Has it been twenty-five years? How time flies and nobody knows better than the Doctor. I guess it has as the 25th Anniversary of the Five Doctors, made in 1983, has come and a new two-disc edition has materialized on DVD.
Man do I feel old, but there’s a nice representation of special features to celebrate this monumental anniversary.
The Doctor (Peter Davison), Tegan (Janet Fielding), and Turlough (Mark Strickson) are having a bit of a respite in the Eye of Orion (strangely enough looking very much like Wales, hmmmmm). The Doctor begins to feel as if parts of him are being stolen and he collapses inside the TARDIS, which has been set in motion.
Indeed the Doctor’s other regenerations (Richard Hurndall replacing the late William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, and Tom Baker [archive footage]) are being stolen out of time with a forbidden time scoop device and placed in the Death Zone. Several of his old companions, Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), have also been abducted as well.
The Death Zone (also looking very Wales-ish) is an isolated dimension where ancient Time Lords sent fighters to do battle for their own amusement so not only are his companions present but some old enemies, Daleks, Cybermen, and a Yeti, are waiting to do harm to anyone in their path.
The High Council of the Time Lords, President Borusa (Philip Latham), Chancellor Flavia (Dinah Sheridan), and the Castellan (Paul Jerricho), are aware that the Doctor has been taken out of time and his fourth incarnation is trapped in the vortex. The High Council decides that the Doctor may need some help so they approach the Master (Anthony Ainley), with an offer of a pardon and further regenerations (it helps that he’s also expendable), to go into the Death Zone and help the Doctor.
The Doctor is revived and bolstered by the presence of his other regenerations and now has to figure out why they’ve all been placed in the Death Zone, who’s responsible, and travel to the Dark Tower, the tomb of Rassilon who founded the Time Lords, which is in the middle of the Death Zone.
Producer John Nathan-Turner knew that 1983 was a big year for Doctor Who as the show would’ve been on the air for twenty years. Something special was truly in order to mark the occasion. Taking a page from the 1973 tenth anniversary episode The Three Doctors (featuring the final appearance of original Doctor William Hartnell) a multiple Doctor episode was commissioned.
Fourth Doctor Tom Baker had initially agreed to participate but pulled out late in the game. It was decided to use some footage from the lost episode “Shada” to represent the fourth Doctor and had his character trapped in a vortex. Instead of doing the same for the first Doctor, as Hartnell became one with time in 1975, they recast the role with Richard Hurndall.
I’ve always thought that Hurndall most looked like Hartnell out of makeup, but Hartnell does appear in a vintage clip at the beginning of the show. The deceased Doctors would be worst represented in the 1993 Children in Need special as Hartnell and Troughton were sadly represented as CGI floating heads.
The Five Doctors is a valentine to the iconic Brit show and still holds up as a fine episode. In 1995 a new cut of the show was produced that replaced some of the dodgier special effects, a hallmark of Who, with some shiny new CGI ones and some alternate edits of scenes.
This new twenty-fifth anniversary edition includes both versions of the episode and adds a drool-inducing amount of special features.
The Five Doctors is presented in fullscreen. Disc one (with the original 1983 broadcast version) features a companion’s commentary with Carole Ann Ford, Nicholas Courtney, Elisabeth Sladen, and Mark Strickson. There’s also an isolated music track and a pop-up trivia option.
The excellent 52 minute “Celebration” is a look back at the twentieth anniversary celebrations in 1983 and is hosted by Colin Baker. Next are 19 minutes of “Trails and Continuities” (think commercials), a photo gallery, and the Radio Times listing (DVD-ROM). The box art also hints at a “special hidden feature” that turns out to be a commentary by current Doctor David Tennant, new series producer Phil Collinson, and script editor Helen Raynor! Disc two (with the 1995 version) features a production commentary with Peter Davison and writer Terrence Dicks (from the earlier DVD release) as well as an isolated music track and pop-up trivia.
The 15 minute “Ties that Bind Us” looks at how the special ties into the old programme as well as the new one and is narrated by Paul McGann. The 18 minute “Five Doctors, One Studio” has behind-the-scenes set footage of the gathering of the Doctors.
Next are 6 minutes of outtakes, a 9 minute “(Not So) Special Effects” featurette, and a collection of TV appearances to promote the anniversary show (Saturday Superstore (10 minutes), Blue Peter (8 minutes), Nationwide (9 minutes), and Breakfast Time (3 minutes)). Finally there’s a 1 minute preview of the upcoming Invasion of Time DVD release.
The Five Doctors is both a fine celebration of the anniversary of a Brit cultural icon but we now actually celebrate the anniversary of the anniversary show. The two-disc set adds some excellent special features, especially the commentary with some of the new series regulars (why’d they hide it??). One star per Doctor, unless the polarity of the neutron flow is reversed.
Doctor Who - The Five Doctors (25th Anniversary Edition) is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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