Doctor Who/Recap/S3/E08 The Gunfighters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
< Doctor Who‎ | Recap‎ | S3
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!
—The Doctor

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
At the Last Chance Saloon.

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 "The Romans", "The Myth Makers",
'Tis a humor piece.
And that Who ain't our timeline
This story [dead link] it proves.
In our world things went quite diff'rent
Near the Last Chance Saloon.

Tropes

  • Ballad of X - The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon
  • Cowboy Episode
  • Dead Little Brother
  • Dead Serious - Ringo killing Charlie
  • Decon Recon Switch - The idea of good, honest law men is deconstructed through Wyatt, his brother and his friend Doc. Wyatt will do knowingly illegal things like keeping in jail an innocent man to both protect him while lying to him and using him to save his friend; his brother is probably a deputy because of family relations, because he seems to have no experience; Doc is just a hustler, and a spineless one who would frame someone of being him; on the other hand, they're all good guys and not just designated, as Wyatt will protect the spirit of the law and his town's citizens, his brother is brave, and Doc has some morals and is a good gunslinger.
  • 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 redeeming qualities.
  • Depraved Dentist - Doc Holiday. The Doctor of all people doesn't seem to see it.
  • Even Evil Has Standards - The Clantons are appalled by the Doctor suggesting he'd gun down unarmed men, and later by Ringo that he'd shoot people in the back.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" - Charlie the Barkeeper.
  • Forced Meme - by the end, the tune is so played out, it feels forced on the viewer to like it / take it in his subconscious. Strangely enough, it works.
  • Genre Deconstruction: The whole Western genre is deconstructed and reconstructed, gone as far as to lampshade it at the end by mentioning Dodo's love and knowledge of western tropes.
  • Genre Savvy - Doc realizes the incredible chance of a Talkative 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.
  • Greek Chorus - The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon
  • He Knows Too Much - Now it's curtains for Charlie...
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon is sung by Lynda Baron, who would later appear in the series as Captain Wrack and Val.
  • Historical Domain Character - Every one of them. But after this, no further real people would appear on screen in Doctor Who until George Stephenson in "The Mark of the Rani".
  • Hooker with a Heart of Gold - Doc's fiancee.
  • Impractically Fancy Outfit - Steven and Dodo get "western" outfits from the TARDIS wardrobe that are wildly over-elaborate and stagey, lampshaded by all the genuinely western characters.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold - Again, Doc Holiday. He has qualms with letting the Doctor die, and helps Dodo.
  • Knight of Cerebus - Ringo is much more threatening than the characters introduced in the first two episodes.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall - 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.
    • Dodo and Steven mime piano playing, but Steven's line "Let's hope the piano knows it!" confirms that it's a player piano.
  • Reckless Gun Usage - 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 each in turn pushes his hand away from them and towards the other one.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns - When Charley gets shot, the tone is obviously going to move from comedic to dramatic, as the final gunfight is fastly approaching anyway and it just needs a catalysis. This is actually introduced with the appearance of Johnny Ringo Shooting The Dog, but it fits/makes the context.
  • Stop Helping Me! - Doc Holliday eventually says this to Dodo.
  • Too Dumb to Live - Strangely enough, the Doctor takes the Idiot Ball and holds on to it hard in the series. After being set up to be (at least) confused with Doc Holiday by Doc himself and almost being killed and linched because of this, when questioned by the barkeeper about his relation with Doc, the Doctor says "He's my friend, he gave me a gun, he pulled out my tooth...". The barkeep correctly comments that at this rate, they'll be pulling bullets out of him.
  • The Western
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