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Download "Dr Who Review, Part 5 - The Tom Baker Era"

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Table of contents
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Table of contents

0:00
An actor's legacy
1:17
The state of the show
2:29
Philip Hinchcliffe
3:33
Casting the Fourth Doctor
6:20
Tom Baker
10:23
The Fourth Doctor
14:44
Robot
15:11
First Impressions
16:12
Changes
19:39
Choosing a favourite
21:08
The Daleks
23:43
Genesis of the Daleks
33:48
A successful first year
36:07
Pyramids of Mars
43:07
Farewell Sarah-Jane
44:06
Fandom
45:23
Mary Whitehouse vs the BBC
48:48
The Williams Era
52:52
JNT
54:02
Season 18
55:54
Warriors' Gate
59:24
It's the end...
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Dr Who
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Doctor Who Review
BBC
Sci-fi
Science-fiction
Documentary
Review
Fan
Fandom
William Hartnell
Patrick Troughton
Jon Pertwee
Tom Baker
Peter Davison
Colin Baker
Sylvester McCoy
Paul McGann
John Hurt
Christopher Eccleston
David Tennant
Matt Smith
Peter Capaldi
Jodie Whittaker
TARDIS
Philip Hinchcliffe
Robert Holmes
Seventies television
70s
Genesis of the Daleks
Pyramids of Mars
Warriors Gate
John Nathan Turner
Mary Whitehouse
Subtitles
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Subtitles

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00:00:00
now I was very happy to become Doctor
00:00:03
Who and I finished 30 odd years ago and
00:00:06
yet
00:00:07
yesterday I was blessing the fans who've
00:00:10
grown old and bald and stooped with me
00:00:13
and who go on loving me you know that's
00:00:15
quite something but don't you ever want
00:00:17
to say didn't you ever see me in
00:00:19
educating Rita me when people you know
00:00:21
when you're a bit chewy is produced you
00:00:23
wouldn't you like to be credited as a
00:00:25
good actor elsewhere rather than simply
00:00:27
in Doctor Who
00:00:28
no I don't think so because I don't
00:00:31
really rate my acting but my doctor who
00:00:33
was entirely Tom it was just Tom I
00:00:36
wasn't acting and it just fell into my
00:00:38
lap you know and they said how you gonna
00:00:39
do it I said I didn't know and I started
00:00:41
saying the lines and they and the
00:00:43
children loved it you know I thought eh
00:00:45
who wants to act I can be Tom
00:00:47
[Music]
00:01:17
by December 1974 dr. who was riding a
00:01:21
wave of popularity it had not
00:01:23
experienced since 1965 enjoying an
00:01:26
average audience of over eight and a
00:01:27
half million viewers for Jon Pertwee's
00:01:29
last season the action-packed stories of
00:01:32
alien invasions being countered by the
00:01:34
unit family with the capable and
00:01:37
physically proficient patriarchal third
00:01:39
doctor had elevated the program to the
00:01:41
heights of a cherished British
00:01:42
institution much like that first
00:01:45
regeneration back in 1966 a change to
00:01:48
this format was a gamble with much at
00:01:50
stake
00:01:51
after five years Jon Pertwee's
00:01:53
incarnation had become the face of the
00:01:55
show with young viewers and many adults
00:01:57
too in this age before repeats or home
00:01:59
video not remembering any other version
00:02:01
of their Time Lord hero but key to the
00:02:04
success and longevity of Doctor Who is
00:02:06
its capacity for change and the incoming
00:02:08
production team had a great enthusiasm
00:02:10
for embracing that change along with the
00:02:14
star the steady hands that had held the
00:02:16
tiller for pretty much the whole of the
00:02:18
Third Doctor's era Barry Letts and Terrance dicks were
00:02:21
moving on their places being filled by
00:02:23
new producer Philip Hinchcliffe and new
00:02:25
script editor Robert Holmes at the young
00:02:30
age of 29
00:02:31
this was Hinchcliffe first producer ship
00:02:33
but much like Verity Lambert before him
00:02:35
he quickly exhibited a consistent talent
00:02:38
for the role redefining the show and
00:02:40
becoming one of the chief architects of
00:02:42
what has become known as the Golden Age
00:02:44
of Doctor Who you're on a knife edge you
00:02:46
can fail so easily you know in comedy
00:02:50
when you fail because people don't laugh
00:02:52
we know very quickly if we fail because
00:02:55
you just need one component in the
00:02:57
program one small design element like a
00:03:00
monster mask or some particular effect
00:03:03
model film is I think just to go wrong
00:03:04
and the effort you've failed you've
00:03:07
destroyed the illusion the stalwart
00:03:09
inconsiderate let's didn't just up
00:03:11
sticks an abandoned ship right away
00:03:12
though there was a transition period
00:03:14
with Hinchcliffe shadowing the veteran
00:03:16
producer for the first story of the new
00:03:17
era robot with Terrance dicks
00:03:20
undertaking the writing duties therefore
00:03:22
many of the initial script can
00:03:24
and casting were undertaken by the old
00:03:26
production team and it would be a few
00:03:28
weeks into season 12 until the new tone
00:03:30
and style became more apparent the
00:03:34
inexorable freight train of production
00:03:36
steamed forward with the most major
00:03:38
decision needing to be made well in
00:03:39
advance of Hinchcliffe tenure who would
00:03:42
play the fourth doctor as pert we have
00:03:44
made the party zone
00:03:45
let's was having great difficulty in
00:03:47
selecting and casting a suitable
00:03:48
replacement his initial idea was to have
00:03:51
an older doctor much like his first
00:03:53
incarnation and several established
00:03:55
stars were considered including Richard
00:03:57
Hearn famous for his comic and clownish
00:03:59
mr. pastry character and brain Crowden
00:04:08
the Scottish actor well known for
00:04:10
playing eccentric scientists and doctors
00:04:12
and who infamously would go on to
00:04:14
realize the most over-the-top and
00:04:16
laughably ridiculous villain in Doctor
00:04:18
Who history following these two several
00:04:40
others were mooted and discussions with
00:04:42
agents took place Ron Moody David Warner
00:04:45
Michael Benton jim Dale Fulton McKay all
00:04:48
were considered but each one was either
00:04:50
unsuitable unavailable or uninterested
00:04:53
with the clock ticking let's muster pin
00:04:55
at his wits end salvation came in the
00:04:58
form of a letter the incoming head of
00:04:59
drama serials Bill Slater shared with
00:05:01
Lance he had received it from a
00:05:03
promising actor he had directed back in
00:05:05
1972 who was down on his luck and
00:05:07
begging for a job a meeting was arranged
00:05:10
and in the BBC bar Slater let's and head
00:05:13
of drama Sean Sutton met the imposing
00:05:15
Lee tall in eccentric 40-year old Tom
00:05:17
Baker who was unaware of the role for
00:05:19
which he was being considered with a
00:05:21
copy of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in
00:05:23
the Willows in his coat pocket
00:05:24
Baker enthusiastically discussed the
00:05:26
morality of good versus evil in
00:05:28
children's literature and quickly
00:05:30
convinced the trio that he was the best
00:05:31
choice for the fourth incarnation of
00:05:33
televisions greatest hero
00:05:36
glad Charlie where's John was much more
00:05:37
Holmes ian was near a very grand and and
00:05:41
he's so shocking be recognized wasn't
00:05:43
he's rather like a tall lightbulb is
00:05:45
near glitters virtually unknown in
00:05:48
comparison to the other star names that
00:05:49
had been considered Baker's eccentricity
00:05:51
and bohemian style immediately resonated
00:05:54
with the producers not an acting part in
00:05:57
the sense that the character is very
00:05:58
very severely limited that are there are
00:06:02
boundaries of a whistle doctor cargo he
00:06:03
can't suddenly become interested in
00:06:04
romance doesn't have this kind of
00:06:06
emotions he's not into he's not at all
00:06:08
acquisitive he couldn't be suddenly
00:06:09
gratuitously violent so therefore in the
00:06:13
ordinary sense of acting the cattle can
00:06:15
develop so the problem of the actor is
00:06:18
to surprise the audience constantly to
00:06:21
truly get a sense of the eccentric and
00:06:23
enigmatic character that is Tom Baker I
00:06:25
wholeheartedly recommend his 1997
00:06:27
autobiography who on earth is Tom Baker
00:06:29
as there's just no way I can capture an
00:06:32
