own people, the Time Lords, for breaking their laws of non-interference. Despite the Doctor's argument that the Time Lords should use their great powers to help others, he was sentenced to exile on 20th century Earth, the Time Lords forcing his regeneration into the Third Doctor in the process.
The successful transformation into the Second Doctor, a figure who was the same essential character as the first but with a very different persona, was a turning point in the evolution of Doctor Who the series as well as the character of the Doctor, and was a critical ingredient in the longevity of the series.
Personality: He has been nicknamed the "Cosmic Hobo" as the impish Second Doctor appeared to be far more scruffy and child-like than his first incarnation. Mercurial, clever, and always a few steps ahead of his enemies, at times he could be a calculating schemer who would not only manipulate people for the greater good but act like a bumbling fool in order to have others underestimate his true abilities (The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Evil of the Daleks, and The Dominators). But despite the bluster and tendency to panic when events got out of control, the Second Doctor always acted heroically and morally in his desire to help the oppressed. More than any other perhaps, this incarnation of the Time Lord was a wolf in sheep's clothing.
This Doctor is associated with the catch phrase "oh my giddy aunt", and is noted for playing the recorder.
Story style: With the arrival of a younger Doctor and changing tastes, the Second Doctor's tenure was characterized by a faster pace and a preference toward "monster of the week" style horror stories whilst the purely historical adventures that were a recurring feature of the Hartnell-era ceased with The Highlanders, the only Troughton-era entry in that genre. While Troughton's Doctor would still visit the Earth's past he would always encounter an alien such as the Daleks or the Great Intelligence. It was also during this era that Doctor Who began to come under fire for its purportedly violent and frightening content.
As with his predecessor, all the Second Doctor's original episodes were in black and white. Later guest appearances in The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors were in colour. However, Troughton's reign as the Doctor was more notable for what does not exist than for what does, as many of the episodes featuring the Second Doctor were junked by the BBC — a full list of incomplete Doctor Who serials shows how many of these episodes are missing from the BBC Archives.
Only one story in Troughton's first two seasons still exists in its entirety, ten stories only exist partially (most with one or two episodes out of 4 or 6), and four are lost in their entirety, including his first story, The Power of the Daleks; Jamie's first adventure, The Highlanders, The Macra Terror; and Fury From the Deep.
Some fans have also speculated that certain continuity elements within Doctor Who (particularly Troughton's appearance in The Two Doctors) suggest that the Time Lords used the Second Doctor as an agent after the events of The War Games, and that he did not in fact immediately regenerate and enter his exile on Earth. (See Season 6B for further details).
Both Peter Davison and Colin Baker, who played the Fifth Doctor and Sixth Doctor respectively, have stated that the Second Doctor is their favourite.
Third Doctor ~ Jon Pertwee
Tenure: 1970–1974
First appearance: Spearhead from Space
Last appearance: Planet of the Spiders (regular)
The Five Doctors (guest star)
Dimensions In Time (charity special)
Number of series: 5
Appearances: 24 stories (128 episodes)
Companions On Television:
Liz Shaw
Jo Grant
Sarah Jane Smith
Preceding Second Doctor: Patrick Troughton
Succeeding Fourth Doctor: Tom Baker
Series Seasons: 7 to 11
The Third Doctor is the name given to the third incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor; seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee.
Biography: After the Doctor was found guilty of breaking the Time Lord laws of non-interference and forced to regenerate, he began his third incarnation in exile on 20th century Earth. The Third Doctor immediately formed a working relationship with the British contingent of UNIT, an international organisation tasked to investigate and defend the Earth against extraterrestrial threats.
It was a partnership initially born out of convenience — the Doctor required facilities to try to repair his TARDIS to break the exile, and UNIT needed his expertise in combating the threats they encountered. There is some disagreement about when the Third Doctor's UNIT stories were set, with some evidence that they were contemporary stories set at the same time they were broadcast (the early 70s) and some evidence that they were set in the near future. According to the production team, there was an intention to set the stories in the near future, but the writers did not always remember this and set the stories in the present.
The Doctor also developed a good working relationship with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, whom he had first encountered, in his previous incarnation, as a Colonel in command of troops fighting Yeti and the Cybermen. As well as the Brigadier, he developed friendships with other regular UNIT colleagues including Sergeant Benton and Captain Mike Yates. When meteorites were seen falling to Earth in Essex, the Doctor together with a UNIT scientist named Liz Shaw were to face the Autons for the first time. The Autons were to be one of the Doctor's recurring foes. At the conclusion of this adventure, the Doctor became UNIT's scientific advisor. After facing Silurians, the so-called Ambassadors of Death and the Inferno project, Liz was replaced as the Doctor's assistant by a feisty but slightly scatter-brained young woman named Jo Grant.
After meeting Jo, the Third Doctor encountered his greatest nemesis (next to the Daleks) — the Master. A renegade Time Lord, the Master plagued the Third Doctor with his diabolical schemes, including the summoning of an ancient Dæmon, and unleashing the terrifyingly powerful Kronos, a Chronovore. The Doctor's exile continued until it was lifted by the Time Lords after he helped save them from destruction at the hands of Omega. The Third Doctor, free to roam space and time again, soon ran into the Master and an even older enemy — the Daleks. Although the Master was a criminal genius, the Doctor was always able to outwit him in all his schemes. Whilst facing the ecological destruction wrought by Global Chemicals and the super computer BOSS, Jo met and fell in love with Dr. Clifford Jones. Marrying Jones and following him to the Amazon on an expedition, Jo left a saddened Doctor.
The fiercely independent investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith became the Doctor's new companion after stowing away in his TARDIS. The Third Doctor's final adventures saw them defeating the Sontarans in medieval England and the Daleks on the planet Exxilon. The Third Doctor contracted radiation poisoning on the planet Metebelis 3, during the events of Planet of the Spiders. When the TARDIS brought him back to UNIT headquarters, he collapsed, regenerating into the Fourth Doctor.
Personality: The Third Doctor was a suave, authoritative man of action, who not only practiced Venusian Aikido (or Karate), but who enjoyed working on gadgets and riding all manner of vehicles, such as the Whomobile and his pride and joy, the canary-yellow vintage roadster nicknamed "Bessie" which featured such modifications as a remote control, dramatically increased speed capabilities and even inertial dampeners.
While this incarnation had spent most of his time exiled on Earth, where he grudgingly worked as UNIT's scientific advisor, he would occasionally be sent on covert missions by the Time Lords, where he would often act as a reluctant mediator. Even though he developed a fondness for Earthlings with whom he worked (such as Liz Shaw and Jo Grant), he would jump at any chance to return to the stars with the enthusiasm of a far younger man than himself (as can be seen in his frivolous attitude in The Mutants). If this Doctor had a somewhat patrician and authoritarian air, he was just as quick to criticise authority too—having little patience with self-inflated bureaucrats, parochially-narrow ministers, knee-jerk militarists or red tape in general. His courageousness could easily turn to waspish indignation. It is thus no surprise that a common catchphrase of his was "Now listen to me."
Despite his arrogance, the Third Doctor genuinely cared for his companions in a paternal fashion, and even held a thinly-veiled but grudging admiration for his nemesis, the Master, and for UNIT's leader, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, with whom he eventually became friends. In fact, even when his much resented exile was lifted, the highly moral and dashing Third Doctor continued to help UNIT protect the Earth from all manner of alien threats.
In general, this incarnation of the Doctor was more physically daring than the previous two, and was the first to attack an enemy physically if cornered (both of his previous incarnations would nearly always attempt to dodge, flee or attempt to persuade hostiles to stop their attack rather than directly defend themselves). This often took the form of quick strikes, with the occasional joint lock or throw - usually enough to get himself and anyone accompanying him out of immediate danger - but usually not to the extent of a brawl, in keeping with The Doctor's non-violent nature. He would only use his fighting skills if he had no alternative, and even then generally disarmed his opponents rather than knock them unconscious. Indeed, his martial prowess was such that a single, sudden strike was usually enough to halt whatever threatened him, and at one point he reminded Captain Yates (physically as well as verbally) that he would have a difficult time removing him from somewhere, when he did not want to be removed (The Mind of Evil).
Perhaps due to his time spent on Earth, or maybe just as a function of his pacifistic and authoritarian tendencies, the Third Doctor was a skilled diplomat (keeping talks going in The Curse of Peladon, for example) and linguist, as well as having an odd knack for disguises - all of this, combined with his formidable galactic experience, often allowed the Third Doctor to play a central role in the events he found himself in.
Appearance: Occasionally camp but always charismatic, this Doctor had a personal manner of dress which is the most ornate of his various incarnations, favouring frilled shirts, velvet smoking or dinner jackets in blue, orange, green, burgundy or black, evening trousers, formal boots and opera and hunting cloaks for his regular outfit, with variations and accessories including bow ties, cravats and leather gloves, earning him the nickname "the Dandy Doctor". In The Three Doctors, the First Doctor, commenting on the Third and Second Doctor respectively, disparagingly referred to them as "a dandy and a clown".
Story style: The Third Doctor stories were the first to be broadcast in colour. The early ones were set on Earth due to cost constraints on the series. To explain this, the Second Doctor was banished to Earth by his race the Time Lords, and forced to regenerate. On Earth he worked with the Brigadier and the rest of the UNIT team. However, as his tenure progressed he had reasons to leave Earth, on occasions being sent on missions by the Time Lords. Eventually, after his defeat of the renegade Omega in The Three Doctors he was granted complete freedom by the Time Lords in gratitude for saving Gallifrey.
The Third Doctor's era introduced many of the Doctor's more memorable adversaries. The Autons, the Master, Omega, the Sontarans, the Silurians and the Sea Devils all made their debut during this period. The Third Doctor was the only one from the classic series not to have a story featuring the Cybermen, but he did eventually encounter them during The Five Doctors.
"Reverse the polarity": The catchphrase most associated with the Third Doctor's era is probably "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow". The phrase was Pertwee's way of dealing with the technobabble that he was required to speak as the Doctor. He wanted something all purpose and easy to remember instead of myriad made-up dialogue, and Terrance Dicks provided him with the phrase.
Many fans of the show believe that this is a scientific impossibility. In actuality, it is possible for neutrons to flow and, since neutrons have a magnetic moment,[2] it is possible in theory (although difficult in practice) to have a stream of neutrons polarised along or against their direction of motion. Given this, such a polarity could presumably be reversed. However, the phrase is still meaningless in the contexts in which the series uses it.
Pertwee did not use the phrase as often as popular belief has it. The Third Doctor only said the full phrase "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" once on screen during his tenure — in The Sea Devils — and also in the 1983 20th Anniversary special The Five Doctors. Pertwee did use the phrase again in 1989 when he acted in the stage play Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure. (When Colin Baker took over the lead role in the play he amended the line to "Reverse the linetry of the proton flow.") In the radio play The Paradise of Death the Brigadier asks "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow?" and the Doctor proceeds to explain that the phrase is meaningless.
On four other occasions on screen, the Third Doctor simply "reversed the polarity" of other things. He tells Ruth to reverse the temporal polarity of the TOMTIT device in The Time Monster; reverses the polarity of his sonic screwdriver in Frontier in Space; reverses the polarity of some dismantled circuitry in Planet of the Daleks; and tells Osgood to reverse the polarity of the diathermic energy exchanger in The Dæmons.
The full phrase was used in several Target novelisations. It was subsequently used by the Fourth Doctor (in City of Death) and the Fifth Doctor (in Castrovalva and Mawdryn Undead). Together with The Five Doctors this resulted in the phrase being used as a nostalgic reference three times as often as it was originally said. In the Tenth Doctor episode "The Lazarus Experiment" the Doctor, while hiding in Lazarus' machine, comments that it had taken him too long to reverse the polarity due to being out of practice; the Tenth Doctor uses the full phrase in "Music of the Spheres".
The phrase has entered geek culture, although this has been more through its use as technobabble. It appeared before Doctor Who in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "That Which Survives" and later in the Stargate SG-1 episodes "Learning Curve" & "200", the film Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, South Park episode, "Cancelled", in Lab Rats episode "A Snail", . The phrase appears in various The Real Ghostbusters episodes, such as Egon's Ghost. The phrase has also featured in the dialogue of the musical We Will Rock You, amongst other references to popular culture. The phrase also appears in The Transformers: The Movie.
Title sequence and logo: The original title sequence for the Third Doctor's seasons was an extension of the animated "howlaround" kaleidoscopic patterns used for the previous Doctors, incorporating Pertwee's face and adding colour to showcase Doctor Who being broadcast in colour for the first time. In the Third Doctor's final season, a new title sequence was introduced, designed by Bernard Lodge. Partially inspired by the slit-scan hyperspace sequence in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, one portion of this sequence is the prototype for the classic time tunnel sequence of the Fourth Doctor's seasons. The Third Doctor's final season also introduced the equally classic diamond logo which would remain in use until 1980.
The series logo introduced in 1970 and used for the first four seasons of Pertwee's tenure would later be used again as the logo for the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie and subsequently once again became the official Doctor Who logo, most notably with regards to products connected to the Eighth Doctor. With the introduction of a new official series logo in 2005, the Pertwee era logo continued to be used by Big Finish Productions as the logo for all pre-2005 series material including books and audio dramas, and by the BBC on DVD releases of episodes from the 1963-89 series.
Later appearances: The Third Doctor would appear once more officially in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors, broadcast in 1983. However, where it takes place within the Third Doctor's chronology is unclear. Pertwee played the role on screen one last time in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time.
Fourth Doctor ~ Tom Baker
Tenure: 1974–1981
First appearance: Planet of the Spiders (Part 6) (Uncredited)
Last appearance: Logopolis (regular), The Five Doctors (previously unseen archive footage), Dimensions In Time (charity special)
Number of series: 7
Appearances: 41 stories (172 episodes)
Companions on television:
Sarah Jane Smith
Harry Sullivan
Leela
K-9 (Marks I and II)
Romana (I and II)
Adric
Tegan Jovanka
Nyssa
in spin-offs:
Sharon
Preceding Third Doctor: Jon Pertwee
Succeeding Fifth Doctor: Peter Davison
Series Seasons: 12 to 18
The Fourth Doctor is the name given to the fourth incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Tom Baker and is, as of 2008[update], the longest-running Doctor in Doctor Who history, having been on the show for seven continuous years (as opposed to the Seventh and Eighth Doctors who, although they each remained the "current" Doctor for more than seven years, did not spend that time on the air).
Overview: The Fourth Doctor's eccentric style of dress and speech — particularly his trademark long scarf and fondness for jelly babies — made him an immediately recognisable figure and he quickly captivated the viewing public's imagination. This incarnation is generally regarded as the most recognisable of the Doctors and one of the most popular. In polls conducted by Doctor Who Magazine, Tom Baker has lost the "Best Doctor" category only twice: once to Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor) in 1990, and once to David Tennant (the Tenth Doctor) in 2006.
The Fourth Doctor appeared in seven consecutive seasons over a seven-year period, from 1974 to 1981, making him the longest running Doctor on screen. He also appeared in the specials The Five Doctors (via footage from the uncompleted Shada) and Dimensions in Time, Tom Baker's last appearance in-character as the Doctor (aside from a series of television advertisements in New Zealand in 1997).
There are also novels and audio plays featuring the Fourth Doctor. Both audio plays featuring Tom Baker voicing the Fourth Doctor date from Baker's television tenure as he has declined to appear in any further audio plays since leaving the series.
Biography: After contracting radiation poisoning on the planet Metebelis 3, the Third Doctor makes his way back to UNIT headquarters, where the Time Lord K'Anpo Rinpoche aids him in regenerating (Planet of the Spiders).
In his new incarnation, the Doctor draws back from continuous involvement with UNIT (with which he had worked closely as the Third Doctor) and the Time Lords. The Time Lords continue to send him on occasional missions, including an attempt to prevent the creation of the Daleks (Genesis of the Daleks), during which he also meets a new adversary, Davros. The Doctor travels with journalist Sarah Jane Smith, whom he had befriended prior to his regeneration, and, for a time, with UNIT Surgeon-Lieutenant Harry Sullivan.
