I have been on a huge Doctor Who kick of late, and with the Master Returning to David Tennant’s doctor this Season, I wanted to pick up some Tom Baker Doctor Who and remember more about him. This was just released and is Tom Baker’s first adventure as the doctor, as he has his transformation and starts to come into his own. This whole episode is all on Earth in the company of the Brigadier and UNIT, and is obviously a transition episode with the Doctor not yet venturing off the Earth, but it does show the hint of how great Tom Baker would be as the doctor, how much he would bring to the show. Right from the start he makes the Doctor his own.

Immediately Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) and Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) watch the Doctor regenerate into his present form (Tom Baker), at first he is a bit out of it, but quickly decides to help them with some secret plans and equipment that were stolen from 2 high security military bases. We see Tom Baker try to figure out what to wear (hilarious), and start to help. Sarah Jane though investigates an origanization called the Think Tank, where they had a giant robot program created by a scientist who has left the program named Professor J.P. Kettlewell (Edward Burnham). And she doesn’t trust him or the leader of the think tank Miss HIlda Winters (Patricia Maynard).

REVIEW CONTAIN SPOILERS…

Sarah Jane uses her brains and finds the robot, and doesn’t trust it is safe, and sees the supposedly safe robot, which makes another robbery to get the last parts for the disintegrator, which the plans were stolen for.

The Doctor gets a call from the Professor, that the robot has come to him and doesn’t want to know what to do, doesn’t want to disobey it’s prime directives, but it is a trap and the doctor is hurt.

The Professor and Winters turn out to run an organization where they want the scientists to run the earth, and control everyone else, and are taking the nuclear launch codes from other nations and plan on nuking the Earth and ruling the survivors, and they take Sarah Jane and army doctor Harry Sullicvan (Ian Marter).

The brigadier goes to stop the robot and uses the disintegrator, which causes the robot to grow huge, but the doctor perfects a virus for the robots living metal and makes the robot shrink and disintegrate saving the day. The brigadier wants to get the doctor to do a bunch of stuff for UNIT, but he takes Sarah Jane and Harry Sullivan and disappears in the Tardis.

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Not the best, but a good hint at what is to come!