Ten Essential Third Doctor Moments

The dawn of the decade of the 1970s yielded the burgeoning advent of a new era for the science fiction titan, Doctor Who, and it was marked by the emergence of a new inductee to the embrace of the integrally impactful fantastical art program to accompany the splendour of the enriching colourful enrichment of the aesthetical appeal of the show, in commensurate evolution of the breakthrough filming procedures of the time. Though the colour rendering of the picture did occasionally reveal some of the deficiencies in the production value of the projects on a limited budget, it also provided a clear, lucid image of the most beneficiary components bolstering the prestige of Doctor Who as well. One of the most prominent of those virtues was the venerated Jon Pertwee, and he proved to be a tremendously enchanting interpreter of what the identity of his incredibly unique Doctor should have been.

The third iteration of the Doctor returned to a slightly more cantankerous and sardonic ego, but he also retained a sense of the intrinsic adoration and admiration of the universe and almost everything it contained. He purported a philosophy of the moral superiority of sensitive altruism, and also enhanced and expanded upon the precedents that had been conceptualised and incentivised by his two predecessors, by grounding them out with depth. Proclivities for inadvertently coining catchphrases executing his duties with finesse and flair, and developing the most autonomous and exclusive vernacular articulated in a way only he could comprehend; And the manner in which he conveyed it with was that of a sharply quick-witted, portentously purposeful one.

Zero tolerance for nonsense, and the only extravagance he condoned was the exquisite elegance with which he dressed and physically performed with a narcissistic, but considerate audacity. He exuberantly exuded all of these facets of his personality with regularity, occurring at frequent moments throughout the course of his cycle, and the best of those moments are reverentially paid homage to in the following listicle.

The terms with which the Doctor was even permitted to continue subsisting through life after the ceasing of his Second life were on the provision that he remained in exile, confined to the planet for which he had taken a particular fervour the protection of-A noble deed, but in contravention of the ancient establishment of the Time Lords' legislative jurisdiction. He found himself stranded on the face of the planet, in contemporary London, with a TARDIS in complete disrepair, and so required a practical method of transport for traversing the comparatively pedestrian terrestrial territories, as he defiantly continued to preserve the welfare of Earth against invading assailants.

He had endured through an inaugural outing which had seen the interloping Nestene consciousness inhabit the synthetic shop window mannequins and other plastic constructions of humanity in a bid to wreak havoc in the pursuit of gaining supremacy of dominance and destruction. But, as was and remains the recurring dilemma that the Doctor constantly found himself in, he could not evade peril, even when making a conscious effort to do so. The nemesis making their emergence in the serial in which he settled upon the craft for his transferrence around the surrounding environment were the Silurians; And though superficially on its face, the procurement of the luminous, incandescent Bessie factored in more significantly than would be initially apparent.

Bessie became his pride and joy, and was an important feature throughout the majority of his escapades, and was deceiving in the simplicity of her appearance, to conceal the true intricacy of her reliably remarkable performance.

The Doctor has categorically been slated as someone with less than a favourable advocacy for violence in any way, shape or form. In any situation that was jeopardising enough to warrant a drastic last resort though, he was more than prepared to be at hand, ready to engage in action. He had a diligent, yet precipitous approach toward becoming immersed in the devolution into physical altercation if his resilient attempts at bartering with diplomacy proved futile. Ever the pacifist, or as close to it as possible, his high octane lifestyle did require precautions of being well versed in strategic proficiencies in combat, and aikido has been admirably praised as the martial art for the pacifist.

Being an extravagantly extraordinary gentleman of extraterrestrial origin, however-The native form of the art was too pedestrian, and it was the Second Doctor, in fact, that decided to enlighten himself in the form practised on Venus by the typically five-limbed inhabitants, and used the combat technique sparingly and reluctantly, but also appropriately despite his aversion to violence. The events of Inferno inspired the deployment of it for the first time, and although the Third Doctor wasn't as keen on using it as his tendency to do so would suggest, it did become a reassuring element of his and his successors' resumes to depend upon in scenarios of adversity.

By virtue of the Doctor's excess of 500 years of gracing the universe with his presence, it wouldn't be irrational to posit that recovering from regeneration may have become a somewhat mundane and mediocre process, but even after amassing experience in the bizarre procedure of his biology, he was still traumatised and perturbed by such a drastic augmentation in his body composition and mental faculty-Even rendered bedridden initially after fainting from the exhausting toll it took on him. And the toilsome process of ascertaining who he was going to be afterwards was a template that his future incarnations were scheduled to follow.

