11 reviews
The Worst Part about This Series...
The series called The Gunfighters is painful to watch, but there are moments of humor, particularly in the first episode.
The worst part is the whole series is that infernal song that must be played five times in every episode. What could have been a lovely little ditty, becomes really painful torture.
Between the really horrible American western accents and the song-torture, it's hard to concentrate on the story line. YMMV
Other reviewers have remarked on the muddy nature of the series, not being sure whether to be serious or silly. I deduce that the combination of directorial conflict and condescending attitude had an effect on the acting, accents, and lack of imagination with the soundtrack.
The worst part is the whole series is that infernal song that must be played five times in every episode. What could have been a lovely little ditty, becomes really painful torture.
Between the really horrible American western accents and the song-torture, it's hard to concentrate on the story line. YMMV
Other reviewers have remarked on the muddy nature of the series, not being sure whether to be serious or silly. I deduce that the combination of directorial conflict and condescending attitude had an effect on the acting, accents, and lack of imagination with the soundtrack.
John Wayne Must Be Turning In To His Grave
- Theo Robertson
- Aug 12, 2013
- Permalink
The Gunfighters: Part 1 - Mostly below par Wild West adventure
Review of all 4 parts:
The Gunfighters
This is one of my less favourite Hartnell stories but it is not his worst. While it has some problematic aspects I am not keen on it is quite fun in the early parts especially and has some definite highlights.
It is a 4 part story beginning with A Holiday For The Doctor. It is set around the lead up to the gunfight at the OK Corral in the wild west town of Tombstone 1881.
The story is a mostly comedic escapade for the TARDIS crew in the wild west. The comedy works well at times but not very well quite a lot of the time for my taste. The drama also works well at times but not so well at others, with a various scenes not being very successfully executed.
The biggest plus is that William Hartnell is very good in this story. He is a funny, sparkling and magnetic personality. A far cry from his original detached persona.
Peter Purves is also mostly strong but the negatives are that most other performances are pretty weak and overall the story is unsuccessful in its writing (Donald Cotton's script becomes mostly silly) and disappointing in its on screen production values (the accents and linking 'ballad' are mostly cringeworthy).
There are scenes that can feel to me like an embarrassment, particularly in the pretty poor third episode, with silly scenarios and dodgy accents.
Back to the positives though, parts 1 and 2 are fun in many ways and not at all boring. If the whole thing was like Parts 1 and 2 and if it didn't have the ballad it would be an enjoyable adventure because it really isn't bad up until half way through.
This is an interesting attempt to do something different and deserves credit for that. It has been reported by researchers that it was let down by producer Innes Lloyd and script editor Gerry Davis lack of interest in it due to their dislike of historical stories. They did a lot of great scifi stories after this but certainly did not like history based stories. I do think it was not very well executed in the last couple of episodes especially and it didn't reach its potential with some weak guest cast.
It is a reasonably entertaining romp early on at least. A lot better than the weakest Doctor Who stories.
My Ratings: Episodes 1 & 2 - 6/10, Episode 3 - 4/10, Episode 4 - 5/10. Overall - 5.25/10.
The Gunfighters
This is one of my less favourite Hartnell stories but it is not his worst. While it has some problematic aspects I am not keen on it is quite fun in the early parts especially and has some definite highlights.
It is a 4 part story beginning with A Holiday For The Doctor. It is set around the lead up to the gunfight at the OK Corral in the wild west town of Tombstone 1881.
The story is a mostly comedic escapade for the TARDIS crew in the wild west. The comedy works well at times but not very well quite a lot of the time for my taste. The drama also works well at times but not so well at others, with a various scenes not being very successfully executed.
The biggest plus is that William Hartnell is very good in this story. He is a funny, sparkling and magnetic personality. A far cry from his original detached persona.
Peter Purves is also mostly strong but the negatives are that most other performances are pretty weak and overall the story is unsuccessful in its writing (Donald Cotton's script becomes mostly silly) and disappointing in its on screen production values (the accents and linking 'ballad' are mostly cringeworthy).
There are scenes that can feel to me like an embarrassment, particularly in the pretty poor third episode, with silly scenarios and dodgy accents.
Back to the positives though, parts 1 and 2 are fun in many ways and not at all boring. If the whole thing was like Parts 1 and 2 and if it didn't have the ballad it would be an enjoyable adventure because it really isn't bad up until half way through.
This is an interesting attempt to do something different and deserves credit for that. It has been reported by researchers that it was let down by producer Innes Lloyd and script editor Gerry Davis lack of interest in it due to their dislike of historical stories. They did a lot of great scifi stories after this but certainly did not like history based stories. I do think it was not very well executed in the last couple of episodes especially and it didn't reach its potential with some weak guest cast.
It is a reasonably entertaining romp early on at least. A lot better than the weakest Doctor Who stories.
My Ratings: Episodes 1 & 2 - 6/10, Episode 3 - 4/10, Episode 4 - 5/10. Overall - 5.25/10.
