Colin Baker

Dear Gary—

I’ve made it through the Colin Baker years. I had my fears going in, but I have come to appreciate Colin Baker’s Doctor more than I thought possible. It is unfortunate that he was a victim of the times. Bad decisions, bad scripts, bad companions, bad wardrobe, bad production values.

Not that it was all bad. And despite the bad I managed to find some good. Even the worst, like The Twin Dilemma and Timelash, had their good points. Conversely, some of the best, like Vengeance on Varos, had some of the worst.

The Colin Baker years were a patchwork quilt of good and bad, much like his trademark coat. More bad than good, but enough good to keep me going.  I ranked him dead last in my original Doctor ratings. I have to keep him there. It’s not Colin Baker’s fault, but it is what it is.

The Doctor can’t go it alone. Starting with the Fifth, Peter Davison, the companions have become more of a liability than an asset. The Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, was burdened with Peri. One companion. Peter Davison had too many, Colin Baker had too few. Again, it is not Nicola Bryant’s fault. She was saddled with a phony accent and a one-dimensional characterization. She was hired for one (or two) asset(s) and never allowed to develop beyond that. She did the best she could with what she was handed.

What she was handed was an erratic Doctor trying to kill her. No wonder they spent the majority of their time together at one another’s throat. The few truly companionable moments they were allowed came too little too late. Then Mel was shoved into the middle of things with not so much as a ‘how do you do,’ and Peri was disposed of in dramatic fashion only to have it blunted with the web of lies called the Matrix.

That same web of lies clouds Colin Baker’s last season. None of the adventures that are shown during the Trial of a Time Lord season can be taken at face value. They are all tainted. That leaves only a handful of legitimate adventures to judge him by.

Starting his tenure with a regeneration gone haywire, Colin Baker was never given a chance to establish a consistent voice. Perhaps he simply wasn’t given enough time. Some of his most genuine moments occur with a non-companion and/or outside of the main adventure. His touching farewell of Asmael in The Twin Dilemma for example. Or his delight in helping George Stephenson with his work, only to have the sparkle in his eye extinguished when Peri arrives to send him chasing after the Master and the Rani. In one of his better stories, Revelation of the Daleks, the Doctor begins some real bonding with Peri, but the two don’t even reach the scene of the action until the mid point. He finally begins to show some positive impact and companionable moments in The Mysterious Planet, but then this whole story is thrown into doubt by the Matrix and is immediately followed up with Mindwarp in which the Doctor reverts to the erratic persona from his first story.

I don’t know, though. He was given two years, and two years should have been more than enough time. The few moments of compassion and engagement and effectiveness are not enough to overcome the bouts of violence, carelessness, cruelty, and callousness that mark much of his early adventures.

I find myself disengaging during the Colin Baker years. It’s still Doctor Who and I still watch, but I’m just marking time until the next generation.

And so I say, I made it through.

Here’s to looking forward, Gary . . .