Doctor Who - The Five Doctors (DVD)

...with the 20th Anniversary of Doctor Who airing on BBC1, after all the show had become the longest running sci-fi show on television and had a few more years to run before its untimely hiatus. So deciding to buy a DVD to start watching the shows again or in some cases for the first time, I can safely say that The Five Doctors is quite a masterpiece in Doctor Who history.

The story begins with the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, who is ...
...his companions to get the Doctor back to Gallifrey. Whoever is behind this is also pulling the earlier versions of The Doctor from the time stream as well and this is causing the Fifth Doctor a fair amount of pain, as he says he is being diminished. When I say Five Doctors it is really only four as the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, is stuck within the time vortex as his transferral didn't go according to plan.

All the stops have been ... more

Quite rightly broadcast to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of Doctor Who airing on BBC1, after all the show had become the longest running sci-fi show on television and had a few more years to run before its untimely hiatus. So deciding to buy a DVD to start watching the shows again or in some cases for the first time, I can safely say that The Five Doctors is quite a masterpiece in Doctor Who history.

The story begins with the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, who is spending time relaxing in the Eye of Orion, when he suddenly keels over in pain it is up to his companions to get the Doctor back to Gallifrey. Whoever is behind this is also pulling the earlier versions of The Doctor from the time stream as well and this is causing the Fifth Doctor a fair amount of pain, as he says he is being diminished. When I say Five Doctors it is really only four as the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, is stuck within the time vortex as his transferral didn't go according to plan.

All the stops have been pulled out for this production and throughout the story you can see the amount of thought and respect that has been applied by writer Terence Dicks to pay homage to the past Doctors. As the Doctors are taken out of their time streams some one is inevitably dragged with them, in the case of the First Doctor it is his Granddaughter Susan, the Second Doctor has the Brigadier bought with him and the Third Doctor ends up meeting Sarah Jane Smith. So all round this is really a re-union show more than anything else.

What the story boils down to is a simple who is the villain of the plot and this is done extremely well. You have four characters who are in a situation in the same place and have to work together to solve the issue. It is interesting to see each Doctor and their respective companion or companions solve the issues individually as each Doctor is given something to do and each has his own plot thread to the storyline. Set in the Death Zone on Gallifrey, where we are given a fair amount of history as to what the zone was setup for originally, we see the Doctor take on Cybermen, Daleks, Yetis and phantoms. We also see a welcome return of the Castellan and the President.

Originally broadcast over four nights in four separate episodes The Five Doctors does genuinely entertain the viewer and allows new viewers to become interested with what they are watching. A correct balance has been shown with the Doctors with the current Doctor, played by Peter Davison, being the centre point of the story and the one to bring all the threads together to ensure that the mystery is solved.

To actually get all the previous actors who have played The Doctor was a great achievement as well, and although William Hartnell had passed away by the time this was made, the replacement by the name of Richard Hurndall does a great job filling his shoes as The First Doctor. Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton make a welcome return and seem never to have left the role as they look comfortable and relaxed in the part as if they had never left. Both of these actors look older than when they were in the role originally and this is one of the down points as there is no reference as to when from their timeline this incident actually occurred. Overall they deliver there respective parts and do confuse sometimes with what they are saying as after all they are all playing the one person. Troughton was to return for the final time playing the Doctor alongside Colin Baker in the Two Doctors. Terence Dicks, who I have the upmost respect for, really is the true master of the universe as has had the whole Doctor Who universe to play with and has managed to combine different generations of the show into one significant story that people will remember Pertwee or Troughton as their Doctor that they had watched 15 years earlier.

Special effects in this story look remarkably dated, obviously this was before the time of computers and the effects look really amateurish, yet the BBC have tried to make this look as good as possible and at the time this would have looked better than in comparison to latest technology.

It's interesting to see Tom Baker take a complete back seat with this as he is shown in just a cameo role compared to the others. The reason behind this is that he did not want to participate in this due to the fact that he had just left the role about a year earlier and as Davison was still new to the role of The Doctor this meant that Baker could upset the cart. The segments that you see him with Romana punting are taking from an unused episode that was never completed due to strike action at the BBC at the time they were being produced and so the serial was never completed.

This isn't a bad thing as I thought that having all Doctors in a studio at one time make the screen look busy and can cause confusion, as it is there are four of them and I think that was quite enough to watch throughout the show.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this Anniversary Special; it is a story that has everything and nearly everyone that has ever been in Doctor Who, including K9!! Although in fairness it has to be said that the companions in the story are the ones who are probably best remembered. It has a nice touch at the beginning to pay homage to William Hartnell as the final speech from the 1964 story Dalek Invasion of the Earth is shown, a speech that was given by The Doctor to Susan. It is touches like this that make the DVD such a valued story.

Recently re-released as a 25th Anniversary Edition since the 1983 broadcast the DVD has being upgraded with a whole plethora of extras. Including a substantial amount of information into the production of this story and how John Nathan-Turner went through hell to get the story right, to outtakes. The best thing being a documentary presented by Colin Baker detailing the genesis of the actual story from script to screen, with the problems the production team had, it is also interesting to note that clips from now extinct shows such as BBC Breakfast Time and Nationwide have also been included as well as the 20th Anniversary that was event held at Longleat. To raise the bar they have included a version with updated special effects on the second disc.

If you are collecting Classic Doctor Who DVD's then this is the one to get as this was a true benchmark in the shows history, a one-off special that has never really been repeated, perhaps with the last four Doctors this can be achieved again, however the feel of The Five Doctors that has the trademark slate pit and inhabitable landscape being fully utilised as they always were in a Doctor Who show delivers something that is truly unique.

 

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