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Masque of Mandragora is a sinister story of betrayal and murder and alien possession in Rennaisance Italy. It has a lush set and beautiful costumes and makes excellent use of colour television at a time when the BBC ident still specified that the programming was in colour. 10/10
Commentary Commentary is by Tom Baker, Chris D’Oyly John (Production Unit Manager), Gareth Armstrong (Giuliano) and Philip Hinchcliffe (Producer). Tom is very chatty as always and tries not to be too much of an old curmudgeon, which I find irritating. He puts that down to his eyesight going! This is a story that uses what were then quite new CSO effects. The main villain, the Mandragora Helix is entirely special effects. The fact that it was filmed in Port Merion is drawn upon several times. With Phillip Hinchcliffe’s technical knowledge and Tom Baker’s humour it is easy listening over the four episodes. This is another DVD that I have bought in the week since Elisabeth Sladen died, and the inevitable praise for her then and in her comeback in Sarah Jane Adventures is sad to listen to now. I suppose that’s something we’re going to have to get used to from now on with the original cast getting older and older. 10/10
Extras The Secret of The Labyrinth is the ‘making of’ documentary. Philip Hinchcliffe is the lynchpin of the narrative. Going to Port Merion for much of the filming was his idea and he remains proud as punch about it all. Philip enjoys looking around Port Merion and talking about how they used the village as the set. Everyone seems to have very good memories of making this episode. Interestingly, neither of the main actors, Tom Baker and Lis Sladen, are involved in the documentary. That is the only thing it is missing. They have everything else. 9/10
10/10 Now and Then, of course, goes to Port Merion, which hasn’t changed very much over the years, but it is quite nice to see where some of the unsuitable parts of the site were disguised by set dressing and careful filming to ensure an authentic Rennaisance look. There is a lot of history of how and when the various parts of Port Merion were built along with the history of Doctor Who’s visit to it. The only drawback is the deadpan narrator’s voice. 9/10
Beneath the Masque is a very tongue in cheek exploration of the 1970s era of Masque of Mandragora. When they explain that the 1970s were roughly between the 1960s and the 1980s and had a thunder and lightning effect when Margaret Thatcher was mentioned, you know what the tone of this documentary is. 10/10
7/10 Coming Soon is a very dramatic depiction of the double bill of The Chase and the Space Museum that manages to make both of these old stories sound more exciting than they actually are! 7/10 Overall, this isn’t a bad package. The three main extra features are all interesting. There aren’t any time wasting Blue Peter moments or other nonsense. 9 out of 10
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on the Inside is a history of The TARDIS, with Tom Baker and a number
of interested parties. They discuss the joy of using something that
used to be commonplace on streets but would be wondrous in space,
and the development of the old police box and its interior over the
years from a design history perspective. Some of the contributors
are trying to be a bit clever. Others just love the TARDIS and their
enthusiasm glows.
The
photo gallery is a mixture of publicity stills and pictures of Port
Merion from during the filming. Pretty, but nothing I haven’t
seen before.
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