This series is just too huge to put into words. Classic Who has so many different styles and stories and protagonists. It's amazing concepts and different, iconic things.things that are just common knowledge in our culture today. Eight Doctors. Eight eras. There's just too much of it to put into words. Doctor Who is just part of British culture due to this fine, twenty six season long story of a time travelling alien.
Each Doctor's era is very different. They seem to have the same style as the Doctor. The Doctor ran the show, with the exception of the First Doctor (William Hartnell) to a degree, who let his companions take charge. Each Doctor had unique personalities, and the style and stories of Classic Who matched the Doctor they were assigned to.
The First Doctor was more of an adviser and let his companions take control, but he was still a crazy, lovable alien just like his other incarnations. The Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) is my favourite, he's very childish but intelligent and was grown up when he needed to be. The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) was the earthbound Doctor started off as arrogant and annoyed, but gradually became more loving. The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) arguably made the show popular and is the most known Classic Doctor. He's also arguably the most childish and always had that huge smile.
The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) was the youngest Classic Doctor, but acted like the oldest at times. He's arguably the most unlucky Doctor as he just wants fun but death surrounds him. The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) is arguably (yes, again) the most disliked Doctor due to his arrogance and choice of clothing (not his fault). He was very childish and serious most of the time. The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) was the clown to start off with, but gradually got much darker and more manipulative but always remained childish. The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) was probably the most human Doctor, and seemed to be one of the most childish but had a hidden sadness and rage, leading into New Who.
The TARDIS is the Doctor's iconic time and space travelling machine. It has became so iconic in British culture that if a child sees an old police box, he'll/she'll probably shout "TARDIS!" and point. The Master is the Doctor's nemesis, his Moriarty, who can also regenerate when injured as they are both the aliens called Time Lords from Gallifrey. Daleks are another iconic thing in Britain now, try and find somebody who doesn't know what one is.
Of course, these are only brief descriptions and don't go into each era, which usually matches the Doctor at the time. The series is so massive that I could describe it for hours. So impressive. A small concept became such an iconic show. Possibly more famous than Robin Hood, another British achievement.
I gave this series a 9 for a reason, though. I believe the pacing is too slow. It's hard to pay attention much of the time as things take so long to happen. This was normal at the time of 1960s Doctor Who, but not the extent this series. As fun and interesting as it is, it can bore me to a very large extent. If only each story was cut in half, bar some of the better paces stories.
So a huge cultural thing, but the series itself has a number of problems. The concepts are so genius, though, that these can be forgiven. I just find the series hard to watch a lot of the time. I'll review New Who (2005-) separately.
