Whovember Part 6: 1973 to 1975

In today's Whovember, we are taking a look at the end of the Pertwee era, and the beginning of the Tom Baker years, which also features some more famous firsts...

Year 11: 1973 to 1974 - The Time Warrior

No matter how high or low one rates The Time Warrior as a story, it’s hard to deny it’s a very important serial; there are four big firsts in here. (Technically six; a new design for the TARDIS key, the one that sticks around right up until the TV Movie, debuts in this story, but you have to really pay attention to notice it.  Also, from this point on, they are “Part”s not “Episode”s in the title sequence.)  Going from least to most significant, we have a redesign of the title sequence, one that’s almost a prototype for Tom Baker’s titles, giving us the diamond logo for the first time, which of course has been reinvented for this anniversary.  It’s a nice revamp of things, and that logo would stick around a good long while, becoming the default on the VHSs and more.  Then we have in this story the name Gallifrey mentioned for the first time; it’s remarkable that at this point we have known about Time Lords for four years, but this is the first time the actual name of their homeworld is said.  Mind, new Who didn’t mention it for a couple of years either…

Now for the more significant stuff; this is our introduction to the Sontarans.  These belligerent potato lads would become fan favourites, and with good reason, given our introduction to them via Linx.  We learn so much from just him; their military culture, their level of technology, their attitude to all other races, their weakness of the probic vent (not that they see it as a weakness), and much more.  What a great look for them too; they, like many of Who’s best monsters, have a very distinctive and unique silhouette, making them identifiable at a glance.  They would have many appearances over the years, in the show and in spin-off media, with their most recent outing in Flux including a good shout-out to this story.  Interestingly, this one is that Terrance Dicks pitched to writer Robert Holmes, and later on Holmes would pitch to Dicks one set in a lighthouse, which became Horror of Fang Rock, where we got to meet the Sontarans’ arch enemies the Rutans.

But this is a hugely important story for one more reason; the debut of Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith.  It’s hard to overstate how much she nails this debut, helped by having a lot to work with from the script.  Right from the start, Sarah is proactive in investigating, refusing to take any shit, getting involved, and not lagging behind the Doctor.  She makes a few mistakes, but not unreasonable ones given what she sees across the story.  She is instantly iconic, and from this story alone, you can understand why not only she became one of the most well remembered classic companions (her chemistry with Pertwee alone ensures that), but why she was asked to reprise the role come New Who, and of course the Sarah Jane Adventures.
So there you go, a story that’s a huge milestone in Who history; it’s a good thing that it’s a damn fun story too!  It’s hugely enjoyable, from Irongron and Linx’s interactions, to set pieces like the Doctor fending off an attack on the castle almost single handed, to fun side characters like Professor Rubeish.  It’s easily the highlight of Pertwee’s final season (though to be honest it’s not saying that much), one of the best Third Doctor serials period, and it’s a great one to show people trying Classic Who for the first time.

Year 12: 1974 to 1975 - Genesis of the Daleks 

Oh man, another toughie.  Not only is there all of Tom Baker’s debut season, Season 12, but also, due to a change in the schedules that happened in this time, moving Who from the start of the year to the Autumn, I get the first bit of Season 13 too.  I have to pick from the half of the Phillip Hinchcliffe era, perhaps one of the strongest eras Who ever had.  A hard one, but you know what?  I’m going to have to go with the obvious here, although for very personal reasons.  I mentioned before that The Daemons was my first proper exposure to TV Who, however, from later on in that same repeat season, came this serial, making this the first Who story I watched from start to finish, and boy did it set the bar pretty high.  Mind, I’ll be honest, being seven I didn’t get everything that was going on, but I was fascinated throughout.  Coming back to it over the years in various forms, from the audio cassette version, the novelisation, and a later repeat, I began to appreciate it more and more.  On that note, this story is one that has been repeated on terrestrial BBC more times than any other, in full and edited omnibus forms, which leads to an interesting chicken & the egg thought; is it so well thought of because it’s been repeated so often, or was it repeated so often because it’s so well thought of?

I’m leaning towards the latter there because, well, it’s really that good.  Apparently this story sort of happened after Barry Letts asked Terry Nation, when he pitched another Dalek script after Death to the Daleks, “Look, this is the third time you're bought us a version of this story, could you try something really different next time?”.  Well, he delivered!  We have a powerful tale of the futility of war, of fascist ideology, of indoctrinating a new generation post defeat, and a whole lot more.  A lot happens to fill six episodes (well, with a few bits of padding like the Clams), leading to some great set pieces, including the Doctor’s powerful “Do I have the right?” dilemma.  Of course, that point is all the stronger for having the main villain be Davros, who never questions whether or not he has the right to do anything, because he will always just assume “Yes!”.  Michael Wisher is fantastic as him, setting up the role for later actors perfectly, again aided by a distinctive design, and a lot of great dialogue to work with. As for the Daleks themselves, though they aren’t in it nearly as much as other serials of the era, they seem so much more like an intimidating force here; after a pretty poor showing for them just one season earlier, this is them at their peak, selling well the idea that the Time Lords would be worried enough about them to send the Doctor on this mission.

Speaking of that, let’s talk about the impact this story had. Firstly, this redefined the Daleks, in that not only is Davros in every Dalek story in the classic series going forward (bar the appearance in The Five Doctors), but also it retconned their origin.  Their origin story here makes for a more powerful storytelling tool, with their design and creation by Davros standing in for how, say, a political movement like Nazism is formed, and their writing from this point on would firmly reflect this.  Secondly, by having the Time Lords take this action, it is effectively the first shot fired of The Time War, and the ones to do so are The Time Lords.  This would inform a huge amount of the series' lore going forward, leading to many occasions where the Doctor questions his decisions in this story.  (Mind, in a recent mini-series, Big Finish suggested that actually going ahead and taking the genocide route could have gone extremely badly.)   Again, like the Time Warrior, it’s fortunate that this important part of Who lore is an extremely enjoyable story too, Giant Clams and all.  See it, if only to see a very young Guy Siner from ‘Allo Allo! getting some early practice at playing a fascist.

Tomorrow, we're having a look at a great tale with a slightly redundant title, and at a time that showed that 70s Who understood Isaac Asimov's works far better than Alex Proyas and Will Smith did...