An Adventure in Space and Time: Blu-ray / DVD review

There is no reason why anyone should ever have made a movie about William Hartnell. From today’s vantage point he was a relatively obscure actor who, up until the end of his career, was best known for playing drill sergeants and thugs in a variety of English pictures and series that are hardly even talked about today. Before the winter of 1963, perhaps his closest brushes with true fame included working with Peter Sellers in a couple of his early pictures (The Mouse That Roared and Heavens Above!), and a sizable role in the Lindsay Anderson-directed Richard Harris vehicle This Sporting Life. 

But everything would soon change for Hartnell, when that last picture, released in January of ‘63, brought him to the attention of up and coming BBC TV producer Verity Lambert, who was searching for a lead actor for a new science fiction series she was helming. He was cast, and 50 years later we have this TV movie, An Adventure in Space and Time, which tells the story of the most exciting – and tragic – stretch of his career.

Though Hartnell is central to the goings-on, the movie, of course, really traces the birth of Doctor Who. Yet when I met director Terry McDonough (Breaking Bad) at a BBC America event last summer, he told me point blank that the theme of the movie was “No one’s irreplaceable,” a sentiment that, it could be argued, has practically become anthemic for the Doctor Who brand over the years. The moment a new actor is cast in the central role, people immediately begin bombarding him with the question, “How long do you intend to stay?” The thrill of meeting a new Doctor is a powerful force indeed. The idea has bled over into other franchises and media as well. In the worlds of comic book and science fiction/fantasy movies and series especially, it’s now the norm. Don’t care for Ben Affleck as Batman? Don’t worry, in a few years there will be another one that you might like better.

But few concepts have been able to make that transitional process as part and parcel of their ongoing storyline as Doctor Who has, which is only one of the many things that makes it the unique creature that it’s become. Adventure sketches the origins of that uniqueness, and gives viewers a behind the scenes peek into a process that for many is as much a mystery as the Time Lord himself. And for those of us who are familiar with the nuts and bolts of the genesis of Doctor Who? The movie must surely be a dream come true. I’m enamored enough with it I can easily see it becoming a yearly ritual.

Brian Cox as Sydney Newman

If success has many fathers, An Adventure in Space and Time suggests that Who had no less than a half a dozen. To whom should ultimate credit for the series be given? Perhaps Sydney Newman, the brash Canadian BBC TV exec who initially came up with the basic idea? Or Lambert, the determined young producer that took Newman’s ideas and turned them into ratings gold? What about Ron Grainer, who wrote the iconic theme tune, or, even more so, Delia Derbyshire, who pulled a Lambert with Grainer’s composition? Would Lambert have been able to make any of it happen without the equally wet behind the ears director Waris Hussein, who brought all of the elements  together in that mesmerizing first episode? Can anyone ever discount Terry Nation’s creation of the Daleks, which ensured the success of the series (and that’s to say nothing of Ray Cusick’s iconic Dalek design)? And surely Hartnell played an enormous part in making Doctor Who such a massive success. He believed in the power of the series and stuck with it - despite his ailing health and the toll the rigorous production schedule was taking on him - even after Lambert, Hussein, and all of his co-stars had moved on. 

The very best television is the result of a magical alchemy, and the whole of Doctor Who may be the most perfect example of that in the history of the medium. The series may have ultimately become the epic, ongoing story of one Time Lord, but as has been proven time and again over the last 50 years, the concept stretches way beyond any one person, and it seemingly, as Peter Capaldi said last year, “belongs to all of us.”

Sacha Dhawan and Jessica Raine

But Adventure is squarely focused on that first core group of people, and the struggles they went through while laying all that groundwork. Initially, the movie belongs to Lambert (Jessica Raine of Call the Midwife and Who’s own “Hide”), and her ongoing efforts to get the series off the ground. Hired by Newman (a pitch perfect Brian Cox, who brings equal parts of humor and menace to the proceedings) to expand on his raw concept, she immediately finds herself talked down to by the more experienced men surrounding her. As the first female producer (who’s also Jewish) working at the BBC, the job clearly won’t be a simple one, and she runs into sexist attitudes right and left. She soon finds a kindred spirit in Hussein (Sacha Dhawan), the first Indian director (who’s also gay) at the BBC, and the movie credits their collective, bold ingenuity as the truest spark behind the concept. The debate has raged harder than ever in recent years as to whether or not the Doctor should be played by a woman. Doctor Who doesn’t need a woman in the central role. What it needs is another female showrunner, and it’s nothing short of preposterous that a woman was the first, yet there hasn’t been one since.

David Bradley as William Hartnell

As the movie moves forward, its emphasis subtly changes from Lambert’s struggles to those of the show’s leading man, brought to cantankerous life by David Bradley (who’s getting more high profile work in his 70s than at any other point in his career, and deservedly so). What is probably Adventure’s boldest stroke is its depiction of Hartnell as an extremely difficult and often unlikeable man - bold not because he wasn’t either of those things, but because by most counts he was, and the movie doesn’t aim to whitewash such facts. But the movie also shows the effect that Doctor Who had on Hartnell - how it softened him as a person, and gave him a renewed sense of self. In the end, Hartnell wins the viewer’s sympathy as his memory takes a sharp decline due to arteriosclerosis, and he is gently let go from the greatest job of his career. Bradley may not sound like Hartnell, and he’s roughly 15 years older than Hartnell was at this time of his life, yet he remains ideal casting, as he forms a movie version of Hartnell that is nigh impossible to shake once the credits roll. This is precisely the type of performance an Emmy nomination is made of.

