Doctor Who-Remembrance of the Daleks: Special Edition (1988)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Featurette-Making Of Featurette-Remembrances Audio Commentary Trailer Outtakes
Rating
Year Of Production	1988
Running Time	98:22
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (73:45)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Andrew Morgan
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Sylvester McCoy Sophie Aldred Simon Williams Dursley McLinden Pamela Salem Karen Gledhill George Sewell Michael Sheard Harry Fowler Jasmine Breaks Peter Hamilton Dyer Hugh Spight Roy Skelton
Case	Custom Packaging
RPI	Box	Music	None Given

• The Doctor: The Scottish one (or so it says in the informational subtitles), or the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), as he is best known.
• The Companion(s): A rather forceful young woman by the name of Dorothy "Ace" McShane (Sophie Aldred).
• The setting: The very same junkyard that the Doctor was forced to vacate in his first incarnation, and its surrounding town.
• The serial's main nemesis: The Daleks. Moving tin cans with strange alien creatures inside them.

    Arriving in London, 1963, moments after the first Doctor set off with his grand-daughter and two companions in tow, the Doctor and Ace find themselves caught amidst a Dalek war. The Doctor has arrived to retrieve the Hand of Omega, an ancient Time Lord artefact that he had left behind on Earth, but the Dalek Emperor (Davros in the last throes of his organic existence) has his own plans for the artefact.

    Remembrance of the Daleks is a fan favourite. It features one of Sylvester McCoy's best turns as the Doctor, a strong supporting cast and an incredibly involving plot that is filled with rich Dr. Who lore.

    This story has been previously released on DVD in Australia (and reviewed here), the US and UK to a critically damning reception. Not for the story itself, but for its DVD presentation. The Australian and US versions were presented in NTSC (a format not playable on older TVs in Australia) and featured a modified version of the story (due to rights issues). The UK edition featured the original cut but contained a mastering issue that meant a number of special effects were accidentally omitted. This release features almost the original cut of the story (no actual story missing, but a mior change has been made to a snippet of background audio for rights reasons) in its original PAL format (which should be compatible with all Australian televisions). Fans should rejoice (although at this time it is only available as part of the Davros box set).

Video

    The show is presented in its original 1.29:1 aspect ratio, in a PAL format. This transfer is a significant improvement on the NTSC transfer presented on the previous edition of this story.

    The image is reasonably sharp, at least for a modest-budget show that is 20 years old. A very mild degree of low-level noise is visible in most scenes, but the picture is otherwise fairly clear. Blacks and dark scenes could use a little more depth, but generally look reasonable.

    The story is presented with a rather musty brownish palette which represents the era well and suits the story.

    No MPEG artefacts are noticeable. Mild edge enhancement is present (eg at 37:20), but only the pickiest viewers will notice and probably not be fussed even if they do.

    The story features English subtitles, which appear to be accurate and well timed.

    This is a RSDL disc. The layer break occurs at 73:45, between the third and fourth episodes, and was not noticeable on my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    This special edition features an English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kbps) and an English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kbps) soundtrack. The 5.1 has been specially prepared for this re-release and was well worth the effort.

    Dialogue is clear and easy to understand throughout. There are no synchronisation issues.

    This story features incidental music by Keff McCulloch. It is a reasonably typical Dr. Who score, a little over-the-top and very electronic.

    The 2.0 track makes no noticeable use of the surrounds or subwoofer. The 5.1 track is a fairly decent remaster that puts the surrounds and subwoofer to good use, mainly during action sequence though a reasonable bit of ambience is added throughout.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    This disc features almost all of the extras from the original release, omitting only a rather unnecessary set of cast biographies, plus a couple of extra featurettes and DVD-ROM material.

Menu

     The menu features the usual Doctor Who introduction, is accompanied by Dolby Digital 2.0 audio, and is not 16x9 Enhanced.

Back To School Making Of Featurette (32:41)

    An interesting "Making Of" featurette. It is mainly made up of cast and Crew interviews, along with production footage.

Remembrances Featurette (15:17)

    The cast and crew discuss the key references to past Dr. Who lore that are made throughout the story.

Audio Commentary - Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor) & Sophie Aldred (Ace)

A worthwhile commentary track, as is usually the case with Dr. Who releases. The commentators keep a good sense of humour throughout and provide a good deal of nostalic anecdotes. They aren't shy about pointing out a wobbly Dalek!

Isolated Musical Score

It's an isolated music track. The audio is crisp and clear. Not much else can really be said about it.

Deleted Scenes

     This is a collection of deleted and extended scenes from the serial - cuts were made in order to make the episodes conform to the standard running length, and some of what was left on the cutting room floor was left there for a good reason.

Theatrical Trailers

     Two trailers that were broadcast on the BBC, each approximately thirty seconds in length and a handful of continuity clips.

Multiple-Angle Featurettes

     Two scenes are presented here with two angles a piece - Chemistry Lab, and Gate Explosion. This is actually quite a good use of the multiple angle feature, as it allows the viewer to see just how different the original shots are from the finished product.

Outtakes

    A mildly amusing set of bloopers.

Informational Subtitles

     Subtitles that provide some interesting trivia about the episode and its production. These tend to be a bit more along the lines of cold, hard facts, whereas the audio commentary provide an anecdotal nostalgia trip. This makes an excellent companion to the audio commentary.

Photo Gallery

    A forgettable set of production stills.

Radio Times Billings DVD-ROM Feature

    5 pages of clippings form the radio times. 4 pages are simply TV guide descriptions of episodes, along with a couple of pictures. One page is a full-page feature article on the return of the Daleks for the show.

    This special edition has not yet been released in Region 1.

There is a minor difference between the Region 2 version and the Region 4 version, in that a small snippet of background music (literally a changed due to rights issues. This doesn't particularly affect the presentation of show, unlike the previous editions NTSC conversion or previous UK edition's missing effects, but does make the UK edition the version of choice for completists. The Doctor Who Restoration Team website has full details.

    An excellent latter day Dr. Who serial featuring the Daleks.

    This serial has finally been given the treatment it deserves. The video and audio are very good (and correctly PAL formatted). The extras are meaty and well worthwhile.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall