Sometimes anniversaries can be a little deceptive. A case in point has to do with David Tennant. In the books he was the Doctor from 2005-2010, five years as the math goes or six years inclusive, which is the important point here. Although this was technically true, he was only in 1 episode in 2005, The Christmas Invasion, and 1 in 2010, The End of Time Pt II. More properly (an awkward phrasing we realize) Tennant had 3 series from 2006-08 and 3 specials scattered in 2009. Not five and certainly not six.
Although not as ‘extreme’ as cited above. Tom Baker first debuted in episode 1 of Robot 50 yerars ago today on December 28, 1974. That’ll make you pause for a moment, won’t it? Once again, there’s a bit of deception going on in remembering Baker’s epic run from 1974 to 1981 as the Doctor. 7 series, but not 8 years inclusive (as cited above) as the math implies, and all because of the very fine point that Robot episode 1 was the only episode for Baker that ran in 1974. Baker is more properly thought of as the Doctor from 1975 to 81. Is that enough pedantry for you?
Of more saliency, Robot is a real odd duck from the early Tom Baker run as it doesn’t feel like any of those other stories from Seasons 12 to 14, and for a very simple reason as it turns out. Robot was actually the last story from the Letts/Dicks production era and more specifically the last of the very long production block which encompassed all of Jon Pertwee’s Season 11 and as a result kept some of the sensibilities of the outgoing production team. Philip Hinchliffe was trailing Barry Letts at this point but wouldn’t take over until The Sontaran Experiment sometime later. Fortunately, this Doctor transition didn’t make the same mistake made for Colin Baker years later in running Robot immediately after Planet of the Spiders. Robot was held for Season 12 and although distinctly different from the rest of Season 12, it provided a clean break between for the new Doctor.
Tom Baker gold. Has a nice ring to it.