The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Five Doctors
THE FIVE DOCTORS 25/11/2023
Well, that was a lot of fun! Terrance Dicks made a return to pen an anniversary special to rival The Three Doctors and make up for how lacklustre much of Season 20 was. All the Doctors returned - sort of - along with a selection of companions and enemies either as main players or cameos. The TARDIS console has been refurbished, as has Tegan's hair, and both she and Turlough seem a lot more amiable (although that might just be Dicks' writing).
They're visiting the Eye Of Orion and Kamelion was conspicuous by his absence, but there wasn't time to consider that since the Doctor's past selves (and Sarah Jane Smith) were taken by a Timescoop to the Death Zone on Gallifrey! First up was the First Doctor, nicely portrayed by Richard Hurndall, who later teamed up with a now-40-something Susan dressed in the rather homely fashions of the post-Dalek invasion 22nd Century. This saw a brief cameo for a Dalek which concluded with it accidentally blowing itself up.
Next up was the second Doctor and the Brigadier (at a UNIT reunion - it was nice to see the Brig reassociating himself with UNIT after the events of Mawdryn Undead, but slightly disappointing he didn't get more scenes with Jon Pertwee. It would have made more sense to team up Troughton with Jamie, although the memory wipe situation may have been an issue, as mentioned in Fraser's cameo with Wendy Padbury's Zoe. I also suspect Hines' commitments to Emmerdale Farm may have played a part in his brief appearance).
Next up was Sarah Jane and the Third Doctor. This was clearly post-K9 & Company Sarah with her awful dress sense and K9 guarding her house and failing to get her to listen to his warnings that there was "Danger, Mistress! DANGER!". Meanwhile, Jon was taken whilst driving Bessie (some time between The Monster Of Peladon and Planet Of The Spiders?) which came in useful later when he had to help Sarah after she unconvincingly fell down a slight incline. In fact, unconvincing falls were a feature of the episode since Susan later 'tripped' over a clump of grass and 'sprained' her ankle.
Doctor IV and Romana II made an appearance punting down the Cam thanks to clips from the uncompleted Shada but were prevented from joining the adventure by Tom's reluctance to get involved, aka a Time Eddy. The Master was brought in to help the Doctors by President Borusa, Chancellor Flavia and the Castellan (once again portrayed by Paul Jerricho) but was pretty shoddily treated by Doctors 3 & 5, albeit understandably, and practically everyone had an encounter with the Cybermen. There was even a brief scene with a Yeti!
The plot was simple enough - basic quest stuff with everyone trying to get to the Tower of Rassilon without being got by monsters - with a decent enough mystery of Whodunnit regarding who brought them there and why, although by the time the Castellan was killed off ("No. Not the Mind Probe.") it was quite clear Borusa was behind it all. The locations were excellent with lots of expansive vistas of the Welsh mountains, moody caves and foggy landscapes. It was all very atmospheric and made up for the still-fairly-naff Gallifrey sets. The interior of the Tower was nice, though, with some weird traps - phantoms of Jamie, Zoe, Liz and Mike, and a giant chessboard which I'm not convinced π had anything to do with crossing safely - with the exception of the oddly painted studio floor in Rassilon's tomb.
Obviously, everyone gathered together in the final act to do the 'Contact' thing from The Three Doctors in order to free Five from Borusa's mind control, and it all turned out okay when Borusa's quest for Immmmortality was granted by not-so-dead Rassilon who turned him into a wall decoration. Everyone jumped in the TARDIS which took them all home separately thanks to the Magic of Rassilon, and Flavia turned up to insist Doctor Five took on his role as President. He fobbed her off by making her deputy and saying he;d make his own way to the Capitol in his TARDIS, opting instead to go on the run from his own people once again, "After all, that's how it all started!".
So basically a pretty wonderful anniversary story. Yes, it had its flaws and one or two ropey performances and line deliveries ("As you can see, he was trying to escape"), and it would have been nice to see some of the companions and Doctors interact a bit more, but for a 90 minute special it definitely ticked all the right boxes. A fun, attention-holding, not-too-challenging slice of nostalgia, then, which is exactly what it needed to be!
Given how much of a rush job this was, it's all the more surprising that it came together as well as it did. (That's reliable old Uncle Terry for you!) Some of it is a bit pants, as you say, but I agree that the nostalgia - and the fun that everyone is clearly having - makes up for it. The final scene, which studio rushes show really was last-minute, is a delight, and kickstarts the series all over again in its own unassuming way.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, it's interesting to note that throughout its history the show has never really pulled off a multi-Doctor story in the way intended. The closest it comes to doing so is The Two Doctors, but by that point Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines are inevitably looking so much older that it necessitates the whole 'Series 6b' thing, plus we only get about two minutes of the Doctors actually being together. Prior to that, William Hartnell was obviously too unwell to get any more involved in The Three Doctors than he did, and then of course was no longer with us to make The Five Doctors, which Tom Baker turned down. The one new-series attempt we got was similarly plagued, with Christopher Eccleston declining to take part. And the bi-generation in the most recent episode doesn't really count. I wonder if we'll ever get a multi-Doctor outing that goes as planned from the outset?