Doctor Who Reactions: "The Time Warrior" (SPOILERS)

1)Alot of firsts in this - first appearance of the Sontarans, first appearance of Sarah Jane Smith, first appearance of the "time tunnel" opening credits that would be associated with the early Fourth Doctor years, and the first time that the stories are divided into "Parts" instead of "Episodes". It was also the first time that the name "Gallifrey" was mentioned.

2)It's interesting how they have Sarah Jane bieng suspicious of the Doctor at first - if this was a Silver Age Marvel Comic, the cover would read "Introducing Sarah Jane Smith! Is She Friend - or Foe?" She also is very strident in this first story. She's quite a ways away fromt he character she will become.

3)The Sontarans were an interesting addition to the Doctor's "rogues gallery". Funny that the first word we hear form a Sontaran is "peace". Of course, alot of the credit for their success goes to Kevin Lindsay, who played the Sontarans in their first two appearances, here and in "The Sontaran Experiment". I love the bit where he "claims the Earth. Also, I liked the relationship between Irongron and Linx - sor tof like the worst buddy movie ever.

"You might not find my true apeparance pleasing." Mr. Potato Head!
"At the Sontaran military academy, we have hatchings of a million cadets at each muster parade." The graduation ceremonies must take forever!

4)The whole notion of giving the primitives weapons reminds me of the Star Trek episode "A Private Little War."

5)It's interesting that it's nearly six-and-a-half minutes into Part One before we even see the Doctor.

6)Jeremey Bulloch, who played Hal the archer in this, would go on to play Boba Fett in the Star Wars pictures. The funny thing is, they seriously considered keeping him on as a companion, at the time.

7)Irongron and Bloodaxe were a good "Holmesian double-act" as well.

8)I'm a little skectchy as to why the Doctor didn't take all the scientists home in the TARDIS, rather than relying on Linx's machinery

9)Some fun quotes:

"We need someone around here to make the coffee."
"You can look upon them a galactic ticket inspectors, if you like.
"Yours is indeed a towering intelligence." A great, great line.
"Your Time Lord philosophy is egalitarian twaddle." Hear, hear!
"You're still living in the Middle Ages!"
"Is this Doctor a long-shanked rascal with a mighty nose?"
"'Nasty, brutish and short' just about sums him up."
"You're serious, aren't you?" "About what I do, yes. Not necessarily about the way I do it."

10)Cliffhangers:

Part One: Linx takes off his hat!
Part Two: Irongron prepares to smite the Doctor!
Part Three: Linx zaps the Doctor!
Part Four: Linx gets blowed up real good, and everyone else goes home!

Overall:

OK for a transitional episode. It still strikes me as funny seeing Sarah Jane with the Third Doctor. I fisrt saw her with Tom Baker, and she doesn't seem to mesh as well wih Pertwee.

[Part of list of Doctor Who episodes here.]

My first exposure to Sarah Jane, naturally, was "ROBOT" Part 1, where she wore a really dodgy hat and seemed to have a bad attitude. An English "Lois Lane" is how I'd describe her. Before long I got to like her... a LOT. But I put that down more to Lis Sladen than to the character as written, who, sometimes, could be a real pain-in-the-ass.

I sometimes wonder if I'd have gotten to like her quicker or not if I'd seen her debut story first. It wasn't until early 1984 that most of Pertwee's stories finally turned up on PBS (missing "SPEARHEAD" and any where they only had B&W copies). At the time, this story became an instant favorite, and has remained so to this day. Pertwee's Doctor, who's been able to travel freely again for a whole year by now, is far removed from the obnoxious, arrogant, angry, irritable jerk he was in Seasons 7-8. Here, he feels more like the "real" Doctor (and by that I mean later Hartnell, Troughton, and a bit of Baker).

It's such a contrast between his first meeting with Jo and Sarah. He totally dismissed Jo at first. "I'm your new assistant." "Oh, NO!" He tried to get the Brigadier to get rid of her, but the Brig insisted HE do it himself... and he wasn't able to. She tried so hard, and really turned into something special. By the end, he'd come to care for her very much (in what I'd consider an Uncle-Niece sort of way). Sarah was different. Look at how he reacts to her. I think it was love at first sight! Frankly, her being so smart, independant, impetuous, and even a bit deceitful (lying to get in for a story), he probably thought he was seeing a female version of himself. Of course, it took her awhile to realize he was on her side. I suppose you could almost draw a parallel with the way Hartnell was so rude and suspicious to Ian & Barbara when he first me them. Just as it took 13 episodes before Hartnell made friends with Barbara, it takes all of 10 episodes before Sarah really starts to warm up to The Doctor. It's when he invites her for a holiday-- and the next time we see her, she's in a bathing suit! (Too bad it was in another quarry...)

I've read that Lis Sladen was very critical of the writing on the show during her time. Apparently, she & Tom Baker wound up re-writing most of their dialogue in rehearsals-- exactly what Patrick Macnee and his co-stars used to do while making THE AVENGERS!

I see the relationship of The Doctor & Sarah goes thru several phases. For example, it seems to me she spends most of Season 12 getting to know him all over again. See the difference when they get back to Earth at the beginning of "TERROR OF THE ZYGONS". She's more relaxed, and relaxed around him, than she'd been since before she saw him "die" in "PLANET OF THE SPIDERS". Reportedly, the Sarah of Seasons 13-14 was closer to Lis Sladen than how the character was conceived (and, probably, written). In the original series, I really only see The Doctor as being in love twice-- with Sarah, and Romana. Everything else was "just friendship"-- or outright annoyance.

