'Doctor Who: Robot' (1974)

I think out of all the incarnations of the Doctor, Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor is probably my favourite; Peter Davison is 'my Doctor' but there's something about the glee in the Fourth Doctor's eyes, and his flair for the dramatic, that keeps him in top spot. At least for now, anyway... ;o) With that in mind then, it's a little embarrassing how many of the Fourth Doctor stories there are that I haven't seen. I thought I ought to do something about that and after watching 'Planet of the Spiders' where better to start than with 'Robot', the first story of Tom Baker's tenure as the Doctor...

Mortally weakened by the Spider Queen on Metebelis 3, the Doctor is forced to regenerate. His recuperation is cut short as UNIT investigate a spate of robberies involving components for a top-secret disintegrator gun. The culprit is quickly identified as a highly sophisticated robot built by Professor Kettlewell, which is being ordered to act against its Prime Directive.

Just how is the robot being used to carry out the sinister agenda of the Scientific Reform Society? And can the Doctor rescue Sarah form the robot's clutches and avert a nuclear war...?

'Robot' is a very solid story but what was more interesting to me (at least to start off with) was to see how Tom Baker literally jumps into the driving seat and just gets going. The beginning of 'Robot' is also the end of 'Planet of the Spiders' and Baker is the thing that bridges these two stories. In a sense then, there's no let up, the narrative just keeps going. I think while there's no doubt that Tom Baker becomes the Doctor very quickly, a part of me wanted to give him a nudge and tell him not to try so hard to do so much so soon. There is an element of 'look at me!' and it does grate a little but when the plot kicks in, that dies down and by the end of the story, you'd be forgiven that he had always been the Doctor. A bit of a manic start then but from where I was sat, Baker settles into the role very quickly.

And onto the plot itself. Given how 'Planet of the Spiders' and 'Robot' blend into one another, it's funny to think that the robot was committing crimes while the Third Doctor was dealing with blue crystals and telepathic giant spiders. It almost feels that this was a situation that the Third Doctor could have found himself facing if not for random chance. That's just me going off on a little tangent though... ;o)

'Robot' is a fairly straightforward tale, maybe a little too straightforward. The identity of the robot is teased out a little too easily (although the Doctor is a genius to be fair...) and once that is done, the endgame is revealed and it's all about UNIT soldiers being vaporized while the Doctor comes up with a solution.

Luckily there's a bit more to it than that though as the story builds up an unlikely but very dynamic relationship between Sarah Jane and the robot that not only draws on Asimov, a little, but also has us feeling more than a little sorry for a robot that is having to deal with a lot of new emotions while being used to bring about the end of the old world order. There's even a little nod to 'King Kong', at the end, that tugged at my heartstrings (although I'm still unclear as to why a disintegrator gun would make the robot grow larger...) The Scientific Reform Society aren't the greatest villains that I've ever seen in 'Doctor Who' but they're almost besides the point; it's all about a giant robot, Sarah Jane Smith and a Doctor trying to find out who he is and saving the world at the same time. In that respect, 'Robot' is a very good story, really getting into its characters, and I glad that I finally gave it a go.