All the Dr. Whos get together

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Publication: Indianapolis News
Date: 1985-12-05
Author: Richard K. Shull
Page: 13
Language: English

The nice part about Britain's venerable "Doctor Who" is that you can wander into any episode at any point and feel you have missed nothing.

Likewise, if you cut out early.

The stories slosh around for 90-minutes. then tidy up for closing credits, only to return and repeat the process with the next show.

The series has been going for 22 years in England and now is in its fifth incarnation of the "dok-tuh."

Each time an actor leaves the role, the plot allows for the "regeneration" of Dr. Who into a new body. with a new person assuming the role, complete with his own new props, quirks and sidekicks.

So it's somewhat of a stunt tonight when WFYI 20 will broadcast a special episode of the show featuring all five doctors in one story. In fact, that's the name of the 90-minute show. "The Five Doctors." It goes on at 8.

The beauty of this free-wheeling science-fiction series is that anything is possible in the realm of fantasy and what has been regenerated over the years can now be unregenerated. with each of the doctors assuming his own identity.

The only constant is that all do their space traveling in the Tardis, a dilapidated little police call booth on the exterior that contains a large layout of scientific paraphernalia on the interior.

Here's the lineup

The five doctors in tonight's special show include:

• Richard Humdall, standing in for the late William Hartnell, the original Dr. Who.

• Patrick Troughton, the second Dr. Who, who has a hairdo Inspired by Moe Howard.

• Jon Pertwee, the third doctor, distinguished by his mop of shaggy white curls.

• Tom Baker, the fourth doctor who wears the 10-foot scarf.

• And Peter Davison, the current Dr. Who, who wears a sprig of celery on his lapel.

If you've ever caught the show, then you know the stories are bizarre and the costumes even more so.

What passes for attire on alien planets

usually looks like whatever the wardrobe department had within arm's reach. An unearthly is likely to appear in a Reynolds Wrap shroud with a chamberpot for a head.

Similarly, all the planets in the universe seem to have landscapes not unlike some of the rocky quarry areas near London.

Everything about the show is so unrelentingly hokey that ultimately it has to be fun because it could never be taken seriously.

But seldom seen

Although the series claims a weekly audience of 100 million viewers in 54 countries, it has been a rarity in Indianapolis.

Channel 59 gave the show a six-month run in 1984 when that independent station came on the air here, then dropped it for want of viewer interest.

Other than that, "Doctor Who" hasn't had an outlet here.

But even so, an organization of zealous "Doctor Who" fans who call themselves the Whoosier Network, meet monthly and show taped episodes of the series obtained from the syndicator.

To appease the vocal and persistent Whovians, who are leaning on Channel 20 to carry the show regularly. program director Alan Cloe said he would use tonight's special broadcast "as a gauge" to determine if there's enough interest here to buy the series.

Tonight's broadcast will start opposite NBC's "The Cosby Show." which happens to be the most popular program on TV this season, and Tom Selleck's "Magnum. on CBS.

The story tonight has a tumbling trapezoid that comes from space to snatch up four of the five doctors from their time streams and deposit them in the Death Zone of the planet Gallifrey, home of the Time Lords — fellows who wear contour beanies and talk earnestly.

The fifth doctor, Tom Baker, is trapped in a temporal void. Zowie.

While these bizarre things are happening, the hand of an unseen figure manipulates little effigies of the five doctors like chessmen.

The doctors are about to become players in a deadly game, with their lives at stake.

Arrayed against them are a variety of lethal types. dressed in the weird costumes the fans of the show have come to expect.

Where and how will it all end? About the way things usually do in the strange world of "Doctor Who."

If you think you might want to become addicted to "Doctor Who," tonight's show is a fine place to start, since it's a sampler of everything that has gone before.

All the Dr. Whos get together

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