Doctor Who: The Three Doctors

I love this story! It has a crazy villain, and I've always been a fan of episodes with multiple Doctors. I like episodes that feature Gallifrey and the Time Lords, too. I like it so much that I blogged about it before here.

Omega, Three, and Two

So go read that post because while I watched it again, I'm not writing about it again. :)

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #65, "The Three Doctors," four parts
Adversary: Omega

Classic Lines: the Brigadier, to the 2nd Doctor, unfazed after entering the TARDIS for the first time and seeing it's bigger on the inside: "So this is what you've been doing with UNIT funds and equipment all this time."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: This story is the first time earlier Doctors appeared with the current Doctor. 
Next Up: "Carnival of Monsters"

Doctor Who: The Time Monster

The Whoathon returns! This one is a classic with the Master, UNIT, and yet another explanation of how Atlantis was destroyed. But what would Doctor Who be without its continuity inconsistencies? I love the Master so much. As this one starts, he's incognito as Professor Thascales...which is Greek for Master. Hee!

the Brigadier, Jo Grant, Mike Yates, and the Doctor

The Doctor is suspicious that the Master is back and causing trouble. Of course he is. He's trying to gain control of Kronos, a time eater with a connection to Atlantis. Honestly, it's not really clear why, but I'm sure it's to take over the universe or something. The Master's plan isn't going well, so he summons Krasis, high priest of Kronos, from Atlantis.

Krasis and the Master

The Master takes the seal from Krasis' neck and summons Kronos, who is just as brilliant as you'd expect a Classic Who one-off creature to be.

Kronos and the Master

The plan still isn't going well. The Master finds out that he doesn't have the entire crystal that he needs to control Kronos. That's in Atlantis. Off to Atlantis they all go!

The Doctor and the Master each try to get Atlanteans on their side. The Master has some luck with the queen, while the Doctor has the king on his side.

How YOU doin'?

The Master takes over Atlantis and releases Kronos...

Atlantis is destroyed. Again.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #64, "The Time Monster," six parts
Adversary: the Master

Classic Lines: the Brigadier, to the Doctor: "This isn't a picnic! One moment you're talking about the entire universe blowing up and the next you're going on about tea." 

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: Jo Grant understands Greek. 
Next Up: "The Three Doctors"

Doctor Who: The Mutants

This one is long and mediocre. It's your standard cartoonish bad guy, occupiers oppressing the indigenous people of Solos, etc. The twist here is that the indigenous people mutate as part of their species' natural life cycle and they don't know it.

Skip this one. I remembered it being bad and that's why the Whoathon had such a long break. I kept putting off watching it.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #63, "The Mutants," six parts
Adversary: the Overlords and the Marshall

Classic Lines: scientist: "Earth is fighting for its survival. The side effects are of no importance." the Doctor: "Genocide as a side effect! You ought to write a paper on that, professor."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: The Doctor goes to Solos on a mission from the Time Lords.
Next Up: "The Time Monster"

Doctor Who: The Sea Devils

The Whoathon starts again. People make fun of this episode because of the Sea Devils, but I like the Sea Devils. They're fun. Plus, the Master! Remember, the Master was captured by UNIT. Now he's being held captive in a castle on an island, and the Doctor and Jo go to see him. The warden claims that they're all immune to hypnotism and the Master hasn't tried to escape, but we all know the inmate is running the asylum, right?

the Master

The Doctor suspects the Master has something to do with the vanishing ships in the area. But it's the Sea Devils...hee!

a Sea Devil

They look crazy, they wear fishnet dresses, and they have those weird flat guns. They're fantastic. The Doctor immediately connects them to the Silurians and says they must have been woken up by the work at the old sea fort. He also points out that the Silurians aren't from the Silurian era. Nice.

The Doctor finds out that the Master isn't really a prisoner anymore and confronts him, which leads to a sword fight.

Huzzah!

The Master plans on contacting the Sea Devils and helping them take over the planet. When the Doctor asks what's in it for him, he says the pleasure of seeing the human race exterminated. Ouch. That's cold, even for the Master. The Doctor is captured, but Jo rescues him. I like how they gave her such agency here.

Jo Grant

Check out the 3rd Doctor's sonic screwdriver. He's using it to trigger mines as they make their escape.

the Doctor and Jo Grant

The Master builds a machine to call the Sea Devils, and they invade the castle.

