John Hussey continues his monthly retrospective, this time looking at the 4th Doctor, Tom Baker.
- Find the First Doctor Retrospective here
- Find the Second Doctor Retrospective here
- Find the Third Doctor Retrospective here
The Origin of The Fourth Doctor
Upon hearing that Script Editor Terrance Dicks and Producer Barry Letts were leaving the show, Jon Pertwee decided to do the same. Head of Drama Shaun Sutton tried to persuade Pertwee to stay on as the Doctor, to which Pertwee agreed as long as his salary was increased. Sutton then shook Pertwee’s hand and said, “Thanks for everything, sorry to see you go!” Without any further negotiations, Pertwee was no longer the Doctor. He was given one final season and regenerated at the end of it. The problem left of course was who would replace the iconic and popular Jon Pertwee?
Tom Baker began to get noticed as a serious actor after his performances in the film ‘The Golden Voyage of Sinbad’ and BBC Play of the Month ‘The Millionaires’ alongside Maggie Smith. Ian Slater directed the play and would later become a huge part on how Baker got the role as the Doctor. A couple of years passed, and Tom began to get desperate for work and he decided to write a letter to his old friend Ian Slater to ask if there was any roles available at the BBC. By this point Slater had become Head of Series and was now in the bother of working out who was to replace Jon Pertwee as the Doctor. Him and Barry Letts discussed this over a length of time but came to no real answer.
Slater went home and finally read Tom’s letter within the late hours of the evening, to which his wife responded with the idea of hiring him as the new Doctor. After his wife’s encouraging idea, Slater called Tom there and then about a job offer and asked him to come to the BBC the following day for a meeting. After two meetings, Tom was finally offered the job as the Doctor, leaving him shocked beyond belief. His only reaction was a simple nod. After keeping this a secret for a mere ten days, Tom was finally revealed as the new Doctor. Tom was so excited by this and took on his new role and soon became a huge hit amongst the fans, especially the younger ones. Believe it or not, but his iconic multi-coloured scarf was a mistake due to the fact James Acheson, the costume designer, provided too much wool to the knitter Begonia Pope. Tom decided to keep it and along with his floppy hat and famous jelly babies, he brought his incarnation to life – going on to be not only the longest running incarnation but also one of the most popular Doctor’s.
Character Traits, Personality and Catchphrases
Like before, the Fourth Doctor became a completely new man with a new personality. He went on a very long road in terms of character development, beginning as a darker being with a fun personality mixed in, before later becoming a more relaxed and enjoyable person to be around who treasured the feeling of going out on adventures and having fun.
The Fourth Doctor was the first incarnation to show an idea of disposing his past self’s ideas and lifestyles away, which is extremely noticeable within his slow departure away from U.N.I.T. and returning to his adventures in time and space. His darker personality showed more in his earlier timeline where he showed clear aggression and hatred towards his enemies ideas and way of life, even to the point of using hostile and dark ways to threaten and defeat his enemy. A prime example is when he threatened to hold down the controls of Davros’ life-support machine in ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ unless the deranged scientist ordered the destruction of the Daleks.
As time went on his character mellowed out into an all round fun character filled with adventure and delivering witty jokes. The Doctor still remained a man of action, like his previous self, and continued his idea of being more hands on with his battles. His incarnation was the first since his original self to show signs of miss-direction and lies in order to deal with a problem. Unlike his original self, who used this idea to trick his companions for his own personal gain, the Fourth Doctor tricked Leela and his own people in ‘The Invasion of Time’, making them all believe he was a traitor, in order to discover the planetary origins of the Vardans in an attempt to lock them in a time loop and thereby preventing them invading Gallifrey. Even by this point in his timeline, the Fourth Doctor still had a killer instinct if there was no other way. In this case he used the ultimate weapon, i.e. the D-Mat Gun, in order to finish off the Sontarans and their attempts at invading Gallifrey and time. By the point of ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ the Fourth Doctor was willing to sacrifice himself in order to kill Davros via an explosive device in an attempt to prevent the Daleks harnessing their creator. He even attempted to detonate the bomb via his Sonic Screwdriver at long rage, which ultimately failed and then he later trapped Davros inside of a cryogenic freezer so he couldn’t escape his fate of trial for his crimes.
