Doctor Who: Doctor Guide

Collin Baker's Doctor was the strangest one yet. He wore brightly-colored clothes that served well to complement his absolutely bombastic personality. This Doctor was prone to frequent mood swings and strange behavior that earned him the general dislike of his former friends. This dislike was mutual, however, because the Doctor often seemed to just barely tolerate the likes of Peri – his companion.

Collin Baker's Doctor had an ego large enough to fill the inside of a TARDIS and never hesitated to talk about how amazing he was and how much everyone should adore him. Many times, he was able to make good on his arrogant promises and claims, but that soon changed. When shown just how little he truly matters in the grand scheme of things, the Doctor slowly stepped onto the path to self-improvement. His relationship with his friends grew warmer and he was able to demonstrate actual compassion when it was required. The fans quickly took note of this change in attitude and warmed up to the Doctor as well.

Presently, Collin Baker holds the most votes in a 300,000+ vote online poll of the audience's favorite Doctors.

Injured again in the battle against his many foes, the Doctor was forced to quickly regenerate into his newest form. Initially, McCoy's Doctor was an attempt to make the show more lighthearted and comical. He often did whimsical, funny and sometimes hilariously-idiotic things while attempting to remedy the situation. This was the Doctor who performed frequent pratfalls and visual gags that someone like the third Doctor would have found embarrassing and childish. This slowly changed, however, and over the course of his travels, the seventh Doctor grew darker and more manipulative.

Sylvester McCoy's Doctor kept his secrets and even his identity under wraps and began to exude an air of mystery wherever he went. Like the second Doctor, McCoy's incarnation would often put on an act in order to distract his foes from the underhanded things he was performing in the background. He distanced himself from his friends, telling them less and less of his true nature and plans. The show's audience came to greatly like this new personality and many future writers, including Steven Moffat, chose to go with the “mysterious past” card for their incarnations of the Doctor.

After yet another untimely death, the Doctor regenerated into his eighth form. McGann's Doctor was most similar to the one played by Davison. He was kind and unpatronizing, typically preferring to stand in the background and let his companions have their share of the glory. For some reason unexplained in the show, he was able to see the potential in people and often prodded them in the right direction in order to fulfill that potential. On his own, the Doctor presented a very youthful exterior that masked a darker side. Despite looking young, he was much older than all of his past incarnations, and that fact often reflected in his soul and personality.

Somehow, he managed to stay positive and encouraging despite being world-weary. Unfortunately, when it comes to onscreen appearances, the eighth Doctor's career was the shortest-lived. He appeared in a feature length film which was an attempt to spark renewed curiosity in the series. This attempt, however, came short. The film did not generate a follow-up series and the eighth Doctor's time onscreen came to a close. He did appear in he biggest collection to date, though, which included audio dramas, novels, novellas and comics. In those extended adventures, his personality slowly grew darker as traumatic events befell him and his friends.

After a time of obscurity and uncertainty, the executives at BBC gave the green light to a reboot of the Doctor Who franchise. In 2005, a new series of the Doctor's adventures aired with Christopher Eccleston in the lead role. This incarnation of the Doctor was far more gritty and realistic than those that came before him. The ninth Doctor wore a simple leather jacket and sported a buzz-cut. He wasn't eccentric or theatrical like the others. He was, however, still witty and excitable. Sometimes the happy emotions he projected were genuine; other times, they merely served to mask his tortured soul and the guilt he felt about so many of his past mistakes.

Christopher Eccelston's Doctor often turned grim and angry in the face of his adversaries, making him among the most real and heartfelt of the Doctors. He encouraged his friends to do good and many credit him with changing their lives and turning them into better, more morally sound beings. Unfortunately, this Doctor only lasted for one season and is severely underrated, especially because he appeared in the shadow of his far more popular successor.