My Whovian Adventure Part 5

I am so behind on my posts. I'm sorry. And I just looked at the list and realized how much I still have left to do in the next 2 months. Less than 2 months actually. Oh, crap. The date thing scares me the most. I may have to just suck it up and go out with one of the guys who have visited my online dating profile. Oy.

On a happier note, I've FINALLY finished the Fourth Doctor. I feel kind of bad about rushing through these, but to be honest, at this point I don't have much of an option. Especially since there is so much buzz about what happened on the season finale of the current season. DON'T TELL ME!!! I will get there eventually!

 So, the Fourth Doctor. Seven years. A lot of episodes. 178 to be exact. A couple of good companions, some kind of blah ones and an awesome robot dog. 

The Third Doctor gets radiation poisoning and goes back to UNIT where another Time Lord helps him regenerate. He set off around the universe with Sarah Jane Smith, who had been a companion of the Third Doctor and a UNIT doctor. 





The Fourth Doctor is played by Tom Baker, and is widely regarded as one of the most popular Doctors. He is what most people think of when they think of Doctor Who (before 2005, that is). He's the version they parodied on 'The Simpsons' and definitely has one of the most famous accessories. The scarf. Oh, the scarf.








He has quite a few companions during his run, but considering it was seven years long, I guess that's not surprising. Here they are!

 Sarah Jane Smith began with the Third Doctor and continued on with the Fourth after his regeneration. I began to like Sarah Jane more and more as the seasons went on, and just as I was REALLY starting to like her, she left. Stayed on Earth. Like, literally the SAME episode I said 'I really like Sarah Jane'. She picked up her plant and left the TARDIS.

Then there was Harry Sullivan. He was a doctor (a medical doctor) with UNIT and only stayed with the Doctor for one season, leaving before Sarah Jane did. I liked him, and I was disappointed that he didn't stay longer. He also had SWEET 70's sideburns.

K9 was a robot dog who joined the Doctor in a story line that had the Doctor travel inside his own head to repair damage. Technically speaking, the Doctor stole K9 from his inventor, but who's keeping track? K9 has lasers and can talk and is incredibly smart, which make him pretty much the ultimate companion. Although he can't do stairs. But he's pretty easy to carry. There are actually 2 K9s, one who stays with Leela and one who stays with Romana II after getting damaged.

Next up was Leela. She was a warrior type who stayed with the Doctor after her people fed her father to a pit full of worms. She was quite a fighter and was always heading into the heart of danger. And she dressed like that all the time. And when it was time for her to leave, they wrote her out in yet another STUPID love story. As in, when the Doctor went to leave and called her to come with him she said no, I'm staying, I love this random guy I had no interaction with in any of the scenes in this story. So annoying.

After Leela left, the Doctor was joined by a Time Lady, Romana. She's known as Romana I because she regenerated in the next season. Romana I was overly concerned with her appearance and, considering she was from Gallifrey, she seemed to care very little about science. I read somewhere that the actress left because didn't like the way her character was written. Can't say I disagree.

Romana I regenerated into Romana II. It was a weird regeneration. She walked into a closet and came out wearing different people, finally settling on a copy of the princess on the planet they had just left. It was weird. Anyway, this Romana was much better than the first, but she also had a pointless exit scene. K9 was damaged and there was a mirror that healed him. Romana II and K9 stayed behind the mirror without a whole lot of discussion. 

Adric. ADRIC!!! He wasn't too bad during the Fourth Doctor's run, just a little bit of a know-it-all. But wait til I get to my post on the Fifth Doctor, because I hated him then. AAARRRGGGG!!! Anyway, he joined the Doctor after most of his friends were killed and stayed on when the Fifth Doctor took over.

Nyssa joined The Doctor and Adric after her father was killed. That happens a lot. She's kind of boring. Not much else to say about her. She transitions from the Fourth to the Fifth Doctor along with Adric and...

 ...Tegan. Also pretty boring. She was a flight attendant who wandered into the TARDIS thinking it was an actual police box, needing help when her aunt's car broke down. She's kind of whiny, always wanting to get back to Earth and wearing stupid clothes. 









I've come to the realization that one of the most important things in how much I like a Doctor is his companions. I like the Fourth Doctor at first, when he was with Sarah Jane. Then not so much until K9 and Romana II came along. And then when he was with the last three I was practically bored out of my mind.I think I've also discovered the secret to being a good Doctor; don't overstay your welcome. Tom Baker was a GREAT Doctor, but 7 years is just too long. I started really looking forward to a new Doctor somewhere during his 4th year...and had to wait 3 more. Now, I'm already almost finished with the Fifth Doctor, with only 3 more story lines before he regenerates, and I'm really kind of sad about it, much like I was when the Second Doctor regenerated. But more on that later. 

Here are the top 5 things that jumped out at me about the Fourth Doctor.

Robot from 'Robots of Death"

1. Creatures; So, I basically mention this with every Doctor, but this time, it's for a different reason. The advent of the Fourth Doctor seemed to usher in a time of MUCH better visual effects. Mouths started moving in masks, strings were no longer visible in flying creatures and they became less campy and more creepy. Here are a few examples.

Mandrel

 

Jagaroth

Sontaran

 

Zygon

2. Swampies; Ok, so you know I like to point out how silly some of these things look. The first Swampie I saw reminded me of the Jolly Green Giant. Not sure where they come up with their designs sometimes...








3. Romana II's wardrobe; They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that's true then Romana II must admire the Doctor an awful lot. In one episode she dresses in an exact replica of the Doctor's outfit, except hers was pink and white while his was comprised of more masculine colours. It was a bit weird...







4. Davros; This guy is weird. He's the creator of the Daleks and is half man, half Dalek, all creepy. He's a recurring character on the show as well, so I have more of him to look forward to.










5. THE SCARF; Ok, so, seriously. This thing was like a character in itself. I don't know how many times they had to reshoot scenes because Tom Baker had tripped over the scarf, but in the actual episodes he is flawless. Never once stumbles or gets caught in anything. Apparently, when they were coming up with the Fourth Doctor's wardrobe, an old lady was given a huge pile of yarn with which to knit a scarf. They didn't tell her how long to make it, so she just used it all. And the result is what you see here. Toward the end of the Fourth Doctor's run they changed his wardrobe to an all maroon version of what he'd been wearing before, so this scarf doesn't survive the whole run. I liked it much better than what he wore in his final few season.


And so, that was the Fourth Doctor. My favourite episodes were 'The Ark in Space', 'Pyramids of Mars' and 'The Robots of Death', all of which were from the first 3 seasons. While I really liked the character, I feel he hung on a bit too long and that his story lines took a serious drop in creativity as they progressed. I'll be finishing the Fifth Doctor soon, so expect a post on that any day now!