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

Doctor Who does King Kong.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 13 September 2015]

UNIT are attacking the underground bunker, but the Robot fights them off with ease. Hilda initiates the countdown to destruction, Kettlewell has a crisis of conscience which allows a halt in the countdown. A confused Robot kills Kettlewell, and seemingly suffers a mental breakdown. The Doctor averts the countdown, but the Robot takes Sarah, and after an error by the Brig the Robot grows to colossal size. When all else fails it's the Doctor that's needed, q Tom.

OK so some of the effects are a bit on the dodgy side, it does look like a few things were done on the cheap, the King Kong moment especially looks a wee bit dodgy, too many outlines.

An interesting idea about the Robot developing an attachment towards Sarah after killing kettlewell.

I loved the interchange between the Doctor and Sarah at the end, what a fantastic chemistry between them. You can just see they enjoyed working together (talk about glad that Harry went too!)

Tom is so convincing, his first story and I totally bought into it, he plays it with conviction and pizazz he is utterly brilliant. Those mad eyes, the curly hair, it was never going to fail was it!

A really good end to what's been a fantastic debut for Tom. 8/10

75: Robot

[Tom-Gentile8 · 7/10 · 2 July 2018]

"There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes."

While the beginning of the conclusion to it's plot (Part Four) is a weird drop in quality, and cheesy to a certain degree, there's something incredibly lovely about Tom Baker's debut story. It's main ally is it's incredible pacing. Especially compared to the slow and tedious plot build that made the Pertwee era what it was, it really smacks you with a sense of NEW. It also has the benefit of an interesting journey for it's main character's; The Doctor, and his adversaries, becoming used to his new and eccentric body. This enjoyable adventure sees Tom Baker experiencing a storyline stereotypical to his predecessor, but with his own new personality and charm.

Part One - June 30th Part Two/Three/Four - July 1st

Enjoyable start

[joestevensus-10727 · 7/10 · 3 December 2019]

Review of all episodes on Blu-ray. This is a solid start to the fourth doctor. It isn't as memorable as some serials and the tech is very dated, but the regeneration goes well and Tom Baker is quiet good from the first. Liz Sladen is also good and anything she is in is more pleasant for her presence. The commentary, making of, and behind the sofa extras are nice if standard. The bit on Target books and Terrance Dicks is a great 20 minutes if you like the books.

S12: Robot: Ropey effects and some plot holes, but well paced and with good ideas at the core

[bob the moo · 26 September 2015]

A new Doctor and a pretty good start to a new season this one, albeit not a perfect serial by any means. The plot involves someone stealing weapon parts, but then leads into a secret society representing a global threat, with a powerful (if conflicted) robot being utilized to do their bidding – all in four nicely tight and efficient episodes. In a very traditional way, the serial provides cliffhangers of peril, UNIT soldiers ineffectively firing at an advancing "monster", and a terrible plot that can only be stopped by the Doctor. In this way the serial is all fine and well; okay the effects are very dated, but it is enjoyable enough and the 4-episode run means it never feels like it is padded out or stays beyond its ability.

The plot does contain some holes of course, and some moments of silly convenience just to move things along, but mostly it works. It does so because it builds well, playing different cards as it goes; but it also works because it does have a good base of ideas behind it. The idea of a robot fighting Prime Directive logic is pretty well done, and the 'monster' of the serial is far from being just a lumbering beast. This is unfortunately not to say that it is as smart as I would have liked, or really gets the viewer to struggle with moral conflict over its fate and nature, however it is at least interesting compared to how it so easily could have been played out.

The cast are decent and fit the narrative pretty well. Baker makes an immediate impact with a much lighter touch than Pertwee, and a nice sense of the wild edge of childishness. I will be honest and say his flippantness did put me in mind of the recent incarnations, and it worried me a little and did seem silly for the sake of it – although the change of pace was nice. Sladen in support was good, and worked well with the robot (which had decent voicework from Kilgarriff). Courtney and his UNIT usual are solid (although Levene never has much of a character). I was not a fan of Marter, so it did bug me to see him (I assume) become the new companion to make a trio again. Burhham is good in a so-so character, and generally the supporting roles do what they should (including those UNIT soldiers being killed with abandon).

A solid serial then, with good pace, some nice aspects, and generally a lively start to a new season and a (slightly too silly) new Doctor.

Humanity Must Be Destroyed...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 21 June 2022]

... says the robot as he gets progressively annoyed, so they shoot him with the new gun and his stature gains a few ton, can the Doctor find a solution to curtail the evolution, or is extinction on the cards if they can't set off the fail safeguards.

Solar panels, metal recycling and A. I. - just imagine if we had a time machine and could go back and take notice of the science!!!

"You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets." Good finish to Tom Bakers first adventure.

[poolandrews · 8/10 · 4 March 2007]

Doctor Who: Robot: Part 4 starts as the misguided Professor Kettlewell (Edward Burnham) gets cold feet over the plan to wipe out the human race by the evil Miss Winters (Patricia Maynard) & the Scietific Reform Society she commands, unfortunately in a struggle he is accidentally vapourised by his robotic creation K-1 who goes loopy after he realises he has killed the man who made him. The Doctor (Tom Baker) & Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) manage to stop the countdown to the atomic bomb launch & arrest Miss Winters, however in the confusion K-1 kidnaps Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen) but after he is shot by Lethbridge-Stewart with the disintegrator gun K-1 grows in size until he's as tall as a house at which point he carries Sarah Jane off, it's up to the Doctor to save her...

This Doctor Who adventure was episode 4 from season 12 that aired here during the early part of 1975 & was Tom Bakers first story as the Timelord, directed by Christopher Barry I really enjoyed Robot from Part 1 right up to Part 4. The script by Terrance Dicks suddenly turns into a King Kong (1932) homage as the huge robot has a crush on Sarah Jane (he's not alone there) & he wanders around with her in his pincer like hand, it's all rather fun although I thought the end to this story was a bit rushed as the Doctor uses nothing more than a red bucket full of bubbling liquid to destroy the robot! Unfortunately Miss Winters doesn't get much screen time during Part 4, she's an absolute hoot with her military style uniform complete with armband & black leather gloves & boots, all she needed was a German accent. This story has been great fun from start to finish & the King Kong style climax just adds to it, top entertainment.

The special effects have been kept to a minimum during Robot but there's some in this episode including the poor looking scenes where the robot grows & subsequently shrinks, there are some dodgy looking scenes of the robot walking down a street with a doll in it's hand that's supposed to be Sarah Jane. I actually felt quite sorry for the robot at the end as he was being used for evil & it wasn't really his fault was it, or am I just a big softy? I also rather liked the incidental music composed for this story which is pretty effective.

Robot is a great start to the Tom Baker era, a definite must for fans (like me) & those who just want to watch some mildly scary light hearted sci-fi. Overall I'm going to give Robot a deserved 8 stars out of 10 across it's four episodes.

Tom Baker arrives with a bang!

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 8/10 · 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. Overall - 8.88/10.