Doctor Who: The Five Doctors

The Five Doctors aired in November 1983 as a 90 minute special to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Doctor Who. Then-current Doctor Peter Davison (Number Five) was joined by predecessors Patrick Troughton (Doctor Number Two) and Jon Pertwee (Number Three). The late William Hartnell had passed on nearly a decade earlier, but is seen at the very beginning of the episode in a clip from The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and Richard Hurndall does an admirable job stepping into Hartnell's shoes as the First Doctor. Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, was unavailable to do the anniversary story, but is seen in clips from the unfinished story Shada (along with Lalla Ward as Romana), doctored up with some special effects and the subplot of the Fourth Doctor being trapped in a time vortex as an explanation as to why that particular Doctor is not part of the action in the story.

Several of the Doctor's companions put in appearances--most of them cameos--including Sarah Jane Smith (played by Elisabeth Sladen), K-9 (voiced by John Leeson), the Doctor's granddaughter Susan (Carole Ann Ford), Jamie McCrimmon (Fraser Hines), and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) among several others in addition to then-current companions Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson).

The story involves an area on the Doctor's homeworld of Gallifrey called the Death Zone. A member of the High Council of the Time Lords has reactivated the Death Zone and used a timescoop to lift the Doctor's earlier incarnations, along with several of his companions from their respective time streams and place them in the Zone. The Fifth Doctor and his companions are brought to the Death Zone when the TARDIS is caught in a tractor beam.

Several of the Doctor's old enemies--Daleks, Yeti and Cybermen--have also been brought to the Zone. The Doctor's archenemy the Master (the late Anthony Ainley) is sent into the Zone by the High Council to rescue the Doctors. The Doctors and their companions must journey to a dark tower (the Tomb of Rassilon) at the center of the Zone to disable the tractor beam holding the TARDIS, and find out who has reactivated the Death Zone to play the Game of Rassilon.

As one of the first DW stories released to DVD, this release comes up a little bit short on bonus features. As a special edition, this version of The Five Doctors does include deleted scenes, sequences not broadcast before, plus new visual effects and a new stereo soundtrack added to the program itself. This disc also includes 33 minutes of soundtrack music and a commentary track with Peter Davison and writer Terrence Dicks. Yes, having so many characters involved does make this story a bit of a cluster, but The Five Doctors made a great celebration of Doctor Who's twentieth anniversary, and it's one of my favorite stories from the Peter Davison era.

If you enjoyed The Five Doctors, you might also like these Doctor Who releases:

The Tomb of the Cybermen

The Mark of the Rani

Genesis of the Daleks

Doctor Who: The Complete First Series (New Series release)