Story #129 - The Five Doctors (1983)

Harry -
It's the twentieth anniversary special -- we have watched 20 years' worth of Doctor Who. Time for a celebraish! Pop that champagne, Sarah!


Sarah -
Hang on, Chuck. The cork is sticking. *POP* Ah, there were go. Cheers, Old Boy!


Harry -
Cheers ducks.

Well, when it came to producing a fitting tribute to mark two decades of Doctor Who, JN-T followed the impulse that most of us would have, and he threw absolutely everything into it. He asked the legendary Terrance Dicks to pen the adventure and Peter Moffatt to direct it, and he managed to cram almost every Doctor and companion up to that point into the thing.


Sarah -
We Doctor Who fans do love to complain, but there's something here to make everyone (at least a little bit) happy.


Harry -
It continues the template from "The Three Doctors" and would be emulated in future anniversary specials. The story serves as a vehicle for a seemingly endless round of cameo appearances, each one delightful. So good to see characters like Jamie and Zoe, and Liz and Yates, even if just for a moment. Characters like Susan, the Brigadier and Sarah Jane get bigger billing in the story and Carole Ann Ford, Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen step right back into the Whoniverse with ease.


Sarah -
It's like a school reunion!


Harry -
Best of all...five Doctors! Squee!


Sarah -
Well, five(ish).


Harry -
Technically, it was three actual Doctors. The late William Hartnell appears in a brief prologue, reciting his famous "One day I shall come back" speech. For the main story, his Doctor was played by Richard Hurndall. Tom Baker -- recently departed from the show -- chose not to appear in the story, so the producers made use of the punting scene from "Shada", which had not yet been broadcast. Both moves worked out for the best. Hurndall captured Hartnell's cantankerous feistiness, and the Doctor-Romana punting scene is one of my favourites. It's so sublime. We need to go punting sometime.


Sarah -
I'm game. Have you punted before? Do I get to lounge and read while you do all the hard work, or will we have to fight it out?


Harry -
We'll figure it out as we go, Doctor & Romana style.


Sarah -
That's the spirit! I love, love, love that the story opens with the Hartnell clip. It's reassuring to have the First Doctor inviting us into the adventure, isn't it?


Harry -
One of the best moments in Doctor Who's history, despite its sad context.


Sarah -
Only if you consider being abandoned by your grandfather on a planet that had been invaded by Daleks, after having lost your shoes, to be sad. Richard Hurndall really did a wonderful job. It was so good that Mr. Smith -- who is admittedly a casual viewer but has also been watching the show with me for more than 25 years -- didn't initially realize that it wasn't William Hartnell.

It sounds like there were weeks of back and forth between Tom Baker and JN-T -- he was coming back, he wasn't coming back, he was coming back, no he really wasn't coming back. Using the "Shada" footage was a brilliant way to have the Fourth Doctor in the story without having Tom Baker in the story.


Harry -
Once we've made the rounds and watched the first four Doctors getting scooped out of their time streams with varying degrees of success, the fifth and present Doctor collapses in pain. "I am being diminished," he says. Tegan and Turlough drag him back into the TARDIS, where he lies prone and fades in and out as if he himself is dematerializing. The TARDIS lands in a foggy wasteland. Whomever has been kidnapping the various Doctors has been plunking them down in the Death Zone. It's Gallifrey! It's time for another Time Lord conspiracy!


Sarah -
Oh, those Time Lords and their conspiracies!


Harry -
The high council of Gallifrey has been observing these events. In a strange turn, the Master is brought before them. President Borusa asks the Master to go to the Death Zone and rescue the Doctor in exchange for a new cycle of regenerations.


Sarah -
I quite like Anthony Ainley in this scene. He’s so wonderfully smarmy – like the class smart-ass called to the principal’s office. “What makes you think I want your forgiveness?” His reaction when they ask him to save the Doctor is priceless: “A cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about.” This is probably Ainley’s best performance so far.


Harry -
Meanwhile, the various Doctors team up with their companions and head to a tall tower in the middle of the Death Zone -- the tomb of Rassilon.


Sarah -
The First Doctor and Susan get to dash down some quite stylish corridors, trying to evade a Dalek, before finding the Fifth Doctor’s TARDIS. I love when the companions all sit down to fancy drinks and snacks in the console room while the Doctors work out the problem.

