HALLEJIAH! I’m done with school! That last class I was doing
is over and now it’s time for being an adult and for me that means plenty of
overtime hours to pay for Disneyland in September. Gotta do what you’ve gotta
do, right? In the meantime, how about some Doctor Who? This time I’ve got some
Third Doctor for you.
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| The "other" Brig and Liz look a little trippy in "Inferno". |
Season 7
Top Story: Inferno
Inferno was unique in this part of the Third Doctor era
because it played with the TARDIS more. It jumped to a parallel world and
actually used the TARDIS, which was rare during the Third Doctor era,
especially this early on. It was quite interesting seeing Liz and the Brigadier
in the parallel world. Gotta say that the Brigadier looks better with the
mustache.
Flop Story: The
Silurians
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| The Doctor teams up with Liz and the Brigadier to stop the Autons in "Spearhead from Space". |
It’s very possible that I didn’t care for this story because
I’d seen the Silurians in Matt Smith’s era of Doctor Who. Because of the
reverse order that I was introduced to them, I felt like this Silurian story
was basically the same as the Matt Smith one: Humans meet Silurians, the Doctor
tries to negotiate between them, and the humans screw it up. Maybe I’d have
liked this story better if I had watched it before I watched the Matt Smith
one.
Honorable Mention:
Spearhead from Space
This story not only introduced the Third Doctor to us, but
it also introduced the UNIT-based storyline, which would be the basis of Doctor
Who for the next five seasons, as well as many stories over the years since the
Third Doctor. It brought the Brigadier back as a main character, last seen in "The Invasion".
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| The Doctor essentially takes on a devil in "The Daemons" |
Season 8
Top Story: The
Daemons
This story brought a season’s long back-and-forth with the
Master to an end. It was kind of interesting to see the Doctor toy with
everyone, pretending to control Bessie with magic. It was one of those episodes
that toyed with the Doctor’s understanding of the world: does magic really
exist or not? Also, as a side note, Sergeant Osgood, who appears in this story,
was intended to be the father of Petronella Osgood, who works for UNIT in the Eleventh
and Twelfth Doctor eras.
Flop Story: The Mind
of Evil
This one was another convoluted plan by the Master to rule
the world. From what I remember of the story, it was kind of repetitive and it
didn’t engage me too much in what I was watching. Granted, maybe I was watching
it on a grave shift and I just don’t remember it properly.
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| Off the ground and the Doctor is dealing with space politician "Colony in Space" |
Honorable Mention:
Colony in Space
First time off world since the Doctor was grounded! Yay!
Though he didn’t have control over the TARDIS yet, but instead was at the mercy
of the Time Lords. All the same, it got a little bit of the space travel back
into Doctor Who. It also showed the Doctor’s new sonic screwdriver for the
first time. We’d seen it on occasion in the Second Doctor era, but it was this
Doctor who made it a more frequent companion.
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| The Doctor gets interrogated in "Day of the Daleks" |
Season 9
Top Story: Day of the
Daleks
So we get some more time travel shenanigans here, as well as
the return of the Daleks. This story got top marks from its creative use of
time travel. I liked having the little twists from the visitors from the
future. It was also the first time in years that the Daleks had appeared and we
all know how important the Daleks are in the Doctor’s life.
Flop Story: The Sea
Devils
It felt like this story was "The Silurians" all over again,
except this time we had the Master. So same formula as before: Humans meet Sea
Devils, the Doctor tries to negotiate between them, and the humans screw it up.
Maybe I didn’t give this story enough of a chance, but that was my impression
about it at least. Plus it took forever for the Sea Devils to even show up.
This story was honestly a lot more about the Master.
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| Discrimination still exists in "The Mutants" |
Honorable Mention:
The Mutants
Nice somewhat political statement about overthrowing the
native population. It’s also just this crazy idea that we think we know other
people, when really they’re just in the middle of their process. The settlers
thought the mutants were deadly and evil, when really they were only like that
because someone screwed up their metamorphosis. Undergone naturally, the
metamorphosis turned them into something beautiful. There’s a gospel metaphor
in there somewhere. I’m not sure where.
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| The Master tries to hypnotize Jo in "Frontier in Space" |
Season 10
Top Story: Frontier
in Space
Not too long after regaining the ability to travel in the TARDIS
(we’ll get to that in a second), the Doctor and Jo end up in the middle of a
war between the Draconians and Earth. It was an interesting, mind-twisting
plot. The humans were deceived into thinking the Draconians were attacking them
and the Draconians were deceived into thinking the humans were attacking them.
