A Swaggering Debut? | Season Twelve Recap | Doctor Who Marathon From The Beginning

[@triplejazzmusicisall1883]

The ultimate season although the next three seasons were all superb. Tom though is relishing the role, and the trio dynamic of the Doctor, Sarah and Harry is probably the best in the entire shows run - old and new. Ina Marter should be given greater respect. Alongside Elisabeth Sladen their friendship is so genuine on screen without any gush we get these days. Yes, Revenge is the weakest of the season but that just shows what an incredible run of episodes it comprised. The cybermat attacking Sarah and the luminous veins when bitten by one is very effective. The only thing I didn’t care for were the Vogans - those masks and golden costumes were garbage. But that really doesn’t damage the story in anyway. Revenge also gave us that iconic image we see quite often with the starry-eyed Doctor being approached from behind by a cyberman about to strangle him - I’m sure you know the one.

[@MSDOSProject]

I love Season 12 but Season 13 and 14 are definitely where Tom hits his stride. Still Ark in Space and Genesis are two all time classics that I often want to go back and watch.

[@biganimefan84]

60th Anniversary Doctor Who Marathon...Take 2 "Season 12" Nope, not dead. And I haven't abandoned this Anniversary marathon either. Got poor mental health at the moment, and that translates into doing whatever brings me joy at a particular moment (that is when I can bring myself to watch anything period). TV stories Genesis of the Daleks (10/10) The Ark in Space (8/10) Robot (6/10) The Sontaran Experiment (4/10) Revenge of the Cybermen (4/10) Genesis is a near perfect origin story and better than what the Daleks deserve. Wasn't impressed by the Thals though this time around. It's kinda nice to know that the Earth (given enough time) is resilient enough to come back from the brink multiple times. And the Wirrn were genuinely creepy. The best thing about Robot was the introduction to the 4th Doctor and Harry Sulliven. The Sontatan Experiment honestly felt long and filler-like even though it was only a 2 parter. Also, sick and tired of the mistaken intentions trope (the Doctor being accused of murder). I don't know what those metal life forms were but they weren't Cybermen. Too emotional for one thing. Tom Baker has already sold me on his Doctor. I can't say where he ranks this early on, but he's definitely threatening Pertwee. For whom ends up being a single season companion, I really liked Harry Sullivan. His acting was top tier and he's definitely useful. That being said, it seemed like the show itself was trying to dismiss him and question his intelligence. Kinda similar to another male companion much later on (Rory....spoilers). The best TARDIS ally this season...is difficult. Maybe Commander Stevenson from Revenge of Cybermen. Greatest villain goes to Nyder from Genesis. Big Finish .......... Big Finish? What Big Finish? What extremely few there are for this season are generally just remakes of this season's stories. And I don't have any of them. That being said, this was a really tight season that there really isn't room for other story possibilities. Companion rankings Jo Vicki Brigadier Jamie Zoe Ian Chesterton Steven Taylor Harry Sullivan Polly Barbara Wright Benton Liz Sarah Jane Victoria Ben Oliver Sara Susan Dodo Katarina Yates Yep, Sarah Jane dipped lower in the companion rankings this season. Was frequently annoying and nearly always looked like she was about to burst into tears.

[@jameswhitaker12]

I feel like there almost is no "Tom Baker" era - Hinchcliffe, Williams and Nathan Turner are so different to each other, and each season is trying and suceeding or failing! at different things, so it never quite becomes normal! 70's Doctor who is all over the place really...!

[@chris_stokes]

@@jameswhitaker12 Yeah I think I agree with that. Even splitting it like that though, I still think the Hinchcliffe era takes a while to gear up.

[@jameswhitaker12]

@@chris_stokes I agree, it's not really until Tom's third season that it feels like it's hit its stride and is firing on all cylinders - then it's over!

