The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Robot
Robot: Part One (28/12/14)
Well, new series, new Doctor. Must say I wasn't too impressed to begin with, but as the episode progressed I began to warm to Tom Baker. There was a lot of silly playing around, including a daft costume scene, some skipping the the UNIT doctor, and talk of spinning mice! The new Doctor is very laid back, sprawled in the Brigadier's jeep at one point with his feet sticking out the roof.
The new UNIT doctor, Harry Sullivan, seems to have taken Mike Yates' place, accompanying the Brigadier and the Doctor to the scenes of a number of thefts by the titular Robot of plans and parts for a disintegrater gun.
Meanwhile, Sarah Jane seems to have stumbled across the people responsible when conveniently visiting Think Tank, a group that does scientific research then passes it on to companies and governments to develop. Curious about the departure of a Professor Kettlewell, she visited him but got no answers so returned to Think Tank to be confronted by the Robot. It seems a big coincidence that she's stumbled across the plot! She did get her comeuppance earlier, though, when she mistook Think Tank's coordinator, Hilda Winters, for a secretary and thanked her assistant for letting her visit assuming he was in charge because he was a man.
Overall, not a bad start with some interesting direction and a simple plot. Not sure how the Robot's meant to see what it's doing, though. With some of the mesh-screen POV shots it's often hard to see what the Robot is up to.
Time will no doubt tell if the new Doctor is any good with his big teeth and wide eyes. He's already very different from Pertwee, but I can't say I'm finding him that offensive. Luckily the Brigadier and Benton are about to give it some continuity as Sarah's hardly interacted with him at all yet! Now he's awake, you'd think she'd take a bit of interest! Maybe they're fazing her out.
Robot: Part Two (04/01/15)
Not sure what to make of this story so far. It's plodding along but there are elements which don't entirely make sense - like all the arch fannying around by Miss Winters and Jellicoe, first with Sarah, then with the Doctor and the Brigadier.They couldn't be any more obviously villainous if they stuck on curly moustaches and went around going "Wuah-Ha-Ha-Ha!!!"
Not liking Sarah any more with the new Doctor than in the last series. She's been rude, presumptuous and pushy. Even if Miss Winters wasn't a villain, I wouldn't blame her at all for treating Sarah so badly! Anyhow, the K1 Robot has now been sent out to kill a Government Minister and steal some papers and it's sent its circuits haywire as they broke its Prime Directive (not to kill), so it went back to scatty loon Professor Kettlewell as it seems to have 'feelings' (as Sarah assumed, rather stupidly to be honest). Lieutenant Sullivan has been sent to Think Tank to spy in the guise of a doctor from the Ministry, and Sarah visited the SRS (Scientific Reform Society) where a very camp, petulant posh boy criticised her choice to wear trousers because the SRS are basically the BNP minus the women's lib.
Kettlewell rang the Doctor and told him that the Robot was with him and Think Tank had been misusing it, then Miss Winters and Jellicoe turned up and when the Doctor arrived there was a drawn out sequence of the Robot trundling around after him saying he was an enemy of Mankind and must be destroyed. There was an embarrassing shot of the Doctor uselessly throwing a handful of ball-bearings at the Robot's silly, flappy feet. Now it's knocked him unconscious, which is pretty much how I felt by the end of the episode. Not exactly promising.
Tom Baker's rather good; a contrast to Pertwee with some of the anarchy and silliness of Troughton but not as annoying. And thank fuck the Brigadier and Benton are still around (just), because I'm really not liking Sarah! Hopefully next week will improve.
Robot: Part Three (11/01/15)
Well. This week's episode veered between utter genius and utter shite. Unfortunately, on the whole the episode leaned toward the latter. The cliffhanger to last week was resolved by Sarah turning up and confusing the Robot. Then Benton turned up and shot at it and it legged it through a barrage of UNIT troops. To be fair, the Robot doesn't look too bad on location, but the actor's stumbling about a concrete-floored yard in an obviously aluminium suit made me wince more than once!
