Geek Syndicate Issue 7 | Page 12

Geek Syndicate
10. The First Doctor – William Hartnell. (1963-1966)
I’m actually uncomfortable with this positioning, because I really enjoy the Hartnell stories – particularly some of the later stories once Peter Purves boards the TARDIS as Steven Taylor. The original TARDIS crew was also superb – despite Susan’s lack of development and rather annoying role. Many of these early stories were different from what came later. It’s only really in this era that the show really could literally do anything. There were no format constraints, no Gallifrey, no Time Lords … just an old man with a box having adventures with his assortment of companions. Hartnell’s irrascability was Meeting one of his own kind in The Time Meddler excellent. I’m sure children in the 1960s weren’t sure whether to feel safe or scared in this man’s presence. In his first story, the Doctor intends to kill a straggler by smashing a rock into his skull because he was slowing the party down. In The Daleks, he deliberately sabotages his TARDIS just to get his own way. So why such a low position for the original Time Lord in this list? I think it boils down to this: despite some great performances and scripts, the original Doctor has not really become “THE DOCTOR” as such. It’s not until some way through the Second Doctor’s tenure that this switch seems to be flipped.
Image © BBC

9. The Fourth Doctor – Tom Baker (1975-1981)
Tom Baker is possibly the most Doctorish of Doctors. Baker is a very “alien” man and the alien-ness of the fourth Doctor comes completely from the actor, who clearly gave his all to this role that he felt privileged to be cast in. In many ways, this is a golden age for Doctor Who, though four production teams came and went over this time, making his seasons tonally different from each other. Of course this also means there is likely to be a story to match almost anyone’s tastes during this seven year period. I’ll be honest – one of the reasons that the Fourth appears relatively high on my list is that (as Luke also points out) he’s often the “go-to” favourite and I’d like to encourage people to watch stories from other Doctors. When I was growing up, I loved reading the novelisations featuring Tom Baker … but again, I think part of this was the sheer volume of material available. There are probably a larger number of classic stories during this period … but there are also a larger num ber of stories overall!
Christopher Eccleston, Bitter Survivor

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“I don’t want to go!”