accurate sense of great man here prone
00:06:34
to embellishment no one can tell Baker
00:06:36
story half as well as the man himself
00:06:38
his wit and turn of phrase transforming
00:06:41
even the most mundane life experiences
00:06:42
into bizarre Lewis Carroll esque fairy
00:06:45
tales that are endlessly amusing but
00:06:47
which cause one to wonder what the full
00:06:49
truth is lurking behind the peculiar
00:06:51
prism of Baker's perspective and I've
00:06:56
been a great beauty in that time said
00:06:58
and oh dear and I was used to this I
00:07:00
said hello and she said oh and she
00:07:02
clutched her bosom rod up erratically
00:07:04
and said I am so sorry do I know you or
00:07:06
am I going dot here I said
00:07:09
gently I said perhaps you've got to grin
00:07:11
sue oh yes he said you're a man from
00:07:13
Doctor Who good god she said yes as soon
00:07:16
as I saw you I knew you were special
00:07:18
because my titties began to tingle and I
00:07:22
isn't that marvelous you know my mother
00:07:25
who was a lovely Oh wonder could never
00:07:27
have said a phrase like that and I I
00:07:30
thought perhaps on my gravestone here
00:07:33
lies Tom Baker who made titties tingle
00:07:35
sums up the silliness of you know of
00:07:39
telly Fame born to a working-class
00:07:42
family in Liverpool in 1934 Tom Baker
00:07:45
devoted himself to God to begin with
00:07:48
joining a monastery in Jersey and later
00:07:50
Shropshire as a novice monk from the age
00:07:52
of 15 he wanted to be a hero he wanted
00:07:55
to do something splendid he wanted to
00:07:57
make his mother proud and after a
00:07:59
childhood being told by teachers and
00:08:01
priests alike that he was nothing
00:08:03
Baker desperately sought a purpose but a
00:08:06
life of God loose servitude was not for
00:08:08
him after six years of silence and
00:08:11
loneliness Baker realized he had lost
00:08:12
his faith and was allowed to resign his
00:08:14
monastic devotions with national service
00:08:18
still in force the young Baker had to
00:08:20
join up now he was no longer exempt from
00:08:22
doing so as a monk he served two years
00:08:24
in the Royal Army Medical Corps as an
00:08:27
orderly in a military hospital where he
00:08:29
got involved in the amateur
00:08:30
entertainment organised to maintain good
00:08:32
morale after one doctor remarked that he
00:08:34
should take up drama professionally
00:08:36
something which had not occur to Baker
00:08:37
and infused and energized by the
00:08:40
affection audiences showed him after
00:08:41
being repeatedly told as a child he was
00:08:43
insignificant he applied to several
00:08:45
drama schools following his national
00:08:47
service settling on Rose Bruford College
00:08:49
of Speech and Drama in Sidcup Baker
00:08:52
struggled to break into the business for
00:08:54
several years until in 1968 he secured a
00:08:57
contract at the National Theatre at that
00:08:59
time headed by the legendary say
00:09:01
Laurence Olivier by 1971 Baker had
00:09:05
appeared in many small stage roles and
00:09:07
had begun to appear on television -
00:09:09
until he received his first big break
00:09:11
into film betraying Russian mystic
00:09:13
Rasputin in the epic Nicholas and
00:09:16
Alexandra despite the film not being a
00:09:18
commercial success he was nominated for
00:09:20
awards for his performance and went on
00:09:22
to appear in several more films most
00:09:24
notably as the wicked sorcerer Cora in
00:09:27
1973's the golden voyage of sinbad which
00:09:30
lets and Dix went and saw following
00:09:32
Slater's recommendation of Baker for the
00:09:34
role of the doctor I make obeisance
00:10:00
despite his initial success February
00:10:02
1974 saw Baker without any acting work
00:10:05
and employed on a building site on Ebury
00:10:07
Street to make ends meet that meeting at
00:10:10
the BBC bar was to have an indelible
00:10:12
impact on his life however as by the
00:10:14
following evening he was offered the
00:10:15
opportunity of filling Pertwee's shoes
00:10:17
as the fourth incarnation of British
00:10:19
televisions greatest hero considering
00:10:23
that the Fourth Doctor went on to be
00:10:25
considered by many as the definitive
00:10:26
incarnation his costume and
00:10:29
idiosyncrasies becoming as iconic a part
00:10:31
of the show's DNA as the police box and
00:10:33
the Daleks doctor you may be a doctor
00:10:38
but I'm the doctor the definite article
00:10:41
you might say it's a little surprising
00:10:42
to realize that Baker was very nervous
00:10:44
and anxious about taking over from third
00:10:46
tweet further consideration renders this
00:10:48
understandable however the third
00:10:50
doctor's dashing resolute and reliable
00:10:52
character was so established that any
00:10:54
deviation was a risk but deviate the
00:10:56
next doctor needed to and Hinchcliffe
00:10:58
swish for a more unreliable detached yet
00:11:01
still heroic version was the starting
00:11:03
point around which Baker and the writers
00:11:05
realized the far more eccentric and
00:11:07
humorous character of the fourth doctor
00:11:13
nothing's perfect have to take the rough
00:11:17
with the smooth mind you I think
00:11:23
inspired by a toulouse-lautrec
00:11:25
lithograph of nineteenth-century Musical
00:11:27
star at St Brant Baker's costume revised
00:11:30
The Dandy --is-- crushed a velvet and
00:11:32
frilly shirts of his predecessor into a
00:11:34
far more bohemian and slightly battered
00:11:36
ensemble with a mishmash of charity shop
00:11:39
fashions the new doctors outfit
00:11:41
maintained the Edwardian silhouette of
00:11:43
his former selves whilst more clearly
00:11:44
defining him as a galactic wanderer his
00:11:47
pockets full of assembled junk from a
00:11:49
thousand planets topping it all was the
00:11:51
signature scarf its initial ridiculous
00:11:54
12-foot length the result of the
00:11:55
fabulously named begonia Pope
00:11:58
is hired to knit the accessory
00:11:59
assembling the monster using the
00:12:01
entirety of the wool she was given by a
00:12:03
costume designer James Atchison instead
00:12:05
of choosing just one of the assorted
00:12:07
colors the mistake was serendipitous
00:12:09
however as both star and designer loved
00:12:11
the idea of the fourth doctor striding
00:12:13
about the universe enveloped by the
00:12:15
resultant ludicrous piece of fashion
00:12:17
about the scarf madame Nostradamus made
00:12:21
it for me
00:12:23
with a battered Fedora placed upon his
00:12:26
unruly curls this doctor invited the
00:12:28
audience to regard the universe with the
00:12:30
same Bogle eyed amusement and grinning
00:12:32
wonder that he himself displayed his
00:12:34
booming stentorian voice was distinctive
00:12:37
and unique equally capable of disarming
00:12:39
greeting evil well nobody's perfect but
00:12:43
that's overstating individual no I'm the
00:12:45
doctor witty riposte doctor you're being
00:12:47
charged well of course I am there's no
00:12:50
point in being grown-up if you can't be
00:12:51
childish sometimes and poetic
00:12:54
aggrandizement
00:12:55
[Music]
00:12:57
Homo sapiens of an inventive invincible
00:13:04
species there's only a few million years
00:13:07
as they crawled up out of the mud and
00:13:09
learned to walk
00:13:11
puny defenseless bipeds they've survived
00:13:15
flood famine and plague they've survived
00:13:19
cosmic walls and Holocaust there they
00:13:23
are out among the stars waiting to begin
00:13:25
a new life ready to sit eternity the
00:13:34
doctor had always been an eccentric but
00:13:36
his fourth incarnation took this
00:13:38
eccentricity to a whole other level with
00:13:40
an injection of the actor's own edigg
00:13:42
mattock and unique persona Baker's
00:13:43
version is more distant and alien than
00:13:45
his forebears unpredictably
00:13:47
transitioning between buffoonish
00:13:48
silliness my name is from honored Verona
00:13:51
London I'm sorry about that is there
00:13:53
anything we can out raged moral lecture
00:13:56
gratified that you appreciate
00:13:58
appreciated appreciate it to commit mass
00:14:03
destruction and murder on a scale it's
00:14:05
almost inconceivable and you asked me to
00:14:07
appreciate it just because you haven't I
00:14:10
made a brilliantly conceived toy after
00:14:12
the mummified remains a planet terrible
00:14:15
storms doctor it is not a toy what's it
00:14:18
for what are you doing
00:14:22
