Since 1980, the BBC has set aside one night of programming every November as a fundraiser for British childrens’ charities. Dubbed “Children in Need,” the event (which often spills over to the Beeb’s other TV and radio outlets) attracts all manner of celebrity involvement and stunts, including special “mini-episodes” of popular series produced specifically for this telethon.

Being primarily marketed as a “kiddie show” for much of its life, Doctor Who has had a long association with Children in Need; indeed, probably the most famous classic-era story of all (the twentieth-anniversary special The Five Doctors) was originally intended as the feature attraction for the 1982 telethon. And the producers of the modern incarnation of the world’s longest-running sci-fi series have kept the tradition alive by producing two mini-episodes for CiN – the first, in 2005, formally introduced David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor (after appearing very briefly in the last thirty seconds of Christopher Eccleston’s swan song), while the second, which just aired in the UK a few nights ago, reunites us with an old friend… namely, the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, who played the part for three series from 1981 to 1984.

As longtime Who fans know, this is far from the first time the Doctor has met one of his own past lives during the course of his travels through time and space. It happened no fewer than three times during the course of the original 1963-1990 series, and again during a (reportedly awful) 1993 reunion special, incidentally also for Children in Need. This, however, is the first time it’s been done canonically in over 20 years, ever since 1985’s The Two Doctors saw the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) teaming up with the Second (the late Patrick Throughton). It’s also only the second explicit acknowledgement that the new series is indeed a continuation of the old (as opposed to being a complete reboot of the franchise), with the other being the Season Two episode “School Reunion” that reintroduced Sarah Jane and K-9 to the mythos.

The mini-episode, “Time Crash,” takes place immediately after the end of Season Three, during the few moments after Martha Jones (Feema Agyeman) bids farewell* to the Doctor (Tennant) but before the TARDIS apparently collides with the Titanic (which was the third-season cliffhanger). (Yes, that’s a window of maybe two or three seconds… but who cares about such things when you’re a time-traveler and it’s for a good cause?) A freak accident causes the unshielded TARDIS to temporarily merge with itself in the past, the net effect of which is the Fifth Doctor (Davison) abruptly appearing in the Console Room. Ten is thrilled to see his former self, while Five is somewhat bewildered – to the point he actually accuses Ten of being a slightly deranged fan! The two Doctors are, however, able to work together long enough to survive an encounter with the black hole created by this paradox.

The resolution is a little bit shaky – basically, it amounts to Ten knowing what to do because he remembered this whole incident from when he was Five – but, really, that’s not the point of the mini-episode. The point is to celebrate the storied past of Doctor Who, to give the new series the sort of “proper” torch-passing moment from the old that it had been lacking until now, and to serve as something of a “valentine” to Davison’s era, which (as someone who has always felt that Five was probably the most underrated of all the Doctors) I certainly appreciated.

The only unfortunate part is that the short length of “Time Crash” (approximately eight minutes) makes it somewhat unlikely we’ll get to see it in America, except perhaps as a DVD extra at some point. It’s already making the rounds of YouTube and the like, so check that out if you’re so inclined. (I won’t include a direct link here, however, because YouTube links of this nature that worked yesterday have a tendency to be gone tomorrow.) It is absolutely worth a look if you were ever a fan of the old Doctor Who, or even if you just like multi-Doctor stories in general.

* - She will return later in Season Four, however, following a brief guest-starring stint on spinoff series Torchwood.

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1 Comment »

1. 
   Richard
   November 20, 2007 at 11:30 am

   Nice - and I like that Steven Moffat even worked in its “wibbley-wobbly timey-wimey” crack from “Blink.”

   [Reply]

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