Tom Baker. He IS Doctor Who in my opinion!!! He was/is just brilliant. The manic staring eyes, the broad grin, the hair, hat and scarf just MADE it for me! K9 was OK to but Tom was cool. And he didn't say *It's a quarter to gran and grandpa moses* once!!!

That is spot on I think. I have been a big Doctor Who fan since about the age of 5 in 1979, the doctor regenerated from Tom Baker to Peter Davison in late 81 and came back in early 1982 when I was 8. Tom Baker is my favourite Doctor but Peter Davison isn't far behind, I think he was an excellent doctor.

A lot of people think the decline of Dr Who started after Tom Baker left, but in truth, I remember at the time when Peter Davison left (I was 10) It had been taken off the air by Michael Grade and Davison had quit after only a few years as the Doctor. Many felt he quit too early as he was a well liked Doctor. They also chose to make Colin Baker an inaccessible character in his early stories which a lot of the fans weren't keen on. They then sacked him before anyone had time to get used to him, whilst simultaneously recruiting Bonnie Langford and Sylvester McCoy to save the ailing show. Anyone who knows what those 2 people are like will know it signalled the last nail in the coffin.

It was very frustrating for me and no doubt many other young fans to watch the seemingly deliberate sabotage of a good programme. I look forward to the new series though, my only worry is putting it on the BBC is like throwing it back to the lions.

John Pertwee... by a country mile.. I was obsessed with his car.. and with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart! I also thought his assistant Jo, was the best (Katy Manning)

Tom Baker got me addicted to Doctor Who, and I thought he was the perfect Doctor.
I don't remember too much as the memories are quite vague now.

But Jon Pertwee is an extremely close second. I have fond memories of the Jon Perwee Doctor, although the memories of Jon Pertweee episodes are even more vague. I felt that Jon Pertwee Doctor Who episodes were the ones that really were scary.
Forget the Daleks and hiding behind the sofa nonsense cliches, the Daleks didn't scare me one bit. But some of the monsters in Jon Pertwee's episodes really creeped me out.
There was a story where these stone gargoyle things came to life and scared the shit out of me. I think the story was called "The Daemons"....Very scary.
The Sea Devils were pretty scary,..in fact most of the Jon Pertwee stuff could scare me quite a lot.

Jon Pertwee had a different style of acting than Tom Baker, but was just as effective. Tom Baker almost played it as though he was mentally unstable, and emotionally all over the place. Jon Pertwee had this intensity and strength that I liked.

Both of those two Doctors had the best look and gimmicks too, Betsy the car, the sonic screwdriver for Jon, hat and long scarf and K9 for Tom Baker.

The first Doc I remember was Patrick Troughton, and I really liked him in the few episodes I saw.
I remember the first appearance of the Autons with Patrick Troughton, and I vaguely remember a scene where he is in a room, and all these Autons which were like dummies with big smiley heads (I think), came to life and all walked into the centre of the room surrounding him....then the episode ended.
That's my first early memory of Doctor Who and it again was quite a scary one.

To be honest, I think the Daleks are overrated. I don't understand why people say they were the scariest monster ever.

My favourite enemy were the Cybermen.
I suppose they were the forerunners of "The Borg" in Star Trek.

Its got to be jon pertwee followed by tom baker.

Yes Yes Yes, the Cybermen were my favourite enemy to.
Does any one know if they will be in the new show?

They won't be in the first series, but if a second gets commissioned Im sure we might see an appearance.

True. Bonnie Langford. I still can't quite believe it. It was also around that time one of the Doctor's enemies was...Bertie Bassett. A clear case of 'jumping the shark' if ever there was.

I hate to sound like a total Dr. Who geek, but the Autons first appeared in Spearhead From Space, which was the first Jon Pertwee episode (it was also the first Dr. Who series in colour.)

Tom Baker's era is my favourite - most specifically S13 and 14.

Eraserhead - you're spot on. The Autons made their debut in Spearhead, which was shot on film due to the BBC studio strike and looks the better for it. Another geek guilty as charged!

For me it's Pertwee, with Tom Baker a close second.

However, the rot was already beginning to set in towards the end of the Tom Baker era. Some of the Davison stuff was okay, but then came Colin Baker and a once-great show began its inexorable spiral down into a pit of mediocrity from which it would never again emerge.

Sylvester McCoy was a marginal improvement over Colin Baker as the Doctor, but by then - with one or two notable exceptions like "The Curse Of Fenric" - the stories, acting and production values had sunk to the level of a school pantomime (abominations like "The Happiness Patrol" and "Greatest Show In The Galaxy" being cases in point).

Nauseating assistants in the form of Peri and (worse still) Bonnie Langford only made matters even worse, and in the end the BBC was right to put the show out of its misery in 1989.

One awaits the new, resurrected 2005 series with interest - although it must be said that the idea of Billie Piper in a starring role isn't one that fills me with confidence for the future.

