Second Doctor

The Doctor

The Second Doctor
Doctor Who character
File:Second Doctor b.jpg
First regular appearance	The Tenth Planet (Episode 4) (Uncredited)
Last regular appearance	The War Games (regular) The Two Doctors (guest star)
Portrayed by	Patrick Troughton
Preceded by	First Doctor (William Hartnell)
Succeeded by	Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee)
Information
Tenure	1966 – 1969
No of series	3
Appearances	21 stories (119 episodes)
Companions	Polly Ben Jackson Jamie McCrimmon Victoria Waterfield Zoë Heriot
Chronology	Seasons 4 to 6

The Second Doctor is the second incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by character actor Patrick Troughton.

Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old Time Lord alien from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in his TARDIS, frequently with companions. When the Doctor is critically injured, he can regenerate his body; in doing so, his physical appearance and personality change.

The transformation into the Second Doctor (originally referred to as a "renewal"), a figure who was the same 'essential' character as the first but with a very different persona, was a turning point in the evolution of the series, which eventually became a critical element of the series' longevity.

Biography

The First Doctor grew progressively weaker while battling the Cybermen during the events of The Tenth Planet and eventually collapsed, seemingly from old age. His body renewed itself and transformed into the Second Doctor.

Initially, the relationship between the Second Doctor and his predecessor was unclear. In his first story, the Second Doctor referred to his predecessor in the third person as if he were a completely different person. His companions Ben and Polly are at first unsure how to treat him and it is only when a Dalek recognises him that they accept that he's the Doctor.

In the second story, The Highlanders, Jamie McCrimmon joined the TARDIS crew, and remained with the Second Doctor for the rest of his travels. Ben and Polly left together when the TARDIS landed at Gatwick Airport on the same day they originally left with the First Doctor. The Doctor and Jamie then became involved in a plot by the Daleks to gain both the "Human and Dalek Factors", which led to them meeting Victoria Waterfield in the 19th century. The Doctor used the situation to engineer a Dalek civil war that seemingly destroyed the Daleks forever. However, Victoria's father was among the casualties. Now an orphan, Victoria chose to accompany the Doctor and Jamie on their travels. Although she felt great affection for the Doctor and Jamie, she was never able to completely come to terms with life in the TARDIS and the constant danger that resulted. She eventually chose to leave after the events of Fury from the Deep. The Doctor was then joined by Zoe Heriot, an extremely intelligent (if overly dependent on logic) woman from the 21st century, who helped defeat the Cybermen attack on a space station known as the Wheel. She then stowed away in the TARDIS and, despite the Doctor's warnings about what she might encounter, chose to remain.

During his second incarnation, the Doctor confronted familiar foes such as the Daleks and the Cybermen, as well as new enemies such as the Great Intelligence and the Ice Warriors. It was during this time that he first met Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, in the tunnels of the London Underground. Following the defeat of the Great Intelligence, Lethbridge-Stewart was promoted to Brigadier and became the leader of the British contingent of UNIT, a military organisation tasked to investigate and defend the world from extraterrestrial threats. The Doctor reteamed with him to defeat an invasion of Cybermen in league with industrialist Tobias Vaughan.

The Second Doctor's time came to an end when the TARDIS landed in the middle of a warzone, created by a race of alien warlords who progressively kidnapped and brainwashed humans into becoming soldiers for them. Although the Doctor was able to defeat their plan, he realised he would be unable to return the human subjects to their various original points in Earth's history. He therefore contacted the Time Lords, sacrificing his own freedom in the process. He was then put on trial by the Time Lords, for breaking their laws of non-interference. Despite the Doctor's argument that the Time Lords should use their great powers to help others, he was sentenced to exile on 20th century Earth, the Time Lords forcing his regeneration into the Third Doctor in the process. Jamie and Zoe were returned to their own time, with their memories of all but their first encounter with the Doctor wiped and the secret of the TARDIS was also taken from the Doctor.

