130: The Five Doctors

8/12/08

The Five Doctors stands as a very cool story, the likes of which had never been done before. The plot is a simple contrivance to get 5 Doctors together, but as long as you don't ask too much of it, it's a great episode.

The Doctors are being taken out of their respective times by an unseen force and deposited on Gallifrey, their home planet, in an area known as the Death Zone. Turns out, years back on Gallifrey, it was a savage place and the Death Zone was used as a walled in territory for war games. You'd drop some folks in and let them fight it out until only one remained. One Timelord put a stop to this barbarism, and his name was Rassilon, revered leader of the Timelords. At the center of the Death Zone is a large tower that is the tomb of Rassilon, and this is where our story takes us.

What's really cool about this story is that we get to see pretty much every major player that's ever had a part in Doctor Who in it's then 20 year history. There are a few exceptions, such as the first Doctor, William Hartnell, who was deceased and replaced by a similar looking actor. Jo Grant, Harry Sullivan and a few other notable cast members weren't included for various reasons, and Tom Baker refused to participate, forcing them to use footage from an unaired episode, but what we did get was pretty cool. The first 5 Doctors, Susan, Sarah Jane, The Brigadier, Liz, Jamie, Zoe and Yates are returning good guys, and on the bad guy side we get a Dalek, lots of Cybermen, a Yeti, and a Raston warrior robot, not to mention the Master.

The coolest scene, for me, is the Raston warrior decapitating two Cybermen in graphic detail. I can't believe that got away with that on a kid's show. He then goes on to take out an entire batallion of Cybermen, as well.

Without spoiling the plot too much, these Gallifreyan people are really turning out to be sinister and devious. I've said it before, but I don't blame the Doctor for staying as far away as he can.

Notable moments include the new console in the TARDIS, which looks incredible, and the repeated comments from doctors 2-5 about how grouchy and hard to be around the first Doctor is.

Also noteworthy is the third Doctor "reversing the polarity of the neutron flow" to release the TARDIS from a trap it was about to fall into.

This is a fun story, and while it's a shame that Tom Baker wouldn't join in on the fun, it still stands as a great way to look back at 20 years of Doctor Who while telling a great story that introduced us to more Gallifreyan lore and to Rassilon.

I give this story a 7.5 out of 10.