Robot

The Doctor regenerates, UNIT gets confused, and a giant robot has an identity crisis.

Extended Storyline

We pick up right where Planet of the Spiders left off: the Third Doctor collapses and promptly regenerates into the wild-eyed grin of Tom Baker. The Brigadier is confused, Sarah Jane is concerned, and Harry Sullivan — UNIT’s resident “medical officer who’s also here because someone thought the new Doctor might be too old for stunts” — makes his debut. Spoiler: Harry’s basically comic relief with a tie.

The plot kicks in with a string of robberies where someone’s been nicking top-secret weapons and scientific gear. The culprit? A giant, awkward robot created by Professor Kettlewell (because of course a man named Kettlewell builds oversized teapots with legs). The robot has been commandeered by the “Scientific Reform Society” — basically a bunch of cardigan-wearing would-be world dominators who think scientists should rule the planet. Because nothing screams “efficient leadership” like a book club with delusions of grandeur.

Sarah Jane, bless her, actually tries to sympathize with the robot, who’s more emotionally unstable than half of UNIT’s staff. It doesn’t want to kill anyone, but every time it tries to say “no,” the SRS brainwashers crank the dials and force it to do evil. Meanwhile, the Doctor is too busy trying on silly hats and quoting nursery rhymes to worry about the fact that a 40-foot death machine is rampaging through London.

Things get worse when the robot grows to Godzilla proportions (because that’s what happens when you hit “upgrade” in the BBC prop cupboard). Cue the iconic sequence of the robot menacing a miniature tank and stomping through a model village like a child in wellies. UNIT, predictably, shoots at it to no effect.

In the end, the Doctor saves the day with his trademark mix of brilliance and trolling. The robot is destroyed, Sarah Jane is sad, and the Brigadier probably files another report that just reads: “London wrecked again. Blame the Doctor.”