Doctor Who - Reverse The Polarity - An Analysis Of The Pertwee Era
Part Five - Season 11
By the time we come to the end of season ten, it already seemed set in stone that the building built up of strong foundations of the UNIT family which formed Doctor Who was about to collapse. The end of an era was pretty much personified by the time we get to Season Eleven.
The regular production team had decided that it was time to move on. Jon Pertwee had said that this next season was to be his last, Katy Manning who played the doctor's friend and companion Jo Grant had left in the previous story "The Green Death" and Roger Delgado who had played the Doctor's arch-enemy The Master had tragically been killed in a car accident whilst filming on location in Turkey; and some how the family wasn't the same.
The show was starting to move in a new direction away from UNIT, there was a new companion being introduced for the Doctor, UNIT was being used in fewer and fewer stories so faithful supporting characters such as The Brigadier and Sergant Benton were not being included as much.
When Jon Pertwee had come to the decision that he wanted to move on from Doctor Who, it didn't come as any surprise to Producer Barry Letts, and Script Editor Terrance Dicks. After all Pertwee had been in the role for five years now, he had out longed his two predecessors William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton; both of which had done three years each. Pertwee's reasons for leaving were he was worried that he would be stuck in the role of The Doctor in Doctor Who forever, he was having to turn down other work such as big movies, and west end plays because of his commitments to the show and also felt that the family was breaking up and it was time for a change.
Hence came the beginning of a new era to Doctor Who, starting with the casting of a new companion who would go on to be one of the most beloved characters in Doctor Who's history.
SARAH JANE SMITH
This is something which goes unnoticed by most people, however, at first the part of Sarah Jane Smith wasn't originally offered to Elisabeth Sladen.
Doctor Who producer Barry Letts offered the part of Sarah Jane to actress April Walker, who accepted the role and was duly contracted by the BBC. During rehearsals for the first story of the season The Time Warrior, it became clear to Jon Pertwee and Letts that the two leads had little rapport and were physically mis-matched.
It has been claimed that Pertwee demanded for the part to be recast, because he said he would not play opposite an actress who was taller than him. Letts therefore released Walker from her contract though she was still paid in full for season 11.
Letts began a second batch of auditions and saw Elisabeth Sladen after a recommendation from fellow BBC producer Bill Slater, who had twice cast the actress recently in separate episodes of
Z-Cars.
Sladen performed her audition alongside actor Stephen Thorne and after impressing Letts, he arranged for her to meet Pertwee before any decisions were made. Pertwee stood behind Sladen and gave a 'thumbs-up' to Letts who then offered her the role. However, Sladen at first wasn't aware when she went to the audition that the role she was auditioning for was for the doctor's companion, she thought it was for a part in one episode of Doctor Who. That one episode turned into eighty-five and Sarah Jane Smith became one of the doctor's longest serving companions, co-starring in eighteen stories with the Third and Fourth Doctors.
She would later go on to star in her own spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, none of the other classic companions had that. There is something special about Sarah Jane that we as an audience love so much, is it the twinkle, is Liz Sladen, is it the relationship she has with the Doctor? It could be a number of those things.
THE TIME WARRIOR
For The Time Warrior Script Editor Terrance Dicks sought a historical setting, something the series had avoided since Patrick Troughton's early days. Stalwart Robert Holmes was chosen to write this adventure. It had always been Holmes's belief that historical stories were unpopular with viewers. Historical episodes from the William Hartnell years often had low audience figures as it was lead to believe they switched off because they were bored of the history lesson they were being given.
Therefore he introduced a new sub genre - the pseudo-historical by doing history stories with strong science fiction elements. For this story the SF element was a single dangerous alien, rather than an entire race. And that alien was the superb Sontaran, Linx; one of the best realised aliens of the time.
So impressive was Holmes's work, that he was subsequently chosen to take over from Dicks as Doctor Who's Script Editor. He was quick off the mark to exact his revenge, and commissioned Dicks to write a historical story set on a lighthouse. (Horror of Fang Rock)
As a post script, it is worth mentioning that amongst all the swords and so called 'sorcery' of Holmes's Middle Ages, a legacy was born. For in this story we have the first mention of the name of the Doctor's home planet. - Gallifrey.
INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS
British television in the early 1970s had many iconic images, and Jon Pertwee's Doctor teaming up with UNIT to stop invasions was an integral part of Saturday night viewing. It was during the original transmission of Invasion of the Dinosaurs that the media first reported that Pertwee would be leaving Doctor Who.
Looking back now, this was perhaps the ideal story in which the signal for an era's end was made.
Now entering his fifth season, the Third Doctor blatantly leapt to Earth's defence time after time, with his cloak billowing behind him and the Brigadier supporting him all the way.
All manner of alien threats had tried to invade our world, and in this story the ultimate in monsters had finally arrived - dinosaurs! The Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex were creatures the viewing public had long wanted their time-travelling hero to face, and the cliffhanger endings to four of the six episodes pit the Doctor against various prehistoric beasts.
Of course, on a restrictive 1970's television budget, the appearance of Cretaceous creatures required the viewer to suspend some measure of disbelief. For some time this story was relegated to the position of a poorly realised experiment.
Thankfully, this viewpoint has changed as of late, with Invasion of the Dinosaurs now seen as a testament to the victory of creative ideas over budget, and the beginning of a fitting swan song for a legendary incarnation of the Doctor.
Working titles for this story included Bridgehead from Space and Timescoop. The story title of the first episode was contracted to Invasion in the opening title sequence, in an attempt to conceal the central plot device of dinosaurs. However, this was undermined by the BBC listings magazine Radio Times, which carried a picture of a dinosaur in the listing for episode one.
Confusion of this episode with the 1968 serial The Invasion, in BBC documentation, was long thought to have led to the 1974 episode being wiped in error. Malcolm Hulke protested against the use of the title Invasion of the Dinosaurs, preferring the original working title of Timescoop, and felt the contraction for the first episode was silly, especially because the Radio Times gave the game away. In a response letter after transmission script editor Terrance Dicks pointed out that all the titles used for the project had originated in the Doctor Who production office. He agreed that the contraction to Invasion was a decision he now regretted but noted that "Radio Times are a law unto themselves".
And that's that. That marks the end of our analysis of the Pertwee era.
Jon Pertwee, Barry Letts, and Terrance Dicks saved Doctor Who from a terrible fate, and made the series popular again. The early 1970's proved to be a triumphant testament to the hard work and dedication of Pertwee, Letts, and Dicks all of which would go on to be Doctor Who legends.
Hence came the beginning of a new era to Doctor Who, starting with the casting of a new companion who would go on to be one of the most beloved characters in Doctor Who's history.
SARAH JANE SMITH
This is something which goes unnoticed by most people, however, at first the part of Sarah Jane Smith wasn't originally offered to Elisabeth Sladen.
Doctor Who producer Barry Letts offered the part of Sarah Jane to actress April Walker, who accepted the role and was duly contracted by the BBC. During rehearsals for the first story of the season The Time Warrior, it became clear to Jon Pertwee and Letts that the two leads had little rapport and were physically mis-matched.
It has been claimed that Pertwee demanded for the part to be recast, because he said he would not play opposite an actress who was taller than him. Letts therefore released Walker from her contract though she was still paid in full for season 11.
Letts began a second batch of auditions and saw Elisabeth Sladen after a recommendation from fellow BBC producer Bill Slater, who had twice cast the actress recently in separate episodes of
Z-Cars.
Sladen performed her audition alongside actor Stephen Thorne and after impressing Letts, he arranged for her to meet Pertwee before any decisions were made. Pertwee stood behind Sladen and gave a 'thumbs-up' to Letts who then offered her the role. However, Sladen at first wasn't aware when she went to the audition that the role she was auditioning for was for the doctor's companion, she thought it was for a part in one episode of Doctor Who. That one episode turned into eighty-five and Sarah Jane Smith became one of the doctor's longest serving companions, co-starring in eighteen stories with the Third and Fourth Doctors.
She would later go on to star in her own spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, none of the other classic companions had that. There is something special about Sarah Jane that we as an audience love so much, is it the twinkle, is Liz Sladen, is it the relationship she has with the Doctor? It could be a number of those things.