[Music]
00:14:23
he is arguably a more intellectual
00:14:26
Authority than his other incarnations
00:14:28
name-dropping famous scientists and
00:14:30
Renaissance Minds whereas predecessor
00:14:32
had primarily mentioned escapologists
00:14:34
and other action heroes so Newton
00:14:37
invented hunting there's no limit rising
00:14:43
due to the phase transitional period
00:14:46
with let's and dicks handing over to
00:14:47
Hinchcliffe and Holmes the fourth
00:14:49
doctor's debut robot is very clearly a
00:14:51
third doctor story the unit lab the
00:14:54
Brigadier and Benton Bessy a sinister
00:14:57
neo-fascist conspiracy and military
00:14:59
dust-up all the signature iconography
00:15:01
and motifs of the outgoing here a
00:15:03
feature and this provides the viewer
00:15:05
with the opportunity to see how much the
00:15:07
new doctor contrasts with his
00:15:08
predecessor in an echo of the mixed
00:15:14
response to the first regeneration
00:15:16
covered in part three of the series
00:15:17
Baker's new incarnation garnered both
00:15:20
praise and criticism illuminating once
00:15:22
more the eternal fear of change to a
00:15:25
stale but comfortably familiar format
00:15:27
that is repeated every so years nowadays
00:15:29
on social media amongst the responses to
00:15:32
the fourth doctor's debut with such
00:15:34
ironic James's he was too stupid for
00:15:37
words my little boy didn't like the new
00:15:39
doctor he thought he was too silly and I
00:15:42
would like him calmed down a bit because
00:15:44
he's crazy others however said that the
00:15:46
new incarnation had the more life in
00:15:48
humor and that he would buck the series
00:15:51
up robot however is not a particularly
00:15:56
good indication of where the show was
00:15:57
headed it acts as a good showpiece for
00:15:59
the new doctor but beyond this it's not
00:16:01
very noteworthy due to its covering of
00:16:03
ground so very well trodden over the
00:16:05
previous five years
00:16:06
don't stir much Chancellor I know but we
00:16:09
have to try after the debut and with
00:16:13
Hinchcliffe firmly installed his
00:16:14
producer with robert holmes getting his
00:16:16
teeth truly into the scripts the tonal
00:16:18
shift is much more evident the stories
00:16:21
had been commissioned by the previous
00:16:22
production team but the singular vision
00:16:24
of arguably the most successful
00:16:26
production team zero ensured that a
00:16:28
fresher flair was brought to the rest of
00:16:30
the season and every surrender
00:16:33
said you will be allowed to leave the
00:16:36
are the winning hate all humans once we
00:16:39
step outside the chamber we'd be
00:16:40
attacked
00:16:41
I am the swarm leader I guarantee your
00:16:44
safety the women will spare your lives
00:16:48
but leave the sleepers for us the first
00:16:54
clear departure from the five year reign
00:16:55
of Pertwee comes in the form of the new
00:16:57
TARDIS crew with Royal Navy surgeon
00:17:00
Harry Sullivan joining Sarah Jane Smith
00:17:02
to become the first male companion since
00:17:04
Jamie McCrimmon in 1969 as it had been
00:17:07
planned to cast an older doctor
00:17:08
Harry's primary purpose would have been
00:17:10
to handle the more physical action much
00:17:13
like Ian of the early seasons the
00:17:15
casting of Baker therefore made Harry's
00:17:17
character somewhat redundant and it was
00:17:19
decided early on to write a night by the
00:17:21
end of the season mates I say could be
00:17:24
some sort of survival kit could survive
00:17:27
yes you know the sort of thing they
00:17:29
shove in lifeboats amazing you're
00:17:32
improving habit am i really if your mind
00:17:35
is beginning to work it's entirely due
00:17:38
to my influence of course he must have
00:17:39
taken any credit now what's missing this
00:17:42
is actually quite ashamed because Ian
00:17:43
martyr brings a likeability to the role
00:17:45
and the obvious chemistry of the three
00:17:47
regulars energizes their scenes the
00:17:50
similarity in age between the two
00:17:51
leading men has a touch of
00:17:53
competitiveness in their mutual desire
00:17:54
to be the heroic savior of Sarah Jane
00:17:57
who of course is perfectly capable of
00:17:59
saving herself thank you very much such
00:18:02
an entertaining relationship between a
00:18:03
TARDIS trio would not really be seen
00:18:05
again until Matt Smith's eleventh doctor
00:18:07
invited amy pond's doltish but dedicated
00:18:10
fiance Rory over the time machines
00:18:12
threshold in 2010 it's a lot to take in
00:18:15
isn't it tiny box huge room inside
00:18:17
what's that about let me explain another
00:18:19
dimension it's basically another
00:18:20
dimension what I've what happen when
00:18:23
Prisoner Zero I've been reading up on
00:18:24
all the latest scientific theories FTL
00:18:26
travel parallel universes are there when
00:18:28
someone says it's bigger on the inside
00:18:31
I always look forward to that beyond the
00:18:34
changes to the regular cast the shift
00:18:37
from the ecological parables of the
00:18:38
previous era to stories which have a far
00:18:41
darker and more horrific tone are soon
00:18:43
apparent in the episodes which follow
00:18:45
Holmes wanted to move away from the Star
00:18:47
Trek like morality tales of some later
00:18:49
pertly adventures and set to work
00:18:51
heavily adapting the stories already
00:18:53
commissioned to give them a far scarier
00:18:55
and gothic atmosphere heavily influenced
00:18:57
by the successful Hammer horror movies
00:18:59
which had been steadily produced since
00:19:01
the 1950s just as with those films
00:19:04
however which caused controversy with
00:19:06
their unprecedented levels of violence
00:19:07
and shock this led to Doctor Who
00:19:09
becoming the target of increasingly
00:19:11
effective complaints and criticism from
00:19:13
self-appointed moral Guardians like Mary
00:19:16
Whitehouse and her so-called
00:19:18
national viewers and listeners
00:19:19
Association which would eventually
00:19:21
result in a neutering of the show in the
00:19:23
1980s but more on that in a later
00:19:25
episode back in 1975 they were still
00:19:29
getting away with it and producing some
00:19:31
of the all-time classic stories of
00:19:32
Doctor Who stories which many fans would
00:19:34
argue have never been topped sinners if
00:19:42
it's not yet apparent dear viewer let me
00:19:44
state it unequivocally here I love all
00:19:47
of Doctor Who selecting my favorite
00:19:49
stories from each era is always tough
00:19:51
but I must admit choosing from the
00:19:53
Hinchcliffe Holmes era has been
00:19:54
inordinately difficult whether it's the
00:19:57
sci-fi body horror of the arc in space
00:20:01
[Music]
00:20:03
the creepy shape-shifting of terror of
00:20:05
the Zygons
00:20:17
the repellent Frankenstein's monster
00:20:20
ASSA T of the brain of Morbius the
00:20:24
vicious vegetation of the seeds of doom
00:20:26
the P super suspense of Victorian London
00:20:31
in the talents of Wayne trying
00:20:33
[Music]
00:20:41
there are just so many quintessential
00:20:43
slices of Doctor Who to choose from and
00:20:45
more besides but choose I must and first
00:20:48
up as a story that could have been just
00:20:49
another retread of familiar ground which
00:20:51
under the masterful influence of
00:20:53
Hinchcliffe and Holmes became not just a
00:20:55
televisual gem a temple example of
00:20:58
quality whoo but his six-part er which
00:21:00
would redefine the program and create
00:21:02
narrative ripples which affect its
00:21:04
mythos to this day genesis of the Daleks
00:21:10
[Music]
00:21:12
by 1975 and after three appearances in
00:21:16
as many years with Pertwee the Daleks
00:21:18
have become so familiar that they had
00:21:20
lost a lot of their original
00:21:21
fearsomeness their fascistic inspiration
00:21:24
had become so watered-down that their
00:21:26
threat was not particularly apparent
00:21:28
their status as the universe's greatest
00:21:30
and most implacable foe seriously
00:21:33
undermined by easy defeat such as being
00:21:36
pushed into icy water hit by Styx
00:21:47
[Music]
00:21:49
[Applause]
00:21:56
and bizarrely suicidal tendencies as
00:22:11
taking self-evaluation a little too far
00:22:14
[Laughter]
00:22:18
to be fair their descent into ridicule
00:22:20
began way back in 1965 being thrown
00:22:24
about a fairground ride by animatronic
00:22:26