The Fourth Doctor was very erratic to begin with, due to the conditions he regenerated under. Unlike his previous incarnation, he was up and back on his feet in no time flat, behaving in a very childlike manner. At first he wanted to leave and continue with his travels, but Sarah Jane managed to make him see sense and return to his post as U.N.I.T.s scientific advisor. The Fourth Doctor was the first to mess around when it came to his costume change; going through a variety of ridiculous clothes before settling on the one he wanted – a moment the Brigadier didn’t find too amusing. It is fair to say the Fourth Doctor was very childish throughout his life, perhaps brought on by a ‘mid-life crisis’, and became a very fun character and less serious in tone. Although he maintained his hero instincts, his behaviour was very much march in with a scarf, ask questions later. He was very curious as well, and his childish traits would kick in before switching to more serious mode when he detected danger, while still maintaining a very fun nature. Like his previous self, the Fourth Doctor gained a variety of different versions of his costume. His childish behaviour can be reflected by his extremely long scarf which as he later wore, would dangle over his jacket and drag along the floor.
He tended to have tantrums when he argued with his companions but upon agreeing with them he would say ‘ah’. This was very common with Romana as the two bounced off each other’s egos and intellect. Upon their first meeting, the Fourth Doctor got mad over the fact she knew about his low pass score for the academy (which made it worse due to the fact it was his second attempt). Whenever the Fourth Doctor spoke to K9 he would bend down beside him. Also he developed a high frequency dog whistle for him so he could whistle it whenever he needed K9s assistance. Also the Fourth Doctor would lounge about on the Console Room floor while playing chess with his trusted dog.
The Fourth Doctor also started a trend of talking to the TARDIS, constantly showing affection for his magnificent machine by kissing it and caring for it when it got damaged. Two examples would be when Rodan is tweaking the console in ‘The Invasion of Time’ with the Fourth Doctor responding with “Steady old girl. This won’t hurt a bit.” The other is in ‘The Ribos Operation’ when the Fourth Doctor discovers Romana has placed a hole in the console to which he responds with “You put a hole in my…. Never mind old girl. Never mind. I’ll soon have it fixed.”
His most famous trait was the dishing out of his infamous ‘jelly babies’ which would always be forwarded by his famous line, “Would you like/care for a jelly baby?”
Era and Stories
The Fourth Doctor’s era is unique for two reasons: 1) it is the longest era to date and 2) it features three different kinds of styles and directions. To begin with, the Fourth Doctor’s era was very gothic in nature and went about to create a darker toned show. For starters the death rate started to go up massively, with more inclusions of sinister demises of victims and enemies, and then from his second season onwards the idea of having episodes being influenced by hammer-house styled horror films was introduced. So you had episodes being influenced by ‘Frankenstein’, ‘The Mummy’, ‘Day of the Triffids’ and ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’.
Another dark figure which influenced one of this era’s stories was the infamous ‘Jack the Ripper’ with his dark Victorian period being used as guidelines for the story ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’. This of course was the last episode of that era. Also the Doctor started to become slightly darker in tone towards the way he dealt with situations. His nature to fight was still hanging around from his previous incarnation but one of the most disturbing examples of him using force was when he broke a guards’ neck in ‘The Seeds of Doom’. This part of the era was all about how dark the show could go in terms of tone and violence and certainly gained a lot of complaints from Mary Whitehouse. The dark creatures influenced by horror-movie legends were certainly a new move within the design of the show.
