Nowadays, with the popularity of the series, everyone has a Doctor in particular that they could not imagine the series without. Be it the first incarnation you saw or an actor that replaced The Doctor at a later date, we all have that one that we would could watch over and over and never get bored. In the lead up to Capaldi’s second season on the show, one cannot help but assess and compare the favorites of the past, if only to get Capaldi’s position in the lineup of who-dunnit-right. In no particular order, I am listing my top five Doctors of the Whoniverse. I considered all of them, even Paul McGann, who in my opinion did not get a fair shake. These brave few are the ones who literally became the time traveling alien with a blue box, who not only played the role, but made the series for me in some way. Without further ado, I give you: The Doctors.
1. The Ninth Doctor – Chris Eccleston
Despite the fact he only stuck around for one season, Chris Eccleston’s brief tenure as the Ninth Doctor brought the series back from the near-eternal purgatory it had fallen into from low viewership and cancellation in 1989. While not quite the same sort of alien fans of the original series might have recalled, he swept in with a crooked smile and biker coat, whisking Rose and the viewers off on strange adventures in his quite familiar blue police box. Eccleston’s Doctor was just the right amount of campy, while still maintaining the wayward soldier recovering after the ever mysterious Time War persona. He acted as a universal police man, shouting off Shadow Proclamation articles to foes and threatening their lives when they carried out their evil schemes, but at the same time he could pull off really corny lines such as, “Looks like you need a doctor.” The duality was present in near every episode, as if it was just a flick of the switch for The Doctor or even as if he was coping with his own demons the whole time. This flexibility of character lent to Doctor Who being more viewable for both older and younger fans, renewing not just the series but the viewership itself. Say what you will about his catchphrase (“Fantastic!”), but Eccleston’s Doctor really was just that.
2. The Fifth Doctor – Peter Davison
This Doctor is an odd selection for me. With boyish looks, a cracking voice, and an obtuse outfit involving a celery stick, it’s hard to give a reason for my adoration of him other than this: he has an inexorable charm and human factor that I just cannot refuse. Admittedly, as a Who fan, I feel this is where the series started to get a little silly and offbeat, but Davison won me over as The Doctor who was a little indecisive and able to relinquish the reigns if he felt the need. He was also quite accepting, allowing companions on the TARDIS who were enlisted to kill him or built by his nemesis for his underhanded schemes. A sad note for this Doctor is that he is the first to have a companion die, which I always thought was even more humanizing. If you’re able to look past the cricket outfit and celery, I always recommend giving Davison a go.
3. The First Doctor – William Hartnell
Who could forget the man who first played the role? Hartnell’s portrayal of The Doctor was a forgetful, witty, not to be trifled with old coot who, above all else, was full of charm even in his more terrifying and abrasive moments. Travelling originally with his granddaughter, our first encounter with him leads to the abduction of his first two Earthling companions, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who later become like family to him. Much like the characters around him, the viewers come to see him not as a crazy alien, but as a space faring grandfather, tutting his crew and companions with the best of intentions. While he absentmindedly forgot names, where he was, and what he was doing, when the time came, he was a man of indomitable will and tact, staring down and stopping evil schemes by war machines, Daleks, the Celestial Toymaker, and even Cybermen, which inevitably became his downfall. Hartnell started our long adoration for the character and the series, and he earned every beat of it.
4. The Fourth Doctor – Tom Baker
Tom Baker’s Doctor is an obvious choice for the top five. The most well-known Doctor from the classic era, particularly in the US, I would describe him as sort of the private detective doctor. Brusque, cold humored, and always with that maniacal grin, he donned a ridiculously long scarf and traipsed about for seven seasons of the show. He was the most alien of the actors, always with intense, yet distant expressions as if he were observing a study more than assisting. He did have some vulnerability however, as exposed in the Pyramids of Mars serial, where he worries over Sarah Jane and succumbs to Sutek’s mind control. While he was far from humorless, his jokes were more at the expense of others, and he did not suffer fools gladly. Baker’s Doctor was and still is definitely refreshing from the amount of whimsy many others portrayed. It can’t been fun and frivolous all the time.
5. The Eleventh Doctor – Matt Smith
Yes, it is time for me to extol Matt Smith on his rendition. I will be the first to admit, as initially a quite enthusiastic Eccleston fan, I was a harsh judge for Smith when he stepped up to the plate. The moment he grabbed the back of his hair and shouted, “I’m a girl!,” I forgot to hate him. He proved me horribly, horribly wrong. Matt Smith has the honor of youngest actor to play The Doctor, yet somehow he managed to get across all nearly 2000 years of experience on his 20-something year old face. He was ostentatious and goofy, cruel and hateful. At times, you couldn’t tell whether he was a young man mucking about on adventure, or an old manipulative man who just wanted the company so he would stop talking to himself. The trick to it was that he was both. He was The Doctor, alien and human at the same time. He controls the scene so well by simple gestures alone that, when his brow furrows, you find yourself on the edge of your seat just as mad or just as worried as The Doctor is. His episodes stopped being about the monster adventure of the day and became about his life and the lives of his companions. From the moment he arrives as an audacious and eccentric “Raggedy Man” to the moment he regenerates, never has an actor been as intensely ingrained as a character that your heart breaks at his leaving.
That is it for the top five Doctors of all time besides David Tennant. Do you disagree or think I should have given another Doctor a fair shake? Please let us know!
