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Doctor Who: Ten reasons why the Third Doctor’s era was so special

By James Aggas

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Over 100 years after his birth, the Third Doctor is still greatly loved by many fans. Here are ten reasons why.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

There’s so much that we love about Jon Pertwee’s run in Doctor Who as the Third Doctor. Here are our top ten reasons why his era is still so brilliant.

Like many fans, Jon Pertwee’s run in Doctor Who is very dear to me. Thanks to repeats, it was the first era of Doctor Who that I ever watched, and so helped to define the series for me in a big way. And yet, in some ways, it’s extremely different to almost any other era.

For one thing, the Third Doctor’s era was extremely Earth-bound. With the Doctor exiled to our world as punishment by the Time Lords, many of his stories were firmly set in the modern-day. Which meant that he had to rely on military organization UNIT a great deal, especially when it came to alien invasions. Which, as it turned out, were a regular occurrence at this point.

But more than that, we also had a Doctor who was more of an action hero and wasn’t afraid to get into a fight. Whether he was armed with a sword or just using martial arts, the Third Doctor was always ready to get physical if he needed to.

Last month, we celebrated over a hundred years since Jon Pertwee’s birth. We continue to celebrate him by looking back at his era and see why it was so brilliant. Here are our top ten reasons why the Third Doctor’s era was so special, starting with…

10. Full color!

The move from the Sixties to the Seventies brought many major changes. Along with another change of lead actor, one of the biggest changes was the series going from black and white to full color. This was a huge move for the series – one that the makers of the show were more than happy to use, if not exploit in full.

As a result, Jon Pertwee’s era was colorful in many ways. That’s obvious enough, just from the title sequence alone. After a decade of black and white, the series was ready to show off how bright and colorful the new age was, right from the very beginning. As a result, we’ve got a highly memorable intro that stands out, even today.

Stories like The Claws of Axos and Carnival of Monsters are still greatly loved by fans because of how gloriously Seventies they are. In terms of both the look and the tone of the stories, “color” is a word that leaps to mind. Unsurprisingly, the Pertwee era stands out in a big way. Later eras would focus on a darker tone and look, especially Tom Baker’s era in his earlier seasons. But overall, Pertwee’s run on the show was an era that embraced being as colorful as possible.

However, this use of color isn’t necessarily true for his entire run on the show. In fact, rather ironically, his first season was arguably the least colorful, in many ways. But we’ll get to that later.

The group of friends the Doctor made during his exile on Earth has been referred to as “the UNIT family”, and it’s not hard to see why…

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC. Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

9. The UNIT family

The word “family” isn’t something that you could say about many of the teams featured in Doctor Who over the years. The Doctor’s always had extremely close friends – and sometimes, lovers – but family? That’s a little more rare. The closest we’ve had in the New Series is, arguably, the Ponds, particularly when River was around.

But for the group of regular characters featured in the Third Doctor’s era, “the UNIT family” has long been a popular term to describe them. And it’s not hard to see why. Each of the characters were brilliant (a key few of which we’ll be looking at in more detail in this list), but there was a certain chemistry between all of them that made it even better.

The fact that the Doctor was on Earth longer during this era, and so got to know characters other than his main companion better, helped to endear many secondary characters to the audience. Captain Mike Yates and Sergeant John Benton are two clear examples of this. They were never given the leading light – at least, not in the TV series. But they both had their fair share of key moments, whether through humor or drama, that made the audience love them. As a result, it was a huge shock when one of them made a shocking betrayal during the final season.

With such a strong team of regular characters – both primary and secondary – the early Seventies gave us something very special. Special enough to have earned the term “family”.

8. A more action focused Doctor

Now, we all love that the Doctor generally loves to solve problems using his wits and his intelligence. But it also has to be said that we do love to see a bit of action with the Doctor every now and again. Whether it’s engaging in a sword fight, or even simply running away from enemies, Doctor Who has regularly given us stories that have balanced the sci-fi with a good dose of adrenalin.

That’s perhaps no more true than in Jon Pertwee’s era. During this time, we had a Doctor who was more heroic in a slightly more conventional sense. He was a Doctor who got involved in car chases, sword fights – even martial arts! After seeing just a glimpse of it in Inferno, we see the Third Doctor use Venusian Aikido on a regular basis in subsequent seasons.

Even better is that the Third Doctor looked so cool while doing it! When he fought off enemies while wearing his cape, it gave him just a little hint of a comic book hero, although he was probably closer to James Bond. Especially when it came to the gadgets.

Just as Bond relied on gadgets from Q – at least in the twentieth century – the Third Doctor often relied on gadgets of his own. Sometimes, they would be highly sophisticated, whereas other times – such as in The Time Monster – they would be made out of the most basic everyday items. It’s no coincidence that, while the Second Doctor had used the Sonic Screwdriver a couple of times during his era, it was during Pertwee’s run that we started to see a lot more of it.

