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Remilia Scarlet foresees more to this article's fate, and any and all information on it may be outdated. Help improve this article by checking and updating its info wherever necessary. And now time resumes! |
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| “ | Hello! I'm the Doctor! | „ |
| ~ The Doctor's most frequent greeting. |
| “ | I cross the void beyond the mind, the empty space that circles time. I see where others stumble blind, to seek a truth they never find. Eternal wisdom is my guide. I am the Doctor. Through cosmic waste the TARDIS flies, to taste the secret source of life. A presence science can't deny exists within, outside, behind... The latitude of human minds.. I am the Doctor. My voyage dissects the course of time, "Who knows?," you say. But are you right? Who searches deep to find the light that glows so darkly in the night. Toward that point I guide my flight. As fingers move to end mankind, metallic teeth begin their grind. With sword of truth I turn to fight the satanic powers of the night. Is your faith before your mind? Know me: Am I the Doctor? |
„ |
| ~ Lyrics from Jon Pertwee (The Third Doctor)'s spoken word LP track "Who Is The Doctor?". |
| “ | Winning? Is that what you think it’s about? I’m not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone — or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It’s not because it’s fun. God knows it’s not because it's easy. It’s not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do because it's right! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind! It's just that. Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live — maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, maybe there’s no point in any of this at all, but it's the best I can do. So I'm going to do it, and I will stand here doing it until it kills me. You're going to die, too, someday. When will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand is where I fall. | „ |
| ~ The Twelfth Doctor's speech to the Master and Missy. |
The Doctor is the titular main protagonist of the Doctor Who franchise.
They are a Time Lord, a human-like alien who protects the Earth, along with countless other worlds, throughout time and space, from such menaces as the Daleks and the Master. Unlike the rest of their race of time travellers, they use time travel to interfere with events, which is forbidden by their race, in an effort to protect civilizations from a variety of threats.
They are famous for their time traveling ship called the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space), their sonic screwdriver and the ability to regenerate into a new form with a slightly different personality if they are either injured or on the verge of death, though their species is normally able to regenerate only twelve times.
To date, the Doctor has had fifteen regenerations, the original thirteen along with a later new set of twelve regenerations. Most of the time, the Doctor has been portrayed as male but can also take on female appearance.
Despite being the main protagonist, there have been some episodes throughout the series where the Doctor is a supporting/minor character and instead one of their companions or a guest character takes the role of protagonist for that episode.
Portrayals[]
The Doctor has been portrayed by at least seventeen different actors over the course of the TV series, with many others also voicing them in Big Finish's audio dramas.
On television, the first Doctor was played by the late William Hartnell, and would be played by the late Richard Hurndall in The Five Doctors, and David Bradley in Twice Upon a Time, who had previously played Hartnell in the docu-drama An Adventure in Space and Time. The Second Doctor would be played by the late Patrick Troughton. The Third Doctor was played by the late Jon Pertwee, who also played Worzel Gummidge. The Fourth Doctor was played by Tom Baker, who to date has the longest lasting tenure as the Doctor. The Fifth Doctor was played by Peter Davison, who also played Albert Campion in the titular series. The Sixth Doctor was played by Colin Baker. The Seventh Doctor was played by Sylvester McCoy, who also played Radagast in The Hobbit Trilogy. The Eighth Doctor was played by Paul McGann, who also played William Bush in Hornblower.
After the series was revived in 2005, the Ninth Doctor was played by Christopher Eccleston, who departed after one series. The Tenth Doctor would be portrayed by David Tennant, who would later return in 2022-23 to portray the Fourteenth Doctor. The Eleventh Doctor would be played by Matt Smith, and during his era the War Doctor was played by the late John Hurt. The Twelfth Doctor was portrayed by Peter Capaldi. The Thirteenth Doctor was portrayed by Jodie Whittaker, and during her era the Fugitive Doctor is played by Jo Martin. The Fifteenth and current Doctor is portrayed by Ncuti Gatwa.
In Big Finish's audio dramas, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Tom Baker, Sir John Hurt, David Tennant, David Bradley, Christopher Eccleston, and Jo Martin have all reprised their role as the Doctor. As well as this, several other actors have voiced Doctors whose actors are unavailable, or have passed away, such as Tim Treolar in the Third Doctor Adventures, Jacob Dudman as the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors in The Doctor Chronicles, Jonathan Carley as a younger War Doctor in The War Doctor Begins, Stephen Noonan in the First Doctor Adventures, and Michael Troughton in the Second Doctor Adventures.
Biography[]
Early life[]
| “ | If you're curious about my past, I want there to be as many wrong answers as possible. | „ |
| ~ The Eighth Doctor, Unnatural History |
There were a variety of different and contradictory accounts of the Doctor's early life before their travels with Susan. Most often, the Doctor had always been a Time Lord from Gallifrey and had not regenerated before leaving in the TARDIS.
However, the Doctor's own memories were unclear regarding their early life and origins, and several accounts suggested that they had non-Gallifreyan origins (human or otherwise) or incarnations before the one who fled Gallifrey.
The many contradictory accounts of the Doctor's early life were equally and paradoxically true due to the Doctor's biodata being retroactively manipulated by a number of factors, such as; the Other, Omega, Faction Paradox, subconscious regeneration influences, the Toymaker, and, above all, the impact of Doctor's own adventures through time.
In the TV series[]
Upon reaching adulthood, The Doctor (as a male) had a family and gained a granddaughter named Susan.
They travel through time and space in a spacecraft called the TARDIS, frequently with human companions, averting any crisis they come across using science, technology, and wit. As a Time Lord, they has the ability to regenerate, or change their appearance and personality whenever they are injured or on the verge of death. Although the series is titled Doctor Who, this is not the character's name: they are only ever referred to as The Doctor and their real name remains mysteriously unknown. From the ninth to eleventh incarnation, the Doctor was believed to be the last surviving member of the Time Lords, and was under the impression that he, during his War Doctor incarnation, had destroyed Gallifrey in order to end a devastating Time War against the Daleks. He later learned differently, when the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor had the opportunity with their wartime incarnation, to save Gallifrey.
The Time Lords of Gallifrey imposed a limit as to how many regenerations one may have before final death - twelve changes, or thirteen incarnations. Due to the "War Doctor" not accepting the name Doctor, and the Tenth Doctor undergoing an aborted regeneration at one point, the Eleventh Doctor believed himself to be the last incarnation. At the nick of time, the Time Lords bestowed upon him a new regeneration cycle, allowing him to ultimately transform into the Twelfth Doctor and beyond.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Regeneration: When a Time Lord is dying of old age or mortally wounded, they are able to use a process called regeneration. Regeneration is a little trick that the Time Lords use to “cheat death” by having every cell in their body undergo “a renewal”, completely changing their physical appearance and personality. Even thought the Doctor has taken several different incarnations which can vary in gender, skin color, and age, while still remains the same person inside and remains a force for good. Time Lords usually only have twelve regenerations in a cycle, allowing for thirteen incarnations, however the Doctor was given a new regenerative cycle during their final battle on Trenzalore, letting them regenerate past the normal limit. It is also possible the Doctor has an infinite number of regenerations, meaning he/she could live potentially forever. With regeneration, the Doctor can regrow lost limbs, become strong enough to knock down a steel door, and even survive falling from the stratosphere into a train. Due to "vanity issues", the Tenth Doctor used up a regeneration after being blasted by a Dalek, which resulted in the creation of the Meta-Crisis Doctor. The regeneration energy itself can be used as weapon; Time Lords can use their regenerative energy to survive being shot by a group of soldiers and channel it into a focused blast of energy that knocked out the entire squad. The regeneration energy can destroy an entire Dalek fleet, and damage the TARDIS. The biggest downside is that Time Lords can die permanently if killed "again" at the right time during the regenerative process.
- Bi-generation: Bi-generation is an extremely rare variant of regeneration which the Doctor believed to be a myth until their fifteenth incarnation bi-generated from the Fourteenth Doctor. Instead of one incarnation directly changing into the next, as seen with the regeneration process, bi-generation instead causes the new incarnation to split from the previous, allowing both to exist simultaneously.
- High Intelligence: Although considered average at most by Time Lord standards, the Doctor is vastly more intelligent than most beings in the universe. They have an almost universal knowledge of nearly every species in the universe and has learned many skills from traveling throughout human and alien history. The Doctor is an expert on technology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, history, non-human biology, genetics and nearly every field of science (except ironically human medicine, as some incarnations say they are not a medical doctor). They have created advanced scientific equipment out of ordinary junk and improvised strategic plans to save whole planets and the universe in short amounts of time, sometimes calculating complex plans in a matter of nanoseconds. The Doctor has used deception, manipulation, and trickery to outsmart his enemies all his lives.
