The Three Doctors

I can see you've been doing the TARDIS up a bit. I don't like it.

The Three Doctors was the first of the multi-Doctor anniversary specials. Of course, it lead off Season 10 rather than closing it, putting it a number of months away from the actual anniversary date of November 23, but that's a minor quibble. The big thing was that the show managed to get William Hartnell back which was rather significant given that he was in quite poor health at the time. The writers only found this out after he had accepted their offer and they were forced to do some very hasty rewriting and keep the First Doctor on a closed set while most of the story became the double act between the Second and Third Doctor. Still, given that Hartnell died only two years after the story aired, it was good to give him one last hurrah.

Plot Summary

A local gamekeeper stumbles across a cosmic ray detection device that has parachuted to Earth. The local scientific establishment is summoned to pick it up but before they arrive, the gamekeeper is teleported away. Suspicious of the disappearance, the scientist Doctor Tyler takes it to UNIT HQ and informs the Brigadier and the Doctor what happened.

Dr. Tyler shows the Doctor various readings which show a compressed light stream aimed towards Earth that is actually travelling faster than light. The Doctor and Jo head off to the sight of the landing while Dr. Tyler develops the latest plate. The Brigadier, put out at his lack of usefulness, leaves Tyler alone. Tyler develops the plate and sees the gamekeeper Ollis' face. He goes to check the collector but is teleported away as Ollis was, only this time a strange plasma emerges from the collector.

The Brigadier notices Tyler missing and sends Sergeant Benton to look for him. As the Doctor and Jo return from taking readings, the plasma emerges from the drain. They run off and the plasma covers Bessie, vanishing it before retreating back into the drain. Benton returns unable to find Tyler.

The Doctor informs the Brigadier of what happened to Bessie and order Benton to set a watch on the drains. The Doctor theorizes that the compressed light beam got the plasma creature to the collector and it is on a mission to take the Doctor. They hunker down to wait for the next attempt.

Shortly afterwards, creatures called Gelguards appear and advance on UNIT HQ. Benton leads the defense but conventional weapons have no effect on them. As the Brigadier organizes a retreat, the plasma creature emerges from the vents. The Doctor, Jo and Benton retreat into the TARDIS. The Doctor is unable to take off and sends an SOS to Gallifrey.

The Time Lords track the energy drain to a black hole and coming from a universe of anti-matter. With the drain affecting Gallifrey, the Time Lords are unable to send help to the Doctor. However, they decide to give the Doctor help from his earlier iterations.

The Second Doctor materializes in the TARDIS and explains the situation on Gallifrey. Benton recognizes the Second Doctor and welcomes him warmly. He also helps explain to Jo about the Doctor's earlier form. The Doctors observe the plasma creature attempting to get in but also fighting off the Brigadier. The two Doctors join telepathically to bring the Second up to speed. However, they being squabbling as their personalities clash.

Aware of the issue, the Time Lords pull in the First Doctor but lack sufficient energy to pull him in all the way. He instead appears from a limbo location on the monitor. He informs them that the plasma creature is a time bridge and orders them to get to work stopping it. The Third Doctor heads out to confront it and Jo runs after him. He tries to stop her but the plasma creature teleports both of them.

With the Third Doctor and Jo gone, the plasma reverts to a docile state, allowing the Second Doctor, the Brigadier and Benton to come out and examine it. The Second Doctor opts to feed it a steady stream of useless information to keep it occupied. The Second Doctor is called away by the Brigadier to talk to Geneva and he leaves Benton in charge of keeping the plasma at bay. It begins to react and overcome the Doctor's defenses. Benton calls the Doctor back with the Brigadier and the three of them retreat back into the TARDIS.

The Third Doctor and Jo wake to find themselves in a wasteland within a universe made of antimatter. They take a look around and find elements that had been teleported by the plasma earlier, including Bessie. They hop in and begin driving around. They find footprints and discover Dr. Tyler in the wasteland. They are also observed by Ollis.

The Third Doctor, Jo and Tyler are captured by the Gelguards and escorted to the palace of Omega, one of the founders of Time Lord society. While inside, Tyler runs away but is forced back to the group by the Gelguards. They are then taken towards Omega's throne room.

Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor manages to get the communicator working to allow the Brigadier to contact his men. He orders them to stand guard but not engage the Gelguards. As he does so, the First Doctor contacts them from his time eddy. He orders the Second Doctor to deactivate the force field around the TARDIS. The Second Doctor complies and the plasma causes the TARDIS, the Gelguards and the whole UNIT HQ building to disappear and be pulled into the antimatter universe within the black hole.

