Thursday 31 July 2014

Robot

 
  

This version of the title sequence does work better for Tom than it did for Jon.

James Smith @thejimsmith · The TARDIS is covering up Jon on the same bit of slit scan. Apparently. I prefer the Jon one myself. Weird to think they put the TARDIS into the titles for season 12, a series it's barely in too.

M.R. Michael ‏@The_Cybermatt I never knew that - so the TARDIS is just superimposed over Pertwee’s full frontal?



Now imagining little TARDISes covering nipples etc. as a form of censorship...

M.R. Michael ‏@The_Cybermatt  Pertwee looks like a granny off to the shops in the S11 titles.





"Well, here we go again!" nice little recap from the end of Planet of the Spiders there. The Brig's hair is so long! That's not a military haircut. 


One last goodbye to Jon...
 




...and hello Tom! 


Tom's "...and stupid" as Harry enters *must* be deliberate. 

"If the square on the hypotenuse equals the sum of the square on the other two sides, why is a mouse when it spins?" 


TonyCross @Lokster71 · Never did know the answer to that one. 


Great, if odd, POV shots for the mystery thief, who appears to be some sort of Robot. Nice wibbly noises. 



Really weird point of view shot for the robot; a bit like a compound eye but all squares, all across in a strip. I *think* that would mean it would have really rubbish peripheral vision.


Think Tank, eh? Bet they've got nothing to do with all this. 


Sarah accuses the Brig of being a swinger. Definitely not old-fashioned, then.

Now uncle Terry starts "homaging" (AKA ripping off) Spearhead from Space... 

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke · It's continuity, I tells ya, continuity :P 

Tom is immediately great.
  
 You can see how this would have been a major shock to the system after Pertwee, though. 

...but the nose is a definite improvement, apparently. What do you say to the ears?

It'll take more than karate chopping a balsa wood brick to convince Harry that the Doctor's the definitive article...

Sarah & the Brig find the Doctor's put Harry in the corner...

The Doctor takes off in the TARDIS but is back merely a split second later, in less than the blink of an eye...

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke · But Big Finish could write 10 seasons of Missing Stories to fill it.
I think the backstory for The Face of Evil is supposed to slot in there, IIRC. 

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke · it explains the bonkers computer

TonyCross @Lokster71 · Implication during 'The Face of Evil' is that he arrived there during his immediate post-regeneration fuzziness

Sarah appeals for his help, and the Doctor finally puts his finger on the Brig's familiar face. 

Reckon the Brig should be flattered to be pigeon holed with Alexander the Great and Hannibal, in military terms at least!

The light fingered Robot is at it again... 

He's robbing poor old John Scott-Martin! The one day he turns up for work without his Dalek... 

The Doctor needs to pick a new outfit before he can investigate, though... 

The daft little costume change scene doesn't outstay its welcome but is very silly. 

Tom's original costume's great. Not sure he needs the hat on *all* the time though. Don't think he's taken it off yet. 
Exterior shots on video - urgh! 

Nick doesn't seem to appreciate having powdered dandelion blown in his face, does he? 


The Doctor's got a fair idea what all the nicked wotsits add up to.



Pat Gorman! Lovely all these longstanding monster men getting their mugs on camera...


"I hadn't expected male chauvinist attitudes from you, Miss Smith!" Hilarious from the pen of Dicks. 



50dw50 @50dw50 · i think Dicks has a lot of fun with the Robot script, demob happy maybe 


Sarah gets the grand tour of notable corridors in Think Tank HQ and slips in the damp patch. 

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke · It's nice that they use her journalism, too often forgotten what people did before signing onboard

Yes, she gets pretty much the whole of part 1 to strike out on her own; to a much greater degree than usual.

50dw50 @50dw50 · i was very young when this was on and i thought the Think Tank place where the Robot was kept was like my aunts flat

"What's wrong with unsinkable?" "Nothing. As the iceberg said to the Titanic." I could still see Pertwee wheeling out the line about the Titanic but the "glug, glug, glug!" is pure Tom. 

Kosmic Kris @KosmicKris · it amazes me that Robot was, essentially, the same creative team that had written for Pertwee. It's such a radical change! I especially like it when the Doctor says "eh Alistair?" - a conscious change in the relationship between the two friends 

It's often described as a Pertwee story starring Tom Baker, isn't it, but the minute Tom shows up everything UNIT feels outdated.

Kosmic Kris @KosmicKris ·Totally! Tom Baker sparkles on his debut. It's his performance that lingers in the memory

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke ·  Ironic, as the UNIT actors say Tom wanted them out

He's no interest in UNIT, you can tell, and to be fair it's in the writing that he's itching to leave them behind.

Kosmic Kris @KosmicKris · I think Tom was the focus of it, but the whole production was changing. The show was ready to move on from UNIT

50dw50 @50dw50 · i think it was Zygons where he became snarky with them behind the scenes

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke ·  By then he'd done a full season, knew he was popular. His ego starting to kick in?

