Doctor Who - Remembrance Of The Daleks (DVD)

...in 1963 and the first Doctor is forced to leave Earth, after two teachers from his granddaughter Susan’s school discover the TARDIS, disguised as a police box, sitting in a junkyard at Totter’s Yard. It is now 25 years later and the seventh Doctor returns – with a brand new companion, Ace, in tow and with business that he must complete.

Not for the first time unusual things are happening at Coal Hill School and at Totter’s Lane junkyard. ...
...after the technology that the Doctor left behind on Earth. Timelord technology, a Stella manipulator known as the Hand of Omega, which would be dangerous in the wrong hands!

The Daleks are planning to use this technology to complete their own Time-Travel experiments, in order to wreak havoc around the universe. Can the Doctor, Ace and the British Army stop them from stealing the Gallifreyan secrets? Or, as usual, will things not go ... more

It is London in 1963 and the first Doctor is forced to leave Earth, after two teachers from his granddaughter Susan’s school discover the TARDIS, disguised as a police box, sitting in a junkyard at Totter’s Yard. It is now 25 years later and the seventh Doctor returns – with a brand new companion, Ace, in tow and with business that he must complete.

Not for the first time unusual things are happening at Coal Hill School and at Totter’s Lane junkyard. The Doctor discovers that his old enemies - the Daleks - are also after the technology that the Doctor left behind on Earth. Timelord technology, a Stella manipulator known as the Hand of Omega, which would be dangerous in the wrong hands!

The Daleks are planning to use this technology to complete their own Time-Travel experiments, in order to wreak havoc around the universe. Can the Doctor, Ace and the British Army stop them from stealing the Gallifreyan secrets? Or, as usual, will things not go according to plan?

Two warring Dalek forces come to blows on the streets of London and the fate of the Earth, and the Universe, is at stake. …..and watch out for the “mystery” villain at the end!

This is the basic story behind the Doctor Who adventure called Remembrance of the Daleks; the last story to feature the Daleks in the series. Remembrance of the Daleks is set just a few days after the events of episode 1 of "An Unearthly Child," the very first Doctor Who adventure. Those of you who know about Doctor Who will remember that the Doctor left Earth unexpectedly; he obviously meant to sort out his little problem before, but events (and Time) conspired against him!

The story was originally released as the start of the 25th Anniversary season of the cult TV series. It was written by Ben Aaronovitch and was broadcast by the BBC from 5 Oct 1988-26 Oct 1988.

It was Sylvester McCoy’s second season as the Doctor and Sophie Aldred’s first full adventure as the feisty Ace (she had previously appeared in the last story of the previous season in Dragonfire).

Remembrance of the Daleks was released on DVD on 26th February 2001. The DVD is excellent and has a lot of special features that make it worthwhile buying in this format.

SPECIAL FEATURES *******************************

~~~Commentary from Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.

This is very interesting to listen to, but I would recommend that you watch the whole adventure first without the commentary switched on. The commentary is louder than the programme’s sound, so you will be distracted from the action. Sophie and Sylvester are really relaxed and reminisce about the filming, cast, etc.

I really enjoyed the commentary and felt it added to my appreciation of the story. It’s obvious that Sylvester and Sophie get on really well; they are quite clearly enjoying themselves and this is infectious. You end up laughing with them and their anecdotes were very interesting.

~~~Deleted Scenes and Out-takes

A few scenes that didn’t make it into the final programme. I enjoyed this; it’s really interesting to see what was cut out and to see the cast falling over and fluffing their lines! This is a feature well worth a look!

~~~Isolated Soundtrack

Exactly what it sounds like: The soundtrack of the episode. Not really of interest to me, but nice to listen to all the same.

~~~Multi Angle Scenes

These didn’t work on our DVD player, so I can’t comment on the effectiveness of this feature.

~~~BBC1 Trailers

This bit really bought back memories of when I sat expectantly in front of my TV waiting for the new Dr Who series to begin. A real “blast from the past”! These are the actual BBC trailers and continuity announcements from 1988; an enjoyable extra and well worth a look.

~~~Image Gallery

Some goods shots taken of the cast and scenes from the show. Quite pleasant to look at, but not overly exciting! Good for anyone who likes to see some good quality photos.

~~~Production Notes

There is an option in the menu to have on-screen production notes; these appear while you are watching the show. These can get a bit distracting too, but I would really recommend that you have them turned on.

They tell you all about the thought processes behind scenes and also where the action was filmed. It’s excellent for “trivia buffs” too because it tells you about the actors and other info about the series. This feature really got our interest; we are even planning to go to London and try to visit the places mentioned! Sad, but true!

~~~Scene Selection

A pretty standard DVD feature! This just allows you to pick which scene you want to watch, rather than having to wind through the whole lot (a la the old days of VHS). Very useful, but not unusual!

~~~Graphical Menus

Again, quite a usual feature on DVDs, but the graphics are well produced and it does make the disc very user friendly and easy to navigate. They are in keeping with the Who theme and are very well produced.

TECHNICAL DETAILS************************************

Subtitles: English SDH

Stereo

Regions: 2+4

4:3

Running Time: 93 minutes

Duration: 1 hr 38 mins

ISBN: BBCDVD1040

~~~Starring

Sylvester McCoy – The Doctor
Sophie Aldred – Ace
Simon Williams (Captain Bellamy from Upstairs Downstairs) – Group Captain “Chunky” Gilmore.
Pamela Salem (Jan form Eastenders) - Professor Rachel Jensen
George Sewell (Superintendent Cottam from the Detectives) - Ratcliffe,

Written by Ben Aaronovitch

Produced by John Nathan-Turner

Directed by Andrew Morgan

This DVD is currently selling for £18.95 on Blackstar and £18.99 on Amazon. It can be found in most of the usual outlets (MVC, W H Smith etc) at around the same price mark.

I really like this Dr Who adventure and am pleased how well it has translated into the DVD format. The picture is crisp and clear and the sound quality is excellent too. The range of Special Features is good; they are of a high standard and there are plenty of them. The BBC seem to have really got their act together in the production of their Doctor Who DVD titles. If you compare this one to The Five Doctors or The Robots of Death you will see how much improved this one is.

I would really recommend this for all Dr Who fans; a really worthwhile addition to any Who collection! Any sci-fi fan would be foolish not to get this as it is a good story as well as an excellent DVD. The Special features are really cool and I would recommend that you invest in it, even if you already own it on video.

~~~Useful web-sites include:

http://www.restoration-team.co.uk/

http://www.gallifreyone.com/

http://www.islandnet.com/~dascott/intro.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/

 

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