Tom Baker
- Appeared in 172 episodes
- Played the Fourth Doctor from 1974 – 1981
- First serial was Robot in season 12 and last serial was Logopolis in season 18
- He is the longest running doctor (on screen)
- Often the most popular of the Classic Who Doctors
- His outfit changes little by little throughout his run, but the signature piece is his extra long scarf. That came about because a seamstress was asked to make a scarf for the prop and given some yarn to make it with. She thought that she was to use all the yarn so she kept knitting until it was all used up and ended up with a very long scarf. The Fourth Doctor loved it and owned it and now it’s iconic for his character.
- The Third Doctor contracted radiation poisoning on the planet Metebelis 3 but he makes it back to UNIT before regenerating
- After his regeneration he breaks free from UNIIT and the Time Lords to again travel the universe, but the Time Lords still interfere from time to time
- He starts to travel with is two companions Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan (a UNIT Surgeon-Lieutenant)
- His later companions would be K9, Leela, Time Lady Romana, Nyssa, Adric, and Tegan (the latter three carry on to the Fifth Doctor)
- First Doctor to be shown regularly in America on PBS
- He’s more eccentric and very likable
- This is the first regeneration where the series was on good footing and the future was sure
Genesis of the Daleks
- This is a retcon from the backstory shared in the First Doctor serial The Daleks.
- This serial takes place some 500 years before The Daleks
- It’s no longer the Dals vs Thals, it’s now the Kaleds vs Thals
- Mutations are occurring due to scientific experiments rather than nuclear war
- The events from the last serial of the Third Doctor (Planet of Spiders) until now have been one continuous story.
- In the previous serial (The Sontaran Experiment) the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry have just defeated a Sontaran (thus saving Earth) and are transmatting back to Space Station Nerva when their transmat is intercepted.
- Remember that we are going back in time from what we saw in the serial The Daleks
- Transmat Beam (travel between beacons) (open-ended and closed-ended beams)
- The Time Lord in black is Valyes. He is a messenger from the High Council on Gallifrey to give the Doctor the mission of altering the timeline of the Daleks. This is his only TV appearance, but he is used many other times in audio series.
