The Three Doctors (TV story): Difference between revisions

* This story marked the first time [[Jon Pertwee]] and [[William Hartnell]] appeared in a production together since the 1953 film ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Any_Gentleman...%3F Will Any Gentleman...?]''

* The story was repeated on [[BBC2]] on consecutive evenings from Monday 23 to Thursday 26 November 1981 as part of the repeat season ''[[The Five Faces of Doctor Who]]'', in order to tie-in with the programme's eighteenth anniversary. The ''[[Radio Times]]'' programme listing for the repeat transmission of episode two was accompanied by a black-and-white head-and-shoulders publicity shot of the Second, Third and First Doctors, with the accompanying caption "[[Patrick Troughton]], [[Jon Pertwee]] and [[William Hartnell]] - ''The Three Doctors'' called in to save the Time Lords and the Universe from doom: 5.35". ''(original published text)''

* In the original version, ''Deathworld'', the Time Lords are in conflict with a Federation of Evil led by a personification of Death. To avert all-out war, the Time Lords manage to convince the Federation to allow them to send the three Doctors into the Federation's Underworld domain. There, the Doctors will do battle against various realisations of Death — including [[zombie]]s, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse], the Hindu goddess [[Kali]], and the cyclops [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphemus Polyphemus] from Greek mythology — with the victor in the contests determining whether the Time Lords or the Federation of Evil will prevail.

* [[Terrance Dicks]] was once asked how [[Patrick Troughton]] and [[Jon Pertwee]] got on and he jokingly replied "Not at all". Initially, the two clashed over differing acting styles and working methods — Troughton was fond of ad-libbing and goofing around, while Pertwee insisted on sticking to the script. After Pertwee questioned Troughton on one of his ad-libs, Troughton replied, "Instead of worrying about what I'm going to say, worry about what you're going to say." The two also quarrelled over Pertwee's habit of moving [[Stephen Thorne]] slightly to get better camera angles for himself, something that Troughton objected to as he felt the camera was rightfully focusing on the monsters. The two eventually did become good friends and would play up a mock rivalry at conventions. This had knock-on effects ten years later during the making of ''[[The Five Doctors (TV story)|The Five Doctors]]'', with Dicks deliberately writing the script so that the Second and Third Doctors would not meet until everybody came together at the climax, which ended up disappointing both Troughton and Pertwee.