They found Kettlewell trussed up in a cupboard, apparently left there by Miss Winters and Jellicoe, and he returned to UNIT HQ with Benton, Sarah and the unconscious Doctor. Six minutes in, Kettlewell revealed how they're going to defeat the Robot when he told Sarah he'd invented a 'virus' that breaks down metal into a recyclable state. Um. Then he revealed he was a member of the SRS and Sarah went off to spy on their meeting using Kettlewell to get in.
Sorry, I have to say this, but this week Sarah was pretty much a total bitch and I wish someone had shot her; ungrateful, pig-headed and unbelievably stupid. And rude. Very rude. Especially to Benton who's one of the nicest characters to have been a regular in the series!
Anyhow, it was a trap. The Doctor figured it out while sleeping and went to the meeting, and UNIT attacked but Miss Winters, Kettlewell, Jellicoe and the Robot escaped taking Sarah with them. Harry was discovered and they all ended up in a 'bunker' in a small field by some woods. Prior to this, the Brigadier explained what the plot was - one of the few genius moments - it being that the USA, Russia and China came up with a peace plan by entrusting the locations and launch codes of all their nuclear weapons to a third party: Britain ("Naturally" said the Brigadier. "Naturally," agreed the Doctor, "all the other countries were foreign!" - pissed myself laughing!).
The SRS stole the codes off the Minister and plan to hold the world to ransom - change and do as we say or holocaust time. So that's okay. UNIT failing to shoot Jellicoe as he shielded the Robot during their getaway isn't. Nor was the Escape-By-Horsebox or the Action Man Tank. Ultimately, this week had too many negatives which made me cringe and whilst Tom, Nick and John are great, they just can't stop this being one of the worst stories ever!
Robot: Part Four (18/01/15)
What a load of bollocks!
Whilst there was the odd good one-liner and Tom Baker is relatively likeable as the Doctor, I can honestly say there was very little good about the last four weeks. God, I miss Pertwee! Sarah Jane is still a thoroughly unlikable character, possibly the worst companion the series has had. And now they've jetted off into time and space with Harry Sullivan, the UNIT doctor, for no readily apparent reason as he's not come across as particularly interesting or even useful so far!
The countdown was aborted within six minutes, but the Robot disintegrated Kettlewell and had an "Argh! I have killed the one who made me!" spack-attack. Then it managed to elude all the UNIT troops, kidnap Sarah and restart the countdown, which was stopped by an international fail-safe (which obviously wasn't working earlier as the Doctor had had to stop the countdown). Then Benton remembered Kettlewell mentioning his metal virus so the Doctor and Harry went off to get it while the Brigadier shot the Robot with the disintegrater gun which just made it giant (obviously! What else would it do?).
The Robot put Unconvincing Doll Sarah on a roof using the magic of The Worst CSO I've Ever Seen and stomped about a bit till the Doctor and Harry turned up in Bessie and threw diluted virus on it. At which point it decomposed. Sarah was sad, they had some jelly babies and then all fucked off in the TARDIS leaving the Brigadier with a dinner date with the Queen.
Stupid, boring, badly plotted, trite, silly, and unpromising for the new series. It's like Terrance Dicks, who wonderfully script edited the last five years, chose to write a parody of a UNIT story, slinging in every cliche he could think of to give the new team the worst possible start! I'm quite glad everyone left in the TARDIS because if we had a series of silly UNIT capers to look forward to I wouldn't be tuning in!
Really saddened by this story. I never thought I'd write this, but so far this season has been an utter bag of shit!
Well, new series, new Doctor. Must say I wasn't too impressed to begin with, but as the episode progressed I began to warm to Tom Baker. There was a lot of silly playing around, including a daft costume scene, some skipping the the UNIT doctor, and talk of spinning mice! The new Doctor is very laid back, sprawled in the Brigadier's jeep at one point with his feet sticking out the roof.
The new UNIT doctor, Harry Sullivan, seems to have taken Mike Yates' place, accompanying the Brigadier and the Doctor to the scenes of a number of thefts by the titular Robot of plans and parts for a disintegrater gun.
