Doctor Who Revisitations Box Set - Volume 2 [DVD]

Briefly on Seeds of Death & Canival of Monsters as I reviewed the original releases; Seeds is a good follow up to the 1st Ice Warriors story which doesn't simply remake the 1st one. A little overlong at 6 eps but the introduction of the sleeker "Icelord" caste, the 2nd Doc's insistence that he can't be killed as he is a "genius", plus innovative ways of shooting the warriors (e.g. against sky) & a lot of movement keep this entertaining.
Carnival's a witty fun tale from Robert Holmes. Plenty of great dialogue & characters and the brilliant set-up (life forms trapped in a scope to entertain people with their behaviour) has more than a touch of the much later Big Brother Phenomenon.
Resurrection of the Daleks is a well made, entertaining mess. There are some great ideas e.g furthering the Daleks as intergalactic Nazis theme Davros is now Rudolph Hess (lone prisoner in a high security prison). The Shad Thames location is great, gritty & hepled tenfold by the rain. Spaceship sets look beleivable and as in all the best pepperpot shows a handful of Daleks look like more.
Great cast watch for Dirty Den Leslie Grantham, Likely Lad Rodney Bewes and pre-school favourite Chloe Ashcroft. Ashcroft is in particular a revelation as she acted so rarely but is bloody good here.
Best characters include Maurice Colbourne's mercenary Lytton making his debut, Sneh Gupta who puts an enormous amount into a small role & Terry Molloy's Davros debut.
Molloy's Davros has a more fruity flavour than Sir Michael Wisher (it's easy to imagine him enjoying a good port) but gets great scenes scheming & then in a showdown with Davison's Dr, which is a great moment for both actors.
The script throws ideas about, many of which are a Dalek's Greatest Hits package. It's often hard to see the point of them. E.G what is the big advantage of having a time corridor from the future to 80's Thames? As Tegan's farewell it misfires as she channels Susan Forman gets a minor injury & lies down for some time, plus her "I've had enough of this" farewell rationale, doesn't wash. Messy fun.

Seeds had an enjoyable pic n' mix commentary with Fraser Hines, Wendy Padbury, Terrance Dicks and others. There was also Sowing the Seeds an Ice Warrior based making of with warrior actors and a makeup wizard which is fun & now brilliantly supplemented by new making of doc "Lords of the Red planet" revealing the species name (Saurians), the original 2nd Ice Warrior story idea, what Brian Hayles the writer was like & a detailed look at production.
Monsters who came back for More is a new look at which monsters return, which don't & why, plus which should have but didn't-Zygons score highly here. Fun stuff.
Michael Ferguson also reveals how you can make a monster look good in a new Masterclass.

Carnival already had Katy commentary (yes Miss Manning's on bonkers form), a vintage short piece behind the scenes, a vintage feature on CSO, how the story ending was ammended for a repeat and a look at the dreadful Delaware theme (which on this new version you can hear in context with an earlier cut of an episode).

There's now an added making of "Destroy all Monsters" covering the prodcution, Mr Pertwee's lightfingered acquistion of a ship's binnacle on location, costume problems, ad-libbed carnival speak, how to make a Drashig and how Katy dubbed chickens. great fun if a little short.

We also get an interesting if muddled look at great sea mysteries a marvellous new commentary with sound boffin Brian Hodgson (trying to live down the Delaware version of the theme), actors Jenny McCracken (sounding very youthful) & Cheryl Hall both of whom reveal they vied with Katy for the role of Jo Grant & Terrance Dicks. Surpisingly Cheryl Hall recalls a slightly standoffish Mr Pertwee.

The best new feature is On Target covering Ian Marter the man as well as the author & actor. With Tom baker, Lis Sladen & Nick Courtney's memories, it''s a fine tribute & the best on target yet!

Resurrection had a fun Pete 'n Jan commentary with the director joining his stars. great insights into casting there might have been )Leslie Grantham as Lytton, back handed compliments on Miss Fielding's legs & how Terry Molloy prepared for davros.
There's a little more on this in a good new commentary with Mr Molloy and author Eric Saward also discussing why it's better in 2 eps than 4 & violence onscreen.

In one of the original extras; the director, author & JNT make returns to the location & nostalgicly it's raining again! there's also a vintage bit from Breakast Time with producer JNT & Janet Fielding.

New feature Casting far & wide sees Toby Hadoke visit supporting actors from the story to put the role into context in their career which is a great idea but falls a bit flat when the 1st 2 are so sour, but it picks up with Leslie Grantham.

Come in Number 5 is a brand new doc all about the 5th Doctor's era. keeping it in the family, David Tennant pays tribute to his future father-in-law as presenter. A great range of interviewees and subjects e.g. the friction between JNT and old guard Barry Letts when JNT began, Davison's issues with storys etc. It's possibly a little too anti-JNT for some but in some cases, there is Steven Moffat to argue that aspects of JNT's approach are still applied today e.g celebrity casting. A great doc with a complete feel to it even recalling Davison's brief returns to the role for Children in Need.

Also there's both a 4 & 2 part version.

