Doctor Who Remembrance of the Daleks Story 152 DVD with Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Terry Malloy (NR) +Movie Reviews

Sly Mckoy versus the Daleks on DVD

Matthew L. Roffman | Smyrna, GA USA | 02/06/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Remembrance of the Daleks is the only Sylvester Mcoy Dalek story and it's the best 7th Doctor they made. It involves the Doctor returning to the very Junk Yard where the program began in 1963 just a few days after his first incarnation left. For some reason, two warring factions of Daleks have traveled back to this time as well. Why are they there and what do they want... and what exactly was the Doctor doing in 1963 London back in the first episode anyway? All these questions will be answered.
It is so cool that Dr. Who is coming out on DVD with all the extras you could want. It's a pity other show DVDs such as the recent Farscape episode don't have such extras. Hopefully the forthcoming Star Trek DVDs will. Here's a list of the extras you'll get...
commentary by Sylvester McCoy & Sophie Aldred, deleted scenes, out-takes, on screen production note subtitles, multi-angle scenes, the original trailers, photo gallery
Ths commentary is pretty good. More consistent and informative than the Robots of Death Commentary but not quite as entertaining as The Five Doctors Commentary or the Caves of androzani Commentary. Sophi and Sylvester talk a lot about things that happened on the set and the careers of some of their costars in the story. Pretty interesting stuff...On another note... if you're looking for new Dr. Who material. Look for the audio releases of the missing episodes. Look for my list "Missing Dr. Who's on Audio and Video" to find out about this. [....]Look for "The Web of Fear" for starters. "The Dalek's Master Plan" Audio Release is awsome too. Also check out Big Finnish productions for the new audio adventures of Dr. Who featuring Doctors ranging from Peter Davison to Paul Mcgann. Was this review helpful? Did you learn something new from it? Please vote Yes."

A worthy upgrade

Nathan Redmond | Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | 11/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, folks. Before you go writing a one star review about how "BBC Video has double-dipped again and they don't even have half the series out yet!", let me provide some backstory on the trials and tribulations that led to this release. I'm not going to discuss the actual episode (aside from the music), as I haven't seen it yet, and many others have said more interesting things about it anyway.

When Remembrance of the Daleks was first released on DVD in the UK, a number of mistakes were made in the restoration process that led to some video effects being eliminated (eg. a Dalek ray gun was removed from a scene where a soldier gets exterminated, although his skeleton still shows through). Corrections were made for the subsequent North American and Australian releases, but UK viewers had to put up with it for a while. In 2007, the Restoration Team decided to go back and remaster the episode from scratch, with a new set of bonus features and the missing effects reinstated. It was included in a boxset release of the five Davros serials there. As you may recall, there were originally plans to release the Davros set and a standalone version of Remembrance in North America in March 2008, but thanks to complications over the inclusion of Big Finish audio dramas in the boxset, both releases got canned. In July 2009, the Special Edition was released in the UK in a standalone version, which is now coming to North America, eight months later.

So now that that's out of the way, is this worth buying if you have the original? Well, considering how the UK release of the Key to Time season blew the original North American set out of the water, it can be easily assumed that the BBC has given us a worthy double-dip for this release.

Aside from the brand new remastering job, the special edition boasts these special features:

Dolby Digital 5.1 re-mix by Mark Ayres.

The original commentary with actors Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred from 2000 is re-used.

Steve Broster has produced two new documentaries for this version:

Back to School (dur. 32' 38") - cast and crew talk about the making of the story accompanied by rare behind-the-scenes material. With actors Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Simon Williams and Karen Gledhill, writer Ben Aaronovitch, script editor Andrew Cartmel, director Andrew Morgan and journalists Moray Laing and Paul Lang.

Remembrances (dur. 15' 14") - cast and crew talk about the influences and references to other Doctor Who adventures that are spread throughout the story.

The original Extended and Deleted Scenes package (dur. 12' 24") has been supplemented by brand-new introductions to each scene from Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.

Outtakes (dur. 4' 12") - bloopers and gaffs from the recording of the story.

Multi-Angle Sequences (dur. 1' 03" and 0' 47") - allows the viewer to watch Ace's escape from the Chemistry lab and the Daleks blowing up the large gates from one of two camera angles. Via a menu, the viewer should be allowed to choose which angle of each scene to start on, but should be free to use the 'Angle' button on their remote to change the view at will during play. This is a feature that was never implemented as intended on the 2000 release.

Trails and Continuity (dur. 4' 58") - BBC1 trails and continuity announcements from the story's transmission, in this extended package.

Photo Gallery (dur. 8' 36") - production, design and publicity photos from the story, heavily expanded and packaged into our now standard video sequence format.

Isolated Music - gives the viewer the option to watch the story with the clean music track.

Radio Times Listings in Adobe PDF format for viewing on PC or Mac. Programme subtitles. Subtitle Production Notes.

