Moderator's Note: This is Mike's original Tom Baker summary:

I'll bet this section will get the most posts of all, and not just because TBaker was the longest running Doctor. TB, for better or worse, totally inhabited the role of Doctor during his stint, and left almost impossibly large shoes (literally and figuratively) to fill. Even at his silliest (like "Creature from the Pit" or "Robot"), TB was still fun to watch. Love that scarf, too.


why does the fourth doctor given his infinite wisdom, rely on K-9 so much to answer questions that the doctor should obviously know? (he is my favorite, so Iam not bashing.

He does have a lot on his plate... he can't think of everything, all the time.

All the Doctor's are brilliant, thanks in part to their vast age and experience. This is also a disadvantage, because they have a lot to remember. K-9 is a great resource, because he can remember anything that's stored in his memory banks. The 4th Doctor realizes this and uses it to his full advantage.

If you will notice, when the doctor is crouched close to him on the floor, he comes up with the answer to most of his questions almost simultaniously. just a thought

A smart leader realizes that most of his/her ideas will come from conferences with subordinates. Or, in cliche form, two heads are better than one.

What can one say about this god, I mean man, well, Time Lord anyway? He's the BEST! (And NOT just because he's the one I grew up with.) All my dreams used to centre round going off in the TARDIS with him (though admittedly, I'd even put up with Cushing for the sake of that TARDIS). These dreams, I hasten to add, were completely platonic, so I was more than a little shocked, on reading Tom Baker's autobiography, to discover that hordes of female fans were always pouncing on him, tying him up, putting on his costume, and saying 'let's go into outer space, Doctor'.

He's my favorite too, mostly because he doesn't take himself seriously like #1 and #3, but he's funnier than #2, doesn't have a dark side like #6 and #7 and doesn't remind me of Tristan Farnon like #5 does (Peter Davison played this character on "All Creatures Great and Small").

It's funny - he's your favourite because of all the things he's not. I have the opposite reaction - he's the best because he combines traits from all the other Doctors to become the definitive article.

I've actually written stories about going off in the TARDIS (altho my Doctor is the 5th). I've had alot of fun with my stories, and it's gotten me thru some really boring jobs.
I did have the 4th Doctor show up in one story - with Leela. The 2nd Doctor showed up in the same story, with Jamie. I've really had fun.
One suggestion, however: make sure you pick a time without a lot of other companions. The 5th Doctor never had only one companion. Since I added three characters (don't ask), the TARDIS is rather full. But it does add to the excitement, trying to work everyone in, and keep the Doctor at the forefront.
Try it, you'll like it.

There was a couple of brief periods when Doctor 5 has one companion - when Tegan was left on Earth between Timeflight and Arc Of Infinity and after Tegan left for good in Resurrection Of The Daleks and he just had Turlough with him before meeting Peri in Planet of Fire (and yes, I know Kamelion was in the TARDIS at this point so if you want to be really pedantic, I guess that one might not count on that technicality).

Mei, if your fan fiction is on the internet do give me the website reference.

I think the Davison era would have been much better with one companion - Nyssa was great in Arc of Infinity, about the first time I've noticed her existence. Three companions was a stupid thing to do - I think JNT's admitted as much since - especially as the Doctor usually picks up a 'temporary companion' for each story.

Actually, my problem was that I chose Tegan as the other companion before I realized that she was never alone with the Doctor. I don't know why I picked her; I really like Nyssa, she's really pretty. But Tegan has a nice acerbic quality that is fun to write with.
No, my stories aren't public. I was serializing the first story in a fanclub newsletter, but it didn't get much attention, and the club folded, so it's never gone any further. Maybe if you ask REALLY nicely, I'll email you a sample. Mostly, I do it to have fun. I still giggle over some of the lines I've written.
There is one thing I'm trying to do. In "The Two Doctors", the change goes from the 2nd Doctor to the 6th. I've been trying to have each Doctor, as the show up in MY stories, make mention of being hungry or whatnot. So far, I've done the 5th and the 4th. I'm working on the 7th (I don't know if the change went that far, but it's fun to do anyhow). I'm still working on when the 3rd (one of my favourites) will show up.

No-one has said anything about Tom Baker since JANUARY!!! What's the matter with the human race? OK, so we're all boringly in agreement that he's the greatest Doctor (and therefore the greatest being in the history of the cosmos), but still, that's no excuse for neglecting to worship at his shrine every now and then.

Um, Mei, this is rather belated, but please do e-mail me a sample of your fan-fic. I'm asking nicely. You should have had time to androgum all the Doctors by now.

Mei why don't you send some of your work to BBC Books and, if unsuccessful, you can join me in the "Yes! I've had my work rejected from Virgin and BBC Books Club!"

Chris - you are honoured! I hope your work's up on the internet so we can all read it and soothe your bruised ego by assuring you that it's infinitely better than any published New Adventures. Btw, the BBC have categorically stated that they won't consider any submissions from unknown writers, so don't encourage Mei to waste a stamp.

According to the latest information I have from BBC Books is that they won't accept unsolicited submissions for 8th Doctor books - but past Doctors and short stories are fine.
Emily, I don't think my bruised ego could take the scrutiny of some of the Who fans on the Net.

Okay, I agree Tom was definitely the best (and the one I grew up with), but let's not forget how much Sarah-Jane contributed to his sense of humor. She made his character as much as he did; without her wry comments he'd have been a lot less funny. Notice how less memorable the later episodes were? And I can't even remember whatshername - Ramona?

The beginning of this post can be found in Your first time in the Ask the Matrix section.

Witty and irreverent, Bohemian in dress, wild and eccentric in his actions, this incarnation of the Doctor lasted for over one hundred and fifty years. With his mop of wild curls, perpetually pop-eyed look of wonder, and unfortunate tendancy to trip over his long, flowing scarf, it seems impossible to take this incarnation seriously. Those who failed to do so regretted it, however.
Although possessed of a warm personality, this incarnation appeared more withdrawn around humans and rarely, if ever, displayed open affection for his Companions. In addition, the resentment of the third incarnation of the Doctor against the Time Lords was manifested even more strongly in the fourth incarnation, who returned to Gallifrey only when forced by circumstances to do so.
The Doctor in this incarnation was an expert in the field of computer science; he also knew more about medicine than his predecessors. Arrogant and fearless, he had boundless energy and amazing self-confidence that was, in some instances, unjustified. Curious and eager to explore, he rarely stayed in one place for any length of time but was always searching for new adventure. His mind worked quickly, sometimes more quickly than his tongue, occasionally making him difficult to understand.
Though the Doctor continued to have an interest in Earth and its inhabitants, and saved them from several villianous types, he became more interested in new worlds and other times. He traveled to the planet Skaro in a futile attempt to stop the wicked Davros from creating the Daleks. Though failing in his assignment, he was able to alter the future so that it seems possible the Daleks could eventually be destroyed.
He returned voluntarily to Gallifrey to prevent the assassination of the Lord President, only to be arrested, tried, and convicted for that very crime. By nominating himself for president, he managed to stall long enough to prove that the Master and Chancellor Goth were the real assassins.
Returning to his travels through time and space, he suddenly and unexpectedly returned on Gallifrey, demanding the presidency! Everyone figured he'd tripped over his scarf once too often, but it was eventually revealed that this bizarre act was all part of an extremely serious plan to defeat a combined Vardan-Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey.
There is a gap in the recorded history of the Doctor at this period, during which he and K-9, his mechanical dog, could have been involved in numerous, untold adventures. When the Doctor's history becomes known to us once more, we learn that he was chosen by the White Guardian to assemble the six pieces of the Key of Time. Travelling with K-9 and a Time Lady known as Romana, he managed to successfully complete his assignment. The assembled key was so extremely powerful, however, that anyone of evil intent that got hold of it would be master of the universe. In an attempt to do just this, the Black Guardian sought desperately to get the Key, only to be prevented by the Doctor (These villianous types just don't seem to realize when they're in over their heads. G.L.). Once chaos was averted and balance restored to the universe, the Doctor then had to scatter the pieces of the powerful Key once more so that the Black Guardian did not gain control of it.
Understandably upset by this, the Black Guardian swore revenge on the Doctor. In order to escape this formidable opponent, the Doctor equipped his TARDIS with a randomizer, giving up all directional control of it. After another encounter with the Daleks, the Doctor and Romana found themselves trapped in E-space. Having been tortured by the Black Guardian, Romana regenerated and chose to remain in E-space, rather than return to Gallifrey. The Doctor escaped and traveled to the Union of Traken. Here he was again confronted by another of the Master's attempts to gain power and a new regeneration. The Doctor prevented the Master from seizing control of Traken, but could not stop him from obtaining a new body.
When the Master tracked the Doctor to Logopolis, his machinations upset the delicate block transfer computations used by the Logopolitans to prevent the heat death of the entire universe. The Master and the Doctor were forced to work together, replacing the lost Logopolis with the giant computers of the Pharos Project on Earth. Once they succeeded, the Master attempted to turn their victory to his own ends by holding the Pharos Project hostage. The Doctor stopped him, but at the cost of a fatal fall, resulting in another regeneration.

STR 10 (IV), END 10 (IV), DEX 10 (IV), CHA 15 (V), MNT 21 (VI), ITN 21 (VI)
Race: Gallifreyan
Sex: Male
Height: Tall
Build: Stocky
Looks: Average
Apparent Age: Middle-aged Adult

Looks AVERAGE?????? How dare they!

Lalla Ward found some attraction for a while, too, I believe.

Got Tom's autobiography for a quid today in Waterstones. Might be worth a look for UK fans, but it might only be the Chichester branch its in.

Out of interest, was it paperback? Saw the hardback in our branch for £5.99.

I think it's brillant, by the by. And I think 'might be worth a look' is a glorious understatement Edje! It's Tom Baker! THE man!

I thought the book could have done with a better editor, to give it a little more coherency.

Nah- PJW, it was hardback- it was 5.99 in the sale, but they've reduced all sale books to £1. Good eh?

Coherency? Coherency?

Coherency?

Happy birthday to Who
Happy birthday to Who
Happy birthday Tom Baker
Happy birthday to Whooooooooo

Birthday boy Baker is 66 today (or so says my source).

66? Many happy returns to the man who is next in line to drop dead, given that the Docs seem to be keeling over in chronological order.

PJW, whilst of course I agree the autobiography must be brilliant because 'It's Tom Baker! THE man!', I could really have done with more on Doctor Who (OK, so I have a one-track mind) and less on all the other productions Tom Baker appeared in, people he met, etc. Though his upbringing, monkhood and marriage were all fascinating.

I think Peter Davison will outlive Colin Baker. Which is a shame really, as I too feel a chronological order to be more fitting. Trust Colin Baker to sod continuity.

Like all good autobiographies should be, it was written late in the man's life. As the Tom Baker Years video showed, his memory is fudged and it is all he can do to even vaguely recall a story, let alone something truly revelatory. I think we would have got a transcript of the video, myself. It would be nice, though, if Tom Baker were to sit down and be forced to watch all his stories if only to jog the memory.

He even glosses over major events in his life, like his first marriage... how did they meet? What made them get married? Split up? And so on...

Didn't they split up because he tried to kill his mother-in-law? And then there's the fact that he had such working-class skin...

I've just read Tom Baker's so-called grotesque masterpiece, The Boy Who Kicks Pigs, and the first two-thirds had me in fits of laughter (on a bus, embarrassingly enough) but the last section was really, really sick. In the normal way I wouldn't be too squeamish at a child having his eyeballs eaten by rats (um...on second thoughts maybe I would) but this is by the DOCTOR! How could he even THINK of such a thing!

Was the bit about the mother-in-law in the book? Even so, it still doesn't go into how they met and got married and so on.

Yes, there are full details of Tom Baker chucking rakes at Constance the Terror. And it also explains why he got married - he wanted to be near her lovely golden skin. It doesn't say why SHE wanted to marry HIM, though.

Maybe I'm getting confused with another aspect - didn't he just suddenly end up in acting school in the book?

Tom was on This Is Your Life tonight which surprised me - surely they must have done him before now, like during or shortly after his Dr Who time? Anyone remember?

They did Jon Pertwee and Peter Davison. I thought Tom would've been done too.

Nothing quite surprises a Doctor Who fan than when an unforeseen Who moment comes out of nowhere. The speed in which I threw the video into the recorder must've set a record!

I have no idea what Stephen Frost was doing in the audience. Any ideas?

As an aside, I thought Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) was brilliant. Edited and scripted well. It marks a return to unmissable fantasy TV not seen on the BBC since... since...

My mom has come to call the Fourth Doctor Scarf-Man. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad sign.

*Bangs head against brick wall* I missed This Is Your Life! (OK, so it's not as if this was an unfortunate mishap - I've missed it every other time it's ever been on).

*Bangs head even harder against brick wall* So to console myself I watched Randall & Hopkirk Deceased - trying to read at the same time, only looking up for the bits with Our Hero. I can't bear it! Why is money wasted on THIS when...[I think you all know what I'm going to say so I won't bother saying it] Though of course Tom Baker was superb.

Gordon, 'Scarf-Man' is a perfectly respectable epithet. Someone I know calls him 'The sheep'.

