Thursday 17 March 2011

115 The Gunfighters Part 1: A Holiday for the Doctor

EPISODE: The Gunfighters Part 1: A Holiday for the Doctor
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 115
STORY NUMBER: 025
TRANSMITTED: 30 April 1966
WRITER: Donald Cotton
DIRECTOR: Rex Tucker
SCRIPT EDITOR: Gerry Davis
PRODUCER: Innes Lloyd
FORMAT: VHS: Doctor Who - The First Doctor: The Sensorites, The Time Meddler & The Gunfighters

The Tardis arrives in Tombstone Arizona with the Doctor seeking a dentist. Found by the sheriff, Wyatt Earp, the Doctor passes them off as a group of travelling players. He finds Doc Holliday, newly arrived in town and recently set up shop, who's being pursued by Seth Harper and the three Clayton brothers who want revenge for Doc Holliday killing their brother. Harper,who has never seen Holliday before, mistakes the Doctor for him and lures him to the Saloon where they've forced Dodo to play piano and Steven to sing for them. The Doctor unwittingly wanders towards the gunmen lying in wait inside the saloon.

Another historical comedy story, from the pen of Donald Cotton who wrote the Myth Makers. I watch the episode and smile, my only opinion being that it's just a bit of fun with a case of mistaken identity for the Doctor. Nice play of words in the title and used on the episode, the Doctor thinking he's having a Holiday of sorts while the person talking to him thinks he's Doc Holliday.

Charlie the Barman is, at last, an in front of the camera appearance for David Graham who has voiced many of the Daleks before now. Curiously the cast also features Shane Rimmer, as Seth Harper. Both Graham and Rimmer will later find fame in Thunderbirds as Brains and Scott Tracy respectively. You;ll have seen Shane Rimmer in front of the camera in many other places including UFO, Space 1999, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman II and Batman Begins. I was completely submerged in Batman and loving it, then up pops Shane Rimmer as the monorail controller! Liz had Superman II on recently and even over a crying four year old I recognised that voice!

We're back on Video for this and the next three episodes which is something of a disappointment because I know a spruced up DVD version is due later this year, inexplicably paired with the Awakening. So I thought we'd have a look at which Doctor Who stories are left on video not yet released on DVD:

First Doctor - William Hartnell

The Sensorites
The Reign of Terror
Planet of Giants - we've seen these three already.
Gunfighters - scheduled for 2011, paired with the Awakening
Tenth Planet

Second Doctor - Patrick Troughton

The Ice Warriors
The Krotons

Third Doctor - Jon Pertwee

Ambasadors of Death - was scheduled for 2011 but delayed due to restoration issues
Terror of the Autons - will be released 09/05/2011 paired with a new version of Spearhead from Space
Mind of Evil
Colony in Space
Day of the Daleks - scheduled for 2011, but probably not in time for me to watch it :-(
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
Death to the Daleks
Planet of the Spiders - will be released 18/04/2011

Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker

Terror of the Zygons
The Android Invasion
Face of Evil
The Sunmakers - scheduled for 2011, was paired with Ambasadors of Death
Nightmare of Eden
Shada

Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison

The Awakening - scheduled for 2011, paired with the Gunfighters
Frontios - will be released 30/05/2011

Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy

Paradise Towers - scheduled for 2011
Dragonfire
The Happiness Patrol
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

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