Doctor
Doctor was a title used by physicians and the holders of certain advanced university degrees. According to River Song, the word came from the renegade Time Lord known as the Doctor. While the term originally meant "healer" or "wise man," some cultures by the 52nd century used the word to mean "great warrior" due to their fear of the Doctor. It is implied that these cultures had forgotten the word's true origin. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War) By the 45th century, to behave like a doctor was to kill people. (AUDIO: Plague of the Daleks)
The Doctor as a medical doctor
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When asked by Polly Wright if its name implied he was a medical doctor, the Second Doctor claimed he graduated in Medicine in 1888 in Glasgow. (TV: The Moonbase) On other occasions, both his first and fifth incarnations claimed not to be a doctor of medicine. (TV: "The Forest of Fear", "Mighty Kublai Khan", AUDIO: Red Dawn)
In several circumstances, the Doctor let others think his title was to be intended as a physician. The Saxon Master mentioned the Doctor's title as being "the man who makes people better". (TV: The Sound of Drums)
First Doctor
- With the pirate Cherub and his party, who called him "sawbones". (TV: The Smugglers)
Second Doctor
- With Kirsty McLaren and her sick father, in Scotland, in 1746. (TV: The Highlanders)
- To enter and rummage the Medical Centre of the Gatwick Airport, in 1966, along with the fake patient Jamie McCrimmon. (TV: The Faceless Ones)
Behind the scenes
- The idea that the word "doctor" derives from the Doctor was first advanced by Steven Moffat in a Usenet post in 1995.
