Talk:The Five Doctors

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Why does Douglas Adams get a writer's credit here for Shada, but Terry Nation doesn't get one for the excerpt from Flashpoint used at the beginning? Angmering 16:33, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

You haven't added it yet :P --TimPope 18:45, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

True! But I thought I'd ask in case there was a specific reason why it had been decided this was the case. As it's probably just an oversight I shall add it now. :-) Angmering 19:13, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Flavia 2 A Dalek story 3 Huh? 4 Canon?

[edit] Flavia

Flavia's history (and the history of Gallifrey's Presidency) after this story is complicated and convoluted, and probably doesn't need to be detailed in this article. Short version: in Happy Endings by Paul Cornell, Flavia was found drunk in charge of the Sash of Rassilon and removed from office; Romana became President. However, The Eight Doctors ignores this (as it ignores most of the developments of the NAs) and has Flavia in charge again. And The Apocalypse Element has Romana's presidency interrupted by a 20-year imprisonment by the Daleks, during which her (male) predecessor served as Acting President. It's a right mess. I found a page full of elaborate theories about how to reconcile the events in Eight Doctors with the NAs and the audios, but I'm not sure it's really possible or even worth the effort. —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 21:04, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

Time Lords can get drunk, too? With alcohol? And yet they don't sweat? They are 'marvellous, aren't they??!!!!! ;) NP Chilla 21:20, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

How can you forget the Doctor's reminiscences of boozing it up with Azmael? (Oh, right — you can forget it because it's in The Twin Dilemma, which most people who've seen would give good money to erase from their memories.) Right, let's leave that out — how can you forget the Doctor's reminiscences of boozing it up with David Lloyd George? (That's better.) —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 05:08, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A Dalek story

This story featured a Dalek, and is therefore a Dalek story. It might not have been an army of Daleks, but what defines a "Dalek story"? If you go by what's driving the plot, it isn't really a Cyberman story either. The Dalek menaced the Doctor and Susan - by denying it as a Dalek story, you deny anyone looking at the infobox any chance of discovering this. Hence, I have reverted the last change. Stephenb (Talk) 08:43, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

You might as well include The Space Museum or their appearances in flashbacks in Logopolis, then. It's counterproductive to have discussions in both places: let's talk about whether it actually even belongs in the template at all before. I would like others to provide their thoughts on this at Template talk:Dalek Stories. --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 09:03, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Huh?

What does "The Five Doctors marks the end of a string of linked serials that began with The Leisure Hive." mean?

From The Leisure Hive until The Five Doctors, the serials all immediately followed one after another with no apparent "gaps" between the stories. --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 13:23, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Ah, silly me, I was thinking of Leela being after Romana, otherwise I would have realised. Out of curiosity, do you know what is that tells you there's a gap before The Leisure Hive and after The Five Doctors? Is it just a mention of an off-screen adventure?

No, it's just that The Leisure Hive begins with the Doctor and Romana on a beach, while the one just prior, The Horns of Nimon ended with them in the TARDIS. So some time has passed, even if it's not much. K-9 is damaged severely in The Leisure Hive, and they're still trying to repair him in the next story, Meglos, so there doesn't seem to be a gap between those two stories. At the end of Meglos, Romana gets the call home from Gallifrey, which the Doctor and her discuss at the start of the next story, State of Decay, which is the start of the E-Space trilogy and so on. Essentially, every story from The Leisure Hive up to The Five Doctors has explicit links back to back. At the end of The King's Demons, the Doctor decides to take his companions to the Eye of Orion, where they are at the start of The Five Doctors. After that is Warriors of the Deep, where it just starts with them in the TARDIS, with no indication as to how long it has been since the end of The Five Doctors, so there's conceivably another gap, even if just a small one. --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 17:34, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Canon?

The New Doctor Who Season 2 story 'School Reunion' seems to place the canonicity of this story in some doubt, as in that story it is very explicitly said that Sarah-Jane Smith has not seen the Doctor since the events of 'The Hand of Fear' and not 'The Five Doctors'. The story non-canon would also be helpful in erasing the continuity errors inherent within it (the Third Doctor recognising the Fourth and so on). Worth mentioning in the article or perhaps best held off until RTD and the New Who producers comment explicitly on the issue?--Werthead 23:11, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

It's mentioned in the School Reunion article itself. I think that, given the staggered broadcast schedule of the new series in various countries, it's probably better to avoid spoilers referring from the old series to the new one if possible, but leave the notations for the later story's article. --khaosworks (talk • contribs) 00:59, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Canonicity's not the issue; it's continuity that might be up for debate. I think the implication is pretty clear in the episode, though. They parted in Hand of Fear, and haven't had any meaningful interaction since. Did the Fifth Doctor and Sarah Jane converse, in this story? I don't recall so, offhand. Were they even introduced? Even if they had some contact, I think the Doctor had other priorities at the time. Hand of Fear was still goodbye, for all practical purposes.--Aderack 10:55, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Rewatch The Five Doctors when you get a chance. The Fifth doctor and Sarah Jane do meet, albeit breifly, in the Tomb of Rassilon. Sarah shakes hands with Tegan and they, and the Brigadeir, have a conversation about the travails of travelling with The Doctor. The canonicity conundrum set up by School Reunion is one of those things that will be debated among fans forever (unless Russell T Davies addresses it in the new Sarah Jane series). The last time I watched it I was struck by the "I thought you were dead" line of SJ's. There wasn;\'t any event in The Hand of Fear that seemed to fit this reaction of Sarah's. It led me to surmise that there might have been one further unseen adventure where the Fourth Doctor and SJ were reunited in a much more dangerous endeavour. Yes the South Croyden is Aberdeen comes up in this scenario but I cou;d just see the "teeth and curls" Doctor saying "This time I AM dropping you off in SC" and SJ then having to say "He blew it AGAIN! and farther away this tine too". But, of course, this is just my attempt to fit things together and it will be very unsatisfying to most. However, it is more satisfying to me than trying to say that the events of the 20th Anniversary (and wildly anticipated by the fans at the time) special never occurred. I hope you get to rewatch The Five Doctors soon and cheers. MarnetteD | Talk 16:28, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Of course, a simpler explanation is that Sarah thought she was having an adventure with the Third Doctor and all his previous incarnations (provided that she didn't know that he was, in fact, the third). DonQuixote 19:02, 31 January 2007 (UTC)