This story is one of those that gets ignored. Not that it does anything wrong, it’s just a little incongruous sandwiched between The Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks and coming in at just under 50 minutes.
If it wasn’t for one of the most subtle and brilliant cliffhangers (sadly ruined by the title), you could almost suggest that this is a prototype for what the new series looks like. It’s all outside broadcast which is primarily what the new series is like. It gives us a story which focuses on humanity and the future that we face when the Earth is destroyed. This is something else that Russell T Davies has looked at in the new series with various trips into the future.
There’s the beginnings of the relationship between the Doctor and Sarah which lead many fans to suggest that they make up the best TARDIS team of all time, while even Harry gets some time alone and shows conviction in following a plot thread.
It’s sadly let down by some poor production. In the documentary, Bob Baker say their heads dropped when they saw Styre’s torture machine for the first time, a nasty instrument which is ruined by the fact that it looks like something you’d get in a 50s sci-fi movie.
Considering that this is supposed to be a standard edition, it’s got some pretty good special features. The commentary comes from Liz Sladen, Bob Baker and Philip Hinchcliffe. They’ve all done plenty of commentaries now and there’s rarely a quiet moment as the three always manage to tell anecdotes from the set. The stories about Kevin Lindsay are brilliant and well worth listening out for.
Built for War is a documentary which looks at the history of the Sontarans. Featuring contributions from Terrance Dicks, Elisabeth Sladen, Bob Baker, Anthony Read, Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Eric Saward. It’s a decent overview of their history let down by two things. One is the comedy links from the Sontaran which always seem to interrupt when something interesting is about to be said. The other is the fact that Stuart Fell aside, there’s no contributions from anyone inside the costume or anybody that designed the creatures. However, this is being picky on what is quite a good documentary.
The release is rounded off by production subtitles which will always give you something new to learn and a photo gallery which has a menagerie of photos.
Considering the label says that it is a standard edition, it’s a lot better than some standard DVDs out there with superb picture and sound quality and some special features which you will return to again and again. If this is the benchmark for standard editions, then I am all in favour of them.
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