Season 11 - Days 356 to 381

Broadcast Dates: 15th December 1973 - 8th June 1974

Relative Dates: 12th November 2012 - 7th December 2012

Right I'm falling behind and so I've decided I'm going to force myself to make an entry about one story EVERY day until I eventually catch up with myself. I'm already thinking ahead to the new series when pretty much every day will require a blog entry as the stories will only be one episode long as opposed to about four at the moment.

Anyway enough of thinking about seasons 27 and onwards, right now I need to look back on season 11.

The Time Warrior

 



And so a legend finally makes her appearance in the show, Sarah Jane Smith! Right from the outset it is clear that she is going to be a much more independent companion than we are used to as she sneaks into the scientific base to report on the missing scientists.

As the Doctor traces the whereabouts of the missing scientists (they have been transported back in time to the middle ages) Sarah Jane stows her way on board the TARDIS. As she sneaks, out once we arrive in the middle ages, she is on her own and we have some great scenes of her not realising that she has been transported back in time.

Keeping her separated from the Doctor in such a way creates some good plot lines as Sarah Jane believes it is the Doctor behind the kidnapping of the scientists. The truth is that they have been kidnapped by a Sontaran (the first one in the shows history) called Lynx who has crash landed on Earth and has been transporting scientists from the future to his time period in order to help repair his ship.

The Sontarans are a brilliant creation. A clone race whose confusion regarding humans having two genders is brilliant. Lynx observes that our reproduction system is "inefficient, you should change it!"

This story is written by Robert Holmes, one of the best writers of the show, and in my opinion this is one of the best of the best!

To top this all off we even get the first mention of the name of the Doctor's home planet. Apparently it's called Gallifrey!

Invasion Of The Dinosaurs

This was the first time I had seen this one and I was really looking forward to it. I'm a big fan of the third Doctor and stories set on Earth and this had a certain reputation about it so I was curious to see what it was like.

Dinosaurs are invading London as a side effect of some time experiments being run by a group of scientists determined to return the Earth to its prehistoric age, free of pollution and the damage caused by man. A shocking moment comes when we discover that Captain Yates, one of the stalwarts of UNIT is in fact working for the baddies in this story. It's well played as we can understand Yates' point of view, being concerned about the state of the Earth. There were quite a few stories along these lines in this era of the show.

The effects of the dinosaurs are a little ropey but I think they stand up quite well. You can't go into a 1970s Doctor Who thinking you are going to get effects that will blow you out of the water. Anyway, as Toby Hadoke brilliantly put it, it's not like we are not aware we are watching television, there always have to be some suspension of belief...or at least I think that is how the saying goes.

The one disappointment I remember from watching this one is episode one. It currently only exits in black and white which is perfectly fine. It's never bothered me watching black and white television. And the rest of the six episodes are in colour. My only gripe here is that on the DVD they have attempted to recolourise the episode and it's done really badly! Fortunately the black and white version is also included on the DVD so I'll be sure to watch that version from now on.

We also get our first sighting of the "who-mobile", although it wouldn't be directly called this in the show. Jon Pertwee, ever a fan of gadgets (especially the ones that you could drive), commission his own car which resembled a futuristic hovercraft. Approaching Barry Letts, the producer of Doctor Who, it was decided to use it as the Doctor's car in the show. I'm not a big fan of it to be honest. I think it looks a bit daft and much prefer his little yellow car, Bessie.

One more thing. I've just been thinking about how good Nicholas Courtney is as the Brigadier in this era of the show to look up at the television where my brother is watching Only Fools and Horse and there he is! Nicholas Courtney in Only Fools. I never noticed him in it before! Spooked me out a bit!

Death To The Daleks

It's of little surprise that the Daleks are in this story. And I can remember hardly anything from it! I have only seen this one once.

I remember that the Daleks use the ability to use their laser weapons and therefore resort to devloping machine gun type weapons to attach to their casings. They test these weapons out on some handy little TARDIS models that they just happen to have lying around!

There are a lot of Dalek deaths as you would imagine from a story called Death To The Daleks and Sarah Jane has one of her first (but not last) experiences of nearly being made a sacrifice.

