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Amazon.co.uk Review
It's hardly surprising that the Beeb take so long releasing DVDs in the Doctor Who series when they're as highly polished and as carefully selected as The Leisure Hive. Particularly significant in terms of the series' history, this sequence marked an end to Who's descent into vaudeville, and heralded the entrance of hotshot, new-broom Series Producer, John Nathan-Turner.
The opening long, slow pan across a wintry beach, on which an autumnal Doctor sits slumped, immediately declares the show's serious intentions. The narrative itself is an erudite discussion on fascism and racism taking in regeneration, megalomania, cloning and a series of Agatha Christie-esque murders. It's the style, rather than the story, however, that's foregrounded in The Leisure Hive: along with his new sober approach, Nathan-Turner brought a new theme tune, a new logo, a new striking red costume and a new title sequence--one that, tellingly, moved away from the enclosed time tunnel to show the vastness of space opening up. Productions values are similarly high: the Quantel effects are impressive even now, and the performances are quite stunning, particularly Baker's as the prematurely aged, infirm Doctor.
By dispensing with the clowning and with what he termed "Douglas Adams' undergrad humour", Nathan-Turner reinvigorated a show that was becoming stale. The diegetic rebirth brought about by the Regeneration Drive at the show's denouement is an apposite motif, emblematic of the rebirth of the show itself--The Leisure Hive truly represented a new beginning for Who.
On the DVD: the images, colours and new 5.1 sound are all impressive, as are the abundance of extras. "A New Beginning" features a rare interview with Baker himself, and "From Avalon to Argolis" indulges in some very satisfying back-biting. There's also a nostalgia-inducing contemporaneous clip of an impossibly young Blue Peter presenter looking genuinely frightened by the exhibits of the then-great Longleat Doctor Who Exhibition. --Paul Eisinger
Special Features
- Isolated music
- Commentary with actress Lalla Ward, director Lovett Bickford and script editor Christopher H. Bidmead
- A New Beginning
- From Avalon to Argolis
- Leisure Wear
- Synthesizing Starfields
- Blue Peter
- From Avalon to Argolis
- Photo Gallery
- Easter Egg
- Production Notes
DVD Technical Information:
- Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix
- Region Code: 2, 4
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Will never love this, but can't bring myself to loathe it,
This review is from: Doctor Who: The Leisure Hive [DVD] (DVD)
Well. I should really despise this, but I don't.
For a start, it is my favourite Doctor - Tom Baker. And Lalla Ward is wonderful as Romana nr 2. There are some strong supporting roles too. Even the new theme music is quite catchy. That's the good stuff. And the performances mentioned above are strong enough for me to get over the following.... John Nathan-Turner has arrived and there is a new effects gadget at hand. The problem is that every opportunity possible is taken to play with the new toy. Unfortunately, the theme music has proved so popular that for some reason the entire story has almost turned into a musical, with mood music permeating almost every moment, suffocating some of the nuanced perfomances of the actors. Poor Dudley Simpson, with Blake's 7 ending at roughly the same time, he would have every right to have felt rejected by the shiny new generation of BBC producers. The whole story has a totally different feel. This transition in producers, for me has a bigger impact than some of the transitions in the leading part. The ever present synth chords remind me of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Ok. But too much of a good thing can make you sick. Fortunately, throughout the rest of the season, these issues subside a bit. Maybe they got it out of their systems. Finally on to the story. (at last you may say, but if you buy this, you will see why I have gone on so much about the production). Well, it is OK. It has plenty of fake science which doesn't stand up, but there again that has never stopped Doctor Who in the past. There are some iffy costumes and some wobbly dialogue, and the generation of the new race of Argolins is every bit as dubious as the cloned Doctor and Leela in "The Invisible Enemy". But, it is an acceptable story, and yes, I do like it, on the strength of the robust performances of Tom Baker/Lalla Ward in particular. It is an average story strengthened by the performances, and hopefully you can overlook the experimentation by the JNT intake. By all means buy it, but not ahead of the classics. If you want something from the tail end of Tom Baker's era, get the E-Space trilogy box set first.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"All Change",
By Bob Marlowe (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Doctor Who: The Leisure Hive [DVD] (DVD)
A fun if occasionally slow story. Author David Fisher once levelled at Douglas Adams the criticism of being too in love with ideas at the expense of story. Here he's a bit guilty of the same because despite the solid premise of Argolin race running a leisure complex and turning to science to save their dying race amidst some mafia style inter-racial politics, once it gets onto tachyons it gets bogged down in concepts. Nice to see some use of real science though.
The Argolins are a good June Hudson design, art deco with pods that fall off as they near death. Sadly the Foamasi are not so successful. Okay in long shot, but like giant sock puppets in close up. Good stylish direction even if Lovett Bickford gets a bit too arty in places-witness the epic tracking shot on Brighton Beach and the overuse of quantel effects. Quantel effects are used for an awful episode climax in part 1. Good rather than great performances from the guest cast, solid work from Who rep actor Laurence Payne, Adrienne Corri (reportedly an authority on tachyons!) and David Haig- but no standouts. As with all of his last season, Uncle Tom is on autopilot sometimes but once engaged (e.g. on hearing his scarf was wrapped round a murder victim, he suggests "Arrest the scarf then!" gleefully) he is the Doctor of old. He also gets a chance to play a much older Doctor too. Lalla Ward is a lovely bubbly Romana and produces a look of horrified astonishment on seeing the Doctor transformed by an experiment. In all, it does look as if production values shot up a notch since the previous year and made a good start for JNT as producer. "A New Begining" is a showpiece documentary on the start of JNT's tenure as producer. Why K9 had to go, why new titles, a difficult relationship between Tom and JNT are among the many topics covered in this excellent piece. The many interviewees include Tom, John Leeson, Christopher H Bidmead & Jnt himself (via archive footage) among others. No one stressing good points is sycophantic, no one stressing the negative is back biting. There are also features on the writing, the new title sequence and music and costumes-all well done. The fun commentary has Lalla Ward, Lovett Bickford and script editor Christopher H Bidmead remembering the making of the story and in particular Tom's difficult behaviour at this time e.g. propensity for blocking co-stars in doorways and as Lalla Ward says he would understood sotto voce meant to deliver lines quietly, he just would have refused to do it! There's an easter egg of a comtemporary plug for Dr Who picture packs. A great package for a good rather than great story-more for disciples of the cult of Tom than other fans.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Flawed but fun,
By
This review is from: Doctor Who - Leisure Hive [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Yes, this serial has its flaws: Tom Baker was getting on, was clearly tired in the role, and needed to move on. On top of this, he and Lalla Ward had married but weren't getting on, so the studio atmosphere was probably pretty tense too. The plot is pretty thin, and the revamped titles weren't to everyone's taste. However, this review is not for the serial but for this VHS, which is good value but has now been superceded by the DVD release, which is worth getting for its great extras.
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