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Doctor Who: Season Eighteen – five reasons to watch Tom Baker’s final year

By James Aggas

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With its recent release on Blu-ray, we give you five reasons why Tom Baker’s final season of Doctor Who is essential to watch.

I must admit, the past couple of weeks have been fun. After getting Season Eighteen on Blu-ray, it’s been fantastic having an excuse to revisit this particular season of Doctor Who. Not just for a Blu-ray review (to be honest, there are still so many extras for me to get through before I can fairly review the overall box set). But also, for getting a good look at the season and judging it as a whole.

From the very first story, Season Eighteen brought in a lot of changes. While The Leisure Hive began with exactly the same cast as Season Seventeen (i.e. Tom Baker as the Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana and John Leeson as K9), stylistically, it was very different from what we had seen before.

We had a brand new intro, new theme tune and a whole new style of incidental music altogether. Gone was the orchestral music of Dudley Simpson, and along came something a lot more synthesized, from various composers. Doctor Who really had entered the Eighties, and this was mainly due to its new producer: John Nathan-Turner.

The season also featured a new script editor, too. Season Seventeen had featured the legendary writer Douglas Adams working on Doctor Who, but for the following season, he was replaced by Christopher H. Bidmead, who was keen to bring a stronger focus on more realistic science to the show.

So was Tom Baker’s final year a strong season? After re-watching the whole of it and re-appraising it, I certainly think so. Here are five reasons why Season Eighteen is strongly worth checking out for any Doctor Who fan, starting with…

Beginning with The Leisure Hive, Season Eighteen presents an easy jumping on point for the Classic Series.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

1. Easy jumping on point

Season Eighteen may begin with the Doctor already travelling with a pair of companions, but even if you’ve just watched the New Series, this is still an easy season that you can just jump on board with. Romana is a fellow Time Lady, K9 is a robot dog, they’re old friends of the Doctor, and that’s literally all you need to know.

There are a couple of references to previous adventures, of course. For example, there are mentions of the Black Guardian in The Leisure Hive, and how they’re trying to escape from him. But by the end of that story, they completely stop worrying about him, and the season moves on very easily.

It’s not surprising that this is a very easy jumping-on point. After all, this is the first season of John Nathan-Turner as producer on Doctor Who, and he clearly wanted to leave his mark. Everything about this season has been given a brand new style, making it stand out compared to previous seasons.

Some of these changes, I’ll admit, I’m not so keen on. (While Tom Baker’s new burgundy costume looks great overall, the question marks on his collars were definitely unnecessary, and way too much of a wink to the audience. Worse still, the question marks remain on the Doctor’s costumes until the end of the Eighties.)

But on the whole, it has to be said that Season Eighteen has a gloriously fresh sense of style. So it makes sense that, despite this being Tom Baker’s final season, it’s broadly accessible, as well. Certainly, more instantly accessible than the following season…

With companions such as Tegan barely introduced in this season, this makes it absolutely essential to watch before watching Season Nineteen.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

2. It sets up Season Nineteen

This point may seem kind of obvious. But it’s also important. Because some seasons are very accessible points, and some seasons aren’t. And Season Nineteen, at least from the start, definitely isn’t.

This was something that was strongly highlighted to me when I tried watching my copy of the complete Season Nineteen on Blu-ray. The first story, Castrovalva, continues directly from where Logopolis left off. Which isn’t surprising, considering the earlier story did end on a regeneration.

But it’s more than. While Season Eighteen begins with companions already fully established, Season Nineteen begins with a couple of companions who’ve only just joined the Doctor! It’s like watching The End of the World without watching Rose first – you’re missing a key part of that introduction story.

As a result, when you watch Castrovalva, it really sticks out. Especially as getting Tegan to Heathrow becomes such a major part of Season Nineteen, and Season Eighteen establishes the unusual link between Anthony Ainley’s Master and Nyssa.

So while there are some seasons you can easily jump on board with, there are others that aren’t quite so easy. Season Eighteen is an example of the former, while Nineteen is an example of the latter.

