Doctor Who : Memories From Across The Pond by @The_Knights87

The first memory of Doctor Who that I can remember all too well is the first time I watched it. We all remember our first time. Mine just happened to be the closing moments of episode 4 of Robot when I happened upon it by channel surfing through all of 6 channels. Well that happy memory took place way back in the early 80’s right in the USA when the BBC used to sell the show to local PBS stations. Doctor Who was extremely popular on PBS stations and a majority of the US fans were introduced to the show by watching it on a Public Television station. I was extremely lucky as I had two PBS stations playing Doctor Who every weekday. Hurrah for me!

So life was good in the early 80’s but Doctor Who got a bit more exciting when episode 4 of Logopolis aired. A lot of US fans found out that there was more than one Doctor. Now remember this was before the internet and we didn’t have the knowledge of Doctor Who that we have now. So now we know there are other Doctors. Wow such excitement. Now we have something to look forward to once we get through all of the Tom Baker stories again.

So a few years have passed and it is 1983 and in fact November 23, 1983 and we good folk in the USA are sitting down to watch The Five Doctors. In fact we get to see it before our friends in the UK get to see it. Then at this time I found out that there were more Doctors. Cool and we are almost through the Tom Baker stories and about to embark on the Davison era sometime in 1984. Cool more Doctors to look forward to and 20 years of stories I have yet to see.

Flash forward to the dismal 90’s and Doctor Who is no more at least on the BBC and sadly even on the PBS stations as it got to expensive to buy Doctor Who serials and thus we to are devoid of our favorite program. But not all together devoid as Virgin books have started publishing Doctor Who books with the 7th Doctor and Ace. Hurrah! Doctor Who continues on and now we can read the Doctor’s adventures.

Not the same I know but it’s still better than nothing and at this time of the dreary 90’s of lack luster comic book stories being very depressing and well just plain old bad getting Doctor Who novels was awesome and a welcome change. Along with that we were also getting the Doctors adventures in comic strip form also in the wonderful Doctor Who Magazine which we got over here. Very abundant in the 80’s as you could find it anywhere but in the 90’s it was like being Black Beard the Pirate heading off into the high seas looking for ships to rob.

Yes indeed it was like a treasure hunt trying to find the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine. That was the fun of it all but very frustrating also as the magazine and books were very difficult to find. For those old enough will know there was no Amazon yet and the internet was only in its infancy. So getting stuff like that you had to beg your bookstore or bribe the comic book owner with girl’s phone numbers or something of the like. Or better yet you could buy that stuff way overpriced at conventions which is what we Americans usually did. Buy the stuff at all cost just to get our Doctor Who fix. Most of us did this wonderful thing by taking out loads of money from our bank accounts or hugely enormous loans out of the bank to pay for Doctor Who merchandise.

Ah wonderful times but seriously it was fun hunting for Doctor Who merchandise and I thoroughly enjoyed those days and the wonderful memories that I have of the dark ages of Doctor Who fandom.

Which takes us to present day and Doctor Who is most popular thing on 3 continents. (We’ll skip the McGann TV Movie as hopes were dashed) Most fans screamed for joy in 2003 when it was announced that it was coming back. Watching all the set photos trickling onto the websites in 2004 and the announcement of Christopher Eccelston as the Doctor brought the excitement to another level. So things were going great as the show we loved has returned and we are on our 3rd new Doctor. The show is back with a new audience and new adventures. For us old guard this is another golden age of Doctor Who.

How cool is it that I can still watch the DVD’s of my favorite Doctor, Peter Davison, and still get brand new episodes of Doctor Who plus what has now become a great new tradition the Christmas Special every year. Christmas without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about it.

Most importantly what gets me all swelled up with pride is that with the re-launch of Doctor Who I can now have new Doctor Who memories with my son. Who I am proud to say is a fan of Doctor Who. We’ll he would be since I had him watching Doctor Who ever since he was two years old. I guess it was in his DNA then so I didn’t need to prod him too much. He still loves the show now that he is 7. Doomed to live a geek life from the day he was born.

Doctor Who has given me so many good memories like for instance joining The Knights and making new friends with a great bunch of people from the day I joined them way back when. This is a Doctor Who fan club that is still going strong today with a blog site that has been up since April 2011 to replace the old fashioned paper newsletter. You know paper with words on it that you read to get information before websites and blogs came along.