"It's interesting that it's nearly six-and-a-half minutes into Part One before we even see the Doctor."

Oh, that's nothing. I'm watching THE AVENGERS episode "WHAT THE BUTLER SAW", and it's about 20 minutes before Mrs. Peel shows up. I was beginning to think it was an episode where they gave Diana Rigg the week off. On the other hand, this one features no less than 2 ex-Dr. Watsons in the cast, with both Howard Marion Crawford and Thorley Walters (plus, Macnee would play the character 10 years later-- and then again, 15 years after that).

Someone pointed out something I never noticed about tis story. Lynx is a sort-of "commentary" on The Doctor. He's an alien, stranded on Earth, and forced against his will to ally himself with the primitives here, specifically, military types, who he helps, while working to repair his space ship. And the difference between them, of course, is that The Doctor wants to help Earth fight off intruders, while Lynx doesn't care if the whole place gets destroyed.

I just read an interview with Verity Lambert the other day. And it seems that to some degree, the personality of Sarah Jane was inspired by the show's 1st Producer! Just think what she had to put up with, in an "old boy network" atmosphere, being young, female and Jewish!

Replies

Henry R. Kujawa May 21, 2012 at 3:15pm

My first exposure to Sarah Jane, naturally, was "ROBOT" Part 1, where she wore a really dodgy hat and seemed to have a bad attitude. An English "Lois Lane" is how I'd describe her. Before long I got to like her... a LOT. But I put that down more to Lis Sladen than to the character as written, who, sometimes, could be a real pain-in-the-ass.

I sometimes wonder if I'd have gotten to like her quicker or not if I'd seen her debut story first. It wasn't until early 1984 that most of Pertwee's stories finally turned up on PBS (missing "SPEARHEAD" and any where they only had B&W copies). At the time, this story became an instant favorite, and has remained so to this day. Pertwee's Doctor, who's been able to travel freely again for a whole year by now, is far removed from the obnoxious, arrogant, angry, irritable jerk he was in Seasons 7-8. Here, he feels more like the "real" Doctor (and by that I mean later Hartnell, Troughton, and a bit of Baker).

It's such a contrast between his first meeting with Jo and Sarah. He totally dismissed Jo at first. "I'm your new assistant." "Oh, NO!" He tried to get the Brigadier to get rid of her, but the Brig insisted HE do it himself... and he wasn't able to. She tried so hard, and really turned into something special. By the end, he'd come to care for her very much (in what I'd consider an Uncle-Niece sort of way). Sarah was different. Look at how he reacts to her. I think it was love at first sight! Frankly, her being so smart, independant, impetuous, and even a bit deceitful (lying to get in for a story), he probably thought he was seeing a female version of himself. Of course, it took her awhile to realize he was on her side. I suppose you could almost draw a parallel with the way Hartnell was so rude and suspicious to Ian & Barbara when he first me them. Just as it took 13 episodes before Hartnell made friends with Barbara, it takes all of 10 episodes before Sarah really starts to warm up to The Doctor. It's when he invites her for a holiday-- and the next time we see her, she's in a bathing suit! (Too bad it was in another quarry...)

I've read that Lis Sladen was very critical of the writing on the show during her time. Apparently, she & Tom Baker wound up re-writing most of their dialogue in rehearsals-- exactly what Patrick Macnee and his co-stars used to do while making THE AVENGERS!

I see the relationship of The Doctor & Sarah goes thru several phases. For example, it seems to me she spends most of Season 12 getting to know him all over again. See the difference when they get back to Earth at the beginning of "TERROR OF THE ZYGONS". She's more relaxed, and relaxed around him, than she'd been since before she saw him "die" in "PLANET OF THE SPIDERS". Reportedly, the Sarah of Seasons 13-14 was closer to Lis Sladen than how the character was conceived (and, probably, written). In the original series, I really only see The Doctor as being in love twice-- with Sarah, and Romana. Everything else was "just friendship"-- or outright annoyance.

"It's interesting that it's nearly six-and-a-half minutes into Part One before we even see the Doctor."

Oh, that's nothing. I'm watching THE AVENGERS episode "WHAT THE BUTLER SAW", and it's about 20 minutes before Mrs. Peel shows up. I was beginning to think it was an episode where they gave Diana Rigg the week off. On the other hand, this one features no less than 2 ex-Dr. Watsons in the cast, with both Howard Marion Crawford and Thorley Walters (plus, Macnee would play the character 10 years later-- and then again, 15 years after that).

Someone pointed out something I never noticed about tis story. Lynx is a sort-of "commentary" on The Doctor. He's an alien, stranded on Earth, and forced against his will to ally himself with the primitives here, specifically, military types, who he helps, while working to repair his space ship. And the difference between them, of course, is that The Doctor wants to help Earth fight off intruders, while Lynx doesn't care if the whole place gets destroyed.

I just read an interview with Verity Lambert the other day. And it seems that to some degree, the personality of Sarah Jane was inspired by the show's 1st Producer! Just think what she had to put up with, in an "old boy network" atmosphere, being young, female and Jewish!
The Baron May 21, 2012 at 3:27pm

Someone pointed out something I never noticed about tis story. Lynx is a sort-of "commentary" on The Doctor. He's an alien, stranded on Earth, and forced against his will to ally himself with the primitives here, specifically, military types, who he helps, while working to repair his space ship. And the difference between them, of course, is that The Doctor wants to help Earth fight off intruders, while Lynx doesn't care if the whole place gets destroyed.

Interesting - I'd never picked up on that.

This reply was deleted.