Tractator29 Reviews

Into the Unknown: The Making of 'Underworld' (2010 Video)

Very interesting

[7/10 · 24 July 2010]

A decent effort this, a really interesting look at the making of one of the lesser regarded stories "Underworld". A story with a good first episode which degenerates rapidly.

The documentary looks at the budgetary and production issues surrounding the story presenting them in a way that is interesting and engaging without dumbing them down.

At the time the BBC was, like the country, suffering from rampant inflation and budgetary issues. Whereas previous seasons had been allowed to go over budget that was not allowed by the time Season 15 was in production.

All in all a good effort.

Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor (2010) Season 5, Episode 10

Superb

[9/10 · 21 June 2010]

This season of Doctor Who has been an impressive departure from the previous 4 seasons of the show since it has returned.

Vincent and the Doctor was another step in the right direction.

A well written and well characterised story where the Doctor travels back in time to meet Van Gogh after spotting a monster in the window of a church in one of his pictures. They meet him, the monster cannot be seen, well it can by Van Gogh and that is it. Hence this plays to the madness he had.

The story is not just about the monster, it is about Van Gogh and advancing the ongoing story arc. It also fulfilled that function as well.

We also had a really, really, touching moment when Van Gogh was taken to the future and listened to the curator speaking about his genius. Note to RTD - THAT is how to do emotion.

All in all this was a satisfying story, well acted, well written and Matt Smith was brilliant. The heir to Tom Baker. No goofy gurning but a real Doctor like presence. Moff made a stroke of genius when he cast him.

Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens (2010) Season 5, Episode 12

An unholy mess

[2/10 · 21 June 2010]

So this is what the season has been building up to ? We have had the crack in time as the theme running through the season, akin to Bad Wolf in season 1. Unlike the episode Bad Wolf this is a let down primarily for a few reasons.

I do not wish to give any spoilers away. The return of various faces from the past made little sense. The episode started off trying to link strands from the previous episodes, then we had some padding in and around Stonehenge which felt rather laboured, then we had a bit of a fan overload with the assembled monsters from the past. A few namechecked were not there. The story carries on the theme from Human Nature about the Doctor being the threat. It also re-emphasises the point about the Doctor not being put into a trap. However it is rather clumsily done. I like Moffatt's work. Compared to the drivel from his predecessor his stories are well constructed but this just felt like it was a tick box of various elements to appeal to hardcore fans and new series junkies alike. All well and fine but that does not make good TV.

The twist about what was inside the Pandorica was interesting, indeed the best thing about it and no I am not going to tell you even though this review is spoiler marked. You will need to watch it. You can then suffer as I did.

Trials and Tribulations (2008 Video)

Predictable as ever

[2/10 · 25 September 2009]

Sorry but this does not cut it for me. When looking at a documentary to take in the turbulent Colin Baker years it is easy to dwell on the negative as this does.

There were many positives in Colin's reign too.

These should have been mentioned.

For instance Colins vision for the Doctor, he had the most inauspicious of starts strangling Peri but he wanted to get towards a more mellow, multi-layered character as he has done in the Big Finish audios. It would also have been nice to have had more on Mel. I appreciate Langford was not interested - cannot say I blame her - but the character was underdeveloped and unappreciated. Gary Russell has shown that with his books and Big finish.

Paris in the Springtime (2005 Video)

Why give this to a Doctor Who fan ?

[6/10 · 19 December 2008]

This is not bad, do not get me wrong. Stradling gets to grips with the subject relatively well but in a rather pedestrian way however my overall gripe with this documentary is that it is not just about City of Death which is a pretty run of the mill Doctor Who story but is also about the late great Douglas Adams. Now surely a Doctor Who fan would have a natural bias to his Doctor Who work, okay this is a Doctor Who DVD after all, but come on Restoration Team and show the man some respect. Douglas Adams was far more than just another employee on Doctor Who. He was a legend and deserved far more from the DVD production process than this.

The other issue I have is one of accessibility. Stradling deconstructs the subject matter but never in a way to welcome outsiders in. It is all very very much tailored to the long term Doctor Who fan and as such is rather exclusive.

However those are minor gripes, I found it quite adequate and quite enjoyable.

Davros Connections (2007 Video)

Well done Brendan, another winner

[10/10 · 18 December 2008]

There are precious few superlatives in the English language to describe this incredible biopic on Davros from the extremely safe pair of hands that is Brendan Sheppard.

Brendan deals with an old subject, Davros the creator of the Daleks, in a vibrant fresh and dynamic way. He brings the subject to life so much so that fans who had already bought the releases as standalone sales flocked to buy this release in part to see this highly talked about documentary and in part to see the new Remembrance of the Daleks.

I find it hard to accept the standard of other DVD extras in the Doctor Who range when you have releases as sublime as this one which set the standard others have to achieve.

Well Done Brendan.

A Darker Side (2007 Video)

Oh dear,this adds nothing really.

[3/10 · 18 December 2008]

Well the first thing you can say is that this is not that interesting. You could say it is rather dull. But then would it ever be interesting given that it is covering a story that is well known as to its roots. At least Ed Stradling, who usually turns out decent documentaries, tries to make it more relevant to today with a few taped on references to New Who, undoubtedly part of 2Entertains efforts to make the old DVD's more accessible. However you feel this is all done in a rather token way as it does not in my view add to the documentary overall.

Probably the oddest thing about this documentary is interviewing an actor who appeared in it who is killed in the second minute on screen. I mean what on earth does he have to contribute. He probably was only there for the first day.

This is really one for the purist who knows little about this story. Wonder how many of them there are.

