Re-evaluating the Third Doctor

13 July 2019 in SIDRAT, The Doctors, 10 comments

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A FEW years back on this site, there was a fairly spirited discussion between myself and the late and much-missed @HTPBDET over the relative merits of the Third Doctor and as this week was the centenary of the birth of Jon Pertwee and there’s been a number of celebrations of that fact around the t’internet, I thought now might be a good time to revisit that particular debate.

At the time, I must admit that I was rather down on Three, castigating for his sexism, patriarchal condescension and neck-rubbing snootiness, arguing that he was easily the most Establishment Doctor. I’m not sure you could say that these accusations are now wholly untrue but it’s certainly true that on a sustained rewatch of Pertwee’s era that I’ve greatly modified my opinion of Three and that he’s a more subversive figure than I once gave him credit for. And while it’s hard to get around the patronising sexism angle of his character, as SM uncomfortably pointed out in Twice Upon A Time, it was not something remotely confined to the Third Doctor, although it seems his is the era in which it is most remembered.

There’s certainly an interesting parallel to be made in watching Pertwee’s first season on the back of Series 11. Both are dramatically different from their predecessors in a number of ways. The most obvious of those is technologically, with Pertwee being the first Doctor to be broadcast in colour, mirroring perhaps the greater visual richness of Jodie Whittaker’s first series. But there are also other similarities. Neither series has any returning monsters, for example, and they both see a significantly expanded central cast. I would not be massively surprised to learn that Chris Chibnall had Season 7 in mind as some kind of template as his first series as showrunner.

Something else that they might have in common is that these experiments were not wholly successful. Pertwee’s first season starts strongly with what surely must be one of the strongest regeneration stories of the series (for my money, beaten only by The Eleventh Hour) and the whole season is characterised by strong, ideas-driven SF, even if Nigel Kneale might have objected to the actual provenance of some of those ideas. Pertwee nails his Doctor from the off and is a strong and likeable presence in all his stories (although he’s notably more Troughtonesque in his first story than he would later become). The season’s key weakness, however, is in the sheer amount of padding. With the exception of the sensibly paced Spearhead, every story had a good two episodes of needless padding to them — so much that you could have comfortably shaved all those stories down and got an extra story out of it.

But there’s no doubt that the Quatermass-esque quality of Season 7 was considered something of a failed experiment as the following series represented something of a course correction and is all the better for it. Gone are the over-long stories, as is the heavy science vibe. In it’s place is the more Bondian Doctor we usually associate with Pertwee, as well as stories that had a slightly more rollicking, almost pulpy vibe to them. The comparison can be starkly seen in the season openers, which are essentially sequels. The creeping paranoia and relative realism of Spearhead is to an extent replaced with explosions, car chases and a Hammer-esque Grand Guignol horror of faceless policemen, killer dolls and lethal daffodils. And this would be followed by prison-break dramas and Satanism pastiche, largely setting the tone for the rest of Three’s era, not least because it introduced the Master in the form of Roger Delgado, giving a wonderful performance that not only added something vital and long-lasting to Who lore but also gave something for Pertwee’s Doctor to memorably define himself against

Not that this is a throwaway era of the show in any way. If any of the numbskulls who currently bemoan Who ‘getting too political’ had watched the Pertwee era, they would never stop having palpitations. Because despite the high action, this was an era that tackled industrial relations, terrorism, environmental disaster, corporate responsibility and political activism. Could you imagine what the current Brexit brigade would have made of a story a like The Curse of Peladon if it had been made now?

There is an interesting curve to Pertwee’s time on the show, however. It started with a dramatically different tone and his last season seems oddly muted too compared to the exuberance of the previous seasons. Part of this was undoubtedly due to the untimely death of Delgado but the UNIT family also seems to be relegated to the background and even Pertwee’s performance seems to change too, becoming more muted somehow. Like Season 18, the entire season seems to be one of a Doctor winding down, preparing for his exit.

I’m happy to say that over the past couple of years that Pertwee’s Doctor has rocketed up my personal rankings and I belatedly concede the argument to @HTPBDET. Although this is an interesting part of being a Who fan, isn’t it? It’s not really one show but several folded in on each other like Russian Dolls. Over time your allegiances can change, eras fall in and out of favour and your relationship with different aspects of the show mutate and evolve. That is perhaps part of the programme’s enduring magic.

But the final word should go to Sean Pertwee (totally worth watching in the excellent Gotham and surely a Doctor in waiting) in this really rather touching tribute to his father and someone whose contribution to the show should never really be underestimated.


10 comments

  1. @JimTheFish

    The opinion of the third Doctor which you expressed in the opening paragraphs is, as you may or may not remember, similar to mine. On reflection, though, I wonder how much in my case this is the judgement of hindsight. At the time I remember preferring Troughton’s incarnation and regretting the change, but not enough to prevent me watching Pertwee stories, happily enough and not too critically, as often as I had access to a TV. You compared his interpretation as it developed to Bond, whereas my comparison would be with The Avengers, which was certainly in tune with the general vibe of the period if something of a departure from the eccentric, unpredictable and sometimes whimsical character which I identify as the essential Doctor.

    When the second Doctor regenerated and Spearhead From Space was broadcast I was preoccupied with other matters and without a TV*  but I have just watched the opening scenes of Spearhead on YouTube and yes, it is strongly reminiscent of Quatermass II. In fact if it had continued in that vein I might have been more enthusiastic, but my enthusiasm didn’t flag to the extent of my giving up on the show and I recall the two Peladon stories in particular. I did, however, miss the transition to the fourth Doctor and only picked up regular watching when the latter was well established. I really should remedy the omissions.

