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Mysterious Planet is the first of the Trial of a Time Lord episodes, which opens with The Doctor brought to the space station where the Time Lords hold court and the Valeyard begins to put his case in front of the Inquisitor, showing the court the evidence of The Doctor’s interference in the affairs of Ravalox. It introduces Sabalom Glitz and the surprising possibility that something is amiss on Gallifrey 9/10
Commentary The first part of the commentary is by Colin Baker alone, and he does well. Usually single people talking to themselves are dull. But Colin manages for five minutes, telling us about the BBC’s most expensive model shot before Nicola arrives to talk with him. At that point it gets even better. The two of them work so very well together in commentary and seem to have enjoyed making the story and commentating about it. When Tony Selby turns up it is a laugh a minute after that. Colin continues to be very informative about the set, about studio and location film and about the other cast members. Finally, Adam Blackwood, guest character, joins them. Four people commentating could be too many, but actually it isn’t, because Colin keeps it together. 10/10 Commentary two – Part one only is commentated on by Eric Saward, the script editor. Again, he starts to talk about the model and how elaborate and well made it is, though not as elaborate as Robert Holmes is original vision which he reads from the first script. Although talking on his own, Eric does manage to do very well. He talks of issues like the hiatus and other behind the scenes issues. He talks, also, of Robert Holmes who died not long after the episode is made. He puts up a very good defence of the story against the criticisms of Jonathon Powell, the head of drama.
Extras
10/10 Deleted Scenes – principally a different opening scene with the TARDIS landing, a lot of extra scenes in the courtroom and a few longer scenes with Glitz and Dibber. Some of them are quite interesting. Clearly time was the main reason for cutting rather than changing the tone of the episode. 8/10 Trails and continuity actually do seem a little more interesting
than usual as they show the attempt to generate excitement about the
inclusion of Doctor Who in the new season of Saturday programming
on BBC1 as a prime time entertainment. I was reminded very much of
the gamble that was taken in 2005 when the revised series began. 5/10 35mm sequence is a clean, silent version of the very good model shot that opened the episode. 10/10 Music videos are versions of the titles with original and 2008 remixes of the Trial of a Time Lord theme, excellent for the non-tone deaf who can tell them apart, and also a very beautiful rendition of Dominic Glynn’s ‘Trial Theme’ with the very good incidental music over a montage video of the whole Trial series. It stands up well against the Murray Gold stuff that gets to the Proms these days. 10/10 Wogan. Oh, God! It’s Wogan interviewing Colin Baker. The epitome
of 80s kitsch. I used to like Wogan as a quirky radio DJ. But on TV
he was too much. Wogan appears out of the materialising TARDIS, followed
by a rubber monster before they finally got to Colin, with a light
beard and moustache, Colin is witty and intelligent. But he’s
asked the most basic and patronising, stupid questions like ‘why
is the TARDIS a blue box’ when what they should have been doing
is challenging the BBC’s decisions about the series. Lynda Bellingham
also came to join them, after a silly moment with a Sea Devil. Again,
it should have been possible to discuss some real issues, but they
didn’t. 8/10 But Wogan is sophistication compared to Blue Peter! Why isn’t it possible to make a DVD extras compilation without this irritating programme? This one at least had a rather charming moment when Janet Ellis introduced her dad as the driver of the robot from Mysterious planet, and she dropped the fact that she was once in an episode of Doctor Who. It could have been much worse. The bit with Nabil Shabin in which the long haired twit of a presenter immediately focussed on Nabil’s disability was tactless in the extreme. Then Colin and Bonnie Langford get patronised by the one with the stupid looking glasses and terrible trousers. 8/10 Points of View with a very young Anne Robinson has a handful of rather stupid letters from viewers who totally miss the point about Doctor Who, including one moaning about the new theme music. This is where the sort who hang out on Outpost Gallifrey used to moan about it. 7/10 Photo Gallery includes a lot of promotional shots as well as stills from the series and has the lovely Trial theme to accompany it, which makes it very pleasant to watch. 9/10 Overall, this is a very nice package for the first of the Trial of a Time Lord stories. 9 out of 10.
