History Characters / DoctorWhoThirdDoctor

[[Characters/DoctorWhoFirstDoctor 1]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSecondDoctor 2]] | '''3''' | [[Characters/DoctorWhoFourthDoctor 4]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoFifthDoctor 5]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSixthDoctor 6]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoSeventhDoctor 7]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoEighthDoctor 8]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoWarDoctor War]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoNinthDoctor 9]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoTenthDoctor 10]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoEleventhDoctor 11]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoTwelfthDoctor 12]] | [[Characters/DoctorWhoThirteenthDoctor 13]]\\

** Creator/JohnLevene, who played Benton, pointed out in a DVD commentary that once Pertwee realized he had a habit of rubbing his neck, his conscious attempts to stop resulted in a habit of touching his mouth, his conscious attempts to stop resulted in a habit of rubbing his neck again. Occasionally he touches his ear, just to mix it up.

* {{Catchphrase}}: Two prominent ones - "Reverse the polarity" and "Now ''listen to me''". The former is plugged into a lot of situations where Three tampers with equipment. The latter gets a lot of use when Three wants to be frank or someone is stubbornly ignoring his warnings. He also got some use out of a dry, "Good grief," when his mesmerism accidentally caught an ally or some other mild frustration resulted from the humans surrounding him.

->'''Played by:''' Creator/JonPertwee (1970–74, 1983, 1989, 1993, 1995[[note]]He reprised his role in a cameo for the fan production "Devious" in 1995, excerpts of which appeared as a bonus featurette on "The War Games" DVD release for North America in 2009[[/note]], 1996)

* {{Catchphrase}}: Two prominent ones - "Reverse the polarity" and "Now ''listen to me''". The former is plugged into a lot of situations where Three tampers with equipment. The latter gets a lot of use when Three wants to be frank or someone is stubbornly ignoring his warnings.

* TraumaButton: Seeing the parallel Earth erupt into larva was this for latest episodes.

->''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders "A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don't cry. While there's life, there's..."]]''

He also dissected parts of the TARDIS while it was inoperable, and became intimately knowledgeable about how his ship worked, but couldn't get it to behave. It turns out that all it needed was a new dematerialisation circuit to get it working again, which the [[Characters/DoctorWhoTimeLords Time Lords]] would gift him in gratitude for saving them from Omega. Thusly, he became a seasoned pilot at last, and eliminated most of the guesswork his [[Characters/DoctorWhoFirstDoctor previous]] [[Characters/DoctorWhoSecondDoctor incarnations]] needed to operate the TARDIS. He would go on several adventures throughout time and space like before, but still maintain close ties with UNIT. However, eventually he would be forced to regenerate into [[Characters/DoctorWhoFourthDoctor a new man]] after facing his fears on Metebelis III.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The Third Doctor can be arrogant, brusque, argumentative and [[BrutalHonesty is more than willing to call out those who make foolish decisions in a impertinent manner]], but he's also a poised, benignant, optimistic and charismatic [[GentlemanAndAScholar gentleman]] who genuinely cares about those who are under his tutelage, such as Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The Third Doctor can be arrogant, brusque, argumentative and [[BrutalHonesty is more than willing to call out those who make foolish decisions]], but he's also a poised, benignant, optimistic and charismatic [[GentlemanAndAScholar gentleman]] who genuinely cares about those who are under his tutelage, such as Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith.

--> '''Third Doctor:''' What did you expect? Some kind of space rocket with Batman at the controls?

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The Third Doctor can be arrogant, brusque, argumentative and [[BrutalHonesty is more than willing to call out those who make foolish decisions]], but he's also a poised, benignant, optimistic and charismatic [[GentlemanAndAScholar gentleman]] who genuinely cares for those who are under his tutelage, such as Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The Third Doctor can be arrogant, brusque, argumentative and [[BrutalHonesty is more than willing to call those who make foolish decisions out]], but he's also a poised, charismatic, benignant and optimistic [[GentlemanAndAScholar gentleman]] who genuinely cares for those who are under his tutelage, such as Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He can be pompous, arrogant, rude, patronising and stubborn, but he's still a good guy and genuinely cares about his companions, however much he may insult them. It seems to be that he's only a jerk when he's on the clock - when not running experiments or saving the world, he's quite pleasant. But still arrogant.

->''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace "Unnh… Shoes, must find my shoes. Unhand me, madam."]]''