However, in reality, the attackers on both sides are the Ogrons, masked by a
hypnosis device. They’re led by the Master and, surprise, the Daleks (who we
see more of in the next story). This was kind of a sad story in hindsight
because it was the last appearance of the Master, as portrayed by Roger
Delgado. The Master wouldn’t be seen again until the Fourth Doctor era.
Flop Story: The Green
Death
This could have been an amazing story, with Jo falling in
love, saving the world, and leaving the Doctor. However, instead it kind of
came across as a tree-hugger story. I have nothing against tree-huggers… except
when it’s overdone. Also it doesn’t help that because of disputes about her
character, Katy Manning wouldn’t return as Jo until 2010 when she appeared in the
Sarah Jane Adventures.
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| The Second and Third Doctors have to work together to stop Omega. |
Honorable Mention:
Planet of the Daleks
This story directly followed “Frontier in Space” and it also
served as a sequel to the First Doctor story “The Daleks”, showing what
happened with the Thals after the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan left Skaro. As
a story itself it was great, but it was also just cool to see it tie things
together, both with the previous story and with one of the first First Doctor
stories.
Special Episode: The
Three Doctors
Honestly, this one could easily have had Honorable Mention,
so I had to put it in its own category to be fair. To start out Season 10,
Doctor Who had its 10th Anniversary Special, which featured the
First Doctor, the Second Doctor, and the Third Doctor. The Time Lords set the three
Doctors against Omega to stop him and in return they reward the Third Doctor
with his knowledge of how to pilot the TARDIS again. So after this story, it’s
back into the Time Vortex for some adventuring.
Season 11
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| The Doctor takes on a stegosaurus in "The Invasion of the Dinosaurs" |
Top Story: Invasion
of the Dinosaurs
Before I watched this story, I thought it sounded really
silly. When I watched it, it looked silly, with all of the plastic dinosaurs.
It was beautifully horrific special effects. However, the story wasn’t what I expected.
Somehow I imagined dinosaurs invading London and having that be the plot.
Instead, that’s just the diversion. Somehow I didn’t see that coming, at least
not at first.
Flop Story: Death to
the Daleks
It’s hard for me to say that any Dalek episode is bad, but
this story was just hard to follow. Perhaps this was another that I watched
during an overnight shift at work, but I just couldn’t get into it. It’s a
shame really because this was Sarah Jane’s first off-world adventure and the
first time she met the Daleks. I would have hoped for a more spectacular story.
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| The Doctor and Sarah Jane help out the Queen of Peladon |
Honorable Mention:
Monster of Peladon
Reaching back a couple seasons to “The Curse of Peladon”,
the Doctor and Sarah Jane travel here to visit, only to find out that many
years have passed. Even though I wasn’t a huge fan of Jo’s adventure to
Peladon, this one was kind of cool, as it played as a sequel to that original
story and it gave Sarah Jane some great personality. My favorite, as she said
to the Queen of Peladon, “There is nothing only
about being a girl.” As far as female characters go, Sarah Jane is great!
Third Doctor
Companions:
Liz Spearhead
from Space - Inferno
Jo Terror
of the Autons - The Green Death
Sarah Jane The
Time Warrior - (4th Doctor)
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| Jo became quite resourceful while she worked with the Doctor |
Favorite Companion:
Having watched modern Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane
Adventures, I’d have thought that Sarah Jane would be my favorite Third Doctor
companion. However, as much as I liked Sarah Jane, I loved Jo Grant. She
started out as the ditzy blonde, but she grew and matured and became stronger
and braver. Her character development was wonderful, turning from a dumb blonde
to a clever sidekick for the Doctor.
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| No one's sass can match up to Liz Shaw |
Least Favorite
Companion:
It was hard to choose my least favorite companion of the
Third Doctor, because I liked all three. However, if I have to choose one it
would be Liz Shaw. Liz was great and I loved her sarcasm and sass. The problem
is that, unlike Jo, her character was kind of flat. She was a skeptic when she
met the Doctor and that never really changed, even after seeing some of the
workings of the TARDIS and alien creatures. That being said, Liz only stayed
for one season. If she had been a companion longer and had a proper trip with
the Doctor, maybe things would have been different.
Alright. That’s all for now. I’m headed out to the Hill Cumorah
Pageant later this week. I’m going to try to post still while I’m gone, but
since I’m going to be super busy, I make no promises. If not sooner, I’ll see
you again in the second half of July.
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| Decades later, Sarah Jane and Jo met over the supposed death of the Doctor, but the Third Doctor's companions knew better |
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