Who?

/precisely

Greatest Dr Who Ever. EVER.
(Although Douglas Adams should get some credit for that)

He also played the role for 7 years. None of this 1-3 season's bullshiat the current guys are pulling.

All Glory to the Scarf.

Too bad he was on the shows when the SFX were so completely awful and they shot the damned thing on videotape.

I would like to see Baker as he was then in today's technologically advanced environment.

ShawnDoc: Greatest Dr Who Ever. EVER.
(Although Douglas Adams should get some credit for that)

He also played the role for 7 years. None of this 1-3 season's bullshiat the current guys are pulling.

He was the aberration, not the rule.

Hartnell lasted for 3 and a quarter seasons.
Troughton lasted for 2 and three quarters seasons.
Pertwee lasted for 5 seasons.
Davison lasted 3 seasons.
Baker 2 lasted 2 seasons (because of the BBC's bullshiat).
McCoy lasted 3 seasons.

AdolfOliverPanties: Too bad he was on the shows when the SFX were so completely awful and they shot the damned thing on videotape.

I would like to see Baker as he was then in today's technologically advanced environment.

Who is still shot on videotape. They just run it through a filmizing process to make it look like it's shot on film.

If you have the season 4 DVDs, check out the deleted scenes. Those look like classic Doctor Who, because they didn't run them through the filmizing process.

Of course, they have switched to Hi-Def since the Matt Smith era began.

Great actor: Was in Sinbads Golden Voyage as the bad guy and in Black Adder as a Capetian. Great actor who never hit it big in USA. Oh and in Dungeons and Dragon.

Tom Baker is the first Doctor for a majority of older Americans.

Actually watched some of the DVD extra's on his era.
Here is some thing I took away.
1) He really loved the part and considers himself The Doctor
2) Most of his co-workers thought Baker was very difficult to work with. One director even mentioned Bakers gal One said,"To his credit, though, he never portrayed himself as a nice guy."
3) He's very generous in praise to his co-workers.
4) Baker also mention that Star Wars raised the bar on special effects. He thinks the show's popularity declined because the BBC never really wanted to pony up for special effects.
5) One director hated it when Tom Baker and his then girlfriend Lalla Ward (second Romana) would fight - because he couldn't even direct get them facing each other in a scene.

Baker was the driving force that made the show international. He's my favorite one. The reboot definitely made it mainstream. Matt Smith is my second favorite doctor followed David Tennant.

Baker was The Doctor when I was young and I couldn't stand the show then. Far too hokey and cheap looking. Overacting, nothing particularly clever. When Ecclestone took over in 2005, a friend suggested I get back into it and I love it. That friend loves all the old ones too. I just could never get into them because even as a kid, they were far too silly and poorly crafted.

Baker was a commanding presence though with that booming voice and his tall stature.

Darth_Lukecash: Great actor: Was in Sinbads Golden Voyage as the bad guy and in Black Adder as a Capetian. Great actor who never hit it big in USA.

Not for lack of trying; he showed up on REMINGTON STEELE in 1984 as an obsessed European police inspector
who had it in for Steele. (new window)

It was rather jarring to see him play a character so different from The Doctor, but I was young and nerdy.

DjangoStonereaver: Darth_Lukecash: Great actor: Was in Sinbads Golden Voyage as the bad guy and in Black Adder as a Capetian. Great actor who never hit it big in USA.

Not for lack of trying; he showed up on REMINGTON STEELE in 1984 as an obsessed European police inspector
who had it in for Steele. (new window)

It was rather jarring to see him play a character so different from The Doctor, but I was young and nerdy.

Oh, I remember being excited to watch that episode. It was so cool.

That's one of the reason he and Ward got divorced over. He thought he could parlay his cult hit show status into a Hollywood career, she didn't want to go to the U.S.A And Doctor Who was VERY popular-but no where near as popular now.

Darth_Lukecash: He thought he could parlay his cult hit show status into a Hollywood career

He was always too ugly for Hollywood.

To this day, my favorite serial of the old series remains Genesis of the Daleks, one of his early serials. Of the old Doctors, he's certainly my favorite.
That said, I think Matt Smith is really raising the bar as eleven.

Jelly baby?

Britain, Britain, Britain. Why would you ever want to leave? Anybody who goes on holiday abroad is a traitor! I bloody love it here! Bloody love it! We produce the best films, the finest cuisines and our dogs are relatively rabies free. And this is all thanks to the peoples of Britain. Let us look at them in this program in which we now look at them now. Boom, boom, shake the room!

SilentStrider: To this day, my favorite serial of the old series remains Genesis of the Daleks, one of his early serials. Of the old Doctors, he's certainly my favorite.
That said, I think Matt Smith is really raising the bar as eleven.

