Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: The Five Doctors

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

One by one, the earlier four incarnations of the Doctor are being plucked out of the space-time continuum, and placed into the dreaded Death Zone. Originally used by the Time Lords for organizing gladiatorial matches between various races, Rassilon closed the Death Zone, and forbade the use of the Time Scoop. So, who is doing this, and more importantly, why? It's up to the Doctor (all of them) to figure it out.

This movie is a "Who-ite's" dream. Four of the five Doctors are present, with Richard Hurndall performing very well as the formidable first Doctor. Many companions appear, including Turlough, Tegan, Susan (the Doctor's Granddaughter), Sarah Jane, the Brigadier, Mike Yates, Liz Shaw, Jamie, Zoe, and K-9. Plus, of course, the Master (played by Anthony Ainley). It is a shame that Tom Baker refused to be involved in this production, but he is reasonably represented by scenes taken from the never-completed episode Shada.

I recommend this movie absolutely to any fan of Doctor Who.

The 5 Doctors is living proof of why actors and studios need to coordinate their schedules to make sure that imporant characters are included in a storyline. Over all, the 5 Doctors was a good, solid story - not outstanding, not superb, but fun to watch. I admit, I loved the beginning with the black obelisk "doing its thing" (I hate divulging plots) and the Death Zone was a wonderful idea. However, to do everyone justice, this probably should have been, at minimum, a 5-parter (but then, the BBC hasn't done one of those since the Pertwee days and didn't seem interested in making an exception for something as momentous as the 20th Anniversary of Doctor Who - I digress).

It wasn't the same without Tom Baker. I mean, just imagine, how would Baker have interacted with Pertwee? Or, just for the sake of argument, would Baker and Peter Davison had the same chemistry as did Pertwee/Troughton? Ah, what it could have been.

One good thing, however, was to see Pertwee finally have his episode with the Cybermen. It was a shame that he never had one during his tenure in the early 70s and it was good to finally see that tragedy remedied.

Overall, good fun, good reunion, and despite what other people might say, the ending was not completely lame . . . well, perhaps just a little lame.

One last thing, the person who decided to insert the clip with William Hartnell at the very beginning should be commended. His introduction (excerpted, I believe, from the Dalek Invasion of Earth) set the proper tone for the 20th Anniversary show and paid great homage to the who who started it all.

Hope you enjoy.

This is a wonderful story to launch the Doctor Who DVD line. The updated "Special Edition" of "The Five Doctors" (produced in 1995 with extended scenes, scenes never broadcast in the original transmission, and updated special effects) deserves to be on DVD and this is a fine presentation.

The story itself is classic Doctor Who. It is a showcase for the series's 20th Anniversary. It features the First Doctor and Susan, the Second Doctor and the Brigadier, the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith, the Fourth Doctor and Romana II (sort of), the Fifth Doctor with Tegan and Turlough, plus Jamie and Zoe, Mike Yates and Liz Shaw, a Dalek, a Yeti, a squad of Cybermen, a Raston Warrior Robot, Bessie, K-9, Time Lords and The Master. The story is kind of silly, but with all of these characters and monsters thrown in, who really cares about the story?

The DVD itself offers the 90-minute story, the sound mixed in Dolby 5.1, 33 minutes of isolated music score, and if you live in North America, an absolutely hilarious and extremely entertaining commentary track featuring Peter Davison and Terrence Dicks.

I rate this 4 stars because there is a lack of extra features, compared to subsequent Doctor Who DVD releases and, well, The Five Doctors will never be considered the best of the best of Doctor Who, but still a highly recommended treat for the digitally obsessed Doctor Who fan.

Also, this will be a great introduction to the series to non-fans.

This 20th anniversary special is corny, essentially plotless and designed to cram in as many Doctors, companions and monsters as possible within 90 minutes. Still, you've got to hand it to them - they did a bang-up job for a show with a forever-fluctuating cast list (most notably our old buddy Tom Baker, who turned the project down before filming and got replaced by some old footage). "The Five Doctors" is a fun romp down memory lane, and as such happens to be one of the very best ways to bring new fans into the show (hey, it worked for me).

So why did we exactly need a "special edition"? No, the visual effects aren't especially great, but they never were on "Doctor Who." The additional scenes, while interesting, are mostly pointless additions that add nothing to the plot. Probably the best changes in the Special Edition are a slight rearrangement of events (which makes the story flow a little better) and some improved lightning effects. Not enough to justify a "Special Edition," for sure.

