Can the Doctor, now in his fourth incarnation. Recover from his post regenerative trauma to save the Earth from Think Tank and their plot for world domination.
ROBOT By: Terrance Dicks First Air Date: 28 December 1974 Running time: 24:11 [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER: Now, just a minute. SARAH: Look, Brigadier! Look! I think it's started. BRIGADIER: All right, here we go again. (On the phone.) Get me the medical officer. Lieutenant Sullivan, emergency. Come to the lab at once, please. DOCTOR: ...human history. BRIGADIER: What's he talking about? SARAH: It's something that happened when we first met. DOCTOR: I tell you, Brigadier, there's nothing to worry about. The brontosaurus is large and placid. HARRY SULLIVAN: This the patient, sir? DOCTOR: And stupid. The square on the hypotenuse equals the sum of the square on the other two sides. Why is a mouse when it spins? Never did know the answer to that one. BENTON: Excuse me, sir. The daily reports. HARRY: Take him to the sick bay, I'll make a proper examination there. BENTON: (To the BRIGADIER.) What's happening, sir? Who's... BRIGADIER: That, Mr. Benton, is the Doctor. BENTON: You mean he's done it again? He's changed? BRIGADIER: Apparently. Saw it happen this time. Lieutenant Sullivan? HARRY: Yes, sir. BRIGADIER: I'm placing the Doctor in your personal charge. He is to have your full attention. HARRY: Right-o, sir. BRIGADIER: Right. Anything urgent, Mr. Benton? BENTON: No, sir, just routine. BRIGADIER: Yes, everything seems pretty quiet. [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER (On the radio.): The complete set of plans for the new disintegrator gun. [SCENE_BREAK] SARAH: Stolen? Who by? BRIGADIER: No one saw them. Probably enemy agents. Small commando squad. They found heavy vehicle tracks. You realize, of course, Miss Smith, all this is top secret? SARAH: Then why are you telling me? BRIGADIER: Well, because... Because there's no one else I can tell. SARAH: The Doctor's still unconscious? Oh, he'll be all right. I know he will. BRIGADIER: He used to drive me mad, but I miss having him about. He'd have been interested in this robbery, there are some very strange features. BRIGADIER: Actually, I want to ask a favour. SARAH: Yes, of course. BRIGADIER: You know Thinktank, the Frontiers of Science research place? All the latest in everything under one roof? BRIGADIER: Yes, what about it? SARAH: Well, now and again, exceptionally favoured journalists are allowed to visit it and, well, for ages now, I have been dying... BRIGADIER: You want me to get you a visitors' pass? SARAH: Ooh, please. BRIGADIER: Nothing simpler. Come to my office and I'll fix it straightaway. SARAH: And could I see the Doctor before I go? BRIGADIER: Yes, of course. SARAH: You're sure you've got the right man to look after him? BRIGADIER: Young Sullivan? Oh, he's a very fine chap, first-class doctor. SARAH: Seems a bit old-fashioned. [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER: Nothing wrong with that, Miss Smith. You may not have noticed, but I'm a bit old-fashioned myself. SARAH: Oh, nonsense, Brigadier. You're a swinger. [SCENE_BREAK] DOCTOR: Key. Key, key, key, key. Key, key. Yes, of course, obvious place. HARRY: There you are. Now, come along, Doctor, you're supposed to be in the sick bay. DOCTOR: Am I? HARRY: Mmm-hmm. DOCTOR: Don't you mean the infirmary? HARRY: No, I do not mean the infirmary, I mean the sick bay. You're not fit yet. DOCTOR: Not fit? But I'm the Doctor. HARRY: No, Doctor, I'm the doctor and I say that you're not fit. DOCTOR: You may be a doctor, but I am the Doctor. The definite article, you might say. HARRY: Look here, Doctor, you're not fit... DOCTOR: Not fit! Not fit! Of course I'm fit. All systems go! HARRY: I say. Well, look... DOCTOR: Heartsbeat? HARRY: I say, I don't think that can be right. DOCTOR: Both a bit fast, are they? HARRY: Well, I... DOCTOR: Still, must be patient. A new body is like a new house, takes a little bit of time to settle in. As for the physiognomy... Well, nothing's perfect. Have to take the rough with the smooth. Mind you, I think the nose is a definite improvement. As for the ears... Well, I'm not too sure. Tell me, quite frankly, what do you say to the ears? HARRY: I really don't know. DOCTOR: Well, of course you don't. Why should you? You're a busy man. You don't want to stand here burbling about my ears. Neither here nor there. I can't waste any more time. Things to do, places to go. I'm a busy man, too, you know. Thank you for a most interesting conversation. Must be on my way. HARRY: There is absolutely no question of you leaving, Doctor. Now, you go back to the infirmary... I mean, the sick bay, get into bed and stay there until I say that you can get up. DOCTOR: How can I prove my point? HARRY: I... I feel I ought to warn you, Doctor, that there's grave danger of myocardial infarction, not to speak of pulmonary embolism. Yes, I should, I should... DOCTOR: Mother, Mother... # I feel sick # Send for