Summing up, 3 stories which will definitely appeal to fans of their respective eras & I'd venture in the case of Carnival, a few more. Good range of new features of which Seeds has benefitted the most. As always up to you if they're worth buying again

Three more examples of the best of Dr Who, each one accompanied by plenty of extras and commentries.

The Seeds Of Death features Patrick Troughton facing the Ice Warriors. Whilst the real world in 1969 was planning the first moon landing, Dr Who took the bold approach of suggesting one day space travel (along with all other forms of Earthly transport) will be obsolete. T-Mat (matter transmission) now has the monopoly over transport on a future Earth, and the Ice Warriors plan to take advantage of it in their plan to invade planet. This is a classic old-fashioned monster story. It has thrills, tension, real characters and it builds on the success of the first Ice Warrior adventure, introducing an Ice Lord and even a Grand Marshall. The story is accompanied by extras including two documentaries concerning the Ice Warriors.

Carnival Of Monsters (or "Planet of the Ian Duncan Smiths" as it might be called if it was made today) is one of the best Jon Pertwee stories. The Doctor and Jo Grant arrive on board what appears to be a perfectly ordinary ship. But then a plesiosaurus has risen from the sea and a giant hand has reached down from above and snatched the Tardis away. Meanwhile, two entertainers (who are almost a kind of showbiz parody of the Doctor and his companion) have arrived on an alien planet with their machine full of miniaturised monsters. This is a clever tale with its combination of intrigue, satirical takes on bureaucracy and rampaging monsters. The Drashigs, by the way, are one of the most memorable creations of the era. This story comes with "making of" documentaries and a documentary about Ian Marter (noveslist and the actor behind Harry Sullivan, and who also plays a character in this adventure).

Resurrection of the Daleks is one of the stories from Peter Davison's final (and best) series. After the comical (but still very enjoyable) "Destiny of the Daleks", this is a return to the darker atmosphere of "Genesis of the Daleks". A high-security prison in space is raided and Davros is released. Meanwhile the Doctor and his companions have stumbled across a time tunnel, cannisters of an alien virus and mercenaries from the future in present-day London. This really is the kind of Dalek story which gave the creatures their reputation. They are at their most ruthless here, resulting in a huge bodycount and plenty of fast-paced action. Peter Davison shows how good he can be when given decent material to work with and Davros is at his scheming best. This story comes with various extras including an intriguing and informative hour-long look at the Davison era presented by none other than Dr Who and Davison fan David Tennant.

So, three great stories. Even if you already have them on DVD it's worth buying this set for the wealth of new documentaries. Roll on Revisitations 3.

Well, here we go again - another three stories to be given brand spanking new updates and I have to admit that they are three stories which are solid enough.

Firstly, The Seeds Of Death starring the excellent Patrick Troughton. This story capitalises on the popularity of the Ice Warriors - unfortunately without Bernard Bresslaw this time but instead we get Alan Bennion making his first of three appearances as various Ice Lords - and of course this being screened in 1969, it features the Doctor travelling to the Moon by rocket. Although, there's the ineviable padding and general running around of a six parter, it's a solid enough story - particuarly when you think that within six weeks of this story finishing transmission, Troughton's Doctor would take his first steps towards his eventual regeneration in The War Games.

Jon Pertwee's era is represented by the excellent knock about fun adventure that is Carnival Of Monsters. You have comedy, thrills, scares, monsters - okay a few on a screen and the Drashigs, the Doctor and Jo partnership, and Ian Marter putting in a guest appearance as Andrews, prior to his casting as Surgeon Lieutenant Harry Sullivan for Series 12.

Finally, we get Resurrection Of The Daleks which has London Docklands, clones, viruses, Rula Lenska, Rodney Bewes, him from Howard's Way, Tegan's departure, a massive body count, Daleks... oh and Terry Molloy's first appearance as Davros to fit into it. With all this, you may wonder how on earth did it turn out okay? I don't know but it just does. Maybe it's the fact that Peter Davison was finally getting the material suitable to add depth to his role as the Doctor - a shame that he didn't carry on for another series as I felt this was the one which gave him more opportunities than his previous two series to add depth to his Doctor.

So, why am I knocking a star off you may ask? Well, I feel there could be other stories which deserved this treatment first, such as Spearhead From Space, The Robots Of Death and Vengeance On Varos. These stories were released early on in the Classic Who release schedule and are all ripe for an upgrade with new extras.

Secondly, I feel, and I'm sorry if I sound cynical or controversial, but there does appear to be an element of the BBC cashing in on recent NuWho related events - certainly on two of the releases.

Carnival Of Monsters is the original story which inspired the recent Doctor Who Live tour (although if there is a full recording of one of the shows on this release, I will forgive the Beeb for this). Add to that, Katy Manning has made a return appearance as Jo Grant/Jones in The Sarah Jane Adventures episode, Death Of The Doctor.

Resurrection Of The Daleks includes a featurette by Doctor Ten, and Doctor Five fan, himself, David Tennant.

I will buy this release to keep my collection up to date, and it does sound churlish of me to pick up on the point of the extras, but there are stories which should have got this treatment than these three.

ADDENDUM: Since 2 entertain announced their 2011 schedule, the delayed Ambassadors of Death notwithstanding, I have added an extra star back. Thank you for repaying my faith in you... now for my Christmas list of 2012 releases...