The movie itself feels designed to appeal to non-Who fans as well as the fanatics (though for the fanatic, it is crammed wall to wall with Easter Eggs of all shapes and sizes, lending it a serious multiple viewings factor). On this most recent viewing I was struck by the film’s similarities to Mad Men (and no doubt, the BBC’s own The Hour). It fetishizes the 60s in a similar fashion to the AMC series, and its attention to detail feels cut from the same cloth. (The cigarette smoking is off the charts.) Further, the movie tackles some of the same themes as the early seasons of Mad Men. If you know a Mad Men fan going through withdrawals, you might just want to sit them down for this one. 

If there’s anything to take Adventure to task for, it’s that it falls prey to some of the same sort of compositing issues that nearly every biopic ever made seems to suffer from. So if this manner of scripting is part and parcel of the biopic format, can we really hold it against the movie? Does Adventure need to tell the story of the birth of Who and rewrite the biopic as well? Probably not. Indeed, I’d be nitpicking what’s likely the greatest, most efficient script of Mark Gatiss’s career. He’s apparently been trying to get this picture off the ground since at least the show’s 40^th anniversary (if not before that), so he’s had plenty of time to hone the vision.

An Adventure in Space and Time was the underdog presentation of Doctor Who’s 50^th Anniversary. Here in the States it was quietly nestled into the Friday night schedule with considerably less fanfare than its bigger brother, “The Day of the Doctor.” But it is an equally important story and one that I am so charmed by that I now want to see behind the scenes movies made of some of the other eras of the series, as well. The Colin Baker movie would blow people away.

DVD/Blu-ray Extras: We are very lucky here in the States to have this killer, three disc release of An Adventure in Space and Time. (At the time of writing, the movie has not been released on Blu-ray in the U.K.) This set includes one Blu-ray and one DVD which both feature identical programming, and then a second DVD with an entire classic series serial and some other swank extras.

Aside from the feature presentation, the Adventure Blu-ray and DVD each have several short featurettes and goodies. “William Hartnell: The Original” (5:16) is a brief examination of the man himself, including interviews with some of those who worked with and knew him, as well as a few bits of that amazing, recently discovered interview with Hartnell that was featured in its entirety on last year’s “The Tenth Planet” DVD. There is a “making-of” (11:24) hosted by Carole Ann Ford. “Reconstructions” (6:34) are scenes of classic Doctor Who that were recreated for use in the movie (some are in black and white, and some are in color). These are so perfect in production and execution one wishes that Bradley and company could be used to remake all the missing episodes. “The Title Sequence” (1:24) feels rather pointless as it is simply the movie’s credits sequence played again. Finally there are two short deleted scenes that total 1:33, the best one of which features Delia Derbyshire working on the theme tune.

The third disc here is a repressing of the first disc of the previously released “The Beginning” DVD box set. It features the entire four-part “An Unearthly Child” serial, as well as the original pilot episode that Sydney Newman so memorably loathes in Adventure. The pilot is frequently technically awful, yet the material manages to remain engaging. Watching it, it’s easy to see why Newman’s reaction to it might’ve been precisely as shown in the film: “I should fire both of you, but instead I want you to do it one more time” (bit of paraphrasing there). I remain amazed that with all of the episodes of Doctor Who that remain missing, not only do we have all of “Child,” but that this pilot is still around, too! Beyond the five episodes, the disc also carries over all of its original extras, which include four very funny comedy sketches, starring a host of familiar faces, which total around 15 minutes or so, a title sequence music video (2:36), a photo gallery (6:03), and commentary tracks for “An Unearthly Child” Episodes One (Gary Russell moderating Verity Lambert, William Russell and Carole Ann Ford) and Four (Russell moderating Russell, Ford and Waris Hussein), as well as one for the pilot episode (with Gary Russell moderating Lambert and Hussein).  

Doctor Who: The Enemy of the World DVD review

When the two recovered Patrick Troughton Doctor Who serials were revealed found last year, it was easy for “The Web of Fear” to get all the attention. It is, after all, one of the best Who serials of the sixties, and that find – even with one remaining missing episode – was a landmark. Naturally, “The Enemy of the World” took a bit of a backseat to all the fabulous Yetiness, atmospheric faux London Underground, and the greatness of the Great Intelligence. “The Web of Fear” takes little more than a casual glance in its direction to be able to declare its “classic” status. By comparison, “Enemy” does not feel as instantly, recognizably perfect, and some aspects of it (the arguably tacky futuristic costuming[1], a potentially rambling narrative, and no monsters or aliens) might be off putting to some.

For this viewer, though, “The Enemy of the World” gets better and better with each successive viewing, and I’m now at the point where I’m really sort of in love with the entire affair. From the word go – with the TARDIS materializing on a beach, and the Doctor stripping down to long underwear and jumping into the ocean for a dip – the serial feels like something very special indeed, and Episode One continues with that vibe for the duration of its running time.

Victoria: “Perhaps we’ve landed in a world of madmen!”

The Doctor: “They’re human beings, if that’s what you mean, indulging their favorite pastime – trying to destroy each other!”

Mary Peach as Astrid Ferrier

Farther down the beach, a group of men spy the time travelers, and inexplicably recognize the Doctor. The trio is then chased by the men in a hovercraft, and is subsequently rescued by a blond woman in a helicopter who takes them to a safehouse, where they barely have time to catch their breath before coming under attack once again. After making yet another daring escape, the woman, Astrid Ferrier (Mary Peach, the serial’s most valuable guest player), takes the time travelers to meet Giles Kent (Bill Kerr), and the story unfolds: The Doctor is a ringer for the man poised to all but take over the world, Salamander. Giles fanatically leads a resistance movement with Astrid as his second in command. Their proposal is as seemingly simple as it is realistically complex: Will the Doctor impersonate Salamander, and aid Giles in bringing him down once and for all?

