Hannah's Doctor Who Rankings
Subject One: The Doctor

We all have our Doctor preference. Mine's probably a bit different to yours. Inspired by France's torchwood ranking, here's my opinion on which Doctor is the best. Some of them I know a lot better than others, so forgive me if I don't have much to say on some of them. This looks at the Doc's 10 current regenerations, ranking from my least favourite, to my most.

NUMBER 10: PAUL McGANN (The EIGHTH Doctor) #8

Yeah. Well. This guy. I haven't actually seen the television movie made for DW, so that might be the reason why this guy is so freakin' low on the list. It might also be his girly hair and bushy eyebrows. Paul McGann hasn't really done much for me in his other appearances, though I did laugh when I found out he's that red head with a screechy voice from The Three Musketeers. Anyway, I've been told this is the "human" regeneration and the "most romantic" one. Ugh. No thanks.

"The world's about to end, and here I am, stuck in traffic."

NUMBER 09: PATRICK TROUGHTON (The SECOND Doctor) #2

Yeah. Well. This guy. Patrick Troughton was the Doctor before I was born. Actually, most of them were. Actually, make that all of them except the 2005 onwards series. I was born in 1990. I've seen a few of this guys episodes including one that was half a cartoon, and I just really couldn't get into his character. Though apparently he plays the recorder, which is kind of cool. And I have seen The Five Doctors, but that didn't really let me see enough of him except that he wears a really poofy coat.

"I'd like to see a butterfly fit into a chrysalis case after it spreads its wings."

NUMBER 08: COLIN BAKER (The SIXTH Doctor) #6

Now this spot really was a toss up between Colin and Pertwee. Though after watching Colin Baker in action, I gave him the spot of number eight, because well...

He's a bit of an a-s-s.

Or make that a lot. He's high and might, has weird clothes, bit kind of enjoyable to watch still. He was also a bit dismissive of Peri, though I did laugh when he got strapped to a table by the Rani and rolled down a hill. Funny. So, he's okay, but his personality and the fact that he's a recycled actor (see ARC OF INFINITY).

"In all my travelling throughout the universe I have battled against evil, against power mad conspirators. I should have stayed here. The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core. Power mad conspirators, Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, they're still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power. That's what it takes to be really corrupt."

NUMBER 07: JON PERTWEE (The THIRD Doctor) #3

So, Jon Pertwee. When talking to someone who doesn't watch the show they'll always say this guy is their favourite. I'm still not quite sure why, he doesn't do much for me. Though his accent and mannerisms are pretty nifty. I decided he wasn't so bad, though I've only seen one or two of his episodes, he leaves an impression. And he doesn't dress as ridiculously as Colin Baker.

"Courage isn't just a matter of not being afraid. It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway."

NUMBER 06: WILLIAM HARTNELL (The FIRST Doctor) #1 (And by extension, RICHARD HURNDALL)

How can you dislike the ****c, grumpy old man Doctor? William Hartnell is the guy who bought Doctor Who to life, when it first appeared in 1963. And in The Five Doctors, it's sad to know that Richard Hurndall had to replace William Hartnell because he had passed away. Though he did an excellent job, and they even look fairly similar.

"Emotions. Love. Pride. Hate. Fear. Have you no emotions, sir?"

NUMBER 05: TOM BAKER (The FOURTH Doctor) #4

The fourth Doctor is possibly the most known of the ten, recognised by the curly hair and 20 foot long scarf (an exaggeration). I enjoyed his long techno-rants and combined with Romana II and Adric, he was an enjoyable Doctor to watch. Never really saw much of Leela with him, except that episode were he becomes president and is a bit of a biatch. The longest running Doctor, I don't believe he ever really wore out, he played an amazing Doctor and I was almost sad to see him go in Logopolis. That episode could have used some work though.

His obsession with jelly babies is humourous, and the fact that no one seems to think he makes sense. A little thoughtless of the people around him, but he makes up for it in wit. So yeah, two thumbs up for Tom Baker.

"I suppose you could say the yoke's on him if you were the sort of person who said that sort of thing which fortunately I'm not."

NUMBER 04: SYLVESTER McCOY (The SEVENTH Doctor) #7

McCoy plays a likeable Doctor, especially combined with companion Ace. He's mysterious, short, and never without his umbrella, he takes away place number 4 even though I've only seen ONE EPISODE WITH HIM IN. Yes, ONE, which was Ghost Light. Very few of his episodes have been bought on on DVD, and he only had 2/3 short years as the Doctor. I really liked him personality and energy as the Doctor, his ability to match Ace's sarcasm, and a lot of other stuff I can't remember from that episode. Good, though.