He awoke to find the welcoming company of alums of UNIT(Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Henderson, Liz Shaw and Munro) by his side, and was relieved after the incipient perplexity of both his own awakening from unconsciousness, and the Brigadier's at the trouble he had identifying the totally unfamiliar body that laid before him; Taking comfort in the knowledge of the fact that his solitary regeneration could have left him in any manner of besieging situation.

DOCTOR: Lethbridge-Stewart? My dear fellow, how nice to see you again.
MUNRO: He knows you, sir.
BRIGADIER: But he can't do. Look here. Can you hear me? Who are you?
DOCTOR: Don't you recognise me?
BRIGADIER: I'm positive we've never met before.
DOCTOR: Oh, dear. Oh, I can't have changed that much, surely? Oh, I must see what they've done to me. Can I borrow, can I borrow a mirror, please?
DOCTOR: Thank you. Oh, no! Oh, no. Well, that's not me at all. No wonder you didn't recognise me. Oh, that face. That hair. Oh, I don't know, though. I think it's rather distinctive, actually. Don't you think? No, you don't. Oh, anyway, I'm tired. All this exercise and exertion. It's been too much. Have to get some sleep now.

The Master and the Doctor have been described as the proverbial analogies for Yin and Yang-The Master the Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock, and The Doctor the James Bond the to Master's Oddball. They have had a referenced past with each other that found its origins in friendship, but at some juncture in their development from adolescence, they descended into hostile animosity toward one another; And the evidence of their interactions and the general dynamic between the pair, where the Master would construct an elaborately maniacal and diabolical scheme in the pursuit of subjugative terror and dictation over all life in the universe only for the Doctor to arrive to be the thorn in his side, validified that succinctly and animatedly through its permeation during the earliest of their encounters.

They would exchange flair and prowess in malevolent intent, contrasted by benevolent philanthropy, and through the alchemy of their competition, they inadvertently brought the best of the other out into the forefront of the spotlight. This was a pervasive, mutual theme between them, and it culminated, in many ways, in a literal duel with swords, as the malicious brute attempted to manipulate the minds of Colonel Trenchard and other members of UNIT for the purpose of infiltration. The dialogue from the encounter could alone suffice in astutely implicating the already mentioned intimate past of both physical and intellectual sparring with one another in their rivalry:

DOCTOR: I always find that violent exercise makes me hungry. Don't you agree?
MASTER: Then you'd better enjoy your meal, Doctor, because it might be your last.
DOCTOR: Oh, you think so?
MASTER: You're good, Doctor, but you're not good enough.
DOCTOR: Ah, but you haven't seen the quality of my footwork yet! Tut, tut, tut. How many times have I told you? Violence will never get you anywhere.

Like many of the introductions to many of the Doctor's companions, the encounter with Sarah Jane Smith transpired coincidentally through acquaintanceship. And while there were companions that preceded and proceeded former assistant Jo Grant that had affected the Doctor equally, the withdrawal of her from the TARDIS had left him bitter enough to not desire a new companion. The Third Doctor had begun with a very impatient, intolerant and irrate as the least desirable aspects of his personality, but Jo had soothed him to the point of more gentility and warm tenderness that he may have thought himself capable. The hesitance to welcome Sarah Jane to his time and space vessel was indicative of the barriers of a self-preserving defence mechanism in some ways.

Initial hostility and reluctant apprehension were subdued eventually by the charm and persevering, intelligent motivation, however, and one of the most influential relationships upon the life of the Doctor for the Third cycle, and all of the following cycles inevitably ensuing. The first interaction between them was passive aggressive and contemptuous, but was played for levity and that dynamic blossomed into a healthy challenge and a foil for one another soon after:

DOCTOR: You realise this is a very dangerous place to be in?
SARAH: Well I can't help that. I'm stuck here now and anyway, we've got all these soldiers looking after us. Are you going to give me away, Doctor?
DOCTOR: I don't think.
SARAH: Why not?
DOCTOR: Well, you can make yourself useful. We need somebody around here to make the coffee.
SARAH: If you think I'm going to spend my time making cups of coffee for you, you're very
DOCTOR: Professor! Look, would you kindly desist? This is not a blackboard, you know?
RUBEISH: Oh I do beg your pardon, Doctor. I was just trying to prove
SARAH: What do you plan to do in there?
DOCTOR: Make myself a cup of coffee. Good day to you.

