Classic Doctor Who DVD Releases - General Discussion

[Theta Sigma]

The War Games:
The DVD info text in episode 8 noted some of the roles in other TV shows played by Edward Brayshaw at the time that he played The War Chief but did not note the name of those episodes.
It stated that he was the London crime boss in Department S (the episode in question was A Cellar Full of Silence), the deputy head of a crime syndicate in an episode of The Avengers written by The War Games writers Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks (Homicide and Old Lace) and gambling casino owner in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) [The Trouble With Women].

[badhat-h]

the wilson bros on 'death to the daleks'-

http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd...he-daleks.html

the production subtitles get 2 thumbs ups as usual.

[Tim The Enchanter]

Watched the second half of the Ace boxset - The Happiness Patrol. Quite a good story with some good guest cast in Sheila Hancock, Ronald Fraser and Harold Innocent. Slightly falls apart in the third episode where things wrap up perhaps a little too quickly, but it's fun nonetheless. Excellent extra on the DVD about how politics is covered in Doctor Who, which is a lot more interesting than it might sound.

[Rompa1978]

Watched my Dalek war box-set with the fabulous John Pertwee as the 3rd Doctor. I enjoyed it, though I must confess that Frontier in Space was actually rather boring for me in places, one minute they are in a cell, next they are on the run, then again in a cell, then being brought before a politician, then being blamed and untrusted so back in the cell...

Planet of the Daleks, was great fun.

[runalong]

Originally Posted by Theta Sigma

The War Games:
The DVD info text in episode 8 noted some of the roles in other TV shows played by Edward Brayshaw at the time that he played The War Chief but did not note the name of those episodes.
It stated that he was the London crime boss in Department S (the episode in question was A Cellar Full of Silence), the deputy head of a crime syndicate in an episode of The Avengers written by The War Games writers Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks (Homicide and Old Lace) and gambling casino owner in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) [The Trouble With Women].

They may have ran out of space

[Theta Sigma]

Originally Posted by runalong

They may have ran out of space

Or just plain laziness.

The War Games:
In the DVD commentary for the tenth and final episode, Wendy Padbury (Zoe) said that Bernard Horsfall, who played one of the three Time Lords in the story who placed the Second Doctor on trial before forcing his regeneration, was handsome. With her description of Horsfall as handsome, Wendy Padbury neglected to mention that as different characters she got to play Horsfall’s wife some years earlier before this commentary in the Big Finish Sixth Doctor story Davros.
The other two Time Lords were played by Trevor Martin and Clyde Pollitt. As noted by DVD info text writer Martin Wiggins, Trevor Martin later played the Doctor in a 1974 stage play (Wiggins neglected to mention the name of the play which was Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday and incidentally got mentioned subsequent to The War Games DVD release in 2011’s Night Terrors) and featured Wendy Padbury as a different companion.
With the other two Time Lord actors, there is an inconsistency with the way Wiggins presented information about them. With Clyde Pollitt he mentioned that he later played another or the same Time Lord when he played the Time Lord Chancellor in The Three Doctors. (If it was the same Time Lord it would explained why Pollitt as the Chancellor wasn’t too enthusiastic about getting the Second Doctor to help the Third against the menace which turned out to be Omega.)
However Wiggins made no such speculation about Horsfall’s Time Lord on whether he was the same Time Lord in The Deadly Assassin when he played Chancellor Goth and The Deadly Assassin was also directed by The War Games director David Maloney. It has been suggested in a DWM article that if Goth was the same Time Lord that Horsfall played in The War Games it would explain the personal animosity between the Doctor and Goth.
The War Games ended Doctor Who’s sixth season on June 21 1969 and the seventh season would not come around until January 1970. As noted by Wiggins, Doctor Who’s slot was filled during this season break by an American import called Star Trek which made its UK debut on July 12 three weeks after the conclusion of The War Games. Star Trek, wonder what happened to it as it certainly not part of my DVD viewing.

[runalong]

You're missing out Theta one of the best SF shows ever made.

I don't think leaving some details is laziness but just looking at the size of many of your posts the details would take time to run on screen. I find the DVD facts often a bit dry for my tastes but The WAr Games although a lot of escape/capture I thought really held up with a great Troughton performance when he meets the War Chief hinting st his earlier past

[Theta Sigma]

Originally Posted by runalong

You're missing out Theta one of the best SF shows ever made.

That statement is false as I have seen all the existing "classic" episodes before and it is not one of the best SF shows ever made, it is the best SF show ever made.

Frontier In Space:
In Part 1 there is a digital clock on the cargo ship and if one notices it fluctuates back and forth in time due to when scenes were recorded where the clock was in contrast to where they are slotted in their places in the episode.
The times on the digital clock is in the following order in the episode:
1. 22:09
2. 22:59
3. 22:01
4. 22:40
5. 22:27

The digital clock was noticed by the DVD commentators and the info text writer but they weren’t looking at it all the way through.
Commentary moderator Clayton Hickman only noticed Times 1 and 5 saying only half an hour had passed while the info text writer only noticed Times 1 and 3 with the comment that Time 3 went back in time from Time 1. If the info text writer had noticed Time 2 he would have noticed that there was a jump in time from Time 1 to 2 before going back in time to Time 3.
In the commentary, Katy Manning (Jo) in comment to General Williams’ (Michael Hawkins) ears called him Dr Spock. As much as I love Katy, unfortunately this allusion is a common misperception between the fictional Mr Spock and the real life Dr Benjamin Spock.
Speaking of things Star Trek, the info text writer said that Frontier In Space writer Malcolm Hulke’s idea for this story was influenced by his viewing of the Star Trek episode Balance of Terror and the info text writer detailed this Star Trek episode.
Of all the times that I have been reading the Doctor Who info texts, this is perhaps the first time that I have read one that detailed a Star Trek episode. In fact the last time Balance of Terror was mentioned in the info text in this episode it was mentioned without reference to the Star Trek title. Obviously the info text writer thought the viewer would still remember that it is a Star Trek episode that he is talking about.

[badhat-h]

the wilson bros on 'the krotons'-

http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd...e-krotons.html

i remember seeing it in '81 as part of the '5 faces' season before davison's 1st story in '82.

as ever praise for the production subtitles.

[badhat-h]

there is a great article on the making of the production subtitles in this month's DWM, page 42.