I tried watching “The Three Doctors”....
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I think the original intention with Davison was to return to the Hartnell dynamic (Well, at least in his early seasons), three companions and a grouchy Doctor. This is true mainly of his first season, but then by the second and third he's cooled a bit, just like Hartnell.
They sort of tried the Hartnell inspiration again with Colin, and to a lesser extent the 'later' McCoy.
They sort of tried the Hartnell inspiration again with Colin, and to a lesser extent the 'later' McCoy.
Also, he thought Ten was a fan stalking him at first. I'd be impatient and angry, too.
Of course, such an intense physical strain could make you iritable. Haven't you ever been in a bad mood when you're hungry or sick?
I have a feeling that's why #2 looked older for the same reason in The Two Doctors, the Timelords causing it, though.
I'm still bugged by the fact that they didn't just dye Troughton's hair black for "The Two Doctors." It would have made it a lot easier to fudge the age issue, at least with him. Aside from the hair color, Troughton had such a creased face to begin with that you couldn't really tell the difference. The greater issue would probably have been Jamie, who looked a bit more appreciably older during the 16 intervening years.
McCoy had a mischevous/whistful streak similar to Hartnell but not in such a way that I think they look the same. There is a certain sense of bringing the Doctor full circle, although McCoy's mischevous streak is more deliberate. He has elaborate schemes, whereas Hartnell would often carelessly put himself & his companions in danger for his own amusement.
To the extent that Davison was grouchy in his 1st season, I think that mostly came from the fact that Davison had no idea what he was doing. But then, it's also easy to be grouchy towards such obnoxious companions as Adric & Tegan.
Colin Baker is the one I would most closely compare to Hartnell. However, what comes across as acceptably grouchy coming from an old man like Hartnell often makes a young man like Colin Baker just look like an asshole.
I don't know that it has to do with CGI. The show really isn't that reliant on visual effects anyway. It's the cardboard sets & rubber monsters & other failings of practical production values that are more troublesome. Plus, the fact that the show either seems blissfully unaware of how bad its production values are or else has the audacity not to care. For example, the robot feet in "The Robots of Death" look like crap. I suppose that's unavoidable for the budget. But then why do they emphasize it with lots of "ominous" close-ups of the shoddyest element of the production?
The new series does a much better job with practical production values. However, I'd say it frequently overreaches when it comes to CGI monsters. The CGI version of the Slitheen used in the wide shots isn't particularly convincing, nor is the monster from "The Lazarus Experiment." At best, they look like mediocre video game characters, and not from the cut scenes either.
He did strike me as a little more grouchy than I remember. Of course part of that could have been early Ten's tendency to jump around and act like an idiot.
I recall thinking the same thing re Troughton back in The Two Doctors. He seemed rather grumpy and OOC to me. I guess irritability could be yet another side effect of crossing his own timestream.
I recall thinking the same thing re Troughton back in The Two Doctors. He seemed rather grumpy and OOC to me. I guess irritability could be yet another side effect of crossing his own timestream.
The Three Doctors is the only multi-Doctor story I haven't seen. And I don't have Netflix.
So, thanks to a free trial membership for Blockbuster Online, I have now see The Three Doctors.
Go me!
I thought it was alright, not as good as The Five Doctors but better than The Two Doctors. The Brig bein' so obtuse about everything goin' on around him bugged me, but this was only the third or fourth episode featurin' his character that I've seen.
Ya can't beat the antagonism between Two & Three, that's for sure.
And Omega was a pretty cool idea for a tragic villian.
I don't recall Pertwee ever being very grouchy. In some ways, I think he's one of the least grouchy Doctors. Whenever he did seem a bit cross, it was usually for a good reason; usually because either the Brigadier or some asshole scientist or bureaucrat was being unreasonably thick. I'd be a bit prickly if I had to put up with some of those morons in "The Silurians" & "Inferno" too.
I'm also quite fond of the "Omega" audio adventure with Peter Davison.
He was somewhat impatient but that's understandable in his situation, being stranded on Earth among people who haven't the slightest clue. Often well-meaning, but morons nevertheless. He usually did apologise to Jo when he got angry at her, though.
The fucking idiot deserved it. If I'd spent a year with lovely Liz Shaw and then a fuckwit like that gets dumped on me, she'd be lucky to only get a shouting at.I just re-watched all of Pertwee and he is angry a lot of the time. He yells at poor Jo a lot
I'm a little surprised at the love for Three Docs here. I suppose a good deal of it is the obvious novelty of having HartTroutPert, and Omega is a character compelling enough that people still talk about the possibility of him coming back, but it's also a pretty shoddy nadir for DW up to that point. It's pretty much lazy in every department, and represents the lowest point for the Brigadier; a once serious character is turned into the comedy buffoon it was all too easy to make out of him. To be honest, the whole Pertwee era post season 7 isn't great to me, and the man himself is mostly phoning it in something rotten.
I havnt seen The Three Doctors. Yeah, i watched re-runs when i was growing up in the mid 80s early 90s, but they were mainly McCoy/Baker 2 and Davison. BBC didnt tend to repeat much of the older stuff.
I loved it as a kid, thought it was amazing to watch and be a part of. But i got into Who properly when i was a little older in 1996 when the McGann blip hit, and i loved McGann so much as The Doctor, i gave the old show another look and, i think the problem is mainly, i now had a modern cool look to compare the dated cheap look of the original showsand again, being only 12ish at the time, i couldnt get into it.
And to be honest, i didnt really enjoy them this time around. Yeah, the stories were, sort of ok, the performances by thesupporting cast (other than the lead doctors) were a bit ropey here and there, and i just couldnt get into them.
Then, ten years later, RTD came flying in with Christopher Eccleston in 2005 and i instantly loved it. New, brash, cool and all the trimmings. Then, i tried the classics once again. The other year i started to download some of Tom Bakers eps and i really loved Bakers mad erratic take on the character, and that made the eps watchable because of the way Baker played The Doctor, then i fell in love with Troughtons lovable bumbling professor type take. Im slowly warming to the performances of the Doctors, but the show itself i just cant get into.
Maybe when im a little older i might kinda dig it, but to be honest, 1996 movie - 2010/11 is my Who at the moment.
I loved it as a kid, thought it was amazing to watch and be a part of. But i got into Who properly when i was a little older in 1996 when the McGann blip hit, and i loved McGann so much as The Doctor, i gave the old show another look and, i think the problem is mainly, i now had a modern cool look to compare the dated cheap look of the original showsand again, being only 12ish at the time, i couldnt get into it.
And to be honest, i didnt really enjoy them this time around. Yeah, the stories were, sort of ok, the performances by thesupporting cast (other than the lead doctors) were a bit ropey here and there, and i just couldnt get into them.
Then, ten years later, RTD came flying in with Christopher Eccleston in 2005 and i instantly loved it. New, brash, cool and all the trimmings. Then, i tried the classics once again. The other year i started to download some of Tom Bakers eps and i really loved Bakers mad erratic take on the character, and that made the eps watchable because of the way Baker played The Doctor, then i fell in love with Troughtons lovable bumbling professor type take. Im slowly warming to the performances of the Doctors, but the show itself i just cant get into.
Maybe when im a little older i might kinda dig it, but to be honest, 1996 movie - 2010/11 is my Who at the moment.
IMO, it works best if you were a fan of those three Doctors, because that's really the only thing it's got going for it (other than the Brigadier's reactions). But seeing the Third and Second Doctors getting scolded by the First was a treat:
"So this is what I've become, eh? A dandy and a clown?"
"So this is what I've become, eh? A dandy and a clown?"
I also found the relations between the Doctors rather odd, though very entertaining. It didn't make much sense that the first Doctor would know what to do when the other two were unsure. After all, they both know more than he does. It made me wonder whether later incarnations can actually lose knowledge and intelligence. Could 12 be a moron? 
Ok, Three actually knows less than his predecessors about some things because the Timelords messed with his memories. But Two doesn't have that problem. But maybe the first Doctor was just more cocky and decisive than his successors.
I loved the bickering between Two and Three but I also thought that Three's hostility towards Two didn't make much sense. As he was forced by the Timelords to regenerate and didn't want to go, wouldn't he look back more fondly on this incarnation?
I loved how they came to accept each other over the course of the story, especially the scene where Three grabs Two by the hand protectively when they flee to UNIT HQ.
I also loved the scene towards the end, after Two has taken his leave and Jo says, "so sweet." about him and then Three says, "Yes, I was, wasn't I?"
Ok, Three actually knows less than his predecessors about some things because the Timelords messed with his memories. But Two doesn't have that problem. But maybe the first Doctor was just more cocky and decisive than his successors.
I loved the bickering between Two and Three but I also thought that Three's hostility towards Two didn't make much sense. As he was forced by the Timelords to regenerate and didn't want to go, wouldn't he look back more fondly on this incarnation?
I loved how they came to accept each other over the course of the story, especially the scene where Three grabs Two by the hand protectively when they flee to UNIT HQ.
I also loved the scene towards the end, after Two has taken his leave and Jo says, "so sweet." about him and then Three says, "Yes, I was, wasn't I?"
Yeah, the downside of that is that it portrays the First Doctor as an older, wiser authority figure, whereas obviously he's the kid of the group really
The same applies in The Five Doctors, when Hurndell, as One, is spelling things out to Davison's Five at the end.
I've always rationalized it as William The First (hee) having the most logical aspect -- not to mention the most domineering personality.
As Five said in The Five Doctors "One mellows with age."
As Five said in The Five Doctors "One mellows with age."
Wouldnt 1 have the most accumulated life experience? Those that followed never seemed to last a single lifetime where as 1 lived to a ripe old age before regenerating. He may have spent most of his life in quiet learning and observing before running out on his own. Those that came after have led quite the active lifestyle. I am sure some knowledge is lost during every regeneration if the brain also reconfigures every time. This would support 1 seeming to know more than those that followed.
Oh I like the interaction between the three in this series.
Oh I like the interaction between the three in this series.
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