- A_Kind_Of_CineMagic
- Aug 18, 2014
- Permalink
Doc Holliday, Doctor Caligari and Doctor Who
Watch in the contexts of having just seen the film High Noon
This is truly a love letter to American Western films, espeically High Noon with the constantly repeating song interlude between acts. But I rated this so high due to the interaction between The Doctor and Doc Holiday, which was top notch.
If you're not a fan of 1950s and early 1960s western films, it's unlikely you're going to "get", that is understand and truly enjoy, this episode. It's a connected experience, a sort of "You had to be there" type of feel.
Nonetheless, I feel as if it's still watchable, though only maybe a 5 out of 10 for a non-fan of western movies.
I still have 22 characters to go... there.
If you're not a fan of 1950s and early 1960s western films, it's unlikely you're going to "get", that is understand and truly enjoy, this episode. It's a connected experience, a sort of "You had to be there" type of feel.
Nonetheless, I feel as if it's still watchable, though only maybe a 5 out of 10 for a non-fan of western movies.
I still have 22 characters to go... there.
- TARDIS_Tech_Support
- Nov 26, 2023
- Permalink
Watching this is like having toothache.
Fresh from the hangover with the Celestial Toymaker, The Doctor and co. land in......the wild west. Fans must have been wondering what on Earth was going on, from the bizarre to the downright bonkers. When I watched this episode I was struck by the production values, I thought it looked superb, the costumes, the sets, Sheena Marshe, in particular looked awesome. I'm afraid I can't really find many other positives, I dislike the whole feel of it, it's intensely silly, and will only get sillier as it progresses, Part 1 is the most serious.
Lynda Baron, I love you for playing Captain Rack, and of course giving us the fabulous Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, but for giving your vocals to 'The Ballad of the last chance saloon,' not your finest moment, that song is excruciating, and so distracting.
It has a few laughs I guess, and it's nice that we see Steven and Dodo's costumes from the missing previous episode, but A Holiday for The Doctor is quite literally toothache.
Lynda Baron, I love you for playing Captain Rack, and of course giving us the fabulous Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, but for giving your vocals to 'The Ballad of the last chance saloon,' not your finest moment, that song is excruciating, and so distracting.
It has a few laughs I guess, and it's nice that we see Steven and Dodo's costumes from the missing previous episode, but A Holiday for The Doctor is quite literally toothache.
- Sleepin_Dragon
- Jan 23, 2019
- Permalink
A underrated Story for the Reviewers
Pastiche, Parody Or Worse?
- timdalton007
- Mar 4, 2014
- Permalink
Review for the whole serial
Whenever Doctor Who does an episode set in the past they usually stick to British history, which is pretty fitting, but every now and again they'll stray from that. This is one of those rare occasions. It feels very different from the serials before it, the travelers kinda take a back seat to the plot and mostly just watch things unfold. That's not to say they're not involved in the events, but they're very passive. It comes across feeling like a completely unrelated western that Doctor Who walked in on. Dodo is far less annoying here though which is appreciated and Steven has some great moments just having fun in the wild west. The Doctor's pacifism is on full display here (although he apparently owns a gun despite not liking them), it's a strange take on it though as he'll constantly say he doesn't approve of violence, but not offer any alternative. They also will not stop playing this stupid song (the Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon), at first it seemed like they were just trying to set the mood, but after the first 10 times it practically just becomes a scene transition. A lot of times it's just the same lyrics over and over, but sometimes they'll come up with new bits that decline in quality as it goes on.
- laurawanco
- Apr 1, 2021
- Permalink
Review of entire serial
THE GUNFIGHTERS is a particularly weak serial for the first Doctor, perhaps the weakest of his entire run, although I've certainly not seen all of them. The problem with this one is that it's so abnominally straight, with nary a sci-fi element in evidence (aside from the Doctor and the Tardis, of course). The story sees the travellers landing at the OK Corral shortly before the famous gun battle, and meeting various historical characters alongside BLUE PETER presenter Peter Purves in a comedy role. Lynda Baron sings an endless ballad, the American accents are dodgy, and the final battle one of the cheapest ever staged. It's not good.
- Leofwine_draca
- Nov 8, 2023
- Permalink
Just plain awful!
I have seen quite a few "Dr. Who" episodes but rarely feel any need to review them. After all, the early ones are pretty cheesy and had very small budgets, so it's hard to fault them. But with "A Holiday for the Doctor", the series takes a HUGE step backward! It's hard to watch and after a few episodes of this series, we all began screaming every time that godawful woman began singing. Yes...through all the episodes, some unseen woman sings to describe everything you just saw. The style of the singing is terrible and the purpose of the singing eluded us. After all, she's singing about what we just saw...so why sing at all?? And she sings again and again and again and again!! Add to that the overuse of a cliched story of the Clantons/Earp feud and you've got a series that is just hard to like...and pretty easy to dislike.
- planktonrules
- Nov 21, 2023
- Permalink