Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: Four to Doomsday -Story 118

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not good enough to get five stars, but still pretty damn good. I think Peter Davison's Doctor was even better in this one than in a lot of his other stories. Don't get me wrong. I liked Davison's Doctor, but in this one in particular, he's just great. Better than in his premiere story. I think the reason why I like him better in this one is because he reminds me of a younger and more energetic Tom Baker. Much as he did in "Kinda", "The Visitation", "Earthshock", and "The Caves of Androzani". The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver more in this one, which is a nice thing to see considering that not long from now we won't see it again until the 1996 TV movie. And when they started using it in the new series, they used it way too much.

I haven't seen this one in a while, but that's just because I watched it so much when I first got it on VHS. It is a good one. The story is great. So are all the cliffhangers in it. The special effects are reasonably good, the spaceship was nice looking - both inside and out, lots of excitement, the music was great, and so was the acting. I recommend this one to anyone who has an interest in "Doctor Who". Oh, and by the way, Nyssa collapses at the end leaving you hanging. Let me tell you why she collapsed so you won't have to see the next story, which is not yet on DVD. She was just suffering from extreme exhaustion. She'll be fine.

Like most classic Doctor Who stories I have seen them all about a dozen times. "Four to Doomsday" is never one that I bring up in conversations about Doctor Who. Regardless of that, each time another DVD comes out from the classic era I scarf it up.

The one thing I liked about this story was that the special effects were a bit above par for the classic series and the sets were awesome. On the one hand the story is typical Who fodder as it it focuses on a self-centered, patronizing, egotistical frogman called "Monarch" who thinks he's God and wants to take over the earth and turn everyone into obedient androids while harvesting earth's minerals for his own evil existence. It is ingenious in that Monarch has been taking round trips around the universe for eons, snatching up representatives of the human race every few thousand years in the hopes of transplanting them back on earth under his watchful eye. The Doctor, of course, sees through all of this and saves the day.

The story is important in that not only is it Peter Davison's first taped show (it was broadcast second) but it plants the seeds for the Davison era with his interaction with his companions and elements of action.

Where the DVD falls down is with the extras. Since I have seen all these stories many times I look forward to the extras. The extras include about a half-hour of raw video from Davison's first day of shooting, which got a bit redundant, a contempory TV interview with Davison in which he spends more time talking about his role on "All Creatures Great and Small" than as the Doctor, and a collection of promotional photographs. But since 2-Entertain is getting these things out more quickly than Warner Brothers did, they may be spending less time producing the extras.

As a longtime fan of the classic series this is still another fine addition to my collection.

Though many criticize this story as being weak, it isn't that bad compared to what comes, and it is as good or better than many stories before. While it isn't an exceptional story, it's good, solid serial adventure. Much of the charm comes from good acting, an unusual story for Who, and excellent direction. The corny component of repetitive dancing, over acting, and hysterics doesn't hurt it as much as the lack of such elements hurts dull Who stories before or since. An emotional component is necessary when stories become a "tale of two rooms".

I loved seeing this again after 20 years.

The real treat for me was hearing the cast/crew commentary track. Davison, Waterhouse, Fielding, and Sutton were a very good set of personalities to work together, and you can hear their ease and familiarity in the commentary. They don't take the show seriously and it provides a warm commentary, similar to an afternoon in Davison's living room with old friends. I love how these four seem to know so much about the show through all eras, including the recent series. Though technical commentary is much more satisfying, such amiable commentary is a good second best. John Black, the director, was on the track, but he was too often set back by the banter of the cast. Blame throwing never showed up, unlike many commentaries during the Nathan-Turner era.

It's a pity the DVD production didn't include the familiar "making of" documentary included with many of the more recent DVDs.

