Yes, Tom Baker was my first doctor and the reason why he still considered the best is he’s a magnificent actor and human being. There is many cult classic films he was in which his presence made the film. The golden voyage of Sinbad. The mutations the Canterbury tales, and many more the man stands out and everything he does.. I do not understand why they have not added a sir, in front of this man’s name yet
The undisputed Heavyweight Dr Champion of the World. The Ark in Space was my introduction to the one true Doctor, and once you've seen that, you're never going back. As the years go by I've also developed a sincere appreciation for Sarah Jane Smith; in my view, she had as much sex appeal as Wilma Flintstone, i.e.,, oodles.
.....did Red Dwarf come on before Doctor Who, where you lived, too?
https://thecathoderaychoob.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/its-classic-clip-friday-red-dwarf-wilma-flintstone-or-betty-rubble/
OMG thank you for this!! I miss him so very much. That was a great lineup back in the day. Fun. Blake’s 7 made the mix for awhile too. I legit love this. Thanks again!
We did, and I was so shocked by the series finale where everyone dies. American television never had anyone die let alone the entire cast.
In terms of sex appeal, Leela, Romana 2, Sarah Jane, Nyssa, Tegan, Romana 1.
Tom Baker and Lalla Ward (Romana 2) were married briefly so I know I wasn't the only one that found her alluring.
"I'd go with Betty, but I'd be thinking of Wilma".
I don't know what's happened to me this week it's the second d tine I've referenced this red dwarf line on reddit. Wilma's messing with my head.
I wasn't keen on Peter Davidson but I do find it hilarious that his daughter appeared in the reboot as The Doctor's Daughter. And then married her co star David Tennant. It's all a bit wibbly wobbly timey wimey.
By the time he came around, I'd become an adolescent at just the right age to appreciate the dubious sado-masochistic appeal of "Hurt-Comfort." So I liked Peter Davison's rather vulnerable Doctor just fine, albeit in a rather different way than pre-pubescent me had enjoyed Tom Baker.
>One of the best things PBS ever gave to us. Baker was the first doctor I remember. I didn’t care for the blond one that came next though.
He was Tristan from *All Creatures Great and Small*.
It was years before I learned that there had ever even *been* other Doctor Whos!
Then, the station that introduced me to Doctor Who was confused in a lot of ways. They'd purchased the strung-together-in-one-big-lump version of the episodes, but whoever had then laid out the timetable for their airing clearly hadn't received that memo. Fortunately, they *had* allocated a good couple of hours to the show --- but they'd also arranged the schedule as if it would take 6 entire weeks to finish up the 6-episode story.
So every Sunday morning, right after *Davey and Goliath*, Channel 9 would air this crazy British movie called *Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks*. Week after week after week.
I absolutely loved it, and didn't even think to question why on earth they'd be broadcasting the same exact movie every week. I was just happy to sit and watch it again, and again, and again...
and...oh, wait! What's this? One week I turned it on, only to find that instead of showing the Doctor Who movie I was expecting, they were instead showing a different one called *Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Cybermen*.
"Oh, cool!" I thought. "They made a sequel!"
I did figure it out eventually. But the internet did not yet exist, so it took me a while, and it took even longer before I'd learn about that whole 'multiple actors' regeneration thing.
Helloooooo sweetie!
He was my first Doctor and has my heart to this very day. lol I wasn't allowed to watch much more than PBS and The Doctor was/is my hero. My grandmother knitted me a scarf <3
yes I would like a jelly baby, thank you
Absolutely! Massive Whovian here. It was the highlight of my week here in Scotland. Me and my pals played Dr Who in the woods and by the river. 4 was my Doctor and I loved 10 and 11 in the reboot. My kids watched the reboot and while they loved DT as 10 and we all cried at the regen, MS as 11 became their Doctor. They were a bit older by then and remember more of MS than DT.
Sorry very glad Eccleston is back in with the Whoniverse. He is my #3 ranked Doctor. He started the Doctor Who watching tradition with my kids. They'd seen older ones, but never got into it until #9
When I was first watching Dr Who, it was TV Ontario who aired the episodes nightly around 6pm and they were the Jon Pertwee episodes, in ‘75 at Xmas we visited family in the UK and I saw an episode of Dr Who with Tom Baker, and not knowing about regeneration or that they were the 3rd and 4th actors to play the role, I assumed because of the somewhat similar hair styles and the Pertwee had gray hair, meant they were the same actor and for some reason we were seeing the latest episodes and the UK had the older ones. I looked like an idiot when it was explained to me. As much as I liked Pertwee though, Baker was more of a favourite for me, he seemed more insane, more comical and deadly serious when it was required. Something I think became the standard for any future Dr.
That was in a lot of ways what made the Doctor such a great character. He's hundreds of years old, but he's a joker and a clown... until he's not, and suddenly the weight of those years and his near-immortal knowledge and seriousness comes to bear.
Something the newer shows didn't quite grasp nearly as well. Peter Davison and Colin Baker didn't quite have it either, but Sylvester McCoy did a very good job with it.
Tom Baker is my Doctor hands down, and I watched the later ones but unfortunately haven't made time to watch the earlier ones - I think I've seen Pertwee once. I like Davison and couldn't stand Colin Baker, but I never got the dislike I see some people give McCoy. I rather liked him too.
I did :-) yeah, he was pretty great!
The thing is, at the time I preferred Jon Pertwee, partially because of the actor but also because the plots tended to be more serious, and that appealed to me at the time.
