The Five Doctors is
a special feature-length episode of the British
science
fiction television series Doctor
Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth
anniversary. It aired in the United Kingdom on 25 November
1983, although it had its world premiere in the United States
, on the Chicago
PBS station WTTW-TV
and various
other PBS affiliates on 23 November the
anniversary date.
Synopsis
Someone is plucking all the incarnations of
the Doctor out of time and placing them
in the Death Zone on
Gallifrey, where they
will meet old friends and enemies and play out the deadly Game of
Rassilon, for the ultimate prize. But to lose is to win, and he who
wins shall lose...
Plot
A mysterious figure begins to use a Time Scoop to bring the
previous
incarnations
of the Doctor, some of his former
Companions Susan Foreman,
Sarah Jane Smith, and
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart,
and his archenemies including the
Daleks and
Cybermen, into the Death Zone on
Gallifrey; though the figure is able to bring the
First,
Second, and
Third
Doctor into the zone, the
Fourth
Doctor along with
Romana become stuck in
the time vortex. The
Fifth Doctor,
while relaxing on the Eye of Orion with
Tegan and
Turlough, suddenly feels pains as his former
selves are taken from the time stream, and returns everyone to the
TARDIS, setting course for Gallifrey. The
various Doctors and companions separately meet up, with each of the
Doctors independently recognizing the Death Zone and directing
their companions towards the single large tower sitting in the
middle of it, avoiding the various foes and monsters that have also
been brought to the Zone.
On Gallifrey, the High Council of
Time
Lords, headed by Lord President
Borusa
and consisting of Chancellor Flavia and the
Castellan, learn of the reactivation
of the Death Zone, the abduction of the Doctor's former selves from
the time line, and the drain of power from the
Eye of Harmony resulting from those. They
reluctantly agree to call the
Master to assist the Doctors in the
Death Zone, offering him a pardon and a new set of regenerations
should he cooperate. The Master agrees, and accepts a copy of the
Seal of the High Council to prove to the Doctors that he is working
for them, and a transmat device that he can use to escape the Death
Zone. In the Death Zone, the Master first encounters the Third
Doctor, who accuses him of faking the Seal, and then the Fifth
Doctor; when they are attacked by Cybermen, the Master is knocked
out. The Fifth Doctor discovers the transmat device and uses it to
return to the Capital, where he is informed of the situation by the
Council. The Doctor, suspecting foul play, discovers that the
transmat device included a homing beacon that would lure the
Cybermen to it, and the Castellan is arrested on charges of being a
traitor. A search of the Castellan's chambers reveals the Black
Scrolls of
Rassilon, preportedly containing
forbidden Time Lord knowledge. Borusa burns the scrolls and orders
the Castellan to be mind probed for interrogation, but the
Castellan escapes and is shot down by a Citadel guard. Borusa
considers the matter closed, but the Doctor confides in Flavia his
doubts. When the two try to find Borusa in the Council room, they
find him missing. The Doctor discovers a secret room, where they
find Borusa at the controls of the Time Scoop. Borusa, desired to
be President Eternal of Gallifrey, is intent on seeking immortality
from the Tomb of Rassilon, hidden in the tower in the Death Zone,
and had brought the Doctor and his former selves to it to clear the
various hazards and traps within it. Borusa uses the Coronet of
Rassilon to overpower the Doctor's will, taking momentary control
of him.
Meanwhile, in the Death Zone, the other three incarnations of the
Doctor have entered the tower through separate points, passed the
various traps, and have converged in the Tomb, and reacquaint
themselves with the various companions. They decipher a message in
ancient Gallifreyan on Rassilon's Tomb, describing that anyone who
wants immortality is free to take it by wearing Rassilon's ring,
but warns that "to lose is to win and he who wins shall lose". The
Master appears and tries to take the ring, but the Doctors'
companions overpower him. The Doctors are then able to disable the
field preventing the TARDIS from materializing in the tower, and it
shortly arrives. With the TARDIS, they contact the Citadel, where
the controlled Fifth Doctor instructs them to wait. Borusa and the
Fifth Doctor transmat into the room, Borusa subjecting the Doctors'
companions to a force field to prevent them from interfering. The
other Doctors try to fight against the power of Borusa's mind with
the Coronet, but they are interrupted by the voice of Rassilon.