Personality

He has been nicknamed the "Cosmic Hobo", as the impish Second Doctor appeared to be far more scruffy and child-like than his first incarnation.

Mercurial, clever, and always a few steps ahead of his enemies, at times he could be a calculating schemer who would not only manipulate people for the greater good but act like a bumbling fool in order to have others underestimate his true abilities. Sometimes this appears simply as a joke, such as in The Tomb of the Cybermen, where he finishes the archaeologists' calculations behind their backs, but at other times, it seems much darker. In The Evil of the Daleks he coldly manipulates Jamie into trying to rescue Victoria (thus setting in motion the Human Factor tests) and is unsympathetic when Edward Waterfield tries to apologise for his collaboration with the Daleks. But despite the bluster and tendency to panic when events got out of control, the Second Doctor always acted heroically and morally in his desire to help the oppressed.

This Doctor is associated with the catchphrases "Oh my giddy aunt!" and "When I say run, run!", and is noted for playing the recorder. In early stories he also demonstrates a fondness for hats and other types of headgear, mainly sporting a distinctive stovepipe hat when outdoors.

Story style

File:Second Doctor.jpg

Early promotional photo of the Second Doctor from 1966.

With the arrival of a younger Doctor and changing tastes, the Second Doctor's tenure was characterised by a faster pace and a preference toward "monster of the week"-style horror stories, whilst the purely historical adventures that were a recurring feature of the Hartnell era ceased with The Highlanders, the only Troughton-era entry in that genre. While Troughton's Doctor would still visit the Earth's past, he would always encounter an alien, such as the Daleks or the Ice Warriors. It was also during this era that Doctor Who began to come under fire for its purportedly violent and frightening content.

As with his predecessor, all the Second Doctor's original episodes were in black-and-white. Later guest appearances in The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors were in colour. However, Troughton's reign as the Doctor was more notable for what does not exist than for what does, as many of the episodes featuring the Second Doctor were junked by the BBC; a full list of incomplete Doctor Who serials shows how many of these episodes are missing from the BBC Archives.

Only one story in Troughton's first two seasons - The Tomb of the Cybermen - still exists in its entirety; ten stories only exist partially (most with one or two episodes out of 4 or 6); and four are lost in their entirety, including his first story, The Power of the Daleks; Jamie's first adventure, The Highlanders; The Macra Terror; and Fury From the Deep.

Due to what would appear to be continuity errors in Troughton's later appearances (particularly in The Two Doctors), some fans have speculated that the Time Lords used the Second Doctor as an agent after the events of The War Games, and that he did not in fact immediately regenerate and enter his exile on Earth. This theory of continuity is described as "Season 6B".

Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Matt Smith, who played the Fifth Doctor, Sixth Doctor and Eleventh Doctor respectively, have stated that the Second Doctor is their favourite. Smith has also stated that his Doctor costume, in particular the bow-tie, was also influenced by the Second Doctor's, after Smith cited the Troughton story The Tomb of the Cybermen as a favourite episode.

Later appearances

The Second Doctor in The Two Doctors (1985).

The Second Doctor would return to the series on three occasions: in 1973 for the 10th anniversary serial The Three Doctors (which also saw the return of William Hartnell as the First Doctor), in 1983 for the 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors, and once more in 1985 in The Two Doctors.

Other mentions

Visions of the Second Doctor appear in Day of the Daleks, The Brain of Morbius, Earthshock, Mawdryn Undead, Resurrection of the Daleks, "The Next Doctor", "The Eleventh Hour", "Vincent and the Doctor", "The Lodger" and The Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor.

Other appearances

Further information: List of non-televised Second Doctor stories

External links

• Second Doctor on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki
• The Second Doctor on the BBC's Doctor Who website
• Second Doctor Gallery
• Second Doctor's theme music QuickTime file
• Second Doctor title sequence