The Doctor's companionship with Sarah Jane is ended when he receives a telepathic summons to Gallifrey, as humans were not then allowed on the planet. The summons is part of a trap set by his enemy the Master, who has used up all his regenerations and become little more than a withered husk. The Master frames the Doctor for the assassination of the President of the High Council of Time Lords. In order to avoid execution the Doctor invokes an obscure law and declares himself a candidate for the office, giving himself the time he needs to defeat the Master. (The Deadly Assassin)
The Doctor is seen to travel alone for the first time since season 11, returning to a planet he had visited centuries before. During his previous visit, he had accidentally imprinted a human colony ship's powerful computer, Xoanon, with his own mind, leaving it with multiple personalities. On his second visit the Doctor is remembered as an evil god by the descendants of the colonists, some of whom had become a warrior tribe called the Sevateem. After the Doctor cures the computer, one of the Sevateem, Leela, joins him on his travels (The Face of Evil). The Doctor brings the intelligent but uneducated Leela to many locales in human history, teaching her about science and her own species' past. In Victorian London, the pair encounters the magician Li Hsien Chang and his master, the self-styled Weng-Chiang (The Talons of Weng-Chiang). Later, the Doctor and Leela visit the Bi-Al Foundation medical centre, where they acquire the robot dog K-9 (The Invisible Enemy).
The Doctor returns to Gallifrey and declared himself Lord President, based on the election held during his previous visit. This is a ploy to reveal and defeat a Sontaran invasion plan. Leela and K-9 decide to remain on Gallifrey; the Doctor comforts himself by producing K-9 Mark II (The Invasion of Time).
Shortly afterwards, the powerful White Guardian assigns the Doctor to find the six segments of the Key to Time, sending a young Time Lady named Romana to assist him. The two Gallifreyans find the six segments and defeat the equally powerful Black Guardian, who sought the Key for himself. After the conclusion of the quest, Romana regenerates into a new form (Destiny of the Daleks).
For a time, the Fourth Doctor and the second incarnation of Romana travel in another universe known as E-Space. There, they are joined by the young prodigy Adric. When the Doctor finds a way to leave E-Space, Romana and K-9 Mark II choose to remain behind. Adric and the Doctor are joined by the aristocratic orphan Nyssa of Traken and, in the Fourth Doctor's last adventure, by the opinionated Tegan Jovanka.
The conduit between E-Space and our own universe is revealed to be a Charged Vacuum Emboitment (CVE) — created by the mathematicians of Logopolis as part of a system to allow the Universe to continue on past its point of heat death. As he investigates this, the Fourth Doctor begins experiencing ominous feelings and spots a white-clad entity, "The Watcher," observing him. After succeeding in stopping the Master from disrupting the CVEs and destroying the universe, the Fourth Doctor is mortally wounded when he falls from the Pharos Project radio telescope control tower, where he utters his last words: "It's the end -- but the moment has been prepared for." The Watcher is revealed as a manifestation of the Doctor's future incarnation. Before the eyes of the Doctor's companions, the Watcher merges with the Fourth Doctor, regenerating him into the Fifth Doctor.
The Fourth Doctor appears once more in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors. A renegade Time Lord attempts to pull the first five incarnations of the Doctor out of time, inadvertently trapping the Fourth Doctor (and Romana) in a "time eddy" from which they are later freed.
Personality: The Fourth Doctor is a natural bohemian who permanently left UNIT in order to return to a life of deep universal wandering. More so than his previous incarnations, he is thrilled by discovery and adventure. Galvanised by higher purpose, he is disarmingly loopy (constantly offering friends and foes jelly babies; this trait is referenced in the Tenth Doctor episode 'The Sound of Drums', where the John Simm incarnation of the Master is seen enjoying a bag of jelly babies on board theValiant'), brilliant and entirely serious, all at the same time. To an extent, the Fourth Doctor is the most unpredictable of his incarnations, befuddling all with his intelligence, constantly leaving others wondering if they have his full attention and using his more off the wall mannerisms against adversaries to distract them while arranging to take control of the situation. His keen judge of character also enables him to navigate his way through situations with new people, helping him to discern friend from foe. Although like all his selves he prefers his brain over his brawn, he is a capable swordsman and wrestler, following on from the martial expertise of his immediate former self. He improvises non-lethal weaponry when necessary (Genesis of the Daleks) but was also not averse to more lethal weaponry as a necessity, against both sentient and non-sentient beings (The Invasion of Time, The Talons of Weng-Chiang).
Despite his charm and offbeat humour, the Fourth Doctor is arguably more aloof and sombre than his previous incarnations. He could become intensely brooding, serious and even callous, and would keenly scrutinise his surroundings even when playing the fool. He could also be furious with those he saw as stupid, frivolous, misguided or evil. When taking charge, he could be considered authoritative to the point of egocentricity, but as it is, he is usually the only one capable of solving the situations he finds himself in. He openly maintained his distance from the Time Lords even after they had lifted his exile, although he resented that they were now capable of re-entering his life when they deemed it necessary. Not only did he seem more inclined toward a solitary existence (The Deadly Assassin), he also emphasised his distance from humanity, although he stated on more than one occasion that he found mankind to be his favourite species.
Two of the Doctor's most significant companionships occur during his fourth incarnation. His friendship with Sarah is implied to be deeper than the relationships he shared with other companions to that point (as alluded to in the Tenth Doctor episode School Reunion). She is consequently still profoundly affected by their separation many years later in her personal timeline. His relationship with Romana (specifically her second incarnation) borders on romantic attraction while being bolstered by her capacity to maintain pace with his mental processes. The largest proof of his influence on her is when she chooses to exile herself from Gallifrey to explore new worlds and help others, as he himself has done.
Appearance: Imposingly tall, with eyes that seem to constantly boggle, a mass of curls for hair and prominently displayed teeth, the Doctor favours an outfit that usually consists of a shirt, waistcoat, wide-legged trousers, a frock coat (with pockets containing a seemingly endless array of apparently useless items that would nevertheless suit the Doctor's purposes when used), a wide-brimmed hat (on occasion) and, most famously, his impractically long, multicoloured striped scarf, which was apparently knitted for him by Madame Nostradamus (whom he refers to as a "witty little knitter").
According to the creators of the show and Baker, the character's look was originally based on paintings and posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec of his friend, Aristide Bruant, a singer and nightclub owner whose trademark was a black cloak and long red scarf [3]. The outfit also bears a distinct similarity to the clothing worn by Malcom McDowell during his entrance at the beginning of the film If.....
When John-Nathan Turner became the show's producer in Baker's last year, the Fourth Doctor was the first to sport an item of clothing adorned with red question marks as a motif, in this case above the points on his shirt collars. His coat and scarf were changed to a burgundy color scheme.
Story style: The early stories of the Fourth Doctor were characterised by a strong "horror" theme. The combination of writer Robert Holmes and producer Philip Hinchcliffe consciously took well known themes such as Frankenstein (The Brain of Morbius, Robot), transformation (The Ark in Space, Planet of Evil), alien abduction, and even some elements lifted directly from Universal horror movies, such as the mummies in Pyramids of Mars, although they were given a science fiction explanation, rather than the typical magic.
This horror element attracted much criticism, notably from Mary Whitehouse, and Hinchcliffe was moved on to police drama Target in 1977. The fourth season of Baker's run was produced by Graham Williams who was given specific instructions to lighten the tone of the stories, thus playing to Baker's strengths.
During the Fourth Doctor's run, in Season 17, the science fiction author Douglas Adams was script editor and his distinctive style can be seen in the dialogue and stories of some of the serials such as City of Death and The Pirate Planet. Adams' tenure is controversial with fans, some of whom believe that the humorous stories are uncharacteristic of the series, and others who contend that the diversity of the storytelling was one of the series' strong points.
In Season 18, John Nathan-Turner became the series' producer. He instituted a number of changes to the show, including toning down the humour. During this season, the Fourth Doctor became very much subdued and, on occasion, melancholy. At the time, Baker's health was temporarily impaired, although he eventually recovered. Both the actor and character seemed noticeably older in this season, due to Baker's gaunt appearance and greying hair; many of this season's stories also had an elegiac tone, with entropy and decay being a recurring theme.
The Fourth Doctor's stories saw fewer recurring elements than previously with few aliens and monsters appearing in more than one story. The Daleks only appeared twice and the Cybermen only had one story, Revenge of the Cybermen. UNIT, which had featured in most of the Third Doctor's adventures, only appeared in four early Fourth Doctor stories, playing a minor role in their last appearance, Season 13's The Seeds of Doom in which none of the regular UNIT staff appeared.
Fifth Doctor ~ Peter Davison
Tenure: 1981–1984
First appearance: Logopolis (Part 4)
Last appearance: The Caves of Androzani (regular),"Time Crash" (charity special)
Number of series: 3
Appearances:20 stories (69 episodes)
Companions on television:
Adric
Nyssa
Tegan Jovanka
Vislor Turlough
Kamelion
Peri Brown
in spin-offs:
Sir Justin
Gus
Erimem
Robert McIntosh
Thomas Brewster
Preceding Fourth Doctor: Tom Baker
Succeeding Sixth Doctor: Colin Baker
Series Seasons: 19 to 21
The Fifth Doctor is the name given to the fifth incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Peter Davison.
Overview: After the famous and popular Fourth Doctor (as played by Tom Baker), the decision was taken for the next Doctor to be played by someone who presented something of a physical contrast to Baker and by an actor who was already firmly established in the British public's mind. Peter Davison was chosen, due in no small part to his popular and critically acclaimed role as Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small, a BBC series based on the books of James Herriot.
The Fifth Doctor's era was notable for a "back to basics" attitude, in which "silly" humour (and, to an extent, horror) was kept to a minimum, and more scientific accuracy was encouraged by the producer, John Nathan-Turner. It was also notable for the reintroduction of many of the Time Lord's enemies; such as the Master, Cybermen, Omega (a founding-father of Gallifrey), the Black and White Guardians, the Sea Devils, and the Silurians.
Biography: The Fourth Doctor's regeneration into the Fifth was a problematic one, and nearly failed, with the Doctor briefly taking on personality aspects from his four previous incarnations. After recovering in the fictional city Castrovalva, he continued his travels with Tegan Jovanka, Nyssa of Traken and Adric. After trips to the future and the past encountering villains such as Monarch and the Mara, the Fifth Doctor was confronted with tragedy when Adric died trying to stop a space freighter from crashing into prehistoric Earth (Earthshock).
When the Doctor met a new companion, an alien boy stranded on Earth by the name of Vislor Turlough, he did not know that Turlough had been commissioned by the Black Guardian to kill him. Soon after, Nyssa left to help cure Lazar's Disease on the space station Terminus. After meeting the entities known as Eternals racing in yacht-like spacecraft for the prize of "Enlightenment", Turlough broke free from the Black Guardian's influence, and continued to travel with the Doctor and Tegan. The Doctor met three of his previous incarnations when they were summoned to the Death Zone on Gallifrey by President Borusa, who was attempting to gain Rassilon's secret of immortality.
After further adventures in which the Doctor re-encountered old foes including the Silurians and the Sea Devils both Tegan and Turlough left the TARDIS. Tegan would find the death and violence they encountered on their travels too much to bear (Resurrection of the Daleks), and Turlough returned to his home planet of Trion in the company of his younger brother, as well as other exiles of Trion, from the planet Sarn (Planet of Fire).
Ultimately, the Fifth Doctor and his last companion Peri Brown were exposed to the drug spectrox in its deadly toxic raw form on Androzani Minor. With only one dose of the antidote available, he nobly sacrificed his own existence to save Peri, regenerating into the Sixth Doctor having expressed doubt (for the first time) that regeneration might not be possible.
A sketch of the Fifth Doctor is seen in John Smith's book in the new series episode "Human Nature".
The Fifth Doctor meets the Tenth Doctor.
Somewhere in his life (perhaps set after the events of Snakedance) he crashed his TARDIS into the TARDIS of the Tenth Doctor and consequently nearly opened a "Belgium sized" black hole because of the paradox caused. However the Tenth Doctor, remembering the event, knew how to stop it because he recalled watching himself correct the mistake when he was the Fifth Doctor. (Time Crash)
Personality: The Fifth Doctor was far more vulnerable, sensitive and reserved than his previous incarnations, and would often react to situations rather than initiate them. Unlike his more authoritative predecessors, he would treat his young companions as parts of a team, and would often willingly participate in situations under the leadership of someone else who had the strong command presence that he apparently lacked. However, the Fifth Doctor's boyish appearance, nervous energy and charm all hid the fact that he was a Time Lord of great age, compassion and experience.
This Doctor greatly abhorred violence and would often hesitate about taking matters into his own hands. For the first time indecision weighed seriously on the character, and it had its consequences - yet this Doctor was also one of the most courageous of his incarnations. He was willing to take chances with companions like Turlough and Kamelion, which were originally a threat, even as he pretended (as was the case with Turlough) to be unaware of it at first in order to grant his companion the opportunity to do the right thing, under a careful watch of course. He was also willing to make enormous sacrifices (Mawdryn Undead) simply to keep his word and liberate others from suffering. It was perhaps the awful realisation that his very existence begat violence, and the weight of companion Adric's death on his conscience, and perhaps Tegan's near emotional breakdown as well, that led him to sacrifice his own existence to save his last companion, Peri.
The Fifth Doctor was the last to use the original sonic screwdriver, which was destroyed during The Visitation, although the Seventh and subsequent Doctors were later seen using new versions of the tool. In Time Crash, he declined to borrow the Tenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver, prompting the Tenth Doctor's sarcastic remark, "Oh no, of course, you mostly went hands free didn't you? It's like, 'Hey I'm the Doctor, I can save the universe using a kettle and some string. And look at me, I'm wearing a vegetable.'"
Appearance: The Fifth Doctor's chosen mode of dress was a variation of an Edwardian cricketer's uniform, and he was even seen to carry a cricket ball in one of his pockets (which saved his life in one adventure). He wore a cream-coloured frock coat, striped trousers, plimsoll shoes and occasionally a pair of spectacles. The Tenth Doctor, who inherited various traits from this incarnation such as spectacle use, revealed in Time Crash that the spectacles weren't actually needed to aid the Doctor's eyesight but were just for show to make him look clever (perhaps to counter his youthful appearance). The Fifth Doctor's costume also retained red question marks embroidered onto the collar which producer John Nather-Turner added to the Fourth Doctor's costume in 1980. The Fifth Doctor also displayed an unusually acute sense of taste in Planet of Fire, also inherited by the Tenth Doctor.
On his lapel, this Doctor wore a celery stalk. He claimed in The Caves of Androzani that the celery would turn purple in the presence of certain gases in the "Praxis" range to which he was allergic, although this allergy was not mentioned by any incarnations before or since. He said that if that happened, he would then eat the celery (explaining, "If nothing else, I'm sure it's good for my teeth"). In the same story, while attempting to revive a feverish Peri from Spectrox Toxemia, he had noted that celery was an "excellent restorative from where I come from", but that the human olfactory system was "comparatively feeble." The Tenth Doctor repeatedly poked fun at the celery in Time Crash, describing it as a "decorative vegetable".
Peter Davison stated in an interview on the DVD of Castrovalva that he thought the clothes he wore were far too "designed" and that he would have still kept them, but wanted to add some individual flair to them, as other actors portraying the Doctor have done in the past.
Appearances: The Fifth Doctor was first seen on television in the last episode of Logopolis, broadcast on 21 March 1981. Davison played the role through the 19th and 20th seasons of Doctor Who, including the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors. Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor, advised Davison to stay in the role for three years, and acting on this advice Davison informed producer John Nathan-Turner that he would leave the role after the 21st season. In a break from recent tradition, Nathan-Turner decided to regenerate the Doctor in the season's penultimate story, in order to introduce the Sixth Doctor to audiences before the seasonal hiatus. Davison's last regular appearance as the Fifth Doctor was in the last episode of The Caves of Androzani, broadcast on 16 March 1984.