Meanwhile, Sarah Jane seems to have stumbled across the people responsible when conveniently visiting Think Tank, a group that does scientific research then passes it on to companies and governments to develop. Curious about the departure of a Professor Kettlewell, she visited him but got no answers so returned to Think Tank to be confronted by the Robot. It seems a big coincidence that she's stumbled across the plot! She did get her comeuppance earlier, though, when she mistook Think Tank's coordinator, Hilda Winters, for a secretary and thanked her assistant for letting her visit assuming he was in charge because he was a man.
Overall, not a bad start with some interesting direction and a simple plot. Not sure how the Robot's meant to see what it's doing, though. With some of the mesh-screen POV shots it's often hard to see what the Robot is up to.
Time will no doubt tell if the new Doctor is any good with his big teeth and wide eyes. He's already very different from Pertwee, but I can't say I'm finding him that offensive. Luckily the Brigadier and Benton are about to give it some continuity as Sarah's hardly interacted with him at all yet! Now he's awake, you'd think she'd take a bit of interest! Maybe they're fazing her out.
Robot: Part Two (04/01/15)
Not sure what to make of this story so far. It's plodding along but there are elements which don't entirely make sense - like all the arch fannying around by Miss Winters and Jellicoe, first with Sarah, then with the Doctor and the Brigadier.They couldn't be any more obviously villainous if they stuck on curly moustaches and went around going "Wuah-Ha-Ha-Ha!!!"
Not liking Sarah any more with the new Doctor than in the last series. She's been rude, presumptuous and pushy. Even if Miss Winters wasn't a villain, I wouldn't blame her at all for treating Sarah so badly! Anyhow, the K1 Robot has now been sent out to kill a Government Minister and steal some papers and it's sent its circuits haywire as they broke its Prime Directive (not to kill), so it went back to scatty loon Professor Kettlewell as it seems to have 'feelings' (as Sarah assumed, rather stupidly to be honest). Lieutenant Sullivan has been sent to Think Tank to spy in the guise of a doctor from the Ministry, and Sarah visited the SRS (Scientific Reform Society) where a very camp, petulant posh boy criticised her choice to wear trousers because the SRS are basically the BNP minus the women's lib.
Kettlewell rang the Doctor and told him that the Robot was with him and Think Tank had been misusing it, then Miss Winters and Jellicoe turned up and when the Doctor arrived there was a drawn out sequence of the Robot trundling around after him saying he was an enemy of Mankind and must be destroyed. There was an embarrassing shot of the Doctor uselessly throwing a handful of ball-bearings at the Robot's silly, flappy feet. Now it's knocked him unconscious, which is pretty much how I felt by the end of the episode. Not exactly promising.
Tom Baker's rather good; a contrast to Pertwee with some of the anarchy and silliness of Troughton but not as annoying. And thank fuck the Brigadier and Benton are still around (just), because I'm really not liking Sarah! Hopefully next week will improve.
Robot: Part Three (11/01/15)
Well. This week's episode veered between utter genius and utter shite. Unfortunately, on the whole the episode leaned toward the latter. The cliffhanger to last week was resolved by Sarah turning up and confusing the Robot. Then Benton turned up and shot at it and it legged it through a barrage of UNIT troops. To be fair, the Robot doesn't look too bad on location, but the actor's stumbling about a concrete-floored yard in an obviously aluminium suit made me wince more than once!
They found Kettlewell trussed up in a cupboard, apparently left there by Miss Winters and Jellicoe, and he returned to UNIT HQ with Benton, Sarah and the unconscious Doctor. Six minutes in, Kettlewell revealed how they're going to defeat the Robot when he told Sarah he'd invented a 'virus' that breaks down metal into a recyclable state. Um. Then he revealed he was a member of the SRS and Sarah went off to spy on their meeting using Kettlewell to get in.