the doctor # Quick, quick, quick # Mother, dear, shall I die? # Yes, my darling, by and by # One, two, three, four... # [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER: There's only one place he can be. SARAH: I thought you said Doctor Sullivan was looking after him? BRIGADIER: He's supposed to be. [SCENE_BREAK] SARAH: Cupboard. What are you doing down there? Where's the Doctor? HARRY: Tied me up and hung me in here like a pair of old boots. BRIGADIER: Where is he? Ah, too late. SARAH: No, Doctor, wait! Doctor, listen. Please, it's Sarah. Doctor... DOCTOR: Hello. Come to see me off, have you? Well, I hate goodbyes. I'll just slip away quietly. SARAH: No, Doctor, you can't go! DOCTOR: Can't? Can't? There's no such word as "Can't"! SARAH: Oh! DOCTOR: Why not? SARAH: Well, because you're not... Well, because the Brigadier needs you. Don't you, Brigadier? BRIGADIER: What? Oh, yes, of course, depending on you. DOCTOR: What for? SARAH: There's been this robbery, hasn't there, Brigadier? Some kind of secret weapon. BRIGADIER: Ah, yes. Very serious business. SARAH: I mean, you are still UNIT's scientific advisor. Remember? Well, you can't go rushing off and leave them in the lurch. DOCTOR: Can't I? Goodbye. HARRY: Excuse me, sir. BRIGADIER: What? HARRY: Could you oblige? BRIGADIER (On the radio.): Oh, yes. HARRY (OOV.): Thank you. DOCTOR: Excuse me. BRIGADIER (On the radio.): What? DOCTOR: Haven't we met somewhere before? No, don't tell me. Alexander the Great? BRIGADIER: No. DOCTOR: Hannibal? BRIGADIER: No. DOCTOR: Ah! Brigadier. Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart. How are you? BRIGADIER: Very well, thank you. DOCTOR: And Sarah Jane! Well, now, isn't this... What was that you said about a secret weapon? [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER: Doctor, there's been another... Where is he? HARRY: In there. BRIGADIER: He promised he'd... DOCTOR (OOV.): I'm here. BRIGADIER: Doctor, we must get moving... DOCTOR: Is something wrong? BRIGADIER: You've changed. DOCTOR: Oh, no, not again. BRIGADIER: No, no, I didn't mean your face, I meant your clothes. DOCTOR: Don't you like them? BRIGADIER: UNIT is supposed to be a security organization. DOCTOR: Do you think I might attract attention? BRIGADIER: It's just possible. DOCTOR: One moment. DOCTOR: No? BRIGADIER (On the radio.): No. DOCTOR: How about this? BRIGADIER: Much better, Doctor. Now, if you've quite finished with your wardrobe... DOCTOR: I'll try again if you like. BRIGADIER: No, let's settle for that, please. DOCTOR: Time we were off. BRIGADIER: Off? DOCTOR: To visit the scene of the crime. BRIGADIER: The thing is, there's been another robbery! DOCTOR: Tell me on the way, Brigadier. Tell me on the way. You must cultivate a sense of urgency. [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER: Millions of volts running through the wretched thing. And for all the good it was, it might just... Doctor? Doctor, will you please pay attention? DOCTOR: Oh, but I am, I assure you. Look. BRIGADIER: Doctor, I have every respect for your concern for ecology, but, really, one squashed dandelion... DOCTOR: Not just squashed, flattened. Almost pulverized. Now, how did it get like that? HARRY: Well, I suppose it was stepped on. DOCTOR: Exactly. And according to my estimation of the resistance to pressure of vegetable fiber, it was stepped on by something that weighed a quarter of a ton. [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER: Funny thing is, they left a lot of valuable and top secret stuff behind. Here's a list of all they actually took. DOCTOR: Just what you need for the control circuitry of one powerful, compact technological device. A disintegrator gun, for instance? BRIGADIER: What do you know about that? [SCENE_BREAK] GUARD: Yes, miss? [SCENE_BREAK] ARNOLD JELLICOE: That journalist girl is arriving, the one with a UNIT pass. Something of a nuisance at the present moment in time. HILDA WINTERS: We shall treat Miss Smith exactly as any other visitor. JELLICOE: I suppose so. I suppose so. SARAH: Hello. You know, it's awfully good of you to allow this visit, Director. HILDA WINTERS: I hadn't expected male chauvinist attitudes from you, Miss Smith. SARAH: I'm sorry? WINTERS: I'm the Director, Hilda Winters. This is Arnold Jellicoe, my assistant. [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER: So, what are we looking for? DOCTOR: Something that brushes aside chains and electric fences like cobwebs. Something intelligent that takes only what it needs and leaves the rest. Something that kills a man as casually as it crushes a dandelion. BRIGADIER: And what sort of something? Is it human? DOCTOR: I doubt it, Brigadier. More than human, perhaps. BRIGADIER: Well, whatever it is, how do we find it? DOCTOR: By locking the next stable door in good time. BRIGADIER: Huh? DOCTOR: It, whatever "it" may be, has stolen the plans for the new disintegrator gun. It has also in its possession the necessary control circuitry. HARRY: Do you think