Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks [1988]

Customer Reviews:

1988 classic .......2007-07-23

In 1988, the 25th anniversary season of Doctor Who was launched. In the 5 years since the 21st anniversary, when the programme had seemed to be in the best of health, Doctor Who had seen the departure of 2 Doctor's, a decline in ratings and most significantly had overcome the threat of cancellation. With all these factors in play, it was something of an achievement that the programme even made it to its 25th birthday. For the opening story of the season, producer John Nathan Turner elected to reintroduce the series most popular enemies, The Daleks, and he also returned the programme to the location of the very serial from 1963. In the process an explanation would be offered for why the original Doctor, William Hartnell, had been living in a London scrapeyard with his granddaughter all those years earlier.
After 2 very lacklustre seasons, Remembrance Of The Daleks, is the first really good story since Revelation of the Daleks, ironically the last story to feature the aliens. Thanks to the influence of script editor, Andrew Cartmel, the series was also able to move in a new direction. With darker stories and the development of the 7th Doctor as a manipulator, who influences the events around himself, the show was able to take its self in a fresh direction. This really suit McCoys portrayal. In addition, he works very well with his new companion Ace, introduced in the previous serial.
As with The Trial of a Timelord, the serial opens with an impressive shot of a spaceship, in this case one heading towards Earth. The location of 1963 works well, although perhaps more could have been done to hide the odd modern office block in the background. A scene early on, in which The Doctor is driving along a road, is hampered by the appearances of modern day cars. Nevertheless despite this, Remembrance is very good indeed. The Daleks for the first time in some years, are very much given the central role of the villains. The script features 2 Dalek factions both attempting to steal the hand of omega, a weapon device hidden by the original Doctor on Earth. Themes of racism and fascism are also dealt with in the script. The extras include a commentary by the actors

Fascists from Outer Space.......2007-07-14

This is one of the best Dalek adventures, which makes it all the more surprising that DW was put on ice shortly after. While not keen on McCoy's Doctor he puts in a good performance here. The 1963 setting, the nods to both DW history and Quatermass, and the warring Daleks are well-handled in the fine script by Ben Aaronovitch. All credit to Mr A for drawing parallels between Dalek attitudes and human bigotry - pretty mature stuff, given the depths DW plumbed in the Eighties. (Hale and Pace, anyone? Bonnie Langford?) The Daleks themselves are pretty good, and actually occupy the story's foreground instead of being shoved aside by a Davros-driven plot.

You must remember this..........2007-07-07

... because this 2007 version is exactly the same as the extant edition, except they've slipped a natty blue sleeve over the old-style box (the worst ever, incidentally). Just thought you ought to know in case you weren't going to get it because it wouldn't match yer other Who DVDs (you know what some people are like). It will - and as it's mid-price you can buy new at pre-owned rates. As for the show itself... one of the star performers of the unfairly-maligned McCoy era, 1963-set Remembrance goes right back to the show's origins, unfolding around the junkyard William Hartnell's Doctor first emerged in. Full of dark hints and knowing references to DW history, this was also a fresh, bold pointer as to where it wanted to go, though ultimately the plug would be pulled by the Beeb a year on - shame, because McCoy and the script team clearly had plans to both explain the Doctor's origins and add to the mystique, too. There are nods to Quatermass, UNIT is prefigured, Who stalwarts Michael Sheard and Peter Halliday are on board and - almost incidentally - the Daleks get their best story in more than a decade.
This is part of a re-booted DVD series aimed, one suspects, at tempting new, young Ecclestone- and Tennant-era fans to sample the 'classic' era, and no bad thing for that. Recommended.

Good to watch for fans of the series.......2007-06-27

I was never a Doctor Who fan when i was younger and only got in to the show in 2007 watching the first episode of the 3rd series of modern doctor who shows. After becoming addicted to the show with both Christopher Eccleston and David Tennent as the Doctor i was eager to view some of the older doctors and see what i thought of them now.

First i ventured to the TV movie with Paul McGann who was a great Doctor that was unfortunate to be given a poor overly hollywoodised plot.

Then i came to view this Sylvester McCoy serial, despite a lot of people disliking Sylvesters Doctor I felt that he portrayed the character well with a slightly arrogant genious. McCoy manages to appear arrogantly superior while at the same time displaying a genuine concern for the humans in the show.

Ace is great as his companion and I really enjoyed watching her go on a Dalek bashing rampage with a suped up baseball bat after her beloved stereo is destroyed.

Although the budgets for these early series are nowhere near the new doctor who shows and the special effects are a little iffy it all adds to the charm of the show and means that the stories dont rely on great effects to carry them but well written scripts and good acting

I enjoyed this as a newly converted fan but it may not appeal to those who have arent already fans, for new fans i would recommend the current series as a starting point for existing fans it is great to see these earlier shows to fill in some background of the Doctor.

Customer Reviews:

Niki Lauda's first World Championship win, Pure Genius.......2007-06-25

I own many of these titles from the Brunswick archives and I am mostly pleased to have them, they are the only way to see the formula one scene as it was from 1970 to 1980. In many ways I feel that formula one was better in this period for out and out racing, wheel to wheel action and before money rules and sponsors took away many of the reasons why we watched formula one in the first place, action!. These DVD's however are frustrating beyond belief as no actual real racing action is captured on them as Brunswick only use there own footage taken often from one corner on the track and it shows, painfully badly. Nothing worse than watching the drivers put on their helmets for five minutes, sit on the start line waiting for the lights, only for the picture to pause and the announcer to say "And lauda won the race" So where was the race, let me see it, please !!! While races are omitted there is also the totally dreadful der,der,der,der der, der der der der music as the results are being shown, trust me it drives you mad, it will have you screaming for the remote to turn it down. Why cant they use TV footage, lets have a BBC Grand Prix style DVD using their own footage. In summary, its great to see the old drivers (many no longer with us sadly) and reminisce, but these DVD's are poor for any real race action, but its great to see Niki Lauda and his Ferrari, I am a big Lauda fan, this his first world title, also check out 1976 and his comeback following the dreadful crash to win the season in 77 a real motor racing legend. Awesome

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