What's that, Doctor Who? The man who never would? Ha.
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00:00 The Doctor is a far more complex and expansive character than many people realise.
00:04 Now, we've already covered some misconceptions that both casual viewers and hardcore fans
00:09 might have about Doctor Who in general, but what about the Doctor themselves?
00:13 Well, let's take a look at some, shall we?
00:15 I'm Ellie with WhoCulture, here with 10 things everyone always gets wrong about the
00:20 Doctor.
00:21 10.
00:22 William Hartnell was ancient when he took the role
00:25 Issue 10 of Doctor Who Adventures, released in 2006, featured an image of William Hartnell
00:30 as the First Doctor, next to the caption "Meet the very first Doctor."
00:34 Yikes.
00:35 He's ancient.
00:36 Now, this may have seemed the case to younger fans upon seeing Hartnell's face, and the
00:41 more grandfatherly portrayal of the First Doctor, plus the long white wig, would likely
00:45 do nothing to dissuade them of this notion.
00:48 Part of this misconception is also likely down to the actor's ailing health and untimely
00:52 death in 1975.
00:54 However, William Hartnell wasn't actually as old as everyone thinks he was when he played
00:59 the Doctor.
01:00 At the age of 55, Hartnell was actually 20 years younger than David Bradley was when
01:04 he filmed his first scene as the First Doctor in The Doctor Falls.
01:08 Meanwhile, Peter Capaldi was merely a few months younger than William Hartnell when
01:12 he began his tenure as the Twelfth Doctor.
01:14 More surprisingly still, 14th Doctor David Tennant is now 51, only 4 years younger than
01:19 Hartnell was.
01:21 It would seem that actors clearly just look after themselves a bit better these days.
01:24 Or, you know, we put them in costumes that don't make them look old, like a white wig.
01:29 9.
01:30 The Doctor Always Regenerates in The TARDIS
01:33 Jodie Whittaker's regeneration wasn't just a big deal because of who she regenerated
01:37 into; it also marked the first time in the modern era that the Doctor regenerated outside
01:43 the TARDIS.
01:44 This idea of the Doctor always regenerating in the TARDIS took hold during the Russell
01:48 T Davies years, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that there was a precedent in the
01:52 classic series.
01:53 However, it's only the First, Fifth and Sixth Doctors who actually regenerate inside the
01:58 TARDIS, and with much less damage to their surroundings, might we add.
02:01 So it's odd that this notion has stuck with the show since it returned in 2005, especially
02:06 given how unsafe it is to regenerate inside the TARDIS.
02:09 The Sixth Doctor is under attack when he regenerates, and the TARDIS appears to operate itself in
02:13 the Tenth Planet.
02:15 In the modern series, everything explodes and a slightly frazzled Doctor momentarily
02:19 forgets what the hell is going on.
02:21 So it's no wonder, really, that the TARDIS eventually ejected the Thirteenth Doctor out
02:25 the doors at the end of Twice Upon a Time.
02:27 She's clearly learned her lesson, and hopefully the show has too.
02:31 8.
02:32 The Doctor Always Travels with a Young Female Companion
02:35 Comedy sketches about Doctor Who have existed for almost as long as the show itself.
02:40 Hell, the first known parody was broadcast just over a month after An Unearthly Child
02:44 when the TV show It's a Square World featured a sketch with Dad's Army actor Clive Dunne
02:49 as William Hartnell.
02:51 Since then, there have been many more, and most of them are based on some well-worn and
02:55 inaccurate interpretations of what Doctor Who actually is.
02:59 One of the most common of these is that the Doctor always travels with a young female
03:02 companion that they want to get jiggy with.
03:04 This is one of the gags in Lenny Henry's Doctor Who sketch from 1985, the main gag
03:09 in a sketch from A Kick Up the 80s in 1982, and Stephen Moffat went there because of course
03:14 he did in The Curse of Fatal Death.
03:17 David Tennant even dressed up as a sexy Doctor Who companion to face off against Alan Carr
03:21 on the Friday Night Project.
03:23 However, the history of Doctor Who's weird and wonderful companions is a far richer vein
03:28 for comedy than these sketches suggest.
03:30 A clapped-out, shapeshifting android?
03:32 An overgrown schoolboy?
03:33 A robot dog?
03:35 Then again, perhaps those were deemed to be beyond parody.
03:38 7.
