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Dalek War is a pair of stories from the 1973 season starring Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning as the Third Doctor and Jo. It is after The Doctor was released from his Earth-bound exile and he was allowed to travel as long as they had a say in where he went. This meant stretching the Doctor Who budget to allow for alien world sets instead of using contemporary locations such as were seen more widely in the first three seasons.
Frontier In Space is a six parter with Draconians, Ogrons, The Master AND Daleks, as well as a whole costume budget for the President of Earth. The adage less is more might have been mentioned to Terrence Dicks before he got going on it, and perhaps the story might have been less convoluted. 7/10
Commentary Commentary is by Katy Manning, Barry Letts and Terrence Dicks, actor, producer and script editor respectively. It is moderated by Clayton Hickman of Doctor Who Magazine, and is a better commentary for it. Barry and Terrance stay on topic much better with Clayton putting questions to them and they are less apt to go off on an old fogie rant about how it was all much better in their day. They both admit that the end of the story had serious shortcomings. This is partly because The Master’s story is left unfinished. They planned a spectacular story to write The Master out, but unfortunately Roger Delgado’s untimely death soon after this production was completed meant that the story was never told. That tragedy colours much of the commentary as Katy especially found the memory of his loss painful. It makes for a more serious commentary than is often the case. 9/10
Perfect Scenario: Lost Frontier is a rather fanciful way of presenting
an analysis of Frontier in Space. In the DVD inlay card it says: “In
the far future, the remaining population of an oxygen-depleted Earth
lies in enforced stasis in the Field of Dreams. Looking for ideas
to help him re-connect to his captive audience, Zed, a young scenariosmith,
turns to the world of Doctor Who for inspiration.” The mind
boggles. What were they thinking of? It’s the stuff of All of this is obvious to anyone who watches classic Doctor Who regularly. To anyone else, this documentary brings it to their attention and perhaps opens their mind to those issues while watching other Doctor Who episodes. 10/10
10/10
10/10 Stripped for Action is one of a series of documentaries that regularly turns up on the DVD extras. This one covers the creation of the Third Doctor in comic strip form. The theme tune is extremely irritating and the discussion of the comic strips are by people who are mad about comics and very little else. They honestly don’t connect with anyone who isn’t into comics and it comes off as dull. 7/10 Photo Gallery is a little dull. Too many black and white pictures as usual. 7/10
9 out of 10
9/10
Commentary Commentary is by Katy Manning, (Jo) Barry Letts, Producer, Terrence Dicks, (writer) and Prentice Hancock and Tim Preece who played two of the Thals. This is far too many people in a commentary room. Granted there needed to be somebody other than the core three to prevent the same old stories being told, but Prentice and Tim really weren’t strong enough at putting their views forward to make a big enough impact on the commentary. Barry Letts is interesting nevertheless, and so is Terrence Dicks when he isn’t being an old fogey. Both talk quite competently about the use of CSO and the model shots in this series. Katy Manning is annoying with her silly little girl voices. 8/10
Extras Perfect Scenario: The End of Dreams. Zed resumes his studies of twentieth century television. The focus is on the way Doctor Who used the contemporary genre of action adventure as seen in programmes like The Avengers, but translated into space. There is an odd comparison between the Thals and Daleks and the North Vietnamese and the Americans in the war going on at the time. It is suggested that the Thals, fighting to the death, sacrificing themselves for their ideals, are akin to the North Vietnamese and the Daleks are akin to the Americans with their biological warfare. This doesn’t seem top be tongue in cheek, and I wonder if some people, especially might take offence at such a view of the Vietnam conflict. Anyway, Zed ultimately concludes that he has enough inspiration from Doctor Who to keep the Human race amused in its suspended animation. 9/10
10/10 Multi-colourisation is a documentary about the problems of recolouring stories which only previously existed on black and white film, the original tapes having been wiped. Planet of the Daleks is one of those ‘lost’ episodes returned to the fold. Some of this is a little technical, but it is certainly interesting to Doctor Who fans who were glad to see this episode restored to its former glory. 10/10
9/10 Blue Peter is back with two items about the theft and subsequent return of two Daleks stolen from the BBC in Shepherds Bush! God help us! Blue Peter is the last resort of light Extra production. 2/10 Photo Gallery is dull and unimaginative. Too many colour pictures of Thals and too many black and white screen shots. 4/10
8 out of 10 Overall, an average package that wasn’t worth having until it came down in price on Amazon. There is precious little justification for both episodes being on double disc format. I think there should have been room for the information on one disc each.
8 out of 10 |
fan
fiction. It might very well end up being just that. It picks up on
a lot of issues like the 1970s vision of the future, which was not
too different from the present. This is true of all science fiction
that has ever been filmed in any decade, but Frontier and Space makes
a good example of the phenomenon. It also picks up on contemporary
issues from the 1970s like population explosion and recognises that
science fiction is a vehicle for expressing current issues. 
The
Space War is the more traditional introspective on the making of Frontier
In Space with cast and crew interviews. Of course, there are gaps.
Jon Pertwee and Roger Delgado are no longer with us, so the main cast
member if Katy Manning backed up by Michael Hawkins and Vera Fusek.
Matt Irvine and John Friedlander who did much of the special effects
and model shots talk competently. Matt is always very good value for
money. He especially enjoys explaining how cannibalised Thunderbirds
ships were used for many of the model shots in space.
Roger
Delgado: The Master is a biography of the late actor. It starts with
his childhood, using family photographs. His wife, Kismet Marlowe,
talks in glowing and fond terms about him. Everyone who speaks praises
him, and why wouldn’t they? This is certainly not a warts and
all expose. It is a tribute to a man who was a good friend to most
of the cast and crew of Doctor Who in the early 1970s.
The
Rumble In The Jungle is the making of retrospective on Planet of the
Daleks. Prentice and Tim do come into their own here. So does Jane
How who played the female Thal. They manage to avoid going over too
much material already heard in the commentary and there are some funny
stories about managing the toy Daleks in the lake. 
Stripped
For Action: The Daleks is a surprisingly interesting history of The
Daleks in conic strip form from the First Doctor onwards, over several
different magazines that have come and gone up to the ubiquitous Doctor
Who Magazine. Usually I find these Stripped documentaries a little
dull, but this one was worth listening to.
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