The Doctor travels to the sea floor and makes contact with the Sea Devils. They say the planet is theirs. (They went into hibernation, just as the Silurians did, but the catastrophe never happened.) The Doctor attempts to convince the Sea Devils to make peace with the humans. It seems to work, even when the Master shows up and tries to ruin everything.

Then a political minister arrives at the base and acts like a cartoonish buffoon. He orders the Navy to blow everything up. Bye, peace. Time for a Sea Devil invasion!

With the Master, they take over the military base. Soon the military takes the base back, but the Master escapes. Then there's a jet ski chase that looks quite fun. Roger Delgado's stunt double looks nothing like him, but it does appear that Jon Pertwee rode the jet ski himself.

Whee!

The Master leads the Doctor right to the Sea Devils. The device to revive the rest of the Sea Devils is activated, but the Sea Devils double cross the Master and lock them both up. The Doctor says not to worry, he reversed the polarity of the neutron flow when the Master wasn't looking. It's about to blow up! They get away, but the Master escapes custody in the end and is on the loose again...

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #62, "The Sea Devils," six parts
Adversary: the Master and the Sea Devils

Classic Lines: the Doctor, talking about the Master: "He used to be a friend of mine once. A very good friend. In fact, you might almost say we were at school together."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: The Master watches the Clangers, a puppet show for children. (Later, in a 10th Doctor story, he watches the Teletubbies.)
Next Up: "The Mutants"

Doctor Who: The Curse of Peladon

The Doctor and Jo take the TARDIS on a test run and end up on the planet Peladon. King Peladon (yes, the same name, not confusing at all) is petitioning the Galactic Federation for membership and the delegates are arriving. Also, someone is murdered and the high priest, Hepesh, is clearly evil, but the naive young king trusts him. The Doctor and Jo are mistaken for the Earth delegates, and he names her Princess Josephine of TARDIS.

Arcturus (head on a box), King Peladon, Jo, the Doctor, Alpha Centauri, and Hepesh

Oh, look, some Ice Warriors are here, too.

not so bad, really

They'll be convenient scapegoats for the clearly evil guy who doesn't want Peladon in the Galactic Federation. He has already been warning about the Beast of Peladon, Aggedor, coming to kill people. Yeah, that's enough of this. To be honest, I thought I remembered this story being better. I struggled to pay attention. I did like how the Ice Warrior had the Doctor's back. I hope The Sea Devils is fun like I remember.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #61, "The Curse of Peladon," four parts
Adversary: Hepesh and Arcturus

Classic Lines: Jo, to the king: "I just don't understand you. I really don't. One minute you're condemning the Doctor to death, and the next minute you're proposing to me!"

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: King Peladon is played by David Troughton, the son of Patrick Troughton, the 2nd Doctor.
Next Up: "The Sea Devils"

Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks

The Earth is on the brink of global war, but peace negotiators are trying to avoid it. Enter UNIT and the Doctor...and time travelling commandos from the 22nd century trying to assassinate the main British negotiator, Sir Reginald Styles.

The Doctor figures the commandos are desperate and trying to change history. Meanwhile, the Daleks and the candy man from Willy Wonka are trying to find the commandos.

Do Daleks like Wonka bars?

Jo gets sent to the future by accident and the creepy candy man (okay, the Controller) acts like her friend to get information. I should note, the Dalek voices aren't the usual voices. It's weird. Anyway, Daleks and Ogrons show up in the present, and the Doctor gets caught in a time field and sent to the future as the commandos escape.

Ogrons with a Dalek

The Doctor finds Jo, and she has been completely taken in by the Controller. But the future is pretty crappy. People are slaves, and the Daleks rule the Earth. The Daleks realize that the Doctor is THE Doctor, their old enemy. Oops. When he's strapped into a mind probe, it shows images of the First and Second Doctors, which I thought was neat. It takes until the fourth and final episode to finally find out what the heck is going on.

Jo, the Controller, and the Doctor

There were a series of wars at the end of the 20th century that lasted 100 years, and 7/8 of the world's population died. The Daleks saw an opportunity to take over the planet and did so. Now all humans work in factories or mines. The rebels rescue the Doctor and Jo, and we find out why they're trying to kill Styles.