03:39 The Classic Doctors Were All Posh Christopher Eccleston spoke of wanting to
03:43 have a northern accent because a posh voice would imply that only upper-class people could
03:48 be hyper-intelligent like the Doctor.
03:50 The notion of a posh Doctor certainly influences a lot of the parody versions, particularly
03:55 American spoofs like the Inspector Spacetime gag in Community, but those types of characters
04:00 aren't really reflected in the casting of the Doctor.
04:02 While it's certainly true that the First and Third Doctors had what could be classed
04:06 as establishment voices, that doesn't tell the full story.
04:10 William Hartnell grew up in London slums without ever knowing his father.
04:14 Tom Baker was working on a building site when he was cast as the Doctor.
04:17 In his youth, Peter Davison's father was a greengrocer, and after leaving school, Davison
04:22 was briefly an odd-jobs man who once worked as a mortuary attendant.
04:26 Ultimately, the Doctor is a time Lord, and that may have affected the performances of
04:31 the previous actors.
04:32 However, even with that in mind, the Doctor's voice is very rarely posh or snooty, and the
04:37 Doctor certainly doesn't hold themselves in such a manner.
04:40 6.
04:41 Never Cruel or Cowardly originated in New Who
04:45 Nowadays, the line "Never be cruel, never be cowardly" is inextricably linked with
04:50 Peter Capaldi's pre-regeneration speech in Twice Upon a Time.
04:53 However, this is merely a reference to a description of the Doctor's character that has existed
04:58 for decades.
04:59 Although never properly stated on screen until the day of the Doctor, it first featured in
05:04 a 70s book by Doctor Who legends Terrence Dicks and Malcolm Hulk called The Making of
05:09 Doctor Who.
05:10 The book features this description of the Doctor, one that would define the character
05:13 for decades to come.
05:15 The Doctor believes in good and fights evil.
05:17 Though often caught up in violent situations, he is a man of peace.
05:21 He is never cruel or cowardly.
05:23 It would take another 40 years for this description to be mentioned on screen, but it comes at
05:28 exactly the right moment, when the 10th and 11th Doctors join forces to avert the War
05:33 Doctor's Gallifreyan genocide.
05:35 5.
05:36 Their name is Doctor Who
05:38 Doctor Who is the name of the show.
05:40 The Doctor is the name of the character.
05:43 Is to Doctor Who fans what Frankenstein is the name of the scientist is to horror fans.
05:47 But is that really true?
05:49 From 1963 to 1981, the character was credited as both "Doctor Who" as in D-R and "Doctor
05:56 Who" as in D-O-C-T-O-R.
05:58 In The War Machines, the super intelligent computer Bo-Tan states that "Doctor Who"
06:02 is required, while the second Doctor refers to himself as "Doctor Who", albeit in German,
06:07 in The Highlanders.
06:08 "Doctor Who" and "The Silurians" is the literal name for the John Pertwee serial,
06:12 while a large number of Target novelisations refer to the character as "Doctor Who" as
06:16 well.
06:17 When the show returned in 2005, Christopher Eccleston was credited as "Doctor Who".
06:21 But when David Tennant was cast, he insisted on being credited as "The Doctor" because
06:26 he's a massive fanboy.
06:28 Although he was also a massive fanboy, Capaldi didn't insist on reverting his credit, but
06:33 wonderfully referred to the character as "Doctor Who" in press interviews.
06:37 However, arguably the clearest answer to this debate came in "The Name of the Doctor",
06:41 which asserted that "The Doctor" is the name that was chosen.
06:44 Not that that will stop people continuing to call the Doctor "Doctor Who" in years
06:48 to come.
06:49 4.
06:50 Jelly Babies Originated With Tom Baker
06:52 Jelly Babies are synonymous with Tom Baker.
06:55 There's no argument there, and most appearances of the delicious confection are, of course,
06:59 nods to the iconic fourth Doctor.
07:01 Jelly Babies are found on the seventh Doctor's person when he's shot in San Francisco, while
07:05 the Ganga Doctor offers Jelly Babies to the real eleventh Doctor in the voice of Tom Baker,
07:10 no less.
07:11 However, the Doctor's love for Jelly Babies didn't actually originate with Baker's
07:15 Doctor, and it goes back much further than the 1970s.
07:19 The first reference to a Jelly Baby in Doctor Who actually dates back to 1968's second
07:24 Doctor serial, The Dominators.
07:25 Here, the second Doctor munches on some Jelly Babies while waiting inside one of the travel
07:30 capsules.