- Acausality/Temporal Resistance: The Doctor can exist outside of localized time loops and is merely weakened when his past selves are taken or erased outside of time-line. Time Lords are stated to exist outside "the normal chain of causal events”. They are able to retain memories of prior timelines, remember people and events who were erased from history, move in slowed or frozen time, and resist other temporal manipulation abilities.
- Probability: It was stated that causality loops around him and that the "odds collapse" in his presence.
- Time Sensitivity/Precognition: Time Lords can see the flow of Time itself. They have been shown to have space and time awareness that allows them to see time and detect changes in events. The Eighth Doctor demonstrated the ability to predict the future as well as the past. The Doctor can remember events from a time loop even when those affected forgot, and the Tenth Doctor had once changed an outcome with his awareness, doing the same thing twice.
- Omnilingualism: He is able to speak and understand virtually every language in existence. Although his ship, the TARDIS, is said to translate for his companions, the Doctor possesses this ability on his own. He can even communicate with some animals, such as cats and even dinosaurs.
- Skilled Combatant: The Doctor is an expert in swordfighting, marksmanship, and martial arts (especially Venusian Aikido) from having picked up these skills as a time-traveler, although he rarely uses them and would rather solve things peacefully or outsmart his enemies instead.
- Venusian Aikido: Even while unarmed, the Doctor can still fight hand-to-hand. Their main style of close quarters combat is Venusian Aikido/Karate. A martial art that uses joint locks, throws and kicks, as well as pressure points, completely paralyzing others while still being harmless; however, if the Doctor were to use the paralyzing technique on someone for long enough, they become permanently paralyzed.
- Superhuman Strength: The Doctor is stated to be stronger than he looks. The Doctor can get a superhuman strength boost during regeneration to karate-chop a brick in half, and break down steel doors. The Doctor has snap a man’s neck, rip a stone arm off, and broke an Azbantium wall that stated to be 400 times harder than diamond. The Doctor is strong enough to outmatch a Cyberman in strength, who can punch through the steel plate. The First Doctor's dying of old age had earlier rendered him "weak as a kitten", but his oncoming regeneration temporarily provides him with renewed strength and vitality (as explained to him by the Twelfth). However, some incarnations of the Doctor have demonstrated above-average strength in his adventures when necessary.
- Heightened Senses: Time Lords have shown their senses are on a whole different level than that of a human, as the Doctor can figure things out from the tiniest bit of information. Can notice paradoxes with their sense of smell, taste teleportation in the air, and can see this white crystal that is out of sync with time. Their eyesight can go as far as recognising Time Lords despite their regeneration, and even see that people like Captain Jack Harkness are a “fixed point.”
- Superhuman Durability: Gallifreyans were, on the whole, extremely tough and resilient. An average Gallifreyan was superior to a human at their peak. The Doctor has been able to survive the attempts of a living star possessing him, X-ray radiation increased to over 5000%, bolts of lightning that can reach temperatures of at most 30,000 kelvins, extreme cold and heat, the subzero temperatures and extremely low pressure of vacuum for around six minutes, falling from the stratosphere to the train, a full strike from a Mondasian Cyberman's laser beam, exposure to the Time Destructor that age human to death, and even the universe being erased around him. While Dalek gunsticks had the capability to disintegrate targets if fired at full blast, the Tenth Doctor was able to briefly survive being hit with such a shot before being forced to regenerate. The Tenth Doctor survived a fall from a low flying spaceship through a glass skylight and was able to stand and move afterwards. However, the fall from a radio telescope dish was enough to cause the Fourth Doctor to regenerate. He is also more resilient to radiation, allowing him to be barely harmed by an X-ray machine's radiation, though it was 500,000 rads of radiation bolt was what caused the Tenth Doctor to regenerate into the Eleventh Doctor in what seemed to be hours after exposure. The residual regeneration energy provided a Time Lord with significantly greater endurance; the Thirteenth Doctor fell out of the stratosphere and into a train without suffering any major damage, even reacting as if she had fallen from a simple loss of balance. However, the Thirteenth Doctor was fatally wounded by the Qurunx's destructive blast, which can destroy a planet, where she regenerated into the Fourteenth Doctor. The Doctor is immune to alcohol or wine. Normal sleep-inducing drugs take twice as long to take their effect on him as it does a normal human being and are not able to keep him asleep for long.
- Respiratory Bypass System: As a Time Lord, the Doctor had a respiratory bypass system, which allowed them to hold their breath for an extended period of time, in order to survive strangulation and to avoid drowning. Even in the vacuum of space, the Doctor could survive far longer than a human, though this left the Twelfth Doctor blinded, and survive without a suit for some time.
- Superhuman Speed: Is stated by the Third Doctor himself to have reflexes ten times faster than a human being. Time Lords are able to disappear from the sight of others or avoid well-trained people. The Fourteenth Doctor has the agility to outrun pursing Daleks while simultaneously avoiding their gunstick fire, and the speed necessary to catch up to his not-thing counterpart in spite of their head start. The Twelfth Doctor even dodged half a dozen disintegration rays while also improvising thousands of calculations in his head to siphon the rays' energy into a teleporter in a matter of nanoseconds. The Doctor has spent much of his adventures running away and dodging enemy weaponry while surviving unscathed.
- Superhuman Stamina: Able to run for long periods of time without tiring.
- Superhuman Healing: Besides regeneration, Time Lords heal much faster than humans, as well as a special ability to go into a healing coma which accelerates the healing process even faster. During the first 15 hours after regeneration, Time Lords possesses enough residual regenerative energy to regrow lost limbs and survive falling out of the stratosphere with no noticeable injuries or concussion. When the regeneration process starts, other minor injuries can heal instantly.
- Telepathy: The Doctor is capable of using psychometric telepathy and related psychic abilities (e.g. memory control and hypnosis), via physical contact, usually by touching a person's head. He can use a headbutt to have others know about his alien origins and incarnations instantly. He is highly resistant to psychic attacks, possession, and other effects targeting his mind. Once, the Tenth Doctor used a telepathic satellite network to channel all of humanities' hope when they all spoke and thought his name at the same time, resulting in him being able revert his age, fly and levitate, and even telekinetically disarm an opponent. However, he only had these powers for a few minutes before returning to normal.
- Flight: Time Lords occasionally displayed, or referred to, an ability to fly. The Doctor has made references to being able to fly or levitate throughout their incarnations while being able to appear in places they should not have been able to without flight. However, this ability has so far not been clearly explained in the series so it is unknown if the Doctor actually has the power of flight.
- Enhanced Resistances: As The Doctor has proven in almost all situations, they are tough to control or kill. Thanks to some of his Time Lord biology, the Doctor has shown a lot of resistance to many hax and abilities over their time-fighting. The Doctor has shown a strong mind as they were not affected by the Master’s, BOSS’, this plant monster shown above’s, or even the Eternals’ mind control. The Doctor has fought against the Writer’s influence once in the Land of Fiction, the Doctor still had control over themselves at times. The Doctor could resist time being frozen by Kronos and Lamprey. The Doctor could also move in when time was being reversed and stopped time. Because the Time Lords bonded with time, it makes them harder to erase. The Doctor once put his hand in one of the Cracks of Time; the effects of the crack in time can erase people from time, reality, and memory. In the past, the Daleks have attempted to mess with a Time Lord’s DNA and failed miserably. Their DNA is also potentially connected to the time vortex. They are also immune to the nanocloud, which uses nanogenes to convert non-Dalek individuals into Dalek puppets. All Time Lords are capable of resisting various powers of the Sisterhood of Karn, who can cause death and insanity with their psychic powers and official Time Lords are able to resist and see the Time Vortex for long periods of time without falling into madness. The Doctor is further highly resistant to magic, enough that it is described they forced the laws of physics to reassert themselves and effectively cancelled out magic in their presence.
- Longevity: The Second Doctor stated that Time Lords can "live forever, barring accidents." Thanks to regeneration and his own natural longevity, the Doctor has lived for many centuries—his first incarnation alone existed for over 450 years. Time Lords, in general consider 700 years to be middle ages, though its unknown if that is for just one incarnation or their entire lives. By the time of the Seventh Doctor he has stated he is approximately 956 years old. However, the Ninth Doctor he says he has forgotten his age and restarts from 900 years, while the Eleventh Doctor guessed that he was 1,200, though he also said he had forgotten. By the time he has regenerated into the Twelfth Doctor he can be estimated to be at least 2,000 years old, if not older. The Fourteenth Doctor claimed to Donna that he was a billion years old.
- Fourth Wall Awareness: The Doctor has shown awareness that they are a fictional character in a TV series on rare occasions, even traveling using the TARDIS into the "real world" in the Expanded Universe.