Now with social networking I discovered, now hooked on, watching Doctor Who and commenting about the episodes on Twitter with The Dr. Who Bar UK and USA version and that is where I am at now making new memories with a new series.

Follow me on Twitter @The_Knights87 and The Knights Blog at http://kotwg.blogspot.com/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KOTWG

WHO GOES WHERE? Memories of Doctor Who by @KneelDowne

Ahh…Doctor Who: you had me before I was born.

This is not as odd as it sounds. I was lucky enough to have an older brother who was totally smitten with the show. Some of my first memories involve riding my tricycle down stairs (painful!) and of a strange little man being menaced by scary silver giants.

For me the story truly begins with Spearhead from Space. A new Doctor and a new colour television; my life was complete. I remember waiting patiently each week to see the latest instalment. Time seemed to go on forever back then and the good Doctor seemed to be a Televisual constant. Oh, if I could tell you of my love of young Jo Grant. How I cried at the end of the Green Death.

Along came the spiders and my first truly remembered regeneration began. I vowed to myself that no one would ever replace the dashing dandy in my affections.

Needless to say I fell head over heels in love with Mr Tom Baker. For me the golden years will forever be the Doctor, Sarah and dear sweet Harry.

Around this time I remember the Blackpool Doctor Who exhibition…a wonderland of surprises. Thanks to my brothers near stalkerish devotion we became friendly with the owners and spent most weekends running around screaming. Sometimes back stage…touching the props themselves. It was also around now that the man himself came to WHSmiths in Blackpool for a book signing. Target books clasped in hand I can still recall the giant of a man, the spilt water jug and the pressing throng of bewitched children…

Target books…do you remember them? VHS before it was created. Wonderful cheap slabs of memory. I bought them religiously. My love remained undiminished.

Suddenly my brother began receiving mystical letters and magazines of untold interest. D.W.A.S, Celestial Toyroom, TARDIS…I remember you all. Soon my pocket money was wasted on subscriptions of my own.

Now a quick word of the past, in these days of paid signing sessions its strange to recall that back then you could actually write to your heroes and get this, they would write back. My time was spent mailing the delightful Liz Sladen and the great man himself. Autographs and hand written letters piled high. Tom was well known for this, many a time an unsolicited letter would arrive. A photo, grinning loon, and a quick note “Only me Neil!”

My brother was leaving School and for his Art Project he built a plywood K.9. The BBC supplied diagrams for him. Inch perfect. John Leeson recorded a tape of K.9 dialogue for him….great days.

Times change. Hair grows and Rock music arrives. Still my love remained. Doctors changed again and Blackpool itself hosted a number of mini conventions. Much fun was had. At one particular meeting a certain young Gary Russell and friends were attendees. Unaware of future events I spent too long menacing him with a ‘monster’ constructed of a bar towel and an ice cube holder. Cries of “Timmy the dog” may have been uttered. If only I had known…

Years passed and a slew of conventions flew by. The coat of many garish colours arrived and my love took a downward turn. It was nothing to do with the actor, indeed I have since rediscovered him via the delights of Big Finnish audio and adore his portrayal but you could sense something was in the air. Around this time I can remember a journalist friend and I dressing as the Doctor and Shockeye and descending on the local Italian restaurant. What must they have thought?

My love was reignited by the dark turn of the final days but then abruptly the end came. The show became a memory and, despite the regular reading of the monthly, it slipped away onto the back burner. Family and work took over. New shows came but never quite achieved that same adoration. The movie arrived in a flash of bright colours and mistimed steps. The Doctor I loved…the story not so much.

And then…the show was coming back? For real? Ahh..Mr Davies how I love thee. It can be quite trendy to sniff at the RTD days. Not here, not from me. The perfect blend of actors and tone launched our show onto millions of screens and into millions of hearts.

A joyride commenced, broken only by my decision to move to Menorca. I had no TV by choice but by careful manipulation I talked my local Italian bar owner to forgo the joys of football and instead play the good Doctor’s adventures every Saturday. A strange thing happened and before we knew it there was soon a group of gnarled old Menorcans coming every week to watch the show. Hours were spent explaining in broken Spanish the shows history. I like to think that even now, all these years later the Saturday ritual still continues.

Back home now and yet more changes. The show goes on. Mr Smith has wormed his way into my heart and the future looks ever brighter.

Doctor Who…my journey. Who goes where? Just about everywhere really.

By Kneel Downe

Memories of the Seventh Doctor

Thank you to all those who responded to our requests for your thoughts and memories of the Seventh Doctor...