Also included is the documentary Davros Connections (dur. 43' 15"), which was originally exclusive to the Davros Boxset, but is now being included in this re-release. This is an in-depth look at the history of the Daleks' creator, Davros, as portrayed in both the TV stories from the BBC and in audio adventures from official licensee Big Finish. With actors Terry Molloy, David Gooderson and Peter Miles, producer / director Gary Russell, director Ken Grieve, writers Eric Saward, Ben Aaronovitch, Gary Hopkins and Joseph Lidster. Narrated by Terry Molloy.

Oh, and one final note: parts one and three each originally featured a song by The Beatles in scenes set in the cafe. While the UK version of this DVD includes the songs (thanks to blanket licensing agreements), they are obviously impossible to clear outside of the UK, so some replacement music has been used. It shouldn't really affect the viewing, as no actual footage has been cut.

For those of you still on the fence because of the double dip, consider this: the only reason Remembrance is getting re-released is because the Restoration Team screwed up the remastering process the first time around, and wanted the opportunity to go back and fix it. And whatever DVDs come out in the UK first, usually make it to North America next. Since this new DVD has improved picture and sound quality, and much more bonus features, I would definitely recommend getting this even if you have the original, on the basis of the new special features and the 5.1 sound."

ONE OF THE BEST 7TH DOCTOR EPISODES

Darrin Lanchbury | Lake Charles, Louisiana United States | 01/23/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This review is based on the VHS release. The region 1 DVD includes extras such as commentry and deleted scenes.By the time Sylvester McCoy took over the role of the Doctor, the BBC had practically killed the series by imposing restrictions on the producers with regards to what type of scripts they could use, what level of violence they could display, what target audience they should aim at and a reduced budget to boot. It was commented in a lot of newspapers that the most evil villan the doctor had to face was not the Daleks or Cybermen, but rather the controller of BBC 1!!!The first few McCoy episodes were awful and it seemed as if there was no hope for the series, but Rememberance of the Daleks proved that McCoy's Doctor could have some truely "classic" episodes along with "Ghostlight" and "Curse of Fendrick".The Doctor takes Ace back in time to Earth in the early 1960's and seems to stumble across a lone Dalek in a junk yard (looking for cleap parts for it's spaceship perhaps?). He assists the military in destroying it and, with the help of their scientific adviser from the British Rocket Group (does the name "Professor Quatermass" mean anything to you?), he tracks another souce of alien activity to the local school - Coal Hill School.
As the plot unfolds we discover that the Doctor has been planning these events for some time and wants to use a secret Time Lord device called the Hand of Omega as bait to attract and destroy the Daleks. Unfortunately, two rival groups of Daleks show up looking for the device and a war breaks out between the Imperial and Regular Dalek forces...A good storyline, breath-taking cliffhangers and excellent effects help to turn this story into one of the all-time greats and should have been the tenplate for all further episodes. We see the return of the "white" Dalek design from "Revelation of the Daleks", along with a new "Special Weapons Dalek" and the "Emperor Dalek". The Dalek shuttlecraft is looks convincing when landing, the Dalek weapons now fire "bolts" that pass through objects rather than the old "static line", and when a bolt hits someone we get a decent "kill" effect instead of that awful "negative" effect of the past. Even better is the visual proof that Daleks CAN go up and down stairs!!!Doctor Who fans will have a blast as they notice subtile links and references to first Doctor Who story. For those who havn't followed the series from the beginning, Coal Hill school is where Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter attended classes and where Ian and Barbara (his first companions) taught English and Science. The classroom where Ace battles a Dalek is Ian's science classroom and the copy of the French Revolution that Ace picks up is the one that Barbara loaned Susan and which Susan was horrified to discover was full of errors. The junk yard where the lone Dalek is destroyed is the same junkyard where we first see the TARDIS... I could go on, but see how many you can find ;)"

Strong story, great DVD.

Michael Hickerson | 04/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Doctor's 25th anniversary season starts off with a bang with the instant classic, "Remembrance of the Daleks." If you're a Who fan, this is where the McCoy years go from mediocre to great and never look back. The story takes Who back to it's roots--and the junkyard of Totter's Lane where we first met the Doctor. This time around, the Daleks are there, having pursued the Doctor to gain access to the Hand of Omega, a stellar manipulator the Doctor "borrowed" when he left his home world. But what the Doctor didn't count on was that two factions of Daleks would show up in 1963 London to claim this prize. Or did he? The Doctor/companion team of Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred really gels here into one of the best the show has seen. The script by Ben Aaronovich is smart, fast-paced and puts a new spin on the "typical" Dalek storyline. All that and after 25 years, the Daleks finally get the ablity to go up stairs (in one of the BEST cliffhangers in all Who history). But it's the extras on a DVD that make it worth the price of admission and, once again, the BBC is up to the task. Remembrance features a good commentary by Aldred and McCoy, a couple of deleted scenes (they're nice but you can see why they were left out) and some bloopers. All in all, the extras are good, though not as strong as Caves of Androzani. That said, Remembrance of the Daleks is yet another stellar Who entry on DVD and one that fans should consider a must-have. New fans will enjoy it as well, though you may be thrown by the Dalek history referenced throughtout the show. Highly recommended."

