6 Ways the Sixth Doctor from Doctor Who Got Screwed

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http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/01/...got_screwe.php

In 1984, Peter Davison left Doctor Who as his version of the Doctor, the gentle, much-loved fifth, regenerated into the sixth. Producer John Nathan-Turner and others on the production staff felt it was time to take the series in another direction and perhaps return to the darkness and ambiguity of the show's early years. The actor chosen to herald this shift in tone was Colin Baker, who had appeared in a smallish part on the show before and had made a good impression on Nathan-Turner and others at a party. The Sixth Doctor was deliberately designed to be a change of pace: brash, verbose, aggressive and manic, his on-screen behavior to become the stuff of infamy among fans. At the time, Baker was enthusiastic and speculated that he might go on to be the longest-running Doctor ever: the following debacle would make that statement seem like some sort of a sick joke, as Colin became not only the shortest-lived Doctor on TV (aside from Paul McGann's Eighth) but the most controversial as well.

Those three years have become vilified to Whovians as the low point of the entire series. There's no denying that these episodes make for rough viewing: ugly set design, unlikable characters, assloads of grim violence and hammy acting galore, to name but a few flaws. But somehow Colin seems to take the brunt of the blame for a lot of these ****-ups when he was against many of them from the beginning, or not involved with them at all. Delve deep enough into Who lore and you really start to feel sorry for the guy: he just wanted to be the Doctor. Instead he got the **** end of the stick too many times to count and still gets overlooked and ignored today. I'm not saying he's flawless as an actor or anything, and I'm definitely not saying he's my favorite Doctor, but here are just a few reasons to go a little easier on him, you microcephalic apostates.

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http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...0030107AAefOca

I think he took over around 1980. It was the end of the Baker era, I know. He held sway over 4 Doctors, which was unprecedented at every level. Can you imagine getting to pick 3 Doctors? Most of us would kill for just one! :P

The downturn in Doctor Who's ratings were not all JNT's fault, I am sure. Diversity of channels had a lot to do with that. I almost hate to rag on the guy, but...

But he rode the show from a level of popularity through one cancellation scare and finally the 16 year hiatus. I don't want to bag on the guy in some ways, because he seemed like such a big fan and loved the show. That means something. But that sure as crap doesn't mean he needed to run it for so long. It seemed he ran the show into the ground.

So when '85 or so came along and Doctor Who was on the ropes, why didn't management choose to replace JNT? Seriously? He had some crap ideas. What was it with the question mark thing that he forced on different Doctors? With Baker it wasn't so bad, but with McCoy it was cheesy. And as Colin Baker said, the best thing about the 6th Doctor's outfit is that he didn't have to look at it himself. Terrible! The first time I ever saw a picture of the 6th Doctor, I could tell why the show got canceled, he looked like a CLOWN! And the 5th Doctor's celery stick, ugh. Where did JNT come up with this stuff? Was he watching American children's TV at the time, you know the Bozo the Clown show?!

And when they narrowly avoided cancellation, who got the axe? Colin Baker. All that stuff wasn't his fault, he wasn't the one calling the shots. He actually got forced out by the network, the only Doctor to truly get fired. Can you imagine how Baker felt? Even if they felt the 6th Doctor MUST go, in order to re-brand the show and take a chance on a new image, how is it JNT avoided getting fired as well? He was the one in charge, year after year after year, Doctor after Doctor after Doctor, as the ratings slipped. How was it no execs could see he had been in charge too long? AND had crap ideas? Verity Lambert has said she didn't care for the late Eighties show because people didn't respect it, didn't take it seriously ("The Story of Doctor Who" documentary, 2003). It seems Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy were both big fans of the Doctor, and yet they both suffered because of almost 10 years of bad decisions from JNT.

So how did JNT avoid this??

And do you think Colin Baker or JNT should have gotten fired? Or both, even?