Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: Robot (Story 75)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are many firsts in ROBOT - it's the first turn of Tom Baker as the Doctor, it's the first Harry Sullivan story, it's the first time we see the scarf, it's the fourth Doctor's first (and second) trip inside the TARDIS (we know the second trip takes us into THE ARK IN SPACE, but, where did the first land the Doctor?), and it may be the first time the Doctor has killed in cold blood... maybe.

ROBOT is everything the Pertwee years were and more. Picking up and dragging the chain that was UNIT, the series doesn't meddle with the formula too much just yet, but just enough to show us that things have really changed. The pace of this story is fast. Opening like an AVENGERS episode and running like Z CARS, this is a "thief in the night" plot spliced with some COLUMBO detective work which tells you from the title on that a ROBOT is the puppet and then wastes no time in telling us who is pulling its strings. This story zips, and had their been another actor other than Tom Baker in the role, then it may have tripped and fallen on its face as well. As it is, Baker is just as fast as the material and, even from the get go, wasn't scared to pull at his scarf and have fun with the story and us. Watching him and the story, you can't help but just get a sense of how effortless he made it all seem. ROBOT fires on every level here. The cast is top notch, old hat, yet still fresh, which is something of a surprise as the entire set up had been inherited from the Pertwee years. But you can't deny that the Baker/Sladen/Marter trio clicked right from the start.

The story itself borrows heavily from so many sources that when yout tie all the threads together it creates quite the blanket, but there is one thing different in ROBOT than most all other DOCTOR WHO stories - and its in the fact that the Doctor kills the "monster" here without a second thought. Granted, the robot was just that, and when you look back at the story, every time the Doctor encounters the robot, it's hostile, but I find it difficult to accept that the Doctor pays no heed to Sarah's observation and pleas of its "humanity" as the Doctor had often pleaded just the same case with the Brig time and again. Instead of reason, the Doctor rushed headlong into destruction and does so with glee. It's an unsettling moment at the end as what could have been the birth of a whole new form of life is reduced to rust, ash and then nothing.

As usual 2 ENTERAIN has gone out of their way to provide a host of extras. Commentary with Baker, Sladen, Dicks and Letts (uncredited on the extras listing) is casual, comfortable and often very funny. As always, Baker and Sladen demonstrate again why they made such a good team, while Dicks and Letts fill in as much production backstory as they can remember. The documentary follows the lead of all those that have come before it. It's a concise look at the shift change from Pertwee to Baker with some repeat from the commentary, but more face time with everyone involved. It's good, but won't knock your socks off. The review of the creation of the TUNNEL EFFECT is technical, but an interesting look at what would become DOCTOR WHO's most famous opening credit sequence and logo.

Text commentary is included and detailed and worth the time, but, have your remote handy and trigger finger on PAUSE as some of the passages are long, and flip by in under a two seconds or less.

It was smart marketing to release ROBOT shortly after the release of the NEW BEGINNINGS box set which featured Baker's last story LOGOPOLIS. While there are still many stories to go in the Baker years before it is complete, at least we have the bookends to make us feel safe. ROBOT may not go down as a classic, but it does go down easily and is a lot of fun, and for fans is a must buy.

ROBOT is significant for being the first full appearance of Tom Baker in the title role. The story is pretty typical of old-school science fiction: a slightly mad but benevolent scientist has created a robot which has been appropriated by a fringe organization. This group of intellectual supremacists (sort of a fascist MENSA) is using the robot to steal plans and materials for a disintegrator gun and essentially take over the world.

So it's fairly hokey, and of course it has all the elements longtime fans of the show have come to look upon with affectionate humor, like really bad special effects and dodgy acting. Particularly egregious is the bit where what is clearly a toy tank tries to sneak up on the robot (and fails.) Then there's Sarah Jane's curiously subdued reaction to a man being disintegrated right in front of her; she registers a look of mild disgust, as if she had just found some moldy cheese in her refrigerator.

The story has some twists, not all of which make sense. This was also typical of the old show, I think due to its serial nature. (It was probably less important for the story to work as a whole than it was to get people back for next week's installment.) It also has some contrived aspects (the mad scientist has by chance developed two other scientific breakthroughs, one of which exacerbates the problem and one which solves it) which pretty much telegraph the major plot turns as well. If this story had appeared somewhere else in the series, it would probably be considered average at best.

