Martha the Mechanical Housemaid ( comic story ) Martha the Mechanical Housemaid is a " TV Comic " story featuring the Second Doctor and Jamie McCrimmon . As was true of other stories in the " TV Comic " run of Second Doctor stories , it depicts the Doctor as a person quite willing to enjoy fame — and even fortune . During the story , the Doctor appears " twice " on American national television , and is very clearly trying to make a profit out of a new robot that he has invented . By the conclusion , the Doctor is portrayed as a globally famous individual who is being drafted as a possible candidate for the office of President of the United States . Though seemingly inconsistent with later depictions of the Doctor as a more private individual uninterested in making money , it can be viewed as a partial explanation of why the Time Lord s ' sentence of the Second Doctor in " The War Games " includes forced regeneration . In that televised story , the Doctor objects to being exiled on Earth by saying , " Besides , I ' m known on the Earth . It might be very awkward for me . " However , as seen on television , the Doctor really only seems to know a handful of people on 20th century Earth — and most of them work for UNIT . ( TV : " The Web of Fear " , " The Invasion " ) Usefully , " Martha the Mechanical Housemaid " — and other " TVC " stories like " Action in Exile " — advance the notion that he is an actual celebrity on Earth , which makes better sense out of Troughton ' s " War Games " line . Summary . The Doctor invents a mechanical housemaid called Martha and , landing in Central Park in New York City , 1971 , goes to a company called Inventions International , who are interested in modern inventions . There , Jamie and he meet American tycoon Mr C . G . Slattery who promises them that a million homes will have Marthas installed within a few weeks . They have hit the big time . The Doctor appears on television to promote Martha and , within a few weeks , hundreds of thousands of Marthas have been sold . However , the Quark s are watching and plan to override the frequency on which the robots operate , gaining control . Once the robots have wreaked havoc , the Quarks will move in and take over . The signal is sent and the Marthas go berserk , turning on their human masters . Impervious to bullets , the robotic reign of terror continues . The Doctor guesses what has happened to his invention and that the Quarks are behind it . Returning to Central Park , he plans to boost his own signal and regain control of the Marthas , but already the Quark fleet is moving in towards America . The Doctor boosts his signal and reclaims control of the Marthas . Meanwhile , a Quark ship touches down on a farm close to New York . Other ships land close to all major cities . The Quark invasion begins , but the Doctor has a plan and sends a special command to the Marthas , ordering them to attack Quarks on sight . The battle between Marthas and Quarks rages all across the United States , assisted by the armed forces wherever they can help . Badly beaten , the surviving Quarks retreat to their saucer and return to their home planet , yet again swearing revenge against the Doctor . The Doctor , meanwhile , is hailed as a national hero and again appears on television . This time they want to elect him president .