Third Doctor
This page is a collection of quotations from the era of the third official incarnation of the Doctor from the BBC science fiction television programme Doctor Who, during which the role of the Third Doctor was played by Jon Pertwee. As Doctor Who stories in other media (such as books, audio plays, etc) are the subject of intense debate as regarding their place in the series' overall canon, these quotations are taken entirely from episodes broadcast on television.
Third Doctor: Help, Brigadier! HELP!
Third Doctor: The Nestenes can put life into anything made of plastic. Anything at all.
Third Doctor: They're Autons! Bullets can't stop them!
Third Doctor: Wait! Somebody's still in there.
Dalek: Save for interigation! Disable!
(The Dalek fires at the Doctor. The Doctor yells in pain, and collapses on the ground.)
Dalek: Proceed as ordered!
Third Doctor: NO! NO!
Dalek: FIRE!
Spearhead from Space [7.1]
- Liz Shaw: You really believe in a man who has helped to save the world twice, with the power to change his physical appearance? An alien who travels though time and space [beat] in a police box?
- Dr. Henderson: Doctor Lomax, I took that blood sample from an adult male patient. Now you tell me that it's not human blood. I don't know if that makes me a doctor or a vet. But it's still my job to look after him.
The Silurians [7.2]
- The Doctor: My dear Miss Shaw, I never report myself anywhere, particularly not forthwith.
Inferno [7.4]
- The Doctor : Well, I'll tell you something that should be of vital interest to you. That you, Sir, are a NITWIT!
- The Doctor: So, free will is not an illusion after all.
Terror of the Autons [8.1]
- The Doctor: You know Jo, I sometimes think that military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: Nonsense, what you need, Doctor, as Miss Shaw herself so often remarked, is someone to pass you your test tubes, and to tell you how brilliant you are.
Third Doctor: Help, Brigadier! HELP!
Third Doctor: The Nestenes can put life into anything made of plastic. Anything at all.
Third Doctor: They're Autons! Bullets can't stop them!
The Claws of Axos [8.3]
- The Doctor: Obviously the Time Lords have programmed the TARDIS always to return to Earth. It seems that I'm some sort of galactic yo-yo!
- [On how to survive a nuclear blast.]
- The Master: You could take the usual precautions...sticky tape on the windows, that sort of thing.
The Dæmons [8.5]
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: Jenkins...chap with wings there, five rounds, rapid!
- The Master: I only need two things. Your submission and your obedience to MY WILL!
Day of the Daleks [9.1]
- Interrogator: You're a spy!
- The Doctor: Am I? Who am I spying for?
- Interrogator: I'm asking the questions. I repeat, you're a spy!
- The Doctor: That wasn't a question. That was a statement.
- Interrogator: Careful, our friends here don't get much fun. [Gestures to the thuggish Ogron security guards.]
- The Doctor: Poor fellows. Sorry I can't oblige them at the moment, I'm not in the mood for games.
The Sea Devils [9.3]
- [While watching The Clangers]
- The Master: I've discovered a rather interesting form of alien life.
- [The only time in the Third Doctor's era that he spoke his "catchphrase"]
- The Doctor: I reversed the polarity of the neutron flow.
The Three Doctors [10.1]
- Third Doctor: Jo, it's all quite simple - I am he and he is me!
- Jo Grant: And we are all together, coo coo cachoo?
- Both Doctors: What?
- Jo Grant: It's a song by The Beatles.
- Second Doctor: Really? How does it go?
- First Doctor: [Appearing on the TARDIS's television screen] Ah, there you are! I seem to be stuck up here. [Examines the Second and Third Doctors] So you're my replacements! A dandy and a clown! Have you done anything?
- Second Doctor: Uh, well we've assessed the situation-
- First Doctor: Just as I thought. [Chuckles] Nothing.
Frontier in Space [10.3]
- The Doctor: Allow me to congratulate you, sir. You have the most totally closed mind that I've ever encountered.
- The Master: Nobody could be more devoted to the cause of peace than I! As a commissioner of Earth's Interplanetary Police, I have devoted my life to the cause of law and order; And law and order can only exist in a time of peace.
- The Doctor: Are you feeling alright, old chap?
Planet of the Daleks [10.4]
- The Doctor: Courage isn't just a matter of not being afraid. It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway.
Third Doctor: Wait! Somebody's still in there.
Dalek: Save for interigation! Disable!
(The Dalek fires at the Doctor. The Doctor yells in pain, and collapses on the ground.)
Dalek: Proceed as ordered!
Third Doctor: NO! NO!
Dalek: FIRE!
The Green Death [10.5]
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: I never thought I'd have to fire in anger at a dratted caterpillar.
- Stevens: In the end, we all want the same thing: an ordered society, with everyone happy and well fed...
- The Doctor: ...Global Chemicals taking all the profits.
- Stevens: What's best for Global Chemicals is best for the world, is best for you.
- The Doctor: Such as a little touch of brainwashing?
- Stevens: Freedom from fear, freedom from pain...
- The Doctor: ...freedom from freedom.
The Time Warrior [11.1]
- The Doctor: A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it is by no means the most interesting.
Invasion of the Dinosaurs [11.2]
- General Finch: Waiting for this mysterious scientific advisor of yours to turn up?
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: That's right, sir.
- General Finch: [Sarcastically] I suppose he'll just materialize out of thin air.
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: Very probably.
Death to the Daleks [11.3]
- [The Doctor and Sarah Jane hear a strange, mechanical roaring sound]
- Sarah Jane: That sounded awfully close.
- The Doctor: Some sort of subterranean wind effect, I should think.
- Sarah Jane: Who are you kidding?
- The Doctor: Myself, chiefly.
- Sarah Jane: [pointing] Doctor! Look! Look at the city!
- [They watch as the abandoned city melts down to nothing.]
- The Doctor: It's rather a pity, in a way...now the universe is down to 699 wonders.
The Monster of Peladon [11.4]
- The Doctor: The citadel of Peladon, Sarah. One of the most interesting and-
- Sarah Jane: Oh no it isn't - is it, Doctor?
- The Doctor: Well, no, not exactly.
- Sarah Jane: No, it's not your precious citadel at all. It's another rotten gloomy old tunnel!
- The Doctor: Yes, well, with the scanner still on the blink, there was no way I could really check.
- Sarah Jane: There's more than the scanner on the blink.
- Thalira: It would be different if I was a man. But I'm only a girl.
- Sarah Jane: Now just a minute! There's nothing "only" about being a girl, your Majesty.
Planet of the Spiders [11.5]
- [Sarah realizes that Tommy's formerly low intelligence has been improved]
- Sarah Jane: Tommy, you're normal! You're just like everybody else!
- Tommy: Oh, I sincerely hope not.
- [The Third Doctor's last words.]
- The Doctor: A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don't cry. While there's life, there's...
The Five Doctors [20.7]
NOTE: The following quotations occurred in a serial set after the Third Doctor's era had officially ended (in the era of the Fifth Doctor, to be exact) and thus are not technically part of this Doctor's era. As they are all quotes involving the Third Doctor, however, they are included here for the sake of completion.- [Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart to the Third and Fifth Doctors in reference to the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Doctors.]
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: Splendid fellows - all of you.
- Third Doctor: I've reversed the polarity of the Neutron flow, so the TARDIS should be free from the force field now.