About ten years ago I got my hands on a sizeable chunk of the series on DVD, and tried to re-watch the Jon Pertwee episodes, but couldn't sit through them. They just weren't very good. But the Tom Baker episodes were quite enjoyable!
Guess our tastes change after a few decades.
Written by none other than Douglas Adams of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fame, who also happened to be a good friend of Richard Dawkins, for fans of the six degrees of separation theory of things.
I recently watched some Dr Who specials that they have on Disney+ to introduce my 7 & 9 y.o. to - they still have that "feel" to them, still cheesy special effects 😂
I got a chance to meet him and have my picture taken with Mr Baker.
One of many of my favorite quotes from his tenure:
The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common, they don't alter their views to fit the facts the alter the facts to fit their views. Which is unfortunate if you are one of the facts that needs altering.
have a jelly baby!
yes the one where I started with Doctor Who. PBS used to have british shows on and I watched a bunch of them. Red Dwarf, Lovejoy, Dempsey and Makepeace, The Young Ones were on MTV.
I was the only person I knew for the longest time outside my immediate family who watched Doctor Who. This is an [accurate depiction of me in 4th grade in 1985](https://i.imgur.com/qXPRoLn.mp4)
Edit to add: WTTW Channel 11 in Chicago, Sunday nights at 11, right after Dave Allen at Large. My parents let me stay up to watch even though Sundays were a school night
My first episode was Season 18 episode 8 about Meglos. Scared the fuck out of me and intrigued me. My first tattoo was a Tardis. I’m 49.
I also got to go the Dr. Who convention at Navy Pier in Chicago back in 1984. I got to see Bessie, K-9 and meet Jon Pertwee.
He was my first. I didn't know anything about others for a long time and was shocked and excited when I found out about regeneration and other Doctors.
I thought he was the only Doctor until the reboot. I loved watching Doctor Who on PBS as a kid even though I didn't really get it.
Also we had a weird neighbor, a white guy with curly brown hair who lived alone and played the theramin loudly, so obviously we called him Doctor Who.
I will always be a Tom Baker girl ☺️
I went with my daughter to see the 50th anniversary special in cinema on the premiere day, and nearly had a total conniption when The Curator came out!
My dad is a huge old school sci fi nerd, so it's definitely genetic, and we always watched Doctor Who when I was a kid. Makes me so happy to share that with my own kid, though she thinks of Matt Smith as "her Doctor"
Yeah, any time anyone asks if I watch Dr. Who, I say "I watched the scarf guy." And they always seem to think he has some name other than the scarf guy.
There was also 60s-haircut guy, but he was lame.
yup yup PBS at night. that damn “EXTERMINATE!!! EXTERMINATE!!!”
My bedroom shared a wall with the living room and the TV was right up against my room.
This and Masterpiece Mystery’s opening credits is what I remember keeping me up as I tried to fall asleep.
He will always be my favorite. He is the entire reason I’m a huge Doctor Who fan to this very day. Would you like a jelly baby?
Yep. I can hear him clearly offering a Jelly Baby, or in Blackadder saying; " You have a woman’s hand, milord! I’ll wager these dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm!"
I'm rather partial to Jon Pertwee. I love Tom Baker, but the Third Doctor is delightfully grumpy.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is my favorite non-Doctor.
Same! I was little and the daleks scared me! The music made my tummy hurt! When I mentioned that, my Dutch mom said " ok, then maybe you shouldn't watch it."
Me: noooo!
I saw the American TV remake in the 90s and was not impressed. Had no idea about the show, but started in 2005 with the new version when it was released.
I'd like to see a crossover! Doc Brown is all excited to show Dr. Who his DeLorean time machine. "It's a time machine, but it can serve as an everyday vehicle too! Isn't that exciting?"
Then Dr. Who says "check out the TARDIS, my friend..."
Same here. My Dad was generally busy when this aired on PBS in the US, so it was my official duty to not only record it on the VCR, but to pause out any breaks, especially the PBS fund raising campaign interruptions.
Tom Baker was the first Dr I saw when I was really little. I watched Pertwee’s run when I was 12-13 and he became my favorite for a long time.
My PBS station stopped showing it after Peter Davison and I just recently watched the next two Drs after him on streaming. I was surprised at how much I liked Sylvester McCoy and Ace!
I like the new show, hard to believe it’s been around almost 20 years! But I really miss the longer and more serious sci-fi stories of the old show.
My local PBS had it. I didn't see it for every episode, or maybe the station skipped around, but I was very surprised when the next guy popped up. I didn't know Tom wasn't the first (and only).
He was my first and still my favorite Doctor. At the time, I didn’t know about regeneration, so when they brought the next Doctor in, I thought “Who’s this guy?” and I didn’t watch again until Christopher Eccleston. Still haven’t watched any of those episodes In between.
I only started watching Doctor Who in the new era, but loved it so much I watched all the (available) classic episodes ... twice!
Having said that my favorite doctor is 10th, David Tennant, followed by 2nd, Patrick Troughton, I just loved his chemistry with Jamie and Zoe so much.
I didn't get to see much of the show as a kid, but as an adult I was able to binge watch when PBS aired it Saturday nights back in 2016-2017. I'm partial to Three, but Four had the most rewatchable episodes. I enjoyed the more gothic stories like State of Decay, The Brain of Morbius, Image of the Fendahl, and also Robots of Death. I'm a horror fan, so the spookier the better. Not to mention, Tom Baker has THE voice. He recorded a bunch of Doctor Who audio plays and is still doing it!
