Tuesday 12 November 2013

Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World – DVD Review

Previously five-sixths missing, this classic Patrick Troughton story is back, and it's coming to DVD...




DOCTOR WHO
THE ENEMY OF THE WORLD
DVD
RRP: £20.42
BBFC: PG
Released by: BBC Worldwide
Release date: 25 November 2013




"Proof, proof, proof! It always comes back to the same thing – no-one has any evidence against Salamander"


Sometimes, even our wildest dreams can come true. Prior to October 2013, there were officially 106 episodes of Doctor Who missing from the BBC Archives, all of them from the 1960s and starring William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. Back then, the videotapes that the episodes were recorded onto were very expensive indeed, and so the BBC elected to reuse as many tapes as possible (once the programmes originally recorded onto them were deemed to be of no further use) in order to save on the expense of purchasing new ones. Nobody foresaw that one day these programmes would have a commercial application in the home video market (the domestic technology to achieve this was years away) and agreements with Equity, the actors’ union, severely restricted the number of times that a programme could be repeated on television. Thankfully, however, almost all of the 1960s episodes were copied (or ‘telerecorded’) onto 16mm film for overseas sale prior to the original tapes’ destruction (bar one solitary episode, which is believed to have ceased to exist as soon as the tape was wiped). Eventually, these films also began to be disposed of, as the transition into colour television caused a decline in interest in old monochrome programmes. But every episode of Doctor Who that survives from the 1960s exists on film – and very rarely, some more turn up.


Until now, the most recent recoveries of missing Doctor Who episodes came in 2011, when two episodes found their way back to the archives from a private collector in the UK. But the circumstances of this new find (the biggest of the last 25 years) are very different, and we ultimately have one man to thank. Philip Morris, director of Television International Enterprises Archives (TIEA) discovered nine missing episodes in a store room at a television relay station in Jos, Nigeria. Along with four of the five missing episodes of The Web of Fear, Episodes 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 of 1967/8’s The Enemy of the World were discovered alongside the already-existing Episode 3, completing the adventure at long last! In an unprecedented move, the episodes were made available for download on iTunes at the very same moment that their existence was announced, at midnight on 11 October 2013. Later this month, a DVD arrives…


When I watched the DVD for this review, it was the second time that I had seen the story (except for Episode 1, which I have now seen three times), and it’s still an incredibly surreal experience to be able to actually watch the story. All of it! With moving pictures! Prior to the recovery, I had heard the soundtrack a couple of times (audio recordings exist of every missing Doctor Who episode), accompanied by a ‘reconstruction’ of the story using materials such as off-screen stills and production photographs, but watching the real thing is a revelation on every level. Right from the very beginning of Episode 1, we discover just how difficult it is to truly appreciate these episodes with just the audio. As the TARDIS materialises on an Australian beach, every single expression from the cast (Troughton in particular) is utterly magical. The soundtracks may allow us to follow the story, but the recovered episodes allow us to experience the story. There are so many things in this sequence alone that we had no idea about. As the Doctor runs towards the sea, Troughton leaps into the air and clicks his heels – a joyous moment which we never knew anything about.


The story’s director was Barry Letts, marking the Doctor Who début of the man who would go on to become the show’s producer during the Jon Pertwee years. Letts truly hits the ground running, with an incredibly action-packed opening instalment – it wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to suggest that this is James Bond on a Doctor Who budget. Within moments of the Doctor, Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Victoria (Deborah Watling) arriving, they find themselves under attack, and so begins a thrilling sequence of events. Before I watched the recovered story, I thought I knew this episode, but it turns out that the sense of pace and action that it has barely comes through on audio. The atmosphere is enhanced further by the music. Although it is library music rather than being composed specifically for the story, it suits these scenes perfectly.


The Enemy of the World is often thought of as a ‘future historical’, as it is a story of political intrigue rather than a tale of aliens and monsters. It really does stand out as a breath of fresh air, and gives Patrick Troughton a huge role. This is a world in which one man, Salamander, is striving to gain power over the entire planet – and he looks almost exactly like the Doctor. It’s simply fascinating to watch Troughton in this dual role, and it’s not hard to occasionally forget that Salamander is played by him, because of how differently he portrays the two characters. We first see Salamander on a screen in Episode 1, giving a speech about his eco-technology which is seen to be saving the world from starvation. It soon becomes clear that Salamander is a very complex character – seemingly the hero of the world, but with rather different motives lurking beneath. It isn’t until around half-way through the story that the impersonation element gets fully underway, with the Doctor pretending to be Salamander, but when it does you can really distinguish the different aspects of Troughton’s performance. There is a discernible difference between the Doctor, Salamander, and the Doctor pretending to be Salamander – and a further twist to Salamander’s character arrives in Episode 4, with a brilliantly outlandish revelation.


The story has a remarkable scope and ambition, stretching from Australia to Europe. It feels like the stakes are very high for the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria, as they are up against a truly ruthless would-be dictator, with the TARDIS left on the other side of the world for some of the adventure. David Whitaker’s script incorporates three-dimensional characters, with complex relationships and motives. One such character is Fariah (Carmen Munroe) – her background isn’t entirely clear, but there are hints of more mature undertones beneath her exchanges with Salamander. Fariah is an excellent example of the quality of characterisation we see in this story. She could have been a one-dimensional character, only serving to advance the storyline and nothing more. But instead, Whitaker and Munroe craft something far more interesting.


Astrid (Mary Peach) has a curious relationship with the Doctor. Soon after they first meet, they have a conversation which seems slightly flirtatious, and there is some great dialogue between Peach and Troughton. Setting aside the fact that everyone seems to swiftly forget that she has been wounded by a gunshot in Episode 1, Astrid is involved with some of the greatest moments in this serial. At one point, she works with Jamie and Victoria to trick Salamander into believing that somebody has attempted to assassinate him, and she plays a key role in the story’s opening action sequence. It isn’t difficult to imagine Astrid as a companion, and she is without doubt one of the most memorable characters of the story. Another is Benik (Milton Johns). Benik is a wholly and infallibly unpleasant man, and it sometimes feels as though he is, in a sense, nastier than Salamander himself. While Salamander is certainly more evil, he operates in a more calculated and discreet manner. Benik, meanwhile, is purely sadistic. A surprisingly intense scene occurs later in the story, with Benik interrogating Jamie and Victoria – and it leaves you wondering what he is capable of.