What saves this particular show, and what probably made it such a breakthrough when it was first aired, is how much Baker absolutely owns the role right from the start. Tom Baker *is* the Doctor. He says that himself, not out of egotism, but because he does actually feel like the character--a man slightly out of place in the human world. No doubt this is why he seems so perfect in the role. It's easy to see why this incarnation of the Doctor has become the most iconic.

DVD bonus features include:

-A featurette on the man who created the title sequences for the show since its inception in 1963, including the "time tunnel" concept which was used throughout most of the seventies as well as in the new series. It was interesting to see how the various effects were accomplished before the age of computers and digital graphics.

-A featurette on the turnover of the role from Jon Pertwee to Tom Baker and what was involved in it, what it meant for the show, and so on.

-A Blue Peter segment that I couldn't sit through for more than a minute or so. This bit is for kids only, I'm afraid. I think the only reason it is here is that it was filmed on the Doctor Who set.

-Running audio commentary from Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) and writer Terrance Dicks. Even the worst stories have had entertaining commentaries, and this one is especially good because Baker participates. It's surprising how much these people remember from their work over thirty years ago.

All in all this is a good package for a key (if not great) story. Even if you think the story is kind of lame there is a lot to like.

Until the launch of the new series three years ago, the biggest name associated with "Doctor Who" was Tom Baker. The fourth Doctor was, to many fans, the definitive Doctor, encompassing everything that was great about the character.

"Robot" is his debut story and serves as the beginnning of a new era and the end of another.

Picking up right where "Planet of the Spiders" left off, "Robot" is a positive delight after the dreary send off to the third Doctor's era. For three and a third episodes, the story clips along, being little more than reworking on the Frankenstein story only instead of a monster created by humanity, it's a robot. The robot is being used to steal various components of a disintegrator gun, which is one part of an overall plan to send humanity back to a golden age--one ruled by a cult of scientist who think they know best.

UNIT is called in to investigate and the Brigadier brings along the newly re-generated Doctor to look into things and hopefully solve the mystery.

Like I said, the story works for about three and a third episodes until the robot involved suddenly grows for no apparently good reason and it becomes a bad version of King Kong. This being "Doctor Who" the special effects are kind of a letdown (coupled with the funniest bad effect in history with an obviously plastic tank at the end of episode three). This could be overlooked if the story simply hadn't run out of things to do and padded things out with a giant robot stomping all over the countryside.

But I'm probably not telling "Who" fans anything they didn't already know here.

That said, "Robot" is still a lot of fun, despite the short comings of its final episode. It's fun to watch Tom Baker inherit and instantly inhabit his role as the Doctor. The story spends little time with a post-regenerative Doctor on the sidelines and its stronger for it.

And, as usual, this DVD is packed with extras. Once again, the "Doctor Who" DVDs show why they are the gold-standard by which most other TV shows on DVD releases are judged and found wanting. A documentary on casting Baker and the transition from one production staff to the next is included as well as a fascinating feature on the creation of the iconic opening credits for this era of the show. And then there's the commentary, featuring Baker himself, companion Elisabeth Sladen, writer Terrance Dicks and producer Barry Letts. Fun, informative and a pleasure to listen to, the commentary is one of the highlights of an impressive set of extras for this story.

Is "Robot" the best Dr Who story ever? No, not really. But it's still a fun introduction to the Tom Baker era. And this DVD has so many great extras as well as restored picture and sound that it's a must for anyone who likes "Doctor Who."

I met Doctor Who, so to speak, in 1978 when I began reading the issue of books being published in America. More precisely when I read an advertising booklet with Harlan Ellison's introduction and several excerpts from the first 2 books. Harlan sounded pompous, I scoffed, but I read, and I loved. From the books you don't get the idea that there are different actors playing the role, and that it was taken from a TV series. Well, I was 12 at the time, too.

