 |
| A New Face |
|
 One of the most important things about Season Twelve is the fact that it quickly establishes Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor with his memorable performance in "Robot". But it is not just in this first story as it doesn't let up until the end of the season thanks to the quality of the stories and the combination of The Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and new companion Harry Sullivan.
This season was originally planned to contain twenty six episodes but was cut short by a change in start date for the following season. Therefore at only twenty episodes this was the shortest season so far in the shows history. Despite this it is still managed to contain a lot of well admired elements - namely Tom Baker's introduction and of course "Genesis of the Daleks" - the classic story that revealed, for the first time on television, the creation of the Daleks and which introduced Davros - proving that the BBC were still able to achieve big successes, due in no small part to the phenomenal impact still made by the Daleks.
As this season progressed it was clear that Doctor Who was moving further away from the Earth bound stories which had sustained the show during the Third Doctor's era. This of course meant a move away from the much liked UNIT stories that were the main-stay of the Third Doctor’s era.
The stories in this season, despite containing traditional elements and the return of some well known villains (including the Sontarans, the Daleks and the Cybermen) were starting to give an indication that the show was undergoing a significant change of style under the new production team of Robert Holmes (replacing Terrance Dicks as Script Editor) and Philip Hinchcliffe (replacing Barry Letts as Producer).
Barry Letts had been producer of the show for five years – helming every story from "Doctor Who and the Silurians" until "Robot". Despite "Robot" being his last credited involvement in the show as Producer, Barry Letts continued to supervise Philip Hinchcliffe for the next two stories - these being "The Ark in Space" and "The Sontaran Experiment".
One of the unique features of this season is the fact that the stories continue on from each other, and this was something that hadn't really been seen during the Jon Pertwee years. As there is a progression through each of the stories following "Robot" continuing through to "Terror of the Zygons" helps to ensure that there was something extra special about this season.
Both "The Ark in Space" and "Genesis of the Daleks" are the standout stories in a season of consistent quality. Also, apart from "Robot", the stories possessed much more realistic and horrific qualities with themes based on warfare, racial hatred and genetic experiment being explored much deeper than in the past. This was only the start of a trend which would be continued into Season Thirteen.
It was early days for Philip Hinchcliffe at the helm. But already he was making his mark on the show. He believed that in order to expand the show's core audience, it was necessary to broaden the show's appeal to adults. This though had a knock on effect with both "The Sontaran Experiment" and "Genesis of the Daleks" generating considerable outcries about the level of violence portrayed. Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers' and Listeners' Association even complained that the Dalek story contained ‘tea-time brutality for tots’. Despite this the viewing figures for this season were high (an average of 10 million viewers) with the highest viewed story being "The Ark in Space" with 11.1 million viewers (13.6 million viewers watched the second episode – making it one of the most watched episodes). This helped make Season Twelve one of the best in Tom Baker's time as The Doctor and must go down as one of the best in the history of Doctor Who.
Any fears that the public might react badly to Tom Baker's new Doctor, following Jon Pertwee's five-year tenure, were quickly allayed. With the second episode of "The Ark in Space" obtaining the highest chart position ever achieved, in the original run of the show, this was just the first sign of the incredible success Tom Baker would bring to the show.
The millions of viewers at the time who tuned in could scarcely have realised that they were witnessing the start of the transformation of Doctor Who from British television stalwart to worldwide cult phenomenon...
|
|
|
 |
| Can The Doctor Destroy the Birth of the Daleks? |
|
The first story, "Robot", contains the introduction of the Fourth Doctor. Tom Baker quickly establishes himself as The Doctor with ease and his performance during this story, and especially the first episode, is well executed. Of special note is his confrontation with Harry Sullivan when he is trying to convince the UNIT's medical officer that he is The Doctor when he states: ‘You may be a doctor. But I'm The Doctor. The definite article, you might say’.
Another must see story is "Genesis of the Daleks". This story has the scene where The Doctor has a dilemma between his duty to the Time Lords and his own conscience about destroying the whole Dalek race at it’s out-set.
The Doctor finally had the opportunity to destroy the embryonic creatures which will become the Daleks. All he had to do was to touch two wires together. But this simple operation thwarts him as he battles with his conscience telling Sarah Jane Smith 'Do I have the right? Simply touch one wire against the other and that's it. The Daleks cease to exist. Hundreds of millions of people, thousands of generations can live together without fear… But if I kill. Wipe out a whole intelligent life form, then I become like them. I'd be no better than the Daleks'. But even as Sarah tries to persuade him to carry out his duty for the Time Lords you can really see, and feel, The Doctor's anguish.
This may be the classic scene of this story but "Genesis of the Daleks" contains many other elements which has made it one, if not the most popular Doctor Who story in the whole of the series’ history. As well as revealing for the first time on television the creation of the Daleks this story introduced Davros – the mad Kaled scientist who created the Daleks so that the Kaled race could survive after years of chemical and radiation weapons being used in their war against the Thals. So popular was the character of Davros that he would subsequently appear in all the following Dalek stories of the original series. But this, his first, story must be considered as being his best.
Also in this story listen out for the classic discussion between The Doctor and Davros about the use of a hypothetical viral weapon which resulted in the famous line spoken by Davros:
‘Yes. Yes. To hold in my hand a capsule that contained such power. To know that life and death on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure of my thumb, enough to break the glass, would end everything. Yes. I would do it. That power would set me up above the gods. And through the Daleks, I shall have that power!’.
|
|
|
(Position = 5 out of 31)
