That Ol' Blogger - TOM
Doctor Who Tom Baker - The Doctor Is Now a Blogger
Posted by Sam on Monday, 27 Nov 2006
Many may be wondering just what Tom Baker, considered by millions of Doctor Who fans to be the best Doctor in the history of the 43 year old franchise, is up to these days.
Well, he has traded in the tardis for a blog with Blockbuster. Huh? That’s right, Tom is got his own blog going with Blockbuster.co.uk.
These days Tom resides in France. That’s right! The good Doctor has moved from his haunts in the UK and made residents with his neighbors across the channel, where he does his blog, reviews films and novels and lives what many may consider a very humble life.
Tom is also hyping his DVD dedicated to scifi trivia. It’s called “Tom Baker’s Ultimate SciFi Quiz.” According to SFX Magazine, it’s not anything to get too excited about due to its increased content of erroneous information, but you can be the judge of that if you per chance decide to drop down your cash to get it.
No matter, it is always good to keep up with one of the favorite Doctors and keep tabs on his whereabouts and doings.
Blockbuster's Promo Blogs for:
Tom Baker's Ultimate Sci Fi Quiz
WEEK ONE:
Greetings to everyone out there in cyberspace.
I'm Tom Baker, and if you're over thirty and enjoy science fantasy, then I was your Doctor Who.
Having failed to regenerate I'm a little older now, and possibly wiser, though I wouldn't want to bet any money on it. To celebrate the release of an interactive DVD I appear in called Tom Baker's Ultimate Sci Fi Quiz, I've been invited to write a month of blogs, whatever they are, here at Blockbuster.co.uk.
Here I go then.
Wish me luck...
Journalists who grew up watching me always jump at the chance to meet me, as they know old Tom will talk a lot of amusing guff! There's really not enough amusing nonsense in the world, and I've always tried my best to redress the balance. When you're a beloved old figure, as I am, the extraordinary thing is that, when I'm with fans of the programme, as long as I'm being friendly and nice and informative, it doesn't matter how silly I'm being. The fans are amused by it. It's the kind of meandering, free-association of a beloved uncle or a beloved father figure, now a beloved grandfather figure. As long as I don't wound their feelings or disappoint them by being ungrateful, they're happy, and I'm just as happy to have had a rapport with them that has lasted all these years.
An interviewer asked me last month if I regretted playing Doctor Who. It was a very odd question, I thought. I replied that it was like asking me if I regretted being loved. 'No I don't,' I said. The guy then explained that he'd met a very famous actor, one who was rather bloody minded about a very famous part he'd done, and when the journalist asked him about it, the actor said, 'Oh, don't talk to me about that, I've done plenty of other things'. Me, I'm always happy to talk about Doctor Who. When you've had a good life, you've got a few Euros in your pocket, and people are still interested in you, I think you owe them a smile. I'm not one of those ungrateful old farts who doesn't know how lucky he's been!
Someone asked me a while ago if I got the sci fi quiz job because of my part in Doctor Who, and I had to tell him that quite honestly it's only because of Dr Who that I get anything. If it wasn't for that programme, who would remember me? I'm employed now by the children who watched me on TV, then grew up and hired me because they still love me. The boys in Little Britain could have gotten anybody to narrate their show. There are plenty of more gifted actors than me, but they wanted me because they love me. They watched me as children, and once they were in power, they said, 'Let's get Tom!' I suppose I was right for it, and Matt guided me. He's very acute. Sometimes I have no idea what the words he gives me to say actually mean, though, and when I ask him, he always replies, 'Never mind what it means. The fact that you don't know makes it funny.' And he's right. Certainly people seem to like it when I use words like funky, or say 'bring it on!' And if I can make people laugh, even if I don't exactly know why, I'm satisfied.
Goodbye!
WEEK TWO:
Welcome back to my cosy little blog.
I'm Baker. Tom Baker. And I'm here all this month, so get used to it.
The real world is pretty incomprehensible. Science Fiction often makes a lot more sense. I've always enjoyed it, perhaps because I was raised religiously, and religion is largely science fantasy!
I'm very happy, then, to be fronting an interactive DVD quiz called Tom Baker's Ultimate Sci Fi Quiz.
I'm living in France and rather bored of it, so was more than happy to fly to London for a few days while we shot my part. I had my own driver while I was here, and had a very good time. Also, the producers were very helpful, showing me sample questions, and allowing me to re-phrase them to make them more amusing. At least to me! We're living in a quiz age, I think. I also narrated the Little Britain DVD Quiz, which is out now too, and very funny. Even though I don't understand many of the things Matt has me say!
I also love Johnny Depp. He's was wonderful in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, and I thought he was lovely in Finding Neverland. Now there's a wonderful travesty! J.M. Barrie was a rather boring old man who had a terrible cough and gobbed oysters everywhere. Hardly Johnny Depp, but that didn't bother me!
I played a pirate once, Long John Silver, on the stage. It was a huge success. Very, very funny, and such a wonderful story. That reminds me, I saw a book recently called Pirates and the Tradition of Sodomy. I think they were sodomites, although I sometimes get sodomites mixed up with Dolomites. Maybe it was about sodomites in the Dolomites.
I'm going to have a lie down now, and attempt to gather my thoughts, but I'll be back with more golden nuggets next week.
