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| The Brigadier Calls The Doctor |
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 The thirteenth season of Doctor Who started on the 30th August 1975 – just 16 weeks after Season Twelve finished. This start in the autumn was something that had not happened in the show, since 1968 with Season Six, and was done in order to get a jump on rival ITV's lavish new science-fiction drama, Space: 1999. This was the first full season to be headed by Producer Philip Hinchcliffe and Script Editor Robert Holmes.
For those watching the show at the time could not have not noticed that the themes of all the stories were heavily influenced by classic horror and science fiction films. With "Planet of Evil" being the first of the ‘gothic horror’ stories that became the hallmark of Philip Hinchcliffe.
Consisting of 6 stories and 26 episodes this season started with "Terror of the Zygons" which was the final story made as part of the twelfth recording block. Despite being a popular part of the show, throughout the whole of the Third Doctor’s era, this season saw The Doctor cutting ties with UNIT. Even though three stories featured UNIT ("Terror of the Zygons", "The Android Invasion" and "The Seeds of Doom", of the regular UNIT characters only Benton and Harry Sullivan appeared in "The Android Invasion" and none appeared in "The Seeds of Doom". This last story of the season marked the final notable appearance or reference to UNIT until the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Time-Flight".
"The Seeds of Doom" also marked the last occasion that The Doctor is explicitly said to be working for UNIT - as opposed to working with them as occasions warranted – and after "Terror of the Zygons" the popular semi-regular character, The Brigadier, would not appear again until the 1983 Fifth Doctor story "Mawdryn Undead". The Brigadier and Sergeant Benton had appeared in all the previous seasons since Season Five (for The Brigadier) and Season Six (for Sergeant Benton).
"Terror of the Zygons" was also the final story to feature Harry Sullivan as a regular cast member, although Ian Marter, who played this companion, would later return briefly, as an android duplicate of Harry Sullivan, in "The Android Invasion". The character of Harry Sullivan would return to assist the Fourth Doctor in the BBC Books' The Past Doctors Stories novels "System Shock" and "Millennium Shock" by Justin Richards. He was also mentioned in "Mawdryn Undead" in which Harry is said to be working for NATO. With Harry Sullivan’s departure The Doctor would not have another male companion until Adric's arrival in the 1980 story "Full Circle" in Season Eighteen.
Ian Marter continued to maintain a connection to the show. He went on to write several novelisations of Doctor Who stories for Target Books (including some in which he had appeared as Harry Sullivan) and he also authored an original Harry Sullivan spin-off novel, "Harry Sullivan's War", for Target's short-lived The Companions of Doctor Who range. Ian Marter also continued to act on stage and television, earning credits on programmes such as Bergerac and The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Sadly he died in October 1986.
Several of the stories in this season, particularly "Pyramids of Mars" and "The Brain of Morbius", are among the best-known of the 1970s-era storylines and are considered by many fans as classics. As well as visiting the Earth the TARDIS took the Fourth Doctor and his companion, Sarah Jane Smith, to Mars ("Pyramids of Mars"), Karn ("The Brain of Morbius") and to the most distant planet in the galaxy ("Planet of Evil").
Uniquely, all the stories in this season introduced new monsters to the show. None of whom have since made a reappearance on television. However, the Zygons and Morbius have though both returned in various books and audio stories. Neither the Daleks nor the Cybermen made an appearance in any of the stories during this season - the first time neither of these popular monsters appeared in a season since 1971 in Season Eight.
Viewing figures increased as the season progressed peaking at 11.7 million for "The Android Invasion" before dropping off slightly for the last two stories. Ironically despite "The Android Invasion" being the most popular story when this season was first broadcast this particular story has received the least amount of votes, for a story in this season, in two Doctor Who Magazine polls. The most popular story, in these polls for this season, was "Pyramids of Mars" which today is seen as a classic Doctor Who story and one of the best for Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor.
However, amidst the show’s soaring popularity, a new problem for the BBC reared its head in the form of Mary Whitehouse and her National Viewers and Listeners Association (NVALA). A self-appointed media watchdog, Mary Whitehouse had at times spoken out against violence and horror in Doctor Who in the past. But with the Philip Hinchcliffe/Robert Holmes formula encouraging these very elements, Mary Whitehouse went on the offensive, ultimately contributing to the break-up of this very successful production team at the end of the following season.
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| The Doctor with Morbius' Clay Head |
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The most memorable part of this season is in "Pyramids of Mars" – especially in the chilling sequence when The Doctor takes his companion Sarah Jane Smith to an alternative 1980 to show her the destruction that Sutekh would wreak on the Earth if allowed to escape. This story also contains the classic line spoken by The Doctor when he tries to break through the barrier surrounding the priory. Who can forget The Doctor wielding his sonic screwdriver and telling Sarah Jane Smith: Deactivating a generator loop without the correct key is like repairing a watch with a hammer and chisel. One false move and you'll never know the time again’.
"The Brain of Morbius" reveals a bit more of the history of Gallifrey and introduced Morbius - the one-time leader of the High Council who tried to steer the Time Lords down a path towards destruction and conquest. This story was influenced by Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and includes scenes where Sarah Jane Smith is terrorised by the headless monster that the fanatical scientist, Solon, has created using body parts from survivors of the spaceships that have crashed on the planet Karn – including the arm of his loyal servant Condo. Containing a grotesque headless monster, a fanatical scientist, a blind Sarah and of course Morbius’ resurrection this story is truly a classic.
At the end of "The Brain of Morbius" The Doctor challenges Morbius to a mind-bending contest. During this scene images of The Doctor's previous three incarnations appear. Various other images also appear during this battle of wills. While the identity of these other faces are never explicitly stated there has been a long running speculation that these are earlier incarnations of The Doctor, that precede the First Doctor or they may be that of Morbius. Whichever, this is a scene worth watching.
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(Position = 1 out of 31)