Borusa asserts to Rassilon that he is here for immortality, and
while the other Doctors attempt to stop him, the First Doctor tells
them to hold off. Borusa dons the ring, but soon screams out in
pain as he is transformed into living rock as part of Rassilon's
Tomb, the fate described by the riddle as the First Doctor had
figured out. Rassilon's spirit returns the Master to his own time,
and frees the Fourth Doctor from the Time Vortex; the other Doctors
quickly refuse any further reward from Rassilon. The Doctors all
leave their separate ways, leaving the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and
Turlough alone. However, they are soon joined by Flavia and Citadel
guards; Flavia insists that with Borusa's disappearance, the
Council appointed the Doctor as President, an offer he cannot
refuse by Gallifreyan law. Hesitant to take power, the Doctor
orders Flavia back to the Citadel, where she will have power until
he returns himself in his TARDIS, and quickly departs. The Doctor
notes to his companions that Flavia will remain in power for a long
time as he has no intention on returning to Gallifrey any time
soon.
Cast notes
- The role of the First Doctor was played by Richard Hurndall, as
William Hartnell, who originally played the role, died in 1975.
William Hartnell does make an appearance, however, in a pre-titles
sequence taken from the end of The Dalek Invasion of
Earth.
- Tom Baker declined to reprise his role as the Fourth Doctor, as he did not want to reappear
in the series so recently after his departure (a decision he would
later say that he regretted), so his appearance in the story was
pieced together from footage filmed for the unaired serial
Shada.
- The scene with Jamie and Zoe was originally written with Zoe
and Victoria Waterfield in mind.
The Doctor would have realised the truth when Victoria called
Lethbridge-Stewart "Brigadier", since Victoria had met the
Brigadier only when he was a Colonel, in The Web of Fear. However, Deborah Watling was unable to make the
recording dates. Frazer Hines was able to free himself up for a
day's shooting, so Jamie was written in instead.
- In the original drafts of the script, the Doctor/companion
combinations were very different. Before Tom Baker decided not to
appear, the Fourth Doctor would have been paired with Sarah, the
Third Doctor with the Brigadier and the Second Doctor with Jamie.
When Baker declined to appear and Frazer Hines proved unavailable,
the scripts had to be altered. However, Hines was able to step in
later for a cameo appearance, as noted above.
- John Levene was asked to appear as
Sergeant Benton but objected to the
way in which the character interacted with the Second Doctor- as
his role called for Benton not to recognise the Second Doctor,
Levene stating that Benton would not forget who the Second Doctor
was- and declined to participate. The scene was filmed with an
unnamed sergeant in place of Benton.
Continuity
- This is only the second time in the series' history that there
was a pre-credits sequence. Castrovalva (1982) was the first such
story. Subsequently, Time and the
Rani (1987) and Remembrance of the Daleks
(1988) also featured pre-credits teasers. The pre-credits sequence
became a regular occurrence starting with the 2005 series episode
The End of the
World.
- This serial also featured the debut of the new TARDIS console
and room, the first redesign since 1977. This console would remain
until the end of series production in 1989.
- This serial ended fan speculation as to whether or not Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee's
Doctors were regenerations or merely "changes of appearance". It
also explicitly indicated in dialogue that the Davison incarnation
of the Doctor was in fact the fifth, officially contradicting the
Morbius Doctors
speculation that had circulated since the The Brain of Morbius serial that
there had been additional incarnations of the Doctor prior to
Hartnell.
- When asked by the Third Doctor as to whether he has regenerated
again, the Master says, "Not exactly", referencing his stealing of
Tremas' body as seen in the Fourth Doctor story The Keeper of Traken (1981).