1987 was a strange old year. I was living in Manchester, playing the part of wannabe Rock Star and struggling author. My love for my childhood show was at an all time low; the previous season had scarred me deeply and my eyes had still to reset themselves after THAT costume, so it was with little enthusiasm I sat down to watch this ‘new guy.’
Initial impressions were not good but despite the derision of my peers I persevered. Slowly something strange occurred and by the time of Remembrance of The Daleks I had come to love this darkly comic, suspicious little man. Battlefield, Ghost light and Fenric cemented these feelings and, truth be told, I may have shed a tear at the end scene of Survival..

I find it ironic that for something that got so many things wrong, the TV Movie actually delivered a touching and suitably violent goodbye to perhaps the darkest doctor of them all (get back in your cupboard Eccleston!)The opening scenes in the Tardis shall stay with me forever…

By @KneelDowne

brian tapparno-clark @badwolfbrian
Always been my favourite Doctor. Know i seem to be in the minority here. There are some good stories like Fenric & Ghostlight

brian tapparno-clark @badwolfbrian

I just thought he was great loved the interaction between him and Sophie plus loved the darker side he portrayed #underrated

Cory Eadson @TimeLord89

The finale of Battlefield. A lovely little moment between the Doctor and the Brig. Marvellous! #dwbar #memoriesof7

Daniel White @Dr_Who_Con_Fans

My memories of the seventh doctor are as follows: brilliant and innovative yet very dark. Manipulative in achieving his aims and loyal to his companions. Brilliant stories Sylvester through himself into the role yet is regarded by some as the least popular Doctor. People rubbish his tenure and wrongly so. He was a victim of the BBCs shunting the program to midweek.

Martin Carle @who_martin

7th dr, was the most entertaining to watch and the one that went through several emotions in 1 episode.

Daniel White @Dr_Who_Con_Fans

@who_martin totally agree to write off his tenure and stories is wrong some of them and his doctor was riveting

Martin Carle @who_martin

@Dr_Who_Con_Fans In a way he also kept dr who going right up until its end in 1989.

Martin Carle @who_martin

@Dr_Who_Con_Fans yes, his 7th into 8th dr regenneration was a sight to behold, he just does 1 of his many faces.CloseAndrew Buckley @bluerockquarry

@7thDocisAce

a superb Doctor/Companion team. Seasons 25 and 26 among the best in the original run!!

sasha hale @sassysashsash

@7thDocisAce McCoy was my doctor as when I was a kid x the best! he made u wish u could be his companion & scream at the tv on edge of seats and crave the next week 2hurry up. he also made u feel alive and u could do anything if u put your mind to it! loved his firm but fair manor

James Hadwen @jameshscience

I think I'm in the minority but I prefer the season 24 McCoy to the other two seasonsI think it's mostly because it's a portrayal more suited to McCoy's acting ability. He does the clown so well. But he doesn't resort to "angry acting" where he goes too shouty. He's mischievous rather than manipulative

Feel free to leave you comments about the Seventh Doctor below...

What Doctor Who means to me

As a kid growing up in the Eighties I was quite taken by the repeats on BBC2 of the original Star Trek, I also liked Doctor Who too, but it was with the changeover from Tom Baker to Peter Davison which really got me into the show and when I really became a fan.

I followed the show quite religiously through my teens and into my twenties. My two favourite shows of all time from this era are Doctor Who and Dallas. I loved Colin Baker's brusqueness when he took over the role, and then had to endure the 18 month suspension when Michael Grade attempted to cancel Doctor Who. It was a shame the BBC forced Colin Baker to go, citing that three years was the optimum time for a Doctor. The BBC's attitude at this time disgusts me.

What can I say about Sylvester McCoy, a very good Doctor, but unfortunately the BBC were past caring about Doctor Who and wanted well rid of it. They got their wish in 1989, when the final episode of Survival became the last Doctor Who story to be transmitted. As to the programmes future, the show was in limbo. It was heart-breaking living through the wilderness years.

I turned my attention to Star Trek: The Next Generation when it began on BBC2, and still had the comfort of watching my other favourite show Dallas, at least until 1991, when after thirteen years of being on air the continuing saga of Southfork Ranch finally rode into the sunset. My two childhood favourite shows were no more. There's an old saying that you don't realise how much you love something until it's gone, that's exactly how I felt when I lost Doctor Who back in 1989 and then Dallas in 1991.

