In Defense of the Ninth Doctor

During debates over who has been the best Doctor Who since the show was rebooted in 2005, there are always the predictable favorites:

David Tennant’s Tenth, defined almost as much by the masterfully written arcs and individual episodes as by Tennant’s endlessly charming performance, which darted between the Doctor’s darkness and levity, his human-like fallibility and otherworldly brilliance. Matt Smith’s Eleventh, brimming with whimsy and youthful energy. Even Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth, brusque and curmudgeonly though he was. And now, though she’s only one season into her run, Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth is already a fan favorite — perhaps the warmest, most ebullient of the new Doctors, and, of course, the first woman of the bunch.

But rarely does the Ninth Doctor, who was played by Christopher Eccleston, come up. Ironic, since Eccleston ushered in the new age of Doctor Who, with the episode “Rose,” in 2005. Eccleston, who only did one season before retiring his leather duster and ceding his spot in the Tardis to Tennant, is frequently brought up as though he’s the problem child of the family, the difficult one who didn’t appreciate the role of the time-traveling adventurer from Gallifrey. On Thursday, October 3, at New York Comic Con, Eccleston cleared up some of the rumors about his time on the show. During the panel, Eccleston admitted that he didn’t do the Doctor as much justice as he could have. Part of the reason being that, according to him, in order to become a good …