The Three Doctors Episode Four

The one where the Doctor's recorder saves the universe...

When the Doctor is released from his battle with the dark side of Omega's mind, Jon Pertwee has to pretend to be in a head-lock with the invisible man, but this made me wonder whether the Doctor had been tumbling around the singularity room all this time, fighting an unseen troll? I hope not, because that would've been silly.

Omega finally reveals what it is he wants the Doctor to do: replace him. In a twist reminiscent of The Mind Robber, Omega wants the Doctor to perpetuate the anti-matter universe so that he can leave, because as things stand, Omega cannot leave without relinquishing control, and he cannot do that unless he leaves. It's a paradox. So he needs someone else to take control.

But it's soon discovered that there isn't very much left of Omega, as his exposure to the effects of the black hole's singularity have corroded his physical body away. Omega's will is all that's left of him, and this realisation sends him even more insane than he already is. Stephen Thorne - not one known for his subtlety of performance - makes Omega completely sympathetic in this moment, first wailing and crying in shock, then raging like a child, promising to wreak vengeance on all known life. If he cannot live, then nor shall anybody else. The special effect of Omega removing his mask to reveal a physical absence is cleverly done, with the two Doctors seen through the gap where his head should be. The moment where Omega's mask flaps up to reveal that there is indeed a physical actor inside is best glossed over!

The Second Doctor latches onto the fact Omega has only a tacit grip on his sanity, so he attempts to test his self-control and his temper by waffling on about his lost recorder. Throughout the story the Doctor has been preoccupied with his recorder, a prop that dates back to Season 4 but which became less and less prevalent as Troughton's era wore on. The passage of time has seen this Doctor associated quite readily with his recorder (or flute, nobody in this story or Dimensions in Time can quite decide!), but it's clever that writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin have seeded this instrument for a reason, as it plays a vital part in proceedings here.

The Doctor's been mentioning the fact he's lost his recorder for a while, and tests Omega's patience by asking if he'd summon a new one up for him ("Well it's not much to ask, a small recorder!"). When he finally finds it in amongst the gubbins under the TARDIS console, forming part of the force field generator, that's when its true importance shines. The recorder, when removed from the force field generator, causes an almighty explosion as the instrument's real-world matter clashes with Omega's anti-matter universe, causing a big bang, and turning the black hole supernova. A happy side effect of this is that the Time Lords get a whole new power source.

It's both complicated and simple at the same time, but it boils down to the Doctor's recorder saving the entire universe, which is wonderfully Doctor Who-y!

There's a lot of padding in this episode, and The Three Doctors as a whole, which is surprising for a four-parter. As ever with Baker and Martin's scripts, there's some impressive, big ideas at work, but they're not so strong on pace and character. The Three Doctors has a small cast, but most of them are superfluous to be honest. There is absolutely no point to Mr Ollis at all. He barely has any lines and does precisely nothing. Dr Tyler's usefulness ends almost as soon as it begins in episode 1, and he remains simply to ask questions on behalf of the viewer - which Jo, the Brigadier and Benton do perfectly well too. There are too many characters doing nothing, and this is accentuated by the drawn-out scene where everybody walks through the singularity. Slowly. One by one. The best thing about it is the Brigadier's solemn salute.

After it's all over, the Doctors go their separate ways. William Hartnell has a corking last line when he says: "The way things have been going, I shudder to think what you'll do without me!" Just over two years later, he was dead, but I bet he bloody loved being in Doctor Who again. Hartnell adored the role, and was reluctant to leave by most accounts, so for him to return to the part all those years later, in his dotage, his health failing him, must have boosted him tremendously. I can just imagine him sitting at home each Saturday teatime watching himself and chuckling away delightedly. Hartnell struggled on long enough to see Pertwee go and a new, fourth Doctor begin, although it's debatable whether he ever actually saw Tom Baker as Doctor Who as he was permanently hospitalised from December 1974 until he died four months later.

The Three Doctors is not a good swansong for William Hartnell, but then neither was The Tenth Planet. But for four weeks he was Doctor Who again, that white-haired wizard he loved playing a decade before, and even if it's bittersweet for us to watch now, it gave an old man a lot of joy and pleasure, and for that we must be grateful.

As a reward for saving the entire universe, the Time Lords give the Third Doctor a dematerialisation circuit for his TARDIS, and the knowledge he needs to travel through time and space again. They have "forgiven" him, he says, which is a bit rich for saying the Time Lords put him on trial for interfering in the affairs of others - the very thing they kept getting him to do while he was exiled (Uxarieus, Peladon, Solos)! But this means that, at last, Doctor Who will be whizzing around time and space in his battered old blue box again, just like he did back in the 1960s. And it's about time too...

The Three Doctors is less than the sum of its parts. The story is pretty standard, and the pacing is all over the place. A lot of it is nonsensical and pointless, but the whole thing is somehow saved by the guest appearance of Patrick Troughton, who lifts just about anything he appears in. Troughton's mercurial presence was untappable in that he was a one-off, unique. Getting him back in Doctor Who reminded me how great he was, particularly in his first two years, and brings home how cosy and formulaic Doctor Who had become by 1973. I hope that the Doctor's newfound freedom will mean a return to the true spirit of Doctor Who as it was conceived, and that the Doctor - and Jon Pertwee - can lighten up a bit!

First broadcast: January 20th, 1973 (ironically, this is the 333rd episode of Doctor Who!)

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: It's perfect that it's the Doctor's recorder which saves the universe. It's a very good job the Time Lords thought to send the Second Doctor to help, and perfect that the recorder is the very first thing we see of him.
The Bad: All these characters with nothing to do or say. Would it have harmed Baker and Martin to have written some kind of subplot for them?
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ (story average: 5.3 out of 10)

"Now listen to me" tally: 21 - "Now listen to me, everybody" commands the Third Doctor when outlining his plan to his menagerie.
Neck-rub tally: 10

NEXT TIME: Carnival of Monsters...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode One; Episode Two; Episode Three

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-three-doctors.html

The Three Doctors Special Edition is available on BBC DVD as part of the Revisitations 3 box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Revisitations-Cybermen-Doctors-Robots/dp/B006H4RB6O