Martial arts, car chases and gadgets – the Third Doctor really was your regular action hero! Except of course, he wasn’t. He was intelligent, to the point where, unlike Bond, he created his own gadgets. But, more importantly, he also found enjoyment in other things, too…

7. A more dandy Doctor

One word that’s often been used to describe the Third Doctor is “dandy”, and it really isn’t hard to see why.

First of all, there’s his sense of fashion. It’s a style that he found quite by accident, when he borrowed some clothes from a hospital not long after his regeneration. Nevertheless, his look of frilled shirts, velvet jackets and flowing capes was a style that undeniably worked brilliantly for him, and ensured that his Doctor had a distinctive and iconic look.

Secondly, he certainly enjoyed his wine. One of my favorite scenes featuring his Doctor was in Day of the Daleks, when he used his time looking after a politician’s house as an opportunity to raid his cellar. We then see him casually enjoying cheese and helping himself to some wine. It’s a quiet moment, but not something that we often see for the Doctor. We saw Eleven try some wine in The Impossible Astronaut, but he immediately spat it out.

As grumpy and authoritarian the Third Doctor could get at times, he was also a distinct incarnation who had his own little pleasures, and made sure to enjoy them. It’s not much, but it did help to make him even more distinctive, both as a Doctor and as a hero in general.

While she only had the one season, Liz Shaw was an undeniably brilliant companion for the Third Doctor.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

6. Liz Shaw – a far too brief but brilliant companion

One thing I’ve been enjoying about my re-watch of Season 7 is rediscovering just how utterly brilliant Liz Shaw is. It’s a real shame that she only lasted for one season – especially as that season was only made of four serials.

From her very first story, Liz was clearly different to previous companions. She wasn’t looking to be the Doctor’s “assistant”, and in fact was supposed to be UNIT’s scientific adviser until the Doctor came along. (Not that she was actually interested in the position in the first place.)

With her high level of intelligence and dry sense of humor, Liz wasn’t exactly someone who suffered fools gladly. Naturally, she got on well with the Third Doctor not long after meeting him. They also formed an interesting pairing – as two scientists working for a military organization, they would naturally have a different perspective on how a difficult situation should be resolved compared to the rest of their colleagues and superiors.

This was best shown in Doctor Who and the Silurians. While initially, she believed the creatures in the caves to be naturally hostile, it didn’t take much for the Doctor to show her that, like the humans, they were reacting out of fear. However, while they both wanted to find a peaceful solution, that didn’t stop the Brigadier from blowing up the Silurian base.

Lastly, the best reason why Liz Shaw was so fantastic was Caroline John herself. She made the role her own, giving it a lot of personality and class, not to mention humor. There are many moments, particularly in her first story, where she doesn’t even need to say anything and can make you laugh hard with a look or an eye roll. It’s a shame her character lasted for only one season, but there’s no question that she left an impact on the series.

The Third Doctor’s first season gave us three iconic stories, and is probably one of the best seasons of the series.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

5. A brilliant debut season

Despite featuring so few stories, and despite being so radically different to the rest of his era, Jon Pertwee’s first season is still greatly loved by fans. And it’s not hard to see why.

Spearhead from Space, Doctor Who and the Silurians and Inferno are all greatly loved stories, and will regularly appear in top ten (if not top five) lists of the best Third Doctor stories. Even The Ambassadors of Death, while clearly the weakest story of the season, is still above average, and has many key elements that work extremely well. It’s less sure of itself than the other three stories of the season, but it’s definitely watchable.

It’s funny to think just how well this season works, however. Season 7 is, in many ways, a lot darker and grittier than what had come before in Doctor Who. Or what came after, in fact. While Spearhead had something of the typical alien invasion template, The Silurians featured a race that actually had a legitimate claim to the Earth; Inferno presented darker takes on some of our favorite characters, and even Ambassadors had a heavy focus on gangsters.

So it’s not surprising that, while the season was successful, and might even be one of the greatest seasons of Doctor Who ever made, the production team moved away from the tone and direction radically with Season 8. Especially when they introduced a character who would become incredibly important to the series…

Introduced in Season 8, the Master would become one of Doctor Who’s most recognizable enemies, and a key reason for that was Roger Delgado.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

4. Roger Delgado as the Master

Eight seasons. That’s how long it took for Doctor Who to create one of its key villains. That’s longer than a lot of TV series these days. But it didn’t take long for the Master to make an impact.

One reason for this was that the character was handled well from his very first story. The viewers knew that this was another Time Lord like the Doctor, that he was the Doctor’s equal. That he was even somewhat friendly to the Doctor and vice versa, as they treated their confrontations like mere games. However, he was also clearly dangerous and evil.

Another thing that helped to establish the Master was how often he appeared in Jon Pertwee’s era. Not only did he regularly appear, but he was the major enemy for the entire season that he was introduced in! Afterwards, he appeared a couple of times in Season 9, before appearing once more in Season 10.