The evidence of their developed fondness and respect of each other, with the maintained undertones of innocuous provocation were exemplified as efficiently as their relationship chemistry has become, in The Monster Of Peladon in the very inaugural venture forth:

DOCTOR: The Citadel of Peladon, Sarah. One of the most interesting and
SARAH: Oh no, it isn't, is it, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Well, no, not exactly.
SARAH: No, it's not your precious Citadel at all. It's another rotten gloomy old tunnel.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, with the scanner still on the blink, there was no way I could really check.
SARAH: There's more than the scanner on the blink.
DOCTOR: Come on. Let's go and see where we are.
DOCTOR: Well, I think my spatial coordinates must have slipped a bit, too. We may not actually be in the Citadel, Sarah, but we're very close to it.

SARAH: We are?

DOCTOR: Yes. Yes, the Citadel is built on a mountain, you see, and the mountain is honeycombed with tunnels like this. Come on.

SARAH: We couldn't just get back in the Tardis and go home?
DOCTOR: Oh, have a heart, Sarah. I've been meaning to pay a return visit to Peladon for ages.
SARAH: I can't think why.
DOCTOR: Come along, Sarah Jane.

It was the capsulized expression defining the lives shared between the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane, but it all began in their introduction in The Time Warrior.

There had been dalliances with such an attractive ploy of triviality within the lives of the First and Second Doctors, but the Third Doctor was the first to truly begin setting the precedent for the embrace indulging coined catchphrases. The First Doctor had his inflexions and tone of voice when he added an entailing embellishment onto the end of his orations of vernacular, through the protruding "Mmm"'s and "Ah, my child"'s. The Second Doctor harboured a fiendish proclivity for beseeching the urge of his companions to "Run!". But the Third Doctor laid the foundations that became a trend that his successors were all too susceptible to following.

Despite only uttering the phrase twice in its entirety, it has become so revered and esteemed within Whovian cultivation, that it has been referenced, repeated, recited and enshrined into the colloquial nomenclature of the Doctor Who niche community. The coveted phrase is, of course, "Reverse the polarity"-The function the Doctor declared when attempting to apply its purpose to that of the neutron flow of the reptilian Sea Devil's hibernation equipment in The Sea Devils when successfully deceiving the Master, who was attempting to exploit the Sea Devils and invoke a war between them and humanity.

It was an essential encapsulating statement from the character, as he spearheaded the overt introduction of technobabble solutions to issues affronting him, in perfect complement of his enigmatic genius.

Much like Sarah Jane and the others after her, as well as the companions that preceded her as well, Jo Grant redeemed the Doctor in the moments when he needed salvation the most desperately. Already a compassionate being, but all too immersed in the prioritised endeavours into science and the general maintenance of the universe to display it, the Doctor required someone that could soothe him into being more sentimentally sensitive on occasion, and Jo was the resolution to that quandary. As already declared about the Third Doctor, he could be quite impatient, intolerant and irate, but Jo's unconditional gentility and undying affection made her his achilles heel when she managed to speak to his more sensitive and vulnerable side, after breaching the threshold of his initial reservations about her presence within his vicinity.

JO: Doctor, I, er
DOCTOR: I said not today, thank you.
DOCTOR: Oh, no. Oh no!
JO: It's all right. I've dealt with it.
DOCTOR: Dealt with it? You've ruined it!
JO: But your bench was on fire.
DOCTOR: Three months delicate work and now look at it, you ham-fisted bungler.
JO: But this whole place might have gone up in flames.
DOCTOR: My dear young lady, steady state micro-welding always creates more smoke than fire.
JO: Steady state micro-welding?
DOCTOR: Yes. An advanced engineering technique pioneered by the Lammerdenes. A remarkably gifted race. They have nine opposable digits.
JO: Nine what?
DOCTOR: Nine opposable digits. Yes, well, never mind. Look, I said I don't want any tea today, thank you.
JO: I'm not the tea lady.
DOCTOR: Then what the blazes are you doing in here?

In an introductory exchange that mirrored that with Sarah Jane in many ways, the Doctor's intolerance was the overtone that pervaded the entire situation, but his pontificating discontent was affected by the eloquence of her compellingly affectionate influence in the most benevolent way.

Though he was not the original Doctor to experience an encounter with himself, by virtue of the fact that the versions of himself in which he came into contact with were the prior two incarnations, it was due to the volition of the Time Lords established in the juncture in his life embodied by Jon Pertwee that the entire encounter came to fruition as per their arrangement-Impelling that, without the state of the universe that accommodated the Third Doctor having existed, the Doctor would have had none of that peculiar experience at all. The renegade villain Time Lord, Omega, was plotting to syphon the energy perpetuating his own species, and so the council resorted to employing the hero who they had previously condemned, in full exploitation and capitalisation upon his abilities and magnanimous philosophy.