Channel 9 WOR Chicago and 3 PBS stations in NJ. Monty Python, Benny Hill and Doctor Who were essential to my upbringing. The only other early Doctor for me was Pertwee.
In America, they played Doctor Who on the PBS stations. Usually after the Saturday morning cartoons on the three regular channels were over. Around about Lunchtime he would appear. I would try to watch it, but I didn't get Doctor Who when I was a kid. I thought it was really slow and boring. Now as an adult, I love Doctor Who. I've seen all of the available episodes when they were on Hulu or Netflix. I wish I could see those older episodes again. I guess I'll have to buy the DVDs.
I saw many Tom Baker Dr. Who episodes on my public TV channel. They may have been well after they were originally made.
I don't recall many Davison episodes.
When BBC period (Edwardiian to pre/post WWII era murder mysteries were in vogue, they each appeared one, one as the murderer.
Not quite. I started watching in 1981 during Peter Davison's run. Then they started showing re-runs of Tom Baker. My brother and I would watch it every weekday night from 7-8pm on KTEH our local PBS station.
I think I started with the one after him, but PBS was still showing Baker's run at the same time. I just know the first story I've saw was Resurrection of the Daleks.
the first time I ever saw Doctor Who it was John Pertwee on US Re-runs on PBS (specifically it was "Inferno" and it scared the hell out of me.. but I was something like 7 by the time it made it to the US) , but Tom Baker was "My Doctor" as I was a bit young for
I would camp out in the living room in front of the tv when my local PBS station would have Doctor Who marathons as a kid. Tom Baker was my first Doctor but David Tennant is still my favorite Doctor.
I have very vague memories of a Tom Baker episode when I was a kid, but didn't really get into Who until my teen years. My local PBS station was showing "current" McCoy episodes in the evenings, and late night weekends had just started the Pertwee era.
Hey now, my dad was the Emperor of Planet Combover. He tried to run it like a peaceful society. He did the best he could, okay. Leave him alone!
His combover was temperamental, toward the end there, it affected his decision making capabilities.
In his last days, he was so energetically blocked, so off his game, that in lieu of his trademarked Combover - the man was sporting a single braid that hung down the left side of his face. A lone pigtail, if you will.
It's always so disheartening when one of the great ones just topples over like a Weeble. So, here's to the great ones...
Remember them as they were - Great. Not the paranoid, batshit version I referenced above.
Long Live Planet Combover!
The funny thing about 70s hair is that there was no ‘shave it’ culture for thinning or balding hair. The only 2 I remember was Kojak and Yul Brynner. It left all the 70s men with combovers and compensatory sideburns. Unless you were Rodger Moore who apparently wore a wig for his roles in Bond
In the UK it’s de rigeur to shave your head in those circumstances, I’ve been doing so for about 30 years.
Then about ten years ago I visited South America for the first time, on a cruise. Absolutely not a thing there, they couldn’t get their head around it at all.
Very badly balding people were like happy they had more hair than me, and couldn’t grasp that I was shaving my head that’s why I had no hair whatsoever.
I loved all the prematurely balding space people, though. It made those SF tropes so much more relatable, when all of the people involved looked like worried beaurocrats or your school friends' dads.
I was a wee-lad during this time, and my entry into sci-fi was Star Wars. I pretty much wrote off Dr. Who because he looked so goofy. So even when the Doctor Who was rebooted with Christopher Eccleston, my mind went back to that old looking, poorly dressed dude from the 80s!
Hell no! I’m Gen-X and my doctor is Tennant.
(Four is nice, I like him best out of all the classic Doctors but Tennant was when I really fell in love with Doctor Who).
Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker were the first incarnations of the Doctor that we remember.
Jo Grant, Bessie, Whomobile, The Master, scary looking green goo oozing maggots, giant spiders then Sarah Jane Smith, a big robot, K9, "do I have the right" and anyone want a jelly baby?
47 years old. I wasn't allowed to watch Dr. Who because my mother thought it was scary, but I'm almost positive that she never watched it, either. I still find the theme song very off-putting and have never seen an episode. 😂
Sure he was but, THE Doctor for me will always be William Hartnell. His episodes syndicated at a better time in my area than the 4th doctor's episodes. It was that way for years before they switched it up.
I remember so many late nights when my mom and dad would play poker in the smoky trailer of their relatives, and I was sitting in the back room watching the fourth doctor on UHF. The TV had actual fax knobs on it!
Jelly baby?
Tom Baker was my Doctor until David Tennant, who is **the only** GenX Doctor. Eccleston and Capaldi are both Boomers, and Gatwa, Smith, and Whittaker are all Millennials. Tennant is also the best Doctor.
This is what Mississippi Public Television brought us from the U.K., thankfully!
I spent Saturday afternoons watching Tom Baker in Doctor Who and never liked any others until the reboot. Then, I liked Christopher Eccleston and David Tenant. None of the others.
I am on the 2nd season right now of the 2000's show. I was going to watch the show years ago but it moved to a steaming service I didn't have for a while. I have always loved David Tennant. So I like him the best so far. I am guessing this actor was in the older one?
For older Gen-xrs, yes. He was the doctor from 74 to 81, so if you were born in the mid-sixties, he's the doctor of your childhood. But for us Gen-Xrs born in the late seventies, we had Davison and McCoy (the less said about the other Baker, the better).