It's worth recognizing, though, that the original version of "The Five Doctors" will probably be released one day, and in the meantime, this really isn't a bad disc (certainly not the worst of the Region 1 line, by a long shot). Possibly where it disappoints the most is in the video department. The picture suffers from a lot of grain (especially in the outdoor sequences); while a significant step above the video, it pales in comparison to other '80s-era Who stories on DVD. The 5.1 soundtrack, on the other hand, is quite nice indeed.

Admittedly the "Who's Who" biographies are a bit sparing, but the half-hour of isolated musical score is a great inclusion. Without a doubt, though, the best extra on the disc is the commentary with Peter Davison and Terrance Dicks, which was recorded especially for the Region 1 release. It remains one of the two or three best commentaries for the "Who" DVDs yet. Davison and Dicks make a great team, both taking a jovial attitude towards proceedings. Since this disc's release, Peter Davison has proven himself an invaluable commentator on other stories; I would very much like to hear from Terrance Dicks again.

The story is a great way to get new fans into your favorite series, and the commentary alone makes the disc worth a seasoned fan's purchase.

If you're a Doctor Who fan, you can't be without this DVD. To my knowledge, it's the only time 5 Doctor's appear in the same episode. If you're new to the series, this is a great introduction as you'll meet the aforementioned 5 Doctor's, a few of their assistants and get a solid foundation to explore the Doctor's further adventures. It's not the strongest story in the series, but it's endlessly entertaining to see the Doctors relate to each other.

The audio commentary is at turns insightful and funny but I seemed to detect an undercurent of resentment that was quite suprising to me. Picture and sound is the best I've seen for a Doctor Who release. The 33minute soundtrack is a nice diversion, but I must admit to not listening to it all. One complaint I have is the omission of a booklet with chapter stops. I know you can find this information from the menu screen, but it's useful to have chapter stops in a booklet or on the back of the packaging for easy refrence when watching the episode.

Once again The Five Doctors is essential for historical as well as foundational reasons and this DVD is the best presentation it's ever recieved. Five Doctors = five times the fun!

I think Doctor Who had been going for 25 years when they decided to do this, and it's certainly not bad. A mysterious enemy traps all five (so far) Doctors (well, three and a half, really; the first Doctor is played by Richard Hurndall instead of the much-loved "Billy" Hartnell, who is deceased, and the fourth Doctor's actor, Tom Baker, is unavailable and so the story simply has him trapped in a time bubble or something) in a giant landscaped arena and pits them against many old enemies: a Dalek, a platoon of Cybermen, a yeti, a lightning-fast warrior robot and, of course, the Master.
The plot is pure ..., but it really doesn't matter; unusually good special effects (updated & remastered recently) and great acting on the part of the lead characters (especially Patrick Troughton) make this story spectacular. The scenes of the Doctors teaming up is particularly warm, and great work is done by the companions, past and present: Susan (a grown woman now, but she still manages the silly feat of falling & spraining her ankle), Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (who gets to give the Master a sweet right-cross), Sarah Jane Smith (who acts her part as if she never stopped playing it), the cynical Turlough and the acerbic Tegan, who gets to show the crabby first Doctor that she can scold as well as he can. Great photography, moments of deep suspense, and a fantastic action scene where the warrior robot coldly and efficiently slaughters at least a dozen Cybermen make this story very accessible to modern viewers. A good introduction to the series, really...even without Tom Baker. Come on, he's not the ONLY Doctor...