Equipment[]
- The TARDIS: The TARDIS is the Doctor’s space-time machine that he stole from Gallifrey to travel with ever since his first incarnation, with the name standing for "Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space". Although it takes the form of a British police public call box, the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, capable of traveling anywhere in time and space. The Doctor shares an unbreakable bond with the TARDIS and considers it to be their closest companion in all their incarnations. It has a tractor beam that can tow planets, can block the Black Guardian from breaching the TARDIS, send 2-dimensional beings back to their dimension, create controlled temporal implosions to escape paradoxes, can plug up holes in the universe, and is durable to survive black holes and supernovas. It can manipulate its own interior space and time. The TARDIS surrounded the Celestial Toymaker's realm and jettisoned both it and the Toymaker into space. The TARDIS Matrix has been stated to be 11th Dimensional that the Doctor used the 11th Dimensional Matrixes within the TARDIS to defeat the Quantum Archangel. It stated that if the TARDIS Matrix was destroyed, it could tear open a hole in the universe. It has also been said that if then TARDIS self-destructed, it could destroy all of reality - not just one universe but all of existence. This is backed up in the Season 5 Finale, where the TARDIS was causing the entire universe to collapse and the TARDIS was one of the factors directly responsible for the re-start of the Doctor Who Multiverse in a New Big Bang.
- Vortex energy: Vortex energy is dangerous, "unrefined" temporal energy from the Time Vortex. It flowed through the Heart of the TARDIS, but it was dangerous to try and power the TARDIS directly with vortex energy, which could cause power surges in the TARDIS control console. The Doctor has absorbed the vortex energy itself on multiple occasions and was able to weaponise it. It can be accessed by looking into the Heart of the TARDIS as Rose Tyler did. With it, the Eighth Doctor became a transcendent being. While in this state, he was powerful enough to instantly disintegrate the Flood Cybermen from existence and essentially became a god that could see all of reality until he decided to give up his god-hood in order to save his companion. The Ninth Doctor absorbed the vortex energy from the Bad Wolf in order to save Rose Tyler's life, and released it back into the TARDIS. The Thirteenth Doctor unleashed the vortex energy from the TARDIS console at the Flux, that it halt the Flux and prevented it from destroying all of the universe.
- TARDIS Key: A key that can be used to summon the TARDIS around himself. If the TARDIS is removed from the deactivated and removed from Space-Time, the Doctor could bring it back with enough power.
- TARDIS Homing Watch: Can be used to locate a TARDIS.
- TARDIS Power Cell: TARDISes contained power cells. After the Doctor's TARDIS seemingly perished when it fell into Pete's World, the Tenth Doctor found a "insignificant little" power cell clinging onto life. By providing ten years' worth of his own life energy, enabling it to power the TARDIS back up within 24 hours. In the meantime, the Doctor used the power cell's energy to disintergrate a group of Cybermen when they refused his surrender. However, he could not do so repeatedly as the cell took four hours to recharge.
- Sonic Screwdriver: The Sonic Screwdriver is a multi-purpose tool that allows him to, power-up, hack into, repair, open, create a sonic force blast, generating shields, destroy/disable various things, and even erase memories. The Sonic Screwdriver doesn’t work on wood or anything with a deadlock seal.
- Dwarf Star Chains/Unbreakable Chains: The Doctor can bind his foes with chains that were forged in the heart of a dwarf star.
- Time Ring: A device that allowed for time-travel.
- Signet Ring: Before the 2nd Doctor introduced the Sonic Screwdriver, the very first had his Signet Ring. He would give it away, but it was one of the oldest weapons he used. While it does have the same unlocking, energy protection, and repairing as the Sonic screwdriver, the unique feature of this device is hypnosis. It also helped increase the strength of the Doctor’s own hypnosis abilities and also allowed them to cast some magic spells.
- Android Assassin Teleport Bracelet: A teleport bracelet was owned by the Doctor who stole it from Android Assassins who had captured him.
- Invisibility Watch: A device that allowed the Doctor to turn invisible. The Doctor could also sense when it was being used.
- 2Dis: The 2Dis was a device created by the Twelfth Doctor to return objects flattened by the Boneless to their original three-dimensional state, and from three-dimensions to two-dimensions again.
- Dinosaur Stun Gun: A gadget the Doctor designed to temporarily neutralize a dinosaur’s brain cells, causing it to faint. It was used successfully on a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
- De-Mat Gun: A weapon that when fired, erases the enemy from all of reality. Its weakness is that after one shot it destroys the gun, because it is so powerful. Also requires the Great Key of Rassilon to arm it (although during the Time War, many were produced). The Doctor later modified the De-mat Gun so it could remove millions from time and space at once, can also be used to sealing the Medusa Cascade.
- Dimension Vault: A Dimension Vault was technology of Dalek design. The Tenth Doctor used the device to send the remains of the CyberKing into the Time Vortex, where it would be disintegrated.
- Key to Time: A perfect crystalline cube separated into six parts that the Doctor had to obtain by the request of the White Guardian. The Key to Time maintains the equilibrium of time itself, exists at every point in time and extends to all 4 dimensions. With one of the pieces, you can travel through different planets and change your entire appearance to someone else. Another piece gave its holder the ability to see the future and demonstrated enough power to make a normal-sized squid grow to gigantic proportions after swallowing it. Even just 5 of the pieces can trap you into a time loop, the Doctor can change the size or length of this looped time and is capable of causing a temporal quake that could rip apart the space-time continuum. The complete Key to Time grants the user power over every particle in the universe and over everything that has ever existed or will exist. It was said to maintain balance and equilibrium, similarly to the Eye of Harmony - with the result that disrupting the links between the segments could damage the fabric of the universe. It can rewrite matter, change the state of quanta, and start and stop the universe.
- The Moment: The most powerful and dangerous weapon in all of creation forged by the ancient Time Lords, only was never used because of its sheer destructiveness. The War Doctor intended to use it to end the Last Great Time War only was spared from activating it when the Moment's sentient interface intervened, causing him to chose another method to save the universe with the aid of all his other incarnations.
- Space-Time Vortex Crystal: Can summon a time storm from the Space-Time Vortex which swept away the Eternals' powers.
The Doctors[]
First Doctor[]
The First Doctor
| “ | Our destiny is in the stars, so let's go and search for it. | „ |
| ~ The First Doctor in The Reign of Terror. |
The First Doctor was the titular protagonist of Seasons 1-3 and a major protagonist in Season 4 in the classic series of Doctor Who. He returns as a minor character in the 10th Anniversary Special and a major character in the 20th Anniversary Special. He is the youngest incarnation of the Doctor, but had the most aged physical appearance, having grown old through a natural lifespan. This Doctor was an unreadable, guarded figure who was, at first, slow to trust newcomers who learnt of him. At heart though, the Doctor was a kind and mischievous figure. He was protective of the young women he took on as companions; they reminded him of his granddaughter, Susan, his very first companion. This Doctor was a brilliant, often short-tempered scientist and keen strategist. He used his signet ring to help get himself through ordeals due to his physical age impeding him. He stole a TARDIS and took his granddaughter with him, joyriding through all space and time, without a clue as to how to drive the thing.
After he and Susan were discovered by her teachers, Ian and Barbara, the Doctor kidnapped them to prevent them telling anyone. However, the Doctor regretted his hasty actions, and instead devoted his energies to returning them home. Over time, their influence led to the Doctor becoming a more compassionate and heroic figure, especially after encountering the Daleks. After he let Susan live with a man she loved, they took on Vicki, an energetic youngster who shared much in common with him. After Ian and Barbara found a way to return home, the Doctor and Vicki had gained a new companion in Steven Taylor, with whom the Doctor had a relatively uneasy relationship. Vicki eventually left the Doctor's company as well, during the Siege of Troy.
Shortly after this however, the Doctor, Steven and Katarina, a Trojan handmaiden, were embroiled in a lengthy battle with the Daleks, where Katarina gave her life to protect them, and they would take on security agent Sara, who also died ensuring the Daleks were defeated. This led Steven soon became bitter towards the Doctor, but would forgive him. They were then joined by Dodo Chaplet. Ultimately, Steven decided to stay to help a civilisation they had encountered, while Dodo later decided to remain home, while the aging Doctor found himself joined by Ben Jackson and Polly Wright.
Throughout his adventures, with a developing moral centre, the Doctor played deadly games with the Celestial Toymaker, he fooled Roman emperors, Mongol warlords and French revolutionaries, and he foiled each and every machination of the Daleks. After preventing the Cybermen from absorbing the Earth's energy, the Doctor felt his body “wearing a bit thin”. Initially frightened of the change, as seen in the 2017 Christmas Special Twice Upon a Time, he encountered a later incarnation, and was assured his future was in safe hands. Afterwards, the Doctor regenerated into his Second incarnation.
