Doctor Who: 10 Times The Doctor Acted Completely Out Of Character For No Reason

8. Deliberately Endangering The Galaxy

3rd Doctor looking out of TARDIS
BBC

The classic 1967 adventure The Tomb of the Cybermen is terrifically entertaining and showcases what an excellent Doctor Patrick Troughton was. It also contains a moment of incredibly bizarre characterisation.

This lapse occurs in the first episode, when the Doctor, shortly after asking the human archaeological team not to enter the Cyber-Tombs because they are far too dangerous, actually opens the doors leading from the entrance hall into the interior chambers of the tombs.

That's right, the Doctor puts the entire team in danger and makes it possible for the Cybermen to menace the galaxy. And he does this seconds after making it perfectly clear that the humans should all leave.

It's not the case that the team's expert, Klieg, would have worked out how to unlock the doors by himself. He needs the Doctor to point out that the two side doors even exist and to explain that the control panel works using symbolic logic.

And then, to compound this bizarre about-face, the Doctor happily lets the team split into two groups and start exploring. Several members of the team are soon killed.

Contributor
Contributor

Mike has lived in the UK, Japan and the USA. Currently, he is based in Iowa with his wife and 2 young children. After working for many years as a writer and editor for a large corporation, he is now a freelancer. He has been fortunate enough to contribute to many books on Doctor Who over the last 20 years and is now concentrating on original sci-fi & fantasy short stories, with recent sales including Flame Tree, Uffda, and The Martian Wave. Also, look for his contribution on Blake's 7 to "You and Who Else", a charity anthology to be released later this year. You can find him on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/culttvmike