Doctor Who-Resurrection of the Daleks (1984)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-On Location Featurette-Breakfast Time Deleted Scenes Theatrical Trailer Informational Subtitles Gallery-Photo Audio Commentary Isolated Musical Score Featurette-Tardis-Cam no. 4 Easter Egg-Clapper Board
Rating
Year Of Production	1984
Running Time	97:53 (Case: 100)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Matthew Robinson
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Peter Davison Janet Fielding Mark Strickson Terry Molloy
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	Ron Grainer Malcolm Clarke

    The Doctor: The young one with the cricket uniform, aka the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison).
    The Companion(s): An air hostess named Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and a nondescript man named Turlough (Mark Strickson).
    The Setting: A deserted set of docklands somewhere in London, presumably at what was then considered the present time.
    The Serial's Main Nemesis: Those pepper-pots on wheels, the Daleks, and their mouthpiece, a curious character called Davros (Terry Molloy).

    The Daleks have always been a fascinating thing in the Doctor Who canon, and they can also be credited with the series' slow metamorphasis from a sort of educational children's show into the ultra-low budget science fiction series that it has been since original producer Verity Lambert quit the show. Of course, this serial is credited to John Nathan-Turner, who is regarded by many as the worst producer the show has ever had, and it is ironic that he is seen by many as the man who killed the Doctor when far more sophisticated enemies could not. This particular serial, Ressurection Of The Daleks, was filmed as a four-parter, but it was re-edited prior to broadcast in order to allow more coverage of the 1984 Winter Olympics.

• Part One (24:07)
  The Doctor and his companions find themselves stuck in a Time Corridor, which basically involves a lot of thrashing about inside the TARDIS while the camera is shaken. Meanwhile, a space station prison in another time and another place is attacked by a group of men and Daleks who seek to free Davros, the Daleks' evil creator.
• Part Two (24:30)
  In this part of the serial, we learn why the Dalek faction we are seeing want Davros freed. It turns out that the Daleks lost their war with another race because of a virus, and Davros' bioengineering skills are needed to create an antidote. Meanwhile, we learn how the Daleks have managed to make some humans willingly do their bidding.
• Part Three (24:37)
  Tensions between the Daleks and Davros soon grow to boiling point, in spite of the fact that he allegedly created them. The Doctor begins noticing that the process used by the Daleks to subvert humans to their will is not as perfect as they would like to believe. The Daleks and the human agents being used by Davros begin fighting one another.
• Part Four (24:39)
  After our heroes have realised what the strange cannisters in the warehouse actually contain, and how they can be used to defeat the Daleks, the race is on to stop Davros escaping and the Daleks surviving. Obviously, things turn out alright, more or less, in the end, but the toll turns out to be more than Tegan can take. Fans who've seen this serial before will know what I mean.

    Even in later serials, when more sophisticated special effects were used for such things as the Daleks shooting one another, it has been the strength of the story and the acting that has carried Doctor Who. Even though the education aspect was very diminished during the 1980s, it is still a whopping great shame that there will be entire generations of children who will grow up without broadcasts of this show. Now that we're moving towards high-definition television, in fact, the time has never been better to reintroduce the show to viewers. While some of the scripts used by producer John Nathan-Turner were decidedly ordinary, especially towards the end of the Seventh Doctor's run, they are still far superior to anything that has been aimed at schoolchildren since.

Video

    We have to take it as read that Doctor Who serials are transferred from source materials that are of less than optimal quality, being shot on videotape for indoor sequences or sixteen millimeter film for outdoor (location) sequences. It is very important to bear in mind that the majority of the problems I point out in the transfer are inherent in the source material, and the transfer itself is better than we have any right to expect.

    The transfer is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and it is not 16x9 Enhanced.

    The sharpness of this transfer is comparable to the original broadcast, which is about as good as it will ever look. The outdoor sequences are noticeably softer, partly due to the visible film grain, but this is not unexpected. The shadow detail is somewhat limited, but again very good considering the source materials, and there is no low-level noise.

    The colours in this serial look somewhat faded and muted, partly because of the locations in England where it was shot, but also because of the studio decor. The Daleks in particular have a rather muted colour scheme. The transfer represents the colours well, without any major composite artefacts in evidence.

    MPEG artefacts were not found in this transfer. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of aliasing on such things as the medical officer's headband at 7:01 during Part One, and the ship models at 11:48 during Part One, to name two good examples. The camera mechanism also looks somewhat unstable during panning shots such as the opening shot of Part One. Video artefacts, namely microphony, were noticed at 16:04 in Part Two and 11:46 in Part Four. A few small film artefacts were also noticed during outdoor sequences.

    English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are available on this DVD. They vary somewhat more from the spoken dialogue than is normally the case for Doctor Who DVDs, but the important points of the dialogue are retained.

