He cupped his hands around his mouth, “Oh Sarah!” the Doctor bellowed out, “Sarah Jane?”
Again, silence and the wind.
The Doctor lowered his hands still looking out at the endless field of sunflowers that swayed before him.
“It’s no use, Doctor.”
The Doctor turned his head to see Harry standing beside him, “And why is that?”
“She’s quite upset with you, Doctor. Don’t poke the bear.” Harry eyes remained locked on the horizon.
The Doctor’s voice morphed into one of honest confusion as he threw his hands in the air, “I don’t even understand what I did wrong!” he slumped to the ground with a thud.
“You spoke of her as if she were a child, Doctor.”
The Doctor’s legs laid flat against the soil, “I didn’t mean it that way,” he mumbled, “I only meant that she was much less knowledgeable of the universe in comparison to me. Just like you are!”
Harry looked down at the Doctor, “You don’t find that the slightest bit degrading?”
The Doctor stared into the dirt as a newfound guilt filled his head with worrisome thoughts, “I suppose…” he trailed off, “I shouldn’t have spoke of it so openly?”
“She looks at you in a way like no other Doctor,” Harry started, “when you said those words in jest and with such ease…” he paused a moment to think, “it struck a nerve…hit close to home…to put it simply, Sarah is hurting because she believes you think less of her.”
The Doctor’s head snapped up in defense, “But I don’t!”
“Well she doesn’t know that now does she, Doctor?”
The Doctor’s mouth hung open, Harry had made a good point. “You know,” He stood slowly. “No one likes a know-it-all, Harry.”
Harry shook his head with a smile as he pivoted on his heal and made way for the TARDIS.
The Doctor marched through the tall army of flowers. “Sarah?”
In response, he heard the subtle sound of sobbing among the flowers.
The Doctor’s expression turned hopeful, he followed the weeping until, finally, he found its source. “Oh-”
“Go away!” Sarah barked sourly.
“Sarah, I didn’t mean what I said-”
“If you didn’t mean what you said, then you wouldn’t have said it. Now, go away. I don’t want to talk to you-”
“Then just listen,” the Doctor knelt before Sarah, “Please, allow me to explain myself.”
Sarah’s face was tear-stained, her eyes riddled with redness and doubt. She could barely bring herself to stare into the Doctor’s sparkly blue jewels. “Why did you say that about me, Doctor?”
“I meant only that though you knew less than I of the universe…”
Sarah drew her eyelids closed, in preparation for the blows to her pride, carried by the words to come next.
“I couldn’t ask for anyone better to share my knowledge with or show the universe to through adventure.” A shy smile tugged at the corners of the Doctor’s mouth.
Sarah’s eyes flickered open again, “You mean, you don’t look down on me?”
The Doctor’s tone began to fill with its usual playfulness once more. “Of course not, I think the world of you, Sarah.”
Sarah’s quivering lips melted into her signature smirk of relief. “You’re one of the most difficult people I’ve ever met.”
“Good! So we’re both on the same page!” He grinned widely, making Sarah giggle.
The Doctor leaned into Sarah and squeezed her tightly, the two sat there for a few minutes just hugging. Holding one and other close. For they weren’t aware that their wonderful adventures would soon be over.
They left the field of flowers without so much as a whisper, that is, with exception of the Doctor’s mere utterance,
“My Sarah Jane…”
Summary: The Time Lords hypocritically send the Doctor back into the history of Skaro to try and prevent the creation of the Daleks. On Skaro, the Kaleds are jackbooted and sinister and even the Thals aren’t quite as nice as they were when they had hexagons in their trousers. Sarah befriends a mutant, Harry continues to be posh and the Doctor is given fancy jewellery by the Time Lords, only to promptly lose it and spend the whole serial looking for it. The story is creepy, atmospheric and multi-layered, the high point being the Doctor’s mesmerising “Do I have the right?” speech. In the end, Davros shoots himself in the foot (well, if he had a foot, he would have) and amoral sidekick Nyder gets his well-deserved comeuppance.
Watch it because: Davros Begins.
Original Air Date: 8 March – 12 April 1975.
Doctor: Tom Baker.
Companions: Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter).
Summary: Harry ‘Sideburns’ Sullivan is posh and a tiny bit sexist, the Doctor starts a habit of offering jelly babies and Sarah gets stuck in a ventilation shaft. It’s the 30th century, solar flares have destroyed the Earth and people in green sleeping bags are menacing a colony ship, but it’s good to see humanity are still using microfilm to store records. The fashion, however, is spot on as everyone wears rather lovely white suits. In other news, yet more newly-awoken bug eyed monsters try to re-claim the Earth.
Watch it because: Noah’s transformation of Shakespearean intensity.
Original Air Date: 25 January – 15 February 1975.
Doctor: Tom Baker.
Companions: Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter).
Writer: Robert Holmes, from a story by John Lucarotti.
Summary: Tom Baker makes his debut in an episode featuring a robot with daddy issues. The special effects department outdo themselves with bubble wrap on the camera lens, Benton is sergeant no longer and for some reason Sarah is dressed like a character from an Agatha Christie adaptation. Dr Sullivan finally makes an appearance and is promptly kidnapped in the TARDIS in a throwback to the Doctor’s preferred method of acquiring human companions.
Watch it because: Debut of an iconic Doctor.
Original Air Date: 28 December 1974 – 18 January 1975.
Doctor: Tom Baker.
Companions: Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter).
Junkyard Bluebox 
