Ranking each Doctor Who based on who you’d get a pint with

Jon Pertwee returns as Dr. Who when a new series of adventures begins on BBC-1 at 5.50 pm Saturday January 1st and for the first time, he faced the deadliest monsters of them all – the Daleks. Jon Pertwee first appeared as Dr. Who in January 1970. The Daleks have not been seen in the programme for nearly five years. The first four-part story in the new ‘Dr. Who’ series is called ‘The Day of the Daleks’. December 1971 71-12048 (Photo by WATFORD/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)

Third Doctor // Jon Pertwee

So, the Third Doctor is kind of an acquired taste. And if Three is your thing? You do you. It’s a valid Doctor Who lifestyle choice. (His character is certainly a favorite of many.) See, the Third Doctor is…a bit different from other incarnations of everyone’s favorite Time Lord. He’s by far the most campy, dramatic version. That hair! The cape! The ruffly shirt! There’s just a lot going on, stylistically speaking. And, those aren’t the only big changes that set this Doctor apart, either. Thanks to the popularity of James Bond and TV series like Secret Agent Man, the BBC decided to reimagine the Third Doctor in the vein of these superspy figures. Subsequently, Three became stranded on Earth, removing a huge element – the time travel – that made the series unique.

Instead, this Doctor ended up with a job working for UNIT. He partnered with the famous Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewar. And he got a ton of cool spy gadgets, including a nifty vintage roadster named Bessie. He is, by far, the most action-oriented incarnation of the Doctor, and one of the few – if not the only – who really knew how to fight. And since he spent most of his time fighting with the Master, his tenure is certainly never boring. And to his credit? Jon Pertwee does his best to balance out Three’s action-man character – some of his most impressive scenes are when his Doctor is at his most empathetic. And despite the fact that this Doctor is primarily an action hero, it’s his moral compass and abilities as a peacemaker that are some of his most interesting traits.

If you’re into the dashing adventure hero thing, this Doctor is probably going to be a lot higher up on your “have a pint with” list. And to be fair, it’d probably be an incredibly entertaining evening!

Booze of choice: Probably a martini of some stripe – or anything else that comes in an up glass.