    This disc is dual-layered. I believe the layer change would have been sensibly placed between episodes, given the lack of any pauses during episodes.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    If you'll remember one of the answers given in my interview with Steve Roberts, there is a very limited selection of Doctor Who serials where there is any possibility of a 5.1 remix. Resurrection Of The Daleks just happens to be one of them.

    There are four soundtracks presented on this DVD, the first two of which are renderings of the original English dialogue - a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix with 448 kilobits per second, and the original monaural soundtrack rendered in Dolby Digital 2.0 with 192 kilobits per second. Also included as Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtracks with 192 kilobits per second are an Audio Commentary and an Isolated Music Score. I listened to all of these soundtracks, and it is nice to see that both an approximation of the soundtrack's original format and a 5.1 remix have been provided as options. The Dolby Digital 5.1 remix is the default soundtrack.

    The dialogue in the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is very clear and easy to understand, with the increased channel seperation allowing the actors' voices to be heard more clearly. The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is, by comparison, somewhat muffled and congested, but still perfectly satisfactory. There were no noticeable problems with audio sync.

    The music in this serial consists of a variation on the usual Doctor Who theme composed by Ron Grainer, and incidental music by Malcolm Clarke. As usual, the music in this serial is highly atmospheric and engrossing, making me wish that it were possible to purchase Doctor Who scores on CD or DVD-A.

    The surround channels are used frequently for music, the reverberation from Dalek voices in some locations, and some gunfire. While the sound field is not as immersive as a 5.1 soundtrack for a recent feature film, it is far more so than we could possibly expect from a Doctor Who serial. It is a real credit to the Restoration Team, especially given the directionality of some effects during gunfights with the Daleks.

    The subwoofer was also aggressively, but infrequently, utilised to support gunfire and explosions, which it did without calling attention to itself except through the infrequency of its use.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    All of the extras on this DVD are presented in the aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio unless otherwise stated.

Menu

    The menu is based upon the usual Doctor Who theme, accompanied by Dolby Digital 2.0 audio, heavily animated (with the usual excellent introduction to boot), and it is not 16x9 Enhanced.

Audio Commentary - Peter Davison (Actor), Janet Fielding (Actor), Matthew Robinson (Director)

    This audio commentary is quite funny at times, and reveals a lot of behind-the-scenes tidbits about working on the set of a Doctor Who serial. Like almost all Doctor Who commentaries, it is well worth a listen. It is also subtitled for the benefit of hearing-impaired viewers.

Informational Subtitles

    This is a feature that I wish more DVDs would incorporate, as they make an excellent adjunct to audio commentaries, providing little tidbits on information that would be very difficult to communicate this efficiently in a commentary or other soundtrack.

Featurette - On Location

    Presented in the aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 Enhanced, this eighteen minute and thirty-two second featurette is an interesting look back at the making of this serial, and well worth the viewing time.

Featurette - Breakfast Time

    This seven minute and fifty-eight second featurette mainly consists of an interview with producer John Nathan-Turner and actor Janet Fielding.

Extended And Deleted Scenes

    This is a seven minute and five second collection of footage that was cut from the final version of the serial, and not recommended for viewing before the serial itself.

BBC Trailer

    A thirty-two second trailer advertising a broadcast of this serial as a two-parter.

Easter Egg - Clapper Board

    A fourteen second shot of a clapper board from the filming of this serial.

Photo Gallery

    Presented as a featurette, this is a three minute and thirteen second collection of unannotated stills from the making of the serial. Some of the shots are indeed quite funny, but the lack of any annotation makes it difficult to see the point of most of them. The audio accompaniment can get on the nerves somewhat.

Easter Egg - Unused Title Sequence

    From what I have been able to make out, this two minute and eight second egg is simply the title sequences without the credits superimposed over them, which is a nice feature to have.

Isolated Score

    The problem with an isolated score for a television show like Doctor Who is that they tend to consist of a lot of silence. Some audio commentary by the composer or the director would have been nice, or an option to skip the silent parts of the track.

Featurette - TARDIS-Cam No. 4

    This forty-three second feature is the fourth among many CGI reconstructions of the TARDIS landing. It is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 Enhanced.

    In this case, the more relevant comparison is between the Region 4 and Region 2 UK version. From reading the Restoration Team's website and several online reviews, there does not appear to be any significant difference between these two versions.

    I grew up watching Doctor Who, and as a result I doubt that I will ever accept substitutes or inferior imitations of pretty much anything. Resurrection Of The Daleks is a case in point as to why - instead of a wafer-thin or ill-considered story supported by ultra-sophisticated special effects, we get a tight story with very basic special effects, supported by some of the best acting free-to-air television has ever seen. I cannot recommend this DVD enough to fans of science fiction or children's television from the days when it was concerned with more than selling toys.

    The video transfer is an excellent representation of ordinary source materials.

    The audio transfer is an excellent representation of ordinary source materials, and we get a 5.1 remix to boot!

    The extras are somewhat limited compared to previous DVD releases, but still very enlightening.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall