Fourth Doctor Summary

Of my generation and especially amongst Americans, before the New Series began, Tom Baker was the Doctor. If you ever find jokes about Doctor Who, especially in shows like The Simpsons or Futurama, you will always see a tall man with curly brown hair and a long scarf. For us, Tom Baker is the Doctor and I think that even with the New Series, Tom Baker remains the most recognizable Doctor.

I think this is a deserved honor because there is something that stands out about his era. Unquestionably the show hit it's classic era peak during the first half of his tenure in the Philip Hinchcliff era. Stories from that era are still generally regarded as some of the best of all time. Even as the show began it's slide as the 80's approached (due mostly to monetary issues) you still had Tom Baker giving pretty strong performances to carry the stories.

That is not to say that he didn't have his faults. The Graham Williams era is pretty notorious for Tom Baker imposing his own will on the production and some things just started to go over the top. It didn't help that Douglas Adams, script editor for Season 17, shared Tom Baker's absurdist sense of humor and that produced the weakest of all the seven seasons, in my opinion. This in turn gave way to the whiplash reaction of Christopher H. Bidmead who was overly zealous in removing all humor from Season 18. As such, the Tom Baker era ends much as Season 18 with an inevitable collapse in entropy rather than in some sort of heroic resurgence as was shared by many other iterations of the Doctor.

As good as Tom Baker is (and despite his own occasional opinion on the matter), he would have been hard pressed to produce as good of an era as he did without strong companions. Sarah Jane takes most of the limelight as she and Tom Baker are generally regarded as the apex of the show. She did well with the Third Doctor but there was such a natural chemistry between herself and the Fourth Doctor. That they took it upon themselves to write Sarah's exit and then have it be one of the best regarded scenes in the show speaks highly of the level of chemistry they had together.

But we should not shortchange the other companions. Leela was an excellent companion, even though her true nature and scope was lost early in Season 15. Romana I had excellent interplay with the Doctor and offered sharp wit throughout the whole of Season 16. Similarly Romana II played well but in a different way. Her intelligence was more subtle and worked more around a quiet determinism to get things done rather that just show up the Doctor. Even Adric worked relatively well as the older and more forceful Fourth Doctor offered a stronger foil as well as a check. With the more tolerant and softer Fifth Doctor, Adric asserted himself too much and got annoying.

We must also look at the team behind camera as well. Building on the lessons learned from the Barry Letts ear, Philip Hinchcliff built a strong show, relying on gothic horror in space and with a cadre of experienced writers and directors to assist. There also remained a relatively decent budget that helped the show look good which made the stories that much more convincing.

Budget cuts, rising inflation, strikes and a significant talent drain unfortunately mark the Graham Williams era. There were good stories and a number of them were well done from a production standpoint. But there were also some experiments that failed (Underworld) and stories where the kernel of a good story was lost in the shoddy production. Others would probably disagree with me but I personally feel that having Douglas Adams as script editor did the show no favors either.

The JNT era set forth things that would become hallmarks of the 80's. Many of them are very stereotypically 80's so they appeal in a nostalgic way but you also have the continued problems of budget and the shoddy look that started to come on to the show. Christopher Bidmead had some good ideas and made some decent changes but the total excise of humor was a mistake as many of the stories of Season 18 would have improved immensely if they could have simply had a little levity added to them.

Overall, I think it's impossible to not think of the Fourth Doctor era as the apex of the show. I enjoy many of the other Doctors and I would still rate the Second Doctor as my personal favorite, but it is hard to argue that the Fourth Doctor era, particularly the early Fourth Doctor era is of a type that can be popped into the DVD player and just enjoyed at any time. It is that factor alone that will keep it as the showcase time of the classic era.

Highest Rated Story: The Talons of Weng Chiang - 5.0

Lowest Rated Story: The Invasion of Time - 1.0

Average overall rating: 3.34

Robot
The Ark in Space
The Sontaran Experiment
Genesis of the Daleks
Revenge of the Cybermen
Terror of the Zygons
Planet of Evil
Pyramids of Mars
The Android Invasion
The Brain of Morbius
The Seeds of Doom
The Masque of Mandragora
The Hand of Fear
The Deadly Assassin
The Face of Evil
The Robots of Death
The Talons of Weng Chiang
Horror of Fang Rock
The Invisible Enemy
Image of the Fendahl
The Sun Makers
Underworld
The Invasion of Time
The Ribos Operation
The Pirate Planet
The Stones of Blood
The Androids of Tara
The Power of Kroll
The Armageddon Factor
Destiny of the Daleks
City of Death
The Creature From the Pit
Nightmare of Eden
The Horns of Nimon
The Leisure Hive
Meglos
Full Circle
State of Decay
Warrior's Gate
The Keeper of Traken
Logopolis