11 Amazing Stories That Define Doctor Who - A 49 Year Retrospective

4. The Keeper Of Traken

I€™ll make a confession- Tom Baker€™s time on the show is not something which I regard anywhere near as highly as many of the other Doctor eras. For me, Baker€™s seven-year run seemed a gross prolonging of a character whose traits were actually limited by their star€™s eccentricity and silliness. That said, the period does have its highlights with adventures such as Genesis Of The Daleks, The Talons Of Weng-Chiang and the penultimate story of Baker€™s run, The Keeper Of Traken. Taking place after the events of the previous Master story- The Deadly Assassin- this sequel-of-sorts took the Doctor to the planet Traken to face his oldest foe in a new guise. The Master had taken possession of a sinister Statue (see, there were other times when you shouldn€™t blink even before the Moff was around!), menacing the residents of a primitive society and almost fooling his adversary for a while. As things took a turn for the worse, the Fourth Doctor was forced to realise the truth about the Keeper, entering a confrontation with the Time Lord that would begin to seal his fate for the next regeneration€ Traken isn€™t laden with brilliant performances, yet benefits from its impressive shock tactics and surprises towards its conclusion. Illuminating the Doctor-relationship, The Keeper Of Traken at the very least provides us with another defining story for the show, a thrilling adventure that also serves as the perfect segue way into the final adventure we would share with the Fourth Doctor before the moment that had been €œprepared for€€