Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Era (1974-1981) - Part 1

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm still reviewing (almost) every classic Doctor Who story based on my fuzzy memories of the Twitch marathon aired across June and July.

I've finally reached the part where I get to share my thoughts on the Fourth Doctor era, which is good, because everyone seems to like it, and bad, because man the guy had a lot of serials to write about! Tom Baker was in the role for seven years and had almost twice the stories of any other Doctor. 30% of the classic Doctor Who serials I watched starred the guy with the scarf! Fortunately, his seasons divide pretty well into three eras, so I've split him up into three articles.

This first post will feature Philip Hinchcliff and Robert Holmes' three gothic horror-themed seasons, spanning from Robot to The Talons of Weng-Chiang. If you want a list of what's in there, check at the top of any 'Greatest Doctor Who Episodes Ever' poll.

There will be SPOILERS below for each serial and maybe earlier ones as well, but I'll not be spoiling anything that happens after.

Doctor Who: The Third Doctor Era (1970-1974) - Part 2

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, the second half of my Third Doctor reviews, covering seasons 10 and 11 (that's The Three Doctors to Planet of the Spiders if you're curious).

That also covers this surprise new opening title sequence that appeared at the beginning of season 11. I had no idea that the Tom Baker's diamond logo was introduced in Jon Pertwee's last series! I've never been keen on the logo itself, it looks like it belongs on a bottle of ketchup, but the people in charge of licencing were apparently keen on it. It ended up on VHS tapes, books and even a video game made long after the series itself had gone through its terrible neon tube and 3D logo eras (and then died). Man, I hate that neon tube logo, I hate it so much!

I love the psychedelic slit-scan time vortex effect though. It was created using the same technique they used for the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and by 'technique' I mean 'dark forbidden magic', as I've seen the process involved and it still seems like sorcery to me.

It's my duty to inform you that there will be SPOILERS beyond this point, but I'll only be spoiling the serial I'm reviewing and occasionally stories leading up to it, nothing that came afterwards. So for example, you won't have to worry about me ranting about the terrible neon tube logo from season 18 when I'm talking about the diamond badge logo from season 11. Oh, wait...