Emily- TAKE BACK YOUR ACCURSED A FOUL LIES. Randall and Hopkirk is marvellous! Tom is wonderful, as always, and Vic and Bob are surprisingly non-bad at acting.

I refuse to take back a single word! Just be grateful that I was prepared to praise Tom Baker despite him being old and grey and fat and dressed in white with not a scarf in sight.

CURSE YOUR LYING EYES!

Was Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) a 70's TV show that was syndicated in the States as My Partner The Ghost? (I liked the show at the time.) Or have they done a new version?

The first time I remember seeing Tom Baker in a show was an episode of Remington Steele, playing an obsessed Interpol agent after a retired cat burgler. His voice was a lot deeper than I had imagined it reading Dr. Who novelizations.

The 4th Doctor is my mom's favorite.

Yeah, well my mom's favorite is McCoy.

I've got a Pertwee mother.

You people are sooooo lucky...my mother wouldn’t be caught dead admiring a Doctor, she’s been running a 20-year campaign to get me off the programme. Of course, this hasn’t stopped her nosing around this site, taking a good look at everything I've written, and then ringing me up to complain in deeply hurt tones when she discovers my marital intentions, or lack thereof...

*Waves* Hello, mum!

Keith - for reasons I have yet to fathom, the BBC have indeed done a new version of this Randall and Hopkirk thing.

My mother's a Hartnell fan - she has childhood memories of watching it when she lived on a farm and the Daleks scaring her younger sister.

Tom Baker fans rejoice: http://www.officialtombakerwebsite.co.uk

Check the pic of Tom Baker in his role as Hallvarth in the forthcoming film Dungeons and Dragons in the news section at OG (http://www.gallifreyone.com/) - he looks like a Vulcan from Star Trek.

Tom Baker's first wife was the 2nd Romana, it only lasted a few months.

Has anyone seen Tom Baker lately? Man is he grey or what?

BEST LINE:
JELLYBABIES!

Did anyone else besides me read the recent interview with Tom Baker? I can not remember which magazine it was, but boy...let me tell you something...the man has a real toilet mouth nowadays. He must have used the "F" word at least a dozen times...not exactly appropiate from the man who was a hero to thousands of children a couple of decades ago.I was appalled.

Apparently, he's been like that for years - it's only now that magazines can get away with publishing that language.

But Tom Baker as a person is not a slave to the character he played two decades ago. Okay, so swearing isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if he wants to express himself like that it's fine by me. You have to remember that the swear word is constantly evolving and altering - notice how the once-evil 'bloody' is now used in everyday speech, and the word 'b**t**d' I've heard used before the watershed. Even 'The Simpsons' uses these words. Someone once said that the f-word would appear on kid's TV shows in his lifetime. This is perhaps an exaggeration, but now the dastardly f-word has been replaced by the ever more despised c-word. Of course an interview pasted with nothing but f-words can be saddening - if only in a grammatical sense, but if these words are used to comic effect, or in a witty, clever context, then I really have no qualms about it. Even WG Grace and Noel Coward swore. A hundred years now, a word like 'nup' might be seen as thoroughly rude. And if you think about it, the more times these words ARE used, the more desensitised we get to them as a society, and so ultimately we are left with fewer swear words.

That had nothing to with Doctor Who, ('wouldn't it have been weird if the Doctor or his enemies swore...?' he tries in desperation), but I find that far too many people get exasperated with how Tom Baker and lots of others talk to one another in what is, for many people after all, everyday language...

Rant over! :)

What is funny is that the F*** word is taboo on television stations in the US (though not on cable), so recently many shows are using a British/Irish word to replace it. Apparently the censors haven't caught on that 'shag' is a bad word. So we get this odd thing where somebody is shagging this or that instead of f***ing this or that. American television can be somewhat surreal.

Speaking of the Simpsons, this reminds me of the episode about Lisa's wedding in the future. Marge and Homer are watching TV in bed, and Marge says, "Fox turned into a hard-core porn channel so gradually that we never even noticed."

My point? That's what happens to "bad" language. Read some old novels from the beginning of the 20th century, and you see people cursing "G__D___ it!" It's a kind of social erosion, caused by overuse.

Or, another example, Kurt Vonnegut's short story, "The Big Space F*ck." It's set in the 21st century. By then, overuse of obscenities has left mankind with only one obscene word, "jizz."

And then there's the story of how the Red Dwarf creators got the word "smeg" past the BBC censors because they didn't know what it really meant.

Makes me wonder if Red Dwarf was making a nod to Kurt Vonnegut, since Smeg and Jizz pretty much mean the same thing.

Lunier---er, not exactly. I'd give a definition of "smeg", but it's too gross (hint: it's short for "smegma", which is a real word).

Are you sure it isn't an advertising ploy for Smeg ovens?

;-)

If you're wondering about the defintion, grab a big dictionary - you'll find the meaning in there.

I knew the word, Mike. Apparently I was wrong with my definition. But it may have an alternate meaning, but since I gave away my Tabor's medical Dictionary I can't argue that point.

Still, the source of said secretions are still roughly the same.

Very roughly - one is a result of uncleanliness, the other is used for impregnation.

Trying to get back on topic.

Re: Looks Plain

Well, beauty is in the mind of the beholder, but minus his lovely grin, Tom Baker was a tad bland-looking.

BLAND??????? What about those wonderfully bulging eyes? That *sigh* commanding height? That gloriously curly hair? That *swoon* noble brow? That charismatic presence? Those ears...um...OK, maybe not...his nose?...oh well...to cut this short, bland is the one word I thought no-one would EVER apply to Tom Baker.

Don't forget the booming voice.

Saying that Tom Baker without his grin is bland-looking is a bit like saying that an orange without any juice doesn't taste right; or that a Dalek without an eyestalk doesn't look right.

I think I am a little biased. I think Tom Baker looked great. He is a tall (at least on screen), deep voiced, and had bushy curly hair.

I have all those characteristics. Well, except for the hair. It started falling out in my twenties. Even minoxidal can't save my bushy curly hair. Now I look like whathisname of the Three Stooges with bushy hair out the sides and hardly anything on top. A reverse mohawk?

Larry Fine.

You don't mean we have a Professor Kettlewell lookalike in our midst?

Please say we have!

I can't remember, what colour was his hair? Did he have a full beard?

We are blessed with two appearances by the actor Edward Burnham. He was in both The Invasion AND Robot! The upshot of this means that in the former, he was blacker and fuller, and in the latter he was greyer and patchier! So, whatever stage you're at, chances are we have a Burnham-a-like! Yay! Tell me Luiner, do you do children's parties? :)

Maybe a tall version of him, then, but definately no children's parties. The only kids I like are my own, and fortunately I don't have any, yet.

OK, so nobody's seen fit to say a WORD about Our Hero for OVER SIX MONTHS!!!! But I suppose that serves him right for refusing to do any Big Finish audios. Does anyone know why?

I know Big Finish have been in contact with him on several occasions and he always said he will only reprise the role if he can do it in a completely different way.

Uh-oh...I wonder what 'completely different way' he has in mind...

What did I read? Was it something about communicating with whales? Or was it badgers?

I heard that he wanted to play the Master because he believed the Master and the Doctor were just two sides of the same person - literally.

This brings me to another point... does anyone else sometimes think that Tom Baker is insane?

Absolutely not. He just has an entirely different outlook on life from us mere mortals. Which is as it should be. (Either that or he's drunk most of the time.)

I wonder - if they offered him the Companion he's always dreamed of (i.e. a cabbage) - would that be enough to tempt him back?

When he was the Doctor he also suggested an old woman as his companion.

Could'nt they somehow propose to team him up with That Evelyn one, the 6th Dr's middle-aged companion in the Big Finish productions? That might tempt him.

Maybe they should throw open the ultimate challenge - get him to play every role in the script.

Anyone who has an *entirely* different outlook on life is insane. That's what defines the word 'insane'.

Maybe they should do Dark Dimension - I mean, Baker did agree to do it when it was first brought up, and does fulfill his requirement of playing the Doctor differently. Oooh, no, even better idea - let's just have Dark Dimension made as a tv special and Baker could return to the role proper.

Took the words right out of my mouth, Luke. Schizophrenics (I am NOT saying that Tom is one, by the way) certainly have a different outlook on life. The Boy who Kicked Pigs was not the product of a normal imagination. However, Van Gogh, Tom Baker, Syd Barrett etc managed to produce quality unlike any other. So in his case, insanity is a good thing.

And what is normal, anyway?

Luke:

Apparently Tom pocketed a cool £35K for the Dark Dimension even though it was cancelled.

Jammy bastard.

Where did the money come from? Was it because he'd actually signed on but the other Doctors hadn't signed a formal agreement?

It was one of those deals where the star gets paid whether the production gets paid or not.

I believe Sharon Stone has a similar deal set up for Basic Instinct 2.

Perhaps they could get Jon Culshaw from 'Dead Ringers' to reprise the role. Thinking on it, he could do ALL the voices and save the production thousands! Also, he'd be able to bring back Harry! Wouldn't that be cool! In all seriousness, while I'm at it, Harry was a good foil for the Fourth Doctor and I think we should all raise our glasses.

Didn't Sharon Stone get sued by the studio for backing out of Basic Instinct 2?

Also, does John Culshaw do Harry's voice? Certainly Ian Marter can't, anymore.

I think Sharon Stone is just sat there waiting for the producers to sort their lives out and make the movie. But like I said she will get the $9 million whether the flick gets made or not. I think in the case of Tom's deal he got paid for the Dark Dimension even though it was unfortunately never made because he was committed to certain dates for production so missed out on other work.

That sort of thing happens quite a lot. A script-writer can live off writing without actually having anything made; once something is comissioned, or a writer is asked to submit further drafts, they get considerable pay, despite nothing eventuating from it in the end.
This aside - they should still make Dark Dimension
And yes - what is normal?

Sharon Stone is still waiting for the producers to hire a director and screenwriter for "Basic Instinct 2."

Now, back to your regularly scheduled Doctor Who discussion....

PJW, there's no WAY I'm raising my glass to a man who preferred to catch a train than a TARDIS. It was unforgivable.

Luiner, suppose the 'mad' person's 'different' outlook on life happens to be closer to reality than the outlook of the majority? IMHO this _is_ the kind of filthy world where people - metaphorically speaking - get their eyeballs eaten by rats.

I guess you would have to define reality.

I live in a part of the USA where people consider me mad because I have the audacity to think that socialism is probably a good idea, am a non believer of God, thinks evolution is probably the best explanation for variety of life on Earth, thinks Country Music is torture to the ears, and that cars are air polluting coffins on wheels. And worst of all, I don't think Texas is the greatest place on Earth. It's okay, just not the best.

I am surprised I am not in a straight jacket, my body pumped full of thorazine.

"Janet Sutton." I recently watched the Tom Baker Years tapes, and his memory sometimes mixed up (or forgot) people's names and story titles in the most amusing ways. For example, "Ah, yes. That was the story in which Louise Jameson first played...ah, er, um, er....first played the companion." (Later, I'm pretty sure he calls her "Keela.") And why not? It's been decades.

Great format, though probably only Tom Baker could pull it off. They sit him down in front of a TV and film him watching old clips he hasn't seen in 10-15 years. The clips themselves weren't always the best. That didn't matter. The real treat is just listening to Baker's incredibly wry commentary...on everything from acting, to Margaret Thatcher, to his obviously bittersweet memories of Lalla Ward, to, well, occasionally to the clips themselves.

WHY NOT?!!! Because it's DOCTOR WHO dammit, and the Doctor should be able to remember his own adventures! Or, to put it another way, Tom Baker should love the programme so much that he's actually bothered to acquire a few videos.

It actually makes sense to do his retrospective this way. He was the Doctor far longer than any other. All his shows are in existence and have been shown repeatedly, especially in North America. Most of the fans are very familiar with his part of the series. There are no lost episodes to be unearthed.

It would've been nice to see a few Blue Peter appearances. But I am glad there are no Prime Computer ads with Lalla Ward. Whatever happened to Prime, anyways?

My mother who has always been a bit bemused by my persistent interest in Dr Who once told me a wonderful story.

She works with people with disabilities and one of her colleagues is blind.

Basically he is a big fan of Dr Who and especially Tom Baker. He said that T Baker has so much richness and character in his voice and that his imagination is allowed to run riot when he 'listens' to his DW videos.

It's really too bad I've picked up the series again just as Tom dies. I like being able to check out the later Docs, but it would have been nice to revisit such an old friend. Under the category of best line, I'd have to submit this one from the ep where the Doctor and Leela get shrunk to oust a virus from his mind (the one where he picks up K-9):

Leela: What's all this stuff?
Doctor: This "stuff" is what makes my brain so superior to yours.

It's hard to believe that this month Tom Baker is going to turn 68(he was born in 1934). It's hard to believe that almost thirty years have passed since Tom Baker began playing the Doctor (1974).

Where does the time go!?

What? WHAT!!!! Why are you SAYING these things?! They can't possibly be TRUE!!!!

*Counts on fingers*

Oh. ••••.

Gee. On Tom's 30th anniversary, I will be the same age as when he started in Doctor Who.

I don't quite know how to feel about that.

It sure doesn't feel like it's been 30 years.

