Who Review: The Five Doctors
The Doctor takes the TARDIS crew to the Eye of Orion, where a relaxing break from their time traveling adventures is cut short when the Doctor collapses, feeling his past lives being removed from him. Meanwhile on Gallifrey, a mysterious figure is using a Time Scoop to pull the Doctor’s first four incarnations from their time streams, along with companions and monsters, and depositing them all in Gallifrey’s “Death Zone.” Sensing what’s going on, the Doctor manages to set the TARDIS on a course for Gallifrey. The Time Lords are not unaware of these events, having been alerted to the sudden reactivation of the long-dormant Death Zone, and the power surges from the Eye of Harmony caused by extracting the Doctor’s former incarnations from their time zones. Their only hope is for the Doctor to find his other selves, and travel to the tower in the middle of the Death Zone where the tomb of Rassilon resides. There he must find the person behind the Time Scoop and stop them before they destroy the Doctor, Gallifrey, and possible the universe.
SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen this serial. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!
Doctor Who’s 20th anniversary year had been building to this moment. The season of Doctor Who broadcast that year brought back old friends and foes, and there were various other nods to the series and its past throughout (see reviews of Season 20 stories). This much-anticipated 90-minute celebration story was eventually broadcast outside the regular season, as a special episode on Friday, November 25th, 1983. This was two days after the actual anniversary, to coincide with that year’s “Children in Need” charity telethon (thus, hopefully, drawing more viewers to the telethon).
The title is a little misleading, since the First Doctor, William Hartnell, died in 1975, so he couldn’t be in it, and Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, refused to be a part of it. So there were, in fact, only three original Doctors in the story. For the First Doctor, actor Richard Hurndall stood in for Hartnell, and did a passable job. William Hartnell did appear at the beginning, in a pre-title sequence pulled from “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” (specifically, his speech to Susan when she left), so I suppose you can say he was in it. They covered Tom Baker’s absence by having the Fourth Doctor get caught in the Time Scoop. Nevertheless, they did the best they could with what they had, which, on balance was quite a lot. With old companion Sarah Jane Smith, and the Brigadier, along with Cybermen, a Dalek, a Yeti, and the Master, there’s plenty to keep Whovians interested.
The story itself is not terribly complicated, and works fine as long as you don’t think too hard about it. But this was supposed to be a celebration of the show, so some extra suspension of belief is necessary to allow for all these fan favorites to be in play at the same time. Veteran script writer Terrance Dicks managed to pull that off, and even if it’s not high caliber sci-fi (or high caliber Doctor Who, for that matter), it’s not at all bad, and has plenty of good moments scattered throughout its ninety minutes.
Starting with that First Doctor speech was a good idea; this sets the tone for the story, and is an extra special treat for fans who, in 1983, had not seen “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” since it was broadcast in 1964. When the Doctor’s lives are being pulled from the Time Scoop and placed as figurines on a disc, we see only a black-gloved hand at work. Could this be the Master? Clearly that’s what we’re being led to believe. A good piece of deception. Patrick Troughton shines as the Second Doctor, and as always he is a joy to watch. As is Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, though perhaps her worst Who moment is falling down a shallow hill, or embankment… it’s not really even a hill. She screams as she falls and does the best she can to make it seem like a tremendous fall that requires the Doctor’s help to pull her up. But it’s obvious she could have walked. The Raston Robots are an interesting new baddie, added last minute because it was felt the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane made it to the tower a little too quickly. These robots are pure inspiration. They are lightning fast, and deadly, dispatching a squad of Cybermen with vicious brutality. The poor Cybermen don’t stand a chance. Most die by decapitation, or a spear to the chest. Some die with a spear to the arm, which seems a little odd since this wouldn’t necessarily be a fatal wound for a human, let alone a Cyberman.
True to form, Susan sprains an ankle. I’m sure this was put into the script deliberately, along with the Third Doctor announcing that he “reversed the polarity of the neutron flow.” These would bring a smile to the Whovian face. But I’m puzzled how Susan knew the Cybermen. She had left the TARDIS well before the Doctor’s first encounter with them (“The Tenth Planet”–the First Doctor’s last story in 1966). Perhaps in the intervening years, she traveled and came across them at some point. Interestingly, the Time Lords offer the Master a new regeneration cycle in exchange for his help. This sets us up for the resolution of the “regeneration problem” (i.e., what to do when the Doctor reaches his twelfth regeneration) in the Eleventh Doctor story, “The Time of the Doctor,” where, as a reward for his service, the Time Lords grant the Doctor a new regeneration cycle.
The special effects are not particularly special, but they’re not bad either. About what you would expect for 1983. The DVD also contains the 1995 updated version, which added about 10 minutes of cut material, and rearranged some scenes to conform to the “original” script. They also updated the effects, but honestly, I don’t think they’re that much of an improvement. Indeed, none of these changes really add substantially to the original story.
In the end, it turns out that President Borusa was wanting the secret of eternal life so he could rule forever. To that end, he had the Doctors traverse the Death Zone and enter the tower so they could (unwittingly) retrieve the secret for him from Rassilon’s tomb. But it’s all a game. The eternal life Rassilon offers is certainly not what Borusa had in mind, and he pays dearly for his greed. The Doctor is offered the presidency, which is rightfully his (see the 1976 story, “The Deadly Assassin”), but he escapes in the TARDIS, leaving Chancellor Flavia in charge while he is gone. Which we know will be for a long time.
While not an epic story, this is well worth watching for the novelty and the nostalgia. It’s great to see Troughton, Pertwee, and Davison on-screen together. And both Troughton and Sladen are always a joy to watch. There are also some nice cameos from other past companions to watch out for. Don’t set your expectations too high, and just sit back and enjoy this 90-minute romp through times past.