Probably one of his infamous sulks - h
e'd thought he'd left them behind at that point, but back they came.

Love the way Tom slouches or lies down everywhere. He's rumbled that UNIT have left one way in... 


 These UNIT soldiers look a bit past it, and that's putting it kindly. 

Love the way the Doctor uses the stitching of his scarf as a way of measuring things.


Paul Cooke @paulpcooke · There's quite some stretch there, he gave it the government for their figures

Is it the very large rat from Talons? They should definitely get a very large cat. 



Tom seems positively drab and sensible once Kettlewell's hairdo makes an appearance.


Rumbling that the oil patch means they're keeping up Kettlewell's work...




Sarah cons her way back in... 

 ...and finds a giant Robot! 

The Robot looks bloody brilliant and ridiculous at the same time. 



Not the most practical or flexible of designs but distinctive. 

(Doctor Who Experience Exhibition worker Samantha Crawford putting the finishing touches to the K1)



The Think Tankers pretend it was all a big joke. Sarah laughs along to deny them the zing. 



Meanwhile Tom is breaking in some new Tom-isms... 



Sarah feels sorry for the Robot. Although it doesn't have feelings of its own, it's programmed to be personable so it's hard not to anthropomorphize it, and consider the way it's used. 

MAW Holmes @MAW_H · "Your plastic pal who's fun to be with..." :-)


Winters and Jellicoe carry out some "brain surgery" to bypass the Robot's inhibitors. Why on Earth does Jellicoe need a swab when operating on the Robot? 

It's obvious to 1 and all that the Robot is the thief and Think Tank are behind it, but the Brig must have the evidence. But come on, after the last theft, where the weight & not-needing-to-breathe where established, the list of suspects can't be long?

The Giant Robot thinks all these British politicians are enemies of humanity. You can see his point, really. 

 



Sarah convinces the Brig to let Harry play the next James Bond. 




The Doctor compares eccentricities with Kettlewell... 

...then drops by to wind up proto-Thatcher. 

With the bowler hat, Harry looks like a young Patrick MacNee! 


Paul Cooke @paulpcooke Harry was great, and sadly underused. Wish we'd had more Harry Sullivan's War type novels.


The Space Pirate @SpacePirateOz ·Criminally so, Paul. Amen to that

"I'll talk to anybody!" Tom repeats JP's line from The Green Death, courtesy of uncle Terry. 


The Doctor's silly superspeed typewriting is a bit too daft, not helped by the music.

Not sure about Sarah's hippy headscarf, and I don't like Sgt. Benton no longer being a Sergeant. 


Sarah gets the Doctor's note. 



P.S. It's a trap! 



Uh-oh, the Giant Robot's been programmed to destroy the Doctor and Kettlewell's led him into a trap, the bounder.

Love the way Tom uses the scarf as a working prop. Neat idea with the ball bearings too. 
 


The beginning of part 3 is a rather massive recap. 

"Please confirm your identity and place your bag in the bagging area." 


Sarah races in and convinces the Robot to leave the Doctor alone. 


The Robot is so powerful it can knock over cardboard boxes. 

Unsurprisingly it escapes. 


Kettlewell must recharge his hair between takes. He wasn't this bad when he was working for Tobias Vaughan. 

Good old Terry Walsh there, or as I've recently rebranded him, the In The Wars Doctor. 


Paul Cooke @paulpcooke ·  Another missing regeneration. Was he on the Morbius screen?


Nah, it was behind the camera types, wasn't it.


Paul Cooke @paulpcooke ·Well, then, he counts. The ones on the screen *don't*, according to fan law.We aren't allowed an opinion. The law is the law



Must admit I don't count them. Thinking about it, Moffat's numbering jiggery-pokery makes it impossible now, doesn't it?


Paul Cooke @paulpcooke Yeah. But I don't care. Stuff like that is peripheral fluff, and doesn't keep me awake at night. I can ignore it :)


Quite right too. The programme's always picked and chosen what suited on the day or didn't & made it up as it went along anyway!


Pure genius from Dicks in the lovely "The rest were all foreigners!" line, and Tom clearly relishes it. 


The Doctor's horrified that the Brig "let" Sarah go off with Kettlewell. Well maybe if you'd piped up sooner, mate... 



Paul Cooke @paulpcooke ·Classic guilt displacement. Churlish Doctor. Very childish. That's why we loved him, though!

Kosmic Kris @KosmicKris see, at this point things start to unravel a little bit - I'm still not entirely certain why Kettlewell was ever sacked! 



He claimed to have quit, didn't he? Obviously all a front to take the Robot research into unsanctioned territory. 

  
Tom's on-stage clowning is as the limit of his jokiness under Hinchcliffe, but you could imagine that in season 17. 



Now they've been rumbled and UNIT have the go ahead, the Think Tankers have retreated to a bunker in the back garden. 


 Superspy Sullivan has his connection cut.

Nice call back to the Sea Devils as the new Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to blow up the mines.

 The Giant Robot has assembled the parts of the disintegrator gun to make... a disintegrator gun! Cliffhanger!


 

Kettlewell has a change of heart when Think Tank plot to use the nuclear launch codes... 


...and Harry gets to be the man of action, punching Jellicoe out. 


The Giant Robot attempts to kill Sarah, but Kettlewell steps in the way and is disintegrated.



 That's torn it! 


The Doctor comically stops the countdown with seconds to spare. Yeah, hilarious, you git. Benton needs clean undies, now. 


Paul Cooke @paulpcooke ·Again with the childish cruelty. Pitched just right to appeal to kids. If it had been this Doctor facing the Great One, he'd have pulled her legs off. Slowly.


There aren't immediately obvious similarities but that child-like aspect harks back to Troughton just a smidge.


Paul Cooke @paulpcooke ·Yeah, he was childlike. And I suppose the Doc has always been a little selfish and showoffy, which could be seen as cruel


Guess "cruel" for the purposes of the quote means intending harm etc. He's thoughtless, unsympathetic, rude or selfish lots though.


Paul Cooke @paulpcooke I have forcibly jettisoned Dinosaurs on a Spaceship from my conciousness


Definite fail: harm intended.


UNIT & co. are so busy slapping themselves on the back that they don't notice the Robot is up and at 'em. 


As usual, Benton has the solution, for which the Doctor takes credit... 



Tom lashes up a micro-brewery as the Robot restarts the countdown.  



Sarah better guess the conundrum sharpish. 


Paul Cooke @paulpcooke The Friday Dalek was there, at the back, rubbing its sucker excitedly. I saw it!

"With that beer, I'd feel like I was Up Above the Gods!" 



Benton chokes back a whimper of fear as the Brigadier aims his powerful weapon at Sarah's electronic pal. 


Baker's Brew makes the Robot feel 30 feet tall. Powerful stuff. 


The Brig's internal monologue right now: "Arse biscuits." 

Full of Baker's Brew, the Robot's beer goggles make him think it's easy to pick up Sarah... 

...but the Doctor gives him the hangover cure to end all hangovers... 

...and the Robot shrinks to the size of a Denys Fisher doll. 
 Paul Cooke @paulpcooke  Give it me! Give it me now!!  I will hug him and kiss him and call him George. 


Gee, Doc, Gareth Hunt's gonna be awful mad...


...then it disappears altogether, eaten away to nothing. 


50dw50 @50dw50 death by orange bubble bath, what a way to go. He fails to mention that all the metal in the world is being eaten by a virus and bringing down civilization

He's off in the TARDIS, that's UNIT's problem. Or Doomwatch's. Or Quatermass's. Does the Doctor have to do everything around here? 


"There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes." The new Doctor's manifesto.

Harry doesn't believe the TARDIS can travel through time and space. He'll learn!


Lovely end: "about that dinner at the palace... 

[sees the TARDIS vanish] 

...I'll tell them you'll be a little late."

Plastic Fantastic!

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke · The Robot's a cracking design. I always wanted the Denys Fisher one. Was far too expensive, so never happened. 


MAW Holmes @MAW_H · You know, I think that I may have one of those stashed in a shoebox somewhere along with Gareth Hunt, (although I think he's lost his accessories...) 


Paul Cooke @paulpcooke · Get it out and treasure it. A thing of beauty. 
 I have the "Gareth Hunt" Doctor, with screwdriver. And a still boxed TARDIS. Oh, and K9 minus ears and tail (obviously) 



MAW Holmes @MAW_H · But... but... it's no longer in the original packaging. I think that I may have (shock, horror) PLAYED with it.

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke I have (somewhere) photos of me and my brother playing OUTSIDE IN THE SNOW with them. Toys should be just that!

50dw50 @50dw50 ·  i still have a coatless doctor and an earless k9, the poor old police box fell to bits years ago 

I did use to have the Character Options one - thing of beauty it was - but short on cash I ebayed it. Bought by a Big Finish actor. True story! Pleasing to think it went to a good home! 

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke · I got that, a sort of consolation prize. Short lived, my son has borrowed it. Indefinitely, it seems!

50dw50 @50dw50 · my aunt bought me a princess liea doll so i let her hair down and she became  mary tamm! 

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke I wanted those large Star Wars dolls, but sadly it was not to be. Unlike kids now, we didn't get everything

MAW Holmes @MAW_H  Now that's DAMNED creative thinking...! Well done! :-)

50dw50 @50dw50 my aunt was not a fan of such things and had assumed star wars was in fact dr who!

MAW Holmes @MAW_H  Ah, the "not we" (shakes head sadly) ;-)

Paul Cooke @paulpcooke Didnt matter, we had a little something called imagination! 





TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... Terror of the Zygons