Doctor Who (TV Series) Robot: Part Three (1975) User Reviews

It's the Hilda Winters show

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 13 September 2015]

The Doctor is set to be destroyed by the Robot, but Sarah bursts in and averts his fate. The Robot escapes and is attacked by UNIT, to no avail. Kettlewell is discovered hidden in a cupboard and he relays how Miss Winters re-programmed the Robot. He explains about his creation and how it was made out of living metal. Ketlewell smuggles Sarah Jane into an SRS meeting, Hilda (Winters) addresses the meeting with true vigour and Sarah learns the truth about Kettlewell. UNIT dive in, but Sarah is taken away by Hilda to an underground bunker.

Patricia Maynard is brilliant once again, very strong performance, I love how Hilda addresses the meeting. Hilda is the true villain of the piece.It's Tom that steals the show, he is utterly and totally entertaining. No wonder he's so well thought of.

It's quite a slick episode. Sarah once again plays a big part, she rescues the Doctor for a change. The Brig is on fine form too, he has some great scenes with the Doctor, it's all done with such sincerity. I like the concept of the SRS, again it feels like a concept that would have belonged to the Pertwee era, but it works.

"I'll show that wretched woman." Tom Bakers fine first story.

[poolandrews · 8/10 · 4 March 2007]

Doctor Who: Robot: Part 3 starts as Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) arrives at Kettlewell's (Wdward Burnham) house just in time to stop the huge K-1 robot from killing the Doctor (Tom Baker), after some detective work the Doctor & Sarah Jane discover that the evil Miss Winters (Patricia Maynard) & her underlings at the Think Tank are proud members of a Nazi style fascist movement called the Scientific Reform Society who want the elite, like themselves, to rule & govern the more academically challenged members of the human race, like us, & have used the K-1 robot to aid them by stealing the secret codes for just about every atomic bomb on Earth which they intend to use to wipe out humanity so they can start a new race ruled by themselves, but not if the Doctor has anything to do with it...

This Doctor Who adventure was episode 3 from season 12 that aired here in the UK during the early part of 1975 & was the first Doctor Who story to feature Tom Baker, directed by Christopher Barry I've really enjoyed Robot so far. The script by Terrance Dicks pretty much answers any lingering questions during Part 3 that have built up from Parts 1 & 2 & remained unsolved although the revelation that the villains hide behind about trying to stop mans destruction & pollution of Earth is a bit too similar to the last Doctor Who story I watched Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974 -1975) which basically used exactly the same motives & that Jon Pertwee six parter was only two stories ago. Anyway, there's some good fun to be found here including a Nazi style meeting with Miss Winters as a maniacal Hitler figure where the Doctor bursts in gets up on stage & starts performing card tricks! The whole thing is just daft yet it's highly entraining & there's a twist during this episode which you may or may not have seen coming, at least there's a decent amount going on & the makers are still trying to maintain the audiences interest.

The Robot in this story is quite effective although not that mobile, a bit ungainly & a bit bulky. There's not much else to say about Robot as there's no big special effects scenes apart from the robot suit itself & a terrible looking tank at the end of this episode that's obviously a toy.

Robot so far has been an enjoyable story & one I'd definitely recommend, well worth a watch in my opinion.

The Bonkers Bunker...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 21 June 2022]

The bigots want to take over the world, they have a cunning plan and it starts to be unfurled, a bit of hoodwink trickery, sets their path to victory, threats of violence are unleashed, propelled and hurled.

Tense political thriller with surprising levels of depth

[ocducocduc · 9/10 · 11 November 2023]

Robot: Part Three picks up where Part Two left off, with the Doctor led into a trap and seemingly about to be killed by the Robot, with Sarah Jane Smith managing to save him just in time. After some detective work, the Doctor and Sarah discover that the evil Miss Winters of Thinktank and her alumni are proud members of the previously established Scientific Reform Society, the epistocratic and fascistic group advocating for an elite group of academics to rule the human race with an iron fist. This group has been revealed to have used the established Robot to steal nuclear codes from a safe in the bedroom of a causally deceased Cabinet minister, planning to use every atomic bomb on Earth to pressure governments into accepting their epistocratic demands or to wipe out the human race and establish a new race of elite academics like themselves.

There are a great many things that I could talk about in regards to this episode. The incredible acting, the contrast of the Hitlerite speeches of the evil Miss Winters with the daft card tricks of the Doctor, but the largest praise has to go towards the ways in which they developed the Scientific Reform Society.

While it is a bit silly to have an international accord in which all nuclear-capable states, with Cold War tensions still bubbling, place their nuclear codes in the hands of the UK of all places (the UK was certainly not a "neutral country" in the Cold War, unless there was some alternate universe Doctor Who thing I am missing out on), the plan initiated by the SRS, to use the Robot to steal codes for nuclear weaponry so that they can blackmail world governments into enacting their authoritarian agenda is tantalising and raises the stakes of the episode from dangerous weaponry to outright nuclear holocaust.

In many ways, the utilisation of the Prime Directive of the Robot has significant similarities to the justifications put forward by the SRS. The Prime Directive, to aid humanity, seems good at a first glance, but when that Prime Directive can be used, manipulated, into doing things such as aiding plans for total nuclear devastation that would certainly not aid humanity, rather being humanity's destruction, that Prime Directive turns into a dangerous tool used to justify things that would not be justifiable under its own terms. Similarly, the Scientific Reform Society seemingly look to have a pure utilitarian philosophy, only having advocacy on the terms of such advocacy promoting the greater good, but end up violating that principle, twisting it and manipulating it to justify horrific acts that any sane utilitarian would be horrified at attempted justification of.

The similarities drawn between the Robot and the SRS in the manipulation of their philosophies, the incredible reveal at the end that Professor Kettlewell, the creator of the Robot, has been working for the SRS due to the consistent ignorance towards his pleas for moving towards renewable technologies, the philosophical intrigue of the episode, the tense ending and consistently tense atmosphere, and the daftly entertaining value of a significant portion of the episode, make this an incredible episode. Love it, the best of the serial.

9.4/10.

Tom Baker arrives with a bang!

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 9/10 · 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.