Classic Who: The Gunfighters

[strange_complex]

So this one is from the same hand as The Myth Makers (Donald Cotton) - and to me, that means: Do. Not. Underestimate. On one level, Cotton does here what I thought he was going to do in The Myth Makers (and which was really pioneered by Dennis Spooner in The Romans, anyway) - that is, he gives us a story which draws broadly on the Wild West films

Comments

[steer]

The Tom Mix thing gives me an interesting (to me at least) thought about contemporary references in Dr Who -- as in the Dr mentioning an actor or situation contemporary to the production of the program rather than the action occurring.

It's curious how clunky that line about "Tom Mix" seems now (to me at least). Occasionally I've seen sci-fi handle this sort of thing with a forward reference to an obviously made up celebrity but it seems that for the recent series the Doctor very rarely makes reference to 21st century personalities, probably because the writers realise quite how strange it will look in not too many years. There's a line in "The Once and Future King" where T H White refers to IIRC Lancelot as "a Bradman of the batting averages -- which when I first read it struck me as incredibly curious because Bradman is history just as much as Arthurian legend (well, more so).

I suppose a real time traveller's cultural references would be absolutely all over the place because they're not anchored in one spot so and quote or mannerism copied from a particular time is going to miss most of the people they speak to.

[strange_complex]

I don't know - New Who has referenced Britney Spears, J.K. Rowling, Patrick Moore and a host of others. I think it's all about giving the audience a thrill, and reminding them of the fantastic premise that this is all going on somewhere within their own world. It does date, but I think most writers are happy to accept that in return for pressing the buttons of the viewers at the time they're writing.

As for this particular reference, the Doctor also gives himself the name 'Doctor Caligari' when he is pressed to identify himself, suggesting that he's quite a fan of 1920s cinema. He also seemed to know about Charlie Chaplin and Bing Crosby in the Hollywood film sequence in The Daleks' Master Plan, so I suspect there is a cinema aboard the TARDIS somewhere...

[steer]

I don't know - New Who has referenced Britney Spears, J.K. Rowling, Patrick Moore and a host of others.

You have such an amazing memory for these things. I don't know how you do it.

It does date, but I think most writers are happy to accept that in return for pressing the buttons of the viewers at the time they're writing.

Also though it's within the context of the series an odd thing to do I guess because as a time traveller you'd have to think of the particular time period of your listeners as you have no natural "now" which you're in.

[strange_complex]

Just call it an unhealthy obsession!

The Doctor does seem to have a particular liking for 20th-century Earth culture, so I guess maybe that can plausibly serve as his 'now' as much as any other time and place. Then again, although he might just about be able to expect Dodo to have heard of Tom Mix (though she's a bit young), it's unlikely Steven would have done, given that he comes from the far future.