Then I accidentally overheard a friend's mother say she saw 'Doctor Who' on WHYY the other night in late May 1979. I flipped out. She probably thought I was insane as I came alive and grilled her about the details of when it was on. And what I saw the next Friday night as episode 2 of 'Robot'. It was hard to see the Doctor as a 40 year old kook speaking obtusely and stalking about like an eccentric maniac, but it took very little time to enjoy it. In 1979 this TV series trounced everything America was doing on television with sci-fi, and by gar it still does (aside from the visual effects).

'Robot' is a little rough, but give it some slack - everything was changing: main actor, script editor, producer, supporting characters, writing direction, technical staff, etc. As Dicks and Holmes shook hands on script, Letts and Hinchcliffe were handing baton in producing, while Baker stormed in and used both hands to grip the wheel of character. And the show has all the efforts and intentions of the two best Doctor Who crews as they transferred creative power over 4 episodes. You get the Letts-Dicks UNIT-Invasion type story with the Holmes-Hinchcliffe motives of greed, idealism and ruthless disregard for life. Harry is a bit backwater and useless, added in case a frail actor became the Doctor, but he became a memorable companion though only in 7 stories. Everything in the show is memorable, though, from Sarah, the doctor, the amazing Robot outfit, the goofy King Kong type situation. It's definitely not the best story, but it has a quaint charm that isn't as embarrassing as many other Who stories.

Tom's Doctor must have been a splash of cold water over the audiences of Britain as he took the role away from the crotchety, kindly, and pompous older characterizations and did a kind of distrait, insane, genius Troughton-esque portrayal. It's obvious why the series picked up ratings when Baker debuted from his acting alone, but also the scripts and technical efforts.

The DVD is really good. The commentary is wonderful, and Letts-Dicks-Sladen-Baker are fun to listen to as they all have quite different personalities and rolls in the making of the story. I wish they had Hinchcliffe in there to make it a rabble. Commentaries from Dicks through Hinchcliffe are always fun because there was a lot of life and joy in upper ranks of the show's production at that time. The documentary 'Are Friends Electric' is very nice, with interviews by almost everyone still alive from the show, and how they related to the show, actors, and script at the time. Some great old script read footage was used, showing Dicks, Holmes, Baker, Marter, Christopher barry, and others hashing through before shooting began. There is a long awaited, but truly awful, documentary about how the title sequence was made. I am aware of how film works, and how they did post and compositing in those days, and I came away none the wiser as to how that sequence worked. I wish they broke it down and showed examples of how it was all put together, a stage at a time. I thought they used a reflective cone mirror at times over some airbrushed art to create the basic tunnel effect, thus the dark/matted center of screen. But aside from that, it's a great bargain for fans of the series, and a good show for anyone who likes fun sci-fi and can look beyond effects.

Having watched Doctor Who since the 70's, Tom Baker is my all-time favorite Doctor (though Christopher Eccleston runs a close second)! That said, I found this episode a bit clumsy in that Tom had not the chance to build into it his own persona. We do begin to see a tiny bit of his style come into play toward the end of the third and in the fourth parts; however, he still uses the little yellow car for "earthly transportation," and this is ill-fitting of Tom Baker (it vanishes later in his tenure).

Overall, the episode itself is not terribly dynamic. Furthermore, while some of the Doctor Who episodes carry well through the years, this one does not. The clumsy robot shows it's technological age (this episode is from the 70's), and the tank scene is so cheesy because the tank is so very obviously a toy replica filmed "large" in the foreground. Granted, these are some of the features we love about Doctor Who, but it is not well done in this episode. It is for these reasons I gave this episode three stars. Never fear though, things improve with time and future episodes!

The only DOCTOR WHO stories I remember vividly seeing as a child were the ones that had Tom Baker. At the time I didn't know who he was or really anything about DOCTOR WHO. Years later I caught an episode of DOCTOR WHO on PBS and it had a completely different Doctor. It wasn't the same show and I never watched another episode of DOCTOR WHO until the new series began broadcasting on the Sci-Fi Channel.

I recently began catching up on old DOCTOR WHO episodes and decided to go back and watch the first story where Tom Baker appeared as the Doctor. That episode is "Robot".

