TV MEMORIES # 6 - THE FOURTH DOCTOR REGENERATES

Regeneration - the biological process that occurs when a Time Lord's body is wearing a bit thin or if the Time Lord is fatally wounded. A process that enables the dying Time Lord to totally transform thier body from head to toe, healing thier wounds and giving the Time Lord a whole new body, personality and outlook on life. OK... what it's REALLY for is when an actor gets tired of playing Doctor Who and the BBC casts a new actor to take his or her place.

Back in late 1980/early 1981 at the tender age of 6 (pushing 7) years old, I'd never witnessed the Doctor regenerate. Tom Baker had been the Doctor for my entire life. I'd only just overcome my fear of the show and started watching it properly, so I didn't really have much of a clue about this key concept of Doctor Who lore. My Dad had mentioned once when we where watching "Worzel Gummidge" that Worzel used to be Doctor Who and I can remember "Carry On Sargeant" being on TV once and my Dad pointing out to me that the grumpy old Sargeant Major used to be Doctor Who as well. To be honest I probably thought he was joking at the time. How could Doctor Who ever be anyone other than Tom Baker ? I was about to find out...

It's October 1980. Tom Baker announces that he's quitting the role he has made his own for the past seven years and the series that is currently airing will be his last. There's going to be a new Doctor and this time Baker suggests it might even be a woman (yeah - like THAT'S ever going to happen...).

The Tabloid press go into an uproar and the announcement even appears on The News At Ten. Just 12 days later Baker's replacement is revealed to the world - Peter Davison - an actor best known for cosy Sunday night drama serial "All Creatures Great And Small". An actor who was still only in his 20's at the time and seemed really young to be playing an ancient time traveller.

At this point the 18th season of Doctor Who was airing on BBC 1 in it's traditional Saturday teatime slot. Having overcome my dread of the show I was now settling down eagerly for my weekly fix. I have several very vivid memories of that series that I'll go into here before we tackle the regeneration.

Season 18 opened with the story "The Leisure Hive". Straight away it was obvious that change was afoot as the series had a new title sequence and a brand new (more 80's sounding) version of the iconic theme tune. This was the first time the theme tune had been significantly altered since 1963 and heralded a bold new era. Doctor Who was being dragged into the 80's whether it liked it or not.

I don't remember much about "The Leisure Hive" except for a few scenes with Tom Baker arseing about on Brighton beach on what looked to be a cold and windy day...

There was also a scene where The Doctor gets aged. I can remember finding the "old man" makeup they gave Tom Baker to be quite creepy looking at the time...

In retrospect this is actually a brilliant piece of makeup work. It still holds up well today and looks one hundred percent convincing. It also looks uncannily like Tom Baker actually looks these days at the grand old age of 90, all he's missing is the straggly white beard...

He's still got it.

The next story was "Meglos" which dealt with a cactus-like alien lifeform impersonating the Doctor. Once again I found the "Cactus Doctor" to be a bit concerning. It was yet more great makeup but I do feel sorry for poor old Tom having to undergo yet more heavy makeup work for two stories in a row...

I'm glad I'd overcome my fear of Doctor Who monsters by this point as the next story was a veritable monster mash. "Full Circle" featured "The Marshmen"...

I absolutely loved the Marshmen as a kid. At the time they where my favourite Doctor Who monsters (I'd not yet quite got my head around the Daleks and the Cybermen I had absolutely no knowledge of). I really liked thier heads. 6 year old me thought they looked like Brussel Sprouts (49 year old me agrees with him). I can vividly remember the scenes where they emerge from a misty swamp, to me it's one of the most iconic moments in the series. I can remember we even used to play "Marshmen" at school - a couple of us used to be the monsters and just ran around with our arms outstretched until we caught our friends who where playing "the victims". Good times.

Also very cool where the Marsh-Spiders - the Marshmen's arachnid cousins...

I think its safe to say that "Full Circle" was one of my favourite Doctor Who stories at that point. The following Christmas I even got bought a Doctor Who/Full Circle View-Master reel...

For those of you that weren't around in the early 80's a View-Master was a plastic pair of binoculars that you slotted little cardboard cartridges into that resembled film reels. These reels had images from popular films and TV shows printed onto them and through the magic of 80's plastic toy technology the View-Master allowed you to see these images in 3-D. It doesn't sound like much these days but at the time it was mind blowing to a little kid. As well as the Doctor Who reel, that Christmas I also got a "20000 Leagues Under The Sea" View-Master reel. It was great seeing a giant Octopus in 3-D but seeing Marshmen and Marsh-Spiders was infinitely better.

Next up came "State of Decay" which was basically Doctor Who verses Vampires. This story was really atmospheric. Huge chunks of it where filmed in a gloomy autumnal forest and the whole thing felt like a Hammer movie for a teatime audience. I remember particularly the cliffhanger for episode 1 where the Doctor and Romana are attacked by a swarm of vampire bats as night falls. At the time I looked out of our living room window and noticed the sky was darkening towards night outside. I could imagine a cloud of bloodthirsty vampire bats circling above our house, it gave me the chills but in a good way.

