This one’s a little bit tricky. I hadn’t had the Sixth Doctor in my mind for that long primarily because that’s how long he was on the show. And to give any sort of insight on the Sixth Doctor without much knowledge doesn’t do much justice for the character. There are those that claim that the Sixth Doctor grows with the audio stories, and it is true that he doesn’t get to flourish much with his brief tenure. But what the Sixth Doctor suffers from most are his dreadful stories. As the show itself began its decline with the mid to late 80s, the stories began to be lackluster, even more so than their predecessors. The Third Doctor admittedly had the same problem more or less, as did the BBC when it came to funding Doctor Who, but the biggest advantage that Jon Pertwee had over Colin Baker was that the show was still new by its own standards (not even a fifth of its own life had passed by) and wasn’t overcome by the drastic change in entertainment style that the 80s was ultimately full of. We’ll return to that point later on, but for now let’s discuss the Sixth Doctor.
The Sixth Doctor was amongst the most radical if not the most radical of the Doctors. He was bold, brash, and bright (unfortunately literally as well). He, unlike his predecessor and much like Three, was headstrong and dived head first into action. He was more prone to violence and his tone was certainly more forward. While it may seem like nowadays the Doctor is the first to say he doesn’t use a gun, he certainly has, and definitely before the Last Great Time War. In The Talons of Weng-Chiang, the Fourth Doctor used a shotgun to kill a giant mouse. In Revenge of the Cybermen, the Sixth Doctor one-hundred percent shot a Cyberman (or several) at the end of that story. More often than not, the Doctor runs and lets someone else who’s not his responsibility shoot the monsters. But Revenge of the Cybermen lives to prove that the Sixth Doctor is a completely man, especially different the Sixth Doctor.
I had stated in a previous note about regeneration from way back when that the Doctor’s regenerations specifically create a man that is a derivative of or a departure from his previous incarnation. Where the First Doctor is a proper fellow, the Second Doctor is a hobo; where the Third Doctor is a gentlemanly warrior, the Fourth Doctor is a bohemian pacifist. Where the Ninth Doctor is edgy, the Tenth Doctor is dorky. The only reason I stated that an incarnation should be a derivative of the previous one is because of the differences between the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. The only one I could think of is their style of dress and certain mannerisms. Where the Tenth Doctor both looks and sounds young, the Eleventh Doctor just looks young, but he’s so much better at sounding old. It’s a comparison that I should really look into (in fact, I will later on). However, both the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors look young, talk consistently and virtually without end, and have a certain amount of pride for their intelligence with arrogance to boot.
That point brings us to one of the most drastic changes in Doctor Who history: the Fifth Doctor to the Sixth Doctor. While the Fifth Doctor was boyish, the Sixth Doctor was authoritative. Where the Fifth Doctor was sporty, the Sixth was theatrical. Where the Fifth Doctor was reserved, the Sixth Doctor was boastful. Where the Fifth Doctor was timid, the Sixth was dauntless. This list could go on and on, but you can clearly see the point. The Sixth Doctor was a dramatist and if he stubbed his toe, he’d be the first to tell you. And to drive the point home that the Sixth Doctor was o so different, his dress was about as colorful as he was (no, that wasn’t his choice).
This Doctor could definitely be so wonderful and it’s a shame that he isn’t higher on my personal list of Doctors, but it’s only because we hardly spend any time with him. True, the same could be said of the Fifth Doctor, but we had nearly an extra season with him so he could solidify himself. Just as viewers were trying to situate themselves with a new Doctor (as I can only assume), they were left to adjust to a new one only two years later (three technically if you really count the Twin Dilemma). It’s worth mentioning that this Doctor could easily be mistaken for a joke and therefore unable to place himself in high place in most people’s hearts particularly because of his clown suit. With that Doctor’s nature, Colin Baker could have easily gotten away with something black.
Coming back to the stories of this Doctor and why it’s hard to judge him in the first place, I must admit the fault may be in fact my own. While some of the stories were indeed gruesome and some had potential to add to the show, like Revelation of the Daleks and Vengeance on Varos, some others were quite slow and added little to the show and his character, most notably The Two Doctors. These stories were set in a format that was definitely familiar to the BBC but was also starting to become archaic. With Star Wars ending and Terminator beginning as well as the trickling down of cinematic influence on television, it was only a matter of time that Doctor Who either had to change or suffer falling behind. Of course, in a large part due to Jonathan Nathan Turner’s negligence, the latter did indeed happen. When there was an opportunity to change, the chance was taken way too late and that method had proved itself to fail regardless. I will talk about this extensively in my Seventh Doctor entry.
What could have been a Doctor for the ages in the hearts of many seems to be in a large part another Doctor, another incarnation that’s just there, a Doctor that claims importance simply because he exists. Any reference that is made to him, especially in the modern series, is mostly a mention of his existence and is not one of any impact he’s seemed to have made. And it may be, because, again, because he simply wasn’t given much time and enough material to be considered truly iconic. And while he is most certainly the Doctor, and certainly not a footnote, he was most certainly robbed of his chance to cement himself has the stellar madman that he’s most known to be. I hope it’s not taken as disrespect and mainly as a recognition of a truly missed opportunity. The Sixth Doctor still proves himself to be quite brilliant, but he never gets the recognition he deserves.