Second Doctor[]
The Second Doctor
| “ | Our lives are different to anybody else's. That's the exciting thing. No one in the universe can do what we're doing. | „ |
| ~ The Second Doctor to Victoria Waterfield, The Tomb of the Cybermen. |
The Second Doctor was the titular protagonist in Seasons 4-6 of the classic series of Doctor Who. He returns as a major character in the 10th and 20th Anniversary Specials. In contrast to his preceding incarnation, was warm and wise. He was as surprised and frightened of alien menaces as those who faced them with him. He had a knack for manipulation and deception. His predecessor would refer to him as a "clown" due to his bumbling nature. He loved tootling on his recorder and carried around a 500-year diary, trying to record his travels, but ended up discarding it. He wore a big fur coat that dwarfed him, tying it closed with twine. A "cosmic hobo" with a Beatles-esque mop of black hair, he was forever getting himself in and out of trouble.
While "inheriting" Ben and Polly from his previous incarnation, the Second Doctor's closest companion was Jamie McCrimmon, a Scottish Highlander from the Battle of Culloden, who he shared a mutual bond of trust with. After Ben and Polly left them, they met Victoria Waterfield, who the Doctor was asked to look after due to the death of her father. After she found a new home, the Doctor gained an intellectual equal in prodigy Zoe Heriot. During his wanderings, he faced the Cybermen several times, as well as the Daleks, even attempting to bring about their "final end", but encountered new threats, such as the Great Intelligence and his Robot Yeti, and the "Ice Warriors".
In The War Games, while travelling with James and Zoe, the Doctor faced the "War Lords", who allied with one of his own people in their scheme to conquer the galaxy. Unable to defeat them alone, the Second Doctor was forced to summon the Time Lords for aid. He was soon separated from his companions, and forced to undergo regeneration - essentially submit to execution - by the Time Lords as punishment for interfering with the affairs of many worlds. However, some stories indicate that the Celestial Intervention Agency was able to stay the execution for a while in exchange for the Doctor providing his services to them, until he was eventually forced to regenerate in exile.
Third Doctor[]
The Third Doctor
| “ | Good grief! | „ |
| ~ The Third Doctor’s most common saying. |
The Third Doctor was the titular protagonist in Seasons 7-11 of the classic series of Doctor Who and a major character in the 20th Anniversary Special. He was a more dashing figure than his predecessors. He was described by his first incarnation as a "dandy". He had a penchant for inventing gadgets and was skilled at martial arts, particularly Venusian aikido, and owned a vintage car named Bessie. Trapped on Earth without the memory of how to fix the TARDIS, the Doctor worked with UNIT as their scientific adviser, and could seem frustrated and bitter. However, his closest allies knew his deep compassion and scientific knowledge. He was also somewhat of an action man, using Venusian Akido where diplomacy was impossible.
His initially contentious relationship with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart softened into a close friendship during his exile on Earth, lasting through his future regenerations, despite not always agreeing with his actions. He also displayed great affection for his female companions, particularly Jo Grant. He was a gallant action hero who was very protective of his companions. His most common enemy was his childhood friend turned renegade, the Master, which whom he faced a friendly rivalry. He also faced the Nestene Consciousness and its Autons, as well as various invaders, including the "Silurians", the Daleks, the Axons and many others. For a time, he was also sent on missions across time and space by the Time Lords, such as visiting the planet Peladon.
After battling Omega, the Time Lords granted the Doctor his freedom, and the Doctor set off a free man with Jo at his side, always making sure to return to Earth from time to time. Most notably, they faced an interlinked scheme by the Master and the Daleks to launch an invasion of the galaxy. Eventually, Jo left him after facing Global Chemicals, and the Doctor was alone until he ended up encountering feisty journalist Sarah Jane Smith. After travelling together for a while, radiation exposure from battling the giant Spiders of Metebelis III led to his regeneration, the price of correcting a mistake he had made in the past.
Fourth Doctor[]
The Fourth Doctor
| “ | Would you like a jelly baby? | „ |
| ~ The Fourth Doctor's usual greeting |
The Fourth Doctor is portrayed by Tom Baker.
The Fourth Doctor was the titular protagonist in Seasons 12-18 of the classic series of Doctor Who. He was more eccentric than his previous incarnations and was the first to seem "young." Rarely without his very long scarf, he always carried jelly babies in his pockets, using them as bluffs, gifts and distractions—and occasionally snacks. He relied on his considerable charm, luck, and experience to get through bad situations. Although he retained his fondness for Earth, he ended his regular association with UNIT almost immediately upon his regeneration and only occasionally returned to the planet. However, he had not properly resigned from the position. He hated to work and preferred travelling but liked history. He usually travelled with only one companion at a time, except at the start and near the end of his life.
He initially travelled with Sarah and medic Harry Sullivan, although Harry soon left after encountering the Zygons in his own time. He and Sarah adventured for a long time, facing various horrific creatures and villains, such as the Osirian Sutekh, the brain of Morbius, the plant based Krynoid, and many more. A summons to Gallifrey caused their separation, whereupon the Doctor encountered the dying and vengeful Master. After travelling on his own, the Doctor ended up travelling with Leela, a tribal warrior who he tried to educate. While adventuring together, the Doctor gained further companionship in the form of the robot dog K9. Returning once more to Gallifrey to stop an invasion of Vardans, Leela and the original K9 stayed behind. On the White Guardian's orders, the Doctor sought the Key to Time with fellow Time Lady Romana and K9 Mark II. Once that search was concluded, the Doctor and Romana went on the run from the Black Guardian. The Doctor and K9 continued to travel with a regenerated Romana.
After many adventures, when they attempted to answer a Gallifreyan summons, the Doctor, Romana, and K9 accidentally passed into the pocket universe E-Space. During his travels in E-Space, the Doctor gained a new companion in the teenage maths genius Adric. Romana and K9 stayed behind in E-Space as the Doctor and Adric departed for his universe. There, they encountered a Trakenite named Nyssa and a human named Tegan. He regenerated as a result of a fall suffered during an encounter with the Master; on this unique occasion a faceless "in-between" incarnation of the Doctor known as the Watcher assisted in the regeneration.
This incarnation also featured in adverts for Prime Computer from 1974 to 1981.
Fifth Doctor[]
The Fifth Doctor
| “ | There should have been another way. | „ |
| ~ The Fifth Doctor often lamented killing enemies |
The Fifth Doctor was the titular protagonist in Seasons 19-21 of the classic series of Doctor Who. He was fond of cricket and wore a stick of celery on his lapel as a safety precaution for his allergy for certain gases in the Praxis range of the Spectrum. After a difficult regeneration, this Doctor displayed energy, compassion and innocence not seen in his predecessors. His character was very human and vulnerable. Like them, he used improvisation as the best way out of a tricky situation. The Fifth Doctor was the first incarnation since the First Doctor to go "hands free" and forgo the usage of a sonic screwdriver after having it destroyed. He occasionally wore glasses, even though he didn't need them; he only wore them to make himself look clever.
The Doctor initially found himself caught between Tegan's pessimism and Adric's arrogance. Stuck in the middle with him was usually Nyssa, who regularly had to stand as a voice of reason. After Adric died battling the Cybermen, the Doctor was plagued with guilt, and swore to never let another companion die on his watch. The Black Guardian returned, and tried to enact revenge on the Doctor by using stranded alien Turlough as an assassin, but the Doctor trusted him, and Turlough helped defeat the Guardian. However, after adventuring together for some time, Tegan left him for good after a brutal battle with the Daleks and Davros.
Soon after, Turlough left him when he found a way to return home, the Doctor travelled with American student Peri Brown. He was the first Doctor to sacrifice himself for another, when he and Peri were dying from Spectrox toxaemia; with only one dose of the antidote available, he gave her the cure rather than taking it himself.
Sixth Doctor[]
The Sixth Doctor.
| “ | I am a man of science and passion! | „ |
| ~ The Sixth Doctor |
The Sixth Doctor was a major character in Season 21 and the titular protagonist in Seasons 22-23 of the classic series of Doctor Who. He was a grandiose and eloquent incarnation. He sported one of the Doctor's most eccentric outfits yet; a multi-coloured wardrobe, which was often commented upon, occasionally leading to him being mistaken for a jester. This Doctor loved a good quote, often making one he deemed appropriate during an adventure. He was also capable of violent action, much more so than his past lives, even seeing logic in murder. While seemingly arrogant, melodramatic and stubborn, at heart he was passionate, warm hearted and empathetic.
