1)And so, the enter the era of the Fourth Doctor, accompanied by Terrance Dicks' take on King Kong. It was interesting seeing again how quickly Baker settled into the role. I liked the little touches of him using the scarf as a prop, or the bit where he put his hat on the robot, or where he settled down to sleep on top of the furniture. I was especially impressed by the scene where he did synchronized jump rope with Harry - that must've taken some practice! We also see the Doctor's little-known speed-typing power, and a callback to "The Sea Devils" as he uses the sonic screwdriver to detonate mines.
2)Sarah seemed a little off in this episode - I wonder why they decided to dress her as though it was the 1930's? Most of her part seemed to be feeling sorry for the robot. I noticed she'd developed Susan Foreman's Syndrome - the inablilty to run three feet without hurting oneself - by Part Four.
3)Harry didn't get to do too much in this. Poor Ian Marter - redundant before he'd even started his first story.
4)Patricia Maynard did a good job as Miss Winters, she and Sladen played well off each other.
5)Edward Burnham as Kettlewell was OK - the show's go-too neurotic scientist type. The comedy hair was a bit much, though.
6)I have to say that I always thought that the robot was a bit lame. Kilgarriff did the best he could considering he could barely move. Lots of crap FX in this, especially the scene where the robot grew. Also, it was pretty obvious that it was dolls when the robot was carrying Sarah or tossing wround UNIT guys. And Barry Letts is extremely unhappy about the toy tank. Plus the UNIT guys were blazing away like mad and never hit anyone! Granted the robot was bulletproof, but the people around him weren't. I did like the scene where Jellicoe did "brain surgery" on the robot.
7)The last appearance of Bessie for a long itme.
8)Poor Benton gets promoted and saves the day, just in time to hardly ever be used again.
9)Wow, they reprised alot of the end of Part Two at the start of Part Three.
10)Some fun quotes:
- "Saw it happen this time." Thus avoiding the whole "You're not the Doctor!" business.
- "The complete set of plans for the new disintegrator gun." If they have weapons like this, how come they never used them again?
- "Oh, nonsense, Brigadier, you're a swinger."
- "Mind you, I think the nose is a definite improvement." Dicks gets in one last dig at Pertwee.
- "Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart" Apparently, this is where we learn that the Brig's middle name is "Gordon".
- "Perhaps you should employ the services of a very large cat."
- "I think you must be the sort of girl that gives motor cars pet names." Funny considering that it's the Doctor who has a "pet name" for his car.
- "Your own attire, is it really suitable?" It is, assuming she's trying to look like Zelda Fitzgerald.
- "I'll talk to anybody." He's quoting himself from "The Green Death"!
- "The U.S. Cavalry never got treated like this."
- "Naturally, the rest were all foreigners." I never understood how this plan would preserve the peace. Also, Britain is considered a "neutral"?
- "You let Sarah go off somewhere with Kettlewell?" Well, it's not like you said not to.
- "It could drill a hole in the surface of the Moon." I could see where that would come in handy.
- "I have killed the one who created me!"
- "You won't shoot, Brigadier." "Maybe he won't, but I will."
- "You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that isn't immune to bullets."
- "Why didn't that silly man write up his experiments properly?"
- "Curiouser and curiouser." "Said Alice." "Exactly."
- "Would you like a jelly baby?"
- "It was a wonderful creature, capable of great good and great evil. Yes, I think you could say it was human."
- "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes."
- "Yes, well, I'll tell them you'll be a little late."
11)Cliffhangers:
- Part One: The robot advances on Sarah!
- Part Two: The robot advances on the Doctor!
- Part Three: The robot threatens to destroy them all!
- Part Four: The Doctor, Sarah and Harry all leave in the TARDIS!
Overall:
Dire FX aside, this was pretty good. Probably my favorite "Introducing a new Doctor" story ever.
[Part of list of Doctor Who episodes here.]
Replies
After the 2 movies (which I caught in reverse order), I saw Jon Pertwee from "THE SILURIANS" to "DAY OF THE DALEKS" in the 70's. (Those were the ones my local station ran.) So imagine going from that to "ROBOT".
What a contrast. Took me 2 years' worth of stories to like Pertwee at all. I liked Tom Baker by the end of Part One!
Took a bit longer for "the English Lois Lane" to grow on me, though... I was sure glad that at least The Brigadier & Sgt. Benton were still around. (Even if it was only for this story.)