Doctor Who - Four to Doomsday
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List Price: $9.98
Features
• Color
• NTSC
In Theaters : 29 September, 1975
Video Release : 04 June, 2002 |
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Doctor Who - Four to Doomsday Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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Thought Provoking Fare - An Idea Story more so than an Action story
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This is one of my favorite Doctor Who stories. This was the first episode filmed with Peter Davison as the 5th Doctor, though it was his second one to be aired. Some of the critques of this story claim that the plot developes too slowly, I don't agree. Its true that apart from the 3rd episode cliff hanger and the last 7-8 minutes of episode four, there are not many action scenes. The first 2 cliff hangers reveal a new major revelation to the plot.
The Story takes place on an Urbankan ship which is led by Monarch. Where the story shines is in the strong roles of the Doctors 3 companions. Adric, Nyssa and Teagan worked together better than any other trio. Each has specific skills, Adric is a genious in math, while Nyssa has a background in biological engineering. Teagan is the only Earthling and is very strong willed, and a bit uncertain about the Doctor. She tends to set out on her own a lot and create a good amount of friction between her and the Doctor as well as Adric. She does not take everyone at face value as many earlier companions who just tagged along did. This helped to give this episode more bite.
Much of the show involves the Doctor and his 3 companions exploring the ship, often times seperate from each other so that by part 3, they all have a different opionion about Monarch's motives. The Doctor has to spend a great deal of time convincing Adric to help him instead of Monarch.
The inside of the Urbankan ship was designed very well and doesn't look that dated even today. The outside of the ship is not as convincing but is adequate and is only shown briefly.
Four leaders from ethnic earth Races are on the ship. Each Ethic group; Chinese, Greece, Australian Aboriginy and Myan, have a dance or entertainment showcased. These dances are well costumed and add even more richness to the splendid backdrop for the story.
Peter Davison plays the Doctor more on a even keel than Tom Baker's eccentric Doctor. One of the 5th Doctors strengths is he spends much more time planning things out and does not rush into action pre-maturely. He also relies more on his companions skills in science and math than did the 4th Doctor.
The first time I watched this episode I thought the ending was paced a bit fast with things wrapped up quickly and not totally explained, this happened commonly in Doctor Who, sometimes due to time constraints. Every show can be nit-picked. One thing I didn't like was when the Doctor went into a trance to conserve oxygen it seemed more like he was hyper-ventilating.
This is an episode that I never tire of watching. |
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