Very little has been said about Four To Doomsday. Even the extras on this DVD release are slim. But if you are a fan of the chlostrophopic-trapped inside a spaceship story than Four to Doomsday is for you. In fact you could argue that the real stars of this episode are the sets. There is a nice mix of dark, shadowy hallways and vibrant colors throughout this story. The low, pulsating hum of deep space that permiate the backround noise in Four To Doomsday create an erie edge to this story that never lets up throughout the four episodes.
As for the stars of the show,Peter Davison is still new to the role at this point and boy does it show. Only his second story Four To Doomsday was actualy filmed first which I belive to be a mistake in hindsight. Davison's performance has that feeling my way around quality to it which should be reserved for the first story of a new doctor. That being said it gives the doctor an extended feeling of "newness" left over from Castrovalva. Janet Feilding and Mathew Waterhouse are at thier series lows here. Not realy their fault though as they are forced to spill out mind numbingly dumd lines like, "Could you pass the sodium chloride please"? and Tegan's "too right this and too right that". Sarah Sutton slowly starts to shine in this episode as her character becomes more entangled in the capture's web. An of course there are the Frogs: Monarch, Elightenment , and Persuation. Thank goodness the later two are only seen in frog form for one episode. These were not the worst monsters in the show's history but they certainly were not the best.
I could ramble on about the rest of the faults with this episode but anyone who reads this review will already be well aware of them. The fact of the matter for me though is that I am glad they released this episode when they did. Most fans of the show probably had this episode pegged as one of the last to be released on DVD (just as it was on VHS). Kudos to the restoration team for dropping this slightly off centered "GEM" right in the middle. I have always had a fondness for this story because of it's "Doctor Who-e-ness". Cheesey aliens, colorful sets and costums, crazy, non-plausable story arc and dialog that would make william Shakesphere turn in his grave. If I could only have one Peter Davison episode for the rest of my life I would of course take Mawdryn Undead....but if I could have two I would take the little episode that almost could: Four To Doomsday.....Anybody could watch Caves of Andrazani.

Four to Doomsday was the very first episode that Davison filmed for the series. It was felt that they wanted him to be more at ease in the role when he shot Castrovalva so they mixed things up a bit and shot Four to Doomsday first. Nice idea but F.T.D. is an average Davison adventure at best. Worth getting to complete the collection but that's about it. I myself will be picking it up used as Amazon, in it's wisdom (?) decided to raise the price on the new disc while it sat in my saved section in the cart. Economic times being what they are, I deleted it and the War Machines for the same reason. I guess it really doesn't pay to keep things in the saved section of the cart! They just get more expensive and for a substandard ep like this or War Machines, it's just not even worth full price, ans especially not a raised one.

First let me qualify that I loved the Peter Davison years (1981-84). The potentially disastrous transition from Tom Baker's longest running a 4th incarnation to Davison's Fifth. From the Doctor Who writer Terence Dudley who brought us such 80's plot train wrecks as the Black Orchid and the original Xmas special K9 & Co., we now welcome "Four to Doomsday" to DVD. Dudley's writing is the least of this episode's problems, as it happens this was the first story arc that the "new" Doctor would film, although it would follow the excellent season premiere of Castrovalva, it was truly the story Davison would explore how he was intending to portray the character. For this reason, "Four to Doomsday" is weaker, but for the very same reason it is worth owning to watch this awkward transition period. For his charter season, Davison's Doctor is very much like William Hartnell's 1st Doctor, not to mention the entourage of companions that both Doctor's were afflicted. The show's design and effects are quite neat, like the Doctor's spacewalk, the retro-pseudo-science helmets and the Monopitcon camera-critters.

The plot, if you can follow it between the Rave/World Music dance-offs, is something about a frogman Monarch, who has visited Earth 4 times, collecting people to make android replicas to distract him on his millennia-road trips. The Urbankans' leader, Monarch, is aided by his ministers Persuasion and Enlightenment. They are engaged in a overly-complex plan to loot raw materials needed to enable him to travel back in time confirming his belief in his own status as "creator of the universe." He intends to poison humanity, allowing him to use his androids as replacements on Earth. The Doctor ultimately uses this poison against the Monarch himself. Ultimately, the baddies plan never becomes clear, in spite of all the exposition.

The episode endings are weaker than the usual fare, the first part wraps with the appearance of android embodiments of companion Tegan's highly proficient "new wave" Earthling renderings, surprising, but hardly the point to wrap the show until next week! Counter to "Who" cliffhanger tradition, the Doctor actually doesn't any immediate threat until little over an hour in (crazy long by Who standards), and then it gets very BOND as the villain invites them to dine. But as if the apologize for this weakness, the closing moments of the story have Nyssa collapsing upon returning to the TARDIS, a cliffhanger leading to Nyssa being largely absent from the next story arc KINDA.


