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This is great. Really. Is this honestly what fandom has been making all that fuss about since 1966?! Because if so, fandom is an idiot. More than that, it's an idiot that can't take a joke. Episode two is better than episode one rather than worse, and though episode three is a little slow in comparison, I still see no reason for forty years worth of hatred and hissing and booing. Episode four must be really, really bad to account for so much moaning. Though I very much doubt that it will be.
So where are we. Episode one ended with the Doctor heading for an ambush, and Steven and Dodo having to do an impromptu cabaret act, to make sure that they can't help him. It's remarkable how talented both Steven and Dodo turn out to be at piano playing. They're all saved in the nick of time - sort of - by Doc Holliday's fiancée, who rushes back to the saloon for reasons that I'm not entirely clear on. She seems to be trying to prevent the Clanton Gang from killing an innocent man, but then she plays along with the deception, so what it's all for, I have no idea. Unless it's to give her the chance to sing, and wiggle her skirt around a bit. Who cares. Peter Purves gets to clown around a bit, and it advances the plot to the next plotty bit, so I'll ignore the details. It's too much fun not to. Trying to get Dodo out of danger, Steven sends her upstairs, where she promptly gets kidnapped by a lurking Doc Holliday. Meanwhile the Doctor, unable to convince anybody that he isn't Doc Holliday himself, walks right into the ambush, but inadvertently manages to get the drop on the entire Clanton Gang by blustering and stammering, and waving his gun around a bit. Wanting to avoid trouble for his old friend Holliday, Wyatt Earp comes along, and takes the Doctor into custody, but the Clantons capture Steven, and threaten to hang him if "Doc Holliday" doesn't give himself up. Since the real one's just skipped town with Dodo, that's not very likely. Wyatt Earp manages to rescue Steven, but even as he's doing so, the next danger is rolling into town - Johnny Ringo. Hurrah! He's out for Holliday's blood, and the newly released Doctor and Steven get mixed up with him almost immediately. What can you say. It's a talent. Steven and Johnny join forces, and set out to find Holliday - Johnny to shoot him, and Steven to rescue Dodo, though Johnny seems quite enthusiastic about shooting lots of other people too, including Steven if he looks at Holliday at all in an "I want to shoot you" sense. Or something. And they all gallop off, and lots of people get shot, and the Doctor waits behind and looks thoughtful.
And that's about it, really. Loads more dodgy accents, some brillantly naff gunshot effects, and plenty of bad guys cackling like comedy pirates. The lyrics of The Ballad Of Last Chance Saloon get progressively sillier, but the feel of the song is perfectly suited to a Western episode; and who minds a good bit of silliness occasionally anyway? For a man who frequently seems as though he can barely remember his lines, William Hartnell displays some lovely comic acting here. His renaming of Wyatt Earp as "Mr Wearp" is brilliant. Peter Purves does really well, too - he seems to be enjoying it as much as I am. The only one who's being sold a little short is Dodo, but she gets a good scene in episode three, getting the drop on Doc Holliday with his own gun. Admittedly she does a comedy faint afterwards, which I could have done without; and I don't really know what the point is in she and Holliday running off from town to town. But I don't care. So long as it all remains entertaining, it's allowed its odd bits of plotting. And frankly, Steven's shirt is reason enough to think it's all brilliant, anyway.
Steven gets to grips with Holliday's fiancée, whilst Dodo flounces off, upset that she's been rescued.
The Doctor languishes in jail. Or gaol.
No, it would be jail, wouldn't it.
Steven and his shirt, being lynched.
And not lunched, as I wrote originally.
The Doctor worries about how to save Steven from the lynch mob.
But not from the lunch mob.
Steven and his shirt face the rope.
The Doctor and Steven are reunited quickly, thanks to Mr Wearp.
Johnny Ringo.
Steven and Johnny discuss who's going to shoot who.
I don't know why I keep using AllYouCanUpload as a photohosting site. Admittedly ImageShack's been spectacularly unreliable lately, but AllYouCanUpload keeps hiding my pictures. If any seem to be missing, hit refresh, and they'll probably come back. If they feel like it, or the site does, or something. Probably.