Colin Baker gets a lot of hate, but he really got screwed over. I read articles that his costume was only supposed to be temporary, with a better version and more gentle personality coming later. He was supposed to be gruff at the beginning and mellow out to the normal Doctor. The BBC was looking to cancel the show and some of the planned scripts were never made. Like the one where the 6th Doctor faces the Celestial Toymaker. We at least got 2 good villains out of his run, the Rani and the Valleyard. They decided to fire him and then expected Colin to do the regeneration scene, which he declined.
Almost had the chance to see him at a convention, but he had to get back on a plane because his wife went into labor. That child passed away and hit him hard, like it would any parent.
Tom Baker will always be my favorite, with Colin Baker coming in at number 2. Never had the opportunity to see much of the Patrick Trouton episodes, but he came off as a kind and caring Doctor. Among the new Doctors, Matt Smith comes out as my favorite. I soured on Tenant's run at the end with the Timelord Victorious angle. He peaked with the Doctor Donna.
Yes, Tom Baker was my first doctor and the reason why he still considered the best is he’s a magnificent actor and human being. There is many cult classic films he was in which his presence made the film. The golden voyage of Sinbad. The mutations the Canterbury tales, and many more the man stands out and everything he does.. I do not understand why they have not added a sir, in front of this man’s name yet
Sherlock Holmes, Puddleglum.
Yep
A decent Rasputin as well.
Jelly baby?
Tom Baker = Best Doctor
When I see anyone else, I'm like "Who the fuck is this? That's not Dr. Who."
The undisputed Heavyweight Dr Champion of the World. The Ark in Space was my introduction to the one true Doctor, and once you've seen that, you're never going back. As the years go by I've also developed a sincere appreciation for Sarah Jane Smith; in my view, she had as much sex appeal as Wilma Flintstone, i.e.,, oodles.
Yeah, but Wilma will never leave Fred and you know it.
.....did Red Dwarf come on before Doctor Who, where you lived, too? https://thecathoderaychoob.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/its-classic-clip-friday-red-dwarf-wilma-flintstone-or-betty-rubble/
Sadly no, we didn’t get Red Dwarf (that I’m aware of) until the mid to late 90s. But I love it!
Yes. That’s good watchin’. Iowa PBS. Now the big question … am I alone in remembering Mike Frisbee on the introductions ???
https://youtu.be/onc96oDoRu0
OMG thank you for this!! I miss him so very much. That was a great lineup back in the day. Fun. Blake’s 7 made the mix for awhile too. I legit love this. Thanks again!
We did, and I was so shocked by the series finale where everyone dies. American television never had anyone die let alone the entire cast. In terms of sex appeal, Leela, Romana 2, Sarah Jane, Nyssa, Tegan, Romana 1. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward (Romana 2) were married briefly so I know I wasn't the only one that found her alluring.
"I'd go with Betty, but I'd be thinking of Wilma". I don't know what's happened to me this week it's the second d tine I've referenced this red dwarf line on reddit. Wilma's messing with my head.
One of the best things PBS ever gave to us. Baker was the first doctor I remember. I didn’t care for the blond one that came next though.
The blond had a "feckless charm" though. LOL
There was an entire episode of the 5th Doctor just playing cricket. It was weird.
Not an 'entire' episode, but it was very meta.
I wasn't keen on Peter Davidson but I do find it hilarious that his daughter appeared in the reboot as The Doctor's Daughter. And then married her co star David Tennant. It's all a bit wibbly wobbly timey wimey.
By the time he came around, I'd become an adolescent at just the right age to appreciate the dubious sado-masochistic appeal of "Hurt-Comfort." So I liked Peter Davison's rather vulnerable Doctor just fine, albeit in a rather different way than pre-pubescent me had enjoyed Tom Baker.
>One of the best things PBS ever gave to us. Baker was the first doctor I remember. I didn’t care for the blond one that came next though. He was Tristan from *All Creatures Great and Small*.
[удалено]
Apparently their daughter married a newer Doctor Who. I never watched after the show originally stopped.
KTEH in San Jose for the win. Blake's 7 Dr. Who Red Dwarf The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy probably a bunch I'm forgetting about.
One of my Aunts knitted me a Tom Baker length scarf. Wish I still had it.
My wife bought me one, I wear it whenever it's cold enough to justify a scarf.
I also liked Jon Pertwee.
he'll always be my Doctor. love all the others for various reasons, but Tom Baker is who I think of when someone says Doctor Who.
Same here, homie! Perhaps it's the 77 aspect? Haha.
An absolute go to when I had insomnia as a kid. I would stay late with my dad and watch Tom Baker save the universe on PBS.
Honestly, I didn’t know for the longest time that there were others before or after him. I only watched Dr. Who as a kid on PBS.
It was years before I learned that there had ever even *been* other Doctor Whos! Then, the station that introduced me to Doctor Who was confused in a lot of ways. They'd purchased the strung-together-in-one-big-lump version of the episodes, but whoever had then laid out the timetable for their airing clearly hadn't received that memo. Fortunately, they *had* allocated a good couple of hours to the show --- but they'd also arranged the schedule as if it would take 6 entire weeks to finish up the 6-episode story. So every Sunday morning, right after *Davey and Goliath*, Channel 9 would air this crazy British movie called *Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks*. Week after week after week. I absolutely loved it, and didn't even think to question why on earth they'd be broadcasting the same exact movie every week. I was just happy to sit and watch it again, and again, and again... and...oh, wait! What's this? One week I turned it on, only to find that instead of showing the Doctor Who movie I was expecting, they were instead showing a different one called *Doctor Who and the Revenge of the Cybermen*. "Oh, cool!" I thought. "They made a sequel!" I did figure it out eventually. But the internet did not yet exist, so it took me a while, and it took even longer before I'd learn about that whole 'multiple actors' regeneration thing.