30 years? I remember (vaguely) Pertwee turning into this wierd-looking chap who promptly jumped up and took out a giant robot with red sparkly paint. And now it's 30 yrs later? Are we sure about this? It's true it doesn't seem like yesterday, but it also doesn't feel like the vast bulk of my life has happened since then!

Oh my god...

This seemed like as good a place as any to ask...What happened? Every listing of each Doctor ends back in 2002. Were all the posts since then lost in a computer crash or something? I can't believe for a second that nobody didn't write something about ANY of the Doctors since then!

I just think most of the comments are being made under their specific episode/novel.

Jon Culshaw, who does perhaps the best Baker impersonation ever (and also gets the Who terminology right) recently rang up Tom Baker pretending to be the 4th Doctor from 900 years in the past on Gallifrey, asking for assistance on a conundrum of the utmost importance!

(6 across, 4 letters, type of processed meat, anagram maps)

He also rang up Patrick Moore pretending to be the 4th Doctor asking for good landing sites on Mars in order to defeat Sutekh...

It was inevitable:
http://jimz.co.uk/tom/karaoke.html

What the....?

http://www.emusic.com/album/Tom-Baker-Says-You-Really-Got-Me-MP3-Download/10987031.html

Happy 76th Birthday to Tom Baker

Now he's as old as Jon Pertwee was

No Doctor has yet reached 80 let alone 90 i think

Wow. I should make it that far.

No Doctor has yet reached 80 let alone 90 i think

Well, apparently being the American President ages you twice as fast as a normal human. Being the Doctor would surely have a similar effect.

From Jep's post in the David Tenannt section:

Emily:Why should the Doctor need to do new and exploratory things with his character anyway? He never did in the Good Old Days. Tom's very EXISTENCE as the Bescarfed One was good enough for us for seven glorious years.

IMHO Tom would have been better off if he had left when Leela did

OVER - MY - DEAD - BODY!

he clearly seemed tired during "The Key to Time" story arc,and was clearly not putting in his best effort.

The hell he did! If you'd said he looked savaged by a rabid dog I'd've been forced to agree, but...when exactly did he look TIRED? When he was gazing in horror at his new assistant? When he was giving his most-Oncoming-Storm-like performance EVER on discovering the desiccated remains of planets? When he was bewiggedly conducting his own trial? When he was sword-fighting Count Grendal on the battlements? When he was giving an eye-rollingly-intense imitation of a genocidal maniac?

(Alright, so nothing exactly springs to mind for Kroll. But that's cos Kroll's so godawful, nothing to do with darling Tom, I'm sure the next time I get drunk enough to watch it I'll spot a thousand shining moments of Doctor-related glory.)

When Lalla Ward took over as Romana he perked up somewhat-but the writters no longer knew what to do with him, which gave us two weaker seasons(and no-I'm not asying there weren't hightpoints).

So we're agreed that was ENTIRELY the fault of the writers, then.

And how exactly can they not know what to do with the Doctor, anyway? Which bit of HE SAVES PLANETS was unclear on his job description?

(who knows-we might have liked his replacement even better).

ABSOLUTELY NOT! Utterly impossible! What kind of faithless slut would love ANYONE more than TOM BAKER???

(Unless...y'know...they happened to be GROSSLY UNFAIRLY presented with Christopher Eccleston and
David Tennant after suffering a Sixteen Long And Barren Years Of Despair...)

At the age of 77, Tom Baker is now the oldest living Doctor. I remember reading an interview in which he said that the people who employ him now, watched him as the Doctor when they were children.

77? Wow. He may not be with us for very much longer.

He'd bloody BETTER make it to our fiftieth anniversary...

Well he's due to drop off next so it's quite possible it'll be sooner rather than later. If he makes it to the 50th anniversary episode one has to wonder what exactly he'll do? Attack a Sontaran with his walking frame?

'Drop off' is an interesting word choice considering....

Keep the man away from radio telescopes.

Well he's due to drop off next so it's quite possible it'll be sooner rather than later

Assuming nothing happens to any of the other Doctor's before him (like a car accident).

However, it's only two years to go, so he could still be with us. Getting old is not the bugaboo it used to be. William Shatner is turning 80 in a few weeks and that hasn't slowed him down at all.

Getting old is not the bugaboo it used to be. William Shatner is turning 80 in a few weeks and that hasn't slowed him down at all.

No it hasn't, and to be fair to Tom, it hasn't slowed him down either (he's still acting today)- but let's face it, there's not much chance of either Tom baker OR William Shatner doing much running and jumping now is there? All Shatner does in his latest sitcom is sit on a chair and hurl insults. Hardly Kirk-like...

Being the Doctor wasn't about running and jumping in Hartnell's day, and it needn't be these days. It's just one of those optional extras. Tom would just have to stand there (in a scarf, obviously) and BREATHE and he'd be the Doctor.

Though it would really, really help if Paul Magrs didn't write the fiftieth anniversary story, cos he can turn ten Tom-Baker-narrated audios into a pile of ****.

(Did I ever mention I was convinced that Tom would die when the new series came? Old Docs always seem to keel over (in order!) when a new era dawns - just look at poor Pertwee and the telemovie. (Mind you, I was pretty sure I'd die when the new series came. I just found it utterly impossible to picture living in a universe where brand new Doctor Who was on every week. Anyway...the point is, Tom's death would have been WORTH IT. As would my own.)

Tom's death will make the news in a way the deaths of his successors wouldn't
Even your Average Joe or Jane has heard of Tom Baker, but Colin Baker? Sylvester McCoy? Don't expect them to get :30 or :60 in a TV news bulletin.

Hey-lets not write him off yet--these days he could easily have twenty or more years left in him(and here's hoping I didn't just jinx him).

Here's a video of Four regernating into Five using present day regeneration effects.

http://youtu.be/-Pjt5fw-lrw

Bah, humbug!

No New Who Doctor would regenerate lying down!

(And not just the Doctors, and not just actually regenerating.)

Eccy-to-Tennnant, Jacobi-to-Simm, Tennant-into-the-Hand, Tennant-to-Smith, Smith-interrupted...they've ALL been standing up for no readily apparent reason.

Tennant-into-the-Hand

Yeah, but the hand was lying down.

Nonsense, I'm sure it was standing upright.

Oh, and I forgot SPOILERS FOR DAY OF THE MOON the brat whose otherwise shockingly unexpected regeneration was occurring in a predictably vertical manner...

Emily - "Bah, humbug! No New Who Doctor would regenerate lying down!"

Even Eccy, The Ten, and The Hair would have to regenerate on their backsides if any of them had fallen 200 feet off of a radio telescope! They're durable, but not THAT durable!
They just got lucky that they could stand whilst changing.

And I might point out, as a nit-picky kinda guy, that although Jacobi to Simm started while he was standing up, when we see Simm is finished, he's picking himself up off the floor.

The Hair might very well change unconscious and flat on his back, some day.

They just got lucky that they could stand whilst changing.

It wasn't just luck - can you IMAGINE the determination it took for poor Tennant to haul himself to his feet after being exterminated? And WHY, for heaven's sake?

Drama Queen?
Drama Lonely God?

Probably didn't want to look wimpy in front of Rose.

From DWM:

Douglas Adams on Tom Baker: 'Tom is one of those people who oscillated between being one of the most wonderful, awesome, engaging people you have ever met, to someone you would gladly shove off a cliff'.

Tom Baker on the Doctor: 'I was playing this slightly messianic alien. He isn't violent, he doesn't get his leg over the girl, he doesn't steal, and he's rather wry, and adorable, and mysterious. He's lived for 900 years or something. He lives the life of the old patriarchs of the Old Testament.'

I suspect most of the Old Testament Patriarchs DID get their legs over, however...

And I don't think they were that adverse to using violence & I think some of them did steal.

Of course various Doctors weren't adverse to stealing or using violence and by the time 9 & 10 came along...

True. Still, I suppose One was the ultimate Thief (the TARDIS, Ian and Barbara, plus he even went around nicking people's clothes despite having a perfectly good TARDIS wardrobe) and Six and Eight were the really violent ones (for being a total git and blowing up Gallifrey, respectively). The Fourth Doctor didn't do so much of either. Indeed, it's possible to argue that the Time Lords had GIVEN him the TARDIS by this stage.

I think when they exiled him to Earth with the TARDIS they were basically giving it to him. When they gave him back his knowledge of how to pilot it was the equivalent of a parent giving their kid the title & keys of the old family car he's been learning to drive with.

plus he even went around nicking people's clothes despite having a perfectly good TARDIS wardrobe
And just how do you think he got that wardrobe in the first place? ;-)

And just how do you think he got that wardrobe in the first place? ;-)

Brilliant!

It could also be that it was always there--but he didn't know about it.

Remember--we did see Four get lost in the Tardis--he may still have been exploring it.

Wasn't rhere a exchange in "Invasion of Time" which went:

Four--where's Leela?

K9-immersed in H2O.

Four--what a time for her to be taking a bath!

In truth Leela was swimming in a large pool-maybe a place she found before the Doctor knew about it.

It is a big place.

I just watched a 70's British horror anthology movie on YouTube, Vault Of Horror. Tom Baker is in it. This movie came out in 1973, one year before Mr. Baker took up residence in the TARDIS.

Well. For those philistines who have expressed their philistiny opinions that mere actors in general and Tom Baker in particular shouldn't be allowed any input into the scripts...Elisabeth Sladen's autobiography reveals that we only got ANY of the 'Have I the right?' stuff in Genesis because Tom put his foot down: 'I'm the Doctor - I can't go around wiping out entire civilisations. Do I have the right?'

Though to be fair, she also mentions that 'Tom's suggestions were often along the lines of: "What if there was a Mer-man sitting at my feet? Wouldn't that be astounding?"'

Happy 78th Birthday to Tom Baker

I can cope with him being 749.

But 78???

I DON'T think so!

Masque of Mandragora:

'You know, the worse the situation, the worse your jokes get.' Is this TRUE?

'I'm in the market for congratulations' - interesting. The Doctor doesn't usually ask to be thanked. When he DOES it's because he's just turned into a crazy Time Lord Victorious. Could his gun-totin' ways in Seeds of Doom, his unrepentent massacre of Brethren in Masque, and his ruthless abandonment of Sarah in Hand of Fear indicate that the Doctor's having a mini-breakdown, that might for all we know continue for YEARS until he gets over it sometime before Face of Evil?

What about the numerous changing door buttons in Logopolis. Or the total lack of any continuity with any controls during Baker's time.

What did the Doctor do? Remap the controls every couple of weeks for a laugh? It would be like constantly changing the controls on a game controller

What did the Doctor do? Remap the controls every couple of weeks for a laugh?

Not the Doctor, the Tardis. She loves her little games.

Though of course her little games nearly KILLED our Doctor. Remember Romana shrieking 'Do you have a death-wish' as he reached for the wrong lever in, um, one of the E-Space stories.

How can Tom vary so dramatically from supremely good to "goggly eyed fool with more teeth than brain cells"?

Because he went from playing The Doctor to being himself....?

Himself IS the Doctor!

And when did he ever have more teeth than braincells?

Have you heard him recently????

Hey--I thought he had lost it when we saw hum and K-9 reading Peter Smegging Rabbit in the main control room.

That WAS an unhappy moment but I bet JOHN LEESON would have been able to pull it off...

The sad thing is--I doubt anyone could have pulled it off.

The truth is that IMHO Tom should have followed Troughton's advice and left well before he did.

Troughton said to give it 3 years, then move on.

Every time this rule has been broken(3 times) we've seen the actors ego(and amount of control) go over the top--and gave weak shows.

I feel Tom should have left at the same time as Leela(I'm cutting some slack--I like Leela).

This would have saved us his smegging around for 3 full seasons.

The only real loss would have been "City of Death". (I might also be giving this one more credit than it's due--it was the first story I watched.)

I guess all I can end on is that Troughton seems to have been right--leave after 3 seasons(I would allow Tom 4). It's best for everyone.

The truth is that IMHO Tom should have followed Troughton's advice and left well before he did.

Troughton said to give it 3 years, then move on.

Which is rather hypocritical of him given that I always had the impression Troughton and Jamie rather regretted leaving, what with having the time of their lives and all, and just being bullied by wives or agents or something into this INCREDIBLY STUPID 'moving on' thing.

Every time this rule has been broken(3 times) we've seen the actors ego(and amount of control) go over the top--and gave weak shows.

I didn't see any difference in Pertwee's last two years from his first three. Tom's ego didn't cause any ON-SCREEN problems so frankly I don't CARE what Matthew Waterhouse and co had to put up with behind the scenes. And I'd hardly call Tennant's last half-year WEAK.

I feel Tom should have left at the same time as Leela(I'm cutting some slack--I like Leela).

This would have saved us his smegging around for 3 full seasons.

This would make more sense if his successors hadn't been Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy. Surely even a Tom-Baker-hater would have to admit they are PYGMIES to his giant.

The only real loss would have been "City of Death".

THE ONLY REAL LOSS would have been THE GREATEST THING IN HUMAN HISTORY?! That sounds like QUITE A BIG loss to ME.

(I might also be giving this one more credit than it's due

To give City of Death 'too much credit' is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE.

