Robot: Part One

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.

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

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.

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.

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.