TOM BAKER DOCTOR WHO STORIES

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Favorite Doctor:  	Tom Baker
Favorite Story:  	THE TALONS OF WENG-CHIANG
Favorite Companion:  	Sarah Jane Smith, although I think Leela is the ideal companion.
Favorite Scriptwriter:  Robert Holmes

Intro

In his autobiography, WHO ON EARTH IS TOM BAKER?, Tom writes "Playing DOCTOR WHO came as a great surprise to me.  I had no idea that I would enjoy it so much.  All that was required of me was to be able to speak complete gobbledygook with conviction."  Tom found this easy because he "had been taught nonsense by priests and teachers on all sorts of subjects."

He goes on:  "What struck me very deeply about DOCTOR WHO was that the performers were often more fascinating than the characters in the script.  You might ask, 'Who, for example?' And I might say, 'Well, everybody, to be frank.'"

Later, he writes:  "After a while, following three or four thousand fan letters, all expressing approval, I began to get into the part and then the part began to get into me and oh! I was the Doctor and the Doctor was me.  From then on, we were one.  I could do nothing else."

Later he writes about attending BBC exhibitions, visiting children in hospitals, and long autograph signing sessions.  "All this activity became an extension of the show.  It meant that I never stopped being the Doctor.  The endless enthusiasm of the children and parents fuelled us all. . . . I was able to avoid myself during all these activities and pursue the fantasy life of the benevolent alien.  It suited me very well.  I've never liked myself much and being able to escape the despised self kept me in good spirits.  The welcomes and the smiles came from all levels of the audience.  There was no hostility anywhere, I think because the character I played didn't threaten anyone.  It was all rather dotty and the tumultuous welcome from children gave me the imprimatur of approval.  If they approved then so did the rest of their families.  The days all mixed, and rehearsals and recordings and appearances for charities all mixed.  I became used to being called Doctor by real doctors and nurses and the pleasure children derived from all this was enough to make me happy.  It was no great sacrifice, I can tell you."

I always thought the way Tom entered a scene in DOCTOR WHO was wonderfully authoritative, but apparently he disagreed.  He writes:  "Once in Chicago, a PhD student who was doing his thesis on 'The Improbability of TV Heroes' remarked to me in front of about a thousand people that he thought I was a unique actor.  As I lowered my head to hide my pleasure he cited as evidence of his claim my manner of coming through doors.  This brought me up with a jolt and the blood fled from my cheeks.  Was he taking the piss, I wondered?  Doors?  Doors are my betes noires.  I heard John Dexter's voice echoing in the horror vault of my memory:  'You can't walk through a door sincerely, Baker'.  But my PhD man was not taking the piss.  'When I perceive the delicate way you cross the threshold of the TARDIS, Mr. Baker, and you close the door with such precision, and you never lean back against the door the way that most actors do.  Why, I just marvel!"  I thanked him with shameless humility and decide not to explain that it was often impossible to enter into our sets and close the door 'naturally' without the whole set shaking.  Not that I objected to the sets shaking; it was the producers who called for retakes.  I could never persuade them that on other planets the architecture was a bit different."

Later, Tom writes:  "The response of the children gave me ... delusions.  I felt I could do anything, if only the stories were good. "

01-ROBOT
02-THE ARK IN SPACE
03-THE SONTARAN EXPERIMENT
04-GENESIS OF THE DALEKS
05-REVENGE OF THE CYBERMEN
06-TERROR OF THE ZYGONS
07-PLANET OF EVIL
08-PYRAMIDS OF MARS
09-THE ANDROID INVASION
10-THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS
11-THE SEEDS OF DOOM
12-THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA
13-THE HAND OF FEAR
14-THE DEADLY ASSASSIN
15-THE FACE OF EVIL
16-THE ROBOTS OF DEATH
17-THE TALONS OF WENG-CHIANG
18-THE HORROR OF FANG ROCK
19-THE INVISIBLE ENEMY
20-IMAGE OF THE FENDAHL
21-THE SUN MAKERS
22-UNDERWORLD
23-THE INVASION OF TIME
24-THE RIBOS OPERATION
25-THE PIRATE PLANET
26-THE STONES OF BLOOD
27-THE ANDROIDS OF TARA
28-THE POWER OF KROLL
29-THE ARMAGEDDON FACTOR
30-DESTINY OF THE DALEKS
31-CITY OF DEATH
32-THE CREATURE FROM THE PIT
33-NIGHTMARE OF EDEN
34-THE HORNS OF NIMON
35-SHADA
36-THE LEISURE HIVE
37-MEGLOS
38-FULL CIRCLE
39-STATE OF DECAY
40-WARRIORS' GATE
41-THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN
42-LOGOPOLIS