Doctor Who - Two Early Installments of Doctor Who Head to DVD This Fall (with large art)
Posted by David Lambert
5/10/2006
Warner Home Video and BBCAmerica will bring out the next two Doctor Who releases from the original series on September 5th. Bother are earlier efforts, from the 1st and 3rd incarnations of The Doctor. Here are the basics for each release, including large cover art, and extras info courtesy of the Restoration Team's website (who of course have newly restored these episode, and also produced LOTS of great bonus content):
A mysterious force pulls the TARDIS off course, stranding the first Doctor (William Hartnell), Ian, Barbara and Vicki on the alien world of Vortis. A fierce battle is raging between the moth-like Menoptra, and giant insects known as Zarbi. But what is the dark secret that hides at the center of Zarbi’s lair?
1 DVD
$24.98 SRP
Commentary on all 6 episodes, with actors William Russell and Martin Jarvis, Producer Verity Lambert and Director Richard Martin, moderated by Gary Russell
"Tales of Isop": a making-of featurette, based around interviews with Maureen O'Brien, Verity Lambert, William Russell, Martin Jarvis, Richard Martin, make-up designer Sonia Markham and designer John Wood.
"The Lair of Zarbi Supremo": a short story from the first Doctor Who Annual, read by William Russell, presented as an audio feature.
The entirety of the very first Doctor Who Annual is included on the disc in Adobe .PDF format.
Option to view episode six ("The Centre") with Spanish sound.
"Give-a-Show Slides": the whole 150-minute story condensed into 14 frames! These will be viewable as a slideshow feature on the disc.
A top secret drilling project headed by Professor Stahlman is attempting to penetrate the Earth’s crust, and the third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Liz Shaw are on hand to observe. Tensions and professional jealousies plague the project, but things really heat up when a mysterious green substance is found leaking from the drill head. Just when UNIT needs the Doctor most, a time experiment throws him into a parallel universe where everyone he knows has changed for the worse.
2 DVDs
$34.98 SRP
Commentary with Script Editor Terrance Dicks, Producer (and Director on some of this story) Barry Letts, Nicholas Courtney ("The Brigadier") and John Levene ("Sgt. Benton").
"Can You Hear the Earth Scream?": a 35-minute documentary looking at the making of "Inferno," featuring interviews with Barry Letts, Terrance Dicks, actors Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney, John Levene, Ian Fairbairn and actor/stunt arranger Derek Ware.
"The UNIT Family - Part 1": a 36-minute documentary looking at the first half of the 'UNIT family' that characterized the Third Doctor's Earth-bound stories. Featuring interviews with Barry Letts, Terrance Dicks, UNIT creator Derrick Sherwin, actors Nicholas Courtney, John Levene, Caroline John and actor/stunt arranger Derek Ware. The documentary is an affectionate look at Pertwee's first season through the eyes of those people most intimately involved in creating the 'family'.
"Visual Effects Promo Film": an excerpt from an early attempt to 'sell' the experience and facilities of the BBC Visual Effects Department to new clients. This short film features model effects filming from the Doctor Who stories 'The Ambassadors of Death' and 'Inferno', a watertank sketch from 'Marty Amok' featuring Marty Feldman, model shots from 'The Caves of Steel' and the filming of the forced-perspective model pier for the explosive finale of the missing 'Doomwatch' episode, 'Survival Code'.
Deleted Scene: a short deleted scene which was never seen in the original BBC transmission of the story, featuring a rather too obvious Jon Pertwee as the voice of a radio presenter. Although this scene features in the overseas versions of the story and in previous VHS releases, it was decided to remove it from the episode and present it separately in order to be truer to the UK transmission.
"The Pertwee Years Intro": a short introduction to the story's final episode from Jon Pertwee, originally presented as part of BBC Video's 'The Pertwee Years' VHS release.
The 1971 Doctor Who Annual and clippings from the Radio Times are included as .PDF files for PC and Mac users.