automata started a downward trend it
00:22:29
would be difficult to come back from
00:22:36
what made it all the worse is the fact
00:22:39
that the primary culprit of all this
00:22:40
silliness was none other than their
00:22:42
creator Terry nation nation had made a
00:22:51
fortune from the mid-60s Dalek mania it
00:22:53
still had first refusal on any
00:22:55
commissioned script featuring the famous
00:22:57
Pepper Potts after failing to launch a
00:22:59
spin-off Dalek Show he had returned to
00:23:01
pitting them against the doctor
00:23:03
unfortunately nation had a bit of a
00:23:05
tendency to phone it in rehashing the
00:23:07
same plot devices themes and even names
00:23:10
time and time again after submitting yet
00:23:13
another cookie-cutter Dalek tale Barry
00:23:15
Letts ordered nation to go back to the
00:23:17
drawing board this time with a focus on
00:23:19
their origins which had only been hinted
00:23:21
at in their original appearance it was
00:23:23
an ingenious idea and it certainly
00:23:25
energized nation it's unclear how much
00:23:28
of the resultant masterpiece is due to
00:23:30
nation's original scripting or Holmes's
00:23:32
subsequent editing the genesis was to
00:23:34
enjoy more repeats on television than
00:23:36
any other story of the entire classic
00:23:38
era due to its memorable scenes
00:23:40
fantastic performances and resonant
00:23:43
themes the doctor and his companions are
00:23:45
intercepted mid transmat by the Time
00:23:47
Lords and find themselves on barren
00:23:49
war-torn Skaro during the original
00:23:51
conflict between that planet's two races
00:23:54
the Thals
00:23:55
and the Col Ed's
00:23:58
welcome doctor what's going on don't you
00:24:02
realize how dangerous it is to intercept
00:24:04
the transmat beam oh come doctor not
00:24:08
with our techniques we time lords
00:24:10
transcended such simple mechanical
00:24:12
devices when the universe was less than
00:24:15
half its present size look whatever I've
00:24:18
done for you in the past I've more than
00:24:20
made up for I will not tolerate this
00:24:22
continual interference in my life has
00:24:24
established in the third doctor's latest
00:24:26
illness in exchange for his continued
00:24:28
freedom the Time Lords from time to time
00:24:30
dispatch more missions where plausible
00:24:32
denial is necessary thus the Fourth
00:24:35
Doctor is reluctantly forced to accept a
00:24:37
rather underhand assignment
00:24:38
Daleks we foresee a time when they will
00:24:45
have destroyed all other life-forms and
00:24:47
become the dominant creature in the
00:24:48
universe that's possible tell on we'd
00:24:50
like you to return to Skaro at a point
00:24:54
in time before the Daleks evolved do you
00:24:56
mean avert their creation or affect
00:24:58
their genetic development so that they
00:25:00
evolve into less aggressive creatures
00:25:01
and he and his companions make their way
00:25:03
carefully across the lethal landscape to
00:25:06
stop the birth of the deadliest foes the
00:25:08
universe will ever face as Russell T
00:25:11
Davies has stated this is essentially
00:25:13
the first act in the eventual time war
00:25:15
which has loomed over so much of the
00:25:17
modern series what is immediately
00:25:24
apparent in this story is a new sense of
00:25:26
brutality and ruthlessness which would
00:25:28
go on to define the Hinchcliffe era it
00:25:31
stands as a rare example of the
00:25:32
perennial Doctor Who quarry standing in
00:25:35
for an alien planet actually working
00:25:37
effectively to reflect a true sense of
00:25:39
the desolation and lifelessness of Skaro
00:25:41
after centuries of devastating conflict
00:25:44
gone are the electrified floor puzzles
00:25:46
and shiny disco Daleks this tale has our
00:25:50
heroes facing creeping barrages
00:25:53
[Music]
00:25:54
torturous interrogation and poisonous
00:26:00
gas were the only options to grab the
00:26:02
respirators from corpses to survive
00:26:05
[Applause] [Music]
00:26:11
[Music]
00:26:20
the suggestion of the Dalek Nazi
00:26:23
allegory is far from subtle anymore the
00:26:25
black uniforms jackboots and lightning
00:26:27
bolt i accoutrement the khaled military
00:26:30
directly referencing SS iconography and
00:26:33
the files not much better the clear-cut
00:26:38
Flash Gordon goodies have not evolved
00:26:56
this is a world where there is evil on
00:26:59
both sides and goodness hard to find it
00:27:15
provokes some complaints but why not
00:27:17
after all by 1975 the bloody ethnic
00:27:20
cleansing and brutal oppression of
00:27:22
Cambodians by the Chi Minh rouge led by
00:27:25
Pol Pot was in full swing and only
00:27:27
showed signs of intensifying as it was
00:27:29
reported on nightly in the nation's
00:27:31
homes with the second world war becoming
00:27:33
an increasingly distant memory there was
00:27:35
a great danger that the lessons learned
00:27:37
from Nazism would be forgotten
00:27:39
the evil architects of the so called
00:27:41
final solution reduced in the public
00:27:43
consciousness to caricatured figures of
00:27:45
fun alongside this was the ominous rise
00:27:53
of insidious nationalist mobs like the
00:27:55
National Front
00:28:04
[Music]
00:28:12
to present to young people the
00:28:14
apocalyptic end results of such rhetoric
00:28:16
is vital in going some way towards
00:28:18
ensuring history doesn't repeat itself
00:28:20
when victory is ours will wipe every
00:28:22
trace of the files and their city from
00:28:25
the face of this land we will avenge the
00:28:27
deaths of all Carnot's who've fallen in
00:28:29
the cause of right and justice and build
00:28:32
a peace which will be a monument to
00:28:33
their sacrifice our battle cry will be
00:28:36
total extermination of the files and
00:28:40
that's what this story at heart is all
00:28:42
about rhetoric it's the story where the
00:28:45
doctor most memorably grapples with the
00:28:47
most fundamental moral quandary do the
00:28:50
ends justify the means just touch these
00:28:52
two strands together and the Daleks are
00:28:55
finished by that right to destroy the
00:29:00
Daleks you can't touch it but I do you
00:29:04
see some things could be better with the
00:29:05
Daleks many future words will become
00:29:08
allies that's because of their fear of
00:29:09
the Daleks it isn't like that
00:29:12
what the final responsibility is mine
00:29:14
mine alone
00:29:18
if someone who knew the future pointed
00:29:21
out a child to you and told you that
00:29:22
that child would grow up totally evil to
00:29:25
be a ruthless dictator who will destroy
00:29:27
millions of lives could you then we're
00:29:32
talking about the Daleks the most evil
00:29:34
creatures ever invented you must destroy
00:29:36
them you must complete your mission for
00:29:38
the Time Lords do I have the right and
00:29:40
of course in the other corner we have
00:29:43
the personification of you Genesis
00:29:45
rhetoric Davros turn right
00:29:53
exterminate as iconic as the Daleks
00:30:05
themselves their creator is the linchpin
00:30:08
of this story never better either in performance or
00:30:10
narrative function than here his
00:30:12
introduction the fascistic pepper potts
00:30:14
are marginalized in the story to make
00:30:17
way for the real star of this morality
00:30:19
play and Michael wisher brings a
00:30:21
Shakespearean sophistication to the
00:30:23
megalomaniacal monster at its heart
00:30:25
which elevates every noise
00:30:51
the Daleks before wishes decision to
00:30:53
have Davros as demented diatribes
00:30:55
escalate into the familiar staccato
00:30:57
monitor of the products of his
00:30:59
malevolent genius is a clever touch
00:31:01
which concentrates their evil into one
00:31:03
character literally giving their fascism
00:31:06
a face it's telling that this face is
00:31:08
twisted and damaged this body crippled
00:31:10
maimed by war a pertinent lesson and how
00:31:14
violence only begets violence although
00:31:17
they are restricted to all of 15 minutes
00:31:19
of screen time in a six episode story
00:31:21
the Daleks themselves are far more
00:31:23
memorable and powerful here than in
00:31:25
several of their preceding stories like
00:31:28
Hannibal Lecter in his debut novel red
00:31:30
dragon where he is similarly used
00:31:32
sparingly they are ultimately the
00:31:34
victors and make the deepest impression
00:31:36
on the viewer as their creator in his
