Guess Who has just been named the best Doctor ever?

[wellinghall]

Cut so you can make a guess before you look at the answer:

Fans have named David Tennant the best ever Doctor Who in a poll, beating Tom Baker into second place.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6211584.stm

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

I thought that might be the answer (on the basis that had it been Tom Baker it would hardly have been worth cutting).

I suspect that the poll constiuency may well have been skewed towards the New Who end of things (though I'm more of a Pertwee person myself...)

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

No kidding. I wonder how many in the poll constituency even had a sample of more than two Doctors to vote on! Not to mention that younger generations may be responding as much to the more familiar modern pacing and narrative style of New Who in their selection.

I used to say Tom Baker to this question, but am now inclined towards Patrick Troughton.

[tree_and_leaf]

I've only seen one Troughton story, but I was really impressed by it and him. It was the Invasion† - I may well get 'The Mind Robber' next.

Actually, I like all the doctors I've seen, but particularly Hartnell, Pertwee and Davison (I think it's the cricket !) Eccleston was pretty good, but I don't really like the format/ style of New Who - although having said that, the World War II two-parter was one of the best things I've seen on telly in ages. I'm suspending judgement on Tennant - I think he has great potential, but the script-writing last series was really disappointing.

† I was quite surprised by how much of that was recyled for the Ten Cybermen story - not the plot as a whole, but lots of minor details - including the use of mass communication devices, which seems very prescient of them.

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

Someone else who doesn't really like the format/style of New Who! [Swoons in delight]

Like you I was impressed with the WW2 two-parter - it's the only reason I continued watching, as I went into it feeling "right, if this episode still doesn't do it for me, I'm giving up on the show". It (OK, and Capt. Jack) kept me watching, and I stuck it out through season 2 largely because I didn't realize Jack wouldn't be in it... (Also a faint secret hope that they really would kill Rose, which is surely a bad attitude to have going into the season finale...!) Generally I found the New Who too rushed.

I never really warmed to Eccleston as they never really explored the aspects of that Doctor I found interesting (the war survivor stuff - I missed a number of eps, though). I initially preferred Tennant (to my utter surprise because I have never liked him in anything except Posh Nosh) until he seemed to degenerated into righteous ranting. I'll probably at least start watching series 3, if it's really Rose-free and Jack-containing! Torchwood I've been enjoying, though I've missed the last three.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I was just watching 'The Age of Steel' last night, now I have the DVD box set, and was remarking on how many details are recycled from 'The Invasion'. Fans of a certain vintage and die-hardness fussed over the borrowings from the CD story 'Spare Parts', which were acknowledged by the credit for Marc Platt at the end of both 'Rise of the Cybermen' and 'The Age of Steel', but the motifs from 'The Inasion' are more obvious, including the helicopter rescue scene and the presence of International Electromatics vans. I like the parallelling of cheap transistor radios in 'The Invasion' with 'Rise/Age' and its earpods, too.

I find Tennant too smug most of the time, but, acknowledging the argument that the Doctor is annoyingly chirpy as a way of boosting Rose's confidence in him, hope that this characteristic will be less obvious once the Doctor is accompanied by Martha.

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised that he won, but I do like William Hartnell myself. He has a much darker side than any other Doctor.

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

I thought you'd cut it because it was YOUR favourite doctor...which it wasn't. I am/was a Tom Bakerite myself, but I like Tennant very much too (more? dunno, that's like saying do I like cheese or wine better?). But I don't know enough about the previous Doctors to judge properly...they seemed okay to me in things like the 3 Doctors/the 5 Doctors etc. As were the later ones. (PD another favourite-ish of mine). I didn't rate Sylvester McCoy but perhaps it was the scripts...I actually stopped watching it before it finished.

I'm becoming increasingly disappointed in Torchwood (plotwise), although I do like John Barrowman both in it, and in general. (He's such a luvvie, but that's okay. He's also v. multi-talented).

I also think it is ridiculous that they have recast an actress as the Doctor's new sidekick who was memorable in her previous bit-part in the last series (Cybermen v Daleks episode(s) whatever they were called). I hope this won't impinge on my future enjoyment but I suspect it will. Billie will be a hard act to follow anyway without this other issue. IMO.

This poll might have been skewed by the number of younger/new fans. However, maybe older fans of the original series also like him? (I liked Eccleston too, must watch the first series again to compare and contrast with DT, whose real name is, IIRC, David M(a)cDonald).

Okay, enough Doctor Who nonsense, I'm doing the very world-changing task of putting seasonal letters into seasonal cards and sticking snowman stamps on...oh such a hard life!

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I'd seen the poll result on BBC News online last night, and now have my subscription copy of Doctor Who Magazine with the full results, which are:

1. David Tennant 28.15%
2. Tom Baker 26.54%
3. Christopher Eccleston 11.36%
4. Jon Pertwee 9.63%
5. Patrick Troughton 8.77%
6. Peter Davison 5.68%
7. Sylvester McCoy 3.33%
8. Colin Baker 2.84%
9. William Hartnell 2.35%
10. Paul McGann 1.36%

I think that this is a reflection of the influx of new fans and the way that the new series has won over most old fans as well as warmth towards David Tennant and a resurgence of a sense of loyalty towards the current Doctor. I don't remember DWM running 'favourite Doctor' polls until 1990, when Sylvester won I think because people felt he had been badly treated by the BBC. I'm surprised that Paul McGann scored so low, but perhaps that shows how the Big Finish releases have been overshadowed completely by the new, mainstream television series, which is as it should be really. I often feel it's invidious to include William Hartnell in these polls as he is playing a different character to the others in a sense.