Sunday, June 7, 2009

Z4 - The OK Corral



What a shame this delightful story had to end, but, to be fair, it doesn't end that well. The final battle is weird in that it would appear that Virgil and Wyatt Earp are immune to bullets. First, they walk down the street slowly and calmly amidst a barrage of bullets coming from the guns of the Clantons. Were they even on the same street? Later, they manage to peg off each member of the Clanton gang quite easily, and its Dodo who inadvertently causes Johnny Ringo's demise.

Still, it was a delightful romp leading up to the final gunfight. William Hartnell was at his absolute best during the whole affair, and didn't appear at all to be the crotchety, bad tempered, absent-minded actor that legend portrays him to be, especially during the latter days of his reign as the traveling Time Lord. To all you fans of The Romans and the new series episode The Unicorn and the Wasp (yup, didn't think anyone would answer to that), this is how you make a whimsical story set in the past and not have the humour grafted on artificially.

The Gunfighters sings to you, literally, and it is one of the truly neglected gems in Doctor Who's crown.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...well, then, they should get cracking on it.

Incidentally, I like "The Unicorn and the Wasp" except for all the Doctor Who parts--which is almost exactly how I feel about "City of Death." Thye both should just have been drawing room comedies with no plots. Much more enjoyable.

Who+ said...

"The Unicorn and the Wasp" was probably my favourite episode of Season 4! Just because some people hate their Who leavened with "silly" doesn't mean we all do. (In moderation, of course. If every episode of Season 4 had been that preposterous, it would never have worked.)

Anonymous said...

I love the unicorn & the wasp. In fact its one of my favorite stories since the show returned.

Anonymous said...

wow, three comments about Unicorn... getting back on topic, I love the Gunfighters. It was immense fun and I would relish a DVD release sooner than later, if nothing else than to hear of people enjoying it :)

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