Doctor Who In Perspective 1970-1974
John Hussey continues his Classic look back, this time with the Pertwee era.
“Courage isn’t just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It’s being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway.”
Jon Pertwee stole the show through his extraordinary performance, the introduction of colour television and a brand new format that took the Doctor Who into yet another new era. The Third Doctor was a very stubborn person, with intellectual superiority, strength, a wilful mind for justice and a kind heart underneath. His introductory story ‘Spearhead from Space’ developed his character wonderfully with the idea of him being banished on Earth by the Time Lords, as indicated through the Second Doctor’s trial at the end of ‘The War Games’. The Third Doctor indicated early on his distaste in being stranded in one time by trying to escape several times within the TARDIS.
This became a reoccurring theme within his era. He attempted to misguide Liz Shaw into getting him the TARDIS key from the Brigadier in order to escape but quickly discovered the Time Lords had blocked his knowledge of time travel. At the end of his first serial it was believed he could become content with his new life but by the end of ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’ his need to escape was brought back after his infuriation with the Brigadier’s decision to eliminate the remaining hibernated homo-sapiens. This brought out some interesting character developments as the Third Doctor became more and more irritated by the world around him, edging him further into trying to escape almost like he was intoxicated by his stranding in one boring century within the cosmos.
From ‘The Ambassadors of Death’ onwards he started tinkering with the TARDIS console within the labs in order to make the dematerialisation circuits work again. ‘Inferno’ saw him become reckless through experiments that nearly got him trapped within a parallel world. Within ‘Colony in Space’ it was thought that the Third Doctor could finally control the TARDIS after he completed an errand for the Time Lords but it was discovered they were in fact controlling it. The same thing happened in ‘The Curse of Peladon’ and ‘The Mutants’. The point in which the Third Doctor’s characteristics shifted dramatically was once his freedom was granted in ‘The Three Doctors’. It was a sweet but brief moment of happiness in which we knew he could finally fly off into space freely again.
His attitude towards people certainly changed over time. To begin with the Third Doctor displayed a lot of hostility to those around him due to his frustrations. The Brigadier was a target for these attacks over the course of his era due to them never seeing eye-to-eye over strategy. The Third Doctor would often call him out on his stupidity and militaristic thinking, to which in ‘Inferno’ called him ‘a self-opinionated idiot’. In the end they had a mutual respect for one another.
Liz at first was the only one the Third Doctor could relate to due to her high intelligence. Once she departed he was left with the less intelligent and clumsy Jo Grant from ‘Terror of the Autons’ onwards. At first he didn’t highly regard her, calling her a ‘ham-fisted bun vendor’ within their first scene together. Their chemistry was fun to watch because it did slowly turn back into the original format, only this time the Third Doctor stood as a mentor trying to guide Jo into the wonders of the universe. Though he still called her out on her lack of intelligence from time to time the Third Doctor learnt to highly respect her and they became good friends. In many ways Jo’s departure stands as one of the saddest because it hit the Doctor hard. The Third Doctor didn’t understand her reasoning of turning down the universe and once she decided to get married to Clifford Jones in ‘The Green Death’ he wished her good luck and departed in secret whilst everyone else at UNIT cheered them on.
The Third Doctor’s development was a fascinating one to watch because he really did change over time from being a whiny little boy trapped without his toy to being someone who cared and proved to be a classy hero. His speech about courage to Codal in ‘Planet of the Daleks’ proved this point, that he could show people the truth in what heroism is really about. One of the things the Third Doctor always tried to accomplish was peace between two mortal enemies and bring about the best outcome instead of bloodshed. He was also very determined in stopping his great nemesis the Master throughout their many encounters together. They proved that they admired one another’s intelligence and wit but at the same time they despised the other’s intentions.
The sad moment came in ‘Planet of the Spiders’ where the Third Doctor bowed out in a triumphant way by facing his fears, proving to himself that he was the cause of the ongoing situation and had to accept his judgement.
“Yes, well, we don’t want to bear a grudge for a few hasty words, do we? No, not after all the years that we’ve worked together. Now, come along, my dear fellow. Put on a smile…”
The companions of the Third Doctor’s era were quite unique. The incorporation of UNIT allowed for some of the most diverse of all. Also for the first time all of the companions came from modern-day Earth due to the Third Doctor’s exile there. I must say the companions of this era are some of my favourite, particularly Jo Grant. Liz Shaw proved to be a successful companion within her one and only season by demonstrating her intelligence and ability to be more than an assistant who admired the Doctor’s greatness.
Jo on the other hand was a bumbling assistant who asked all the questions. What I liked about her was her great chemistry with the Third Doctor as well as being strong minded and brave in any given situation. ‘Frontier in Space’ demonstrated her will to be able to resist all of the Master’s hypnotise techniques as he tried to force her for a second time to lay out a trap for the Third Doctor.
The remaining companions consisted of members of UNIT led by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The Brigadier appeared previously with the Second Doctor during ‘The Web of Fear’ and ‘The Invasion’ and was now a fully reoccurring character who aided the Third Doctor in his job as scientific advisor. What I loved about his character was his sense of duty and his loyalty to the Doctor as well as his stubborn nature which caused several arguments. Sergeant Benton, who first appeared within ‘The Invasion’, also became a reoccurring character who was the bumbling soldier but always remained loyal. He was given the honour of travelling in the TARDIS during the events of ‘The Three Doctors’.
