Doctors Who too much of a good thing
- Publication: The Age
- Date: 1983-12-14
- Author: Brian Courtis
- Page: 2
- Language: English
IT MAY have been a twinge of cosmic angst, or just that I was running low on positive ions, but I found last night's lengthy bout of time-travelling with a pack of Doctor Whos just a little too much of a good thing.
'The Five Doctors' (Channel 2 at 7.30), a 90-minute BBC "special"* made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the program. ingeniously brought them all together by having a rogue Time Lord whisk the various generations back to a forbidden death zone on the planet Gallifrey. He wanted them to do the dirty work in his quest for immortality.
The doctors, I understand, were "time-scooped", which meant that a little black triangle chased them around the screen far a bit, swallowed them up, and dumped them all in what looked like the barren wastes of Siberia. All, that is, except Tom Baker, who found himself sucked up front a river punt only to wiggle around in a time-warp for the rest of the show.
Naturally, the Time Lord's vacuum cleaner collected a group of old friends and monsters to entertain the doctors. There were appearances by K-9, the robot dog; Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: Sarah-Jane: Tegan, the doctor's liberated Australian assistant; and Susan Freeman, one of the first to help Who.
A Dalek rattled around blaring "ex-ter-min-ate" before blowing its own head off, the rather stupid Cybermen marched up and down the hill trying to zap anything that moved and there was a Yeti chasing Patrick Troughton through a tunnel.
What we really missed last night were the matinee climaxes guaranteed with every half-hour episode. There were too few thrills. What was pleasing, however, was the chance to compare the five doctors together (Richard Hurndall making a comfortable substitute for the late William Hartnell); at least we could argue about who's Who was best.
Spelling correction: Susan Foreman
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- APA 6th ed.: Courtis, Brian (1983-12-14). Doctors Who too much of a good thing. The Age p. 2.
- MLA 7th ed.: Courtis, Brian. "Doctors Who too much of a good thing." The Age [add city] 1983-12-14, 2. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Courtis, Brian. "Doctors Who too much of a good thing." The Age, edition, sec., 1983-12-14
- Turabian: Courtis, Brian. "Doctors Who too much of a good thing." The Age, 1983-12-14, section, 2 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Doctors Who too much of a good thing | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctors_Who_too_much_of_a_good_thing | work=The Age | pages=2 | date=1983-12-14 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 April 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Doctors Who too much of a good thing | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctors_Who_too_much_of_a_good_thing | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 April 2025}}</ref>