->''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace “Unnh… Shoes, must find my shoes. Unhand me, madam.”]]''

->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JonCulshaw (2020)

** A perfect example is when the Doctor believes he's fixed the TARDIS console once and for all. With one last sneer at the Brigadier's ineptitude, he beams out of UNIT... only to stagger through the front door, [[CoveredInMud covered in soot]]. Apparently he rematerialized in a dustpile.
--->'''Brig:''' "[[IronicEcho Pompous, self-opinionated idiot]]," I believe you said, Doctor?\\
'''Doctor:''' Yes, ahem, well we don't want to bear a grudge for a few hasty words, do we..?

He also dissected parts of the TARDIS while it was inoperable, and became intimately knowledgeable about how his ship worked, but couldn't get it to behave. It turns out that all it needed was a new dematerialisation circuit to get it working again, a gift from the Time Lords. Thusly, he became a seasoned pilot at last, and eliminated most of the guesswork needed to operate the TARDIS.

Due to the plot element of The Third Doctor's Earth exile, he maintains the distinction of having an entire season, at least, in which he had absolutely no TARDIS travel and remained restricted to Earth. Also, being that his conception was inspired by the modern Action Hero/Super-Spy genre, The Third Doctor's travels rarely, if ever, took him to historical eras. His era consisted of mostly contemporary UNIT-era stories or futuristic SpaceOpera.

* ArchEnemy: The Master[[note]]specifically the incarnation portrayed by Roger Delgado[[/note]] and the Daleks.

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Three is tall, professional, and no-nonsense, unlike the clownish, hobo-like Two. He also prefers being commandeering and flashy, compared to Two's knack for mind games and subtlety.

** John Levene, who played Benton, pointed out in a DVD commentary that once Pertwee realized he had a habit of rubbing his neck, his conscious attempts to stop resulted in a habit of touching his mouth, his conscious attempts to stop resulted in a habit of rubbing his neck again. Occasionally he touches his ear, just to mix it up.

* MasterSwordsman: Not shocking for this action hero, quite frankly, but the Doctor is able to out-fight the Master in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E3TheSeaDevils The Sea Devils]]" in a fencing duel. [[WithMyHandsTied He then eats a sandwich while holding the Master at swordpoint]]. [[UpToEleven A sandwich that happened]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments to be the Master's lunch]]. And ''then'' he throws the Master back his sword so they can have some more fun. According to the Twelfth Doctor, he learned from the best: Richard the Lionheart, Hannibal Barca and... Creator/ErrolFlynn.

[[Characters/DoctorWhoClassicSeriesCompanions Classic Series Companions]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoK9 K9]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoRomana Romana]]) | '''Revival Series Companions''' ([[Characters/DoctorWhoRoseTyler Rose Tyler]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoJackHarkness Captain Jack Harkness]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoRiverSong River Song]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoClaraOswald Clara Oswald]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoOtherSupportingCast Other Supporting Cast]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoThePaternosterGang The Paternoster Gang]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoUNITStaff UNIT Staff]]\\

[[Characters/DoctorWhoClassicSeriesCompanions Classic Series Companions]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoK9 K9]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoRomana Romana]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoRevivalSeriesCompanions Revival Series Companions]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoRoseTyler Rose Tyler]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoJackHarkness Captain Jack Harkness]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoRiverSong River Song]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoClaraOswald Clara Oswald]], [[Characters/DoctorWhoTeamTARDIS Team TARDIS]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoOtherSupportingCast Other Supporting Cast]] ([[Characters/DoctorWhoThePaternosterGang The Paternoster Gang]]) | [[Characters/DoctorWhoUNITStaff UNIT Staff]]\\

* HarmlessLadyDisguise: Used once.

* EmbarrassingTattoo: Embarrassing for the BBC, that is. The Third Doctor has a dragon tattoo on his arm that can be seen quite plainly during the events of "[[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace}} Spearhead from Space]]." This is actually a tattoo from actor Creator/JonPertwee's navy days, when he got really really drunk and woke up the next day with the tattoo on his arm while in port. And no, he wasn't ashamed of it. The producers HandWave this by claiming the Doctor never had a tattoo and we're all seeing things. Much later, though, Eleven notes that tattoos are fairly common for Time Lords, and Eight boasts about having one in the novels.