One of the most appealing aspects of Doctor Who is that the reality created within the show is conceptually strong enough to handle the replacement of every single actor in it. This means that fandom and appreciation can be comfortably spread over the entire 50-year run. Second Doctor fans can debate their preferences with Sixth Doctor fans, and no one can be definitively wrong or right.
That said, there are a few good reasons why Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, often comes out as the most popular of all of the incarnations in the classic series, an affection that sometimes rivals the more recent Doctors too.
Read the rest at Anglophenia
Watch the Fourth Doctor Revisited special tonight at 8/7c on BBC America
2013 is DOCTOR WHO’s 50th Anniversary. Each month, BBC AMERICA takes the TARDIS back in time with Brand New Specials on all eleven Doctors. This month, it’s Fourth Doctor TOM BAKER!
Don’t miss the Premiere of the fourth DOCTOR WHO: THE DOCTORS REVISITED Special, plus the classic Fourth Doctor storyline “Pyramids of Mars” Sunday April 28 at 8/7c on BBC America.
Take an in-depth look at the fourth incarnation of the truly timeless Time Lord, who quickly made the part his own, and with his eccentric style of dress and speech — particularly his trademark long scarf — immediately became a recognizable figure. Playing the role for seven consecutive seasons over a seven-year period, he’s the longest-serving actor in the part so far. With exclusive interviews with lead writer & executive producer STEVEN MOFFAT, producer MARCUS WILSON, companion LOUISE JAMESON and TOM BAKER himself!
Then, in the story “Pyramids of Mars,” the Doctor and his companion Sarah Jane Smith (ELISABETH SLADEN) attempt to free a pyramid imprisoned Egyptologist from his possession by Sutekh, the last of a powerful alien called the Osirans.And if you missed the first three ‘Revisited’ specials, watch them on BBC America today beginning at 6:30/5:30c.
DOCTOR WHO Revisited: TOM BAKER - Apr 28 BBC AMERICA
2013 is DOCTOR WHO’s 50th Anniversary. Each month, BBC AMERICA takes the TARDIS back in time with Brand New Specials on all eleven Doctors. This month, it’s Fourth Doctor TOM BAKER:
Take an in-depth look at the fourth incarnation of the truly timeless Time Lord, who quickly made the part his own, and with his eccentric style of dress and speech — particularly his trademark long scarf — immediately became a recognizable figure. Playing the role for seven consecutive seasons over a seven-year period, he’s the longest-serving actor in the part so far. With exclusive interviews with lead writer & executive producer STEVEN MOFFAT, producer MARCUS WILSON, companion LOUISE JAMESON and TOM BAKER himself!
“I didn’t play Doctor Who, I was Doctor Who.”
Then, in the story “Pyramids of Mars,” the Doctor and his companion Sarah Jane Smith (ELISABETH SLADEN) attempt to free a pyramid imprisoned Egyptologist from his possession by Sutekh, the last of a powerful alien called the Osirans.Don’t miss the Premiere of the fourth DOCTOR WHO: THE DOCTORS REVISITED Special, plus the classic Fourth Doctor storyline “Pyramids of Mars” *** Sunday April 28 at 8/7c *** only on BBC America.
(Source: youtube.com)
Pictured above: producer Philip Hinchcliffe with actors Louise Jameson and Tom Baker, who, of course, played companion Leela and the fourth Doctor.
Also in attendance, however, were Anneke Wills (1960s companion Polly), and Brian and Sadie Miller, husband and daughter of Elisabeth Sladen, who died almost exactly two years ago. Before her latterday success with The Sarah Jane Adventures, Sladen was a key figure in the Tom Baker period and, as a tribute, a clip was played of her in buoyant form at a BFI event from 2010.
Read more at Radio Times
DoctorWho.tv has launched the tribute page up for the Fourth Doctor:
From witnessing the genesis of the Daleks to preventing the death of the universe at Logopolis, the Fourth Doctor was an adventurer on an epic scale. Armed with a gleeful smile, swashbuckling charm and righteous morality, he defeated Sontarans, ancient vampires and the Black Guardian.
