Can you imagine the
characters from the Third Doctor’s era taking to the football pitch? The Doctor
sporting velvet shorts and a cape, Jo Grant stopping to pick daisies, the
Autons walking rather than running, the Sea Devils preferring the dressing room
bath to the outdoors. Alpha Centauri in goal of course. This is actually not
what DWM’s Third Doctor World Cup is about at all. To celebrate fifty years
since the Big P became the third Doctor, their Twitter page has been running
what must be one of the most fun Doctor Who
related ideas in a long time. Based on the format of soccer’s biggest competition
the process divided Jon Pertwee’s stories into random groups and then asked
people to vote for their favourite in each group. The story with the fewest
votes was knocked out. As we’re used to polls in which you award a mark for
each story or episode, this process brings with it all the fascination and
frustration any football fan will recognise with mismatched draws, very closely
fought contests, shock eliminations and unexpected results. It also shows from
the first round how consistent a period in the show’s history this was with
some excellent stories exiting right away. Goodness knows how hard it would be
to vote like this in a Fourth Doctor poll.
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| The Third Doctor's goalkeeping skills were legendary! |
