Jon Pertwee assumed the role, becoming the third Doctor. Where Troughton was short, dark hair and frumpily dressed most of the time, Pertwee was taller, dressed like a dandy with a grey bouffant hairdo. The two couldn’t look any further apart.
It was also decided to return the Second Doctor’s two assistants to the place in their lives where they first met the Doctor, effectively wiping their memories of any adventures they’d had with him.
Besides the clean slate of actors, another major change was the switch to color. The previous six seasons had been filmed in black and white, which made the 1960s seem so much longer ago than the rest of Classic Doctor Who.
With all the monsters and exotic sites in glorious color, it was sure to be a feast for the eye. Unfortunately, due to BBC belt tightening, it was decided to have the Doctor banished to Earth. Rather than the Doctor going to the monsters, the monsters would have to come to him.
While they did loosen up on that requirement a bit, the Pertwee Years definitely do not have the variety of sets of any of the other Doctors.
I was a bit disappointed that his first companion, Liz, was only around for a few series. But, their writing her off was providential because the actor turned out to be pregnant and would have had to leave anyways. Whereas Liz was a brilliant scientist in her own right, Jo Grant was ditzy, and got on the Doctor’s nerves immediately. However, by the time she left the series, she’d matured quite a bit.
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Unlike the Swiss Cheese availability of the previous two Doctors, all episodes are accounted for from the Pertwee Years. If DVDs are not available, they can be viewed on the Britbox streaming service.
1 – THE TIME WARRIOR - A really simple script, and a great mashup of historical and science fiction genres. The first appearance of the Sontarans, and not overdone. Almost wish it had another episode just to give us more information on the Sontarans.
2 – PLANET OF THE DALEKS - A good game of Cat and Mouse from beginning till end. At first I thought it was the same planet as in Mission to the Unknown. But, it’s not. Looked like Jo was a goner.
3 – THE DÆMONS - This would be a good one to watch on Halloween. Very unusual compared to most Doctor Who series that were done back then. The Master looked particularly creepy when dressed in the robes. Azal looked a bit on the fake side. But, that was more than made up for by Bok, his little silver colored henchmen! One of my favorite extra characters in the whole series!
4 – THE SEA DEVILS - Another episode which seemed pretty unique. Loved the fortress location, and the Sea Devil creatures. Seemed rather pirate-like. The connection with the Silurians is still not believable for me. But, I can get past that one. One of the better scenes is where they’re emerging from the sea, in a chain mail type outfit. The whispery voice was funny.
5 – THE CURSE OF PELADON - Loved some things in this series. Hated other things. The Ice Warriors reminded me of Marvin the Martian from Disney cartoons, and were really dumbed down. Didn’t seem right compared to previous treatments of them. While Alpha Centuri looks just as comical, it was fresh with no backstory. Kudos to David Troughton. He played the conflicted Peladon nicely. I think my favorite part of the series was the Doctor’s hypnotic song when encountering Aggedor.
6 - The Monster of Peladon
7 – Doctor Who and the Silurians
8 – Invasion of the Dinosaurs
9 - Colony in Space
10 - Planet of the Spiders
11 - Terror of the Autons
12 - Carnival of Monsters
13 - The Green Death
14 - The Mutants
15 - Inferno
16 - Death to the Daleks
17 - Frontier in Space
18 - The Three Doctors
19 - The Time Monster
20 - The Claws of Axos
21 - Day of the Daleks
22 - The Mind of Evil
23 - Spearheads from Space
24 - The Ambassadors of Death
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