The Doctor, attempting to locate his missing episodes.

THE SECOND DOCTOR: PATRICK TROUGHTON

Tenure:  Seasons 4-6 (1966-1969)

Something really weird happened on the 29th of October 1966. Dr. Who, the elderly time-traveling gentleman, returns to his TARDIS and promptly collapses on the floor. His battle with the Cybermen has proven too much for him, this time and he...dies. By the time his companions Ben and Polly get back to the Ship, they see his face morphing into somebody else. Minutes later, this new fella would take them all to planet Vulcan and battle Daleks once again. Dr. Who has died and yet the show would go on. How could that be?

By 1966, William Hartnell (aka Dr. Who) had become increasingly and relentlessly difficult to work with. His battles with producers John Wiles and Innes Lloyd resulted in a tense working atmosphere and, clearly, something had to give. This turned out to be Hartnell himself. In June 1966, it was agreed that he would leave the show at the beginning of its fourth season. His replacement was character actor Patrick Troughton, a choice Hartnell was apparently happy with. Troughton was very reluctant at first, but he eventually came around.

The production team spent most of the fourth season to find their feet, until a serial called The Moonbase pointed to the future. In this, an international moonbase (no, really!!! By the title alone I would never have guessed) is being attacked by the returning Cybermen. The base-under-siege format was born and systematically used for the next season.

One of the selling points for Troughton was that he wouldn't have to mimic Hartnell's portrayal of Dr. Who. Instead, he would craft his own persona out of the deceased Time Lord. And that he did. The new Doctor would behave sometimes foolishly, sometimes idiotically and even, dare I say, sometimes crazily yet most of it was a smokescreen. This Doctor would often stand on the sidelines, mentally playing chess with his adversaries until the very last moment when he would jump right in and defeat the baddies with a last-minute, improvised feat of derring-do. By his own admission, the Doctor's technique was "keeping my eyes open and my mouth shut".

In his final season, the new Doctor would face more varied settings in time and space. Most importantly he would meet with two important components of later eras of the programme: In The Invasion the Doctor team up with the Brigadier and UNIT for the first time, while The War Games has him put on trial by his own people, the Time Lords, revealed once and for all. At this point, the new boy made his mark and his return in The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors cemented his reputation among fans.

ASSESSMENT: Unfortunately, the Troughton era remains decimated by the Missing Episodes debacle. Meaning that many of his stories are incomplete or entirely absent from the roll-call. Nevertheless what is there offers a tantalising glimpse of psychedelic Who at its best with Troughton having the time of his life as the mischievous, impish and incorrigible Time Lord. True, the base-under-siege format got old pretty fast, however note that they only used it extensively during the fifth season.

FAVOURITE STORIES:

• The Tomb of the Cybermen (It's like this old Mummy movie set in outer-space with Cybermen instead of mummies. Notable for its serious body-count and for the fact that, hadn't the Doctor been there, none of this would have happened.)
• The Seeds of Death (What's with the Moon, people? After Cybermen, the Ice Warriors have a go at it as they intend on using the teleportation relay to send poisonous fungus to destroy Earth's atmosphere. Famous for the Doctor frolicking in deadly foam.)
• The War Games (The second longest Doctor Who serial and probably one of the most important. Aliens are using Earth soldiers to "participate" in deadly war games and the Doctor has to call in the Time Lords to sort it all out, something he is clearly not happy with.)

LEAST FAVOURITE STORIES:

• The Dominators (If you like to watch gay couples arguing over their pet toy robots, this is the one for you. Otherwise, you're liable to see old men in ridiculous togas getting tortured and killed by said gay couple. Be warned.)
• The Underwater Menace (It's been said before, but I'll say it again: it really looks like an Ed Wood movie with the Doctor in it. As hilarious as it might seem.)
• The Abominable Snowmen (It's tough judging this from a single episode, however the Yetis are too cute to be really threatening. And they got fat asses too.)