What if Tom Baker stayed on for Season 19?

Basically an look at an alternate history where Tom Baker didn't hang up his scarf in 1981 and stayed on for the 1982 season. How would he have fared with the stories and would you have liked to see him stay on the series?

I think if he had stayed on another season, he'd have been at risk of being dead by the end of the year.

I'm not joking.

His GP told him he was both overworking himself and drinking too much (as was the BBC culture then), and that's why he was so visibly ill for Season 18 and why he was told by his GP to quit to role (the fact he was at odds with the new team's vision played into that).

Taking that out of the hypothetical, and assuming he quit the drinking and was in good enough health to do Season 19, then I think even Season 18 would've been quite different from Keeper of Traken onwards. I think the Master was brought in to pave over the change of Doctor (a familiar foe from the past to help establish the new Doctor's credentials) and if Tom was staying on, that might not have happened.

There's rumours that originally Time-Flight was meant to close Season 18 (back when the Master wasn't meant to be in it), and that might've been what they went with if they weren't looking to end on a regeneration. Maybe if it was doctored right by Bidmead, it could've been a far more solid story.

It'd be strange to imagine Season 19 without the hangover from Logopolis defining it. Tom's Doctor would've probably put his foot down more with the Davison companions and not let Tegan bully him.

I don't know if I could really imagine Tom in Earthshock.

Would it have helped the ratings? I don't know. It might be that the groundswell of interest was precisely down to the fact the show had a new Doctor and a change of image.

I suppose if Tom left at the end of Season 19 we would've gotten the Master Returns trilogy but a year later, and it would've been quite a different beast under Saward's pen.

You've just given me a great idea for a new discussion.

On the subject of this, despite my gripes with the Davison era and especially Season 19, I oddly think that Davison was fitted for this Season and I can't really see Tom being suited towards this. The style and tone are very different for the 4th Doctor, who was a authoritative yet quirky man. If Bidmead had stayed on as script editor, then I guess that Tom would have been more suitable for the style, but I just can't imagine it.
That said, if there's one story in Season 19 that could work with Tom, it would be The Visitation. As Davison was definitely written to be more of a wise and authoritative man there than in the rest of the Season. 5 was definitely written to be grouchy, and able to control the situation, so I do think that Season 18 Tom would have worked with this story. Don't know about the others though.

SomeCallMeEnglishGiraffe wrote:That said, if there's one story in Season 19 that could work with Tom, it would be The Visitation. As Davison was definitely written to be more of a wise and authoritative man there than in the rest of the Season. 5 was definitely written to be grouchy, and able to control the situation, so I do think that Season 18 Tom would have worked with this story. Don't know about the others though.

It is strange isn't it?

The Season 19 story that would've suited Tom best is the one by Saward.

Tanmann wrote:

SomeCallMeEnglishGiraffe wrote:That said, if there's one story in Season 19 that could work with Tom, it would be The Visitation. As Davison was definitely written to be more of a wise and authoritative man there than in the rest of the Season. 5 was definitely written to be grouchy, and able to control the situation, so I do think that Season 18 Tom would have worked with this story. Don't know about the others though.

It is strange isn't it?

The Season 19 story that would've suited Tom best is the one by Saward.

Very strange, the more I think about it. Saward is definitely a conflicting man when it comes to his scripts and writing the Doctor's personality.

I am glad peter became the doctor tom was just not happy frustrated and the crew could tell

Wouldn't have worked at all. Tom's Doctor was completely out of sync with what the new production team wanted, as was obvious through most of 18.

No, I think Tom should've gone after S16, let alone doing even more.