We have plenty of fav doctor polls. So I wanted to word it slightly differently, cause I find this interesting!
I got into the show kinda via 11 edits on TikTok, so he was my fav initially. He still is my fav nuwho doc, even if I don’t yap about him much, but those on this forum probably watched me go from “oh I like 8 a lot!” to being completely fixated on the second doctor and his companions. The only remnant of my like for 8 is my username haha.
So yeah, who was initially your favourite doctor, and has that changed since watching more? Or have you picked one and stuck with them?
So, actually the way I got into the show was kinda funny. Like a decade ago in the US, classic who was on Netflix, so I watched half of an unearthly child. Then I forgot about it. Then I watched marvel’s Jessica Jones a couple years later, and I told my friend David Tennant was so creepy in that, that he could play the joker. My friend said “you should watch doctor who” so I tuned in on BBC America, and they were showing the empty child, and I fell in love with 9. So I bought the dvd set of his season, and now the rest is history.
Eight; he was the Big Finish doctor who most stuck out to me. Even as I feel he’s lost his sheen since the switch to box sets, he remains my favourite, with Eleven and Twelve close behind, and Five and Six a distant third.
At first my favorite was the 10th, later it was the 12th and he remained so for quite a long time. Over time the 10th started moving toward one of the last places and when I got into the expanded universe I liked the 8th a lot. With time I realized that I like the 8th more than the 12th and here I am now. I highly doubt that any other Doctor, at least one that currently exists, can replace the 8th.
I actually didn’t have a fav until Jodie Whittaker came along. I really loved her first season, and found the idea of a female doctor, especially one who looked a little bit like me, really cool. Series 12, I still liked, especially Skyfall, but not as much. Upon rewatching much of the rest of Nu who I suddenly found I didn’t like some of Jodie’s episodes as much, in comparison. While I still love her as the doctor she is no longer my favourite, my favourite being split between 9, 10, 11 and 12. I still love her, and would still put her as A tier or maybe even S tier, but I love the others more. Still don’t think that era deserves all the hate that it got, though.
My favourite was 10 for quite a while, and before I got into Classic Who, then I started with 7 who became a fast favourite and stayed for a long time, and now it’s 5
Well as I started at the beginning, 1 was my first Doctor, and I wasn’t expecting to like him as much as the others as I had heard he was just a grumpy old man or something along those lines (stupid misconception ). I didn’t initially like him that much, preferring Ian and Barbara a lot more, but of course he becomes much warmer as his run goes on and he is still my favourite out of 5 Doctors so far - although 2 and 4 are very close too (and yeah I do also like 2 a little more than 4, he’d be more appreciated if so much of his stuff wasn’t missing)
Six used to very easily be my favourite, (and maybe he kind of still is in a way) but I think this might have been because all my first impressions of him were so strong. His entry in Destiny of the Doctor I loved (I mean it’s Nev Fountain it was kind of unfair to the rest already), and then after the quite strong impression he left in Sirens, Whispers of Terror was the story that immediately convinced me that I liked him more than 5 or 7. And after the Holy Terror, it only became more difficult to go back on that. But Five’s later stories and Seven’s TV-era I’ve since absolutely adored all the same. So maybe it’s a bit of first impression bias.
It took a while for me to accept that my current favourite is actually my favourite, because it seemed so ridiculous, but with the even more ridiculous amount of time I’ve spend thinking about them, I could hardly deny it much longer.
Aside from clips on YouTube, my first experience with the War Doctor was the first Carley boxset. I liked him there, but didn’t yet think much of them. After watching Day of the Doctor, he actually went down in my rough mental estimations! Excellent as John Hurt was, the character had such a small role that no matter the beautiful arc, he did seem mostly like a gimmick.
Listening to the rest of Begins and Rises slowly some months later though, the liking started to creep back in. I didn’t even realize it at the time, but Rewind was more to my brain than “Oh that was very good.” The appreciation was all a very slow burn really. At the time my thoughts weren’t even registering as liking, but by the time I got to the double whammy of listening to Fallen Heroes and He Who Fights With Monsters right after each other I don’t think there was a way back.
While listening to Comrades in Arms recently is when I started accepting that the stupid gimmick Doctor was now my favourite incarnation of the character, but what can you do. I love that war criminal. I’d give them a thousand hugs if I could.
I was actually talking about that with my gf today. For a long long LONG time my fav was the tenth with eleventh close behind.
