Doctor Who (TV Series) Robot: Part One (1974) User Reviews

"You may be a doctor but I'm the Doctor." Tom Bakers first story.

[poolandrews · 8/10 · 4 March 2007]

Doctor Who: Robot: Part 1 start as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) & journalist Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) look on & witness the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) regenerate into his fourth incarnation, at first the new Doctor (Tom Baker) is a bit confused & doesn't quite know what's going on. The Brigadier ask's for the Doctor's help in the investigation of the theft of some top secret plans for a disintegrator gun, meanwhile Sarah the journalist decides to visit a Government run scientific Think Tank run by Miss Winters (Patricia Maynard) & senses that something sinister might be afoot there but her snooping gets her into great danger as she comes face to face with a huge killer robot...

This Doctor Who adventure was episode 1 from season 11, it first aired here in the UK in late 1974 & has the distinction of being the fabulous Tom Bakers first story, directed by Christopher Barry this is a cracking episode to kick the Tom Baker era off. The script by Terrance Dicks introduces us to the new Doctor & make's him some sort of childish buffoon who is completely mad & I just love Tom Bakers Doctor Who with his quirks & eccentricity, he has a great smile & has a voice of real resonance that I could listen to all day, I mean he can make even bad stories watchable, the quaint scene where he tires on different costumes including a Viking outfit & a clown costume is hilarious. Surely Tom Bakers performance as the Doctor is one of the most endearing & likable in TV history, well it is in my opinion anyway. This episode also features the screen debut of Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter). Here the story is coming along nicely with an unseen menace stealing parts for a disintegrator gun for some unknown yet obviously evil reason & leaving a trail of dead bodies as it does so. Sarah is also given a significant part in this story so far & doesn't just come across as the screaming female sidekick. It moves along at a great pace & is great fun providing plenty of silly entertainment.

The budget for these Doctor Who stories were low but Robot actually look pretty good so far with decent location shooting although there's not been any major special effects scenes as most of the robot sequences have been shot by using the robot's point-of-view with it's crab like pincer hands at the bottom of the screen, great stuff & it's actually very effective.

Robot is another great story from the Tom Bake era, the first of many I suppose, & anyone looking or a bit of light hearted scary sci-fi fun then this one's well worth a watch.

And it begins!

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 12 September 2015]

The Doctor has regenerated for the third time, he's behaving very erratically. Secret plans for the disintegrator gun are stolen and later the elements to construct it. Sarah gets into The Think Tank's premises, a group that looks into Science research, she discovers a room marked Professor Kettlewell (A specialist in robotics.) After a fruitless visit to the Professor she decides to break into the Think tank, where she encounters the Robot....

It does feel like a Pertwee episode with Tom Baker in it. By no means a bad thing, but better episodes were soon to follow.

Tom is wonderfully zany, he was always my Doctor. The charisma, energy and general craziness are a perfect mix for the role. His scenes with Harry are just insane. He has an amazing command of the screen.

Robot is a good use of Sarah Jane's character, she uses part of her character that seemed to get lost later on, that of the inquisitive journalist, she uses her own initiative in this one.

Hilda Winters is terrifying, more scary then any Dominator or Slitheen. I've always really liked Patricia Maynard, a really good actress.

Professor Kettlewell is wonderfully zany, the quintessential nutty Professor.

It's a very good story opener, wonderful that it's where Tom began. It is no wonder that many regard him the greatest ever, he had a definite other worldliness, very good start. 8/10

Pertwee Era Fans Will ;Like This

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 21 March 2011]

Review Of All Four Episodes - Slight Spoilers

I missed the end of Planet Of The Spiders episode 6 so had no idea there was new actor cast as the Doctor in 1974 . It was something of a blessing since I watched the compilation repeat of Spiders on the Friday only to wait 24 hours till the new Doctor made an appearance .