Like the Fourth Doctor, the Sixth Doctor spent most of his travels with a single companion at a time. His first companion was Peri Brown, with whom he had a very tumultuous relationship. It took considerable time for him and Peri to stop bickering and speak together on amiable terms, but the Doctor eventually became someone she could rely upon. A important part of his life was his trial by the Time Lords, where he was forcibly separated from Peri which turned out to be a coverup. He also discovered his prosecutor, the Valeyard, was his own dark side made manifest. He would be haunted by this revelation for a long time, putting off travelling with Mel Bush, who he had discovered he would eventually travel with, for fear of going down a dark path.
After the trial, as seen in Big Finish's stories, the Doctor's gentler side began to blossom largely due to travelling with Evelyn Smythe (an especially verbose university lecturer). Together, they were the first to encounter The Forge. He also travelled with Frobisher, a shapeshifting private detective who preferred the form of a penguin, both during and after his travels with Peri. He also travelled with a future companion, became reacquainted with Jago and Litefoot and travelled with Flip and Constance, two women from very different times. Eventually, the Doctor also began his inevitable travels with Mel, putting up with her attempts to put him on a diet.
Over the course of his life, as seen in Big Finish's The Last Adventure boxset, the Doctor was slowly manipulated by the Valeyard as part of his genocidal master plan. After discovering his life was dependent of the plan's success, the Doctor willingly ensured his fate by letting his TARDIS be snatched mid-flight by the Rani, causing him to regenerate.
Seventh Doctor[]
The Seventh Doctor
| “ | There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do. | „ |
| ~ The Doctor in "Survival." |
The Seventh Doctor was the titular protagonist in Seasons 24-26 of the classic series of Doctor Who and the titular overarching protagonist in Doctor Who: The Movie. He had a voice touched by a Scottish burr. Starting out as a light hearted eccentric while travelling with Mel, the Doctor began to show his true colours, as a keen strategist and a planner of the highest order after taking on Ace, a troubled teenager.
The Seventh Doctor's ego and natural superiority as a Time Lord were his signature traits, often using force as a solution but never employing it himself; he often got his companions to do the deed. For all his manipulations, the Seventh Doctor wished to help heal his companions' psychological scars. Although he initially planned to take Ace home, they ultimately travelled together for several years, only for their strong bond to grow increasingly strained as secrets and death tore them apart.
In the Virgin New Adventures novels, following Ace's initial departure from the TARDIS, the Doctor become known as Time's Champion. Although he did many good deeds while under the title of Time's Champion, his manipulative ways and amoral decisions cost him dearly, leaving him questioning his actions and himself. In Big Finish's stories, he and Ace took on Hex, a young nurse whose past tied into his mistakes in dealing with the Forge, and led to the Doctor's war with the "Elder Gods" becoming more dangerous.
Eventually, the Doctor would spend the latter part of his life on his own, tying up unfinished business, such as Klein, a Nazi from another timeline, and retired from the niche of manipulation. Though wearisome, he decided he would return to Gallifrey when the Time Lords needed his assistance, but having grown complacent, he let his guard down at the wrong time and paid for it with his life. The Seventh Doctor was shot by gangsters, and was killed when his surgery went wrong.
Eighth Doctor[]
The Eighth Doctor.
| “ | Injustice is the rule, but I want justice. Suffering is the rule, but I want to end it. Despair accords with reality, but I insist on hope. I don't accept it because it is unacceptable. I say no. | „ |
| ~ The Eighth Doctor, in Camera Obsura. |
The Eighth Doctor was the titular protagonist in Doctor Who: The Movie and the 2013 TV Short, The Night of The Doctor. Heshowed a romantic and sensitive side not displayed by previous Doctors. Less morally flexible than his immediate predecessor, the Eighth Doctor lived a complicated and eventful life. The Doctor's life was haunted by the shadow of the Time War, both in the form of the War with the Enemy, and eventually The Last Great Time War. Due to involvement in the Time Wars, parallel universes, time paradoxes, and alternate timelines, his life was hard to piece together.
A common theme in the Eighth Doctor is amnesia; he experienced memory on the onset of the Seventh Doctor's regeneration (possibly due to complications the Seventh Doctor suffered during emergency surgery). Perhaps the Eighth Doctor's most notable spell of amnesia was throughout the second half of the novels, where at the conclusion of his involvement in The War, the Doctor was left without his past for over a century on Earth, and would only sometimes show glimpses of his former memories when he travelled in the Post War Universe.
An inherently happy adventurer, the Doctor fell in love with companions Grace Holloway and Charley Pollard. He experienced and appreciated very human emotions, from kissing Grace to providing psychological support for Izzy Sinclair. The Doctor always tried to remain a cheerful and pacifistic adventurer in spite of a hostile universe. Indeed, after the deaths of Lucie Miller, Tamsin Drew and his great grandson Alex, he would be left emotionally broken. However, the Doctor would recover the strength to face several vast schemes from the likes of the Dalek Time Controller, the Master and the Eminence, the Eleven and the Doom Coalition, and the Ravenous and Divine Intervention.
When the Last Great Time War erupted, this Doctor refused to take part, preferring to help without violence. The Doctor was accompanied in the early days by Bliss, whose life was altered by the Time War, and afterwards, he would travel on his own, becoming more frustrated when he was unable to help. After sustaining mortal injuries in a spaceship crash, he was given the rare opportunity to choose the form of his next life, and he chose to be a warrior in order to fight the Last Great Time War.
War Doctor[]
The War Doctor.
| “ | Time Lords of Gallifrey, Daleks of Skaro. I serve notice on you all. For too long I have stayed my hand. No more. Today you leave me no choice. Today this war will end. No more. No more. | „ |
| ~ The War Doctor announces his intent to end the war using the Moment. |
The War Doctor's incarnation was a supporting character in the revived series of Doctor Who, serving as a minor character in Series 7, the 2013 TV Short, The Night of The Doctor and a major character in the 2013 50th Anniversary Special. He was specifically chosen to be that of a warrior in the Last Great Time War and the regeneration was aided by the Sisterhood of Karn. His later incarnation stated that his actions broke "the promise" of the "name of the Doctor." As such, although the label "War Doctor" has been ascribed to him, he did not, in fact, accept the name Doctor (and as such he is not counted in the numbering of incarnations). He was, however, regarded as a hero by the Time Lord military. During his long life, as seen in Big Finish's audio dramas, the War Doctor faced the Daleks, especially the Dalek Time Strategist, on many occasions, and in spite of his vow and self perception as a monster, would attempt to find some way to end the Time War without total destruction of both sides.
Eventually, the events of the novel Engines of War would push him to find a solution to the War by destroying both sides. Shortly before regenerating due to old age, the War Doctor encountered his Tenth and Eleventh incarnations and, between them, they actually came up with an option that allowed the Time War to end without destroying Gallifrey. Due to the laws of time, however, the War Doctor was unable to remember this, and thus his following incarnation believed that he destroyed Gallifrey, and as such "disowned" the War Doctor incarnation.
Ninth Doctor[]
The Ninth Doctor
| “ | Do you know like we were sayin'? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standin' still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am. | „ |
| ~ The Ninth Doctor to Rose Tyler. |
The Ninth Doctor was the titular protagonist in Series 1 of the revived series of Doctor Who. He also serves as the overarching protagonist of its 2005 Christmas Special. He considered himself the sole Time Lord survivor of the Time War. He displayed much of the playfulness of his previous incarnations, but was emotionally and psychologically scarred by the war and his role in it, which sometimes resulted in a detachment that was interpreted by some as cruelty, as well as terrifying outburst of anger. When asked about his voice and accent, he responded, "Lots of planets have a North". He cared deeply for Rose; he began to heal thanks to her. Similar to his first incarnation, this Doctor liked to tease others by pretending not to remember names. He also made dry jokes when facing danger or to diffuse tension. After encountering a surviving Dalek, he briefly took on Adam Mitchell as a companion at Rose's insistence. However, after he used the opportunity of time travel for profit, the Doctor returned him home.
Later though, while dealing with the "Empty Child", the Doctor met Time Agent turned conman Captain Jack Harkness, and he and Rose travelled with him for a while. In the Titan Comics series, they began a quest to recover Jack's memories that were wiped by the Time Agency, running into a future Mickey Smith, sharing an adventure with the Brigadier, and ending up with a stowaway companion in Tara Mishra. By all accounts, this incarnation was very short-lived compared to the others; when he encountered the Daleks who had survived through their Emperor. During the Battle of the Game Station, Rose managed to defeat them with the power of the Time Vortex. To save her, he fatally absorbed the energy from her, and regenerated after saying a fond farewell.
