YMMV / Doctor Who S3 E8 "The Gunfighters"

• Broken Base: This story has seen some of the most extreme swings in received fandom opinion ever in relation to Doctor Who. Until it was released on video, due partly to a then-common view of the "historicals" as boring monster-less aberrations in what should be a sci-fi show, and partly very negative comments in a couple of influential reference works, it was often regarded as the WORST STORY EVER and something that should never, ever have been made. Once it was released on video, viewers noticed that it wasn't as bad as claimed, and especially that it was an intentional comedy, which hadn't been mentioned by its detractors. Some contrarians then hailed it as a masterpiece, though general viewer opinion tends to put it somewhere in between. There is an urban legend to the effect that it had the worst viewing figures of any Who story, which is incorrect^note For the Hartnell era, it's actually "The Smugglers", and the series would have lower viewership multiple times through the 1980s, bottoming out at just 3.1 million for "Battlefield", compared to "Gunfighters'" figures hovering around 6 million. Reflecting the fan legend, a letter to Doctor Who Magazine in early 1990 defended the then recent Season 26 by saying that the alternative was "The Gunfighters". DWM didn't have the heart to reply that "Battlefield" got half "The Gunfighters" ratings. "The Gunfighters" did represent the start of a downward trend that year, though, with even its most-watched episode falling below the previous season's lowest figure. It wouldn't pick up again till Hartnell's final serial., although it did have the worst ever Audience Appreciation Rating (for enjoyment and quality) among The BBC's sample viewers..
• Fanfic Fuel: We know from "Fear Her" that Star Trek exists in the Whoniverse, so how does the episode "Specter of the Gun" go?
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Steven and Dodo wear fairly silly cowboy outfits much as we see years later with Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part III.
  • Related to the above, the Doctor's response to seeing Steven and Dodo in their cowboy outfits is to ask why they can't wear inconspicuous clothing like he does. The First Doctor's costume was a Victorian outfit which, while it could be out of place, was nothing like what we would see in his future incarnations, such as the Third Doctor's velvet jackets and ruffled shirts, the Sixth Doctor's rainbow-colored jacket or the Eleventh Doctor's tweed and bow tie (the latter of which would feature in another Western-themed episode).
• Narm Charm: Between the fake American accents and the historical inaccuracies...
• Special Effects Failure: Many of the backgrounds are quite obviously matte paintings to try and make the set look like an actual town.

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