One of the most dramatic changes with the Fourth Doctor’s first era was the slow departure of U.N.I.T.. Although they were a major part of the Third Doctor’s era, the new show-runners Robert Holmes and Philip Hinchcliffe deemed it time for the Doctor to return to his travels and away from present-day Earth. With the Fourth Doctor’s first outing being the only U.N.I.T. story of his first season, they became less involved throughout his second season as each of his friends involved in the organisation left the show. It started with his trusted friend Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in ‘Terror of the Zygons’ followed by new companion Harry Sullivan returning to Earth in the same story and then making his last appearance in ‘The Android Invasion’ along with RSM Benton. U.N.I.T. as a whole made its last appearance in the season final ‘The Seeds of Doom’, being the last time the Doctor worked alongside the organisation until the Seventh Doctor’s era. The final touch made was the departure of Sarah Jane Smith in ‘The Hand of Fear’ which showcased the final elements of the Third Doctor’s era being diminished. It was from then on the Fourth Doctor’s era really started to take its own shape and its own form.
The second era of the Fourth Doctor’s tenure went for a more humorous tone along with the idea of having more space adventures. Within this era, adventures on Earth were very slim with there only being one Earth story per season. The Fourth Doctor became much lighter and funny in his behaviour and personality but still retained his dark nature when he needed it. The first three stories were the final part of Holmes’ gothic nature within the Fourth Doctor’s era, with him staying on as Script Editor for a few stories while the new producer got his head around the job. This era continued the idea of having the Fourth Doctor return to Gallifrey. The Time Lords were re-established as a corrupt society overlooking the universe with their strange laws and ceremonial ideas. Before this they were perceived as god-like beings. It was interesting to delve into their society and see how they ticked and to learn the many reasons why the Doctor left his home-world in the first place. ‘The Deadly Assassin’ and ‘The Invasion of Time’ served as a loose-arc involving the adventures on Gallifrey, with both stories connecting due to the activities of the previous adventure and how it affected the now (i.e. The Fourth Doctor becoming a candidate for Lord President in ‘The Deadly Assassin’ to escape execution under Article 17 and then using that said act to grant him presidency in ‘The Invasion of Time’ in an attempt to prevent Gallifrey being invaded by the Sontarans).
Showrunner Graham Williams decided to be ambitious for his second season by introducing the idea of having a series run by an ongoing story-arc. This involved around the story of the Key to Time, which the Fourth Doctor has to find in order to allow The White Guardian to restore the balance of good and evil across the universe. Each episode remained as stand-alone stories accept for the part which concerned finding the segment to the Key to Time. Each story’s beginning and end would evolve around the story-arc, while the story in the middle would be a normal adventure with the segment caught in the middle and found at the end. Williams decided to return the show to its original format for the following season. The idea of a series story-arc would return in the Ninth Doctor’s era and continue to run like that to this very day. At the end of this arc, the concept of the Doctor not knowing where he was going was reintroduced. A device called the Randomiser, which controlled the TARDIS’s navigational controls, was added into the story in order to allow the Fourth Doctor to hide from The Black Guardian after his defeat at the end of Key to Time arc.
One of the most interesting parts of the Fourth Doctor’s era was the large use of alien and robotic companions, a habit which continued into the Fifth Doctor’s era. It developed many new and interesting characters through the idea of them not being Human, and therefore you had to get use to not only one alien entity in a mad space travelling police box but two. Romana was a very interesting companion due to the fact she was a Time Lady, a member of the Doctor’s own race. Not only that, she was the Doctor’s equal in every way possible (and to this day, no other companion has beaten this quality). She was extremely smart, witty and was able to put the Fourth Doctor in his place, especially when it came to pointing out his mistakes.
Leela was an interesting case as she was the first Human character to retain animal instincts as her main characteristic. The idea of having a savage like character onboard the TARDIS was new and inventive and it really worked with the Fourth Doctor’s character. It continued the idea of having the companion being able to fight, or in Leela’s case: being able to kill. Adric was another interesting case and was the first character to be introduced within another universe, i.e. E-Space. It had never been done before and so formed a new idea. Although he maintained the normal curiosity elements of most humanoid characters, the fact still remained that he wasn’t human. K9 was the most interesting companion of the Fourth Doctor’s era as he was a robot and a dog. He was a robotic animal, two elements that had never been explored. The idea of giving the Doctor a pet companion was clever and unique. Plus K9 was extremely intelligent and proved very useful when it came to solving problems (although this would be one of the reasons he was eventually removed from the show due to the fact he was too useful and made situations too easily solved).
