Five Doctors DVD

[palitoy]

I picked this up yesterday because the box said it was remastered, had new FX and scenes.

On the whole, the Five Doctors was something I wanted to like more but found very problematic, it's first problem being the lack of a certain Doctor.

The new DVD does some more logical editing, I didn't notice the new scenes however. The enhanced effects are nice but don't add too much, the Raston Robot sequence is still cheesy.

The new version uses less of Tom Baker's Shada scenes, I didn't mind that actually, it added nothing to the program.

Things I noticed:

The Dalek and Cybermen history with the Timelords is prior to when the Doctor first encountered them. Seeing as they refused to use them in the games.

Things that still bug me:

Jon Pertwee's "teeth and curls" comment about Tom Baker (on the commentary Terrance Dicks groans about that too, he didn't write the line)

Doctor #5 gives a really cold reception to Susan, shouldn't he have hugged her?

Doctor #2 knows his future, that makes no sense either!

All in all, it's an improvement but not earth shattering. I liked the commentary tracks a great deal though.

[Mikey]

I love the Five Doctors --- even with it's many flaws ....

One thing I always wondered, does that story exist as true Doctor Who canon ?

There's just too many inconsistencies that seemed very blatent.

If the New Series is official canon too, something else don't jive up .....
In School Reunion, Sarah makes it sound like the last time she seen the Doctor Was at the end of the Hand of Fear.......

[palitoy]

One thing I always wondered, does that story exist as true Doctor Who canon ?

I imagine it does, seeing as the Doctor's presidency carried on.

If the New Series is official canon too, something else don't jive up .....
In School Reunion, Sarah makes it sound like the last time she seen the Doctor Was at the end of the Hand of Fear.......

I guess Rassilon removed all memories of the incident from everybodies mind, it would make sense. I was thinking the same thing.

[phil]

I always figured that the various Doctors and companions had their memories
erased before returning to their proper place in time. Otherwise The Doctors
would know their own future. The Fifth Doctor, Tegan and Turlough were the
exception.

It's far from one of my favorite stories but as a way to celebrate 20 years of
Doctor Who it works on that level.

[johnmiic]

I read somewhere, DWM I guess, that when Sara meets up with Pertwee she smiles broadly and motions her hand around her hair indicating more teeth and curly hair. It might be a stretch but the acting out of it is in the scene. You could argue Pertwee was good at reading Sara's sign language.

What you have here is a really sentimental story re-uniting many actors so some leeway has to be given.

[YANOULI]

As for the Shada scenes, because Tom Baker refused to appear in it they used scenes from an unaired story ( but viewers wouldn't know that ) to explain his absence.

[johnmiic]

I think the scenes from Shada work very well. The activity of riding in the boat doesn't seem tied to any specific plotline. It's just a nice moment between Doctor #4 and Romana. They're just enjoying some time off when they are scooped up.

The explanation that the 4th Doctor is stuck in a temporal anomoly harkens back to the 3 Doctors when William Hartnell couldn't really appear in the episode due to illness. I wish Tom had appeared in it too. Maybe if they had given him an episode where most of the focus was on him, a fifth episode, he might have joined in. I always thought they should have made it a 5 episode story.

[Mikey]

Tom still regrets not playing in it ......

His part was actually quite big .....

It was Tom who was supposed to have done all the Davison stuff going to Gallefrey and uncovering the plot.

[YANOULI]

when Sara meets up with Pertwee she smiles broadly and motions her hand around her hair indicating more teeth and curly hair. It might be a stretch but the acting out of it is in the scene. You could argue Pertwee was good at reading Sara's sign language.

John, that is correct. When Pertwee says " teeth and curls " his tone is a questioning one.

I was 12 when this originally aired and that is exactly how i understood it to be.

[samurainoir]

Coincidentally, I just watched 5 Doctors again last week!

I always thought that the moment between The 5th Doctor and Susan was interesting. When left alone in the Tardis, you could sense the physical space between them. They were almost circling each other at a distance. I took it to be the awkwardness of seeing his "Granddaughter" all grown up and barely recognizing her. She was still a girl when they last saw each other.

I never saw any episodes of the second Doctor (were they syndicated in Canada back in the day?). It was interesting to see what an antagonistic relationship Doctor number two had with the Brigadier. My memories from watching the show as a youth seem to recall that the third Doctor had a warmer relationship with him (but it's been a long time).

Loved the interaction between the second and third Doctors. I never saw the full 3 Doctors serial, but it appears that they do remember each other from that encounter.

Loved the fact that Doctor 3 immediately dismissed The Master given their past relationship. Note the contrast to the fact that Doctor 5 was more willing to take a chance with him. Interesting too was his comment when he ran across the second Doctor... something along the lines of "believe it or not, we were at the academy together".

[Mikey]

It was interesting to see what an antagonistic relationship Doctor number two had with the Brigadier. My memories from watching the show as a youth seem to recall that the third Doctor had a warmer relationship with him (but it's been a long time).

The second Doctor didn't have all that much time with the Brigadier.

When the second Doctor was THE Doctor, he was not yet exiled to Earth-- so he would just pop in and out as he pleased.

Pertwee was forced to stick around so his relationship with the Brigadier was more strained from the start.

In The Three Doctors, when Pertwee had gone missing, the Brigadier acted as if he didn't care much because he still had the Second Doctor on hand.