9/10
Commentary Commentary is by Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Phillip Martin, the writer. Colin leads the way to begin with, and conducts the commentary all the way, but he gives Phillip a lot of scope to talk about it from a writer’s point of view. Nicola has quite a lot to say, as well. It is obvious that Colin is the one who holds the commentary together. He is very good at talking in this way and remembers enough anecdotes to keep things going when the other two flag. Colin is ALWAYS very good at these commentaries. 9/10
Extras The Making of Mindwarp begins by talking about the paintbox effects that created the pink sea of Thoras Beta, cutting edge technology of the time. This is much more of a celebration of making the episode and less tortured by the internal issues of the BBC and Doctor Who. Brian Blessed is still enthusiastic about his role, even looking back. 10/10 Deleted Scenes again include quite a lot of extra courtroom scenes that were obviously cut to fit the series into the time slot, as well as some extra scenes with the Mentors and Yrcanos 10/10 Now and Then starts with a documentary about the history of Doctor Who on location, from Reign of Terror onwards and the type of film or videotape used over the years. Trial of the Time Lord was the first Doctor Who season with locations entirely shot on videotape rather than 16mm film. The documentary then goes onto discuss the locations for Trial of a Time Lord, including Butser Ancient Farm, which actually isn’t there any more, because it was dismantled and moved. Telscombe Cliffs for Mindwarp was, as it happened, near John Nathan Turner’s house. It’s also an unofficial nudist beach. Camber Sands and Rye Harbour Reserve also served as a location in the Ultimate Foe episodes. Gladstone Pottery Museum is another interesting location for the Ultimate Foe. One location building is now a museum of the history of the toilet! The only problem is the rather dull, boring voice of the presenter. He really gets on my nerves! 9/10 A Fate Worse Than Death is a small section of commentary by Colin Baker and Nichola Bryant over the final revelation that Peri isn’t dead after all. They talk rather disparagingly of the resolution that Peri marries Yrcanos. They both dislike the happy ending idea. They’re not alone. Fans are divided over this storyline. 7/10 Trails and Continuity have big introductions to each episode, with the announcer describing the plot so far. This is a surprisingly interesting tactic to get the viewer into the stories. Is it just me, or was BBC2 really boring back in the 1980s? The alternative to Doctor Who was the history of chess! 6/10 Children in Need is a sequence in which Colin and Nicola visit the Blackpool exhibition for charity while Wogan and Patrick Moore meet a selection of old Doctors and companions in the studio. One of the less well known tomes when Doctor Who was connected to Children in Need. Most notable because Patrick Troughton, Jon Peterwee, Michael Craze and Ian Marter were part of the crowd. All, sadly passed away since. 8/10
9/10 Photo gallery is a mixture of stills and publicity shots, many featuring Peri/Nicola. The music is irritating. 8/10 Overall the packaging of Mindwarp is quite good. No Blue Peter was a bonus! 9 out of 10
Terror of the Vervoids is the one that introduces Mel Bush, played by Bonnie Langford. As storylines go, it is a rather lightweight one – a space whodunit, set on a galactic liner, but in the Agatha Christie style. It forms The Doctor’s defence against the Valeyard’s charges, but leads to the accusation of genocide when he is forced to kill the Vervoids to save planet Earth. It’s not the worst story, perhaps, but it is rather predictable in too many ways. 9/10
Commentary Commentary is by Colin Baker, Michael Craig who played the Commodore, Chris Clough and Pip and Jane Baker. The first two are ok, but Pip and Jane are sometimes irritating with their ‘do you remember, pip?’ ‘Oh, yes, indeed, Jane’ double act. When Colin keeps them on the point they’re not too bad. And they do have a few sensible things to say. Colin keeps everyone together and Chris Clough talks very well about all the technical stuff. Michael Craig is quite amusing with his reminiscences about the role. They all, of course, bemoan the fact that the new series has so many less problems with budget and effects while praising their classic Who. 8/10
Extras The Making of Terror of the Vervoids is basically a shorter version of the material covered in the commentary. A condensed version of the information isn’t a bad thing. And people like critic, Jim Sangster and Doctor Who Magazine’s Clayton Hickman, with their opinions are useful. But Pip and Jane look so much like they’re preserved in formaldehyde when they’re in front of the camera. They’re better on the commentary where they seem less stiff and stilted. I still don’t get how the Vervoids look like something obscene, though. 9/10 Deleted Scenes are mostly scenes cut for length, no great surprises, really. A lot of them are extra courtroom scenes. 9/10 Trails and Continuities as usual have very little purpose except reminding us that this story took place at the time in 1996 when Noel Edmond’s Late Late Breakfast Show got cancelled for actually killing a man in a bungled stunt. Strange thing to be reminded of. 7/10 The Lost Season looks at the episodes that were never made when the
hiatus was announced and Season 23 was completely reformatted into
Trial of a Time Lord, a 14 episode series instead of twenty-four.
