Doctor Who: 5 Ways The 12th Doctor's Era Should Be Like The 3rd's (And 1 Way It Shouldn't)

Capaldi's shaping up to be a bit Pertwee-esque, so here's some handy tips if he chooses to go down that garishly-dressed path. Note: does not include Venusian Aikido.

By Chris Swanson /

One of the more interesting things about Matt Smith€™s time as the Doctor is the way that it aped the Second Doctor€™s era. This was in part due to Smith€™s fondness for that time in the series, and it was expressed in several ways. The Eleventh Doctor€™s outfit was at least somewhat reminiscent of the Second Doctor, for quite a while he had one male companion and one female (like Ben/Polly, Jamie/Victoria, Jamie/Zoe), and we even saw the return of one of the more memorable villains from the Second Doctor€™s era, The Great Intelligence, and the long-overdue, much-welcome return of the Ice Warriors. If past is prologue, we can look at Peter Capaldi€™s fondness for Jon Pertwee€™s time as the Third Doctor, and look at his very Third Doctor-style costume, and perhaps start wondering if there might be a move to redirect the series toward some more reminders of the Third Doctor€™s era. With that in mind, I€™ve decided to knock together a list of the five ways the Twelfth Doctor€™s adventures should become more like the Third Doctor€™s, and one massive way in which they shouldn€™t.

5 Ways It Should...

5. Get Away From Earth

You know what would be nice? An entire series of stories where we don€™t see Earth even once. Yes, it€™s a place that looms large in the Doctor€™s personal history, but you know what? So does Trenzalore. We can assume he spent more time there than on Earth and Gallifrey combined, and I€™ll be you money right now we never see it again. So how nice would it be to not see the Earth for a while? Or, if we must see it, how about seeing future Earth or past Earth a lot more? Better yet, let€™s get out into space. The Third Doctor had several stories set in the far-off future on various space stations and planets. He dealt with diplomatic disputes between various alien species, and regularly saved planets that weren€™t Earth. It would be nice to see a return to this. Out of 84 stories in the new series, 62 of them have taken place on Earth, most of them in contemporary times, give or take a few years. This includes every single Ninth Doctor story. Let€™s see an end to this, and return to the €œSpace€ part of €œTime and Relative Dimension in Space€.