That’s right, Doctor Who fans. We’re going there.
It’s the impossible question, but one that every Whovian has thought about. How do you rank the incarnations of Doctor Who‘s illustrious 50 year history? It’s a tough choice, mainly because every single fan has their own personal favorites, and personality traits they like and dislike. So, it’s a little hesitantly that we approach the subject. Still, at the risk of suffering the wrath of the more opinionated among you, it’s a job that needs to be done.
Before we start, you should know that we’re not including The War Doctor, because we never really got to see how he’d tick as the Timelord outside of the Time War. Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor is also exempt from the list, as we feel it would be a bit premature to rank him before we’ve seen his complete story arc.
But that’s enough from us, here they are!
11. The Sixth Doctor
Poor Colin Baker never really stood a chance. Following on from all-round-nice-guy Peter Davison, Doctor Who tried taking a darker turn with the sixth incarnation. The ridiculously rainbow-clad Timelord nearly went into a self-imposed quarantine after almost strangling his companion. The actor isn’t at all to blame, and he’s proven in several Big Finish audio adventures that he does have the chops to pull the role off, but lackluster scripts and a troubled production meant his TV run fell horribly flat.
10. The Seventh Doctor
There’s a lot of different factions to Sylvester McCoy’s seventh incarnation. Bumbling and awkward at times, manipulative and authoritative at others. There were a lot of ingredients for a successful Doctor in this interpretation. In fact, perhaps there were too many. Bar a few gems, the Seventh Doctor suffered from weak stories and inconsistent characterization which meant the incarnation never reached his full potential.
9. The Third Doctor
Jon Pertwee’s dapper and debonair Third Doctor brought a touch of James Bond to the Tardis. Largely constrained to Earth due to budget cuts, this incarnation gave the role a more action hero edge. As the first Timelord to work with the Brigadier and iconic companion Sarah Jane Smith, Pertwee’s Doctor gave us a lot of firsts. But unfortunately, his adventures and style haven’t really stood the test of time.
8. The Ninth Doctor
When Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, fans were nervous that esteemed actor Christopher Eccleston wouldn’t take the role seriously. But once we saw the tortured soul on screen, there was no denying the gravitas he brought to this new, modern man. There was a softer side to Nine as well, but his short Tardis tenure meant we never got to know him as well as we’d liked.
7. The Eighth Doctor
Paul McGann’s Doctor is another who suffered from a short run – with him originally only holding the keys to the Tardis for the duration of the TV movie. And, let’s face it, the movie wasn’t really very good. But Paul McGann stood out as a passionate and quirky gentleman, and audio adventures allowed the actor to give a full and measured performance. After years of waiting, McGann fans finally got the return they’d been hoping for during the 50th Anniversary – and once again, audiences were impressed.
6. The Second Doctor
In many ways, Patrick Troughton had the toughest job of all the Doctors. Before him, there had only been one Doctor, and the actor was left with a tough dilemma. Instead of imitating the grandfather-like First Doctor, he took Two in a completely new direction: quirky, slapstick, but also very intelligent. He showed us that the regeneration format could work for Doctor Who, and solidified the show’s future.
On page 2: The top 5…
Page 2: Doctor Who: Ranking the Doctors from worst to best
5. The Fifth Doctor
The youngest Doctor of the classic era, Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor was a calm and often quiet incarnation of the character, who wasn’t afraid to sit back and let someone else take the lead. But that’s not to say he was weak or had no personality. As he proved when he worked side by side with his predecessors in “The Five Doctors,” he was a compassionate, strong-willed and intelligent incarnation.
4. The Eleventh Doctor
It’s from here that the race for #1 gets really tight, and Matt Smith could have very easily been higher on this list. The youngest actor to have ever played the Doctor brought an old, wise demeanor to the role. The Eleventh Doctor was a multi-layered character: if he wasn’t flapping about with youthful energy or taking immense pleasure from tiny details, he was wiping out alien races, giving epic rants to evil planets, or quietly reflecting.
3. The First Doctor
William Hartnell’s First Doctor is often wrongly described as grumpy, cautious, and standoffish. While that’s certainly true of the character in the show’s earlier episodes, the “grandfather” figure eventually peeled back his tough exterior to reveal a soft, compassionate and even vulnerable man. That Doctor Who is still around today is testament to the thoughtful foundations that the First Doctor laid.
2. The Tenth Doctor
Every fangirl’s favorite, David Tennant shepherded Doctor Who to new found heights of worldwide popularity. The Tenth Doctor was a swashbuckling action hero with a big heart, gallivanting around the universe and spreading his quirky wit to every corner of the galaxy. But it wasn’t all sunshine and sand-shoes, as the Tenth Doctor also saw his fair share of tragedy and darkness. His ‘timelord victorious’ arc forced us to question our loyalties to the Doctor, and the fact that he is still universally beloved shows just how powerful David Tennant’s performance really was.
1. The Fourth Doctor
Could it ever have been anyone else? Well, yes, but ask your parents (or grandparents) who their favorite Doctor is and they’ll tell you there’s only one contender: Tom Baker. The original mad man with a blue box, The Fourth Doctor is arguably the most “alien” of the Timelord’s incarnations. Unpredictable and often irreverent, Baker’s Doctor was frequently funny and occasionally scary. There’s a good reason his run is seen as the most iconic: The Fourth Doctor ingrained Doctor Who in the world’s collective pop culture psyche.