In an effort to find something quick that can be written as part of Daily Doctor Who, we are continuing with Say Something Nice, where I look back at each of the Doctor Who stories and pull out one or two cool things about it.
(Daily Doctor Who #191)
Read the previous entry here. Today, we continue with the third season’s eighth story…
The Gunfighters
The regular cast remains the same as last time: William Hartnell as the Doctor, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor and Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet.
The serial is written by Donald Cotton, and directed by Rex Tucker.
Individual episodes are called A Holiday for the Doctor, Don’t Shoot the Pianist, Johnny Ringo and The O.K. Corrall.
Say Something Nice…
(Named for Missy–aka the Master–and her catchphrase from her first full appearance in Dark Water).
This is the first story that is totally set in the United States (and was the last time this happened until the 1996 TV movie. The show has a bad reputation amongst many fans, but many more modern takes find it quite hilarious and charming. I haven’t seen it in a loooong time (and when I did, it was on a fuzzy UHF TV station), but reading about it and you get a strong sense of the Doctor’s distaste in guns and violence, which makes for an interesting contrast with the “Wild West” setting and Steven and Dodo’s enthusiasm for the environment.
But because we’re equal-opportunity fans here, we’re not going to only be sycophantically complimentary.
You craven-hearted spineless poltroon!
(Another cry from the Master, but not exactly a catch-phrase, this time from The Deadly Assassin)
If you are going to go to all the trouble of doing a story about known historical events, why ignore so many aspects of known history so strongly? Apparently also, the American accents are especially bad.
I’d love to hear opinions from anyone who remembers this story better than me.
Catch you next time!
Blue Towel Productions 