Suggestive spoilers to all four episodes
Having a sudden attack of toothache the Doctor lands the Tardis and finds himself in America in the 19th century . In a case of mistaken identity the Doctor finds himself being confused with Doc Holiday which considering he's in Tombstone in October 1881 is a dangerous thing
This was universally considered the worst thing the programme produced in the 1960s and because no one had access to video copies and UK Gold didn't start broadcasting until 1992 it reputation remained . It should be noted the people slating it were the same ones who claimed The Web Planet was an all time masterpiece but you can understand fans back in the day who were wanting to see alien planets and monsters having to endure four weeks of pseudo historical twaddle but that's to miss the point . Where as the story The Chase possibly tried to deconstruct the Daleks this story might not deconstruct the Western genre but is highly entertaining
In some ways it resembles The Romans from the previous year . If that one was CARRY ON CLEO this one is definitely CARRY ON COWBOY . . The cast have a whale of a time trying and failing to portray tough , butch balls of machismo from an era when men were men , women were thankful and life on other planets hadn't been thought of because HG Wells hadn't started writing books . Shame Rimmer ( The man who always appeared as a token American in every British production of everything ) manages to convince with his North American accent being from Canada . No one else does . It's that sort of production
The Gunfighters never takes itself seriously . and won't appeal to any aficionado of the Western genre . Good I say and if John Wayne was still alive I'd personally buy the DVD and send it to him for making countless dire mythical movies that I have no interest in sitting through . Pride of place goes to The Ballad Of Last Chance Saloon where Steven Taylor ( Peter Purves proving why he became a presenter and didn't stay in the acting profession ) being forced to sing . One wonders if this story influenced John Barrowman to enter show business ? He'd be able to do the accent but not even Barrowman would be able to do pantomime feel of the story which is laugh out loud funny
Camp , laughable , totally unconvincing , bad history , but never ever boring The Gunfighters works as four episodes of DOCTOR WHO at its most watchable though certainly far from its best . The poor feedback from the TV audience led the production team to drop historical stories and become horror lite science fiction for the masses which got the formula right midway through the Troughton era which is what the Great British perceive the show as . Despite the negativity this story has it's still great entertainment as long as you never take it seriously
Having a sudden attack of toothache the Doctor lands the Tardis and finds himself in America in the 19th century . In a case of mistaken identity the Doctor finds himself being confused with Doc Holiday which considering he's in Tombstone in October 1881 is a dangerous thing
This was universally considered the worst thing the programme produced in the 1960s and because no one had access to video copies and UK Gold didn't start broadcasting until 1992 it reputation remained . It should be noted the people slating it were the same ones who claimed The Web Planet was an all time masterpiece but you can understand fans back in the day who were wanting to see alien planets and monsters having to endure four weeks of pseudo historical twaddle but that's to miss the point . Where as the story The Chase possibly tried to deconstruct the Daleks this story might not deconstruct the Western genre but is highly entertaining
In some ways it resembles The Romans from the previous year . If that one was CARRY ON CLEO this one is definitely CARRY ON COWBOY . . The cast have a whale of a time trying and failing to portray tough , butch balls of machismo from an era when men were men , women were thankful and life on other planets hadn't been thought of because HG Wells hadn't started writing books . Shame Rimmer ( The man who always appeared as a token American in every British production of everything ) manages to convince with his North American accent being from Canada . No one else does . It's that sort of production
The Gunfighters never takes itself seriously . and won't appeal to any aficionado of the Western genre . Good I say and if John Wayne was still alive I'd personally buy the DVD and send it to him for making countless dire mythical movies that I have no interest in sitting through . Pride of place goes to The Ballad Of Last Chance Saloon where Steven Taylor ( Peter Purves proving why he became a presenter and didn't stay in the acting profession ) being forced to sing . One wonders if this story influenced John Barrowman to enter show business ? He'd be able to do the accent but not even Barrowman would be able to do pantomime feel of the story which is laugh out loud funny
Camp , laughable , totally unconvincing , bad history , but never ever boring The Gunfighters works as four episodes of DOCTOR WHO at its most watchable though certainly far from its best . The poor feedback from the TV audience led the production team to drop historical stories and become horror lite science fiction for the masses which got the formula right midway through the Troughton era which is what the Great British perceive the show as . Despite the negativity this story has it's still great entertainment as long as you never take it seriously