Review of Doctor Who: Remembrance Of The Daleks

Introduction

The fourth DVD of Doctor Who arrives not long after the third. This disc features the seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy. His reign as the Time Lord was a mixed one, with some good old fashioned stories mixed in with some absolute stinkers. And it was during his reign that the show sadly got cancelled.

Remembrance of The Daleks is one of the better stories featuring the seventh Doctor, and was the last story to feature the Daleks, who first appeared some 24 years previously in the second ever Doctor Who story. Remembrance is actually set just after the first Doctor Who story, in November 1963, as the Doctor returns to that famous scrap yard in Totters Lane to sort out some unfinished business.

Video

This story is nearly 15 years old, so you might be forgiven for thinking that it will look like a 15 year old television programme. And it some ways it does, mostly via some of the model shots and a few of the special effects.

The video quality itself though is stunning given the age of the story, another fine piece of work by the self-titled Doctor Who Restoration Team. As with the other Doctor Who DVDs, it probably looks better now than it did when first broadcast.

Audio

Early rumours suggested that this story would receive a full DD5.1 remix for release. However, the Restoration Team reported that time constraints, and the inability to find clean audio tracks, put paid to these plans.

What we do get though is a DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, as this was the first Doctor Who to be made in stereo. This stereo soundtrack still sounds very good, and if you play it back through your Home Cinema amp with some surround processing modes on you`ll find that it sounds even better.

There`s also an isolated music score which allows you to listen purely for the incidental and other music. Whilst this is quite good, listening to it on its own does rather reveal how dated it is as a lot of it has a very 1980s feel to it!

As with the previous release "Spearhead from Space", there were some licensing issues involved here. During the original broadcasts, two Beatles tracks are heard in the background. These could not be cleared for the DVD, and so have been replaced with a cover version, and a special "Mersey Beat"-style piece.

Features

Yet another excellent, feature-packed Doctor Who DVD.

As with "Spearhead from Space", the biggest and best extra is the audio commentary track (not mentioned on the box!). This one features Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred (who played the new companion Ace). As with "Spearhead" they give a very interesting insight into the story, and they always have plenty to say. They bounce off each other well during the commentary and it is a joy to listen to.

Being a more recent story, they have plenty of memories to share too, including recent meetings with other cast members who are now grown up (I`ll leave you to work that one out). They`d make great continuity editors too, spotting things that are out of place (modern tower blocks appearing in shots of 1963 for example).

Also like "Spearhead" there`s another commentary track which is the subtitle commentary option, which brings up production notes at various points in each episode. Plenty of useful information is contained here, with some repetition from the audio commentary track. Lots of interesting insights, like other actors considered for various roles, story differences in earlier drafts and other bits of trivia.

There are also some extended and deleted scenes. Unfortunately there is no explanation attached to these scenes at all, as these did not get authored on to the disc due to a mix-up. However, the Restoration Team web site have the original document which explains the scenes. The web site is :-

www.restoration-team.co.uk/

Two sequences described as "multi-angle" are also included, which allow you to view two scenes from two different camera angles. However, the disc was authored in such a way that these multi-angle scenes are just separate sequences on the disc, so don`t quite fit in with the DVD definition of multi-angle. They`re still interesting to watch, but perhaps an opportunity missed to take advantage of the technology. The reasoning behind this decision is explained on the Restoration Team web site.

There are also some out-takes which are amusing as actors stumble over their lines, and stumble over various bits of scenery etc. Very amusing and nice to see.

There are also two trailers for the show aired by the BBC at the time of broadcast. Interesting to see them, and they do give the impression that the BBC weren`t very good at trailing the show.

And finally we have a photo gallery with some stills taken at various location shoots.

Conclusion

Another excellent Doctor Who disc. As with previous releases, picture and sound are as good as they possibly can be, and the disc is packed with quality extras, with the audio commentary and on-screen production note subtitles adding a great deal to the overall package.

As I mentioned earlier, the story itself is one of the seventh Doctor`s better stories. It`s not one of the best Dalek stories (Genesis or Destiny are probably my favourites), but it`s still quite good. Plenty of good guest stars also add to the overall quality.

So, another good story presented on an another excellent disc. This really has to be a must buy for fans, with so much extra available on the disc.