Don’t you love the moment when the Third Doctor and Sarah meet the Master and the Doctor doesn’t recognize him? He’s so dismissive of the Master and even steals the seal from him. He gets the same reaction from the Fifth Doctor, who steals the recall device when they are attacked by Cybermen. The Master can’t catch a break when he’s trying to be good, which leads him to an faux alliance with the Cybermen.


Harry -
The First Doctor and Tegan take the high road, straight into the tower. The Second Doctor and the Brigadier take the low road, entering from beneath but not before a couple of scary encounters: first with a Yeti, then with Zoe in a bubble wrap costume.


Sarah -
Don’t forget our dear Jamie, who’s looking quite fetching in his kilt – sans bubblewrap – and Mike Yates and Liz Shaw!


Harry -
Great to see Liz Shaw get one more appearance after her abrupt departure from the show. After lifting Sarah Jane Smith from a perilous ditch of death, the Third Doctor takes her all the way to the top of the tower via zipline and they enter from above.


Sarah -
Speaking of Sarah Jane, what the hell is she wearing? That jacket makes her look hugely pregnant. It’s an absolute relief when she takes it off.


Harry -
The fashions of the 80s are something we shall never understand, even if we did live through them.


Sarah -
They weren’t all bad. I distinctly remember wanting Tegan’s dress when I watched this for the first time.


Harry -
In addition to the Master, there are brief encounters with some classic monsters (Daleks, Cybermen) and a new one: a Raston Warrior Robot, the most perfect killing machine in the universe. Is it terrible to admit that I get a kick out of imagining Terrance Dicks saying "Raston Warrior Robot" out loud?


Sarah -
It seems you haven’t watched the featurette, where you get to hear him say it! It’s brilliant!


Harry -
Hah!

I guess we could spare a moment to talk about the actual story here. "The Five Doctors" completes the informal Borusa cycle. We have seen Borusa four times over the years, each time played by a different actor. His rise began in "The Deadly Assassin", when he was a Cardinal. In "The Invasion of Time" he was Lord Chancellor and teamed (loosely) with the Doctor to combat the Vardans and Sontarans. In "Arc of Infinity" he was finally Lord President of Gallifrey, but something of a tired character while someone else's conspiracy played out around him. Finally, here in "The Five Doctors", Borusa's ambitions have been rekindled as he seeks the secret of true immortality and ultimate power from Rassilon himself. Thankfully, Philip Latham was not required to act with his hands for half the story.


Sarah -
Lantham is really brilliant as Borusa. The scene where he frames the Castellan, leading to his death, is chilling. What a bastard!


Harry -
Borusa was cool, calm and collected throughout the story. This is one of my favourite Borusas.


Sarah -
He's the most cunning Borusa, that's for sure.


Harry -
Eventually, everyone arrives at the tomb of Rassilon and the slow-moving story comes to a rapid conclusion. Borusa is unmasked as the conspirator du jour, having used virtually everyone else in the story as a dupe for his ambitions. He seeks the ring of Rassilon and the promise of immortality and never-ending power. Rassilon appears and offers it up without hesitation.

Naturally, Borusa is undone by his own wickedness and becomes imprisoned in the tomb for eternity. Having sorted that out, Rassilon gives a Brian Blessed-like laugh and fades away again.


Sarah -
Say what you will about the silly Great and Powerful Oz-like appearance by Rassilon, Borusa's entombment is horrifying. I feel absolutely claustrophobic just thinking about it.


Harry -
It's all in the eyes. Horrible fate. An eternity of living entombment is a chilling prospect.

Sadly for Borusa, no one felt too bad about what happened to him. That leaves our Doctors and their friends to make a big series of goodbyes as the story wraps up. I say "story" but "The Five Doctors" is more of a celebration, a greatest hits or whatever cliché you want to attach to it. This would be one of the first stories I would encourage new viewers to watch, just because it gives you a sampling of all the eras from the first 20 years of Doctor Who.


Sarah -
The story is a bit of an afterthought, which makes sense when you consider all the rewriting Terrance Dicks had to do as actors dropped in and out during the planning. Still, it's a delightful romp and a moment to pause and feel the love.


Harry -
Well, looks like the champagne didn't last very long. Shall we move on to Peter Davison's third and final season?


Sarah -
Final season? It feels like we just got started!


