DISCLAIMER feel free to correct my spelling of characters names and things from the show, I am running soley from memory.
OK first of all Tom Baker in my mind was by far the best ever Doctor, and I loved watching him with Sarah save the world from the Dereliks (sp?) and other horrible foes. But one underlying theme that always amazed me was the fact that the doctor had undying acumen for the scientific method yet his haphazard McGuyver-esque ways of foiling villans always prevailed.
Does anyone know who wrote Dr. Who during the Tom Baker days?? Whoever it was had a wondrous grasp of melding scientific thought and practice with humerous witty story lines…
Daleks! “Dereliks” makes it sound like “Invasion of the meths drinkers”.
Anyway, during the Baker era, as during other eras, the stories were written by a variety of writers, including Terry Nation, Robert Holmes and Douglas Adams. Here’s a list:
As has been stated, there were a number of writers.
One thing that tends to mess up American fans of Doctor Who is that it wasn’t handled at all like an American show. That is, there was very little concept of continuity, either in plot or in the feeling of the show. It was simply, “Here’s a good story, let’s do this one.”
The official site at BBC.co.uk
Yeah, I’m a Who-viewer! The show is carried locally on Maryland Public Television on Saturday nights, Sunday mornings actually, right after Red Dwarf. I have a small set atop my computer case so I can watch while at my computer and was busy with one of my many games and didn’t bother to turn off the tv when Red Dwarf was over. The episode was Carnival of Monsters and I was hooked! Well, what really got my attention was Cheryl Hall playing Shirna The first episode with the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) was this past Saturday.
Figures, while I was prepraring a list of who wrote what, someone came in with a link.
FWIW, the script editor for a couple of the Tom Baker years was Douglas (“Hitchhiker’s Guide”) Adams. He did write two episodes: “The Pirate Planet” and “City of Death” (under a pseudonym) and influenced about two of Baker’s seasons.
Yes… if you’ve read Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, you will find Shada very familiar. Pretty much the same story. Shada is more infamous in Doctor Who circles due to the fact that a BBC strike meant it was never aired. That and Adams refusing to have it novelized allowed him to recycle it later : )
The idea behind ‘Krikkit’ in Adams’ Life, The Universe, and Everything was also going to be a Dr Who story, but it never got very far in that department.
He also recycled ‘City of Death’ in Dirk Gently, which did air.
I love Douglas Adams, but he really screwed over Who fans in many ways. He wouldn’t allow anyone to write novelizations of the episodes he wrote, so you can’t get a complete set of Target books for the Key to Time season (well you can, if you count missing one show as complete). And he wouldn’t write them himself. And it really disappointed me to see him ripping himself off in the Dirk Gently books.
Enzyme, I kind of realized it when I was a kid reading Dirk Gently… I just assumed Professor Chronitis was meant to be a Time Lord but Douglas Adams couldn’t come out and say it! Of course this wasn’t any informed conclusion on my part, I just had Doctor Who on the brain.
Legomancer, I sympathize with the gaps in your Target collection. But this may make you feel better… BBC Worldwide have just announced plans for the Key to Time DVD box set! It’s slated for a November release in North America. If you didn’t already know…
The first episode with the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) was this past Saturday.