00:31:38
hubris developed them to see all life
00:31:40
unlike themselves as inferior including
00:31:43
him
00:31:49
[Music]
00:31:52
[Applause]
00:31:57
it's not registered in my vocabulary by
00:32:04
his extermination is the poetic
00:32:07
culmination of his hateful ideology
00:32:09
having been unleashed they no longer
00:32:11
need him and he is just an obstacle in
00:32:13
the way of their ascension to ultimate
00:32:15
supremacy
00:32:23
[Music]
00:32:27
[Applause]
00:32:32
we are ain't no but we live up this is
00:32:37
only by mating we will play pair we will
00:32:42
go stronger when the time is right we
00:32:46
will take place as the same
00:32:54
[Music]
00:32:57
Dallas is a remarkable character and I
00:33:00
understand the desire to bring him back
00:33:01
following this classic but really his
00:33:04
purpose is exhausted in her story and
00:33:05
his subsequent appearances only served
00:33:08
to diminish the power and significance
00:33:10
of his creations and one false move and
00:33:12
it goes right down inside his chair I
00:33:14
turned Davros snooze life-support system
00:33:16
into scrap metal mouse back off it was
00:33:19
not until 2005 that Doctor Who's most
00:33:21
iconic villains would get the
00:33:22
opportunity to remind us that how truly
00:33:24
fantastic they are in their own right
00:33:26
I've come to help and the doctor
00:33:36
[Music]
00:33:48
as season 12 drew to a close it was
00:33:51
clear that the gamble had paid off the
00:33:53
new doctor had made an immediate
00:33:54
impression on viewers with the average
00:33:56
audience numbering 10 million Tom Baker
00:33:59
had become the new face of the show and
00:34:01
enjoying his popularity amongst fans and
00:34:04
children was regularly appearing both on
00:34:06
screen and off in character and costume
00:34:09
to further cement his incarnation as
00:34:11
definitive in the minds of the audience
00:34:13
the Liverpool lad who'd spent his
00:34:15
formative years being told he was
00:34:17
nothing was suddenly experiencing an
00:34:19
adulation and hero worship
00:34:21
there was only to intensify in the years
00:34:23
that followed he took his status and
00:34:25
influence very seriously making sure he
00:34:28
was never caught smoking or drinking
00:34:29
when off-duty so as not to shatter any
00:34:32
childhood illusionist it must have been
00:34:34
an all-consuming role but nevertheless
00:34:36
entirely seductive to suddenly find
00:34:39
oneself a hero to millions of young
00:34:41
people as a character whose persona and
00:34:43
dialogue was so intrinsically based on
00:34:45
one's own must have been a compelling
00:34:47
and addictive drug I think it was here
00:34:57
that the longevity of the Fourth Doctor
00:34:58
was insured as Baker would continue to
00:35:01
inhabit the role both on and off screen
00:35:02
for far longer than his predecessors or
00:35:05
indeed any of his successors thus far
00:35:07
the great man even admitted much later
00:35:09
that perhaps he stayed too long but I
00:35:11
can't blame him after the miserable
00:35:13
silence and solitude of monastic life
00:35:16
and that building site on eBrush Street
00:35:18
who wouldn't want to live the life of a
00:35:19
national institution for as long as
00:35:21
possible
00:35:25
with the success of the fourth doctor's
00:35:27
first season under their belts inch
00:35:29
Kevin Holmes set to work on the
00:35:31
follow-up now free from scripts
00:35:33
commissioned or casting decided upon by
00:35:35
their predecessors season 13 would see
00:35:38
the distillation of their mutual
00:35:40
creative vision into its most
00:35:41
concentrated form resulting in a string
00:35:44
of classic whose stories which are
00:35:46
required viewing for any self-respecting
00:35:47
fan no I don't think it was ever
00:35:49
intended to be a just for children it's
00:35:51
it's not made by the children's
00:35:53
department it's made by the drama group
00:35:56
in the BBC and it was originally
00:36:00
intended to fill a gap on Saturdays at
00:36:03
tea time and it's always been classified
00:36:05
as family entertainment the second story
00:36:07
of this season sees the gothic horror
00:36:09
tone introduced by the duo most explicit
00:36:12
it's a story which I rented so much from
00:36:14
a middle school library and must have
00:36:16
nearly worn the old VHS tape out and is
00:36:18
probably one of the most rewatched in my
00:36:20
collection pyramids of Mars
00:36:25
like many children I harbored a
00:36:27
fascination for Egyptology and the
00:36:30
assorted spooky myths and legends which
00:36:32
go hand in hand with the discovery of
00:36:33
long sealed tombs the mysteries of this
00:36:36
ancient culture which are still to this
00:36:38
day being unraveled by explorers and
00:36:40
archaeologists is fascinating in and of
00:36:42
itself but also ripe with opportunity
00:36:45
for the creative mind
00:36:46
long before stargates and ancient aliens
00:36:49
on the so called History Channel Doctor
00:36:51
Who gave us a story where the ancient
00:36:53
past and the extra-terrestrial were
00:36:55
interwoven intending to return to unit
00:36:59
HQ in the present day the TARDIS
00:37:01
actually lands in 1911 at the old Priory
00:37:04
a stately home which occupied the site
00:37:06
long before the headquarters was built
00:37:08
the house is packed full of Egyptian
00:37:10
artifacts which the owner professor
00:37:12
Marcus Carmen has brought back with him
00:37:14
from his many excavations of ancient
00:37:16
sites but Marcus has not returned from
00:37:19
his latest expedition and an anti-social
00:37:21
and antagonistic Egyptian Ibrahim Nemean
00:37:24
is staying at the old Priory frightening
00:37:27
the butler not least with his incessant
00:37:29
organ playing
00:37:32
[Music]
00:38:02
disturb me get out at once he is in fact
00:38:05
a member of the cult of su tech zealots
00:38:08
who worship an evil demigod and plan for
00:38:11
his return
00:38:13
Masai antara kill him personally come to
00:38:18
us indeed
00:38:21
[Music]
00:38:23
and return he does using and disposing
00:38:27
of servants enslaved his mighty will in
00:38:29
his efforts to be released from the
00:38:31
prison in which he was placed by his
00:38:33
fellow alien a sirens on whom the
00:38:36
mythology of ancient Egypt is based
00:38:38
after seven thousand years of
00:38:40
imprisonment with a small army of
00:38:42
robotic mummies su tech strives to
00:38:45
unleash his near limitless power and
00:38:47
brings four decks like any mummy story
00:38:58
it has a great debt to the original 1933
00:39:01
The Mummy filmed by Universal Studios
00:39:03
remade and supposedly updated countless
00:39:06
times up to the present day but more
00:39:08
specifically the tone and style are more
00:39:10
explicitly influenced by the hammer
00:39:12
version of 1959 set around the turn of
00:39:15
the century and with the iconic horror
00:39:17
stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing
00:39:19
in front of the lenses lest anyone hurl
00:39:26
accusations of plagiarizing Aughra fee
00:39:30
and thematic influences are but one
00:39:31
layer to Hinchcliffe Holmes classics
00:39:33
what makes them so excellent is how
00:39:36
these elements are interwoven with the
00:39:37
science fiction narrative of Doctor
00:39:39
Who's to result in elevated uniqueness
00:39:42
and besides talent borrows genius themes
00:39:45
once the missile is projected you see
00:39:49
how to destroy my enemies the alien who
00:39:53
dares to intrude
00:39:55
the humans animals birds fish reptiles
00:40:06
pyramids of Mars sees the normally
00:40:08
frivolous Fourth Doctor in a rather
00:40:10
morose and reflective mood somewhat
00:40:12
mopey at the beginning
00:40:16
with a smile Shirley what does that
00:40:17
matter you should be glad to be going
00:40:19
home the earth isn't my home Sara I'm a
00:40:23
Time Lord oh I know you're tired oh you
00:40:26
don't understand the implications I'm
00:40:28
not a human being I walk in eternity it
00:40:35
means I've lived for something like
00:40:36
seven hundred and fifty years still be
00:40:38
middle aged yes and revealing his other
00:40:45
nurse must overtly when being
00:40:47
reprimanded by Sarah Jane for not seem
00:40:49
to care about an individual's death Oh
00:40:51
sometimes you don't seem human typical
00:40:56
of Saturn simplicity a mother's just
00:40:59
been murdered for men Sara five you
00:41:02
