Ten Essential Sixth Doctor Moments

Recapitulating the tenure of Colin Baker's enigmatic, eccentric and egotistical Sixth Doctor, who commandeered the navigation protocols for the TARDIS' traversal of the universe for a brief period from 1984 to 1986 is not the fondest sense of reminiscence for many a Whovian; As the injustice attributed to the character, through fluctuating degrees of consistency in the proficiency of the script writing, the diminishing returns of production value, and even the reluctance of the actor to adopt the adorning of the superfluously spectacular robes that were a direct contrast to the personality in which he embodied the latest iteration of the character with.

The combination of all of those mostly detrimental hindrances culminated in an overwhelming sense of apprehension when waxing poetic with testimony to the merit of the character that has been regarded as a "lower tier" Doctor for some. But he is a favourite of others, and that is mostly due to the compelling dimension that the Sixth Doctor has found through the infallible fallibilities of his persona. While his predecessors all possessed an element of versatility, that made them the pride of fan esteem, the Sixth Doctor was the most drastic alteration in an almost complete divergence for the character, and distilled the privilege of mercurial mystique to the Time Lord, which his most avid advocates would argue was desperately required with urgency-Because the distinguishable, but sometimes monotoned purveyances of unconditionally blind compassion and innocent eccentricity had almost become tropes that were too familiar.

Another agenda in proponency of the Sixth Doctor is the argument that, had the script and accompanying parables been executed with more proficiency and adroitness, the structural foundations of the conceptual vision of the character would have been realised and cultivated with more resplendent exaltation. And also, the justifying redemption that his serials were not as erroneous as initially perceived in some instances-Attributable due to some of the most seminally impactful and influential occurrences and introductory implementations to the entire lore of the series. A selection of the most phenomenally beneficial of those are evidenced and allocated reverential acknowledgement in the following homage of a listicle.

A summary of the significance of the moment is self-explanatory in the mere recognition of it aloud. The most atrocious aspect of the feature of the introduction to the revelatory ability the most hedonistic and villainous scum to plague the universe, that were attributed a reputation of pure, indiscriminate potency, possessed was the shocking remission of its introduction until twenty two years into the progression of the show's endurance. Levitation was simple in theoretical concept, but incredibly complex and intricate in the practical implementation of its design-A feature that an admittedly insane, but ingenious being all the same, like Davros should have been more than versed in the expertise of executing.

It was a superficial asset of superfluity when contrasted with the integral lore of the genesis of the acrimony between the race of brutes and their nemesis, but an essentially versatile augmentation to enhance the exponentially increasing ominousness of the vitally virtuous capabilities of the villains, and it would only proceed to improve with its incorporation and practice in the future.

The Chameleon Circuit is an asset to the composition of the TARDIS that has gained a cultivated appeal of affectionate esteem from the moment it was introduced. Mostly because of the preposterous, but practical function of it appellative denotations that have enabled the machine to shroud itself in an environmental camouflage according to whatever landscape it arrives in, the adulation of the component stems from the fact that it perpetuates its identity in kind with the remainder of the faulty machine it constitutes. It is also broken, and has persistently been in a state of disrepair since the very first escapade it announced itself to viewers with, when it landed in London in 1963 and adopted the guise of a distinctly blue public call police phone box, and got caught eternally in that appearance, to the Doctor's astonishment when he and his companions as the time then proceeded to arrive in the stone age, to find that it had remained so.

