History Recap / DoctorWhoS3E8TheGunfighters

[=~It's Personal~=] now.\\

** The Doctor introduces himself and his companions as touring actors. He calls himself after the fictional hypnotist [[TheCabinetOfDrCaligari Dr. Caligari]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: On the other hand, while the outlaws seem to be fun and fair guys, they're both dangerous in group and cowardly in small numbers. (And those are ''the Clantons''). The idealist outlaw type is completely deconstructed by Johnny Ringo (though reconstructed by Doc), who has no honor, as a gunfighter or as a human being. Ringo is the only one who isn't shown to have ''any'' RedeemingQuality.

This story has experienced some of the wildest and most extreme shifts in fan opinion of any in the show. For much of the seventies and eighties, it was the only black-and-white story that fans were permitted, if not expected to hate, becoming a scapegoat for everything some fans disliked about the wider Hartnell era and the pure historical stories in particular. After it was released on home video, it attracted some re-evalation, and some excitable contrarians declared it to be one of the best stories ever. The common claim that it had the lowest viewership of any serial of the era is completely wrong, although it did have the lowest ever Audience Appreciation Index (the level of liking for the programme among the [=BBC=]'s sample of "typical viewers").

* CompleteMonster - Johnny Ringo - he'll kill unarmed people (barkeepers) for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]], doesn't hesitate to want to shoot the fastest draws in the back and will use women as human shields; and that's just in the brief time we see him.

* {{Deconstruction}}: On the other hand, while the outlaws seem to be fun and fair guys, they're both dangerous in group and cowardly in small numbers. (And those are ''the Clantons''). The idealist outlaw type is completely deconstructed by Johnny Ringo (though reconstructed by Doc), who is the closest thing to a CompleteMonster and has no honor, as a gunfighter or as a human being. Ringo is the only one who isn't shown to have ''any'' RedeemingQuality.

* DidNotDoTheResearch - either that, or the writers just went with folklore instead of fact in order to write the story they wanted. In any case, Johnny Ringo wasn't present and didn't die in the gunfight, Warren Earp actually died about 20 years after the OK Corrall gunfight, etc. The history presented in this serial is very inaccurate.
* EarWorm.

* FakeAmerican - Dear God yes. The closest we get is [[{{Thunderbirds}} Shane Rimmer]], a Canadian.
** Not worse than the "Yank" in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E8TheChase The Chase]]". If anything, definitely an improvement.

* MagnificentBastard - Doc Holliday. To a ''[[DemotedToExtra lesser extent]]'', WyattEarp.

* TropeOverdose - Invoked by The Doctor regarding miss Dodo's ability to suck in every Western trope ever.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter - Every one of them

* LeaningontheFourthWall - The ballad is used as a narrative device which the characters don't hear for the most part, but the part one cliffhanger has Steven and Dodo performing it.
** The Doctor introduces himself and his companions as touring actors. He calls himself after the fictional hypnotist Dr. Caligari.

* CerebusVillain - Ringo is '''much''' more threatening than the characters introduced in the first two episodes.

* CompleteMonster - JohnnyRingo - he'll kill unarmed people (barkeepers) for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much]], doesn't hesitate to want to shoot the fastest draws in the back and will use women as human shields; and that's just in the brief time we see him.

* RecklessGunUsage - oh so much from the Doctor, Steven and Dodo. Special points for the moment when Doc gives the Doctor a pistol and he repeatedly points it at Doc and Kate, as they push his hand away from them and towards the other one.

* TheWestern

* TropeOverdose - Invoked by The Doctor regarding miss Dodo's ability to suck in every Western trope ever.

It can be watched [[http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/xv7bh_tardismedia_the-gunfighters here]].

* FakeAmerican - Dear God yes.

* GreekChorus - The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon

* MagnificentBastard - Doc Holliday. To a ''lesser extent'', WyattEarp.

* GenreSavvy - Doc realizes the incredible chance of a [[Cloudcuckoolander wacky loon]] calling himself "Doctor" and "admitting" he's (ON A) Holiday may prove very useful to him. Also knows when to leave town and when to come back. ''And'' he knows Johnny's tactics, so he proves very useful in the fight. ''And'' he caries a spare gun in case he'd be forced to drop his main one. Guy's a survivor through and through.

'Tia a humor piece.\\

* {{Greek Chorus}} - The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon

* HeKnowsTooMuch: Now it's curtains for Charlie...
* TheWestern

-->''You can't walk into the middle of a Western town and say you've come from outer space! Good gracious me. You would be arrested on a vagrancy charge!''

* AlasPoorScrappy - Charley the barman, no!!!

* DidNotDoTheResearch - Partially intentionally, mostly not.
* {{Ear Worm}}/{{Greek Chorus}} - The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon

* MagnificentBastard - Johnny Ringo, Doc Holliday
* TimeyWimeyBall - The FridgeLogic
* TheWestern

<<|Recap/DoctorWho|>>

[[[[http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/xv7bh_tardismedia_the-gunfighters This story]] it proves.\\

When he's seen the right way.\\

Leave the Last Chance Saloon.\\

Now the Doctor has broken
A tooth on a sweet.
The TARDIS arrives in
An old Western street.
And the dentist that's nearest
Is Doc Holliday,
Who looks just like Theta Sigma
When he's seen the right way.

Holliday and the Clantons
Are at loggerheads.
The Clantons they try to
Make Steven Taylor dead.
And they think that the Doctor
Is Holliday, too.
Meanwhile Johnny Ringo shows up

Clantons shoot Wyatt's brother
[=~It's Personal~=] now.
A showdown ensues at
The OK Corral.
And the Clantons and Ringo
Are deaders quite soon.
Doctor, Steven, and Dodo
Leave the Last Chance Saloon.

'Tis the last story with
Episode titles, see?
Like "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E4TheRomans The Romans]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E3TheMythMakers The Myth Makers]]",
'Tia a humor piece.
And that Who ain't our timeline
[[[[http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/xv7bh_tardismedia_the-gunfighters This story]] it proves.
In our world things went quite diff'rent

The Doctor has broken a tooth eating sweets, so naturally the best course of action is to land in the Wild West and go and see Doc Holliday. Who turns out to resemble the Doctor. But of course.

Holliday is feuding with the Clantons while Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson try to keep the peace. The Clantons kidnap Steven and try to lynch him to get at the Doctor (who they believe to be Holliday), but the Doctor and Dodo succeed in freeing him and they all return to the TARDIS after watching the famous gunfight at the OK Corral.

Like "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E4TheRomans The Romans]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E3TheMythMakers The Myth Makers]]" before it, "The Gunfighters" is presented as a light humour piece. This is also the last story to have individual episode titles.

It can be viewed [[http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/xv7bh_tardismedia_the-gunfighters here]].