"Your Doctor"

[Togs]

After taking part in numerous discussions about Doctor Who on this site and others, Ive come to realise that the Doctor seems to be a character who is incredibly open to alternative character interpretations, so I was wondering-

What is your "concept" of the Doctor? is he a pseudo messiah? A veteran soldier? Or just a mad man with a blue box?

Me personally, I like the soldier angle- the man is the sole survivor of a terrible war and whilst he may talk about peace and tolerance he's still fighting, and is quite honestly a murderous bastard.

Also guys lets keep this civil, Ive seen some folk get proper worked up over it.

 

[daftalchemist]

I see him as a caring Madman who just wants to keep peace and order after dealing with the hardships of war. I like to think that's why he's called "doctor", because he wants to help, he wants to fix things, he wants to make things better.

 

[Je Suis Ubermonkey]

He's the time travelling equivalent of Batman.
Vigilante, relies on intelligence and technology to defeat seemingly superior foes, doesn't like killing but has no problems with anyone dying if it gets the job done or they deserve it.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

I feel like he's a Jesus figure. I know he doesn't acknowledge the existence of a higher power, but I just feel like he's preaching his own religion. Everybody lives, the violence stops here, fear me because I can do crazy shit, that's all the kind of stuff Jesus was saying. And the Doctor even has people following him around, like his little group of Apostles.
Also, he's always ready to sacrifice himself for others, if that's what he has to do. And even when he does sacrifice himself, he always comes back from the grave.
And about the Holy Trinity, he has three different sides: the smart side, where he knows everything and demands attention (Father), the horrified side, when he realizes that things are going wrong, and he is the only one who can come in and stop it, no matter the cost to himself (Son), and then there's the more compassionate side, where he treats people like people, always learning their names and life stories (Holy Spirit).

I could keep going, but I think this is enough.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I found him to be something of a time travelling tool, but then again, thats just me. I never really cared much for either doctor, but more so this one.

 

[Togs]

Snip

Please do, this thread is basically me trying to get a feel for the other viewpoints- any and all thoughts are positively encouraged.

 

[TimeLord]

A mad man with a box.
The Doctor should be a man that hops through time making things generally better along the way. I'm not a great fan of the whole "man who makes people better" argument that the Master pointed out as it contrasts a lot with him being a genocidal lunatic 50% of the time. Although I can see why people would die for him. I certainly would.

 

[Togs]

A mad man with a box.

Care to elaborate? as I said I wanna get some insight on others opinions.

EDIT= Oops you just have, my bad. Also if you have Generic Gamer as a friend could you link him this thread? Its people like him whose opinions Im most interested in.

 

[baconsarnie]

Ecclestone era 'doctor'
Just cruising around the universe and through time in either direction, fighting aliens but not being too bothered about it
none of this namby pamby matt smith garbage

 

[Jedamethis]

A mad man with a box.
The Doctor should be a man that hops through time making things generally better along the way.

Pretty much that. Just a nice chap who wanders around the universe.

 

[Togs]

Also guys lets keep this civil, Ive seen some folk get proper worked up over it.

Is that me perchance? because I don't get 'worked up' over a fictional character. I get worked up when I have to answer the same question twenty times for different people because no one reads threads.

No actually, Ive been told directly to fuck off on one site by voicing my opinions, but you and me seem to have very different outlooks on him, which in all honesty sparked this thread- are there others who hold such different opinions, and how many different ones are there? Call it lame but when I find something I dont understand I try and learn from it.

 

[Neo10101]

Just a mad man with a blue box, doing what he sees fit and fun.

 

[AssassinJoe]

I see him as a traveler trying to have fun. He always goes to the most interesting parts of the universe to try to enjoy himself, but trouble just seems to follow him where ever he goes.

 

[Spineyguy]

I think Matt Smith's Doctor summed it up perfectly.

When asked if he was a 'young professional', the Doctor replied "Probably more of a, sort of, Ancient Amateur."

Other than that, what can I say? The Doctor is everything, he's handsome (Well, more recently he's been handsome) but at the same time sexless, with only hinted-at romantic connections. The Doctor is heroic but is constantly forced to do awful things, he's mad but also perhaps the most sane man in the universe, he's impossibly clever and yet barely knows his own mind, he's hilarious and light-hearted but with a tragic depth to him which borders on the Shakespearean in its poetry.

