BEWARE THE MEDUSA!

Within the fascinating but dangerous realm of the Land of Fiction to which they are now trapped, the Doctor and Zoe have encountered some fascinating characters and situations, but now they must turn their backs towards the deadly Medusa, whose legendary snake-riddled face can turn anyone to stone upon the barest of glances.

A classic cliffhanger moment from fan favourite, The Mind Robber.

THE PERILS OF HISTORY!

The exploration of Earth history is surely of great interest to human school teacher Barbara Wright, but when you're actually caught up in it's whirlwind events and facing imminent death from the guillotine, then that's altogether another story, as she and her equally weary time travelling friend and former pupil, Susan, discover during the grim events leading to the finale of acclaimed script writer Dennis Spooner's effective and classy-for-its-time closure to the first season of the William Hartnell Who era: The French Revolution.

'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50! THE LINKS COLLECTIVE...

Gorgeous celebratory art by Daryl Joyce.

We hope you've enjoyed our celebratory coverage of this special and beloved story over the last week, and that we've brought back lots of fond memories of it, either with its ratings-triumphant original transmission in 1973 or in later repeats/home entertainment releases over the years. 

Here are the complete links for this week's entries:

DOCTOR WHO - ADVENTURES IN THE FIFTH DIMENSION!: WELCOME TO 'THE THREE DOCTORS' FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY WEEK!

DOCTOR WHO - ADVENTURES IN THE FIFTH DIMENSION!: 'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 1 - THE 'WHO' TRIPLE TEAM-UP!

DOCTOR WHO - ADVENTURES IN THE FIFTH DIMENSION!: 'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 2 - GALLIFREY UNDER ATTACK!

DOCTOR WHO - ADVENTURES IN THE FIFTH DIMENSION!: 'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 3 - ATTACK OF THE GELL GUARDS!

DOCTOR WHO - ADVENTURES IN THE FIFTH DIMENSION!: 'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 4 -'THE DANDY AND THE CLOWN'!

DOCTOR WHO - ADVENTURES IN THE FIFTH DIMENSION!: 'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 5 - THE WRATH OF OMEGA!

DOCTOR WHO - ADVENTURES IN THE FIFTH DIMENSION!: 'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 6 - THE HUMAN FACTOR!

DOCTOR WHO - ADVENTURES IN THE FIFTH DIMENSION!: 'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 7 - THE FINAL CONFRONTATION...

The HMV VHS exclusive special release cover for The Time Lord Collection set.

'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 7 - THE FINAL CONFRONTATION...

Rehearsal scene of the two Doctors final conferring with Omega.

With their friends now safely returned to Earth, Doctors Two and Three offer Omega the only way out from his all-consuming existence on the singularity world. But it proves an offer the angry god-like being soon turns down, as his mad anger upends the TARDIS force field control device - the only thing once capable of holding Doctor Two's matter-engrained recorder from causing a matter/anti-matter reaction explosion within the black hole.

Doctor Two with the TARDIS force field and its unique central instrument.

Matter and anti-matter annihilation!

As time and space are corrected with Omega's seeming passing, and Gallifrey is restored in power and abilities, a saddened Doctor is soon thrilled to receive a special 'gift' from the Time Lords- an all-new dematerialization circuit alongside restored knowledge of TARDIS operations previously locked away in his mind. 

His long exile on Earth now deservedly rescinded, the Doctor is keen to get back out into the universe...

"They've given me back my freedom..."

'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 6 - THE HUMAN FACTOR!

Two-man army! Now within Omega's realm, the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) recruits the service of Mr Ollis (Laurie Webb) to rescue their captured friends.

It's not just the Doctors that have been taken to the Singularity world of Omega, it's his companion Jo too, and a plethora of other diverse human's unwittingly caught in such potentially cataclysmic drama, including a truly perplexed but ready for action Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney enjoying the 'Colonel Blimp' nature of his character in this story), his right hand man Sergeant Benton (John Levene), plus the inquisitive space researcher Doctor Tyler (Rex Robinson) and adaptive nature warden Mister Ollis (Laurie Webb), both of whom had been early-on captured by Omega's 'space lightning' organism sent to ensnare the Doctor on Earth.

 

Benton (John Levene) finally experiences the TARDIS!

Interestingly, despite all the overall busy-ness of the four-part story, and the huge overall Doctors/Omega plot, the supporting cast still get a lot to do, mainly thanks to the partial phasing out (by necessity) of Hartnell's Doctor from the tale. And with Frazer Hines disappointingly unable to participate in the story as Highlands' companion Jamie alongside his pal Troughton, Sgt. Benton's contribution to the tale is most welcome, most notably during Episode Two, and gets some of the best work and lines he'd ever have during his time on the show. 

Our human heroes rush back to UNIT headquarters, whose building has been hi-jacked to the alien world.

Our heroes, all reunited in the TARDIS, must work out a way to stop Omega.

'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 5 - THE WRATH OF OMEGA!

One of the memorable posed publicity images of the Doctors with the mighty Omega.

The Gallifreyan stellar engineer whose Black Hole-detonating sacrificial genius turned his race into the legendary Time Lords they are today, Omega, despite being revered by his people over time, was ultimately presumed dead by them after his successful efforts. Instead, Omega would survive, to reside and rule over a unique realm of anti-matter until the time was right for his revenge against the Time Lords. And who better to use against them than the exiled Doctor, especially to aide Omega in his freedom from what has now become his Black Hole existence prison...

Unwilling to become the new replacement custodian to this bizarre universe of Singularity, both Doctors now arrived in Omega's realm are determined to fight him, yet ultimately discover the tragic secret that their once 'hero' can never leave his confinement, and that the entropy factor always wins...

Omega in his Throne Room.

Played with confidence and shouty gusto by Stephen Thorne, working within a striking costume created by Jim Acheson, Omega (originally known as 'Ohm' in the original, darker-themed Deathworld script written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin) would prove an original and worthy opponent in taking on the ingenuity and quirky heroism of The Three Doctors!

The tragedy of Omega- now existing only via the power of his own aggressive will!

James Acheson's memorable 1972 costume design for Omega.

'THE THREE DOCTORS' AT 50: DAY 4 -'THE DANDY AND THE CLOWN'!

The Second Doctor has now uncannily arrived in the Third's TARDIS, which is now under siege from the so far unknown alien 'time bridge' being, and the situation is soon tense between the pair. Labelled 'The Dandy and the Clown' by the soon after arrived statesman-like figure of the First Doctor, he quickly puts their unique squabbling in order and, with his own inimitable flair, sets the Third, with Jo, on his path to an anti-matter realm...

Some great posed pics of the Second and Third Doctors - Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee - together from the BBC TV Centre studio filming of The Three Doctors at the end of 1972.

Who is really Who?

A posed shot possibly linked to a deleted scene? Note the Second Doctor holding a broken piece of TARDIS console instrumentation.

Then putting it back into place watched by the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney) and Jo (Katy Manning) in more posed imagery.

The Doctors argue over the TARDIS scanner controls and the loss of viewing.

Unlike what would be seen on screen, there's hearty smiles between Doctors in this classic image.

Though trapped in a Time Eddy bubble, the First Doctor manages to give help and advice to his other selves. Due to poor health, all of William Hartnell's scene had to be pre-filmed, at Ealing Studios Stage 2, for the actors to react too.