I just cannot seem to enjoy Collin Baker as the Doctor

[UnderdogDJLSW]

Well, at least I know it is not just me

[Gorn Captain]

I liked the actor and the way he portrayed the role. Kind of a "regeneration gone slightly wrong". I much preferred him over the fifth Doctor, who was rather bland.
Colin Baker was let down by poor writing, low budgets and no faith in the series on the part of the powers-that-be.
Had he had decent material to work with, he would have been a great Doctor.
I think they dressed him as a clown because they treated the show as a cheap circus, something you feel slightly embarrassed about, but you want to squeeze it for every last cent...

[JediJaida]

He was one of my favorites, actually.

The costume, I think, was a reflection of his personality; all over the place and never really settling itself.

His Doctor was acerbic, flawed, pushy, arrogant, loud, snarky, and yet had moments of reflection, compassion, and genuine affection.

He wasn't a clown, he was an agent of Chaos.

However, some of the stories were just crap; Anthony Ainley's Master certainly didn't do anything for me. Now THAT was a poor casting choice.

JNT should have left when Peter Davison did, his time was over.

The poor production values, scripts, and Michael Grade were what really sent Colin's tenure into an early grave.

[Gorn Captain]

He was one of my favorites, actually.

The poor production values, scripts, and Michael Grade were what really sent Colin's tenure into an early grave.

Welcome to the Colin Baker Appreciation Society.
Membership number: 2!

[JediJaida]

Good! Let's start fomenting a plot to take over the universe, the quicker the better.

It's going into the toidy from everything I've heard.

[jds1911a1]

There is alot of statements in this tread about Colin's doctor but they blame should go to production specifically JNT

JNT chose the god awful technicolor vomit coat (he wanted the doctor to have no fashion sense, Colin wanted a dark grey suit and overcoat ala tennant)

JNT came up with the mean doctor not Colin.

The cancelled season would have been quite good based on the audio recreations from Big Finish

After the 18 month break JNT's conflct with upper amangement is why he pused for the "TRIAL" season arc since in his mind the show was on trial w BBC. On top of that the scripts were weak at best a sad finish for the late Bob Holmes after so many brilliant Who stories.

Colin shows just how good his doctor can be in Big finish. Amazing what good writing can do

[palitoy]

Totally agree, he's the face of his era but the blame has to go elsewhere.

[JediJaida]

The blue coat would have worked better than that patchwork monstrosity.

There's a fine line between having no taste and dressing like a color blind buffoon.

They crossed it.

[Bruce Banner]

Many of the things I hated about DW during that era were definitely the fault of JNT.

From the poor casting of Doctors and companions, to appalling costume choices, bad production design, to questionable changes to the DW mythos and terrible story decisions.

He should definitely have moved on after one season. He actually attempted to leave the show several times, but was always "persuaded to stay" by the BBC.

But far be it from me to speak wholly ill of the dead, so on the plus side, he was apparently very fan-friendly and granted a lot of interviews to fanzines and such.

[Steeler80]

I agree with many of the above comments. Colin's era is my least watched of all Who, but I found very little to recommend it from what I have seen. But, I do think that, in the right hands, Colin's Baker would be much better liked today. The poor seasons were not his fault but his is the face out there.

And, yes, from what I have heard, JNT was a really good person. But a really good person with bad ideas for what Doctor Who should be. His influence would have been far more minimal if the powers that be would have let him move on when he wanted to.