Doctor Who: Favourite Doctor?

Quirkymeister

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Hello Doctor Who fans (Whovians?),
Haven't seen one of these threads, so thought I may as well ask: who is your favourite doctor regeneration? I'd have put a poll in, but there's only 8 options...

Anyway, for me, I'd say that in the classic series, the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) is my favourite, if only because I loved 'The Caves of Androzani' and thought that Four was a bit too, well, indestructible. I just had a better feel for the stakes with Five, I dunno.

With the revival series, the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) is probably my favourite. Yeah, his tenure was a short one, but he had a really well-defined arc where he became more positive and optimistic, his relationship with Rose was way more tolerable than Ten and Rose's, and his personality seemed more consistent than the latter doctors (but that might be related to how compressed his tenure was).

Anyway, which are your favourite Doctors, denizens of the Escapisf?
-Quirky
 

Albino Boo

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The fourth Dr is my favourite, for the simple reason he the Dr when I was first started watching the show in the 70s. Even though the effects are creaky compared to what you get now, the stories hold up the best of all the Drs. My favorite of the current run is Capaldi. The man is a genuine Dr fan, he once tried to stage a coup and become secretary of Dr Who fan club in the 70s. His Dr is proper Dr, none of this teenage pretty boy but a grumpy old man.
 

Fieldy409_v1legacy

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Matt Smith. I think he did the quirky nature of the Doctor a lot better than David Tennant Davids Doctor is far too charismatic to ever pull off quirky nerd well, and Matt was able to snap over to menancing just as well as David. Matt is the first Doctor of the new series to actually act like the classic ones.

 

Thaluikhain

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10 of the new doctors...closest thing to a doctory doctor they had.

Very hard to pick out of the original 7, they all had strengths. Colin Baker got seriously let down with bad scripts for the most part though, and people keep picking on his coat.
 

the December King

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It's gotta be Tom Baker for me- I'm one of those nerds who grew up on his Doctor on Public Broadcasting in the 80s.
 

Zontar

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Christopher Eccleston's 9th Doctor. He had a certain gravitas to him that those after him didn't, plus he really managed to do the role of the war-torn man who had lost everything, he did so much better then neither of his successors, which is ironic since he'd logically be the one who would have the worst time dealing with it from a narrative point of view.

And his being my favourite really makes me cringe when I see people crying over Tennant leaving. We got 47 episodes with him plus a bunch of specials, which is fine, but I only got 13 episodes with my favourite doctor.
 

Bizzaro Stormy

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I think like most of us that the 4th Doctor stories are my favorite, but as for Doctors themselves? That honor goes to William Hartnell. Many have said Humph! Hmm? Or old man cackled, but none did it so well.
 

bigfatcarp93

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Despite being introduced with the modern series, I've found that dear old Sylvester McCoy is much of a personal favorite to me.
 

Hawki

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For me, my order of preference goes:

10
9
11
3
5
4
2
8
6
7
1

I haven't seen enough of 12 to warrant inclusion (granted, my level of exposure to the Doctors is by no means equal). Also, I haven't included the War Doctor, because while I love the character in of himself, we never really saw him be THE Doctor, if you know what I mean (e.g. never had a solo run).

Standard disclaimer that the Ninth Doctor was my intro to the series and I stopped watching after Matt Smith left for various reasons. Watched various Old Who episodes, but like the current run, I've found them very hit or miss.
 

WolfThomas

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Of the new Doctors I really enjoyed Eccleston because he went out while his run was strong. 11 and 10 were great, just I felt they dragged towards the end of their tenures.

Of the old Doctor I loved Sylvester Mccoy. I'm not sure if that's because Ace remains my favourite companion (why no return/cameo of her?) and because I read a lot of "New Dr Who" stories as a kid that mainly had him as the Dr (until McGann came along). So I see him with a lot more depth.
 

Lodgem

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The Big Finish audios have destroyed my ability to answer that question. Whichever Doctor I'm listining to at the moment would be my favourite. If I had to pick one it would be the 7, but only when teamed up with Ace.
 

MoltenSilver

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Matt Smith, though I think that has as much to do with him coinciding with being the first I watched as much as any other factors.
 

Something Amyss

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My Doctor sense is tingling. There must be a Doctor Who thread in my vicinity.

TO ARMS!