For the Fourth Doctor’s final season, show-runner John Nathan-Turner took control and changed the style and direction of the show once again. This time the Fourth Doctor’s era became even more sci-fi influenced and toned down its comedy elements, which had developed even further during Williams’ last season when Douglas Adams became Script Editor. The Fourth Doctor became more serious again and his adventures became less about running around having fun and more concentrated on figuring out the dangers and mysteries at hand.
Also within this era, we were introduced to the idea of companions having onscreen relatives and also that they can be affected by the Doctor’s dangerous lifestyle (an idea which would return in the Ninth and Tenth Doctor’s eras). Having both Nyssa and Tegan losing family members to the Master’s evil was a strong and dark message to the viewers. At first it seemed like an average Fourth Doctor series but after the introduction of new companion Adric, elements of the Fifth Doctor’s era started to creep in especially after the departure of long-time companions Romana and K9 in ‘Warrior’s Gate’. It added to the idea that the Fourth Doctor would soon be leaving, and like what this era did with the Third Doctor’s era, his Doctor began to fade away element by element. Once Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka were put in place in ‘Logopolis’, the Fourth Doctor was no more and his era came to its natural conclusion and set in motion the new era to follow.
Companions
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane soon got use to the new erratic Doctor and continued her travels with him. Although she wasn’t always brave and independent, the one thing Sarah Jane proved was that she was right for the Doctor and gave him company throughout their dark and dangerous adventures. Due to a recall by the Time Lords in ‘The Hand of Fear’ Sarah Jane was forced to leave the TARDIS due to humans not being allowed on Gallifrey. The Doctor said farewell to his good friend with a promise that they would meet again one day.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Unlike the first time he witnessed the after-effects of regeneration, this time the Brigadier was well accustomed to the Fourth Doctor’s arrival and quickly got use to him during their first investigation in ‘Robot’. The Brigadier had one more adventure with the Fourth Doctor in ‘Terror of the Zygons’, which signified the slow departure of U.N.I.T. within the Doctor’s life.
RSM Benton
Benton was promoted to the rank of RSM in ‘Robot’ and with his new authority continued to aid the Doctor in his bumbling manner. Along with the Brigadier, he returned in ‘Terror of the Zygons’ before making his final appearance alongside the Doctor in ‘The Android Invasion’.
Harry Sullivan
With the Fourth Doctor behaving erratically, U.N.I.T. doctor Harry Sullivan was called in to look after him in ‘Robot’ and ended up aiding in the investigation. After being sceptical about the mysteries of the TARDIS, the Fourth Doctor decided to prove him wrong which ultimately ended up forcing Harry into a continuous set of adventures before they were called back to Earth by the Brigadier. Harry returned to his job at U.N.I.T. in ‘Terror of the Zygons’ and made one last appearance in ‘The Android Invasion’ alongside RSM Benton.
Leela
In ‘The Face of Evil’ the Fourth Doctor discovered this savage was a descendent of a crashed human expedition team who had been manipulated by a super computer called Xoanon which went insane after gaining multiple personalities via the Doctor’s mind. Leela demanded to join the Doctor on his travels and became his protector via her warrior traits of using knives and fighting. Although she wasn’t very bright, Leela remained very loyal to the Doctor. Leela decided to stay on Gallifrey in ‘The Invasion of Time’ after falling in love with Andred.
