7 Reasons Why The Third Doctor Changed The Course Of Doctor Who

By Gwyn /

This article is going to look at the Third Doctor and his era together and why they both changed the course of Doctor Who. The Third Doctor, played by the late Jon Pertwee, has always been one of the most loved and recognized Doctors, besides the Fourth Doctor. The Third Doctor had an air of arrogance around him, but out of all the incarnations, he tended to be the most scientific one of them, which happens to be one of the most distinctive characteristics of this Doctor. The Third Doctor and his era was much different then the previous two Doctors, and it paved the way to what Doctor Who would become later on.

7. Exiled to Earth and UNIT

One of the biggest moves the producer and writers did for the Third Doctor was have him stay on Earth after the Second Doctor was forced to regenerate and put into exile. This is when Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart makes a full return into the show for quite awhile, and with him in UNIT, Captain Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton. Unlike the two predecessors, where they were able to have adventures, both fun and dangerous on other worlds and different times, the Third Doctor was limited to the strange activities that only occurred on Earth in one certain time period.This is when we are introduced to the Master for the very first time, played by the wonderful Roger Delgado. He reappears on Earth several times and creates trouble for UNIT at times, but especially the Doctor. With the limited traveling in the TARDIS, the writers were still able to come up with some amazing stories that probably wouldn't have been as good if they were done today, just because of the situation the Third Doctor was in. The Third Doctor was part of UNIT, and from that point on, in different incarnations, there had always been some reference to UNIT and the Brigadier. He had his own scientific lab in UNIT, where he kept his TARDIS as well. We can assume the Third Doctor tended to be more moody and less patient on occasion due to the fact that he couldn't do what he enjoyed most; traveling about in the TARDIS. But during his stay, he did have a few companions that helped him.