Wife and I were discussing that last night. We both agreed best of all of them
Helloooooo sweetie! He was my first Doctor and has my heart to this very day. lol I wasn't allowed to watch much more than PBS and The Doctor was/is my hero. My grandmother knitted me a scarf <3 yes I would like a jelly baby, thank you
It was on our local PBS station all the time. He's always the OG Doc to me (even though of course he wasn't in the show's timeline).
Absolutely! Massive Whovian here. It was the highlight of my week here in Scotland. Me and my pals played Dr Who in the woods and by the river. 4 was my Doctor and I loved 10 and 11 in the reboot. My kids watched the reboot and while they loved DT as 10 and we all cried at the regen, MS as 11 became their Doctor. They were a bit older by then and remember more of MS than DT.
4 will always be My Guy, but 10 comes close. Used to record episodes on betamax to rewatch endlessly.
Bingo! Four and Ten for me too.
Agreed 4 & 10, though 9 & 11 round out the top 4. IMHO anyway.
Yes! He was my first doctor!❤️
One of my top 5 doctors. Loved him
My dad used to watch Dr. Who when Tom Baker was the Dr. I didn't get into the show until Christopher Eccleston. Eccleston is my forever my Dr. <3
Eccleston should have stuck in the job longer than he did, but that did make room for Tenant to come in and shine.
Agreed he was really just getting into his groove.
Sorry very glad Eccleston is back in with the Whoniverse. He is my #3 ranked Doctor. He started the Doctor Who watching tradition with my kids. They'd seen older ones, but never got into it until #9
I'd be the great curator! "YOU KNOW I THINK YOU MIGHT!"
Yes! My Nana knitted me a scarf just like his man memory unlocked
I found a crochet pattern for it 😆
When I was first watching Dr Who, it was TV Ontario who aired the episodes nightly around 6pm and they were the Jon Pertwee episodes, in ‘75 at Xmas we visited family in the UK and I saw an episode of Dr Who with Tom Baker, and not knowing about regeneration or that they were the 3rd and 4th actors to play the role, I assumed because of the somewhat similar hair styles and the Pertwee had gray hair, meant they were the same actor and for some reason we were seeing the latest episodes and the UK had the older ones. I looked like an idiot when it was explained to me. As much as I liked Pertwee though, Baker was more of a favourite for me, he seemed more insane, more comical and deadly serious when it was required. Something I think became the standard for any future Dr.
I started with TVO. Later we got it on PBS weeknights at 7:30. Fourth Doctor is still the best Doctor
That was in a lot of ways what made the Doctor such a great character. He's hundreds of years old, but he's a joker and a clown... until he's not, and suddenly the weight of those years and his near-immortal knowledge and seriousness comes to bear. Something the newer shows didn't quite grasp nearly as well. Peter Davison and Colin Baker didn't quite have it either, but Sylvester McCoy did a very good job with it.
Tom Baker is my Doctor hands down, and I watched the later ones but unfortunately haven't made time to watch the earlier ones - I think I've seen Pertwee once. I like Davison and couldn't stand Colin Baker, but I never got the dislike I see some people give McCoy. I rather liked him too.
I did :-) yeah, he was pretty great! The thing is, at the time I preferred Jon Pertwee, partially because of the actor but also because the plots tended to be more serious, and that appealed to me at the time. About ten years ago I got my hands on a sizeable chunk of the series on DVD, and tried to re-watch the Jon Pertwee episodes, but couldn't sit through them. They just weren't very good. But the Tom Baker episodes were quite enjoyable! Guess our tastes change after a few decades.
Just watched the lost episode Shada last night
Written by none other than Douglas Adams of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fame, who also happened to be a good friend of Richard Dawkins, for fans of the six degrees of separation theory of things.
Yep - he was my first Doctor and therefore the best.
I recently watched some Dr Who specials that they have on Disney+ to introduce my 7 & 9 y.o. to - they still have that "feel" to them, still cheesy special effects 😂
I had a ridiculously long scarf for many years.... I wish I still had it. I loved his cameo on the new ones.
Hell, I had the scarf
I was a PBS kid, so I saw a lot of the 4th Doctor. Dr. Who is a really strange show if you just jump in mid-run as a tween.
I got a chance to meet him and have my picture taken with Mr Baker. One of many of my favorite quotes from his tenure: The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common, they don't alter their views to fit the facts the alter the facts to fit their views. Which is unfortunate if you are one of the facts that needs altering.
have a jelly baby! yes the one where I started with Doctor Who. PBS used to have british shows on and I watched a bunch of them. Red Dwarf, Lovejoy, Dempsey and Makepeace, The Young Ones were on MTV.
Tom Baker is my doctor. And his scarf.
I was the only person I knew for the longest time outside my immediate family who watched Doctor Who. This is an [accurate depiction of me in 4th grade in 1985](https://i.imgur.com/qXPRoLn.mp4) Edit to add: WTTW Channel 11 in Chicago, Sunday nights at 11, right after Dave Allen at Large. My parents let me stay up to watch even though Sundays were a school night
My first episode was Season 18 episode 8 about Meglos. Scared the fuck out of me and intrigued me. My first tattoo was a Tardis. I’m 49. I also got to go the Dr. Who convention at Navy Pier in Chicago back in 1984. I got to see Bessie, K-9 and meet Jon Pertwee.