In their history, a bomb explodes at the peace conference, which was taking place at Styles' estate. Accusations were made by all parties, and it sparked those years of war. The rebels blame Styles for the explosion, even though he was killed in the blast. So they stole a Dalek time machine and decided to change history. Except...they're still missing one man in the past. The Doctor figures out that the missing rebel is the one who caused the explosion. The rebels going back to the past is what caused the wars in the first place. Oooooo. It's an interesting concept.

The Doctor and Jo are about to return to their present when the Controller and some Ogrons catch them. The Doctor tells the Controller that he can stop the wars and all those years of suffering and the Dalek takeover. The Controller sends the Ogrons away and lets them go. The Daleks find out and extermine him. Just before they do, he says, "Who knows? I may have helped to extermine you."

the Doctor, Jo, the Brigadier, and Sir Reginald Styles

The Doctor arrives and UNIT evacuates the delegates and fights the arriving Daleks and Ogrons. The Doctor finds the missing rebel, who says to let the Daleks and the Ogrons into the house. The rebel detonates the bomb in the basement, blowing up the house and destroying the threat to the peace conference.

I like this story. It has an interesting premise, and I like that the Controller fits into a grey area, rather than just being a Dalek stooge. 

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #60, "Day of the Daleks," four parts
Adversary: the Daleks

Classic Lines: the Doctor, to the rebels: "You're trapped in a temporal paradox. Styles didn't cause that explosion and start the wars. You did it yourselves!" 

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: The Doctor tells Jo that the Blinovitch Limitation Effect stops the rebels from travelling back to the same date again and again to try again. 
Next Up: "The Curse of Peladon"

Doctor Who: The Daemons

The story starts with an archaeological dig at the ominously named Devil's End. The Doctor, Jo, Sergeant Benton, and Captain Mike Yates are watching it on tv. The excavation will open Devil's Hump at midnight, and the Doctor wants to stop it.

Joe, Yates, the Doctor, Benton

Look who's here!

Magister?

The Master is in Devil's End, pretending to be a vicar called Mr. Magister. Magister is Latin for "master." Nice. As soon as the Doctor hears the new vicar's name, he knows who it really is. At midnight, just as they open Devil's Hump, the Master performs some crazy ritual to raise Azal. A heat barrier goes up around the village, so no one can get in or out. The Brigadier is stuck outside, while the Doctor, Jo, Yates, and Benton are on the inside.

the Brigadier

There hasn't been any screen time for Azal yet, but there is this living gargoyle controlled by the Master creeping around.

Don't want to run into this guy

The Doctor and Jo find a spaceship. Then the Doctor fills everyone in. It's not the devil who is in Devil's End, it's a Daemon- a member of a powerful species from the other side of the galaxy. They've been around for ages and are why humans associate devil horns with evil/power. This one might destroy the world. Hm.

Those are Azal's legs in front of the Master. He's kind of big.

The Master wants Azal's power so he can rule the world. Azal knows the Doctor is also not a human and wants to talk with him, too. The Master isn't thrilled about that. Azal shows up again and this time the Master wants to sacrifice Jo as an offering. That's pretty messed up, even for the Master.

Azal

Meanwhile, the Doctor has helped the Brigadier figure out a way through the barrier, so here comes UNIT. The Doctor goes to talk to Azal and asks him to leave Earth. Azal offers the Doctor his power, but he doesn't want it. So Azal decides to give his power to the Master and kill the Doctor.

Jo jumps in front of the Doctor, shouting that the Doctor is a good man and Azal should kill her instead. Azal can't understand this selfless, irrational act and self-destructs. In the end, UNIT takes the Master into custody.

This is a good one, even though Azal and the gargoyle are a little ridiculous. That's part of the fun.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #59, "The Daemons," five parts
Adversary: Azal and the Master

Classic Lines: the Doctor, to Jo: "Jo, did you fail Latin as well as science? Magister is the Latin word for master!" 

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: Azal said he destroyed Atlantis. We already saw Atlantis destroyed by someone else in the 2nd Doctor era. There's an upcoming 3rd Doctor story in which the Master destroys Atlantis. Doctor Who has a major Atlantis continuity issue.
Next Up: "Day of the Daleks"

Doctor Who: Colony in Space

The story starts with the Time Lords discussing the Master looking for a doomsday weapon and how they better get the Doctor to help. Cut to the Brigadier and Jo teasing the Doctor about how his TARDIS doesn't work. The Doctor is still fiddling with the dematerialization circuit.

I love the look on the Brigadier's face.

