I was lucky enough to meet Jon Pertwee at a sci-fi convention in the late 1980s, he was very charming. He was also amusingly baffled at a very tiny camera that I was holding. It used 110 film (remember those?) and came inside a cereal box. “What the hell is that?” he asked with a smile. What a charming man, I do miss him.
I saw him at a convention in Manchester around this time too. Didnt meet him personally but he was joking about how people confused him with Margret Rutherford
"I'm the Doctor. The ORIGINAL, you might say....." That phrase stuck in my mind for some reason. Clearly it didn't have the same effect on Chibnall.....
Apart from my early scattered memories of ABC repeats, this is the earliest story I remember as my parents recorded it when it was broadcast in 1983. I honestly believe this story was responsible for its continued fandom and led to the increased hunt for missing episodes. It's in my top 5. Thanks for this.
On the basis of this video alone I would like every video and subscribe to this channel 1,000 times if I could. I was 8 years old when this came out and I don’t think I was aware there were more Doctors before Tom Baker at this point so it was an exciting revelation that made me seek out Doctors before my time. Not an easy thing to do without access to DVDs and the internet. Let’s just say I got to know these older doctors via books and comics before I saw more of them on screen. The Five Doctors is a masterpiece despite its obvious limitations. Edit: the karaoke Daleks running joke gets funnier every time 🤣
Almost the same for me. I was 10 and had only really know Tom Baker and Peter Davison (still the ‘new’ Doctor’). Still recall my childish, crushing disappointment that Baker didn’t return. It genuinely upset me for an infeasibly long time.
I was 8 as well, I knew there were Dr's before SIR TOM BAKER, but knew nothing of their temperaments and Styles. Thoroughly enjoyed the 5 Doctors and Iam sure it remained on VHS for a couple of years. Its was also one of the first videos I bought when I got back into the Daleks and Doctor Who when I was 17.
Altogether, at this point in the storyline, there were, in fact seven actors who had portrayed the Doctor - Peter Cushing, best known for horror movies, in two cinematic outings, playing him similar to William Hartnell, and Richard Hurndall, playing the William Hartnell version of the Doctor in this production! With the first three actors now deceased, there’s not a chance of a special episode reuniting all the Doctors to date - but, assuming that it was possible, what would the First Doctor have made of the latest regeneration? And, if Susan appeared, would she call Jodie Whittaker Grandmother? The only grandmother who used to be her grandfather and is younger than herself!
I was only 5 when this came out but I had the foresight to record it on our new VHS machine. I had to insist on staying up late because for some reason the first airing was on late at night here in the UK. I'm so glad I did because I watched that tape to death. The writers did a great job making this story work, and like the OP I ended up reading every Dr Who novelisation I could get my hands on.
Brilliantly written and delivered - as usual. The running gag of the singing Dalek and the Ultimate Bessie Sound System crack me up every Who review :) You've managed to create a really endearing channel through skill and warmth. First class work and I thank you for it.
For a show about a time traveler, time travel was rarely a plot element used in the original series. It was how he got from place to place and time to time, but once he arrived, it didn't play much. The Five Doctors was a rare example and it showed both the strengths and weaknesses of delving into it too much. The obvious part was what the Second Doctor should know and his apparent control of the Tardis. Of course, this has given us the Season 6B Theory, which I rather like. I'd say the biggest loss due to Tom Baker opting out was the real Jamie. Troughton and Hines are arguably the best pairing in the show's history. Since they had to rejigger the pairings, Jamie was reduced to an illusion, presumably because they had to keep Sarah Jane and the Brigadier due to them being more recent and still popular. Looking back, a two hour special would have really enabled them to flesh out the characters and provided more opportunities for interaction between Doctors and companions. It's kind of weird than no one blinks at the idea the Doctor has a granddaughter.
Actually, Frazer Hines was busy at the time and thus his role as Jamie had to be downsized in the special. It’s a miracle we even got Nicolas Courtney included on the show twice in 1983.
I watched Doctor Who on and off in the early 70s from our local PBS station. But I really fell in love with the doctor in 1985. Back then we didn’t have video tapes or episodes running on TV. We had to rely on the novelization‘s. I got mega hooked on those. And then finally our local PBS station started to show them again. I joined a local fan club. I collected all the video tapes when they finally came out on CBS video tapes. Then finally the DVDs and now the blue rays. Long live Doctor Who!
From the US. Exactly as you mentioned I was introduced to Dr Who mainly through Tom Baker reruns shown on PBS (US Public Television) in the late 80s (at that point the episodes I was seeing for the first time were already 10-15 years old). I was around 9 at the time. You manage to tie whole seasons together in a way that help me make sense out of this huge input into my then still developing personality. Respect to the considerable research you've obviously put in as well as all the hours editing the videos together etc. It's a pleasure to re-discover Dr Who and laugh at all the silliness as well as remember all the great scary moments that made me a memorably eccentric 10 year old Tom Baker wannabe. Will be sure to watch everything you put out. Cheers from a new subscriber
Love Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Dalek . I was eleven when this was shown in 1983 . Had vague idea who First, Second and Third Doctors where , and was really disappointed Tom Baker was not in it . At that the time I was not aware of all the off screen shenanigans . But still throughly enjoyed this show . A shame there was no similar team up in 1993 or 2003.
Great recap and review as always. And a laugh. Similar to your experience, the Five Doctors kicked my own fandom into high gear. I was already a dedicated viewer, having watched everything from Pertwee through Tom Baker and up to the 19th Season at this stage (as they were repeated continuously in Aus, as you have noted), and started collecting the novelisations of earlier stories in a modest way, but the the 20th Anniversary Special set me on the path of teenage obsession. Suddenly I needed to own ALL of the novelisations, and ALL of the VHS releases, and ALL of the non-fiction books, and ALL of the... you get the picture!
