Favorite Characters: The Fourth Doctor (Doctor Who)

The one, the only.  Four isn’t my absolute favorite Doctor, either for the show as a whole or from the original series, but I do love him.  He’s iconic, and I completely understand why so many fans, especially those who grew up with him, view him as the quintessential Doctor. 

In some ways, each regeneration feels like a response to the incarnation that came before it, and that’s certainly the case with the Fourth Doctor.  While Three was suave and steady, all laboratory conditions, Venusian akido, and opera capes, Four is madcap and wholehearted.  From the moment he opens those eyes of his, showing off his curly mop and slightly-cracked grin, you know you’re in for somebody new.

The two words that come most to mind for me with Four are “oddball” and “fun.”  He’s wonderfully eccentric, with a non-sequitur for every occasion and all manner of unexpected curiosities in his pockets.  Whether he’s trying to fight a robot with his absurdly-long scarf or impromptu auditioning for a Victorian music hall, he zips through the universe with an air of mischief about him, this goofy unpredictability that frequently makes the bad guys underestimate him.

And really, he’s just a delight.  Four is a master of lively Doctor banter, and I love every moment of him grinning amiably at the enemy who’s just tied him up.  His companions are all so different from one another, but I can see why each would be drawn to him in their own way, how he sweeps them up in his adventure.  I adore him bickering happily with Sarah Jane, introducing Leela to something brand new, and getting shown up intellectually by Romana, along with everything in between.

As Four, Tom Baker had the longest tenure of any Doctor to date.  After his seven seasons on the show, the BBC had to air some reruns of previous Doctors because a whole new crop of young fans had come up without knowing the Doctor could regenerate.  Even though the show was still reinventing itself through that time, again with companions as varied as Sarah Jane, Leela, and Romana, seven seasons is a long time for any series, and not all of Four’s stories are winners.  There are points where the creativity feels a little long in the tooth and Four’s antics feel overly heightened, but the drawn-out TV-show syndrome is mild compared to plenty of other shows and doesn’t take away from the overall legacy of Four’s time on the show.

And of course, regardless of how long Baker was open to staying on the show, it wouldn’t have happened if the Fourth Doctor hadn’t had that magic something that made fans want to hold onto him.  There’s a reason why, after the TARDIS itself and possibily a Dalek, Four in his hat, coat, and scarf is the most indelible image that comes to mind with Doctor Who.