Sorry, I have to say this, but this week Sarah was pretty much a total bitch and I wish someone had shot her; ungrateful, pig-headed and unbelievably stupid. And rude. Very rude. Especially to Benton who's one of the nicest characters to have been a regular in the series!
Anyhow, it was a trap. The Doctor figured it out while sleeping and went to the meeting, and UNIT attacked but Miss Winters, Kettlewell, Jellicoe and the Robot escaped taking Sarah with them. Harry was discovered and they all ended up in a 'bunker' in a small field by some woods. Prior to this, the Brigadier explained what the plot was - one of the few genius moments - it being that the USA, Russia and China came up with a peace plan by entrusting the locations and launch codes of all their nuclear weapons to a third party: Britain ("Naturally" said the Brigadier. "Naturally," agreed the Doctor, "all the other countries were foreign!" - pissed myself laughing!).
The SRS stole the codes off the Minister and plan to hold the world to ransom - change and do as we say or holocaust time. So that's okay. UNIT failing to shoot Jellicoe as he shielded the Robot during their getaway isn't. Nor was the Escape-By-Horsebox or the Action Man Tank. Ultimately, this week had too many negatives which made me cringe and whilst Tom, Nick and John are great, they just can't stop this being one of the worst stories ever!
Robot: Part Four (18/01/15)
What a load of bollocks!
Whilst there was the odd good one-liner and Tom Baker is relatively likeable as the Doctor, I can honestly say there was very little good about the last four weeks. God, I miss Pertwee! Sarah Jane is still a thoroughly unlikable character, possibly the worst companion the series has had. And now they've jetted off into time and space with Harry Sullivan, the UNIT doctor, for no readily apparent reason as he's not come across as particularly interesting or even useful so far!
The countdown was aborted within six minutes, but the Robot disintegrated Kettlewell and had an "Argh! I have killed the one who made me!" spack-attack. Then it managed to elude all the UNIT troops, kidnap Sarah and restart the countdown, which was stopped by an international fail-safe (which obviously wasn't working earlier as the Doctor had had to stop the countdown). Then Benton remembered Kettlewell mentioning his metal virus so the Doctor and Harry went off to get it while the Brigadier shot the Robot with the disintegrater gun which just made it giant (obviously! What else would it do?).
The Robot put Unconvincing Doll Sarah on a roof using the magic of The Worst CSO I've Ever Seen and stomped about a bit till the Doctor and Harry turned up in Bessie and threw diluted virus on it. At which point it decomposed. Sarah was sad, they had some jelly babies and then all fucked off in the TARDIS leaving the Brigadier with a dinner date with the Queen.
Stupid, boring, badly plotted, trite, silly, and unpromising for the new series. It's like Terrance Dicks, who wonderfully script edited the last five years, chose to write a parody of a UNIT story, slinging in every cliche he could think of to give the new team the worst possible start! I'm quite glad everyone left in the TARDIS because if we had a series of silly UNIT capers to look forward to I wouldn't be tuning in!
Really saddened by this story. I never thought I'd write this, but so far this season has been an utter bag of shit!
I don't disagree that it's a pile of shite, but it's an aberration. It's best to think of it as the last story of Season 11, like The Twin Dilemma rounding out Season 21, with The Ark in Space kicking off the new era. Interesting to note you were so anti-Sarah here, but I can see why. Again, here it's a hangover. She and Harry and the new Doctor start to gel very quickly hereafter.
ReplyDeleteIt's a funny beast, and I feel a little bad having posted this the day before Uncle Terrance passed away (I normally post a link on Twitter the day after I publish, but think that would be in bad taste for this serial). In all fairness, my general opinion of the story isn't as extreme as when I watched it. Yes, it's a bad story, but you're entirely right that it's an oddity. I can sit through it and there are elements to enjoy (something I can't say about the majority of the Matt Smith era) but it still isn't a story I generally pick to sit down and watch - I think I've seen it once since 2015 and that was because I was writing articles on a fan page about each Doctor's first serial. As for my opinion of Sarah Jane, you'll have to wait and see how that develops!
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