#5 - Christopher Eccleston
I want to get this out of the way early, so there will be no conflict of interest. I really like his coat. There, it's out in the open, judge me if you will.
Christopher Eccleston was the first Doctor on the new (and, vastly, improved), series that launched in 2005. His apperance is a marked departure from the Doctor's of old, forgoing the flashy clothes and personas for a more subdued leather jacket and...well, boring manner.Which, as odd as it seems, was just what the, oh god I am sorry for this, doctor ordered.
So...very...sorry...
This was the Doctor that was born of The Last Great Time War, the Doctor that wiped out not only the Daleks, but also his fellow Time Lords. He was born of death, and death was all he had known. Eccleston understood that, and played the Doctor dark. He didn't went flashy clothes, he didn't think he deserved them. He was in mourning. When he laughed it was over done, and too boisterous, like he was only wearing a mask, but couldn't let anyone know. When he was silly he went overboard. When he celebrated, it was too hard. He was depressed, and alone. And because of this, he was more human than any other Doctor. That, in my opinion, is why the 2005 series caught on, Eccleston was completely relatable as a character.
This is also why so many people think Rose was the best companion (she wasn't by the way, both Amy Pond and Sarah Jane Smith have her beat), she was the girl who brought the Doctor back from the brink. She was the one who made him smile again, the one who made him laugh, and the one who made him dance. And as Eccleston found the Doctor, he was apparently fighting with backstage politics that made him want to run from the show and never look back. And so, after only one season, he was written off, and replaced with David Tenant. This doesn't bother me as much as other Doctor's reigns being cut short, however, as really his story had been told. Rose had brought the Doctor into the light again, and new blood was needed to mark that transformation.
To this day, Eccleston's affect on the Doctor can still be seen, there is an inner turmoil that eats away at the character, and often times you will get a hint of the sadness that the flashy clothes and the wild actions are hiding. Because of the 9th Doctor, you could finally relate to the unrelatable, understand the un-understandable, and feel for an almost 1,000 year old alien. Not a bad deal for only 13 episodes.
Christopher Eccleston was the first Doctor on the new (and, vastly, improved), series that launched in 2005. His apperance is a marked departure from the Doctor's of old, forgoing the flashy clothes and personas for a more subdued leather jacket and...well, boring manner.Which, as odd as it seems, was just what the, oh god I am sorry for this, doctor ordered.
So...very...sorry...
This was the Doctor that was born of The Last Great Time War, the Doctor that wiped out not only the Daleks, but also his fellow Time Lords. He was born of death, and death was all he had known. Eccleston understood that, and played the Doctor dark. He didn't went flashy clothes, he didn't think he deserved them. He was in mourning. When he laughed it was over done, and too boisterous, like he was only wearing a mask, but couldn't let anyone know. When he was silly he went overboard. When he celebrated, it was too hard. He was depressed, and alone. And because of this, he was more human than any other Doctor. That, in my opinion, is why the 2005 series caught on, Eccleston was completely relatable as a character.
This is also why so many people think Rose was the best companion (she wasn't by the way, both Amy Pond and Sarah Jane Smith have her beat), she was the girl who brought the Doctor back from the brink. She was the one who made him smile again, the one who made him laugh, and the one who made him dance. And as Eccleston found the Doctor, he was apparently fighting with backstage politics that made him want to run from the show and never look back. And so, after only one season, he was written off, and replaced with David Tenant. This doesn't bother me as much as other Doctor's reigns being cut short, however, as really his story had been told. Rose had brought the Doctor into the light again, and new blood was needed to mark that transformation.
To this day, Eccleston's affect on the Doctor can still be seen, there is an inner turmoil that eats away at the character, and often times you will get a hint of the sadness that the flashy clothes and the wild actions are hiding. Because of the 9th Doctor, you could finally relate to the unrelatable, understand the un-understandable, and feel for an almost 1,000 year old alien. Not a bad deal for only 13 episodes.
I wanted to go with the first episode of the 2005 series "Rose", but it isn't on Youtube. Do yourself a favor and catch all of the new series episodes on Netflix, they are available for streaming right there, yo.
#4 Jon Pertwee
Ah the third Doctor, when the character finally found itself. Jon Pertwee took over the iconic blue box (and his was the first Doctor to be broadcast in color, so you could actually tell that the box was blue), and made the character active, pompous, flashy, silly, campy and, in the words of the 1st Doctor, "dandy".
Forgoing the direction that the first two Doctors had laid out, veteran actor (and acting veteran) Pertwee made the character of the Doctor unique; gone were the days of the old man avoiding conflict, hiding from danger and trying not to get involved. Pertwee's Doctor was a man of action, plunging headlong into danger and getting into, more than a few, fights. Also he had a thing for crushed velvet, so he had that going for him. This Doctor was a scientist, an engineer, a physicist, a detective...really he was Batman with giant hair and a different colored cape.
Forgoing the direction that the first two Doctors had laid out, veteran actor (and acting veteran) Pertwee made the character of the Doctor unique; gone were the days of the old man avoiding conflict, hiding from danger and trying not to get involved. Pertwee's Doctor was a man of action, plunging headlong into danger and getting into, more than a few, fights. Also he had a thing for crushed velvet, so he had that going for him. This Doctor was a scientist, an engineer, a physicist, a detective...really he was Batman with giant hair and a different colored cape.
Don't tell me that if you were getting paid to drive a hovercraft around in a crushed velvet suit that you wouldn't make the same face.
Under Pertwees reign, Doctor Who became a more main stream sensation (and not just a vehicle for Daleks, who had been enormously popular since the show's beginnings) Capitalizing on this, Pertwee released a few songs, drawing on his stage experience, and somehow came out looking even more cool for it. Sort of. Maybe.
OK I can't stop posting these...
Pertwee brought a lifetime of experience to the part of the Doctor, and was able keep an amazing level of dignity going no matter how silly the stories got. In fact, it was Pertwee that brought that level of kitsch that Doctor Who is known for, the sly wink to the camera, the hidden smile and the knowing nod when you have to say something like "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow". Earlier actors might have originated the character of the Doctor, but it was Pertwee that made the Doctor into a character.
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