Some of these were actually scripted and cast, like the first episode,
The Nightmare Fair, written by Graham Williams and featuring the Celestial
Toymaker at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Waly K. Daly’s Ultimate
Evil was about a holiday planet where an evil alien was turning people
into killers. This, 10/10 Now, Get Out of This, is a tongue in cheek but very good examination
of the history of the cliffhanger in Doctor Who, including the cliffhangers
of Aliens of London and Bad Wolf in the Eccleston series as a comparison
with the old style way of doing things. Rob Shearman who writes for
New Who, and Joseph Lidster of Torchwood, as well as Anneke Wills
and Sophie Aldred are among the commentators on the cliffhangers.
It’s a pity they didn’t have the Stolen Earth cliffhanger
to go with it, as that is very much the 10/10
7/10 Picture Gallery is a lot of publicity shots of Bonnie and Colin, as well as stills from the series. 7/10 Overall, the Terror of the Vervoids DVD is a very good package with some imaginative extras. 9 out of 10
9/10
Commentary Commentary by Colin Baker, Chris Clough and Tony Selby start the commentary on Part Thirteen. Colin talks strongly about the changes to the episode due to Eric coming in to replace Robert Holmes. Colin is, as always, very intelligent and a good anchorman for the discussion. Tony Selby enjoys himself reminiscing about japes and jokes between takes. In part fourteen, Pip and Jane Baker come in and there is a lot of discussion about the way they were brought in at the last minute to write the episode, the legal implications and other issues. Although they are usually quite irritating to listen to, this is actually quite interesting because it explains a lot about what was happening behind the scenes. It’s a sad that there was so much infighting and wrangling associated with this season of Doctor Who. It’s a shame it felt so much like work for everyone. But it is good that they don’t try to cover up and are open about the tensions. 9/10
Commentary two is Eric Saward talking by himself again. He starts by talking about the Vervoid story and how it leads into the accusation of genocide. He then goes on to talk about auditioning Bonnie Langford. He seems at this point just to be talking for the sake of talking. It’s interesting stuff, but it’s not actually a commentary on The Ultimate Foe. He finally gets into talking about how the Valeyard is actually Doctor Twelve-A between his two incarnations and is surprised how little discussion there is about the idea. He obviously hasn’t been on any internet forums lately. He then discusses Robert Holmes’s illness and his taking over of the episode from Robert. He speaks very emotionally about the death of Robert Holmes, which very sadly overshadows this story. That done he does settle down a bit and talks about the reasoning behind the story. His goodbye is rather sad. This was his last piece of work for Doctor Who and he left under a shadow having fallen out with John Nathan Turner. 8/10
Extras The Making of The Ultimate Foe features cast and crew interviews, including Colin Baker and Eric Saward particularly. Colin is enthusiastic, and Eric a little less so, both of them, of course, being somewhat under a cloud over these stories. Robert Holmes’ death and the collapse of relations between Eric Saward and John Nathan Turner again overshadows the whole thing. It goes over much the same issues as the commentaries do, but in a more condensed form. Again, Pip and Jane Baker are quite lively and interesting here. Tony Selby is, as usual, the joker in the pack. 9/10 Deleted Scenes are a varied collection, many of them involving extra running around in the fantasy world that would have slowed the story down no end. None of it adds to the final story. 9/10 Trails and Continuity raise one interesting question. Do people at 5.30 on a Saturday need the word ‘genocide’ explaining to them? If so, then there was something wrong with the education system in the 1980s. Apart from that, pure nostalgia value. 