Doctor Who:
Robot
By Terrance Dicks
“If the square on the
hypotenuse equals the sum of the square on the other two sides, why is a mouse
when it spins? Never did know the answer to that one.”
The newly regenerated
Doctor is sent to the infirmary and to the care of Lieutenant Harry
Sullivan. The Doctor seems a bit out of
it since he regenerated after battling the Spiders of Metabillis 3 and while he
is recuperating Sarah Jane asks The Brigadier for a pass to Think Tank. Think Tank is a place where scientists are
working on new inventions to help out the human race. Sarah
Jane has her suspicions about Think Tank and wants to poke around and see if
she can find something out.
Meanwhile plans and
components to make a disintegrator gun have been getting stolen. The thing is no one knows who is stealing the
components but whoever it maybe is really big and heavy as during its escape it
left quite the footprint in the ground.
While snooping around Think Tank Sarah Jane slips on what could be oil
on the floor. She gets thinking about
the robotics that was explained to her and decides to take a side trip to see
Professor Kettlewell. He explains to
Sarah that the Robot he was working on was dismantled and is not still in
operation. Sarah Jane then returns to
Think Tank and there she is confronted by a Robot. In fact the one Robot that
has been responsible for all the robberies and doing it all for the Scientific
Reform Society.
The Scientific Reform
Society wants to take over the world and shape it in their image. Not only did the Robot steal the plans for
the disintegrator gun but the launch codes for the three major powers nuclear missiles.
So it’s up to the new Doctor and the
Brigadier to stop the Robot and the Scientific Reform Society from launching
the nukes and taking over the world.
Robot is one of the better debut stories for a
new Doctor. Unlike the ones in the 80’s
where the Doctor is hit with post regeneration trauma Robot gets going with the
new Doctor finding an identity and well causing grief for Harry and head
shaking moments for The Brigadier. Robot
is one that I particularly enjoy and like to watch all the time as it isn’t a
story about the new Doctor per say but it is a Sarah Jane story. Sarah Jane has lots to do in Robot as it is
her investigating that uncovers the robot and helps the guys put two and two
together. Plus it is her connection with
the robot as she showed it compassion when it was struggling with its prime
directive. This story really showcased
Sarah Jane and put her on the path of the Sarah Jane that everyone knows
Tom Baker makes a great debut
and his performance is very zany and off the wall a big difference from the
stern and serious Jon Pertwee. Right
from the start of Robot you can see how great Tom Baker would be. The way he
took the part over and immediately made it his own was really good as his
zaniness was not really that over the top and made a good first
impression. What also helped in the
transition was that the story was a UNIT story and it gave the fans something
familiar to them instead of going full barrel with a new adventure and giving them
something entirely new right away. Plus
it was an easy to watch monster story in the mold of what Doctor Who is famous
for and is one of the classic shows traditional standards. The story is pretty enjoyable even though it
was pretty basic but I love watching Robot even if the robot looks all bulky
and disco stylish. Well I think the
robot looks cool even if it has 70’s written all over it. Robots does have some problems to it but not
many to dampen your enjoyment of the story.
So there you have it Robot
is a very enjoyable first story for Tom Baker and the start of a 7 season
journey that many a fans have warm memories of and it’s also the start of who
most fans consider to be the best Doctor ever.
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