The Robots of Death (Story #90, 1977)
Viewed 07 Mar 2013
Doctor/Companion: Four, Leela
Stars: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson
Preceding Story: The Face of Evil (Four, Leela)
Succeeding Story: The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Four, Leela)
Regular readers may recall that when I first saw Robots, I was not particularly enamored of it. Only after repeated viewings did I come to appreciate it, and now count it among my favorites. Thus, I was particularly interested to see how G would react.
Perhaps everything just clicked properly this day – no family members or pets in ill health, no project deadlines pending – but G was back on her usual upbeat form, appreciative of everything the show had to offer. It doesn’t hurt that she’s taken quite a shine to Four.
Her first impression of Robots is one of delighted nostalgia: “Look at that computer!” The visuals continued to impress her throughout, from costuming (“Ooh, I love the hats.” and “They’ve got great costumes, don’t you think?”) to some of the directorial decisions (“We get to see from the robot’s point of view. This is kinda cool.”)
As for the new Companion and general characterizations, she loves both Leela’s and the Doctor’s evasive answers when SV7 questions them. (I love that Leela’s already figured out that discretion is the better part of valor.) She also thinks Commander Uvanov is “a bit of a boor.” When he uses someone else’s argument against a third party, huffily demanding, “Ever heard of the double bluff?” she adds (as Uvanov), “I just learned about it thirty seconds ago!”
By Part Three, she’s decided she rather likes “that guy with the great hair,” meaning engineer Dask. Within minutes, though, as poor SV7 is turned to the villainous Taren Capel’s cause, she asks, “Who’s doin’ that? … Is it the guy with the hair?” I tell her I’m not going to give it away, and she squirms at the necessity of waiting it out.
Speaking of squirming, all three cliffhangers give her the heebie jeebies. It’s a good thing for her we’re watching straight through; I’m not sure she’d make it a full week between. Even decades later, she’s totally the target audience.
She has, however, got the plot pretty well sussed by the end. As the big reveal of who’s actually behind it all draws ever closer, she asks, “Where’s the hair guy? He’s gotta be the doo-dah [Taren Capel]. He’s been gone forever.” Once he appears in his green and silver not-quite-a-robot guise, she’s chuffed that she called it: “Ahh! It’s the hair guy. … He’s a very handsome bad guy.”
Every turn seemed to elicit more praise from G. She loved D84, and was really sad about his eventual fate. Very little caused even the slightest hint of sarcasm. Perhaps I was a bit premature last time in thinking she was ready to start critiquing Who, when in fact she was just in a less forgiving mood.
Nothing needs to be forgiven this time. “I like this one. This is a good one! It’s got lots of suspense.” Score another win for Fan Wisdom.
Verdict: Thumbs up
Looking ahead: The Ribos Operation