N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
Prior to this marathon, I’d always found it hard to think of a weakest Third Doctor story.
“What an absolutely fascinating experience.”
The Doctor, Planet of the Spiders:
Part Five
Although my preference has usually been for the earlier adventures, it was a pretty solid run throughout with no real clunkers, perhaps the most consistent the show has been since it first began, which goes to show how beneficial it can be having a steady producer/script editor partnership such as Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks. Nevertheless, I was still a little surprised to find Terry Nation’s Dalek stories the least enjoyable of the era.
On the flip side, Inferno has long been my favourite Third Doctor adventure, but it was pushed very close this time around by The Mind of Evil and The Green Death. Who knows – perhaps when I revisit these stories again in my dotage Inferno will lose top spot!
Like his first incarnation, the Third Doctor starts off somewhat irascible and patronising (especially towards Jo) and mellows over the years. His relationship with the Brigadier develops too – it’s a long way from the loggerheads of their attitudes in Doctor Who and the Silurians to their taking in a show featuring a belly dancer in Planet of the Spiders.
“By Jiminy, the old fellow’s got some pluck.”
Major Daly, Carnival of Monsters: Episode Two
Along the way there’s the odd un-Doctor-ish moment such as his merciless gunning down of Ogrons in Day of the Daleks and Frontier in Space. (The same could be true of the Brigadier too, especially in his reaction to the events of The Three Doctors.)
What’s certain though is that the Third Doctor became a lot more agreeable once he is allowed to roam the galaxy (and grow out his coiffure)!
When I finished watching the Second Doctor’s adventures, I said I would reserve judgment on the (inevitably pointless) task of picking a favourite, loath as I was to choose between the two. With another Doctor’s tales complete, it’s perhaps a little easier for me to feel that Patrick Troughton’s Doctor slightly edges it at the moment – if only by virtue of his almost instant likeability.
“Amusement is prohibited. It’s purposeless.”
Kalik, Carnival of Monsters: Episode One
That said, there can be no denying the charisma of Jon Pertwee’s action-hero Third Doctor. Tom Baker once described him as being like a ‘tall light bulb’ and this most dashing of Doctors certainly stands out. Pertwee, a renowned comic actor prior to this, displays serious thespian chops in the role, especially in that fabulous seventh season – for me the best of the whole run so far.
"In the Third Doctor stories they didn't rely on just Daleks and Cybermen. There is a good variety of characters, both good guys and villains."
"I liked how the Third Doctor was exiled on Earth at the beginning."
"My favourite Third Doctor stories are season finales:
The Dæmons, The Time Monster, The Green Death and Planet of the Spiders."
"My least favourite Third Doctor story is Spearhead from Space."
