Big Tommy B Speaks...

[jjpor]

Quite a nice little interview with Liverpool's own Mr T Baker here (although, being a Scottish newspaper, they maybe try to stretch the DW-Scotland thing a bit too far):

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/showbiz-news/celebrity-interviews/2009/08/13/forget-david-tennant-i-am-still-the-real-doctor-who-says-tom-baker-86908-21593649/

And, Mr Baker being Mr Baker, I'd be inclined to think that he means most of his remarks in a humorous sort of way; I don't think he really believes that he is the one and only Doctor, however earnestly the gentlemen of the press might interpret his words.

[Stripes]

I swear, when ever I see TB (which isn't often because I do not go looking for TB stuff online), she says he is the doctor. I truely think he belives he is The Doctor. He nuts .... and full of him self.

[clocketpatch]

Tut, tut, Newton, editing. I'll agree though that I think Tommy B is an utter nutter; whether he's a charming one or not is still up in the air, and I think might depend on your relationship with him.

In any case he IS brilliant as the Doctor - the definite article you might say. I do seem to recall at some point I read an article where he was talking about tuning into NuWho and saying that the current Doctor (not sure if it was Eccles or Tennant by that point) was doing a good job. So...

[magnusgreel]

Aug 16, 2009 0:05:58 GMT jjpor said:

And, Mr Baker being Mr Baker, I'd be inclined to think that he means most of his remarks in a humorous sort of way; I don't think he really believes that he is the one and only Doctor, however earnestly the gentlemen of the press might interpret his words.

Anyone who listens in a totally literal and straightforward way to Tom Baker is not listening in his language. This reminds me of the recent Scorcese documentary about Bob Dylan. There was footage of a press conference from circa 1966, where Bob was goofing with the reporters, sidestepping the more tedious, unimaginative questions as any sane person with spirit and a sense of humor would, I think. All the reporters reacted utterly seriously in the most mundane way possible to every joke. We must listen obliquely to Tom and Bob. "Diagonal thinking, that's what's required."

I think Tom has every right to be full of himself. He has greatness in him. You don't get a Fourth Doctor without a Tom Baker personality, and that's worth any amount of trouble he may stir up.

He was said to have created the most "alien" personality for the Doctor, and he did this by being himself. Four never seemed alien to me. That character gave me permission to be myself. It's the people who think Four's crazy who seem alien to me. I think that's a good thing. We should be more oblique, chaotic, spirited, and less "sensible" and "reasonable" in the plodding ordinary sense.

Of course, Tom can get extremely Tom-like sometimes, to the point where I scratch my head too, but I'd never dream of complaining.

[clocketpatch]

Agreed Magnus. Tommy B might VERY eccentric, but that's his right, and the world would be a lesser place if we were all the same. I'm sure people think I'm off my head too, so I'm in no place to judge anyone...

[jjpor]

He is a genuine eccentric, this is true; I think his eccentricity might not have been so amusing had you been some BBC staffer on the receiving end of it in circa 1977 or something, but as Magnus says, without the quirkiness and the humour and the bravado and, dare I say it, the arrogant swagger, all of which seem to be elements of his actual personality that he exaggerated (although not by very much!) in his portrayal of Four, well, it wouldn't be Four, would it? At his age now, he's very much a national treasure/institution I think, and more power to him for that. It does indeed take all sorts, as they say.

[ulalume42]

*snort* Would it be bad to say that "Big Tommy B" sounds like a mobster's name? ;D

And now I'm thinking of that one scene from the Godfather, with the line "I do what I have to for the sake of the family.", or something like that, I can't remember the exact line.....

[jjpor]

No, it does! ;D

I don't even know why I started calling him that; it's like the way I always call Cpt Yates, "Yatesy" - I saw someone doing it online once, and, well...you know, small things amuse small minds and all that... ;D

[primsong]

Ran across this in the SFX Mag's questions for Tom that 'didn't make the cut' in their publication - thought it well worth sharing for any who missed it:

What’s been your weirdest fan experience?
(Q by Lizzie Rogers, Molland)

Tom: To cut a long story short, I bought a gravestone. I gave the Church a hundred pounds for it, so it was now my gravestone. I used to mow the churchyard and one day I heard, chink chink chink, and bugger me, there was a monumental mason engraving a gravestone for some poor soul. So, I went up to him and said, “Excuse me,” and he went, “Christ! Doctor Who!” He was a big fan of mine. So I said, “Do you want to earn 30 quid?” and he said, “Not ‘arf!”

So I said, “Look I bought a stone off these guys here, so would you put my name on it?” So I gave him 30 quid, went off and when I came back he’d put in TOM BAKER in really big letters and “1933 -” He didn’t fill in the second date. I’d have died if he’d have done that! So there it was. Anyway, one day when I was mowing the lawn, months and months later, looking over the wall I saw somebody standing by my gravestone. I thought, “If he’s having a pee on my gravestone, I’ll kill him.” When I looked again, he wasn’t standing by it, he was kneeling by it. So I continued mowing and on my next trip back, he was standing there again. So I said hello. And he said, “I’ve just been putting flowers on your grave.” I thought, this is odd, why doesn’t he see that I’ve got a Honda mower and I’m extremely corporeal? He said, “It’s so sad… I’ve put forget-me-nots down there. Did you like forget-me-nots?” I thought, “Did I?” But I said yes I did and he said, “It’s so sad…” And he started to back way. Not walk away, back away. It was quite a long way down the hill and he was still waving at me and I thought, “Why is he waving at the dead?” But I thought now he knows where I live, he might bother me, but he never did come back.

[magnusgreel]

I'm going to guess that he made it up, primsong, but that's a great story!

[kirkg]

Oh Damn, the original article is now missing. Broken link.
Anybody got a wayback machine that I can borrow?

[Maggadin]

I love him and his, er, ways, but there's still stuff that he's said/done that you can't defend or just brush off as ''eccentricities''. Still, he is THE Doctor to me and always will be.