Sladen felt that part of her popularity was working alongside Pertwee and Baker, who were popular Doctors. Daniel Martin of The Guardian named her the best companion in 2007, writing that her "jolly-hockey-sticks good nature" made her so beloved. The Daily Telegraph's Gavin Fuller also ranked Sarah Jane number one, praising Sladen's portrayal and saying that she displayed "great determination and bravery".
In 2012, Toby Whithouse, who wrote Sarah Jane's return to the series in "School Reunion", said she was his favourite companion from the classic series. Concerning the impact of the character, he said:
THE TIME WARRIOR
For The Time Warrior Script Editor Terrance Dicks sought a historical setting, something the series had avoided since Patrick Troughton's early days. Stalwart Robert Holmes was chosen to write this adventure. It had always been Holmes's belief that historical stories were unpopular with viewers. Historical episodes from the William Hartnell years often had low audience figures as it was lead to believe they switched off because they were bored of the history lesson they were being given.
Therefore he introduced a new sub genre - the pseudo-historical by doing history stories with strong science fiction elements. For this story the SF element was a single dangerous alien, rather than an entire race. And that alien was the superb Sontaran, Linx; one of the best realised aliens of the time.
So impressive was Holmes's work, that he was subsequently chosen to take over from Dicks as Doctor Who's Script Editor. He was quick off the mark to exact his revenge, and commissioned Dicks to write a historical story set on a lighthouse. (Horror of Fang Rock)
As a post script, it is worth mentioning that amongst all the swords and so called 'sorcery' of Holmes's Middle Ages, a legacy was born. For in this story we have the first mention of the name of the Doctor's home planet. - Gallifrey.
INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS
British television in the early 1970s had many iconic images, and Jon Pertwee's Doctor teaming up with UNIT to stop invasions was an integral part of Saturday night viewing. It was during the original transmission of Invasion of the Dinosaurs that the media first reported that Pertwee would be leaving Doctor Who.
Looking back now, this was perhaps the ideal story in which the signal for an era's end was made.
Now entering his fifth season, the Third Doctor blatantly leapt to Earth's defence time after time, with his cloak billowing behind him and the Brigadier supporting him all the way.
All manner of alien threats had tried to invade our world, and in this story the ultimate in monsters had finally arrived - dinosaurs! The Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex were creatures the viewing public had long wanted their time-travelling hero to face, and the cliffhanger endings to four of the six episodes pit the Doctor against various prehistoric beasts.
Of course, on a restrictive 1970's television budget, the appearance of Cretaceous creatures required the viewer to suspend some measure of disbelief. For some time this story was relegated to the position of a poorly realised experiment.
Thankfully, this viewpoint has changed as of late, with Invasion of the Dinosaurs now seen as a testament to the victory of creative ideas over budget, and the beginning of a fitting swan song for a legendary incarnation of the Doctor.
Working titles for this story included Bridgehead from Space and Timescoop. The story title of the first episode was contracted to Invasion in the opening title sequence, in an attempt to conceal the central plot device of dinosaurs. However, this was undermined by the BBC listings magazine Radio Times, which carried a picture of a dinosaur in the listing for episode one.
Confusion of this episode with the 1968 serial The Invasion, in BBC documentation, was long thought to have led to the 1974 episode being wiped in error. Malcolm Hulke protested against the use of the title Invasion of the Dinosaurs, preferring the original working title of Timescoop, and felt the contraction for the first episode was silly, especially because the Radio Times gave the game away. In a response letter after transmission script editor Terrance Dicks pointed out that all the titles used for the project had originated in the Doctor Who production office. He agreed that the contraction to Invasion was a decision he now regretted but noted that "Radio Times are a law unto themselves".
In the novelisation, adapted by Malcolm Hulke from his own scripts, no reference is made to the "Whomobile" which was a prop contributed to the production at a late stage by actor Jon Pertwee. In the novel, the Doctor uses a military motorbike with electronic scanning equipment attached, as in the original scripts.
Locations used in London included: Moorgate Underground Station, Smithfield Market, Westminster Bridge, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Haymarket, Covent Garden, Southall and Wimbledon Common. Location filming took place in September 1973, with studio recording commencing in October and November.