6/10 Trials and Tribulations is a long retrospective on the Sixth Doctor era, including a lot about Colin Baker’s career as The Doctor, starting with his role as Maxil and then getting the plum role as The Doctor, and then how it all went a little wrong for him. Colin is still very enthusiastic about Doctor Who, and he tries to avoid being too bitter, but some of it does slip through. The Doctor’s outfit is given a lot of coverage. More than it deserves, perhaps! The episodes that Colin played are given some interesting close analysis as well. Michael Grade, including his Room 101 comments about Doctor Who are also included. It also deals candidly and honestly with the major split between Eric Saward and John Nathan Turner. I’m not sure how far back the interviews with Eric are. John’s, obviously, go back before his death. What the whole thing could do with less of, though, is less Ian Levine, who is simply a fanboy who used to hang around with John Nathan Turner and is no more qualified to comment on Doctor Who than any other fan. 9/10
7/10 Doctor In Distress is the most ridiculous thing ever to appear on a DVD. It is a phony charity record made by Ian Levine and some of his mates, roping in Colin Baker and some genuine musicians and actors. Everyone must have taken leave of their senses at the time. 2/10 Open Air was a magazine programme from the mid-1980s in which a group of middle aged 20-somethings from a Doctor Who fan club confronted John Nathan Turner and Pip and Jane Baker in a studio. This is the reason I never joined a Doctor Who fan club. People like them put me off. 7/10 Saturday Superstore is an eye-achingly bright kids show with people who look like they should be in a Bucks Fizz video. It did a feature on the Trial of a Time Lord and interviewed Colin Baker with questions as silly as ‘what’s it like working with Bonnie’ and other inanities. 6/10 PDF materials include a facsimile of the BBC Press Office Release about the hiatus, something of an historical document. It also includes the useless radio times listings! 5/10 Photo Gallery is a mixture of screen stills and publicity shots. There were, of course, lots of those to herald the Trial season. 7/10 Coming Soon features the Peter Davidson episode, Four To Doomsday, which actually came out before the Trial boxset because of the delay in release. 7/10 9 out of 10
Overall, this is a good box set. It is a little depressing for a Doctor Who fan because of the behind the scenes problems, not only the hiatus, but the revelations about fights between John Nathan Turner and Eric Saward and the death of Robert Holmes. But it deals with all of that honestly and in the end that is appreciated. There is no point in glossing over realities. 10 out of 10
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The
Making of the Mysterious Planet is a no holds barred documentary that
does not just tell us how the episode was produced, but goes into
the controversies of the eighteen month hiatus, the problems of relaunching
Doctor Who, and the obstacles thrown in their way from the start.
It is surprisingly open and honest about the problems, and is quite
painful for anyone who cares about Doctor Who as more than just another
television programme.
Lenny
Henry does a sketch on his show in which he plays The Doctor in a
send up of the clunky TARDIS, bafflegab, corridor acting and squeaky
companions as well as a cyber leader called Thatchos. It’s actually
quite impressive and still funny. Especially when the TARDIS gets
clamped. But it’s still not a good reason for a black Doctor.
and
the previous story were later novelised. A Robert Holmes story, Yellow
Fever, featuring Autons in Singapore might not have got off the ground
anyway since it was too expensive. Mission To Magnus by Philip Martin
was going to feature Sil again and the Ice Warriors. This, too, was
also novilised. Christopher H. Bidmead was probably going to write
The Hollows of Time and a last story was going to be called The Children
of January. A lot of money was spent on these stories, and it all
went to waste. The lost episodes are talked about in this feature
narrated by Colin Baker with an honest and open manner.
ultimate,
ultimate controversial cliffhanger.
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