Regeneration

Change my, dear.

It was a brilliant idea.  But, yes it wasn’t meant to become a legendary idea either.

But then again, no one would have guessed that 50 years later we’d still be seeing it and that the 12th Doctor begins at the end of the Christmas Special 2013.

But it is.

Or that 40,000 Australians would be watching the announcement of Peter Capaldi as #12 live at 4am in the morning on  a worldwide simulcast TV special either.

But they were.

And with the change in companions also every few years you get a complete renewal.

But what I want to focus on today is the first time.

On Patrick Troughton.

Patrick George Troughton ( 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987)

Took over the role after the health issues of William Hartnell.

Since there was no internet in those days, it just sort of happened.

One minute the Doctor has defeated the Cybermen for the very first time and then he collapses and Patrick Troughton gets up and has to face The Power of The Daleks!

That was a radical step. A step taken out of necessity.

But a radical one at best.

Would the audience stand for this “cosmic hobo” who was nothing like the grumpy, sometimes abrasive old grandfather that Hartnell was.

The answer was, YES.

And that is due, I still believe to the sheer charisma, talent, and acting abilities of Patrick Troughton.

Sure, Christopher Eccelston and David Tennant were important to the modern WHO in selling regeneration to an new generation but the pioneer and the reason they had that opportunity was Patrick Troughton.

If it hadn’t worked, the show would have been off the air after his first series I’m sure.

His Doctor to me always gave others the impression that he wasn’t as smart as he was and that he could be underestimated until he defeated you.

The little man. The recorder. The bumbling around. The misdirection.

Almost Columbo like, except he didn’t say “Oh, just one more thing…” before he had your ass hauled off to jail.

Wanna see acting chops, check out The Omen, he’s in it. 🙂

It’s telling that Christopher Eccleston, in an interview prior to taking the role of the Ninth Doctor, talked about the history of the show and referred to his predecessor as “the great Pat Troughton”.

Peter Davison and Matt Smith were inspired by Troughton.

Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee developed quite a double act.

You only have to watch The Three Doctors for five minutes to realise that Troughton is tremendously enjoying the chance to wind up Jon Pertwee. This is another key thing we learned from Patrick Troughton, that it was tremendous fun to wind up Jon Pertwee.

I got to see it live at TARDIS 21.

It’s quite a site.

To be the actor who originates the concept, and makes it work is something that sets him apart from all his successors. Hartnell made the show work. Troughton changed how it could do so, forever.

There is no “regeneration” hysteria without Troughton.

By the end of Power of the Daleks, his first story YOU KNOW this is The Doctor.

He’s a bit like The Fall, as described by John Peel: “Always different, always the same.”

And that’s all thanks to Patrick Troughton.