Review of The Doctors Revisited – Fourth Doctor
By the fourth month of BBC America’s Doctor-by-Doctor celebrations of the show’s history, we’ve rolled around to the man who many still equate with the role: Tom Baker.
Perhaps more than any other actor who portrayed him, Tom Baker embodied the Doctor. As the man himself said, “I was Doctor Who. There was no acting involved at all.”
Something about Baker just clicked, and no one before – or arguably since – was ever more perfect for the role. This new Doctor was all about humor – at his own expense, from time to time – to defuse situations and get himself out of trouble. As the narration puts it, “Suddenly a big kid was in charge of the TARDIS.”
Other key changes mentioned in the first section include his alien-ness, his bohemian wardrobe – notably, the ultra-iconic scarf – and his break from UNIT, as he finally swans off for good. Given that Third Doctor Jon Pertwee’s tenure had been almost entirely earthbound, it was a notable change, and allowed for a wider variety of storytelling.
Turning next to the Fourth Doctors Companions, interviewees (who, throughout the whole documentary, included Steven Moffat, David Tennant, Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, John Leeson, Marcus Wilson, Nicholas Briggs, and Neil Gaiman) talked first about Sarah Jane Smith, who had actually come on board with the Third Doctor. Gaiman goes so far as to dub her the “greatest” of all the Companions (and there are plenty of fans out there who would agree). Perhaps what made the chemistry between these two work so well was how they viewed each other as best friends. It made for a wonderful, fun-loving dynamic that could withstand his “difficult” nature unscathed.
They also talk about the sharp delineation between Sarah Jane and her successor Leela. While the former had a buddy-type relationship with the Doctor, the latter was more his pupil. Again, it made for a new, interesting dynamic that brought something fresh to the show.
While the producers saw fit to include K-9 among the Companions in this retrospective, they skipped completely over both Harry Sullivan (who joined – and left – the TARDIS crew during Sarah Jane’s tenure) and Romana (in both her incarnations). While I can forgive the omission of his still later Companions, who would carry over to his next Regeneration (and thus really count as Five’s Companions rather than Four’s), leaving out three Four-exclusive Companions (the Romanas alone covering two and a half of Four’s seven series) seems just plain wrong.
Heading into the home stretch, the episode moves on to “Famous Foes.” As a great number of them have already been introduced during other Doctors’ eras – Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, the Master – or are one-off’s (too numerous to mention), choosing only two makes a certain amount of sense. Of course, the fact that one of them is the Zygons really only makes sense when one knows that they are [*spoiler alert*] set to return as part of the 50th anniversary special.
The other, of course, is Davros, who makes his first-ever appearance in the widely-regarded-as-classic Genesis of the Daleks. In this instance, he is a near-perfect adversary, a beautifully insane despot who helps lead the Fourth Doctor to one of his defining moments, asking “have I that right?”
Closing things out, everyone agrees that casting Tom Baker was a stroke of brilliance. Due to both the way he inhabited the role and the length of his stay, Baker “casts a long shadow,” as Tennant put it. Especially for Long Term Fans (aka paleowhovians), no one else will ever be the Doctor so completely.
Finally, as with each instance before, Moffat gives an introduction to the episode shown immediately following the retrospective. Citing it as one of his all-time favorites, he presents Pyramids of Mars. He reminds us that at the time, this madder, more alien Doctor was something new; he took some getting used to. Obviously, that interpretation stuck, and propagated in various ways down the Regenerations. This certainly wouldn’t be the show it is today without the Fourth Doctor. I hope many more fans have found something to love in the pre-Hiatus years through this brief introduction to Four.
Forgetting Romana
I was also upset that neither of the Romanas was mentioned. I kept waiting for them to discuss her and when they didn’t, I was annoyed. Some of my favorite Tom Baker episodes are with Lalla Ward! I just know they are going to sell these on DVD (have already seen them out there) with a “longer” version of the documentaries.
Extended play
I certainly hope they add more, but I’m not betting on it. I think they’re including the stories referenced/shown after on BBCA, though. That adds heft to the release. (See bottom of the page for a link to where you can buy it from Amazon. I get a small cut if you buy via one of those links.)