N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
To seven year old me, there was no Doctor other than Tom Baker.
“It takes all sorts to make a galaxy.”
The Doctor, Terror of the Zygons: Part Three
Such was the length of his stay in the TARDIS that I had no concept there could be other Doctors, let alone four of them. John Nathan-Turner’s idea of The Five Faces of Doctor Who was devised precisely for kids like me and, as I’ve said before, was revelatory.
So much so that at this point in the marathon, I had seriously toyed with the idea of re-creating that repeat season (and if the Season 19 Blu-ray release is delayed any longer I might yet do so).
More than any of his predecessors (and arguably successors), the Fourth Doctor’s life has a shape. From the initial restlessness to get away from Earth and the serious tales of the Philip Hinchcliffe era to the increasingly flippant and playful way he dispatches enemies during the Graham Williams years and then his final doom-laded and almost doleful adventures under John Nathan-Turner, it feels like there’s an arc (albeit an unplanned one). Even the fact that Tom Baker was unhappy, ill and looks visibly weary during his final season adds to this impression.
“Well, you can’t expect perfection, you know. Not even from me.”
The Doctor, The Face of Evil:
Part Two
Given such an epic run with a variety of styles, it’s hardly surprising that fans have their favourite eras but, for me, whilst the show perhaps never matches the consistency it found in seasons thirteen and fourteen there have been gems throughout the Fourth Doctor’s run — from the journey to the Nerva Beacon through similarly far-flung trips to Karn, Tara, the gateway to E-Space and Traken or the earthly perils faced at Antarctica, Fang Rock and Paris, there’s rarely been a dull moment with the Fourth Doctor and his many travelling companions. He even found time to pop home to Gallifrey not once, but twice.
Horror of Fang Rock, in particular, came closest of all to matching my two long-term favourite Fourth Doctor stories — Genesis of the Daleks and City of Death. In the weeks we were on that particular story, I found time to watch the story twice (once at home, once on a long train journey) as well as listen to both the soundtrack and the audiobook of Terrance Dicks’ novelisation. If I were giving my top three, it’d be a shoe-in for number three!
“He was the Doctor all the time.”
Nyssa, Logopolis: Part Four
With all of this delivered with bohemian aplomb, a flash of a toothy grin and with that marvellously rich and sonorous voice, more than perhaps any portrayal before or since did Tom Baker make the role his own. We all have our favourites — new and old — but to many around the world Tom Baker was the Doctor, is the Doctor, and will always be the Doctor.
Indeed, my son and I have deliberately bidden the Fourth Doctor a long goodbye. We watched Logopolis a few weeks ago, but before moving on we’ve watched Tom Baker’s recollections in both The Tom Baker Years and the excellent In Conversation … interview with Matthew Sweet. It’s clear Tom Baker lived and breathed the Doctor all those years ago (and still does today).
Of course we still have him as the Doctor in stories old and new but as far as this marathon goes, by the beard of the sky demon, I shall miss him!
"My favourite Fourth Doctor stories are Genesis of the Daleks, The Seeds of Doom, The Deadly Assassin, The Androids of Tara, City of Death and The Keeper of Traken / Logopolis finale."
"My least favourite Fourth Doctor story is Revenge of the Cybermen."