Davison returned to the role briefly in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time. Beginning in 1999, he recorded a series of Doctor Who audio plays for Big Finish Productions. In 2007, Davison, at age 56, appeared alongside Tenth Doctor David Tennant in a Doctor Who special for Children in Need, written by Steven Moffat titled "Time Crash". This was the first official time that a Doctor from the New Series met a Doctor from the original 26-year run.[1] This is the first "multi-Doctor" story in the revived series and the first televised one since The Two Doctors in 1985.
The Fifth Doctor has also appeared in officially licensed novels, short stories and comics.
Sixth Doctor ~ Colin Baker
Tenure: 1984–1986
First appearance: The Caves of Androzani (Part 4)
Last appearance: The Trial of a Time Lord: The Ultimate Foe(Colin Baker), Time and the Rani (Briefly portrayed by Sylvester McCoy), Dimensions In Time (charity special)
Number of series: 3
Appearances: 11 stories (31 episodes)
Companions on television:
Peri Brown
Mel Bush
in spin-offs:
Frobisher
Angela Jennings
Grant Markham
Evelyn Smythe
Charley Pollard
Preceding Fifth Doctor: Peter Davison
Succeeding Seventh Doctor: Sylvester McCoy
Series Seasons 21 to 23
The Sixth Doctor is the name given to the sixth incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor, seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Colin Baker, and briefly by Sylvester McCoy during the Sixth Doctor's regeneration into the Seventh. This makes the Sixth Doctor one of only two incarnations of the Doctor to have been officially played by more than one actor, the other being the First Doctor.
Overview: The Sixth Doctor's brightly coloured, mismatched clothes and brash, overbearing personality set him apart from all his previous incarnations, in some ways hearkening back to the early irascibility and undertones of untrustworthiness of the First Doctor. The Sixth Doctor appeared in three seasons; however, in his first outing in Season 21 he appeared only in the final episode of The Caves of Androzani which featured the regeneration from the Fifth Doctor and thereafter in the following serial The Twin Dilemma to end that season. The Sixth Doctor's era is noted for the decision of the BBC controller Michael Grade to put the series on an 18-month hiatus between seasons 22 and 23.
He also appeared in the special Dimensions in Time. There are also novels and audio plays featuring the Sixth Doctor. A glimpse of a sketch of the Sixth Doctor was later seen in John Smith's A Journal of Impossible Things in the new series episode "Human Nature".
Biography: The Sixth Doctor's regeneration was initially unstable, and he nearly strangled Peri before he came to his senses. He encountered many old foes including the Master, Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans, and even shared an adventure with his own second incarnation. Later, the Doctor was put on trial for the second time by his own race, the Time Lords. The prosecutor at that trial, the Valeyard, turned out to be a possible future, and evil, incarnation of the Doctor himself. The events of the trial tangled the Doctor's timeline slightly, as he left in the company of Mel, whom he technically had not yet met. (Originally this was the then producers idea that in the following season this would be explained).
When the TARDIS was attacked by his old enemy the Rani, the Sixth Doctor was somehow injured and regenerated into the Seventh Doctor; the exact cause of the regeneration, however, has never been revealed on-screen.[1] When writers Pip and Jane Baker's novel of the story tried to explain the regeneration many were not happy with the outcome. There have subsequently been various explanations for the regeneration. Writer Craig Hinton proposed one explanation in his propose novel Time's Champion, which was completed after his death and published for charity. Script Editor Eric Saward's intent may have been as a result of a fight to the death with the Valeyard.[citation needed] Gary Russell's novel Spiral Scratch gives another explanation for the Sixth Doctor's regeneration.
The Sixth Doctor is the first incarnation of the Doctor for which an estimate of length of his tenure can be extrapolated from the dialogue of the television series. In Revelation of the Daleks, he states that he is 900 years old; in Time and the Rani, the Seventh Doctor, having regenerated from the Sixth only hours earlier, states that his exact age is 953, indicating (presuming the Sixth Doctor gave his real age earlier) that 53 years had passed (for the Doctor) between Revelation of the Daleks and his regeneration (the exact length of time between The Twin Dilemma and Revelation of the Daleks, however, is not indicated). Given the convoluted circumstances surrounding Trial of a Time Lord, a suitable gap does exist for this. When the series returned in 2005, however, the Ninth Doctor also claimed an age of 900 years, and the Tenth Doctor 903, seemingly contradicting the earlier claim by the Seventh Doctor.
Personality: The Sixth Doctor was an unpredictable and somewhat petulant egoist, whose garish, multicoloured attire reflected his volatile personality. He was both portentous and eloquent — even for any Doctor, of whom he saw himself as the finest incarnation yet — and his unpredictability was made even wilder by his mood swings, manic behaviour, bombastic outbursts and glib, unflappable wit. His personality also displayed occasionally fatalistic overtones.
The Sixth Doctor was almost supremely confident in his abilities and did not suffer fools gladly; he sometimes seemed to endure Peri's presence far more than he actually appreciated it, and his superiority complex applied to almost everyone he encountered. His intellect could support his ego -- for instance, the Sixth Doctor was the only one who was able to repair and operate the chameleon circuit within the TARDIS, allowing it to change shape to suit its surroundings rather than looking constantly like a police box (although the appropriateness of the Tardis' appearance to its environment was more-or-less nil) in Attack of the Cybermen. However, not only did his melodramatic arrogance and caustic wit eventually subside, it actually hid the fact that he had a strong moral sense and a heart of gold (glimpsed in Revelation of the Daleks, in which he showed great compassion to a dying mutant). Underneath his blustering exterior, he was more determined than ever in his universal battles against evil, possessed of a tenacity and a thirst to do what was right that was far more visible than ever before. Despite his often unstable demeanour, he was always ready to act when necessary, and very little — even his companions — could hope to stand in his way.
His condescension towards the universe around him also extended to his companions, especially Peri. While his use of violence against his foes and his abrasive relationship with Peri were both often criticised by fans, the violence was largely in self-defence, and his relationship with Peri had mellowed significantly when the programme returned from hiatus for Season 23's The Trial of a Time Lord.
He was well known for his love of cats, and always wore one of a number of cat-shaped pins or brooches on the lapel of his patchwork coat, itself said to be the height of fashion on a distant planet.
The events surrounding the production of Doctor Who in the mid-1980s caused the Sixth Doctor's tenure to be cut short, and for a long time Colin Baker bore the brunt of the blame as the "unlikeable" Doctor.
The Sixth Doctor's return in the Big Finish Productions audio plays, voiced by Baker, have gone some way to changing this impression, with the Sixth Doctor appearing to be a somewhat calmer, wittier and altogether happier character (attributed in-story to the influence of companion Evelyn Smythe). In a 2001 poll in Doctor Who Magazine, Baker was voted the "greatest Doctor" of the audio plays.
Costume: Colin Baker wished to dress his Doctor in black, specifically black velvet, to reflect his character's darker personality. Producer John Nathan-Turner, however, opted for a deliberately tasteless costume with garish clashing colours (later described by Colin Baker as "an explosion in a rainbow factory"). He also retained the question marks embroidered onto his collar which Nathan-Turner had added to Tom Baker's costume in 1980 and had retained through Peter Davison's tenure. Baker added a cat badge to the ensemble.
In recent years, a blue variation of the costume has become a popular alternative. This outfit was used in the webcast Real Time as the clashing colours of the original design were tricky to animate.[1] It also has been used on the cover of some of numerous audio drama stories from Big Finish Productions.
The earliest chronological appearance of the blue 6th Doctor outfit can be traced to the cover of the 1986 Random House edition of the Find-Your-Fate book "Search for the Doctor" by David Martin. The cover art is credited to "Romas". The original Inspiration for the image is unclear, but it is obvious that in this case it was not one stemming from ease of artistic depiction as is the case with Real Time, since the multicolored outfit appears in the cover art right alongside the blue one.[original research?]
Story style: Season 22 attracted some criticism for its violent content. Ironically, torture for entertainment was explored as a theme in the story Vengeance on Varos. After the 18-month hiatus, Season 23 featured a reduction of episodes produced, and the 14-part serial The Trial of a Time Lord was felt by some fans[2] to reflect the fact that the series itself was "on trial" at this time. The season featured some of the most popular Colin Baker serials (See History of Doctor Who for more details).
Seventh Doctor ~ Sylvester McCoy
Tenure: 1987–1996
First appearance: Time and the Rani
Last appearance: Survival (regular), Doctor Who (guest star)
Number of series: 3
Appearances: 12 stories (42 episodes)
Companions on television:
Mel Bush
Ace
in spin-offs:
Benny Summerfield
Roz Forrester
Chris Cwej
Frobisher
Olla
Hex Schofield
Antimony
Catherine Broome
Preceding Sixth Doctor: Colin Baker
Succeeding Eighth Doctor: Paul McGann
Series Seasons: 24 to 26
The Seventh Doctor is a fictional character, the seventh incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy.
Overview: In his first season, the Seventh Doctor started out as a comical character, mixing his metaphors ("Time and tide melt the snowman," for example), playing the spoons, and making pratfalls, but soon started to develop a darker nature and raised the profound question of who the Doctor actually is. The Seventh Doctor era is noted for the cancellation of Doctor Who after 26 years. It is also noted for the Virgin New Adventures, a range of original novels published from 1992 to 1997, taking the series on beyond the television serials.
In 1990, readers of Doctor Who Magazine voted McCoy's Doctor "Best Doctor", over perennial favourite Tom Baker.
The Seventh Doctor's final appearance on television was in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, where he regenerated into the Eighth Doctor, played by Paul McGann. A sketch of him is later seen in John Smith's A Journal of Impossible Things in the new series 2007 episode "Human Nature".
Biography: When the TARDIS was attacked by the Rani, the Sixth Doctor was injured and forced to regenerate. After a brief period of post-regenerative confusion and amnesia (chemically induced by the Rani), the Seventh Doctor thwarted the Rani's plans, and rejoined his companion Mel for whimsical adventures in an odd tower block and a Welsh holiday camp in the 1950s.
On the planet Svartos, Mel decided to leave the Doctor's company for that of intergalactic rogue Sabalom Glitz. Also at this time, the Doctor was joined by time-stranded teenager Ace. Although he did not mention it at the time, the Doctor soon recognised that an old enemy from a past adventure, the ancient entity known as Fenric, was responsible for the Time Storm which transported Ace from 1980s Perivale to Svartos in the distant future. Growing more secretive and driven from this point on, the Doctor took Ace under his wing and began teaching her about the universe, all the while keeping an eye out for Fenric's plot. The Doctor began taking a more scheming and proactive approach to defeating evil, using the Gallifreyan stellar manipulator named the Hand of Omega as part of an elaborate trap for the Daleks which resulted in the destruction of their home planet, Skaro. Soon afterwards, the Doctor used a similar tactic and another Time Lord relic to destroy a Cyberman fleet. He engineered the fall of the oppressive government of a future human colony in a single night and encountered the Gods of Ragnarok at a circus on the planet Segonax, whom he had apparently fought throughout time. Later, he was reunited with his old friend, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart while battling the forces of an alternate dimension on Earth.
The Seventh Doctor's manipulations were not reserved for his enemies. With the goal of helping Ace confront her past, he took her to a Victorian house in her home town of Perivale in 1883 which she had burned down in 1983. Eventually, the Doctor confronted and defeated Fenric at a British naval base during World War II, revealing Fenric's part in Ace's history. The Doctor continued to act as Ace's mentor, returning her to Perivale; however, she chose to continue travelling with him. The circumstances of her parting from the Doctor were not shown on television.
Near the end of his incarnation, the Seventh Doctor was given the responsibility of transporting the remains of his former enemy the Master from Skaro to Gallifrey. This proved to be a huge mistake: despite having a limited physical form, the Master was able to take control of the Doctor's TARDIS and cause it to land in 1999 San Francisco, where the Doctor was shot in the middle of a gang shoot-out. He was taken to a hospital, where surgeons removed the bullets but mistook the Doctor's double heartbeat for fibrillation; their attempt to save his life instead caused the Doctor to "die". Perhaps due to the anesthesia, the Doctor did not regenerate immediately after death (unlike all previous occasions); he finally did so several hours later, while lying in the hospital's morgue.
In Time and the Rani the Seventh Doctor gives his age soon after his regeneration as "exactly" 953 years, indicating that some two centuries of subjective time has passed since his fourth incarnation was revealed to be 759 in The Ribos Operation, and approximately half-a-century since Revelation of the Daleks in which the Sixth Doctor stated he was 900 years old. The later revival of the series, however, has contradicted the age given by the Seventh Doctor (and the Sixth) by establishing the Ninth Doctor as 900 years old, with the Tenth Doctor stating his exact age as 903 in Voyage of the Damned.
Personality: The Seventh Doctor displayed perhaps the most profound change in attitude of any of the Time Lord's personae, beginning as perhaps the most outwardly amiable and bumbling (to the extent of putting himself in danger but not at the cost of his overall great intelligence and benevolent intentions) and progressing into a driven, dark gamemaster whose plans to defeat his adversaries, both old and new, would play out across space and time. He generally displayed an affable, curious, knowledgeable, easygoing, excitable and charming air. However, as he began to choose his battles and keep a tighter grip on his secrets - from his plans to his very identity - he also presented more serious, contemplative, secretive, wistful and manipulative sides with undercurrents of mischief and authority, constantly giving the impression that there was more to him than met the eye.
As something of a showman, the Doctor would sometimes act like a buffoon, usually preferring to manipulate events from behind the scenes; much like his second incarnation, he was prepared to play the fool in order to trick his foes into underestimating him, inevitably leading to their defeat at his hands. He was an adept physical performer and once deployed a repertoire of magic tricks, illusions and escape artistry to this effect as part of his plans. Although his more obvious whimsical tendencies disappeared over time (particularly his spoons-playing), he maintained a fondness for idiosyncratic speeches that occasionally referred to literature, ordinary places and even food and drink amidst the weightier concerns on his mind. He was empathetic to his friends (and even his enemies, such as Helen A) and somewhat melancholic at times (such as during Mel's departure and before his decision to eradicate the Daleks) but now placed greater burdens upon himself in the name of protecting the universe. This may have led him to surround his true intentions in mystery and the use of sleight of hand as befit his fondness for performance, in effect, subverting his more lighthearted qualities to complement and enhance his heroic and darker ones.
Given the Seventh Doctor's appearance and stature, he was surprisingly capable of both directly and indirectly taking control of situations involving strangers, using his greater intelligence to assess and direct events. Concerned with the bigger picture, he would sometimes overlook the finer details and his planning, both pre-prepared and improvised, would sometimes have fatal results and consequences. When he acted to end threats, it was usually a ruthless, destructive and final maneuver. He was also not above hiding the truth from his friends and allies and using them in order to complete his schemes and gambits.
His tendency to reveal only select information to his companion Ace — as well as anyone else around them — was utilised both in her education and in their adventures, as if he were the only one who should know all the answers and others should come to their own conclusions. At two points he even abused Ace's trust in him, once to develop her as a person and again to keep her alive (on both occasions, freeing her from the evil influences that had haunted her during her life), while on one of these adventures, he showed great difficulty in admitting his foreknowledge of the situation's severity to her when she finally confronted him. In spite of his immense fondness for her, and her for him, he often frustrated her with his secretive nature as his alien behaviour, the great importance of his objectives (especially his focus on obliterating enemies from his past) and his strong desire to both educate and protect her would lead him to keep even her in the dark and would even subordinate her feelings towards him in order to succeed in their battles. Fortunately, their close, almost familial bond was likely what helped Ace in moving past the feelings of betrayal she sometimes felt towards the Doctor, particularly as he genuinely had her best interests at heart. In fact, while he appeared to be an unassuming figure, fond of performing magic tricks and displaying notable showmanship, the Seventh Doctor was actually quite powerful and calculating, for he would use his friends and foes alike as pawns in his elaborate chess game against "evil". As Ace herself put it, he was "well devious."