    By happy coincidence I happened to be listening to BBC Radio 4 Extra last Saturday afternoon and caught The Pertwee File, an hour long celebration of Jon Pertwee’s career introduced by Sean Pertwee and featuring archive recordings, principally of the man himself talking and commenting. His early work, as you presumably know, was chiefly in comedy shows, exploiting his mastery of different voices, and my first real awareness of him was as CPO Pertwee in The Navy Lark which my family always listened to while preparing lunch ( I think there was a Pertwee family connection with HMS Troubridge – hence HMS Troutbridge in the show, and I remember one show actually being recorded on HMS Troubridge).  What is abundantly clear is that he was an extremely versatile actor, and not just in comedy, and when he was encouraged to apply for the part of the Doctor he found that he was, in fact, already second on the short list.

    With respect to his stint on Doctor Who he said, among many other things, that the dandified costume was entirely his choice and the Whomobile,  also his idea, was not only well designed and robustly constructed but had a considerable turn of speed, and he recounted the stories of being stopped by the police who just wanted to take a turn at the wheel. He also said that he left the show eventually because he wasn’t entirely happy with the turn the stories had been taking, away from the more earth bound and science based themes which he thought had greater relevance and impact.

    One anecdote which I hadn’t come across before was that Elizabeth Sladen was seriously arachnophobic, which caused considerable problems in the recording of Planet of the Spiders, since she was freaked out even by – or maybe especially by – the giant spider puppets.

     

    * I was cloistered in a shoebox of a room with use of kitchen and bathroom, at thirty shillings (£1.50) a week probably the cheapest in Edinburgh outside a doss house, racing to finish what was to become my doctoral dissertation, sleeping three or four hours a night, with money rapidly running out and living chiefly on adrenaline, bread and butter, rice, onions, tomatoes and cheese and an occasional orange. Ah, those were the days!

  2. @mudlark

     At the time I remember preferring Troughton’s incarnation and regretting the change, but not enough to prevent me watching Pertwee stories, happily enough and not too critically

    I think this is a natural part of being a Who fan and kind of inevitable. Definitely a part of that I’m a bit lukewarm on the Whittaker era so far is not because she’s female or of the political direction of the show (far from it) but because she’s quite simply Not Capaldi, who quickly became my Ultimate Doctor.

    it is strongly reminiscent of Quatermass II. In fact if it had continued in that vein I might have been more enthusiastic

    I do enjoy Pertwee’s first season but I think the Quatermass format had problems. Firstly, as I said above it relied too heavily on filler episodes which often made for rather plodding viewing. Also I think they slightly overplayed the seriousness of the Doctor. I can see why they went more action-oriented and also gave Pertwee the chance for more whimsicality.

    And yeah, the Avengers influence is definitely there, although wasn’t that show just winding up as Pertwee started? I’d still go for Bond just for the sheer number of car chases we tend to get in his era.

  3. Last night Mrs Blenkinsop and I (searching for something to watch) stumbled on our dvd of “Spearhead from Space” which, of course, was the first outing of Jon Pertwee as the third Doctor. I realised I had not seen it since its original showing when I was a teenager. Lacking a page of its own, I thought this thread would be an appropriate place to comment.

    I really enjoyed it! Indeed, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Pertwee’s interpretation of the Doctor (and I say that in light of re-reading the assessment of @JimtheFish above (which I am in agreement with).

    As a way of bringing back the Doctor after the departure of Troughton, and as a way of presenting the show in colour for the first time, it was very innovative, but at the same time was “of the moment”, by which I mean, it was, to a degree, emulating the feel of contemporaneous TV shows such as “The Avengers”.

    More thoughts later, perhaps, but if there is anyone out there who has not seen it in quite a while, or anyone who has never seen the Pertwee Doctor, I heartily recommend it.

     

  4. Good post @Jimthefish

    Pertwee is one of my favourite Doctors – I think The Daemon’s is right up there with the best of Who. And, Day of the Daleks is, in my opinion, the best of the Dalek stories: Blinovitch, Time Tunnel, Causality, and Ogrons (who are due for a reboot, maybe along with the Draconians).

    (I had a longer, more thoughtful response – but it disappeared when I hit the “post” button 🙁

  5. And, interestingly: John Devon Roland Pertwee was Jon Pertwee’s real name, although even this is not the full story. Coming from Huguenot stock, his family name had been Anglicised from the French, it being:

    de Perthuis de Laillevault

    He stated that people had too much trouble pronouncing that (my phonetics here: de Pertwee de liar-voe), and that, even once Anglicised, people still said Pertwee incorrectly.

  7. Posted on behalf of @WhoHar

    I remember that discussion with @HTPBDET – I think you called him a ”chin-rubbing arse” (Pertwee’s Doctor, not @HTPBDET for the avoidance of doubt).

    Your blog also raises an interesting point about how much ”leeway” we should give to television or indeed any kind of art that reflects its time and where aspects of those times no longer fit in with our current thinking and social mores. My general inclination is to accept the different viewpoints, without judgement if possible, rather than edit or, worse, ban the offending article. A pre-show warning seems a good compromise to me. This raises the question of whether anything, no matter how heinous, or offensive, should be banned. If so, where do you draw the line, and who are the gatekeepers of these decisions. Probably a separate post for another thread.

    I’m sure that there are things being broadcast and art being produced today that everyone is comfortable with, that will lead to soul-searching in 5 / 10 / 20 years’ time. Maybe there’s even something in the current iterations of Doctor Who that will be deemed offensive.

    I’d hope for some tolerance in the subject but…the internet…so less likely. I’ve pretty much stopped commenting on most places, and now don’t even engage or even read a lot of the sites I once was on.  The views are too polarised, intolerant and often have an insincere motive. That’s why sites like these should be cherished, and I am happy to be back.

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