Robot is a story best remembered as being Tom Baker's debut story and it's not surprising . Plotwise it's no great shakes following a very traditional early 70s route where UNIT soldiers fight against a foe immune to bullets .This is no bad thing because Baker's portrayal is the polar opposite of Pertwee

There was little in the way of organised fandom in Dec 1974 and one wonders what the fans would have made of Baker . I hated him in this episode and seeing his first appearance again after a period of decades he is rather embarrassing as he walks in to the Tardis for several costume changes .but outgoing producer Barry Letts deserves some credit for taking a gamble on Baker

The plot is an obvious reworking of KING KONG where mad scientists use a technology advanced robot to do their dirty work for them . How well this works is probably down to how much you enjoyed the preceding Pertwee era . I must confess to enjoying it at the time and it also features the first on screen deaths amongst the troops since episode 1 of The Three Doctors . Unfortunately things fall apart towards the end of episode three where the Action Man Scorpion tank makes an appearance but child fans were much more forgiving in those days

Tom Baker arrives with a bang!

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 10/10 · 18 November 2014]

Review of all 4 episodes:

In the first episode of this story we see the regeneration from Jon Pertwee's third Doctor into Tom Baker's fourth Doctor which occurred at the end of the final Pertwee episode. Baker arrives in full exuberant form with no effort to allow viewers time to adjust to the huge change in personality for their hero. There is a lot of humour and mad eccentricity on display and Baker is marvellous right from the start. Throughout the story he displays hilarious wit and energy but also a good dose of brilliant intelligence and grit. He is electrifyingly good right from the start.

The story itself is of secondary importance to the introduction of the new Doctor and the re-drawing of his relationships with Sarah Jane and the UNIT team. All the regulars are great as usual: Lis Sladen is a joy as Sarah Jane, just take for example how she reacts to being confronted by the menacing robot when unlike so many companions she does not scream she, as usual, shows some strength. She is independent, takes action and is both brave and clever. Nicholas Courtney is his usual wonderful support as the Brigadier and Jon Levene is endearing as ever as Benton. The new arrival, Harry Sullivan, is very well acted by Ian marter and is a very good addition.

The Doctor and UNIT have to deal with a powerful robot that is being used by scientists to give them the opportunity to gain control of the world's nuclear weapons so they can take control and run the world the way they believe it should be run. There are some strong guest characters, all very well acted and there is plenty of action and fun. The robot itself while not appearing that special to look at, is actually a quite impressive creation for the day as it moves and acts pretty effectively. The robot is also given a lot of character as it struggles with its orders which contradict its prime directive not to harm humans. Only once or twice does this seem a bit imperfectly done, mostly it is done well and is strangely touching.

There is a lot of very good dialogue, both funny when required and serious the rest of the time. There is a nice element of the villains not intending to be evil but being willing to cause mass death in order to achieve a world they think is better.

From the excellent first episode and the really strong second and third episodes, the fourth episode of the story becomes a little less impressive with the slightly silly and pointless idea of the robot increasing to giant size and a few ambitious attempts at effects which do not look all that good. Character actions and events are also a bit less convincingly done in this final part. It is still a fun and exciting episode but not as great as it could have been.

Overall the debut of Tom Baker with such a dazzling performance from him is a shining highlight and with plenty of other good stuff too this adventure is very strong.

My ratings: Episode 1 - 10/10, Episodes 2 & 3 - 9/10, Episode 3 - 7.5/10.

Great start

[ocducocduc · 9/10 · 11 November 2023]

The Doctor has regenerated again, for a third time. His behaviour goes erratic and unpredictable due to this, so it's up to the investigation of Sarah Jane Smith, with the help of UNIT, to uncover the history behind the mysterious theft of plans for an incredibly powerful disintegrator gun. Sarah gets into the premises of Thinktank, a suspicious scientific research group with seeming ties to the theft, and after a fruitless visit to Professor Kettlewell, a former scientist at Thinktank and a specialist in robotics, she encounters the Robot, the creation that Kettlewell ordered the destruction of.

