Dom Robinson reviews
The Five Doctors
Special Edition
Distributed by
Producer:
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
The Fifth Doctor: Peter Davison (The Airzone Solution, Black Beauty (1994), TV: All Creatures Great and Small, Harnessing Peacocks, P.R.O.B.E., Wuthering Heights)
The Fourth Doctor: Tom Baker (The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Nicholas and Alexandra, TV: The Chronicles of Narnia, Have I Got News For You)
The Third Doctor: Jon Pertwee (The Airzone Solution, Will Any Gentlemen?, TV: P.R.O.B.E., The Stranger, Worzel Gummidge)
The Second Doctor: Patrick Troughton (All the King's Men, The Box of Delights, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, TV: Inspector Morse, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Treasure Island)
The First Doctor (replacement): Richard Hurndall (I Monster, TV: The Avengers)
The First Doctor (original): William Hartnell (Brighton Rock, Carry On Sergeant, Private's Progress, The Way Ahead, Will Any Gentlemen?)
The Five Doctors
was a programme put together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Doctor
Who and was broadcast on November 26th, 1983. It featured all five of the
Doctors that were in the show up until this point, although some more
than others. The original Doctor, William Hartnell, had passed away
so was replaced by Richard Hurndall; and the fourth Doctor, Tom
Baker, barely featured in this programme because he didn't want to be
involved so soon after leaving, which is a shame because he was the first
Doctor I ever saw and, in the tradition of James Bond, the first actor you
see in the role is the one you associate the most with the character.
I was never the biggest Doctor Who fan around but rather enjoyed a number
of the adventures experienced by Tom Baker and Peter Davison.
I never quite warmed to the offbeat performance from Colin Baker
and Sylvester McCoy's appearance just reminded me of his time in
the early 80's children's programme Vision On. Paul McGann
is the latest actor to take on the part, but to date has only featured in
one feature-length story made in 1995.
Back to the plot though and whilst in his fifth incarnation (Peter Davison),
he and his current companions Turlough (Mark Strickson) and Tegan
(Janet Fielding) are whisked away to the Doctor's home planet of
Gallifrey and trapped in time in the Death Zone by a mischievous Time Lord
traitor who will put them all up against the Yeti, The Cybermen and the Daleks.
Not being content with one generation, he's done the same to all the other
Doctors and some of their companions including Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart
(Nicholas Courtney).
The High Council thus attempt to fight fire with fire and will grant
a full pardon to The Master (a part hammed-up nicely by Anthony Ainley)
if he will go in and save the day. Will he do as he's asked, or will he overplay his
hand as always?
This version of the programme is an extended version of that originally
broadcast, with unseen sequences and new visual effects. When first released
on video in 1995 its other main advance was that it came complete with
a Dolby Surround soundtrack. Now on DVD, the sound has been remixed to give
a full Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack which enhances many of the film's surround
effects.
The remastered picture, presented in its original 4:3 fullscreen ratio, looks
perfect and is free of noticeable artifacts and any of the usual flecks you'd
expect to see in an old print which hadn't been treated. The average bitrate
is an excellent 9.80Mb/s.
As for the music over the end credits, something seemed decidely odd, so I asked
the question in uk.media.home-cinema, why does the soundtrack seem very muted until
partway through when it suddenly comes into life ? It didn't sound like a smooth
transition as if it's intentional, but more like someone forgot to turn the surround
output on at the right time :(
All became clear when
Steve Roberts,
of the Doctor Who Restoration Team, who answered my query. He told me
to watch the final scene again -
"it ends with Tegan saying something
about "So, you're going on the run from your own people, in a rickety
old TARDIS?", to which the Doctor replies "Why not? After all, that's
how it all started."
The music then comes up in glorious mono like in the old days (split to two tracks,
I believe) and halfway through it mixes through into 5.1.
It was actually more obviously deliberate on the 1995 VHS release of the story, as
the credits ran a different length and the music cue was timed to happen when the
composer credit came up on screen. Impossible to do it on this version though..."
Steve's site can be visited at :
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/steveroberts/restorat.htm
Please tell him you found his site via my Doctor Who review.
Note that the only things the sound and vision experts can't salvage are the BBC Model B
computer graphics from the era which recreate the Tower of Rassilon and the sound of an
intercom early on which is merely the sound of the same computer being switched on!
Extras :
Chapters :
There are 24 chapters spread throughout the 101-minute feature covering all
the major scenes.
Languages & Subtitles :
All the dialogue is in English and has subtitles in English (for the deaf and
hard of hearing), French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch.
Isolated music tracks :
From the main menu you can select one of eight music tracks, be it the opening or closing
theme, plus other incidental music throughout the feature.
Booklet :
The plush booklet not only provides info about the five Doctors (or six if you
count Hartnell's stand-in), but also all the other characters from past and
the then-present who are drawn back into the series.
Menu :
This has to be one of the best DVD menus I've seen all year. All the options are presented
in a mock-up of the TARDIS console, circa the Fifth Doctor's era.
As you select a particular option (eg. language selection, music tracks, scene selection),
surround sound heaven starts early as the view above the console pulls back, circles around
and stops at the chosen place. It has to be seen to be believed because it's brilliantly well
done and fits in perfectly with the theme.
Also, note that when you boot up the disc you are treated to the Dolby Digital Helicopter
demo.
Overall :
To the die-hard Doctor Who fan with a DVD player, you need no more convincing.
You will already be parted from your twenty nicker. For those of us, like myself,
who don't eat, sleep and breathe Doctor Who but who have even a passing interest
in the show, it's not only worth a look for the content of the episode but also
for an example of a very well-presented disc.
If we were living in a perfect world, this disc would also contain an audio
commentary track from the director and the restoration team plus copious
production notes on all the cast and crew involved. However, what's available
on this disc is certainly worth the asking price.
The other titles now available are Monty Python: Best of Vol.1, The Black
Adder Series 1, Noddy In Toyland, Persuasion and coming in January 2000,
The Planets.
Scheduled for Spring next year are :
Monty Python: Best of Vol.2, Gormenghast, Walking with Dinosaurs and,
of course, Black Adder II.
As for which DVDs I'd like to see from the BBC in future. They include :
Red Dwarf (in their original versions, not the remastered form),
The Young Ones, Filthy Rich and Catflap, Fawlty Towers and, depending
on whether I could bribe the new DG with enough cash, Eldorado...
FILM : ****
PICTURE QUALITY : *****
SOUND QUALITY : *****
EXTRAS : **
-------------------------------
OVERALL : ****
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.
The following is a list of all the Doctor Who DVDs reviewed to date :
1977 The Robots of Death
1983 The Five Doctors
1984 The Caves of Androzani
1988 Remembrance of the Daleks
1996 Doctor Who TV Movie
Also visit Steve Roberts' Doctor Who Restoration site at :
Restoration-Team.co.uk
Please tell him you found his site via my Doctor Who review.
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DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