Omega meets the Third Doctor, Jo and Tyler. He has Jo and Tyler taken to a cell while he discusses taking vengeance on the Time Lords. Omega speaks of how he was abandoned when he created the black hole as a power source for the Time Lords. The Third Doctor counters speaking of how Omega is regarded as a great hero. Omega rebuffs this, believing he was sacrificed. Omega offers the Third Doctor a chance to help him and threatens Tyler and Jo if he does not.

The Second Doctor, the Brigadier and Benton arrive in the antimatter universe. The Brigadier refuses to believe that they have been transported to another universe and goes out to investigate. Benton and the Second Doctor go to follow him but are captured by the Gelguards. The Brigadier is greeted by Ollis and the two of them observe the Second Doctor and Benton being taken to Omega's palace.

The Second Doctor attempts to disguise himself as a human but Omega sees through the ruse. He is at first amused that the Time Lords have brought in an earlier iteration of the Doctor but he becomes angry with their subterfuge and has both of them and the Third Doctor locked in with Jo and Tyler.

After explaining how things work to them, Jo suggests the two Doctors work together and impose their own will on the universe. They create a door in the cell and the whole party spills out in to the palace. The two Doctors work their way to Omega's throne room, the source of the black hole's singularity while the three humans evade Gelguards in the corridors.

Benton, Jo and Tyler make their way towards the main doors. They manage to pry them open with the help of the Brigadier and Ollis trying to get in. The five humans flee the palace and the pursuing Gelguards. Meanwhile the Time Lords use their remaining energy resources to send the First Doctor into the black hole to assist the other two.

Omega confronts the two Doctors in the singularity chamber and engages his mind against the Third Doctor. The two enter a mental wrestling match with Omega seeming to prevail against him. The Second Doctor intervenes and Omega releases him. The Second Doctor needles Omega, exposing the limits of his control when angered.

The Second Doctor apologizes, bring Omega back into control. He reveals that he needs them to take over control of his world to allow him to escape as he cannot control the world and leave it at the same time. He orders them to remove his mask to allow him to step into the light stream. However, when they do so, they find that his body has already corroded away and that his shape is only held together by the force of his own will.

The realization of his unexistence unhinges Omega and he rants away, allowing the Doctors to escape. They are pursued by Gelguards and they meet up with the Brigadier and the others at UNIT HQ, taking shelter in the TARDIS. Inside, they are contacted by the First Doctor, still trapped in a time eddy. The three of them come up with a risky plan involving the TARDIS' force field generator and the First Doctor fades back to report to the Time Lords.

The Second and Third Doctor prepare to pull out the force field generator but discover that the Second Doctor's recorder has fallen in and as such, remains unconverted to antimatter. The two Doctors create a new plan and contact Omega, allowing them to transport the TARDIS to his palace. He agrees and they land in the throne room.

Omega, having reconciled himself to his state, declares that the Two Doctors will stay to keep him company in exile. They agree but only if he allows them to send their friends back. He agrees and the five people pass through the singularity into the light stream, Jo somewhat reluctantly. The two Doctors then offer Omega the force field generator with the recorder suspended in it. He becomes angry when he thinks they are trying to force him to take it and knocks it away. As it falls, the recorder falls out and it's matter interacts with the antimatter. The two Doctors flee into the TARDIS as Omega and his world is consumed by the resulting explosion.

Everything taken by Omega reverts back to the point it was taken from. The five humans reappear in their locations (Ollis outside his home) along with UNIT HQ and Bessie. The TARDIS appears a moment later and the two Doctors emerge to reveal what happened. From within the TARDIS, the First Doctor offers his goodbye as he is sent back to his own timestream. The Second Doctor likewise is sent back as well. The various people depart leaving Jo and the Doctor alone in the TARDIS. As they prepare to leave, the Time Lords send the Doctor a new dematerialization circuit and restore his knowledge of it's work, effectively ending his exile. He then prepares to install it as well as build a new force field generator before taking Jo off on a trip through the universe.

Analysis

As far as an anniversary special involving multiple Doctors, The Three Doctors isn't bad. However, judged as an independent story, it's fairly weak. It has good points and some good performances, but many of these are undercut by larger flaws.

First and foremost, I like the Doctors and their interaction. I would imagine that anyone who had watched the Second Doctor earlier would have been quite happy to see him again. I enjoyed him, although there were a couple of points where he played up the silliness a tad much. There was the nice reveal in Episode Four about how he was using his silliness to test Omega's control but it would have been nice to get a little more of the conniving Second Doctor.

The Third Doctor was his usual quality self and it was rather funny to see the fussy and formal Third Doctor let his earlier self get under his skin. Despite that, he was still competent, the clear leader of the team and enjoyable to follow around.

