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The second Doctor Who was Patrick
Troughton, a well known British character actor. Changing the
lead actor in a television series was not a new idea even then. But
usually, the new actor is not too physically dissimilar to his
predecessor, and effectively plays much the same part, with subtle
differences in interpretation. What was novel about the Doctor's
regeneration was a new actor taking the same part, but playing it as
a completely different character. Troughton's portrayal of the Doctor
was very complex. On the surface he appeared to be a clown, dressed in
scruffy clothes, acting the fool and playing his recorder at
inappropriate moments. Yet this concealed an intellect as powerful as
his predecessor's, with the moral authority to match. In fact, I think
Troughton suffers from an image problem as much as Hartnell. Only a
small number of his episodes exist. Most of these are out on video,
but by and large they are not his best episodes. Probably because of
this underexposure, Troughton is perceived in terms of the received
fan wisdom as the clown or "cosmic hobo", whatever that means. But
the serious side of his character seems more apparent to me. This
Doctor could be secretive, obfuscating and manipulative, sometimes
even seeming to be working with his enemies until he found out what
they were up to, and how he could defeat them. This is perhaps most
apparent in The Evil of the Daleks, sadly missing but possibly
Troughton's best story. It is to be hoped that the much trumpeted
rediscovery and video release of The Tomb of the Cybermen a few
years ago, which also shows up this facet of his character, might have
altered fans' perceptions a bit. If there are aspects that make
Troughton seem a clown, I think they're his impetuosity and lack of
focus. He seems to leave everything to the last minute, and then have
to make snap decisions and rush about to try and get everything done
in time to save the day.
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