Great video...luv the singing Dalek...Lol. I was a kid when the Tom Baker episodes aired on PBS here in the States, which turned me into a Whovian almost immediately. Also collected the Marvel Comics, Target novelizations, making of books, and Doctor Who Magazine, etc. I can't state enough how frenzied my anticipation for "The Five Doctors" was...and despite the lack of Tom Baker, I was still blown away by it when it first aired! It's also one of my favorite episodes of the series ever and also left me wanting more. I attended Doctor Who conventions around this time as well, and met both Colin Baker and JNT, who were promoting his debut as the 6th Doctor...I really wanted to like his era more than I did...there were some promising stories in his debut season, but it just went off the rails with "Trial of a Time Lord" and didn't improve until Sylvester McCoy's 2nd season, but it was too little too late to save Doctor Who by then, sadly. Still, I wouldn't trade watching Doctor Who on PBS from the late 70s to the late 80s for anything...wonderful chap...all of them. - Chris
Just recently discovered your videos and already in love with your spotlight on older properties and the additional humor you add to them: Killer Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart on the rampage had me laughing for a full five minutes.
I was there, watching on November 23rd. I had been viewing the Doctor with Tom and Peter since 78. I was EXCITED for this crossover. I didn't realize that we got the story before Britain did.
One of my favorite songs by the Beatles and a good one from Loopy Lauper, as I have always referred to her in kind-hearted jest, being in this video definitely moved this a couple of places up on the enjoyment scale. Well done.
Awesome work once again! As a kid in Canada, this was my introduction to the franchise (courtesy of Buffalo NY public access station PBS picked up in Toronto), then got to see episodes of the Tom Baker run, and have been hooked ever since, so this special has a special place in my heart as well. Love that the Dalek explosion is so reckless it destroys part of the set! If only they can move as fast as Raston Warriors.....
My dad sometimes would watch Doctor Who with me, even though he didn't particularly care for it all that much. I remember the phone rang and it was my uncle. I guess my uncle asked him what he was doing, to which dad said oh I just watched this fella get kidnapped by some floating toilet paper. Good God that was hilarious.
Great review. I have a lot of love for this particular Who story - I was 10 at this point, and Peter Davison was very much 'my' Doctor (and is to this day).
I had the special magazine too. I use to stare at the stills of the title sequence behind the front cover. Imagining what they looked like on TV. Now I own every story on DVD. It's my favorite show.
A lot of people seem to forget that. Americans Loved Doctor Who on PBS. My brother and I always bought the home VHS tapes. This and the Three Doctors was one of my favorites. Of course, what is Doctor Who without Red Dwarf? Well, unfortunately it's the abomination (In my opinion) called "The Timeless Child" that's what. Seriously though, I truly loved Doctor Who through out my years. With all the Amazing and wonderful and truly Awesome things to watch on TV as a kid in the 80s, Doctor Who made it through and for that, I am highly grateful. My only wish is, it were made in the same way using film instead of Digital cameras. That's just my retroness showing.
I’m sure it was on a Friday evening also. Remember it well, my mum had bought me a Doctor Who 20th anniversary special edition of the Radio Times that featured lots of colour photos of 60’s episodes that I’d not seen. Lovely vivid colour photos and it was amazing.
I remember the day The Five Doctors was first shown in Australia very well..after having a good day I was excited to settle down that night and watch this...better more innocent times..
Great video as always Slammy. I've rewatched my Doctor Who collection (which starts with the War Games and ends with The Caves of Androzani three times since buying the dvds and I've always finish with the Five Doctors. It lost a lot of the fun in the next season and the slow de-Grading (deliberate pun) of Doctor Who was like watching an old friend die, horribly.
We saw this story way back in the '80s via our PBS station (which also fed us a steady diet of Monty Python and as a treat episodes of The Prisoner). Amazing what we'd forgotten about it...
This was the first Doctor Who story I ever saw, on an extremely crappy video tape recorded by my uncle in 83. The picture was terrible and the sound was virtually non-existent, but it still got me interested enough to sit through all the ABC repeats prior to the Chris Eccleston series in 2005.
Bloody good feature-length this one...Stood the test of time [pardon the pun]....I remember it being on TV when I was 5, and that silver-being that teleported and had John Pertwee trapped, I found that being amazing and scary and lethal at the same time....
I am old enough to have seen the Hartnell years on their initial broadcast although I was very young in 1963, the 3 Doctors came along and blew my mind at the 10 year anniversary, I guess I was at the prime optimum age for the series at the time. The 20 year show was very good, and I enjoyed it a lot, but by then I was an adult and as much fun as it was it just never held the same excitement as the 3 Doctors. Clearly an age thing. They were glorious days in my youth. Great review though as usual.
I have to admit I never saw the 20th anniversary special despite having been avidly into Dr Who for most of the 70s. I do remember the 30th anniversary in November 1993 but there didn't appear to be a special for that milestone. The BBC were re-showing Planet of the Daleks in its original six weekly parts (one episode was in black-and-white as they no longer had the colour version of it). Having watched that story entirely in colour when it was first broadcast in April/May 1973 it was nostalgia central for me,so I videotaped it on my VHS recorder so I could watch it all again (was working evenings when some episodes were on). They showed one story from each of the seven Doctors in the early parts of 1992 and 1993,on BBC2 early on Friday evenings following an episode of Thunderbirds. We got The Time Meddler,The Mind Robber and the Sea Devils between January and April 1992,also The Daemons (late end of 1992/start of 1993?) and Genesis of the Daleks,The Caves of Androzani,Revelation? of the Daleks and Battlefield? between January and April 1993.
There's no reason for Sarah Jane to complain to the Doctor about where he left her off because it hadn't happened yet, from his POV. And she knows enough about time travel to know not to tell him about future events. I think.
Great video. Thanks for posting it. The Five Doctors is one of my all time favourite Doctor Who stories. Just love it. I recently bought the B & M pack of 3td Doctor Raston Robot and a Cyberman as seen in the Five doctors.