- This is the first time it is suggested that a new cycle of
regenerations can be bestowed on a person (in this case the
Master), implying that it could be possible to circumvent the
twelve-regeneration limit established in The Deadly Assassin. However, the
Master is occupying a non-Time Lord body, so whether this can be
applied to a Time Lord who has already reached his thirteenth
incarnation is unclear. Years later, however, the episode "Utopia" shows the Master regenerating
and in the following episode "The
Sound of Drums" indicates that he had been "resurrected" (the
Master's own word, left unexplained) by the Time Lords to fight in
the Time War, suggesting a new
regeneration cycle was indeed bestowed upon him.
- Three incarnations of Borusa previously
appeared in The Deadly
Assassin, The Invasion
of Time and Arc of
Infinity.
- Dinah Sheridan makes a guest appearance as Flavia. The
character has subsequently been mentioned in spin-off fiction as
becoming President of the High Council and then subsequently
removed from office due to a scandal (as detailed in the New Adventures novel, Happy
Endings). In the new series, a musical cue composed by
Murray Gold with ethereal sounding
vocals is jokingly referred to as "Flavia's Theme" by the
production team, who say it is Flavia's voice singing out from the
time vortex.
- When Flavia informs the (Davison) Doctor that he has been
appointed President she states that she announces this for the
second time. Although the Doctor had been President before
(The Invasion of
Time), Flavia had not appeared on screen before The
Five Doctors.
- One of the jewels from the Coronet of Rassilion would later
play an important part in the Big
Finish Productions Bernice
Summerfield adventure The
Crystal of Cantus.
- No explanation is given for companion Kamelion's absence from this story.
- The First Doctor does not quite recognise the Master ("Do I
know you?"), and has to be reminded of their time at the Academy
together. The Third Doctor does recognise him, however, though it
seems not as easily as usual. The Second Doctor also appears to
recognise the Master without hesitation, as does the
Brigadier.
Retroactive perspectives
- This story takes place after The Dalek Invasion of Earth
from the point of view of the First Doctor and Susan, given Susan's
mature appearance and the implication that they have been separated
for some time.
- Although it is never made clear exactly where this story takes
place within the Second and Third Doctors' chronology, it is made
clear that it takes place after the events of The Three Doctors. The
Second Doctor mentions Omega
while reminiscing with the Brigadier, and also makes a comment
about his own replacement being "unpromising" when he is in UNIT
headquarters and meets Lethbridge-Stewart's successor. The Third
Doctor also refers to “that fellow in the check trousers and black
frock-coat” when he meets the illusions of Mike Yates and Liz Shaw.
The familiar and mock-antagonistic way that the Second and Third
Doctors interact also suggests that The Five Doctors takes
place after the events of The Three Doctors for them both.
Since the First Doctor refers to the Second as "the little fellow",
it is reasonable to assume that the story takes place later in his
chronology as well.
- The Second Doctor's method of determining that Jamie and Zoe
are phantoms, which references the events of The War Games, is, seemingly, a
continuity error. The memories of Jamie and Zoe's travels with the
Doctor, as opposed to their respective initial adventures with him
in their own home eras (The Highlanders and
The Wheel in Space) were
wiped in The War Games when they were returned to their
own times at a moment just after they had left in the TARDIS. There
are various fan explanations for this and it is noted that it is
the Brigadier only that they should not have recognised as neither
of them would remember meeting him in The Web of Fear and The Invasion respectively.
(see Season 6B)
- This story takes place some time between Invasion of the Dinosaurs and
Planet of the Spiders
from the Third Doctor's point of view, as he is driving Bessie when
he encounters and recognises Sarah Jane, for whom events take place
after K-9 and Company.
