The TARDIS has two rather unique features. The first being it is "dimensionally transcendental," which simply meant it was bigger inside than outside. The second feature is its chameleon-like ability to blend into any surrounding landscape. Unfortunately for the Doctor, the unit he stole was being repaired. It was stuck in the shape of a blue British police call box, a form which has never changed throughout his many adventures.

By the way, the Doctor has no name. In the first episode of the series "An Unearthly Child," our Gallifreyan wanderer is mistakenly addressed as "Doctor Foreman" to which he replies "Doctor Who?", hence the name of the series.

The Doctor possessed some rather unique characteristics including two hearts, a body temperature of 60 degrees and the power of reincarnation. He could regenerate a new body twelve times during his long life. He saved his regeneration ability for occasions when he was struck down by illness/injury or crippled with old age. The process did have one side effect. The new body never looked like the old one. This transformation quirk helped immensely when the actor portraying the Doctor left the series and was replaced by a new one. When his fans first met him, the Doctor was 745 years old.

Over the years the role of the Doctor has been portrayed by a variety of actors including in the order of appearance: William Hartnell (1963-66), Patrick Troughton (1966-69), Jon Pertwee (1970-74), Tom Baker (1974-81), Peter Davison (1982-84), Colin Baker (1984-86), Sylvester McCoy (1987-89).

Sylvester McCoy appeared in a transformation scene at the beginning of the FOX Network TV movie Dr. Who: The Enemy Within (1996) which introduced Paul McGann as Doctor Who.

In 2005, Christopher Eccleston revived the role as The Doctor No.9. After 13 episodes, he was replaced by David Tennant as Doctor Who No.10. Don't you just love that regeneration plot gimmick?

Other movie portrayals of the Doctor included actor Peter Cushing in the motion picture spin-offs of the series Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) and Richard Hurndall as the First Doctor in the 20th anniversary special (Hartnell had died eight earlier).

A most flamboyant and popular adaptation of the Doctor starred Tom Baker who sported a halo of brown curly hair and wore a twenty-foot multi-colored scarf that wrapped around his neck. His favorite snack food was Jelly Babies.

Throughout his adventures, The Doctor has fought a gallery of villainous creatures including:

• The Kronovores, deadly creatures who devoured time;
• Cybermen, metallic clad humanoids;
• Nestenes, hideous tentacled aliens
• The Yeti, a nine foot tall anti-matter beast;
• Sensorites, creatures wth bulb-shaped heads;
• The horrible Krotons;
• Zygons, grotesque creatures with octopus-like suction cups all over their body
• The Daleks, salt & pepper-shaped robots with a prime directive to "Exterminate" all humans

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