include professor Scarman himself and
00:41:04
they're made of the first of millions
00:41:06
unless fatigue is stopped know thine
00:41:09
enemy admirable advice seriousness Baker
00:41:14
brings to the role here lends a real
00:41:16
sense of peril to the antagonist which
00:41:18
in all honesty he somewhat undercut in
00:41:20
later stories as is sometimes flippant
00:41:22
attitude implied a lack of threat here
00:41:25
when facing the mighty godlike powers of
00:41:28
SU Tech one can believe that the Fourth
00:41:30
Doctor is truly unsure whether he'll
00:41:32
survive the encounter serve you so tech
00:41:35
your neighbors have dominated in every
00:41:38
civilized world with an app named beset
00:41:41
Satan said Oh Sara she pits your puny
00:41:48
were against my suit in my presence you
00:42:01
are a termite a base yourself your
00:42:05
groveling insects every performance is
00:42:08
on point here and the production design
00:42:10
is excellent overall but the real jewel
00:42:13
in the crown is Gabriel wolf as the
00:42:15
villain but suit X great powers held in
00:42:18
check by the eye of horus he is confined
00:42:20
to his chair unmoving his features
00:42:23
covered by a mask
00:42:24
therefore all his Menace is concentrated
00:42:26
into his voice and wolf gives an apse
00:42:29
we bravura performance choosing to
00:42:31
deliver the lines with a silky
00:42:33
smoothness yet with the rich base of his
00:42:35
speech hinting at the immense power he
00:42:38
could wield if only he could get free
00:42:40
the truly powerful have no need to shout
00:42:48
destroy when I trade I leave nothing but
00:42:52
darkness this story set the bar higher
00:42:58
than ever before and is as damn near
00:43:00
perfect as you can expect from 72 it is
00:43:03
essential viewing by 1977 doctor who was
00:43:08
wrapping up its 14th season with an
00:43:10
average of over 11 million viewers
00:43:12
longtime companion Sarah Jane Smith had
00:43:15
moved on don't forget me
00:43:22
don't you forget me
00:43:27
and the doctor had been joined by savage
00:43:30
tribes woman Lila played by Louise
00:43:32
Jameson who despite being squeezed into
00:43:34
a very objectifying set of leathers a
00:43:37
bleary lized a more capable and
00:43:39
practical female companion that had been
00:43:41
seen before acting as the Eliza
00:43:43
Doolittle to the doctors professor
00:43:44
Higgins effect this a yo-yo it's a game
00:43:50
I thought you were enjoying it enjoying
00:43:52
it you said I had to keep it going up
00:43:55
and down I thought it was part of the
00:43:56
magic magic magic there's no such thing
00:44:01
as a magic exactly to the rest of mine
00:44:03
nothing is an xsplit book only
00:44:05
unexplained the program had never been
00:44:10
so popular such a firm Saturday night
00:44:12
fixture and the buzz in the playgrounds
00:44:14
after each installment must have been
00:44:16
electric but it was not just children
00:44:18
who could be considered fans any longer
00:44:20
a generation had by now grown up with
00:44:22
the show and their passion laid the
00:44:24
groundwork for one of the earliest of
00:44:26
what we now call fandoms that may the
00:44:28
Doctor Who appreciation society was
00:44:30
founded by a committee of grown-up fans
00:44:32
and was the first such club to be
00:44:34
officially recognized by the BBC they
00:44:37
began to produce a monthly magazine for
00:44:38
their members and to organize
00:44:40
conventions from August of that same
00:44:42
year the program's audience was growing
00:44:44
and now encompassed a much wider
00:44:46
demographic than ever before with this
00:44:49
firmly committed following would come a
00:44:50
greater sense of audience and teittleman
00:44:52
however as core fans regarded the series
00:44:55
in a very serious way and were fiercely
00:44:57
protective over what they considered the
00:44:59
definitive style and tone but it was
00:45:01
also very cliched it was very routine
00:45:03
running up and down corridors and silly
00:45:05
monsters without the option of
00:45:07
rewatching older episodes however this
00:45:09
idea was bound to be affected by
00:45:11
unreliable memory and nostalgia and such
00:45:13
attitudes would go on to arguably damage
00:45:15
the show in later years well I'm glad
00:45:19
you said that
00:45:20
it was me being extremely stupid
00:45:25
despite the popularity and success of
00:45:27
season 15 the indefatigable campaign of
00:45:30
Mary Whitehouse and her cohorts had
00:45:32
begun to successfully convince the BBC
00:45:34
drama department the Philip Hinchcliffe
00:45:36
sinter protection of the show was
00:45:38
unsuitable for children
00:45:39
alongside this Hinchcliffe had begun to
00:45:41
spend over budget in an effort to bring
00:45:43
far greater production value to the
00:45:45
flagship series both of these concerns
00:45:47
are much more major than they may seem
00:45:49
to those viewers unaware of the BBC's
00:45:51
unique status as a Public Broadcasting
00:45:55
Company their funding depends on a
00:45:56
licence fee which the British public are
00:45:58
legally bound to pay if they own a
00:46:00
device capable of receiving a television
00:46:02
signal this means that there is strictly
00:46:04
no advertising on BBC channels and that
00:46:06
their primary obligation is to provide
00:46:08
programming which entertains and
00:46:10
educates the nation I strongly that it
00:46:13
should be turned into a public
00:46:14
corporation the first of its kind and
00:46:19
their world opposition to that it also
00:46:23
means that unlike commercial television
00:46:25
their responsibility is solely to the
00:46:27
public and any programme produced or
00:46:29
salary paid is frequently subjected to
00:46:32
intense scrutiny to ensure that society
00:46:34
is being properly recompense this
00:46:36
responsibility also includes moral
00:46:39
obligations
00:46:40
[Music]
00:46:41
while it's true that sometimes the line
00:46:44
was crossed in Hinchcliffe era with some
00:46:46
graphic violence that would never pass
00:46:48
the senses if they tried it in the
00:46:49
modern series the moral panic that the
00:46:54
national viewers and listeners
00:46:55
Association tried to whip up was far
00:46:57
from proportionate it's telling that the
00:46:59
membership of this association seemed to
00:47:01
be comprised of typically fussy and
00:47:03
somewhat elderly busybodies who always
00:47:05
seemed ready to jump to the defense of
00:47:07
children but without really talking to
00:47:09
the subjects of their passionate and
00:47:11
pious protection the final shots of the
00:47:13
program with the image that was left in
00:47:16
the mind of the child got rid of anyway
00:47:27
I think all human beings like to be
00:47:30
scared which is why people get a late
00:47:32
night horror film in the cinema but
00:47:35
you've got a basis of security which is
00:47:39
a framework which prevents any real harm
00:47:42
being done I think we watch as a family
00:47:45
I think they know that these creatures
00:47:48
are make-believe whilst I respect the
00:47:52
concern these people had for the safety
00:47:53
of children I think it's rather
00:47:55
insulting and patronizing to try to hide
00:47:57
all the evil of the world from young
00:47:59
people after millions of their parents
00:48:01
generation had been slaughtered by
00:48:03
supposedly civilized societies only 30
00:48:06
years previously with many more being
00:48:08
contemporaneously exterminated in
00:48:10
Cambodia and other hellholes
00:48:12
was it not paramount that young people
00:48:14
should come to terms with secular moral
00:48:16
questions and the consequences of
00:48:18
violence White House's greatest error
00:48:21
was considering television an escapist
00:48:23
piece of modern recreation and not a
00:48:25
great tool for education in 1977 however
00:48:28
the BBC felt the need to act on the
00:48:31
complaints and without consultation
00:48:32
Hinchcliffe was transferred to a more
00:48:34
adult and post watershed program with
00:48:37
experienced producer Graham Williams
00:48:39
brought in to replace him Robert Homans
00:48:41
would soon follow thereby bringing the
00:48:43
golden era of the show to an unfortunate
00:48:45
end I had mixed feelings towards the
00:48:49
Williams era on the one hand he was
00:48:51
responsible for introducing some new and
00:48:53
exciting
00:48:54
concepts such as Doctor Who's first
00:48:55
