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Black Orchid is the one with no science fiction except for the presence of a Time Lord, two other extra terrestrial humanoids and a woman from the late 20th century in 1925. It is a simple story about a series of mysterious deaths in the home of Lady Cranleigh that eventually turn out to be the work of her elder son, George, who was mutilated and driven mad by Central American Indians who resented him stealing their sacred black orchid. Lady Cranleigh has been keeping him hidden in the attic while marrying her second son off to George’s former fiancé, Anne. Eventually, George sets fire to the house and falls to his death from the roof, so nobody ever needs to be called to account for the deaths. The Doctor and his companions are only incidentally involved in the drama. Even so, it’s not a bad short story, and some critics are unduly harsh towards it, including the cast and crew themselves. 8/10
Commentary. The central cast, Peter Davidson, Janet Fielding, Matthew Waterhouse and Sarah Sutton talk about what is possibly their least favourite production. Mostly this is because of the terrible weather, but they also complain about the lack of plot and lack of sci-fi coherence in the story. The four are very enjoyable to listen to, and it is possible to fully sympathise with their view. Peter’s enthusiasm for the cricket themes shine through. Especially when he bowls the batter out for real on camera. They also pay tribute to the new Doctor Who series at several points. 8/10
Extras Now and Then is a short documentary about the locations used in Black Orchid, including the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, the police station, and the Buckhurst Estate, as well as the Wythyham Cricket Club. Buckhurst was also used for some scenes in Castrovalva. What could be highly interesting feels extremely dull because the narrator is so boring and matter of fact. And the 1920s style music is irritating after the first 3 minutes. 8/10 Deleted scenes contains nothing very surprising. Mostly it is cut down scenes that needed to be trimmed to make the story flow better, such as a shortened version of the journey to the cricket match and Anne and Nyssa’s dance. 7/10 Film restorations is a good technical piece showing how the DVD copy of the episodes was cleaned up and enhanced from the original negatives. The before and after effects are surprising and it gives credit to the technicians who work on the DVD releases. 9/10 The Blue Peter location report on a Film, Stage and TV costumiers in London that mostly went on about old military costumes and stage musicals and had about one minute of discussion of the Black Orchid costumes is a total waste of DVD space. 0/10 Stripped For Action: The Fifth Doctor. Unless you have read the comic strips in Doctor Who Magazine since the 1970s this is a really dull, boring documentary about comic strip drawers and their attempts to draw Peter Davison. Strictly for single male nerds who sleep in beds with Dalek duvet covers. It has a rather nice electronic version of the Doctor Who which just rescues it. 1/10 Points of View. Barry Took receives a selection of rather stupid letters complaining about the change of time for Doctor Who. Given that the newspapers reported this change months in advance, the complaints are a little after the fact. 2/10 Radio Times Listings DVD Rom, the usual boring and pointless nostalgia value only. 3/10
7/10 Production Subtitles are an extra insight into the production 8/10 Overall, not a bad package but some of the lame extras let it down
7 out of 10
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