Dr. Who (Dr. Who and the Daleks)

Dr. Who
Species:	Human
Place of origin:	Earth
First appearance:	Dr. Who and the Daleks
Appearances:	Dr. Who and the Daleks Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. COMIC: Daleks Versus the Martians PROSE: The House on Oldark Moor PROSE: The Five O'Clock Shadow (as fiction within the Doctor Who universe)
Main actor:	Peter Cushing

For other uses, see Dr. Who.

Dr Who was an eccentric human scientist, living in a cottage in England with his granddaughters Susan and Barbara. He also had a niece named Louise.

Biography

Dr. Who had invented time travel in the form of Tardis, a space-time machine, the exterior of which looked like a police box.

When Barbara's boyfriend Ian Chesterton was visiting his house, he, Susan and Barbara went to have a look at Tardis. Ian accidentally pulled a lever and the four of them were transported to Skaro, the home planet of the Daleks.

Trying to return Tardis home, Dr. Who opened the doors to find a Roman legion marching towards the ship in 64. While in Rome itself, Ian soon ended becoming a gladiator (Dr. Who and the Daleks, PROSE: The House on Oldark Moor)

Tardis subsequently materialised on Oldark Moor, where Dr. Who and his companions encountered Count Tarkin. (PROSE: The House on Oldark Moor)

After Ian and Barbara had seemingly left Tardis, Dr. Who and Susan travelled to Mars with his niece Louise, where they once again encountered the Daleks as well as the telepathic native Martians. After Louise was captured by the Daleks, Dr. Who learned that the Martian Sphinx was in fact an ancient weapon whose secret had been forgotten. He was able to reactivate the Sphinx and used it to destroy the invading Dalek forces, only moments after he had rescued Louise from the Dalek Flying Saucer. (COMIC: Daleks Versus the Martians)

Dr. Who, Susan, Louise and a police constable named Tom Campbell later travelled to London in 2150 and found that it had been devastated by a Dalek invasion years earlier. Once there, the four of them assisted in freeing Earth from Dalek occupation. (Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.)

Behind the scenes

• Unlike the Doctor of the television series who, in common tradition, is never identified by the name "Doctor Who", the Cushing version is explicitly referenced by the name. The character's first name in this context is never revealed.
• A third film, based upon the televised serial TV: The Chase, was planned but never made. Additionally, Stanmark Productions Limited obtained a license to make a series of fifty-two half-hour radio dramas based on the character. Advertisements were published, but no episode was ever known to have been completed.
• In common with that of the First Doctor and Eleventh Doctors, Tardis had a St John Ambulance logo, and was the same shade of blue.

Attempts at reconciliation with canon

A few attempts have been made throughout the years to reconcile the human Dr. Who with the television series canon, though all have been in an unofficial capacity:

• In an interview, Peter Cushing stated that he believed that his incarnation of the Doctor is canon. His theory was that his Doctor is a future incarnation kidnapped by the Celestial Toymaker, who "wiped his memory and made him relive some of his earlier adventures."
• Though it is assumed that the Cushing Doctor is human, neither of the films featuring the character directly make that claim: As one critic points out, "Hartnell’s Doctor often took long vacations on Earth too, and multiple Doctors have used aliases; it’s therefore necessary to conclude that the Time Lord here is merely on a holiday again, using another false name." Another article suggests that the Cushing Doctor "could just as easily be an alien who is living on Earth - an alternative interpretation of the 'exile in the fourth dimension' backstory of the tv series". It can possibly be inferred, therefore, that the Cushing Doctor is a past or future incarnation, as Peter Cushing believes, though this doesn't explain the simularities between his adventures and those of the First Doctor, and why his companions are vastly different in everything but their names from the television series counterparts.
• Reference was made to this Doctor in the novel Salvation. Cushing starred in the 1980 science fiction film Prey for a Miracle, which was inspired by the UFO / gods scare caused by the Latter-Day Pantheon in New York City in March and April 1965. He played the lead role of "the mysterious government adviser, Doctor Who," a character loosely based on the First Doctor. However, a film critic for the magazine Film in Focus noted upon the film's release in November 1980 that Cushing's "endearingly eccentric professor [was] as fictional as the rest of Prey for a Miracle" as what little was known about the real life "Doctor" suggested that he was "a shadowy, manipulative figure."
• Nev Fountain's short story The Five O'Clock Shadow, from the anthology Short Trips: A Day in the Life, reveals that Dr. Who and his eight-year-old granddaughter Suzy are fictitious creations made by the real Doctor to keep the nemesis named Shadow, the embodiment of grief and sorrow, distracted until the real Doctor could overcome his grief and escape from Shadow's prison. Shadow has no hold over the cheerful, angst-free Dr. Who, who departs with Suzy on further childlike and wondrous adventures.
• The Sixth Doctor and Frobisher attended the American premiere of Star Wars at Mann's Chinese Theatre in May 1977. While attending, the Doctor thought actor Peter Cushing (who played both the human Dr. Who and Grand Moff Tarkin in the first film, A New Hope) looked familiar, and seemed to remember meeting his granddaughter (PROSE: Mission: Impractical). This exchange potentially supports any of the above theories.

See Also

• Dr. Who (Land of Fiction)