Monster of the Day #1076

It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. Am I right, gentlemen?

  • Flangepart

    A-hah! A WHO-BOT! Is the Dr. going to provide this week?

  • Eric Hinkle

    When in the history of Who did this guy come from? He looks memorable, but I’ve never even heard of this one before.

  • Robots of Death, the second story for Leela (she is who is being threatened). Great story, with one of the more complex villains.

  • Jamie B.

    Went on the Sci-Fi Sea Cruise in 2013 and Pamela Salem was one of the GoHs. She appeared in “Robots of Death”.

  • Ericb

    It’s from near the end of their Gothic horror period.

  • Acethepug

    Tom Baker era — I grew up watching these on Channel 2 PBS in Boston (probably TMI)

  • Acethepug

    THAT’S the title, thanks! Was this the first time someone used helium to ruin a voice-recognition/authorization? I know it was the first I can recall, but that is hardly definitive.

    Thanks in advance.

  • sandra

    Leela was always my favorite of the Dr’s companions. She wound up as the ruler of his home planet, Gallifree.

  • Flangepart

    Wait-what? I thought she only married the guy who took the gig?

  • GalaxyJane

    I just remember being surprised when Bob Cratchet from the 1970 “Scrooge” turns up in this one. I am pretty sure every actor in Great Britain is contractually required to do Doctor Who at least once. Come to think of it, this wasn’t the only time a Bob Cratchett made a Who appearance. Richard E. Grant (The Great Intelligence) played the part opposite Patrick Stewart’s Scrooge a few years ago. Prefer the Finney though.

  • GalaxyJane

    I’m pretty sure anybody married to Leela would quickly end up being the submissive partner in the relationship.

  • No, the guy who took the gig left the planet just as soon as he could.

  • Flangepart

    Ah, so he had a survival instinct, did he? Wise move.

  • You’d think so. Yet his series keeps on proving otherwise…

  • Gamera977

    Love the art deco androids from this one plus a pretty good episode overall.

  • Gamera977

    You sure you’re not thinking of the Timelady Ramona, the Doctor’s next companion who I believe was stated somewhere took the office of president? (seemed a little silly to me since she would have only been about 200 or so and on her third-fourth regeneration at the time)

  • Gamera977

    There are a few puzzling exceptions though, I don’t think Chris Lee or David Warner ever did an episode- other than them I’d swear every British actor or actress did the show sometime or the other. –

  • Eric Hinkle

    Thanks for sharing that title. I’ve never seen a lot of Who so this is all very new to me.

  • Eric Hinkle

    Yeah, I was going to say is getting rulership of Gallifrey a reward or a punishment?

  • GalaxyJane

    Lee’s non appearance being particularly puzzling given his “anything with a paycheck” work ethos. Though with the exception of some horror documentaries, I don’t know that he did *any* TV work, which may be the reason.

  • Guest

    Ack! Just remembered that Lee made several appearances on the 90s version of “The Tomorrow People” which makes his non-appearance in Who even more baffling.

  • GalaxyJane

    Ack! After consulting the IMDB, I just remembered that Lee made several appearances on the 90s version of “The Tomorrow People” which makes his non-appearance in Who even more baffling.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    And of course Turlough appeared in the George C. Scott version of Scrooge.

  • Toby Clark

    Warner did an episode in 2013, “Cold War”, featuring the return of the Ice Warriors.

  • Gamera977

    Awesome, I’ve only seen the first three or four seasons on the new series.

  • Andrew Sherrod

    I loved how utterly debauched everything was in this episode. Everyone lounging about in combo Egyptian/spaceman nighties and pajamas, playing chess and getting massages, while ordering about robots and calling it work, all the while sniping at one another and needling each other about relative social status and other petty bickering. You don’t seem to get that sort of subtle background stuff in nuWho. In the new series, if someone came up with a novel culture it would either be shoved in our face, front and center (think Sunmakers on overdrive) or else dropped in favor of something less interesting, like a retread of an earth culture or historical era, or some facile steampunk nonsense. I know, asking for flames, but I just don’t find the new series quite as interesting. (Yes, the old had a number of perfectly awful episodes, even some very weak seasons, but even those had a few interesting ideas tossed in, while the new series seems to be best described by an image from the “Space Titanic” episode. Seeing the Doctor carried between two robot angels rushing off to save the world from a Space Titanic pretty much spells out exactly what the Doctor has become. Though, now that I think about it, the end of the “Sound of Drums” arc was pretty telling as well, when he became superstar Tinkerbell space Jesus Doctor because everyone loved him soooo much, that said a lot about the new series as well.)

    OK, climbing off the soapbox now. Really only meant to point out this was one of my favorite episodes (along with Weng-Chiang and Fendahl).