Bit unfair on UK Conventions that year, given the huge "Twenty Years of a Time Lord" celebration at Longleat. Having a lock-in in the Radiophonic Workshop tent with Dick Mills and Brian Hodgson was just as great as meeting Heather Hartnell, and Troughton at perhaps his first ever convention.
If Tom Baker returned to reprise his role in the Five Doctors, he would be the main role with a huge script for him and things would've been different. He later regret his decision.
Nice! I'd been wondering if Susan came back for ages now and voila! The William Hartnell guy is pretty good. Carol Ann Ford too? Well done! Happy to discover this. Also nice to hear it was a repeat visit favourite, too.
Love the 5 Doctors (well 3.5) and rewatch it many times and i think like the X files movie, you can see without knowing the show as it all is explained and on location in freezing places and everyone is brought back and still looks good. Sort of thing you can only do once and they did a great job. Pity Baker wasnt involved, but plenty of action and enthusiasm from the players and i agree on the score, all really eerie and that visionless killing android that wiped out so many cybermen was a last min inclusion and almost stole the show..
TBF Tom refusing to come back sounds like it helped the writers turn a mess into a coherent story. The Five Doctors still suffered from "too many characters syndrome" as it is but with Tom and at least one more companion added, whether that had been Lalla or an earlier companion if Tom had been placed with Sarah Jane, it could have got seriously out of control. And Stam does say how the writers were at a loss on the script prior to Tom's decision not to return.
@@Neil070 The problem is that many people didn't get to see The Five Doctors until the VHS was released in or around 1993 {a good 10 years after the episodes had been aired} or if they had seen it before then had seen it once when they were kids and basically barely remembered it. The BBC were late to the VHS scene and most UK residents did NOT have video recorders in 1983 to record and rewatch the episode over and over. There is quite a difference between what was considered acceptable effects for a BBC sci-fi show in 1983 compared to what people had grown used to by 1993 {Star Trek: TNG, Seaquest DSV, Heck Babylon 5 came out in February 1993}. Then you add that the majority of complaints come from people who watched this episode even later, maybe not until the mid 2000s after the show was rebooted and found a new audience, and you come up against even tougher expectations.
Great video. I had watched Doctor Who pertwee stories in the early 70s when I was 5. Then I forgot what the show was called but I clearly remembered it. Then in the early 80s I started watching the Tom Baker stories. Still had not made the connection that it was the same show I had watched as a child. Then after watching Underworld the PBS station that carried the show played 'An Unearrthly Child' followed by 'The Five Doctors'. My mind was blown. I remembered watching it as a child now. And there was a new more modern version of the series with Davisons Doctor. I felt what I think an actual time traveler would have felt.
From what I understand, the special had the first reference to the 12 regeneration limit thought up by Terrence Dicks, retconning Robert Holmes' concept of pre-Hartnell incarnations slightly referenced in Brain of Morbius.
Robert Holmes's 13 incarnation limit was established in "The Deadly Assassin" in 1976 and referenced in 1983's "Mawdryn Undead" a few months before "The Five Doctors."
While I know it’s not regarded as a high watermark, and - despite the limited B-roll appearance of Tom Baker - I love this special. I bought the DVD years ago but haven’t watched it since some things from childhood don’t hold up. Think I’ll give it (and it’s commentary) a spin today. [spoiler for 40 year-old show] Very little of anything I watched in childhood has stuck with more than the shifting eyes on the frozen faces of those who achieved immortality.
I have said it before and I will say it again. Terrence Dicks was an absolute master of his craft. Robert Holmes was a master of writing stories with dark overtones and great dialogue, Douglas Adams was a master of writing the quirky, lighter episodes full of great humor, and Terry Nation created one of the greatest alien menaces ever to grace the screen. But Terrence Dicks could trouble shoot any script and make any script work even when budgets were tight and the cast kept changing and script writers quit, etc. From what I have seen, even the greatest writers upped their game as a direct result of Terrence Dicks’ feedback. Terrence was also a master of writing the novel versions of Doctor Who. Don’t get me wrong. I know Robert Holmes was originally picked to write The Five Doctors, and I would have LOVED to see his version come to life. Heck, even Terrence Dicks had some ideas he mentioned that would have been amazing if they had worked out. And part of Terrence Dicks’ problems with this episode was that quite frankly Eric Saward was micromanaging him. But the fact that Terrence Dicks was able to pull off this masterpiece and still give so many characters a chance to shine in their moment and still make the plot compelling and still sneak in subtle nods and inside jokes all while have so many moving pieces of not knowing what actors would be available and not knowing which properties could be licensed, etc., etc., etc. proves what a true genius that man was. Sure, he was supported by a great cast and other members of his team. Sure, he was way too hard on himself and always thought he could have done better. But the fact that Bob Holmes ultimately had to throw up his hands and give up because the logistics and pressures and restrictions were too much for him shows how few script writers could have been up to the task of pulling this off. This episode to me was his greatest writing accomplishment. This episode and the 5-ish Doctors Reboot are the two episodes that stand out in my mind as being written by geniuses who had to improvise a ton and also had to know the show inside and out to show it so much respect and make it really work.
Since the classic series made it apparent that all Time Lord interactions occurred in order, I've always wanted an explanation of why Borusa regenerated three times to the Doctor's one.
A TARDIS console prop made from jam jars, bicycle pumps, and candy dispensers scarcely bears thinking about 😁 Locong your dedication and wit to so many series. Thank you much!
Another blue chip review from this blue chip channel. Always thoroughly informative and highly entertaining reviews that don't gloss over it's subject's shortcomings, nor dwell on them. Keep 'em coming Stam Fine, I love 'em! I remember eagerly anticipating this show as it was a chance to finally see my beloved Doctor return, Jon Pertwee. Having been so heart-broken by the conclusion of 'Planet Of The Spiders'.
