Day 168 — June 17th 2021
The Three Doctors Episodes One and Two
The Three Doctors — Episode One
On the whole, there’s not many Doctor Who stories for which I can definitively pin down the date I first saw them. I watched the entire Eccleston and Tennant runs on first broadcast, so I can date those 60 episodes, and a chunk of Matt Smith I saw on broadcast, too, so a few of those too (although I’m not sure I can recall which ones!). For Old Testament Who, though, the only story I can definitively date my first viewing to is The Three Doctors.
I asked for the DVD of this story for my birthday in 2005, and I received it. I wasted no time sticking it on to watch — the idea of seeing multiple incarnations of Doctor Who coming face too face was something far too exciting to simply wait for. As it happened I had to turn it off half way through, as it was the day a series of terrorist attacks struck London, and the news was more important than anti-matter and Time Lords.
I finished the story up later that evening, I think, and I know I loved it. This is one of those tales I try not to watch too often because I don’t want to spoil it for myself. I know I watched it again in 2013 for my last marathon, but I don’t think I’ve seen it since. I’m pleased, then, to discover that this opening episode is every bit as brilliant as I remembered it being.
The opening set up is quite slow by the standards of the series at this point, with rural folk discovering a weather balloon and Dr Tyler driving out to pick it up, and even when Mr Ollis finds himself transported away to another universe things move at a fairly glacial pace. But once we’re at UNIT HQ things really pick up.
We’re quickly besieged by two alien threats, and they’re both rendered in different ways. The anti-matter ‘blob’ itself is surprisingly effective, and I’m impressed to see it creeping into the frame in only tiny amounts here and there — it’s the kind of thing you wouldn’t be able to do with a CGI creature these days because it’d cost too much money, but with old fashioned video effects they were all over it in 1972!
And then there’s the Gel Guards. Oh, I think they come in for a bit of stick, don’t they? When I mentioned to a friend the other day that I was fast approaching The Three Doctors he described the Gel Guards as ‘some of the most rubbish monsters the series ever did’. I think he’s mad! They’re great! The design is so totally unlike anything else we’ve ever had, and truly alien. I also think the costumes work surprisingly well. There’s loads of little details which I’d either forgotten about entirely or never appreciated before (the joys of this story now being available in a nicely cleaned up Blu-ray format!) like the eyes moving around behind the lens, and the flashing lights in the pincers when the guns are about to fire. That latter effect is so effective I’m amazed we didn’t see it getting used in every monster from here on. I’d do that to the Daleks’ guns if I were in charge.
Let’s be honest, though. The thing which really makes this episode is the return of Patrick Troughton to the series. I don’t think I’d truly appreciated just how much I missed his incarnation until he popped up in the TARDIS here. I’ve liked Jon Pertwee’s Doctor Who far more readily this time around than I did in my last marathon, and while he has his moments (like yesterday’s wonderful speech), he pales in comparison to Troughton when they’re brought face-to-face.
I could quote almost every single one of Troughton’s lines as being an absolute classic, but I think I’ll highlight the exchange in which the two Doctor Whos try to explain the situation to a baffled Jo;
Jo: ‘You’re both Time Lords?’
Second Doctor Who: ‘Well quite. Well… not quite.’
Jo: ‘Oh.’
Second Doctor Who: ‘Not, not just Time Lords. We’re the same Time Lord.’
Doctor Who: ‘Now please, you’re only confusing my assistant. Jo, it’s all quite simple. I am he and he is me.’
Jo: ‘‘And we are all together, goo goo ga joob?’’
Doctor Who: ‘What?’
Jo: ‘It’s a song by the Beatles.’
Second Doctor Who: ‘Oh, how does it go?’
Doctor Who: ‘Oh, please be quiet.’
Jo: ‘Look, is he really you?’
Doctor Who: ‘Yes, yes, I’m afraid so.’
It’s so brilliantly played by the three of them, who are clearly relishing the experience. And it feels surprisingly modern for dialogue at this stage in the programme’s history. You don’t get many references to contemporary music in Old Testament Doctor Who, so this moment somehow stands out while feeling so right.
Troughton and Pertwee aren’t our only Doctor Whos in this episode, though — there’s William Hartnell on the TARDIS’ Scanner! Oh it’s good to see him. One of my favourite things about doing a marathon like this is that when characters return to the series after a long time you really feel the emotional connection to them. I’ve not seen Hartnell since the start of March and that feels like a lifetime ago. Of course it’s sad to see him looking a bit frail and clearly having to read from cue cards, but it’s wonderful to have him back for a couple of episodes. There’s something a bit magical about knowing that he got to play the role he loved one last time before he died.