Beyond Episode Three, which has been around for ages (available in the “Lost in Time” DVD box set), my only real previous exposure to this story was the Target novelization, written by Ian Marter, which I devoured as a teenager. That was a long time and many Target novelizations ago, but my most vivid memory of that book was its thrilling sense of adventure – perhaps even more so than the average Target book. All these years later, and “Enemy” really lives up to enough of what my 14-year old imagination conjured up. It has been described by some as James Bond-like, an idea that I struggled with until maybe the third viewing, at which point it came into focus. The scope of the entire thing is global. It takes place in 2018 on an Earth that’s been divided by world government into zones, and the action occurs across several of them, including the story’s primary setting, the Australasian Zone (specifically, Australia).

Of course, the entire thing was made in the U.K., but all factors considered, the serial does a fine job of living up to all the script’s ideas, mostly through clever writing and the diversity of its characters. That perfect first episode, with its mesmerizing location shooting, gives way to a largely studio-bound subsequent five episodes that despite the odds manage to really work. It is deceptively good fare, and though it can feel sprawling and unfocused, the key to getting it, I think, is to really invest in all the characters no matter how seemingly fleeting their appearance. Not everyone is always who they seem, and nearly everyone has a significant role of some sort to play.

Astrid: “Oh, you’re a Doctor?”

The Doctor: “Not of any medical significance.”

Astrid: “A Doctor of law? Philosophy?”

The Doctor: (slyly) “Which law? Whose philosophies, eh?”

The story, as I understand it, was devised due to Patrick Troughton’s desire to stretch his talents a bit, and so here he plays both the hero and the villain (with the two characters only sharing screentime in, literally, the serial’s final moments), a gimmick that works splendidly. Salamander gets a great deal of screentime throughout, and thus the Doctor is never quite as front and center as he normally would be, giving the production a markedly different texture. Making the villain so deviously layered and central to the goings-on is nothing short of a masterstroke, and Troughton slips so wholly into the role it becomes easy to forget it’s the same man who plays the Doctor.

So he excels as this new character, and as the Doctor he’s also got unusually great material to play with. Where his performance just dazzles is in the scenes in which the Doctor is learning to imitate Salamander - not just mastering the thick, Mexican accent, but also adopting his mannerisms, and cultivating the look. Troughton’s performance within his performance (inspired by yet another performance) is a revelation, even by the already impeccably high standards one associates with Troughton’s work on this series. If it weren’t for Peter Capaldi’s casting, this serial would’ve provided the definitive answer to the question, “Who’s the greatest actor to have ever played Doctor Who?”

Jamie and Victoria at CSO Park

But as great a find as “Enemy” is for Troughton fanatics and Who fans in general, it’s also brilliant because it represents the very first work Barry Letts ever did on the series. Here he’s in the director’s chair, and his work on this thing is damn tight and frequently inventive (the editing, however, is sometimes questionable). There’s even a scene set in a park in Episode Two that features that trademark Letts CSO! Moments later, during a scene between Astrid and Denes (George Pravda), which takes place under a disused jetty (“A disused Yeti!?” – The Doctor), watch the way the light ripples off the water, and onto the characters’ faces – all practically done in studio. It’s no wonder he was offered the job of producer just a couple years later based on his immediate understanding of the fabric this serial needed to be made of. Likewise, he assembled an excellent cast - a number of them would return to the series further down the road in different parts. The greatest tragedy of the rediscovery of “The Enemy of the World” is that Barry Letts did not live to see its return to the fans, and to the tapestry of the series which he gave so much of his life to. Looking at it again after all these years, I think he’d have impressed even himself.

There’s a line of the Doctor’s in “The Enemy of the World” that’s entirely emblematic of the BBC’s trashing of all of those episodes of Doctor Who (as well as countless other hours of television) back in the seventies: “People spend all their time making nice things, and then other people come along and break them.” Thankfully, this long thought “broken” serial has been rescued and brought back to us where it belongs. Let’s keep some fingers crossed that these finds aren’t the last. 

This hallway is one of my favorite things in this serial

[1]The Discontinuity Guide – one of the more enjoyable Doctor Who reference guides ever written – takes “Enemy” to task over numerous costuming decisions. Across the board I disagree. The kinky rubber suits have aged beautifully, in a Planet of the Vampires sort of way. And Salamander’s matador getup is bold, crazy and perhaps the precise sort of thing someone who wants to rule the world might think fashionable. (Keep in mind, also, the character is from a Mexico of the future – a future where, perhaps, bullfighting has finally been outlawed, and as such the outfit is more symbolic of his ancestry.) It is irrelevant that someone in “our” world couldn’t realistically pull it off; this is Doctor Who!

Doctor Who: The Web of Fear DVD review

The 50^th Anniversary year of Doctor Who brought all sorts of delightful surprises: A new Doctor in the form of Peter Capaldi, the return of Paul McGann to the role of the Eighth Doctor, and the appearance of Tom Baker in “The Day of the Doctor” are only a few of the big ones that leap directly to mind. However, nothing was more surprising than the revelation of the discovery of two lost serials (minus one episode) at a TV relay station in Nigeria.  We’ve gotten sort of used to single episodes popping up every few years, but entire serials? Not since “The Tomb of the Cybermen” was found in Hong Kong in 1991 has something of that ilk happened, and this time not just one serial, but two (minus one episode)!