I love both those shows, I grew up with them, they were a part of my life, and I desperately wanted them to come back. I kept the faith during the wilderness years that eventually the BBC would bring the programme back. After the failure of the 1996 Television Movie, I knew even then that sooner or later the programme would come back.

I'll never forget that day in 2003 when I read a little Stop Press article in my then latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine that the Controller of BBC1 Lorraine Heggessy had recommissioned a new series of Doctor Who. I emailed the then editor Clayton Hickman for confirmation, and he was kind enough to reply to me that yes, the BBC were bringing Doctor Who back. I cried! Tears of joy of course, but sadness too as I still mourned the loss of Dallas, because I realised there was no way they could ever bring Dallas back.

For the first series back in 2005 I must've cried every episode at the mere sight of the titles and the iconic theme music as the programme started! Thankfully I don't cry as much as I used to, but I do remember gasping with joy at the reveal of the Time Lords at the end of the first part of The End of Time, and being clutched by my boyfriend who probably thought I was having a heart attack.

Of the new series Doctor's I really liked David Tennant, but it was still a shame that Chris Eccleston only did one series, I hope he returns for the Fiftieth Anniversary. What can I say about Matt Smith, he's terrific, a worthy successor to David, he reminds me of a young Jon Pertwee, with that very Doctorish nose he's got!

I'm looking forward immensely to the new series of Doctor Who next year, even though we do have to wait till the Autumn, but it will be lovely to have the programme back in it's old traditional time slot.

I'm also very happy too that my other favourite show Dallas, which I thought could never come back is currently filming a new series in America for transmission on TNT and Channel Five next summer. So it'll be great to find out what the Ewings have been up to. Like the new Doctor Who series, this new Dallas series is a direct continuation of the original CBS Dallas series. For anyone who wants more information about the new Dallas series click on the link further down this page on the left.

Not many people get to have both their two childhood shows return, so I'm really extremely lucky. Roll on 2012, when I'll get to see both my fave shows together again, isn't it amazing they both start with a D!!

Please support the official Doctor Who DVD's from 2|Entertain and BBC Worldwide. Please support the official Dallas DVD boxsets from Warner Home Video.

Written by @Via_The_Void

A Story of Doctor Who, My Memories by @BestDrWho

I remember 1963 for two things, one being the first time I encountered deep snow, playing outside this was wonderful stuff for a scruffy six year old kid living in the early council estates built in the late 1950’s, I still have a clear image in my mind of looking down at my feet and only seeing snow up to my knees, my friends and I even found the pond formed by a bubbling spring in the woods had frozen solid, so skating, probably more on our backsides than legs was to be enjoyed by all.

The second and most important thing for you readers was the first episode of Doctor Who, William Hartnell was like my Grandfather, thin and grumpy haha, so I already related to him as a grandfather figure, this was brilliant stuff too, a time travelling grumpy granddad, who you just knew would tell you, you’re not chewing your food forty times before swallowing.

The opening scene was like Dixon of Dock Green (Google it) with a policeman and his flashlight (these were also alien communicators to a six year old, but you had to hold it under your chin and talk in a deep spooky voice) the policeman seems to be checking everything is locked up and the name of the junkyard is lit up, 76 Totter’s Lane.  Are you excited yet?  You just knew something was going to happen in that yard, but what?

It does all fade a bit with time but I remember Susan being followed by two of her curious and worried teachers, she goes into the junkyard and they are not far behind. Police Boxes used to be a common sight in those days, so to see someone go inside wasn't all that strange, but this one buzzed and vibrated from the inside.

The rest is history as far as An Unearthly Child goes, so I wont bore you with the details, we talked about the programme at school and imagined how brilliant it would be to go back in time and see a Dinosaur or be a Cowboy, bang bang bang, you're dead, if you didn't play dead when you were banged at, you were a dirty little cheater.

My favourite time for Doctor Who for me was the regeneration of the Doctor, although I think they called it renewal back then, Patrick Troughton was now the Doctor and he was Brilliant. I’m now nine years old and very impressed, he was mischievous, funny , witty and clever, and a childish sense of wonder at all things new (Matt Smith has taken this aspect of Pat’s Doctor) an Uncle you wish you had, because you knew he’d give you a jelly baby even if you’d been naughty and had a sweetie ban slapped down on you to put you straight, My Great Grandmother was like that, she loved me and would give me a Jaffa cake even though I was in the dog house.