story arc the linked installments of
00:48:58
season 16 s key to time which was an
00:49:00
admirable effort if somewhat
00:49:02
anticlimactic in reality the key to time
00:49:04
is a perfect cube which maintains the
00:49:08
equilibrium of time itself it consists
00:49:12
of six segments and these segments are
00:49:16
scattered and hidden throughout the
00:49:18
cosmos when they are assembled into the
00:49:22
cube they create a power which is too
00:49:26
dangerous for any being to possess also
00:49:30
he oversaw in the introduction of the
00:49:31
first official time lady Romana finally
00:49:34
giving the doctor a companion who is his
00:49:36
intellectual equal when she was used
00:49:38
properly I may be inexperienced but I
00:49:41
did graduate from the Academy with a
00:49:42
triple first
00:49:46
I suppose you think we should be
00:49:47
impressed by their - well it's better
00:49:50
than scraping through with 51% of the
00:49:52
second attempt that informations
00:49:54
confidential
00:49:55
also cropping up in this period was the
00:49:57
now-famous k9 it was part of a trend of
00:50:01
cute robot sidekicks that began in
00:50:03
sci-fi movies and television and which
00:50:05
would reach its peak in star wars which
00:50:07
arrived in the UK in late 1977 and like
00:50:10
a nuclear explosion would shake popular
00:50:13
science fiction and audiences
00:50:15
expectations of it - its very
00:50:17
foundations I must admit I'm not a
00:50:20
massive fan of k9 mainly because the
00:50:26
expensive prop it cost 793 pounds an
00:50:30
astronomical amount at the time was so
00:50:33
temperamental frequently breaking down
00:50:35
and going haywire on the radio signals
00:50:37
used for communication between the
00:50:39
gallery in the studio floor that the
00:50:41
vast majority of the time the writers
00:50:43
had to come up with ways of putting him
00:50:45
out of the action and he becomes rather
00:50:46
superfluous what you needed for much
00:50:52
like the later chameleon I feel his was
00:50:54
an idea that came before the
00:50:56
practicalities of his inclusion were
00:50:58
really thrashed out I think one of the
00:51:01
reasons I don't enjoy this period of the
00:51:02
show as much is due to the preponderance
00:51:04
of outerspace stories I tend to enjoy
00:51:07
the more convoluted plots of pseudo
00:51:09
historicals which would we be seen again
00:51:11
until after Tom Baker had departed the
00:51:14
closest we get is 1979 city of death
00:51:16
written by the late great Douglas Adams
00:51:19
who served for a time as the show script
00:51:21
editor which enjoyed the largest-ever
00:51:23
audience through an episode of the
00:51:24
program thanks in part to a strike which
00:51:27
to gravel ITV off the air nobody's
00:51:32
allowed to see Leonardo really he's
00:51:34
engaged on important work for captain
00:51:36
Tancredi you know no Williams had to
00:51:41
overcome arguably greater issues than
00:51:43
his predecessors however crisis what
00:51:45
crisis the 1970s saw great economic
00:51:48
troubles for Britain with the advent of
00:51:50
a three day working week and rolling
00:51:52
power cuts as the result of industrial
00:51:53
action and general strikes over pay
00:51:55
working conditions and the dismantling
00:51:57
of industry in favor of cheap
00:51:59
ports these issues would blight the
00:52:01
nation for the rest of the decade
00:52:03
building to the so-called winter of
00:52:05
discontent of nineteen seventy eight and
00:52:07
nine as the budget for doctor who was
00:52:09
set at the beginning of the financial
00:52:11
year the passing months or a devaluation
00:52:13
of an already tight allocation of funds
00:52:15
as inflation rose this led to the show
00:52:18
becoming more cheap looking than ever
00:52:19
before at a time when young people were
00:52:21
being swept up in the impressive visuals
00:52:24
in his scape estoppel and substyle Wars
00:52:26
science fiction was back in a big way
00:52:29
with innumerable movies and television
00:52:31
programs commissioned with comparatively
00:52:33
enormous budgets by American production
00:52:36
companies visually dr. who just couldn't
00:52:38
compete and many would argue that it
00:52:40
didn't have to that the ideas themes and
00:52:42
character or what makes the show special
00:52:44
but that didn't stop incoming producer
00:52:46
John nathan-turner from trying
00:52:48
nevertheless Graham Williams moved on
00:52:53
but Baker stayed he has said since the
00:52:56
perhaps he should also have left in that
00:52:57
January of 1980 but the doctor had
00:52:59
become such an important part of his
00:53:01
life that he couldn't bring himself to
00:53:03
do so just yet he had become very
00:53:10
proprietorial of the program and was
00:53:12
very vocally critical of directors and
00:53:14
writers who diverted from his
00:53:15
understanding of the character like
00:53:17
Hartnell before him he'd seen companions
00:53:20
monsters and production teams come and
00:53:22
go and he had a very sure some was a
00:53:24
bloated sense of his importance to the
00:53:27
program I feel I know more about the
00:53:29
program and the writers do quite
00:53:31
naturally I do they think they know more
00:53:32
about it than me as a question of who
00:53:33
wins Nathan Turner had been working on
00:53:36
the show for far longer events in
00:53:38
Stratton's time and had progressed up
00:53:40
through the corporation from for
00:53:41
assistant to the new producer if anyone
00:53:44
had a deep understanding of the program
00:53:45
in its essentials one would expect it to
00:53:47
be nathan turner he also wasn't going to
00:53:50
take any of Baker's egotistical
00:53:52
pomposity and the star soon found he now
00:53:54
had far less influence over the scripts
00:53:56
and casting than he had enjoyed
00:53:58
previously
00:54:02
season 18 Baker's last is markedly
00:54:05
different from what went before Nathan
00:54:07
Turner approached his producer ship with
00:54:10
a new broom attitude replacing pretty
00:54:12
much the entire production team and
00:54:14
completely redesigning the look feel and
00:54:16
sound of the show after 17 years of the
00:54:27
familiar Delia Derbyshire theme a new
00:54:29
arrangement was composed by Peter Howell
00:54:31
which with its synthesizer sound also
00:54:34
ushered in far more electronic
00:54:35
incidental music more cutting-edge
00:54:38
visual effects were made use of to try
00:54:40
and approach the sophistication people
00:54:42
were by now getting used to in movie
00:54:44
theatres the iconic bohemian style of
00:54:46
the doctor was evolved into a similar
00:54:48
but far more contrived and refined
00:54:50
version a sign of how the subsequent
00:54:53
outfits of his later incarnations were
00:54:55
more costume than clothing for good or
00:54:57
ill doctor who was ready for the 80s the
00:55:00
only slight anachronism was the star
00:55:02
himself and throughout the season Baker
00:55:04
seems visibly less enamored at the role
00:55:06
his ill feeling and argumentative nature
00:55:09
clearly bleeding into his performance
00:55:11
but we've got communications devices but
00:55:13
not a police box hungry watching the
00:55:16
seasons I found it far more enjoyable
00:55:18
than when seeing its stories out of
00:55:19
sequence with those that went previously
00:55:21
after some frankly tatty looking stories
00:55:24
of the Williams era like the invasion of
00:55:27
time where a disused hospital quite
00:55:29
obviously stands in for the TARDIS
00:55:30
interior's and the alien enemies were
00:55:33
literally pieces of tin foil being
00:55:34
wrapped about there's an energy and
00:55:37
freshness imbued in season 18 a new
00:55:39
sense of purpose like it or not
00:55:42
Nathan Turner's debut year returns to
00:55:44
the experimentalism which marked the
00:55:46
earlier Pertwee era and one really gets
00:55:48
a sense the shake-up was necessary to
00:55:51
end the staleness which the show was
00:55:53
steadily sinking into a story which sums
00:55:55
up this new approach is warriors gate
00:55:57
the last episode of which I caught on UK
00:56:00
goal back in 1993 as part of their 30th
00:56:02
anniversary celebrations of the show it
00:56:05
was visually and conceptually bizarre
00:56:07
and I'm not sure I would have truly
00:56:09
grasped the story back then even if I
00:56:10
had seen the first three episodes
00:56:12
it baffled a lot of viewers at the time