Harry -
I know, it's crazy!

Best Line:
SECOND DOCTOR: "And, er, and who is this?"
BRIGADIER: "That's Colonel Crichton, my replacement."
SECOND DOCTOR: "Ah. Yes, mine was pretty unpromising, too."

BAM! HAHA!

Favourite Moment: Really, every cameo was a favourite.

Lasting Image: The Doctors all congratulating themselves at the end.

8/10


Sarah -
Best Line: There are so many, but I have to go with the closer,

Tegan: "You mean you're deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people, in a rackety old TARDIS?"
The Doctor: "Why not? After all, that's how it all started."

Favorite Moment: The Second Doctor meeting up with the Brig.

Lasting Images: All the Doctors together!

8/10

Our marathon continues with Story #130: Warriors of the Deep...

Story #88 - The Deadly Assassin (1976)

Harry -
What? That can't have been all the Sarah Jane stories. Impossible! Do you think maybe we could go back and watch them all again, just to be sure?


Sarah -
We can start planning our second marathon now!


Harry -
Alright, well here we have "The Deadly Assassin", a story that I'd certainly mark down in the "oddities" column. This story is so unlike what we've been watching to this point. It's downright odd is what it is.


Sarah -
It's definitely odd, but its very oddness is what makes it interesting. This is the only non-companion story of the classic era. Apparently, Tom was convinced he could go it alone. Hinchcliffe gave him the one-off and then it was back to all companions all the time!

Having gotten the call from Gallifrey, the Doctor finds himself in the middle of a presidential assassination and coup -- and he's the primary suspect!


Harry -
Philip Hinchcliffe gave a nod to The Manchurian Candidate for this story. The first half of the story paints a political thriller right out of Richard Condon's novel.


Sarah -
I say more than a nod, more like a full body slam!

This is our first trip to Gallifrey and the first time the Doctor has been back since he stole the TARDIS and hit the road, as it were.


Harry -
That's another thing that makes this story stand out as it does in the middle of Season 14. It's a massive dump of Whoniverse continuity. Bob Holmes bombards us with Guards, Castellans, Chancellors and Cardinals, with names that will ring down through other stories. The Panopticon, the Sash of Rassilon, the Matrix, the Eye of Harmony - they are all here for the first time, thrown at us amid a colourful swirl of ceremonial robes.


Sarah -
It's a lot to take in all at once. We've had glimpses of the Time Lords, but this is the most we've learned about their society so far. Some fans contend that spending too much time on Gallifrey unnecessarily domesticated the Time Lords. Where do you come down on this debate?


Harry -
These Time Lords are very different from the stern, godlike characters the Doctor encountered at the end of "The War Games". Here, Bob Holmes gives us an extended look inside the corridors of Gallifreyan power, and it's disappointing for its familiarity.

We see a bunch of fusty old men gossiping amongst themselves, while the ambitious among them play power games. We see Runcible the TV reporter acting like, well, a TV reporter. We see the Chancellery Guards outwitted by the Doctor with alarming ease. Perhaps the familiarity of it all was meant to shock us - to make us realize that unlimited time and power make everyone the same. These are the most powerful people in the universe? Maybe they were, once, but what we see here is an almost stagnant, male-dominated society that mirrors our own, not one that we would dream about or aspire to.

For me, Gallifrey was more magical when it was unknown. This story changes that.

Whew, sorry for the massive dump of criticism. Let's talk about the insane Matrix episode!


Sarah -
What the story does do is make it very clear why the Doctor got the hell out of there!

Oh, the Matrix! That's a trip, eh?

The Doctor battles the Master by proxy in some of the most shocking scenes in the series' history.


Harry -
You have to credit Hinchcliffe & Co. for creating the virtual reality Matrix that would get its own "homage" treatment in a series of films a couple of decades later.


Sarah -
In the bonus feature, Hinchcliffe was quite proud that they had done it first!


Harry -
In real time, the Doctor's mind is plugged into the Matrix for only about five minutes, but what a mad battle he had.

It starts with a series of begoggled characters attacking the Doctor. Evil train conductors, evil Samurai, evil surgeon, evil clown, even a crocodile. The Doctor fends off the many attacks, and is pursued throughout by another mind bent on destroying him.


