Robot is the opening story for the Tom Baker era and whilst it’s a good story its probably the weakest story from this series. The first story of a new Doctor is always a bit of a gamble. Not because of the actor so much but more to do with the story because sometimes its felt that the story needs to be overfilled to cover up any shortcomings that the actor playing the Doctor may have. Thankfully this story doesn’t need to be overfilled because of Tom Baker. Written by Terrance Dicks who had just left the post of Script/Story Editor and what he gave us what a story that was good in theory but sadly didn’t hit the mark.
The story is about a group called Think Tank who are behind a series of thefts from supposedly secure premises. The group are using a giant robot to carry out these crimes (hence the title). The leader of the group is Miss Winters who is one of the best things about this story. I found Patricia Maynard’s performance to be on par with some of the male performers at the time. Edward Burnham is also marvellous but purely because of his bonkers hair. To be honest that hair should have got an on screen credit but going back to Burnham I thought that he did well as the creator of the K1 robot and it was sad when his character was killed off. The story featured UNIT which was one of the things that made the Third Doctor era so memorable. Sadly the fourth Doctor’s personality didn’t really suit the Brigadier or UNIT and as a result the performances of Nicholas Courtney and John Levene don’t really shine. It was only a few stories later before they were written out. That said, its always good having them in a Doctor Who story and with the recent passing of Courtney it makes it even more enjoyable to see him on screen.
For his first story its quite difficult to actually like the Doctor. I think after this story his performance goes to what we know it would be. This story doesn’t really feel like a Tom Baker story which is why the main plot helps a little bit. Elisabeth Sladen does well to carry the story for a while using her journalistic talents. It’s her relationship with Tom Baker that is far more successful than her relationship with Pertwee. Sadly it wouldn’t be long before the journalist side of her character is replaced with the more traditional character trait of screaming and running down corridors.
The story has some major problems and sadly they are in the production which is a shame because this story is a Christopher Barry directed story and he is normally a excellent director. The first being is the robot which is frankly rubbish. I know that it was 1974 but its still quite poor. The meer thought that this robot could somehow be a threat is laughable and that it develops feelings for Sarah Jane is ripped off from King Kong even to the point that there is a scene where a massive robot grabs Sarah Jane and walks around for a bit. The CSO is a bit dodgy on the scene where the robot grows because at times parts of its leg vanish and reappear. Another iffy moment is where the robot vaporises a tank which is a toy tank that they have plonked in front of a camera to give the impression that it’s the real thing when even to a four year old it looks like a toy.
Robot is an important story because it marks the beginning of Tom Baker’s seven year tenure as the Doctor and the golden age of Doctor Who would begin after this story.
The story is about a group called Think Tank who are behind a series of thefts from supposedly secure premises. The group are using a giant robot to carry out these crimes (hence the title). The leader of the group is Miss Winters who is one of the best things about this story. I found Patricia Maynard’s performance to be on par with some of the male performers at the time. Edward Burnham is also marvellous but purely because of his bonkers hair. To be honest that hair should have got an on screen credit but going back to Burnham I thought that he did well as the creator of the K1 robot and it was sad when his character was killed off. The story featured UNIT which was one of the things that made the Third Doctor era so memorable. Sadly the fourth Doctor’s personality didn’t really suit the Brigadier or UNIT and as a result the performances of Nicholas Courtney and John Levene don’t really shine. It was only a few stories later before they were written out. That said, its always good having them in a Doctor Who story and with the recent passing of Courtney it makes it even more enjoyable to see him on screen.
For his first story its quite difficult to actually like the Doctor. I think after this story his performance goes to what we know it would be. This story doesn’t really feel like a Tom Baker story which is why the main plot helps a little bit. Elisabeth Sladen does well to carry the story for a while using her journalistic talents. It’s her relationship with Tom Baker that is far more successful than her relationship with Pertwee. Sadly it wouldn’t be long before the journalist side of her character is replaced with the more traditional character trait of screaming and running down corridors.
The story has some major problems and sadly they are in the production which is a shame because this story is a Christopher Barry directed story and he is normally a excellent director. The first being is the robot which is frankly rubbish. I know that it was 1974 but its still quite poor. The meer thought that this robot could somehow be a threat is laughable and that it develops feelings for Sarah Jane is ripped off from King Kong even to the point that there is a scene where a massive robot grabs Sarah Jane and walks around for a bit. The CSO is a bit dodgy on the scene where the robot grows because at times parts of its leg vanish and reappear. Another iffy moment is where the robot vaporises a tank which is a toy tank that they have plonked in front of a camera to give the impression that it’s the real thing when even to a four year old it looks like a toy.
Robot is an important story because it marks the beginning of Tom Baker’s seven year tenure as the Doctor and the golden age of Doctor Who would begin after this story.
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