A Matter of Time (2007 Video)

Seminal work on Graham Williams time as producer

[8/10 · 18 December 2008]

Ed Stradling gets back to form with a seminal piece of work covering the tenure of the late Graham Williams as producer of Doctor Who.

Like Ronnie Bleasdale I like to be informed in DVD extras on Doctor Who. This extra does it in spades. There is so much to it that it really merits a second viewing. This is fascinating and the interviews come thick and fast.

This documentary really plays to Stradlings strengths, covering a top level issue and giving a detailed overview of a subject rather than an introspective on a particular story. Written by jobbing Big Finish actor Nicholas Pegg this is an affectionate look at a tumultuous era in the shows history and does it so well.

Highlander: The Jamie McCrimmon Story (2005 Video)

One of the better talking heads

[6/10 · 18 December 2008]

Highlander is the rather predictably named DVD extra retrospective covering the contribution of Fraser Hines to the Doctor Who genre. Now Hines covers rather well, and all credit to the interviewer, his career in Doctor Who and peppers the extra liberally with interesting stories and anecdotes. I am guessing here that as a youngster Hines was a bit of a lad and that undertone follows the interview through as do often recounted but still enjoyable stories about his relationship with Patrick Troughton.

Very very watchable and very very well presented and a little different to the norm.

Directing 'Who': Michael Hayes (2007 Video)

Standard talking heads documentary

[3/10 · 18 December 2008]

This documentary shows one of the reasons why the Doctor Who DVD range needed a kick up the backside and some new blood. A 9 minute talking head with accomplished and respected director Michael Hayes which tells you nothing you did not already know as an old fan and for new fans nothing you would really care about.

Let us take Michael Hayes, here he is presented as a journeyman director but he is so much more than that. Starting directing in the very early sixties and working on a colossal range of TV shows some further background and perspective on his work would be nice as would his views and comments on where we are today and what else he has done.

Very very disappointing.

Beginning the End: Making 'The Time Warrior' (2007 Video)

Giving the DVD range a kick in the rear

[10/10 · 18 December 2008]

Wow, Brendan Sheppard has really excelled here. This is a very assured and accomplished DVD extra from someone who seems to have mastered his brief very very quickly. Let's face it, before the arrival of Sheppard and Phoenix on the scene the Doctor Who DVD range and its extras was, well, moribund. Every extra was interchangeable with each other and there was a certain sameness with them all. Sheppard has changed all that by producing excellent work which is made totally accessible to new and old fan alike and that is incredibly important especially as engaging with new fans was something the release range was struggling to do for a long time.

So here we have a sharp, fast paced, well observed DVD extra which really adds to the story and makes you feel a part of something that was shown 24 years ago.

Well done Brendan and well done to all concerned.

Love Off-Air (2006 Video)

Drivel

[1/10 · 17 December 2008]

This is a real waste of a great opportunity. When the BBC savagely destroyed the 16mm film prints of the classic Black and White Doctor Who stories the fans believed them gone forever. Fortunately there were a couple of people who recorded the soundtracks off air. Whereas this documentary touched on this it could have focused on it far more. It is, after all, rather important in the preservation of Doctor Who. However what we get is a glossing over of this and three fan-boys rattling on about their recording stories off the TV and what a jolly wheeze it was too. The three all being on the BBC payroll to boot. Quite frankly who cares about this and what does it really really add to the DVD releases of classic Doctor Who shows. It just gives the opportunity to minor names in Doctor Who fan circles to pontificate needlessly on something that may interest them but no doubt is of no interest to the larger fan community. DVD extras on Doctor Who releases are generally excellent and since 2Entertain opened up to other people/organisations the standard has risen. However this was one of the worst for a very very long time.

Doctor Who: Origins (2006 Video)

Factually accurate but dull dull dull.

[6/10 · 17 December 2008]

Sorry, but this documentary did not inspire or enliven me. I am sure it is factually accurate. Richard Molesworth has a well earned reputation for researching his subject. But there was no sparkle in the program and nothing to really make it stand it. It was just like a list of sequential events. This happened, then this happened, then this happened, then this happened and we ended up here. Nothing of any interest on the periphery.

I would much rather have had something interesting in it, a little bit of sparkle.

Chaps, you can do better.

Eye on... Blatchford (2005 Video)

Utterly Awful

[1/10 · 17 December 2008]

This is a pitiful waste of time and disc space. The 15 minutes I endured this sad, witless, unfunny, irrelevant, in-joke filled, drivel I will never be able to get back. I am rather resentful of that.

The team that brought us the rather impressive "Oh Mummy!", a Doctor Who fan made comic vignette that had been well received at a convention it was shown at and made it onto the Pyramids of Mars DVD, decided that lightning would strike twice and came up with "Eye on Blatchford". They should not have bothered. Whereas the original "Oh Mummy!" was fresh and comical this was not. It tried too hard and relied on too many similarities to "Oh Mummy!" but it failed to deliver as it simply was not funny.

Murder in Mind (2001–2003)

Well worth watching

[10/10 · 13 May 2007]

In the modern era of television, over the last ten or so years, there has been so little worth watching. The BBC still produces the odd rare gem, and this was one of them. A slightly wry look at the murder mystery with the stories told in a variety of narratives and a variety of perspectives from the straightforward to the outright wacky this is a wonderful little series that briefly shone for 3 series and left at just about the right time. The episodes are uniformly good.

Especially notable is the episode "Contract" with Adam Faith in as a contract killer in one of his last TV roles with Jamie Theakston putting in a surprisingly good performance as a Yuppie Banker.