The Fourth Doctor

[Peri-Peri]

The Fourth Doctor was the fourth incarnation of the Time Lord known as the Doctor. He left all ties of his former exile behind on Earth, setting off to travel the cosmos. Initially travelling with Sarah Jane and Harry, Harry chose to remain on Earth when the opportunity arose. The Doctor and Sarah continued on their adventures until the Doctor was summoned to Gallifrey, necessitating that he leave Sarah Jane behind.

After leaving Gallifrey, he met and travelled with Leela of the Sevateem. During his travels with Leela, the Doctor gained a new companion in the robot dog, K9. Returning once more to Gallifrey to stop an invasion, Leela and the original K9 she stayed behind there. On the White Guardian's orders, the Doctor began looking for the Key to Time with fellow Time Lord Romana, and K9 Mark II. Once that search was concluded, the Doctor and a newly-regenerated Romana went on the run from the Black Guardian. They accidentally passed into the smaller Universe of E-Space.

During his travels in E-Space, the Doctor gained a new companion in the young mathematical genius Adric. Romana and K9 stayed behind in E-Space as the Doctor and Adric departed for N-Space.

Once again encountering his old enemy the Master, the Doctor and Adric met a Traken girl named Nyssa. She would later join them, along with the human Tegan, to help him prevent the destruction of the Universe by Entropy. While stopping the Master from using this threat to blackmail the Universe into servitude, the Doctor fell from the Pharos Project telescope and regenerated for the fourth time.

[The Cyber Mistress]

I think this is when they started to make the Doctor more comedic and less serious. Not just the Doctor, but Doctor Who. Tom Baker always played it a bit tongue in cheek but from here on in I think it stopped being as scary and I think the Doctor was more of a clown. Sometimes it worked for me, sometimes it didn't.

[Nyki]

I think this is when they started to make the Doctor more comedic and less serious. Not just the Doctor, but Doctor Who. Tom Baker always played it a bit tongue in cheek but from here on in I think it stopped being as scary and I think the Doctor was more of a clown. Sometimes it worked for me, sometimes it didn't.

I'd tend to agree with this.  I think it worked for most of this series, and sporadically in the next, but it's not a trend I particularly like.  Then again, I usually prefer humour that arises out of the context of a dramatic story, as has tended to happen with the Doctor at his best, than humour that's shoehorned in.

[Exterminate]

I agree with Nyki. The humour in Doctor Who always works best when it's an awkward humour pulled out of something scary or tragic. Around this time they began trying too hard with the humour and it became less funny and more jarring.

[Blazin Goliath]

I'm gonna have to agree with what's been said, but I feel that the humor might have worked, had they not sacrificed the Doctor's intelligence for it.

[Tardis-Console]

He didn't seem overly comedic to me in this. No more than normal. I've seen very little of his stuff beyond this story so it might be something that becomes more evident the more I watch.

[Saber]

I think they started writing the Doctor more to fit Tom Baker. His personality, his demands, etc, and not having Tom Baker act to what was written. I think that's where the more comedy elements came from. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. I think mainly it depended on the story.

[Peri-Peri]

I think TB had a way of injecting humour into stories whether it was in the script or not. Sometimes I think it really helped the script and lifted it somewhat but there were other times when it feels a bit misplaced. I think for the most part the humour that is in this story works but as others have said that isn't always the case.

[Twisted-Sister]

I think they started writing the Doctor more to fit Tom Baker. His personality, his demands, etc, and not having Tom Baker act to what was written. I think that's where the more comedy elements came from. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. I think mainly it depended on the story.

I think this is exactly right. It never really bothered me too much but I think by the end Tom Baker was just playing himself.

[arthurllewis]

Actually, that's what I liked most about the Tom Baker version.  It seemed like the Doctor and Tom Baker were interchangeable.  Most stories were good (sometimes great) because of his personality and humor; some seemed stretched and forced for the same reason.