The Brigadier is still looking for the Master, but the Doctor says he could be anywhere because his TARDIS actually works. I wonder if he will show up in this story?? The Doctor and Jo go inside the TARDIS, and the doors close and they take off. The Time Lords are controlling the TARDIS. They just send him off and don't tell him anything about it!

Someone's watching...

They end up at an Earth colony in 2400s. The colonists are having issues with their crops. Oh, and the planet's native inhabitants take the TARDIS when the Doctor and Jo leave it behind. They aren't baddies, though. They're friendly with the colonists.

Meeting the colonists

IMC, a mining company, is stirring up a lot of trouble because they want the planet's resources. They're cartoonishly evil in a boring way. This whole story drags, unfortunately. The Master doesn't even show up until halfway through. They call for an mediator to settle the dispute as to who gets the planet. Who turns up?

the Master

Yep, the Master is impersonating the mediator. Then these brain guys show up.

They live underground. They're the remnants of an ancient civilization, and they're the source of the doomsday weapon- but we won't find that out until episode five. Did you forget about that? The doomsday weapon? The reason the Master and the Doctor are there? Now here's the head brain guy.

oh my

The head brain guy lets the Doctor and Jo go and tells them not to come back on penalty of death. Do you think the Doctor goes back? Anyway, the Doctor returns to the colony and finds the Master there. Oops. What's going to happen? At this point in the story, I just don't care. It's too long and disjointed.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #58, "Colony in Space," six parts
Adversary: IMC and the Master

Classic Lines: Jo, on entering the TARDIS: "It's bigger inside than out!"; the Doctor: "Yes, that's because the TARDIS is dimensionally transcendental."; Jo: "What does that mean?"; the Doctor: "It means that it's bigger inside than out."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: This story is the first time the 3rd Doctor leaves Earth and the first time Jo enters the TARDIS.
Next Up: "The Daemons"

Doctor Who: The Claws of Axos

The Axons arrive and act friendly and offer a gift to the Earth- Axonite. But Axons aren't so friendly after all. Axonite is a way for them to absorb all of Earth's energy and living matter. Oh, and they have the Master helping them since he's their captive. (They have his TARDIS.)

the Doctor, an Axon, Jo, the Brigadier

The Master inevitably escapes and works with the Doctor to create a workaround for the faulty dematerialization circuit in the TARDIS. (Remember, the Time Lords put a block on the Doctor's memory and messed with his dematerialization circuit so he's stuck on Earth.) In the end, the Doctor traps the Axons in a time loop to save the day while the Master escapes again. However, the Time Lords make sure the Doctor returns to Earth. He's still stuck.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #57, "The Claws of Axos," four parts
Adversary: Axons and the Master

Classic Lines: the Doctor: "Obviously the Time Lords have programmed the TARDIS always to return to Earth. It seems that I am some kind of a galactic yo-yo."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: This story is the first time in the 3rd Doctor era that we see the inside of the TARDIS.
Next Up: "Colony in Space"

Doctor Who: The Mind of Evil

I thought the Whoathon was done with the black and white episodes, but the only version of this story I could find easily was in black and white. That's because this was one of those stories lost and later recovered, like so many of the 1st and 2nd Doctor stories. The recovered version was black and white, but it was later restored to color.

the Master and the Doctor

So there's a machine that supposedly removes the evil from criminal minds and a world peace conference and a missile that's supposed to be decommissioned. The Master is right in the middle of it, looking to start World War III. In the end the Master escapes again, this time with the dematerialization circuit for his TARDIS. He makes sure to call the Doctor at the end and gloat, too. Typical Master.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #56, "The Mind of Evil," six parts
Adversary: the Master

Classic Lines: the Doctor, to the Brigadier: "Do you think for once in your life you could manage to arrive before the nick of time?!"; the Brigadier, in reply: "I'm glad to see you, too, Doctor."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: The Doctor says UNIT was established to deal with new and unusual menaces to mankind.
Next Up: "The Claws of Axos"

Doctor Who: Terror of the Autons

The story starts with the introduction of Jo Grant as the Doctor's new assistant. The Doctor is annoyed because she's an idiot, but the Brigadier says too bad, her family has connections and he had to give her a job. Then a Time Lord, incognito, pays the Doctor a visit.

He warns the Doctor that the Master has come to Earth and will most certainly try to kill him. The Master!! This story is the first appearance of this classic Doctor Who villain. The Doctor immediately sees signs that the Master is around causing trouble. He find a bomb and one of the scientists at a research facility has been shrunk.