The Doctor has, on numerous occasions, tampered with a remedial process of repairing it, but has only been successful once. In an adventure that saw incursion with none other than the dreaded Cybermen, he miraculously found the liberty to harness the greatest of his resourceful traits, and resolved to repair the machine's inherent device, and subsequently saw its exterior transform into a piano and a cabinet among other objects, that were marvellous complements the the flamboyant extravagance of the Doctor's costume in their own exuberance-And the capitalisation on the devices available to him was a testament to the Doctor's cerebral genius in mechanical concepts

Before the tension of the zealous confrontation with the Cyberman exponentially exacerbated, and while amidst the throes of attending his TARDIS, the Doctor was in conversation with Peri Brown, who was rapidly growing exasperated with the high irritability of his less than cheery disposition. She, unfortunately, fell prey to the susceptibility of being too caught in the moment to fully appreciate the magnificence of the TARDIS' splendrous pursuit of a comet, and was victimised to the typical lecture of the Doctor's condescension, where he demanded she express some more gratitude for the relishing experience of what they were privileged to. Then ultimately, of him as well:

DOCTOR: Be grateful. If its shell had been punctured, you'd find it very difficult to breath in a vacuum.
PERI: I'm grateful. I'm grateful. Just tell me where we are, if you can.
DOCTOR: O child of little faith.
PERI: Do you blame me?
(The Doctor turns on the scanner. A bright white blob with a tail is flying through the blackness of space.)
PERI: What's that?
DOCTOR: Comet nine oblique one two oblique four four. To you, Halley's comet.
PERI: It's very pretty, but it still doesn't tell me where we are.
DOCTOR: In your sun's solar system, in the year that you would calculate as 1985. I was, in fact, taking you to Earth.
PERI: Bit of an anticlimax after that journey.
DOCTOR: Ungrateful wretch.
PERI: Well, what do you expect, applause?
DOCTOR: A little gratitude wouldn't irretrievably damage my ego.

The way in which he conveyed what he would have intended as courtesy to her was really only perceivable as lamentation and contempt, and only served to increase the deplored interpretation of what was considered his entitled hubris; And what could have been little more than casual conversation, also functioned as a self-recognition of his narcissistic tendencies. And, when contextualised against the opposition of the numbness of the emotionally deprived Cybermen they would come afoul of later, stood to represent the nobility in embracing even the less desirable traits of emotionally impulsive characteristics.

At the emotionally climactic and poignant conclusion to the Fifth Doctor's benevolent and compassionate life, there was a lingering sensation of remorse from the explosively enthralling parable that had preceded it, of a bittersweet tinge. Colin Baker immediately sought to rectify that sentimentality in his burgeoning emergence in his actions that served as a succinct microcosm of all of the gusto he invested in the regard of his eccentric portentousness:

PERI: Doctor?
DOCTOR: You're expecting someone else?
PERI: I, I, I.
DOCTOR: That's three I's in one breath. Makes you sound a rather egotistical young lady.
PERI: What's happened?
DOCTOR: Change, my dear. And it seems not a moment too soon.

That final encapsulating sentence provided a perfect cliffhanger to the events that would transpire-Encompassing all of his self-assured hypocritical egotism, and serving as a precursive instigator to all of the abundant volume of it that he possessed in spades, and would take in his stride in ensuing adventures.

There have been a multitude of permeating affairs that have featured the Doctor uniting with themself, and no matter how inadvertent the eventuation is, they have developed a fiendish proclivity for being thrust into perilous situations where it required the full capacity of multiple incarnations to defy the logic of time and space by making a consolidated effort to circumvent the adversity they were subjected to. In the instance of the encounter between the Sixth and the Second Doctors, the Sixth, Peri Brown and the companion of the Second, Jamie McCrimmon, united to emancipate him from the clutches of the maniacal biogeneticist, Dastari, who sought to steal the enlightening knowledge of how to navigate through time by feloniously forcing the extraction of the Second Doctor's genetic makeup, with the assistance of the menacing Sontarans.

Upon the sight of his former incarnation, the Sixth Doctor was less than impressed or pleased, and so the standard procedure of bickering and reprehension that was mercilessly angled toward the younger of the pair reconvened-As if he had just resumed a saved file where it had been left from previous arguments with himselves, with more condescension and authoritative lecturing than before, despite the rekindling of a beloved synergy with Jamie.