Tenth Doctor[]
The Tenth Doctor
| “ | I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the Constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old and I'm the man who is gonna save your lives and all 6 billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that? | „ |
| ~ The Doctor to Rickston Slade in "Voyage of the Damned". |
The Tenth Doctor was the titular protagonist of the 2005 Christmas Special, Series 2-4 and the 2008-2010 Specials of the revived series of Doctor Who. He returns as a major character in the 2013 50th Anniversary Special, a minor character in Series 8 of Doctor Who and Series 3 of the spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures and the overarching protagonist of the 2023 60th Anniversary Specials. He had a manic personality with a fondness for human pop culture references. However, his more outgoing personality traits largely existed to hide leftover emotional trauma from the Time War (like his Ninth life, he was unable to retain his memory of having worked with the War and Eleventh Doctors to change the outcome). While he had a bright, playful side, darker traits occasionally emerged. He continued his previous incarnation's love for Rose Tyler, though he was unable or unwilling to express his exact feelings.Setting off for new adventures with Rose, during which an encounter with Queen Victoria unknowingly led to the foundation of Torchwood, a reunion with Sarah Jane led to him taking on Mickey as a temporary companion, during which he experienced a brief romance with Madame de Pompadour. Falling into a parallel world, the Doctor encountered an alternate breed of Cybermen, and Mickey remained behind to face them. During his travels with Rose, they grew closer together, battling many threats, such as the Wire, the Abzorbaloff, and the Beast of Krop-Tor. Eventually however, investigating the "Ghost-shift" on modern day Earth led to the Doctor encountering Torchwood, facing the war between the Cybermen and Daleks' Cult of Skaro, and the separation from Rose from between the dimensions.
Left heartbroken, the Doctor vowed to travel solo, but was urged to find someone by Donna Noble after an adventure with her against the Racnoss. The Doctor would go onto encounter Martha Jones, initially giving a brief round trip, where they encountered Shakespeare, had his final meeting with the Face of Boe, and reencountered the Cult of Skaro, briefly trying and failing to redeem the Daleks. Afterwards he and Martha agreed to make her travels with him full time, although he was completely oblivious to her feelings toward him. They travelled together for some time; they saved a ship from a sentient sun, were trapped in 1969 by the Weeping Angels, and went on many more adventures. Most notably, the Doctor chose to use a Chameleon Arch to become human to hide from the Family of Blood, although his human identity had to sacrifice himself to defeat the family. A surprise reunion with the now immortal Captain Jack Harkness brought them to the end of the universe, and they aided the last humans to Utopia. However, the Doctor discovered that the main scientist, Professor Yana, was in fact the Master under a Chameleon Arch. After the Master regenerated, he stole the Doctor's TARDIS and set himself up as Prime Minister on modern Earth, with the Doctor, Martha and Jack trying to stop him. The Master captured and aged the Doctor, using the Toclafane to take over Earth. Martha was tasked with spreading a message about the Doctor around the world, which was used to restore the Doctor to full health. After the Toclafane's invasion was erased, the Doctor tried to take the Master in, feeling responsible for his former friend, but he was shot and chose to die in the Doctor's arms.
After Martha chose to leave, the Doctor reunited with Donna Noble, who regretted not joining him before, and the Doctor happily took her on as a companion, with the two insisting on a platonic relationship. Together, the Doctor and Donna began travelling together, with her fierce yet compassionate personality acting as a guide, such urging the Doctor to save one family from the destruction of Pompeii, and freeing the Ood from slavery. While working with Martha and UNIT against the Sontarans, the Doctor properly met Donna's grandfather Wilf, and the three found themselves being brought to an Earth colony, where the Doctor created a clone "daughter" called Jenny. The Doctor and Donna went on many adventures, such as solving a mystery with Agatha Christie, having a harrowing experience on the planet Midnight, and most notably encountering River Song for the first time, an archeologist from his future. After Donna experienced a timeline where she never met the Doctor, he was shocked to discover she encountered Rose Tyler, and became embroiled in the Daleks and Davros's scheme to destroy reality. During his reunion with Rose, the Doctor was mortally wounded, but he was able to use his cunning to abort the regeneration. With the aid of a clone created by his aborted regeneration and the "Doctor-Donna", they were able to defeat the Daleks and save Earth. However, after leaving Rose and his clone on her world and saying goodbye to his friends, the Doctor was forced to wipe Donna's mind of him to save her, and vowed to abstain from companions.
The Doctor attempted to travel alone for the latter part of his life, but still found himself taking on both temporary companions, and in expanded media, more long term ones, (whether willingly or otherwise). The Doctor began to become increasingly aware of his own approaching death, beginning with his encounter with the supposed Next Doctor, Jackson Lake, reinforcing for the Tenth Doctor the idea that he would regenerate some day, which was exacerbated by the prophecy that "He will knock four times". When he encountered Adelaide Brooke on Mars, the Doctor eventually chose to change her fate to prove he could fight time itself. Fleeing from the consequences to the Dark Times, the Doctor embraced the Time Lord Victorious title, however the intervention of his previous selves convinced him to make amends. The Tenth Doctor's last adventure saw him and Wilf facing a revived Master, who was really being used as a pawn by Rassilon and the Time Lord High Council to save Gallifrey from the Time War by destroying the rest of the universe. After preventing Rassilon's plan, the Doctor reluctantly gave his own life to save Wilfred Mott from a radiation chamber and used his final moments to revisit all of his companions before regenerating.
Eleventh Doctor[]
The 11th Doctor.
| “ | I've lived a long life. And I've seen a few things. I walked away from the Last Great Time War. I marked the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time, no space. Just me! I walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a madman! And I watched universes freeze and creation burn! I have seen things you wouldn't believe! I have lost things you will never understand! And I know things, secrets that must never be told, knowledge that must never be spoken! Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze! | „ |
| ~ The Doctor's speech in "The Rings of Akhaten." |
The Eleventh Doctor was the titular protagonist in Series 5-7 and the 2013 Specials of the revived series of Doctor Who. He returns as a minor character in Series 8 of Doctor Who and Series 4 of the spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures. He was smug about his abilities and exhibited a renewed, youthful enthusiasm for adventure. He had keen observational skills, an obsession with seeming trivial. This Doctor could quickly turn frantically angry and ruthless when events demanded. He frequently referred to himself as being old, showing his age on more than a few occasions. He offered to sacrifice himself if it meant saving others on a universal scale. This incarnation's most notable enemy was the Silence, who were responsible for destroying his TARDIS, causing the cracks in time, which eventually consumed the universe, though he restored it with the Pandorica. His multi-century war with the Silence critically involved companions Amy Pond, Rory Williams and their daughter, River Song. Ultimately, the most significant defeat of the Silence required him to marry River in a wedding ceremony.
This Doctor's concern for his companions was greater than his predecessors; he left Amy and Rory back home to protect them, though eventually resumed travels with them, which ended in heartbreak. After this, the Doctor became darker and more depressed, claiming he was "retired". His attitude changed as he got to know Clara Oswald, whom he then invited to join him in the TARDIS before she fell to her death, breaking the Doctor's hearts again. He later became aware that Clara was, impossibly, scattered through time - he had previously encountered another incarnation of Clara who had died as a Dalek convert. Later, he found a third Clara, this one living in modern-day London, and together they visited Akhaten, encountered an Ice Warrior and solved the mystery of a haunted house and the two were eventually able to learn why she was scattered through time via visiting his own tomb in his personal future.
In the 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor teamed up with the Tenth and War Doctors to come up with an alternate way of ending the Time War without actually destroying Gallifrey and sent it to another universe under the guise of it being completely destroyed by the Daleks. Although War and Ten were unable to remember this, the Eleventh Doctor found himself relieved of centuries of guilt and with a new purpose which was to go home the long way around and find Galifrey. His search for Galifrey led him to spend nine centuries as the guardian of a town called Christmas on the planet Trenzalore that was sieged by old enemies in fear of him freeing the Timelords and restarting the Time War. There, he aged into an ancient old man and prepared to meet his prophesized death as the final incarnation of the Doctor. The Time Lords of Gallifrey, however, on Clara's request, sacrificed their chance to return to their universe and granted the Doctor a new regeneration cycle, and he was able to transform once more.
