Doctor Who (TV Series) The O.K. Corral (1966) User Reviews

The only wild west gunmen that can't shoot properly.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 5/10 · 26 January 2019]

I think it's fair to say this wasn't exactly great science fiction, if you're a fan of Westerns, you'll probably find some enjoyment from this, I really struggled to get through it, so was glad to see this final part come and go.

Part five is the best of the lot, it does at least have some action, although it features gunmen that obviously had no talent for shooting. The music has been cringe worthy, and how fitting it ends with that song, painful.

The last few scenes are cruel, we get a few glimpses of the next, and missing story, The Savages. For anyone that doesn't know it, check it out on audio, it is fantastic, how cruel that doesn't exist, and The Gunfighters does.

The Gunfighters: Part 4 - Mostly below par Wild West adventure

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 5/10 · 19 August 2014]

Review of all 4 parts:

The Gunfighters

This is one of my less favourite Hartnell stories but it is not his worst. While it has some problematic aspects I am not keen on it is quite fun in the early parts especially and has some definite highlights.

It is a 4 part story beginning with A Holiday For The Doctor. It is set around the lead up to the gunfight at the OK Corral in the wild west town of Tombstone 1881.

The story is a mostly comedic escapade for the TARDIS crew in the wild west. The comedy works well at times but not very well quite a lot of the time for my taste. The drama also works well at times but not so well at others, with a various scenes not being very successfully executed.

The biggest plus is that William Hartnell is very good in this story. He is a funny, sparkling and magnetic personality. A far cry from his original detached persona.

Peter Purves is also mostly strong but the negatives are that most other performances are pretty weak and overall the story is unsuccessful in its writing (Donald Cotton's script becomes mostly silly) and disappointing in its on screen production values (the accents and linking 'ballad' are mostly cringeworthy).

There are scenes that can feel to me like an embarrassment, particularly in the pretty poor third episode, with silly scenarios and dodgy accents.

Back to the positives though, parts 1 and 2 are fun in many ways and not at all boring. If the whole thing was like Parts 1 and 2 and if it didn't have the ballad it would be an enjoyable adventure because it really isn't bad up until half way through.

This is an interesting attempt to do something different and deserves credit for that. It has been reported by researchers that it was let down by producer Innes Lloyd and script editor Gerry Davis lack of interest in it due to their dislike of historical stories. They did a lot of great scifi stories after this but certainly did not like history based stories. I do think it was not very well executed in the last couple of episodes especially and it didn't reach its potential with some weak guest cast.

It is a reasonably entertaining romp early on at least. A lot better than the weakest Doctor Who stories.

My Ratings: Episodes 1 & 2 - 6/10, Episode 3 - 4/10, Episode 4 - 5/10. Overall - 5.25/10.

S3: The Gunfighters: Has some good aspects but generally a poor serial that feels silly and forced

[bob the moo · 21 November 2013]

The bitter irony that the four episodes that make up this serial have survived unscathed while so many episodes and full serials around it have been lost almost certainly forever. I say this because if ever a serial felt like it would be no great loss if it wasn't seen again, it would be this one. The plot sees the Doctor looking for a dentist in the ol' west and finds one in the shape of Doc Holliday. Also looking for Holliday are the Clantons and they mistake the Doctor for the Doc, putting Steven and Dodo in risk and forcing the Doctor into a difficult situation. Oh and there is a ballad.

This makes it sound more exciting than it actually is and I think part of the problem is that it does such a popular and well known genre that it always feels like it is cheap copy of something better. Of course it doesn't help either that this is precisely what it is. The plot is fairly standard and apart from a bit of humor here and there and some good bits from Hartnell, it doesn't feel like Doctor Who but just some cheap kids western with lots of low rent actors. It has a decent flow to it as a plot but it is so heavily into being a western that it loses itself in that. Most obviously is that awful ballad that plays all the time and the accents, oh Lord the accents.

It isn't to say that the acting from the main three is brilliant but Hartnell is good while Purves and Lane are typically solid, but the supporting cast are all lumbered with delivering American accents – and not natural ones but good ol' boy cowboy accents like they have in the b-movies. They push this to the extent that they waver all over the place. Some can do it and just come off sounding like they are in a panto, while others really are all over the shop in a fashion I found funny when I didn't find it painful. With the effort to play clichés the cast generally don't do anything but that – and even then not that well.

It isn't awful but it certainly doesn't feel enough like Doctor Who. It is a nice idea and has good moments with the Doctor in the Wild West, but it pushes the cheap western too much and loses what it should have focused on, instead giving us generic action, a terrible omnipresent ballad (which gets my vote for one of Doctor Who's most frightening monsters) and American accents that really would have seemed bad if they had been delivered by Lt Hern-Hern in the Goon Show.

People who hate on this one are wrong

[dalekprimelol · 8/10 · 6 August 2022]

This episode is in my opinion a real classic 60s story, it's a story we don't get so much nowadays, a comedy! It's a comedy, I just find this story so much fun to watch you can't help but feel the enjoyment everyone on screen is having. The last chance saloon is a great song too, just a good laugh.

Would've been a 10 but.....

[bmcconvillestartrek · 9/10 · 23 February 2020]

The only down side to the story is that the gunfight isn't historically accurate.

Ringo wasn't present in the fight and we find the McLaury brothers and Billy Calibone absent from the fight depicted here