Captain Mike Yates was a latecomer to the group, but became one of the dominant members of the UNIT family. He was the first companion to turn against the Doctor after becoming brainwashed by Sir Charles Grover within ‘Invasion of the Dinosaurs’ in order to aid his insane time travel experiments to replenish the human race. These events caused him to be secretly retired from UNIT where he eventually met his redemption during the events of ‘Planet of the Spiders’.
“One must rule or serve. That is the basic law of life. Why do you hesitate? Surely it’s not loyalty to the Time Lords, who exiled you to one insignificant planet?”
The villains and monsters continued to be developed with some really nasty or diplomatic ideas. Many of the creations of this era were aliens who were attempting to invade Earth during the Third Doctor’s exile such as the Axons and the Great One. A huge addition was made through the incorporation of god-like beings, the Daemons and Kronos, making the Third Doctor’s adventures more intense through battling against powers beyond mortal control. Humanoid enemies made a return in a few stories, usually depicting tales featuring political conflicts, with examples being General Carrington and Sir Charles Grover.
New creatures the Autons were created by Robert Holmes. These terrifying creations could be anything made of plastic and resulted in some of the most controversial scenes depicting gruesome deaths at the hands of plastic couches, dolls and even daffodils. Holmes was also responsible for the birth of the clone-race the Sontarans. These were another inventive creation of this era, depicting a race that is bound by the laws of warfare till the very death.
The Silurians and the Sea Devils proved to be popular monsters during the Third Doctor’s era and created a political story about war and peace and the tragic outcome of these elements.
The Daleks made a long-earned return, after being off screen for four seasons, within ‘Day of the Daleks’. They went on to invade the Earth for a second time, attempted to harness the power of invisibility whilst trying to unleash a mighty army to invade the galaxy. Sadly they were met with a poor final outing during this era within ‘Death to the Daleks’ which had their creator once again using them as a joke through childish scenarios.
The Cybermen were sadly absent for this era but the Ice Warriors made a return, although not a triumphant one, through their two tales during the Peladon saga. The first of the two tales, ‘The Curse of Peladon’, actually had the Martians aiding the Third Doctor after they had a change of heart and joined the Galactic Federation.
The greatest villain of this era has to be the Master. Played perfectly by Roger Delgado, he symbolised everything the Third Doctor wasn’t and served as his intellectual equal. Above all their chemistry together on screen was always a delight and you could tell the two of them were always anticipating one another. The Master proved cunning, charming and extremely insane within his ambitions to gain higher power and would kill anyone who stood in his way through cruel means, especially when it came to hypnotising and manipulating his victims.
“Look, I understand your ideals. In many ways I sympathise with them. But this is not the way to go about it, you know. You’ve got no right to take away the existence of generations of people.”
The show took a new approach through the style of incorporating a ‘spy theme’ within the stories, allowing the Third Doctor to take on James Bond characteristics. This was done through the investigative themes during the Third Doctor’s time with UNIT, along with his fondness for gadgets and vehicles. As well as this, the Doctor became even more hands-on by using his beloved Venusian Aikido to fight his way out of situations, often than not flipping enemy guards over his shoulders. What I admired about the Third Doctor was his determination to be diplomatic in an attempt to bring out the best outcome within any given situation, usually going against the violent approach of the militaristic mind.
For the first time the stories were limited in location due to the clever exile idea, stranding the Third Doctor in 20th Century Earth. This idea brought out the spy concept further through his involvement with UNIT. The main theme of the era was Earth invasion stories. In order to spice things up a bit, the writers would sometimes add in the twist of the enemies being human, making the adventure darker with the idea that our own species could be as corrupt and evil as the creatures attempting to invade from the stars.
Another stimulating aspect was added through the Time Lords sending the Third Doctor on errands during his exile, allowing for certain stories to be told off Earth. The Third Doctor protested against being used by his people and wanted to escape his imprisonment at all costs but his attempts were always halted by the Time Lords. ‘The Three Doctors’ brought two intriguing twists within the establishment, the first being the idea of the Doctor interacting with his former incarnations and the second was the Time Lords lifting his exile due to him aiding Gallifrey in its greatest time of need.
This allowed the Third Doctor to finally travel freely amongst time and space. What I loved most about this was the fact that the Third Doctor still remained UNIT’s scientific advisor, returning back to his second home at UNIT HQ in order to aid the Brigadier in his mission to protect Earth. Despite their childish squabbles the Third Doctor and the Brigadier did eventually become the best of friends, showed by their loyalty to one another.
The Doctor’s past was visited once again through his interactions with the Master, showcasing some understanding of what life was like back on Gallifrey during his youth and his time at the Time Lord Academy. Other mentions to his past came from the Third Doctor’s stories about a hermit, later revealed to be K’anpo Rimpoche in ‘Planet of the Spiders’, he visited in his younger years. K’anpo became something of a mentor to the Doctor who taught him the wonders of life and the universe. K’anpo gave the Third Doctor the notion to face his fears and confront his greed of discovery during his final outing.