"Four to Doomsday" Drinking game...drink each time .....

...the Doctor loses his Companions, Sonic ScrewDriver...his way.

...the dialogue unleashes some amazing double entendres ...like Adric's gem, "He (The Doctor) knows I'm no good with my hands!" and several from the Urbankans, like "How can Earthlings have penetrated us?" or "Nyssa, relieve him" and "Is this one of your dropping times, Doctor?"

..the dialogue turns to heavy self-referencing exposition like Adric's non-stop rambling about the Timelords, TARDIS and anything else the Urbankans "Wanted to Know, but Were Afraid to Ask."

...the cameras cut back to a musical number.

...the action breaks for some Greco-Roman wrestling.

"Four to Doomsday" enjoys a reputation as one of the weakest of the 5th Doctor stories. And while I would agree with that assessment, my overall fondness for Davison's portrayal means that it's still a fairly entertaining way of spending 90 minutes.

The Doctor and his full-house of companions, enroute to Heathrow to drop Teagan off at her job, materialize instead of a giant space ship 4 days from Earth. The ship is populated by 3 frog-like humanoids (2 of which later shape-shift into human-types), plus an assortment of what appear to be actual humans kidnapped from various times and places on Earth. The Doctor's attempts to discover exactly what is happening, and save Earth from certain disaster make up the overall plot. Some of the content is pretty laughable (the famous cricket ball manouver, Teagan's bizarre attempts to fly the Tardis to earth and 'warn them' (does she REALLY think she can pilot the Tardis?), and the 'recreationals' that stop the action dead on a frequent basis. But the acting is fine, (except for that delivered by a certain young male companion who shall remain nameless) the special effects well done (for the time and budget) and all told, it rates about a B- for entertainment value.

The real value on this disc comes in the extras. I have always loved the commentaries offered by this foursome (Davison/Sutton/Fielding/Waterhouse. They seem to be having a wonderful time, and while Fielding's constant bitching about her hair gets tiresome after half a dozen listens,(she does this on EVERY disc) the rest is highly entertaining. Other worthwhile extras include an absolutely fascinating look at a recording session -- we spend 30 minutes watching Davison's very first studio recording session (not counting the 2 minute change-over in Logopolis, of course), as the Doctor -- and come to understand how it can take several days to record ONE 24 minute episode. ("Can we do that again? Sorry, there was a boom in shot.") Also entertaining is Davison's appearence on a talkshow, where we learn about his early years in the industry, and watch him make a milkshake. More expendable extras include a photo-gallery and a very annoying music video of the title sequence.

If you're a fan who buys DVDs just for the main content, this one should probably not be high on your list. But if you like the extras (I always go to them first thing), this is a must-have.

A good story. Peter Davidson does his normal excellent job of not exactly knowing what he is going to do until he does it. Very good support from all the other actors.

The Doctor fresh from his rest from his regenration and his escape from the clutches of the Master. Is taking Tegan home so she can catch her flight and go on with her life. The Doctor accidently lands the entire crew on a spaceship that seems to be on course with 20th century earth. Unknown to the Doctor he and the crew they have come to the being ship knnown as "Monarch". He along with his two chamberlains Enlightement and Persuasion they intend to go to earth and share in the vast technology the Monarch ha to offer. The Doctor thinks this is strange, Tegan just wants to get home. Adric and Nyssa are wondering why the Monarch has such an interet in them. And why is the world is the ship populated by ancient romans, chinese peasents, aborignies and the like? Can the Doctor and the others figure these things out or will earth be visited by aliens of the stragnest kind?
As for the other items in the dvd. The commentary is rather good with the main cast and the very much in tune with the feel of it. The clean up of the film is great and you get much of the detail from it. Also the extras are few but worht it. On a note that many of the older doctor who stories get digital effets and I thought this one should have gotten it as well but oh well I guess its the older titles they want to improve upon. Still a good story and a good dvd to have.

It was a lot of fun watching this dvd. I'm sharing the classic Doctor Who's with my children who are enjoying them as much as I did growing up.