In direct contrast to his third incarnation, this Doctor was absolutely opposed to violence of any sort (as demonstrated in stories such as Battlefield, where he stops a battle merely by ordering the warriors to desist) and he was totally against the use of firearms (to the extent of 'talking down' a soldier ordered to execute him in The Happiness Patrol by emphasising the easiness of the kill versus the enormity of ending a life), although he also proved capable of rendering a man unconscious with a touch. In keeping with his established habits, he would use gadgetry of his own invention when the situation called for it, but never as his final gambit. Instead, he almost always managed to talk his enemies into submission, often into suicide – perhaps most memorably in Remembrance of the Daleks, where he taunts the seemingly last Dalek in existence until it self-destructs, or in Ghost Light, where he defeats the malevolent Light by ramming home the folly of trying to prevent evolution (he employs variations of this 'talk to death' tactic in Dragonfire, Silver Nemesis and The Curse of Fenric, although primarily to manipulate opponents to guarantee the outcome in his favour). Perhaps this Doctor's most definitive stand against violence and savagery was taken when he faced down his arch-foe the Master in Survival whilst resisting the animalistic influence of an alien world, telling his enemy, "If we fight like animals, we die like animals."
He displayed a talent for hypnosis on various occasions that appeared to be much stronger than in past incarnations. It is indeed fitting that this, at times the darkest Doctor of all, should not directly use physical force to implement his actions, even though he seemed to have the universe's weight on his shoulders more often than any other Doctor.
These trends continued in the Virgin New Adventures novel series, where the Doctor would be prepared to destroy planets in the name of the greater good, and his companions were not always sure whether they could trust him. However, the mysterious Seventh Doctor eventually became slightly less dark and manipulative towards the end of his incarnation and seemed to finally regain some of the relaxed attitude he once possessed at his beginning.
Appearance and personality quirks: The Doctor's outfit in this incarnation was calmer than his previous attire ("Thank goodness in this regeneration I've regained my impeccable sense of haute couture"), but as idiosyncratic as any other. It consisted of a long off-white jacket with a red paisley scarf worn under its lapels and a matching handkerchief in one of the pockets, a lapel chain, a shirt, a red paisley tie, a yellow and green tank top adorned with red question marks, sand-coloured plaid trousers, white/brown two tone brogue shoes, a Panama hat with an upturned brim (a possible reference to the similar accessory he wore as the Fifth Doctor) and an umbrella with a red question mark-shaped handle. As with the three other Doctors costumed during the John Nathan-Turner era, the above mentioned question marks on the Doctor's tank top and his umbrella handle continued the red question marked clothing motif that was introduced in the Fourth Doctor's final season and ended before the Seventh Doctor's regeneration.
Although a seemingly casual outfit that reflected the Seventh Doctor's initially easy and whimsical manner, it took on a new light when he became more scheming and prepared in his missions — to reflect the emergence of his personality's more mysterious and darker aspects, his jacket, hatband, handkerchief, scarf and tie became more muted and darker in colour, now in shades of burgundy and brown (most obviously the jacket). In the New Adventures novels, images of the Doctor on the covers usually omitted the pullover. On a DVD featurette ("Light In Dark Places") for Ghost Light, Sylvester McCoy expresses some disdain for the garment, feeling it detracts somewhat from the mood of the story, when drawing attention to the stylistic choice of performing in most of the serial without his hat and umbrella. The changes in colours make the Seventh the only Doctor under Nathan-Turner's tenure to greatly alter his costume; the changes to the outfits worn by his three previous selves during this production period tended to be more subtle and less noteworthy. The Seventh's own attire was repeatedly revised during his first season, wearing a red/black tartan scarf and red braces initially, along with briefly using a different umbrella handle at first.
The Seventh Doctor's TV Movie costume.
In the TV Movie the Doctor's costume changed again, with a return to a lighter jacket, now coloured sand. Gone were the question mark pullover, scarves, tie and question mark umbrella, replaced by a red waistcoat and a black tie. However, the Doctor retained his Panama hat.
The Doctor enjoyed using his hat, umbrella and the TARDIS key, amongst other items, as physical props, usually as showy affectations or to command attention, while the umbrella could also be used to disarm and trip foes. Like his second, fourth and sixth selves, the Seventh carried any number of random items in his pockets, including technological devices and books. In a break from his past however, he spoke with a mild Scottish accent rather than in his past selves' Received Pronunciation speaking patterns and also rolled his Rs. His pet peeves included burnt toast, bus stations, unrequited love, tyranny and cruelty.
Other appearances: Television
The Seventh Doctor and Ace appeared twice on television between the time Doctor Who was cancelled and the 1996 television movie. The first was in 1990, in a special episode of the BBC2 educational programme Search Out Science. In this episode, the Doctor acted as a quiz show host, asking questions about astronomy; Ace, K-9 and "Cedric, from the planet Glurk" were the contestants. The Seventh Doctor then appeared in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time. Neither of these appearances are generally considered canonical. A picture of the Seventh Doctor appears briefly in the Tenth Doctor story "Human Nature", in John Smith's "A Journal Of Impossible Things".
Eighth Doctor ~ Paul McGann
Tenure: 1996–2005
First appearance: Doctor Who
Last appearance: Doctor Who
Number of series: None
Appearances: 1 story (1 episode)
Companions on television:
Grace Holloway
in spin-offs:
Benny Summerfield
Stacy Townsend
Ssard
Izzy Sinclair
Kroton
Fey
Destrii
Sam Jones
Fitz Kreiner
Compassion
Anji Kapoor
Trix MacMillan
Charley Pollard
C'rizz
Samson and Gemma
Lucie Miller
Romana II
K-9 Mark II
Preceding Seventh Doctor: Sylvester McCoy
Succeeding Ninth Doctor: Christopher Eccleston
Series TV movie (1996)
The Eighth Doctor is a fictional character, the eighth incarnation of the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann. Though he appeared in only one TV feature, his adventures are extensively portrayed in other media.
Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who travels in time in his TARDIS, frequently with companions. When the Doctor is critically injured, he can regenerate his body but in doing so gains a new physical appearance and with it, a distinct new personality. McGann portrays the eighth such incarnation, a passionate, enthusiastic and eccentric character. His only companion in the television movie is Grace (Daphne Ashbrook), a medical doctor whose surgery is responsible for triggering his regeneration. In the continued adventures of the character depicted in audio dramas, novels and comic books he travels alongside numerous other companions, including self styled "Edwardian Adventuress" Charley, the alien Destrii and present-day humans Lucie and Sam. In the revived Doctor Who TV series (2005-), it is implied that the Eighth Doctor was the incarnation to lead the Time Lords in a mutually destructive Time War with the Daleks.
Overview: The Eighth Doctor made his first and only television appearance in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, the first time the Doctor had returned to television screens since the end of the original series in 1989. Intended as a backdoor pilot for a new television series on the FOX Network, the movie was inadequately marketed and advertised[citation needed] (and in some markets even pre-empted by televised sporting events), ultimately leading to poor US ratings. In the UK, however, it was received well, attracting over 9 million viewers and generally positive reviews.
Although the movie failed to spark a new television series, the Eighth Doctor's adventures continued in various licensed spin-off media, notably BBC Books' Eighth Doctor Adventures novels, audio plays from Big Finish Productions, and the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip. As these stories spanned the nine years between 1996 and the debut of the new television series in 2005, some consider the Eighth Doctor one of the longest-serving of the Doctors. He is unarguably the longest-serving Doctor in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip. In the wake of the positive reaction to the revived television series in 2005, several of the Eighth Doctor's Big Finish audio dramas were also broadcast on BBC7 radio in an edited form. The trailers for these broadcasts explained that these adventures took place before the destruction of Gallifrey as described in the revived TV series. In 2007, the BBC7 aired a new series of Eighth Doctor audio adventures, created specifically for radio broadcast. Paul McGann has continued to portray the Eighth Doctor in the various audio spinoffs.
The canonicity of the spin-off media with respect to the television series and to each other is open to interpretation (the "Beginner's Guide to Doctor Who" on the BBC's classic Doctor Who website suggests this may be due to the Time War)[1]. It has been suggested that the Eighth Doctor's adventures in three different forms (novels, audio, and comics) take place in three separate continuities. The discontinuities were made explicit in the audio drama Zagreus.[2]In response, it has become increasingly common to consider the three ranges separately. The final Eighth Doctor Adventures novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles, obliquely references this split in timelines, even suggesting that the split results in the three alternative forms of the Ninth Doctor (a reference to the fact three different versions of the incarnation have appeared in various media). Even so, all matters of canonicity remain typically unclear.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the fact the Eighth Doctor appeared on television only once, he is the most prolific of all the Doctors (to date) in terms of number of individual stories – published in novel, novella, short story and audio form.[3] Literature aside, counting his performances in the role – all but one being audio-only – McGann is easily as prolific as many of his fellow Doctor Who stars. In 2007, the Eighth Doctor finally made a second appearance (of sorts) within the television series' continuity – in the episode "Human Nature". He appears on-screen as a sketch (alongside other incarnations) in the book A Journal of Impossible Things by John Smith.
Personality: The Eighth Doctor, a Byronesque figure who is arguably the most human and romantic of all of his incarnations, encouraged those around him to seize life instead of withdrawing from it. He also seemed to enjoy giving people hints of their own futures, probably to prod them into making the right decisions. It is unclear if the eighth Doctor's knowledge of people's futures comes from historical expertise, psychic power or precognitive ability.
As with the Fifth Doctor, the debonair Eighth Doctor's youthful, wide-eyed enthusiasm actually hid a very old soul with perhaps a darker side. In fact, whereas the Eighth Doctor of the audio plays (voiced by McGann) and the comic strip hew closely to the television movie Doctor, the Eighth Doctor of the novels exhibited what was, at times, a much darker personality, perhaps due to the rather traumatic adventures that he underwent.
The Eighth Doctor also attracted controversy in the television movie, breaking the long-standing taboo against romantic involvement with his companions by kissing Grace Holloway. Fans were extremely divided on this. In the spin-off media that followed, the Eighth Doctor has often been the object of romantic interest, but has shown little to no romantic inclinations of his own.
Fans have also been divided on the Eighth Doctor revealing that he is apparently half-human on his mother's side. See Doctor Who (1996)#Controversy for more details. The BBC novels have referred to the issue, sometimes explicitly and sometimes obliquely. In the final Eighth Doctor novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles, it is implied that the Doctor's mother is a human woman named Penelope Gate, who appeared in a Virgin seventh Doctor novel called The Room with No Doors. However, "Journey's End", an episode of the revived television series, sees the Tenth Doctor become half-human, and his reaction to the situation implies this is a new experience for him.
In all his iterations, the Eighth Doctor has proven extremely prone to bouts of amnesia, a tendency apparently inspired by the plot of his sole television appearance. He also demonstrates, in his first and only televised appearance, a penchant for sleight of hand. He manages to "lift" or pickpocket various items from certain people he meets during his first adventure.
Character history: Television
After the Seventh Doctor was caught in the crossfire of a gang shoot-out in 1999 San Francisco he was taken to a hospital where surgeons, confused by his double heartbeat, attempted to correct a non-existent fibrillation. Their efforts instead "killed" the Doctor, triggering a regeneration into his eighth incarnation. At the time of his injury, the Doctor had been transporting the remains of his long-time nemesis the Master from the planet Skaro to Gallifrey. (Although it's interesting to note that in Remembrance of the Daleks, featuring the Seventh Doctor, Skaro was destroyed by the Hand of Omega). The Master, however, was not completely dead, and was able to possess a human form. In an attempt to steal the Doctor's remaining lives, the Master opened the Eye of Harmony within the TARDIS, and nearly destroyed the planet Earth as people celebrated the end of the millennium. However, with the aid of Dr Grace Holloway, the Doctor was able to stop the Master's plan; the Master was sucked into the Eye, apparently dying once and for all. The Master would, however, return in "Utopia".
The exact circumstances of the Eighth Doctor's regeneration into the Ninth have not yet been revealed. An off-hand remark by the Ninth Doctor in the 2005 episode "Rose" (commenting on the size of his own ears) suggests that the regeneration took place shortly before that story, however the evidence of him that Clive gathered suggests otherwise.
Spin off history:
Novels
Almost as soon as he'd left San Francisco, the Doctor had another brief attack of amnesia, caused by a final trap of the Master's. To regain his memories, the Doctor was forced to visit all seven of his past selves and help them out with some crisis or another, at the same time acknowledging the responsibility his role gave him. Having regained his memories, the Doctor met a late twentieth-century Coal Hill School student named Samantha Jones; shortly after their encounter, the Doctor left her alone at a Greenpeace rally.
For a time, the Doctor adventured with an Ice Warrior named Ssard and a human woman named Stacy Townsend, who fell in love with each other; some while after they parted ways with the Doctor, the two invited him to serve as best man at their wedding (Placebo Effect). He also, at some point, teamed up with his old companion Bernice Summerfield, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT to combat an Ice Warrior occupation of Great Britain.
Faction Paradox
Eventually, three years after his departure and one hour after he left, the Doctor returned to the Greenpeace rally. With Sam collected, the pair spent a great period wandering together, facing dozens of adventures. During their travels, Sam and the Doctor became aware of a great War, looming in the future of Gallifrey — a war between the Time Lords and an as-yet-unidentified Enemy, with dramatic and disturbing consequences. While exploring the subject, the Doctor discovered that his Sam was not the original Samantha Jones; rather, her biodata had been manipulated by an outside agency with the intent to mold her into a prosaic distraction for him (Alien Bodies). Ultimately this plan proved a failure, as Sam developed into a much more strongly-willed companion than intended; at one point she spent three years avoiding the Doctor, so as to cope with a crush she had developed on him.
The close dynamic between the pair was shifted with the introduction of Fitz Kreiner, a sixties bar singer incorrectly suspected of matricide. Fitz took on the role of a sort of younger brother to the Doctor, placing the Time Lord on as high a pedestal as Fitz had ever known. Eventually Fitz found himself abducted by Faction Paradox, a "time-travelling voodoo cult", and brainwashed into their legions. When the Doctor realized that a Faction member he had encountered was a biomass copy of Fitz, he used the TARDIS's telepathic circuits to restore Fitz's memories and identity to the clone.
With both Sam and Fitz gone — Sam's creators having been established as the Faction — the Doctor continued his travels with the clone Fitz and Compassion, an ex-Faction agent implanted with an interface that the Doctor found compatible with his TARDIS. Unbeknownst to the Doctor, the Faction — with the aid of the original Fitz — had changed his history, triggering his third regeneration ahead of schedule and infecting him with a time-release virus that, in his eighth incarnation, would transform him into a Faction member (Interference: Book One and Two).
Eventually, Compassion's implant triggered her unexpected mutation into a sentient Type 102 TARDIS, specifically the "mother" of the TARDISes that would be used in the pending War. With this knowledge, The Time Lords — led by Romana, now in her third incarnation — attempted to capture Compassion, for use as breeding stock in preparation for the War. In response, and in light of the apparent destruction of his old TARDIS, the Doctor and Fitz retreated into Compassion (The Shadows of Avalon).
The Doctor and Fitz travelled in Compassion for some time, until the machinations of Faction Paradox came to a head back on Gallifrey. As it turned out, in the new timeline triggered by the Doctor's infection, the Doctor was destined to become "Grandfather Paradox", the mythical founder of Faction Paradox. The only factor keeping the original sequence of events in play was the Doctor's TARDIS — which had rebuilt itself after its apparent destruction on Avalon, and had now materialized in a twisted form above Gallifrey, holding within itself the Doctor's original reality.
