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Underdeveloped theory #308


Tinkering Doctor
LEELA: K9's breaking up, my blaster's finished. What are we going to do? DOCTOR: Shall we try using our intelligence? LEELA: Well, if you think that's a good idea.

This is the first story to go into production under Graham Williams. Look how quickly the Doctor’s changed! No longer wanderer errant nor alien with experience, he's now a charismatic bumbler whose plans constantly go awry.


Actually, I think this is Robert Holmes's work. Starting with 'The Deadly Assassin', it's not just the Time Lords we've learnt more about. Suddenly, there's the revelation that the Doctor's not just posh, but the poshest of the posh, the Prydonians to whose ranks he was born apparently something special among the elites of the Citadel:


SPANDRELL: He's a Prydonian renegade, sir, and as you know, when a Prydonian forswears his birthright, there is nothing else he fears to lose.


Balancing this, with, to my memory, the first allusions to the Academy, the Doctor's established as having been a misfit since his earliest days, a past echoed in his schoolboy-like exchanges with former tutor Borusa:


BORUSA: As I believe I told you long ago, Doctor, you will never amount to anything in the galaxy while you retain your propensity for vulgar facetiousness. DOCTOR: Yes, sir. You said that many times, sir. May I go, sir?


Holmes further develops the theme is 'The Ribos Operation', clarifying the nature of the Doctor's academic credentials:


ROMANA: I may be inexperienced, but I did graduate from the Academy with a triple first. DOCTOR: I suppose you think we should be impressed by that, too? ROMANA: Well, it's better than scraping through with fifty one percent at the second attempt.


There's a half-idea in there somewhere, but I'm struggling to quite find it.


Anyway, to find out why 'The Invisible Enemy' isn't half as bad as you think, have a look at a look at Doctor Who and the Invisible Enemy...

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