| The Doctor | |
|---|---|
| |
| The Fifth Doctor | |
| Portrayed by | Peter Davison |
| Tenure | 1981–1984 |
| First appearance | Logopolis (Part 4) |
| Last appearance | The Caves of Androzani (regular) "Time Crash" (charity special) |
| Number of series | 3 |
| Appearances | 20 stories (69 episodes) |
| Companions | Adric Nyssa Tegan Jovanka Vislor Turlough Kamelion Peri Brown |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) |
| Succeeded by | Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) |
| Series | Seasons 19 to 21 |
The Fifth Doctor was the fifth incarnation of the Time Lord known as the Doctor. He looked younger than his predecessors and expressed a new, more human aspect of his alien nature.
Pre Universal Experiment History[]
The Fourth Doctor's regeneration into the Fifth was a problematic one, and nearly failed, with the Doctor briefly taking on personality aspects from his four previous incarnations. After recovering in the fictional city Castrovalva (actually an elaborate trap created by his arch-enemy The Master),
He began with three companions: Adric, Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka. All had joined the TARDIS crew towards the end of his previous incarnation. His relationship with Adric grew rocky over their lack of common interests. After the Cybermen's attack on Earth in the 26th century, the Doctor felt guilty over Adric's death and his inability to save his friend. The Doctor took Nyssa in after the Master destroyed Traken. He gave her a home in the TARDIS until she left to find a cure for Lazar's disease. The Doctor tried repeatedly to return Tegan to Heathrow Airport in the early 1980s. He succeeded eventually but she soon rejoined him. They parted finally when she grew weary of the death and destruction the TARDIS crew continually found themselves amidst.
The Black Guardian pursued the Fifth Doctor and sent Turlough to kill him. However, the Doctor won over Turlough and defeated the Guardian. Turlough accompanied the Doctor until his exile from his home ended. In an encounter with the Master, the Doctor gained a companion in the shape-changing android Kamelion. However, the Doctor eventually complied with Kamelion's wish to be destroyed.
Around the time of Turlough's departure and the destruction of Kamelion, American high school student Peri Brown joined the Doctor in his travels for the duration of her summer vacation. They were joined by the Egyptian pharaoh Erimem
Personality[]
The Fifth Doctor was far more vulnerable, sensitive, and reserved than his previous incarnations and often reacted to situations rather than initiating them. Frequently, he made decisions by flipping a coin. Unlike his more authoritative predecessors, he treated his young companions as parts of a team, and often willingly participated in situations under the leadership of someone else who had the strong command presence that he apparently lacked. However, the Fifth Doctor's boyish appearance, nervous energy, and charm all hid the fact that he was a Time Lord of great age, compassion, and experience. He could decipher the ingredients of a drink by smell alone and rosemary made him sneeze.
This Doctor greatly abhorred violence and often hesitated about taking matters into his own hands. For the first time, indecision weighed seriously on the character, and it had its consequences – yet this Doctor was also one of the most courageous of his incarnations. He was willing to take chances with companions like Turlough and Kamelion, who were originally threats, even as he pretended to be unaware of it at first in order to grant his companion the opportunity to do the right thing. He was also willing to make enormous personal sacrifices simply to keep his word and liberate others from suffering. It was perhaps the awful realisation that his very existence begat violence and the weight of companion Adric's death on his conscience, and perhaps Tegan's near emotional breakdown as well, that led him to sacrifice his own existence to save his last companion, Peri.
Costume[]
The Fifth Doctor's chosen mode of dress was a variation of an Edwardian cricketer's uniform, and he was even seen to carry a cricket ball in one of his pockets (which saved his life in one adventure). He wore a cream-coloured frock coat, striped trousers, plimsoll shoes, and occasionally a pair of spectacles. He frequently wore an optimo-style Panama hat that had a red band studded with sparkling stones, which he would roll up and place in an inside coat pocket. The Tenth Doctor, who inherited various traits from this incarnation such as spectacle use, revealed and an unusually acute sense of taste Later admitted he only wore the spectacles to make himself look more intelligent to others.
On his lapel, this Doctor wore a celery stalk. He claimed that the celery would sometimes turn purple in the presence of certain gases in the "Praxis" range to which he was allergic, although this allergy was not mentioned by any incarnations before or since. He said that if that happened, he would then eat the celery, adding "[I]f nothing else, I'm sure it's good for my teeth."