The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: A Holiday For The Doctor - The O.K. Corral

Doctor Who - A Holiday For The Doctor (30/04/06)

This week was much better than the last few. The Doctor, Steven and Dodo have arrived in Tombstone where the Clantons are planning to bump off Doc Holliday. Surprise, surprise, the Doctor has been mistaken for Holiday and is about to walk into an ambush at the saloon.

Given the subject matter, this episode was hilarious. The Doctor has toothache thanks to Cyril's sweet (?) so went to local dentist Holliday for its removal. Upon their arrival in Tombstone, the Doctor declared they were musicians (with silly names) - oh, and there's a narrative song running throughout the episode too, which was weird to begin with but was easy to get used to because the episode/story is so funny. And the Doctor's been calling Wyatt Earp 'Mr Werp' which is hilarious. And the Clanton brothers have really awful American accents like they're from Arizona via Clapham and RADA! Hard to get into for the first five minutes but then absolutely brilliant for the rest of it. Finally back on track after a dull couple of months.



Doctor Who - Don't Shoot The Pianist (07/05/06)

Bit of a slow episode this week but still pretty good. The Doctor met the Clantons who thought he was Doc Holliday, but Holliday's bit of stuff turned up and there was a face-off which resulted in the Doctor being carted off to jail by Wyatt Earp in order to protect him.

Meanwhile, Holliday and Dodo were holed up in a hotel room and Earp ordered Holliday out of town until everything blew over. In the end, the Clantons trussed Steven up and threatened to lynch him unless Earp handed over the Doctor.

I've made it sound much more exciting than it was but it was still good. Dodo's holding up well as a character, continuing to be gobby and pretty smart. Steven, however, has degenerated into a bit of a tit. Again, the Yankee accents were largely diabolical, the best being Kate, the worst being all the Clantons. There was some fun, though, mainly with the Doctor wishing people wouldn't keep giving him guns, and letting himself out of his cell. Next week's episode is called Johnny Ringo, so maybe it'll pick up a bit.



Doctor Who - Johnny Ringo (14/05/06)

Pretty good this week, though lacking in as much humour as last time. Mr Werp stopped the Clantons from hanging Steven and took one of them prisoner. Then the Doctor and Steven found out they couldn't leave Tombstone because Dodo had been taken by Holliday when he left town. Johnny Ringo turned up (obviously) and shot Charlie the Barman (not as shocking as it could have been) then arranged to go and get Dodo with Steven (whose American accent is better than anyone else's but Kate).

Dodo threatened Holliday with a gun in order to get him to take her back to Tombstone (cool!) but then fainted, ruining the impact. Earp's younger brother turned up but was disposed of rather quickly by the Clantons when they busted their brother out of jail. Lots happened and it's still rather good, though the song is getting clumsy and intrusive now. Still better than the last couple of stories though, partly because it's holding my attention. Roll on next week!



Doctor Who - The O.K. Corral (21/05/06)

Well, that was interesting. Masterson, the sheriff or something, persuaded the Doctor to try and dissuade the Clantons from fighting the Earps at the O.K. Corral (an event set up to avenge Warren Earp's murder) but only ended up rescuing Steven. The camp Clantons then had a less than enthralling gun fight with the Earps (who walked up the High Street very slowly amid a barrage of gunfire and didn't get hit once!) plus Holliday (who shot Johnny Ringo way too easily), and the Earps won after a bit of a bloodless bloodbath. Still a good story, even with the silly gunfight, and a very funny bit early on with the Doctor's reaction when he realised he was inadvertently leaning on Charlie the Barman's corpse!

The series seems to have lightened up somewhat compared to the earlier stories this season. The Dalek episodes, the one in France and the last part of the Trojan story were pretty grim, whilst the last few stories haven't been. I'm not complaining, but the drama just seems a little... undramatic in comparison. Never mind, though. I think perhaps it was a bit too grim and needed to lighten up. Anyhoo, next week the Doctor meets some savages!

Comments

  1. phutty14/9/18 14:13

    Goodbye to the individual episode titles! A much better story than its reputation suggests, although still flawed. The accents, as you spotted, are hilariously bad :D Interesting direction at times though, and great design. Hartnell is clearly loving the lighter tone of the story.

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