THE MOVIE

The Daleks are back in Doctor Who - Resurrection of the Daleks. In this series of four Doctor Who episodes they’re doing battle with the fifth Doctor, Peter Davison (who starred in the role between 1982-1984). Doctor Who is joined by a forthright Australian air hostess called Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and the young red-headed Turlough (Mark Strickson). These four episodes were first broadcast in England on BBC1 between February 8 and February 15, 1984. Each episode runs for around 23 minutes. Here is a quick overview.

Episode 1
The TARDIS becomes stuck in a time corridor and winds up on earth in the 20th century, 1984 to be precise, right beside the river Thames in London’s deserted docklands. Meanwhile, in the far future, a prison ship has come under attack. We soon learn that the Daleks are responsible and that Davros (Terry Molloy) is being held on the prison ship.

Episode 2
The first of the Daleks has appeared on Earth and Tegan is injured, even though the Doctor manages to destroy it with the help of some earth soldiers. But wait, what’s that, the Dalek they thought they destroyed seems to be moving… It is also revealed in this episode that the Daleks haven’t been having much success. They were defeated by the Movellans but now that Davros has been freed from his cryogenic chamber, he’s convinced that under his control the Daleks will once again become triumphant!

Episode 3
The unthinkable happens, the TARDIS is captured by the Daleks. The good Doctor is double crossed by an escaped inmate who turns out to be a Dalek agent. Davros wishes to drain the Doctor’s brain of all knowledge and make a duplicate to serve the Daleks. His intentions become clear, the duplicates of the Doctor and his companions are to return to Gallifrey where they will assassinate the members of the high council.

Episode 4
Once he disposes of the Doctor, Davros plans to build a new race of Daleks that will be even deadlier. However, the Doctor reasons with a Dalek agent and manages to escape. He now plans to destroy Davros, something he should have done a long time ago.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Doctor Who - Resurrection of the Daleks is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. It combines various on location scenes with the brightly lit sets we’re used to seeing in most Doctor Who episodes. The on location footage is a little grainy and the colours appear to be slightly washed out, for example the alleyway scene during Episode 1 is a little dull. Similarly, some of the model sequences of the prison ship and Dalek ship look a little grainy.

Conversely, all the footage shot on set looks great. The colours are nice and bright and the level of detail is actually quite good. This footage is also virtually devoid of grain, except for some of the darker corridors in the prison ship. The bright studio lights often reflect on the clear plastic helmets worn by the prison ship crew and during action sequences some comet tailing is evident. Some aliasing can also be seen in the interior of the Dalek ship, where the walls often have numerous horizontal elements.

Audio:

Doctor Who DVD in Dolby Digital 5.1 channel surround sound. What can I say but… cool! This multi-channel soundtrack is a real treat and what’s more it actually sounds pretty darn good, especially during the opening credits where there are all sorts of interesting rear channel effects to be heard.

I’ve picked out a few choice rear channel effects from Episode 1, but similar examples can be found in all episodes. Firstly, there are some wonderful surround sound effects during the scenes inside the TARDIS when the Doctor is trying to escape from the time corridor (chapter 1, 3 and 6 minutes). The gunfire during chapter 4 (15.11 minutes) also sounds good and there are some nice subtle echo effects in the enclosed space of the warehouse on Earth.

Low frequency output isn’t all that exciting and I found myself wishing they could have amped it up a bit for some of the explosions, but overall I couldn’t really fault this soundtrack. Dialogue is always highly intelligible and there didn’t appear to be any audio synch problems. The music by Malcolm Clarke is also excellent.

As well as the Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack mentioned above, this DVD also comes with three other soundtracks, a Dolby Digital 2.0 channel soundtrack with production audio, an audio commentary soundtrack and a music only soundtrack. This DVD has three subtitle tracks, one for production audio, another for the audio commentary and the third presents on-screen production notes. Some really intriguing information can be found here about the story, the actors and just about Doctor Who in general.

THE EXTRAS

On Location
This featurette is entitled Resurrection of the Daleks: On Location. It takes a look at London’s refurbished docklands where the opening sequences for this Doctor Who adventure (along with several other key scenes) were shot. The featurette includes interviews with director Matthew Robinson, writer Eric Saward and John Nathan-Turner. It is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Running time is around 18 minutes.

Breakfast Time
This was once the BBC’s early morning television programme. Presenter Guy Michelmore interviews actor Janet Fielding (Tegan) and Sally Magnusson interviews producer John Nathan-Turner. There is also a behind the scenes look at the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop. We get to see how the music and sound effects for the Doctor Who series were created. There are also interviews with Brian Hodgson and Malcolm Clarke who composed the music for this particular Doctor Who adventure. Running time is around 8 minutes.

Extended and Deleted Scenes
Here you’ll find a collection of deleted and extended scenes from Resurrection of the Daleks. Unfortunately, there is no commentary or production notes describing why they were culled, which is a shame. All deleted/extended scenes are presented in 1.33:1 full frame. Visual quality is somewhat lacklustre, with many of these scenes having noticeable video artefacts. Total running time is 7.05 minutes.

BBC Trailer
On Wednesday, the first of two double-length episodes of Doctor Who. The trailer is presented in 1.33:1 full frame. Running time is 32 seconds.

Photo Gallery
Another excellent animated photo gallery, featuring numerous colour production stills and the cast members posing for photos while on set. Running time is around 13 minutes.

Audio Commentary
The audio commentary on this DVD features actors Peter Davison (Doctor Who No. 5) and Janet Fielding (Tegan), along with director Matthew Robinson. This is an interesting commentary, not overly technical, but still enjoyable. There are lots of jokes about Janet’s legs and she expresses her dissatisfaction for the number of action sequences she had to do while wearing high heel shoes. Interestingly, Resurrection of the Daleks was Matthew Robinson’s first Dalek storyline, and it also marked Janet’s last appearance in the series. Peter Davison also talks about his son, who’s apparently quite addicted to Doctor Who.

TARDIS-Cam No. 4
Here we have the forth instalment from BBCi’s TARDIS-cam feature. It is another brand new model sequence, where the TARDIS has rematerialised inside a ship or building of some description. It is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and running time is 43 seconds.

Easter Egg
On the first page of Special Features, select BBC Trailer and then push ‘left’ on your remote. ‘Doctor Who’ should appear in green over the animated image. Selecting this will take you to 14 seconds of video of an old clapper board used by the crew for Resurrection of the Daleks. On the second page of Special Features, select Photo Gallery, then push ‘left’ on your remote. ‘Doctor Who’ will once again appear in green over the animated image. Selecting this will display the opening visuals with two slightly different versions of the theme music. Running time is 2.08 minutes.

SUMMARY

Doctor Who has been around 40 years (the first episode was broadcast in 1963) and in that time there have been a number of different encounters with the Daleks. In Resurrection of the Daleks, Peter Davison does battle with them on 20th century Earth. A very enjoyable confrontation, even if I do say so myself. This DVD comes with a satisfactory visual transfer and surprisingly it also has a Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack. There are also a range of interesting extras that are bound to keep you entertained.