Doctor Who © BBC

The Third Doctor

 


The Eight Doctors
"Before you start annihilating the thing, why don't we just take a look at it?"

The Third Doctor's Early Adventures
Companions and Allies: The Brigadier, Liz Shaw, Sgt. Benton, Jo Grant, Capt. Mike Yates
Major Enemies: Autons, Nestene, Silurians, The Master

Spearhead from Space
Location: England Date: Late 1969

Theoretically Speaking The Doctor arrives on EarthThe TARDIS lands in a forest where UNIT soldiers search for meteorites which have come down in formation. The Doctor has collapsed and is taken to a hospital, where the press is tipped off about his alien nature. Lethbridge-Stewart has recruited Dr. Elizabeth Shaw as UNIT's scientific advisor, and they go to the hospital after learning that the alien was found near a police box. The Brigadier is surprised when a man he doesn't recognize calls him by name. As he and Liz leave, The Doctor is kidnapped by Channing and his associates. While escaping, he's accidentally shot by a UNIT soldier, and lapses into a coma as he's returned to the hospital. When he recovers, he steals the clothes of one of the doctors and takes off in the man's roadster. He traces the TARDIS to UNIT HQ and demands to see the Brigadier. He agrees to help UNIT, but then convinces Liz to get the TARDIS key, using the excuse that he needs some equipment. When he tries to leave, he finds that he can't operate the TARDIS due to mental blocks implanted by the Time Lords. UNIT troops are confronted by a living mannequin which is also seeking the meteorites, but they do manage to recover one of them. The Doctor and Liz discover it's part of a group mind, and learn from John Ransome that the plastics factory where he worked has been taken over by Channing, and isThe Doctor under attack by the Nestene guarded by the mannequins, which are called Autons. General Scobie, UNIT's army liaison, has been replaced by an Auton, which steals the meteorite and takes it to the factory. The Doctor and Liz go to Madame Tussaud's wax museum following a tip from Ransome, and find the real Scobie, as well as other government leaders. More Autons come to life, breaking out of shop windows and killing bystanders. The Doctor and Liz build a machine to disable them, and go to the factory with the Brig and his men. "Scobie" and a squad of regular army troops attempt to stop them, but The Doctor disables the Scobie Auton (and the general recovers, to the surprise of the patrons of Madame Tussaud's). As Liz and The Doctor enter the factory the device fails, and The Doctor is attacked by the Nestene Intelligence, which controls the Autons. Liz fixes the machine, and the Nestene and Channing, also an Auton, are defeated. The Doctor agrees to work for UNIT, provided he gets Liz as his assistant, facilities to work on the TARDIS, and a car like the one he stole. He adopts the name "Doctor John Smith", an alias first used by The Second Doctor (The Wheel in Space).

The Silurians
Location: England Date: 1970

The Doctor at Wenley MoorWenley Moor atomic research center is having problems, and the Brig asks The Doctor and Liz to investigate. There have been power losses and unexplained illnesses, including a man who's been driven mad. The Doctor finds the man drawing monsters, and when he investigates the caves housing the complex, he sees a dinosaur and the tracks of a reptilian humanoid. UNIT troops wound one of the creatures, but it escapes and later kills Dr. Quinn, the scientist who discovered the beings, which he has identified as Silurians (The Doctor later says they should have been called Eocenes: The Sea Devils). The Doctor and Liz find a map to their base in Quinn's house, and learn that the Silurianpower losses are caused by them bringing their people out of hibernation. The Silurians ruled Earth before the rise of man, but went into suspended animation in the caverns to avoid the effects of a planet they believed would crash into Earth. The object was caught by Earth's gravity and became the Moon, and the Silurians remained asleep until the research center went online. The Doctor convinces a Silurian elder to attempt peace talks, but the leader of another faction unleashes a plague to eliminate the humans. The elder gives a sample of the disease to The Doctor, who finds a cure. He's captured before he can develop it, but Liz makes the vaccine using his notes. With this plan thwarted, the rebel Silurians try to use the center's reactor to power a device to destroy the Van Allen belt surrounding Earth, and all but one return to hibernation. The Doctor escapes, and shuts down the reactor. He still wants to try diplomacy, and after he's assured that peace talks will begin, he and Liz head back to London. Bessie breaks down, and they witness the explosion of the caves, which the government has ordered the Brigadier to carry out.

The Ambassadors of Death
Location: England Date: 1970

UNIT is providing security for the recovery of Mars Probe 7. The Doctor identifies a noise transmitted from the ship as a message, but his attempts to decode it are hampered by one of the scientists at Britain's Space Centre. The Doctor realizes that the astronauts, who've been removed from the capsule by order of General Carrington, one of the crew of Mars Probe 6, are really aliens who've been substituted for the real crew. The aliens are radioactive, and their touch is lethal to humans. The Doctor pilots a spacecraft to the alien ship in an effort to locate the real crew, and learns that the aliens are ambassadors. Their captain threatens to attack Earth unless they are safely returned. Carrington plans to use the captives for a series of attacks which he hopes will unite mankind against the aliens, whom he blames for the death of one of his Probe 6 crewmembers. The Doctor alerts UNIT, and builds a translator which enables him to convince the ambassadors of his good intentions. Carrington is prevented from making a worldwide broadcast to alert other nations to the alleged threat, and The Doctor starts negotiations for exchanging the ambassadors for the Probe 7 crew.

