Doctor Who: Revisitations Box Set - Volume 1 (The Caves Of Androzani / The Talons Of Weng-Chiang / Doctor Who - The Movie) [DVD] [1974]

I'm mostly in disagreement with the notion that this set a "rip-off". This set contains stories that were originally released on DVD almost a decade ago -- so when comparing them to releases dating back to even five years ago, they leave a lot to be desired. Reissued and remastered for this set are: The TV Movie, originally released on DVD August 13, 2001; The Caves of Androzani, originally released on DVD June 18, 2001, and The Talons of Weng-Chiang, originally released on DVD April 28, 2003. All have been repackaged with additional discs containing a plethora of new special features and all have been, like I said, re-remastered. It's nice that I get to see more documentaries on the making of these stories but it's the fact that they now have improve sound and picture quality is what's making me buy this set the moment it's available to purchase. I own every story that has been released on DVD to date and it's really nice to see the level of care put into each remaster has improved over the years however the schedule and the variety of releases has created a pretty uneven quality continuity within pretty much every season of the show. Some stories look and sound better than others just for the simple fact that they were remastered later. This has always left me wanting the restoration team to revisit the older releases and give them the care that can be afforded now but just couldn't then. Now for all the fans who are still waiting for classics like Terror of the Zygons or Planet of the Spiders, you probably won't have to wait much longer because 2 entertain's license to release Doctor Who expires in 2013 and judging by the restoration team's release pattern they've been releasing the most popular titles first followed by easier restorations, then harder restorations, then lastly, the hardest restorations, leaving, inevitably, classics like Ambassadors of Death and The Mind of Evil to be released probably in 2012 or even 2013. So for now I'm thrilled with the prospect of buying these (mostly) classic stories again the way I wanted to see them all along.

BTW here is a description of the special features:

The Talons of Weng-Chiang, 3 Discs

The Last Hurrah a new documentary where producer Philip Hinchliffe visits Tom Baker at his home to discuss their final story together
Moving On where Hinchliffe talks about what he envisaged for the series had he stayed as producer
The Foe from the Future, a look at the original story which eventually became The Talons of Weng Chiang
Now and Then, a tour of the locations used in the story
Look East with Tom Baker interviewed.
Whose Doctor Who, presented by Melvyn Bragg - As included on the original release

The Caves of Androzani, 2 Discs

Chain Reaction, a look back at the making of the story
Directing Who: Then and Now - Graeme Harper talks about the changes in TV Production since he made this story
Archive footage from The Russell Harty Show featuring an interview with Peter Davison and Colin Baker.

The TV Movie, 2 Discs

A new commentary featuring Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann
The Seven Year Hitch, looking at the seven year quest to get this story made
The Wilderness Years, looking at how the show was kept alive during the hiatus between the end of Series 26 and the TV Movie
Who Peter 1989-2009, the final part of the documentary looking at the special link between the two programmes Doctor Who and Blue Peter
Stripped for Action, the eighth Doctor in Comic Strip
Tomorrows Times, how the short reign of the Eighth Doctor was reported by the press at the time.

Like many I already owned the original releases of all 3, but a friend has kindly passed his copy of the box set on to me. Starting with the stories, briefly as I have already done fuller reviews of them individually;

Talons of Weng Chiang is classic Uncle Tom Baker stuff. Almost a riff on the "lost" Sherlock Holmes story (referred to but not told by Conan Doyle) the Giant Rat of Sumatra, a rich and fun Robert Holmes script tells us of a series of murders/ disappearances of young girls in Victorian London. The 4th Doctor clearly plays Sherlock Holmes hunting the evil force behind it all. It's well acted and made, with great supporting characters; notably Jago & Litefoot. Maybe a little slow for modern tastes & the giant rat's not so good.
Again from the pen of Robert Holmes, Caves of Androzani is a gritty & well written tale of intrigue, gun running and the dark deeds inspired by an age-defying restorative with good characters and only a woeful creaure letting the side down. Arguably the last tale for Peter Davison was his best. Widely recommended
Dr Who: The Movie is well made, very enjoyable and glossy looking but a poor script gives us moments that don't ring true as Dr Who to me; Daleks that give last requests , The Doctor's psychic clairvoyant knowledge of inner most secrets of whoever he meets and partly solving dilemmas by going back in time in the Tardis. very accessable for New Who fans

