If you’ve ever watched more than a few episodes of Doctor Who, you know that the character isn’t even called Doctor Who. He’s just The Doctor. And if you become a Whovian you’ll find yourself yelling at people that call him Doctor Who.
“It’s just The Doctor, damn it!”
The Doctor is from an alien race called the Time Lords, and he’s the last of his kind. Or is he?
He travels through time and space as the last Time Lord with the last existing TARDIS—his spaceship which I’ll get into in another post.
Beyond being an alien with a magic box and a sonic screwdriver that comes in pretty handy, he doesn’t actually have any powers. He’s brilliant, but so was Columbo. He’s really not that different from humans, except for regeneration.
Any time the Doctor suffers an injury that would end a lowly human life, he regenerates. This is a natural defence built into all Time Lords.
The side-effects to the regeneration are severe. His appearance changes completely—at which time a new actor takes the role. This is why when most Whovians meet, the first question they ask each other is, “Who’s your favourite Doctor?”
With the change of appearance comes an almost complete change in personality. Most of the time it really does seem like one Doctor dies and another comes to take his place. The only aspect that seems to cross over is memory, and even that can be sketchy.
I’m only going to touch on “NuWho” Doctors, which only covers four of the twelve, but I don’t want this post to turn into a novella.
The 9th Doctor (Christopher Ecclestone) had trouble taking anything seriously. He could deliver the worst possible news with a smile on his face. The death of others was the only thing that upset him, and he did whatever he could to avoid it, even for his enemies.
One of the fan favourites, David Tennant, took over the role as the 10th Doctor. He was much more serious. Vengeful even. He gave his enemies a chance—one chance—then he was coming down on them hard. He also liked to answer questions by starting with, “Well…”
Three seasons later, we got Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor. This is my Doctor. Fun loving. Peaceful to a fault. Goofy. He’s what the nutty professor would have been if he stopped screwing everything up; or the Joker if the evil was removed. Every Doctor who had less of a conscience (or none at all) off-loaded it with number 11.
But he also had the child-like smile that was infectious to those around him and those watching him on TV.
Currently, we have Peter Capaldi with his representation of the 12th Doctor. I didn’t like him at all at first. He’s cranky. Cold. At times he seems as much a villain as he is a hero. Not to mention the fact that he ditched the screwdriver for sonic sunglasses. What in the TARDIS is that all about?
He grew on me (the sunglasses have not.) He’s still not my favourite, and I doubt he ever will be, but I now appreciate his take on the character.
Still, I may not be upset when the next regeneration comes along.
Nine was my first Doctor, and I still wish to this day he could’ve stayed for longer. He’s not the typical Doctor for sure, but he’s still awesome as it gets.
Ten… yep, guilty of having him as a favorite. I loved the “Welllll…”, I loved the expressive eyebrows, I loved the quirkiness of the character (then again, what Doctor is not quirky?). I was both sad and happy to watch him go. I always wantmy favorite characters to suffer and possibly die, so watching him go was something I was waiting for, and was both happy and sad about.
I loved Eleven at first, I really did, but the last season ruined it completely. The character became boring and sort of fake, which shouldn’t have, in my humble opinion, happened to such a great Doctor. Still love him.
As for Twelve, I don’t hate him, he’s growing on me slowly, but I won’t be sad when he goes away. Just saying. I really, REALLY disapprove of the glasses, and I hope they break and he’s forced to create a new screwdriver. Just saying, yanno.
We’re on the same page, Minini. I’d be thrilled to see those glasses stomped to shards.