Getting Acquainted With “Doctor Who” – Five Iconic Sixth Doctor Stories

To prepare for Doctor Who’s arrival on Disney+ in 2023, and as Laughing Place’s resident Doctor Who expert, I wanted to do a series of articles to get Disney fans acquainted with the world of the traveling Time Lord. We’ve now made it up to the Sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker. After three years, at the advice of Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, Peter Davison stepped down from the role. Following him would be Colin Baker, who actually had already appeared in the Davison serial “Arc of Infinity” as another character.

But who is the Doctor, you might ask? Well he’s a traveling Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. The line that best sums up the Doctor, no matter his portrayal is “Never cruel, never cowardly.”

In these articles, I will introduce you to what I think are the five stories from each Doctor that best represent that era, and also serve to move the show’s mythos forward. Colin Baker came into the role with the most garish costume for the Doctor yet, and a somewhat unstable, and unlikeable personality. Would this new take on the character work? Let’s find out…

Vengeance on Varos

Following one story at the end of Peter Davison’s final season, Colin Baker made his proper debut in Season 25, a season that would become one of the darkest in the show’s history. It would deal with some quite harsh themes, and the violence level would be turned up higher than ever before, even on the Doctor’s behalf. With that, we come to the second story of the season, “Vengeance on Varos.”

The planet Varos has one thing going for it, the mining element Zeiton-7, however the people and government of Varos aren’t getting the full wealth from the element that they should, thanks to the interference of the Mentors. To make ends meet, the government sells videos of prisoners being tortured, which are also broadcast as the main means of entertainment to the people of Varos. Even the Governor is prone to torture, if he doesn’t survive a particular vote. These rather dark elements were criticisms of not only pornographic material, but also a thoughtful piece on what would eventually become reality TV, making this a rather ahead-of-its-time story.

“Vengeance on Varos” is perhaps best known for introducing the character of Sil to Doctor Who, one of the aforementioned Mentors. A slug-like creature, actor Nabil Shaban puts in an appropriately slimy performance making him one of the most iconic villains of 1980s Doctor Who. This story admittedly is a little dark, but if you can get past that, it’s an excellent thinkpiece on who we were becoming.

The Mark of the Rani

For almost 15 years at this point, the Doctor and the Master had been battling each other on Earth and across time and space. So it was certainly an interesting experiment to introduce another Time Lord foe for the Doctor – the Rani. Making her first of two appearances in “The Mark of the Rani,” the character, played by Kate O’Mara, is not intent on destruction as is the Master, but rather in her scientific experiments. The problem is, she’ll do anything to further those experiments, with no conscience or guilt. Pairing her up with the Master in this story gives us a fun double act of the two constantly trying to outwit each other and the Doctor.

This story also features some remarkable location work, truly feeling like we’re back in the days of the Industrial Revolution. You see, while the Rani conducts her experiments, the Master wants to thwart the progress of the Industrial Revolution. The story also features our first gradual decrease in this Doctor’s, shall we say, rude tendencies. You begin to see a better relationship between him and companion Peri (Nicola Bryant) that sadly would never get the chance to properly flourish.

The Two Doctors

Patrick Troughton, the Second Doctor, had just appeared in the 20th anniversary serial, “The Five Doctors.” He enjoyed returning to the role so much that producer John Nathan-Turner quickly secured him to return for “The Two Doctors” during Colin Baker’s first season. This was the first time a multi-Doctor story kind of just happened, with no anniversary cause. Because of that, it doesn’t quite feel as special as the stories that came before it. It is still a hoot though!

Written by legendary Doctor Who writer, Robert Holmes, you’ll find plenty of his trademark wit and character work on display here. Also featured is the return of the Sontarans, taller than they’ve ever been before. The story itself is a whole lot of nothing, however it is an absolute treat to see Troughton play opposite Baker, even though they don’t have nearly enough scenes together. Troughton slipped back into the role with ease, making this almost feel like a lost story from the end of his era. This serial is also notable for some lovely location work in Seville, Spain.

Revelation of the Daleks

The final serial of Colin Baker’s first season of the Doctor is actually one of, if not my favorite Doctor Who stories of all time – the eerie and imaginative “Revelation of the Daleks.” Yes, the Daleks are clearly involved, but they take more of a backseat to the machinations of their creator, Davros, or as he’s disguised here – the Great Healer. You see, Davros has concocted a genius plan to fix the universe’s hunger, by cruelly turning the dead into protein. But that’s not all he’s doing with the dead… Many are being turned into a new army of Daleks, loyal to Davros.

From that, we get one of the creepiest scenes Doctor Who has ever produced. Searching for her father, Natasha Stengos comes across a glass Dalek, with a human/Dalek hybrid inside. That hybrid turns out to be her father, Arthur Stengos. His mind has been conditioned to serve the Daleks, as his body transforms into one, yet he still recognizes his daughter. This leads to an emotional scene where he pleads for her to kill him. Very dark stuff, as is par for the course with this season, but very, very well done.

Aside from that glorious scene, we get some absolutely wonderful characters, all vying for some form of control over their little sectors of the story. Greatly inspired by the work of Robert Holmes, script editor Eric Saward emulates his style perfectly in this macabre, and truly wonderful story. Perhaps the only critique one might have is an underuse of the Doctor and Peri, who barely feature in Part One. But with such wonderful and vivid characters created, it’s a small complaint to overlook.

The Trial of a Time Lord

This period of the show’s history ended up being one of its most turbulent. Midway through Colin Baker’s first season as the Doctor, it was revealed that the show would be placed on an 18-month hiatus. Seen as a cost-cutting measure by BBC management that openly did not like the show, this would be the longest point at that time that the show had been off the air.

When it did return 18 months later, it was with a reduced episode length and count. It was decided to give the season an overarching story. Since the show itself was on trial, the creatives decided to put the Doctor on trial for “The Trial of a Time Lord.” This season features four different stories, all used as evidence in the Doctor’s trial for his interference in the affairs of others. At the end, it’s revealed that the prosecutor, the Valeyard, is actually an evil version of the Doctor from somewhere in his future – a plot line that has not been picked up on since.

The first serial, “The Mysterious Planet,” is the last major contribution from Robert Holmes. While having an interesting premise, it is let down by some poor dialogue and performances. “Mindwarp” follows, which sees the Doctor acting extremely out of character, the return of Sil and the Mentors, and Peri’s “death” when the mind of a Mentor is placed into her body (another extremely creepy scene from this era of the show). A great story that is just a little too hard to follow at times. The third part, “Terror of the Vervoids,” introduces a new companion from the Doctor’s future, Mel (played by Bonnie Langford), for an Agatha Christie-style romp in space. Finally, the last two episodes tie up all the story points in a mostly satisfactory way.

“The Trial of a Time Lord” was a season born out of chaos, and the fact that it works as well as it does is an impressive feat. Sadly, after this season, BBC executives decided to fire Colin Baker from the role, never really giving the actor a chance to shine in the role. For me, he is one of the most underrated actors to play the Doctor. His performance is always excellent, it’s just a shame that the material didn’t always do him justice.

Classic episodes of Doctor Who from 1963-1989 are available to stream on BritBox, while the modern series is on HBO Max. Beginning later this year, all new episodes of Doctor Who will be available on Disney+.