The Enemy of the World is a story which really does deserve to be re-evaluated by fans. It is only now that we can properly appreciate the true quality of the direction, and being able to see the story elevates it to a whole new level. For decades, the third episode was believed to be the only one in existence, and it didn’t exactly show the story in a brilliant light. It is still the weakest episode, but even so, it is improved somewhat by being viewed in its proper context – and it gets bonus points for featuring the hugely underrated character of Griffin (Reg Lye)! There isn’t any other Doctor Who story like this one, and there are a number of thrilling moments throughout, the legendary ‘Doctor vs Salamander’ TARDIS scene for example. The story isn’t perfect – the pacing is a bit uneven, with a slightly rushed finale. But I would still argue that it warrants being called a ‘classic’, and it’s some of the quieter moments, the subtle points, which make the story for me. It’s the fact that we have realistic and multi-layered characters, and I never previously realised just how intricate the story is in this respect. This is a serial which has for so long been overlooked, but it has now enjoyed the forefront of media coverage and public awareness. The Enemy of the World is back.

SPECIAL FEATURE

There are virtually no extras on this DVD. Besides the episodes themselves, the only additional content is a trailer for the other (mostly) recovered serial, The Web of Fear, which will be released on DVD early next year. This is a modified and shortened version of the atmospheric iTunes trailer. Considering the secrecy under which this DVD was prepared, the lack of extras is understandable. While it would have been great for the usual extras to be on this disc, the main thing for me is owning the episodes in the best possible technical quality. That said, from a personal perspective, it's a shame there aren't any production information subtitles (or a commentary, to a lesser extent) on the DVD.

AUDIO/VIDEO

When you consider that they had been sitting untouched on a dusty shelf in Nigeria for over four decades, these episodes look and sound amazing. Where the mono audio is concerned, the story sounds very clean, with clear music, dialogue and effects. We can thank Mark Ayres for restoring the sound to a level of quality that is consistent with many other episodes from this era on DVD. Likewise, the picture quality is excellent – easily comparable to other serials which have been stored in far safer conditions than The Enemy of the World!

Following restoration by the usual team – including Peter Crocker (digital restoration) and Jonathan Wood (grading) – the 4:3 video is very stable, with an impressive amount of clarity in the image. The contrast is impressive, although a couple of the cliffhanger reprises look more washed out (to my eyes, it looks like these reprises are played in from film recordings – if this is the case, the fact that we would then be effectively looking at a telerecording of a telerecording could certainly account for the drop in quality). But this literally affects just two scenes, thankfully.

Episode 3, which previously existed in the archives, has been sourced from the existing copy rather than the newly discovered film. This is because the archives already held a film recording negative for that episode, so the African film print could not possibly achieve the same quality. However, the negative has been given a fresh restoration for this new DVD, and the results are a distinct improvement over the previous presentation of Episode 3 on 2004's Lost in Time box set (see comparisons below), with deeper blacks and a cleaner overall image.

This DVD holds a major advantage over the previous iTunes release of The Enemy of the World, because the episodes here have been processed with VidFIRE, restoring the interlaced 'video look' to the videotaped studio scenes. Technically, the episodes on iTunes were VidFIREd, but the effect was lost because iTunes only supports progressive video. One limitation of VidFIRE is that where a shot consists of both video and film-originated material (for example, where film appears on a screen within a shot), then the film footage ends up with the video look as well. However, this is a worthwhile trade-off for something which, on the whole, brings us far closer to the original broadcast, and the impact that VidFIRE has on the viewing experience is substantial.

Below are comparison images between this DVD and the iTunes release (and, in the case of Episode 3, the Lost in Time DVD). The iTunes episodes are of a lower resolution, so those screenshots have been upscaled so that the vertical resolution matches that of the DVD images, allowing for the most effective comparison. There is a very appreciable difference when the episodes are seen in motion, and the increased definition is visible in these images. It is recommended that you open each image in its own tab and then flick between them.

iTunes

DVD

iTunes

DVD

iTunes

DVD

Lost in Time

iTunes

2013 DVD

iTunes

DVD

iTunes

DVD

iTunes

DVD

SUMMARY

It still doesn’t quite feel real. Previously, it was only possible to watch one-sixth of the story, but now we can enjoy the adventure in its visual entirety. It just goes to show that there is so much that we simply don’t know about the missing episodes – who knows what secrets might be held by other lost stories! But the recovery of these episodes also proves that we should never give up hope. Before this discovery, four episodes had been recovered in the last two decades, so the idea that we would ever see a batch as big as nine being returned – let alone a batch comprising one complete story and one almost complete – was truly the stuff of wild fantasy. This DVD release of The Enemy of the World is an incredible gift to fans for the show’s fiftieth anniversary this month.

Sometimes, nine impossible things can happen before breakfast.

Thank you, Philip Morris.

Main Feature: 8 out of 10
A/V Quality: 7 out of 10
Extras: 1 out of 10

5 OUT OF 10

Watch the iTunes trailer for The Enemy of the World here.



Purchasing this title through either of the links above helps to support this website.

Thanks to BBC Worldwide

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode in global broadcast and cinema extravaganza

Over 75 countries to simultaneously broadcast the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special!



BBC Worldwide has announced that the special 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who, the world’s longest running and most successful sci-fi series will, for the first time ever, be broadcast simultaneously to millions of viewers worldwide in a global simulcast on 23 November 2013.

From Canada to Colombia, Brazil to Botswana and Myanmar to Mexico, fans in at least 75 countries spanning six continents will be able to enjoy the episode in 2D and 3D* at the same time as the UK broadcast, with more countries expected to be confirmed within the next month. The US, Australia and Canada have also signed up for the simulcast which will be shown in numerous countries across Europe, Latin America and Africa. In addition to Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman, the one-off special, entitled The Day of the Doctor stars former Time Lord David Tennant as well as Billie Piper, and John Hurt.

On top of the worldwide TV broadcast, hundreds of cinemas in the UK and across the world also plan to screen the hotly anticipated special episode simultaneously in full 3D, giving fans the opportunity to make an event of the occasion and be part of a truly global celebration for the iconic British drama series. Details about tickets for the anniversary screening will be announced in due course.

Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide comments: “Few TV shows can still lay claim to being appointment viewing but Doctor Who takes this to another level. In its 50th Anniversary year we wanted to create a truly international event for Doctor Who fans in as many countries as possible and the simultaneous broadcast and cinema screening of the special across so many countries will make for a fitting birthday tribute to our Time Lord.”

Steven Moffat, Showrunner for Doctor Who and Executive Producer of the 50th Anniversary episode adds: “The Doctor has always been a time traveller – now he's travelling time zones. On the 23rd of November, it won't be the bad guys conquering the Earth – everywhere it will be The Day of the Doctor!”

