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When does Tom Baker give up Bessie?

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I just got through watching "Robot," Baker's first serial (it was charmingly cheesy and had some great moments). I got a kick out of seeing Baker driving it. When did he give her up? Was that the first and last time he drove her?
 
It has to be the first time he drove it because it is his first story. :)

(Technically it is his 2nd story but unless he regenerated whilst driving it ....)
 
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Only time i can remember Bessie appearing in who after Robot was in The Five doctors and I'm sure also in one of Sylvester McCoy's stories, although i cant remember which one.
 
^Battlefield, the last classic series UNIT story.


I think Peter Davison and Colin Baker also used Bessie in promotional appearences.
 
Really? For some reason I had an image of him driving it to Scotland in Terror of the Zygons but I bow to people's superior knowledge :)

Nah, he gets to Scotland in the TARDIS (he's called there by the Brigadier at the end of Revenge of the Cybermen). Harry chooses not to risk a TARDIS trip back to London at the end, using British Rail.
 
Really? For some reason I had an image of him driving it to Scotland in Terror of the Zygons but I bow to people's superior knowledge :)

Nah, he gets to Scotland in the TARDIS (he's called there by the Brigadier at the end of Revenge of the Cybermen). Harry chooses not to risk a TARDIS trip back to London at the end, using British Rail.

Which at the time probably would have been more dangerous! :lol:
 
Now that's I'm thinking about it, Bessie would be a fun thing to bring back for a UNIT involved episode. Or maybe even in SJA.
 
Now that's I'm thinking about it, Bessie would be a fun thing to bring back for a UNIT involved episode. Or maybe even in SJA.
I suppose the car may not be either available or in a drivable condition, but I thought given the story's premise, it would have been perfect in the 2 part 2008 Sontaran episode.
 
Bessie would suit Eleven much better than it would have suited his two predecessors.
 
The Doctor leaves Bessie behind at UNIT when he heads off in the TARDIS at the end of Robot (presumably, the third Doctor was attached to Bessie as a substitute for the immobilised TARDIS, but the fourth had the real thing back and didn't care).
The Brigadier eventually makes sure Bessie's put in storage (and presumably maintained), and gets her sent up as back-up in the 7th Doctor story Battlefield.
Personally, I think they missed an opportunity in Mawdryn Undead, the fifth Doctor story where the retired Brig reappears, and has a vintage car. Couldn't he have taken Besie with him for safe-keeping when he left UNIT?
 
There was one real world problem with Bessie though - the car wasn't actually street legal so they could only use it on closed off roads (yet the Whomobile was legal).
 
I still think it would have been a perfect moment for Ten to make a Bessie reference when he and Donna jumped into that old car in "The Unicorn and the Wasp".
 
There was one real world problem with Bessie though - the car wasn't actually street legal so they could only use it on closed off roads (yet the Whomobile was legal).

Yep. That's what I heard too. Plus, I think they needed to make a clean break from the Pertwee era.

The Whomobile was considered legal because the basic vehicle was some sort of motor scooter.

Becides are YOU gonna tell Jon Pertwee he can't drive his Whomobile. I wouldn't have the guts.;)
 
I saw Pertwee on one of the DVD extras tell the story about how he owned Bessie at some point after he left the show and ended up giving it to a fan who had a serious medical condition. Pertwee said the fan kept it in great working order.
 
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