And the serials – “The Enemy of the World” and “The Web of Fear” - play consecutively in the Who timeline, making the find all the sweeter, as the former dovetails directly into the latter. Yet the decision has been made to release them on DVD in reverse order (“Enemy” will be out next month), perhaps due to the fact that “Web” is the stronger of the pair. Strong is probably an understatement, as it is tempting to hail “The Web of Fear” as the greatest surviving serial of the Troughton era, if not of the entirety of the ‘60s. Here’s a serial where virtually nothing goes wrong: a tight, engaging script (stretched out over six episodes, no less) from Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln; incredible direction from the always on target Douglas Camfield; seemingly meticulously constructed sets doubling for a deserted London Underground; a flawless cast of layered characters acted to the hilt; hulking robot monsters lurking in the dark; and the introduction of Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, played by Nicholas Courtney – a true cherry on the cake flourish, even if its significance was completely unintentional at the time.

Professor Travers (Jack Watling) is attacked by a Yeti

After being attacked in outer space, the TARDIS makes a forced landing in contemporary London – in its Underground railway system, which is curiously deserted. The crew – the Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Victoria (Deborah Watling) – explore, and eventually encounter the military as well as a surprise meeting with Professor Edward Travers (Jack Watling, father of Debs), whom they recently met in 1935 Tibet, during their first encounter with the Great Intelligence and the Yeti (see “The Abominable Snowmen”). But that was 30 years ago, when Travers was a much younger man. He’s astonished to see that his friends haven’t aged, and as a result now believes in their previous claims of time travel. Soon enough it becomes apparent that the Yeti and the Intelligence are again on the move, only this time the goal turns out to be something very precious to the Doctor indeed.

Anne Travers (Tina Packer) is attacked by a Yeti

As stated above, there are at least a half a dozen reasons this story - as the kids today say - rocks so hard (or maybe it was yesterday they were saying that; I can no longer keep track). We could debate the real standout, but I’m going with the characters and the cast, which operates like gangbusters from the word go. Troughton, who always sets an impeccably high standard, is seemingly working on an even higher level than usual. For someone who grew up only knowing Troughton’s era as the extant material of the frequently subpar Season Six, to have been able to see more of these earlier adventures come together over the years – particularly all this Season Five material – is something of a revelation, perhaps never more so than here.

These soldiers and Jamie *might* be attacked by these Yeti

Travers, and the disconnect he feels with the time travelers – surely this was the first time the series had ever pulled such a maneuver? To introduce a character, and then reintroduce him a few stories later as an old man? What a wonderful idea! And his daughter, Anne, played so perfectly by Tina Packer, is a great example of the series getting feminism right before it was even a huge issue (“When I was a little girl, I thought I’d like to be a scientist, so I became a scientist.”) Her character demonstrates that the show was more than capable of drawing strong women. Each soldier has a distinct personality, but my favorite (so to speak) is Driver Evans (Derek Pollitt), who has the sort of persona that emerges when a dozen people are locked in a room together, and everyone agrees on the one person to unanimously dislike. He’s a thoroughly cowardly, awful human being that fails to rise to any occasion, and Pollitt’s performance is a hoot.

Writers Haisman and Lincoln had a big falling out with the series over their Season Six script “The Dominators,” which is such a shame, as “The Web of Fear” appears to set up a third and perhaps final showdown between the Doctor and the Intelligence. Alas, we’d have to wait until Christmas of 2012 to see the entity return to our screens in “The Snowmen,” which never comes close to matching a serial like “Web” for fun and scares. Indeed, the highest praise I can offer “Web” is that it often feels like a Hammer production of some kind. Speaking of “The Snowmen,” I found this tidbit (along with the accompanying JPEG) while looking around for information on “Web.” I wonder what happened there? Were the leaked plans abandoned? If so, what a shame, because “The Snowmen” would’ve been ten times better if they’d actually brought back the Abominable Snowmen.

Normally, at this point there’d be a lengthy section of this review devoted to all the bonus features, but alas, this DVD is sadly bare bones, sans a trailer for “The Enemy of the World.” I’ve read numerous behind the scenes reasons as to why no extras were produced, but first and foremost the reason would be that it would have taken probably a year to produce those extras, and I’m sure it was felt that the sooner the DVDs were released, the better. As you no doubt know, these episodes were released all over the world on iTunes in November. In the U.K., “Enemy” followed on DVD later that month, while they held off on “Web” until February. Now we’re getting both of them. Maybe someday there will be special editions, but as I understand it there are certainly no current plans to do so, since the classic Who DVD range is winding down. Indeed, after “Enemy” next month, to the best of my knowledge the only title left to release is “The Underwater Menace,” which has been held up for various reasons that are entirely outside of my sphere of knowing, but hopefully we’ll get it some time this year.

Having made excuses for the BBC, now it’s my turn: As magical as it is to finally have these episodes, thought lost forever, it’s equally horrible for them to be accompanied by…nothing. Again, we’re used to a standard with these discs, and one can only say, “Well, at least we have the episodes!” for so long, before one wants a commentary track with Frazer and Debbie, or a documentary about the making of the serial, or a photo gallery, or production notes subtitles, or freakin’ Toby Hadoke, for chrissake! For most of us who’ve been partaking in the classic Who DVD experience for the past 13 years, these features have become as much a part of classic Who as the serials themselves. And it is nothing less than a tragedy that Episode Three was not recreated using proper animation, which is now the accepted standard. For a serial of this importance to be the one that we’re left with only a reconstructed episode of…just kills me. On the plus side, the episodes look magnificent – truly, they do - some of the best looking episodes of black and white Who I’ve ever seen. Here they’ve been given the VidFIRE treatment, which seems to be the only major difference between this disc and the iTunes versions.

