Geek Syndicate Issue 7

Geek Syndicate DOCTOR WHO: Ranking The Doctors! Over the past fifty years, the television viewing, comic and novel reading and audio play listening public have been treated to the adventures of a mysterious quintessentially English alien who travels through time and space in a strange blue box. Doctor Who has captured the imagination of millions over it’s long history. Part of the series’ longevity was the production team’s idea of being able to replace the lead actor by “renewing” the Doctor’s alien body. This process became known as “regeneration” and to date there have been eleven official incarnations of the Doctor – with a twelfth set to appear at the end of this year’s Christmas special. Luke’s Order of Doctors... Geek Syndicate is something that I hold very dear. I first heard about it a couple of years ago through Twitter at Thought Bubble. I got in touch and started writing for them. The rest is history. I write reviews (mainly for comics), report news and I’ve been a regular contributor of specialist articles (for example geek criminology) for this very magazine since its first issue. It is a real joy to write for Geek Syndicate. I was first introduced to Doctor Who when my dad brought me back a toy Dalek to play with from a fair. I think I have always kind of known what it was about as us geeks seem to pick these things up by osmosis. I remember seeing that amazing blue box and an old fashioned watch as my nine year old self watched and wondered what this awesome TV show was about. I was watching the (oft-maligned) 1996 TV movie. Then in 2000, my friend told me that BBC Two was airing a classic Doctor Who from the past - Genesis of the Daleks. I remember being utterly gripped by this six-part story. For some reason though I never watched it week in week out when it returned in 2005 but I did watch The Empty Child and thought the story was ingenious. It wasn’t until I watched the second season of the re-launch that I was hooked, watching as much Doctor Who as I possibly could, both new and old. And yes Daleks still scare me! 11. The Sixth Doctor – Colin Baker (1984-1986) Whether it was the writing, Baker himself or a mixture of both, this era marks the start of the downfall of the classic series. After maybe the greatest story in Doctor Who history (The Caves of Androzani) we were greeted with the Sixth Doctor and possibly the worst story, The Twin Dilemma. In this story we started to see the problems with this Doctor. He was nasty and cowardly. He didn’t act like the Doctor we knew at all. The Sixth Doctor openly attacked his young companion Peri and later used her as a human shield to protect himself. The Twin Dilemma is a horrific story but it is something that you have to see to believe. After this, the Sixth Doctor did manage to get back on his feet with a half decent Cyberman story but there were strange ideas added by the production team, like the TARDIS changing from its classic Police Box form into other Image © BBC Is THIS the new Doctor? The Doctor Strikes. The Twin Dilemma Each Doctor has had fundamental differences in temperament while still maintaining a core-Doctorishness: the desire that things be right in the universe and that evil be stopped, whatever it’s shape and whatever the cost. There are many arguments about which Doctor is the best and why, so at Geek Syndicate we thought we’d stick our own four pence in and provide two considered rankings of each of the Doctors. In doing so, we hope to encourage readers to hunt down some old episodes of this British institution. After all, there’s no such thing as a bad Doctor … 4

Geek Syndicate Issue 7 | Page 4