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Tom baker doctor who episodes8/16/2023 This story sits so high up on my list not only on its own worthy merits but also thanks to the fact that it was the first ever VHS video I owned. I think Steven Moffat must have taken inspiration from this when splintering Clara Oswald across the Doctor's time stream in The Name Of The Doctor. The story as a whole is a very clever one, with the Count splintering himself across time and space to save his race. Regardless of position, Tom is brilliant in City Of Death, especially with the Countess (and opposite Lalla Ward's Romana). Minor complaints really, and I'm just trying to show why I have it placed here and not at number one or two. Whereas I do absolutely adore City Of Death - it's a story that is quite rightly thought of as a must-see classic, and contains one of the best cliffhangers and WTF moments in Doctor Who history (but then you'd almost take that as a given from Douglas Adams) - personally I think that at times it goes a little too far with the humour, and Tom is allowed a little too much freedom with the slapstick side of the character. I expect many people would put this at the top of their lists, or at least much higher than sixth. The nurturing and educating of Leela is a really unique in Doctor Who, and something that could be a welcome addition to the series today. The Doctor is a man who detests violence but is travelling with an alien savage whose first instinct is to attack. The relationship between the Doctor and Leela is a fascinating one. But The Robots of Death really plays to Leela's violent nature, which doesn’t help in diverting the suspicion from the two travellers, and actually makes them seem more like the culprits. A lot of the stories that were filmed after a new companion arrived were actually written with the previous assistant in mind, and the lines just adapted - often not very convincingly. She's only one story into her character of Leela but gets some great material here. How very Doctor Who! It's typical that the blame is placed on the Doctor as he arrives on the scene, but what makes this one stand out for me (in addition to those killer robots that is) is Louise Jameson. Three stories from that year appear in this top 10 (and it was very nearly four), The Robots Of Death makes the cut as it is essentially a simple murder-mystery whodunnit tale, but with killer robots. Adric is also given what I think is his best material, he's not annoying here, there's a lot for him to do without pushing the whole boy-genius angle. It's also a new beginning of sorts, as we have the return of the Master (with Geoffrey Beevers being utterly chilling in the role), and a new companion in the form of a very young looking Sarah Sutton. It's the final time we are treated to Tom Baker's madcap Doctor (Tom's performance in Logopolis being much more restrained), and a solid reminder why he is still considered the very best of the bunch. Stylish in both script and presentation, The Keeper Of Traken is the beginning of the end for the Fourth. Except for The Keeper Of Traken, it's the one story I have a lot of time for. There's certainly plenty of great ideas across the season, it's just none of them quite come together for me. The awkwardness between the Fourth Doctor and the show's transition to almost-pantomime plays out on-screen, just as the awkwardness between Tom Baker and John Nathan-Turner was playing out off-screen. I'm not a huge fan of season 18 of Doctor Who.
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