The Five Doctors aired in November 1983 as a 90 minute special to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Doctor Who. Then-current Doctor Peter Davison (Number Five) was joined by predecessors Patrick Troughton (Doctor Number Two) and Jon Pertwee (Number Three). The late William Hartnell had passed on nearly a decade earlier, but is seen at the very beginning of the episode in a clip from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and Richard Hurndall does an admirable job stepping into Hartnell's shoes as the First Doctor. Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, was unavailable to do the anniversary story, but is seen in clips from the unfinished story Shada (along with Lalla Ward as Romana), doctored up with some special effects and the subplot of the Fourth Doctor being trapped in a time vortex as an explanation as to why that particular Doctor is not part of the action in the story. Several of the Doctor's companions put in appearances--most of them cameos--including Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elisabeth Sladen), K-9 (voiced by John Leeson), the Doctor's granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Jamie McCrimmon (Fraser Hines), and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) among several others in addition to then-current companions Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson). The story involves an area on the Doctor's homeworld of Gallifrey called the Death Zone. A member of the High Council of the Time Lords has reactivated the Death Zone and used a timescoop to lift the Doctor's earlier incarnations, along with several of his companions from their respective time streams and place them in the Zone. The Fifth Doctor and his companions are brought to the Death Zone when the TARDIS is caught in a tractor beam. Several of the Doctor's old enemies--Daleks, Yeti, Cybermen--have also been brought to the Zone. The Doctor's archenemy the Master (the late Anthony Ainley) is sent into the Zone by the High Council to rescue the Doctors. The Doctors and their companions must journey to a dark tower (the Tomb of Rassilon) at the center of the Zone to disable the tractor beam holding the TARDIS, and find out who has reactivated the Death Zone to play the Game of Rassilon. Yes, having so many characters involved does make this story a bit of a cluster, but The Five Doctors made a great celebration of Doctor Who's twentieth anniversary, and it's one of my favorite stories from the Peter Davison era.

A classic celebration story involving the first five actors to play the legendary Doctor but this DVD is indeed a "Special Edition" and not the version originally televised. For example, the special effect of the mysterious Black Triangle that abducts the timelords from their respective time streams has been updated with a new CGI morphing effect. Also, when Tom Baker is returned at the end the scene has been changed. Instead of the Doctor and Romana seen happily rushing back to the Tardis in the broadcast version, we now see a recycled shot of the Doctor once again punting the yact as the new ghostly whirlwind effect flies off. This is perhaps the most disappointing change, as I would rather have seen the aforementioned cut shot from the unaired "Shada" episode which fitted in perfectly with the story. Also at the end, instead of the 3 Tardis' splitting up in different directions, the new whirlwind effect is used to show the Doctors dematerializing from the Tardis. While I love the new 5.1 Dolby sound mix and the inclusion of the isolated music soundtrack, I am ambivalent to the new alterations. Being a purist, I would rather have the original broadcast version intact. Granted the visual effects at the time were of poor quality but part of the production cheeziness is what Doctor Who is all about. The Peter Davison, Terrance Dicks commentary track makes reference to these changes specifically for the DVD version.

"The Five Doctors" was released on November 25, 1983 to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of "Doctor Who." The acting is top-notch, and the storytelling is remarkable.

Where the 90 Minute program fails is that the editing is off. You could tell that some scenes were cut right in the middle of them, going quickly from one to the other.

However, this DVD presents the 102-Minute Special Edition version of "The Five Doctors." New scenes have been added, and older ones extended, to make the program run more smoothly. The new visual effects are better than the old effects, but they still have the "bad taste" feel that was a vital part of the program.

Overall, "The Five Doctors - Special Edition" is far better than the version that was originally aired. Fans of the program will not want to miss this in their collections. Program/DVD Grade: A+

Yes, the one with all of them. Except that the first Doctor is recast and played very well by Richard Hurndall and Tom Baker, Doctor #4 chose not to take part. The producer bought Tom Baker many lunches and many drinks and in the end, he still refused to take part. So, bits from the unfinished story, Shada, were used for Tom's contribution.
In watching this story, it's important to not have extremely high expectations. It crams a lot into a 90 minute slot (100 minutes for the extended, special edition DVD). It's best to switch off your brain and let the images hit you. All of the Doctors are in fine form, and it's especially nice to have the lovely Patrick Troughton recreating the 2nd Doctor, since there is so little that exists from his original run as the Doctor in the late '60s. It's just a big celebration of Doctor Who and all (well, many) have been invited.
The Special edition works just fine and the new visual effects are a real enhancement to the story, in my opinion. None of the changes have drastically altered the story. In some cases, they have improved the feel of the story. For example, the voice of Rassilon has been enhanced in such a way that one believes that he is the most important figure in Time Lord history, rather than the game show host that was in the original version.
This first DVD is light on features, like the UK release. I was rather pleased that the US release got the commentary with Peter Davison and Terrance Dicks. They seem to have fond memories of the program, along with a few disappointments and frustrations.
I enjoyed the DVD enormously and hope that the Doctor Who releases on DVD continue.