In a final confrontation with his future self, the Doctor resolved the timeline conflict by channeling the TARDIS's built-up energies through its weapon systems, thereby destroying both the Faction Paradox fleet and Gallifrey itself. In so doing, the TARDIS was able to rewrite the altered timeline with the original one that it "remembered". As a side effect, however, the Doctor’s entire memory was erased — apparently from the trauma of the event (The Ancestor Cell).
Amnesia on Earth
To give the Doctor time to recover and the TARDIS time to regenerate from the extensive damage it had suffered, Compassion dropped the Doctor off on Earth in the year 1889; she then delivered Fitz to 2001, with the intent that he wait for the Doctor to catch up to him. With that, Compassion departed for parts unknown. Back in 1889, meanwhile, the Doctor awoke in a railway carriage to discover no memory as to his real identity, and no possessions save a small, shapeless box — what was left of the TARDIS — and a note, simply stating "Meet me in St. Louis', 8 February 2001. Fitz".
Despite his amnesia, the Doctor retained a wide general knowledge. However, he also showed an uncharacteristic callous streak — easily allowing others to die, if the situations demanded it. (The Burning). To contrast, he was capable of feeling unusually poignant warmth, even dating a woman in the 1980s, and adopting a young girl named Miranda, a Time Lady from the future (Father Time).
Unsure what "St Louis" was intended by the note, the Doctor created his own in London: the St Louis Bar and Restaurant. As 2001 rolled around, Fitz indeed turned up there to meet him. With the aid of new companion Anji Kapoor, the Doctor and Fitz completed the TARDIS's regeneration, dealt with a race of invading aliens, then set back again to exploring time and space (Escape Velocity).
With his freedom restored, the Doctor chose to counteract his extended exile by seeking as much non-human company as possible. During this period, the Doctor encountered all manner of unusual beings — from a species that a cursory glance resembled the Earth tiger (The Year of Intelligent Tigers), to water spirits, to talking apes from another dimension. Though at times the Doctor seemed somewhat cold — as when he seemed more concerned about damaged plums than a dead man (Eater of Wasps) — he retained his passion for life in all forms. Although his amnesia remained a bother, the Doctor acknowledged that whatever had happened to him had happened for a reason, and he might as well make use of the advantages it offered.
Sabbath and parallel times:
Only a few months after resuming his old lifestyle, the Doctor faced another radical change: the loss of his second heart. As it happened, the heart served as a bond with Gallifrey; with the planet gone, the heart had begun to fester within the Doctor's body, pumping it with poison.
A man named Sabbath, an eighteenth-century secret agent gifted with time travel abilities, excised the blackened organ, both saving the Doctor's life and robbing the Doctor of some of his higher Time Lord abilities (his respiratory bypass system, his ability to metabolise toxins). It transpired that Sabbath was actually after the heart for his own purposes: when implanted into Sabbath's own chest, it imparted upon him those same Time Lord powers. An unexpected side effect of this experiment was that so long as the Doctor's heart remained within Sabbath's chest, the Doctor himself remained practically invulnerable to harm (though any injury sustained by the Doctor would weaken Sabbath).
Eventually, after a woman Sabbath loved sacrificed herself to save the Doctor from a malfunctioning time machine, Sabbath tore out the Doctor's second heart, allowing the Doctor to begin growing a new one.
Shortly after the restoration of his heart, the Doctor found himself locked in a desperate struggle with Sabbath as, along with his mysterious business associates, Sabbath hatched a plan to destroy all alternate realities. Sabbath believed that time travellers like the Doctor, every time they landed somewhere, created an alternate reality where they didn't show up, and that the universe was unable to support so many alternates without suffering damage; therefore, he attempted to trigger an explosion at Event One — the Big Bang — that would erase all alternate universes and leaving only one possible timeline. However, Sabbath's allies had been lying to him; in reality, Time would only split if absolutely necessary, and even then, it was nearly impossible to travel between alternate realities. Effectively, all that would be wiped out was free will itself...
The explosion at Event One was averted, but instead, what occurred was reality starting to 'slide' between histories, each reality fighting to become the dominant one. Along with new companion Trix, the Doctor, Fitz and Anji travelled through the realities, the Doctor being forced to erase at least two of them in order to restore the original reality. During this adventure, the Doctor appeared to become a bit more cold and calculating, sacrificing an innocent man to escape a pocket universe and even leaving alternate versions of Fitz and Anji to die in order to preserve continuity. However, in the end, their sacrifices paid off, the Doctor managing to stabilise reality by resolving a paradox that had been hanging over them since the beginning of the crisis, and then, with Sabbath's help, they confronted his masters; the Council of Eight, mysterious beings who gained power by foreseeing likely future events and then ensuring that they came to pass. The Doctor, as a rogue element existing outside of Time, was the only unpredictable factor in their universe, and was thus the only person who could stop them. Ironically, it was Sabbath himself who gave the Doctor the edge needed to stop the Council; realising that one of the Council members expected Sabbath to shoot him with a weapon designed to send the subject into the Time Vortex, Sabbath instead shot himself, condemning himself to eternal agony just to give the Doctor a chance to outmaneuver the Council and save creation from them. The move succeeded, and the Council's crystal space station was destroyed.
The Gallifrey Chronicles:
Some while after this, the Doctor was captured by Marnal, one of the few surviving Gallifreyians, and accused of destroying Gallifrey. Although Gallifrey had been all but wiped from history by the Doctor's actions, Marnal was able to jury-rig a Time Space Visualiser in order to witness the Doctor actually push the button as he faced off against the Grandfather, although there were about three minutes where the Doctor's activities in the TARDIS were unaccounted for. Reflecting on his discoveries in the TARDIS, the Doctor, along with the aid of K9 (who had been transported into a hidden area of the TARDIS and trapped there following Gallifrey's destruction) realised that his memory loss hadn't been caused by the trauma of destroying Gallifrey; in fact, the Doctor had wiped his memories in order to give his mind space to store the contents of the Matrix within his brain, compressed down so he wouldn't be driven mad by the voices of all the dead Time Lords within him, his own memories presumably stored somewhere else in his mind, given his occasional flashes from his past. However, right then, the Doctor had more immediate worries; namely, saving Earth from a species of massive fly-like aliens called the Vore, who would soon have the power to devour the planet. As The Gallifrey Chronicles ended, the Doctor, Fitz, and Trix dove into the Vore mountain, the Doctor equipped with a plan to stop the Vore and save the world.
Audio dramas:
Sometime after the events in San Francisco, the Doctor found himself wandering alone through the Vortex. In the wake of a Vortisaur attack, he was forced to land on Earth, in October 1930, aboard the doomed R101 airship. Aboard the vessel, the Doctor met a young adventuress by the name of Charley Pollard. In the course of his adventure, the Doctor saved Charley's life and took her aboard the TARDIS as his latest companion (Storm Warning). Though done in good faith, the Doctor soon understood that Charley's rescue would have much greater impact upon the timestream.
For two "seasons" of audio adventures, Charley's continued existence despite established history being in part contingent on her death on the R101 formed a rough plot arc in which the universe became infected with "anti-time", culminating in a conflict with the wraithlike Never People and the Doctor choosing to sacrifice himself and his TARDIS by absorbing anti-time energy and transforming into the bogeyman Zagreus. This was only resolved when, restored to sanity but still infected with anti-time, the Doctor chose to sacrifice himself for the sake of Charley and the universe as a whole by removing himself from space and time, plunging into a divergent universe, of which he had no knowledge or frame of reference and in which there was no concept of linear time (Zagreus). Charley stowed away on his TARDIS, in a sense nullifying the Doctor's sacrifice by again placing herself in danger; for a time, this fact caused great friction between the characters and personal angst for the Doctor.
For another two seasons, the Doctor, Charley, and a new companion by the name of C'rizz, explored the divergent universe, gradually unravelling a deep plot designed around the Doctor by Rassilon, founder of Time Lord society. Eventually, with the aid of his companions, the Doctor escaped the trap built for him, overcame his emotional burden, learned that he had been purged of Zagreus and returned to his normal universe with Charley and C'Rizz in tow (The Next Life).
Following that point, which coincided with the end of the official Big Finish "seasons" in light of the return of Doctor Who to television, the trio wandered freely. The only continuing plot element involved C'rizz and his unusual, potentially destructive psychological development. This culminated in C'rizz's death (Absolution) which led Charley to also wish to leave the Doctor's company. Whilst the Eighth Doctor presumably thinks Charley has died (The Girl Who Never Was), she has in fact joined the Sixth Doctor (The Condemned) suggesting that when the Eighth Doctor first met Charley he already knew her in some form. However, in a Big Finish Productions podcast, executive producer Nick Briggs , when speaking on this development, confirms that the Eighth Doctor in fact does not know Charley at "their" first meeting, which itself strongly suggests that when the Sixth Doctor and Charley ultimately part company any memory on his part of their adventures will either be altered or erased. Briggs further hints that an endpoint to this storyline has already been decided.
It has also been revealed (in Terror Firma) that prior to meeting Charley, the Doctor travelled with at least two other companions — a brother-and-sister pair (Samson and Gemma Griffin) — of whom the Doctor's memories had been erased by Davros, as part of an elaborate revenge plot.
Romana and K-9 briefly travelled with the Eighth Doctor in the 2003 remake of Shada.
In September 2006, Doctor Who Magazine announced a new audio miniseries featuring the Eighth Doctor and new companion Lucie Miller (played by Sheridan Smith), set later in the character's chronology, after he has parted ways with Charley and C'rizz. Produced by Big Finish Productions, the miniseries was broadcast on BBC7; they began on New Year's Eve 2006 and ended on the 18 February 2007. The miniseries consisted of eight episodes, constituting six stories (the first and last stories having two parts).[4]These are Blood of the Daleks, Horror of Glam Rock, Immortal Beloved, Phobos, No More Lies and Human Resources. In this series, the Time Lords have placed Lucie Miller in the Doctor's care as part of a "witness protection programme", contrary to the wishes of either the Doctor or Lucie.[5] A second series of adventures featured the Doctor and Lucie and ended on a cliffhanger, and a third season has been announced for 2009. The second series (up to The Zygon Who Fell to Earth was broadcast on BBC7 in autumn of 2008.
Unfinished Business:
In the Doctor Who Magazine comic strips, at an unstated time after his regeneration (and after an adventure in the 1930s involving Fey Truscott-Sade and psychic weasels), the Doctor revisited the town of Stockbridge. After being caught up in the games of the Celestial Toymaker, he picked up a new companion in lively sci-fi fan Izzy Sinclair. The two of them were soon caught up in the machinations of the Doctor's old enemies the Threshold, a mercenary organisation. The Threshold attempted to manipulate the Doctor into stopping the Daleks gaining access to the multiverse (which would kill an artificial solar system as a side-effect) and dying in the attempt, but were outmaneuvered. Unknown to him, they implanted a device in Fey Truscott-Sade so that they could use her as an unwilling spy when she next encountered the Doctor. She did so in 1939, assisting him and Izzy against the vampiric Varney; the Doctor was left infected with a deadly bacillus, and he had to be taken to Gallifrey to be cured, luring him into a battle against a Time Lord cult called the Final Chapter.
Working out that the Threshold were using Fey as a spy, the Doctor and his old comrade Shayde faked a regeneration. The Threshold was conned into believing they were facing a vulnerable new Doctor (Shayde in disguise), allowing the real Doctor to infiltrate their base. While he and his friends were too late to stop the Threshold from destroying every single spacecraft in the universe, they were able to bring about the organisation's destruction before it could profit. Fey returned to her time, having also bonded with Shayde to save his life.
Unknowingly, the TARDIS had been taken over by the Master, who was manipulating events to gain the power of the omniversal Glory. The Doctor was specifically sent to times and places that would undermine him - discovering he had upset the course of Grace Holloway's life in 2001, encountering an alien race with motivations uncomfortably similar to his which caused death and horror 17th Century Japan, and almost killing the benevolent Kroton by mistake. (A slight diversion between events saw the Doctor and Izzy team up with the actor Tom Baker and other 1970s television actors against Beep the Meep in 1979.)
In 17th Century Japan, the Doctor's attempt to save the life of samurai Katsura Sato, a friend of Izzy, left the man inadvertently immortal and thus robbed of both an honourable death & any sense of empathy. The Master later came for Sato, when he was mentally vulnerable, and gave him a fake religion to focus his mind on; Earth's history was altered as Sato, renamed Lord Morningstar, and his Church of the Glorious Dead conquered the planet, creating a technological advanced, highly brutal planet of jihadists. The Doctor, Izzy and Kroton wandered into their invasion of the museum planet Paradost; while the Doctor faced the Master over the Glory, Izzy and Kroton spent weeks on the occupied world. The Doctor was defeated, only for the Master discover he was not able to access the Glory, as instead Kroton and Sato had been the ones prophesised to battle for it. Kroton won the Glory and history was reverted, and the Doctor and Izzy took a well-earned break.
Destrii:
During a battle against the body-stealing Ophidians and their gigantic snake-shaped techno-organic warship, the Doctor and Izzy encountered a brash and adventurous fish-woman called Destrii. While seemingly friendly and bonding with Izzy, Destrii was secretly on the run and she swapped bodies with Izzy to cover her escape; when Destrii was seemingly killed, Izzy seemed trapped within an alien body. The Doctor's next few journeys were spent trying to help her in this situation, both in coming to terms with the change and finding out what her new body's abilities were. Frida Kahlo helped Izzy mentally deal with the change, but the attempt at testing Izzy's abilities led her and the Doctor into a turbulent encounter with the humanised Daleks he had created in his second incarnation. Unable to prevent their tragic end - self-destructing to escape the machinations of the malevolent psychic Kata-Phobus -, the two of them were distracted and caught off-guard when Helioth and Hassana, two of the energy-beings called the Horde, abducted Izzy thinking she was Destrii.
The Doctor went on a relentless search to rescue his friend, with the help of Fey/Shayde and by forcing cooperation from Destrii, still alive in her stolen body. His quest led him to the planet Oblivion, a surreal and brutal world ruled by Destrii's mother, the Matriax. Izzy was rescued and returned to her original form, while Oblivion's court system and the menace of the Horde were both destroyed, leaving Destrii free to leave her world and explore the universe with her rougish uncle Jodafra. However, Izzy had decided she wanted to return home to her family, and the Doctor was left alone.
Feeling slightly morose, the Doctor was cheered up by an unknowing encounter with his old companion Frobisher and went on several 'holiday' adventures on his own. He eventually re-encountered Destrii and Jodafra in America during the 19th Century, where the upcoming clash between General Custer and Chief Sitting Bull was interrupted by Jodafra's machinations involving the monstrous wendigo. Jodafra had made a deal with the creature: power in exchange for being fed children. Unable to stomach this and with the Doctor urging her to listen to the spark of decency in her, Destrii helped the Doctor stop her uncle. In revenge, she was left beaten and abandoned, and the Doctor took her in as a probationary companion. Together, the two of them teamed up with MI6 and faced an invasion of early 21st Century Earth by time-travelling Cybermen; they were preparing to chemically overload the emotions of humans and thus make them willingly surrender to have their emotions removed by conversion. The Doctor destroyed them through use of the Time Vortex (similar to the later "The Parting of the Ways"), almost surrendering to it but giving up its power to save Destrii.
In 2007, Panini Books published Doctor Who: The Flood, the final collection of comic strips featuring the Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who Magazine. The book includes the essay "Flood Barriers" by strip editor Clayton Hickman in which he reveals that Russell T Davies had authorized the comic strip to depict the regeneration of the Eighth Doctor into the Ninth Doctor at the end of the 2004-2005 arc, The Flood. The cause of the regeneration would have been the Doctor's exposure to the Time Vortex in his efforts to destroy the Cybermen (the same cause that triggered the later Ninth to Tenth Doctor regeneration in Parting of the Ways). Destrii would have witnessed the regeneration and would have continued to travel with the Ninth Doctor in a proposed Year One arc. When Davies vetoed the Year One arc and indicated the Ninth Doctor could only be shown travelling with Rose Tyler, Hickman and writer Scott Gray eventually decided not to depict the regeneration as they would have been unable to give Destrii a proper departure. The Panini collection includes the original script for the regeneration sequence, as well as never before published art showing the regeneration itself.