As I wrote this article, I got a message from a friend who told me there’s some kind of internet flamewar going on involving megafan Ian Levine accusing Phillip Morris (the guy who found both “Enemy” and “Web”) of hoarding episodes, and that there are plenty more out there that are being sat on. So who knows? Maybe these two serials aren’t the end of the great missing episode find. Please, fates, before I die let my most wanted serial be found, because right now I’m declaring the last frames of Episode Six of “The Web of Fear” the most depressing Doctor Who in existence. As the serial winds down, it’s like a punch to the gut:

Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet & The Moonbase DVD reviews

UPDATED!!!

What, in the here and now, is potentially intriguing about the DVD releases of “The Tenth Planet” and “The Moobase” is that the amount of time between their R1 DVD release dates is nearly identical to the amount of time that lapsed in between their original airings on the BBC. “The Tenth Planet” aired throughout October of 1966 and was released on DVD in November of 2013; “The Moonbase” aired throughout February and March of ’67, and its DVD arrives on February 11^th, 2014, exactly 47 years to the day of the airing of its first episode. It’s unlikely that this was someone’s plan (the R2 release dates are slightly different), but it is a sweet bit of serendipity regardless, especially for those who picked up and viewed “The Tenth Planet” last year, and intend to buy and watch “The Moonbase” now.

Why? Because the tales are nothing if not two sides of the same coin – the latter installment being something of a remake of the former – and viewed back-to-back they sort of exemplify some of the changes Doctor Who was going through at the time. It’s cool to be able to compare and contrast the two stories, and attempt to look at them with the same sort of eyes that viewers back in ’66 and ’67 had, given that most of us are experiencing the two stories, with their animated reconstructions, closer to their original visions than ever before. Now before going further let’s lay it out on the table: neither story is a true classic (though each has its virtues), and calling them flawed is probably being generous. For a truly successful Cybertale, it would be “third time’s a charm,” with “The Tomb of the Cybermen,” later on in ’67.

“The Tenth Planet” plot: The TARDIS materializes at the South Pole in the year 1986, where the crew - The Doctor (William Hartnell), Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze) - happen upon a space tracking station called Snowcap, staffed by an international crew of characters, and led by the Ripper-esque General Cutler (every time he obsesses on his son, just think “precious bodily fluids”). Snowcap is monitoring the launch of an Earth spaceship (which is where the son is) when they discover a new planet that looks suspiciously like Earth. A craft from the planet arrives, bringing to our world, for the first time, the Cybermen (why did they head for the South Pole?), who intend to drain all of Earth’s power for their dying planet Mondas, and convert the populace into more Cybermen. In the midst of everything, the Doctor appears to be growing weaker and weaker…

“The Moonbase” plot: The TARDIS materializes on the Moon in the year 2070, where the crew – The Doctor (Patrick Troughton), Polly, Ben, and new TARDIS crewmember Jamie (Frazer Hines) – happen upon a weather control station called the Moonbase, staffed by an international crew of characters, and led by the considerably less insane Hobson (compared to Cutler, anyway). The center of the Moonbase is the Gravitron, which controls Earth’s weather. Meanwhile, some Moonbase crewmembers are afflicted with a peculiar virus, and soon enough, victims of the illness go missing. The Cybermen are back, this time with the intention of using the Gravitron to destroy all life on Earth.

As you can probably see, the story constructs are similar, even if some of the details are slightly different. Further, the Snowcap/Moonbase interiors and South Pole/Moon exteriors also add to the mounting textural resemblances, and of course, the villains are the same in name, even if not in appearance, which is probably what makes the two stories most easy to compare. The “base under siege” plot, as it is often referred to, would become a standard of the Troughton era, so it’s also worth noting that these two tales are probably the earliest examples of the formula.   

“The Tenth Planet” is rife with problems. It lurches from one episode to the next, changing tone every step of the way. The international cast of characters is riddled with stereotypes and clichés (though one must give the serial props for featuring a black astronaut played by Earl Cameron). William Hartnell is ill enough at this point that not only is his failing health written into the script, but he also disappears for the entirety of Episode Three. When I think of “The Tenth Planet,” the singular aspect that makes the story truly worthy (besides the fact that it features the first regeneration) is the Cybermen. 

These Cybermen are unlike any others that came after them, and one wonders what the villains might look like today if they hadn’t been redesigned for “The Moonbase” just a few months later. People often describe their vocal inflections as “sing song,” which I suppose is pretty apt, though I would argue that they really sort of defy description. Perhaps it is because I’m so much more familiar with every other incarnation of the Cybermen, that these are so unsettling. These cats are some of the weirdest Doctor Who villains in the history of the series. Episode Two here is very good. It gives ample screen time to both the Cybermen and the Doctor, and is probably Hartnell’s final great work on the series, as he has less to do in the fourth episode – which is also the only episode of this serial that’s missing.