So again I could relate to this Doctor, when Jamie joined the crew things really took off, Frazer Hines and Patrick Troughton were a perfect combination, I was too young to appreciate Zoe’s assets to the crew because she was a girl errrrrrrrr.

I couldn’t bear to watch Patrick’s Doctor die, or in his case change his features so I never watched The War Games right to the end.  I never saw the change, I didn’t like Jon Pertwee’s Doctor mainly because he wasn’t Pat, I do appreciate his portrayal now that I’m older, the BBC also ruined it for me by making Jon’s Doctor time locked on Earth so they could save budget on set designs. So he was more like Quatermass to me, that put aside I know Jon did a lot for the programme and headed the way to Doctor Who conventions. 

My favourite episode of Jon’s era was of course The Three Doctors to see Billy and Pat back was just pure joy to me , now a teenager it was like Christmas and Birthdays had joined for one great show, it’s this episode where Pat says for the first time: ”I can see you've been doing the TARDIS up a bit, I don't like it.”  Jon Pertwee was very much his own Doctor.

Tom Baker was a wonderful and funny Doctor, just like Pat. He even stole Pat’s Jelly Babies, an idea he’s often given credit for, really every Doctor that followed Jon seemed to take on some aspect of Pat’s performance, let’s face it if it wasn’t for Patrick Troughton, being accepted as the Doctor, the programme would have stopped with him, so he has more than earnt the right to be the Best Doctor of them all.

I enjoyed Peter Davison’s Doctor also, he had that venerable Doctor who cared for others more than his own life, Peter’s Doctor was also joined by a companion who's assets I was now old enough to appreciate even though she was a girl., as I’m now in my early twenties. There used to be a group called Yellow in the 80’s and when I first saw Peri that dat dat OHHHH Yeaaaa song was in my head. The Five Doctors was the best episode for what should be obvious reasons.

Colin Baker was another Doctor I liked, he had a darker, untrustworthy Doctor going on, unlike Pat.

The Two Doctor’s was the highlight because my favourite Doctor and companion combo were back, and fully in the driving seat. Patrick would steal every scene he played in The Two Doctors, The Three Doctors and even The Five Doctors.
 

Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor at the time I didn’t like, I never liked the Doctor being called Professor by Ace, another character I never took to at all, for me at the time McCoy’s tenure was the Death Knell to the series and Doctor Who was no more. (I know this will be a controversial view as most fans in their thirties grew up with McCoy’s Doctor.)

It's now 1996 and I thought Wow the Doctor is back, I’m now coming up to forty, and a fantastic actor, Paul McGann was going to play the Doctor, but due to America’s none acceptance of the show it died an early death, I feel he would have gone on to be one of the all time greats in Who History.

The rest you all know, 2005 saw the return with a cocky Doctor played by Christopher Eccleston. I liked Chris a lot, but when he left early I wasn’t surprised. So enter David Tennant and the fun loving Doctor is back taking on the talking to himself side of Patrick, and that sense of wonder. Tennant was my daughters Doctor, she absolutely loves David Tennant, and yes he was a great Doctor, but this is now the era where lovey dovey Doctor rules. There was no time for kissing in Pat’s day, there were monsters to stop.  I do think David’s regeneration went on far too long, again lovey dovey diey Doctor.

Matt Smith is the Doctor and I rate him close to Pat, but if they shared a scene it would be Pat your attention would go to, I’m not a big fan of some of the stories and I’ve said as much on twitter, this again upsets people but I go back a long way into the show, so I see it from a different perspective to the new fans. If the writing was made more for the fight against all evil in the universe rather then the internal anguish of the Doctor, the Doctor could be amazing under Matt. But to me the stories have become all about relationships of the characters and the monsters have little air time.

Let me also add that some other character’s have helped this show last in the mind, the Brigadier

(Nicholas Courtney) and Sergeant Benton, (John Levene, who was the first person I met in Newcastle, and remarked how well I dressed in my Replay tweed jacket) and one I met in the Lanes in Brighton, when in my twenties but too polite to bother her while she was shopping was Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) fine fellows all of them.

Well these are my views and I’m being honest about how I see the show. I think Matt will be remembered as one of the all time Greats, after the Greatest of them all Patrick Troughton.

I thank anyone who has managed to read the rambling of the person now referred to as Besty.

Written by @BestDrWho

Who & I

For the anniversary week I thought it would be interesting to find out the fans first memories of the series and their involvement in the world of Doctor Who.

