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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
There are a number of reasons why Black Orchid is one of the worst Dr Who stories and easily the weakest BBC Dr Who title to date. Firstly, there's no reason for the Doctor to be in it at all. Aside from playing a bit of cricket, getting stuck in a secret passage, finding a couple of bodies and being suspected of being the killer for about the 100th time before the plot - a tired 20s country house number with under-developed gothic undertones - quickly resolves itself while he's not even around, he has no real impact on the plot (what little there is) and there's no real science fiction or even historical aspect to the story. It's simply an exceptionally weak and very tedious country house non-mystery that plays like an outline for an episode of Ripping Yarns played straight. Worse, it's so uneventful. Even at 49 minutes over two episodes it's mostly filler: in the first episode there's a lot of not very much to set up the not very much that happens in episode two. The direction is dull, the writing mechanical and perhaps the only unique thing about the story is that it shows that the normally relentlessly vile and whingeing Tegan could be nice for an entire story and it wouldn't kill her.
It's not the worst of the stories produced under John Nathan Turner's contentious stewardship, but it's possibly the dullest and most utterly pointless: hard to disagree with the audio commentary on this extracting-the-urine-releasing-this-as-a-single-DVD (on video it was doubled with The Visitation) where the cast basically spend 50 minutes rubbishing its many weaknesses. Extras are pretty thin too - 4 deleted scenes and trims, featurettes on the locations and the Peter Davison Dr Who comic strips, extract from Blue Peter and Points of View, continuity announcements and the usual trivia track and stills montage.
It's not the worst of the stories produced under John Nathan Turner's contentious stewardship, but it's possibly the dullest and most utterly pointless: hard to disagree with the audio commentary on this extracting-the-urine-releasing-this-as-a-single-DVD (on video it was doubled with The Visitation) where the cast basically spend 50 minutes rubbishing its many weaknesses. Extras are pretty thin too - 4 deleted scenes and trims, featurettes on the locations and the Peter Davison Dr Who comic strips, extract from Blue Peter and Points of View, continuity announcements and the usual trivia track and stills montage.
26 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Black Orchid was the fifth story to feature Peter Davison's Doctor and was notable for being a two-parter and the series first historical story since the Patrick Troughton days.
Now we Doctor Who fans can recite and quote all the facts and figures of any story, including this one, but what is so special about Black Orchid is that it is one of the very few stories that does not have to be watched with any appreiciation of science fiction, because apart from the TARDIS and the regular line up of characters there are no sci-fi elements at all, and that adds to the enjoyment enormously as it was quite a change of direction for the show at the time.
The whole story has a Sunday afternoon play of the week kind of feel, revolving around a type of Agatha Christie style murder mystery and is perfect for members of the casual viewing audience whom may not be interested in sci-fi but want a nice easy, pleasant hour of viewing.
It's ironic that Peter Davison himself does not like the story when this was the adventure where he finally shook off the shadow of Tom Baker and truly found his own interpretation of the part, he is very much in the minority as it is generally loved by almost everyone.
This was my favourite story in that crucial first year of Davison's and the fact that it was up against blockbusting Cybermen stories and more expensive shows and the first story of the fifth Doctor says a lot.
I have seen a provisional list of extras but as they have not been confirmed as such, I will leave their description to my fellow reviewers.
This is a huge thumbs up for the more quiet, gentle and character based stories of Doctor Who, to be enjoyed mainly for that reason, as there are not many of those in the original series.
Now we Doctor Who fans can recite and quote all the facts and figures of any story, including this one, but what is so special about Black Orchid is that it is one of the very few stories that does not have to be watched with any appreiciation of science fiction, because apart from the TARDIS and the regular line up of characters there are no sci-fi elements at all, and that adds to the enjoyment enormously as it was quite a change of direction for the show at the time.
The whole story has a Sunday afternoon play of the week kind of feel, revolving around a type of Agatha Christie style murder mystery and is perfect for members of the casual viewing audience whom may not be interested in sci-fi but want a nice easy, pleasant hour of viewing.
It's ironic that Peter Davison himself does not like the story when this was the adventure where he finally shook off the shadow of Tom Baker and truly found his own interpretation of the part, he is very much in the minority as it is generally loved by almost everyone.
This was my favourite story in that crucial first year of Davison's and the fact that it was up against blockbusting Cybermen stories and more expensive shows and the first story of the fifth Doctor says a lot.
I have seen a provisional list of extras but as they have not been confirmed as such, I will leave their description to my fellow reviewers.
This is a huge thumbs up for the more quiet, gentle and character based stories of Doctor Who, to be enjoyed mainly for that reason, as there are not many of those in the original series.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
At one point in the commentary for 'Black Orchid', someone remarks that this story feels like Terrence Dudley just dusted off a Miss Marple-style story he had written and added the Doctor into it. This tale has no science fiction elements at all, relies on heavy levels of coincidence to power its narrative.
