Bacon Numbers for Doctor Who

By Heather Keesecker


                  Startlingly Useless Information:
                    Bacon Numbers of the Doctors

                        by Heather Keesecker
                         (heathk3@juno.com)

Contents:

1) What is a Bacon Number?
2) Version History
3) The Official Doctors:
      a) Hartnell
      b) Troughton
      c) Pertwee
      d) Tom Baker
      e) Davison
      f) Colin Baker
      g) McCoy
      h) McGann
4) The Other Doctors:
      a) Cushing
      b) Hurndall
5) Questions Left as an Exercise for the Student
6) *UPDATES* - New Doctors

1) What is a Bacon Number?

From the "About" page at the Oracle of Bacon at Virginia
(http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~bct7m/bacon.html), which was used
to collect the information for this post:

"The object of the game is to start with any actor or actress
who has been in a movie and connect them to Kevin Bacon in the
smallest number of links possible. Two people are linked if
they've been in a movie together. We do not consider links
through television shows, made-for-TV movies, writers, producers,
directors, etc."

The Oracle of Bacon uses the Internet Movie Database at
http://us.imdb.com to automate this game.

2) Version History

   9/4/98, two minutes after the last update: The maintainer realizes
   that she's the only one still playing the Seven Degrees to Kevin Bacon
   game. She cringes.

   9/4/98: Updated entries for Davison, Colin Baker, and McCoy. Added
   entries for Michael Jayston (The Valeyard) and Edmond Warwick
   (Hartnell's double in The Chase). Kept silly joke at the end about
   lemons and protractors, even though she doesn't have the dog
   anymore. (She hasn't been able to get rid of the house or
   the husband, though. :-) )

   5/14/97: First release. Yippee.

3)The Official Doctors:

  a) William Hartnell, the First Doctor

     William Hartnell was in Murder Will Out (1939) with Roddy
     McDowall

     Roddy McDowall was in The Big Picture (1989) with Kevin Bacon

     Hartnell's Bacon Number: Two

  b) Patrick Troughton, the Second Doctor

     Patrick Troughton was in Hamlet (1949) with Laurence Olivier

     Laurence Olivier was in The Betsy (1978) with Tommy Lee Jones

     Tommy Lee Jones was in JFK (1991) with Kevin Bacon

     Troughton's Bacon Number: Three

  c) Jon Pertwee, the Third Doctor

     Jon Pertwee was in Nearly a Nasty Accident (1961) with Joe
     Don Baker

     Joe Don Baker was in Criminal Law (1989) with Kevin Bacon

     Pertwee's Bacon Number: Two

  d) Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor (REVISED 2005)

     Tom Baker was in Dungeons & Dragons (2000) with Bruce Payne
     Olivier

     Bruce Payne was in Pyrates (1991) with Kevin Bacon

     Tom Baker's Bacon Number: Two

  e) Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor

     Peter Davison was in Parting Shots (1998) with John Cleese

     John Cleese was in The Big Picture (1989) with Kevin Bacon

     Davison's Bacon Number: Two

  f) Colin Baker, the Sixth Doctor

     Colin Baker was in The Harpist (1997) with Christien Anholt

     Christien Anholt was in The Power of One (1992) with
     Tracy Brooks Swope

     Tracy Brooks Swope was in The Big Picture (1989) with Kevin
     Bacon

     Colin Baker's Bacon Number: Three

  g) Sylvester McCoy, the Seventh Doctor

     Sylvester McCoy was in The Secret Policeman's Ball (1981) with
     John Cleese

     John Cleese was in The Big Picture (1989) with Kevin Bacon

     McCoy's Bacon Number: Two

  h) Paul McGann, the Eighth Doctor

     Paul McGann was in The Three Musketeers (1993) with Kiefer
     Sutherland

     Kiefer Sutherland was in Flatliners (1990) with Kevin Bacon

     McGann's Bacon Number: Two

4) The Other Doctors (Stage and Fan Doctors omitted)

   a) Peter Cushing, played Dr. Who in the movie versions
      of The Daleks and The Dalek Invasion of Earth

      Peter Cushing was in Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
      with Donald Sutherland

      Donald Sutherland was in National Lampoon's Animal House
      (1978) with Kevin Bacon

      Cushing's Bacon Number: Two

   b) Richard Hurndall, played the First Doctor in The Five Doctors

      Richard Hurndall was in Royal Flash (1975) with Bob Hoskins

      Bob Hoskins was in Balto (1995) with Kevin Bacon

      Hurndall's Bacon Number: Two

   c) Michael Jayston, played the Valeyard in Trial of a Timelord, who
      may or may not have been a future incarnation of the Doctor
      (personally, I think he was trying to blah blah blah)

      Michael Jayston was in Zulu Dawn (1979) with Bob Hoskins

      Bob Hoskins was in Balto (1995) with Kevin Bacon

      Jayston's Bacon Number: Two


   d) Edmond Warwick, played the First Doctor's robot double in
      The Chase (REVISED 2005)

      Edmond Warwick was in The Stud (1978) with Mark Burns

      Mark Burns was in The Surrogate (1984) with Jackie Burroughs
  
      Jackie Burroughs was in Cavedweller (2004) with Kevin Bacon

      Warwick's Bacon Number: Three

5) Questions Left as an Exercise for the Reader


   a) (Rhetorical Question) Why do so many Doctors link through
      Olivier? And why, by the Holy Underwear of Rassilon, do
      all those Doctor-Olivier-Bacon links go through that
      godawful film The Betsy? (shudders)

   b) Using three lemons, a protractor, and all the magazines you
      have in your bathroom, try to figure out how a woman with a
      husband, a dog, and a house that magically messes itself
      back up the minute she cleans it found the time to write
      this post. Use both sides of the paper, show your work, and
      don't bother calling her a sad fangirl with no life -- she
      knows that already. :-)

                              ***

6) UPDATES - New Doctors - Added 2005
     a) Christopher Eccleston  - The Ninth Doctor

        Christopher Eccleston was in eXistenZ (1999) with Jennifer Jason Leigh

        Jennifer Jason Leigh was in In the Cut (2003) wiht Kevin Bacon

        Christopher Eccleston's Bacon Number: two

     b) David Tennant - The Tenth Doctor

        David Tennant will be in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
         with Gary Oldman

        Gary Oldman was in Murder in the First (1995) with Kevin Bacon

        David Tennant's Bacon Number: 2