--it was the first story I watched.)

Bad luck. The rest of your life must be such a let-down.

Emily:Which is rather hypocritical of him given that I always had the impression Troughton and Jamie rather regretted leaving, what with having the time of their lives and all, and just being bullied by wives or agents or something into this INCREDIBLY STUPID 'moving on' thing.

As a rule there are two types of actors:

1)Those who talk about how great their past jobs were---

2)Those who don't get much work--

Troughton clearly wanted to get more work.

Emily:I didn't see any difference in Pertwee's last two years from his first three.

Then it's time to go back and rewatch them--it'll help you get through until the current season restarts.

Pertwee's fourth marked the end of his exile on Earth("The Three Doctors" is the first story).

It also showed a marked increase in what Pertwee wanted in the show--gadgets, tech toys, and Bond style chases in high-tech toys. It finally ended in "Planet of Spiders" with Bessie being replaced with the one-shot Whomobile.

Emily: And I'd hardly call Tennant's last half-year WEAK.

If you're talking the year of specials--I'd happily toss 4 of the 5 stories into the same hole I'd bury Eccy's work in.(I will admit to liking "The Next Doctor" though.)

Emily:Tom's ego didn't cause any ON-SCREEN problems so frankly I don't CARE what Matthew Waterhouse and co had to put up with behind the scenes.

I'd only notice the Waterhouses book here as it compares with what Elizabeth Sladen said about Baker in her book.

Bakers fifth season seemed to mark a major change in his Doctor--he goes from a very smart,but alien hero thinking his way through problems to a spoiled child who stumbled his way both into and out of stories.

Add to that that(except for "City of Death" and(maybe) "Shada") Tom sleepwalked through every story from the start of "The Key to Time" until the end of "The E-Space Trilogy" and you'll see my point.

Emily:THE ONLY REAL LOSS would have been THE GREATEST THING IN HUMAN HISTORY?! That sounds like QUITE A BIG loss to ME.

And yet I'd still be willing to give it up to rid myself of "The Key to Time","Meglos","The Creature in the Pit" up through the E-space mess.

Emily:To give City of Death 'too much credit' is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE.

I was trying to be fair--looking back I find that I'm often kinder to the first show of a series I watch than to later stories.

Emily:Bad luck. The rest of your life must be such a let-down.

As I've said elsewhere Who is only a small part of my life--most of which is not affected by it.

I will give you that it affects how I see the rest of Who though.

Oh, yes--a couple of other points:

Emily:Surely even a Tom-Baker-hater would have to admit they are PYGMIES to his giant.

I have never claimed to be a Tom-Baker-hater--unlike certain others I still feel that Toms Fourth Doctor is the best Doctor ever.

On the other hand--I feel that the Doctor seen in his fifth through seventh season was a pygmy compaired to the one seen in his first through fourth seasons.

Emily:This would make more sense if his successors hadn't been Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy.

If they had had to cast from T.B.'s first four seasons(instead of the weaker last three) it's unlikely anyone as bland as Davison would have been considered for the role--a stronger Doctor here might have stopped further slippage--

Stopping the train-wreck that happened at the point that C.B. took over and everything went wrong.

As for McCoy-I feel they were getting things back together after Mel left, and would have liked to see where some of the hints they were dropping went.

As a rule there are two types of actors:

1)Those who talk about how great their past jobs were---

2)Those who don't get much work--

Troughton clearly wanted to get more work.

But all those people who say Who was the happiest time of their lives are OBVIOUSLY telling the truth! It's DOCTOR WHO!

Pertwee's fourth...showed a marked increase in what Pertwee wanted in the show--gadgets, tech toys, and Bond style chases in high-tech toys. It finally ended in "Planet of Spiders" with Bessie being replaced with the one-shot Whomobile.

I'm not convinced. Sure, they gave Pertwee that godawful episode-long chase as a misguided farewell gesture, but when I think pointless chases I think Season Nine.

(And didn't the Whomobile appear in Dinosaurs too...?)

If you're talking the year of specials--I'd happily toss 4 of the 5 stories into the same hole I'd bury Eccy's work in.(I will admit to liking "The Next Doctor" though.)

Ha ha ha! The Next Doctor was rubbish! Whereas Planet of the Dead was fun, Waters of Mars an all-time classic, and End of Time great (if not quite as great as I'd've liked for the end of the glorious Eccy/Tennant/RTG era, the greatest five years in human history...).

Bakers fifth season seemed to mark a major change in his Doctor--he goes from a very smart,but alien hero thinking his way through problems to a spoiled child who stumbled his way both into and out of stories.

Can't say I'd noticed, but there's nothing wrong with making your enemies underestimate you. Troughton used the bumbling method all the time.

Add to that that(except for "City of Death" and(maybe) "Shada") Tom sleepwalked through every story from the start of "The Key to Time" until the end of "The E-Space Trilogy" and you'll see my point.

Nope, not seeing your point cos not seeing a sleepwalking Tom.

And yet I'd still be willing to give it up to rid myself of "The Key to Time","Meglos","The Creature in the Pit" up through the E-space mess.

The Creature is FROM the Pit, the E-Space trilogy is marvellous, and even Key to Time has four good stories...

As I've said elsewhere Who is only a small part of my life--most of which is not affected by it.

Yeah, and you're going to have to say it a LOT more before it'll sink in...

I have never claimed to be a Tom-Baker-hater--unlike certain others I still feel that Toms Fourth Doctor is the best Doctor ever.

I KNOW I'm a FILTHY TRAITOR, stop rubbing it in!

If they had had to cast from T.B.'s first four seasons(instead of the weaker last three) it's unlikely anyone as bland as Davison would have been considered for the role--a stronger Doctor here might have stopped further slippage--

This 'weaker seasons' thing is all in your mind, and if you were right about sleepwalking Tom they wouldn't have felt the need to cast the exact opposite of our dynamic, wonderous, larger-than-life, charismatic GOD amongst Doctors - viz, bland young Davison.

Stopping the train-wreck that happened at the point that C.B. took over and everything went wrong.

TOM STAYING ON would have stopped that train-wreck. They wouldn't have dared present HIM with scripts that godawful, or at least if they HAD then his glorious presence, his hilarious ad-libs, and his refusal to commit cold-blooded violence would have improved them no end.

As for McCoy-I feel they were getting things back together after Mel left, and would have liked to see where some of the hints they were dropping went.

Oh, DEFINITELY. Season 26 - Best Old Who Season EVER. The only one where ALL the stories were brilliant, though admittedly that's a lot easier when there are only four of 'em.

Gosh the universe may explode here but..... I agree with JEP

Tom didn't sleepwalk his way through his last three seasons so much as he bumbled, pratfalled and goofballed his way through them.

To be fair though, he had a producer that was frightened of him and let him do his own thing. having rubbish scripts 95% of the time didn't help either.

Sorry to be so long--server crashed and landlord took his time clearing it up.

Emily:But all those people who say Who was the happiest time of their lives are OBVIOUSLY telling the truth! It's DOCTOR WHO!

Riiight--12-16 hours a day(plus make-up),5(sometimes 6) days a week, and a short season of 40 plus episodes. It must have been a real joy.

On the other hand--with the way the New Who Doctors complain about a much lighter season, maybe it was hell on Earth.

Emily:I'm not convinced. Sure, they gave Pertwee that godawful episode-long chase as a misguided farewell gesture, but when I think pointless chases I think Season Nine.

Pertwee liked chases,so they gave them to him geitng worse each season and going overboard in his fourth and fifth seasons. The same thing happened to the gadgets.

Emily: (And didn't the Whomobile appear in Dinosaurs too...?)

I had to look this one up on-line and you're right. A incomplete Whomobile did show up in Dinosaurs. A boat windshield filled in for the unfinished top and front window of the Whomobile--that might be what threw me.

On the other hand I also found out that Pertwee paid to build and owned the Whomobile--so this really was his baby.

Emily:Ha ha ha!

Not trying to be funny here.

Emily:The Next Doctor was rubbish!

The Next Doctor was the only saving grace in this season.

Emily:Whereas Planet of the Dead was fun,

IIRC this was the New Who's third retread of this story--the others were better.

Emily: Waters of Mars an all-time classic,

During most of this story I was thinking--if he's not going to fix this mess then he should shut up and leave. The story was strong enough to stand on its own--no need for the Doctor.

Ad to this the worst fix he could possibly have come up with which not only let most of the cast die on Mars,but left a major twist in the timeline. If he had thought it through he could have saved not only the timeline, but most os the stations crew( a future space colony find a small gtoup of lost travellers--and most of them could live-they just couldn't ever go home).

Emily:and End of Time great

That's one way to look at it I suppose.

And another is that it's a great big self-inportant mess of a two-parter that had story enough for 1/2 episode and far too much filler.

Tens final voyage to see old friemds was the biggest waste of timr ever.

Emily:Nope, not seeing your point cos not seeing a sleepwalking Tom.

Rodney:Tom didn't sleepwalk his way through his last three seasons so much as he bumbled, pratfalled and goofballed his way through them.

I'll give this one th Rodney--Tom was not taking things as seriously as he should have.

Rodney:To be fair though, he had a producer that was frightened of him and let him do his own thing.

That would be a problem--a producer should be able to put an actor back in role, but an actor with more than foue years in the pars can be tough. This producer didn't even try.

Rodney: having rubbish scripts 95% of the time didn't help either.

When Tom was putting in the effort he could overcome weak scripts; during these three seasons he the only stories he put any real effort into were City of Death and maybe Shada.

Emily:This 'weaker seasons' thing is all in your mind, and if you were right about sleepwalking Tom they wouldn't have felt the need to cast the exact opposite of our dynamic, wonderous, larger-than-life, charismatic GOD amongst Doctors - viz, bland young Davison.

Serious,quiet, softspoken Davison was cast to be the exact opposite of the egotiaistical,loud over-acting clown Tom's Doctor had devolved into.

Emily:TOM STAYING ON would have stopped that train-wreck. They wouldn't have dared present HIM with scripts that godawful, or at least if they HAD then his glorious presence, his hilarious ad-libs, and his refusal to commit cold-blooded violence would have improved them no end.

Tom staying on started them the trainwreck. His staying on caused others to stop caring,starting a slide in quality which led to the mess that C.B. had to deal with.

If we had, instead of Tom's fifth season-an actor who clearly cared what he was doing,and took pride in the role we might have avoided the slide.

Emily: Oh, DEFINITELY. Season 26 - Best Old Who Season EVER. The only one where ALL the stories were brilliant, though admittedly that's a lot easier when there are only four of 'em.

As opposed to the massive 6 stories we has been getting for most of Pertwees,Toms,and Davisons runs.

Rodney:Gosh the universe may explode here but..... I agree with JEP

And in this post I've yeilded points to both Emily and Rodney--we might be in really deep smeg now.

Emily:But all those people who say Who was the happiest time of their lives are OBVIOUSLY telling the truth! It's DOCTOR WHO!

Riiight--12-16 hours a day(plus make-up),5(sometimes 6) days a week, and a short season of 40 plus episodes. It must have been a real joy.

Don't tell me you wouldn't SELL YOUR SOUL for the chance...

On the other hand--with the way the New Who Doctors complain about a much lighter season, maybe it was hell on Earth.

Complain! They don't COMPLAIN! Except that total wimp Eccy...

Pertwee liked chases,so they gave them to him geitng worse each season and going overboard in his fourth and fifth seasons.

No, NOTHING'S as bad as the slow-motion tricycle chase in Day of the Daleks...well, nothing until we get to the even-slower-motion go-kart chase in Happiness Patrol...

The same thing happened to the gadgets.

Not that I noticed. And there's nothing wrong with gadgets!

Emily:Whereas Planet of the Dead was fun,

IIRC this was the New Who's third retread of this story--the others were better.

Ooh, which were the other ones?

Emily: Waters of Mars an all-time classic,

During most of this story I was thinking--if he's not going to fix this mess then he should shut up and leave. The story was strong enough to stand on its own--no need for the Doctor.

NO NEED FOR THE DOCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If he had thought it through he could have saved not only the timeline, but most os the stations crew( a future space colony find a small gtoup of lost travellers--and most of them could live-they just couldn't ever go home).

Sure, Waters of Mars had a big plot-hole. Just like every Who story ever.

[End of Time]'s a great big self-inportant mess of a two-parter that had story enough for 1/2 episode and far too much filler.

Well, YEAH, but it was still great.

Tens final voyage to see old friemds was the biggest waste of timr ever.

It was WONDERFUL! And HEARTBREAKING! And I only regret that the BBC CRIMINALLY refused to film the Doctor going back to see EVERY PREVIOUS COMPANION EVER!

Rodney:Tom didn't sleepwalk his way through his last three seasons so much as he bumbled, pratfalled and goofballed his way through them.

I'll give this one th Rodney--Tom was not taking things as seriously as he should have.

He was taking things seriously in his LAST season, alright.

Serious,quiet, softspoken Davison was cast to be the exact opposite of the egotiaistical,loud over-acting clown Tom's Doctor had devolved into.

Oh nonsense, darling Tom had a DEATH-WISH for the whole of Season 18 - just see him with the Gundans, or in ANY Logopolis scene. Lugubrious isn't in it.