The free-to-air 3D coverage will be available to those with access to a 3D TV set and to the BBC’s HD Red Button service. This is part of the BBC’s two-year trial experimenting with 3D production and distribution, which has also included selected coverage from Wimbledon 2012 and the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The 50th Anniversary weekend for Doctor Who in November will also see over 20,000 fans gather at London’s ExCel for the official celebration event which will feature appearances from cast old and new including Matt Smith and former Doctors Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker and Tom Baker. Further information on the event can be found at doctorwho.tv.

Since 1963 Doctor Who has been one of the best loved dramas and certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful sci-fi series ever. The show has received numerous awards across its 50 years and has seen huge commercial success with over 10 million DVDs and 8 million action figures sold globally. It is also the number one BBC show on iTunes in the UK. BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the UK broadcaster distributes Doctor Who to over 200 territories across the world.

* 3D television broadcast is subject to availability within global region.

The 50th Anniversary Special of Doctor Who will be simultaneously broadcast with the UK in the following countries:

Europe
Germany (Fox), Finland (YLE), Poland (BBC Entertainment), Russia (Karousel and NKS)

North America
USA (BBC America), Canada (Space)

Latin America (on BBC Entertainment and BBC HD)
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

Africa (on BBC Entertainment)
Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania & Zanzibar, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Australia (ABC)

Asia (on BBC Entertainment)
Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand

Thanks to BBC Worldwide

Monday 26 August 2013

Doctor Who: The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule – DVD Review

A commemorative set limited to 5000 copies, The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule celebrates Tom Baker's portrayal of the Fourth Doctor...

DOCTOR WHO
THE FOURTH DOCTOR TIME CAPSULE
DVD
BBFC: PG
Released by: BBC Worldwide
Release date: 29 July 2013



To date, Tom Baker holds the record for playing the Doctor on television for the longest continuous length of time. Between 1974 and 1981, Baker enchanted a whole generation of viewers with his fun, scary, powerful portrayal of the Time Lord's fourth incarnation. It is fitting, therefore, that in the year of Doctor Who's fiftieth anniversary, BBC Worldwide has released a special set to commemorate Baker's reign as the Doctor. The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule contains a range of souvenirs of Baker's time on the programme, and a full review of the set will be posted here at a future date. This review, however, will focus on the two DVDs that are included with the set.

"The sea may be calm, but it's never empty"


The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule contains an advance, extras-free release of Terror of the Zygons. This 1975 story launched the thirteenth series of Doctor Who, and writer Robert Banks Stewart's script is captivating, entertaining and unnerving all at once. It certainly gets off to a very ambitious start, as we witness a deadly incident out at sea. This is realised on-screen with model work which, although not ground-breaking, does a very decent job of conveying the action, and provides a suitably explosive start to the story. These days, this scene would probably be a pre-titles 'cold opening', and the concept of a story beginning with a mystery and a teaser of what's to come is one which has been seen many times in Doctor Who over the years. But this has to be among the finest examples of the technique, and – much like the story as a whole – it is made very eerie by its use of sound effects.


There aren't any other Doctor Who stories quite like this one. Terror of the Zygons is a very refreshing and bold series opener, and it sees the Doctor, Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry (Ian Marter) arriving in Scotland. This story concludes a run of seven adventures (impressively spanning three series of the show) which, in story terms, occur continuously with no gaps between them. In the closing moments of the previous series, the Doctor received a message from Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney), asking for help – and Terror of the Zygons reveals why. While the location work wasn’t actually shot in Scotland – various locations around Sussex were used instead – the footage is still wonderfully evocative and atmospheric, and also menacing in its own way. It very much feels like our protagonists are more isolated than we are used to, and in a sense this story takes both the regular characters and the viewers out of their comfort zone.


The fact that almost all of this story is set in a location quite different to Doctor Who's usual stomping ground provides the opportunity for some unusual and experimental creative choices by director Douglas Camfield. They aren’t always completely successful; for example, the overpowering of a few scenes with bagpipe music, while directly referenced in the dialogue, can’t help but become annoying rather quickly. But on the other hand, there are many directorial touches here which enhance the serial's overall quality. Whenever Camfield is in the director's chair, this guarantees an immensely powerful and engaging production. In the case of Terror of the Zygons, this fuses with the strong script to create something very special. The wit, warmth and humour in the script juxtaposes perfectly with its threat and menace, and Camfield always knew how to get the best effect out of any dramatic situation.


By far the greatest merit of the story is the sense of mystery which dominates so much of it. Our fear of the unknown, integral to human nature, causes an almost subconscious emotional response to the danger the characters find themselves in. Perhaps it could be argued that the fourth and final episode isn’t quite as strong as the three which precede it, because by necessity, most of the questions have been answered by that point. Also, the shift of the story away from Scotland and back to London for much of the final episode can’t help but make things feel slightly flat in comparison to the breath of fresh air that prevails for the rest of the story. But this doesn't detract from the fact that this story's ability to build suspense and drama is almost unrivalled. One of the stand-out moments is the cliffhanger ending to Part One. Moreover, it is one of the most memorable scenes in Doctor Who’s history.


Terror of the Zygons is currently the only appearance of the eponymous aliens in televised Doctor Who, although they have reappeared in numerous spin-off media such as books and audio dramas. It has been announced that they are set to return in this year’s 50th Anniversary Special, but it’s interesting that the Zygons have become such iconic creatures even though they have only appeared once on TV within the last 38 years. They are certainly very effective, with a striking design and creepy, whispery voices. The most detailed Zygon costume is that of Broton, warlord of the Zygons, and it looks amazing in close-up. Something this story executes brilliantly is the gradual reveal of the Zygons’ full appearance. We at first only glimpse their hands, hear their voices, and see a very tight close-up of Broton. But this serves to make the full reveal even more startling.


If there is one especially weak point to Terror of the Zygons, it is the Skarasen creature. As time goes on and we see more and more of it, the effectiveness of the monster diminishes at an alarming rate. Most of the time, the creature is represented on screen via stop motion animation, which – although a very admirable effort, and a technique which isn't seen very often in Doctor Who – doesn’t integrate very well with the location footage of the Doctor attempting to escape, running through the Scottish countryside. The Skarasen doesn’t look too bad in close-up during these scenes, but whenever the creature moves in any significant way, the viewer is usually pulled sharply out of the drama. But whereas these sequences don’t really succeed in maintaining the viewer’s suspension of disbelief, they come across as masterpieces in comparison to the Skarasen’s final moments. These later scenes were realised in a very different manner. Because they were shot in the studio on videotape, the production team opted to insert the Skarasen with CSO (Colour Separation Overlay, an ancestor of what we know today as green- or blue-screen chromakey). In fairness, the stop motion technique wouldn’t have been suitable here either, due to the video-based nature of these scenes. But the CSO really doesn’t work. It basically looks like Baker is face-to-face with an enormous glove puppet (and he probably was). Whereas the Zygons are a design triumph, the Skarasen is something most people would probably rather forget.