“The Moonbase” improves upon some of the problems from the first serial. First and foremost, in the form of Patrick Troughton, it has an energetic, able-bodied and minded leading man, which of course makes a huge difference. There are lovely, inspired sequences set on the lunar surface, featuring both Cybermen and TARDIS crew (though the latter sequence, from Episode One, ends up animated). As this serial was devised prior to Jamie joining the crew, he is jammed into the narrative and injured in the first episode and doesn’t return to form until the final episode. Still, Jamie’s injury leads to one of the more wonderful flourishes of “The Moonbase,” and that’s his perception of a Cyberman as the “phantom piper,” coming to take Jamie off to the land of the dead. It’s neat to see the far less experienced McCrimmon at this stage of the game. “The Moonbase” is surely the better story of the two, but I would still argue that, at least from a historical standpoint, they’re stronger as a double feature than apart. Neil Gaiman might disagree, as it seemed clear that his “Nightmare in Silver” was heavily-influenced by the horror of watching “The Moonbase” as a child.

As previously mentioned, both stories remain incomplete in the BBC archives, so animation has once again come to the rescue, with “The Tenth Planet” Episode Four, and “The Moonbase” Episodes One and Three being given the treatment. After the less than stellar animation style used for “The Ice Warriors,” I was happy to see that the methods used for each of these stories were much closer to the artiness of “The Reign of Terror.”

UPDATED (02/26/2014): It’s been revealed, since I wrote this review, that the R1 version of “The Moonbase” has a pretty serious mastering error, and as a result the episodes run about a minute longer than they should. The problem has also resulted in the eradication of the VidFire process. I wish I could say I’d taken note of this when I was viewing the disc, but I did not. I did, as I recall, at one point wonder why the episodes were so long, but it was days before I was headed out to Gallifrey One, and I wanted to get this review up before I left, so I didn’t give it much thought.

This is, of course, terrible news, and there’s been no talk of a recall or replacement discs…however, the good news is that I watched the entire story and didn’t even notice. 50% of “The Moonbase” is animated, so the VidFire is irrelevant on those episodes anyway. So if you already own the old Lost in Time DVD set, which contains the VidFired episodes 2 & 4, perhaps with that, alongside the two animated episodes here, you, the fan, can sort of try to make it all work.

So take all of that for whatever it’s worth. I know that for the hardcore collector, this is not a pleasing development, and certainly something that doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense as we near the end of the classic series DVD range. Further, this tidbit about missing credits on the disc was revealed today. Sure seems like “The Moonbase” DVD could do with a do-over for all parties involved. If I find out anything more, I'll update this space again.

   

DVD Extras: The double-disc set of “The Tenth Planet” doesn’t skimp on the extras, so even if the story is a bit of a letdown, there’s plenty of other stuff here to keep the hardcore fan entertained. A revolving commentary track for the first three episodes is moderated by Toby Hadoke and features actors Anneke Wills, Christopher Matthews (Radar Technician), Gregg Palmer (Cybermen), Earl Cameron (Williams), Alan White (Schultz), and production designer Peter Kindred. “Frozen Out” is a half-hour making of – fascinating warts and all, including some talk of Hartnell’s alleged racism. In addition to the animated Episode Four, there’s also the reconstructed version from the VHS tape. Far and away the most exciting and memorable extra here in also the shortest – and that’s the three-minute interview with Hartnell, conducted after he’d left Who, in the dressing room of a theatre, while he applies makeup in the mirror. He’s irritable, yes, but what is surprising about it, I think, is how alert Hartnell is. The signs of his failing health are nowhere to be seen, and it’s easy to simply savor every single second of it, since it’s the only on-camera interview with Hartnell I guess we’ll ever see.

But wait! There’s more. Another installment of “Doctor Who Stories,” this time with Anneke Wills, is always a welcome addition. “The Golden Age” seeks to examine the “myth” of the golden age of Doctor Who. “Boys! Boys! Boys!” is an answer to the previous multi-part featurette “Girls! Girls! Girls!,” which featured on a trio of previous DVDs. This one features Peter Purves, Frazer Hines, and Mark Strickson.  “Companion Piece” lives up to its title by examining the role of the companion. There’s a 9-minute clip from Blue Peter, which was celebrating the Tenth anniversary of Who at the time of its broadcast. It is in this clip that the only surviving footage of Episode Four exists – the regeneration scene. Finally there’s a photo gallery, Radio Times listings in PDF form, the production notes subtitle option, and a coming soon trailer for “The Moonbase.”

Speaking of, “The Moonbase,” on only a single disc, is much lighter in the extras department. There’s audio commentary for the extant episodes (2 & 4) again moderated by Hadoke, and again with Anneke Wills, as well as Frazer Hines, actor Edward Phillips, and special sounds creator Brian Hodgson. The animated episodes (1 & 3) feature interviews with writer Kit Pedler’s daughters, as well as archive interviews with producer Innes Lloyd, assistant floor manager Lovett Bickford, and a trio of Cyber-actors. “Lunar Landing” is a serviceable making of doc, and the disc is rounded out with the usual photo gallery, Radio Times listings, production note subtitle option, and a coming soon trailer for “The Underwater Menace,” which may not be coming all that soon after all (but I would hope before the end of the year). 

Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited - Fifth to Eighth DVD review

And so BBC America’s celebration of 50 years of Doctor Who continues with “The Doctors Revisited” series, not only on the network, but also on DVD, where its presentation is considerably more celebratory, rather than an irritant. As you may recall, in my recent review of the first volume of this DVD series, I ranted and raved about the decision to stretch the 4:3 image to fit 16x9 flatscreen TVs, but ultimately forgave it since the DVD presents, alongside the distorted version, the original square(ish) imagery, in its original episodic format.

