Day 77: The Planet of Decision

We've reached the end of the adventure. Not just the adventure featuring Daleks chasing a police telephone box through time and space, but the adventure of two school teachers, who were whisked away through time and space by an old man and his curious granddaughter. The end has come for Ian and Barbara, the two human interest characters who have been with the show since the very beginning. They've finally been given a chance to go home, and they've grasped it with both hands, finally able to return to the place for which they have been yearning for the past 77 episodes.

Ian, the young male hero, as been superb. He began it as the antagonist for the Doctor, able to show him that there were better ways to do things, and able to be strong when the show needed strength. He settled down in later stories, and became able to spar with the Doctor, but on a more intellectual sense. Take, for instance, the escape scene in this very episode. Here, they find themselves on a roof 1500 feet in the air, and both have to work together to find a solution to their problem. They greet it as a challenge, and quickly find a way to get down together. Through him, the Doctor has been able to become more active, and show more than just a passing interest in other races and people.

Barbara, his female compatriot, has often acted as the series' conscience. She has been able to point out injustices, and more often than not, acted in the way that normal human beings would in most scenarios. She tended to her fellow slaves when she was captured in The Romans, as well as saving the life of a caveman who only 2 seconds previously had been attempting to kill her. She's also been brave, standing up to Daleks, the Animus and the Morphoton amongst others. Through her, the Doctor has been able to care for others, and develop from being an unlikeable character to a more charming person, allowing us to grow and care for him.

Ian and Barbara have been the very best of humanity, and have been the true heroes of the series. And it's through them that the series shall continue, because they have allowed the Doctor to finally become the hero of his own show. It's often commented that the first handful of episodes show a completely unrecognisable Doctor from the one that we know and love today, but now, more than ever, we can truly state that this man, thanks to two random schoolteachers, is The Doctor.