Ninth Doctor ~ Christopher Eccleston
Tenure: March–June 2005
First appearance: "Rose"
Last appearance: "The Parting of the Ways"
Number of series: 1
Appearances: 10 stories (13 episodes)
Companions On Television:
Rose Tyler
Adam Mitchell
Jack Harkness
Preceding Eighth Doctor: Paul McGann
Succeeding Tenth Doctor: David Tennant
Series Series: 1 (2005)
The Ninth Doctor is the ninth official incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor, in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who.
"Unofficial" Ninth Doctors include the Ninth Doctor played by Rowan Atkinson in the charity parody Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death and the Ninth Doctor voiced by Richard E. Grant in the animated webcast Scream of the Shalka (to avoid confusion with Eccleston's incarnation Grant's Doctor is referred to as the Shalka Doctor by fans). This article is about the official Ninth Doctor, played by the actor Christopher Eccleston, whose tenure as the Doctor made up series 1 of the revived programme in 2005.
Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who travels in time in his TARDIS, frequently with companions. When the Doctor is critically injured, he can regenerate his body but in doing so gains a new physical appearance and with it, a distinct new personality. Eccleston portrays the ninth such incarnation, a brooding and melancholic war survivor after a Time War in which he wiped out both his race and the enemy Daleks. His first companion is Rose (Billie Piper), who he plucks from obscurity on the planet Earth and to whom he grows increasingly attached. Eccleston's Doctor also travels briefly with unruly boy-genius Adam (Bruno Langley) and with 51st century con man and former 'Time Agent' Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman).
Overview: The original Doctor Who television series ceased production in 1989 with the Seventh Doctor. Paul McGann, as the Eighth Doctor, appeared in the role just once on screen in the Doctor Who television movie in 1996. The appearance of the Ninth Doctor marked the regular return of the character to television screens after nearly sixteen years, and as a result for many young fans and new viewers he was the first Doctor they had ever seen. He was introduced without any information on his recent past; though it is implied in "Rose" that he may have recently regenerated, the exact circumstances of that change, or what caused it, are unknown.
Plot details: The Ninth Doctor is (to the best of his knowledge) the only survivor of the Time War. It is unspecified whether it was this incarnation of the Doctor or the previous who fought in the war, though popular continuity argues that it was the events of the Time War that caused the Eighth Doctor's regeneration into the Ninth.
After his regeneration, he helped save London from an invasion by the Autons, living plastic automatons animated by the Nestene Consciousness. He did this with the help of Rose Tyler, a teenager whom he subsequently invited to be a companion in his travels. The Doctor showed Rose the far future and Victorian Britain (specifically Cardiff, where a space-time rift was revealed to be situated) before returning to Rose's own era, where they fought off an attempt to destroy the Earth by the alien Slitheen family. When they journeyed to Utah in 2012, the Doctor found that a single Dalek was being kept in a secret museum filled with alien artifacts. There, the first details of the Time War fought by the Time Lords and Daleks were revealed, and how it concluded with the mutual annihilation of both races, leaving the Doctor the last of the Time Lords. A young man named Adam Mitchell travelled with them from Utah.
The Doctor, Rose, and Adam travelled to the future to Satellite 5, where they discovered a plot by the Jagrafess to manipulate Earth through its mass media. When Adam tried to smuggle future knowledge back to his own time, he became the first companion to be deliberately expelled from the TARDIS. After this, Rose persuaded the Doctor to return to the day her father, Pete Tyler, died, creating a temporal paradox by saving him, which nearly led to disaster until Pete sacrificed himself to set time right once more.
Following a mysterious spaceship to wartime London in 1941, the Doctor and Rose met Captain Jack Harkness, a confidence trickster and former Time Agent from the 51st century. Jack's latest con nearly caused a deadly nanotechnological plague to sweep through the human race, but he helped the Doctor and Rose end it prior to joining the TARDIS crew.
Going back to Cardiff to refuel the TARDIS from the rift, the Doctor, Rose and Jack found that one of the Slitheen had survived, posing as Margaret Blaine, the city's mayor. Blaine was exposed to the heart of the TARDIS, and was regressed into an egg. It was during this episode that the Doctor first noticed that he and Rose had kept coming across the words "Bad Wolf".
At some point, the Ninth Doctor had at least three unchronicled adventures, involving the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, and the eruption of Krakatoa in the 19th Century. These are revealed in "Rose", but their placement in the Ninth Doctor's chronology remains unknown. Many fans[who?] assume that they must occur after "Rose" — but necessarily before his regeneration at the end of the series — since the Doctor's comments about his appearance in that first episode suggest he has only recently regenerated (or at least not had an opportunity to look in a mirror since, although his evaluation of his appearance is not particularly in-depth, either, suggesting prior awareness or a lack of interest). In "The Unquiet Dead", he also mentions that he "saw the Fall of Troy; World War Five [and] pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party" but other than the first instance, when he was the First Doctor, it is unclear whether these were in his personal timeline or that of his past incarnations.
However, the first of these adventures may actually have taken place immediately after his regeneration, since he is shown in a photo (taken in Southampton in 1912) to be wearing period clothes (Eccleston was dressed and shot specially) which resemble those worn by the Eighth Doctor. The Ninth Doctor refuses to make any concessions to contemporary fashion elsewhere in his travels (though he later insists that Rose dress appropriately for the Victorian era), being very precise about his look, which is deliberately most unlike that worn by any previous incarnations. Also, it is strongly implied that he saved the family pictured with him, by dissuading them from boarding the doomed ship — and, one episode later, he reveals that he himself was on board, and ended up clinging to an iceberg.
When the Doctor and his companions became caught in a series of deadly versions of 20th Century gameshows, they found themselves at the mercy of the Bad Wolf Corporation, based on Satellite Five, but a full century after their last visit. However, the true enemy was soon revealed to be the Daleks. The Dalek Emperor had survived the Time War, and had rebuilt the Dalek race. The Doctor sent Rose back to her own time in the TARDIS, before attempting to destroy the Dalek army. In doing so, he would have been forced to destroy a great part of the human race, which he ultimately finds himself incapable of doing. Meanwhile, after seeing more "Bad Wolf" graffiti, Rose realised it was somehow a message linking her to the events in the future.
Managing to open up the heart of the TARDIS, she absorbed the energies of the time vortex, and used it to destroy the Daleks. In order to save Rose from being consumed from within by those energies, the Doctor absorbed the fatal energy himself. However, the damage to his cells caused him to regenerate into the Tenth Doctor. He regenerates while still standing, warning Rose to keep away. His last words are, "Rose, before I go I just wanna tell you — you were fantastic...absolutely fantastic...and d'you know what? So was I!!"
Companions: The Ninth Doctor had three on-screen companions during his tenure, the main one being Rose Tyler, who appears in all 13 episodes of Series 1. Adam Mitchell joined the Doctor on his travels at the conclusion of "Dalek" after the Doctor indulged Rose's prodding to let Adam "see the stars" and was rejected by the Doctor after his actions in "The Long Game". Jack Harkness first appeared in "The Empty Child" and joined the TARDIS crew in "The Doctor Dances". In the last episode of the first season, "The Parting of the Ways", Jack is killed by the Daleks and subsequently resurrected by the time-vortex empowered Rose, although the Doctor leaves without him after the battle. He later briefly rejoins the TARDIS crew in the Tenth Doctor story "Utopia" (in which the reasons for the Doctor abandoning him in Parting of the Ways are revealed), and also starred in the spin-off series Torchwood.
He invited two other companions to join him. Mickey Smith declined when invited (though he would later agree to travel with the Tenth Doctor). In The Parting of the Ways, a woman named Lynda accepted the Doctor's invitation but was killed by Daleks before she could travel with him.
The Ninth Doctor's relationship with Rose verged on the romantic, with both of them clearly showing that they cared about each other deeply, although both always denied that they were a couple. On some level, the Doctor's sudden presence in her life fulfilled Rose's need for a strong male figure, having grown up without her father and boyfriend Mickey Smith often proving inadequate in regards to his strength of character. In turn, the Doctor, having undergone the trials of the Time War and still affected by his many losses incurred during the war, found himself encouraged by Rose's resolve, curiosity and compassion. The lone Dalek in Dalek, having absorbed Rose's DNA, taunted the Doctor by referring to her as "the woman you [the Doctor] love", but the Doctor did not respond. The Ninth Doctor did kiss Rose with some passion in "The Parting of the Ways", although it could be argued that this only was in order to draw out the lethal energy of the time vortex from her body. (See "The Doctor and romance".)
Personality: As a character, the Ninth Doctor is less of a central heroic figure than an enabler, encouraging his companions and other people he meets to act upon their more positive impulses. Those he meets (in particular Captain Jack Harkness) often credit him with making them better people (this is indirectly referenced in the penultimate episode of Series 3 when the Master calls the Doctor "the man who makes people better"). He uses this quality alongside his intelligence and the information he gathers to inspire and allow others to act to end the dangers they face, rarely taking direct action himself (although he tended to find himself incapacitated in some manner at crucial moments, therefore requiring the interventions of others).
The Doctor's ninth incarnation was perhaps the most gritty, and informal, masking a lonely, guilt-ridden and melancholic personality with a jovial, witty, forthright and almost manic exterior. Similar to the Fourth Doctor, he would often make jokes in the face of danger, but then become grim and serious when on his own. Like the Sixth Doctor, he also tended to be fatalistic at times, to the point of near-panic when he and Rose were cornered in "The Unquiet Dead" and he realised that he was going to die (this despite the knowledge that he would probably just regenerate). Despite being impatient with humans, whom he often referred to as "stupid apes" -- and Mickey receiving particular scorn and being dubbed "Mickey the Idiot" -- the Ninth Doctor was far more tactile with, and reliant upon, his human companions than previous incarnations. He was notably both sentimental and emotional, especially where his closest friend, Rose, was concerned, to the point of allowing her to view her parents' wedding and later, her father's last moments — this being just one example of his occasional lack of caution.
The Ninth Doctor was quite colloquial in his language and spoke with a distinctly Northern accent. Although the Seventh and Eighth Doctor spoke with non-Received Pronunciation accents, the Ninth's era was the first time this was commented on in the series. When Rose questioned him on why, if he was alien, he sounded like he was from the North, the Doctor retorted, "Lots of planets have a North!"
Much of the Ninth Doctor's melancholy, lack of patience, levels of inaction and hard-bitten edge could be attributed to feelings of guilt at being the sole survivor of the Last Great Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks, the conclusion of which apparently resulted from his own actions to end the Dalek threat, burning away 10 million of their ships and destroying Gallifrey and his own race in the process. This darker side came to the fore when he encountered the lone Dalek in "Dalek", exhibiting an angry, merciless and vengeful streak which surprised even Rose and led to the Dalek commenting that the Doctor would make a good Dalek. Previously, echoing the ruthlessness of his seventh self, he also impassively stood by as the villainous Lady Cassandra exploded, viewing it a fitting end for her actions (it was left ambiguous as to whether he could have spared her). However, a more light-hearted enthusiasm would surface on occasion, sometimes finding manic delight in tense situations such as his meeting with Charles Dickens (of whom he is a well-versed fan) whilst pursuing a kidnapped Rose. He also displayed a wide pop-cultural knowledge ranging from Dickens to 21st century celebrity gossip, while his joy on saving the victims of the nanogene attack in 1940s London, thus totally avoiding fatalities, restored some of his optimism and self-belief. Ultimately, the Doctor was able to put some of his demons to rest and seemed to find some peace through redemption towards the end of his incarnation. This redemption occurred shortly before his regeneration when he was given the opportunity to vanquish the Dalek fleet once more, this time at the cost of the human race, and decided not to do it. When the Dalek Emperor asks if he would rather be a coward or killer, the Doctor merely responds, "Coward. Any day."
In contrast with his successor and in common with his third, fourth and sixth selves, the Ninth Doctor did not shy away from using force in situations he would deem necessary. In "Dalek", he located an alien weapon for use on the last Dalek in existence; were it not for Rose's intervention, he would have used it. In "Bad Wolf", he and his companions escaped from the custody of the Gamestation's armed guards using physical force, with the Doctor throwing a guard against a wall. Later, as he proceeded to the station's control room, he wielded a heavy two-handed weapon, even deactivating the safety as if he was going to use it. However, as he speaks to the controller, he reveals that he had no actual intention of shooting anybody. The Doctor also arranged for lethal weaponry to be used on the Slitheen in "World War Three", sending a missile to destroy the alien family before they could nuke the world.
On several occasions, the Doctor indicates that he is 900 years old, the same age as the Sixth Doctor claimed to be in Revelation of the Daleks. This appears to contradict the original series in which the Seventh Doctor, following his regeneration in Time and the Rani, claimed to be 953 years of age, and who was in turn followed by the Eighth Doctor. To date this discrepancy has yet to be addressed on-screen.
The Ninth Doctor's catchphrase, used in a variety of manners, and sometimes ironically, was "Fantastic!" (In 2007, Eccleston joined the cast of the American series Heroes; in the episode "The Fix", Eccleston's character Claude utters "Fantastic!" in the same occasionally ironic fashion as the Ninth Doctor.)
Gadgets: The Ninth Doctor's era saw the introduction of a redesigned sonic screwdriver which was more versatile than its earlier versions, with functions ranging from its usual door opening abilities to conducting medical scans, repairing barbed wire and acting as a remote control for the TARDIS. The TARDIS console room also underwent a radical redesign, with an amber and green motif and a more organic look to its components.
The Ninth Doctor was also in the habit of using "slightly" psychic paper — that appeared to be a blank piece of card that had the ability to show the viewer anything that the user wanted them to see. The Doctor used this to fake various means of identification. Jack Harkness also used psychic paper in his capacity as a con man.
The Ninth Doctor modified Rose's mobile phone — which she dubbed the "superphone" — to give it the ability not just to receive and transmit where ordinary signals would not get through, but powerful enough to be able to make telephone calls to any point in time (even calibrating to the time period of the user).
Story style: Under producer Russell T Davies, the new series had a faster pace than those of the classic series. Rather than four- to six-part serials of 25-minute episodes (the most common format of the original series), most of the Ninth Doctor's stories consisted of individual 45-minute episodes, with only three stories out of ten being two-parters. The thirteen episodes were, however, loosely connected in a series-long story arc which brought their disparate threads together in the series finale. Also, like the original series, stories often flowed directly into one another or were linked together in some way. Notably, in common only with seasons 7 and 26 of the original series, every story of the season took place on or near Earth. This fact is directly addressed in the original novel The Monsters Inside, in which Rose and the Doctor joke about the fact that all their adventures to date have taken place on Earth or on neighbouring space stations.
The stories of Series 1 varied quite significantly in tone, with the production team showcasing the various genres inhabited by Doctor Who over the years. Examples include the "pseudo-historical" story "The Unquiet Dead"; the far-future whodunnit of "The End of the World"; Earthbound alien invasion stories in "Rose" and "Aliens of London"/"World War Three"; "base under siege" in "Dalek" and horror in "The Empty Child". Even the spin-off media were represented, with "Dalek" taking elements from writer Rob Shearman's own audio play Jubilee and the emotional content of Paul Cornell's "Father's Day" drawing on the tone of Cornell's novels in the Virgin New Adventures line. Davies had asked both Shearman and Cornell to write their scripts with those respective styles in mind. The episode "Boom Town" included a reference to the novel The Monsters Inside, becoming the first episode to acknowledge (albeit in a subtle way) spin-off fiction.