In a modest dispute revolving around their patience with one another, the Doctor and Peri began to squabble like a married couple, and eventually projected their frustrations on a divergent tangent angled at the maintenance of the TARDIS. Peri began to bemoan the Doctor's irrational defence of his negligence and lack of concern regarding the inconvenient burden it was for the Doctor's companion to compensatorily equilibrize the repercussive aftermath of the incessant penchant he had for unmitigated misdemeanours within his repertoire:

PERI: If you recall, last night I was supposed to have a cold supper.
DOCTOR: That was an unfortunate accident.
PERI: Before each and every unfortunate accident, you've said in a loud, confident voice, that's it. And to be honest, Doc, I am getting tired of clearing up the mess and being thrown around the Tardis like the teddy bear of some psychotic baby.
DOCTOR: Have you finished, Perpugilliam?
PERI: For the moment.
DOCTOR: It's a good thing I like you.
PERI: Right now, the feeling isn't mutual.
DOCTOR: What more do you want? I've cleared up as you requested. I've stabilised the chameleon circuit.
PERI: So now what will we materialise as?
DOCTOR: A police box. I think.
PERI: Well, better than a pyramid or Nelson's column.
DOCTOR: We have never materialised as Nelson's column!
PERI: We did as a pyramid. On the frozen plains of Ewa Nine, remember?

A gradually magnifying tension of infuriated impatience soon became apparent, and the self-congratulatory sanctimony of the Doctor was, once again, contested:

DOCTOR: It's a good thing I'm a tolerant man, because sometimes you push me too far.
PERI: You're the most inconsistent and intolerant man I've ever met.
DOCTOR: Intolerant?

DOCTOR: Intolerant?

DOCTOR: Intolerant? Me?

PERI: Then why are you shouting?

From his interpretation of the conversation, he was insulted at the insinuation raising concern of doubt over whether he was anything less than absolutely charming, and this lead to his reactionary response of outrage, and the impulse to justify his stout conviction to the preservation of moral justice and general virtuosity.

For all of the criticism that the Collin Baker era has been the unfortunate recipient of, an almost unanimous commendation of its most beneficial assets are the enhancements in some of the introductory implementations it effectuated into the course of the show, in exceedingly evolutionary augmentation of the programme and defiance of the gradually abasing reputation of its image. Avenues for the Doctor's persona to traverse were implemented, along with the intensification of the potency and ominosity of the villains; As stakes were raised, and the Doctor had to resort to discovering entirely new and unique methods of dispatching threats to have at his disposal in times of besiegement.

One of the most popularised and indelibly impactful of these, with longevity, was the introduction of the Rani-An adversary that was manipulative, malicious and astute in her mental, mastermind complex. The addition of the Rani granted a perspective scope on a new sinister foil for the protagonist, and a rivalry to rival that with the Master was formulated-Giving the arch nemesis of the Doctor reason for envy, especially as she served to expose some of his inadequate deficiencies that, after years of attempts at relinquishing his enemy, he had proved them futile. In her inaugural exploitation, she united with the Master to subject the people of Earth in the nineteenth century to the heinousness of their mind-robbing experiments within the mining village of Killingworth. The foreshadowing elements of the overtones of her machinations contained within her debut itself were adequate enough to provide an extremely onerous task for the Doctor to overcome her dynamism, and when the subsequently ensuing escapades they embarked on in contest of one another are considered, the impact of her introduction is most monumental.

No matter the reception of any one Doctor, the conclusion to the time seeing them privileged to the opportunity to enchant and beguile audiences is always a melancholy affair. Through simply the saturation of their exposure in the gloriously tinted hue of the spotlight of protagonistic portrayal if nothing else, a sentimental investment and immersion within their virtuous exploitations of exploratory exquisiteness, a complex dynamic of asserted adulation and affectionate admiration always inevitably becomes inextricably attached to any interpretation of the phenomenal protagonist-And although it was to a debatably lesser degree for the Sixth Doctor, in contrast to some of his predecessors, the refrain from the exhilaration of the events the trial in which the Doctor was placed under the duress of from the high council of his own species was a disquieting one, all the same.