In reverse order, the Movie already had contemporary behind the scenes/ promo material, an illmuniating retrospective interview with producer Philip Segal and a good but no gold stars director's commentary. Now we have an excellent package which now includes an cracking commentary with Sylvester McCoy, Paul Mcgann and Mr Dalek-Voice Nicholas Briggs (learn McGann's misgivings with the script and the involvement of past Doctors if it had gone to a series.)
Stripped for Action is brought to a close on the 8th Doctor. The nature of the scripts-not so closely tied to the TV show is well discussed and we learn why they never did a regeneration. very good but given the 9 year run of scripts more time was needed.
Tomorrow's Times looks at press receptions of the movie (varied responses there), there's some intriguing test footage of titles and spider-Daleks. Who Peter deals with the Childrens' Show's support of Who when it was off air and the features done since the triumphant return. Good, even if the wilderness years are rushed through a bit.
But best of all terrific documentaries The 7 Year Hitch and The Wilderness Years cover the years when Who carried on in other mediums and the long battle to get the film made.

Caves of Androzani in addition to the great commentary it already had and the bare pieces of behind the scenes footage gets a great making of "Chain Reaction" an interview with Peter D and Colin Baker on Russell Harty and Graham harper's intresting comparison of directing Who then and as it is now.

Talons which probably needed the upgrade the least (already having a commentary, video studio footage, documentary Whose Dr Who and Blue Peter bits) gets an extensive reboot. A fantastic making of "The Last Hurrah" covers the story's writing, the production, moments that work well and those that don't. The main meat is an interview where Philip Hinchcliffe visits Tom who admits his apparent antipathy toward Louise J was attempting to cover how impressed he was with her.

The now & then look at locations is above the usual standard (they were a stone's throw from where the Globe is now at one point), there are featurettes on what Philip H would have done with a 4th year (you won't believe the tactless way he found out he'd been replaced!), the idea for the original story from Robert Banks Stewart and there's also some historical context with great features on music halls, Victorian culture and Limehouse. A profusion of riches.

These stories are all great packages now and for anyone who didn't buy them 1st off well worth the money, whether there's enough to make it worth buying them a second time, well that's a personal choice.

The big question with Revisitations 1 is 'are you getting value for money'. The answer, however, depends upon whether you already forked out cash for the earlier 'more-vanilla' disks, because if you did the extras alone are probably not worth it.

On the other hand, the extras are very good and perhaps highlight the earlier policy of hardly any extras as really being the thing that we should complain about, though both are products of their time.

What you do get for your money are two of the all-time greats of Doctor Who (Talons was in the top ten of the all-time best in DWM, while Caves was the number one). If you have not seen these before then get this box set.

Individually there are still problems. Both Talons and Caves have some embarrassing special effects (Rat & Magma Monster respectively), but the stories are so well done and so well acted that these shortcomings are easy to overcome. The Magma monster exists only to create a cliffhanger for episode two and if this were edited into a movie then it could be removed without any problem. That said, Caves episode 1 & 3 cliffhangers are two of the best in the series history, primarily because of the threat of regeneration hanging over them - something that happened again more recently with The Stolen Earth.

The Movie (please can someone rename this?), is Doctor Who by committee and it shows. The extras for this explain why the mess occurred and why it failed (in the US anyway)and you feel sorry for the creators of this who were increasingly bound by requirements from all parties.

The best thing about this is Paul McGann who was a fantastic choice for Doctor and makes it worth watching. Anyone who enjoys his performance should probably try and get hold of the Big Finish audios. In fact, given their presence on BBC radio, it is surprising that none of these turned up on the extras, particularly the Lucie Miller stories, as they are so much better than the 'movie'.

Like other reviews, I am a bit annoyed that this is a box set. The DVDs should have been released individually, rather than in this format, though from the '1' appending the title, it is clear that more are on their way.

Buy this if you want to know more about the origins of three of the most fascinating Doctor Whos in history, or if you don't already have them, else probably best to give them a miss.

Wayne