An ode to Tom Baker

The thing I’ve enjoyed about Tom Baker is that as both he and my father age, they look more and more alike.

Just slick Tom’s hair down, combed back, and make his ears jut out and boom…

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As a longtime Classic Who fan, back when it was uncool even among the SF nerds to admit to being one, Genesis of the Daleks is the all time best. Then followed by The Doctor Dances if anything for that “Everybody lives!” ending. But I admit these are entirely personal tastes and I don’t fight fellow Doctor Who fans over this.

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As the villain in Golden Voyage of Sinbad (just before being cast as The Doctor)

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You never forget your first Doctor.

I found him funny as the announcer on Little Britain as well.

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Right?!? I was surprise to find him in this fantasy flick and delighted, too.

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Oh, I REALLY likedthe Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead!

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Did you pass Tom Baker on Hill Street?

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…no it was a small village in kent…

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God, why the everloving fuck has that not been sampled to death for crazy dance tracks?

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I love all the Doctors for different reasons, but actually Capaldi is my favorite. I love how much of a throwback he is to Hartnell. Unfortunately, Capaldi’s stories are a crap shoot. Some are fantastic, but others are…the opposite.

Having said that, Tennant and Baker are the faces I picture in my mind when I think of Doctor Who. They give you a little bit of everything in their performances, whereas Doctors like Capaldi or McCoy have specific things that make their incarnations shine.

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McCoy’s my favorite. His stories may not be great, but he is. Perhaps because I like his combination of goofiness and tragedy.

Perhaps because I would catch glimpses of his show on PBS before my parents would make me go to bed. And it was burned into my mind when, on the first Saturday after my birthday when my parents decided I was FINALLY old enough to stay up late enough to watch a whole episode of Doctor Who, I turned on PBS in anticipation…

And the opening credits for for the first episode of Red Dwarf came on.

Everybody’s dead Dave.

I was so angry I refused to watch Red Dwarf for the next twenty years.

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But with more Scottish accent…

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And more awareness…

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And he was in a punk band with Craig Ferguson…

He really got short changed in the story department… they had some real ambitious ideas, but the execution was often just… meh.

sylvester mccoy ace GIF by Doctor Who

He was the first Doctor not to use received pronunciation, too.

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I met McCoy at Dragon Con some years ago. He’s a gentleman and an absolute charmer.

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It is 2 AM, not quite Easter anymore, I have a glass of rum in front of me and I guess now it is time to watch all the Doctor Who videos.

“The triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism” and all that.

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i’m certain that PBS showed Pertwee and Troughton, too, because that’s how i got into Doctor Who, was watching them with my mom on PBS – but then Baker came along and i was hooked. he’s still among the best incarnations, in my opinion, but i’ve reached an age where i love them all for one reason or another.

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Yet another sexy Scotsman!


I loved Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor!

And Ace!

Is ace!

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I think his breakthrough role was Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexander, though of course his appearance the next year in Pasolini’s The Canterbury Tales was more revealing.

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A young Capaldi was in Ken Russell’s, “The Lair of the White Worm”, too.

The Lair of the White Worm (1988) - IMDb

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In most of the US, Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee were brought over in the early to mid 80’s, after Tom Baker episodes have been shown and repeated a few times over (from the late 70’s).

I didn’t even know about the other Doctors until The Five Doctors premiered on PBS.

I just remember around 1987-88, NY had nerd nirvana on Sunday early evenings.
Full stories of Doctor Who, followed by either Hitchhikers Guide or Blake’s 7. Followed by on syndicated TV, Star Trek TNG, and one of many short lived SF/horror series (War of the Worlds was a personal favorite).

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