If Robot was the only Tom Baker story to survive the apocalypse, I don't think anyone would understand what his tenure was really like. This is a signally odd story because it's so much of the old style, an Earthbound UNIT story with a fairly simple morality tale at its core. Although it's in no way remarkable in its own right, it's still a fairly solid script. It's also interesting for starting a theme that will carry on through most of Season Twelve, namely the question of human nature.
Our enemies here are the Scientific Reform Society (SRS, which I can't stop reading as "sex reassignment surgery" whenever I see that ghastly pamphlet) who believe that only a chosen "elite" of humanity deserve to rule the world. This is basically the same thing as Grover and Finch's cadre from Invasion of the Dinosaurs last season, but perhaps a bit sillier and more fascist-coded.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that my background is in the sciences (no degree, after all) but I did grow up steeped in a fascination with astronomy and zoology which carries on as a hobby to this day. As much as I value rational thought and understanding of the natural world, I deplore the crass utilitarianism of human life; the reduction of thinking people to cogs in a machine; and overall, the misuse of "rationality" and "logic" to deem other groups of people as inferior. Like environmentalism, science can also be misused by authoritarians. So as cartoony as this depiction is, it's sadly applicable to real attitudes we see in our world.
Mixed up in this effort by the SRS to hold the world to ransom is K1, an experimental robot. Designed by Professor Kettlewell as a helper meant to take on tasks too dangerous for organic life, it possesses a complex cybernetic brain that's actually capable of learning and changing. Like BOSS, this is a more human-like machine than the rather dry and unfeeling computers of the Hartnell and Troughton years. It's a change that's interesting to observe, and signals a transition in the show's priorities for writing computers. Rather than being used as symbols of progress gone wrong, they're now more a reflection of our own human nature.
Although K1 is programmed a certain way, we see his ability to respond to new stimuli as analogous to our own human learning. Even the fact that he is made of a sort of growing, organic metal makes him more human-like. Ultimately, it's when his programming is abused that K1 begins to make bad decisions, culminating in his destruction. The same thing can happen to any of us, though you may wish to substitute "programming" for "indoctrination". It's therefore tragic when K1 is killed off, eaten by a metal-destroying virus, as one gets the sense that there should have been another way. It all makes for a fairly strong and moving central premise, although it falls just short of outright excellence.
"It was a wonderful creature, capable of great good, and great evil. Yes, I think you could say it was human."
As for other facets of the story, among other things, this is our first encounter with Sergeant-Lieutenant Harry Sullivan. First impressions are of someone with a cozy and self-assured worldview; it will no doubt be a delight to watch the Doctor crack that view wide open. Ian Marter is good (and quite handsome), so I provisionally welcome the new addition to the TARDIS team with gusto.
It is a bit of an odd old time for Tom. His first few minutes are certainly energetic and get across the idea of a somewhat zanier Doctor than Pertwee's. The rest of the script, however, gives him rather more staid dialog. I get the sense that most of it wasn't really written with Tom in mind, but nevertheless, the way that he reads the lines with heavy irony and his usual flourishes gives his dialog a bit of an injection of life that they would have otherwise been lacking.
Despite the interesting ideas and the promising signs, I still find it hard to regard this as anything more than a bit of a hangover. The Doctor clearly seems eager to slip free from this format in this episode, almost leaving without Sarah twice. He no longer feels bound to one place or time, and neither do we. Let the adventure begin!
The Ark in Space is next.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 14 April 2021.)
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