You my say he turned it up to 11.

Baker's Doctor was definitely of the era of Doctor Who being a family show of gentle humor spiked with the occasional biting satire.

He was also in seasons 6 and 7 of Monarch of the Glen. It was interesting to him in his 70's. He was certainly stiffer and less animated, but he still has the ole' sparkle. It was fun to watch him even though the show had pretty much jumped the shark by the time he arrived.

/Best Doctor EVAR

^//EVAR

BEST. DOCTOR. EVER. (new window)

You may be a doctor. But I'm the Doctor. The definite article, you might say.

BEST DOCTOR IMPERSONATOR EVAR! (new window)

skyotter: [4.bp.blogspot.com image 200x240]
he also had the best companions.

ShawnDoc: Greatest Dr Who Ever. EVER.
(Although Douglas Adams should get some credit for that)

He also played the role for 7 years. None of this 1-3 season's bullshiat the current guys are pulling.

all the important points covered. If you could have thrown a pun in there somewhere it would have been nice. But all in all a great effort.

I still think Tom Baker should have been cast as "Mad Eye" Moody in the Harry Potter films.

NoboruWatanabe: Ed Finnerty: [dtdstudios.com image 340x255]

/Best Doctor EVAR

//EVAR

Marcus Aurelius: Best. Doctor. Ever.

FirstNationalBastard: BEST. DOCTOR. EVER. (new window)

I'm a little young to have seen Baker's Doctor, and I'm american, so it was never part of the "collective consciousness" while I was growing up. A friend got me into Dr Who towards the end of Eccleston's run and I've been hooked ever since. In my opinion, the show has been getting steadily better (more or less, since I started watching), and Smith's Doctor is just great.

With so much Baker love here (and elsewhere) I really need to see what I missed. Any tips on how I could find the episodes? Do they make region 1 dvds?

Also, can one just start at the beginning of Baker's run and get on without having seen the story to that point?

Each new Doctor is a great jumping on point. Tom Baker's Doctor is a good starting point. They will bring you up to speed rather quickly.

The older Doctor who was relatively self contained Serials. (four 1/2 hour episodes with one story) with occasional dips into show continuity. Concept like Galafry, Daleks, Cybermen, UNITED...etc., etc. Normally the will get you caught up really quickly.

But there are some like Season 16, that had an over all story line call the Key to Time. Each of the serials was tied into one big storyline.

Would You Like a Jelly Baby? ^

not sure if it's just my sentimentality, but Baker is the quintessential Dr Who for me

Snapper Carr: Baker's run had the best (new window) cameo ever.

/never figured out how Romana II kept that damned hat on.

oh my goodness!

You may consider Baker to be the BEST. DOCTOR. EVAR,
but Benedict Cumberbatch is the BEST. SHERLOCK.HOLMES.EVAR.

And that's a Goddamn fact. Can't believe I have to wait another year for series three.

AdolfOliverPanties: You may consider Baker to be the BEST. DOCTOR. EVAR,
but Benedict Cumberbatch is the BEST. SHERLOCK.HOLMES.EVAR.

And that's a Goddamn fact. Can't believe I have to wait another year for series three.

Actually, I would disagree with that statement. Jeremy Brett from the Granada adaptions was brilliant. Cumberbatch is a very close second. Martin Freeman is the BEST. DR. WATSON. EVAR.

And Stephen Fry is the best Mycroft.

NoboruWatanabe: Ed Finnerty: [dtdstudios.com image 340x255]

/Best Doctor EVAR

//EVAR

Marcus Aurelius: Best. Doctor. Ever.

FirstNationalBastard: BEST. DOCTOR. EVER. (new window)

I'm a little young to have seen Baker's Doctor, and I'm american, so it was never part of the "collective consciousness" while I was growing up. A friend got me into Dr Who towards the end of Eccleston's run and I've been hooked ever since. In my opinion, the show has been getting steadily better (more or less, since I started watching), and Smith's Doctor is just great.

With so much Baker love here (and elsewhere) I really need to see what I missed. Any tips on how I could find the episodes? Do they make region 1 dvds?

Also, can one just start at the beginning of Baker's run and get on without having seen the story to that point?

Actually, my "Best Doctor Ever" was Patrick Troughton, the Second Doctor.

And do they make Region 1 DVDs?

If it's out in England, it's usually out in the US within a few months, if not the same week. (new window)

Starting at the beginning of Baker's run is actually shorting yourself on classic Who. Granted, you can start at the beginning of any Doctor's run, or with any Serial, and not miss anything. The only era where there were callbacks to the previous serial was the Fifth Doctor era. Otherwise, everything was pretty much self contained.

You could do what I did... look through descriptions of the serials, and see what looks interesting. It's as good a way as any to pick classic Who serials to watch.