The First Doctor was both enjoyable and sad. He was given some nice cutting lines and the clear deference paid to him by the Second and Third Doctors seemed as representative of their feelings towards William Hartnell as that of the First Doctor. However, it is also very obvious as to how poorly William Hartnell is doing at that point. He is clearly reading his lines, though trying to put emotion into them. The timing of his interactions with the other two Doctors is off and it is clearly a recorded image they are just trying to time their responses to based off planned dialogue breaks. Its a nice thought but it is impossible to disguise the truth of what is actually happening. Had the technology been a little more advanced or time and budget been a bit more in their favor, the director might have been able to rework the scene so that it played a bit better but it at least gets what needed to be done.

Jo was nice in this story, although again not given that much to do. Her big moment is kicking the two fighting Doctors in the butt to get them to work together. Aside from that, she doesn't do much but tag along with the Third Doctor and ask the questions that allow one of the Doctors to explain to her (and the audience) what is going on. Still, she is fun and it is always nice to see her show the compassion she has for the Third Doctor as well as his compassion for her and that did come across in their interactions.

It is also almost impossible to not like Omega. For a villain, he is well spoken and articulate. It is also very easy to sympathize with his plight if not his methods. He looms large over the story that it is easy to forget in hindsight that he doesn't make an actual appearance until Episode Three, though he does get a line and a hint at towards the end of Episode Two. When he realizes what he has become, you feel real sympathy for him in his anguished scream as well as understanding at his denial of the reality of what has happened. In many ways, you can imagine that in the depths of his mind, he knew the truth but refused to confront it. Even when forced, he still forces that truth back into a box of denial. His secondary plan is even more tragic as when forced to confront the truth that he cannot escape, he simply wants a friend to talk to for the rest of his imprisonment. He is genuinely a tragic figure and someone more to be pitied, rather than hated or feared.

There is an odd mismatch in the writing with the Brigadier and Benton. In this story, Benton comes across as the rational, trusting stoic and the Brigadier comes across as a disbelieving oaf who only understands bureaucracy and blowing stuff up. It's a nice improvement for Benton but a terrible step down for the Brigadier. He actually comes across as a fairly unlikeable character with whom the audience has little patience. There are lines that Benton has that clearly should have been the Brigadier's, although I wouldn't wish to take away from Benton's improved standing. It is a nasty knock down for the character and it is only the likeability of Nicholas Courtney coming through that keeps the Brigadier from becoming a total object of derision.

The overall story itself does not work particularly well. It is very thin, even for a four-part story. I can imagine that a more complex plot was probably initially thought of that would involve the First Doctor but was scrapped due to William Hartnell's poor health. The story maintains a certain level of charm through the first three episodes but once it becomes clear that the First Doctor will not be heavily involved, the story seems to take a lazy backdoor route. The recorder retaining it's matter form is a lucky break rather than any properly contrived plan. The whole thing comes across as this random jumble of events that don't seem to properly connect. Even after two viewings, I'm hard pressed to imagine what the original plan was as it seems that everything sort of magically resolved itself.

There are also two moments where it is painfully obvious that the run time of the story is being padded. In fact, nearly every episode has at least one moment where things are obviously extended simply because there wasn't enough story to go around. This seems very strange to me as you would think that more care would be taken with an anniversary story. Instead it feels like once the plan for the First Doctor fell through, the rest of the story was hastily written on the back of an envelope. It probably could have gone through a few more rewrites and I wonder if the fall through was much more last minute than one might expect for a story that leads off a season.

The production values of the story are not great. The filmed stuff is always nice, even if it is in a quarry, but the effects desired are far beyond the capabilities of the time. The antimatter plasma is bad even for CSO effects of the time. The Gelguards are not well designed and come across as cheap "men in suits" props. Omega is pretty good and Stephen Thorne works well to make him imposing, although there are a couple of slip ups where you can see the outline of his jaw under the mask as he talks and that's at odds with his revealed form. The singularity point as a column of smoke is also rather underwhelming. Many aspects of this story come across as cheap and not up to the grand scale that you might have expected from an anniversary story.

Overall, I'd have to chalk this one up to a potentially fun idea but one that falls short. Many aspects can be swept aside as long as the story maintains it's line and keeps the fun aspect but even that falls apart in Episode Four when you get the very slapped together ending. The interactions are fun, especially between the Doctors and Omega is a very enjoyable character but aside from that, there's not a lot going for this story. It's not bad in a painful to watch way, but it doesn't draw you very well, nor does it retain your attention if it ever manages to get a hold of it. It's mildly fun to watch but it's definitely not a story to pull off and enjoy on anything resembling a regular basis.

Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5