Things I've Learnt from Watching My Favourite Doctor Who Stories : Part 57 - The Gunfighters

 57. The Gunfighters



You should always make up your own mind!


The sixth Doctor once said, "Never believe what is said... Only what you know!" I'm what could be described as a second generation Doctor Who fan; my father remembers watching An Unearthly Child and always maintains that Hartnell was never bettered. People born in the 1950s and 60s have memories of the early years that my generation, growing up in the 70s and 80s would have longed for in the pre-video. So we would take their word as truth on what made good and bad Doctor Who. The Pertwee era was peerless, Season 5 was the Monster season which meant the monsterless Enemy of the World was dull and boring. The Celestial Toymaker was a wonderful rich fantasy and not at all frivolous and silly, unlike the Graham Williams era! 

And then there was the Gunfighters!

THE worst story ever! The story with the lowest ratings EVER! a story with poorlt drawn versions of Wyatt Warp, Bat Masterson and Doc Holiday according to the episode guide in the 20th Anniversary Radio Times special. And of course, back then who were we to disagree with...


Then classic episodes started to be released on VHS and UK Gold repeated the series from the very beginning. My generation were finally going to get to see what all the fuss was about the Daemons and to see just why this late Hartnell cowboy clanger was such a stinker...

Except it wasn't. Not perfect of course and some of the accents are iffy but poorly drawn characters? Are you having a laugh? Anthony Jacob's is hilarious as Doc Holiday, making him callous and sleazy yet also extremely likeable. John Alderson as Wyatt Earp deadpans very well, especially when the Doctor attempts to twirl the gun in his hand. And Laurence Payne is rather sinister as Johnny Ringo. 

Also seeing this story put pay to the belief that Hartnell was on his last legs during his final few months on the show. The Gunfighters gives the Guvnor a chance to show his comedic talent and handle some witty dialogue expertly well. He's ably supported by Peter Purves, who used to hate this story and believed that the director had taken against him. Purves has a nice line in double takes and seems to be enjoying himself. One review noted that Purves' American accent was terrible, but isn't that the point? It's meant to be a false accent!


And then there's Dodo. It seems that the fan opinion of Jackie Lane has undergone a reversal in that last few years and she's really rather good in this, especially in her scenes with Holliday. Admittedly the Clantons aren't great in the acting or accent stakes, but the rest of the cast make up for them. The ballad that plays throughout the story is a clever device, sung with gusto by Lynda Baron. 

So I've included The Gunfighters in my top 60 because it's fun and well-made and also to prove the point that opinions of what makes good and bad Doctor Who are exactly that: opinions. And with the benefit of the VHS, DVD releases and Britbox, we can now make up our own minds. So, in my opinion not everything in the Pertwee era is peerless (An older fan once said he pitied me because I didn't think the Daemons was perfect!), the Celestial Toymaker is worse than anything Graham Williams produced and the Gunfighters is great stuff and fortunately I'm not alone in that anymore! 

And if you don't agree that's fine! 


Next Time : Lord Byron was Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God Bless the Good Ship Atlantis and all who sink in her!

Image
The (waste of) Time Monster  Nietzsche said "life is a choice between suffering and boredom." He obviously never watched the Time Monster... Back in the 1980s, Doctor Who was not as good as it used to be. At least, not according to the older generation of fandom. Season 24 in particular was subject to a barrel of abuse from "the usual suspects" who opined that the series had gone downhill since 1970s. The Pertwee era in particular was held in an almost unassailable high, in comparison to Tom Baker's reign, which was three years of Hinchcliffe highs and three years of wallowing in the Williams era plus one year of him looking miserable in maroon with John Nathan Turner...  JNT came up with the infamous phrase, "The memory cheats" which did very little to quell the argument. In fact it just fed the flames of their hatred and was definitely a case of biting the hands that feed, another cliche JNT used, if memory serves me correctly.  I recently listened...
Read more

Randomiser : Out of Time 1

Image
This blog was set up to review stories in a random order, so here's my thoughts about one of Big Finish's most celebrated stories   Somewhere in an alternate universe, the August Bank Holiday weekend of 2009 saw an extra special with David Tennant, leading into the Waters of Mars. The audience would have whooped with joy at the familiar sight of certain scarf and tall figure, waxing lyrical about Michaelangelo pilfering his ideas as he paints his fresco, talking to a character played by Katherine Drysdale, who played Bliss in Love & Monsters. It also had the Daleks back in their gun metal grey livery as seen in the 1970s along with the red and gold Dalek (Chicken!) Supreme...  OK, in reality, Out of Time is possibly the only benefit I can think of, that was a result of the 2020 pandemic lockdown (apart from an extended period of paternity leave after the birth of our third son!)  Suddenly available thanks to tv and film productions grinding to a halt, David Tennant qu...
Read more

Things I've Learnt from Watching My Favourite Doctor Who Stories: Part 8 - Genesis of the Daleks

Image
 8. Genesis of the Daleks When crossing a wasteland, don't clam up!  Here we go. Iconic, most-repeated classic story, greatest of all time, best villain, tea time brutality for tots, do I have the right, thank you that's what I wanted to know, you don't worry about your jumper if you've got a Dalek up your arse! We've got the novelisation, the LP, the cassette, the CD, the VHS, the DVD, the blu-ray, the Genesis Character Options set, the commemorative coasters...  What can I say about Genesis of the Daleks that hasn't been said already. OK, here goes. I'll tell you the tale of how I met the Thal Politician. Be prepared for a Tale of Youth (copyright Si Hart!) One of my presents for Christmas 1979 was the LP of Genesis, released after the Daleks spectacular return in Destiny of the Daleks. The album was treasured but as a child I was too scared to listen to Side 2 because of the noise of the Dalek guns, an echo of watching the story (my very first memory of t...
Read more