The change of pace both marks it out in the season and also contributes to many of its weaknesses. There is so little narrative that the production resorts to a five minute cricket sequence in the first part (more on that later!) and corridor-wandering galore.
Still, it is hard to deny that the story has a unique feel and it is nice to see the Doctor go back in time.
The commentary for this story features the entire TARDIS crew who are on fine form. As others have noted, this is much more negative than most Davison commentaries because of the four actors only Sutton has a soft spot for the story. Whilst some will feel that they are too negative about a well-loved story, the commentary is frequently very funny indeed. One highlight for me is Peter Davison's synopsis of the cricket scene where he refers to an off-scene character, "Smutty", whose friend he has been mistaken for.
I emerged from the commentary more aware of the story's faults but much more fond of the story despite them. I may no longer be able to take it seriously but in many ways that is not such a bad thing as it has increased my enjoyment of it no end.
Amongst the other extra features there are also deleted scenes, a now and then featurette looking at the locations and a featurette on the Fifth Doctor's era in the comics. This last item is the sort of thing that will either appeal to you hugely or not at all. Suffice it to say that if you enjoy Doctor Who comics it is an interesting overview of the era from Doctor Who Monthly editors and artists - if not you will likely be skipping over it.
'Black Orchid' is certainly not one of the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time but the BBC has put together a good package of extras at an excellent price.
The change of pace both marks it out in the season and also contributes to many of its weaknesses. There is so little narrative that the production resorts to a five minute cricket sequence in the first part (more on that later!) and corridor-wandering galore.
Still, it is hard to deny that the story has a unique feel and it is nice to see the Doctor go back in time.
The commentary for this story features the entire TARDIS crew who are on fine form. As others have noted, this is much more negative than most Davison commentaries because of the four actors only Sutton has a soft spot for the story. Whilst some will feel that they are too negative about a well-loved story, the commentary is frequently very funny indeed. One highlight for me is Peter Davison's synopsis of the cricket scene where he refers to an off-scene character, "Smutty", whose friend he has been mistaken for.
I emerged from the commentary more aware of the story's faults but much more fond of the story despite them. I may no longer be able to take it seriously but in many ways that is not such a bad thing as it has increased my enjoyment of it no end.
Amongst the other extra features there are also deleted scenes, a now and then featurette looking at the locations and a featurette on the Fifth Doctor's era in the comics. This last item is the sort of thing that will either appeal to you hugely or not at all. Suffice it to say that if you enjoy Doctor Who comics it is an interesting overview of the era from Doctor Who Monthly editors and artists - if not you will likely be skipping over it.
'Black Orchid' is certainly not one of the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time but the BBC has put together a good package of extras at an excellent price.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
better than I remenbered ,worth seeing again.
As it it says in the extras on the dvd , this is not the standard Dr Who story , for one there are no aliens and only two episodes. When I watched it on T.V. Read more
Published 2 months ago by tim.62
It's a bit of it's time but it's a good Dr. WHO
It's a bit of it's time but it's a good Dr. WHO as you can see by the style when it was made .
Published 6 months ago by Mr. Robert Lismore
Doesn't stand the test of time
I loved this Doctor Who episode from my childhood but, compared to more recent episodes, it looks clunky and poorly made.
Published 8 months ago by S. Wright
Short Story - Big Result
A short story that was one of the strongest in its era. It was not too long and the characters were never over/underused.
Published 11 months ago by drwho123
Comfort food
I am going to be mildly controversial here and support this DOCTOR WHO release!
As a long-term fan I am naturally nostalgic and wear 'rose-tinted spectacles' whenever watching... Read more
As a long-term fan I am naturally nostalgic and wear 'rose-tinted spectacles' whenever watching... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Scaroth, Last of the Jagaroth
A charming story for a summer's evening
Unlike others, the fact that this story has little, if any, SF elements is not a concern to me. Its roots ultimately lie in the Victorian 'Mad Woman in the Attic' of 'Jane Eyre'... Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2010 by Spidernick
Fair value thanks to the bonus material and extras on the DVD
This is not a great story for Doctor Who as the good Doctor and his companions seem to have been crow-barred into a period murder mystery with little or no sci-fi relevance. Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2008 by Mr Robert John Newton-Howes
Doctor Who + Agatha Christie - the original you might say
I really like this story. As other reviewers have stated it's an Agatha Christie style mystery with the Doctor thrown in for good measure. Read more
Published on 17 Jun 2008 by David
Pleasant
I had never seen this particular story and was not very excited about the DVD release. However, I had a voucher so I got it, and I was pleasantly surprised. Read more
Published on 30 May 2008 by Varian Beauregard
Delightful Gem
There are no strange aliens or even stranger worlds in this story, just a historically set story in which the Doctor and his companions are allowed to show their incomprehension of... Read more
Published on 28 April 2008 by JA Fairhurst
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