Tom staying on started them the trainwreck. His staying on caused others to stop caring,starting a slide in quality which led to the mess that C.B. had to deal with.

I couldn't disagree more, especially as the person most responsible for said slide in quality - JNT - only had a YEAR of Tom.

Sorry-server was down again from friday until earlier tonight....

Emily:Don't tell me you wouldn't SELL YOUR SOUL for the chance...

For a chance to be in a cheaply made BBC tv series--not a chance, Sunshine.

Emily:Complain! They don't COMPLAIN! Except that total wimp Eccy...

Tennant also did his share of moaning in Doctor Who Confidental(add to that he had at least one Doctor-light story in each of the 3 seasons),

Emily:No, NOTHING'S as bad as the slow-motion tricycle chase in Day of the Daleks...

Just shows that Pertwee was already getting out of hand.

Emily:Not that I noticed. And there's nothing wrong with gadgets!

Not if used correctly--here they were used at the expense of good story-telling.

Emily: Ooh, which were the other ones?

Lets see--IIRC you've compared it to Gridlock,then there's the 2-parter Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, and let us not forget Midnight.

If you don't like one of those we can go back further to Horror of Fang Rock--I'm sure we can find others if need be.

Emily:NO NEED FOR THE DOCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope--he should have gone home, and let us see how the story played out. It would have been a far better story.

Emily:It was WONDERFUL! And HEARTBREAKING! And I only regret that the BBC CRIMINALLY refused to film the Doctor going back to see EVERY PREVIOUS COMPANION EVER!

You might have a point there--toss out the return of the Master, the backstory on the drums,and the plot of the Time Lords then have the TARDIS get caught in a tractor beam-the Doctor takes a huge electric shock, knows his end is near and uses 2 episodes to see everyone before changing.

Sounds good to me.

Or at least better than what we got!!!

Emily:He was taking things seriously in his LAST season, alright.

In his last season he was only serious abour one thing to do with Who--and I don't think we can talk about that here.

Emily: Oh nonsense, darling Tom had a DEATH-WISH for the whole of Season 18 - just see him with the Gundans, or in ANY Logopolis scene. Lugubrious isn't in it.

TOM had no death wish--only his Doctor was dieing. Although he might have realised that those last 3 seasons had already killed his career.

Emily:I couldn't disagree more, especially as the person most responsible for said slide in quality - JNT - only had a YEAR of Tom.

Just long enough to pick up bad attitudes, and bad habits from Tom.

Emily:Don't tell me you wouldn't SELL YOUR SOUL for the chance...

For a chance to be in a cheaply made BBC tv series--not a chance, Sunshine.

*Slack-jawed astonishment* I just ASSUMED...I mean, doesn't EVERYONE...Blimey, I finally know how Azal felt as he blew up thanks to things REALLY not computing...

Tennant also did his share of moaning in Doctor Who Confidental

I don't remember that AT ALL. Well, the Confidentials don't tend to linger in the memory, though obviously I'm still OUTRAGED to be robbed of them.

Emily:No, NOTHING'S as bad as the slow-motion tricycle chase in Day of the Daleks...

Just shows that Pertwee was already getting out of hand.

So are you SURE you WANT to allow Doctors a WHOLE THREE YEARS? I mean, McGann was messing around with gadgets and fast vehicles within MINUTES of regeneration!

Emily:Not that I noticed. And there's nothing wrong with gadgets!

Not if used correctly--here they were used at the expense of good story-telling.

I'll admit the tea-leaf machine in Time Monster was a little embarrassing but what else did you have in mind for story-ruining gadgets?

I mean, even Pertwee isn't as reliant on the sonic as those New Who guys...

Lets see--IIRC you've compared it to Gridlock,then there's the 2-parter Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, and let us not forget Midnight.

I really don't see those as being the same story over and over again. Sure, they've all got a small (or not THAT small) group of people stuck somewhere as a starting-point, but they go off in drastically different directions - they don't BEGIN to compare to a formulaic near-future-lumbering-monster-black-and-white-sexism-foam-machine Troughton base-under-siege story...

If you don't like one of those we can go back further to Horror of Fang Rock--I'm sure we can find others if need be.

Being unexpectedly stranded on an alien world is competely different to being unexpected confined in a small space.

Emily:NO NEED FOR THE DOCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nope--he should have gone home, and let us see how the story played out. It would have been a far better story.

NOT to have seen Tennant become the Time Lord Victorious?! Over my dead body!

toss out the return of the Master, the backstory on the drums,and the plot of the Time Lords then have the TARDIS get caught in a tractor beam-the Doctor takes a huge electric shock, knows his end is near and uses 2 episodes to see everyone before changing.

Sounds good to me.

Or at least better than what we got!!!

I have to admit the Master's resurrection didn't particularly ring true, we've had planets in the sky before, Donna's heart-breaking departure was slightly ruined by her return, the Naismiths were INCREDIBLY rubbish villains and Rassilon spat too much. Yeah, I'd go with this idea...Or at least make RTG film a Director's Cut to add to End of Time before MORE of Our Heroes croak.

Although he might have realised that those last 3 seasons had already killed his career.

It's LEAVING Doctor Who that kills your career.

Emily:I couldn't disagree more, especially as the person most responsible for said slide in quality - JNT - only had a YEAR of Tom.

Just long enough to pick up bad attitudes, and bad habits from Tom.

You're not SERIOUSLY blaming Tom for NINE YEARS OF WHO-KILLING JNT?

'My belief is that the reason John [Nathan-Turner] went for those straight leading man-types was because he'd come in at the end of Tom Baker, who is the most grotesque, macabre, eccentric, off the wall, oddball, bug-eyed screwball Doctor of them all! John...got really fed up with that kind of nuttiness. So he went to the opposite extreme' - Andrew Cartmel attempts to explain the inexplicable, viz, the Davison Doctor. My Tom - MACABRE???

Well, lets face it, he wasn't the cheeriest of the Doctors at the end of his tenure.

I love the fact that out of all the words Cartmel used to describe Tom, the only one Emily objects to is "macabre"....

Well, of course 'grotesque' is also a foul slander. Everything else is utterly true and quite complimentary...

Chris D'Oyly-John (production unit manager or, er, something) in DWM, on Our Hero's reaction to Louise Jameson:

'I think Tom felt slightly masculinely challenged, if that's the right word, in the sense that he thought of himself as a bit of a stud! Lis Sladen wasn't what you might call rampantly feminine; she was "safe". Louise was a very quiet and nice girl, but she had a fairly stunning figure and was in danger of stealing a bit of Tom's thunder. That's what he didn't like. He wanted to be the centre of attention, but somebody appeared with two bits of attraction more than him and that was it!' - I don't believe a word of it...

Rodney in Season 18: Logopolis:
He was phoning it in for the entire season. Get real.

Tom needed a Hinchcliffe-Holmes to rein him in. He got too out of control.

Even HE says as much, though I'm not convinced. Doctor Who didn't improve once JNT had taken over and reined him in...and neither did the viewing figures.

The drop in viewing figures in S18 had nothing to do with Tom Baker or JNT. It was that DW was playing opposite the American series, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century on ITV at the time.

Clearly the viewing audience preferred Buck to the Doctor (I can just hear Emily: BURN THE BLASPHEMERS!)

The Land of the Giants saw off Troughton's final season, The A-Team saw off Colin's two seasons and Coronation Street saw off McCoy.

Put anything halfway watchable against Who and the ratings would always take a severe hit.

The good old Bonehead Broadcasting Corporation is as much to blame as anyone (for not moving Who to a safer time slot).

Clearly the viewing audience preferred Buck to the Doctor (I can just hear Emily: BURN THE BLASPHEMERS!)

Though of course, if it came to the crunch, I probably wouldn't REALLY strap all Buck Rogers-watchers to the stake and set fire to them.

I would be merciful.

I'd just stick 'em up against the nearest wall and SHOOT 'em.

Put anything halfway watchable against Who and the ratings would always take a severe hit.

Though OBVIOUSLY this doesn't apply to New Who.

Still, the human race is almost certainly doomed...

The good old Bonehead Broadcasting Corporation is as much to blame as anyone (for not moving Who to a safer time slot).

Though there's no doubt it was a deliberate attempt to destroy Who, in the case of Coronation Street.

Tim - Clearly the viewing audience preferred Buck to the Doctor
Guh? 8-/ Well, it clearly wasn't better writing or acting, so that would leave shiny Hollywood special effects or scantily clad Princess Ardala.

Judi - The Land of the Giants saw off Troughton's final season
Maybe Who shouldn't have run so many 6 & 10 parters? Of course Troughton had planned to leave after three seasons no matter what, so ratings were hardly a consideration for him.

Tim - The good old Bonehead Broadcasting Corporation is as much to blame as anyone (for not moving Who to a safer time slot).
Wouldn't the first thing be to see what is working and what isn't and changing what isn't? Are the 4 & 6 part stories too long? Does the show need new writers and/or producer? Etc, etc.

Emily - Still, the human race is almost certainly doomed...
Well, duh, every race dies sooner or later. ;-)

Put anything halfway watchable against Who and the ratings would always take a severe hit.

Though OBVIOUSLY this doesn't apply to New Who.

Except that New Who invariably gets scheduled against filler of the The Planet's Funniest Animals variety or the umpteenth repeat of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. When ITV has put on big well-promoted shows like 'Britain's Got Talent' or 'Red and Black'* then it gets slaughtered. (The most recent ratings are an exception, but I'm not sure we can extrapolate too much from special circumstances.)

* In actual fact 'Red and Black' was a massive flop. 'Doctor Who' was the only BBC show it beat in the ratings.

The more I think about it, the more I'm JUST NOT SURE that any Doctor with Four's body and, of course, glorious personality, would REALLY manage to be a Museum Curator for more than five minutes without dashing off to save the world. Especially as it's in early-twenty-first-century London, the second-most invaded place in the galaxy.

Well, we only saw that version of the Doctor for a few moments, after all.

But even so, there didn't seem to be any doubt that he was exactly what he (practically) SAID he was: a RETIRED Doctor. SURELY the ultimate contradiction in terms...

We don't know how old that particular version of the Doctor is. He could have been a million years old for all we know. Even the Doctor will get his fill of adventures after a while.

He can't possibly be a million. Matt got equally aged-looking in a mere millennium or so. And he's the most age-immune Doctor - the first 200 years on Eleven's clock didn't show at all.

And any 'I'm so tired of adventures, boo hoo' tantrum of the Doctor's will last a few weeks, maximum. I mean, he REALLY tried to retire in The Snowmen - y'know, after HIS WIFE DIED and all - and it was a spectacular failure. He doesn't have to go looking for trouble, it'll always find him.

The more I think about it, the more I'm JUST NOT SURE that any Doctor with Four's body and, of course, glorious personality, would REALLY manage to be a Museum Curator for more than five minutes without dashing off to save the world.
....or pratfalling around whilst quoting rubbish poetry after the deaths of innocent lighthouse people or helping someone kill themselves....

He can't possibly be a million. Matt got equally aged-looking in a mere millennium or so.

Not that particular regeneration, but his total age. It might only be 500 years since the Curator last regenerated, but if he's on body 157,000 then his true age could easily be a few million.

Of course it could just have been the White Guardian. The Doctor is doubtless one of White's favourite people, and Four may well be his favourite Doctor.

Certainly, the White Guardian should still be around - if he'd got killed in the crossfire of the Time War, that would have delivered the entire universe into the hands of the Black Guardian - and delivering a few cryptic words fits the White Guardian's style. Presumably, it was his way of cheering the Doctor up, without vulgar displays of power.

Not that particular regeneration, but his total age.

But however depressed/retired/apathetic/old he felt in ONE incarnation, a regeneration would almost certainly shake things up and make him feel young again.

Though admittedly Matt probably regenerated into an old guy because he felt (well...WAS) so ancient at the time. But a REALLY ENERGETIC old guy.

Of course it could just have been the White Guardian. The Doctor is doubtless one of White's favourite people, and Four may well be his favourite Doctor.

That darling SO wasn't the White Guardian. He was a TRUE DOCTOR!

Certainly, the White Guardian should still be around - if he'd got killed in the crossfire of the Time War, that would have delivered the entire universe into the hands of the Black Guardian

Didn't RTG write something in one of the guidebooks about the Guardians and Eternals fleeing the universe when the Time War started?

- and delivering a few cryptic words fits the White Guardian's style.

Delivering 'em without being either a) a smug self-satisfied OMINOUS git, or b) requiring all the power of a TARDIS to choke out a few useless words, however, isn't REMOTELY the White Guardian's style.

Presumably, it was his way of cheering the Doctor up, without vulgar displays of power.

Since when has Whitie been REMOTELY interested in cheering Our Hero up? It's either 'Find me this stupid Key or DIE' or 'Blackie will be after revenge, look out for the third encounter'. Hell, when he arrived to congratulate the Doctor on his successful completion of the Key to Time quest, it was so fishy that the Doctor immediately spotted it wasn't the real White Guardian...

Many Happy Returns, Adorable One!

Eightieth Birthday Interview

"Past the point?! I'm only eighty!

congrats Oh Dentured One!

At the age of 80, Tom Baker is the oldest living television Doctor. Congrats to him!

