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Doctor Who: Robot: Part Three (1975)
Tense political thriller with surprising levels of depth
Robot: Part Three picks up where Part Two left off, with the Doctor led into a trap and seemingly about to be killed by the Robot, with Sarah Jane Smith managing to save him just in time. After some detective work, the Doctor and Sarah discover that the evil Miss Winters of Thinktank and her alumni are proud members of the previously established Scientific Reform Society, the epistocratic and fascistic group advocating for an elite group of academics to rule the human race with an iron fist. This group has been revealed to have used the established Robot to steal nuclear codes from a safe in the bedroom of a causally deceased Cabinet minister, planning to use every atomic bomb on Earth to pressure governments into accepting their epistocratic demands or to wipe out the human race and establish a new race of elite academics like themselves.
There are a great many things that I could talk about in regards to this episode. The incredible acting, the contrast of the Hitlerite speeches of the evil Miss Winters with the daft card tricks of the Doctor, but the largest praise has to go towards the ways in which they developed the Scientific Reform Society.
While it is a bit silly to have an international accord in which all nuclear-capable states, with Cold War tensions still bubbling, place their nuclear codes in the hands of the UK of all places (the UK was certainly not a "neutral country" in the Cold War, unless there was some alternate universe Doctor Who thing I am missing out on), the plan initiated by the SRS, to use the Robot to steal codes for nuclear weaponry so that they can blackmail world governments into enacting their authoritarian agenda is tantalising and raises the stakes of the episode from dangerous weaponry to outright nuclear holocaust.
In many ways, the utilisation of the Prime Directive of the Robot has significant similarities to the justifications put forward by the SRS. The Prime Directive, to aid humanity, seems good at a first glance, but when that Prime Directive can be used, manipulated, into doing things such as aiding plans for total nuclear devastation that would certainly not aid humanity, rather being humanity's destruction, that Prime Directive turns into a dangerous tool used to justify things that would not be justifiable under its own terms. Similarly, the Scientific Reform Society seemingly look to have a pure utilitarian philosophy, only having advocacy on the terms of such advocacy promoting the greater good, but end up violating that principle, twisting it and manipulating it to justify horrific acts that any sane utilitarian would be horrified at attempted justification of.
The similarities drawn between the Robot and the SRS in the manipulation of their philosophies, the incredible reveal at the end that Professor Kettlewell, the creator of the Robot, has been working for the SRS due to the consistent ignorance towards his pleas for moving towards renewable technologies, the philosophical intrigue of the episode, the tense ending and consistently tense atmosphere, and the daftly entertaining value of a significant portion of the episode, make this an incredible episode. Love it, the best of the serial.
9.4/10.
Doctor Who: Robot: Part Two (1975)
Very good, sets up for the tense political thriller of Part Three
Robot: Part Two ends where Part One left off, with Sarah Jane Smith seemingly being encroached upon by a huge robot called K-1. K-1 refuses to attack her. The Robot explains its purpose to Sarah, its 'prime directive' being aiding humanity. Sarah relays her story to the Doctor and UNIT, and they act by talking to the previously introduced Professor Kettlewell and send Harry undercover at Thinktank. It is then shown how the Robot is made to act in ways that would seem counter to its prime directive, with Miss Winters and Mr Jellicoe, important figures at Thinktank, identifying a key Government minister with nuclear codes as an enemy of humanity. Sarah attends a meeting by the Scientific Reform Society, an epistocratic group with twisted values for governance and decisionmaking. The Robot returns to Professor Kettlewell, distressed after conflict with its Prime Directive. A trap is laid for the Doctor, where he encounters The Robot.
Part Two of the Robot serial largely follows on from Part One, with most plot points in the episode acting as direct continuation of what had happened previously. The acting continues on the same trajectory as it was going previously, and we are introduced to the driving motive for the Robot, and how its innocent motive gets shaped by the evil plans of its operators and twisted into going against its Directive despite justification being based in the Directive.
One new plot element introduced, however, is the Scientific Reform Society. This is a highly interesting group, which really makes the serial a fantastic watch. They are a fringe group of estranged scientists, tired of being ignored by successive governments, especially on environmental matters (very prescient). Their advocacy is therefore to establish academics as a ruling, decisionmaking class, establishing an epistocratic society. Despite this episode not getting into the meats of political conundrums encountered later on in the serial, interesting conflict arises when Sarah Jane Smith, with her attempt to sneak into an SRS conference, etablishes just how silly the decisionmaking philosophy advocated by the group really is, with their members telling her that she would have no free will in their ideal society, instead being told what to do, for the absurd justification of it being "for the best".
8.8/10. I didn't expect tense political conundrums from my very first classic Who serial. Wow.
Doctor Who: Robot: Part One (1974)
Great start
The Doctor has regenerated again, for a third time. His behaviour goes erratic and unpredictable due to this, so it's up to the investigation of Sarah Jane Smith, with the help of UNIT, to uncover the history behind the mysterious theft of plans for an incredibly powerful disintegrator gun. Sarah gets into the premises of Thinktank, a suspicious scientific research group with seeming ties to the theft, and after a fruitless visit to Professor Kettlewell, a former scientist at Thinktank and a specialist in robotics, she encounters the Robot, the creation that Kettlewell ordered the destruction of.
For the first episode I've watched of the classic Doctor Who series, it was pleasantly surprising to see the level of quality on display here. It has a simple but compelling premise, of the mysterious theft of top-secret UNIT documents, and is presented in a way dripfeeding the viewer the particular details of what happened, how it happened, who it was done by, and why it was done.
The effects do show its time, but they worked tremendously with what they could do, with fantastic kaleidoscope-esque point-of-view showings for the mysterious, unshown Robot building a great sense of unease.
Acting is superb, particularly the zany and erratic nature of the newly-regenerated Doctor being portrayed incredibly well by Tom Baker, who brings a very welcome display of charisma and energy to the role.
8.7/10, rounded up to 9/10 for the review :)