3 out of 5

Directed by: Rex Tucker

This falls into those Whos that I’d classify as ‘organic calamities,’ which are almost always watchable even when, as in ‘Gunfighters,’ there’s really not a lick of science fiction beyond how our characters arrive and leave.

Now, granted, Doc just so happening to look like the description of Doc Holliday is exactly not the definition of organic, but so many early Hartnell eps are based on ‘you go this way, I’ll go that way’ logic to split the characters up, and then some fatefully dumb snap decision that extends things for an extra part of two.  So anything that avoids this fallback format feels a bit more inventive, and as this serial is flavored with a dash of Saturday-morning adventure hour, it passes the time well enough.

The ending of the last serial – Hartnell taking a bite of some candy and then gasping in anguish – turns out to be a total fake-out: he has a cavity, and is in need of a dentist.  Unfortunately, we’ve landed in the Wild West, a time of which Doc seems somewhat ill-informed, requesting anesthetic from the dentist (who happens to be Doc Holliday) and, later, wanting a lawyer when accused of a crime.  But nevermind – Dodo and Steven are excited to put on some flashy duds and point guns at things, until they run afoul of the Clanton boys, who’ve come to town tracking Holliday.  Marshal Earp spots our travelers, and locks Hartnell up before the inevitable confusion – Holliday is an old guy wearing black who answers to ‘Doc’ – starts to go too awry, and thereafter our companions are entangled up in the confrontation as hostages on different sides, leading up to the last parts showdown at the OK Corral.  The ‘singing the narrative’ song that plays during every interlude is an interesting touch to Old West things up a bit, as are the camera pans from behind a setting piece to behind our gunfighters (a pretty common old movie move), but the former soon becomes hilariously repetitive and grating and the latter is so different from the standard still-shot Who format that you can tell its more of an indulgence of a team that wanted to make a Western.  But as opposed to some of the historical entries which devolve into talking heads, the script actually moves things along relatively sensibly, and the Who Crew are mostly honest with everyone, so their entanglement doesn’t feel super forced.

I mean, at the end of the day, this has nothing to do with anything and would be an arc for a guest artist if it was a comic book.  Yes, the accents falter, but it’s not nearly as silly as it could’ve been – we actually have gunfights, and people actually get shot – and everyone does their best to make it work as well as it can.