BOOK OF LISTS: DOCTORS - FROM WORST TO BEST - PART 2

And so, the journey continues as we count down to my all-time fave incarnation of the Doctor....

PART 2: BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS THEM (AND A WEEPING ANGEL MIGHT GET YOU)

As we move through this next group, you're probably going to find that my motivation for placing these three Doctors where I have is very silly. These are really good incarnations. But, unfortunately, their reigns ended too quickly. There just wasn't enough time to enjoy them so it's hard to really develop too strong of a fondness for them. So, while they don't belong at the very bottom like our first set of Doctors did, I also can't place them much higher on the list than where they are. For the plain and simple reason that they just weren't around long enough to get to know and truly love them.

Like I said, it's a pretty silly reason. But it's mine!



10. THE WAR DOCTOR

An absolutely brilliant piece of casting. You needed someone with the sort of gravitas that John Hurt possesses to pull off a character like this. There were a lot of layers to the War Doctor that had to come out in a very short period of time. And Hurt did not miss a beat. He recognizes the complexity of the character - a man so tired of the war that he has to wipe out all the combatants - and executes it all with just the right level of subtlety. The War Doctor seems to always be going through several emotions at once. We see each of those multi-faceted feelings expressed clearly and effectively in Hurt's mannerisms and speech. He really is marvelous in the role.

The surprise that gets sprung on us with the introduction of a "secret" incarnation is, of course, part of the appeal of this version of the Doctor. It was the perfect thing to do during an anniversary celebration and it's great that it came about just because Moff's original plans to use Eccleston fell through. I actually think Day of the Doctor wouldn't have worked as well if the original casting choice had happened. The whole mythos of the Time Wars is more appealing with the War Doctor at the center of it.

Sadly, of course, it would be near-impossible to give the War Doctor more stories. We see him near the end of the Time Wars where things have reverted to full-on frontal assault. I would imagine that earlier battles that are more timey-whimey are just too difficult to visualize. Unless we had an actual film budget to work with. But a series of films displaying the Time Wars would probably never happen. Movies need mass-market appeal and the Time Wars are just a bit too fannish to draw in huge audiences.

So we have to be happy with just that one little story and a few cameos to satisfy our curiosity about what the Doctor was like during the darkest period of his life. A pity, really. Cause he seemed really awesome and I would love to see more...


9.  NINTH DOCTOR

Look at that! He's the same number of incarnation as he is his ranking!

Christopher Eccleston is so good as the Doctor that he almost breaks free of the Blink and You'll Miss It (Or A Weeping Angel Might Get You) category. It helps that he did get a whole season and not just one story, of course. But it has just as much to do with strength of his performance and the quality of the stories. To this day, Series One is one of the best seasons New Who has experienced. That brief amount of time we got with Doctor Nine does shine with the most intense of brightness. But, in the end, it really was just one season. If he had gone for a second series, he really would be way higher on this list (you will note that another Doctor that only had two seasons achieved exactly this!).

One of the strongest points to the Ninth Doctor is the growth he goes through. From the deepest pits of survivor guilt to the conscious choice of being a "coward, every time", we love the journey we go on with Doctor Nine (he will, eventually, get featured in my Progressive Doctors Series). Again, this journey works so well because of the strong writing and Eccleston's incredible acting. I'd even go so far to say that there was no better way to re-introduce the series.

Some very brave choices get made in the crafting of Doctor Nine that deserve some applause. On the one hand, the production team took a huge risk by letting Eccleston use his Northern accent and dressing him in a very regular outfit. Generations of Classic Who fans who were accustomed to received pronunciation and Edwardian garb could've been massively turned off. At the same time, they also remembered that William Hartnell (and other "arrogant" Doctors) is lurking about somewhere in the Doctor's soul and remembered to make him tetchy, sometimes. The potential fans that weren't familiar with his past needed a highly accessible Doctor. Having Nine be cranky to people or even downright rude to Rose could've driven them off, too. But the chances that were taken were so carefully engineered that both types of audience were properly satisfied. And the New Series is off to the most beautiful of starts because of it.

It's just a pity Eccleston didn't stay longer. He might be in my Top Five if he had.


8: EIGHTH DOCTOR

Another incarnation that matches his ranking! How wild is this?!

By my own twisted internal logic, Ninth should be beating Eighth in this contest. After all, Nine got a whole season. Surely I should've gotten way more attached to him than I did his predecessor?Particularly since Eight, for many years, didn't even quite get a full story (and still, in many ways, hasn't).

But there is something to McGann's performance that just gets me to love him that bit more. He attacks the role with a sort of wild exuberance that makes it nearly impossible to not to instantly fall in love with him. Between that and his handsome looks - can anyone blame Grace for snogging him so quickly?!

McGann was up against so much pressure, too. His was the first attempt to resurrect a show that had lain dormant for half-a-dozen years or so. So much of our hope was riding on him. And yet, he completely rises to the occasion and delivers a great new version of the Doctor. Yes, Eccleston was under similar pressures. But we had been disappointed once, already. This could just be another false start for the show and we were prepared for that. In my opinion, McGann was under much heavier scrutiny. But he more-than-delivered a quality performance - regardless of the stress he was under to satisfy fans who had been starved of the show for so long.

I love all the hints of past incarnations that he puts into his portrayal. He seems to be totally channeling Troughton when he harasses Gace in the parking lot. And he actually really seems like Old Sixie when Grace won't let him into her home. In many ways, he plays his Doctor very similarly to Peter Davison: very sensitive, gentle and fallible. But even with all those nods to the past - he is also, very much, his own man in the role. There are also lots of new qualities put on display, here. Many of which would influence how New Series Doctors would play the role. The fact that he could pull off all this in less than 90 minutes makes him a total hero.

When he reprises the character many years later in Night of the Doctor, we must marvel even more at McGann's skills. All those traits we see in the 96 Telemovie are brought back but with a slightly more mellow edge to them to show that his Doctor has aged (shorter hair and cooler costume, too!). And it's all accomplished in less than 8 minutes of screen time.

Yes, there were problems with the actual plot of his one and only "true" story, but the backdoor pilot also showed a lot of promise. Doctor Who could have worked in the 90s as a British/American hybrid if we had all been just a bit more patient with it. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case. But I still think we could easily bring back McGann and give him a few seasons while we also enjoy our current Doctor. I know none of the Head Writers that produce the show think this - but even Paul said he would come back and do it. So let's see about two seasons of Doctor Eight before the Time Wars start and then another season where they have begun but he refuses to participate in them.

The man totally deserves a three-season run. At least.





Okay, that's another three incarnations covered. We're up to a total of seven, now. As we hit the mid-rangers, we're going to slow things down a bit and only do two at a time. It will give me an opportunity to say more about them and also keep that reality-show-style suspense going for a little bit longer as you wait to see who makes it to the top...





Missed the Bottom Four? Here's the link: 

http://robtymec.blogspot.ca/2016/11/book-of-lists-doctors-from-worst-to.html



I also mentionned some "Progresssive Doctors" series - what's that all about?! Here are the first two installments (I swear, someday, I'll get around to Part Two of the First Doctor!).

http://robtymec.blogspot.ca/2016/02/analytical-progressive-doctors-part-1.html

http://robtymec.blogspot.ca/2016/04/progressive-doct ors-2-first-doctor-part.html