DVD Reviews

Doctor Who: The Gunfighters – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Jul 22, 2011, 14:12 GMT

Tombstone, Arizona, 1881. The air is filled with the sounds of shooting, cussing, and toe-tapping tunes knocked out on the battered piano at the Last Chance Saloon. And then there is something less familiar: the wheezing, groaning sound of a Police Box materializing. The Doctor and his companions aren\'t the only newcomers in town. The Clanton brothers have ridden in to settle a grudge with Doc Holliday, the notorious gambler, ...more

The serial called Doctor Who’s worst turns out to not be exactly terrible, but does have some annoying bits.  One thing is for certain – William Hartnell is having a helluva time.  It may be the fun before the fall as behind-the-scenes much was going on with the show.
 
The TARDIS deposits the Doctor (William Hartnell), Steven (Peter Purves), and Dodo (Jackie Lane) arrive in the town of Tombstone in the old West.  The Doctor has a toothache so he goes in search of a dentist who turns out to be Doc Holliday (Anthony Jacobs). 

Holliday is feuding with the Clanton clan and when they go gunning for the dentist they mistake the Doctor for him. This case of mistaken identity will have the Doctor and his companions on a course for an appointment at the OK Corral with Wyatt Earp (John Alderson) and Ike Clanton (William Hurndell).
 
The Gunfighters may be one of those cases where its reputation preceded it even when those voting in a “worst of” list of Doctor Who may not have ever actually seen it.  Several of those lists during my fandom found the episode getting close to flat bottom and finally released on VHS when they didn’t have much more choices to let out of the vaults.  The episode does have its problems. 

There’s a Greek chorus saloon ballad that is played repeatedly to grating effect, the American accents are pretty dodgy, garish western costumes for our companions, and historical inaccuracies.  It’s been said that Hartnell always wanted to make a Western and does seem to be having a good time.  It certainly should be worth at least one look to see what all the hubbub is about. 

To make a little more worth your while to belly up to the bar, the pard’ners at the BBC have lavished a nice array of special features.

The Gunfighters is presented in fullscreen.  Special features include a commentary from Actors Peter Purves, Shane Rimmer (“Seth”), David Graham (“Charlie”), Richard Beal (“Bat Masterson”), production assistant Tristan De Vere Cole, and moderated by comedian Toby Hadoke, a pop-up trivia track,  the “End of the Line” discusses the turbulent final years of Hartnell’s time as the Doctor (worth the price of the disc alone), the 14 minute “Tomorrow’s Times” deals with press coverage of Hartnell’s era, a photo gallery, and a PDF of the Radio Times on the DVD-ROM side. 

There’s probably some other bad Doctor Who adventures that may deserve the honor of being called the worst, but the Gunfighters still has some awful choices. 

It’s worth the look just to see the one that is called the worst but to make the purchase price sting a bit less there’s an excellent documentary about Hartnell’s time winding down.  If the episode gets you down you can rationalize the purchase for that alone. 

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