"Robot" begins where the previous episode ended. The Third Doctor has been "mortally injured" and is regenerating into his newest form. That form turns out to be a much younger, jubilant, and whimsical Doctor in the form of Tom Baker. The Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) has medical doctor Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) perform some basic tests and observations to make sure everything's alright. Meanwhile, several high security locations that hold classified information or materials have been broken into. Reports claim that a giant robot is behind the crimes, so they are connected, but no one can figure out exactly who's responsible and why they are doing it. No one would suspect that a group of fascist scientists is behind it all.

"Robot" is a tie-in episode that brings together two completely different versions of DOCTOR WHO. All of the action of the story takes place on Earth and the heavy involvement of UNIT all harkens to the preceding John Pertwee adventures as the Doctor. Meanwhile, the Doctor's playful antics, the interesting use of his scarf, the witty wordplay, and longing to take a trip at the end of the episode hint at how different the Fourth Doctor is from his previous incarnations.
The plot of the story is a mish-mash between Frankenstein and King Kong.

Overall, "Robot" is a typical classic DOCTOR WHO episode complete with cheesy special effects. However, with the arrival of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, "Robot" foreshadows a different type of DOCTOR WHO that is to come; one that will not be bound on Earth.

Extras on the DVD include a commentary with Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Terrance Dicks, and Barry Letts; a featurette entitled "Are Friends Electric?" about the changing of the show that began in 1974 with the beginning of Tom Baker's years as the Doctor; a short segment from a British tv show called BLUE PETER that was filmed on the set of this story of DOCTOR WHO; a featurette entitled "The Tunnel Effect" with Barnard Lodge, the man who developed the title sequences for the first four DOCTOR WHO incarnations, including the "time tunnel" concept that was used throughout the Tom Baker years and has now been revived with the new DOCTOR WHO series; and production notes.

This is the 1st Tom Baker episode as the Doctor. He would go on to define the role to which all others after will be compared to. The doctor has just regenerated. During this time a mechanical Robot is stealing plans and things to create a weapon. As the doctor suffers from post regenerative trauma Sarah Jane Smith trys to find the link between a scientific group and the strange happenings. She is the first to see the Robot. The Doctor now recovered sets out to help the brigidere bring down this group before there plot to take over the world can start. Tom Baker is just the best in the role. This is the first of back to back to back stories featuring fan favorite Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan. The police box will never be the same.

- The new Doctor, gazing at his new reflection: "As for the physiognomy... well, nothing's perfect. I've to take the rough with the smooth. Mind you, I think the nose is a definite improvement. As for the ears, well, I'm not too sure."

With the excellence of the latest crop of actors to play the Doctor (Eccleston, Tennant), Tom Baker is now sometimes overlooked. Whowouldathunkit? Was not that long ago when Tom Baker was regarded as the Doctor of choice by near everyone. Moppet-coiffed and mischievous and damn eccentric, Tom Baker sauntered in back in 1974 and instantly owned the series. To this day, he's still my favorite Doctor. But we won't talk about his passing resemblance to Harpo Marx, yeah?

Jon Pertwee bows out in episode #74 ("Planet of the Spiders"), his Doctor mortally weakened and in need of regeneration. Episode #75 ("Robot") kicks off a four-part story arc and introduces the fourth Doctor who barely has time to settle in before he's asked to help investigate a rash of strange robberies, all having to do with a secret weapon - a disintegrator gun, to be exact. The Doctor soon stumbles onto an evil organization intent on topsy-turvying the status quo in favor of a scientific new world order.

"Robot" isn't the most epic of the Doctor's adventures, but it's still very much fun. Tom Baker, from the get-go, injects fresh energy and a charming quirkiness. I right away took to him and liked him even better when, early on, he unexpectedly began doing calisthenics. And he made me want to invest in scarves so lengthy they could span the space-time continuum. As you can intuit from the episode's title, there's a robot in the house, and it's a murderous one, although it's suspected that it may be working against its protocol. It's hard to take the killer robot seriously, though, crafted cheesily as it was in the 1970s and, by comparison, making Robbie the Robot seem sleek and cutting edge. However, a cool thing is the parallel drawn to the Frankenstein monster and there's even a bit of that King Kong flavor. Don't be surprised should you end up sympathizing with this killer robot. A part of it recognizes that the brutal acts it's being forced to carry out conflict with its prime directive, which is to never do harm to humanity. There's a really poignant moment when this metal construct, tortured killer robot that it is, seeks out its maker, Professor Kettlewell, and pleads for his help.