This was only the third Doctor Who story I ever saw on PBS. Believe it or not I just happened to tune into Doctor Who for the first time when I was a kid with An Unearthly Child, then The Daleks played next week and then because it was pledge drive time my PBS station decided to play something more special the next week and aired this. I have to tell you I was kind of confused since I didn't have the internet yet so I had no idea what was going on or that the new show I was watching had run so long that the guy from All Creatures Great and Small had taken over the lead at some point. Still I enjoyed every second of it and I have a soft spot for the SE simply because that was the version my PBS station played. By the time it was over Doctor Who had replaced DS9 as my favorite show at the time, there just seemed to be so much scope and I couldn't wait to see how all these characters would come into play in future. Over all I have to say this is my favorite of the multi-doctor specials and given everything going on behind the scenes I think the production team did a great job on this one.
Growing up before the internet, I'd catch it while channel surfing and as a Star Trek fan, I saw it as the weird, cheap British show where the guy had a long scarf. I really didn't watch it at the time For many years, Tom Baker was the only Doctor I even knew about. Then I remember eventually catching a Third Doctor episode and just assumed it was a different show until the credits. Eventually, I was at a book stored and saw the Discontinuity Guide which helped fill in the blanks. I still didn't start watching regularly until the Colin Baker era and eventually made my way around. At the time, the local PBS was usually showing a whole story (4 or 6 parts) on a Saturday. The longer ones were shown over two weeks. The big problem with watching then is if you forgot to program the VCR (or rewind the tape), it took about two years to see a story you missed.
@@carlrood4457 Yeah, I remember the horror of waking up on sunday morning and finding that the time recorder had failed to tape PBS and knowing that was my only chance to see the new story for years. I finally found a copy of a Doctor Who 25th anniversary book in the back of my library about a few months after I started watching the show. It had a whole chapter dedicated to the missing episodes which was good because I at that point I was annoyed with my PBS station because I thought they had just been skipping episodes for no reason when the show suddenly jumped from the first to the second Doctor with Tomb of the Cybermen.
Absolutely brilliant- loved that one myself- think it was the first Dr Who VHS tape I brought - might still have it somewhere- always enjoy your vids - fun and snarky but with the right amount of background- I think we really need your insights in Blake’s 7 at some point as well …
Cos he remembers meeting him in the exciting adventure 'The Twenty Seven Doctors', which of course we haven't seen yet, but is earlier in his timestream.😀
I think on the commentary track Lis Sladen said the line - all teeth & curls, was written for Sarah Jane, but Wurzel Pertwee changed it on the day and nicked her line!
I was lucky enough to meet Jon Pertwee at a sci-fi convention in the late 1980s, he was very charming. He was also amusingly baffled at a very tiny camera that I was holding. It used 110 film (remember those?) and came inside a cereal box. “What the hell is that?” he asked with a smile. What a charming man, I do miss him.
I saw him at a convention in Manchester around this time too. Didnt meet him personally but he was joking about how people confused him with Margret Rutherford
"I'm the Doctor. The ORIGINAL, you might say....."
That phrase stuck in my mind for some reason. Clearly it didn't have the same effect on Chibnall.....
Gotta say Patrick Troughton's Yeti Coat really is a show-stealer :)
Dalek sings the beatles is a tiny but perfectly formed venn diagram intersection of tastes. Loved it.
Apart from my early scattered memories of ABC repeats, this is the earliest story I remember as my parents recorded it when it was broadcast in 1983. I honestly believe this story was responsible for its continued fandom and led to the increased hunt for missing episodes. It's in my top 5. Thanks for this.
On the basis of this video alone I would like every video and subscribe to this channel 1,000 times if I could. I was 8 years old when this came out and I don’t think I was aware there were more Doctors before Tom Baker at this point so it was an exciting revelation that made me seek out Doctors before my time. Not an easy thing to do without access to DVDs and the internet. Let’s just say I got to know these older doctors via books and comics before I saw more of them on screen. The Five Doctors is a masterpiece despite its obvious limitations. Edit: the karaoke Daleks running joke gets funnier every time 🤣
Almost the same for me. I was 10 and had only really know Tom Baker and Peter Davison (still the ‘new’ Doctor’).
Still recall my childish, crushing disappointment that Baker didn’t return. It genuinely upset me for an infeasibly long time.
I was 8 as well, I knew there were Dr's before SIR TOM BAKER, but knew nothing of their temperaments and Styles. Thoroughly enjoyed the 5 Doctors and Iam sure it remained on VHS for a couple of years. Its was also one of the first videos I bought when I got back into the Daleks and Doctor Who when I was 17.
Altogether, at this point in the storyline, there were, in fact seven actors who had portrayed the Doctor - Peter Cushing, best known for horror movies, in two cinematic outings, playing him similar to William Hartnell, and Richard Hurndall, playing the William Hartnell version of the Doctor in this production!
With the first three actors now deceased, there’s not a chance of a special episode reuniting all the Doctors to date - but, assuming that it was possible, what would the First Doctor have made of the latest regeneration? And, if Susan appeared, would she call Jodie Whittaker Grandmother? The only grandmother who used to be her grandfather and is younger than herself!
I was only 5 when this came out but I had the foresight to record it on our new VHS machine. I had to insist on staying up late because for some reason the first airing was on late at night here in the UK. I'm so glad I did because I watched that tape to death. The writers did a great job making this story work, and like the OP I ended up reading every Dr Who novelisation I could get my hands on.
@@dexocube I just love the idea of 5 year old you insisting you stay up late to record Doctor Who. That made me smile 😊
Brilliantly written and delivered - as usual. The running gag of the singing Dalek and the Ultimate Bessie Sound System crack me up every Who review :) You've managed to create a really endearing channel through skill and warmth. First class work and I thank you for it.
