Ninth Doctor
Portrayed by: Christopher Eccleston
Tenure: 2005
Whilst Paul reignited our love for Who, it failed to set the US ablaze. After an additional sleep of 9 years, the Doctor re-emerged with another new face, a new TARDIS, screwdriver, and a crippling loss.
“It’s a telephone box, from the 1950’s. It’s a disguise!”
Following the TV movie a new precedent had been set for interior design of the Doctor’s ‘trusty’ ship. Whilst the classic series gave the impression of an immaculate ship with a few flaws and the occasional washing up bowl glued to the wall. This all changed as Rose ran into the wooden box for shelter, and was greeted by a glowing green console surrounded by tattered furniture and coral plinths, the TARDIS age could now no longer be in doubt.
“I’m a Time lord. I’m the last of the Time Lords”
Of course bringing the Doctor back after 9 years and just carrying on as ever would be suicide, and so something had to change. Whilst we had glimpses of it in Rose, it wasn’t until The End of The World we realise something is drastically wrong with the Doctor’s world, as his confession at the end of the episode to Rose makes plain, this is a Doctor riddled with survivors guilt, plaguing his character with melancholy and a tiredness of the life he leads, as he admits to Lynda “All I’m after is a quiet life”.
“What’s wrong with this jumper?!”
This Doctor’s clipped back clothes are the antithesis of all his predecessors. Gone is the long flowing hair and elaborate long coats, to a much more functional, almost militant ensemble, topped off with a battered leather jacket, the colour of which is still a matter of intense debate. Whilst the costume may help us understand this Doc is one who likes to keep to the shadows, it also makes plain his no-nonsense approach to tackling problems.
“Leave this planet, or I’ll stop you”
Play time is over. The Ninth Doctor is an unusual one in that he’s arguably the most violent of any of the incarnations we’ve seen thus far. Whilst still a pacifist at heart, such as giving the Nestene consciousness a chance to simply leave, he also has moments where guns do seem to be his way of working. Most noticeably in Dalek, where he’s only stopped by the interventions of Rose. Likewise his solution to the Slitheen is decidedly military, however it should be noted his use of missiles did come with great reluctance, making an altogether more complex and dynamic character.
“Fantastic”
Adding itself to the likes of “Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow” and “Jelly baby?”, the Ninth Doctor reignited the trend of catchphrases, as such he paved the way for the likes of ‘Allons-y!’ and the mercifully more seldom used ‘Geronimo!’, but even so, catchphrases are better than hundreds of question marks, surely?
“It’s sonic, okay? Let’s leave it at that.”
Along with a new companion, ship and face, the Doctor has upgraded his trusty sonic screwdriver and can now to a plethora of tasks, such as medical scans, reattaching barbed wire and piloting the TARDIS. Naturally it’s still a glorified pick lock too. All this leads to a rather humorous exchange between the Doctor and Jack whereby he’s outdone both as an adventurer and as a tech man, as he produces a sonic blaster. However his dominant position quickly becomes diminished as the Duracell bunny lets him down. In real life the sonic screwdriver prop was incredibly fragile, so much so that when character options made a sturdier toy version, BBC Wales nicked their moulds and made a replica of the toy, meaning Tennant’s prop was a copy of the toy, rather than the other way around.
“I only take the best. I’ve got Rose”
Couple of points with this one. Well, three actually. Whoopee! Firstly the Ninth Doctor is the first Doc to turf out a companion, namely Adam after just one journey. His decision comes as a nicely crafted punishment, as Adam won’t be able to use the technology he acquired in the future to stuff his pockets, as the Doctor puts it, he’ll have to be normal. On the subject of companions Doctor nine is the first doc also to have the same companion through his entire tenure, partly due to how woefully short it was. He’s also rare in having had more male companions than female.
“What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?”
With the taboo of romance well and truly shattered with Mr. Snogalot McGann, the Ninth Doctor could at least indulge in a bit of carnality. The story between the Doctor and Rose is one of love, which is pretty stomach churning when you think of the age gap. All the same whilst it was passable in 2005, with Rose on for series 2 it became almost unwatchable.
“Timelords have this little trick”
With thirteen episodes to his name, the Ninth Doctor bowed out in a blaze of flames, gone is the passive lying about crap, this is regeneration erect, as the Doctor bows out on his feet for the first time, and establishes a standard look for Timelord regeneration. This Doc dies from cellular decay, which seems odd as he was possessed for a lot less time than Rose. Oh well, Drama, eh? Eccleston’s reasons for leaving so soon are still hazy, but apparently had something to do with the working environment.
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