[@chris_stokes]

@@jameswhitaker12 Exactly this! I'll get into it as we go on but it's why I find Tom's time at the helm... Uneasy to say the least

[@jameswhitaker12]

@@chris_stokes really interested to hear your thoughts..! Personally I think there's a case to be made that Tom did the show damage by dominating the role as long as he did, but that's a topic for another time!

[@GenATV33]

@@jameswhitaker12 For real! Season 14 is definitely my favourite Tom Baker season (although I still haven't seen the first two episodes of that Season!)

[@stevenmcnicoll5060]

The Letts /Dicks team were stretched too thinly with Moonbase Three. There was a real sense of dilution of the existing established format but no sense of real development with seasons 11 and 12. I was 4 at the time and was riveted by it all. Bang on again.

[@markstramtrainbuscapades1729]

Interesting comparison between season's seven & twelve which can easily be extended to the Pertwee & T Baker eras as a whole! Always had a soft spot for season 12, as that's when I first really got into the show! But I think both seasons share the fact that their initial planning was done by the previous production time, resulting in different decisions from what the incoming teams would become renowned for, most notably with season 7's 7 parters, which nevertheless overcame their difficulties well. I suppose season 12 was more uneven but I think that's very much the new team finding it's feet, that Troughton era feeling being because, as we went properly back into space (and perhaps because, "Curse Of Peladen" aside, Pertwee's ventures into the stars really weren't his best stories) I suppose Baker seems a little tentative precisely because we're five years further on, with "Doctor Who" now very clearly as popular as ever, with ratings far higher than the sixities, meaning there was far more at stake than earlier. Of course, the next few years would see the ratings get even larger, cementing both Baker and the new production teams confidence!

[@Eltonlaleham]

I wonder how well series 12 would have worked, had Jon Pertwee stayed the Doctor for a 6th series of Dr Who and would Harry Sullivan have ever appeared in the show

[@DrWhoFanJ]

Jon Pertwee could never have been in Series 12 given that he had been dead for 23 years by then!

[@GenATV33]

Thank you for this review. I've never seen Season 12 in this way before- as a cautious step forwards, but after watching your reviews and recently rewatching most of Season 12, I really see it in that light now. I want to offer two possible explanations for why Season 12 feels like a timid start to a brand new era, rather than a bold start to a new era. 1. (I think I'm right in saying that) Many of the production decisions for Season 12 were already made by Letts and Dicks. I'm pretty sure that Letts & Dicks had already commissioned Terry Nation to write a Dalek story, and I'm pretty sure I watched on one special feature that Letts challenged Nation to write something original, and Letts I believe was the one who suggested that Nation write the Dalek's origin story. You also shared how 'Robot' was pretty much imposed upon Holmes by Dicks. I think a lot of the production decisions for all the episodes were made by the previous team. I think a similar thing happened in Season 24, when most of the decisions had already been made by the 'emergency provisional government' before Andrew Cartmel was installed as the script editor, so he had little say over the direction in his first year. Therefore, I think the fact that the new team were working to the drumbeat of the old team (the old team having worked on the show in the Troughton era as well) might have led to this partial new beginning, rather than a full blown new beginning. In general in life, although sometimes transition periods when there is a handover from predecessor to successor can be good, sometimes its not helpful for the predecessor to be hovering over the successor's shoulders. It like putting new wine into old wineskins. You end up with the new wine ruining the old wineskins. 2. The popularity and unparalleled success of the Pertwee era. Although I am more of a Hartnell fan than a Pertwee fan, the Pertwee era was the first era of the show to end with higher viewer ratings than it began with; and it was the first era not to end with the production team, crew and cast shattered and exhausted from a variety of production issues, as both the Hartnell era and Troughton era ended. Doctor Who had already reached a high in popularity under Pertwee (and it laid foundations for the Doctor's moral standpoints, as well as many key villains and monsters!) that I think the production feared that making too many changes at that point they could risk losing the good thing they had; they could've risked losing the shows fan base by making the wrong changes. I think Steven Moffat faced a similar challenge when he took over from Russel T Davies in 2010, when the show in that current form had become a cult phenomena. I think that too might explain the hesitancy to make drastic changes. Hinchcliffe, Holmes and Tom Baker didn't have the hindsight we have now that people would look back at Seasons 12-14 as a 'Golden Era' of the show's history. I still have a soft spot for this Season. Here is my ranking of the episodes from this Season: 1. Genesis of the Daleks- 9/10 2. Revenge of the Cybermen- 7/10 3. The Ark in Space- 7/10 4. The Sontaran Experiment- 6/10 5. Robot- 3.5/10 I look forward to your marathon marching on, as it plows into the Ham-Horror Season of Doctor Who.

