Review: The Three Doctors

Radio Times covers, special features on Blue Peter, Dr Who in the news: in 1973 the show celebrated its 10th anniversary in style. Meanwhile on the programme itself a special story involving the three Doctors to date teaming up ensured that, on air at least, the anniversary would pass with little of substance. This is a knock around celebration and nothing more.

This story suffered from major re-writes and several hiccoughs during its production so it's hardly surprising that that it seems like a mixture of themes and ideas loosely packaged together. Multi Doctor stories are a pretty poor idea on the face of it. They demand from their viewers a working knowledge of the show that most casuals probably don't share with us Whoicides. This one started out as a story that would fully feature all three Doctors but it later emerged that William Hartnell was so frail he would not be able to play as great a part. This caused one of the major problems for the production and it's a shame because when Hartnell is on screen the drama progresses and the story almost gets interesting. It would have been fantastic to witness one last full performance from this great actor.

Instead we have the over bearing Pertwee and the arched theatrics of Troughton with neither at their best. In fact the story deflates quicker than a burst weather balloon the moment they meet as the following few minutes are taken up with boring introductions, pointless continuity and a lack of plot. Still, at least Courtney is out of the way through most of that initial banter.

The Brigadier is one of the most popular characters in Who and I love him as much as the next fan. BUT! Courtney is a poor actor. Hasn't anyone noticed? Perhaps you were too busy supplementing his pension. Watch him in the background in any of his scenes and you'll see what I mean. When he's in the foreground he goes through the motions by acting what he thinks a top class military official would act like - perhaps he was getting stale in the part by this point but he certainly isn't convincing - I can't be bothered with his raising eyebrows any longer and don't get me started on the upper lip theatricals.

The directing on this story is perhaps it's greatest asset. The film sections in particular are well thought out and executed in style. Unfortunately most of them feature a major quarry and lots of running away from the most ridiculous looking blobs in Who history. The fact that they bob up and down to a silly noise doesn't help. By the time you're half way through you really feel it in your gut and thank goodness the tempo ups a little as the climax approaches.

The best element of the four parts is the complex villain. Unfortunately the idea is crazy and most of his scenes occur during the really boring bits of this dull serial. It is hard not to feel a little bit of sadness for the lonely Omega. So lonely that rather than creating an imaginary sexual partner, he creates the Gell Guards for reasons unknown. Oh and he spends a lot of time watching the Time Lords on his little telly. At least I assume that's what he does because he somehow knows they exist and left him to die, that they have a "High Council" and he even intimates that he knows them well enough to understand the rules of their society - all of which developed after he was left to die. Plots and holes. There's a lot of it about but don't worry nobody's watching.

If you're a fan and you've not seen this one - just watch it to get it out of the way. I suspect that in it's day it was just what the public wanted and while it's not really badly written or directed, it doesn't stand up to multiple viewings. It wasn't meant to.