The plot revolving around his persecution from the highly and mightily established atop the pinnacle echelons of the ancient Time Lords' society had seen him confronted with some of his greatest adversities; Both in a physical and a cerebral capacity. His cognitive processing of the affronting realisation that his persecutor, the Valeyard, was a manifestation of his imposingly inimical qualities, and the Master's purposeful contributions to the potential condemnation of his former friend in nefarious conspiracy that dispensed the toils of his subjection to the inexorable conviction of the robot, Drathrox, to destroy the entire universe, the inundation of Peri Brown's corporal form by the devious Lord Kiv via the assistance of the weapons extortionist Sil, the plot of the vegetative-based race, the Vervoids, to extinguish all animal life aboard a space liner in the year 2986, and the culminating duel between the Doctor and the Valeyard within the matrix micro universe as the consummation of the Master's machinations to impel the total deterioration of his foe's condition of assured welfare and stability.

His alleged culpability in the interference with the orders of affairs of other planets was his sentence that echoed that of his Second incarnation, and his objection to the allegations aspersed against him lead him to utter some of the greatest orations of his full capacity of his profundity-Accumulated from his experience traversing the universe. In just the final trial he was placed upon, he less than relished the opportunity, but flourished to the best of his ability with phrases throughout the processions:

The Doctor: In all my travelling throughout the universe, I have battled against evil, against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here. The oldest civilisation: decadent, degenerate, and rotten to the core. Power-mad conspirators, Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen - they're still in the nursery compared to us. Ten million years of absolute power. That's what it takes to be really corrupt.

Mel: Take it easy, Doc...

The Inquisitor: Doctor, these unseemly outbursts will not-

The Doctor: Unseemly outbursts?! If I hadn't visited Ravalox, as I then thought of it, the High Council would've kept this outrage buried, as presumably they have for several centuries!

The Master: I must agree. You have an endearing habit of blundering into these things, Doctor, and the High Council took full advantage of your blunder

The Inquisitor: Explain that!

The Master: They made a deal with the Valeyard - or as I've always known him, the Doctor - to adjust the evidence, in return for which, he was promised the remainder of the Doctor's regenerations.

The Valeyard: This is clearly-

The Doctor: Just a minute! Did you call him..The Doctor?!

The Master: There is some evil in all of us, Doctor-Even you. The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation, and I may say you do not improve with age.

The Doctor: Madam, this revelation should halt this trial immediately. Surely even Gallifreyan Law must acknowledge that the same person cannot be both prosecutor and defendant!

The Inquisitor: The single purpose of this trial is to determine the defendant's guilt or otherwise on the basis of the evidence that has been presented. Anything else is, for the moment, irrelevant!

The Doctor: WHAT?!

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The Doctor: Death?

The Valeyard: "The undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns."

The Doctor: "Puzzles the will." Hamlet, Act III, Scene I.

The Valeyard: I really must curb these urges. I've no wish to become contaminated by your whims and idiosyncrasies.

The Doctorː Quite so. What I don't comprehend is why you want me dead. No. No, let me rephrase that. It would satisfy my curiosity to know why you should go to such extraordinary lengths to kill me.

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The Doctor: It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

Mel: Never mind the Sydney Carton heroics. You're not finished yet.

All of those compelling soliloquies could not have served to be more ironically futile, however, as, following a collapse to the ground and recovery enough to see him lead new companion Mel Bush into the TARDIS, he had but time to say one last line to take a morosely facetious final bow on, in reference to the refreshment he ingested after being forced to participate in a strict exercise action:

DOCTOR: When the Matrix is restored, you can do what you like with the Master, but exercise leniency with Sabalom Glitz. He's not beyond redemption.
MEL: Just don't let him anywhere near the crown jewels.