Quirkymeister said:
With the revival series, the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) is probably my favourite. Yeah, his tenure was a short one, but he had a really well-defined arc where he became more positive and optimistic, his relationship with Rose was way more tolerable than Ten and Rose's, and his personality seemed more consistent than the latter doctors (but that might be related to how compressed his tenure was).
While you're speaking to the strength of Eccleston's run, I think this was my biggest problem with Tennant's run. Nine got a complete arc. Eleven did, as well. If Doctor Who was canceled tomorrow, I would be satisfied with Capaldi's arc in series eight.

Tennant mostly seemed to meander.

I know it was all "tied together" towards the end of his run, but that seemed more like just bringing in characters, rather than Tennant's Doctor particularly having an arc. A callback is nice, but it doesn't make a good character.

Anyway:

Classic Who? I like Patrick Troughton most, I think. It's hard because the earlier stuff wasn't as well preserved, but I think I got a feel for Troughton's Doctor. Barring that, I liked the Seventh Doctor.

New Who? I like them all, but I have to go with Smith, actually. I really enjoyed what he did with the character, so much so that I was more tolerant of some really bad episodes. Or maybe it's just that he introduced me to the glory of the Star Whale!

Capaldi could be better, but I've only seen the one series so far, and I tend not to judge on a single series/season unless it's all they have (Eccleston).

BloatedGuppy said:
I liked the one with the really poor production values and peppy female companion.
What's the cutoff for really poor? I'm trying to decide if this includes all of them, or if Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi are excluded for going HD and only having poor production values.

Hawki said:
Also, I haven't included the War Doctor, because while I love the character in of himself, we never really saw him be THE Doctor, if you know what I mean (e.g. never had a solo run).
I would have really loved to have seen that, though. Like, I know he was mostly just there to stand in for Eccleston, but John Hurt did a good job at being a battle-weary man at the end of his rope. I would have loved to see how he got there. Hell, they should have covered that instead of that Zygon plot.
 

FalloutJack

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*Head Explodes*

Seriously though, given how much of the more recent series seems to take from Tom Baker's style, I believe we must all tip our hats to The Great Curator.
 

doggy go 7

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Given I haven't seen the old doctor who stuff (due to not being alive at the time), out of the ones I've seen the 9th is my favourite, with 10 being a close second. I actually didn't mind matt smith, but the writing for his episodes got so bad, to the point where his run ended, I've seen two or three of the capaldi series, and have just given up on the show. It's sad, cos I loved the show as a kid, and maintain the early episodes (of the new series) hold up, but I stopped enjoying myself, the only really unqualified good episode I remember recently was the 50th anniversy one. If anyone's seen more of the recent stuff and thinks it's got better do say, but I think the doctor who ship has slightly sailed for me.
 

Albino Boo

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doggy go 7 said:
Given I haven't seen the old doctor who stuff (due to not being alive at the time), out of the ones I've seen the 9th is my favourite, with 10 being a close second. I actually didn't mind matt smith, but the writing for his episodes got so bad, to the point where his run ended, I've seen two or three of the capaldi series, and have just given up on the show. It's sad, cos I loved the show as a kid, and maintain the early episodes (of the new series) hold up, but I stopped enjoying myself, the only really unqualified good episode I remember recently was the 50th anniversary one. If anyone's seen more of the recent stuff and thinks it's got better do say, but I think the doctor who ship has slightly sailed for me.
Dr Who is something you stick with through thick and thin. Things always change on Dr Who. I didn't like the over frenetic nature of Russell T Davies era but it changed to the Moffett which I find more to my taste. Sooner or later the person in charge will change and the show will shift direction again.




Zachary Amaranth said:
My Doctor sense is tingling. There must be a Doctor Who thread in my vicinity.

TO ARMS!
Now don't be Dalekist. There is no need to be insulting, just because someone only has a sink plunger and and death ray doesnt mean that are not people too
 

Eddie the head

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Of the one's I've seen they all kind of have there good points. Capaldi is a bitter old dick and I love it. Matt Smith was basically Peter Pan and who doesn't want to find Neverland? Tennant had a lot of good story arcs, and I think Eccleston nailed the mannerisms. Never seen the old show. Mostly because even though I find the new one reasonably entertaining I don't like it that much to go back and look.

Edit. Upon thinking about this I do have an answer the best Doctor is Robert Picardo.

Dude made Voyager watchable Smith on his best day couldn't do that.
 

Something Amyss

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albino boo said:
Now don't be Dalekist. There is no need to be insulting, just because someone only has a sink plunger and and death ray doesnt mean that are not people too
I'm not a Dalekist. Some of my best friends are Daleks. I just don't think they should have the same rights as normal people!