Written by Robert Holmes and Sydney Newman
Directed by Peter Moffatt

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series which has been around off and on since 1963. The main character is just known as “The Doctor” and is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. This means he travels through time to various places. One of his favorite places to visit is Earth. Typically, he has a companion traveling with him, usually female, sometimes male, sometimes one of each. He travels in a time machine known as a “Tardis” which is disguised as a British Police booth.

A Time Lord can regenerate if fatally wounded, which has accounted for all the different actors who have played The Doctor throughout the years. In this episode, two of the incarnations of the Doctor meet up. The current portrayer of the Doctor at this time was Colin Baker.

The Two Doctors was a little confusing initially as it starts out with Patrick Troughton’s Doctor. I was looking for Colin Baker. The Doctor and Jamie (portrayed by Frazier Hines) arrive in the kitchen of a Third Zone Space Station and after a confrontation in the kitchen with the cook, Shockeye (portrayed by John Stratton), they are walking down the corridor when they hear the sound of the TARDIS. The Doctor meets with the head of the station, Dastari (portrayed by Laurence Payne), and urges him to stop the experiments until the Time Lords can review them. As they are talking, they are attacked and the Doctor is taken prisoner. Jamie manages to escape.

Meanwhile, the current incarnation of the Doctor is relaxing with Peri (portrayed by Nicola Bryant) and sitting by a stream with a fishing pole. They return to the TARDIS where the Doctor keels over. He goes to visit the Third Zone Space Station to talk with the genetic engineer there and comes across a place in a state of decay. He is mystified until the computer tells him that the experiments being conducted there were deemed a threat to the Time Lords.

Eventually, they come across Jamie. He attacks Peri and is generally in an agitated state. When the Doctor hypnotizes him, they learn he believes he saw the Doctor die. This would explain why the Doctor collapsed in the TARDIS with Peri.

They track Dastari, Shockeye, and Chessene (portrayed by Jacqueline Pearce) to Spain where they have taken over a secluded hacienda and have the second Doctor imprisoned. They must rescue the Doctor before the Sontarans have a chance to dissect him and use the genetic material that allows a Time Lord to travel through time.

The Two Doctors is only three parts instead of the usual four. It does seem to force the story to move along much faster. The use of Seville, Spain as a location shoot was supposed to be a big deal, but it falls flat. The original intention was to use New Orleans, but the expense was too great so Spain was used instead. It could have been just about anywhere for how it was used – a cottage in the English countryside, a mountaintop hut in Nepal, or a shotgun shack in the bayou. The location was not used to its potential and was wasted.

The story was pretty good with a few moments that dragged. This tight script was written by Robert Holmes who wrote some of the better Doctor Who scripts over the years and was brought back specifically for this story-arc. It isn’t his best work, but it is better than many of the other lackluster episodes that dominated this time period. There are some inconsistencies that casual fans won’t pick up on, such as the second Doctor’s relationship with his fellow Time Lords, but it’s something that will bother some fans more than others.

The acting is terrific and I loved having the second Doctor back on the screen. Troughton is wonderful, especially when he is given some of Shockeye’s DNA to turn him into an Androgum. Colin Baker also gives a great performance but is largely overshadowed by Troughton.

There was weak use of the Doctor’s companions here. Peri has always annoyed me as being mostly a whiner, and she just seems crabby and whiny here. Jamie comes off almost cartoon-like and isn’t given nearly enough to do.

The Sontarans aren’t used to their potential either. I think another episode would have allowed for a better fleshing out of both Jamie, Peri, and the Sontarans. While this is a tight story, it also ends up feeling rushed at times.

There are the usual nit-picks that I expect from the show, such as why is the character of Anita talking with what sounds like an Italian accent in Spain? Dasari looks like a reject from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The costuming is hilarious in his case. There’s not a lot of special effects, and what is here is up to the usual caliber of the series, but that’s part of what fans love about it.

What this DVD has is tons of special features. There’s so much that the story-arc takes up two discs. The commentary is great and was fun to listen to.

The Two Doctors won’t go down as my favorite episode of the series, but it was a lot of fun to watch. I appreciate Patrick Troughton so much more than I used to and I enjoyed watching this despite the drawbacks. The story could have been expanded a bit more and better development of the companions and villains as well as better use of the location shoot. It’s not the best of Doctor Who and it’s not the worst.



SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary with Director Peter Moffitt, Fraser Hines, Jacqueline Pearce
• In A Fix with Sontarans
• Information Text
• Isolated Musical Score
• Behind the Sofa Robert Holmes & Doctor Who
• Beneath the Lights
• Beneath the Sun
• 40th Anniversary Celebration
• Adventures in Time and Spain
• Photo Gallery
• Who’s Who
• Wavelength