Though perplexed to begin with, ostensibly due to the vagueness of his recollection of the circumstances, he quickly recovered, bickered with his contemporaries, and eventually proceeded to remedy the besiegement. The benefit that bolstered their plight to its remarkable accomplishment, in opposition to the pure potency of Omega, was the union of the triumvirate of gallant heroes; It necessitated the full capacity of the influence of companions that fortified his virtuous faculties, and the combination with the only members worthy of full, equitably authoritative judgement upon him-himselves-to see him resiliently through to the apex of the resolve of the adversity. But there was no shortage of opportunities for exchanges of a more comical nature along the way, as the constantly recurring disunity in the polarised opinions concerning the means that justified the ends lead to the juvenile arguments between the Doctor and the Doctor. But it was the ultimate recognition of the mature decision to put their differences aside that exposed the very best of what they were capable of.

Not only was the Doctor confronted with the perturbation of being faced with two other of his incarnations when against Omega, and only marginally being able to overcome the trial of his integrity and whit-But hundreds of years later by his timeline, and a decade later by the chronology of Earth's progression, he found himself in the mire of dealing with a case of handling the repetition of such circumstances. This, yet again, was another test of his character, as the mere presence of other iterations of his entity was evocative of exasperation in him just as frequently as it was relieving. The fact that the encounters were premier opportunities that lent themselves to an indulgence in his inherent narcissistic self-validation in the confidence he had in his astronomical intelligence, but also the depreciation of a harsh criticism of himself is the element that made the external spectatorship of how the dynamics between him, him, him, his companions, his casual allies and his adversaries the most compelling aspect of The Five Doctors-Besides the monumental gravity of the stakes when confronting the significantly audacious and austere potential consequences of Lord President Borusa's exploitative escapades as he made the foray into meddling with Time Lord biology by extending his lifespan beyond that of its natural limitations.

There was the inevitable bickering that reared its head, casting a shadow of humour over the proceedings, but it became more nuanced, and stole less of the spotlight than it had done previously in favour of the exhibition of just how comfortable the Doctor had become in the experience of dealing with scenarios of a similar ilk, and of a genuine celebration of everything that made the Doctor's life a delightful spectacle. The ultimate triumph over their foe came through means of solidity in the mature method of tackling the imposed threat instead of an overly flamboyant solution, and saw the Fifth Doctor(who took the majority of the priority for the story) reap the ramified rewards of serving the Time Lords once again at his own expense. It was a standout feature amongst the subsistence of the Third Doctor's life because of the role he played of being the intermediary relay exactly in the middle of the endurance of his entire life up until that point, and the consequently implicated familiarity with everything the First and Second Doctor found themselves discovering, and the naivety in being totally incompetent to the assets that the Fourth and Fifth Doctors had become acclimatised to. And he still proficiently managed the navigation of the toilsome circumstances, making equally valuable contribution to the events as his peers.

Beyond the meagre, superficial fact of the significance of impending a momentous alteration of body and personality again, the death of the Third Doctor was extremely defining of the character due to the encapsulation of introspective it offered into just how far the Doctor had evolved as a person up until that point. The events that impelled the imperative for the regeneration were what made his final moments particularly poignant-He had returned a sacred crystal to its rightful place within a cave, but had attempted to diplomatically negotiate with the Queen Spider of Metebelis 3 to convince her not to finalise the weaving of a lattice that would spell inevitable disaster for her, and all that were within the cave in which they were located, that went awry, and determined the Doctor's efforts nothing if not sacrificial.

It had become obvious that, although he was already the most heroic and benevolent perpetual force in the universe, his companions had played an increasingly seminal part in the continuation and enhancement of his proficiencies in that. At the beginning of his Third cycle, he was relatively resentful, but in his dying breaths, he was antithetically sensitive and considerate toward the devastated and emotional Sarah Jane Smith. Instead of bemoaning his impending change, he simply embraced it, found tranquillity and solace, and even comforted Sarah while in a state of grieving and shock.

DOCTOR: Hello, Sarah. I got lost in the time vortex. The Tardis brought me home.
SARAH: Oh! Oh, Doctor, why did you have to go back?
DOCTOR: I had to face my fear, Sarah. I had to face my fear. That was more important than just going on living.
SARAH: Please, don't die.
DOCTOR: A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don't cry. While there's life there's
SARAH: No.

The brevity of the exchange was all that was necessary to convey the progression he had made into the more emphatically selfless and sympathetic saint he now, to a larger degree by the day.