For the first episode I've watched of the classic Doctor Who series, it was pleasantly surprising to see the level of quality on display here. It has a simple but compelling premise, of the mysterious theft of top-secret UNIT documents, and is presented in a way dripfeeding the viewer the particular details of what happened, how it happened, who it was done by, and why it was done.

The effects do show its time, but they worked tremendously with what they could do, with fantastic kaleidoscope-esque point-of-view showings for the mysterious, unshown Robot building a great sense of unease.

Acting is superb, particularly the zany and erratic nature of the newly-regenerated Doctor being portrayed incredibly well by Tom Baker, who brings a very welcome display of charisma and energy to the role.

8.7/10, rounded up to 9/10 for the review :)

Shaky start for the 'new' Doctor...

[canndyman · 6/10 · 31 May 2022]

Jon Pertwee was a very tough act to follow, and it's clear the producers didn't just want an actor who was a carbon copy of Jon.

Having said that, Tom Baker's highly eccentric and slightly arrogant take on the role certainly alienated me (excuse the pun!) at first in 1974 - although I did grow to accept him as the Doctor in time.

This could almost be a Jon Pertwee story, what with it being a 'Unit' based one. The robot itself looks good, and the creepy 'point of view' shots as it breaks into the secret base add a sense of mystery and unease.

The story falls down though later with some very poor CSO filming of the robot (which looked pretty bad even by 1975 standards), and it ends up making this feel a bit like a cheapjack production.

But, even though this was ultimately a rather weak opening story, the rest of the season is generally very good, and really won me over to the new Doctor after feeling a bit disappointed with Robot.

I guess it had to start somewhere - but much better was soon to come.

Tom Baker !!!!

[traken-47191 · 10/10 · 22 February 2023]

This is the best way to introduce anyone to the classic series.

A gorgeous 4 parter to herald the beginning of the Tom Baker era. It's kid-friendly and features one of the best robot designs of the entire series.

A pastiche of King Kong with a team comprising Tom, Lis Sladen (sarah-jane) and Ian Marter (Harry), the holy trinity.

Plus one of the last appearances of a fully functional UNIT ( the para-military group featuring Brigadier and Sgnt Benton).

It starts with the classic regeneration scene from the mighty Jon Pertwee to Baker and becomes a lovely adventure with a cool robot and a mad scientific death cult threatening the Earth.

Tom starts at a ferocious pace, is his usual mesmerising self, and within a short while we've pretty much accepted him as the new Doctor. To play the Doctor requires a certain something special but to top the mighty Pertwee requires a force of nature that is hard to comprehend.

As stated above, this is a perfect serial to introduce a new comer to whether they are 4 or 40, it's just lovely and fun.

Wonderful first episode followed by a familiar, unoriginal Pertwee-UNIT romp

[hodgesdanny · 7/10 · 4 May 2020]

Tom Baker goes all-out excitedly demonstrating why he belongs in the role, with perhaps the silliest, most gleefully anticipatory post-regeneration performance in the show's history.

Sadly, the rest of Baker's first story is a fantastically bland reminder of just how tired the Doctor's Earth-bound, UNIT-centric stories had become and why the show's forthcoming paradigm shift was so essential for the renewed excitement of Baker's reign.

Excellent Introduction

[rodriguezjames55 · 10/10 · 29 December 2013]

The FOurth Doctor being treated as if he was a mad man is hilarious. I enjoy his antics throughout the show and the introduction of the Doctors' scarf. My favorite scene in this show is the jump rope scene the Doctor's silliness had a point it served as a distraction to lower a doctors guard down so The Doctor could tie him up and make a get away it almost worked too. This episode highlights how clever childlike and funny this incarnation is the only gripe I have with this episode would be the robot in robot but I understand the restrictions the 70s had and it's not fair to criticize the props of yesterday with today's. overall 10/10 its a fantastic episode that you could sit back and eat jelly babies.

Professor Flare Hair...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 21 June 2022]

A professor with an almighty mane of hair, it doesn't really cascade, it's more a mighty flare, plus there's a robot walking around, it can burrow underground, and a new Doctor chooses what he's going to wear.