They hate each other's chromosomes...

Peter Vinton Jr. | Not near Washington, DC | 08/18/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Even the very title, REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS, suggest that nostalgia is going to play a big part in the story. This breakthrough 1988 episode by Ben Aaronovitch once again pits the Doctor against his oldest enemies, and for a Doctor Who serial, the scripting is unusually fast-paced, with not only an inordinate amount of action and better-than-average visual effects, but also some very well-developed characters and unexpected surprises.Sylvester McCoy has by now very firmly established himself as the Doctor and kicks off his second season by re-introducing an air of mystery to the role. Just when the fans thought they knew everything there was to know about their hero, along come some new plot twists and hushed moments of dialogue to turn the Almighty God Of Plot Continuity on its head. New companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) wastes no time in establishing her rapport with "The Professor," and the two of them are already forging a partnership that will be the best-loved duo since the days of Tom Baker's Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen's Sarah Jane Smith.More than a mere hat-tip to the series' own pilot episode, REMEMBRANCE actually returns to 1963 London and familiar settings last seen haunted by William Hartnell's incarnation of the first Doctor: to include Coal Hill School (including some prominent scenes in the Chemistry lab), and Foreman's junkyard in Totter's Lane. The long-standing question of just exactly what the Doctor was originally DOING here is finally answered as two warring schisms of Daleks emerge out of space-time and begin the all-out battle that viewers have been waiting for since 1984's REVELATION OF THE DALEKS. The Daleks somehow don't quite come off as terrifying as audiences may remember them; despite their murderous ways and their unending grating screams of "Exterminate," they present more like long-absent friends than the ultimate threat to the universe. Even the "Emperor" Dalek, last seen in 1967's EVIL OF THE DALEKS, has undergone a makeover in the style of the old Dalek cereal box comics.More central to the story, however, is the wonderful character development and the repeated emphasis on racism. Sophie Aldred's 1990's teen spirit is justifiably thrown off by the ways of the early 1960's --besides being baffled by the old English monetary system, she runs up against harsher realities such as the "No Coloureds" sign in the window of the boarding house run by Mike's mother. From this we can guess where Mike (Durslet McClinton, in a tragically handsome romantic foil for Ace) soaked up his "look out for your own" attitude, and how that idealism in turn caught fire with Ratcliffe (George Sewell) who once found himself at the wrong ideological end of what passed for "patriotism" in World War II. Ratcliffe's resentment has brought him into a reckless partnership with the renegade Dalek faction, who are themselves in turn despised by the "racially pure" Imperial Daleks. (Ace's deep revulsion to racist attitudes will be more fully explored in the later episode GHOST LIGHT.)REMEMBRANCE launches Doctor Who into its final triumphant run on BBC --Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred shepherded the series through its two final seasons with some of its best-ever writing and production values (which, alas, would not be enough to save the series from its ultimate cancellation by the Beeb in 1990). McCoy's unreadable "man of mystery" performance is first glimpsed in this episode, mostly in form of hints and verbal slips that do not go unnoticed by Ace. The grander backstory of the Time Lords is widened out as well, and there are quite a few references to past episodes that longtime fans will enjoy. The script even manages a couple of gags at the series' own expense, as well as providing a plausible "early origins" basis for the secret military agency that will later be known as U.N.I.T. Simon Williams' Captain Gilmore appears to be played mostly for comic effect in a kind of exaggerated foreshadowing of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The performances by Pamela Salem as Rachel and Karen Gledhill as Alison go a long way towards solidifying the "peacetime chaos" that was English society in the early 60's. The opening pre-credits shot of the Dalek mothership looming over an unsuspecting Earth is brilliantly accented by a background babble of 1960's media sound bytes, to include speeches by John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.Besides some hilarious commentary by McCoy and Aldred that demonstrates just how closely the two worked together during their time in the series, the DVD has cleaned up the eternal problem of Doctor Who background music dampening out the dialogue. Special Features are little more than the obligatory biographies, blooper outtakes, and alternate camera angles of two effects sequences --not all it's cracked up to be. Aaronovitch clearly has some big shoes to fill (this being the first Dalek serial in the series NOT directed by Dalek creator Terry Nation), and he carries it off very well. No character (least of all Ace) is left standing around looking for something to do, the story's pacing proceeds at a comfortable rate with very little filler, there are a number of total surprises (even to hardcore fans who think they already know all about Doctor Who), and of course plenty of action scenes with lots of Daleks going kerboom. Definitely one of McCoy's best outings as the Doctor, as well as the best Dalek serial ever (with the possible exception of 1974's GENESIS OF THE DALEKS). This episode occupies a place in my own personal Top Ten list of Greatest Doctor Who Stories Ever."

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