- The Third Doctor reacts to Sarah's mimed description of the
Fourth Doctor by saying, "Teeth and curls?" and telling her the
change has not happened yet for him. Although the Third Doctor may
just be interpreting her gestures, his accuracy has led some fans
to believe that it implies a previous unseen encounter with the
Fourth Doctor. According to Lis Sladen, on the twenty-fifth
anniversary DVD commentary, the line was
supposed to be Sladen's, but Pertwee negotiated with her for him to
say it instead, leading to the problem. In the short story The
Touch of the Nurazh by Stephen Hatcher from the anthology
Short Trips:
Monsters, an injury makes the Third Doctor begin to
regenerate into the Fourth but the process is reversed by an alien
intelligence that was attempting to possess the Doctor. This is
witnessed by Jo Grant, and the theory is that she subsequently
describes the Fourth Doctor's appearance to the Third.
- This story occurs after Mawdryn
Undead from the Brigadier's point of view, given that he
recognises both Tegan and the Fifth Doctor.
- At the start of the episode, Sarah Jane Smith is shown with
K-9, a direct reference to the spin-off pilot of two years earlier,
K-9 and Company. The two
characters later returned in the Tenth
Doctor story School
Reunion.
- Rassilon is seen briefly in this story, but not in any other TV
tales. He does return in some Big Finish audios such as
Neverland and
Zagreus, where
he is revealed to still be alive in some form in the Matrix as he
attempts to turn the Eighth Doctor
into his assassin to eliminate a race that he perceives as a
threat.
- Sarah Jane shows no concern about K-9 being visible to
passers-by in her yard, and her gate bears a sign, "beware of dog".
In "The Wedding of Sarah
Jane Smith", however, she hides him and panics when he rushes
past her fiance, quickly making up a cover story. Her gate in the
later series does not bear a warning sign.
Production
- The working title for this story was The Six Doctors.
It would have been written by former script editor Robert Holmes and would have
featured the Cybermen and their kidnapping of the five incarnations of the
Doctor; in their attempt to extract Time
Lord DNA to turn themselves into "Cyberlords", the twist being
that the First Doctor and Susan would actually be android impostors (the former being the "Sixth
Doctor" of the title) and the Second Doctor would have saved the
day. However, Holmes dropped out at an early stage and another
former script editor, Terrance Dicks, was brought in instead. Some
elements of this plotline would be reused in Holmes's own
The Two Doctors.
- The original script featured an appearance by the Autons, last seen in Terror of the Autons. After being
dropped into the Death Zone, Sarah would have been attacked by a
group of them before being rescued by the Third Doctor. However,
due to budgetary restrictions, the scene was dropped and replaced
in the finished version.
- Just before she meets the Third Doctor, Sarah falls a few feet
down what fans have generally considered a rather unconvincing
slope. In the novelisation, Sarah actually steps off a cliff. This
was what was originally intended in the script, but for budgetary
reasons the sequence was changed.
- Nathan-Turner's first choice of director for the story was
Waris Hussein, who had directed the
first ever Doctor Who serial, An Unearthly Child, in 1963.
However, Hussein was in America at the time and was unable to
accept the offer. Nathan-Turner then asked another veteran
director, Douglas Camfield, to
direct but he also declined. Camfield was also very ill with
heart disease, and this may have had
an impact on his decision not to direct the production. He died of
a heart attack early in
1984.
- The
programme is officially a co-production with the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation
, although the production team were not aware of
this during production and the agreement in effect amounted to
little more than a pre-production purchase pact.
- The story was prepared in two formats: the ninety-minute
version and a four-part version, the latter designed for
international distribution or repeat broadcasting in the ordinary
series run. The episode breaks were, respectively: Sarah falling
down the slope, the Cybermen placing their bomb outside the TARDIS
while Susan and Turlough watch; and the Master appearing behind the
First Doctor and Tegan while in the
Dark Tower.
- In the
various publicity photos of the five Doctors from this story, a
waxwork model of Tom Baker from a 1980
Doctor Who Exhibition in Madame Tussaud's
was used. According to producer John
Nathan-Turner, Baker had agreed to do the photocall for the 20th
anniversary but, suspecting that he might not turn up,
Nathan-Turner organised for the waxwork to be on location.