[@sg-zd8eb]

You got the job at DWM. Congrats.

[@HOTD108_]

​@@sg-zd8ebThey still make that? That's insane, people have been saying "print is dead" for like 30 years now lol.

[@DrWhoFanJ]

stories*

[@antonmassopust568]

❤❤ I really love this season this little marathon of from robot all the way to Revenge the side of man is really great

[@johng5859]

Season 12 is definitely transitional, with Hinchcliffe and Holmes obliged to work for much of the season with stories that had been set up by their predecessors. However, I think that after Robot there is a clear change in tone. The Ark in Space does hark back to the Troughton era in some ways, but it feels a lot more adult and horrific and for me it lays down the template for how the new production team would approach the show. The shift in tone persists through Sontaran Experiment and Genesis, with Revenge being the only story post-Robot that genuinely feels like a throwback to an earlier era - with Gerry Davis on scripting duties, that was perhaps no great surprise.

[@akshaytrayner1960]

It gets going in season 13 to 16 I have a soft spot for season 17

[@chris_stokes]

@@akshaytrayner1960 I actually think 13's debatable. 14 definitely but, in all honesty, I find it gets really rocky again after Fang Rock

[@akshaytrayner1960]

@@chris_stokes I can see you point the android invasion annoys me and planet of evil is a bit dull accept for the production design

[@tomgarb6302]

its a good season slightly letdown by its bookends

[@martins8587]

You need to remember that season 7 was largely set up influenced by Innes Lloyd and team. Spot the major uniform change for unit and "sacking" of Caroline John (Liz Shaw). Exactly the same thing happened in season 12/13. It was pretty well all on the drawing board, designed and scripted by Letts and Dicks. Hinchcliffe and Holmes didn't really get a chance to remake the series in their image until the second story of season 13. Why the second story? Terror of the Zygons was a season 12 story that got held over to the following season. Although they were responsible for outworking the previous team's vision, it's not really fair to blame them for any shortcomings. Also, i don't actually agree with you. I love season 12. I was 9 years old when it was broadcast and it was fantastic....and still is.

[@chris_stokes]

@@martins8587 I'm not really blaming them for anything, just observing that I don't think they're as confident at the very beginning as is often made out. The incoming team for 7 made, in my opinion, a far more confident season than the incoming team for 12. You point out that circumstances were largely similar, catching a ball fielded by someone else, and I just think there's a confidence in Letts, Dicks and Pertwee that isn't really there with Hinchcliffe, Holmes and Baker straight away. I'm glad you enjoy Season 12 so much, I wish I could myself but I don't find it the stellar beginning to a golden era that many seem to

[@martins8587]

@chris_stokes Lovely to hold a difference of opinion on social media without it getting nasty. Thank you! 🙏

[@nathanadlerinc2790]

Are you ill? Firstly, don't even mention the travesty of the latest desecration of the programme with any mention of the supposed storyline. Second, Tom is the Doctor from the second he appears and speaks. Most fans would say this and it does not take until Genesis. What about the homosapiens speech from Arc. Or the final message to the Sontarans. He found the character immediately. And never changes until the G Williams era. What were you watching?.....

[@DrWhoFanJ]

There is no "desecration of the programme". You’re the one who must be ill to believe such nonsense.