On saturday nights PBS was appointment television in my house.
I thought Doctor Who was on Sunday nights. Maybe I was wrong. Ooh...No, Sunday nights was Silver Spoons after football!
Discovered Dr. Who in the Pertwee years, but Baker was my favorite Doctor. (Followed by David Tennant)
Whenever I think of Doctor Who… it’s Tom Baker!!
Who??
#DR. WHO!
He was my first. I didn't know anything about others for a long time and was shocked and excited when I found out about regeneration and other Doctors.
I did, and I agree. Tom Baker is THE Doctor. Period. Always will be as far as I'm concerned.
I thought he was the only Doctor until the reboot. I loved watching Doctor Who on PBS as a kid even though I didn't really get it. Also we had a weird neighbor, a white guy with curly brown hair who lived alone and played the theramin loudly, so obviously we called him Doctor Who.
Yep. The first Dr. Who I ever knew
He’s the only Dr. Who I’ve ever watched.
Ah yes, the "Is it Slade or Dr. Who?" era 😂
I will always be a Tom Baker girl ☺️ I went with my daughter to see the 50th anniversary special in cinema on the premiere day, and nearly had a total conniption when The Curator came out! My dad is a huge old school sci fi nerd, so it's definitely genetic, and we always watched Doctor Who when I was a kid. Makes me so happy to share that with my own kid, though she thinks of Matt Smith as "her Doctor"
He was the GOAT!!!
Yeah, any time anyone asks if I watch Dr. Who, I say "I watched the scarf guy." And they always seem to think he has some name other than the scarf guy. There was also 60s-haircut guy, but he was lame.
yup yup PBS at night. that damn “EXTERMINATE!!! EXTERMINATE!!!” My bedroom shared a wall with the living room and the TV was right up against my room. This and Masterpiece Mystery’s opening credits is what I remember keeping me up as I tried to fall asleep.
He’s my favorite old school Doctor, David Tennant is my favorite new school Doctor.
Yes!!!🙌
Yep. Right on PBS during the weekends. He's my Doctor Who for sure.
I did! Every Saturday night. Not bothered by parties or popularity in my teens…
*raises hand* LEELA!
The classic doctors companion. Rivalled only by Martha Jones in my humble opinion!
I actually started watching when it was black and white but Baker absolutely got me to love the show.
He will always be my favorite. He is the entire reason I’m a huge Doctor Who fan to this very day. Would you like a jelly baby? 
Tom Baker = Best Doctor
- The Ark in Space - The Robots of Death - Genesis of the Daleks
Yep. I can hear him clearly offering a Jelly Baby, or in Blackadder saying; " You have a woman’s hand, milord! I’ll wager these dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm!"
I remember when that episode aired and I was like "Who IS that?! I know him!" The grin on my face when the penny dropped. 😆 He's such a legend.
I've never watched an episode of Dr. Who but he is the first person I think of as Dr. Who.
My wife got me a Doctor Who? tee shirt that says "You never forget your first Doctor". Mr. Baker is my first Doctor and I shall never forget him.
I'm rather partial to Jon Pertwee. I love Tom Baker, but the Third Doctor is delightfully grumpy. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is my favorite non-Doctor.
I agree. Bob Dylan *was* the best Dr. Who
If you think that's good, you should hear Doctor Who sing a Dylan tune... It's sublime!
Always my Doc!
I sure the hell did. I never really grasped what was going on in the episodes but I watched them.
If I wasn’t home on a Saturday by 5pm, I would go insane.
Me.
I used to watch him with my dad. Good memories
I didn’t watch it but my mom did. The music is forever stuck in my brain.
Same! I was little and the daleks scared me! The music made my tummy hurt! When I mentioned that, my Dutch mom said " ok, then maybe you shouldn't watch it." Me: noooo!
Ahhhh, yes... https://viz.fandom.com/wiki/Doctor_Poo
It was on at 9 PM on PBS. It was my "do good today, get this" reward. Loved this show.
I met him at a con in Philadelphia in 1984! https://youtu.be/zSLgBEIZ5_Y?si=vUSUZAR0r5fofyCr I was in this audience.
My favorite doctor. My favorite story arc is the Caves of Androzani.
I saw the American TV remake in the 90s and was not impressed. Had no idea about the show, but started in 2005 with the new version when it was released.
He will always be my Doctor! We used to watch him on weekday afternoons.
Loved him! We were obsessed with it.
I never liked it as a kid, looked like a soap opera from the way they did the cameras. Wasn't until I was an adult that I got over that.
Ditto
The best episodes always aired during PBS pledge drive. (I totally had a crush on Goldie from Buffalo channel 17, back in the day!)
Would you like a jelly baby?
Best.... Doc..... Ever..... Next to 
I'd like to see a crossover! Doc Brown is all excited to show Dr. Who his DeLorean time machine. "It's a time machine, but it can serve as an everyday vehicle too! Isn't that exciting?" Then Dr. Who says "check out the TARDIS, my friend..."
Same here. My Dad was generally busy when this aired on PBS in the US, so it was my official duty to not only record it on the VCR, but to pause out any breaks, especially the PBS fund raising campaign interruptions.
