| ROBOT by Terrance Dicks |
| Story 75 Synopsis: The Doctor has regenerated. Elsewhere, someone is going around stealing scientific parts. The Doctor seems unstable, but is soon on the case with the Brigadier. He realises that the thefts are systematic - someone wants to build a Disintegrator Gun. Sarah investigates Think-Tank, a focus group of intelligent scientists. She finds they have built a big robot. Meanwhile, despite precautions, UNIT are unable to stop someone stealing the power supply for the Gun. The Doctor realises that Think-Tank are using the robot, and when they steal the nuclear codes, it seems their plan is to hold the world to ransom. But UNIT attack the Bunker where they're hiding. The robot kills its creator, Kettlewell, and takes Sarah hostage. The Doctor thwarts the Think-Tank people, but the robot tries to continue with the plan to launch the missiles. The Brigadier uses the recovered Disintegrator Gun on the robot, but it grows in size. Kettlewell, having built the robot from "living metal" had also formulated a virus, which the Doctor is able to use on the robot. He and Sarah leave in the TARDIS, along with UNIT Doctor Harry Sullivan. |
| Review:- After the longest serving Doctor (to date) left, what faced the new occupant of the role? From this beginning, Tom Baker progressed to serving with distinction for 7 years, becoming the single greatest actor in the role, in the eyes of millions. It's a bit of a mixed bag to start off with. It is often noted that this is the kind of adventure synonymous with his predecessor, although he doesn't act too similar himself. Although he is way ahead of the Brigadier in diagnosing the problem and the likely results, he is seldom in control of events, with Sarah doing most of the obvious groundwork. Perhaps his finest moment is when he visits Think-Tank, handing out a metaphorical slap to Winters & Jellicoe, as they had earlier done to Sarah. The man who bullies the bully (purely for vengeance). Sarah does well, tracking down Kettlewell, and realising the holes in the evidence she is shown. Her rapport with the robot proves a useful diversion for the end of the story, and the similarities to the King Kong myths is well done. Harry gets a short, but solid, introduction, and he is instantly likeable and useful in a way that Yates and even Benton weren't. His joining the TARDIS crew is welcome, and his status with Sarah makes for fun telly, too. UNIT seem doomed. The new Doctor is dismissive of them, and there is a feeling that this story is just a short stay to hold the Doctor back. The Brig sadly has to go through the motions, and Benton's promotion seems a cover for the lack of a team presence. The scenes in the last episode where the giant robot makes mincemeat out of them is rather an ignominious humiliation for them as a practical organisation. Think-Tank is yet another silly collection of top scientists, and the Scientific Reform Society are a joyless crop of idiots who make the Brotherhood of Logicians seem like a sensible bunch. Winters makes a good, convincing villainness, but Jellicoe and Kettlewell are sadly not nearly as good. The robot is well designed, and gets plenty of impressive things to do to show how impressive it is. Its early fondness for Sarah leads to its understandable reaction later, when it kills Kettlewell and goes mad. It is a bit convenient that the Doctor finds the solution so tidily, although the Brigadier's misplaced triumphalism allows for the amusing reactions to the giant robot. That no-one seems to follow up the Professor's obvious breakthroughs with "living metal" may be an oddity, but since the story just about contains itself, perhaps it doesn't matter. The plot of holding the world to ransom seems so vast and powerful, and therefore incongruous to be thrown away here in a story about hiding in Bunkers. A strange mixture of old styles and new emphasis, this is alright, but strangely saddening. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book. |