Doctor Who-The Visitation (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Director And Actors Isolated Musical Score Informational Subtitles-Production Subtitles Featurette-Directing Who - Peter Moffatt Featurette-Scoring The Visitation - Paddy Kingsland Deleted Scenes-Film Trims Featurette-Writing A Final Visitation - Eric Saward Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	161
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Peter Moffatt
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Peter Davison Janet Fielding Sarah Sutton Matthew Waterhouse
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	Paddy Kingsland

    This is yet another release in the stable of very good quality DVDs of the Dr Who series. The Visitation was originally broadcast in 1982, during the reign of Peter Davison as the Doctor. This was the 4th story featuring Davison, who  went on to complete 3 years in the role.

    The story starts off with the Doctor attempting to return one of his companions, Tegan (played by Janet Fielding), to her rightful place in time and space (i.e. 20th Century London). Of course, things go a little awry, and they end up in the 16th century. Right place, somewhat wrong time!  The Doctor and his band of merry companions (Tegan, Nyssa and that universally-annoying Adric) then come up against an alien species intent on wreaking mayhem upon this jolly planet. This time, they're the Terileptils, assisted by their Android.

    In my opinion, the best Who stories were generally the ones set on Earth. Somehow, the greater use of location shots added a certain air of quality to the whole story (due to less reliance on hokey sets and effects!). While The Visitation does use extensive location shots, the story is somewhat dull and some of the dialogue just woeful. For an example of the BBC maximising efficiency with regard to props, check out the Android's cricket gloves (with sticker decorations).

Video

    The video transfer is presented in its original ratio of 1.33:1 and is obviously not 16x9 enhanced.

    The sequences shot on videotape in the studio were noticeably sharper than any of the outdoor sequences (which were probably film-based). Grain is also apparent only in the outdoor sequences, and though noticeable, is not very bad.

    Shadow detail is good at all times, especially given the age of the material and the amount of location footage.

    No low-level noise was apparent at any time.

    Colour was quite rich in the outdoor sequences, but never oversaturated at any point. The video footage had a totally different colour palette, being somewhat 'muted' or cold but clear.

    There were very few film artefacts apparent, perhaps due to another good clean-up of the original print prior to DVD release.

    Subtitles were available in English and were accurate and nicely timed to the onscreen dialogue. This is a dual-layered disc, but I could not spot the layer change point.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio was presented in its original mono. This was not remastered to Dolby Digital 5.1 unlike some of the other recent Dr Who DVDs.

    Dialogue was clear and in sync at all times.

    The incidental music, by Paddy Kingsland, was reasonably well themed in a  medieval style, though performed entirely on synthesisers. The music can be heard as an isolated track if desired. The main title theme was apparently redone for the original broadcast but is only slightly different to the previous iterations, and always enjoyable.

    Being a mono audio track, none of the surround speakers were used.

    The subwoofer was used throughout to support deep sounds, and even unintentional on-set thumping that could be heard at 26:48.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu Audio

    The main menu screen contains clips from the show, as well as spooky incidental music.

Audio Commentary

   A rather enjoyable commentary provided throughout the 4 episodes by the 4 main actors as well as the Director. They cover all sorts of topics and happily point out faults in the design, plot, acting and even direction!  They're all quite happy criticising their own performances as well as those of the other cast whether the latter were present or not. Like all the commentary tracks I've heard on these Dr Who DVDs this was most enjoyable.

Informational Subtitles

    Very informative information presented using a subtitle stream. This covers plenty about the background to making The Visitation and touches on other stories. There is plenty of technical information on the effects and production, as well as background on the cast and crew.

Featurette - Directing Who  (runtime 26:15). Presented in 1.33:1 fullscreen.

    A recent interview with director Peter Moffatt which includes plenty of scenes from Visitation as well as other Who stories that he directed. Quite interesting but perhaps a little too long.

Featurette - Scoring The Visitation  (runtime 16:20). Presented in 1.33:1 fullscreen.

    An in-depth interview with Paddy Kingsland who composed the incidental music. It is fairly interesting look at the background to the work of a screen composer. Includes scenes from the show to illustrate topics being discussed in the interview.

Featurette - Writing a Final Visitation  (runtime 12:52).

    A good, informative discussion with the The Visitation's writer, Eric Saward, interspersed with scenes from the episodes themselves.

Deleted Scenes - Film Trims

    Over 5 minutes of extra footage made up of alternate takes of some scenes, as well as additional shots that didn't make it into the final broadcast. There is also a scene that originally only appeared on the Tardis' TV monitor.

Isolated Musical Score

    One can listen to Paddy Kingsland's instrumental music in isolation from the dialogue and effects. This option can be selected from the Menu or via the DVD remote on-the-fly. There are plenty of silent parts where there was obviously no music called for in the show itself. Perhaps for the real fans only.

    This DVD does not appear to have been released in R1. The R2 release appears to be identical to our R4.

    This story is not anywhere near amongst the most exciting in the very, very long history of Dr Who, but is nowhere near the worst either. It's an enjoyable enough story but, like all the Dr Who DVD releases, has been given a very good remastering and is packaged with some rather nice extras.

    The video and audio quality attest to either good source material, or great remastering work.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall