I have just bought the Davros box set.

Looks very attractive and very well laid out in a nice looking set. Probably the best lay out of the dvd series in fact.

Since I've already reviewed Genesis/Ressurection and Revelation of the Daleks elsewhere here, I won't repeat myself.

I'll check out Destiny and the newly formatted Remembrance of the Dalek stories only. Plus the extra disk devoted to Davros.

A review of those stories will follow eventualy....knowing me that may mean a week or so - but it will happen!!!!!!

How about submitting it for publication? The magazine must be near completion.

I'm absolutely open to you using anything I write in here - no dramas at all.

If only I had a Tardis so I could find the time to view them!!!

The reviews will come soon......

DESTINY OF THE DALEKS

This is probably one of the most important stories of the Graham Williams era.

The introduction of the 2nd Romana signalled a shift in the relationship between her and the Dr.

Plus it heralded the return of the Daleks after a 4 year absense as well as Davros.  It also marked the last televised script by Terry Nation for Who.

I won't go into a plot synopsis, but the main focus on the intellectual battle between Davros and the Doctor is a strong one.

The notion that the Daleks and Movellans have reached a stalemate that can only be solved by the opposing intellect of Davros and the Doctor is very intriguing. 

Personally I think the Tom Baker Dr was more suited to confronting Davros than the others.  Baker added a certain spark to these scenes - perhaps creating a mirror image of the Dr's dark side. 

The only time I've felt the writers came close to this type of 'meeting of the minds' was with Colin Baker's Dr.

It was interesting watching the story again, as I didn't have particularly fond memories of it.

Now I think it's definately one of the strongest Graham Williams era tales and clearly one of the best of Season 17.

I'm still a bit unclear as to why the Daleks didn't properly dispose of Davros's body at the end of Genesis of the Daleks, but of course there wouldn't have been a story to be told here I suppose!

The by-play between Ward and Baker begins to gel here, with only the production's cheap look letting things down a bit.

It's a bit disarming seeing some Daleks stuck together with black sticky tape, but oh well!!!

The dvd itself is well thought out, with a very interesting feature on Terry Nation's contribution to the Whoniverse.

The rest of the small features add a nice feel to the disc.

Generally this is certainly one of the best Dalek tales and perhaps one of the genuine good last acting that Tom Baker did as the Dr before he became swamped in the sea of story dreck in the rest of Season 17.

REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS - SPECIAL EDITION

Eight years after its release, this McCoy era tale gets another airing.  Far be it from me to yell 'Double Dip' to the BBC, but what's on offer here is a worthwhile upgrade nonetheless.

The 25th anniversary year was always going to be celebrated - especially when you had the media tart himself  - JNT - at the helm.

So naturally the Daleks had to come back, but seriously, did the resulting story have to be filled with so many pointless references to past stories?????

The Dr and Ace return to 1963 Earth to search for the Hand of Omega.  Rival Dalek factions want this for themselves, but it seems the Dr finally has the upper hand for once on his deadly foes....

I found the story to be full of inconsistencies, which turned things into a mess.  Why would the Doctor leave the Hand of Omega on earth? Why didn't the Daleks search for it sooner?

The appearance of Davros seemed somewhat lacking too.  Basically seen for about 10 mins in total, Davros seemed very diminished in menace, robbing him of a memorable send-off.

As his last televised appearance to date, I found his final hurrah very disappointing.

For a story to work it has to know where it's going, and I never got that with this.  Whenever the story seemed to get stuck it resorted to explosions rather than imporant plot exposition.

The various referenes to past stories were somewhat painful.  Yes it was an anniversary year, but so what?

A good Dr Who tale is one told in the traditional style in an original way.

Maybe I'm being picky, but I'm afraid fan's jubilation at seeing a rare good McCoy story hasn't lasted the distance of time with me. 

As for the dvd........very much improved on the original.  Great picture and sound, with new extras finally shedding light on the production's origins, etc.

Some of the interviews are very interesting, which is saying something considering Andrew Cartmel rabbits on a lot through them!!!

Overall the dvd scores, but the story still fizzles.

At the moment I believe you can only get the new upgraded version on the Davros box set.

Perhaps not worth buying the set just for this alone, but for hardcore completists then I think it would be.

DAVROS CONNECTIONS

This is the extra disc found on the Davros box set.

Detailing the rise of Davros in chronalogical order, I found this to be fascinating viewing.

With interviews with various writers - Dicks, Letts, Saward, et al - you get a very finite understanding of what made Davros tick.

At around 45 mins, it's a very genuine extra and definately worth a look.

AUDIO ADVENTURES

The 8th disc on the set is a collection of every Davros audio story to date.

Judging from snippets used in the Davros Connections disc, the stories certainly sound very interesting.

Admittedly I'm not much of a fan of audio stories, so won't be listening to the Davros ones.

If anyone cares to review them for me, then please be my guest!

IN CONCLUSION

Overall, I think the Davros box set is fantastic, judging by the other 3 stories I've reviewed elsewhere.

Despite being a frustrating decision for fans to make in regards to 'double dipping' for some of the same product again, I would recommend an upgrade, as it has a lot of new material that is genuinely interesting, providing a definitive look at a memorable villain.

The Beneath the Surface box set has just been purchased.

A review shall follow in due course, although in the meantime a question.....

The first dvd is called Doctor Who and the Siluarians.

On the dvd cover it has 'And the Siluarians' as the actual title.

This seems like an error to me - surely it should just be 'The Silurians' without the 'and' in it??

Has 2Entertain made a shocker of a mistake or am i being too pedantic?

The typo is the capitalization of "And". This was the only story to be entitled with the show's name, thus "Doctor Who and the Silurians". The reason for the unusual title is not known, although it may have been as the show was effectively producer-less between the departure of Derrick Sherwin and arrival of Barry Letts. However the choice of "Silurian" is also unusual.

The Silurian era saw the first coral reefs, fish with jaws and simple land plants, with the trilobite and moss dominating the planet. In Sea Devils the Doctor blames poor old Dr Quinn and declares the monsters are actually Eocenes, which is also problematic, this being after the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event when the dinosaurs died off! There's several possibilities here...

Malcolm Hulke intended these to be the most evolved examples of dinosaur, making them Mesozoic era, Cretaceous period and Maastrichtian stage. This is even more apparent in his novelization, Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters. The cause given for the extintion/hibernation is the approach of a planetoid which will draw off the atmosphere but instead was captured and became the moon. This was in line with scientific thought at the time, with capture or being thrown off the proto-Earth the competing theories for the creation of the satellite (Project Apollo revealed it was collision with a Mars sized body, although this has been brought back 30 million years earlier than believed to 4.5 billion years ago).

However the Doctor could be correct. Lawrence Miles suggests that either the early Silurians and their domestic dinosaurs survived the extinction or the sophisticated later Silurians created the dinosaur watchdog with genetic engineering -- it certainly bears only a passing resemblance to known species.

Or the answer could be even more exotic. DWM's comic strip had the Mondasians finding Silurians and Sea Devils living on their planet. Lance Parkin puts forward the theory that the Ice Warriors are the polar version of the Earth Reptiles. We see in the Peladon stories that the Warriors have departed our solar system for "New Mars", and possibly Mars itself was only a adopted home. Or alternately all three could be originally from Mars or Mondas or elsewhere -- in the Eocene era!

It's strange that the Doctor has such trouble recognizing them as they've turned out to be favourites in the Who universe, and not just as villains. So maybe he's just wrong, possibly the Reptiles themselves prefer their origins to be obscure, as if they're not Earth native it weakens their claim to the planet. However it's a function of the growing mythos and testamount to these stories that the Silurians, whatever their name, continue to fascinate.

Very thorough thesis there Martin.

I won't comment too much on that as early earth history isn't exactly my forte!!!

But I will say that it does seem very strange that even though the show was 'between' producers at that time, it's odd that no one else picked up on the title error.

The title would suggest that the Dr was indeed called Doctor Who.

Terence Dicks was still the script editor then - he of all people should have corrected the title at least.

2Entertain missed an opportunity to correct this error - they could have digitaly altered things so that 'The Silurians' became the correct title.

Things could have then been - 'The Silurians', 'The Sea Devils', etc.

I know that all sounds fussy, but I like things tidied up!!!!!!!

But then you would get some fans who would say that they have ruined it by changing it and 2Enterain would be de-nounced as barbarians.
Look what happened when Lucas updated the original Star Wars movies.

I'm OK with it being slightly inconsistent. It marks season seven as an experimental time, if not entirely successful. It's much more telling to have an episode entitled "The Death of Doctor Who" or Wotan demand "Bring me Doctor Who!", and less smug than the Innes Lloyd/Gerry Davis punning about the Doctor's name during season four.

I hadn't considered the odd use of "Doctor Who" for the character as anything but accidents until  Howe et al point out it's how he's credited to season 18!

Dicks had worked on the series during season six, mainly in rewriting The Seeds of Death and  plain old writing The War Games, but it's a bit of a long bow to draw to say he'd be responsible for the title! Making sure it was correctly spelled, perhaps...

axelf : Very thorough thesis there Martin. I won't comment too much on that as early earth history isn't exactly my forte!!! But I will say that it does seem very strange that even though the show was 'between' producers at that time, it's odd that no one else picked up on the title error. The title would suggest that the Dr was indeed called Doctor Who. Terence Dicks was still the script editor then - he of all people should have corrected the title at least. 2Entertain missed an opportunity to correct this error - they could have digitaly altered things so that 'The Silurians' became the correct title. Things could have then been - 'The Silurians', 'The Sea Devils', etc. I know that all sounds fussy, but I like things tidied up!!!!!!!

At the risk of being totally anally retentive here (but considering how deep the discission is on one DVD title, it may not be too out of place!), but Axel, our beloved hero should NEVER be referred to as "Dr" - The Doctor is a name, not a title dude......There, my sphincter is looseneing nicely now I've got that off my chest

I humbly apologise Bluey - may I be forced to watch Time and the Rani 5 times for my shameful error.

But I do still think that someone at least should have picked up on that title error.

It sits as an oddity in the Doctor Who cannon.

Far from this being Axelf alone, most writers for the classic series called the character "Doctor Who" in their draft scripts. Ditto topical references in the press. The strangest one was in a (1977?) issue of satirical Private Eye magazine which described a television host as looking "like Dr Who" (like there's only one). However fans of the show have always had a strong reaction to this; Peter Haining has fans complaining to the BBC by telephone after War Machines 1 in October 1966.

Is there something to say on the identity of the character? It is implied time and again that "Doctor" is a title and his real name is either unpronouncable or simply obscure. Consider that he became President of Gallifrey and his name still wasn't revealed; do the records have him as "President-elect Doctor"? Drax refers to him as "Theta Sigma" (or "Feet"), which may be a collage nickname. And Susan called him Grandfather, which the show is now leaning towards verifying. Borusa, his mentor, called him "You" or "Doctor" which seems very odd.

Given the ambiguity, it could be that his name is indeed "Doctor", coincidental to his doctorate title. And since we've seen the form of name in Romanadvoratrelundar it could be some variation  -- Doctordvoratrelundar?

Maybe Doctor is Gallfrian for Fred

DOCTOR WHO AND THE SILURIANS

The 2nd story of season 7 sees the show further its format experimentation.

The adult tone of the previous story is driven further here, with the new regular cast settling into their roles.

The story itself is an interesting mix of science, military and govermental thinking towards beings they don't understand.

Each section is given ample opportunity to show their prejudices and ideas, with the science vs nature strand being very compelling.

The general conceit of the aliens already living among the populace was sound, providing plenty of engaging conflict.

The Silurians themselves were eerie in their determined zeal to destroy the human race - generally refusing to accept the Doctor's version of detente.

In some ways the plot mirrors the Cold War era, as 2 suspicious sides have to learn to live together, instead of eliminating each other.

This story is when Doctor Who really came of age.  The mature and strong acting bought home the messages in an effective way, never forgetting to provide the necessary action and suspense of the format.

Jon Pertwee was excellent here - always bringing a sense of truth in the outlandish situation.  The rest of the cast are first rate with Peter Miles and Fulton Mackay being stand outs.

Personally I'm not a fan of 7 parters as I think they stretch stories to inordinate lengths.  Some points during the story seem to drag somewhat, with a tighter narrative needed to maintain momentum.

A few plot holes can be found within, ie why, after the Silurian has killed Dr Quinn, does it still stay in his cottage - why not just leave??

Plus I was rather disappointed the dinosaur wasn't used effectively. It was introduced into the story....something more could have been done with it I think.

Minor quibbles aside, Doctor Who and the Silurians still stands up very well today and is a good example of Pertwee at his acting best.

COMMENTS IN GENERAL

The dvd is presented nicely, although a few observations:

The film stock itself is ok, if rather dark.  The cave scenes are especially dark, although I'm not sure if it's due to the age of the film or the re-colouring process.