This aside though, the story generally holds up extremely well as a piece of quality television, from the scripts through to the screen. There is so much tension, mystery and atmosphere, yet this is complemented by a warmth and charm, which comes across as genuine without diminishing the story’s dramatic quality. The icing on the cake is the rapport between the cast – Terror of the Zygons is at its best when there is a multitude of characters in a single scene. Baker, Sladen, Marter and Courtney are at the top of their game here, and it is this which really shines on the screen. From the Doctor, Sarah and Harry strolling through the wilds of Scotland to the Brigadier refusing to believe that he has been asleep on the job, everything in Terror of the Zygons is played with absolute conviction by all the cast. Combined with the great script and the haunting incidental music score by Geoffrey Burgon, this makes the story very memorable, and a strong final appearance for Harry as a regular character. It may have its weaker moments here and there, but it remains one of the most celebrated and fondly-remembered stories in the entire history of Doctor Who – and it really isn’t difficult to see why.

"I became that character, I was that character"


Although this version of Terror of the Zygons doesn’t include any special features as such (the full, extras-laden regular release is due in September), there is a second DVD included in the Time Capsule, and this contains something which is exclusive to this set. Interview with the Time Lord is a newly-commissioned interview with Tom Baker. At approximately 25 minutes, it isn’t the most exhaustive or comprehensive feature you could wish for, especially since it will soon be the one and only DVD feature remaining exclusive to this set. Beyond this though, the feature is a strange beast. There are a number of superb moments to be found throughout, but there are a few oddities in its presentation as well.


One of the most interesting aspects of the discussion is Baker’s recollection of how the role of the Fourth Doctor had an immediate and profound impact upon his life. Having previously struggled to find work, Baker suddenly found that once he was cast as the Doctor, he felt that he had actually become the character. As he puts it, he didn’t have to reach for it – the personality of the Doctor become a natural part of Baker’s own persona. While he is usually very upbeat and joyful throughout this interview, there are a couple of points at which his stories take a darker turn. At one particularly affecting moment, he remembers being asked to visit a child who was in a coma in hospital. The actor recalls how he initially found it challenging to come to terms with the responsibilities he now faced; whereas he had never felt important in any way, he now found that he was a hero to an entire generation.


Indeed, a recurring theme throughout the interview is the fact that this is the role which defines Baker as a person, with the actor even stating that “the fans created me”. Speaking of his immense gratitude to these fans, he explains that he had always “wanted to be wanted”, and Doctor Who provided him with that emotional security. His respect for the show’s audience is utterly genuine, and it is both amusing and insightful to hear him describe the love of the fans as “greater than ordinary love”. One point at which this feature does somewhat drop the ball, though, is in its coverage of the Fourth Doctor’s companions – there isn’t nearly enough discussion of the many actors who co-starred alongside Baker. The actor speaks very poignantly about the death of Elisabeth Sladen, and he speaks fondly of Louise Jameson (Leela) as well as making some interesting remarks about his relationship with Lalla Ward (the second Romana), but his other co-stars are either glossed over or totally ignored. This is unfortunate, because the topic of the companions is one which should arguably have been granted the most attention and screen time.


In this sense, Interview with the Time Lord is somewhat inconsistent. Most things are covered reasonably well, but a few are denied additional screen time, while clearly crying out for it. Sadly, there are also some issues with the editing. The interview was shot with two cameras, and there is one moment when a cut from one angle to the other (while keeping the same audio running) results in the audio and video being obviously out-of-sync for one (thankfully brief) shot. The choice to use the 1980 arrangement of the Doctor Who theme music during the intertitles and credits is bizarre, considering that this version was only used for the last of Baker’s seven series. The arrangement that was heard during his other six series would have been more appropriate (although it is heard during the opening sequence, at least). It is also disappointing that the only clips to appear are from Terror of the Zygons – representation of any other stories from Baker’s era is only present in the form of still images.


But some of the finest moments occur towards the end, as the topic turns to the events leading up to Baker’s departure from Doctor Who, and things that have happened in subsequent years. There are times when he becomes somewhat candid in his reminiscences, rarely more so than when he recalls that he and John Nathan-Turner (producer of Baker’s final series in 1980/81) were “diametrically opposed”. By Baker’s own admission, he had become difficult to work with; this has been anecdotally referenced by various people on countless occasions over the years, but it is fascinating to hear Baker’s own take on the mood at that time. It is perhaps fitting that one of the last subjects to be explored in this interview brings us right up to the present day, with Baker’s participation in Big Finish’s range of full-cast Doctor Who audio dramas. For many years, he was notorious for his refusal to participate in these releases, but (after working on some AudioGO productions) he finally arrived on a Big Finish title at the beginning of 2012. Baker cites Louise Jameson as the person who finally persuaded him to take part, and it’s great to hear him expressing such delight at reuniting with some of his former companions on audio, as if no time at all had elapsed. This sums up both the character of the Fourth Doctor and the actor who plays him. This interview may be a mixed bag (although the positives thankfully outweigh the negatives), but Baker shines throughout, and there was one resounding thought which I came away with afterwards. He may have ceased playing the role on television back in 1981, but – especially following his reprisal of the character in the audio medium – Tom Baker is still the Doctor to this day. And he always will be.

AUDIO/VIDEO

Confession time – this reviewer does not currently have a surround sound system! Sadly, therefore, I am unable to comment on the optional Dolby 5.1 surround mix that is included for Terror of the Zygons (and will also appear on the story’s standalone release in due course). The work of audio wizard Mark Ayres, the 5.1 remix takes advantage of the fact that the incidental music for this story still exists in isolation from dialogue and effects. There isn’t a similarly clean copy of the dialogue in existence, however, so Ayres has employed some very clever techniques to make the story available in surround sound. This DVD’s default audio track, though, is the original mono mix that was heard by viewers back in 1975. This has also been cleaned up and restored by Ayres, and the resulting audio stands up to the level of quality that we have become used to from the other stories of this period. Dialogue, music and sound effects all come through clearly, with no issues to report.

