Message #92214

[The Doc]

Just some info to add to the above. The Shada DVD comes in two versions. One with linking narration that was the same on the VHS and the second which is animated and featuring the Eighth Doctor, however that version will only be viewable on your computer with an internet connection. The features for the two DVD's are as follows.

Disc One:

Shada
The television story was never transmitted, as the filming was never completed due to industrial action at the BBC. The linking narration for those missing scenes, first recorded for the BBC Video release of this story, were recorded with Tom Baker in the 1990s at London's Museum Of The Moving Image (MOMI), and was set in their "Behind The Sofa" Doctor Who exhibition. It is that BBC Video release that is presented here, with only the player format changed - from VHS to DVD.

Special Features:
- Info Text
- Shada (BBCi) - Move forward in time to the early 2000's, and the BBC's Doctor Who website did a number of "webcasts" in co-operation with Big Finish; and Shada was one of the stories they remounted. Tom Baker was unavailable to reprise his role as The Fourth Doctor, so with a little wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey trickery Paul McGann takes the lead as The Eighth Doctor; again featuring the lovely Lalla Ward, and with K-9's original voice, John Leeson, on board. That webcast is also presented here, but only if you put the disc in your computer, as the animation plays through your web browser.
- Coming Soon Trailer - The original TARDIS crew land outside Paris during the French Revolution, and soon get caught up in established events. With scores of people heading for the infamous guillotine, can The Doctor (William Hartnell) "head off" a grisly fate for his travelling companions, whist keeping his own? The Reign Of Terror - complete with two animated episodes to replace missing footage, is out at the end of January. 

Disc Two:

Special Features:
- Taken Out Of Time - A retrospective look at Shada, featuring some wonderful contributions from Tom Baker, the production crew, and other cast members such as Daniel Hill (Chris Parsons in the story).
- Now And Then - This instalment takes us to Cambridge with locations then and now.
- Strike! Strike! Strike! - Shaun Ley, on the TARDIS control room set, gives us the back-story of the unions at the BBC. Various talking heads contribute to this featurette, with many stories of offended dressers, ten o'clock deadlines, and of course Shada being shelved, stalled, and then cancelled. Included is the famous footage of Blue Peter being presented from the set of Robot, and there are a wealth of Classic Series clips used to illustrate points with humour and simplicity.
- Being A Girl - Louise Jameson narrates this look at the women in front of, and behind, the camera in the worlds of Doctor Who. From the BBC's first female producer Verity Lambert, via Susan Foreman, Liz and Leela, to Rose and Donna.
- Clips galore, goodies, baddies, Classic and New Who, and some truly decent insights about casting roles and villainous women all contribute to the story being told. There's also a valid question about if you should "fancy The Doctor", and the consequences thereof.
- Photo Gallery - Shada in front of the camera and behind. Publicity shots and planned stills, sets, stars and scarves, all set to some charming incidental music. Features a great set of cameo appearances by a toasting fork, and that tin dog thing.

Disc Three:

More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS

The extended VHS release of the televised Thirty Years In The TARDIS is transferred to DVD, with a host of new extras to pad out the disc, and some of those extras outshine the main programme.

The programme itself is a retrospective consisting of a wealth of clips and interviews, voice-overs and specially shot footage, including an early version of a particular special effect that was not fully realised until the 2012 Christmas special The Snowmen.

There's adverts, skits, spoofs, cereals, cars, and more monsters than you shake a sonic screwdriver at. If you like retropsective clip shows then you'll love this. Do be aware, however, that the picture quality is, at times, pretty atrocious due to the archive material used.

Remembering Nicholas Courtney - Michael McManus (Nicholas' friend and biographer) takes us through the real life of The Brigadier, largely via a recorded interview from 2010. Even in the taped interview Nick looks frail, but his spirit is indomitable and shines brightly throughout. The extra is well paced and well done, and McManus' interview is a delight to watch as he prompts very little and lets Nick tell his own story; and his linking narration is very simple and easy to take in. It's such a nice piece - and all the harder to watch accordingly. It's still a wrench to the heart that this great man - a legitimate Doctor Who legend - is no longer around. The featurette also includes footage from 2003's The Story Of Doctor Who, and possibly one of the single best gatecrashing's of an interview ever captured on film. Entirely staged, obviously, but enormously entertaining when you see Who's peering in the conservatory window.

A diamond of an extra, and guaranteed to bring a lump to the throat. Also featuring clips of Nicholas' roles in other TV shows, like The Two Ronnies and Theatre 625, and mention is made of Courtney's other roles and jobs away from stage and screen. Great, great stuff.

Doctor Who Stories: Peter Purves - Yes, it's Steven Taylor's turn in the spotlight - or perhaps Morton Dill, if you prefer. Entirely taken from 2003's The Story Of Doctor Who, Peter Purves spills the beans on his time in the TARDIS... a ship he defends beautifully, during the course of the interview.

From Daleks to Doctors, and Monoids to Meddling Monks, Purves recalls his Who time with a great deal of humour - it's impossible to dislike a man who describes his own character in one particular story as being "a bit more butch in that one."

With excerpts from Blue Peter as well as the Hartnell era of Doctor Who - a short, entertaining, if slightly pedestrian, extra.

The Lambert Tapes: Part One - Yet more wheeled out 2003 footage from The Story of Doctor Who. Verity Lambert, the first producer of Doctor Who - and the BBC's only female producer at the time - recalls the genesis of the series, the introduction of Waris Hussein, and the rather famous tale of everyone's famous epitome of bug-eyed monsters and their arrival on the show.

Again, many clips illustrate part one of this potted history, and Lambert holds the attention easily and is very honest about the beginnings of the show. Features sixties fashion, and the backing track for the original Doctor Who theme, without the melody line, as background music.

Those Deadly Divas - More powerful women in Doctor Who - with Kate O'Mara, Camille Coduri, Tracy Ann Oberman, and er... Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman, discuss the powerful villainesses in Who; from The Rani to Yvonne Hartman.  O'Mara in particular had some incredibly dour, fun lines in the show as the Time Lady, and a spectacularly dismal view of the Time Lord's she was put against.

It's not a particularly riveting topic, and the level of villainy veers wildly, but the wonderful ladies on camera talking about themselves lift this above the mundane. It almost rescues this extra - but not quite. It will however make you realise how much you miss Camille Coduri on the show.

Photo Gallery - Behind the scenes and publicity shots from the BBC special, set this time to slightly less charming incidental music than the Shada one. Lots of shots of Jon Pertwee, and Daleks on Westminster Bridge, but these photos have an added bonus in that lots of them have not been seen before, which makes this a genuinely interesting gallery. Autons, Sontarans, the glorious and much missed Lis Sladen and Nick Courtney, and quite a few shots of the "Thirty Years" TARDIS prop. Such a great collection of photos.

With PDF Radio Times Listings, and Subtitles for those who might need them, that rounds off a very unusual set of DVDs.

It's not the greatest release in the DVD range, even given the wealth of material available here, but the two versions of Shada work well, and the Nicholas Courtney tribute almost justifies the release alone. It's certainly an eccentric set, with wildly veering content, but as a collection of standalone oddities in the worlds of Doctor Who, it succeeds well enough at being diverting and entertaining.

Oh, and the special effect shot from "Thirty Years" that made a full debut in The Snowmen? A single shot camera track from the outside of the TARDIS, through the Police Box doors, and into the control room, with no changes in angle, perspective, or scenery.

From DWOnline