Tom keeps a packet of Lifsavers lollies with him at all times so that when he's been drinking he can eat some and his breath won't reek of alcohol.

Tom Baker's greatest creation - the planet "Gallifree", home of a race of perpetually drunk scouse gits.

He also managed to refer to the bumblebee as a 'Tehran insect'. Well, maybe he'd only ever encountered them in Iran...

From TV Tropes:

Tom Baker bullied people on set, smoked like a trooper, would show up to work drunk and throw up in the BBC carpark, had all sorts of outrageously kinky sex with his Estrogen Brigade in costume (and occasionally in character) and some incredibly tempestuous long term romantic relationships (one even with the actress playing his companion), had difficulty separating characters' written behaviour from the personality of the actors, and could barely get through a sentence without saying some derivative of 'fuc-k'

The outraged astonishment that he EVEN had a relationship with the actress playing his companion seems a little...manufactured. They were MARRIED, for heaven's sake.

Plus he was never once seen smoking/drunk/swearing in front of children, which, given how they must have dogged his footsteps like he was the Pied Piper, means this is exaggerating, to put it mildly.

More fan-made stuff-- this time a regeneration using present-day effects...

http://youtu.be/OI6m88X9vxI

MODERATOR'S NOTE: spoiler space inserted to spoil Rodney's game before anyone else has a heart attack.

Sad to report that our beloved Fourth Doctor is still alive....

*gotcha all those of you who only saw the first bit on the last day scroll....!

EXTERMINATE!

Extermination is WAY too good for him.

What's that thing the Raxacoricofallipatorians do with acetic acid, again...?

He shoots, he scores....

AGAIN!!!

(Roddney in DOCTORS: Capaldi
You call it "subdued", I call it "bored and counting down the days". To say he phoned in his last season is giving him too much credit. He was probably also sulking that JNT called his bluff when he said he was going to quit....

Why didn't anyone offer that boozebag Baker the controls of a helicopter and tell him "don't worry, you'll regenerate!"?

You call it "subdued", I call it "bored and counting down the days". To say he phoned in his last season is giving him too much credit. He was probably also sulking that JNT called his bluff when he said he was going to quit....

Of course he was sulking that JNT caled his bluff! Thirty-five years on, I'm still sulking about THAT!

If you choose to regard the subtle (and occasionally not so subtle) elegaic edge to the Burgundy Doctor's portrayal as 'phoning in', OF COURSE that's your right. You're quite welcome to regard the fatalistic bowing of his head beneath the axes of the Gundan, the attempt to blow the TARDIS to smithereens with himself, Romana and Adric inside, or his letting go of a certain radio telescope as piffling coincidences.

Why didn't anyone offer that boozebag Baker the controls of a helicopter and tell him "don't worry, you'll regenerate!"?

Because everyone other than you, Rodney and JNT love Tom Baker more than life itself?

Tom was quoted in a DVD documentary "...there must be someone still alive that I worked with..."

Tom drank, he smoked and yet, he'll be 81 in a few days.

Talking With Tom Baker - Doctor Who and Big Finish

How can anyone be so consistently adorable? Even when they're advertising BIG FINISH, for heaven's sake.

adorable?
hmm....

Robot:

A newly regenerated Doctor! In an adorable nightshirt! But where's the horse? Where's the DINOSAUR?

'More than human, perhaps' - blimey, hasn't HE changed his tune since he was Patrick 'Ugg! Filthy stupid evil computers! Keep them away from me!' Troughton.

'Assuming I'm right, and I invariably am...' - hear hear! I KNEW he was just being unduly modest when telling the Kaleds that 'Even I am wrong occasionally.'

'Perhaps we should employ the services of a very large cat' - WHY IS THIS IDEA NEVER FOLLOWED UP, WHY?

'In a word - anthropomorphic' - oh, just say ROBOT why don't you.

Why does the Doctor WINK at Sarah as he lies on the table and she gets dragged off by Fascist nutcases?

Why doesn't the Doctor use the sonic earlier - rather than let Benton and chums risk life and limb blowing up what turns out to be a pitiful percentage of the machine-gun-nests?

Call me prescient, but I suspect this Tom Baker chap might actually work out quite well...

The Letter is an independent film that charts the early life of Tom Baker including him becoming the Fourth Doctor and here is the first trailer of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsePo0eEjpw

The Letter has not been endorsed by Tom Baker himself.

TIM in Original Series: Season Nineteen: Four to Doomsday: Tom, in an unofficial way, of course, seemed to be running the show...Many felt that the Doctor was allowed to become a buffoon, a clown that could not be taken seriously.

Actually the emphasis on humour had less to do with Tom Baker and more to do with the fact that the Production Team settled on HUMOUR! to replace all that SCARINESS! Mary 'Abomination' Whitehouse forced them to remove.

Oh, and to quote Steven Moffat in my latest DWM: 'Tom Baker could be as funny and as comedic as he was for one reason: because he was utterly terrifying!...You look at Tom Baker in repose...and he doesn't look like a children's entertainer. He looks like a gaunt, hawk-faced, scary, intimidating man! That allowed him to be the most daffy and ridiculous Doctor when he chose to be. Because...you always remembered that he could turn on you, and it would be dreadful.'

FINN: It was JNT that helped make Tom "first among equals" among the Doctors.

It was TOM who made Tom reduce every other (Old Who) Doctor to dust beneath his feet.

It was TOM who made Tom reduce every other (Old Who) Doctor to dust beneath his feet.

What about the New Series Doctors?

*Embarrassed cough*

Well, he reduces Hurt and Matt and Capaldi to dust beneath his feet, anyway...

'The only role Tom Baker has never convincingly been able to play is an ordinary human being.' - Space Helmet for a Cow. To be fair, I'm not sure he's ever TRIED.

Apparently Tom Baker is going to be in a new Star Wars film, which is good news for everyone who doesn't remember 'Dungeons & Dragons'.

Will only be interesting if he's playing Chewbacca...

Or perhaps a variation of the captain he played in Blackadder? ;-)

'The only role Tom Baker has never convincingly been able to play is an ordinary human being.' - Space Helmet for a Cow.
To be fair, I'm not sure he's ever TRIED.

He did play a detective trying to catch a cat burglar in an episode of Remington Steele. (First Tom Baker performance I'd ever knowingly seen.)

Or perhaps a variation of the captain he played in Blackadder? ;-)

I'd like to see the fourth Doctor in that style - drinking his own urine, like Tom's captain in Blackadder!

He was great as Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra.

Rasputin DEFINITELY doesn't count as an ordinary human being...

Yeah, but Tom took the role and ran with it.

I'd love to have seen Tom's take on Empress Alexandra.

Tom Baker would choose God out of the person he could be if he wasn't Tom Baker - this was his answer to my question on his old Official Forums.

He SPOKE to you!

Blessed art thou amongst women!

WHICH god would He like to be, exactly? Can't POSSIBLY be that crazy Catholic one He squandered His precious youth on...

Tom crosses himself before a duel in "Tara". he tries to hide it but i guess he still had some residual ties to Christianity.

He WHAAAAAAT!

It's an indication that he was born under the sign of Crossed Computers.

Happy 82nd Birthday to Mr. Tom Baker

Yes, WORSHIP HIM!

Send jelly babies to him!

I believe that if Tom had appeared in The Five Doctors we would have seen his season 18 burgundy 'uniform' and not the multi-coloured scarf. He would have had to be John Nathan-Turner's vision of the Fourth Doctor, and I don't think he or we would have liked that.

Ah, but Davison had unravelled the Sacred Scarf (Burgundy Version). So surely they'd've HAD to go back to happier, pre-JNT multi-coloured Tom whether JNT wanted to or not...?

There is no difference to any role he plays....

All you get with Tom Baker, is Tom Baker....

Why would anyone ever want anything else?

I may want to run very very fast from troubles if I ever particulated that I think Tom Baker as the Doctor is a bore (except for the first two seasons he's in) and...Oops...

How fortunate that you would never DREAM of saying such a thing...

Seriously, Tom Baker couldn't be boring if his life depended on it...

...And trust me, the Big Finish Fourth Doctor Adventures have made VALIANT attempts to disprove this fact...

Just ate some jelly babies a few minutes ago. (Well, okay, jelly bears/cubs. Same thing.) I'm in a curiously Doctor-esque mood right now.

SAME THING?!

There's a FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE between a bear and a baby, in jelly form or otherwise.

Our Hero ate BABIES.

(Our Hero ate BABIES)

Except when he was proffering licorice allsorts ?

Yeah, but even THEN he PRETENDED they were jelly babies...

The date on this thread doesn't match the last post.

Did Emily nuke something?

Yup.

Yeah she nuked my making fun of Tom Baker.

It wasn't fun.

It a couple of weeks, Tom Baker will be 83 years old.

We need more Curatory goodness. RIGHT NOW.

Amazed the old windbag is still alive after the celebrity purge of 2016.

We lost, Bowie, Prince and countless others but Tom just keeps ticking on and will be 83 going on 4 soon....

....old windbag....

I agree with my learned friend!

For heaven's sake, even I don't hang around the Colin Baker thread whinging about him not being dead yet.

To Rodney and me, the sixth Doctor is "idiot Baker" and the fourth Doctor is "windbag Baker". Easy to remember...

Happy 83rd Birthday to Tom Baker.

As amusing as Baker's Doctor was, I felt Baker was occassionally phoning it in during some of the later stories. I'm also very disappointed in him frequently behaving like a self-important primadona. The biggest mistake of his career was when he didn't decide to do Big Finish dramas a few years earlier. I would have loved to have heard him in new stories alongside Elisabeth Sladen. Too little too late on his part, and it was all down to his own stubbornness. Compare that with Peter Davison's almost annoying genuine niceness, Colin Baker's long-suffering and eventually vindicated enthusiasm, McCoy's patience despite being stuck in the role at a hapless time, Eccleston's professionalism, Smith possibly lacking a single mean bone in his body, and Capaldi being an all-around gentleman and pro of the highest calibre. The Fourth Doctor is memorable because of Baker's jokey demeanour and skills as a performer, but Baker himself could be just as annoying as some of the antics of his character. Tennant apparently also had his prickish moments, at least years ago. I think he's all right, but he also has the occassional glimmer of a melodramatic ego that doesn't suit.

The biggest mistake of his career was when he didn't decide to do Big Finish dramas a few years earlier.

Are you MAD?

His worst mistake was to mention the word 'resignation' in the presence of J-N-•••••••-T.

That destroyed decades of his career AND sent Old Who on its slow and excruciating slide towards DEATH.

(Also, career-wise, that whole 'six or seven years as a monk' thing was probably a bit more detrimental to his well-being than delaying making some niche not-very good audio recordings.)

I would have loved to have heard him in new stories alongside Elisabeth Sladen.

You wouldn't if you'd bothered to LISTEN to any Fourth Doctor audios. It's highly unlikely that hearing Tom n'Lis in a mediocre run-around would be a more blissful experience than hearing him n'Mary Tamm, him n'Lalla Ward, him n'Louise Jameson or him n'John Leeson in a mediocre run-around.

And, let's face it, even if the worst came to the absolute worst, Tom croaked tomorrow and BF hadn't recorded loads more stuff than they've already let on...no one but NO ONE, least of all Tom Baker, is gonna lie on their deathbed sobbing that he's only done seven series of Big Finish audios, oh, plus *sniffle* the three godawful Magrs series and *choked wail* a few odd
Hinchliffe Presents stuff and Lost Stories *howls of anguish*...

Colin Baker's long-suffering and eventually vindicated enthusiasm

Colin publicly and viciously attacked the BBC in the tabloid press over Doctor Who. I'm not blaming him - he was in the right, well, leaving aside the fact that he SHOULD have been removed as the Doctor, and I'm sure I'd've done the same thing in his place - but TOM would never have dreamt of deliberately harming Who's image in that way.

Eccleston's professionalism,

Professionalism? He stormed off like a petulant child and if not for the Grace of God - the God in question being David Tennant - then he could have tipped Who back into its Dark Ages.

DWM Interview: 'When I did Doctor Who, there was no question of acting' - I KNEW IT! 'I'm not very good at acting' - SO MODEST!

'After I took it over, the writers were still writing for Jon Pertwee, who had so powerfully imposed a big personality on the part. So there was still that terrible put-down style - Jon Pertwee was absolutely brilliant at putting people down and being sarcastic, whereas I'm not very good at that. Sarcasm doesn't much interest me, really. I much prefer a kind of benevolent lunacy' - hey, you TOTALLY nailed the sarcasm as well as the benevolent lunacy. After all, 'Liver playing us up again, Professor' doesn't BEGIN to compare with, say, 'You're a classic example of the inverse ratio between the size of the mouth and the size of the brain.'

Re THAT Genesis of the Daleks scene: 'I wanted to do a song there. I wanted to sing "Have I the riiiight?", then go into a musical cabaret number. "Historrrrry!" It would've been a very different scene' - oh, YA THINK! (Dammit, could they not have filmed it for the DVD Extras, had these people no soul/foresight?)

According to Barry Letts, Fourth Doctor castings went like this:

Michael Bentine: Letts wanted him but Bentine wanted to co-write the scripts and bring his politics into the show. So no.

