“The Gunfighters” is an adventure of the third season of “Doctor Who” classic series, which aired in 1966. It’s a four parts adventure written by Donald Cotton and directed by Rex Tucker.
The story
The First Doctor (William Hartnell) has a toothache so he has to find a dentist in the place where the Tardis has materialized. Together with Steven (Peter Purves) and Dodo (Jackie Lane), he discovers that they arrived in the town of Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881 and the first person they meet is Wyatt Earp. The Doctor finds the local dentist, who is Doc Holliday.
The Clanton brothers arrived in Tombstone to settle their score with Doc Holliday, who takes the opportunity to use the Doctor as a distraction. Steven and Dodo go at the local hotel to book rooms but they too end up being involved in the feud between the Clanton brothers, Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp that will lead to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
At that time the various episodes of each adventure had individual titles, in this case:
- A Holiday for the Doctor
- Don’t Shoot the Pianist
- Johnny Ringo
- The OK Corral
Extras
This DVD contains a decent amount of extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles, the Radio Times Billings and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.
There are various comments in the adventure alternative audio track by protagonist Peter Purves, actors Shane Rimmer, David Graham and Richard Beale, production assistant Tristan de Vere Cole and Toby Hadoke.
The End of the Line. An analysis of the changes in the “Doctor Who” production after its original producer Verity Lambert left the show. In particular, script editor Donald Tosh remembers that period. An excellent documentary about 45 minutes long that can shed light on the evolution of the series in those years.
Tomorrow’s Times: The First Doctor. Actress Mary Tamm presents a number of comments from that period to the First Doctor adventures.
Producer John Wiles and script editor Donald Tosh were pleased with the adventure “The Myth Makers” and asked its author Donald Cotton to write another historical one with a comedic tone. Cotton was inspired by the Wild West and in particular to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, while not following with great precision the historical reality of that event, to write the script that became “The Gunfighters”.
In the meantime, however, Innes Lloyd became “Doctor Who” producer and Gerry Davis the show’s script editor. They both didn’t like historical adventures and to make matters worse they had a vision of “Doctor Who” more serious than comedic tone in Donald Cotton’s screenplay. They even considered the possibility of canceling “The Gunfighters” but eventually this adventure went into production.
In the ’60s there was a period when there were several western shows on British television and the genre had reached a saturation level. That’s also why “The Gunfighters” had a negative reception. The audience fell compared to the previous adventure and even more so in the last two episodes but also gave rise to a negative reputation that labeled it the worst of “Doctor Who”.
Personally, I have to say that I liked “The Gunfighters”. It’s a spoof of the western genre so inevitbaly there’s an element of subjectivity greater than normal in the reception by the audience. The comedic content in this adventure can be funny or boring. In particular, the ballad that accompanies the story is controversial to say the least: for me it underlines its lighter side but for those who find it boring that’s just annoying.
“The Gunfighters” is in some ways a very unusual adventure. The First Doctor had a strong personality and generally even in the most difficult moments he was trying to take control of the situation. On the contrary, in this case his toothache makes him weak, so much that he doesn’t realize that he’s being used by Doc Holliday, and even when he solves his problem he takes a long time to recover and return to being the normal Doctor.
The following moments that should be dramatic are also generally played with a comedic tone that spoofs several cliches of the western genre. True, that doesn’t always work but if you find “The Gunfighters” fun in the first episode you’re likely to find it funny in the subsequent ones as well.
The sets are really well made considering the little budget “Doctor Who” had in the ’60s. Shooting a Western in studio seems to make little sense but also thanks to shots that make the spaces seem larger than they really are with fake well-placed backgrounds the atmosphere is the right one. It’s clear that if we compared “The Gunfighters” to a Sergio Leone movie shot in those years, the comparison would be really unfavorable but we’re talking about completely different productions.
The performances are one of the main criticisms in “The Gunfighters”. Don’t get me wrong, most of the cast, starting with the protagonists, do their job well but the American accents for some critics are funnier than the story. The pace of the story is high by the standards of “Doctor Who” in the ’60s.
“The Gunfighters” will never be considered a classic “Doctor Who” but I think it’s overall a good adventure, however, precisely because it’s so unique, it’s hard to recommend it. The DVD contains just a few extras but especially the documentary is really good and interesting for the show’s fans so if you’re interested in the First Doctor era and you don’t have an aversion to this adventure you might give it a chance.
In Region 2 nations, this DVD is part of the “Earth Story” box set – available on Amazon U.K.
