The Three Doctors

] [cite web
url= http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/rrr.html
title= The Three Doctors
publisher = A Brief History of Time Travel
last = Sullivan
first = Shannon
date = 2007-08-07
accessdate = 2008-08-30]

Continuity

*The story sets up a mildly antagonistic relationship between the various incarnations of the Doctor, for humorous effect. The Second and Third Doctors bicker, compete, and try to put each other down. Even the First Doctor dismisses the others by saying, "So you're my replacements — a dandy and a clown!" This kind of relationship between the Doctor's selves was seen again in subsequent multi-Doctor stories. Troughton and Pertwee in particular enjoyed the banter so much that they carried on the mock competition when they appeared together at science fiction conventions.
*Omega would return in the Fifth Doctor serial, "Arc of Infinity" (1983), as well as in the Big Finish Productions audio play "Omega" and the novel "The Infinity Doctors".
*The Chancellor is portrayed by Clyde Pollitt who had also played one of the Time Lords who tried and exiled the Second Doctor. Barry Letts, in the DVD commentary for this story, states that this was intentional as he meant for this to be the same character. Similarly, Graham Leaman reappears as a Time Lord having been seen in the role in "Colony in Space", discussing the Master's activities and their use of the exiled Doctor as an agent.
*The Brigadier refers to the Yeti ("The Web of Fear"), the Cybermen ("The Invasion") and the Autons ("Spearhead from Space").
*According to the Virgin Missing Adventures novel "The Empire of Glass", The First Doctor is taken out of time after the events of "The Time Meddler". His return to his own timeline is depicted in the novel.

Production

*Working titles for this story included "The Black Hole".
*This serial was specially scripted for the tenth anniversary of the show although it actually began transmission only five weeks after the series' ninth anniversary on November 23 1972. It was, however, the first story of the tenth season.
*The script was originally supposed to feature all three Doctors equally, but William Hartnell was far too ill to be able to play the full role as envisioned. He was, therefore, reduced to a pre-recorded cameo role, appearing only on the TARDIS's scanner and the space-time viewer of the Time Lords. It would be the last time he played the Doctor and his last acting role before his death in 1975. Hartnell's scenes were filmed at BBC's Ealing Studios and not in a garage or a garden shed as fan myth would have it. The serial's promotional photo shoot was the only time the three actors were shown together.
*The production team also planned for Frazer Hines to reprise his role of Jamie McCrimmon alongside the Second Doctor; however, Hines was not available, due to his work on "Emmerdale Farm". Much of the role originally intended for Jamie was reassigned to Sergeant Benton.

Outside references

Jo references The Beatles song "I Am the Walrus" when the Third Doctor uses the line "I am he, and he is me".

In print

Doctorwhobook
title=The Three Doctors
series=Target novelisations
number=64
featuring=


writer=Terrance Dicks
publisher=Target Books
coverartist=Chris Achilleos
isbn=ISBN 0 426 11578 3
set_between=
pages=
date=20 November 1975
preceding=Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders
following=Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster|A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in November 1975. It marked the first appearance by the First Doctor in a novelisation commissioned by Target, although this is considered a Third Doctor-era story. Common practice by Target Books was to prepend the words "Doctor Who and the ..." to the story titles; since this was impractical for this title, this became the first Target novelisation to use the title form "Doctor Who - " which would become the standard in the early 1980s (although one republication used the "Doctor Who and the..." form). A Polish translation was published in 1994.

The novelisation provides a rationale for Omega's realm to be set in a quarry while the televised version does not: the millennia of mental effort required to sustain his world inside the black hole has taken its toll, and once lush terrain has degenerated into mere rock and soil.

Broadcast, VHS and DVD releases

*This story was released twice on VHS, first in August 1991 and thereafter remastered and re-released in 2002 as part of the W H Smith's "The Time Lord Collection" boxed set.
*This story was released on DVD in the UK in November 2003 as part of the "Doctor Who" 40th Anniversary Celebration releases, representing the Jon Pertwee years, with many extra features. Some copies came in a box set housing a limited edition Corgi model of "Bessie", the Third Doctor's vintage roadster.
*The DVD commentary is provided by actors Katy Manning and Nicholas Courtney along with producer Barry Letts.
*Along with a few other selected serials of the Second and Third Doctor's runs, this serial has been offered for sale on the iTunes Store as of August 2008.

References

External links

*BBCCDW|id=threedoctors|title=The Three Doctors
*Brief |id=rrr | title=The Three Doctors
*Doctor Who RG | id=who_3r | title=The Three Doctors

Reviews

*OG review | id=3r | title=The Three Doctors
*DWRG | id=thre | title=The Three Doctors

Target novelisation

*DWRG | id=threnov | title=The Three Doctors (novelisation)
* [http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~ecl6nb/OnTarget/1975/three/75three.htm On Target — "The Three Doctors"]