Inferno
Location: England Date: July 1970

The Doctor works on the TARDIS consoleAt Project Inferno, which is penetrating Earth's crust in search of a new power source, some workers have been infected by a green slime brought up by the drill. The slime is changing them into savage creatures. The Doctor is already working at the project, using some of its power for experiments on the TARDIS console, and he and Liz are caught up in UNIT's investigation. The project's head, Professor Stahlman, rejects the advice of The Doctor and drilling consultant Greg Sutton to shut the drilling down. No one knows that Stahlman has already been infected by the slime. Sir Keith Gold, the government minister overseeing the project, heads to London in an attempt to stop Stahlman, but the drilling goes on in his absence. The Doctor continues his work, but an attack by one of the creatures causes a power surge, and he The Doctor shows off his latest gadgetand the console vanish. The Doctor finds himself in a dimension where Inferno is more advanced, and discovers that this Britain is a fascist state, with duplicates of his UNIT allies as its enforcers. This world's version of Stahlman has caused Sir Keith's death, leaving only The Doctor and Sutton to stop him. They fail, and The Doctor sees the onset of this Earth's destruction. He's convinced this world's Liz Shaw of his origins, and she helps him escape. The Liz of his own dimension finds him in shock, but realizes that his mumbled message to reverse the drill will buy them time to try to convince Stahlman to shut the project down. The recovered Doctor tries to destroy the drill, but is stopped by Stahlman and arrested by UNIT. He escapes, and he and Sutton battle the transformed Stahlman, and manage to shut the process down with only seconds to spare. Sir Keith has survived the accident which killed his counterpart, and orders the project closed. Before the project's power is finally shut down, The Doctor, who's been berating the Brigadier for his pomposity, tries again to move the TARDIS console. He sheepishly returns moments later, having managed to get only as far as the project's garbage dump.

Terror of the Autons
Location: England Date: Autumn 1970

The Brig watches The Doctor build another gadgetCaptain Mike Yates has become the Brig's second-in-command, and Liz Shaw has returned to Cambridge. The Brig assigns Josephine Grant, whose influential uncle pulled strings to get her a job, as The Doctor's assistant. Jo immediately wrecks one of his experiments, but he can't work up the nerve to tell her he doesn't want her help. The Doctor's classmate, The Master, has arrived on Earth, and has used the radio telescope at Beacon Hill to summon the Nestene. UNIT is called to investigate missing scientists at Beacon Hill, and while they are there one of the Time Lords alerts The Doctor of The Master's plans. The last remaining Auton meteorite has disappeared, and The Brigadier orders a search of plastics factories. The Master has already taken over Farrell Plastics, and is making Autons and other Nestene devices. He captures Jo and hypnotizes her, ordering her to destroy The Doctor with a bomb, but The Doctor breaks the hypnosis. Jo can't remember where The Master is, but a car belonging to one of the scientists is traced to Rossini's Circus. When The Doctor and Jo go there, he finds The Master's TARDIS, and steals its dematerialization circuit. After a scuffle with controlled circus people, they're captured by Autons disguised as policemen, but are rescued by UNIT. The Master's circuit won't work in The Doctor's TARDIS, but without it he's also stranded on Earth. Reports of deaths come in, which The Doctor finds are caused by plastic daffodils which spray a mask over the victim's face, suffocating him, and then dissolving without trace. He traces The Master, and while UNIT battles the Autons, convinces him the Nestene will turn on him when his usefulness ends. Together they prevent it from arriving on Earth, but The Master escapes by using a disguised Farrell as a decoy.

The Mind of Evil
Location: England Date: Late 1970

The Doctor at Stangmoor PrisonUNIT is providing security for a peace conference, and disposing of a missile with a nerve gas warhead. The Doctor and Jo have gone to Stangmoor Prison to see Professor Kettering demonstrate the Keller machine, a device which drains evil impulses from criminals. Barnham, the prisoner chosen for the experiment, collapses, and a witness is found dead, apparently from rat bites. The man had a fear of rats, and Kettering, who feared drowning, is found near the machine, his lungs full of water. The Doctor learns the machine has been in use for nearly a year, and that Keller's assistant was a young Chinese woman. He's with the machine as a riot starts, and sees his fear of fire (Inferno) come to life. Before he can continue investigating he's called away. The peace conference has been disrupted by the murder of the Chinese delegate. The Master, who's bugged UNIT HQ, learns the route for the missile transport. He's used Chin Lee, a young woman from the Chinese delegation, to commit the murder, and plans to have her kill other delegates. The Doctor impresses the new Chinese delegate with his command of Chinese dialects and his friendship with Chairman Mao, and he learns about Chin Lee, who he realizes was Keller's assistant. He and the Brig stop her from killing the American delegate. The Master helps the convicts gain control of Stangmoor, and The Doctor is captured when he returns. The Master plans to steal the missile and use it to destroy the peace conference. He wants The Doctor to help him control the Keller machine, which houses an alien parasite which feeds on evil. The Master also is subject to the creature, and his greatest fear is The Doctor laughing at him. The prisoners hijack the missile, and Captain Yates is captured when he follows them. The Keller machine is now mobile, and The Doctor learns that it's unable to act when Barnham, whose evil impulses are gone, is present. The Master leaves to arm the missile. UNIT troops attack the prison, and the Brigadier prevents an inmate from shooting The Doctor. Yates has escaped and found the airfield where the missile's been taken. The Master offers to exchange it for his dematerialization circuit, and The Doctor agrees. He arrives with Jo, Barnham, and the Keller machine, which attacks The Master. The Doctor disarms the missile but The Master escapes in a van, running over Barnham in the process. The missile's destroyed and the Keller machine is caught in the blast. The Master calls The Doctor to thank him for returning his circuit, and promises to return to destroy Earth and The Doctor.

 
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