This was during an era when the Doctor worked in closer tandem with the global security organization UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce), for which the Doctor often acted as scientific adviser. This means that UNIT's Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart was very much front and center, and that's a good thing. I always thought that Nicholas Courtney, with his commanding, no-nonsense presence and his innate Britishness, added something to the tale. And he always did make a terrific foil for the Doctor. And as companions to the Doctor go, the ever inquisitive journalist Sarah Jane Smith ranks as one of the most memorable. Sarah Jane was well thought of enough that she was even given her own series some short years ago. It's a good series, too. Oh, and fellow companion Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter), who was described as a Bulldog Drummond sort by the show's creators, makes his debut.

The DVD's very good special features: audio commentary by Elisabeth Sladen, writer Terrance Dicks, producer Barry Letts, and the always entertaining Tom Baker; the 39-minute-long documentary "Are Friends Electric?" which goes into Tom Baker's introduction as the Doctor and what went into the making of the new Doctor's first story arc; "The Tunnel Effect" (14 minutes) - graphic designer Bernard Lodge, who designed the show's first five title sequences, details the techniques behind the Tom Baker Doctor's tunnel vortex title sequence; a two-minute clip of "Blue Peter" - a popular BBC children's television program - staged on the set of the "Robot" episode; a photo gallery; view the Radio Times listings in PDF format (a DVD-ROM feature); and an option to view pop-up info text whilst watching the episodes (for Doctor Who fans, this is a treasure chest of fun facts).

Why the 5 star rating? This isn't the best Doctor Who story in the series, and yet I liked it quite a bit, liked it for the near soulful automaton, for Sarah Jane and the Brigadier and for the likable Harry Sullivan. But, more than those, this is where Tom Baker makes his debut, and, in terms of relevance, of historical context concerning this series, that's worth all the stars I can give the thing. I still look at him as the best Doctor. Tom Baker, with his off-left-field, larger-than-life interpretation, played the peculiar Time Lord from 1974 to 1981, and so far has held the longest running stint as the Doctor. And yet his scarf was even longer than that.

This story is a great example of a typical Doctor Who story. It really does feel like it was written for Jon Pertwee, but this makes sense because this is Tom Baker's first appearance. Tom playing Jon's role makes the transition feel smoother, in spite of the fact that through most of the first part of the story the new Doctor seems to be confused by his transition.

One reviewer suggested that this was a homage to "King Kong", but I feel that it was more like "Frankenstein", and "I, Robot". The story is a good one, an artificial life form (the robot) is created with Asimov's limitations put in place. Right after it was activated ("born"), its prime directives are put in direct conflict with its primary orders. The result is confusion, chaos, and, due to the immensity of the robot's intellect, and due to the combined intellects and ambitions of its creators, the world is put into danger.

This idea is amplified when the robot was made to grow larger. I am not sure why this was necessary. It is fun, in a way, but the special effects become bad at this point. The story-line would have been stale if it were not for the actors which includes UNIT, the Brigadier, the evil-scientist, and the robot. I am not sure how they pulled it off, but they did. Tom Baker (Doctor Who) and Elizabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith, his "sidekick") were both very entertaining. The story is loaded with good quips and distractions, some of them very humorous.

I liked this story mostly because it seemed to take Doctor Who out of the past, old-style science fiction, into the present. Everything seems to "wake up", it was like opening the shades on the windows. Doctor Who becomes more colorful, more exciting, more interesting from this point on. I think too that this story might have been a message, from the show to the audience, as to what they should expect things to be like in Doctor Who stories from now on.

I was not particularly enamored of Dr. Who until this new series came out. My family and I love the new Dr. Who, own the first three seasons on DVD. However, in an episode during the second season and with a new series of her own we really liked Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith. This caused us to order this 1970s show which featured a much much younger Sarah Jane. We were surpriesed at how much we enjoyed it, though not nearly as much as the current ones. We see why Tom Baker is a favorite of many older Dr. Who fans.