The Doctor is a writer's nightmare, the basis of the character is so adult and philosophically complex that to make it accessible you have to add all sorts of plot devices and bits of fluff, but doing too much of this reduces the relevance of the script and can make the result seem infantile and pathetic. Get him a proper writer (Steven Moffat, for example.) and he's the ultimate protagonist. Get the wrong writer and you end up with Voyage of the Damned. (Seriously, look it up.)

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

Please do [elaborate], this thread is basically me trying to get a feel for the other viewpoints- any and all thoughts are positively encouraged.

All right. So you've got this Doctor, this guy who's lucky enough to be born a Time Lord. I don't know much about his time as a child, or even a young man, but from the beginning, it would seem that he's lived a pretty interesting life. From what I've gotten from Smith, Tennant, and Eccleson, he started early, never a normal time lord. Much like Jesus staying at the synagogue even after his parents had left, the Doctor stole the TARDIS, enthralled with the life that he would soon live.
From there, he moved all over the place. Much like Jesus, he wanted to spread his word throughout time and space. If people couldn't come to him, he would go to them. He wasn't worried about their position in life; he'd been through the entirety of time, so wealth and status didn't mean much of them. And even the most sinful of them all was worthy of living, as long as they did what the Doctor said.
The Doctor being the last of the Time Lords is a lot like Jesus being the last of the prophets. That's what I'd like to believe, that Jesus was just a man, and, like the Doctor, his life became legendary, passed along gratefully through the generations by people who'd been saved. For both men, being the last of their kind carried a lot of weight. They both would have to be the best, something to be remembered.
Not only did Jesus come to finish the job, but he also came to fix all the wrongs in the world. The Doctor is there to do the same thing, to fix what so many have held high for so long. He messes with ancient history, and sacred rituals, all because it doesn't fit into his plan for things. And that means turning against his brethren, if neccessary. Jesus challenged many religious leaders at the time, and the Doctor destroyed his entire race. Twice.
The Doctor is never without his band of followers. Like the Apostles, many of the things he says don't make any sense, but they follow him anyway, because he speaks with the air of someone who knows what they're talking about. Jesus and the Doctor are both good speakers. However, they both had their enemies. Like Judas, many of the people the Doctor puts his trust in end up betraying him for their own goals, like Ambrose in The Hungry Earth, killing the homo reptilia to save her son. And, as the townspeople turned on Jesus and called for his crucifixion, many people blame the Doctor for bringing tragedy to them, instead of simply following in its wake. He is often seen as the villian when he's only trying to save the people who hate him.

I'm sorry, but I can't keep doing this. I mean, I could, but my soul is getting tired from all this theology.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

He's just a loner. Someone who got fed up with all the pomp and circumstance and wanted to have some fun.(As did the TARDIS)

Then something happened.

Something so bad that I don't think we ever got to hear about it.

Then he made his rules. Rules that he'd never pick up a gun (mostly), never kill an innocent, and never make the same mistake again.

Beneath the happy clown lies a sad, sad face.

But being a clown is cool. It means you don't have to think about the sadness.

Until some metal pepperpot reminds you of it.

 

[Rednog]

I like the 9th doctor, a guy who has experienced so much in his life and it has taken its toll. But he manages to still have a bit of fun and despite all the crap he has gone through he should be a complete dick, but he finds compassion in his heart for his enemies. And most important of all is that he actually cares if people die as a result of his actions and or inaction. This is my biggest problem with the 10th and 11th doctor, people drop like flies around the guy, seriously if you're not the doctor 10th or 11th's companions you should run in the opposite direction because you are going to get killed and die in a terrible terrible way and the doctor probably won't do that much to try and save you.

 

[Haydyn]

The main character on a show hard as hell to follow that is more popular in America than England. Any further and I am just risking flame war.

 

[Burntpopcarn]

a thrill seeker with a violent past. the doctor, in my opinion, is a retired soldier.

 

[Wintermoot]

it depends on which doctor
the 9th doctor (Christopher Eccleston) seems like a veteran tired of death and looking for ways to create peace but he can also be funny and happy about saving lives

the 10th doctor (David Tennant) is allot more relaxed and at peace with his past and has more fun with time traveling. (in one of the episodes he went to the 60,s so he could see a preformance of Elvis Presley)