The Sixth Doctor has been under a lot of scrutiny over the years. He's loud, arrogant, violent and has no dress sense. Well, I would like to boldly go on record as saying that growing up Colin Baker was MY DOCTOR.
 Like most people living in the United States, I started watching Doctor Who on PBS when they were rerunning Tom Baker's episodes in the early 1980's. And like most people in general, I watched it from behind the sofa or from the corner of the room. I was terrified, yet fascinated by the character of the Doctor. Finally by the mid-1980's when they were finally showing Peter Davison's episodes, I was by then a pudgy little fifth grader and could enjoy Doctor Who in front of the sofa. I was still a bit sketchy about the whole regeneration thing and I was puzzled why the Doctor was not the frizzy haired man with the endless scarf and now this blonde man in a tan coat (I appreciate Peter Davison's Doctor more now). But it wasn't until the end of part four of "The Caves of Androzani" when the Doctor was to make another transformation that I really got into the show.  The reason I liked the Sixth Doctor is simple. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind and he wasn't afraid of ridicule for the way he dressed. I think that's very important for a child, especially in a society that makes such a big deal about the way you dress and what music you're into. Listening to everybody at school making fun of me all day long for the way I dressed and that I didn't think the way they thought, to come home and to see on my television this tall garishly dressed man that thumbed his nose at the establishment was very reassuring. Children need more heroes like that. The only real problem I had with the Sixth Doctor's era wasn't the alleged gratuitous violence. It was the Doctor's companion Peri. It's not that I hated the character or anything like that. I like Peri. It was something more fiendish than either the Daleks or the Sontarans. Hormones! Nicola Bryant made puberty hell for me!! I can remember the exact day when Colin's tenure as the Doctor ended. They announced a Doctor Who convention in Boston on PBS and said come meet new Doctor Sylvester McCoy. I was heartbroken. They were taking my Doctor away and replacing him with this guy in a stupid hat. I stopped watching Doctor Who after that, which didn't make much difference because they had switched Doctor Who from 7pm to 11pm. I've long since warmed up to Sylvester McCoy's Doctor and I know now that it wasn't his fault Colin's tenure as the Doctor was cut short. A more evil and sinister man was behind that. Michael Grade, head of BBC.  It wasn't until my freshman year of college until I got back into Doctor Who. I had seen "Doctor Who: Timeframe" on the shelves at "Barnes and Noble". I mostly got it for nostalgic reasons but it wasn't before long that I was hooked on the show once again. I was in a specialty video store and saw a bunch of Doctor Who episodes in the Sci-Fi section. The first episode I bought was "The Two Doctors", my favourite episode when I was younger. It was still great to watch after all these years. Colin Baker will always remain one of my favourite Doctors. And with the advent of the Big Finish audio's he has proven that he could have done so much more with the role. But thank you Colin and Nicola for giving me a great childhood. |