This would be the last Dalek story in the classic series before the creator of the Daleks, Davros made his appearance. From then on the Dalek stories would feel very different. Out of the three third Doctor Dalek stories I'd say this was not the worst but not the best either. This is the middle one.

The Monster Of Peladon

A return to Peladon! This was really exciting as I've been a big fan of the previous story, The Curse Of Peladon and Curse was also the very first classic Doctor Who story that I watched. Therefore seeing a return to the planet was an exciting prospect.

As with the previous Peladon story we have a political type plot mirroring what was going on in the real world. Curse focused on Britain entering the EU where as Monster deals with the miners strikes.
The miners of Peladon are upset when their work is interfered with by representatives of the Galactic Federation who are forcing new technology on the miners which they worry will make their jobs redundant. Peladon is rich in a rare mineral that is needed by the Galactic Federation in some kind of war they are fighting. The miners, however, believe that the curse of Aggador will once again fall upon them if they start using the new machinery.

The Ice Warriors make their final appearance in the classic series here. They wouldn't return to the show until 2013! And I'm afraid to say they are back to their sneaky ways here again and aren't the benevolent creatures we had come to know in The Curse Of Peladon.

We also have a welcome return of Alpha Centuri, the hermaphrodite hexapod! I bloody love this character! So so funny!

Overall this isn't a bad story but it isn't as good as The Curse Of Peladon and at six episodes it does tend to drag along at times.

Planet Of The Spiders

So this is it. The end for the third Doctor. This was a rather sad moment for me as I'm a big fan of Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and I think he is fortunate enough to have some of the best ever stories. I also knew I was entering the era of Tom Baker which I was excited about but also a little worried about because I knew I was in for a long long slog with his seven year era!

This story isn't a great one but it's not too bad. Most of the spider effects are quite good and the particular image shown above is one that certainly stays with you. I'm not a big fan of spiders so this seriously creeps me out!

We get a nice mention of Jo Grant as she writes to the Doctor from her travels up the Amazon. It's nice we hear about her because as much as I like Sarah Jane, Jo Grant would always seem the definitive companion for the third Doctor.

The focus of the story relates to a blue crystal that the Doctor has take from Metabelus 3. It turns out this is one of the great crystals of power and as such the spiders want it back. Possessing a human by the name of Lupton, they break into UNIT headquarters and steal the crystal. We are then "treated" to one of the longest chase scenes in television history! It's ridiculous! I think it might very nearly last an entire episode! Jon Pertwee was a fan of any kind of travelling machine and as this was his last story the producer (who was also writing this story) decided to give him a treat by writing this chase scene in. Now let me see if I can remember what happens:

Lupton steals the Who-mobile and makes his getaway, followed by the Brigadier and Sarah Jane in Bessie who in turn is followed by the Doctor in a kind of Gyro copter. Cornering Lupton, Lupton sneaks out of his vehicle and hides. Whilst everyone is standing around talking, Lupton jumps into the Gyro copter and takes off. The Doctor gives chase with Sarah Jane in the Who-mobile, which we suddenly discover can fly! Losing fuel, Lupton is forced to land by a large lake, where he steals a boat. The Doctor steals a boat/hovercraft and continues the chase. I'm exhausted just thinking about all this!

The Doctor ends up returning to Metabelus 3 to confront the great spider and whilst there is subjected to lethal dose of radiation. He makes it back to UNIT HQ where he collapses in front of the Brigadier and Sarah Jane, who look on in shock, as his features slowly change and the regeneration begins...

And that was the end for the third Doctor. I've abandoned my look backs that I was doing per Doctor as I have done with the first and second Doctor as this blog is just taking ages to catch up with and keep up to date and to be honest no one probably cares. This is something that people can read if they wish to, I can look back on it myself in a few years and also it's evidence that I'm not just sat on my ass watching television. I've been worried that people may not be sponsoring me because they don't think it a worth while challenge. Well believe me it is! People do do daft things for charity and this is much more exhausting than growing a moustache or sitting in a bath full of beans!

Anyway, come back soon where I will beginning my look back on the early years of the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker!