Dr. Who (Dr. Who and the Daleks)

Dr. Who
Species:	Human
Place of origin:	Earth
Grandchildren:	Susan, Barbara
First appearance:	Dr. Who and the Daleks
Appearances:	NOTVALID: Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. NOTVALID: Daleks Versus the Martians NOTVALID: Dr Who and the House on Oldark Moor
Main actor:	Peter Cushing

You may wish to consult Dr. Who for other, similarly-named pages.

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, where they helped the Thals battle 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 up becoming a gladiator. (NOTVALID: Dr. Who and the Daleks, Dr Who and the House on Oldark Moor)

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

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. (NOTVALID: 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. (NOTVALID: Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.)

Behind the scenes

• Unlike the Doctor of the television series who, in common tradition, is more often identified as "the Doctor" rather than by the name "Doctor Who", the Cushing version is explicitly referenced by that name. The character's first name in this context is never revealed.
• Peter Cushing was offered the role of the Second Doctor, but turned it down. He later regretted this.
• Stanmark Productions Limited obtained a license to make a series of fifty-two half-hour radio dramas based upon Doctor Who. After Boris Karloff proved unavailable, Peter Cushing was hired to play the role. Advertisements were published, but only a pilot episode (now lost) was ever completed. It is not known whether Cushing portrays the film version of Dr. Who in this production, or a version of the character more in keeping with the television series.
• In an interview, Peter Cushing stated that he believed that his human incarnation of the Doctor was canon, and that his film version of the Doctor and the television Doctor were bridged together by (possibly) the Celestial Toymaker.

Well I’ll tell you something I thought once. I just said I didn’t watch TV, but one of the few episodes of the ‘Dr. Who’ series that I saw was one that involved a kind of mystical clown, and I realised that perhaps he kidnapped Dr Who and wiped his memory and made him relive some of his earlier adventures. When Bill Hartnell turned into Patrick Troughton, and changed his appearance, that idea seemed more likely. I think that’s what happened, so I think those films we did fit perfectly well into the TV series. That would not have been the case had I taken the role in the TV series.Peter Cushing

In COMIC: Four Doctors, Gabby briefly imagines what the Doctor's "other selves" would look like, believing that they would come from alternate universes.

• In DWM 469, Steven Moffat stated that he wrote a scene for TV: The Day of the Doctor in which Kate Stewart would walk past posters for the Peter Cushing films while noting the "need to screen the Doctor's known associates." Moffat explained that he believed the films existed in the DWU as "distorted accounts" of the Doctor's adventures. However, the production team could not afford the rights to the posters.
• The short story Dr Who and the House on Oldark Moor asserts that Dr Who is from a universe parallel to the Doctor's. This is also suggested by the Titan comic story Four Doctors. In the story, when Gabby Gonzalez's "magic" notebook is writing about how Gabby thought the Doctor's "other selves" would be from parallel universes, a picture of a Doctor that resembles Dr Who appears on the page.