All episodes of this story except Part One exist on original format PAL colour master tapes, with the first episode only existing as a monochrome 16mm film print. There is a long-standing fan myth that the tape of Part One was erased by mistake, having been confused with an episode of the Patrick Troughton serial The Invasion. In fact, BBC Enterprises issued specific instructions to wipe all six episodes of Invasion of the Dinosaurs, named as such, in August 1974, just six months after the story's transmission; for reasons unknown, however, only Part One was actually junked. Stickers on the cans for the remaining episodes 2–6 indicate that they were returned from BBC Wales which was transmitting Season 11 in a different timeslot on Sunday. As far as the BBC was concerned, the story had been wiped in its entirety; researchers for the 1977 BBC documentary Whose Doctor Who found that none of the episodes were listed as existing in the BBC library.
A black-and-white film print exists of the filmed sequences for Part One. This includes one scene of a scared scavenger stealing money from a dead milkman's satchel that was omitted from the broadcast version; this would have formed part of the deserted London montage. Black-and-white prints were used for practice by BBC film editors, in deciding where to make cuts, before cutting the master colour negatives. The surviving film recording of Episode 1 is the only telerecording of a Season 11 episode held in the archives; this is probably due to the long-standing practice within BBC Enterprises of making a film print for overseas sales purposes prior to wiping any master tape. Colour 35mm film sequences from Episode 5 also exist. The first edit of Part Three, without sound effects or incidental music on the soundtrack (known within the BBC as a "71 edit"), also exists.
DEATH TO THE DALEKS
Jon Pertwee was famous for saying how much he despised the Daleks. He thought the iconic monsters looked primitive and never hid the fact that he hated working with them. However, the metal-cased creatures, whose history takes us right back to the second ever Doctor Who story, are always a safe bet when it comes to securing good ratings. So, when the production team were planning Season Eleven, it was decided that the Daleks would return midway through that year's run of stories to fight the Doctor once again; whether the lead actor liked them or not.
Death to the Daleks, along with its provocative title, is not a typical Third Doctor story. Far from the relative cosiness of alien invasions around UNIT HQ and without the help from the Brigadier and his men, the TARDIS arrives on a bleak alien world - atmospherically filmed in a desolate Dorset quarry.
Incidentally, the location used for the planet Exxilon is not too far from the quarries used for the Dalek home world Skaro and also Androzani - Doctor Who would return to film near the Exxilon quarry during Destiny of the Daleks (1979) and The Caves of Androzani (1984) several years later.
It is not a typical Dalek story either. With the strange power from the Exxilon city rendering their weapons useless, we encounter helpless and vulnerable Daleks that are forced into an uneasy alliance with their oldest enemy. Michael Wisher provides the Dalek voice, an actor would go on to play the creator of the Daleks 'Davros' in the next season in 'Genesis of the Daleks'.
Working titles for this story were The Exilons and The Exxilons. The incidental music for this serial was composed by Carey Blyton and performed by the London Saxophone Quartet.
This is one of two Third Doctor serials the other being The Claws of Axos to still have a 90-minute PAL studio recording tape.
THE MONSTER OF PELADON
As the title implies, The Monster of Peladon features a planet the Doctor has been too before. This sequel to The Curse of Peladon cost-effectively reuses many of the monster costumes, props and sets from the first story, and the same director and designer also came back to work on the six-part tale.
The story is a blatant parody of the 1973 miners' strike and the first draft of Brain Hayles script was originally set while King Peladon still rules the planet. However, unhappy with several elements, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks decided to move the story to 50 years after The Curse of Peladon, lose the King and introduce Queen Thalira as King Peladon's daughter and heir.
This monster-packed story saw the fourth and final appearance of the Ice Warriors in Doctor Who. The lumbering breathless Martians has first been introduced when Patrick Troughton was the Doctor in The Ice Warriors (1967) and The Seeds of Death (1969). The returned for the first Peladon story, surprising the Doctor (and viewers) when it turned out they had given up violence and joined the Galactic Federation.
The Monster of Peladon is the penultimate story of the Jon Pertwee era. Trips to alien planets in the TARDIS are rare for the Third Doctor, so it's ironic that he should return to two he has already visited for his last couple of adventures. His next and final story Planet of the Spiders sees a return to Metebelis Three where more monsters are waiting.