When Terror of the Zygons is released with a full package of special features next month, this will include a never-before-seen deleted scene from Part One – thought lost for many years, the scene has been rediscovered in recent years. However, as a vanilla DVD (apart from the 5.1 mix), this additional scene is NOT included here.

As per the norm for Doctor Who during this period, Terror of the Zygons (4:3) is a mix of studio scenes and film inserts. The videotaped studio material generally looks great, although there are some issues visible in a couple of scenes, with static horizontal lines burnt into the image. This is inherent in the source material (and not possible to fix), but it does not pose a significant problem because it only affects a very small section of the programme. The original film elements for half of Part Two and all of Parts Three and Four survive, and these have been granted a new transfer, providing a significant upgrade from the lower quality which 1970s telecine equipment was limited to (you can tell the difference by comparing the film sequences from later in the story with those from earlier on). The result is that the location work looks fantastic during these retransferred sequences. The colour palette of the location material is intentionally rather bleak, so while the image doesn’t provide quite so much vibrancy of colours as some other stories with original film surviving, there is nevertheless a very pleasing level of quality in the image.

SUMMARY

Terror of the Zygons is a fine story indeed, but because a standalone release (including extras) is imminent, it isn’t really a reason to purchase The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule. That means that as far as the set’s DVD content goes, the make-or-break item is Interview with the Time Lord. As discussed above, that feature is certainly flawed – it's hard to believe that the out-of-sync shot got through, for one thing. But there’s plenty to enjoy, because of Baker's wit and personality. There isn’t much information here which you can’t find elsewhere (and it would have been nice if the interview had been a bit longer), but some of Baker’s comments and anecdotes are genuinely funny. Of course, this set comes with a high price tag attached, and it's a shame that many people will probably miss out on seeing the interview for this reason. Perhaps it could one day surface on another release – let's hope it does, because while it has problems, it deserves to be seen by as many people as possible, solely because Tom Baker is on top form.

Part two of Telly Tech's review of The Fourth Doctor Time Capsule is coming soon.



Purchasing this title through either of the links above helps to support this website.

Thanks to BBC Worldwide

Wednesday 31 July 2013

Doctor Who: The Complete Seventh Series – changed DVD/Blu-ray cover and info

BBC Worldwide have announced additions to the content of the Doctor Who: The Complete Seventh Series DVD and Blu-ray box set in the UK, the most significant of which is the previously absent 2011 Christmas Special:

BBC Worldwide releases all thirteen blockbuster episodes from Doctor Who Series Seven and the 2011 and 2012 Christmas Specials on Blu-ray and DVD on 28 October 2013. In addition, the set contains exciting bonus features including behind-the-scenes featurettes, Doctor Who at Comic Con, specials The Companions and Doctor Who in the US, and more. These latest adventures test the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and prove that even a madman with a box needs help sometimes.

Say farewell to the Ponds all over again. Meet the enigmatic Clara for the first time – and the second, and the third. Face enemies new and old, follow the Doctor to the one place he should never go, and learn the secret to a really great soufflé. With a cliffhanger ending that will leave fans breathless, this set arrives just in time to catch up before the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special on 23 November, and the Doctor’s regeneration in this year’s Christmas Special.

In The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, the 2011 Christmas Special, the Doctor proves that sometimes wishes really do come true when his mysterious gift leads Madge Arwell and her two children to a magical wintry wonderland. Then, in the first part of Series Seven, the Ponds (Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill) make their final voyages with the Doctor. They save a spaceship full of dinosaurs, don Stetsons in the Wild West and are even kidnapped by the Doctor's oldest foe. But when they arrive in Manhattan the Weeping Angels are waiting for them – and the Doctor has to say goodbye to his companions forever.

The 2012 Christmas Special, The Snowmen, brings the Doctor a new friend (Jenna Coleman) in Victorian London – but has he already met her before? And will she be able to pull him from his mourning in time to save London from the chilling menace that threatens it? The final eight episodes of Series Seven see the Doctor and his new companion battle monsters on distant alien planets, become trapped in a Russian submarine with a deadly passenger, chase terrifying ghosts, and come face-to-face with an army of upgraded Cybermen. When his friends are kidnapped, the Doctor and Clara are forced to visit the fields of Trenzalore, where the question that must never be answered is finally asked… and the Doctor uncovers the secret of the Impossible Girl.

The incredible list of guest stars includes John Hurt (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), Warwick Davis (Willow, the Harry Potter films), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones), David Warner (Titanic, TRON), Dougray Scott (Hemlock Grove, Ever After: A Cinderella Story), Ben Browder (Farscape), David Bradley (Game of Thrones), Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife, The Woman in Black), the mother-daughter duo of Dame Diana Rigg (Game of Thrones) and Rachael Stirling (Women in Love, Snow White and the Huntsman), and the voice of Sir Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings films). The episodes are written by lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, as well as Neil Gaiman, Mark Gatiss, Neil Cross, Chris Chibnall, Toby Whithouse and Stephen Thompson.

Additional content includes:

Behind the scenes featurettes for every episode (except The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe)

Additional featurettes include: The Making of the Gunslinger, Creating Clara, Rain Gods, Clara and the TARDIS, Inforarium and Clara’s White Christmas

Other featurettes including: Olympics: Good as Gold (UK only), Last Days of the Ponds, Pond Life, The Science of Doctor Who, The Companions and Doctor Who at Comic Con

Prequels to episodes: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, Asylum of the Daleks, The Snowmen (The Great Detective, Vastra Investigates and Demons Run: Two Days Later), The Bells of Saint John and The Name of the Doctor (She Said, He Said and Clarence and the Whispermen)

Audio commentaries for episodes: The Snowmen, Cold War, Hide and The Crimson Horror

The official BBC Worldwide statement on the additions to the box set is as follows:

Originally the decision was taken not to include The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe on the box set as it had previously been released as a standalone product. However after listening to feedback from our fans we have decided to include the episode and its prequel on the set. The price of the set will not change as a result of the change of contents.

The Complete Seventh Series will be released on 28 October 2013 in the UK, with an RRP of £51.05 (DVD) and £57.18 (Blu-ray).

Thanks to BBC Worldwide

Friday 26 July 2013

[Updated] Doctor Who: The Complete Seventh Series – Blu-ray/DVD cover and info

IMPORTANT:
This article has now been superseded by a newer press release from BBC Worldwide, making additions to the content of the UK box set.

This morning, BBC Worldwide sent Telly Tech the cover art and details for the forthcoming Doctor Who: The Complete Seventh Series box set, due for release on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK this October.