00:56:14
being more high-concept than the
00:56:16
traditional monster story people we used
00:56:18
to but it's visual innovation and clever
00:56:21
narrative structure makes it an
00:56:23
enigmatic an enduring piece of drama an
00:56:25
appreciation has grown over the last
00:56:27
three decades since his transmission
00:56:29
worries gate concerns a time sensitive
00:56:32
slave race the Farrell's and their
00:56:33
desire for freedom from their oppressors
00:56:35
morally bankrupt humans who use them as
00:56:38
navigators the there´ll leader Barak
00:56:41
brings the TARDIS to a surreal white
00:56:43
void where the slave ship is trapped the
00:56:46
only feature of which is a gateway which
00:56:48
leads to our universe but the plot of
00:56:50
this story is not as important as the
00:56:52
thematic ideas being explored and far
00:56:54
more visually than ever before gone are
00:56:57
the standard expositions of earlier
00:56:59
stories the explanations of prior and
00:57:01
current events and the viewers treated
00:57:03
with a little more respect to absorb and
00:57:05
interpret the underlying concepts on
00:57:07
their own part of the confusion arises
00:57:10
from the difficult and disrupted
00:57:12
production experienced as a result of
00:57:13
disputes between the director and the
00:57:15
studio workers industrial action and
00:57:17
extensive rewrites the Stephen
00:57:19
Gallagher's original script in order to
00:57:21
make the filming of his outlandish ideas
00:57:23
more practicable this led to a watering
00:57:26
down of some of the themes but the major
00:57:28
ideas become clear with repeat watching
00:57:31
this is a story about imagination and
00:57:33
creative freedom being constrained and
00:57:35
tainted by commercialism and capitalist
00:57:38
amoral greed there's a very literary
00:57:40
feel - warriors gate the crew of the
00:57:43
slave ship are clearly heavily
00:57:44
influenced by that other gang of
00:57:46
disgruntled shipmates seen bickering and
00:57:48
griping about pay and bonuses in the
00:57:51
previous years alien which also refined
00:57:53
the used universe style of Star Wars
00:57:55
that would become so integral to a lot
00:57:57
of subsequent sci-fi dystopia and
00:57:59
evident here in the graffiti which marks
00:58:01
the walls of the interior of the slave
00:58:03
ship beyond this though the insane
00:58:06
captain robux grumbling underlings also
00:58:09
recall the title characters of
00:58:10
Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
00:58:12
are dead where the minor characters of
00:58:14
Shakespeare's Hamlet look on confused
00:58:17
the great events happening offstage over
00:58:19
which they not only have no control but
00:58:22
very little input
00:58:25
oh well we better leave it to them
00:58:28
how do you know so much about it you see
00:58:30
they've done before and I'm not gonna
00:58:31
ship someone usually goes wrong they
00:58:33
don't like it yeah
00:58:34
because it means their bonuses up the
00:58:36
spout but we're on the Olin contract
00:58:42
this idea of being swept up in
00:58:44
predestination of making no real impact
00:58:47
on the eventual outcome is unusual for
00:58:49
doctor who were making impact and change
00:58:51
is central to the heroic motive for the
00:58:54
main character but here after 18 years
00:58:56
of joining the doctor on his adventures
00:58:58
he joins us in observing the inevitable
00:59:01
emancipation of the ferals our hero not
00:59:04
really acting as a prime mover in the
00:59:05
narrative once do nothing
00:59:11
[Music]
00:59:17
it was the right sort of nothing season
00:59:25
18 had ushered in a bold new era for the
00:59:27
show paying its respects to the past
00:59:29
while shaking up an increasingly stale
00:59:32
format but the long-running series was
00:59:34
now facing fierce competition in the
00:59:36
form of glossy American imports like
00:59:38
Buck Rogers in the 25th century shown on
00:59:41
rival ITV and it was costing the show
00:59:43
millions of viewers after a set of
00:59:45
seasons healthily garnering over 8
00:59:47
million viewers the latest iteration of
00:59:50
the show was now only averaging a
00:59:52
concerning 5.8 million the show had
00:59:54
undergone a regeneration but its leading
00:59:56
man was yet to submit to the process
00:59:58
himself and early into production on
01:00:00
season 18 Tom Baker finally decided to
01:00:03
call it a day
01:00:04
[Music]
01:00:42
after the fourth doctor falls to his
01:00:44
death saving the entire universe his
01:00:46
companions sit by his broken body
01:00:48
convinced that they are finally
01:00:50
witnessing the Time Lords end
01:00:54
[Music]
01:00:59
the seven-year history of this doctors
01:01:01
era flashes before his eyes and for many
01:01:04
young viewers this would have
01:01:05
represented their childhood their growth
01:01:07
with the show it's the end but the long
01:01:18
does beautiful but there is a watcher in
01:01:22
the wings and the Companions look on in
01:01:24
fascination as the mysterious mutant
01:01:26
enigmatically involved himself in this
01:01:28
final battle for peace and justice
01:01:30
merges with the fallen hero reforming
01:01:33
him into a far younger incarnation than
01:01:36
had ever been seen before could a 29
01:01:38
year old truly play the doctor
01:01:41
[Music]
01:01:58
[Music]
01:02:17
you
01:02:19
[Laughter]

Description:

The fifth episode in my ongoing series of reviews, with analysis, of the BBC science-fiction show, Doctor Who. In this part, the era of the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, is considered. We explore the 'Golden Era' of Doctor Who, looking at how the show developed into a far darker and scarier version, influenced by the Gothic Horror genre, and the resultant backlash from self-appointed 'moral guardians'. We also consider the economic troubles of the late seventies and their effect on the show before its regeneration just in time for the eighties. Along the way, three stand out stories are looked at in depth with plenty of clips from the full seven-year Baker tenure! Chapter Selection: 0:00 An actor's legacy 1:17 The state of the show 2:29 Philip Hinchcliffe 3:33 Casting the Fourth Doctor 6:20 Tom Baker 10:23 The Fourth Doctor 14:44 Robot 15:11 First Impressions 16:12 Changes 19:39 Choosing a favourite 21:08 The Daleks 23:43 Genesis of the Daleks 33:48 A successful first year 36:07 Pyramids of Mars 43:07 Farewell Sarah-Jane 44:06 Fandom 45:23 Mary Whitehouse vs the BBC 48:48 The Williams Era 52:52 JNT 54:02 Season 18 55:54 Warriors' Gate 59:24 It's the end... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unsupportedbrowser Twitter: https://twitter.com/CleverDickFilms Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cleverdickfilms Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/cleverdickfilms This is for the purposes of entertainment and education. Doctor Who is owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Any other audio visual material is copyright to the respective owners. "Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

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mobile menu iconHow can I download "Dr Who Review, Part 5 - The Tom Baker Era" video to my phone?mobile menu icon

  • You can download a video to your smartphone using the website or the PWA application UDL Lite. It is also possible to send a download link via QR code using the UDL Helper extension.

mobile menu iconHow can I download an audio track (music) to MP3 "Dr Who Review, Part 5 - The Tom Baker Era"?mobile menu icon

  • The most convenient way is to use the UDL Client program, which supports converting video to MP3 format. In some cases, MP3 can also be downloaded through the UDL Helper extension.

mobile menu iconHow can I save a frame from a video "Dr Who Review, Part 5 - The Tom Baker Era"?mobile menu icon

  • This feature is available in the UDL Helper extension. Make sure that "Show the video snapshot button" is checked in the settings. A camera icon should appear in the lower right corner of the player to the left of the "Settings" icon. When you click on it, the current frame from the video will be saved to your computer in JPEG format.

mobile menu iconWhat's the price of all this stuff?mobile menu icon

  • It costs nothing. Our services are absolutely free for all users. There are no PRO subscriptions, no restrictions on the number or maximum length of downloaded videos.