But perhaps the biggest reason the villain was so popular was because of Roger Delgado himself. He brought such charm to the role, and came across like a real gentleman when he needed to be. At the same time, however, he knew when to give a strong sense of menace, too. So he was able to make his Master both extremely likable and extremely threatening.

We’ve had many Masters since Delgado, of course. But if he hadn’t done what he did so easily and so brilliantly, we would never have had any other interpretations of the character. In this writer’s view, he’s not just the original, but also the best.

While the Brigadier had originally met the Second Doctor, it was with the Third that his friendship with the Doctor grew.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

3. The Brigadier – developing a beautiful friendship

The roots of the Doctor’s and the Brigadier’s friendship began during the Doctor’s second incarnation. He first met Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart during The Web of Fear, while they were fighting the Yeti in the London Underground. They met once more in The Invasion, after he had been promoted to Brigadier and UNIT had been created.

These two stories gave us the very beginning of that friendship. But it only became truly fleshed out during the Third Doctor’s era.

This was when the Brigadier learned many new things about the Doctor. About how this strange little man he once knew could change his face (not to mention his height). About the Doctor’s sense of morality, and how that could conflict with UNIT’s, or possibly even humanity’s. And of course, how the Doctor would always find a way to save the day.

While their friendship was in some ways a reluctant one at times – especially for the Doctor, who had been exiled to Earth against his will – it steadily grew into one of the greatest friendships that the Doctor ever had. The Brigadier would meet so many incarnations of his best friend over the years, and even after both the character’s and actor’s Nicholas Courtney’s death in 2011, the TV series still paid tribute to the Brigadier many times. But while he encountered many Doctors, there were arguably none he was closer to than the Third.

2. Jo Grant

As we covered earlier, Liz Shaw was a truly fantastic character. It would’ve been a challenge for anyone following her as a companion to the Third Doctor. However, the production team made an interesting choice when they created the Doctor’s next companion: Jo Grant.

In many ways, Jo was almost the opposite of Liz. While Liz was brilliant and scientifically intelligent and could understand the Doctor’s scientific terminology, Jo hardly understood science at all. Essentially, she was written to be something closer to the audience’s point of view, particularly when the Doctor would try to explain something in his own terms before remembering to dumb it down for other humans.

Jo was also considerably younger than Liz and less mature. Whereas Liz was in her late twenties/early thirties and had developed a significant career, Jo was still in her very early twenties and in many ways, was just starting out. You couldn’t imagine a more different character from Liz.

Of course, it turned out to be the right move. What Jo lacked in scientific intelligence, she was able to make up for in her passion to her job as the Doctor’s assistant. While she wasn’t good with scientific terminology, she was able to understand problems on her own terms, and find solutions to them along the way. More than that, Jo became incredibly loyal to the Doctor, and was willing to risk her life for him several times. The close bond that grew between her and the Doctor was extremely special.

What helped of course were both Katy Manning’s performance and the chemistry that she shared with Jon Pertwee. I mentioned that these regular characters were like a family in this era, and that seemed especially true of the Doctor and Jo. Manning put so much innocence and charm in the role, and audiences couldn’t help but find her endearing. She was a perfect companion for a brilliant Doctor.

Speaking of which…

Of course, the greatest thing that the Third Doctor’s era gave us was the man himself, Jon Pertwee.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

1. Jon Pertwee

Of course, the greatest thing about Pertwee’s era was of course the man himself.

Jon Pertwee had a difficult job when he had to take over from Patrick Troughton. Perhaps not as much as Troughton had when he took over from William Hartnell – after all, Troughton had to take over from someone who was, at that point, the one and only Doctor. But Troughton had proved to be a huge success himself, one that would be difficult to live up to.

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However, Pertwee more than lived up to the task. While he had been known primarily for comedy, Pertwee got to show off just how much he could really do as an actor when he played the Third Doctor. He commanded the role with such authority so quickly, and made sure to give his own take on the part.

More than that – many of the previous points that we’ve made in this list were arguably down to Pertwee himself. For example, the Doctor’s style complimented him perfectly, and he clearly enjoyed the action scenes that his character got involved in. And I’m sure Pertwee didn’t object to scenes of the Doctor drinking wine or eating Gorgonzola cheese!

Jon Pertwee made the Third Doctor into an icon, as well as the second longest running Doctor of the Classic Series after Tom Baker. This writer was introduced to Doctor Who throughout repeats of Pertwee’s episodes, and even when I watched them more than twenty years after their original broadcast, as a kid, I couldn’t help but be awed by him. Almost fifty years on, and his Doctor is still fondly remembered. And I think that will remain true for the next fifty years, at least.

Next. The sting – why it’s such an important part of the series. dark

What did you love most about the Third Doctor’s era? Was it the man himself? The action? The gadgets? His friends? His enemies? Let us know in the comments below.

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