Not in this series but i would like to see
the Tenth Planet style cyberman back,
if only for the strange voices they had.....lol

1) Tom Baker
2) Jon Pertwee
3) Patrick Troughton
4) Peter Davidson
5) William Hartnell
6) Colin Baker
1,381) Sylvester McCoy

1) Tom Baker
=2) Peter Davidson, John Pertwee, Patrick Troughton
5) William Hartnell
6) Sylvester McCoy
7) Colin Baker

Favorite Episode is Dimesnions In Time set in present and Past Walford with excellent Cameo's and great special effects


Come on give the girl a chance. Infact she doesnt even need a chance when her predessesors are Bonnie Langford and Sophie Aldridge. She will do a great job!

Tom Baker was my favourite, with Jon Pertwee a close second.

I am too young to have seen William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton, but what I have seen from Patrick Troughton was very good.

Quick trivia thingy:

Who were those guys in silver bodysuits (no faces) who shot spears out of their arms?

So if that's true won't he be the last. Doesn't the DR only have 9 regenerations in his life?

P.S. Colin Baker sucked!

Sylvester McCoy sucked!

Tom Baker and Peter Davidson Ruled the roost!!!

wree they raston warriors or something?? they were in a ep killing cybermen i seem to remember

He's the only one I remember as well

Although I do have clear memories of the Dr. Who mini comic books you got inside some crisps or cereal or something, which I think were from Colin Baker's era...

Firstly, this will be his ninth incarnation which means he's regenerated eight times. Secondly, he has twelve regenerations, but as the Timelords are able to give out extra regenerations even the thirteenth Doctor is not necessarily the last one.

Yes i think they were called Raston Warrier Roberts and they are the ultimate in killing machines according to Jon Pertwee in "The Five doctors" - although im sure that was there only appearance in the show.

As for the regenerations I think the Time Lords offered The Master a whole new cycle of regenerations if he could save the doctor in the same story.

I may be wrong though...

Well if you're a total Doctor Who geek, then you'll be able to remember the episode I speak of and tell me what those creatures were won't you?

Well that's just cheeky. What time lord wouldn't accept the extra regenerations?

I wondered why he has always been so careless. I mean when you look at it he's had 9 lives since the 60's... how sloppy is that!

If I were head of the timelords i'd set a 5 regeneration limit, perhaps he'd have been more careful then! heh

Ok, he could have a timelord bonus card where he could mount up points on his exploits and trade them in for an extra regenration... but that's his lot!

It would be interesting if people said what age they were when they first saw their favourite doctor and whether they had seen earlier ones and hung around for later ones as I'm sure that has a great deal to do with which characterisation you most prefer.

My favourite was John Pertwee who I also thought was the best dressed (at the time, I'm sure it looks very camp now).

I was very put off by Christopher Eccleston's idiotically politically correct interview in which he talked about/denigrated the earlier Doctors' intelligence being communicated by RP (received pronunciation) and the subserviant sexist role of the female sidekick. He seems humourless. I've never liked him in anything, too much internalised angst for my liking. It's also rude. The others were mainly very successful so don't knock 'em until you've done the role for longer to bigger ratings and won more awards.

Most of the great actors of those generations were taught perfect diction so they could be heard and understood in theatres the length and breadth of the land and what's wrong with speaking clearly? And why would an extra-terrestrial speak with an English regional accent - RP does not come from anywhere which is the point of it, it is received and therefore neutral. The doctor's intelligence was communicated by the scripts, his behaviour, thinking and analysis and not by his accent - most of the other characters talked the same way.

And the assistants were not any worse than Dr Watson or Batman's Robin or the male detective who can't keep up with Miss Marple, and we are talking up to 40 years ago to be realistic. The girl was there to get your dad watching a kids' programme and Dr Who was a shared pleasure I had with mine when I was young and I treasure that. She was also brave but vulnerable to bring out the Dr's various qualities, you need that in a plot.

Eccleston did not strike me as being intelligent enough himself to play the doctor and if he's going on some mission to alter class perceptions and the role of women in society then I'm sure he'll turn out to be supremely boring and the worst doctor of the lot. Hopefully he has had no say with Russell T.

I just about remember Sylvester McCoy but as neither of my parents where big Sci-Fi fans and we didn't watch much telly when I was younger (playing games, doing things instead) I have never actually watched Doctor Who.

However I AM a big SciFi fan and do watch lots of TV now (not when my kids are up though - that is family time) I will be watching the new Who and am really excited about it so I suppose for me my favourite Doctor is Christopher Eccleston (trying to to type Eccles Cake).

On one hand I think I should say Tom Baker, but then I was of the Peter Davison generation, and it was he who I was a fan of at the time. I had quite a facination about him and a huge poster of him on my wall - one of many early signs, I'm now a raging homo and it's all Dr Who's fault!!!!!. Now that Christopher "Phwoor" Eccleston has got the job I'm clearly doomed!