BBC Worldwide releases all thirteen blockbuster episodes from the seventh series of the iconic sci-fi series Doctor Who on Blu-ray and DVD on 28 October 2013. In addition, the set includes the 2012 Christmas Special, and exciting bonus features including behind-the-scenes featurettes, Doctor Who at Comic Con, specials The Companions and Doctor Who in the US, and more. These latest adventures test the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and prove that even a madman with a box needs help sometimes.

Say farewell to the Ponds all over again. Meet the enigmatic Clara for the first time – and the second, and the third. Face enemies new and old, follow the Doctor to the one place he should never go, and learn the secret to a really great soufflé. With a cliffhanger ending that will leave fans breathless, this set arrives just in time to catch up before the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special on 23 November, and the Doctor’s regeneration in this year’s Christmas Special.

In the first part of Series Seven, the Ponds (Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill) make their final voyages with the Doctor. They save a spaceship full of dinosaurs, don Stetsons in the Wild West and are even kidnapped by the Doctor's oldest foe. But when they arrive in Manhattan the Weeping Angels are waiting for them – and the Doctor has to say goodbye to his companions forever.

The 2012 Christmas Special, The Snowmen, brings the Doctor a new friend (Jenna Coleman) in Victorian London – but has he already met her before? And will she be able to pull him from his mourning in time to save London from the chilling menace that threatens it? The final eight episodes of Series Seven see the Doctor and his new companion battle monsters on distant alien planets, become trapped in a Russian submarine with a deadly passenger, chase terrifying ghosts, and come face-to-face with an army of upgraded Cybermen. When his friends are kidnapped, the Doctor and Clara are forced to visit the fields of Trenzalore, where the question that must never be answered is finally asked… and the Doctor uncovers the secret of the Impossible Girl.

The incredible list of guest stars includes John Hurt (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy), Warwick Davis (Willow, the Harry Potter films), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones), David Warner (Titanic, TRON), Dougray Scott (Hemlock Grove, Ever After: A Cinderella Story), Ben Browder (Farscape), David Bradley (Game of Thrones), Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife, The Woman in Black), the mother-daughter duo of Dame Diana Rigg (Game of Thrones) and Rachael Stirling (Women in Love, Snow White and the Huntsman), and the voice of Sir Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings films). The episodes are written by lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, as well as Neil Gaiman, Mark Gatiss, Neil Cross, Chris Chibnall, Toby Whithouse and Stephen Thompson.

Additional content includes:

Behind the scenes featurettes for every episode, plus The Making of the Gunslinger and Creating Clara.

Other featurettes including: Doctor Who in the US, Last Days of the Ponds, Pond Life, The Science of Doctor Who, The Companions and Doctor Who at Comic Con.

Prequels to episodes: Asylum of the Daleks, The Snowmen (x3), The Bells of Saint John and The Name of the Doctor (x2).

Audio commentaries for episodes: The Snowmen, Cold War, Hide and The Crimson Horror.






The Complete Seventh Series will be released on 28 October 2013 in the UK, with an RRP of £51.05 (DVD) and £57.18 (Blu-ray). Please note that the 2011 Christmas Special The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe is not included in the UK version of the set (it does appear in the North American one), and nor is its prequel which was previously announced.

Thanks to BBC Worldwide

Saturday 8 June 2013

Doctor Who: The Mind of Evil – DVD Review

The Mind of Evil is a very special Doctor Who DVD release, as the remarkably gritty story sees the light of day in its original colour form for the first time in over four decades...




DOCTOR WHO
THE MIND OF EVIL
DVD
RRP: £20.42
BBFC: U
Released by: BBC Worldwide
Release date: 3 June 2013




"UNIT was set up to deal with new and unusual menaces to mankind, and in my view this machine of yours is just that"


The second story of Doctor Who’s 1971 season is something of a throwback to the tone of the previous year’s adventures. An immensely gritty and dark tale, The Mind of Evil has taken a long time to find its way onto DVD, and completes the availability of Jon Pertwee’s serials on the format. This is largely because of the huge amount of restoration work that has been needed, but more on that later on. First let’s look at the story itself, and the special features included on this two-disc release.


Generally, this season has a slightly lighter tone than the previous one, but The Mind of Evil breaks that mould and returns to the grim feel of the year before. This starts to become apparent quite quickly, with events unfolding inside the fictional Stangmoor Prison. The location filming is very effective, and Dover Castle in Kent is a suitably ominous location for the mood of the story. Good use is made of the location by director Timothy Combe, and the footage is especially impressive considering the problems encountered by the production team during shooting. A remounted location filming session was needed, because producer Barry Letts felt that there were not enough close-up shots during one action sequence, and additionally there turned out to be some damage on the original film. However, this strenuous shoot and the need for additional filming results in the finished sequence working very well. The eeriness of the location contrasts at first with the cheeriness of the Doctor and Jo Grant (Katy Manning), but that soon ceases to be the case once they discover the sinister Keller Machine inside the prison.


It is this which forms the central concept around which the events of the story are built, and it’s a fantastic idea. The machine supposedly enables the extraction of negative (or ‘evil’) thoughts from the minds of prisoners, facilitating their rehabilitation into society. Of course, it’s not that simple, and things soon start to go very wrong indeed. The Earth-bound stories that dominate Pertwee’s era have an advantage over those which take place away from our planet, and that is that they inherently provide an additional level of identification for the viewer. That is especially true here, as the threat of the Keller Machine feels very real indeed.


The Mind of Evil cleverly incorporates two separate strands into the overall narrative, as UNIT have meanwhile been put in charge of security for the imminent World Peace Conference. Writer Don Houghton manages this very well, as these two seemingly disparate parts of the story quickly become apparent as having a rather stronger connection. This also means that the story maintains its momentum far better than some other Pertwee six-part stories. Although four of the five cliffhangers are basically the same ending repeated in a slightly different way, The Mind of Evil never really lags that much.


Pertwee’s Doctor is well-known for telling authority figures what to do, and there’s no shortage of that in this story. As early as the first episode, he’s demanding that the Keller Machine is destroyed at once. (It’s no spoiler to say that it isn’t.) But The Mind of Evil also shows us a much more vulnerable Third Doctor. We see him put through physical and mental torment here, which makes the machine’s menace all the more effective. In some remarkable scenes, the Doctor essentially ends up half-dead. At the same time, though, Pertwee’s interaction with Manning is also particularly delightful here. They spend some time locked in a cell together, and this is where the two actors really shine – seemingly worrying more about a game of chess than about the Master, for example.