- This is the only programme from the classic series of
Doctor Who for which all recorded and filmed material,
including alternate and unused takes, fluffed scenes and so forth,
still exists in broadcast-quality format. This allowed for the
creation of the 1995 version of the story.
- The end credits featured a specially mixed version of the theme
music, which began with Delia
Derbyshire's original 1960s arrangement and then segued into
the Peter Howell arrangement being used
by the series at the time (the former being played at a slightly
higher speed to match the tempo of the
latter). This arrangement was only used on this one occasion and
was the last time that the Derbyshire version was heard during the
show's original run. A unique arrangement of the opening credits
music was also used, which ended in a brief coda phrase that was
never used in any other serial.
- The Five Doctors sound was recorded in 4 channel
stereo, but broadcast in mono. The later DVD releases had a Dolby
Digital 5.1 soundtrack.
Outside references
In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by
Terrance Dicks, was published by
Target Books in November 1983; it was the only
Target novelisation to be published before its story was
transmitted.
Broadcast, VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD releases
Original UK DVD release front
cover.
- The Five Doctors was first broadcast
in the United
States on the actual date of the programme's 20th
anniversary. The broadcast in the United Kingdom was delayed
two days so it could coincide with the BBC's Children in Need charity night. There were
a few segments in the BBC broadcast that had not been shown in the
US airing: for example, the Fourth Doctor's recitation of former
Cambridge alumni (in the sequence lifted from Shada) and
some of the Dalek chase scene.
- A four-part-serial version of the story was shown on BBC One,
nightly between 14 August and 17 August 1984 at 6.15pm.
- The story was first released on VHS and
Betamax in September 1985, accidentally
using the slightly shorter version sold to the USA. In 1990, the
story was re-released, on VHS only, using the original UK broadcast
edit. This version was also released on US Laserdisc in 1994.
- A Special Edition of the episode, with updated special
effects, surround-sound compatibility and an alternate editing of
the raw material was released on VHS in 1995 in a box set with the
video of The King's
Demons and a limited edition postcard album.
- The Special Edition was the first Doctor Who
story to be released on DVD, on 1 November 1999.
The Region 1 version has a commentary track by Peter Davison and
writer Terrance Dicks. This would
later be carried over to the 2008 Re-release in Region 2.
- On 22 August 2005 it was announced that The Five
Doctors would be the first Doctor Who story to be
made available to download to mobile
phones, in a deal between BBC
Worldwide and the technology firm Rok
Player.
- The story was re-released as a 25th. anniversary
edition DVD on 3 March 2008. This release contains both the
original broadcast version and the special edition.
- The special was a free gift of issue 4 of Doctor Who DVD Files.
Special Edition differences
- Several scenes have been extended with previously unused
footage. Some scenes also have new musical cues.
- The Time Scoops's black triangles have been replaced with a new
effect, resembling an upside-down whirlwind.
- Thunder sound-effects have been added to the scenes of the
First Doctor trapped in the mirror-maze as well as to the scene of
him outside the front gate.
- All beam effects including the boobytrapped checkerboard floor
have been redone.
- The effect of the Fifth Doctor and the phantoms fading away
have been altered to look less similar.
- The image and visual-effect of the Fourth Doctor stuck in the
time-vortex has been changed, it no longer features Romana.
- Rassillon's voice has been altered to sound more dramatic.
- The last scene of the Fourth Doctor returned to his proper
place in space and time has been changed to a different clip from
Shada.
- The scene at the end in which the various Doctors depart in
their TARDISes has been replaced with "Time Scoops" departing
instead.
- Whilst the fifth Doctor and the Master are talking (having just
met), the cyberman who catches sight of them no longer says "Ah!"
to himself.
References
External links
Reviews
Target novelisation
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Misc
Search