This table
lays out the data from the graph:
*The Stories/Episodes metric is imperfect in that it regards multi-part episodes as a single story, however long those episodes were. Wikipedia (from whence these data came) makes no disctintion between 30 episodes or 60 minutes or 75 minutes or mini-episodes. I went ahead and refered to the McGann mini-episode with the 0.1, which would otherwise be treated as a full episode.
CONCLUSIONS: In my opinion, David Tennant was the perfect age for the character and blended all the best traits from the previous incarnations over the years. Someone too old wouldn't seem right being sarcastic the way the last couple Doctors were; they'd just come across as cranky. Someone too young would seem arrogant, even if you can suspend disbelief and buy the premise that he's hundreds of years old. Tennant was old enough to appear worldly and experienced, but young enough to be believable in an action - oriented role where he'd occasionally pick up a sword.
UPDATE #1: Peter Capaldi just assumed the role as of this writing. Interestingly, this makes him very nearly the oldest Doctor, a complete reversal of the trend. He is the same age as William Hartnell was when he premiered the character, and is the same age as Jon Pertwee was when he left the part. It will be interesting to see if Capaldi continues on for long enough to become the oldest Doctor ever... which, technically, the character is at this point.
UPDATE #2: There is also the War Doctor to consider: John Hurt (b.1940) who was age 73 when he made his first appearance. However, he was given a digital facelift in his first appearance to make him appear much younger at the end of the mini-episode "Night of the Doctor."
ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS: Many Doctors have made follow-up appearances long after their tenure ended. This was usually for continuity's sake in filming regeneration scenes. I'm not including those, but here is a list of noteable follow-up appearances. These include:
*Sylvester McCoy returning to regenerate into Paul McGann in the 1996 Doctor Who tv movie.
*Paul McGann returning to regenerate into John Hurt in the aforementioned "Night of the Doctor."
*Tom Baker returning for a cameo in "The Day of the Doctor," though he is not actually playing the Doctor, at least not if you assume time to be linear, which the show makes a point of saying it isn't.
At the time of mini-episode, it occurred to me that two of the longest-serving Doctors were also the least-successful. (That is, the series was cancelled at the end of McCoy's run, and McGann's movie wasn't picked up as series, even though he was contracted for six seasons.) John Hurt is a special case, written from the outset as having been around many, many years during the Last Great Time War. And who knows what to make of Tom Baker's return?!
| The Doctor First Doctor Second Doctor Third Doctor Fourth Doctor Fifth Doctor Sixth Doctor Seventh Doctor Eighth Doctor Ninth Doctor Tenth Doctor Eleventh Doctor Twelfth Doctor |
Played by William Hartnell Pat Troughton Jon Pertwee Tom Baker Peter Davison Colin Baker Sylvester McCoy Paul McGann Chris Eccleston David Tennant Matt Smith Peter Capaldi |
Years portraying 1963 - 1966 1966 - 1969 1970 - 1974 1974 - 1981 1981 - 1984 1984 - 1986 1987 - 1989 1996 - 1996 2005 - 2005 2005 - 2010 2010 - 2013 2013 - present |
Birth 1908 1920 1919 1934 1951 1943 1943 1959 1964 1971 1982 1958 |
Age during run 55 - 58 46 - 49 51 - 55 40 - 47 30 - 33 41 - 43 44 - 46 37 41 34 - 39 28 - 30 55 - ? |
Stories/Episodes* 29/134 21/119 24/128 41/172 20/69 8/31 12/42 1.1/1.1 10/13 36/47 38/43 TBD |
*The Stories/Episodes metric is imperfect in that it regards multi-part episodes as a single story, however long those episodes were. Wikipedia (from whence these data came) makes no disctintion between 30 episodes or 60 minutes or 75 minutes or mini-episodes. I went ahead and refered to the McGann mini-episode with the 0.1, which would otherwise be treated as a full episode.
CONCLUSIONS: In my opinion, David Tennant was the perfect age for the character and blended all the best traits from the previous incarnations over the years. Someone too old wouldn't seem right being sarcastic the way the last couple Doctors were; they'd just come across as cranky. Someone too young would seem arrogant, even if you can suspend disbelief and buy the premise that he's hundreds of years old. Tennant was old enough to appear worldly and experienced, but young enough to be believable in an action - oriented role where he'd occasionally pick up a sword.
UPDATE #1: Peter Capaldi just assumed the role as of this writing. Interestingly, this makes him very nearly the oldest Doctor, a complete reversal of the trend. He is the same age as William Hartnell was when he premiered the character, and is the same age as Jon Pertwee was when he left the part. It will be interesting to see if Capaldi continues on for long enough to become the oldest Doctor ever... which, technically, the character is at this point.
UPDATE #2: There is also the War Doctor to consider: John Hurt (b.1940) who was age 73 when he made his first appearance. However, he was given a digital facelift in his first appearance to make him appear much younger at the end of the mini-episode "Night of the Doctor."
ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS: Many Doctors have made follow-up appearances long after their tenure ended. This was usually for continuity's sake in filming regeneration scenes. I'm not including those, but here is a list of noteable follow-up appearances. These include:
*Sylvester McCoy returning to regenerate into Paul McGann in the 1996 Doctor Who tv movie.
*Paul McGann returning to regenerate into John Hurt in the aforementioned "Night of the Doctor."
*Tom Baker returning for a cameo in "The Day of the Doctor," though he is not actually playing the Doctor, at least not if you assume time to be linear, which the show makes a point of saying it isn't.
At the time of mini-episode, it occurred to me that two of the longest-serving Doctors were also the least-successful. (That is, the series was cancelled at the end of McCoy's run, and McGann's movie wasn't picked up as series, even though he was contracted for six seasons.) John Hurt is a special case, written from the outset as having been around many, many years during the Last Great Time War. And who knows what to make of Tom Baker's return?!