This is the second story to feature the Master (Roger Delgado), though his first outing was only the previous serial. Every story in this season featured the Master; was he overused? Undoubtedly, but he’s so brilliant that it doesn’t really matter. From the moment the Master first appears in The Mind of Evil – in a fantastic scene which I won’t spoil here – Delgado is superb in the role. Quite some time has passed in-story since the events of the previous one, Terror of the Autons. So, the Doctor and UNIT have been worrying about what the Master might be up to for a long time, and it is when the Master’s presence becomes known to our protagonists that The Mind of Evil really soars up onto another level. The Master plans a takeover of the prison, and it is this which really puts the Doctor, Jo and UNIT in a very sticky situation. Yes, there is some of the classic ‘escape, capture, escape, capture’ routine going on, but this particular story gets away with it more because of how well the characters work together. It’s like an elaborate game of cat and mouse, and the Master is absolutely revelling in it.


As always, Nicholas Courtney is wonderful in his role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The Doctor, Jo, the Brigadier and UNIT really are the definitive Doctor Who team of the 1970s, if not the entire history of the series. The circumstances surrounding the World Peace Conference give the Brigadier something to do before he becomes directly involved in the main storyline, and a highlight is a scene between the Doctor, the Brigadier and the Chinese delegate. The Mind of Evil is notable for being one of only two classic Doctor Who stories to date to feature on-screen subtitles – in this case, they translate the Hokkien dialogue between the Doctor and the delegate.


A large amount of the tense, moody atmosphere in The Mind of Evil is created by Dudley Simpson’s music. Season 8’s music generally stands out as being very electronic, before it calmed back down into more traditional orchestral styles in subsequent seasons. But The Mind of Evil has some music which is genuinely terrifying. The theme which he creates for the Keller Machine is great, and arguably one of Simpson’s most memorable contributions to Pertwee’s era of the programme. It’s also nice that a piece of music serving as a theme for UNIT crops up again. Perhaps it doesn’t come out of the electronic music style so well; it definitely sounds enormously better in The Ambassadors of Death, but it still brought a smile to my face to hear it.


The fact that The Mind of Evil is such a dark, gritty story is probably what makes it so amazing. The drama of the story comes from the fact that it takes place in an environment where no-one is safe. With the Master and the criminals of Stangmoor Prison calling the shots, the Doctor and UNIT face both a monumental battle against the Keller Machine, and the task of stopping the Master before he can plunge the Earth into global warfare. It is the intricacy of the whole thing which really makes it work, with a number of different strands coming together into one coherent tale. This was Houghton’s final Doctor Who script, but he bowed out with a classic.

SPECIAL FEATURES


Chris Chapman’s making-of documentary on this release is called The Military Mind. It’s always great when the DVD extras escape the confines of the studio to shoot on location, and that’s exactly what happened here. The Military Mind was recorded at Dover Castle, and it’s undoubtedly one of the finest, most touching making-of items we’ve yet seen. Pik-Sen Lim (Captain Chin Lee) and Fernanda Marlowe (Corporal Bell) appear together, which in itself is nice to see – it’s relatively rare to see more than one person interviewed side-by-side, and it enables them to interact with each other and recall additional memories. When The Mind of Evil was made, Lim was keeping a major secret from most people on the production: she was pregnant. This caused some complications with her costume, which she explains here. There are points at which this documentary is very poignant, and a good example of this is Combe’s emotional story towards the end of how The Mind of Evil became his last contribution to Doctor Who. All these years later, Combe still finds it difficult to talk about, which really shows the affection he had for the cast and crew on the series.


It seems that the feeling was mutual, because a number of the interviewees here express regret about what happened.  But by far the most bittersweet element of The Military Mind is the presence of Courtney and Letts, who have both passed away since the documentary was recorded back in 2009. It’s especially sad to see Letts looking a bit frail, but at the same time it’s a wonderful gift to see him together with script editor Terrance Dicks for one last time. Letts and Courtney are both very sorely missed. For such a bittersweet documentary, it’s fitting that we are treated to a warm voice-over by Cameron McEwan, and although the cartoony end credits are a little odd (apparently this is a hangover from a deleted animated opening sequence, presumably canned in favour of the more poignant mood this piece has retrospectively adopted), this doesn’t spoil a delightful, sad and emotional feature.

The commentary was also recorded some years ago, and thus shares some of the poignant qualities of The Military Mind due to the presence of Letts. Speaking about the grittiness of this story compared to those around it, Letts says that Doctor Who wasn’t a children’s show, and so he felt there was enough leeway to allow the tone of the series to get darker. Dicks is always great on DVD commentaries, and this one is no exception. He is very entertaining and yet informative at the same time, talking about the story’s similarities to A Clockwork Orange at around the same time as he is poking fun at ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’, for example. This commentary operates a ‘revolving door’ policy, mixing up the contributors as it goes along. Manning joins Lim and Marlowe, and there are some lovely exchanges between the actors. Manning in particular is a delight to listen to, with so many great memories of the production and her fellow cast members. Combe and stunt arranger Derek Ware complete the line-up, and it is particularly interesting to hear how a frantic production led to crew members having to pitch in to appear on-camera during an action sequence – Equity’s worst nightmare! As usual, the goldmine of Doctor Who knowledge that is Toby Hadoke serves as a moderator, overseeing proceedings and keeping things flowing superbly. Because of the episode-to-episode variation in the contributors, this commentary maintains its momentum fairly well, and is a great listen. The Production Information Subtitles are written by Stephen James Walker and Martin Wiggins. These are always fascinating to read, as various production and contextual information pops up while the story plays. Here, we find out how the idea of the Keller Machine grew out of capital punishment, and an apparent explanation of why one character appears to be afraid of pink dragons…


This DVD features a new instalment in the long-running Now & Then series, examining where exactly The Mind of Evil’s location work was shot and how these areas look today. Richard Bignell has once again done a wonderful job, impressively matching the framing of the original film sequences to facilitate dissolves from the original footage to the locations’ current appearance. This works particularly well with Dover Castle, because it’s such a well-known location. To top it all off, the original production map is included, which really does put into context exactly where everything is – and how certain things we see in the story wouldn’t actually be geographically possible!


Behind the Scenes: Television Centre is a contemporary 1971 documentary presented by Norman Tozer. He spends twenty-four hours examining the day-to-day goings-on inside BBC Television Centre. The building has had quite a large amount of exposure over recent Doctor Who DVDs, which is nice considering it is currently out of action during renovation work, and will eventually return in a revamped form. What’s apparent looking at this documentary is that back then, Television Centre was absolutely buzzing with activity. From scenery building to special effects, film editing to the armoury, Tozer explores a wide array of activities inside the Centre. It’s a shame that in subsequent decades, the BBC has contracted a huge amount of the operations we see here to external companies. But back when this was filmed, it seems as though pretty much everything was done in-house, which makes the whole thing really endearing and nostalgic. With glimpses of shows such as Blue Peter and Z Cars (Doctor Who makes only a brief contribution, making it all the more commendable that this item has been included here), Behind the Scenes: Television Centre is immeasurably enjoyable, and a superb window to the past.