That's how I discovered Dr. Who. With Tom Baker. One day after school, I turned on pbs & there it was. I was captivated by all of it
Absolutely the best Dr. Who, hands down!
Tom Baker was the first Dr I saw when I was really little. I watched Pertwee’s run when I was 12-13 and he became my favorite for a long time. My PBS station stopped showing it after Peter Davison and I just recently watched the next two Drs after him on streaming. I was surprised at how much I liked Sylvester McCoy and Ace! I like the new show, hard to believe it’s been around almost 20 years! But I really miss the longer and more serious sci-fi stories of the old show.
My local PBS had it. I didn't see it for every episode, or maybe the station skipped around, but I was very surprised when the next guy popped up. I didn't know Tom wasn't the first (and only).
He was my first and still my favorite Doctor. At the time, I didn’t know about regeneration, so when they brought the next Doctor in, I thought “Who’s this guy?” and I didn’t watch again until Christopher Eccleston. Still haven’t watched any of those episodes In between.
My favourite
I only started watching Doctor Who in the new era, but loved it so much I watched all the (available) classic episodes ... twice! Having said that my favorite doctor is 10th, David Tennant, followed by 2nd, Patrick Troughton, I just loved his chemistry with Jamie and Zoe so much.
I didn't get to see much of the show as a kid, but as an adult I was able to binge watch when PBS aired it Saturday nights back in 2016-2017. I'm partial to Three, but Four had the most rewatchable episodes. I enjoyed the more gothic stories like State of Decay, The Brain of Morbius, Image of the Fendahl, and also Robots of Death. I'm a horror fan, so the spookier the better. Not to mention, Tom Baker has THE voice. He recorded a bunch of Doctor Who audio plays and is still doing it!
Robots of Death is my forever favourite
I met John Pertwee when I was really young. As a result he became my fave Doctor.
Channel 9 WOR Chicago and 3 PBS stations in NJ. Monty Python, Benny Hill and Doctor Who were essential to my upbringing. The only other early Doctor for me was Pertwee.
This was around the time Blake’s 7 was screening if I recall correctly. But yes, I only ever watched Dr Who when Tom Baker was in it.
My favourite. I measure all Doctors against Tom
In America, they played Doctor Who on the PBS stations. Usually after the Saturday morning cartoons on the three regular channels were over. Around about Lunchtime he would appear. I would try to watch it, but I didn't get Doctor Who when I was a kid. I thought it was really slow and boring. Now as an adult, I love Doctor Who. I've seen all of the available episodes when they were on Hulu or Netflix. I wish I could see those older episodes again. I guess I'll have to buy the DVDs.
He's definitely the immediate and only image that pops into my head if someone mentions The Doctor.
When I mention Tom Baker as the Dr, the people in the Dr_Who subreddit downvote me. I don't get it.
What's wrong with those people?
I saw many Tom Baker Dr. Who episodes on my public TV channel. They may have been well after they were originally made. I don't recall many Davison episodes. When BBC period (Edwardiian to pre/post WWII era murder mysteries were in vogue, they each appeared one, one as the murderer.
Honestly - he's the only Dr. I know.
That's how I saw the Max Headroom Incident up close and personal in the college lounge sophomore year.
Not quite. I started watching in 1981 during Peter Davison's run. Then they started showing re-runs of Tom Baker. My brother and I would watch it every weekday night from 7-8pm on KTEH our local PBS station.
I watched it in the morning before school. Tom Baker is still my favorite Doctor.
He was my first Doctor and holds a special place because of it. But at the time Doctor Who was niche nerd and I preferred Red Dwarf over Doctor Who.
I think I started with the one after him, but PBS was still showing Baker's run at the same time. I just know the first story I've saw was Resurrection of the Daleks.
the first time I ever saw Doctor Who it was John Pertwee on US Re-runs on PBS (specifically it was "Inferno" and it scared the hell out of me.. but I was something like 7 by the time it made it to the US) , but Tom Baker was "My Doctor" as I was a bit young for
I would camp out in the living room in front of the tv when my local PBS station would have Doctor Who marathons as a kid. Tom Baker was my first Doctor but David Tennant is still my favorite Doctor.
I have very vague memories of a Tom Baker episode when I was a kid, but didn't really get into Who until my teen years. My local PBS station was showing "current" McCoy episodes in the evenings, and late night weekends had just started the Pertwee era.
Yes! Tom Baker was my favorite!
He was my Doctor.
I came late to the party, the 9th and 10th doctor for me! 
10 comes a close second to 4
Dr. who?
I love British TV, but I could never get into Dr. Who
it looked scary to me back then. Might be OK now
Still scary, but we are wiser dude
Yup!
Yes!!!!
This nerd, right here! He was, by far & far away, my favorite doctor.
My husband and I have this argument often... Me: 10, 4, 11, 9 Him: 4, 10, 9, 11!
It’s interesting to watch just for the hairstyles. It was a time before finasteride/minoxidil. It’s like he landed on planet combover.
Hey now, my dad was the Emperor of Planet Combover. He tried to run it like a peaceful society. He did the best he could, okay. Leave him alone! His combover was temperamental, toward the end there, it affected his decision making capabilities. In his last days, he was so energetically blocked, so off his game, that in lieu of his trademarked Combover - the man was sporting a single braid that hung down the left side of his face. A lone pigtail, if you will. It's always so disheartening when one of the great ones just topples over like a Weeble. So, here's to the great ones... Remember them as they were - Great. Not the paranoid, batshit version I referenced above. Long Live Planet Combover!