Twelfth Doctor[]
The Twelfth Doctor
| “ | I am not a good man! I am not a bad man. I am not a hero. And I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver. Just passing through, helping out, learning. I don't need an army. I never have, because I've got them. Always them. Because love, it's not an emotion. Love is a promise. | „ |
| ~ The Twelfth Doctor's speech in Death in Heaven |
The Twelfth Doctor was the titular protagonist in Series 8-10 of the revived series of Doctor Who and a minor character in the spin-off series, Class. He was no longer chained down by guilt, became a less amiable character, as he no longer needed to cover the pain of the extinction of the Time Lords, with a withdrawn attitude who questioned his own goodness. He often dispensed with niceties in a tense situation, becoming cold and calculative when needed. However, despite his ruthless exterior, the Doctor was actually deeply caring and empathetic, always striving to help others for the sake of being kind. Unlike other incarnations who grew into their appearances, this version of the Doctor seems fairly self-conscious, having gone from a young man to a much older one despite being renewed. He also notices that he resembles Lobus Caecilius (a character he met in The Fires of Pompeii) with a Scottish accent.
It was not until his first battle with Missy, a female incarnation of the Master, that the Doctor resolved his morality crisis, realising he was simply "an idiot with a box and screwdriver" who went around helping others. Following this, the Doctor began to show his lighter side more clearly and forged a closer bond with Clara. The Doctor continued his travels with Clara, haunted by the reemergence of the Hybrid prophecy he had heard of in his childhood. After Clara was killed due to a trap set for him, in Face the Raven, the Doctor was trapped in his own confession dial, where he spent four billion years fleeing the Veil. In the Series 9 finale Hell Bent, the Doctor broke his own moral codes and unleashed his wrath upon the Time Lords in an ultimately futile attempt to save Clara, and after realising he was becoming the metaphorical Hybrid, accepted losing his memories of her as a price for his reckless actions.
In the 2015 Christmas special The Husbands of River Song, the Doctor reencountered River Song, who for the majority of the episode, was unaware of his true identity until he said "Hello Sweetie" to her. After defeating the robotic body of King Hydroflax, the Doctor and River spent a 24-year long night at the Singing Towers of Darillium. In the 2016 Christmas special The Return of Doctor Mysterio, the Doctor, with the help of River's former assistant Nardole and a man named Grant (whom as a child, met the Doctor and accidentally ate a gem, which granted his wish to be a superhero), defeated brain-like aliens called The Shoal of Winter Harmony.
In Series 10, the Doctor and Nardole guarded Missy, going "cold turkey" from evil in the Vault, for decades under St Luke's University while the Doctor acted as a tutor. The Doctor noticed a student, a woman known as Bill Potts who he took on as a companion after discovering Heather, the woman Bill was interested in, had become a sentient oil creature. Initially sneaking away to travel with Bill, the Doctor was joined by Nardole in Oxygen, where being exposed to the vacuum of space left him blind. Shortly after this, the Doctor became aware of The Monks, but when his unwillingness to talk about his blindness left him in a dire situation, his sight was restored at the cost of Earth's freedom. Eventually, the Doctor, Bill and Nardole, with advice from Missy, were able to defeat the Monks. After this, the Doctor divided his time between adventuring with Bill and Nardole, and supporting Missy's redemption.
Eventually, when it seemed that she had reached a turning point, the Doctor tested Missy's evolving goodness by rescuing a ship from a black hole. Soon, the situation went off the rails, and the Doctor discovered that the ship was a Mondasian Colony Ship. Bill was converted into a Cyberman, and events were being manipulated by Missy's predecessor (the Harold Saxon incarnation) to create a new breed of Cybermen. Left to defend the remaining colonists, the Doctor fought off the Cybermen, and was mortally wounded. Bill was restored by Heather and the two put the Doctor in his TARDIS, going onto travel together, whilst Nardole remained behind to protect the others from Cybermen. In the 2017 Christmas special Twice Upon A Time, the Doctor, refusing to regenerate due to weariness, encountered his first incarnation and met a glass avatar of Bill. Convinced to carry on living, the Doctor bade farewell to the avatars of Bill and Nardole and regained his memories of Clara. The Doctor returned to the TARDIS to regenerate, giving some final advice to his successor.
Thirteenth Doctor[]
The Thirteenth Doctor.
| “ | None of us know for sure what's out there. That's why we keep looking. Keep your faith. Travel hopefully. The universe'll surprise you... constantly. | „ |
| ~ The Thirteenth Doctor, The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos. |
Unlike the previous Doctors, this incarnation is female. She serves as the titular protagonist in Series 11-13 and the 2022 Specials of the revived series of Doctor Who. Shortly after regeneration, she was ejected from the Tardis which teleported away, leaving the Doctor plummeting to Earth. In the series 11 premiere The Woman Who Fell to Earth, The Doctor crash lands in Sheffield, where she befriends Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin "Yaz" Khan and Grace (Ryan's grandmother) and Graham O'Brien. After losing the sonic screwdriver in the fall, the Doctor makes a new one. The Doctor and her new friends come up against T'zim Sha (whom the Doctor dubs Tim Shaw) a member of the Stenza warrior race, who came to Sheffield to hunt a human trophy. With the help from her friends, the Thirteenth Doctor defeated Tim Shaw, but at the price of Grace's life. Afterwards the Doctor attempts to find the Tardis by using a teleporter, but accidentally takes Ryan, Yaz and Graham with her.
In The Ghost Monument, The Doctor and her friends find out that the Stenza forced scientists on the planet Desolation to make weapons for them. As well as this, the Doctor was taunted over the "Timeless Child". After finding the redecorated TARDIS, the Doctor headed for Sheffield. After a few adventures, where they encountered Rosa Parks, and the corrupt businessman Jack Robertson, the Doctor's friends all agreed to stay with the Doctor. Over the course of their travels, the Doctor helped her new "fam" take on issues with their families, and eventually they faced the vengeful Tzim Sha again. In the New Year's special Resolution the Doctor and her "fam" faced a Recon Scout Dalek that had been buried on Earth for centuries.
In series 12, the Doctor discovered her old foe the Master had returned, plaguing the Doctor and Team TARDIS with a plot to wipe out humanity. Furthermore, the Master revealed he destroyed Gallifrey, on the basis of the secret of the Timeless Child, a mysterious and pivotal figure in the birth of the Time Lords. Some time after, the Doctor became involved in a Judoon raid to capture an Earthside fugitive, only to discover the fugitive was a previously unknown incarnation of herself. Shaken by the discovery (neither Doctor remembers the other), the Doctor is further shocked by her companions' meeting Captain Jack Harkness and his warning of the Lone Cyberman. After dealing with the Praxeus virus, and defeating a pair of immortals, the Doctor took her team to Villa Diodati to meet Mary Shelly and her friends. There, they encountered the Lone Cyberman, who sought the Cyberium to rebuild the Cyber race. Forced to give him the Cyberium to protect history, the Doctor took off after the Cyberman to stop his schemes. Her chase after the Lone Cyberman ultimately draws back to Gallifrey, where the Master greets her and reveals her origin as the Timeless Child and the progenitor of the Time Lord race, and that she worked for a mysterious agency called the Division. With encouragement from her Fugitive self, the Doctor defeated the Master and his CyberMaster creations. Forced to send her companions away, the Doctor managed to get herself arrested by the Judoon. In the New Year special Revolution of the Daleks, The Doctor is freed by Captain Jack and reunites with Yaz, Ryan and Graham. Together they face the threat of a Defence Drone Daleks created from the Recon Scout, and was forced to bring in Death Squad Daleks to deal with them. The Doctor managed to prevent the Daleks invading Earth, tricking the Death Squad into going into a spare Tardis that folded in on itself. Afterwards, Ryan and Graham decide to return to their normal lives and bid a sad farewell to The Doctor and Yaz, each given psychic paper by The Doctor as parting gifts.
In Series 13, Flux, The Doctor began looking for answers about the Division, and found herself facing the threat of the Flux, a force bringing about the end of everything. With the aid of new companion Dan and Karvanista, she discovered the Division were behind it, and confronted Tecteun. Together with her allies, she managed to prevent the Ravagers from destroying the Universe with the Flux, and elected to let go of searching for her missing memories. Continuing to travel with Yaz, and Dan, the Doctor began to realise that she and Yaz had feelings for one another. In a final confrontation with the Master, who formed an alliance with the Daleks and Cybermen, he managed to replace her via a forced regeneration. However the Doctor survived within her mind scape, unddid the Regeneration, and managed to defeat the Master's forces. However, while freeing the Qurunx, which the Master was using as his lynchpin, the embittered Master managed to mortally wound her. Holding on long enough to bid farewell to Yaz, the Doctor regenerated looking at a "last sunrise“, wishing luck to her successor.
Fourteenth Doctor[]
The Fourteenth Doctor.
