Another Doctor, another Top Five Big Damn Hero Moments. Four is the Doctor in question today, offering up some clever victories with a nice dash of trickster (spoilers.)
Defeating Sutekh (Series 13, Episode 12 – “Pyramids of Mars: Episode 4”)
When the Eye of Horus is deactivated in its pyramid on Mars, the Doctor thinks for a moment that it’s all over – without the Eye, Sutekh will be free to reign havoc down on the cosmos. But then he remembers that he still has the two minutes it takes radio waves to travel from Mars to Earth, so he springs into action, racing back in the TARDIS and arriving just in the nick of time. Using a component from the TARDIS, he sends Sutekh’s only escape into the far future, where he’ll never catch up to it.
Defeating Taren Capel (Series 14, Episode 20 – “The Robots of Death: Episode 4”)
I love me a good simple scientific save. Knowing that the robots respond to Taren Capel’s voice, the Doctor finds a hiding place for Leela in Taren’s workshop and has her open a canister of helium as soon as he arrives. The helium changes the resonance of his voice and the robots no longer respond to his commands, putting them out of his control. Saving the day with a helium canister – that is such a Doctor move!
Discovering the Truth of Zanak (Series 16, Episode 6 – “The Pirate Planet: Episode 2”)
Whenever there’s a baffling mystery to solve, odds are good that the Doctor will be the first one to put all the pieces together. It at first appears that he, Romana, and K9 have landed on the wrong planet in their search for the next Key to Time segment – they’re on Zanuk, not Calufrax. But the tracer still reads a signal wherever they go, and there are other unexplained factors like the changing constellations, the sudden appearance of precious minerals littering the streets, and a colossal engine room. It’s an incredible leap, but the Doctor is able to make it: Zanuk is a both a hollowed-out planet and an enormous spaceship, dematerializing in one spot and rematerializing around another planet, crushing it and extracting its natural resources.
Foiling Scaroth’s Plan (Series 17, Episode 7 – “City of Death: Episode 3”)
Oh, how I love the Doctor being a fly in the bad guy’s ointment! Knowing that Scaroth, scattered across time, is financing his schemes in the present by forcing Leonardo to paint extra authentic copies of the Mona Lisa during the Renaissance, the Doctor pops by Leonardo’s studio and writes “THIS IS A FAKE” on all of Leonardo’s canvases, leaving a message for him to just paint over them. So, when Scaroth tries to sell his multiple Mona Lisas and they’re X-rayed for authentication, the Doctor’s message pops up and his cash cow dries up. Delightful!
Trapping the Hecate (Series 17, Episode 16 – “Nightmare of Eden: Episode 4”)
It looks like the Hecate is about to get away, but the Doctor isn’t worried. He urges Romana to quickly repair the CET, the very machine that the smugglers used to convey the drugs, and with K9 boosting the signal, the Doctor increases the CET’s range and transmats the Hecate into the projection. From there, all the authorities have to do is reach in and grab the smugglers to bring them to justice. As the Doctor says, they’re hoist by their own petard, which makes for a very satisfying victory.
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