The brilliant Clayton Hickman has just this week colourised a gorgeous photo of the three Doctor Whos together during the recording of this story, and there’s something so mind-bending and heart warming about seeing them all together in the same place.
One last thing I want to touch on for this opening episode — how brilliant is Sergeant Benton? I sang his praises during The Time Monster because he got to do some great stuff rather than simply being the comic stooge in the narrative. This episode takes that further and has him be both in equal measure, blending them brilliantly.
His first reaction to the TARDIS is fantastic, and it’s brilliantly shot with Benton right up close to the camera struggling to take in what’s just happened. And doesn’t he come off better than the Brigadier did in the last story? In that one, the Brig refused to believe anything that he was being told, while here benton just goes with the flow;
Doctor Who: ‘Well, Sergeant, aren’t you going to say it that it’s bigger on
the inside than it is on the outside? Everybody else does.’
Benton: ‘It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? Anyway, nothing to do with you
surprises me anymore, Doctor.’
Doctor Who: ‘Oh, thank you for the complement.’
I can’t find fault with this one — I’ve enjoyed it far too much. A solid 10/10.
The Three Doctors — Episode Two
It’s such a shame that Pertwee and Troughton spend this entire episode separated from each other, given that their interactions were so integral to my enjoyment of Episode One. They both get plenty of great material here in their respective strands of the narrative, I just want to make the most of having them both in the same studio for as long as possible.
On the plus side it does mean that we get to have Troughton’s Doctor Who paired up with the Brigadier again, and there’s something more than a bit lovely about that. It’s strange because the version of the Brigadier we get here is the same as the one I complained about in The Time Monster — unwilling to swallow fairly basic concepts and coming across like a total buffoon rather than the competent leader we saw in the actual Troughton era, or even in the early days of Pertwee’s tenure.
Here, though, it’s not bothering me half as much as it did during the last story. By all rights I should be complaining about the way he’s been written, but I’m having far too much fun with it. Perhaps that’s down to his interactions with Troughton? You get the sense that the episode isn’t taking itself all that seriously, so you can’t help but get swept up in the atmosphere of it. I’m particularly fond of the moment when Doctor Who is asked to go and join a Zoom call in the Brig’s office;
Second Doctor Who: ‘But won’t they think it strange? I mean, me?’
The Brigadier: ‘I’ve explained all that. You’re his assistant.’
Second Doctor Who: ‘His what!?’
The Brigadier: ‘I decided the truth was too much for them. Assistant it
will have to be.’
I suspect that this story will be the one and only time I’m totally accepting of the dumbed-down version of the Brigadier. And it has to be said that like Benton in the last episode, he gets a great reaction to stepping inside the TARDIS for the first time;
The Brigadier: ‘So this is what you’ve been doing with UNIT funds
and equipment all this time...’
Elsewhere, the current Doctor Who and Jo have found themselves transported through a black hole and into a barren-looking quarry. I reckon some time must have passed between Season Nine and this story taking place, because the pair of them seem so much more settled and friendly here than they were even at their best in the last season. We’ve come on a long way from the antagonistic relationship they had in Season Eight.
As is only right for something of a celebratory adventure*, we’re treated to some examples of things the series does very well in the early 1970s. We don’t get anyone from HAVOC falling from height, but we do get some great explosions when the Gel Guards fire on our heroes in the quarry.
Okay, I can’t go on singing praises forever. I have to admit that not everything in this episode is perfect. As much as I’ll defend the design of the Gel Guards against criticism, I can’t do the same for Omega’s palace. Oh the design is nice enough, with the walls echoing the design of his guard dogs, but that they end on a flat black studio floor is something of a let down. I feel like there could have been a little more thought in that. It’s not even like they needed smooth floors for the Daleks to glide across!
Another great one, and an 8/10 for me.
*I’ll die on this hill — The Three Doctors isn’t the ‘Tenth Anniversary Story’. It was broadcast almost a year too early for a start. It does, however, celebrate the tenth season of Doctor Who. Does anyone else have any particular Doctor Who bugbears? It proper gets my back up when people call it the Tenth Anniversary story!