I love watching it as well. Seeing them all together reassured me that the Universe is in good hands.
Surprised General Zod didn't show up from Phantom Zone, as it looks very similar to the Time scoop.
The vortex of contractual workarounds. Brlliant.
No it wasn't.
It gave me a chuckle or two.
For a show about a time traveler, time travel was rarely a plot element used in the original series. It was how he got from place to place and time to time, but once he arrived, it didn't play much. The Five Doctors was a rare example and it showed both the strengths and weaknesses of delving into it too much. The obvious part was what the Second Doctor should know and his apparent control of the Tardis. Of course, this has given us the Season 6B Theory, which I rather like.
I'd say the biggest loss due to Tom Baker opting out was the real Jamie. Troughton and Hines are arguably the best pairing in the show's history. Since they had to rejigger the pairings, Jamie was reduced to an illusion, presumably because they had to keep Sarah Jane and the Brigadier due to them being more recent and still popular.
Looking back, a two hour special would have really enabled them to flesh out the characters and provided more opportunities for interaction between Doctors and companions. It's kind of weird than no one blinks at the idea the Doctor has a granddaughter.
I said the same thing in my comment 2 hours would have been good.
Actually, Frazer Hines was busy at the time and thus his role as Jamie had to be downsized in the special. It’s a miracle we even got Nicolas Courtney included on the show twice in 1983.
Tom Baker was my first Doctor, thank you PBS!!!
I watched Doctor Who on and off in the early 70s from our local PBS station. But I really fell in love with the doctor in 1985. Back then we didn’t have video tapes or episodes running on TV. We had to rely on the novelization‘s. I got mega hooked on those. And then finally our local PBS station started to show them again. I joined a local fan club. I collected all the video tapes when they finally came out on CBS video tapes. Then finally the DVDs and now the blue rays. Long live Doctor Who!
The singing Daleks and the Third Doctor playing loud music on his car is my favorite running gag from these reviews.
The Third Doctor should have been blasting Devo in his car, LOL
@@ShamrockParticleThat would be hilarious indeed.
From the US. Exactly as you mentioned I was introduced to Dr Who mainly through Tom Baker reruns shown on PBS (US Public Television) in the late 80s (at that point the episodes I was seeing for the first time were already 10-15 years old). I was around 9 at the time.
You manage to tie whole seasons together in a way that help me make sense out of this huge input into my then still developing personality.
Respect to the considerable research you've obviously put in as well as all the hours editing the videos together etc. It's a pleasure to re-discover Dr Who and laugh at all the silliness as well as remember all the great scary moments that made me a memorably eccentric 10 year old Tom Baker wannabe.
Will be sure to watch everything you put out. Cheers from a new subscriber
I love in all of Stam Fine's Doctor Who videos, anytime there's a clip of Bessie, it's playing low bass techno music. XD
Love Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Dalek . I was eleven when this was shown in 1983 . Had vague idea who First, Second and Third Doctors where , and was really disappointed Tom Baker was not in it . At that the time I was not aware of all the off screen shenanigans . But still throughly enjoyed this show . A shame there was no similar team up in 1993 or 2003.
I would have thought the Dalek's head explosion would have occurred while tripping out to A Day in the Life at the end of that album.
Dimensions in Time was 1993.
I've never seen this so enjoyed this as-always humorous recap. Despite its flaws it seems a tad better than the Star Wars Christmas Special!
That was well put together. Thank you! Doctor Who's first 7 doctors are great. I need to re-watch them all again.
I remember the first episode of Jon Pertwee regeneration. Though I suspect it was aired out of order.
Likely a sweeps week.
You sir, have become the channel whose videos I actually look forward too.
Thank you and I wait with baited breath for the next one
Great recap and review as always. And a laugh. Similar to your experience, the Five Doctors kicked my own fandom into high gear. I was already a dedicated viewer, having watched everything from Pertwee through Tom Baker and up to the 19th Season at this stage (as they were repeated continuously in Aus, as you have noted), and started collecting the novelisations of earlier stories in a modest way, but the the 20th Anniversary Special set me on the path of teenage obsession. Suddenly I needed to own ALL of the novelisations, and ALL of the VHS releases, and ALL of the non-fiction books, and ALL of the... you get the picture!
Great video...luv the singing Dalek...Lol. I was a kid when the Tom Baker episodes aired on PBS here in the States, which turned me into a Whovian almost immediately. Also collected the Marvel Comics, Target novelizations, making of books, and Doctor Who Magazine, etc. I can't state enough how frenzied my anticipation for "The Five Doctors" was...and despite the lack of Tom Baker, I was still blown away by it when it first aired! It's also one of my favorite episodes of the series ever and also left me wanting more. I attended Doctor Who conventions around this time as well, and met both Colin Baker and JNT, who were promoting his debut as the 6th Doctor...I really wanted to like his era more than I did...there were some promising stories in his debut season, but it just went off the rails with "Trial of a Time Lord" and didn't improve until Sylvester McCoy's 2nd season, but it was too little too late to save Doctor Who by then, sadly. Still, I wouldn't trade watching Doctor Who on PBS from the late 70s to the late 80s for anything...wonderful chap...all of them.
- Chris
Just recently discovered your videos and already in love with your spotlight on older properties and the additional humor you add to them: Killer Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart on the rampage had me laughing for a full five minutes.
I definitely remember that part 0:22 ,the silver guy jumping thought it was fantastic, i was 13.
i'd still like to go to Cwm Bychan, Llanbedr, Gwynedd, Wales, UK ... that's where they filmed The Eye of Orion scenes for The Five Doctors.
🏴
I'd forgotten how many musical numbers the daleks had until I watched through your vids :)
Still my favorite doctor who special of all time and that closing theme is amazing
Love that 3 is completely unphased about 4 and what happened with Sarah Jane. Also wonder when Bessie was returned as she appears in Battlefield.