It was this incarnation of the Doctor that found and reassembled the Key to Time, that tried to reason with Davros at the birth of the Daleks, and was invested as Lord President of the High Council of Time Lords. Always selfless, his fourth body died saving the universe from the Master. But that moment had been prepared for…
The stamps were recently launched at an event in London, with former Doctors Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Paul McGann in attendance.
The Doctor Who stamps are available at 9,000 Post Office Branches (UK only) and online from www.royalmail.com/doctorwho globally.
In addition to the eleven stamps featuring the Doctors, a five-stamp miniature sheet is also available, featuring a TARDIS and some of the Doctor’s most famous foes; a Dalek, a Cyberman, an Ood and a Weeping Angel. See the Doctor Who stamp designs here.
(via celestialcow)
Tom Baker (4th Doctor) & Louise Jameson (Leela) Then & Now.
I adored all of their episodes together SO much! Leela’s one of my favorite companions & Tom Baker is my favorite Doctor.
photos from Louise Jameson’s blog
(via heartoftardis)
via the Doctor Who Facebook Page:
England in the 1920s. The Doctor and Romana make a chance discovery of alien technology that leads them deep into the heart of the English countryside where a malign presence lurks…
Doctor Who: The Auntie Matter audio adventure, starring Tom Baker and Mary Tamm, is now available from Big Finish Productions. Listen to the trailer and get your copy here: http://bit.ly/W6z4eh
In November 2013, Big Finish will be releasing Doctor Who: The Light at the End, a very special 100-minute story to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who. Tom Baker (1974-81), Peter Davison (1982-84), Colin Baker (1984-86), Sylvester McCoy (1987-89) and Paul McGann (1996) will all reprise their roles as, respectively, the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Doctors, whose paths suddenly intersect when they face imminent destruction.
“We wanted to do a proper, fully-fledged multi-Doctor story for this very special occasion,” says writer, director and executive producer Nicholas Briggs, “and it’s wonderful that all the surviving Doctors threw themselves behind the project so enthusiastically. That’s not to say the first three Doctors don’t appear – we wanted to pay homage to the whole history of the classic series.”
The Doctors will also be joined by a number of their regular companions: Louise Jameson reprises the role of the savage Leela, Sarah Sutton plays the scientist Nyssa, Nicola Bryant is American botany student Peri, Sophie Aldred is streetwise kid Ace and India Fisher returns as Edwardian adventurer Charley Pollard.
“And that’s not all,” says producer David Richardson, “because Geoffrey Beevers is back to create mayhem as the Master, and there will be a number of appearances from some much-cherished old friends from the TV series…”
Doctor Who: The Light at the End will be released in two different versions. A five-disc limited special edition comes with two hour-long documentaries, plus The Revenants, a Companion Chronicles tale which began life as a free Doctor Who Magazine download. It’s performed by William Russell, who starred in the very first TV story as Ian Chesterton. The special edition comes in beautiful special packaging, and will include a number of exclusive professionally photographed images of the cast.
The standard edition comprises two discs, featuring the two hour-long episodes of the story.
The collection marks the 50th anniversary of sci-fi show Doctor Who, with all 11 Doctors getting their own first class stamp.
Four of the show’s most notorious villains, including the Daleks and the Cybermen, star on the second class set.
The show first ran from 1963 to 1989. A successful revival returned it to Saturday night schedules in 2005.
Andrew Hammond of the Royal Mail said the commemorative selection “pay tribute to the brilliant actors that have played the Doctor over the years, as well as the adversaries that helped make the show so popular”
This is a great read. Check out this bit by famed science fiction writer Stephen Baxter about First Doctor William Hartnell:
It was surely necessary that the Doctor had to be old in his first incarnation; that sense of age has always lingered. Even today a key part of Matt Smith’s reading of the role is that he is an old man in a young man’s body. And that agedness is rooted in Hartnell’s authoritative playing. My favourite single line of Hartnell’s actually came in tenth-anniversary special “The Three Doctors” when he berates his successors: “So you’re my replacements – a dandy and a clown. Have you done anything?”
h/t anglophenia!
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