Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen (1975) Review

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(More customer reviews)The second doctor is the least known, since all but 5 of his stories were destroyed or mutilated by a house-cleaning at the BBC in the 1970s (the other intact Troughton stories are: "The Seeds of Doom," "The War Games," "The Mind Robber," and "The Dominators"). Troughton's doctor is one of the most appealing incarnations of the character. He's smart (of course), but also vaguely vulnerable and child-like. He has a good sense of humor and fun. And he handles all sorts of evil monsters with aplomb. It is a crying shame so many of his stories are gone completely, or mostly gone.
I was only a kid when this aired, and I can't recall it all (but I do remember the Ice Warriors from "The Seeds of Doom"). Now I have 6-year-old myself,and he *loves* Dr. Who, esp. this doctor, despite the fact that it's in black and white. Also, the title music during this phase of the show was at its very best. My son rocks out to it when it comes on!
Don't listen to the nay-sayers who complain about lack of production values. This is 40 years old, for f**** sake! What matters in Dr. Who is not set-design or the tiny budgets, but the active use of your imagination, great writing, appealing characters, thorougly evil monsters, and solid acting. "Tomb" has all of these traits in abundance. I love this version of the Cybermen, with their metallic voices and three fingers. They may be the best yet (though I've not seen the newest version of them yet).
All in all, an unreserved recommendation. I've watched it (with my lad, and a second who is approaching Who-worthy age) at least three times and loved every minute of it.

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Aided by his two assistants Jamie and Victoria, the Doctor lands the TARDIS on Telos, last resting place of the infamous Cybermen. There he discovers a band of archaelogists on a secret expedition to unearth the reason for his old enemies' extinction. In the underground shadowy depths, they find the icy tomb. A whole army in hibernation. A threat to no one, if the temperature remains low. But if the traitor in their midst gets his way, things could really heat up. Originally broadcast in 1967 and then lost, this unique four part adventure starring Patrick Troughton - the Doctor's 2nd incarnation - was only recently discovered. It is now available for the first time on this special BBC Video which includes an exclusive interview with director Morris Barry.DVD Features:Audio Commentary:by actors Frazer Hines and Deborah WatlingBiographiesDocumentaries: Tombwatch (panel of the cast and crew). Behind the scenes at BBC Visual EffectsOuttakes:unused title sequence and 8mm cine footageProduction Notes:Optional caption stream

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Doctor Who - Cybermen, The Early Years (1975) Review

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(More customer reviews)Even in a fragmentary state, the four episodes (from 'The Moonbase' - episodes 2 and 4 - and 'The Wheel in Space' - episodes 3 and 6) on this tape represent two of the most genuinely eerie stories ever made. Don't believe me? Try watching in a darkened house at about 11pm with your suspension of disbelief lurking somewhere in the corner behind the cat. Still some of my all-time favourites, and something no fan of the early days of Doctor Who should miss. And after you've finished with Cybermen, go find 'Daleks: the Early Years' and 'the Troughton Years'. Well worth the time.
(by the bye, if you really enjoy these, search the web for 'doctor who telesnap reconstructions' if you'd like a taste of what the full stories were like...)
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Doctor Who: The Dominators (Story 44) Review

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(More customer reviews)Dr Who deals with the then-topical subject of the atom bomb, a group of people on an alien planet visiting an atomic testing island but finding that the radiation has somehow disappeared. It transpires that a spacecraft inhabited by two war-like beings and their robots is powered by radiation and his absorbed it all. Before long the Doctor, Zoe and Jamie have arrived on the scene and uncoverda plot to turn the whole planet into a radio-active mass to fuel an invasion fleet.
One of the best Troughton stories I've seen. The Doctor himself is at his best. The two Dominators (an experienced navigator and his over-enthusiastic probationer) are memorable characters, the cold-eyed navigator especially effective. The fact that they have individual and differing characters leads to some excellent confrontational scenes between them. The robotic Quarks are eerily effective with their bizarre crystaline heads and creepy voices and the sound-effects and special-effects are mostly good. A story which is truly worthy of that over-used term 'classic'.

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Doctor Who: The Invasion (Story 46) (2010) Review

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(More customer reviews)It was a shock to see an incomplete story... made complete via animation?!
The highlight of this story is the background history and what transpired to make this 'missing' story into a released DVD set.
The sixth season of the show (1968-1969) had a lot of scripts falling through. As a result, commissioned stories had to be stretched out longer. "The Invasion" is one such story. The good news is, the gravitas of the character and performance of the actor (Kevin Stoney) playing Tobias Vaughn helps elevate this story and keeps it moving. The story is essentially him vs the Doctor, with Tobias attempting to use the Cybermen to his benefit while the Doctor enlists the help of a newly formed secret paramilitary organization that battles alien invaders; UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce).
I would say episodes 6 and 7 do drag on a bit, but there are plenty of set pieces that re-awaken you at the right times.
As usual, sound and video for a program made in this time are sensational. And the extras and commentaries made by still-living cast and crew alone pay for this story; and then we get the story itself...
Here's the rundown: In the 1970s, the BBC junked many programs from its archives. The Patrick Troughton era of "Doctor Who" was badly hit. As a result, most of his stories have been destroyed.
Fortunately, over the years, episodes are found in warehouses, returned to the BBC by countries who bought licenses to air the old episodes during the 1960s and never junked the films themselves, or returned by collectors - who are far more philanthropic than many we'd otherwise give the title to.
Additionally, during the 1960s, home video recorders didn't exist. (Another 12 years would pass before the technology became feasible... or popular.) So people recorded them onto audio tape, often by dangling a microphone in front of the TV set.
As part of the restoration process (and having seen many VHS copies, some work had to be done), the end result of episodes 2, 3, and 5-8 are marvelous. And this is the first professionally released version of the story where all the Cybermens' dialogue can be heard distinctly, with full clarity. The previous releases I've seen just didn't have the cleanup applied and the difference is PHENOMENAL.
But the icing is on the cake: Episodes 1 and 4 have been re-created via cleaning and amalgamating numerous audio tape sources, with animation applied. And the animation is spectacular. It doesn't steal any opportunities to go "over the top", there is a genuine sense of the animators trying to be true to the original footage as possible (though some embellishments are inevitable; the master tapes and films nonexisting). It's very clever, grabs your attention, doesn't seem at all shoehorned in, and the audio quality is spectacular. The extras go into the history of program junking, how audiotracks were recovered, and a well made piece on how they were cleaned - I don't want to spoil it here, but as with the main story, there is not one piece of extra that does NOT entertain or edify!
HIGHLY recommended.

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The Doctor, Zoe and Jamie team up with UNIT to fend off a worldwide invasion of Cybermen. Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart puts you in the picture concerning the action in the missing episodes.DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Audio Commentary by actress Elisabeth Sladen, co-writer Bob Baker and producer Philip Hinchcliffe. Other:Doctor Who is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running sci-fi series in television history

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