I was there, watching on November 23rd. I had been viewing the Doctor with Tom and Peter since 78. I was EXCITED for this crossover. I didn't realize that we got the story before Britain did.
One of my favorite songs by the Beatles and a good one from Loopy Lauper, as I have always referred to her in kind-hearted jest, being in this video definitely moved this a couple of places up on the enjoyment scale.
Well done.
Awesome work once again! As a kid in Canada, this was my introduction to the franchise (courtesy of Buffalo NY public access station PBS picked up in Toronto), then got to see episodes of the Tom Baker run, and have been hooked ever since, so this special has a special place in my heart as well. Love that the Dalek explosion is so reckless it destroys part of the set! If only they can move as fast as Raston Warriors.....
Sgt. Pepper's Robo-hearts Club Band was my favorite so far, but I'm still catching-up!
My dad sometimes would watch Doctor Who with me, even though he didn't particularly care for it all that much. I remember the phone rang and it was my uncle. I guess my uncle asked him what he was doing, to which dad said oh I just watched this fella get kidnapped by some floating toilet paper. Good God that was hilarious.
Great review. I have a lot of love for this particular Who story - I was 10 at this point, and Peter Davison was very much 'my' Doctor (and is to this day).
Nice to hear Jon Pertwee getting in one last 'reverse the polarity of the neutron flow', his 'go to' Dr Who science spiel!
Lord President Borusa: Did you see anything?
No Sir, I didn't see you playing with your dolls again.
Dalek singing "Time after TIme" is hilarious.
My favorite part of this episode was Peter Davison checking out Carole Ann Ford and not in a grandfatherly way!!
A bit suss....since Peter (b.1951) was 11 years YOUNGER than Carol (b. 1940) (in 1983).
Don't you mean Turlough? 😁
@@andrewmurray1550 why's that "suss". Do younger men not admire older women?
@Ben6164 Hopefully, not when they are blood relatives.... otherwise it becomes very Fred West.
What’s with Peter Davidson and the unintentional incest his Doctor Who connections make.
I had the special magazine too. I use to stare at the stills of the title sequence behind the front cover. Imagining what they looked like on TV. Now I own every story on DVD. It's my favorite show.
A lot of people seem to forget that. Americans Loved Doctor Who on PBS. My brother and I always bought the home VHS tapes.
This and the Three Doctors was one of my favorites. Of course, what is Doctor Who without Red Dwarf? Well, unfortunately it's the
abomination (In my opinion) called "The Timeless Child" that's what. Seriously though, I truly loved Doctor Who through out my
years. With all the Amazing and wonderful and truly Awesome things to watch on TV as a kid in the 80s, Doctor Who made it through
and for that, I am highly grateful. My only wish is, it were made in the same way using film instead of Digital cameras. That's just my
retroness showing.
I’m sure it was on a Friday evening also. Remember it well, my mum had bought me a Doctor Who 20th anniversary special edition of the Radio Times that featured lots of colour photos of 60’s episodes that I’d not seen. Lovely vivid colour photos and it was amazing.
Ah,no wonder I missed it as I was always out on the town on Friday and Saturday nights then.
@@rjjcms1 That came some years later for me
I remember the day The Five Doctors was first shown in Australia very well..after having a good day I was excited to settle down that night and watch this...better more innocent times..
I want an entire album of Dalek songs!
Great video as always Slammy.
I've rewatched my Doctor Who collection (which starts with the War Games and ends with The Caves of Androzani three times since buying the dvds and I've always finish with the Five Doctors. It lost a lot of the fun in the next season and the slow de-Grading (deliberate pun) of Doctor Who was like watching an old friend die, horribly.
We saw this story way back in the '80s via our PBS station (which also fed us a steady diet of Monty Python and as a treat episodes of The Prisoner). Amazing what we'd forgotten about it...
it's glorious isn't it. I got so happy seeing this in my YT feed, thanks Stam.
This was the first Doctor Who story I ever saw, on an extremely crappy video tape recorded by my uncle in 83. The picture was terrible and the sound was virtually non-existent, but it still got me interested enough to sit through all the ABC repeats prior to the Chris Eccleston series in 2005.
Bloody good feature-length this one...Stood the test of time [pardon the pun]....I remember it being on TV when I was 5, and that silver-being that teleported and had John Pertwee trapped, I found that being amazing and scary and lethal at the same time....
I am old enough to have seen the Hartnell years on their initial broadcast although I was very young in 1963, the 3 Doctors came along and blew my mind at the 10 year anniversary, I guess I was at the prime optimum age for the series at the time. The 20 year show was very good, and I enjoyed it a lot, but by then I was an adult and as much fun as it was it just never held the same excitement as the 3 Doctors. Clearly an age thing. They were glorious days in my youth. Great review though as usual.
I have to admit I never saw the 20th anniversary special despite having been avidly into Dr Who for most of the 70s. I do remember the 30th anniversary in November 1993 but there didn't appear to be a special for that milestone. The BBC were re-showing Planet of the Daleks in its original six weekly parts (one episode was in black-and-white as they no longer had the colour version of it). Having watched that story entirely in colour when it was first broadcast in April/May 1973 it was nostalgia central for me,so I videotaped it on my VHS recorder so I could watch it all again (was working evenings when some episodes were on). They showed one story from each of the seven Doctors in the early parts of 1992 and 1993,on BBC2 early on Friday evenings following an episode of Thunderbirds. We got The Time Meddler,The Mind Robber and the Sea Devils between January and April 1992,also The Daemons (late end of 1992/start of 1993?) and Genesis of the Daleks,The Caves of Androzani,Revelation? of the Daleks and Battlefield? between January and April 1993.
There's no reason for Sarah Jane to complain to the Doctor about where he left her off because it hadn't happened yet, from his POV. And she knows enough about time travel to know not to tell him about future events. I think.
But nevertheless, he knew who his regeneration was?