The presentation has not changed for the second volume, though it’s worth mentioning that the prints used for the stretched feature presentations are in much better shape than some of those used on the previous set (no doubt due largely to the newer age of the serials). One thing that I didn’t make room for in the previous review is the method used to stretch the serials, which is something I’m not sure I’ve seen before. If you look closely at the images, you’ll see that about the center third of the original image – the area where the eye is typically focused – is not actually stretched at all, and that the real stretching is only of either side of the image. This is a pretty fascinating technique, and is probably why these presentations don’t look particularly offensive to many an eye (most people are not as fussy as I am). Of course, this presents a problem if you use the aspect ratio buttons on the TV remote to try to alter the image back to its 4:3 image – it simply doesn’t work, and results in a different kind of stretching altogether.

So once again we come back to the original episodic broadcast versions to get us through the night. Given that the aim of these sets is to introduce viewers of the new incarnation of the series to the classic, this volume strikes me as being friendlier toward modern audiences than the last one. While I find it difficult to believe that “Pyramids of Mars” would turn anyone off the classics, who but the most hardcore among us will find a great deal of entertainment value in “The Aztecs?” The serials (and movie) presented here are somewhat closer in pacing and characterization to what audiences of today are used to seeing. 

Peter Davison: A Doctor of action?

This set kicks off with friggin’ “Earthshock,” – a hugely entertaining serial brimming with action, suspense and emotion, featuring redesigned Cybermen, making their return to the series after a mind-boggling seven year absence and…something else. On the off chance that somebody unfamiliar with this serial is reading this, I don’t want to get into the “something else,” as it’s rather special, and should be viewed spoiler-free by virgin eyes...which the accompanying 25-minute Fifth Doctor retrospective on here doesn’t take into account - it completely lays out the end of this story! So my advice when watching this set is to just go ahead and dive into the serial, and then come back and watch the Fifth Doctor piece afterward. Two other things worthy of mention: The single disc edition of “Earthshock” is currently out of print on DVD, and now going for $50 $100 on Amazon, and the version presented on this set is the original, not the one with updated effects work, which was available to view on the now OOP single disc DVD.

Of the other three stories presented here, “Remembrance of the Daleks” is another major highlight, and, like “Earthshock,” is almost sure to entertain new series fans. Funny that it took getting to Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy’s era for “Revisited” to showcase a Dalek tale, but what a tale it is! Any fan who was around at the time will tell you how enthralled we all were with this story, as it seemed to signal a bold new era for a series that for several years seemed to many to be in a fair amount of trouble. The versions presented on this set still omit the Beatles tunes, as did the previous DVD incarnations – sorry folks. My review of the double disc special edition of “Remembrance” is over at Bullz-Eye.

The 1996 TV movie stars Paul McGann in his sole TV outing as the Doctor (as well as McCoy in his final TV appearance, prior to regenerating into the new leading man), and Eric Roberts as the Master. The movie is tricky, and I’ve still no idea what newbies think of it. It lacks many of the fantastical elements we associate with Doctor Who – there’s no question this is largely a product of ‘90s American television. Shot in Vancouver for Fox, its texture and look is comparable to The X-Files. While many will not care for Roberts on principle, few will dislike McGann, who’s utterly charming as the George Lazenby of the TV Doctors. Likewise, the TARDIS interior is really rather gobsmacking, all decked out in Jules Verne décor; clearly the bulk of the film’s design budget went into creating it. My extremely long-winded review of the special edition DVD of the TV movie can also be found over at Bullz-Eye.

And finally there’s “Vengeance on Varos,” which I wrote about here at the Morgue not too long ago when its special edition was released. It’s the true wild card of this set, and it’s anyone’s guess what a newbie might think of this entry from Sixth Doctor Colin Baker’s era, but folks with a taste for wicked satire and black humor will surely find something to appreciate within this tale of a society gone mad. Indeed, I personally think “Varos” is stronger now than it was back in ’85, but then I expend far more energy and thought being angry and disappointed with my government than I did when I was I was a teenager.

As with the previous collection, there are no extras, beyond a set of four fridge magnets, featuring each Doctor from this set.

Fridge Magnets

Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors DVD review

Much like the titular villains of the piece, “The Ice Warriors” serial (or rather what remains of it) has finally been thawed out and unleashed on the public – along with some “suspended” animation to help fill in the missing parts. The first and only other time “The Ice Warriors” was released commercially was back in 1999. That was on VHS, and included two versions of the missing episodes 2 and 3: A linking narrative montage made up of telesnaps and bits of dialogue that ran for about 15 minutes, and a CD featuring the complete audio for both of the episodes. No need for either anymore since, as with “The Invasion” and “The Reign of Terror” before it, the DVD release of “The Ice Warriors” offers up the most complete visualization of the serial since - any repeats aside - its initial broadcast back in the winter of 1967.

In the distant future, Earth battles a second Ice Age brought on by man’s foolishness. Due to a shift away from organic foods and the presumably out of control population having moved onto the planet’s farmlands, plant life has become all but extinct, resulting in a loss of carbon dioxide, which led to the glacier threat. Control stations are set up across the planet to combat the moving glaciers with ionizer devices; the story takes place in and around the Brittanicus Base (naturally). Meanwhile, in the midst of trying to save the world, the scientists discover what looks to be a Viking warrior encased in a block of ice. They take it back to the base to thaw out, only to reveal a cunning warlord from Mars, who soon enough releases more of his frozen comrades. The Martians want to conquer and enslave the planet, while the scientists want the Martian tech to aid in the cessation of the Ice Age. Into all of this the TARDIS materializes –on its side! – and the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his companions Jamie (Frazer Hines) and Victoria (Deborah Watling) climb out of it, and into a wintry, frozen world of one danger after another.