Regeneration: As noted above, when television audiences first see the Ninth Doctor, it has been an unspecified time since his regeneration, making this one of the few Doctors (the others are the First and Third) whose "birth" has not been shown on screen. However, according to the essay "Flood Barriers" in the 2007 Panini Books reprint collection of Eighth Doctor comic strips from Doctor Who Magazine, strip editor Clayton Hickman reveals that Russell T Davies had authorized the comic strip to depict the regeneration at the end of the story arc, The Flood. The Eighth Doctor would be shown regenerating after being exposed to the Time Vortex and briefly receiving god-like powers in order to stop an invasion of Earth by the Cybermen (similar to Rose's exposure at the end of Parting of the Ways to stop the Daleks). The regeneration would have been witnessed by the Eighth Doctor's companion, Destrii, and Hickman writes that the intent was to continue with a Ninth Doctor: Year One story arc with the Ninth Doctor and Destrii. However, when this arc was vetoed by both Russell T Davies and series producer Julie Gardner, the creative team were unable to come up with another way of regenerating the Doctor without Destrii's presence, and so the decision was made not to depict the regeneration in the comic strip. The reprint collection includes a specially-drawn panel showing how the Ninth Doctor might have looked in the comic strip immediately after his regeneration, wearing the Eighth Doctor's costume and being tended to by Destrii. The Flood concludes with a homage to the ending of Survival, with the Eighth Doctor noting that there is more to explore in the universe with his companion, and muses on acquiring a leather jacket to replace the coat he has lost, implying that the Eighth Doctor eventually dons the Ninth's garb prior to the Time War.
The Ninth Doctor also appears on-screen as a sketch (alongside other incarnations) in the book A Journal of Impossible Things by John Smith.
The Ninth Doctor is also vaguely referenced at the end of "Journey's End", where the Tenth Doctor, about to leave Rose behind with the half-human clone of himself spawned in the episode, refers to the clone's more violent and impetuous personality as being akin to how he was when he and Rose first met, also believing that - as she did during his ninth incarnation - she would be able to help make the clone a better man.
Tenth Doctor ~ David Tennant
Tenure: 2005–2010
First appearance: "The Parting of the Ways"
Number of series: 3
Appearances: 32 stories (42 episodes)
Companions On Television:
Rose Tyler
Mickey Smith
Donna Noble
Martha Jones
Jack Harkness
Sarah Jane Smith
Astrid Peth
Preceding Ninth Doctor: (Christopher Eccleston)
Series: Series 2 (2006), Series 3 (2007), Series 4 (2008), 4 specials (2009/2010)
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by actor David Tennant, who replaced Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor in the 2005 series finale, "The Parting of the Ways", having reintroduced Doctor Who that same year. The incumbent Doctor, Tennant has appeared in three series to date, as well as three Christmas specials. As with previous incarnations of the Doctor, the character has also appeared in other Doctor Who multimedia.
Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, who travels in time in his TARDIS, frequently with companions. When the Doctor is critically injured, he can regenerate his body but in doing so gains a new physical appearance and with it, a distinct new personality. Tennant portrays the tenth such incarnation, an excitable and manic character, all too aware of his own genius and his vengeful nature. His first companion was Rose (Billie Piper), who was already travelling with his predecessor. Rose fell in love with the new Doctor, but the two were separated seemingly indefinitely. Subsequently, the Doctor travelled with a number of other companions, including Martha (Freema Agyeman) and Donna (Catherine Tate), but eventually parted ways with them all by the end of the 2008 series finale, "Journey's End".
David Tennant has announced during the acceptance of a National Television Award for his role as the Tenth Doctor that he will not return in this role for the fifth series, currently scheduled to be broadcast in 2010. He will make his final appearance in the role in the last of the television specials that are scheduled to be aired in 2009 and early 2010.
Overview: After the successful premiere of "Rose" and the announcement of a second series being commissioned by the BBC, the story broke that Christopher Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor, would not be returning for the second series. On 16 April 2005, the BBC announced that David Tennant had been selected for the role of the Tenth Doctor.[5] His first appearance in the series was for 20 seconds following the Ninth Doctor's regeneration at the end of The Parting of the Ways. His first full episode as the Doctor, barring an appearance in a "mini-episode" during the 2005 Children in Need show, was the 2005 Christmas Special, The Christmas Invasion. He then appeared in the 2006 series, the second seasonal episode, the 2007 series, the third Christmas special and the 2008 series. It has also been confirmed that Tennant will appear in four specials to be aired throughout 2009.
In 2006, readers of Doctor Who Magazine voted Tennant's Doctor "Best Doctor" over perennial favourites Sylvester McCoy and Tom Baker.
A thirteen-part animated adventure, The Infinite Quest, featuring the Tenth Doctor and companion Martha Jones (voiced by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman) premiered on Totally Doctor Who on 2 April 2007; the last segment of The Infinite Quest was shown with all previous episodes as an entire Doctor Who episode on 30 June 2007.
While the previous Doctor was never explicitly referred to as the Ninth on-screen, the exact number of incarnations thus far was confirmed in-series by sketches of the ten Doctors to date in the sketchbook A Journal of Impossible Things that appeared in 2007's "Human Nature" (although only five incarnations are visible on-screen, the other five also appear on a two-page scan seen on the BBC's tie-in website). In "School Reunion", the Tenth Doctor commented to Sarah Jane Smith that he had regenerated half a dozen times since they had last met; Sarah last saw the Doctor at the end of the Fourth Doctor serial The Hand of Fear (in the anniversary special "The Five Doctors" (1983), she is paired up with the Third Doctor, and also meets the Fifth Doctor, Second Doctor, and First Doctor). Off-screen, on the DVD commentary for "The Parting of the Ways", Julie Gardner states after the regeneration sequence, 'Tennant is Ten!'. For the soundtrack of "The Christmas Invasion", a specially commissioned piece played during the sequence in which the Doctor chooses his new outfit, was titled "Song for Ten". BBC's official website refers to Eccleston's Doctor as "The Ninth Doctor" as do all promotional materials for the show such as trading cards, action figures, etc.
Biography: The Ninth Doctor regenerates into the Tenth due to cellular damage caused by absorbing the energies of the time vortex at the climax of "The Parting of the Ways". In the Children in Need mini-episode, the Doctor initially exhibits stable behaviour as he introduces his new form to Rose Tyler, showing particular interest in his appearance, but soon begins acting erratically and says that his regeneration has "gone wrong". He remains in a delirious or comatose state through most of the events of "The Christmas Invasion" until his regeneration is settled through absorbing the free radicals and tannin from some hot tea that had dripped onto a power source inside the TARDIS. He then saves the Earth from invasion by defeating the leader of the alien Sycorax using a satsuma. The Doctor's right hand is severed in the fight, although he regenerates a new one since his regeneration cycle was not fully completed.
The Tenth Doctor and Rose go on to rescue Queen Victoria from a werewolf. The Doctor is knighted as "Sir Doctor of TARDIS" as a reward — a title he later uses during his first journey with Martha Jones — although Victoria banishes them from the British Empire and sets up the Torchwood Institute to defend Britain from paranormal threats and wait for the Doctor's return. He finally encounters the Institute in "Army of Ghosts".
In "The Girl in the Fireplace", he develops romantic feelings for Madame de Pompadour while attempting to discover why clockwork androids on a 51st Century spaceship are stalking her throughout her life. Ultimately, he is unable to take her with him as the last, asynchronous time window returns him to her after her death.
In "The Doctor's Daughter", the TARDIS takes the Doctor, Martha, and Donna Noble to the planet Messaline in an unspecified time period. Armed human colonists forcefully extrapolate the Doctor's DNA and create a young female soldier for their army. She later chooses the name "Jenny", as suggested by Donna, alluding to her status as a "generated anomaly". Despite being reminded of the loss of his family and his former status as a parent, the Doctor eventually accepts her as his 'daughter', only to be separated from her by the end of the episode after he believes her to have died, not knowing that she later returned to life.
The Tenth Doctor has used his psychic abilities more often on screen than his previous incarnations. He continues to use the Ninth Doctor's psychic paper, but has also been seen using telepathic techniques several times (for instance, in "The Girl in the Fireplace" and "The Shakespeare Code"). In "Last of the Time Lords", he uses his telepathic skills over a year to tap into the Archangel satellite network to rejuvenate himself with humanity's belief in him. He is then able to manipulate the combined energy apparently created by that belief, using it alternately as a shield and as a weapon, in the form of telekinesis.
In "Voyage of the Damned" the Tenth Doctor states that he is 903 years old, suggesting he gets one year older every series. The Tenth Doctor may technically be, however, 913 years old due to taking ten years off of his life.
In "The Stolen Earth" the Tenth Doctor is shot by a Dalek while running toward Rose. Captain Jack and Rose bring the Doctor into the TARDIS where he begins the regeneration process. During the process, he directs the regeneration energy towards his previously severed hand that is connected to the TARDIS, keeping the Doctor in the same form. Later Donna Noble inadvertently causes a "human biological metacrisis" by touching the severed hand, which causes a part human, part Time Lord version of the Doctor to be created. Whether he has used up one of his regenerations is not explored; in Doctor Who Confidential for this episode, Tennant says he thinks this is up to future writers. At the end of the series' events he is alone in the TARDIS; in the following special episode, "Music of the Spheres", his musical talent is revealed, when he has taken his mind off his loneliness by composing an "Ode to the Universe".
Companions: The Tenth Doctor "inherited" Rose Tyler (played by Billie Piper) as his companion, who left in "Doomsday", the final episode of the 2006 series, seemingly stranded forever on a parallel world. At the end of the same episode, a bride named Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate, appeared in the TARDIS as a result of her Huon particle intake, and appeared in the 2006 Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride". In the episode's dénouement, she refused his offer of full-time companionship, instead suggesting he find someone else. She did, however, return as the full time companion for Series 4. Rose also returns for the three final episodes in Series 4, after making three foreshadowing appearances throughout the series, none of which were witnessed by the Doctor. After a hectic reunion in the series finale "Journey's End", Rose's story appears to end when she is left to live on her parallel world with a partially-human tenth Doctor, a man with all his memories and his personality who will age and live and die as a normal human without ever regenerating. Donna's tenure with the Doctor ends tragically at the same time - in creating the second regenerated Doctor from his severed hand, she is imbued with Time Lord knowledge which proves too much for her human brain to survive with. Ultimately, the Doctor is forced to wipe her memory of him and leave her be as she was before she ever met him.
Rose's boyfriend, Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke), a recurring character from the previous season, joined the TARDIS crew as a regular companion in "School Reunion". Mickey departed the TARDIS in "The Age of Steel", replacing his deceased counterpart on a parallel Earth. He returned and departed for good in the 2006 two-part series finale, "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday", and again for the 2008 finale "Journey's End", where having broken up with Rose and seen his parallel grandmother die on a parallel Earth, is content to return to his homeworld and parts ways with the Doctor, this time alongside Martha and Jack.
Rose's mother, Jackie Tyler (Camille Coduri), was also a recurring character in the first two series, and played a major role in several episodes, notably "The Parting of the Ways", "The Christmas Invasion" and "Love & Monsters", finally travelling in the TARDIS by accident in "Army of Ghosts". Though she travelled in the TARDIS with the Doctor she is not necessarily considered a companion. She does however appear alongside Mickey in "Journey's End", and is brought before Davros as one of the Doctor's "children of time", although is not treated as a companion by the Doctor in the episode. She returns to the parallel world with Rose and the Doctor clone in the dénouement.
In series three the Doctor was joined by a new companion called Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman. Agyeman previously played Adeola in "Army of Ghosts", a character who died during the course of the episode, later revealed to be Martha's cousin. Martha joins the Doctor after they save each other's lives during a Plasmavore attack, and the Doctor offers her a single trip in the TARDIS by way of thanks. She continues as his companion following a trip to the Globe Theatre, and was made an "official" companion — by receiving a key to the TARDIS — in "42". Martha returns to Earth to finish her medical training in "Last of the Time Lords", but leaves her superphone with the Doctor so she can call him if she wants to come back, which she did in two episodes of the fourth series; requiring the Doctor's help on Earth. Martha, The Doctor and Donna proceeded to battle classic series monsters, the Sontarans. She was accidentally brought to Messaline along with the Doctor and Donna in the episode, "The Doctor's Daughter", when the TARDIS piloted itself. Martha returned for the two-part series finale ("The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End"), where, after the story's events, she stayed on Earth with Jack and Mickey Smith. An "in-between" guest stint in the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood revealed that Martha had qualified as a doctor and now works for the Doctor's one-time employers, UNIT.
Previous companion "Captain" Jack Harkness was originally to have rejoined the TARDIS crew in the 2006 series. However, this plan was abandoned, in part because of Harkness' role in Torchwood. It was initially announced that there would be no crossovers between the two series, but Harkness returned to Doctor Who in "Utopia" for the final three episodes of the 2007 series. In "Last of the Time Lords", the Doctor re-offers Jack full-time companionship but the events of the episode cause Jack to realise that his friends in Cardiff need him, declining the offer he had pined for.
The Doctor was also reunited with previous companions Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 (Mark III) in "School Reunion", with Sarah Jane returning with full companion status in the final two episodes of series four. The K-9 model given to Sarah Jane at the conclusion of "School Reunion" becomes a close ally of Sarah Jane's, and assists her and the Doctor in "Journey's End" from a distance.
Although she is not considered an official companion, the character of Sally Sparrow in the 2007 episode "Blink" fulfils many of the functions of a companion in this episode, in which she is "recruited" by the Doctor to rescue him from 1969; the episode focuses on her as she follows clues left for her by the Doctor and several allies throughout time, before she actually meets the Doctor at the story's conclusion. The episode "The Girl in the Fireplace" has the Doctor offering Madame de Pompadour the chance to become a companion (if briefly), but circumstances render this impossible and she dies before being able to take him up on the offer. After Martha's departure, pop star Kylie Minogue appeared in the 2007 Christmas special, "Voyage of the Damned", playing a character named Astrid Peth, 'a one-off companion' for the episode.[14] Both she, and later, Jenny, the Doctor's 'daughter' by cloning, accept offers of companionship from him only for circumstances to prevent them from doing so.
In the 2008 series episodes "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", the Doctor encounters Professor River Song, a 51st Century archaeologist he will apparently meet in the future and become very dear to him, presumably while he is still in his tenth incarnation. Whether viewers will ultimately learn what relationship the Doctor has with Song is yet to be seen. It was never explicitly stated that she was a companion, but she states that they travelled together often and she gained his complete trust, to the point that she would eventually know the Doctor's true name, something even the Doctor's longest-travelling companion - the audience - has never known.
The Tenth Doctor is the first since the Second Doctor to actually say "goodbye" to a companion (specifically, Sarah Jane) rather than simply leaving, or giving some platitude when a companion leaves of their own accord. He has made many mentions of Rose Tyler since her departure to Martha Jones and Donna Noble (and has had references of her made to him), although in past incarnations, he has also made the occasional repeated reference to the likes of his granddaughter Susan and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. At one point he used "Doctor James McCrimmon" as an alias, another reference to a previous companion. The finale episode "Journey's End" sees the Doctor bidding farewell to all six companions who assisted him in that episode - Jack, Martha, Mickey, Sarah Jane, Rose and Donna, as well as Jackie and his part-human clone.
Personality: The Tenth Doctor generally displays a light-hearted, talkative, easy-going, witty and somewhat cheeky manner, but combines this with a somewhat egocentric sense of unstoppability when facing his enemies. He is perhaps as ruthless and dangerous as his seventh incarnation ever was, although much less inclined to complex schemes and set goals. This emerged early on when he sent the Sycorax leader (who was attacking him from behind) falling to his death while commenting that, with him, there were "no second chances." In "School Reunion", he acknowledges that he is less merciful than he used to be and has stuck to his "one warning" code, punishing his enemies if they persist in their hostilities. This was most explicitly demonstrated in "The Runaway Bride" when he drowned the Empress of Racnoss' children, and in "The Family of Blood" where he gave each Family member an individual and eternal punishment. In "Forest of the Dead", the Doctor supports his immense self-belief in his abilities and authority in a different way by causing the Vashta Nerada to acquiesce to his ultimatum simply by ordering them to research his personal history. However, in "Partners in Crime", after giving his adversary, Miss Foster, an explicit warning, he tried to save her life at the end of the episode and did not punish her Adipose foster children "because they're children." Donna notes that Martha had been a positive influence on him, citing his infanticide of the Racnoss in their previous encounter. Like his past selves, he is critical of weapons, going as far as to describe people with guns as "the enemy" in "The Sontaran Stratagem". His strong personal sense of justice makes him quick to anger when he feels it is violated, as in "New Earth" when he learned of the plague farm run by the Sisters of Plenitude, and after Prime Minister Harriet Jones had given the order to destroy the retreating Sycorax ship, the Doctor warned her that he could "bring down" her government with six words ("Don't you think she looks tired?", whispered to Jones' aide, Alex).