One of the first Classic Who DVDs I got. Five for the price of One, who could say no?
My most favorite episode of the classic Dr. Who. Thanks for sharing and doing a great tribute!😀
As a longtime Classic Who fan, I was so excited to see this in my Subscriptions! It did not disappoint!
It’s basically the hunger games for Who villains lol
Great video. Thanks for posting it. The Five Doctors is one of my all time favourite Doctor Who stories. Just love it. I recently bought the B & M pack of 3td Doctor Raston Robot and a Cyberman as seen in the Five doctors.
There are so many good lines in this, that can only really find context in a Doctor Who MultiDoctor story.
I was so confused by the title, but then I realized it was a Sgt. Pepper's reference... and now I feel a bit thick.
Bit unfair on UK Conventions that year, given the huge "Twenty Years of a Time Lord" celebration at Longleat. Having a lock-in in the Radiophonic Workshop tent with Dick Mills and Brian Hodgson was just as great as meeting Heather Hartnell, and Troughton at perhaps his first ever convention.
Its amazing how the original plotline for the 6th Doctors carried through the Timeless Children with the cybermen becoming time lord hybrids
What? Yuck!
If Tom Baker returned to reprise his role in the Five Doctors, he would be the main role with a huge script for him and things would've been different. He later regret his decision.
Nice! I'd been wondering if Susan came back for ages now and voila! The William Hartnell guy is pretty good. Carol Ann Ford too? Well done! Happy to discover this. Also nice to hear it was a repeat visit favourite, too.
Love the 5 Doctors (well 3.5) and rewatch it many times and i think like the X files movie, you can see without knowing the show as it all is explained and on location in freezing places and everyone is brought back and still looks good. Sort of thing you can only do once and they did a great job. Pity Baker wasnt involved, but plenty of action and enthusiasm from the players and i agree on the score, all really eerie and that visionless killing android that wiped out so many cybermen was a last min inclusion and almost stole the show..
TBF Tom refusing to come back sounds like it helped the writers turn a mess into a coherent story.
The Five Doctors still suffered from "too many characters syndrome" as it is but with Tom and at least one more companion added, whether that had been Lalla or an earlier companion if Tom had been placed with Sarah Jane, it could have got seriously out of control.
And Stam does say how the writers were at a loss on the script prior to Tom's decision not to return.
The Rastan Warrior was dissed a lot over the years, but I quite enjoyed the scene and the effects were good for the time
@@Neil070 The problem is that many people didn't get to see The Five Doctors until the VHS was released in or around 1993 {a good 10 years after the episodes had been aired} or if they had seen it before then had seen it once when they were kids and basically barely remembered it.
The BBC were late to the VHS scene and most UK residents did NOT have video recorders in 1983 to record and rewatch the episode over and over.
There is quite a difference between what was considered acceptable effects for a BBC sci-fi show in 1983 compared to what people had grown used to by 1993 {Star Trek: TNG, Seaquest DSV, Heck Babylon 5 came out in February 1993}.
Then you add that the majority of complaints come from people who watched this episode even later, maybe not until the mid 2000s after the show was rebooted and found a new audience, and you come up against even tougher expectations.
Watch your videos often and look forward to Dalek Karaoke.
Love these videos, wish this one was much longer, great work!!
Nice vid. This is one of my fave stories, top 5 most likely.
Great video. I had watched Doctor Who pertwee stories in the early 70s when I was 5. Then I forgot what the show was called but I clearly remembered it. Then in the early 80s I started watching the Tom Baker stories. Still had not made the connection that it was the same show I had watched as a child. Then after watching Underworld the PBS station that carried the show played 'An Unearrthly Child' followed by 'The Five Doctors'. My mind was blown. I remembered watching it as a child now. And there was a new more modern version of the series with Davisons Doctor. I felt what I think an actual time traveler would have felt.
I'm always here for the Doctor having a crossover with the Doctor, and as always your wit is endlessly entertaining.
I would of had the Fifth and Eighth Doctor's in Day of the Doctor. Bridging the gap between the classic and modern eras of Doctor Who
An excellent story. I saw it years ago. The ending was brilliant.
Hey mate , thanks for several laughs , much appreciated.
best anniversary special we ever had
From what I understand, the special had the first reference to the 12 regeneration limit thought up by Terrence Dicks, retconning Robert Holmes' concept of pre-Hartnell incarnations slightly referenced in Brain of Morbius.
Robert Holmes's 13 incarnation limit was established in "The Deadly Assassin" in 1976 and referenced in 1983's "Mawdryn Undead" a few months before "The Five Doctors."
What The Five Doctors introduced was the possibility that the regeneration limit was not, in fact, as absolute as previously established.
While I know it’s not regarded as a high watermark, and - despite the limited B-roll appearance of Tom Baker - I love this special.
I bought the DVD years ago but haven’t watched it since some things from childhood don’t hold up. Think I’ll give it (and it’s commentary) a spin today.
[spoiler for 40 year-old show]
Very little of anything I watched in childhood has stuck with more than the shifting eyes on the frozen faces of those who achieved immortality.
This has become my fave channel, every Friday, loving to see your views on my own childhood nostalgia :)
I have said it before and I will say it again. Terrence Dicks was an absolute master of his craft. Robert Holmes was a master of writing stories with dark overtones and great dialogue, Douglas Adams was a master of writing the quirky, lighter episodes full of great humor, and Terry Nation created one of the greatest alien menaces ever to grace the screen. But Terrence Dicks could trouble shoot any script and make any script work even when budgets were tight and the cast kept changing and script writers quit, etc. From what I have seen, even the greatest writers upped their game as a direct result of Terrence Dicks’ feedback. Terrence was also a master of writing the novel versions of Doctor Who.