I can also remember the story's end scene where the three vampires age and crumble to dust which was easily as good as anything I'd seen in a Hammer film (I'd got into horror films via BBC2'S horror double-bills that summer and already considered myself an expert, even though I'd only seen a handful of movies on TV since then). Once again this effect still holds up well 43 years later. The BBC'S makeup and effects department where really on fire that year.

I don't remember much about the next story "Warrior's Gate" except that it took place in a strange white void that the Doctor and his companions where trapped in. I mainly remember Romana leaving along with trusty robot dog K-9 to help free an enslaved race of "Lion Men" (The Tharills). It's a story I've come to appreciate a lot more as an adult but at the time it didn't really resonate with me as a kid.

I much preferred the following story "The Keeper of Traken" (in fact at the time it was second only to "Full Circle"). This was mainly due to this chap...

...The Melkur - an evil sinister statue with glowing red eyes who moved about on his own. The Melkur actually turned out to be the Master's TARDIS in disguise. Yes - The Master returned in this one looking like a decayed walking corpse. At the end of the story he merges with one of the other characters - stealing his body - in a nice bit of foreshadowing for the Doctor's own impending regeneration. The Master has always worked best as a character when he's been a twisted reflection of the Doctor himself and this time was no exception. I can remember my Dad having to explain who the Master was to me - an evil Time Lord from the Doctor's home planet - this revelation blew my mind - there where evil Time Lords too ? The Doctor really was in trouble this time.

Saturday 28th February 1981 saw the beginning of the end for the fourth Doctor - episode 1 of "Logopolis".

I can remember that first episode vividly. For some reason I was being babysat by my Grandad and was round his house that Saturday night (no idea where my parents where). I can remember sitting down to watch Doctor Who and my Grandad saying it was "a load of rubbish" but he let me watch it anyway. He probably realised that he'd never hear the last of it if he didn't. The first thing that I remember the most is the Master using his Tissue Compression Eliminator to shrink people to death (including new companion Tegan's Aunt Vanessa). The idea of this evil Time Lord using a device to turn people's corpses into dolls really stuck with me and appealed to my increasingly morbid sensibilities.

The other thing I remember was the character of the Watcher. This eerie ghost like figure is first seen watching the Doctor from afar. The Doctor goes to talk to him but we only see the conversation from the distance, we never hear what is said. Indeed, we never hear the Watcher ever talk. When the Doctor returns from his meeting he looks visibly rattled. Clearly something very VERY bad is going to happen. The Watcher just had this air of creepiness and impending doom about him...

He looked even more unnerving up close with his strange half-formed unfinished looking face. True nightmare fuel.

I went away from the first episode eagerly awaiting the rest of the story, waiting to see how the fourth Doctor would die and become someone else.

When that day finally came on Saturday 21st March 1981 I was pretty much on the edge of my seat throughout the entire episode. The universe was ending and circumstances where so dire that the Doctor was forced into an uneasy alliance with the Master. You just knew that this wasn't going to end well. We'd seen what a murderous psychopath the Master was capable of being, surely he was going to betray the Doctor at the eleventh hour. 

I wasn't wrong. At roughly the 20 minute mark (just after the universe has been saved) the Master turns on the Doctor causing him to fall off the top of a giant satellite dish. The Doctor grabs a stray cable and hangs hundreds of feet above the ground, seconds from death...

The Doctor has a few moments to reflect on his impending doom. He has a brief flashback to the faces of friends and enemies he has known during his fourth life and then...he falls !

The Doctor plummets to the ground. He lies sprawled and broken on the floor. His companions tearfully gather around him. The Doctor utters his final words, a weak and weary smile on his face - "It's the end...but the moment has been prepared for." (A line which still gives me the chills even to this day).

Suddenly we see the ghostly form of The Watcher walking towards the prone figure of the Doctor. The Doctor reaches out feebly to grasp the Watcher's hand. Slowly the two begin to merge and we realise that THE WATCHER WAS THE DOCTOR'S FUTURE SELF ALL ALONG ! He was waiting in the wings all that time. Waiting for the moment of the Doctor's death to take over - no wonder the poor old Doctor looked so traumatised after speaking to the Watcher in episode 1 - he'd just been given a death sentence. The Doctor's familiar face is slowly cocooned by the Watcher's spectral features, which in turn give way to a new face. A much younger and it has to be said healthier looking face...

The fifth Doctor was here and Doctor Who would never be the same again.

I can remember I was absolutely reeling after watching that. My mind completely blown. My enthusiasm for Doctor Who which had grown rapidly over the past year had now hit even further heights. I couldn't wait to meet the new Doctor (even though my Mum said he was too young)...only problem was I'd have to wait a year until the next series.

Little did I know at the time but the agonising wait would be made more bareable by a series of repeats that would be shown that Autumn. The Five Faces of Doctor Who would be shown on BBC 2... before I got to meet Doctor number 5, I would get to meet Doctor's 1-3 for the first time ever. But more on that next time...