K9
K9 Mark I was originally the robotic pet of Professor Marius in ‘The Invisible Enemy’ before being given to the Doctor due to Marius being unable to take him back to Earth. K9 didn’t complain and soon became accustomed to living in the TARDIS. He became the Doctor’s super computer as well as his super guard dog. Mark I decided to stay behind on Gallifrey in ‘The Invasion of Time’ to protect Leela. K9 Mark II was created in ‘The Ribos Operation’ and aided the Doctor on his quest to find the Key of Time. In ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ Mark II developed a form of laryngitis and was off ill during the Doctor’s battle with the Daleks and his trip to Paris in ‘City of Death’. Upon his return in ‘The Creature from the Pit’ Mark II went through several cases of being blown up or malfunctioning, requiring on many questions to be mended by either the Doctor or Romana. Mark II was given to Romana so that he could be healed on the other side of the Gateway in ‘Warriors’ Gate’ and later began his journey with Romana to save the Tharils.
Romana
The feisty intellectual Time Lady was brought in by The White Guardian in ‘The Ribos Operation’ to aid the Fourth Doctor in his quest to find the six segments of the Key to Time. At first she seemed very high and mighty because of her high scores at the academy but soon gained a keen interest with the mad adventurous lifestyle of the Doctor and gradually changed. Her highest trait was pointing out the Doctor’s faults, especially when it came to flying the TARDIS. Due to unexplained circ*mstances, Romana regenerated at the beginning of ‘Destiny of the Daleks’. Her new incarnation became even more adventurous and formed an even closer bond with the Fourth Doctor (to some degree what seemed like love). Romana was upset when she discovered she had to return to Gallifrey in ‘Full Circle’ but this idea was averted when they accidentally landed in E-Space. In ‘Warrior’s Gate’ she decided to take her own destiny by remaining in E-Space and helping the Tharils from slavery.
Adric
Adric was a mathematical genius who wished to join his brother and be an outsider from the rest of their colony. During the events of ‘Full Circle’ he became friends with the Fourth Doctor and Romana and discovered his race’s history was a lie and they in fact were the evolution status of the Marshmen. Adric stowed away onboard the TARDIS and was later accepted as a companion by the Fourth Doctor, who decided to take him back to N- Space with him. Adric was extremely bright, as well as being extremely curious, and became a good friend to the Fourth Doctor during his final adventures.
Nyssa
The young daughter of scientist Tremas was introduced in ‘The Keeper of Traken’ and ended up aiding the Fourth Doctor and Adric during their battle against Melkur, later revealed to be the Master. In ‘Logopolis’ she was brought back by the Watcher to aid the Fourth Doctor against his further battle against the Master, ultimately becoming upset by the fact her father was killed and taken over by the renegade Time Lord. Along with Adric and new companion Tegan Jovanka, Nyssa was sat by the Fourth Doctor as he regenerated.
Tegan Jovanka
Tegan was determined to become a air-stewardess but these plans got interrupted in ‘Logopolis’ when she found herself getting lost in a police box after her auntie’s car broke down. Like Nyssa, Tegan lost a family member at the hands of the Master. Tegan was very angered by her predicament, becoming almost uncooperative, but soon adjusted to her circ*mstances as she attempted to aid the Fourth Doctor save the universe from destruction, while making sure her designated driver remained safe so she could return home afterwards. Along with Adric and Nyssa, Tegan sat by the Fourth Doctor as he regenerated.
Encountered Villains and Monsters
The Sontarans
The clone warriors returned in ‘The Sontaran Experiment’ where Field Major Styre, who was associated with the G3 Military Assessment Survey, performed cruel and torturing experiments upon a crashed Human crew in an attempt to learn the weaknesses of mankind. Should the experiments have gone to plan, Styre’s results would have aided the Sontarans in their conquest of the universe. Unfortunately for Styre, the Fourth Doctor intervened and caused his death and the Sontarans their defeat. In ‘The Invasion of Time’ the Sontarans attempted to invade Gallifrey in order to gain the powers of time travel, and ultimately possession of the ultimate weapon: the D-Mat Gun. This invasion force was led by Commander Stor of the Sontaran Special Space Service but he and his men were defeated by the Fourth Doctor and his comrades.