As I’ve said numerous times in various ways, a Patrick Troughton-era classic Doctor Who DVD release is always something to be excited about, and “The Ice Warriors” is no different in that regard, especially as it features the debut of one of the more recognizable villains from the classic series. The introduction of the Ice Warriors to modern audiences in the sublime “Cold War” earlier this year makes this DVD all the sweeter.

The story itself – spread across six episodes – has quite the sense of adventure about it, and the production does a nice job of presenting a seemingly immense scale to the whole thing, aided in no small part by some filming at Ealing Film Studios (and the occasional bit of cleverly placed stock footage), in which fairly impressive icy exterior environments were created. Costuming is also another big plus, depending on your tolerance for 60s-era psychedelic fashions. It seems unlikely that the people of the future will dress like this, but to view it within the context of this old British sci-fi serial, it’s simply and wonderfully groovy. And the score! Oh, the lovely, haunting score from the mighty Dudley Simpson, including a wailing banshee of a voice that opens the first episode, adds appropriate aural texture from start to finish. The cautionary stance the tale takes is sort of perfect, and although it’s likely technically bonkers from a scientific standpoint, enough thought was put into it that it at least feels like a potential reality - no doubt, in my mind anyway, supported by the climate change arguments we debate today.

Peter Sallis as Penley

But it’s the cast of guest characters and the actors who play them that help to make “The Ice Warriors.” Particularly engaging is the game of push me pull you that goes on between Base Leader Clent (Peter Barkworth) and the scientist Penley (Peter Sallis, who would someday voice the human half of Wallace & Gromit in addition to starring in the world’s longest running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine). Clent thinks like a machine and relies on the computer. Penley believes in the power of the human mind and its intuitive nature. (Guess which one Doctor Who favors?) Both actors turn in scene-stealing performances, and are the stars of the serial alongside Troughton, whose Doctor attempts to broker a meeting of their minds. Credit also has to be doled out to hulking actor Bernard Bresslaw (at the time best known for the Carry On films) as the Ice Warrior leader Varga. His work is impressive and it seems he played a big part in laying the groundwork for all the Ice Warriors that came after. 

“The Ice Warriors,” by Brian Hayles, is a surprisingly dense story with complex characterizations and situations - for the “base under siege by monsters” era of the series, anyway. I sat through it a second time after deciding I hadn’t quite cracked it the first. Indeed, after that first viewing, I also felt as though there wasn’t enough story for six episodes, but after the second, the entire affair seemed much tighter, yet merely sprawling in its narrative. I still feel as though there are nooks and crannies of the tale I’ve yet to discover.

If you’ve seen and were underwhelmed by its inferior sequel “The Seeds of Death” - which has been available on DVD since 2004, and even managed to snag a special edition double-dip last year - do not write off “The Ice Warriors.” (Of course, if you dig “Seeds,” then this is a must-see.) This is likely the shiniest classic series outing for the Ice Warriors, as post-“Seeds” they were relegated to being part of the ensemble casts of the “Peladon” stories of the Jon Pertwee era, and of course after that they were absent from the TV series altogether until the aforementioned “Cold War.”

DVD Extras: Yet another new style of animation is on display this time around. It’s much “cleaner” and less artsy than what was done with “Reign.” There’s no question that there’s some cutting of corners going on here and there, bits of which take time to adjust to, but I eventually grew to find it all fairly seamless.  Though this style works for one or two episodes, I don’t think I would want to view an entire missing serial this way.

Beyond the near miraculous ability to view an entire serial previously only available in part, the rest of the extras are all a very average “nuts and bolts of the classic series DVD range” affair. The commentary tracks are all hosted (because I’m bored with using “moderated”) by Toby Hadoke. Episodes one, four, five, and six feature Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling, Sonny Caldinez (Turoc, the Ice Warrior), designer Jeremy Davies, and grams operator Pat Heigham. The animated episodes also have commentaries, but they go for a slightly different approach this time around. Episode two features bits of audio interviews (and in a couple instances, actor recreations) of over a half a dozen other folks who worked on the serial, including Bresslaw, Barkworth, and Hayles. (Peter Sallis is nowhere to be found in the extras!) And finally, the animated episode three features a conversation between Hadoke and Michael Troughton, son of Patrick, who recently wrote a book on his father. At the close of the episode, Hadoke promises more of the conversation on “a future Patrick Troughton DVD release” – which presumably will be “The Moonbase” or “The Underwater Menace,” or maybe even both.

“Cold Fusion” is an adequate, 24-minute making of doc. Though “Beneath the Ice,” a look at the animation process for this serial, is no great revelation, I’ll give it kudos on principle, because in the past I complained that there aren’t enough behind the scenes featurettes on the production of various aspects of the DVDs themselves. At the top of this review I mentioned the montage of telesnaps and dialogue that was used to fill in for the missing episodes on the VHS incarnation – that is also presented here for posterity, along with an introduction by Frazer and Debbie (so if you’re still hanging on to that tape, you can finally part with it.) There’s also archive footage of a Blue Peter Design-A-Monster contest, as well as Part Two of “Doctor Who Stories – Frazer Hines” (the first part can be found on “The Krotons” DVD). An original trailer for “The Ice Warriors” has been given the animation treatment, and there’s a photo gallery, the production notes subtitle option (present only on the extant episodes), Radio Times listings in PDF form, and a coming soon trailer for “Scream of the Shalka.”