"My theories appall you, my heresies outrage you, I never answer letters, and you don't like my tie."

[Last line of the original series]

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do."

NUMBER 03: DAVID TENNANT (The TENTH Doctor) #10

Yeah, you weren't expecting that, were you? I know a whole pile of you just went "WHAT!? DAVID TENNANT??! BUT HE'S THE GREATEST!" But yes. I've never quite gotten over my grudge for Ten, and he's definitely not my favourite. Because of the energy he offered to the role and the renewal of the series, he's pretty high on the list, but not the highest. And he is kind of pretty. I'll have to say I liked it when he was with Rose even though Jen didn't, but I disliked that he seemed to hate anything to do with his previous life. People say that the Tenth Doctor is like a rebirth, where he has gotten over the pain of the Time War that haunted him in his previous regeneration. But he hasn't. He's still obviously in a lot of pain from it and needs someone with him, yes, to stop him. Donna wasn't as bad as I thought she would be as his companion, and they went together well. Doomsday made me cry a bit. Utopia pissed me off. There is no doubt that David Tennant is a great actor, but the Tenth Doc simply isn't my favourite. That's about it.

"Very. Imagine how bad things could possibly get, and then add another suitcase full of bad."

"I tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector. Goes ding when there's stuff."

NUMBER 02: PETER DAVIDSON (The FIFTH Doctor) #5

"Oh, no, of course. You mostly went hands-free didn't you? Like, 'Hey, I'm the Doctor. I can save the universe using a kettle and some string! And look at me, I'm wearing a vegetable!'"

Yeah, the tenth pretty much sums up Peter Davidson in those lines. Gosh, I LOVE the fifth Doctor. Though supposedly he's the "human" and "sensitive" one, I really enjoyed watching him, and he's the reason I got into watching Old Who. Combined with companions Nyssa, Tegan and Adric, which was more than I'd ever seen him with, he had a lot of fun adventures. I spent AGES looking for Castrovalva so I could download it (the regeneration episode) and wasn't disappointed. Earthshock is sad, though. Saaaaad. I just rewatched it the other day, and it's upsetting cause Adric didn't really get too much attention as a companion, and he'd only had a few episodes alongside Nyssa and Tegan.

So yeah, I haven't really seen much along the lines of Turlough. But The Five Doctor's is in Peter Davidson's era, and that's good. Anyway, I'm going on about nothing. The fifth doc really was the best one to bring back in Time Crash, and they did that well, quote up there somewhere. Anyway, PD isn't just Ten's doc, he's my favourite old who doctor as well. And he's the first pretty one. =) And if nothing else, he was FUNNY! He actually had a decent sense of humour. Or so I think. And good shoes. XD

"Like Alice, I try to believe three impossible things before breakfast."

"Oh, marvellous. You're going to kill me. What a finely tuned response to the situation."

"That could blow a hole in the space time continuum, the size of... well actually, the exact size of Belgium. That's a bit undramatic, isn't it? "Belgium"?"

NUMBER 01: CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON (The NINTH Doctor) #9

And finally, the best Doctor of 'em all. Christopher Eccleston is the reason that I started watching Doctor Who, when Jen made me watch Rose on DVD (this was after the show had already finished on the telly). And anyway, fell in love with the show. CE was fantastic, poor guy had lost his planet and had unrequited love with Rose (and Jack, who knows?). The Doctor Dances was always my favourite episode (and Dalek, even though this was before I knew the actual significance of the creatures) for its new humour and in-jokes "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, this could be a little more sonic?" The northern accent, short hair and leather jacket was a new look for the Doc, and even Rose was different than other companions he'd had in the past.

Anyway, love at first site. Seriously. Christopher Eccleston's great, and I was gutted when I saw the regeneration at the end of Parting of the Ways. And that's where my grudge for David Tennant comes along. I don't really have much to say. I just love this guy. *snort* With his big ears and big nose that has SPECIAL POWERS! Yes. Anyway. Quotes.

"By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?"

"Fantastic! Fantastic! Look at you. The Great Space Dustbin!"

"One day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet somebody who gets the whole "don't wander off" thing. Nine hundred years of phone box travel and it's the only thing left that surprises me"

"Everything has it's time and everything dies."

NEXT TIME

Anyway, join Han next week for Doctor Who rankings, subject two: 10 favourite people in Doctor Who that aren't the Doctor. In other words, ten favourite companions or people who show up in episodes and then die.

Anyway, that was my two cents.