History Recap / DoctorWhoS12E1Robot

* CrushKillDestroy: "YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF HUMANITY! I MUST DESTROY YOU!" Given that the K1 is fighting its programming the whole time, this could be justified as the robot constantly reminding itself why it is doing so.

* HonorBeforeReason - Apparently the Brigadier "[[WouldntHitAGirl wouldn't shoot a woman]]", ''[[IdiotBall even though she's about to start a nuclear holocaust!]]'' Sarah Jane, it turns out, has no such qualms.

The one where the Doctor plays jump rope. Also the debut of the most famous set of teeth and curls in time and space.

* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: The Doctor's skipping rhym is very appropriate for someone called the Doctor feeling unlike himself and disorientated — "I feel sick — send for the Doctor, quick, quick, quick!" — and has an ending altered to be about his own multiple deaths — "Shall I die? Yes, my darling, by and by". After he starts the counting portion of the rhyme, the scene presumably continues for some time in-universe, but noticeably cuts just after the Doctor counts "Four...", the number of his incarnation.

'''Doctor''': Never cared much for the word "impregnable". Sounds a bit too much like "unsinkable".

The one where the Doctor plays jump rope. Also the one where the most famous set of teeth and curls in time and space begins his tenure.

Picking up with a flashback to where [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders the previous serial left off]], the Third Doctor [[TheNthDoctor regenerates]] into the Fourth. He wakes up and madly babbles quite a bit, worrying Sarah Jane and TheBrigadier before he's taken away by the new castmember: Doctor Harry Sullivan. However, a few scenes later, the Doctor has wrangled his way out the infirmary and ties up Harry in a jumping rope (in a rather funny moment) before leaping off into the TARDIS.

* TemptingFate: The Brigadier says that everything's quiet just before the MonsterOfTheWeek stomps its way into the episode.

She panics and flees, but Winters and her lackey are standing at the doorway. They proclaim this is all a massive joke and everyone's having fun looking at this robot, the Experimental Prototype Robot K1. And Winters proves this is all a great joke by ordering the robot to... kill Sarah Jane! The Robot, unable to kill because it goes against his primary directive (or maybe knowing that companions rarely die), decides to enter the dreaded Blue Screen of Death mode -- and Sarah Jane hurries herself out of there. Winters' lackey, Jellicoe, voices concern over that "joke", as the robot's programming has been screwed with. Which is why it killed earlier when it was instructed to do so. Unfortunately, this made the robot's mind unstable and he refused to listen to his adoptive masters.

UNIT charges in to save the day, only to be rendered useless by the fact that the slow-moving robot can't be hurt by small-arms fire. And that they're now holding Sarah Jane hostage, despite the fact that they have clear shots at ''everyone else'' in the organization who poses a threat (well, they have the place surrounded, anyway- no need for unnecessary casualties when you can round up the crooks in cuffs). But the Think Tank is able to escape to their bomb shelter, which happens to be right nearby. As UNIT approaches, the K1 Robot comes out again. It's brandishing its massive disintegrator gun and shooting at random tanks, declaring that it will destroy them all!

As it turns out, Winters has had the robot steal those nuclear secrets so that she can destroy the world... and that's about it. Once he realizes she's not bluffing, Kettlewell has a change of heart and decides to talk the K1 Robot out of guarding the entrance. Sarah Jane is still right behind him. The K1 Robot apparently wants none of this talking stuff, despite waffling back and forth, and [[CombatPragmatist just plain shoots Kettlewell]] (as a result of helping the SRS, his character lost his sympathetic light with the audience, which gave him immunity to being killed off, and so [[KarmicDeath karma has its way with him]]). The Robot doesn't take this nicely, however, as it decides to suffer a nervous breakdown from killing its father and pulls a [[VillainousBreakdown blue screen of death]] long before it was popular.

Sarah Jane is taken on a tour by the head of the organization, Hilda Winters. But all she finds is some oil in an abandoned lab, supposedly left behind by the former occupant: Doctor Kettlewell. Sarah drives over to visit Kettlewell, only to have him ramble on at her worse than the Doctor just did. Kettlewell manages to get something out about "robot research," so Sarah sneaks back into the abandoned area of the lab, to confront... a giant robot! It lurches towards her, demanding to know why she's there.

As it turns out, Winters has had the robot steal those nuclear secrets so that she can destroy the world... and that's about it. Kettlewell, for his part, has a change of heart and decides to talk the K1 Robot out of guarding the entrance. Sarah Jane is still right behind him. The K1 Robot apparently wants none of this talking stuff, despite waffling back and forth, and [[CombatPragmatist just plain shoots Kettlewell]] (as a result of helping the SRS, his character lost his sympathetic light with the audience, which gave him immunity to being killed off, and so [[KarmicDeath karma has its way with him]]). The Robot doesn't take this nicely, however, as it decides to suffer a nervous breakdown from killing its father and pulls a [[VillainousBreakdown blue screen of death]] long before it was popular.

* TheBrigadier: Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, full name quoted by the Fourth Doctor, makes his last regular appearance on the show, as the new Doctor is tired of following order, decides to drop the ballast he's had with UNIT, and ship off to travel time and space regularly just like he used to. But that doesn't stop the Brig from getting in on the action of this story one bit. He's in full form here.

* TastesLikeFriendship: Afte K1 is destroyed, Sarah turns down a jelly baby as ComfortFood, but accepts one after agreeing to run off with the Doctor in the Tardis.

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans

Watch it [[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjnpk5_uk-gold-doctor-who-continuity-robot-episodic-version-august-1993_shortfilms?search_algo=2 here]]

* AdaptationExpansion: In the novelisation, Jellicoe tries to talk Miss Winters out of letting the SRS members attack Sarah.
** UNIT raid the Thinktank and find it deserted before going to the bunker.
** There is a sequence of RAF jet fighters unsuccessfully attacking the giant K1.
** The K1 hides himself and Sarah in a secret compartment at the bunker, where Sarah helps herself to the supplies.
** There is a brief battle between UNIT and the Thinktank troops when they storm the bunker.

* AllThereInTheManual: The novelisation reveals that Professor Kettlewell's first name is Jeremiah.
** It also suggests that the Doctor's short trip in the TARDIS in this story led to the events of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E4TheFaceOfEvil The Face of Evil]].
* ArchEnemy: Hilda Winters, to Sarah Jane, but not at first. Many years later, when Sarah had left the company of the Doctor, Winters would return to plague her in several audio stories before finally kicking the bucket of natural causes.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The Brig thought he had a working disintegration gun to destroy K1 with. Instead, it made the robot grow.
* TheNthDoctor

The one where the Doctor plays jump rope.