Part 6 is especially disappointing in regards to film quality, with dirt, scratches and blurry vision being distracting.

Generally the story looks ok though - it's still watchable and much better than video tape!!!!  The soundtrack is great however, even if some of the incidental music is a bit naff!!

I should point out that the photography in the story is fantastic - the helicopter shot scenes with Dr Quinn in the open field are a pleasure to watch.

The extras are superb - giving thoughtful insight into the script's creation.  The pick of the crop for me are 'What Lies Beneath' and 'Now & Then' - which are both fascinating in exploring the genesis of the show at that time.

It was amusing seeing Paul Darrow as Captain Hawkins.  As an aside, as we all know Darrow later appeared in Timelash....which in a roundabout way had Jon Pertwee in it via his portrait.

I assume Sgt Benton became Darrow's replacement in the show later??

Doctor Who and The Silurians is a dvd package that enhances the story, reasonably staying engaged despite its long length.

Some further notes:

Anyone looking for the usual trailers and continuity announcements will find them at the end of ep 7.

They only seem to come up when you play the audio commentary - an ad appears for The Ambassadors of Death and some other items.

Not sure why it wasn't included as a seperate extra, but there you go.

Plus I noticed during the story that it seemed like the first instance of the Doctor using some psychic/hypnotic powers over people.  It comes up vaguely, but I found it an interesting inclusion.

Also there were several of the infamous 'Pertwee nostril shots' that I'm sure Mr Pertwee didn't find at all flattering!!!

axelf : I assume Sgt Benton became Darrow's replacement in the show later??

More Yates was Darrow's replacement ... until Mike Yates we have a succession of short lived Captains (Captain Knight in Web of Fear, Turner in The Invasion, Munro in Spearhead and Hawkins in Silurians). When Yates turns bad in Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Benton is explicitly promoted to Warrant Officer by the time of Robot so they don't have to get another Captain.

I met a Warrant Officer once, told him he was like "Benton in Doctor Who" then insisted on calling him a "Parking Officer", all to his bemusement.

THE SEA DEVILS

This story from season 9 has been a firm fan favourite.

Settled into a comfortable story pattern, the series lets rip with an all out action spectacle.

Writer Malcolm Hulke further explores themes from The Silurians - showing that this time the Doctor is the one who ultimately destroys them and not the military.

For a 6 parter, the pacing is fantastic.  With the first 3 eps focusing on The Master and the rest on the Sea Devils - both 'baddies' get their chance to shine.

Pertwee and Manning formed a formidable paring and it's pleasing the story shows Jo's intelligent skills instead of the 'screamer' in later tales.  Pertwee seems to have a whale of a time getting his hands on anything mobile, giving a very stylish performance.  Pertwee was a much better actor than he gave himself credit for and is great to watch here.

Roger Delgado excels as The Master, matching Pertwee's panache. 

What makes the story tick is its use of witty humour.  The scene where Trenchard ridicules the Master for watching a children's puppett show is priceless, as is his reaction to it. The humour enhanced rather than detracted from the story.

Whilst Hulke's script is less thought provoking than The Silurians, it never becomes dull, delivering an eye full of dramatic action. By this stage of its life, the show had smoothed out its rough edges to aim for a 'family audience'.

The dvd itself is well presented.  The audio commentary and docos are insightful, bringing new nuggets of information than previously.

The picture quality is reasonable without being great.  Again this may be due to the age of the print, although I found it less pleasing than some stories just made 2 years later.

All in all, The Sea Devils is one of the highlights of the Pertwee era, with the production team brimming with story confidence.

There are a number of reasons why I think the Seas Devils fails on every level, except the score. Matthew was surprised to hear this on ABC Classical one night, and it deserves to live on.

Firstly and most importantly it is the poor sibling of The Silurians. Who had personalities and were able to sustain the story without guest villains. The Seas Devils are a bunch of whispering two dimensional cut outs and not particularly waterproof looking ones at that.

The moral dilemma of the Reptiles' equal claim to Earth is played down to the point where these are more your common or garden monsters than viable as sympathetic rivals. How difficult would it be to make the Sea Devils interesting? They've been ignored in favour of the Silurians by later authors, with good reason.

Edwin Richfield is wasted as Captain Hart, reduced to impotence despite allegedly commanding a naval base. We have to wait until Twin Dilemma before his true talents of laying eggs and leaving slime trails is revealed.