Sarah -
Can I just say that the railroad scenes were particularly horrifying for me? That scene where the narrow-gage engine is speeding towards the Doctor is the stuff of nightmares!


Harry -
I wonder where part three was filmed. It was an interesting combination of chalky white quarry and swampy woods.

The most shocking scene of them all was probably the part three cliffhanger, where the Doctor is pushed underwater by the now-exposed Chancellor Goth. Mary Whitehouse herself was interviewed for the DVD featurette, cringing at the horror of that scene. In a separate interview, Hinchcliffe shrugged it off as horrific but not too horrific in his opinion. The reality falls somewhere in between, wouldn't you say?


Sarah -
It's definitely a bracing moment for a series with a large audience of children.

Let's speak shall we of the brilliant Bernard Horsfall? Last seen as Taron in "Planet of the Daleks", he was perhaps most memorable as one of the Time Lords responsible for exiling the Doctor to Earth at the end of "The War Games". And, of course, before that he was Lemuel Gulliver in "The Mind Robber".

I'm delighted that his bio at tardis.wikia.com informs us that all these appearances have been tied together in various ways: tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Goth

Whovians are just the most wonderfully obsessive people ever!


Harry -
Some excellent connectivity going on there.  And a tip of the cap to Bernard Horsfall, another great repeat guest actor.

Again, all of part three took only a few minutes of real time, and we are reminded of this by the occasional cuts to Castellan Spandrell and Coordinator Engin. They hover over the Doctor's body like a pair of nurses, exchanging more continuity-loaded dialogue about Artron Energy and such.

We've seen George Pravda before, as the perpetually harried scientist who was lorded over by the megalomaniac Marshall in "The Mutants". Here, he plays the perpetually harried Castellan, and seems perfect for this unsmiling, security-type role. He's aided by the amiable Eric Chitty as Engin. This is one of my favourite guest teams.


Sarah -
They were brilliant! Every moment of their screen time was a joy to watch!


Harry -
All this plotting and virtual reality battling has been fascinatingly watchable, so much so that we've overlooked the driving force behind it all: the Master!


Sarah -
The Master! Things have not been going well since we last saw our favorite evil Time Lord. He's now at the end of his regenerations and little more than a walking corpse.


Harry -
That gelatinous skull face was gross-tastic!


Sarah -
As we know, Barry Letts and Roger Delgado had planned to retire the Master in a final epic battle with the Doctor, but Delgado's untimely and tragic death kept that from happening. It made sense to bring the Doctor back for "The Deadly Assassin", but he just doesn't pack the same punch in this story. The joy of the Doctor-Master relationship has always been their sparring. The story tries, but just doesn't quite get there.


Harry -
Yes, the Doctor-Master relationship only works when they are equals. The Master's reduced physical state holds it back. While the skull mask was wonderfully gruesome, it and the heavy black cloak prevented Peter Pratt from acting with anything but his voice.


Sarah -
And what a voice!


Harry -
Dripping with bile.

He is capable, however, of manipulating Goth into becoming his puppet, leading Goth to his own death. He's also more than willing to use the ol' Tissue Compression Eliminator to kill a couple of people (poor Hilred!).

Ultimately, the Master is undone by his megalo-ambitions. He takes the Sash of Rassilon and intends to use The Eye of Harmony to destroy Gallifrey and become Master of all matter or some such thing. As in the previous story, the villain's timely plunge into a deep hole saves the day.


Sarah -
Those deep holes come in handy, no?


Harry -
The Master is thwarted by the Doctor and Cardinal Borusa quickly formulates a cover story to paper things over. The Doctor is free to go and he departs in the TARDIS... along with a second rather obvious TARDIS that was sitting right there. Oh those Chancellery Guards! Spandrell's going to have to have a word with them.


Sarah -
Hard to imagine how the Time Lords got to be such force in the universe, isn't it?


Harry -
Best Line: "No answer to a straight question. Typical politician."

Favourite Moment: Borusa delivers a searing rebuke to Runcible in the Panopticon.

Lasting Image: The Time Lords in their ceremonial finery.

7/10


Sarah -
Best Line: "I deny this reality. The reality is a computation matrix."

Favorite Moment: The Doctor stealing the Time Lord's gear.

Lasting Image: The rail engine closing in on the Doctor.

7/10

 



Our marathon continues with Story #89 - The Face of Evil...