Like the Seventh and Ninth Doctor, the Tenth sometimes uses a cheerful, energetic façade to mask inner emotions. He has a tendency to babble, mixing apparent nonsense with vital information, sometimes acting erratically to put his enemies off guard like some of his earlier incarnations. He can also be rude on occasion, and is not always aware of it, being prone to making comments that to outsiders seem obtuse or rude, sometimes to his own embarrassment. In "The Christmas Invasion" and "Tooth and Claw", he is surprised at his own unintentional rudeness when making disparaging remarks, and Jack Harkness, after reuniting with the Doctor, notes that his "new regeneration (is) kinda cheeky." He has a tendency to use technobabble to describe scientific concepts before substituting it with a simpler, analogous explanation. Further to this, he tends to infantilise names and concepts — his description of non-linear temporal physics as "a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff" is perhaps the most well known example. He is also able to rapidly switch between moods, from mania to anger to nonchalance and uses this as a form of reverse psychology on several occasions ("Fear Her", "Love & Monsters" and "Army of Ghosts"). In the latter, by switching gears suddenly after failing to dissuade Yvonne Hartman from her current activities, he is able to make her uncertain enough to get his way. Unlike the Ninth Doctor, who showed off his vengeful, rage-filled dark side when up against the Daleks, the Tenth Doctor displayed a more confident, self-assured side when around them, but did not hesitate to taunt them.
It has been made clear that the Doctor is, despite constant interaction with others, a lonely person deep down. In "School Reunion", he describes the ability of Time Lords to live so long as a curse, because while his human companions all someday leave him and eventually die, he continues to live. Other characters have also commented on the Tenth Doctor's loneliness. During a conversation with his nemesis, the Master, he admits that since the end of the Time War and the loss of the other Time Lords, he has been "alone ever since", viewing the Master's return as the end of this loneliness. Indeed, when the Master subsequently dies, the Doctor openly weeps over his body. While the Ninth Doctor was somewhat standoffish in certain situations, particularly "domestics", the Tenth is more extroverted and gregarious, having quickly established a firmer rapport with Rose Tyler's friends and family than he ever did in his previous incarnation, though his talkativeness sometimes irritates others not used to him. The Tenth Doctor is openly fond of mankind and is apparently in awe of their tenacity and curiosity, a trait previously exhibited by his fourth incarnation. In "The Impossible Planet", he hugs the leader of an Earth expedition for daring to explore a planet orbiting a black hole. In "The Age of Steel", he describes human beings as both brilliant and stupid in the same sentence while arguing the necessity of emotions with the Cyber-Controller. The Doctor even goes so far as to exclaim he's willing to battle the Master across the cosmos as long as he leaves Earth alone in "The Sound of Drums". However, he is also quick to criticise mankind when he feels it is necessary.[18] Indeed, his confidence in the human race becomes far less pronounced in later series, and at the end of "Midnight" he is left speechless after witnessing the steps humans can become willing to take when placed in a threatening situation; almost being killed by a panicky group of people who turn on him.
The Doctor also feels regret of the deaths of both his friends and enemies. In "Journey's End", he has a flashback of those who have died instead of/for him, including Astrid Peth, Jenny, Luke Rattigan, Lynda Moss, and the air stewardess from Midnight. He also offers Davros the chance to escape the destruction of the Dalek mothership, but Davros spits the chance back at him, calling him the Destroyer of Worlds in his seemingly final moments.
The Tenth Doctor and Rose often faced their adventures with a cheerful, almost blasé attitude, even when terror and death happened around them, contrasting his previous selves, who displayed more serious attitudes when in trouble. Queen Victoria commented on this in "Tooth and Claw" when she banished them (as did Agatha Christie to the Doctor alone in "The Unicorn and the Wasp"), and producer Russell T Davies hinted that there would be consequences to this carefree attitude later in the 2006 series. In "Doomsday", the two were separated seemingly forever when Rose was left in a parallel universe as a consequence of foiling a Dalek and Cyberman invasion of Earth.
The 2006 series continued the exploration of the Doctor's romantic aspects, with the Tenth Doctor sharing kisses with Rose (albeit while she was possessed by Lady Cassandra) and Madame de Pompadour. In "School Reunion", Sarah all but confesses that she had been in love with him. In "Doomsday", during their farewell, Rose tells the Doctor she loves him; he begins to reply but only manages to say her name before the transmission is cut off, leaving him alone in the TARDIS with tears on his cheeks. After this, whenever he is reminded of Rose he sometimes becomes depressed or pensive. In the audio commentary for "Doomsday" the executive producer Julie Gardner claimed that she will confirm to the nation the Doctor was going to "say it back." In 2007 episodes, the Doctor gradually learnt that Martha harboured feelings for him before she left his company — which he inadvertently inspired by kissing her as a distraction[19] — and also exchanged kisses with Astrid in honour of "an old tradition" from her home planet. Following the complications with Martha (for which he blames himself), the Doctor seems reluctant to embark on any other potentially romantic companionship, and makes sure that before allowing her to join him, Donna understands that all he wants is a friend. In keeping with this, when he is poisoned in "The Unicorn and the Wasp" and asks Donna to give him a shock of some kind, kissing him proves to be so out of character for her that it is sufficient to trigger the detox process.
The Tenth Doctor sometimes dons a pair of spectacles, like the Fifth Doctor, whose youthful appearance he shares. In the 2007 Children In Need special, "Time Crash", the Tenth Doctor notes other inherited/inspired tendencies when meeting the Fifth Doctor aside from "the brainy specs" (which he observes were worn by the Fifth simply to look clever rather than out of necessity, therefore implying that his are used for the same reason) such as wearing plimsolls/trainers and both of their voices becoming high-pitched when shouting. He also exhibits a remarkable sense of taste, again similar to the Fifth Doctor, (Planet of Fire), able to identify the blood type of a blood sample ("The Christmas Invasion") or the presence of mistletoe oil ("Tooth and Claw") just by licking. He also shares the Fifth Doctor's skill with a cricket ball, as demonstrated in "Human Nature". The Tenth also admitted to the Fifth that he was his favourite past incarnation.
The Tenth Doctor speaks with an Estuary English accent, rather than the Mancunian accent (Christopher Eccleston's own accent) that the Ninth Doctor used, the Received Pronunciation of most earlier Doctors, or Tennant's natural Scottish burr. David Tennant told SFX magazine in 2006 that Russell Davies had asked him to drop his natural Scottish accent, because he felt "we'd like to not go for another obvious regional accent, because I suppose they'd done that". In a December 23 interview on BBC Radio 1, Tennant explained that a line had been scripted for the Christmas special explaining that the newly regenerated Doctor had imprinted on Rose Tyler's accent, "like a chick hatching from an egg," but the line was cut from the final programme. The Tenth Doctor also briefly affected a generic American Appalachian accent in the Children in Need special and "The Christmas Invasion", and a Scottish accent (David Tennant's own) in "Tooth and Claw".
Appearance: The Doctor seemed disappointed that his tenth incarnation was not "ginger", but has worn his own dark brown hair in various ways throughout the series: unstyled in "The Christmas Invasion", a fifties-style quiff in "The Idiot's Lantern", and flattened forwards in "The Runaway Bride." He is also perceived by most, including companions and other characters as "just a little bit foxy".
He wears a dark brown (with blue pinstripes) or a blue (with red pinstripes) suit, a shirt and a tie (otherwise, open-shirted with a light grey t-shirt/vest ("Tooth and Claw", "Planet of the Ood"), a red-hued t-shirt ( "42") or a black t-shirt ("Midnight"), a light brown overcoat (which he claims was given to him by Janis Joplin), and a pair of trainers, in colours ranging from cream (brown suit), black (dinner jacket) or burgundy (blue suit), a costume which Tennant described as "geek chic". The blue suit debuted in Series 3 episode 1, "Smith and Jones", and both suits were worn from his adventures with Martha Jones onwards, until the fourth series finale "Journey's End" in which an identical Doctor donned the blue suit and was left in a parallel universe with Rose Tyler. According to an interview on Parkinson, David Tennant and Russell T Davies got the idea for the Tenth Doctor's costume from an outfit Jamie Oliver had worn on Parkinson just after David had taken the role. Another part of the Doctor's costume is a pair of dark tortoise-shell rectangular frame glasses; since The Christmas Invasion he has required them in numerous episodes. As noted above, the Tenth Doctor credited the Fifth Doctor with inspiring his footwear and glasses.
Knowledge of popular culture: Like his predecessor, the Tenth Doctor shows a fondness for human popular culture — a characteristic not all of his previous incarnations seemed to share — but even more so, to the point where he finds himself unconsciously quoting the song "Circle of Life" from Disney's The Lion King during a confrontation with the Sycorax leader. In School Reunion he responded to a student with 'correctamundo', an exclamation often made by The Fonz on the TV show Happy Days, though he vowed that it would be the only time he uttered the word. In "The Girl in the Fireplace", he sings "I Could Have Danced All Night" from the musical My Fair Lady. He also appears to be a fan of pop music, quoting Kylie Minogue and Status Quo, and has made quips about Balamory (in "Tooth and Claw"), EastEnders (in "The Impossible Planet"), and Ghostbusters (in "Army of Ghosts"). He also has a fondness for pop/rock music, attempting to take Rose to an Ian Dury and the Blockheads concert in 1979, and Elvis Presley's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in NYC in the 1950s (he fails to reach his destination both times). Also, in "42" he refers to the Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun". In "The Shakespeare Code", he mentions having read the seventh Harry Potter novel (which made him cry), and, at Martha's suggestion, shouts out "Expelliarmus" as a magic word for Shakespeare to use, as well as referencing Back to the Future when explaining the mechanics of "the infinite temporal flux" to Martha. In "The Christmas Invasion" he compares himself to Arthur Dent, a character from Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, referring to Dent as a "nice man". Whether the Doctor actually met Dent or if he was just teasing Rose is unclear, given that the Fourth Doctor was shown reading and discussing a book written by a character from the Hitchhiker's series in Destiny of the Daleks (a reference inserted by Adams himself, at the time a script editor and writer for the show), while the Seventh Doctor once referred to one of Adams's lines in Ghost Light. In "The Fires of Pompeii", the Doctor excuses Donna Noble's behaviour by claiming "she's from...Barcelona", a statement that was used often in comedy series Fawlty Towers by Basil Fawlty to apologize for the mistakes of Spanish waiter Manuel; in the same episode, both Donna and the Doctor make reference to the film Spartacus. In "Planet of the Ood", the Doctor references the Beatles again, specifically their Magical Mystery Tour (though he only uses the last two words).
His knowledge of contemporary pop culture is not comprehensive however. In "The Lazarus Experiment" he fails to recognise the term "science geek" when Tish Jones applies the label to him. Once he is provided with a definition he does choose to take it as a compliment, though.
His references are not all restricted to modern pop-culture. In "Tooth and Claw", his description of Rose as a "tim'rous beastie" is an allusion to the poem "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns, an 18th century Scottish poet. In "The Shakespeare Code" he quotes from the poem "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas and displays an expansive knowledge of the works of William Shakespeare, both directly and indirectly suggesting famous lines to the man himself, unsurprising considering the Fourth Doctor claimed he transcribed the first folio of Hamlet on (an older) Shakespeare's behalf. He has also quoted from the T. S. Eliot poem "The Hollow Men", referencing both the "Falls the Shadow" and "This is the way the world ends" passages. In "The Shakespeare Code", he makes a reference to the plot of Ray Bradbury's time-travel story "A Sound of Thunder".
Personality quirks: A scene filmed for the episode "Human Nature" but cut from the final broadcast (and included in the Deleted Scenes feature in the Season 3 DVD set) reveals that the Tenth Doctor has a strong dislike for pears, to the point of ordering Martha to prevent the Doctor, during his period disguised as John Smith, from eating any. The scene was adapted from the original "Human Nature" novel by the same writer, Paul Cornell, where the Seventh Doctor orders Bernice Summerfield to do the same for him when he becomes John Smith. The canonicity of the scene, as it was cut from the final broadcast and originated in spin-off fiction, is unclear. The deleted scene, along with a scene in "Voyage of the Damned", also illustrates that the Doctor sometimes has trouble with ordinal lists, starting with one numbering system (1, 2, 3, etc.) and unintentionally switching to a different one (a, b, c, etc.) and back again. He corrects himself when he notices that he has done this, but also appears quite annoyed at himself for doing it in the first place.
This Doctor, more than any other it seems, can be incredibly absent minded at times, having forgotten to tell Mickey to cease calibrating the TARDIS in "Rise of the Cybermen", leading to the group's unceremonious arrival on an alternate Earth. This absentmindedness is also witnessed in "The Idiot's Lantern" and "Tooth and Claw", in which the Doctor easily confuses years and locations (i.e. 1879 for 1979, London for New York), and in the mini-episode "Time Crash". While making repairs to the TARDIS, the Tenth Doctor forgets to put the shields back up, resulting in the TARDIS colliding and merging with the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS. He then forgets to raise the shields a second time, causing the TARDIS to crash into the Starship Titanic in the episode "Voyage of the Damned". In "The Sound of Drums", he forgets to mention to Martha and Captain Jack Harkness that he has a plan to stop The Master.
Much as the Ninth Doctor frequently declared things "Fantastic!", this Doctor has also favoured certain phrases on various occasions such as "What!?" (when referring to something unexpected happening, an exclamation also favoured by the Fourth Doctor), "Brilliant!", "That's impossible!", "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry", "That's just cheating!", the Italian expression 'Molto Bene' ('Very good'), "They have a little shop!" (referring to gift shops), and the French expression "Allons-y" ("Let's go"). The last was first used in "Army of Ghosts," where the Doctor stated that he should say it more often and that he would love to meet someone named Alonso so he could say "Allons-y, Alonso!" to them, eventually achieving this aim in "Voyage of the Damned" with midshipman Alonso Frame. In addition, he often clarifies his own mistakes by beginning with an elongated "Well..."(again favoured by the Fourth Doctor), for example when he illustrates how only one of Agatha Christie's novels managed to fool him in "The Unicorn and the Wasp". On occasions he would also use the phrase "Don't do that," after his companion has tried to imitate an accent (for example, he said it to Rose Tyler in "Tooth and Claw" when she attempts a stereotypical Scottish accent). He also enjoys making abstruse English puns (eg. lava/"lather" in "The Fires of Pompeii" and intruder/"in tru da" in "The Sontaran Stratagem", incidentally repeating another character's "in tru da window" pun from the 2005 episode "Dalek").
I cannot go anywhere without my trusty screwdriver
I have many enemies whilst I have travelled through time
I am now a member of The Coven of Ancient Egyptian Mysteries to support my wife in her new coven.
I have gained the position of Assistant Coven Master within this loverly Coven
In my Coven I have achieved the Egyptian Society Level of:
Proud Member of the Alliance of:
My Friends on VR:
Well this will do for starters, can't go to far to soon I will add more as I stated as time goes by. Please feel free to rate me now or whenever doesn't worry me in the slightest. All I can say is rate me as you see fit.
This Tag was created in memory of those who lost lives and homes in the 2009 BushFires in Victoria. My family and I are one of the lucky ones that survived, well for the time being anyway.
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