This DVD’s Photo Gallery was made by Derek Handley, and at nearly five minutes, there’s a wide selection of images included. It’s particularly interesting to see colour photography, due to the archival nature of the episodes themselves – but more on that below! In addition to the usual Radio Times billings, another PDF item is included. From April to September 1971, Kellogg’s ran a promotion whereby their Sugar Smacks breakfast cereal came with one of six Doctor Who-themed badges. This PDF contains images of the badges, packets and some promotional pieces. Aside from a couple of rather scary images of Jon Pertwee which look nothing like Jon Pertwee, this is a fun and interesting inclusion.

There is an Easter Egg somewhere on this DVD – a nice audio item from just before the story’s original transmission…


The Coming Soon trailer is a little bit different to usual, because it’s not for a DVD. Instead, it promotes the forthcoming Blu-ray release of Pertwee’s first Doctor Who story, Spearhead from Space. As the one and only story from the series’ original 1963-89 television run to be shot entirely on film, it has been possible to create a restored high definition transfer of the story. The inherent problem with advertising a Blu-ray on a DVD release is that the true quality of the former can’t be demonstrated. So, Gareth Randall has compensated for this by including a number of on-screen intertitles which really sell the point that this is the one and only high definition classic Doctor Who story. Some clips from the exclusive Pertwee biography that will be included on the release are also featured. Aside from a problem with the black levels (evidenced by the greyness of the pillarbox at the left and right sides of the image during the 4:3 clips), this truly is an appetite-whetting trailer.

AUDIO/VIDEO

The audio has come from the film recordings (see below), but the source materials aren’t brilliant. Across the story, the sound leans more towards a bass-heavy feel than would be ideal, but following Mark Ayres’ audio restoration The Mind of Evil sounds better than it has done for a long time – the dialogue is very understandable, although the music does sometimes feel a little indistinct and murky. While the audio here isn’t as clear as we’re used to from many other stories, it’s still very listenable and the best that could be done considering the source.

Without doubt the most noteworthy thing about this DVD is that it is the first time that The Mind of Evil has been seen in full colour in over four decades. Originally broadcast from 625-line colour videotape, all six episodes only survive today as 16mm black-and-white telerecordings. Until recently, this has been the most problematic of all the Pertwee stories from a restoration perspective, as it was the only one to have no colour episodes whatsoever surviving in any form, save for a short clip that exists as an off-air domestic Betamax recording. But now, thanks to some truly arduous work, it’s back in full colour once more. Episodes Two-Six have been restored using the Colour Recovery process, which analyses colour subcarrier information embedded in the black-and-white film recordings to work out what the original colour would have been. But the ‘chromadots’ necessary for the process to work were filtered out when the telerecording of Episode One was made – something which really should have been done for every telerecording that was produced, but thankfully this didn’t happen because there were far more film recorders than filters.

Therefore, Episode One has been manually colourised for this DVD. This task has been carried out by Stuart Humphryes (interviewed here) and Peter Crocker. Essentially, Humphryes hand-colourised certain key-frames from each shot of the episode, and later in the process, Crocker began using the colour from some of Humphryes’ key-frames to create his own ‘secondary’ key-frames to enable the project to be completed on time. Once all the key-frames were ready, the colour from them could be used to restore colour to the frames in-between using a mixture of motion-estimated interpolation and manual tweaking and warping. The result is stunning. This has got to be the most labour-intensive restoration project ever undertaken for the Doctor Who DVD range, but it really has paid off. Colours are realistic and natural, with skin tones looking particularly impressive. There are subtleties here which are rarely seen in a lot of manual colourisation efforts, and it is this which really sells it. Of course, it doesn’t look quite as good as the original 625-line tape would have done, but it often doesn’t look too far off. Humphryes and Crocker should be congratulated for their effort here.

The results of the Colour Recovery on the rest of the story are variable. Richard Russell was responsible for the original processing and initial fine-tuning of Episodes Two-Six of The Mind of Evil. High definition scans of the telerecordings were made (of course, because the film recordings were sourced from standard definition videotape, there’s no genuine HD to be obtained from them, but scanning at this level of resolution allowed the greatest possible level of detail to be captured) and then the Colour Recovery process examined the chromadots embedded within them to theoretically determine what the original hue and saturation would have been. In reality, the results of Colour Recovery always need a lot of manual tweaking, because various factors such as the quality of the telerecording mean that the raw output of the process is usually unstable and not wholly accurate. Russell carried out some specialised clean-up on the pictures before passing them onto Crocker for the remainder of their restoration. Episode Two is by far the poorest, as it seems to occasionally flicker into something close to monochrome for a few frames at a time throughout much of its duration. Episode Three sees a marked improvement (and no more of this type of flickering), but it is probably Episode Four which is the highlight of the Colour Recovery episodes on this release (and perhaps even of the process’ use on Doctor Who in general). Colours are very solid, and while there are still tell-tale signs such as some colour bleeding and spots of red where there shouldn’t be, the stability and consistency here is amazing. Episodes Five and Six are also good, though not as strong as Episode Four. Across Episodes Two-Six, hallmarks of Colour Recovery such as some speckles on areas of solid colour (blue skies especially) are present, but the restoration is nevertheless nothing short of breath-taking. The grade by Jonathan Wood has brought as much consistency and naturalness as possible to the end results, and along with VidFIRE processing to restore the interlaced 'video look', this is the icing on the cake of the most challenging (and, not too long ago, impossible) of restorations.

SUMMARY

The Mind of Evil is my favourite story of Season 8. It’s great to see what could be considered to be a last hurrah for the grittier style of the previous year, and everyone involved is at the top of their game. The story is moody, dark and grim, and it works on every level. Houghton’s final Doctor Who script is stunning, and it works very well both in isolation and as a single piece in the jigsaw that is the Doctor and UNIT’s on-going relationship with the Master. This DVD release includes a poignant commentary and making-of documentary, but the very best thing about it has to be the serial’s restoration to its original colour glory at long last. There’s only one score I could possibly give this release, due to the brilliance of the story and the sheer amount of love, care and effort that went into its restoration.

10 OUT OF 10


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Thanks to BBC Worldwide