The Master finally returns in Season Eighteen, played by both Geoffrey Beevers and Anthony Ainley (pictured).

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

3. The return of the Master

Season Eighteen was major in bringing the Master back. Considering it had been over four years since his last appearance in The Deadly Assassin, his return was a huge moment. And it has to be said, the Doctor’s arch-enemy was definitely brought back in a very satisfying way.

First of all, the character got to have two stories this season: The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis. The former is mainly there to slowly build up and reintroduce the character, just as Utopia did for the character in Ten’s era. The Keeper of Traken is a very enjoyable serial, one that tells a good story while setting things up for the Fourth Doctor’s final adventure.

Secondly, we got two Masters, as well. Both of them new, at least actor-wise. Geoffrey Beevers appears playing the same incarnation that Peter Pratt did in The Deadly Assassin: an incarnation that’s horrifically disfigured and desperate for more life.

Anthony Ainley plays the Master’s new incarnation in Logopolis. While he only features in half the story, this is probably him at his best. In other stories he’s in later, he’s not handled quite as well, usually. Not until Survival, where he gets to really have fun with the part.

But this is where it all begins. For the very beginning of Anthony Ainley’s long run as the Master, Season Eighteen is easily worth checking out.

The Fourth Doctor faces his epic exit in Season Eighteen.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

4. Tom Baker’s final season

This is a key selling point for this season, and likely a strong reason why, after the release of his first season, Tom Baker’s second release on Blu-ray is his last season. It is a huge moment for the show, and the fact that it is his last does affect the overall tone of Season Eighteen.

For instance, Tom Baker’s Doctor is noticeably more subdued here. He’s less eccentric and silly than usual. These are qualities that everyone loved, but sometimes, in previous seasons, he had a tendency to take them too far, such as breaking the fourth wall.

In his final season, while Tom Baker’s Doctor still has his moments of wit and eccentricities, he also seems to take things more seriously. Especially when we get to his final ever story. From the start, Logopolis is loaded with a strong sense of doom, and Baker’s strong performance reflects that. From the very start, it’s as if he knows exactly what’s coming.

It all ends with an excellent regeneration scene, one that fans remember and love to this day. In fact, Steven Moffat referenced it during the finale to Series Ten, The Doctor Falls. So this is a moment that clearly left its impact with fans who had grown up with Tom’s Doctor. And honestly, it’s really not hard to see why.

Overall, Season Eighteen is essential to watch due how it sends off a much loved Doctor. But more than that…

Season Eighteen gave us a number of strong stories – including one that featured the Doctor against Vampires!

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

5. It’s a strong season in its own right

Personally, I think that Season Eighteen has often been overlooked in Doctor Who. This is probably because it features a significant shift in style, particularly compared to previous seasons with Graham Williams as producer. There was certainly less comedy than what came before, especially Season Seventeen, which had been script edited by Douglas Adams.

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But if I’m honest, I think the stories were, overall, stronger than what we’d had in years. Especially the E-Space trilogy: Full Circle was a great take on evolution by a shockingly young writer; State of Decay was a Doctor Who story with actual Vampires, and Warrior’s Gate, while divisive in some ways, was also imaginative and full of original ideas.

Even outside of the trilogy, we got some strong stories. The Leisure Hive was a decent opening to the season, and The Keeper of Traken was an excellently paced story about the downfall of both a family and an empire. And while Logopolis was admittedly flawed, it did provide a decent enough send-off for an absolutely brilliant Doctor.

Season Eighteen isn’t one of my favorite seasons of all-time. But it is my favorite Tom Baker season after his first three, and it gave the series a completely fresh direction. An excellent season that I hope fans both old and new will appreciate with its recent release on Blu-ray.

Next. Re-Watch: Logopolis gives the Fourth Doctor an epic final adventure. dark

Do you agree that these are key reasons why Doctor Who fans need to watch Season Eighteen? Are you a fan of the season? What would you say are the best reasons to check it out? Let us know in the comments below.

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