Doctor Who in it's third year was having just as many downs as it was ups as for ever good Dalek serial that came out there was sadly two or three bad ones that came out. Sadly the bad ones usually came at the same time as each other meaning you would get weeks of bad Doctor Who serials with the episode that i'm going to be talking to you all about today being one of the bad ones as yeah this serial isn't that good and so then join me as I review the episode both William Hartnell and Peter Purves hated making with the serial in question being called simply just "The Gunfighters" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is The Doctor , Steven and Dodo arrive in the old west town of Tombstone and have to try and stop a family of gang members from causing an all out war in the town. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty OK at best. With the first episode by far being the weakest interms of story and the rest of the episodes being very light on plot that it was hard too work out just what the main plot of the serial was even meant to be alot of the time as the episode didn't focus on any plot. This is something that this episodes writer Donald Cotton whom had previously written The Myth Makers for the show really should have fixed as there's nothing to this episodes plot there's no stakes there's no drama and there's no focus what we are essentially seeing is the characters go from one of the episodes same three later four or five sets over and over again and while that's great for the first episode as then you could make the point that the story is being setting up but all of the serials episodes are like that with the plot itself feeling like an after thought to anything else in the episode yet if he had put more focus on plot and less focus on spectacle then we could have had a really good story as there are the bones of a good story in there we just needed a better writer and maybe a better director to help to bring it out as the stuff with The Doctor trying to convince the Clanton's not to go to war with the Earp's is good stuff and yet the episode doesn't focus on that with the plot of this episode not really being really rather entertaining and as well as not really being really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is William Hartnell as The Doctor , Peter Purves as Steven Taylor and Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet. Also starring in this episode is William Hurndell as Ike Clanton , Maurice Good as Phineas Clanton , David Cole as Billy Clanton , Sheena Marshe as Kate , Thunderbirds star Shane Rimmer as Seth Harper , Dalek voice actor and Thunderbirds star David Graham as Charlie , John Alderson as Wyatt Earp , Anthony Jacobs as Doc Holliday , Richard Beale as Bat Masterson , Reed De Rouen as Pa Clanton , Laurence Payne as Johnny Ringo , Martyn Huntley as Warren Earp and Victor Carin as Virgil Earp.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. To be frank this episodes acting is one of the better things about the episode as everybody in the episode does give us a really good performance with some of them like for example Jackie Lane giving us a really good American accent something which could have been easy to do as she would have had to also turn in a good performance at the same time and while she does give us a good American accent there are some actors in this episode who don't give us that but still give us a good performance on top of that. With the best actor in this episode being William Hartnell as he does give us a performance that not only feels true to who his character is as The Doctor doesn't want to mess with time in this episode he just wants to get his tooth checked out and be on his way and yet when the character does get dragged into this situation William Hartnell does deliver a good performance with him getting across just how important it is to him that he doesn't fire a single bullet just with a look and while William Hartnell not only didn't like making the episode he also doesn't do an American accent with him being professional enough to get through the production of the episode and remind us of why he is this good actor by giving us a performance that s far better then what an episode like this one really did deserve with him having alot of charm that really does come through in his performance. With the acting that's in this very episode not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors anything to work with interms of what it is that that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does help to harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
For alot of modern Doctor Who fans they will think that The Doctor's hatred of guns started with The Thirteenth Doctor when it fact this episode is the earliest one one this far that has The Doctor mention that he hates guns. This is something that does work well for any version of The Doctor as he or she would then be forced into finding a creative none harmful out of a situation with the fact that this version of the characters gets given different guns at different points in the episode being something that does utterly disgust him even tho when it's by Steven it's for his own protection and yet he never once uses it with the only time he raises his gun being in the bar at the start of the second episode and even then someone else has to raise his arm for him and tell him what to say next. The fact that The Doctor hating guns goes back this far when it very easily could have been a modern thing is something that does make the character on the whole feel more thought out as by all rights whom ever creates any version of the character could if they so chose have that aspect of his character be removed and yet they kept it and it is something that does put The Doctor at odds with alot of the characters in this episode as of course he's landed in the old west where every one had a gun and with him telling people that he won't use is something that does make alot of them confused as they don't know any better all they know is how to shoot with even several character early on in the episode bragging about killing people by shooting them and yet any version of The Doctor is able to do more damage then they are just by using his words and while that wouldn't gave helped him in this situation the fact that the makers of this episode even toyed with the idea of having him with a gun is something that does tell you right away that this is episode is alot more different and alot more darker then what the other episodes of this show are.
There was one thing above the dull plot of the episode and the lack of a plot in the first episode and that's the fact that they had the song "The Ballad Of The Last Chance Saloon" play seemingly every five minuets during the entire episode. Just to be clear here both the song and the singing by Lynda Baron was fine for what it is but it's the fact that they kept on stopping the story just to have bits of this song play that started to drive me mad this wouldn't be a bad thing if the song was being used to advance the plot of the episode but its not rather it's being used to recap things that we've just seen happen on screen which makes it a pointless song and fair enough this song was used to make the episode feel more like a true western but surely just having the song play once at the start of the episode and then once again at the end of the episode would have accomplished the same feet. There really was no need to keep on bringing back the song at several points in the episode if it's just recapping something that we've just seen as all that does is stop the plot of the episode for no good reason however tho to be fair the song itself is a fairly decent song that does do a good enough job of setting up the tone for the episode when it's played in episode one and even when Steven sings it in that same episode it still does work with even the main singing by Lynda Baron being really good as she does have a good singing voice on her that does suit the type of song that this is which makes it all the more shocking that Sydney Newman according to David Brunt's Doctor Who the Production Dairies: The William Hartnell years hated her performance in the episode yet he was seemingly fine with everything else in the episode which is odd as her singing isn't that bad for what kind of song that this is meant to be.
