10 Most Bizarre Doctor Who Moments

8. UNIT's Toy Tank (Robot)

Doctor Who Robot UNIT tank
BBC

In this day and age, it's all-too easy to poke fun at some of the hokey visual effects in the classic series, but at the same time... we'd be lying if we said we didn't find this infamous moment highly amusing.

During Robot (Tom Baker's debut serial as the dazzling Fourth Doctor) the powerful K1 robot squares off against UNIT: it disintegrates a nearby soldier without even sustaining a scratch, forcing the Brigadier to wheel out the big guns.

And by "big guns" we mean a toy tank. Literally. A toy tank. The shot has been angled to try and make it look full-scale, but it's blatantly obvious that the budget for this scene just wasn't there. It truly is baffling to watch, but in an endearing sort of way, like a primary school kid's first attempt at an art project.

What makes this moment even better is the way the Doctor shoots down the Brigadier's confidence, almost like he's in on the joke. "I've brought along something that will deal with it" says the Brig. "I very much doubt it" retorts the Doc.

Baker had already proved he was a terrific Doctor by this point, but that line sealed it.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!