This is a signature move of the Master. Another signature move: hypnotism. He puts people under his control and makes them do his bidding. He's currently working with the Nestene. Remember them? Oh, and Captain Mike Yates is around now. He's another member of UNIT. Benton is here, too.

the Doctor, Mike Yates, Jo Grant

Ugh, Jo is so dumb. She is even dumber here than in later stories. Anyway, the Master has taken control of a plastics factory so he can make Autons. He's using the pseudonym Colonel Masters. Clever!

The man himself. The Master.

By the end of the story, Jo is more likeable and the Doctor has foiled the Master's plan. The Master escapes, but the Doctor has the dematerialization circuit from his TARDIS so he's trapped on Earth. (The circuit conveniently doesn't work in the Doctor's TARDIS.) I'm excited for a string of upcoming Master stories. He's always fun.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Jo Grant
Episode: #55, "Terror of the Autons," four parts
Adversary: the Master and the Nestene/Autons

Classic Lines: the Master: "You will obey me."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: This is the first appearance of the Master. 
Next Up: "The Mind of Evil" 

Doctor Who: Inferno

Inferno is pretty well known among Whovians because of the parallel universe storyline. How do we know it's a parallel universe? The Brigadier wears an eyepatch!

The eyepatch means he's evil.

Make that the Brigade Leader wears an eyepatch. However, it takes two whole episodes before we finally get to the other Earth. In both timelines, scientists are drilling to the Earth's core to tap it for energy. This is always a good idea in science fiction stories...Green ooze is coming out and turning people into Primords, who go around killing people. There are drilling issues, too, but Professor Stahlman is full steam ahead no matter the warnings.

the Doctor, Section Leader Liz Shaw, and Brigade Leader Lethbridge-Stewart

Once the core is penetrated, all hell breaks loose. The Earth is doomed to disintegration. The Doctor tries to convince Liz Shaw and the Brigade Leader to give him power to use the TARDIS console to get back and save the parallel Earth, which isn't as far along in their drilling. The Doctor escapes just as lava engulfs the place, killing everyone who has helped him. It's a sad moment. Their counterparts are still alive, but we've come to like these other versions of them. Well, most of them. I wonder if the writers had fun with this. The Doctor always saves the day, but in this parallel universe he doesn't and they get to destroy the Earth this time.

He arrives back in his universe unconscious. Will he be able to avert disaster? I guess we know the answer to that since this isn't the last episode of the show.

Bye, Liz

This is Liz Shaw's final story, but she doesn't get any send-off or goodbye. In the next episode she's gone, and Jo Grant takes her place. It's unfortunate. They had an intelligent scientist companion and replace her with a flaky bimbo. Sorry, I'm not a fan of Jo.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Liz Shaw
Episode: #54, "Inferno," seven parts
Adversary: Primords, Professor Stahlman

Classic Lines: the Doctor, to Professor Stahlman: "I'll tell you something that should be of vital interest to you, professor. That you, sir, are a nitwit."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: The Doctor says his normal pulse is 170. 
Next Up: "Terror of the Autons

Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death

The story starts with a spaceship. Earth lost communication with its Mars astronauts, but here they come! Also, this:

What the heck is going on here?? The Doctor took the console out of the TARDIS? How? Also, note that the console has a light green tint. That's a holdover from the black and white days. It made the console look white on black and white screens.

They lose contact with the recovery craft sent to meet the Mars ship. All kinds of shenanigans ensue, and the mystery deepens. They retrieve the recovery craft, but when they open it, it's empty. The Doctor thinks that the astronauts are on the Mars craft still in orbit and that what came down in the recovery craft is alien.

This story is too long and a mess. I know why I didn't remember it now.

THE RUNDOWN

Doctor: Third
Companions: Liz Shaw
Episode: #53, "The Ambassadors of Death," seven parts
Adversary: aliens and Carrington

Classic Lines: the Doctor, after hearing the Brigadier is at Space Control and still peeved about what happened in the last story: "And the Brigadier thinks it's his business? Oh well, I suppose he's got to do something to occupy his mind now that he's blown up the Silurians."

Tuck This Away to Impress Your Friends: Corporal Benton has been promoted to Sergeant Benton, as he's usually known to Doctor Who fans.
Next Up: "Inferno"