Interesting useless stat; -

As many actors to play the Doctor on TV have had the same surname as have had the same forename i.e. two Doctors called Baker, and two Doctors called Peter. (No, John Hurt doesn't count, because Jon Pertwee dropped the H from his forename.)

They had the repeats on the Horror Channel recently with all the aforementioned names but while it was nice to recall past experiences, the level of enthusiasm just wasn't the same as before. Sorry !

It's just a shame that Colin never got a proper send-off, the BBC fired him and then wanted him to come back for one story just to regenerate. You can understand why he refused!

"SPOILER ALERT"

If you're a Whovian, then you probably already know this! Last year Big Finish Productions released a special box-set of audio dramas called Doctor Who: The Last Adventure, it may have took nearly 30 years, but Colin Baker finally got his regeneration scene and it gives The Sixth Doctor a fitting send-off.

https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-sixth-doctor---the-last-adventure-1212

The other day I came across this brilliant video from YouTuber Imagine that no door, they created a superb animation sequence to go with the above mentioned regeneration. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC0CaqPUILM

To be honest, Shockeye's appetites don't seem far removed from a number of other monsters in the history of Who. Even the Vashta Nerada were much the same in that regard.

However, I do like Attack of the Cybermen (possibly because it is full of continuity references and ties in neatly with William Hartnell's "The Tenth Planet". I'm a bit geeky like that!) I also love "Revelation of the Daleks", which in my view is the strongest of all the Colin Baker stories, and features a very gruesome scene that shows a man who is half transformed into a dalek. Still freaks me out even now !

Finally, to be fair to Colin, he did suffer also with some very irritating companions!

His tenure saw the introduction of 45 minute long episodes too, which we are now familiar with. People say that this period was a turbulent one for DW, some things worked & other's didn't but I think it was a productive time.

It's just a shame that Colin never got a proper send-off, the BBC fired him and then wanted him to come back for one story just to regenerate. You can understand why he refused!

Talking of Colin he will be at the Forum in Norwich signing things (as well as many others) Charity event being held.

He & Ian McNeice were going to appear in my hometown a few months back for a charity event. I was going to go, but sadly due to lack of promotion/ticket sales it was cancelled.

I'll have to check out at some point, Colin was never one of the Doctors I watched as a kid ( 5 nad 7 were the ones I used to watch)

I've just been running thought what I call the Davros saga, only one I not seen is Destiny.

Talking of Colin he will be at the Forum in Norwich signing things (as well as many others) Charity event being held.

Other writers were brought in at short notice to redraft the story, but they all had very different, contradictory ideas about how to interpret what Holmes had done. And of course Holmes was no longer around for anyone to consult him about it, so the final product was a dreadful, confused mish-mash.

It is not helped that some of the production is unbelievably tacky, and the performances of Colin Baker, Anthony Ainley and Bonnie Langford are very stagey and kiddified. But it's not their fault principally that the story was so bad.

I did watch the Dalek story today, I didn't think it was as good as the previous and next one. (resurrection or remembrance)

Twin Dilemma: Avoid like the plaque. Or watch if you want a hilarious example of how absolutely not to do a Doctor Who story.

Attack of the Cybermen: Awesome if you're a Cybermen fan (particularly a 'Tomb of the Cybermen' fan, the '67 Patrick Troughton story), dull and irritating if not.

Vengeance on Varos: Generally seen as pretty clever and groundbreaking but with some debatable violent sequences. Probably one I'd definitely pick to represent his era.

The Mark of the Rani: Average if fairly enjoyable with some annoying plotholes and cliffhanger revolutions.

The Two Doctors: Some absolutely love this, some hate it. I just think it was a wasted opportunity, a returning Doctor/companion barely used and the Sontarans just coming across as incredibly naff and unscary.

Timelash: Great villain but as hated a story as Twin Dilemma. I liked it as a kid although seeing pictures of some of the worst sets and graphics ever designed in the show's history, I doubt it would stand up well today.

Revelation of the Daleks: A mixed reception depending on if you agree with Eric Saward's vision of the show - I do and absokutely loved this, some incredible scenes and characters although suffering from a tired 1985 BBC budget. Would recommend it with Vengeance.

Then there's Trial of a Timelord which barely has anything redeeming about it at all - first story's dull, second is much better but impossibly confusing and unexplained, third is a children's show and the final two episodes are a bit of a mess due to being an odd mish-mash of four different writers.

Both are alright. I've never been a fan of the potato heads and I found the first half of Revelation to be a bit weak.

So, what are the 'best' of Colin to check out?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEw5xIDZZs

There's been a Sixth Doctor revival around the expanded universe recently, with all his graphic novel adventures released in two collections. And there's an excellent figurine of him here.

That costume.

I want it.

Now.

Check your local Forbidden Planet or suchlike. Not the costume itself, but £14 will likely get you the figure.

There's been a Sixth Doctor revival around the expanded universe recently, with all his graphic novel adventures released in two collections. And there's an excellent figurine of him here.

That costume.

I want it.

Now.

And of course, he was then used as the scapegoat and ended up having his contract left unrenewed. Add that to a fairly poor attempt to charactertise the 6th Doctor as a bit of a madman...Sure, you can have the Doctor acting a bit hollier than thou, as many incarnations have done, but the whole strangle companions and argue with them forever was never going to work. I never felt Colin was at all to blame for this.

Still, as many have mentioned, his Big Finish stuff has seen a far better era for his character. It's well worth picking up a few stories just to flesh out his time in the show, some of them would have been very fine TV stories in the day, definitely.

Don't feel too bad for Colin - the Big Finish audios have allowed people to rejudge his Doctor, and I believe he was voted the best of the BF Doctors by DWM, something I entirely agree with. With decent stories, direction and that snazzy blue number they did him up in for the book publicity shots later, he would have been hailed as one of the greats back in the day. As it is, his moment of glory has come later than it should have, but he's most definitely considered awesome in his own right now.

That's True, Colin has got his own back with the Big Finish Audio Dramas. I would love to see Colin return to the part on Television, they could maybe do another "Timecrash" episode with Matt Smith for Red Nose Day where this time it's the Sixth Doctor that he bumps into.

Colin is principally a theatre actor, and in some Doctor Who stories you can see it; his tendancy to yell lines with thorough over-pronunciation when the boom mike was less than two feet above his head made it seem like he was bellowing for the sake of the people on the back row of an audience that wasn't there. His performances in the courtroom in Trial Of A Time-Lord were truly painful, an exercise in ham overdose, while he only got away with his showing in Timelash because the script was so dire anyway, and Paul Darrow took such a blatant rise out of it on-screen, that hardly anyone noticed what Colin was doing.

For all that, I did quite like Colin's interpretation of the Doctor in patches, and he did put up a few good showings, especially his first two stories. But his best work in the role has been almost entirely in the Big Finish audios of recent years. And I can't help feeling that, in this case, it would have been better if he'd saved his best for *first *instead.