it wants to build the gun? DOCTOR: Why else steal the plans and the circuitry? Now, assuming I'm right, and I invariably am, what is the third vital ingredient? BRIGADIER: The focusing generator. DOCTOR: Exactly, Brigadier. Exactly. BRIGADIER (On the radio.): Greyhound Leader to Trap One, over. BENTON (OOV.): Trap One. We read you, Greyhound Leader. Over. BRIGADIER: Mr. Benton, red priority. Emmett's Electronics, a smallish factory in Essex, I want blanket security, every available man. Air cover as well. I'll meet you there in... in one hour. By then, I want that place better guarded that Fort Knox. Out. [SCENE_BREAK] JELLICOE: As you've seen, we do most of what's called "frontiers of science" research here. WINTERS: As soon as our work reaches a practical stage, it's handed over to someone. Someone with more resources and a bigger budget. JELLICOE: Usually the government. SARAH: Well, like the new disintegrator gun? Well, you pioneered the research on that, didn't you? WINTERS: Well, yes. I'm not sure you should know about that. SARAH: Whoops, sorry. Talking out of turn. SARAH: What's in here? [SCENE_BREAK] JELLICOE: There's nothing here. Nothing at all. WINTERS: As you can see, it's empty. SARAH: "J.P. Kettlewell, Robotics Section." He left some time ago, didn't he? That's right. There was all that fuss about it in the press. WINTERS: Yes, indeed there was. As you probably heard, he turned against conventional science altogether. JELLICOE: He spends his time on alternative technology, whatever that may mean. SARAH: Well, what's through there? JELLICOE: His storeroom. Professor Kettlewell left some valuable equipment. We're keeping it till he deigns to come collect it. SARAH: Oh, I see. Ooh, funny, musty sort of... WINTERS: Are you all right? SARAH: Just about. Thank you. WINTERS: Well, let's be on our way, Miss Smith. There's still quite a lot to see, you know. SARAH: Oh, yes, of course. Thank you. [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER (On the radio.): I tell you, Doctor, I've got the whole place covered. Armed patrols have every inch of the perimeter under observation. Helicopter patrols overhead. Inside that factory is a vault. Not a safe, Doctor, a vault. There's a sentry outside it. [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER ((On the radio.)): Inside the vault there's a casket. A metal casket containing every focusing generator in the place. [SCENE_BREAK] BRIGADIER: Believe me, Doctor, the place is impregnable. DOCTOR: Never cared much for the word "impregnable". Sounds a bit too much like "unsinkable". HARRY: What's wrong with "unsinkable"? DOCTOR: Nothing. As the iceberg said to the Titanic. HARRY: What? DOCTOR: (Makes the noise of the Titanic sinking.) BENTON: All patrols posted, sir. BRIGADIER: Everything secure? BENTON: Yes, sir. The lads are so close together they're standing on each others' feet. BRIGADIER: Good. BRIGADIER: See, Doctor, not even a rat could get through that cordon. Protected from every side and from above. DOCTOR: That still leaves one direction. [SCENE_BREAK] DOCTOR: There seems to be a very large rat about, Brigadier. BRIGADIER: Rat? DOCTOR: Perhaps you should employ the services of a very large cat. [SCENE_BREAK] PROFESSOR KETTLEWELL: I'm afraid I can't help you, Miss Smith. SARAH: Oh. KETTLEWELL: I don't know why you came to me. SARAH: Well, I'm not too sure myself, to be honest. I just felt something in the atmosphere at Thinktank. KETTLEWELL: Yes, I severed all connection with that establishment some time ago, when I became completely disillusioned at the direction all our research was taking. The road to ruination. I'm now devoting my life to alternative energy technologies. SARAH: Solar cells, heat from windmills, that sort of thing? KETTLEWELL: Yes, as you say, "That sort of thing." Oh, sorry. It's a rich and complex field, and I have a great deal of work. SARAH: Oh! I beg your pardon. Well, I just wondered if they might be carrying on your work in robotics? KETTLEWELL: No one is carrying on my work in robotics, Miss Smith, because no one has the ability to do so. Good day. SARAH: Goodbye. KETTLEWELL: Good day, Miss Smith. SARAH: Just going. Thank you. [SCENE_BREAK] BENTON: We think this is the other end of it, sir. Only... BRIGADIER: Only? Only what? BENTON: Only it's not a proper tunnel. I mean, no props or anything. Just the earth been shoved aside. Whoever went through it wouldn't be able to breathe. DOCTOR: Whoever went through it didn't need to breathe. BENTON: And then there were these, sir. [SCENE_BREAK] SARAH: I've... I've left my notebook in one of the empty labs. I know exactly where it is, I can see myself putting it down. So if you could let me just pop in and get it, I needn't let your director know what an idiot I've been. Oh, please. Look, my pass is still valid for another 10 minutes yet. GUARD: Wait here, miss. I'll check for you. SARAH: Great. [SCENE_BREAK] SARAH: It was oil. I knew it. ROBOT: Who are you? Why are you here?
Robot - part 1