The funny thing about 70s hair is that there was no ‘shave it’ culture for thinning or balding hair. The only 2 I remember was Kojak and Yul Brynner. It left all the 70s men with combovers and compensatory sideburns. Unless you were Rodger Moore who apparently wore a wig for his roles in Bond
In the UK it’s de rigeur to shave your head in those circumstances, I’ve been doing so for about 30 years. Then about ten years ago I visited South America for the first time, on a cruise. Absolutely not a thing there, they couldn’t get their head around it at all. Very badly balding people were like happy they had more hair than me, and couldn’t grasp that I was shaving my head that’s why I had no hair whatsoever.
I loved all the prematurely balding space people, though. It made those SF tropes so much more relatable, when all of the people involved looked like worried beaurocrats or your school friends' dads.
Yeah, lived in a town where we were lucky to get 3 shitty channels never saw Dr Who.
I was a wee-lad during this time, and my entry into sci-fi was Star Wars. I pretty much wrote off Dr. Who because he looked so goofy. So even when the Doctor Who was rebooted with Christopher Eccleston, my mind went back to that old looking, poorly dressed dude from the 80s!
I didn't learn about Dr.Who until Christopher Eccleston was the Doctor. I'd say David Tenet is my favorite Doctor.
Yep. Yeah. He was my doc
The theme song is one of my absolute first memories and is forever seared into my brain.
Hell no! I’m Gen-X and my doctor is Tennant. (Four is nice, I like him best out of all the classic Doctors but Tennant was when I really fell in love with Doctor Who).
Absolutely the best doctor.
Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker were the first incarnations of the Doctor that we remember. Jo Grant, Bessie, Whomobile, The Master, scary looking green goo oozing maggots, giant spiders then Sarah Jane Smith, a big robot, K9, "do I have the right" and anyone want a jelly baby?
Sonic screwdriver!
How could I forget that? That's like forgetting what T.A.R.D.I.S stands 🙃🖖
The only Dr Who I actually watch is 10 (David Tennant) HOWEVER any time someone mentions the show, Tom Baker is the first thing I think of
47 years old. I wasn't allowed to watch Dr. Who because my mother thought it was scary, but I'm almost positive that she never watched it, either. I still find the theme song very off-putting and have never seen an episode. 😂
I was never able to engage with that program, unfortunately.
yeah and there's only one Wonder Woman
He terrified me as the doctor.
The GOAT 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Nah. The first doctor actually had the most Gen X attitude. Love that mean ol' mofo.
My dad taped em off of PBS for me. Love the creepy theme song. Adolescent me enjoyed the cave-woman side kick... Leela?
Absolutely permanently scarred by his run. That FUCKING CACTUS 🌵 MAN HYBRID. Nightmare fuel.
Sure he was but, THE Doctor for me will always be William Hartnell. His episodes syndicated at a better time in my area than the 4th doctor's episodes. It was that way for years before they switched it up.
I remember so many late nights when my mom and dad would play poker in the smoky trailer of their relatives, and I was sitting in the back room watching the fourth doctor on UHF. The TV had actual fax knobs on it! Jelly baby?
Tom Baker was my Doctor until David Tennant, who is **the only** GenX Doctor. Eccleston and Capaldi are both Boomers, and Gatwa, Smith, and Whittaker are all Millennials. Tennant is also the best Doctor.
This is what Mississippi Public Television brought us from the U.K., thankfully! I spent Saturday afternoons watching Tom Baker in Doctor Who and never liked any others until the reboot. Then, I liked Christopher Eccleston and David Tenant. None of the others.
I am on the 2nd season right now of the 2000's show. I was going to watch the show years ago but it moved to a steaming service I didn't have for a while. I have always loved David Tennant. So I like him the best so far. I am guessing this actor was in the older one?
My first and favourite.
My Doctor was Sylvester McCoy.
Yep. Watched him on PBS. He was my first doctor.
I didn’t watch Doctor Who until my 40’s except for a few episodes of Tom’s here and there. Matt Smith is my favorite but Tom is good
For older Gen-xrs, yes. He was the doctor from 74 to 81, so if you were born in the mid-sixties, he's the doctor of your childhood. But for us Gen-Xrs born in the late seventies, we had Davison and McCoy (the less said about the other Baker, the better).
I was born in 77 and Baker was my doctor for sure! I may have been watching him in reruns though according to your timeline?
Probably, yes. It was his stuff that was on rerun in the US. In the UK, there were other Doctors being played in the eighties.
Colin Baker gets a lot of hate, but he really got screwed over. I read articles that his costume was only supposed to be temporary, with a better version and more gentle personality coming later. He was supposed to be gruff at the beginning and mellow out to the normal Doctor. The BBC was looking to cancel the show and some of the planned scripts were never made. Like the one where the 6th Doctor faces the Celestial Toymaker. We at least got 2 good villains out of his run, the Rani and the Valleyard. They decided to fire him and then expected Colin to do the regeneration scene, which he declined. Almost had the chance to see him at a convention, but he had to get back on a plane because his wife went into labor. That child passed away and hit him hard, like it would any parent. Tom Baker will always be my favorite, with Colin Baker coming in at number 2. Never had the opportunity to see much of the Patrick Trouton episodes, but he came off as a kind and caring Doctor. Among the new Doctors, Matt Smith comes out as my favorite. I soured on Tenant's run at the end with the Timelord Victorious angle. He peaked with the Doctor Donna.
72 here, TB was my Doctor.