Regenerations: The Madness of William Hartnell (page 2)

Patrick Troughton - the second Doctor (1966 - 1969)

Patrick Troughton was embraced quickly by Doctor Who viewers, and by not trying to imitate Hartnell’s Doctor, he found his own unique fan base.  Troughton played the Doctor as a far more light-hearted character who has been described by many sources as being “a hobo in space.”  With a whimsical smile and tooting a recorder, the historical episodes of Doctor Who were reduced and science fiction adventures and monsters became the highlight of the series.  However, Troughton was a respected character actor who feared being typecast as the Doctor and, upon taking the role; he agreed to do it for only three years.  When his three years were up Troughton kept to his word and left the show, regenerating into Jon Pertwee.

Jon Pertwee - the third Doctor (1970 - 1974)

In his velvet smoking jacket and satin cape, Jon Pertwee’s era of Doctor Who went through a massive overhaul.  With rival network ITV’s adventure programs, such as The Saint and The Avengers, being popular, the BBC attempted to give Doctor Who the same feel.  Trapping the Doctor on Earth, the Doctor teamed up with a military group called UNIT which investigated unexplained phenomena.  The BBC quickly created another close-knit family for Jon Pertwee, including Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, Katy Manning as the Doctor’s dizzy but sweet companion, Jo Grant and Roger Delgado as the Doctor’s new arch nemesis, The Master.  However, eventually Pertwee’s “family” began to break up as well.  After Katy Manning was written out of the series, paired with the tragic death of Roger Delgado, who was killed in a car crash while vacationing in Turkey, Pertwee felt that the magic was gone.  Grieving over the loss of his co-star and friend, Pertwee relinquished the part to character actor Tom Baker.

Tom Baker - the fourth Doctor (1974 - 1981)

With his long woolly scarf, floppy fedora, brown curls and keyboard smile, Tom Baker is still the figure that the public regards as the quintessential Doctor Who.  Tom Baker’s years on the show are still considered the golden era of the series, and the tall eccentric actor played the Doctor for seven seasons, the longest of all the actors to play the character.  However, it was the arrival of young and ambitious producer John Nathan Turner which prompted Tom Baker’s decision to leave the show.  Known to be argumentive and a control freak, Tom Baker was used to calling the shots on the Doctor Who set, but Turner had his own vision and plans for the show that conflicted with Baker.  After a number of stormy, yet successful seasons, John Nathan Turner revitalized Doctor Who once again, but Baker didn’t like Turner calling all the shots and gave the part over to young actor Peter Davidson.

Peter Davidson - the fifth Doctor (1981 - 1984)

Peter Davidson was up against great odds when taking over the role of the Doctor after Tom Baker.  Since Tom Baker had been the Doctor for so long, an entire generation of youngsters had never experienced another Doctor.  Making his transition even more difficult was that it had been during Tom Baker’s run that Doctor Who had been brought to the United States where it had become a cult hit.  Tom Baker was the only Doctor that the American audience knew, and regeneration was considered to be too unconventional for the American audience.  However, with his easygoing nature, and gentle persona, Peter Davidson gained the approval of the audience instantly, creating another classic era of Doctor Who.  It was while filming the twenty fifth anniversary episode The Five Doctors, which brought Pertwee, Troughton and Davidson together that Patrick Troughton took Davidson aside and told him to do what he had done and to leave after three years.  Davidson took Troughton’s advice and left at the end of the following season.

Colin Baker - the sixth Doctor (1984 - 1986)

Davidson’s replacement, Colin Baker, was the most ill fated Doctor of them all.  However, it was not necessarily Colin Baker’s fault.  Having grown tired of Doctor Who, producer John Nathan Turner wanted to leave the series but was unable to get the BBC to reassign him to another show.  Thus, Turner began to make a series of bad decisions in an attempt to sabotage Doctor Who.  Establishing the new Doctor as a pompous and nasty snob with a cowardly streak, Turner dressed Baker in a ridiculous costume, developed a confrontational relationship between the Doctor and his companion and created an aggressive and unlikeable vibe within the Tardis.  As ratings dropped, the show was put on hiatus while the BBC tried to figure out how to fix the franchise.  A complete restructuring was devised, which includecd Colin Baker being fired as the Doctor and being replaced by character actor Sylvester McCoy.  Clearly the scapegoat for Turner’s bad, but deliberate, decisions, Baker refused to come back for a regeneration scene.

