Doctor Who: Four to Doomsday
Four to Doomsday" was Peter Davison's second serial to broadcast in his freshman season of "
Doctor Who seasons," but it was his first to film, and that makes the difference.Producer John Nathan-Turner felt it risky to thrust Davison into the rough challenges of "Castrovalva," the regeneration-gone-wrong story that would introduce audiences to the Fifth
Doctor who seasons, so early in his tenure, and so work on that serial would be postponed, allowing Davison to get his feet wet with three other stories first. By the time "Castrovalva" would be shot, the actor would already have a lock on the character and therefore provide a more solid launch in January 1982.And so we see some peculiarities in "Doomsday," as writer Terence Dudley was given the unenviable task of crafting a script around characters not yet developed. Nathan-Turner was still fleshing out how best to contrast this new Doctor against Tom Baker's seven-year run in the role, and he was constantly at odds with Davison over the details. The result in "Doomsday" is a Doctor a little different than we'd see him in the stories to follow - although that's not always as troublesome as it sounds.Davison's
Doctor who boxset is more playful here than usual, often tossing out corny jokes better suited to Baker, while such gimmicks like having his pockets stuffed with random objects (that, the intent would be, would get him out of a pinch in each story) reveal intriguing ideas quickly abandoned by the production staff,
Doctor who on dvd boxseta hint at what might have been for the character. Davison's youthful charm (at 29, he was the youngest actor in the role, a record that would remain until the recent announcement that 26-year-old Matt Smith will play the part next year) would be played up more than in later episodes,
Doctor who boxsetmostly evident in a sense of boyish curiosity that carries him through the first episode's opening scenes.But there's also an antagonistic quality that would remain throughout the season, laying the foundations for the Fifth
Doctor who boxset overall personality. For all the griping fans have made over the years over the "crowded TARDIS" aspect of season nineteen, the grumpiness on display throughout is a clever (and at times rather welcome) change from the random gallivanting of a Time Lord and his single companion, and a nice throwback to the tone of the William Hartnell days. A theme of this season was that no matter how hard the
Doctor who dvd tried to steer his TARDIS back to 1980 Heathrow, the landing was always just a bit off, a plot device allowing for an uncertainty (a traveler not in complete command of his own ship, but willing to enjoy the errors) that I miss in the modern version of the show. Earlier "
doctor Who dvd" stories would make use of an unreliable TARDIS, but rarely as often, and with such specific intent, as in Davison's first year.
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