My Whovian Adventure Part 4

Ok, so I felt like it took FOREVER to get through these episodes, and it was a real challenge at times to push through. I think I've said that about all of the Doctors so far...

Having said that, I'd like to clarify a few things. I was not a fan of these episodes as a whole, but I actually really liked the Third Doctor himself. I just feel like he got a really raw deal from a subject matter standpoint. 

The Third Doctor was played by Jon Pertwee. He is most known for his over the top wardrobe and his incredibly tall, silver hair. As he takes over, the Doctor has been captured and put on trial by his own people, the Gallifreyans, for stealing the TARDIS and interfering with the lives of, well, basically everyone he meets. So, as punishment he is banished to Earth with his TARDIS, but without the knowledge to use it properly. And let me tell you, this leads to a couple of very. Boring. Seasons. Until he figures out how to use the TARDIS, at which point it gets better. Worth noting is that Doctor Who is now broadcast in colour (with the exception of a few episodes), and there are no more missing episodes (Hallelujah!!).

As you can imagine, the episodes without space travel weren't very interesting. They ended up kind of stuck with the fact that they'd have to write and AWFUL lot of alien invasion of Earth stories. The writers did seem to branch out a bit with their creatures, although sadly, the technology of the 70's wasn't quite efficient enough to make the creatures look less pathetic. But more on that later. Also, they broke from the typical pattern of companions, so instead of having a male and a female companion accompany the Doctor on his adventures, he had a series of three female assistants, and UNIT, a military team that dealt with pretty much everything you can imagine. Although it is an entire military operation, there are only three members that are really worth mentioning.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewert is the leader of UNIT. We met him in the Second Doctor era, when he was still Colonel Lethbridge-Stewert. He's your typical straight-laced military type, but he does have a sense of humour and sticks by the Doctor even in dangerous situations.

Benton is a stand-up guy with a rather pronounced unibrow. He is easy going but dedicated to his job, and to the Doctor. On one particular occasion he allows the Doctor to knock him out so that the Doctor can escape custody to save the day. I liked Benton.

Mike Yates is probably the least formal of the UNIT agents. We usually see him out of uniform, taking one of the girls out on the town. All in all he is a pretty good guy, but he does stray a bit. At one point he is in cahoots with the bad guys, although he thinks what he's doing is what's best for everyone. Poor, delusional Yates.

 Dr. Liz Shaw was a UNIT doctor who was assigned to help the Doctor with his experiments etc. I wasn't a huge fan of her. She had weird hair, really annoying mascara application techniques and a bit of a snooty attitude. I wasn't overly sad when she made a rather hasty exit, heading to a new job I believe.

Jo Grant was next. I'm not exactly sure what her role in UNIT was before she was the Doctor's assistant, but she did a pretty good job. She was innocent and fun, but not a wilting flower who screamed a lot and always needed saving, a la many of the earlier companions. I liked her a lot, although I was a bit surprised when I found some pictures of her posing naked with a Dalek during my image search for the blog. Jo stayed with the Doctor until she met a scientist and fell in love, at which point they moved to South America to study fungus. Very important research.

The final companion was Sarah Jane Smith, one of the most well known of the companions. She was a journalist who came to write a story and ended up accompanying the Doctor on his adventures. She continues on into the Fourth Doctor years, and makes a reappearance in the newer episodes of Doctor Who. She also gets her own spinoff later on.



Here are the top 5 things, again, in no particular order, that stuck out to me about the Third Doctor years.

Silurian. Attractive, huh?

1. Odd Sound Choices; I've already commented on creature voices, but seriously, who chose these things? In the first episode if the Third Doctor, there is a creature who wanders around, apparently while holding a microphone inside his mouth. All you hear for about 5 minutes is some very loud mouth breathing. Then in later episodes we meet Alpha Centuari (who you'll see in a minute). I thought it was a girl for the first series it appeared in, based on the voice, but found out later that it was in fact a male. Then there are the Silurians, reptilian creatures with squeaky voices and oddly shaky heads. The sound department on this show must have been high during decision making time.


2. Autons; These things are creepy with a capital C. Mannequins who come to life and have guns in their hands. I'm not entirely sure why the Autons bothered me so much, but I swear, they haunt my dreams!




3. Defeating Daleks; So, the Daleks are one of the Doctor's major enemies, and I love them for their Dalekness, but really, why is everyone so afraid of them? Sure, they have lasers, but they have no arms or mouths, are very bulky and aren't particularly fast. Seems to me the best way to defeat them is just to go upstairs. Daleks can't climb stairs. Or jump. Or see behind them. In one episode, the Doctor and his friends literally stop the Daleks by throwing a blanket over their heads and pushing them into a lake of freezing water. Not all that complicated.

 4. Creatures; They tried. They really did. They were a lot more creative, but still, the creatures were absolutely ridiculous most of the time. I guess that's part of the charm. Some gems are pictured here, but also worth mentioning is the remarkably small pterodactyl that attacks the Doctor in a broom closet and an over sized fly that attacks UNIT, both of which are very visibly controlled by strings. Just close your eyes and imagine. Here are some others;

Stowaways who appear to be wearing Froot Loops.

Zombie-werewolf thing

Good old Alpha Centauri.

                    How's that for green screen? Also, some very fake gun shooting takes place here. Rather tame looking T-Rex, if you ask me.

5. The Doctor's Wardrobe; I mentioned this in my post on the Second Doctor as well, but the Third Doctor had a style all his own. I don't know how he did all the things he did while wearing what he wore. Seriously, dude wore a lot of velvet and ruffles. A LOT.

I did have a few favourites series, but not many. I liked 'The Green Death', which was Jo's last series, and also 'The Three Doctors', but that was mostly only because the Second Doctor was back. So, basically, I liked the Third Doctor as a Doctor, but I didn't like the story lines or man of the supporting characters they gave him. So far the Fourth Doctor seems pretty goofy, so I think I'm going to like him :-)