LogFAQs > #968589819

9. 2nd Doctor (Patrick Troughton)

Best Serial: Enemy of the World (Season 5, Serial 4)
Worst Serial: The Invasion (Season 6, Serial 3)

Troughton has a similar problem to Davison, in that he rarely feels like he's the STAR of the show that the Doctor really SHOULD be. UNLIKE Davison though, Troughton at least feels LIKE the Doctor in his quirkiness. He plays the recorder, he runs around like a maniac, and he just generally acts otherworldly. Stan mentioned that Smith took Troughton as his inspiration behind how he played the 11th Doctor, but Smith ramped that persona up to 11, ironically enough. Troughton was good at demonstrating subtlety in how he showed his alien side.

I think Troughton winds up ranking this low though for three real reasons. One, he had to follow-up William Hartnell, who was the originator of the role, and I imagine it's really hard to differentiate yourself while staying true to the character. Two, a lot of his episodes are missing; a lot of Hartnell's are too, but they're missing at a point where Hartnell was already able to establish himself as a character, whereas Troughton had the issue mentioned in point one. And three, Troughton had several companions that were able to overshadow him with complexity and unique personalities, while most Doctors maybe have one truly great companion (if that).

Still, Troughton is a solid enough follow-up to Hartnell, and he's not outright awful. He's definitely in my "don't particularly care for them" tier with Whittaker/Smith/Davison though. There's a solid line between Troughton and the top half of the list, and I feel the fact that I don't have any real substantial commentary on him as indicative of his overall quality.

Hint for #8: A multiple of three.