More recently I have been in a journey to watch all of DW (and also getting into the comics and audios that, being honest, I didn’t even know existed). Rn I’m in the first series of eleven
After watching the classics and rewatching 10 and 9 my opinion has changed a lot, I still think Tennant was brilliant and I love 10, but, my favourite for now gotta be 4 with 2 close behind, tho that may change as I rewatch the newer eras.
Ps: there isn’t a doctor I dislike, but if I would put them from fav to least fav it would be:
ten, I started watching because of him. don’t get me wrong, I started with nine and I fell in love with him too, head over heels, but I feel such a deep guttural connection to 10. words fail me.
this connection to him prevented me from liking 11 as much, and pretty much any other doctor rip, but its worst with 11 because he directly follows him. I don’t understand how people don’t like him, ofc I respect it and know people don’t like him, but I don’t get it
I started watching doctor who with 9 but I never really liked him all too much then came along 10 and of course like much of the nation, I instantly fell in love with him. He was always my doctor. I say WAS because I’ve recently started to really like 11. I think under moffat, he gave the doctor some much needed depth that RTD didn’t give. Tennant will forever be the doctor I loved, much like rose but as a whole, Matt smith really became the perfect doctor. I really like Jodie as well. Her energy really embodied a mix of 10/11 and it was infectious. I’d have loved to see what Steven moffat or RTD could have done with her if she was picked earlier or Steven had stayed on for another year.
The Tenth Doctor was my first Doctor, and it was him who got me into the series so he has a special place in my heart. Always has been my favorite. Two is a very close second. So far I have watched serials of all the Doctors except Six, Seven, Thirteen, and Fifteen. I am excited to finally get to watch them soon. My other favorites have always been in flux but I honestly don’t think there is one I dislike, just depends on my current circumstances on which Doctor I wish to watch.
I started NuWho thanks to a YouTube channel edits (the Brazilian dub is amazing), and I started the 11th about two years ago (I know that NuWho used to be broadcast on public tv, but I didn’t watched it then):
I’d say that the 12th had a personality closer to my own, but I thought that the 3rd had the best writing (or I simply do not remember a single story of his that bored me or that I felt it was weak). Arriving on Big Finish, Paul MacGann had the opportunity to show everything he have (rewatching The Night of the Doctor after listening for the main stuff from Charley to Cass was so intense).
4 was my favorite from my earliest experiences, but I seriously grew to love them all. Two is more lovable than many give credit - honestly, traveling with 2 or 5 is probably wisest. I wish we’d gotten far more 12, and another season of 13, and ongoing with 15 for a fair span. I like 10 a lot, but I think being a bit contrarian gets in the way of me loving him - and thinking back on it, I wish 10 had the budget of 11 or 12!
Liking 1 is tricky, because the ones to like in his era are actually Ian and Barbara (imo). 3 embodies the maximum kookiness of the 70’s that 6 does of the 80’s (along with 7 in his own way). We barely met 9, sadly (or 15). 11 never felt like a fleshed out character, to me (unless adhd is character) - but many of his stories are wonderful, and the dynamics with River, Amy, and Rory were often fantastic.
The only actors to really timelessly hold the roles (for me) were 4 and 5. Everyone else feels like a direct product of their time. 4 is a stand out. I think Tom’s Doctor will always reign supreme. He’s not human at all.
But I often love whichever one I’m reading or watching best! Amazing achievement.
Well I started with 9 when it first came out, and 9 is still to this day my favourite nuwho doctor… so maybe not. Nowadays I prefer some of the classic doctor whos, which I hadnt seen as a kid, with 1 and 7 both being even bigger faves now… so maybe it did change
I started with 9 too, he was my first favourite. I started collecting favourites after that, 11 joined him as a favourite in Series 5 and 13 became another favourite during Flux. I find it impossible to decide my ultimate favourite between them all so I find it easier to say I have three favourites.
I got into the show properly in Tennant’s final series, so he was my first favourite (I did see the first two episodes of Eccleston in 2005 but didn’t watch the show at all in the interim). I enjoyed Smith but he never fully clicked with me in the same way Tennant did, so the former remained my favourite until Capaldi came along and took over by the time he left the role. He’s basically been my favourite ever since, although McGann is challenging him a bit now I’ve done a lot more of his “run”.
). I didn’t initially like him that much, preferring Ian and Barbara a lot more, but of course he becomes much warmer as his run goes on and he is still my favourite out of 5 Doctors so far - although 2 and 4 are very close too (and yeah I do also like 2 a little more than 4, he’d be more appreciated if so much of his stuff wasn’t missing)