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| The Doctor and Sarah |
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 Season Eleven is mainly remembered for being Jon Pertwee's final season as the Third Doctor. His last regular story was "Planet of the Spiders" which included at the very end the first, albeit very brief, appearance of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor.
This season though started with the introduction of Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elisabeth Sladen), who would become arguably the most popular of all The Doctor's companions and a frequently featured character in the show and many spin-off shows. The intrepid Metropolitan Magazine reporter Sarah Jane Smith’s first story was "The Time Warrior", the season opener, which also introduced another new popular alien species: the Sontarans. Even though the Sontarans would never be as popular, or as well known, as the Daleks or the Cybermen they would make many further appearances in the show. "The Time Warrior" also, for the first time, named The Doctor's homeworld as ‘Gallifrey’.
This story also introduced the now famous diamond shaped Doctor Who logo and tunnel effects. It was used for all five stories in this season and then carried on being be used during the first half of the Tom Baker era. It even continued to be used on the merchandise well after it stopped being used in the show.
Containing the now standard 26 episodes over 5 stories this season continued the format, of a mixture of Earth bound and the visiting of alien planets, which had proved successful with previous seasons. As well as the introducing the Sontarans this season contained another Dalek story as well as a return to the planet of Peladon - where The Doctor gets to meet Alpha Centauri, Aggedor and The Ice Warriors once again. But this time the Ice Warriors are not as friendly as they had been in the previous Peladon story "The Curse of Peladon". In the other stories The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith have to contend with dinosaurs roaming the streets of London and some rather large spiders.
This season was the last to be subject to the BBC's then-current policy of junking old episodes. For reasons unknown, only the first episodes of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" and "Death to the Daleks" were erased. Thankfully a Black and White copy of "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" was retained the first episode of "Death to the Daleks" was later discovered and returned to the BBC.
Sadly this is the first season, since Season Eight, not to include any story involving The Master. This was due to Roger Delgado, who had played the first on-screen incarnation of The Master, being killed in a car crash the previous year. This meant that the production team were unable give this character the dramatic send-off that they had planned in the season finale. This season was also the last to prominently involve UNIT. Already The Brigadier, Sergeant Benton and Captain Mike Yates had been appearing less and less. As well as being Jon Pertwee’s last regular story, "Planet of the Spiders" was also Richard Franklin’s final regular appearance in the show as Captain Mike Yates - though Richard Franklin later made a cameo appearance in the 25th Anniversary special "The Five Doctors", in 1983, and the Thirtieth-Anniversary Children In Need special "Dimensions in Time", in 1993.
During the recording of this season major changes also occurred behind the scenes with both Producer Barry Letts and Script Editor Terrance Dicks announcing that they intended to leave the show at its end. By the time he left Barry Letts had been producer of the show for five years and he has the accolade of producing every single Third Doctor story except for first story – the 1970 Season Seven opener "Spearhead From Space". Barry Letts’ final story, as producer, was the Fourth Doctor story "Robot" which opened Season Twelve. However, "Robot" was recorded at the end of the eleventh recording block and parts of Tom Baker’s first story were recorded at the same time as "Planet of the Spiders".
Terrance Dicks had been the show’s Script Editor for six years. His first contribution in this role was for the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Invasion". After leaving Doctor Who Terrance Dicks returned to freelance writing but he maintained a very close connection with the show, providing several scripts for the programme and becoming the primary contributor to the Target Books' range of Doctor Who novelisations as well as writing original Doctor Who novels for both Virgin Books and BBC Books. He also wrote the stage play "Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure".
With these imminent changes and with the departure of Katy Manning, who had played companion Jo Grant, the previous year, along with the death of Roger Delgado, meant that all the key ingredients of this era of the show had started to unravel. These factors, combined with suffering from chronic back pain, finally convinced Jon Pertwee that it was time to for him to leave the show.
The Third Doctor was every bit the gentleman and Jon Pertwee would remain a popular Doctor. Whereas the first two Doctors generally insinuated themselves into events discreetly, the Third Doctor was a man of action, aggressively joining the fray whenever he could. This was a Doctor who was unafraid to pitch in with his physical skills, often bringing his mastery of Venusian aikido into play when the situation called for it. But much like his predecessors, his keen mind was still his primary asset, and this was a Doctor who particularly loved to create and play with gadgets of all sorts. This passion displayed itself both in terms of the Third Doctor's scientific bent and in his love of vehicles, such as Bessie - his yellow roadster - and the Whomobile - his ultramodern hovercraft. Jon Pertwee returned to the show several times - for the 20th anniversary story "The Five Doctors" in 1983, the Thirtieth-Anniversary Children In Need special "Dimensions in Time", in 1993, in the stage play "The Ultimate Adventure" and recording two BBC Radio dramas, "The Paradise of Death" and "The Ghosts of N-Space." Sadly Jon Pertwee passed away in May 1996 while on holiday in New York.
Back though to Season Eleven - as this season came to end, the viewers had the prospect of accepting a new actor playing the part of The Doctor as well as a major shake-up of the production team. But as this era of the show drew to a close another new era was about to start – one that that would include the longest serving and most memorable Doctors of all time and one that would make the show just as popular – maybe even more so…
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| The Great One |
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The first story, "The Time Warrior", introduced new companion to be, Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elisabeth Sladen). This comes about when she enters the TARDIS and unwittingly becomes a stowaway when The Doctor travels back in time chasing after a strange apparition that turns out to be an alien kidnapping scientists who he then uses to repair his damaged spaceship. On arriving in the middle-ages Sarah, not realising that the TARDIS is a time machine, is not aware that she is no longer in the twentieth century. When she finds herself inside Irongron's castle she convinces herself that the castle is either part of a theme park or a film set.
This story also includes the first appearance of a Sontaran - a race of cloned warriors who are continually battling their sworn enemies, the Rutons. The classic scene of this story, and the whole season, must be when Linx, unaware that he is being watched by The Doctor, who is hiding across the courtyard of Irongron's castle, removes his helmet so revealing his large bloated head.
Despite being one of the poorest Dalek stories "Death to the Daleks" contains some well thought puzzles for The Doctor to negotiate in his quest to reach the centre of the Exxilon’s city. The puzzles include an electrified the floor which The Doctor is seen to use his sonic screwdriver to negotiate. The Daleks though are close behind but the bolts of electricity do no serious damage to them and so The Doctor and Bellal, a friendly Exxilon, have to hurry up if they are to reach the control room before the Daleks catch them up.
In "The Monster of Peladon" we have The Doctor realising that the Ice Warriors, which he last met during his previous visit to Peladon, are not as friendly as they had been before. And for those of you who warmed to the character of Alpha Centauri - the hermaphroditic hexapod who is tall, green, has one large blue eye, six arms and a high-pitched voice - in "The Curse of Peladon" then this unforgettable alien also makes a return.
The ‘must see’ event of this season though must go to the very end of the final story, "Planet of the Spiders". After confronting the Great One, The Doctor is affected by a large concentration of radiation – forcing him to regenerate again. When the TARDIS materialises in the UNIT HQ, The Doctor stumbles out of his TARDIS and collapses onto the floor. This event is witnessed by Sarah and The Brigadier. Sarah though is completely unaware of what is about to happen but for The Brigadier he is used to The Doctor’s ability to change – hence his statement ‘Well, here we go again’. And so before their very eyes The Doctor regenerates into his next incarnation. And so the Fourth Doctor's era is about to start.
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(Position = 16 out of 31)