Sylvester McCoy - The seventh Doctor (1987 - 1989)

Sylvester McCoy looked to Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell for inspiration while playing the Doctor.  Once again he played an edgier and darker Doctor with a mysterious sinister side, but he had a whimsical humorous way about him.  Although the series greatly improved during his time, and although the direction was, once again, back on track, Doctor Who was unable to get the audience back that they lost during Colin Baker’s run.  Many overseas markets had abandoned the series, and Doctor Who fandom was being eclipsed by a Star Trek craze that gripped the late 1980′s.  With the terrible special effects and silly looking monsters, Doctor Who had become almost a punch line amongst sci-fi/fantasy fans.  By this point the BBC felt that the franchise was finished.  As a result Doctor Who was finally cancelled in 1989 after 26 seasons.

Paul McGann - the eighth Doctor (1996)

Yet, in 2006 Doctor Who was brought back in a two hour American-made TV movie for FOX TV.  The movie was to be a test pilot for a new American revival of the series.  To appeal to the fans of the original series, Sylvester McCoy was brought back to regenerate into the new eighth Doctor played by Paul McGann.  Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the TV movie did not receive the ratings that FOX had hoped, nor the support from Doctor Who fans who criticized it for being “too American” (ie car chases, explosions, romance and B movie actor Eric Roberts as the Master).  Although he both acted and looked the part, Paul McGann has been called “The George Lazenby of Doctor Who” and was never seen in the part again.  Yet because McCoy appeared in the movie it was deemed part of official Doctor Who continuity.

Chistopher Eccelston - the ninth Doctor (2005)

The Doctor Who franchise was thought long dead by fans when the BBC announced in 2005 that they were bringing Doctor Who back to television.  A feeling of cynicism was quickly crushed when film actor Christopher Ecceleston ignited the screen as the brand new Doctor.  McGann was long gone and having a regeneration scene was of no question.  However, it was explained that McGann’s Doctor had regenerated during the Time War into Eccelston.  Eccelston’s Doctor was more of an action hero, with a dark violent side.  Under Eccelston the new Doctor Who series became embraced by both new and old fans.  Staying in continuity, it was able to re-establish the mythology of the old series for new fans, while appealing to the fans who had stayed with the Doctor through all his other incarnations.  Yet, by wanting to establish the mythos of the series quickly, the BBC and Eccelston agreed that he would only do one season of the show, so that the series could establish the concept of regeneration quickly to new fans when Ecceleston regenerated into David Tennant.

David Tennant - the tenth Doctor (2006 - 2010)

Under David Tennant, Doctor Who reached new popularity like had never been known in the shows history.  With strong story telling being limited to one hour episodes, and a special effect budget far greater then anything the original series had ever known before, Doctor Who gained a wider fan base then ever before.  What made David Tennant so enduring was his own enthusiasm for the part, being a long time Doctor Who fan himself.  David Tennant appealed to the fans, who embraced him as one of their own.  As a result, his departure from the series has been a hard reality for Doctor Who fans to accept.  However his departure was inevitable. 

Matt Smith - the eleventh Doctor (2010 - ?)

Part of taking the part of the Doctor is letting it go.  If history proves itself Matt Smith will forge his own unique character and era for the show, and he will put his own unique stamp on the history of this beloved sci-fi franchise.  As quickly as we accept him, it will be time for us to bid him farewell, and once again, we will not want to see him go.  We will have a feeling of dread and excitement as we cynically wait for the next actor to take hold of the Tardis controls and become the Doctor.  But, once again Doctor Who will survive.  From the madness of William Hartnell to the youth of Matt Smith, Doctor Who has survived Daleks and Cyberman, six foot long scarfs and vegetable apparel, John Nathan Turner and cancellation.  Doctor Who can survive anything, and it will continue to regenerate long into the future.