The thirteenth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 30 August 1975 with the story Terror of the Zygons, and ended with The Seeds of Doom. This is the second series to feature the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, with Philip Hinchcliffe producing and Robert Holmes script editing. In September 2009, it was ranked as readers' favourite season in Doctor Who Magazine issue 413.
Casting
Main cast Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan
Tom Baker continued his role as The Fourth Doctor along with Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen). Harry Sullivan, played by Ian Marter, departed in Terror of the Zygons and reappeared in The Android Invasion as a guest star.
Recurring cast Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart John Levene as Sergeant Benton
Nicholas Courtney returned as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Terror of the Zygons having last appeared in Robot. John Levene makes his final appearance as Sergeant Benton in The Android Invasion after six years in the role.
Serials
Terror of the Zygons was produced as part of the production schedule for Season 12, but was held for transmission from the end of that season to the beginning of Season 13, to coincide with a move from the new season starting at the beginning of the calendar year, to starting in late summer. Terror of the Zygons was also the last appearance of the Brigadier until Mawdryn Undead in Season 20. The season took a transmission break of two weeks over the Christmas 1975 period, between the broadcasts of The Android Invasion and The Brain of Morbius.
Production
Scrapped stories Multiple stories were scrapped during the production of the season. The original version of Pyramids of Mars by Lewis Greifer was scrapped, and unlike the final story, would have featured a group attempting to gain access to wild rice hailing from thousands of years ago in an Egyptian sarcophagus to seed Mars for profit. After Greifer became ill, the story was rewritten in its entirety by Robert Holmes... The Eye of Nemesis by Brian Hayles would have depicted a hunter named Torr chasing the Doctor and Sarah, with Torr working for recurring antagonist the Toymaker. David Wiltshire's The Menday Fault, an unsolicited script, would have involved a nuclear submarine diving into the Fault of Menday and discovering a subterranean world, though Wiltshire was ultimately never commissioned for the storyline.. The Nightmare Planet, written by Dennis Spooner, would have centred around a planet where drugs in the food and water are used to control the populace, and temporary withdrawal of the drugs would cause people to see monsters.. Other stories scrapped from the season included The Angarath by Eric Pringle,. The Haunting by Terrance Dicks,. and Return to Sukannan by Terry Nation. The Prisoner of Time, a scrapped concept written by Barry Letts, was intended to be based on an audition piece for the role of Sarah Jane Smith Letts had previously written in 1973. The Silent Scream was a scrapped idea from Chris Boucher, before Boucher was ultimately commissioned to write The Face of Evil.Doctor Who Magazine #229 page 26
Broadcast The entire season was broadcast from 30 August 1975 to 6 March 1976, but with a three week break between the fourth and fifth serials from 13 December 1975 to 3 January 1976.
Home media
VHS releases
Betamax releases
Video 2000 releases
Laserdisc releases
DVD and Blu-ray releases
In print
References
Bibliography
. . . . .
External links