As Doctor Who's first western this episode is fairly decent in that regard as it does try to capture the tone and spirit of western films. However tho in doing so it does forget to be a Doctor Who episode as outside if seeing the TARDIS at the start and end of the episode there is nothing in this episode that makes it feel like a Doctor Who episode with it feeling like that the makers of this episode were somehow ashamed of the show and wanted to use the episode to distance themselves from the show this is something that might be why both Peter Purves and William Hartnell hated working on the episode as they are both were and still are strong advocates for everything that the show was and still could be and yet here it does feel like that this episodes director Rex Tucker whom also helped to develop the show for a few months back in 1963 felt like that the show was beneath him. With there being noting in this episode that makes it feel like a true Doctor Who episode and while yes the same thing could also be said for alot of the historical episodes that the show did back in those days those other episodes also didn't feel ashamed of being an episode of this show whereas this episode feels like it would rather be the episode of any other show with this being something that doesn't work for this show as no one is watching this episode to see Wyatt Earp for example there coming to see The Doctor and his friends this is not to say that a story like this could work as A Town Called Mercy proved that a western themed Doctor Who episode can work but this episode needed to not be afraid of being a Doctor Who episode with this being something that does hold the episode back and stops it from being as good as it had the potential to be.
This episode is perhaps the most dark episode of early Doctor Who as not only do we have the companions in this case Steven almost getting hanged. We also have Dodo almost getting shot and quite literally alot of the episodes main characters getting shot and killed something which we see ON SCREEN alot of the time and even when we don't see them getting shot on screen the episode lingers on there bodies and in the case of Charlie even shows his body for a good few minuets before The Doctor and Steven even realise that he's dead holy heck is that a dark thing to be in a kids show and yet the episode doesn't shy away from it which to be frank is something that the episode should be praised for doing as the old west was a violent place and a violent time for both men and women alike and therefor showing characters that we like getting killed of does feel true to the time period. However even tho we don't get to see any blood in the episode this is something that might be seen as being a bit to dark for its good heck the episode even shows use Doc Holiday killing someone in cold blood just for there trey of food and it's played off as a joke this is something that if it was shown on BBC today would get alot of complaints from parents groups and odds are that it did in 1966 as while villains like the Daleks for example do get up to some pretty dark things they are purely creatures of fantasy whereas here alot of the side characters barring Seth Harper , Kate and Charlie were all real people with the fight at the end of the episode being a real thing that did happen and did result in the deaths of people therefore this is something that does need to be treated differently, due to the fact that people can except ruthless killing machines in a kids TV show as there not real but these side characters were real and therefor there should have been some effort put into toning down how dark that this episode is in the first place.
Now then whilst I cannot for the absolutely life of remember what this episodes grand total running time even was I do know that this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of roughly one hour and thirty minuets. Look to be frank this episode really didn't need to be this long and nor did it need to be four episodes long either as all the first episode is is just The Doctor going to the dentist and that's it heck even the big cliff hanger ending is just him walking to the saloon where Steven and Dodo are being forced to sing "The Ballad Of The Last Chance Saloon" which is just such a huge none ending whereas if this episode was say three or two episodes long then it would have been all the more better with the episode having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. With the episode not even using its running time all that wisely as the episode doesn't take the time the fully develop its plot due to the fact that the episode doesn't spend alot of time even focusing on its plot with this being something that does make it harder to recognise what the plot is even meant to be and yet if the episode was say two episodes long for example then it would force the makers of this episode to focus more on the plot which in turn would make the episode be all the more better with the makers of this episode being more focused on shoving a beautiful but pointless song down our throats then they are in giving the episodes plot some plot development. This is something that does hinder the episodes character development as well as none of the episodes characters get any kind of development which OK fair enough for The Doctor , Steven and Dodo isn't a big deal as they have the other episodes to get there character development but all of the episodes side characters it is a big deal as none of them get any kind of character development and they are are the ones that needed it the most with the makers of this episode caring more about showing The Doctor getting his tooth looked at then they did giving the episodes characters character development but I really will admit that this very episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Much like with the episodes acting this episodes action was the best thing about the episode as it did give us a chance to see what the makers of show could do when there given a decent filming location as with this episode there was alot of filming done at Ealing Television Film Studios which was a frequent filming base for classic Doctor Who even going back the the first episode of the show as its a proper film studio and it is something that does show in this episode as it makes the episodes action scenes look all the more cinematic as it was clearly filmed on film and not on tape like it is for all of the interior shots which were done on tape. With the best action scene in the whole episode being the action scene at the end of the final episode as we get to see all of the villains go up against three of the heroes minus the shows main characters and engage in a massive shoot out with even Dodo getting in on the action to try and help Doc Holiday when Johnny Ringo tries to sneak up behind him and shoot him in the back this was a really good action scene and it's odd that the episodes director rex Tucker hated how the shows producer Innes Lloyd had that scene edited so much so that he had his name removed from the final credits of the episode and yet the editing on that scene was actually really good with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall wow was this episode a big heap of nothing as while the idea of the TARDIS crew visiting the old west is a good idea here in this episode it just felt wasted as the makers of this episode don't do anything new or fun with the concept which makes the whole episode feel undercooked and underbaked in my freaking opinions anyways / at least/ Now then i've talked about all of the good and a swell as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images rat I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Tardis . Wiki. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Tardis . Wiki really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Tardis . Wiki really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.