Doctor Who Week: Tom Baker

Howdy Whovians and welcome to Day 4 of Doctor Who Week.  When we last left the Doctor he was in this third incarnation.  As the years passed and companions left his company, the Doctor (Jon Pertwee of the House That Dripped Blood, Adventures of a Private Eye, SuperTed, and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Attack of the Hawkmen) had remained with UNIT and had teamed up with a charming lady reporter by the name of Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen of Take My Wife, Dempsey and Makepeace, K-9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend and The Sarah Jane Adventures) and at the advice of a fellow Timelord K’anpo that the Doctor must face his fear and defeat this Planet of Spiders by returning a crystal to the Great One.  Through thick and thin the Doctor manages this very task but at the cost of his own life…of course that is not really the end is it?  So grab your 9 foot scarf, break out the sonic screwdriver and get your tin dog on the case.  This is Dr. Who:  Robot.

 

Stop looking up my nostrils. It is disconcerting.

You may be *a* Spoiler but I’m *the* Spoiler. The definite article, you might say.

The Doctor’s regeneration has left him yet again a bit barmy (another technical term, often medical) and seems a bit out of sync.  Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (Nicholas Courtney of Then Churchill Said to Me, Downtime, TravelWise, Doctors and The Sarah Jane Adventures) finds his friend altering his appearance yet again and this time into a tall curly haired hawkish nosed man bounding around and complaining about his clothes.   Brigadier begins to calm Sarah down and explain that the Doctor has done this sort of thing before and best to take it in stride.  

Must saving the world interrupt my LARP time?

Meanwhile in the National Institute for Advanced Scientific Research or “Think Tank” as it is more colloquially known, the top secret plans for a disintegrator gun have gone missing.  The Doctor (Tom Baker of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Black-Adder II, The Silver Chair, Selling Hitler, Medics and Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior) and the Brigadier with a cadre of men from UNIT have gone to investigate when the Doctor notices large rectangular footprints and crushed flowers.

  Sarah Jane goes off to interview one of the former members of Think Tank a Professor Kettlewell and he proceeds to tell her of a immense robot called the K-1 he developed years ago but its learning processes were too advanced and he felt it was a power that could easily go out of control.  He further explains that no one at Think Tank have the responsibility or morals to use the K-1 properly.

 

Two for tea?

I have just a few thoughts or interjections at this time.  While the massive robot is clearly superimposed (placing an image or video on top of an already existing image or video), the bulky costume that it was clearly has hinge joints and seams where a man would enter it and it did seem a bit farfetched to have that effective an AI I felt this story gave a great example of brilliant minds feeling they could not only do better at managing the world without the aid or need of politicians or governments I can say I see their point of view.

Twiki's big brother, Crusher.

That being said this lot was completely crackers and was perverting the concept of science which is to better humanity and bring a sense of accomplishment to benefit all.  OH and a FYI, Tom Baker was the first Doctor to have his own action figure made by Mego along with Leela, a Dalek and the robot of this episode. That is all for this day and join me for the final day of Doctor Who Week tomorrow.  Don’t skip away too soon Tom Baker fans.