Fourth Doctor - Personality

Personality

To an extent, the Fourth Doctor is one of the most unpredictable in terms of his emotional depth, slightly more distant and alien than his previous incarnations.

Despite his obvious moments of whimsical charm, offbeat humour, permeated by his manic grin, the Fourth Doctor is more aloof and somber than his previous incarnations. He could become intensely brooding, serious and even callous. He also displays a darker edge to his personality and in The Invasion of Time he seems to cruelly taunt and play with the Time Lords, after his emergency inauguration as President. He also has a strong moral code, such as when he faces the dilemma of whether to destroy the Daleks in (Genesis of the Daleks) stating that if he did, he would be no better than the Daleks himself. He is truly appalled at the actions of the Pirate Captain in The Pirate Planet and refuses to listen to Professor Tryst's attempts to justify drug-running in order to fund his scientific work (Nightmare of Eden), simply telling him to go away.

At the same time he is capable of moments of genuine warmth. In The Ark in Space, he salutes the human race's indomitability and latter stories establish that Earth is his favourite planet (The Ribos Operation). He is the first Doctor to refer to his companions as his best friends.

To his companions, especially Sarah Jane Smith, he was protective and somewhat of a father figure. In stories such as Pyramids of Mars he is concerned that he is approaching middle age with almost melancholic weariness, something which becomes the main focus of his personality in his final season. He often contemplates his outsider status to both humanity and his Gallifreyan heritage, as he seems more inclined toward a solitary existence (The Deadly Assassin). In contrast to this "outsider existence" he emphasises that he found mankind to be his "favourite species" as if he was scientifically studying it. He could also be furious with those he saw as stupid, frivolous, misguided or just plain evil. When taking charge, he could be considered authoritative to the point of controlling and egocentric. He generally maintained his distance from the Time Lords, remarking in The Pyramids of Mars that, while being from Gallifrey, he doesn't consider himself a Time Lord. He clearly resents that even after they had lifted his exile, they continue to beckon the Doctor whenever they deemed it necessary (Genesis of the Daleks).

Although like all his other incarnations he preferred brain over brawn, he is a capable swordsman (The Androids of Tara) and fighter when needs dictate, following on from the martial expertise of his immediate predecessor. He improvises non-lethal weaponry when necessary (Genesis of the Daleks), but was also not averse to more lethal weaponry as a necessity against both sentient and non-sentient beings, like the matter-destroying DeMat Gun (The Invasion of Time) or contemporary firearms (Image of the Fendahl and The Talons of Weng-Chiang).

One of the Doctor's most significant relationships occurs during his fourth incarnation and is explored further in his tenth incarnation. His friendship with Sarah Jane Smith is implied to be deeper than the relationships he shared with other companions to that point (as alluded to in the Tenth Doctor episode "School Reunion"). She is consequently still profoundly affected by their separation many years later in her personal timeline and he admits to loving her.

The Fourth Doctor also takes a liking to jelly babies.