DOCTOR: Gallifrey doesn't have any crown jewels.
MEL: Right. A bracing glass of carrot juice.
DOCTOR: Carrot juice?
MEL: And then we'll get you back on the exerciser.
DOCTOR: You know, I think I was rash in turning down that offer of the Presidency.
MEL: Come on.
DOCTOR: Oh. Carrot juice? Carrot juice, carrot juice, carrot juice.

The most pertinent element of discussion suffusing the controversial topic of the Sixth Doctor is the precise source of the divisiveness in the reception of his character. As already alluded to, the transition of the identity from the Fifth Doctor into the entity embodied by Colin Baker was, and remains arguably the most drastic departure to this day. He did retain the inherent charisma of the character, and the allegations questioning his ethical philosophy offended him to the point where he constantly had to prove his altruistic intentions, and he did-Through devotion, moral integrity, and insensitive, but compassionate composure of his persona.

A large microcosm of that entire dynamic insularly encapsulated within a single episode of the succession of endeavours was in the instigating endeavour. Where, in the past, the majority of the recovery processes of the Doctor's recuperation had taken him on navigational labyrinths that were incredibly arduous to overcome-through the terror and intimidation between the delirious abandonment of his previous persona, and the discovery and adoption of his new one-This renaissance of reclamation saw him prone to sporadic spells of mindlessly unmitigated rage, and a fallaciously merciless streak of murderous intention angled at his own companion, whom he had mistaken for an alien spy; And he propelled himself into an erratic rampage, attempting to strangle Peri, all due to the internal crisis he was victimised by.

After realising the misdirection of his fury, he refrained for long enough to allow Peri to explain and admonish him for what he had done, but he denied having been liable to commit such a terrible course of action. He then recalled his malice, and the repentance he felt dictated to him that he should resolve to a self-impelled exile on the desolate asteroid, Titan 3. It, of course, was extremely jarring for fans to witness, and was immediately the first instance of reservations harboured about that particular personalisation of the character. But it was fabricated with the intent of acting as a beginning to an elaborate character development where the initial vitriol and repulsiveness of the Doctor would eventually subside in favour of the more heroic and charmingly gallant commendations intrinsic to every incarnation. Unfortunately, they only seemed to pave the road to hell, as he wasn't allocated the time necessary to execute such an admirable progression.

Of all of the influentially emphatic eventuations of severe consequence that transpired across the course of the progression of the proceeds of the Doctor's trial from his Time Lord race, perhaps the most affecting and indelibly impactful, with a lingering resonance, was the tragic circumstances with which the Doctor lost Peri. The inundation of her mind from the mischievous villain, the Lord Kiv, where he possessed commandership of her corporal body with the abetting aid of his militarised weapons extortionist, Sil, was a physically and emotionally method of losing a companion, that even his exploits travelling through time could remedy-And the oppugnant occurrence pulled the rug out from underneath the pedestals of his brash hubris and ego.

The scene left a devastating shock on the protagonist, and revealed the true affectionate compassion for his companion that was ubiquitously persisting beneath the surface of his front of narcissistic indulgence. It marked the climactic conclusion to the drastic development from the initial attempt at murdering his mistakenly identified friend in a fit that was comparable to the belligerence inebriation can impel. His outrage evolved into affection, and then descended into remorseful dismay:

PERI: Protect me. I am your lord and master.
YRCANOS: No! No! No!

DOCTOR: You killed Peri?
INQUISITOR: We had to act. With the discovery that Crozier had made, the whole course of natural evolution throughout the universe would be affected.
VALEYARD: But Peri died, Doctor, because you abandoned her. We had to end her life because your negligence had made it impossible for her to live.
DOCTOR: Lies. There's something else going on here. The High Council has no right to order Peri's or anyone else's death.
INQUISITOR: Please, Doctor.
DOCTOR: No, I was taken out of time for another reason, and I have every intention of finding out what it is.