PLANET OF THE SPIDERS
The original idea, so we hear is if Roger Delgado hadn't died they would have ended the Third Doctor era with a battle to the death between The Doctor and his arch enemy the Master, the story would have ended with the Master sacrificing his life to save the Doctors. What makes Planet of the Spiders so special is that it's all about Jon.
Producer Barry Letts and Script Editor Terrance Dicks would also be stepping down from their roles.
Planet of the Spiders is an indulgent finale to the Third Doctor's time on Earth, drawing together several plot threads from previous stories, embellishing the continually of the Time Lords, and preparing the way for a new era of Doctor Who.
The continuation of the Mike Yates story arc, following his ignominious departure at the end of Invasion of the Dinosaurs, is particularly satisfying.
By contrast, the Brigadier is mainly used for comic relief, although it is a pleasure to witness his camaraderie with the Doctor as they enjoy an afternoon of questionable entertainment at a variety show. Yates and the Brigadier aside UNIT is scarily in evidence. Instead, the Bond style chases provide the physical action sequences, granting Jon Pertwee one last indulgence as he zips around the English countryside in a verity of exotic vehicles.
As the true identify of K'anpo is finally revealed we are afforded a tantalising insight into the early life of our favourite Time Lord, but there is no chance to explore this as the Doctor is forced to acknowledge the error of his ways and returns to face The Great One, even though he knows it will cost him dearly.
His sacrifice brings redemption and re-birth, delivering a genuinely emotional farewell to the Third Doctor.
The story is a blatant parody of the 1973 miners' strike and the first draft of Brain Hayles script was originally set while King Peladon still rules the planet. However, unhappy with several elements, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks decided to move the story to 50 years after The Curse of Peladon, lose the King and introduce Queen Thalira as King Peladon's daughter and heir.
This monster-packed story saw the fourth and final appearance of the Ice Warriors in Doctor Who. The lumbering breathless Martians has first been introduced when Patrick Troughton was the Doctor in The Ice Warriors (1967) and The Seeds of Death (1969). The returned for the first Peladon story, surprising the Doctor (and viewers) when it turned out they had given up violence and joined the Galactic Federation.
The Monster of Peladon is the penultimate story of the Jon Pertwee era. Trips to alien planets in the TARDIS are rare for the Third Doctor, so it's ironic that he should return to two he has already visited for his last couple of adventures. His next and final story Planet of the Spiders sees a return to Metebelis Three where more monsters are waiting.
PLANET OF THE SPIDERS
The original idea, so we hear is if Roger Delgado hadn't died they would have ended the Third Doctor era with a battle to the death between The Doctor and his arch enemy the Master, the story would have ended with the Master sacrificing his life to save the Doctors. What makes Planet of the Spiders so special is that it's all about Jon.
Producer Barry Letts and Script Editor Terrance Dicks would also be stepping down from their roles.
Planet of the Spiders is an indulgent finale to the Third Doctor's time on Earth, drawing together several plot threads from previous stories, embellishing the continually of the Time Lords, and preparing the way for a new era of Doctor Who.
The continuation of the Mike Yates story arc, following his ignominious departure at the end of Invasion of the Dinosaurs, is particularly satisfying.
By contrast, the Brigadier is mainly used for comic relief, although it is a pleasure to witness his camaraderie with the Doctor as they enjoy an afternoon of questionable entertainment at a variety show. Yates and the Brigadier aside UNIT is scarily in evidence. Instead, the Bond style chases provide the physical action sequences, granting Jon Pertwee one last indulgence as he zips around the English countryside in a verity of exotic vehicles.
As the true identify of K'anpo is finally revealed we are afforded a tantalising insight into the early life of our favourite Time Lord, but there is no chance to explore this as the Doctor is forced to acknowledge the error of his ways and returns to face The Great One, even though he knows it will cost him dearly.
His sacrifice brings redemption and re-birth, delivering a genuinely emotional farewell to the Third Doctor.
And that's that. That marks the end of our analysis of the Pertwee era.
Jon Pertwee, Barry Letts, and Terrance Dicks saved Doctor Who from a terrible fate, and made the series popular again. The early 1970's proved to be a triumphant testament to the hard work and dedication of Pertwee, Letts, and Dicks all of which would go on to be Doctor Who legends.