Don’t get me wrong. I know Robert Holmes was originally picked to write The Five Doctors, and I would have LOVED to see his version come to life. Heck, even Terrence Dicks had some ideas he mentioned that would have been amazing if they had worked out. And part of Terrence Dicks’ problems with this episode was that quite frankly Eric Saward was micromanaging him. But the fact that Terrence Dicks was able to pull off this masterpiece and still give so many characters a chance to shine in their moment and still make the plot compelling and still sneak in subtle nods and inside jokes all while have so many moving pieces of not knowing what actors would be available and not knowing which properties could be licensed, etc., etc., etc. proves what a true genius that man was. Sure, he was supported by a great cast and other members of his team. Sure, he was way too hard on himself and always thought he could have done better. But the fact that Bob Holmes ultimately had to throw up his hands and give up because the logistics and pressures and restrictions were too much for him shows how few script writers could have been up to the task of pulling this off. This episode to me was his greatest writing accomplishment. This episode and the 5-ish Doctors Reboot are the two episodes that stand out in my mind as being written by geniuses who had to improvise a ton and also had to know the show inside and out to show it so much respect and make it really work.
Stam, you’re subtle dry humor is hilarious. Two minutes into this video and I’m already subscribe, great review!
He sounds familiar, has he done narration for Whoculture channel?
Great video, well done! I still love this reunion!
There is something about a Dalek covering Cyndi Lauper that is truly frightening, thanks for that mate
As an American I laughed at the doctor not being able to get iplayer without a VPN 😂
It was shown on BBC1 on my 20th birthday! It was as if the stars had aligned! Never forget that day.
That's probably the best beatles cover I have ever heard. Only the Daleks could pull it off.
Since the classic series made it apparent that all Time Lord interactions occurred in order, I've always wanted an explanation of why Borusa regenerated three times to the Doctor's one.
I guess offscreen he was just a massive klutz.
An amazing video and analysis.
Love what you are doing here.
A TARDIS console prop made from jam jars, bicycle pumps, and candy dispensers scarcely bears thinking about 😁
Locong your dedication and wit to so many series. Thank you much!
Remember when Doctor Who was actually entertaining? I miss that. Also miss when the theme was scary instead of 'rollicking'
Still the best dalek death IMO. Raston Warrior needs a modern take so much.
So loved this as a ten year old! Personally I think Richard Hurdnall was great as the 1st.
It should’ve been named the 4 doctors due to Tom baker being only shown not actually playing a part
Tom Baker was my favorite the one I grew up with.
Another blue chip review from this blue chip channel. Always thoroughly informative and highly entertaining reviews that don't gloss over it's subject's shortcomings, nor dwell on them. Keep 'em coming Stam Fine, I love 'em!
I remember eagerly anticipating this show as it was a chance to finally see my beloved Doctor return, Jon Pertwee. Having been so heart-broken by the conclusion of 'Planet Of The Spiders'.
This was only the third Doctor Who story I ever saw on PBS. Believe it or not I just happened to tune into Doctor Who for the first time when I was a kid with An Unearthly Child, then The Daleks played next week and then because it was pledge drive time my PBS station decided to play something more special the next week and aired this. I have to tell you I was kind of confused since I didn't have the internet yet so I had no idea what was going on or that the new show I was watching had run so long that the guy from All Creatures Great and Small had taken over the lead at some point.
Still I enjoyed every second of it and I have a soft spot for the SE simply because that was the version my PBS station played. By the time it was over Doctor Who had replaced DS9 as my favorite show at the time, there just seemed to be so much scope and I couldn't wait to see how all these characters would come into play in future.
Over all I have to say this is my favorite of the multi-doctor specials and given everything going on behind the scenes I think the production team did a great job on this one.
Growing up before the internet, I'd catch it while channel surfing and as a Star Trek fan, I saw it as the weird, cheap British show where the guy had a long scarf. I really didn't watch it at the time For many years, Tom Baker was the only Doctor I even knew about. Then I remember eventually catching a Third Doctor episode and just assumed it was a different show until the credits.
Eventually, I was at a book stored and saw the Discontinuity Guide which helped fill in the blanks. I still didn't start watching regularly until the Colin Baker era and eventually made my way around. At the time, the local PBS was usually showing a whole story (4 or 6 parts) on a Saturday. The longer ones were shown over two weeks. The big problem with watching then is if you forgot to program the VCR (or rewind the tape), it took about two years to see a story you missed.
@@carlrood4457 Yeah, I remember the horror of waking up on sunday morning and finding that the time recorder had failed to tape PBS and knowing that was my only chance to see the new story for years.
I finally found a copy of a Doctor Who 25th anniversary book in the back of my library about a few months after I started watching the show. It had a whole chapter dedicated to the missing episodes which was good because I at that point I was annoyed with my PBS station because I thought they had just been skipping episodes for no reason when the show suddenly jumped from the first to the second Doctor with Tomb of the Cybermen.
Was my favourite as Child. Like yourself, I've lost count how many times I've seen it! Happy memories from my Childhood
I am entranced by the Dalek singing "Time after Time"
Absolutely brilliant- loved that one myself- think it was the first Dr Who VHS tape I brought - might still have it somewhere- always enjoy your vids - fun and snarky but with the right amount of background- I think we really need your insights in Blake’s 7 at some point as well …
Nicely done sir
I know there was some line swapping, but has anyone wondered how the 3rd knew what his next incarnation looked like?
Cos he remembers meeting him in the exciting adventure 'The Twenty Seven Doctors', which of course we haven't seen yet, but is earlier in his timestream.😀
I think on the commentary track Lis Sladen said the line - all teeth & curls, was written for Sarah Jane, but Wurzel Pertwee changed it on the day and nicked her line!
The “teeth and curls” line should have stayed with Lis.
The Raston Warrior Robot is equal parts ridiculous and badass
So, the 'fifth' Beatle wasn't George Martin... John, Paul, George, Ringo and Dalek. Fantastic video, I loved it.
Sgt. Dalek's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a masterpiece!