Davros
In ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ the insane Kaled scientist led the Elite, a special scientific group, towards creating new and deadly weaponry to win their long and destructive war against the Thals. Due to knowing his race will ultimately succumb to horrific mutations, Davros developed a special project to ensure the survival of these said mutants. Davros perverted their natural mutations and created a creature of pure evil with no moral sense of directions. Along with their deadly travel machine, they were programmed to become the dominant species of the universe. The insane scientist ultimately created the Daleks. Davros started to lose the plot and had his race eradicated for the sake of his creations survival and pursued in his plans of having the Daleks control the universe with him as their supreme being. All those who argued his cause were killed by the Daleks at Davros’ command. He was eventually overpowered by his creations once they realised they had no use for Davros anymore, due to their programming of being the supreme creature. Davros was unable to regain control and in one last panicked attempt tried to destroy them before being killed.
Centuries later, it was revealed in ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ that Davros had in fact survived his execution and remained in a suspended sleep before finally waking up. The Fourth Doctor tried to prevent him being taken by the Daleks but ultimately failed. Davros resumed command of his creations as they waited for a rescue ship to take him to their fleet. The Fourth Doctor ultimately destroyed his guard and captured him, placing him in the hands of the Daleks’ rescued prisoners where he was to be placed on trial for his crimes. Before being placed in suspended animation via a cooling device, the Fourth Doctor revealed that the Daleks required him to reverse their mindset back into an organic fashion and away from the confined nature of robotic nature, allowing them to once more make irrational judgement within their stratagems. Davros had failed and was then sealed in a block of ice.
The Daleks
The Daleks origins were explained within ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ and their evil reign of death and conquest began. Under the instructions of their creator Davros, they killed the majority of the Thal race along with any traitors within the Elite. In the end the Daleks turned on their master and vowed upon their escape from the bunker, after the entrance was blocked off by the Thals, that they would take their rightful place as the supreme power of the universe.
In ‘Destiny of the Daleks’ it was revealed their battle fleets were caught in a impasse with the Movellans and so they decided to return to Skaro and find their creator for help. Their idea was to have him return them to rational thinking due to them becoming almost robotic and logic in thinking. They wished to return to a more organic form in an attempt to gain an advantage on their enemy. In an attempt to prevent the Doctor from aiding the Movellans, Davros had the Daleks go on a suicide mission to prevent his escape which would ultimately interfere with their own advantage within the war due to his superior knowledge. The Daleks were ultimately destroyed before they could reach their target after the Fourth Doctor killed the Daleks’ leader guarding Davros and had him activate their detonators.
The Cybermen
After their defeat in the Cyber-Wars due to their ultimate weakness of gold, the Cybermen were thought extinct. This was proven false in ‘Revenge of the Cybermen’ when one last Cyber-ship came out into the open to destroy Voga, the planet of gold in an attempt to prevent their ultimate weakness being used by Humanity during their next attempt at conquest. Double-agent Kellman attracted the Cybermen to the Nerva Beacon in an attempt to destroy them with the aid of Vorus’ rocket. The Cybermen attempted to use the Fourth Doctor, Commander Stevenson and Lester to deliver three Cyber-Bombs to the centre of Voga so they could be freed from the fear of gold. The Fourth Doctor managed to free himself but was recaptured by the Cybermen before being left to die onboard Nerva Beacon as it was used as a contingency plan for their failed bombs. The Fourth Doctor managed to stare the ship away from Voga while Stevenson managed to change the direction of Vorus’ rocket in order to destroy the Cybermen and their ship.
The Master
The Doctor’s nemesis returned in ‘The Deadly Assassin’ where we saw him on his last regeneration in a decayed state, wishing only to prolong his life by any means necessary. With his bitter hatred towards the Doctor fueling his last bit of life-force/motivation, he attempted to use Chancellor Goth to assassinate the Lord President of the High Council of Gallifrey in order to allow Goth to become President himself (an ambition that made Goth go rogue in the first place after realising his wasn’t the successor). In the process, the Fourth Doctor would’ve been accused as the assassin and executed for this crime and died in humiliation. The Master didn’t take into account the Doctor’s persistence of justice and after a massive mind battle within the Matrix, the Fourth Doctor defeated Goth and uncovered the Master’s plans to use the Eye of Harmony to gain a new cycle of Regenerations with Gallifrey and all of the Time Lords being destroyed in the process. The Fourth Doctor stopped the Master achieving his goals, with the decayed creature appearing to have died after falling down a shaft during their scrap.
