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One good thing that came out of me being so tired and out of it last week was that I actually sat down and watched quite a bit of telly. I watched several episodes of Torchwood, one of Buffy, two of Angel, one of Dollhouse, and finally The Five Doctors. So have a review!
I remember watching this as a child (I would have been ten years old) and it was, to my knowledge, my first exposure to the Doctors who came before Tom Baker. And I remember really enjoying it. Interestingly, the main image I had of it in my head before I rewatched was the tomb interior at the end, with all the Doctors there and the Master too. I don’t remember the lengthy sections that precede it of each of the Doctors and their companions making their way to the tower at all, though the chessboard bit with the Master, Three and Sarah-Jane does seem vaguely familiar. This is interesting because these bits actually are some of the best bits, I believe. As Peter Davison says in the documentary on the DVD, obvious attempts were made when writing the script to keep the Doctors apart to prevent a clash of egos, but this is a shame because the section where they’re all together – and the early scene where One and Susan come into Five’s TARDIS – are the best bits!
Actually, there is another image in my mind, and that’s of Four and Romana trapped in a computer monitor. Though I admit I thought I remembered them actually talking to the other Doctors to help, which was obviously wrong. I do remember feeling very worried about them, though, and hoping they’d get free because it looked rather horrible!
Anyway, this time round, I really, really enjoyed this. It was, as they say, a ‘romp’ and it was great fund seeing all the Doctors combat the problem in their own various ways. Five, especially, shone. Not only did he have that gorgeous scene with the Master with the Cybermen creeping up behind them, but he got to be lovely and authoritative with the Gallifreyan Council - and all subby to Borusa!
In addition, I hadn’t realised just how many of those things I kept hearing other people refer to happened in The Five Doctors! There are quotes galore - “A cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about” and “A man is the sum of his memories, a Time Lord even more so” spring to mind immediately. The Eye of Orion. The Master being called in to help out the Doctors, and being offered a new set of regenerations. And the Master seeking immortality. And the Doctor being made Lord President of Gallifrey and skipping out on them. All things I’d heard about but had no idea all came in the same story!
As for the Master, I love the twist that the black-gloved hand moving all the players into place wasn’t his as you’d expect it to be.
Also? Everyone goes on about how crap the special effects for Doctor Who used to be, and yet watching this, I didn’t stop and think twice about any of them, except possibly the various views of the tower in the distance which looked decidedly unreal. But on the whole, none of the effects got in the way of the story-telling – and it was a darn good story!
Weirdly, the one thing I didn't like about it was Richard Hurndall as the First Doctor. I really loved watching the first three serials with William Hartnell earlier this year, but although RH definitely looked, sounded and acted like him, his irritability kept getting on my nerves. It felt unnecessarily over the top and just annoyed me.
Still, only one thing that annoyed me. That's not bad!
I remember watching this as a child (I would have been ten years old) and it was, to my knowledge, my first exposure to the Doctors who came before Tom Baker. And I remember really enjoying it. Interestingly, the main image I had of it in my head before I rewatched was the tomb interior at the end, with all the Doctors there and the Master too. I don’t remember the lengthy sections that precede it of each of the Doctors and their companions making their way to the tower at all, though the chessboard bit with the Master, Three and Sarah-Jane does seem vaguely familiar. This is interesting because these bits actually are some of the best bits, I believe. As Peter Davison says in the documentary on the DVD, obvious attempts were made when writing the script to keep the Doctors apart to prevent a clash of egos, but this is a shame because the section where they’re all together – and the early scene where One and Susan come into Five’s TARDIS – are the best bits!
Actually, there is another image in my mind, and that’s of Four and Romana trapped in a computer monitor. Though I admit I thought I remembered them actually talking to the other Doctors to help, which was obviously wrong. I do remember feeling very worried about them, though, and hoping they’d get free because it looked rather horrible!
Anyway, this time round, I really, really enjoyed this. It was, as they say, a ‘romp’ and it was great fund seeing all the Doctors combat the problem in their own various ways. Five, especially, shone. Not only did he have that gorgeous scene with the Master with the Cybermen creeping up behind them, but he got to be lovely and authoritative with the Gallifreyan Council - and all subby to Borusa!
In addition, I hadn’t realised just how many of those things I kept hearing other people refer to happened in The Five Doctors! There are quotes galore - “A cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about” and “A man is the sum of his memories, a Time Lord even more so” spring to mind immediately. The Eye of Orion. The Master being called in to help out the Doctors, and being offered a new set of regenerations. And the Master seeking immortality. And the Doctor being made Lord President of Gallifrey and skipping out on them. All things I’d heard about but had no idea all came in the same story!
As for the Master, I love the twist that the black-gloved hand moving all the players into place wasn’t his as you’d expect it to be.
Also? Everyone goes on about how crap the special effects for Doctor Who used to be, and yet watching this, I didn’t stop and think twice about any of them, except possibly the various views of the tower in the distance which looked decidedly unreal. But on the whole, none of the effects got in the way of the story-telling – and it was a darn good story!
Weirdly, the one thing I didn't like about it was Richard Hurndall as the First Doctor. I really loved watching the first three serials with William Hartnell earlier this year, but although RH definitely looked, sounded and acted like him, his irritability kept getting on my nerves. It felt unnecessarily over the top and just annoyed me.
Still, only one thing that annoyed me. That's not bad!
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