The Three Doctors
Story 65, Episodes 331-334, Season 10 Episode 1-4
Doctor: The First Doctor, The Second Doctor, The Third Doctor
Companions: Jo Grant, The Brigadier
For Doctor Who‘s tenth anniversary, we get the first multi-Doctor story and another great look at Time Lord society. Despite some antics from Omega and the Second Doctor, The Three Doctors is a solid fun.
The Review
An antimatter creature attacks UNIT, and in the first episode you could not have predicted that this story would involve the Time Lords. Seeing them in action is fun, and a high-ranking Time Lord decides to break the Laws of Time to solve one the threat emanating from a black hole. Unfortunately due to Hartnell’s failing health, he only appears on a television screen. Troughton is back gracing our screens though, and his bickering with the suave Third Doctor is pitch-perfect and very entertaining. The Second Doctor gets his reunion with the Brigadier, who is a bit slow to realize that Pertwee hasn’t decided to revert to his old face and manner. Everybody gets sent to a BBC quarry, which in this case is the antimatter dimension inside a black hole. It is being held together by a legendary Time Lord Omega, long-presumed dead, sacrificing himself to allow the Time Lords the secret of time travel. Instead he’s created this antimatter world, and is quite upset about the whole ‘trapped in a black hole’ business.
Of course, the story proceeds rather normally from there. Omega chews up a metric ton of scenery in a very loud performance by Stephen Thorne (recently deceased). Omega is a very loud yeller, and it is fitting that we learn that only his incredibly strong will has survived: Omega is completely non-corporeal. The Second Doctor banters on about his recorder, turns out it didn’t get converted into antimatter and when it makes contact it causes a whole supernova that saves the day. The other Doctors go home, and Jo comforts Pertwee over Omega’s death. I’d heard some bad things about this story, probably from Omega’s performance, but it’s good anniversary fun. Seeing the Doctors squabble amongst themselves, and the Brigadier and Benton dealing with the whole thing is more than enough to make this a good story. If Pertwee wasn’t an incredible straight man, it wouldn’t have worked. Thank goodness for him.
Ten years of Doctor Who are celebrated with a look at Gallifrey, and visits from all three Doctors, even an ailing Hartnell.
8.5/10 Too large performances aside, this is a good one.
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