07:31 When Troughton returns to the show for the three Doctors, the second Doctor offers the
07:35 Brigadier a Jelly Baby in the TARDIS.
07:37 The second Doctor still has Jelly Babies to hand in the five Doctors, so it's the Doctor's
07:42 second incarnation who first got a taste for them, rather than the fourth, like most people
07:46 think.
07:47 3.
07:48 The Doctor Often Experiences Post-Regenerative Trauma
07:52 From Castrovalva onwards, every regeneration has been followed by some degree of trauma.
07:57 The fifth Doctor can barely keep it together for the majority of that serial, and later
08:01 the sixth Doctor is so disorientated by the process that he throttles his companion.
08:06 Then, in a post-regenerative funk, the seventh Doctor believes the Ra need to be Mel and
08:10 plays along with her scheme until he sees the error of his ways.
08:13 This tradition continued into the TV movie, and then the Christmas Invasion.
08:17 Thankfully, Stephen Moffat appeared to dispense with this tiresome trope when he introduced
08:21 Matt Smith, but when Matt Smith regenerated into Capaldi, it was back to the out-of-control,
08:26 unpredictable state of flux.
08:27 It's hard to see where this trope originated from, especially as the second Doctor's companions
08:32 are more put out by his regeneration than he is.
08:35 His only concern is whether he can still call himself the Doctor, which he soon proves that
08:39 he can.
08:40 It's likely the result of his forced regeneration into the third Doctor that set the ball rolling,
08:44 a process that has been seen to be fairly traumatic.
08:47 Pertwee's amnesiac state in Spearhead from Space is likely what set the tone for the
08:51 Doctor's subsequent regenerations, but thankfully the 14th Doctor knows exactly who he is.
08:57 Or does he?
08:58 Number 2.
08:59 The numbering matters.
09:00 Doctor Who fans are pretty passionate about two things.
09:04 One is that the show needs reinvigorating to appeal to a modern audience, and two is
09:08 that the numbering of the Doctors is some hard and fast rule.
09:11 Interestingly, these two things are currently in direct conflict with each other.
09:15 Using Shutigatwa as the 15th Doctor implicitly suggests to audiences that they have to catch
09:20 up on the previous 14.
09:22 New audiences just wouldn't bother, would they?
09:24 There's even some debate as to whether Tennant is actually the 14th Doctor, despite Russell
09:28 T. Davis stating that as a fact.
09:30 The Timeless Child was a flawed attempt by Chris Chibnall to detonate the fandom's obsession
09:35 with the numbering of Doctors.
09:37 After discovering that she's lived countless lives that she wasn't previously aware of,
09:40 the 13th Doctor ultimately decides that the only thing that's important is who she is
09:45 now.
09:46 That's the real message of The Timeless Child, but it got buried in all the controversy.
09:49 Regardless, for the audience at home, the numbering of the Doctors only really matters
09:54 when they're at the local pub quiz.
09:55 David Tennant may be the 14th Doctor, but chances are there'll be riots in pubs across
10:00 the UK when non-fans get a point for saying it's Shutigatwa.
10:04 Number 1.
10:05 The Doctor is a pacifist.
10:07 Make the foundation of this society a man who never would.
10:11 The 10th Doctor, the Doctor's daughter.
10:13 Except he would and he has.
10:14 The Doctor's history of pacifism and his distaste towards guns and violence has largely
10:19 defined the 21st century era of the show.
10:21 However, this history is very patchy indeed.
10:24 In the Doctor's very first on-screen adventure into the past, he almost brained a caveman
10:29 with a rock.
10:30 The Reign of Terror then sees the First Doctor batter a man around the head with a shovel.
10:34 Some might say that the First Doctor was a little bit unfinished and softened with age,
10:38 but just look at the evidence from other Doctors.
10:40 The Fourth Doctor smashed through a skylight and twisted a guy's neck in the Seeds of
10:44 Doom.
10:45 The Fifth Doctor blasted a Cyberman to death in Earthshock and put a gun to Davros' head
10:49 in Resurrection of the Daleks.
10:50 The Sixth Doctor strangled his companion, threw some henchmen in an acid bath, and gassed
10:54 Shock Eye to death.
10:55 The Eleventh Doctor left Solomon to die in Dinosaurs on a spaceship.
10:59 The man who never would, yeah, if you say so.
11:02 And that concludes our list.
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11:23 I've been Ellie with WhoCulture and in the words of River Song herself, goodbye sweeties.