Graham Crowden: Crowden would only sign for one series. So no.

Richard Hearne: Letts sounded him out and realised that he was senile. So no.

Letts was settling on Fulton McKay and then Tom came up.

What the hell is a Fulton McKay?

And honestly, couldn't they have just scoured the building sites a lot sooner and spared themselves all this fuss?

Fulton Mckay played prison officer Mr Mckay in Ronnie Barker's TV series Porridge. Unless - like Tennant - he was good at suppressing his natural accent, he would have been our first Scottish Doctor. I think he could have done a good job with the role.

I think he could have done a good job with the role.

But...but...but...the role is FOURTH DOCTOR! (Plus Curator.) OF COURSE no one else could have done a good job with the role cos no one else is FOURTH DOCTOR TOM BAKER.

Graham Crowden was also Scottish.

Fulton Mckay was also the scientist who got killed by the Silurian in his house in the serial of the same name...

What, Dr Quinn?! He could never have made a Doctor, let alone a Fourth Doctor! Alright, his ludicrous and fatal bias towards Silurians above humanity was spot-on Doctorish, but everything ELSE...he practically cracked up when Pertwee mentioned his central heating!

(Alright, I realise that at SOME point I've gotta grasp the difference between a treacherous wimp and someone who's really good at portraying a treacherous wimp but I'm not there yet.)

Happy Doctor Who Day!

https://youtu.be/sALsW-aWIdE

My darling!

So it's definitely 'Doctor Whos' not 'Doctors Who', then?

And why is he talking about that Big Finish rubbish when he could be talking Day of the Doctor?

Is it not time to demand the return of THE CURATOR...?

Anyone want to do a vid of Tom Baker in DW meshed with Yakety Sax?

Happy Belated 84th birthday to our favourite lighthouse occupant murderer and suicide assister, Tom Baker.

'Suicide assister' I'll give you - it is indeed a noble calling to help those in need of a bit of euthanasia (voluntary) - but just remind me which lighthouse-occupants he murdered, again...?

Fourth Doctor [as Kryten from Red Dwarf: "Polymorph"]: "Here Rutie, Rutie! Some nice juicy humans!"

Tom did NOTHING OF THE SORT!

Alright, so he may have accidentally locked the monster in with 'em, but I'm sure our Rutan chum was perfectly capable of unlocking a door (or oozing out under it) had it been so inclined...

Not sure if posting links to Twitter is as straightforward as I'm hoping it is.

https://twitter.com/Lou_Jameson/status/954852274156789760

It worked.

Purrfectly.

Colin Baker once signed Tom Baker's name for a little kid who was convinced he was "... the one with K9".

Since Tumbril Baker will soon no longer be with us, let's think of the fawning obituary cliches now, shall we?

"The baddies were unconvincing, sets and acting shaky, the star loved it!"

Since Tumbril Baker will soon no longer be with us

Wanna bet?

Didn't he purchase his own tombstone, like, SEVERAL DECADES ago?

Wasn't no less a Tom Baker devotee than, um, ME convinced that Himself would be our Sacrifice to get Rose the way Pertwee was our telemovie victim, only to be proved GLORIOUSLY AND SPECTACULARLY WRONG as only a Prime Minister and Pope died to buy us our brand new Oncoming Storm?

let's think of the fawning obituary cliches now, shall we?

He is and will forever be THE Doctor.

I speak as someone who betrayed n'abandoned him twice over - once for Ecclestraitor, once for Tennant (and will hopefully be doing so all over again for JODIE!) - but who STILL knows that The Sacred Scarf can wipe the FLOOR with Big Ears and Hair-Gel ANY day.

The accident during The Sontaran Experiment made Tom think that he would be replaced as the Doctor:
https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2018-06-10/doctor-who-tom-baker-broken-bone-re-cast/

Well, the BBC did hire a complete Tom Baker, and now he was damaged goods. That accident ruined his resale value.

;-)

What saved him, of course, was the Sacred Scarf, which could hide a multitude of sins/broken collar-bones. It's almost enough to get one believing in Divine Providence, what with the ridiculous accidents - one idiot buying way too much wool, another idiot thinking she had to knit up all of said wool - resulting in our seven years of blissful perfection.

(Well, blissful perfection as far as the Doctor was concerned, obviously a few of the stories weren't that great, mentioning no Sontaran Experiments.)

As a peace offering to the board, I present this trailer for the new blue ray release of season12

...which has technical issues and they've begun a replacement programme for two of the discs.

*Sigh*

BBC Local 1980: "In London and the South East tonight: a world safe for Daleks. Tom Baker hangs up his scarf and will travel through time no more!" So, only London and South East England will be safe for Daleks? The new Doctor will able to defeat them in Yorkshire, for example?

Like the Daleks are gonna bother invading YORKSHIRE.

Though it would be rather adorable if they did, and adopted the local accent like those Daleks 'Exterminieren!'-ing their way around Germany. Yorkshire Daleks for our Yorkshire Doctor...

Even if you referred to him as the narrator of Little Britain now it would get blank looks from many.

I should hope so too.

He's THE DOCTOR.

He last rode the Tardy box almost forty years ago...

Nonsense, I distinctly remember him wandering around our Guinness-Book-of-Records-breaking 3-D fiftieth anniversary extravaganza...

a mere technicality...

Our beloved Curator is no mere technicality!

(Except to Matt 'I have no regenerations left, honest!' Smith, I suppose...)

Tom Baker, the Immortal Leader of Our Race...

But he was only a humble curator- he said so himself...

Rodney: the Immortal Leader of Our Race bit is referencing the Illinois Nazis statement about Hitler in "The Blues Brothers". The way Tom led people to their deaths in Fang Rock when he could have holed them up in the TARDIS...

But he was only a humble curator- he said so himself...

You weren't supposed to BELIEVE that hilarious piece of modesty!

the Immortal Leader of Our Race bit is referencing the Illinois Nazis statement about Hitler in "The Blues Brothers". The way Tom led people to their deaths in Fang Rock when he could have holed them up in the TARDIS...

a) I've explained in the Fang Rock section why dumping Adelaide et al in the TARDIS would have led to the destruction of the human race (and, more importantly, the Doctor losing his TARDIS) and b) I don't REALLY have to explain why failing to save a few lives isn't as bad as what Hitler did...do I...?

Well what he did in Logopolis qualifies as being as bad as the Austrian Corporal. Taking half the universe with him just because he had a soft sport for his one and future lover, Mr Maestro McMasters Masterson...

Yeah, OBVIOUSLY if you want to criticise Tom, going for the whole accidentally-wiped-out-half-the-universe-and-didn't-even-apologise-afterwards thing is a MUCH better bet than saying 'An evil invading alien managed to off half-a-dozen misfortunates before the Doctor saved the day, THE DOCTOR IS WORSE THAN HITLER!!'

As Rodney once said, just imagine "Would you like a jelly baby?" if Tom was like Jimmy Savile...

Someone put on Wikipedia that Tom has liver cancer. I hope it's just wiki vandalism.

Yes, let's just ignore the sick freak's obvious lies, after all, Tom probably doesn't even HAVE a liver since the 1970s...

Wow- he looks really frail in these photos....

BBC person: Got that Tom Baker obit prepared Terry?
Terry: Sure, Boss. Just adding that "Isn't anybody interested in history?" clip. Gotta remind the young people that only their grandparents know who he was...

Wow- he looks really frail in these photos....

Oh. Yes he does. Thought he'd suddenly drastically aged then remembered I'd probably never seen a photo taken in the last few years - BF does its recording years in advance so their booklet pics are out of date and of course it's Tom's appearance in Day that really sticks in one's mind...

Wonderful how totally TOM BAKERY he is at ANY age...

Gotta remind the young people that only their grandparents know who he was...}

Right, that's why he was everyone's favourite bit of Day of the Doctor, even *shudders* children.

In a couple of months, Tom Baker will turn 85.

He's the oldest living Doctor.

THIS IS A QUOTE

THIS IS A QUOTE

THIS IS A QUOTE

"During the Graham Williams era, Tom’s costume devolved to an “autograph signing Tom” (no tie, rarely worn hat, open waistcoat). All he needed to do was take the scarf off and he could go straight to the pub."

Happy 85th Birthday to Tom Baker

WORSHIP HIM!

He really is looking remarkable, isn't he? Maybe there's something in this Time Lord nonsense after all?

Happy Birthday Mr Baker. The last real Doctor.

The last real Doctor.

What what wait, Ecclestraitor and Tennant n'JODIE! are TOTALLY real Doctors!

Tom Baker was the end of the Golden Age. Letts and Lambert and Williams and Hinchcliffe wipe the floor with Chinball and Muppet and The Fallen One and JN-T.

The Russell T God Era was a new and way more glorious Golden Age.

Russell T "God" is more like David Koresh - it's all in his own head...

Yes, happy birthday Tom!

Mr. Baker is the oldest living Doctor. And, if Emily has her way, that will never change.

No Doctor Who regular (Doctor or Companion actor) has lived to 100. Some died relatively young (Marter, both of the Hills, Watling, Tamm, John).

Or Elisabeth Sladen who passed at just 65, back in 2011.

William Russell is 94. Hope he makes the ton.

While Tom is still with us, many of his Companions are not. Only three remain, Louise Jamison, Lalla Ward, and John Leeson.

Of course, Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton, and Janet Fielding are still alive, but I didn't count them because they carried over into the Peter Davison Era.

Tom Baker was the first DW series lead who wasn't a veteran of the Second World War. He had the mercy of a late birth.

And he was the last Doctor born before that war (1934).

Of the Classic Doctors that followed, Peter Davison was born after (1951), and both Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy were born during (1943).

Of course, all the New Series Doctors were born long after the war had ended (Eccy and Capaldi, the two oldest of the bunch, were born in the 1960's).

To Tim - Yeah most of the cast and crew of the first half or so of Classic Who would have taken some part in the Second World War - whether on the Front Line, in the Intelligence Services, or on the Home Front.

Tom would be the same "most popular Doctor" who was starring in a show that was dying in the ratings in 1980?

That "most popular Doctor"?

Doctor Who was a show that needed a reset as the public had clearly grown tired of it when offered something shiny and new on ITV. JNT assisting Baker out of the door was a massive change for the show on screen and creatively as well. Without an obstreperous leading man the show could again become the star.

Tom Baker was the longest serving Doctor. A record he holds to this day, nearly 40 years later.

Capaldi served for 4.5 billion years. Lets see Baker top THAT!

TBF, Baker's tenure SEEMS like 4.5 billion years, and very "you wish someone would say "no, but here's a '45 calibre!" when the googly eyed buffoon waffles on about jelly babies"...

It's risible to challenge Tom Baker's claim to be the most popular Doctor on the basis of season eighteen's ratings, because a) it overlooks how immensely popular the series was in the six previous years he was in the role and b) Baker's departure didn't lead to any particular resurgence in the ratings.

The show picked up a little under Davison, particularly during his first year, but this is largely attributable to the new scheduling policy and the novelty of seeing how one of TV's biggest stars was handling the role. But the show was "dying in the ratings" again within a couple of years and spent the rest of the decade on the rack.

The notion that Doctor Who stopped doing well when ITV started scheduling something else opposite it carries a lot of water but that's just as true in the 1960s and early 1970s as it was in the Baker years... and it's just as true during for the new series. The fact is that Doctor Who in general - not just Tom - has always benefitted a lot from ITV's scheduling policies.

I was ready to dispute the ratings, but a search on http://www.themindrobber.co.uk/ratings.html actually shows a dramatic drop.
Season 17 shows ratings between 8.8 million and 14.5
Season 18 shows 4.7 to 7.5 million.
And then a one-season jump for Davison at 8.8 to 10 million viewers.
Still, it was the reruns of our scarf-wearing 'google-eyed buffoon' that Brits already saw, that new viewers across The Pond discovered and increased his popularity. Baker was the only Doctor millions of fans knew about (until they discovered regeneration).

There's no disputing that ratings dropped for season eighteen. This can be attributed to a number of factors, the biggest being networked opposition from 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century' and generally poor scheduling decisions by the BBC.

The ratings jump for season nineteen mostly because Doctor Who was moved to a later slot on Monday and Tuesday evenings, coupled with the novelty factor of seeing a familiar TV face taking over the role of the Doctor. But this wasn't sustained and there general trend is towards audiences abandoning Doctor Who through the first half of the 1980s. The 1985 cancellation crisis just accelerated that decline.

I wonder if the influence of the internet would have helped the series, had it existed in the '80's? More people would know a lot more about it, which can be a good thing, or a bad thing.
All we had back then was Doctor Who Magazine.

Tom stayed two seasons too long.

I hope you have your running shoes on Natalie......a certain moderator will be coming after you with knives for that statement....

Hey, I don't KILL people for being wrong...well, not unless a postmortem would explain WHY they'd think something so wrong when the actual FACT is that Tom should have stayed a few more seasons and by 'a few more' I mean The Tom Baker Years: 1974-2019 and counting. (Though if he needed the occasional year off I'd have no objection to him being the Fourth, Sixth, Eighth, etc etc Doctors before ascending to Curatorhood.)

