The Doctor, wondering why I don't
like him as much as everyone else does

THE FOURTH DOCTOR : TOM BAKER

Tenure : Seasons 12 to 18 (1974-1981)

Before the advent of the new series, Tom Baker's position as the most popular, most iconic and most everything Doctor was unassailable. Yet, saying that is like saying the Beatles are the best rock band ever. And more to the point, people got tired of listening to the Beatles (even though they still respected the band's achievements). So, when David Tennant came along he became the current "iconic Doctor" mostly for people who had never watched the original series, or hadn't in quite some time.

Remember, Baker was the Doctor who sold Doctor Who in America. Jon Pertwee (Baker's immediate predecessor) was given a chance, but he didn't break the market, Baker did. When American fans embraced the show, Tom Baker became the Once and Future Doctor. As many others have said, he quickly made you forget his predecessors and made his successors irrelevant. That is why having the Fourth Doctor in a multiple Doctors story wouldn't work. I mean, there were frictions between Pertwee and Patrick Troughton when they did The Three Doctors, can you imagine what would've happened if Baker had done The Five Doctors? His ego alone would have blasted anybody else in the fourth dimension or something.

In the greater scheme of Doctor Who, this is a bad thing. The show always thrived on change, and once it was accepted that the lead actor could be replaced, then any incoming Doctor knew that his time on the show was counted. Even by design (Pat Troughton said from the get-go he wouldn't be doing this forever when he replaced William Hartnell, Peter Davison also stated he wasn't going to break any records and so on and so forth...). But not Baker. First of all he stayed for seven seasons, a record that is still not beaten to this day and is unlikely to be in the future. Secondly, his Doctor being a success, the incentive to leave was less and less apparent as time went by. Finally, unlike Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee, Baker's career prior to winning the part wasn't anything to write home about. Hell, he was working as part of a construction crew when he landed the part. Surely his career wasn't going on too well at the time. So, almost overnight, Baker went from "Tom who?" to "Doctor Who!!!" beloved by children everywhere. In that sort of set up, would you have left? And Baker left only reluctantly, due to conflicts with new-Who producer John Nathan-Turner.

On the other hand, waddyagonnado? Tom Baker was here, is here and will be here. He is unavoidable and inescapable. You can avoid his seasons if you wish, but you can't pretend it never happened as it has consequences for the rest of the programme's history.

ASSESSMENT: I only said I was tired of people calling him the best of everything, not that I didn't like him. It's just that, overall, he's a bit like the Rolling Stones : he's gone on for far too long, and the quality of his stories suffered as a result. Had he left after Season 14, he would have become the undisputed King of the Universe. And he isn't the only good Doctor around, as we shall see.

FAVORITE STORIES:

• Pyramids of Mars (The Doctor vs. Suthek the Destroyer, perhaps the only time during Baker's run that his Doctor looks a bit worried. An absolute classic)
• Genesis of the Daleks (Another well-written classic by Dalek creator Terry Nation. The Doctor tries to erase twelve years of Dalek continuity to no avail, and creates a new one in the process)
• Terror of the Zygons (The Zygons, who will be returning very soon, are the most perverse alien beings ever created for the show, and it's time for the Doctor to say goodbye to UNIT)

LEAST FAVORITE:

• The Android Invasion (Terry Nation decides to waste everybody's time for four episode. A very good argument for anyone who thinks Doctor Who is boring old shit)
• The Masque of Mandragora (Although respected in some quarters, this story never did anything for me. Sorry, but I must prefer to watch paint dry, thank you very much)
• The Robots of Death (Explain to me, Mr. Doctor sir, why I should like this story if I never liked Agatha flippin' Christie? Can you? Not bad, per se, but no great shakes either)