He later returned in ‘The Keeper of Traken’ where, still in his decayed state, attempted to use the power of the Keeper to grant himself new powers and a new life but was once again prevented by the Fourth Doctor. The Master escaped once again, only to steal Tremas’ body and granted himself a new incarnation. In the following story ‘Logopolis’, the Master used the Fourth Doctor to get him to Logopolis in order to discover their secrets. In the process, he ultimately caused the chain reaction towards doomsday. He was then forced to join forces in order to save the universe. After doing so, the Master quickly reverted back to his old ways and tried to control the universe through a deadly bribe. He was once again prevented by the Fourth Doctor but not before the Master could set into motion the cause of his death. After the Fourth Doctor fell to death, the Master returned to his TARDIS and once again escaped.
The Black Guardian
Watching over the balance of the universe is the White Guardian and the Black Guardian. They are each other’s opposites and cannot exist without the other. When the White Guardian required the Fourth Doctor to retrieve the Six Segments to the Key to Time in order to rebalance the universe, the Black Guardian sought it as his opportunity to steal it and cause chaos across the cosmos. Once the segments were gathered together at the end of ‘The Armageddon Factor’, the Black Guardian posed as the White Guardian in an attempt to take the Key to Time. Luckily, the Fourth Doctor paid heed to the White Guardian’s warnings and realised his enemies’ presence. In order to prevent the creature gaining the Keys powers, he re-scattered them across space and destroyed the sensor in which to find them. An angered Black Guardian then swore to find and destroy the Doctor in order to gain his revenge.
The Three Must See Episodes
- 3. ‘The Invasion of Time’
- 2. ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’
- 1. ‘The Deadly Assassin’
Special Mentions to:
- ‘Pyramids of Mars’
- ‘The Brain of Morbius’
- ‘The Masque of Mandragora’
- ‘The Pirate Planet’
- ‘The Power of Kroll’
- ‘Destiny of the Daleks’
- ‘Full Circle/State of Decay/Warrior’s Gate’
- ‘Logopolis’
First words
“Human history… I tell you, Brigadier, there’s nothing to worry about. The brontosaurus is large and placid… And stupid! If the square on the hypotenuse equals the sum of the square on the other two sides, why is a mouse when it spins? Never did know the answer to that one.”
The Incarnation Speech
“I am here to claim my legal right. I claim the inheritance of Rassilon. I claim the titles, honour, duty and obedience of all colleges. I claim the presidency of the Council of Time Lords.”
Famous Last Words
“It’s the end. But the moment has been prepared for.”
The Regeneration
The Fourth Doctor regenerated in ‘Logopolis’ due to his battle with the Master. This was brought about by early warnings by the mysterious Watcher who gave hints to the Fourth Doctor’s future and its worst case scenario. After the Master tampered with Logopolis, in an attempt to discover its dark secrets, he put into affect the end of the universe due to the fact the people of the planet where holding the last fabrics of the universe in balance via CVE’s (Charged Vacuum Emboitment). The Fourth Doctor was forced to form an alliance with his arch-nemesis for one final bid at saving the universe from its bitter end. They went to Earth to use the satellite of the Pharos Project in order to realign the CVE’s to restore balance. The Master then tried to bribe the universe by threatening to destroy it if everyone didn’t succumb to his supremacy. The Fourth Doctor struggled to stop him, battling against him on the outside platform of the satellite, but ultimately won by releasing a vital cable that prevented the Master deactivating the satellite. The consequence of these actions resulted in the Fourth Doctor losing his balance, due to the Master tampering with the platforms movement, and falling to the ground below. His companions Adric, Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka came to his rescue but it was too late, or so it seemed. The Watcher appeared (turning out to be a future version of the Doctor) and they combined in order to allow the Fourth Doctor to regenerate into his next incarnation…
