PRODUCT ENTERPRISE TOM BAKER

Here's a reminder of my Product Enterprise Tom Baker Doctor Who doll.

 For a while in the nineties and the early noughties, Product Enterprise produced some excellent classic Doctor Who electronic action figures.

I tended to collect examples of their Dalek range which included micro Daleks, movie Daleks, and talking Daleks to name but a few. 

While I do have an obvious fondness for classic Daleks , my favourite incarnations of the Doctor were played by Jon Pertwee and later, Tom Baker.  So when I found a reasonably priced boxed example of a Talking Dr Who Tom Baker doll, which comes with his trusty electronic dog, K-9, I thought I’d add it to the collection. 

(I know some people get a bit uppity when it comes to the blurred lines between the word doll and action figure, which was originally made up by Hasbro in 1964, who cleverly referred to their G.I. Joe doll as an ‘action figure’, to sell it as a boys toy, or as today’s market might refer to it, a targeted audience gender.  If it’s a robot or robot-like I would generally think of it that as being an action figure, a Dalek or Zeroid Robot for example. But C3PO or Star Team’s ZEM 21 might just fall into the doll category.    I must point out this is just my take on it, and different people have their own opinions as  there’s plenty of dolls or action figures that do indeed blur the lines.  In a nutshell, I did read somewhere that not all dolls are action figures, but all action figures are dolls!)

 Anyway, back to the Doctor Who doll. 

It went on general sale in 2004, although some specially shipped- in examples could be found at the 2003 Birmingham Memorabilia collectors fair in November to coincide with the series’ 40th anniversary. 

As with all of Product Enterprise’s products a lot of attention is paid to the packaging, and the wonderful retro styling that goes into it.

The box is unsurprisingly in the shape of a TARDIS with opening doors that reveal the fourth Doctor and K-9.

There’s a standee on top of the box showing a vibrant rendition of Tom’s Doctor, which I believe was painted by artist, Graham Humphreys.

The doll’s likeness is pretty good from certain angles, with a typical toothy Tom Baker grin.  

It has some limited articulation. The head moves left to right, and each arm moves up and down from the shoulder, and the gripping hands can swivel.

The knitted scarf is very good too, and looks very authentic to me. The nit-pickers would probably note it’s not long enough for them, though. 

The figure also comes with additional accessories; a sonic screwdriver, and bag of jelly babies.

There’s a circular cut-out at the back so prospective buyers can hear the doll ‘talk’. 

Sadly, my doll has long since given up talking for some reason, so the six authentic phrases using Tom Baker’s unmistakable voice is lost.

K-9, however does still talk, but the years must have taken their toll on the sound card, and actor, John Leeson’s K-9 phrases sound pretty much garbled to me now.

Not to worry though, K-9 still has a working pull-back and go mechanism, and his ear antennas’ and tail is still intact.

All in all, a pleasing addition to my Dr Who Product Enterprise collection.