The Fourteenth Doctor is the titular protagonist in the 2023 60th Anniversary Specials of the revived series of Doctor Who. Unusually, he took on the form of his Tenth self, much to his shock and confusion. Immediately afterwards, in the comic Liberation of the Daleks, the Doctor was drawn by distress call to the 1966 World Cup, where he encountered temporal tourists, and a invasion by the Daleks. However, this turned out to be part of a Dalek theme park. The Doctor managed to defeat various factions of illusionary Daleks from across their history, preventing them from successfuly manifesting into reality and invading Earth. Shortly after, in the 2023 Children In Need Doctor Who short "Destination Skaro" (which serves as a prequel to "Genesis Of The Daleks") the Doctor crash lands the Tardis on Skaro, inadvertently interfering with the Dalek's origins by inspiring Davros's assistant Castavillain, before making a sharp exit.
The Doctor would go on to reunite with Donna Noble and her family during a trip to Earth where he kept finding himself crossing paths with her family despite his efforts to avoid Donna while foiling the plot of the fugitive Meep. To thwart the Meep the Doctor was forced to restore Donna's memories of him so as to get the help of her "Doctor Donna" identity and afterwards she managed to survive the Meta-Crisis by simply letting go, expelling the Metacrisis energy. Afterwards a harmless attempt to visit Wilfred led Donna to spill coffee on the Tardis and send them out of control through time and space, ending up at the edge of the universe where they had to battle the mysterious "Not-Things" who attempted to duplicate them to steal the Tardis. Returning to Earth, the Doctor discovered he had accidentally allowed the Toymaker into their universe and was on Earth causing chaos. The Toymaker attacked the Doctor and triggered his next regeneration, though the Doctor ended up Bi-Generating and his next incarnation split from him, allowing both to co-exist. After the defeat of the Toymaker and having the Tardis Bi-generate, the Fourteenth Doctor was convinced to temporarily retire to Earth as a member of the Noble Family while his Fifteenth resumed their travels through space and time.
Fifteenth Doctor[]
The Fifteenth Doctor.
| “ | Now, you two, if you don't mind, there is a great big universe out there calling, and I've got to get going. | „ |
The Fifteenth Doctor is a supporting character in the 2023 60th Anniversary Specials and the titular protagonist of the 2023 Christmas Special and the fourteenth revival series (also referred to as Series 1) of Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Ncuti Gatwa.
Uniquely, he emerged from a "Bi-generation" from his previous self, and the two Doctors defeated the Toymaker at his own game. Afterwards, he bade farewell to his other self and Donna, heading off with a clean slate and Tardis into new adventures. Since the 2023 Christmas special "The Church on Ruby Road", This Doctor has been joined on his travels by his companion Ruby Sunday.
Other versions[]
- Dr. Who, a human scientist from Dr. Who and the Daleks, and Daleks Invasion Earth: 2150 AD, played by Peter Cushing.
- The Doctor (Scream of the Shalka), the Ninth Doctor from the web animation Scream of the Shalka, played by Richard E. Grant.
Quotes[]
Quotes by the Doctor
Quotes about the Doctor
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Trivia[]
- The Doctor is rarely on Earth when they regenerate; only the Third, Fourth, Seventh, Thirteenth and Fourteenth were.
- The First, Fifth, Sixth, War, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth Doctors were in the TARDIS; its a different dimension.
- The Second Doctor was on Gallifrey
- The Eighth Doctor was on Karn
- The Doctor can naturally regenerate an infinite amount of times. However, the secret Time Lord organization called "the Division" put a lock on it to only allow him 12 more after wiping his memory and forcing him to become a child in a new incarnation as the First Doctor. The lock may have been broken when the Time Lords later gave the Eleventh Doctor more regenerations on Trenzalore.
- The Master is responsible, directly or indirectly, for the Doctor regenerating from his Fourth, Twelfth, and Thirteenth iterations. Whereas it is implied that most of the Master's original 12 regenerations were triggered by the Doctor defeating him.
- This twist of the Doctor not actually being a Time Lord was generally unpopular with fans of the franchise. Particularly the implication they left Gallifrey to help people not because of adventure and altruism, but because of subconscious brainwashing.
- After the Twelfth Doctor, a trend with the actors who play the Doctor seem to be a focus on making the Time Lord experience the difficulties their companions had to deal with during trips to the past; Thirteen (sexism), Fifteen (racism)
- The Doctor has a complex relationship with sexuality, often seeming celibate, if not asexual. The Eighth Doctor is depicted as the first incarnation to be interested in romance, without much interest in sex, and in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels is depicted as biromantic, being attracted to (and by) man and women. In the revived series, the Doctor is shown several times to be romantically interested in women, but has also flirted with men on occasion. This is saying nothing about the Doctor's complex relationship with the Master, which has been interpreted as romantic, at least at some point in their lives.
- The Eighth Doctor got married to the adventuress Scarlette (while it was initially a symbolic marriage, they had also fallen in love, making more meaningful to them), and shared sexual tension with his longest companion from the novels, Fitz Kreiner. In Big Finish's audio dramas, the Doctor also admitted he loved Charley Pollard.
- While not overtly romantic, the Ninth Doctor had flirtatious interactions with Jabe.
- The Tenth Doctor loved Rose Tyler.
- Prior to Rose, he had a brief for him yet decades long romance with Madame de Pompadour.
- He would later marry Elizabeth I, although out of obligation, rather than love.
- The Eleventh Doctor married River Song, and their love was felt by the Twelfth Doctor (who otherwise was aromantic), and their other incarnations - although, not romantic love for most, as the Tenth Doctor didn't display such interest, even though he eventually loved her in a way.
- Eleven privately considered himself Clara's boyfriend as well. While not as explicitly romantic with the Twelfth Doctor, he was still devoted to her.
- There was a running gag of the Eleventh Doctor having sexual flings with noteworthy historical women throughout Earth's history.
- Thirteen was open to a relationship with Yaz, but decided against it as the Doctor knew she would regenerate soon.
- It's worth noting that Fourteenth Doctor's personal time between The Power of the Doctor and The Giggle is within the first fifteen hours of his birth. This may explain why bi-geneation occurred; the Doctor was overcharged with regeneration energy.
- The Thirteenth Doctor was forced to regenerate into the Master, reverted back and then fatal injured; plus the Cyber Masters' regeneration energy had been used as well. However, being changed into the Master wouldn't have been a factor, since the Harold Saxon iteration of the Master did the exact same thing when he used the Vinvocci Immortality Gate to transform humanity into duplicates of him, yet when this was reversed, they suffered no ill-effects (although, prior the transformation, the Time Lord energy bled back in time to give them nightmares).
- Russell T Davies stated that bi-generation affected every past regeneration the Doctor ever had, so there's a version when bi-generation happened instead; which creates different resulting timelines and explains the contradicting novels (Human Nature) and comics (The Star Beast) that have similar plots on the TV show. This also leaves different fates for each version.
- The First and War Doctors would sadly still die, as they were regenerating from old age.
- The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth would have a hard time initiating it as there weren't two people around to pull on them to start the split.
- This would also cause the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor and DoctorDonna to be replaced by the Eleventh Doctor; the Tenth wouldn't be able to expel and store the energy to create them.
- However, the Fifteenth would eventually confide to Ruby Sunday that the bi-generation was akin to ripping his soul apart, thus another attempt would destablise and perhaps simply kill him.
- The Toymaker remarks that he made a "jigsaw" out of the Doctor's history, implying that he is, at the very least, partly responsible for any inconsistencies and changes in the Doctor's past, such as his origins and the history of the Timeless Child.
- Russell T Davies stated that the Toymaker's remark about turning the Doctor's life into a 'jigsaw puzzle' is a reference to both the Timeless Child and half-human claims about the Doctor's origins, creating some ambiguity as to how much of the Doctor's past is true and how much was fabricated by the Toymaker.
- With the addition of Matt Smith and John Hurt as actors who play incarnations of the Doctor, the cast list of past Doctors unintentionally now has the Doctor's main alias "John Smith" in it. Something fans picked up from The Day of the Doctor's credits.
- Originally the Doctor was a member of the Time Lord generation known as the Deca, who were notorious for being rebellious - notable members include the Master, the Rani, the Meddling Monk, and the Doctor himself. The initial idea was that of the three founders of Time Lord civilisation, there was Rassilon, Omega, and one known as the Other; because of regeneration, Time Lords became sterile, thus to reproduce they needed a machine called the Biometric Loom, which two genetic donors would provide DNA that the Loom would constitute into their child; whether needed for the Loom's creation or an accident, the Other was consumed by it. The Other was one who didn't respond to authority, thus millennia later, traits of their personality eventually influenced the Deca. However, since the Classic series was cancelled, this idea was never able to be implemented.
- During the Seventh Doctor's era, there were implications that he might become the Other, much like how he had the villainous offshoot of the Valeyard.
External Links[]
- The Doctor on the Doctor Who Wiki (Fandom)
- The Doctor on the Doctor Who Wiki (independent)
- The Doctor on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
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