For many people, when they think of 'Doctor Who,' they think of Tom Baker. With his iconic scarf, for many, Tom Baker was and is The Doctor. In fact, subsequent actors to step into the role of The Doctor have commented on how people in pubs say, "where's your scarf?" (even in the summer).

Was Tom Baker really that good, though - or was it simply that he played the role far longer than anyone else? :ponder:

I always thought that, for most people, 'The Doctor' was the one they grew up with.....which for me was John Pertwee. Even though I watched all through the Tom Baker years, and all the following Doctors until Colin Baker took over (he I just couldnt watch) John was 'The Doctor' to me :shrug: :)


Axonite.......wasnt that the gold aliens with no eyeballs....? :ponder:

Close - that was the magic metal the Axons (the gold aliens) wanted to give to Earth :)

I think Tom is 'the' Doctor to most people because of his longevity in the role, and the series was at its peak while he was playing the role. At the same time Pertwee is also fondly remembered for similar reasons :)

At the same time nostalgia in general plays an important part in this - when you look at the TV of the three eras of Classic Doctor Who a lot of 60's material is missing; the 80's has the unfortunate fact it's been tarred with the 'not very good' brush, while the 70's are remembered as the golden era.

Dont know what made me (almost) remember that......I vaguely remember watching that story many many years ago, probably when it was first broadcast as they didnt do repeats in those days, and the only Dr Who I ever owned on video were a few early Baker stories......

Yes, the Axons were golden parasitical creatures in the Jon Pertwee story, The Claws of Axos. The monsters reappeared, spray painted green, as Krynoids in the Tom Baker story 'The Seeds of Doom' (a classic Tom Baker story).

Actually, Jon Pertwee is my favourite Doctor - I agree that there may well be a huge dollop of nostalgia involved in my preferences here. However, I also think that the character interaction and the stories were consistently strong. Tom Baker let the fame go to his head, and became rather egotistical, demanding an ever greater say in what went on in front of the cameras - so it got ever more silly. For me, the strongest Tom Baker stories were the first few and the last - but there was a great deal of rubbish in between.

Tom Baker was my Doctor and always my favourite - although Peter Davison was a fine replacement. I also read lots of Dr Who books around that time too. David Tennant is wonderful in the role though.

Tom Baker is so larger than life, he had a wonderful warm voice and was playful as Tennant is - Colin B and McCoy just came across as silly.

I do remember seeing a few black and white episodes when I was very little with John Pertwee but he made more of an impression as Worzel Gummidge on me I'm afraid :ph43r:

I'd agree with that assessment.

One memory of childhood I have is being at a party which took an abrupt temporary halt so we could watch the final episode of 'Planet of the Spiders' in which The Doctor changed into his fourth persona. At the time, I was uncritical of anything in 'Doctor Who' - it's only on re-watching in recent years that I realised that while there are many Tom Baker classics, there are just as many stinkers! For every 'Genesis of the Daleks,' there's a 'Meglos.'

When Davison took over, I initially couldn't take to it, and stopped watching. It was only when I happened to see 'Earthshock' that I got back into the series (Killing Adric off was an inspired decision :yahoo:).

Having growing up really without Doctor Who Broadcasting at the time, (born in 1986) and never remember watching Slyvester McCoy. It was left up to my dad showing us ones he recorded or the few that were out on video.

These ones were Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee stories and I liked both of them. My father held Patrick Troughton, Pertwee and Baker in high regard. And growing up I would use my pocket money to buy the Doctor Who videos and would usually get one on a birthday. These would be Pertwee or Baker (at the time I would reject the black and white ones, but now see the Patrick Troughton years as also a very good period in Doctor Who, although I don't really find Hartnell as interesting as his successors). And my mother and father having watching Doctor Who as children and then through into their adulthood would steer me away from the stories involving the Doctors after Baker dismissing them as 'rubbish'. Therefore I was always interested but very wary of these Doctors.

However one time I did save up enough money and my mother and I went down to the shops and I saw 'Warriors of The Deep' on the shelves instantly recognising the Sea Devils and Silurians (two of my favourite Pertwee stories I had on VHS), however it had Peter Davison on the cover. I picked it up to get, but I remember some resistance at the time from my mother who insisted it would be rubbish and that I was 'throwing my money away'. I insisted however as it had the Sea Devils and Silurians in it and eventually with some whining she caved. However she was proved wrong and admitted it herself when the family sat down to watch it, and everyone throughly enjoyed it. This opened up the gates and I remember getting some more of his stories for my birthday which came up after. Its for this reason Peter Davison is my favourite Doctor, not growing up watching the show I kind of feel that as a child 'I found my Doctor'.

Although I have to admit that Tom Baker is probably the best i.e. most popular and acclaimed Doctor. And essentially for those not entirely educated in the topic who people essentially link to the role.

The "best" Doctor is whatever one is our personal favourite.

For me, 'Warriors of the Deep' is one of the weakest Davisons - I remember hating it when it came out (Rula Lenska's karate kicking the panto Murkha and the way the monsters lumbered about). But the Davison era certainly had some classics - 'Enlightenment' is probably my favourite - other good ones were 'Castrovalva,' 'The Five Doctors' and 'Caves of Androzani.'

You're lucky - many people born in the 80s never got to hear of 'Doctor Who' - and there must be many today who only know of the new series (The fact that the numbering of the seasons has started at 1 means that this increases the impresion that nothing came before).

I began watching quite literally from the cradle, when Pat Troughton was in the role, but the first story I can honestly remember seeing was 'Planet of the Daleks.'

The Tom Baker stories with Sarah Jane in were nearly all top notch (which is probably why she is the most popular companion), and the last few (from 'Warriors Gate' on) were good too (despite the presence of Adric, the least favourite companion).

Colin Baker is a good actor who was lumbered with bad directing and weak scripts at a time when the series lost its way - he also had an awful costume. But he has since proved himself in the Big Finish 'Doctor Who' audios - his ones are superior to the TV series! Sylvester McCoy just couldn't act (although people say he's a nice bloke) and the scripts were too New Age-ish.