My first memory of Doctor Who was quite possibly a dream:

On a Dark and Stormy Night the Doctor was pushed out of a helicopter by the Master. The Doctor fell to the ground. His companions surrounded him, but the Doctor started to change into different robots..

That seems like a re-imagining of the Fourth Doctor's regeneration at the end of Logopolis.

My fondest memories of watching the series was running home from Cubs in time to watch seasons 24 to 26. I thought Ace was the coolest girl ever! My Dad would say that it wasn't as good as it used to be. But the stories did seem to improve to me. Well, I didn't know any better as I hadn't seen the older series.

In 1990 I visited family friends, who had pictures of Doctor Who all over their bedroom walls. They told me about the Doctor Who Magazine, which I started to collect soon after. DWM opened up the world of Doctor Who to me. Through the detailed archive articles I was able to find out about stories from other Doctors.

For Christmas that year I received my first Doctor Who video: The Five Doctors. I was able to see the previous Doctor's for the very first time!

In 1991 my Dad took me to a small convention at Canterbury university. It was organised by the great John Nathan-Turner, who told me he was worth four of the Doctors! It also featured William Russell, Mary Tamm, Barry Letts and Michael Kerrigan, though the highlights for me were Colin Baker and Tom Baker.

It was during this weekend I discovered that the BBC were going to do a series of repeats, one story from each Doctor. It was thrilling seeing William Hartnell's Doctor battle against a mischievous Monk, Patrick Troughton in the surreal The Mind Robber, Jon Pertwee battling the Master and The Sea Devils, then the Master again in The Daemons. Later that year I saw Genesis of the Daleks for the first time, then the Caves of Androzani, Revelation of the Daleks and finally Battlefield.

The following year I went to another small convention in Peterborough, Writer's Gate, which DWM told me was to star Jon Pertwee! I was nervous at meeting him. However when I got there it was the writers of the New Adventures books, Jim Mortimer, Andy Lane, Gary Russell and Paul Cornell.

In 1994 I went to Dreamwatch 94 and met the great Jon Pertwee himself, but I barely managed to say more than hello as I was so overwhelmed! During that convention I also meet Elisabeth Sladen, Sylvester McCoy and Nicholas Courtney.

It was exciting to think that the Doctor was coming back in the TV Movie in 1996. I was hoping for a new series.. I kept waiting, but it unfortunately never happened.

Then as I went away to college my interest waned. I bought some of the Big Finish releases and continued to get DWM.

Then in 2003 the announcement that the series was to come back seemed to come out of nowhere. I couldn't wait for the show to return!

Though I had dabbled in various Doctor Who forums and the old newsgroup rec.arts.drwho I had never made any connections with Doctor Who fandom, until March this year I heard about Doctor Who Bar. It was great fun tweeting whilst watching my old videos and added a new element to watching stories I had seen many times before. I joined the sessions regularly and was soon asked to be part of the team. At first I was reluctant. However I am now helping to run the sessions and have made great friends with the other DWBar members and have connections with other fans.

I would love to hear about your stories of your first memories of Doctor Who. Please post in the comments section below or use the contact form on the left.

Memories of the Fifth Doctor

In support of the chosen Fifth Doctor story for Doctor Who Bar I thought I'd share my memories of him. Taking over from Tom Baker is a tall order and I can't think of anyone in the 1980's that was more up to the challenge than Peter Davison. His Doctor was charming, intelligent but also showed a degree of vulnerability more regularly than Baker's Doctor. He also made mistakes- big ones- that lost him companions. His miscalculation in Earthshock sent Adric to his death, not a huge loss some may argue, but it's still there. Tegan's disgust at all the death and wandering through time led to her sad departure at the end of Resurrection of the Daleks. I believe it was this more emotional and vulnerable side that placed Davison's signature to his Doctor. I watched amazed and moved at the end of his tenure in Caves of Androzani as he gave his life to save the lovely Peri (Nicola Bryant - follow her on twitter you know you want to).

Then there was the running, the endless running! As Jack Harkness said "I've missed this". Normally legging it down a long (the same looking) corridor or in a quarry. The Fifth Doctor cut a dashing sight with his trade mark Cricket outfit and coat.

So whichever story wins the vote, and I love all of them, please join us. If you like me, wish to relive old times fantastic. If this is your first jaunt into Fifth Doctor territory and as the Doctor would say to one of his companions " brave heart Tegan"