Here’s a strange one. The Watch Shop surveyed some 2,000 British Sci-Fi fans and produced some interesting results.
Do you agree with this? Back to the Future is a better time travel story than Doctor Who.
I’m a fan of Back to the Future, really, I am. But better than Doctor Who? I don’t think so. Nevertheless, in the Watch Shop’s survey “Back to the Future” topped the poll with 22.25% of the vote and Doctor Who came in second with only 20.4%.
It gets worse for Doctor Who. If you look at the female vote – then the time lord slips to third place. It’s actually Harry Potter who takes some 26.44% of the female vote and comes in first place, with Back to the Future coming in second with 21.35% and Dr Who in at 18.36%.
I had to pause and think why Harry Potter even qualified for time travel in the first place. There’s time travel in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, thanks to Hermione and her experiences.
The survey looked at the popularity of Doctors as well. David Tennant’s Doctor came in first with 32.85% of the combined vote (27.94% of women), then Tom Baker with 12.25% and then Christopher Eccleston with 9.25%. That’s right; Eccleston beat Matt Smith. The least popular time lord? Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor who only scored 1.3% of the vote.
The best performer out of the Doctor Who franchise was the TARDIS. Just about a third of the UK survey (33.65%) said the TARDIS was their favourite time travelling vehicle.
The watch seller also produced this interactive graphic that shows the range of time the travellers have covered. I suppose that’s appropriate for a site that sells clocks.
A breakdown of the 2,000 strong survey by age is also possible. Here are some of the highlights.
18-24 year olds
- Of films/series that feature time travel ‘Harry Potter’ was the favourite (34.89%) for 18-24 year olds whereas the older age groups preferred ‘Back to the future’, ‘Dr Who’ and ‘Star Trek’.
- 18-24 year olds answered that their favourite form of time travel is The Tardis from Dr Who (28.51%) followed by Delorian from Back to the future (19.15%) and the Time Turner from Harry Potter (19.15%)
- 18-24 year olds think that the best time lord (Dr Who) is David Tennant- 43.4% (this is over 10% more than any other age group)
Over 55’s
- Of films/series that feature time travel ‘Star Trek’ was the favourite (27.1%) for the 55+ age group whereas the younger sci-fi fans preferred ‘Back to the future’, ‘Dr Who’ and ‘Harry Potter’.
- Almost half (49.84%) of 55+ year olds answered that their favourite form of time travel would be The Tardis from Dr Who