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"Doctor Who" The Five Doctors (1983)



IMDb Holiday Movie Guide

Overview

User Rating:
7.7/10   532 votes
Director:
Writer:
Terrance Dicks (writer)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Five Doctors on IMDbPro.
TV Series:
Original Air Date:
23 November 1983 (Season 20, Episode 23)
Genre:
Plot:
The Doctor and his previous regenerative versions are abducted to an isolated area of his home planet as part of a renegade timelord's scheme. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
User Comments:
Should be called 'The Four Doctors' ... more (13 total)

Cast

  (Episode Cast overview, first billed only)

Additional Details

Runtime:
90 min | 102 min (DVD version)
Country:
Language:
Sound Mix:
Certification:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Geoffrey Bayldon was seriously considered for The Hartnell Doctor more
Quotes:
Fifth Doctor: I'm certainly not the man I was. Thank goodness. more
Movie Connections:
Soundtrack:
Destiny Waltz more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful.
Should be called 'The Four Doctors' ..., 24 March 2004
Author: MovieFan_

This particular Dr Who episode, which screened during Peter Davison's (the 5th Doctor) tenure, was intended to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dr Who. The plot - a mysterious individual has summoned all incarnations of the Doctor to the Death Zone on Gallifrey for some unknown purpose. The Doctors, unsure of why they are here try to reach the Tower of Rasselon (sp?) to find answers, where along the way they confront various obstacles (a Daalek, Cybermen, a Yeti etc.) Apparently the mysterious individual wants something within the tower and is using the Doctors to get it - one Doctor would not have been enough, but FIVE doctors might be (well 4 really, read below).

It's pretty much well known that Tom Baker (the 4th Doctor) declined to appear in this special episode so the producers were forced to use some old footage from Baker's tenure as the Doctor and then use the plot device of having him 'stuck' in the vortex (or whatever they called it) to explain his absence, so contrary to the title the story from the outset only really involves 4 doctors. In addition William Hartnell (the 1st Doctor) had passed away in 1975 so a replacement in Richard Hurndall had to be found. Hurndall does a good job in keeping to the character as originally played by Hartnell but it's pretty obvious to all that it's another actor, but that couldn't be helped.

As far as the quality of the episode goes, it depends on what you want to get out of it. As an exercise in seeing all of the Doctors (well 4 of them - and 1 with a replacement actor) it's not too bad, especially seeing how each Doctor reacts to the others being present (the verbal sparring between Patrick Troughton (the 2nd Doctor) and Jon Pertwee (the 3rd Doctor) is hilarious). However as far as plot goes its pretty weak on the ground - 90% of the episode seems to be made up of shots of each of the respective Doctors running from something, with the 5th Doctor killing time outside the zone trying to figure it all out and token references being made concerning the 4t Doctor being 'stuck' and thus not present. And the Master has a few scenes too. Clearly for the amount of Doctors involved (not counting all the sidekicks they bring along) 90 mins is nowhere long enough to adequately tell a story involving all of them (or 4 of them)

Worth a look to see all 5 (sorry, 4 ::sigh::) Doctors together in action, just don't expect anything major in the plot department.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for "Doctor Who" (1963)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
2-disc 25th Anniversary Edition jedimulder24
Mistakes regularjohn75
Differences between original broadcast and DVD release efrasnel-1
anyone notice this? monkeysvsrobotsdotcom
A new 'five' doctors type stoy in new sires?? philtoye-1
Did you like it? mimoniz
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