Maybe if he'd done a Pertwee and left in Season 16 after five seasons, we'd have gotten someone better than Five.

"Maybe if he'd done a Pertwee and left in Season 16 after five seasons..."

Hm. Peter Davison in 'City of Death'? With Tegan and Adric instead of Romanaa II?

steve mcKinnon as the doctor ;)

Would there have been a Tegan or Adric had Tom left while Graham Williams was still producing?

Williams did have someone in mind if Tom had left after Key to Time. Not sure who. Some fans wildly speculated he would have offered it to John Denver!

Tom!!!!

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-03-31/watch-former-doctor-who-star-tom-baker-in-newly-discovered-1974-drama/?fbclid=IwAR1U17ogRdiZomu0kwuiuoB014khWgCgWzE86XiNfHVKP4ExoCHpgpFY-Iw

Tom Baker shares his birthday, January 20th, with another famous TV Doctor.

DeForest Kelley (1920-1999), who played Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy on Star Trek

Here in poorly made likenesses of Tom Baker in Doctor Who merchandise, the Doctor Who group this was posted in commented that they make the Doctor look like a woman: https://i.imgur.com/za2oBG4.jpg

a) The Doctor IS a woman, b) THAT doesn't look like a woman. Or man. Or any alien yet encountered.

Facebook:

---

quote:

With a milkshake prepared by Four, I would suspect more likely laid low. On the ground clutching stomach and praying that you can reach the toilet before it gets worse.

---

I wouldn’t investigate claims made by Tom Baker just enjoy them as fact

It appears as though sadly our beloved Tom has not passed away and is still alive....

Tom Baker was killed today by walking into the propellers of a commuter plane...

That would be messy.

If it were true.

Tom Baker was killed today by walking into the propellers of a commuter plane

My surfing of the Internet failed to turn up this event.

I was joining in Rodney's joke...

Ah...

Remember when jokes were funny? When did that change?

Not long ago, I agreed to cut back on my Nyssa obsession.

Perhaps the same should be done for the "Tom Baker dies" stuff.

Or should we just start 'JODIE! IS! DEAD!' jokes, and see how that goes around here?
Jokes about killing fan favorite actors that you, personally, don't like are not funny. Period.

Oh, Kinney, you mean ol' pumpkin ;)

It's almost nine months without New Who on TV (or indeed in book form, jeez, would it have killed 'em to spend the Gap(ing Chasm of Despair) year producing a novel or two), we are all going weird(er than usual) and must strive personfully to keep it under control.

Is personfully even a word?

And I think making two jokes in about 6 years hardly counts as an obsession.

I'm sure Tom wants to go as he wishes - Rum and Coca-Cola in one hand and a racing form in the other...

So Newsnight just opened with the Baker titles and Boris Johnson in place of the Doctor, all because the Brexit talks may or may not have reached "the tunnel". Um, ok.

OK, that was hilarious. And adorable. And yet more proof of how deeply Who is embedded in the British consciousness.

Also, whilst obviously traumatic, Boris Johnson's face in the credits wasn't as traumatic as Colin Baker's face in the credits.

I was just thinking... wouldn't it be fun if one of Rodney's Tom Baker carked it posts happened... and Tom really had died, unknown to Rodney?

In this world of 24 hour information, that is highly unlikely.

A poll happened and all the fourth Doctor stories have been ranked

Not my choices. #1 and #2 would be rearranged and I'd make some similar shuffles at the bottom. Fang Rock would be nowhere near the top 10. Seeds of Death more towards the middle than the top. Robot would be much closer to the bottom though not all the day down. And though pretty low, The Leisure Hive would be lower yet.

Fang Rock would be nowhere near the top 10.

Whaaaaat!?

Don't worry, Tim, Kevin also seems to think Seeds of DEATH was a Tom Baker story ;)

Yeah, it's Seeds Of Doom, not Death (which is a Troughton story).

The Human League – Tom Baker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHJXuK4knlA

Interesting.

Happy 86th Birthday to Tom Baker.

May he live forever, but please can he stop having birthdays? My heart can't stand seeing that his name is trending on Twitter.

And for God's sake don't let Emily see this.

Oh oh oh oh OH.

I NEEDED that.

I'm in the middle of the Orphan 55 rewatch, for heaven's sake.

You wouldn't begrudge me a reminder that life CAN be full of beautiful blissful joy, would you...?

Nature show narrator: ...and as you can see the mini-jungle cats have successfully brought down their prey. Next comes the feasting.

;-)

Lalla Ward is an aristocrat born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Tom grew up in poverty in Liverpool. The divorce was a lucky escape for Tom, otherwise he'd be a working class traitor ;)

Lalla: Not everything is about you.

Tom: Possibly, but you do have to admit that a majority of things are.

His visit to Australia in 1979 provoked mob scenes that would have gratified the Beatles in their heyday

Australians can occasionally display a remarkable degree of perspicacity.

I gather they're currently campaigning to become part of New Zealand so they can be ruled by Jacinda Ardern.

I hope not....

I was quoting the Australian TV Times of 1979. Doubt Tom would get such crowds these days, even without covid19.

Tom Baker’s response to biggest Doctor Who memory:
https://tinyurl.com/yczgxjuy

*sniffle*

God knows how many kids went under during TSLABYOD because they didn't have that.

What's TSLABYOD.

The Sixteen Long And Barren Years Of Despair.

AKA 1989-2005.

Thanks.

Amazing you came up with that.

TSLABYOD*

*Not counting novels, audios and a TV Movie....

Such things merely added to the despair.

Let's not forget Dimensions In Time

*runs and hides*

Oh, don't worry, I LOVE reminders of Dimensions in Time.

THAT was our thirtieth anniversary.

Our fortieth anniversary was IT'S COMING BACK IT'S COMING BACK OH GODS IT'S COMING BACK.

Our fiftieth anniversary was Day of the Doctor, a 3-D multi-Doctor story, simultaneously broadcast across a Guinness-Record-breaking number of countries...

Shame Dark Dimension never got made.

Rik Mayall (The Young Ones) was the first choice to play Hawkspur the villain, had Dark Dimension made it to filming.

Tom Baker: Drink up, Judah Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur: You truly are The King of Kings!

Between the UK broadcasts of "Whoops, We Lost Worzel Gummidge" and "Sarah Jane Thought A Man Was in charge of ThinkTank", Tom went on a tour of selected schools to introduce himself as Jon Pertwee's successor (and ease the trauma of Jon leaving the show)

Nice way to introduce the character.

Tom remote-recording for Genetics of the Daleks:
https://imgur.com/a/A6WnqrD

It's a great relief he looks less fragile than the photo of a few months ago, on the other hand he looks oddly less Tom-like...and honestly, why are NONE of his cats attending the recording...?

...and honestly, why are NONE of his cats attending the recording...?

It's a recording. Cats would tend to add unwanted noises to that recording.

UNWANTED?

Happy 87th Birthday to Tom Baker

WORSHIP HIM!

He's the oldest living actor to play the Doctor.

If only I knew how to post pictures on here. On one of the Facebook groups I'm on, someone just posted a picture of Tom Baker---covered with kittens!

You just copy the link and paste it in a post.

Like this.

http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/35900000/Clara-clara-oswald-35991632-500-731.jpg

Okay, let me know if this worked. I can think of at least one person here who will love the picture.

https://preview.redd.it/csvpi9rfgxb41.jpg?auto=webp&s=5f7d30f42e8a1574879c1e7ffef13c705432cb68

I am JUST SO ••••••• JEALOUS.

I'm just not sure WHICH SPECIES I'm more jealous of...

Announcer: The herd of dwarf leopards have attacked their prey and, if successful, will eat for weeks.

;-)

Happy 88th Birthday to Tom Baker!

WORSHIP HIM!

No thanks.

Tom's scenes as Hasan in The Curse Of King Tut's Tomb:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RfmVRLggb4&fbclid=IwAR2mL8bg6KwXBwohn40V_kz2FXxwRMTahC2CxJqJ0DMXvP5beL4sHR3Pj5Q

Tom in The Curse of King Tut's Tomb:
https://tinyurl.com/yfcekype

Wow. Did you know that Emily once rang Tom and it was recorded?

Ah, IF ONLY I was Tom's darling...

Too bad I didn't hear your voice Emily.

24 years and I have no idea what Emily even LOOKS like- let alone SOUNDS like.

He’s looking frailer and frailer.

That IS...old.

Never mind, they can always say our Curator got caught in an accelerated-age-beam or something to explain the difference when he returns in triumph. Wouldn't be the first time (Leisure Hive).

He may continue to do audios but I doubt we'll see him onscreen again- curator or no.

Happy birthday to the the great Tom I think he’s as old as there are posts on the Horror Of Fang Rock board……

89 years old now.

Awwww, it's nice to see Rodney finally mellowing towards The Great Tom.

Even Jon Pertwee lived for only 75 years.
Currently, Colin Baker is in second place at age 79.
(Of which Emily has hated him for 78 and a half years! )

That is quite a feat, considering she is only 50 years old. Timey wimey stuff indeed.

How did Emily get Tom Baker's number in the first place?

Once upon a time there was a Rogues' Gallery section of this board where Emily shared a photo...

FYI: Jon Pertwee was 76 when he died.

Pertwee lived from July 7, 1919, to May 20, 1996.
Chris is right-- 76 years and 10 months.
My math mistake.
One of many.
duh.
But, nicer that Pertwee was with us a year longer than I thought.

In the Colin Baker section, Emily wrote:


Had Tom been forced to don That Coat and deliver That Dialogue it's true he couldn't have saved the day, if anything the sight of HIM being degraded in this manner would have made the era, impossibly, EVEN MORE PAINFUL.

However...Tom absolutely WOULD have saved the day by roaring 'Whippet-••••!' as he tore up the scripts, set fire to That Coat and just...IMPROVISED every episode for as many years as it took for Who to round up a few decent writers.


Sorry, Emily, but you're wrong.

The only reason Tom got away with all that is because Graham Williams was a spineless jellyfish who let Tom walk all over him. And, whenever he stood up to Tom, Tom would threaten to quit. Williams folded every time.

All that changed when JNT took over. JNT made it clear to Tom that the free ride was over and that he was just another actor again. When Tom hauled out his threat to quit, JNT said: "Okay, Tom, it was good working with you."

More than 40 years later, fans still debate whether this was a good or bad thing.

The only reason Tom got away with all that is because Graham Williams was a spineless jellyfish who let Tom walk all over him. And, whenever he stood up to Tom, Tom would threaten to quit. Williams folded every time.

Well, to be fair, I get the impression Graham Williams REFUSED to fold at one point, necessitating his boss explaining the whole 'If it's him or you then, well, no one's heard of you' facts in words of one syllable...(With the same result of FOLDING but never let it be said he didn't briefly develop a spine.)

All that changed when JNT took over. JNT made it clear to Tom that the free ride was over and that he was just another actor again. When Tom hauled out his threat to quit, JNT said: "Okay, Tom, it was good working with you."

I knooooooooooooooooooooooow! *Wailings and gnashings of teeth*

Still...we were considering a hypothetical where Tom heroically continued YEARS into the depths of the JNT Era so presumably this would entail JNT being told exactly the same as Graham Williams was told when HE blasphemously attempted to stand up to Our Hero...

More than 40 years later, fans still debate whether this was a good or bad thing.

SURELY the only idiots opting for the insane 'good' option would have somehow omitted seeing our glorious Curator in Day of the Doctor...?

I'm hearing rumours that Tom is no longer appearing in the sixtieth anniversary special....

No Curator for Emily (unless it's the Six-Curator from Big Finish....)

I'm hearing rumours that Tom is no longer appearing in the sixtieth anniversary special....

It's not like I'd heard he WAS gonna appear and obviously his non-appearance in Power of the Doctor implied as much but DAMMIT I was hoping and demanding he'd appear given that the Curator would be a complete no-brainer for our Glorious Anniversary.

No Curator for Emily (unless it's the Six-Curator from Big Finish....)

I KNOW Russell T God would never rub salt into my wounds by doing that abomination-fake-Curator thing to me!

(Admittedly my faith has been slightly shaken by, y'know, BRINGING BACK MEL BUSH but still...)

Could be the fourth doctor as he looked then, so not played by Tom anymore.

Tom turns 90, this January 20 2024:
https://imgur.com/a/dbrQ7HJ

He's so old! But happily looking less fragile than before...

Still, don't let him near any radio-telescopes.

Yup, he's the oldest living actor to play the Doctor.

Happy big 9-0 Tom

Kevin - Still, don't let him near any radio-telescopes.

That comment had me thinking of the Gazebo story but with the Fourth Doctor and a Radio Telescope. ;-)

With all the nastiness happening in the world right now this is such feel-good news.

Doctor Who has long been the one consolation/justification for humanity's misbegotten existence.

Happy 90th Birthday Tom from Big Finish:
https://youtu.be/lVGxjX7PMvE?si=4Qe7_lJBUfKzgaJB

Tom Baker is the Fourth Doctor!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsx68qrI75s

Tom with an owl:
https://imgur.com/a/ufPCgYP

Screw the OWL, what's that on his HEAD!

It's a old style hat.

Look at pictures of Shakespeare productions some of the actors are wearing those types of hats.