<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Doctor Who, Season 12 would mark the beginning of a completely new era in the program's history. A new actor (Tom Baker) would be cast in the title role and a new producer (Philip Hinchliffe) and script editor (Robert Holmes) would begin working behind the scenes. Over the next few seasons, the team would transform the program from beloved British institution to international cult sensation.

Previous Producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks would stay on as advisors for part of this season to help with the transition. Letts would cast Baker and Dicks would comission many of the scripts for the new season prior to the arrival of the new team. In fact, the season's first story, "Robot," had actually been produced as part of the previous season, following a long tradition of holding back the last story to begin the next season. Letts and Dicks also felt that a new male companion character might be needed to handle the more action oriented moments. To fill this perceived need, they created the character of Harry Sullivan, a naval surgeon attached to UNIT. Ian Marter would eventually be cast in the role.

It was agreed that Baker's portrayal of the Doctor would be quirky, even unpredictable to emphasize the character's alien nature.

To begin with, Hinchcliffe wanted to aim at a slightly older audience. The show had traditionally targeted children in the range of 8 to 12, though its intelligent writing and steadfast refusal to talk down to children had captured the interest of many adults as well. To this end, Hinchcliffe decided to embrace a darker, gothic horror coding for the show.

Ultimately, the season would have many highlights. The Sontarans (who had only debuted the previous season) would make a return appearance. The Cybermen would appear for the first time since season 6. However, it was the season's penultimate story, "Genesis of the Daleks," that would prove to be an enduring fan favorite.

Because of a requirement from upper management to move the premier of the next season up by several months, this season would be the shortest yet at only 20 episodes. To meet the deadline, the team would be forced to push a planned story "Terror of the Zygons" back to season 13 and shoot seasons 12 and 13 virtually back to back.

Minor changes would be made to the title sequence this season, largely to replace Jon Pertwee's image with Tom Baker's. The sequence would also include an image of the TARDIS for the first time.

Season twelve began airing on December 28, 1974. The program's ratings would continue to climb, but the new horror coding would begin to draw the ire of concerned parent's groups.

In 1978, season 12 became the spearhead of a new attempt to introduce the program to the United States. These episodes, along with the following three seasons, were sold to various PBS stations across the country. This time, the program managed to gain a foothold, becoming a solid, if somewhat underground, hit.

• Robot (4 episodes)
• The Ark in Space (4 episodes)
• The Sontaran Experiment (2 episodes)
• Genesis of the Daleks (6 episodes)
• Revenge of the Cybermen (4 episodes)