Edit: Ignore that bit, 'cause I've just PhotoBucketted them.
More another time.
So where are we. Episode one ended with the Doctor heading for an ambush, and Steven and Dodo having to do an impromptu cabaret act, to make sure that they can't help him. It's remarkable how talented both Steven and Dodo turn out to be at piano playing. They're all saved in the nick of time - sort of - by Doc Holliday's fiancée, who rushes back to the saloon for reasons that I'm not entirely clear on. She seems to be trying to prevent the Clanton Gang from killing an innocent man, but then she plays along with the deception, so what it's all for, I have no idea. Unless it's to give her the chance to sing, and wiggle her skirt around a bit. Who cares. Peter Purves gets to clown around a bit, and it advances the plot to the next plotty bit, so I'll ignore the details. It's too much fun not to. Trying to get Dodo out of danger, Steven sends her upstairs, where she promptly gets kidnapped by a lurking Doc Holliday. Meanwhile the Doctor, unable to convince anybody that he isn't Doc Holliday himself, walks right into the ambush, but inadvertently manages to get the drop on the entire Clanton Gang by blustering and stammering, and waving his gun around a bit. Wanting to avoid trouble for his old friend Holliday, Wyatt Earp comes along, and takes the Doctor into custody, but the Clantons capture Steven, and threaten to hang him if "Doc Holliday" doesn't give himself up. Since the real one's just skipped town with Dodo, that's not very likely. Wyatt Earp manages to rescue Steven, but even as he's doing so, the next danger is rolling into town - Johnny Ringo. Hurrah! He's out for Holliday's blood, and the newly released Doctor and Steven get mixed up with him almost immediately. What can you say. It's a talent. Steven and Johnny join forces, and set out to find Holliday - Johnny to shoot him, and Steven to rescue Dodo, though Johnny seems quite enthusiastic about shooting lots of other people too, including Steven if he looks at Holliday at all in an "I want to shoot you" sense. Or something. And they all gallop off, and lots of people get shot, and the Doctor waits behind and looks thoughtful.
And that's about it, really. Loads more dodgy accents, some brillantly naff gunshot effects, and plenty of bad guys cackling like comedy pirates. The lyrics of The Ballad Of Last Chance Saloon get progressively sillier, but the feel of the song is perfectly suited to a Western episode; and who minds a good bit of silliness occasionally anyway? For a man who frequently seems as though he can barely remember his lines, William Hartnell displays some lovely comic acting here. His renaming of Wyatt Earp as "Mr Wearp" is brilliant. Peter Purves does really well, too - he seems to be enjoying it as much as I am. The only one who's being sold a little short is Dodo, but she gets a good scene in episode three, getting the drop on Doc Holliday with his own gun. Admittedly she does a comedy faint afterwards, which I could have done without; and I don't really know what the point is in she and Holliday running off from town to town. But I don't care. So long as it all remains entertaining, it's allowed its odd bits of plotting. And frankly, Steven's shirt is reason enough to think it's all brilliant, anyway.
Steven gets to grips with Holliday's fiancée, whilst Dodo flounces off, upset that she's been rescued.
The Doctor languishes in jail. Or gaol.
No, it would be jail, wouldn't it.
Steven and his shirt, being lynched.
And not lunched, as I wrote originally.
The Doctor worries about how to save Steven from the lynch mob.
But not from the lunch mob.
Steven and his shirt face the rope.
The Doctor and Steven are reunited quickly, thanks to Mr Wearp.
Johnny Ringo.
Steven and Johnny discuss who's going to shoot who.
I don't know why I keep using AllYouCanUpload as a photohosting site. Admittedly ImageShack's been spectacularly unreliable lately, but AllYouCanUpload keeps hiding my pictures. If any seem to be missing, hit refresh, and they'll probably come back. If they feel like it, or the site does, or something. Probably.
Edit: Ignore that bit, 'cause I've just PhotoBucketted them.
More another time.
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