WEEK THREE:
Hello again, everyone. I'm Tom Baker, guest blogger here at Blockbuster.co.uk. See how comfortable I am with this cyberspeak now! This week, though, I'm more interested in matters of the heart. Basically, I'm going to talk about love. Not romantic love, or Courtney Love, whoever she is, but something much more permanent. You see, unlike human love, fan love is superior because it doesn't fade. So when people stop me in the street and tell me, 'I love you Tom', I understand perfectly well what they mean. So we squeeze one another, we embrace, and then on we go. Very satisfying for everyone involved, I think! We love our heroes, and no one is exempt from this. Even heroes have their heroes, so to speak. If I see a footballer or cricket player I once followed, someone I loved when I was young, or at least younger, I get excited. Though they may be old, stooped and fifty years or more past their prime, none of that matters to me. I don't see them that way. No, when I see them I'm transported back to those happy days, reconnected with my past, and I find the experience deeply moving. That's why I'm always happy to be recognised by Doctor Who fans. People who see me and can't resist shouting, 'Hello Doctor', or 'You was the best!' I'm also quite big now with ladies of a certain age. I met one recently and she said, 'I think I've loved you for thirty years'. She was still very attractive, and what's more, I think her teeth were all her own.
I'm going, if I've got the energy, to a memorabilia event in Birmingham, and when I get there I'm sure, just like all the others I've been to, it'll be terribly funny and sweet. To see the intensity of the fans, not just for Doctor Who, but for all sorts of different things. And I'll spend the day chatting and having my picture taken with them, and signing pictures of what I looked like 40 years ago. And though it's true, like all the other guests at the convention, I'll be selling the pictures I'm signing, I liken fans to pilgrims, and pilgrims have a tradition of being ripped off. Getting robbed on the way to Mecca or Canterbury, then sold terrible statues and other religious souvenirs when they get there, is an integral part of the pilgrim experience. And when I meet people who are nearly fainting because they've walked from Birmingham to meet me and pay tribute, I realise that for some of them, that experience borders on the religious.
A fellow once said to me, 'Don't say anything Doctor, I'll just look at you.' I told him that was absolutely fine, but after an hour of being stared at I began to feel a bit impinged upon! Still, I wouldn't have dreamed of saying or doing anything to make him feel self-conscious about it. Then there were these 12 American girls who used to follow me around. I called them The Apostles, and they'd stand in a line, Spamalot-style, and I always kept expecting them to break into a song and dance. These weren't children, mind. They were professional people. One was a consulting physician. Yet when they were with me, or at least close by, all they did was stand and stare! But if that's what they wanted to do, that was perfectly fine by me. They're probably all dead by now, but if I had the chance to meet one of my childhood heroes, I might well do exactly the same thing.
See you next week, then, for Baker's last blog.
WEEK FOUR:
Welcome to my final week of blogging fun here at Blockbuster.co.uk.
I'm Tom Baker, though if you saw me on the street, there's an 80% chance you'd call me The Doctor. That's fine, but don't expect me to operate.
I live in France and get very bored so I devote a lot of my time to books and films. The other day I was reading The Remains of the Day when my wife reminded me we had the DVD, so I popped that on instead. It's rather a gloomy picture, but it reminded me how wonderful Emma Thompson is. She is just adorable. I worked with her husband Greg Wise recently. She was so very good as that housekeeper, she and Anthony Hopkins, living a life of servitude. Hopkins was marvelous at playing an idiot man who sublimated himself for this abstract idea of service to superior people. It's a life I understand, but wouldn't want to be a part of. You see, though the idea of a humble life is certainly alien to me now, back when I was younger, I was all about loving and serving God, and making it into heaven. All that was blown aside, however, the first time I got near a girl. I went into the army, full of guilt at having abandoned God, and this girl took a fancy to me. I think she was attracted to me because I was living in cloud cuckoo land, and she considered that an amusing challenge. So she moved in on me, nibbled my earlobe, and I found the devil! God went out the window and in came the devil! I'm still keen on the devil, to be honest, but I don't think he's so keen on me.
I'm so tired of France, the truth is I'm coming back home. I've got a house in Sussex. It's beautiful in France, I know. Idyllic even, but paradise isn't necessarily interesting. If you travel the world you discover lots of wonderful places, and often think they'd be perfect locations to live. But it doesn't turn out like that because there are other impulses. I actually miss the people I was running away from. I actually miss the people who bored me to death. I actually miss the tastes I used to think were commonplace.
You simply cannot know, until you're living in paradise, what you're going to long for. What you're really going to want. You could be sitting, drinking a lovely bottle of wine while surrounded by the most beautiful countryside you've ever come across, yet deep down inside, you're desperate for a pint in your old local tavern. I don't want to be in the country any more, so I'm coming to Kent. I want to be in a town. I want to give up driving. I want to be able to walk to restaurants, and walk to a station, and go to a pub. So now you know. Feel free to come up to me and say hello, or just shout something amusing at me from a car window or construction site.
I'm Tom Baker, and I've had a lot of fun blogging, but it's time to go back to France and pack up my stuff.
I'll see you all soon. In the meantime, if you miss me, why not challenge yourself with Tom Baker's Ultimate Sci Fi Quiz? I think you'll find it's rather good.
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