Customer Reviews

Doctor Who - The Crusade & The Space Museum [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really like these two stories of William Hartnell, flawed as they are by missing episodes.

The stories were originally transmitted between March 27 and May 15 1965. This release, despite the missing episodes, is a welcome addition to the Doctor Who library and is a must.

While the only flaw is the missing episodes, the BBC have finally delivered the goods by including the complete audio soundtrack on CD. Readers may be interested to know that in Britain the BBC has been releasing CD versions of missing stories, mainly from the Troughton era. Hopefully they will release them stateside soon.

What makes this release so good is the fact that side by side are the two facets of Doctor Who stories contained in one cassette. On the one hand you find the historical drama with the Doctor introducing the wider, younger, viewing public to the story of the Crusades, bringing history to life as it were and helping to invigorate dry history textbooks. Often with a Shakespearian slant, these stories also served a dual purpose in bringing drama to the same group.

The Space Museum is also notable for the innovative ideas which Doctor Who brought to television and to science fiction. No bug-eyed monsters here but a clever concept of moving ahead of yourself in time and seeing the outcome, with a plausible solution to what appears to be an intractable proble. Despite the cheap and flimsy sets the stories manage to hold our attention and keep us transfixed from episode to episode.

William Hartnell and the gang are excellent throughout as are the other actors. To my mind these are some of the best stories of the Hartnell years.

In a word, vintage! Classic Dr. Who at its best. While only samples of "The Crusade," "The Lion" and "Wheel of Fortune" give us a taste of the richness of the early Dr. Who stories. There is almost a Shakespearian quality to it. Educational as well as entertaining. And the Space Museum is a trippy "time gets messed up" story. It's a lot of fun seeing our heros getting themselves out of this mess. Even Vicki isn't as annoying as she usually is! If you liked anything about early Dr. Who, you've got to have this one!

For a fan that had never seen "The Crusade", I only wish all of it was there. "The Crusade" is a wonderful dramatic story. It's pretty hard core for the Hartnell era. The dialogue is absolutely beautiful. And William Russell reprising his role as Ian is a nice touch, although I do miss the telesnap idea the Restoration Team did for "The Ice Warriors", but better than "The Invasion". Nice to see Jean Marsh in her first Who role. "The Space Museum" starts off very interesting. The idead that the TARDIS jumped a groove on the album of Time, but then it turns into a rebels vs humanoid invaders story, that moves very slowly and has some horrible guests who are doing their best immitation of acting. But "The Space Museum" does have some enjoyable moments: Episode 1, the Doctor feeding goofy images into "the thought machine(?)", and Vicki stands out very well in episode 3. There is a great stupid line in this one: "Have any arms fallen into Xeron hands?", and many more. A highly enjoyable release that almost any Who fan can enjoy.

Of the DOCTOR WHO stories starring William Hartnell that I have seen so far, these two are my favorite. There is plenty of humor, intrigue and action to keep anyone interested. The quality of the video and audio is surprisingly good, considering the restoration that was required (the process of which is thoroughly detailed in the liner notes). STAR WARS fans will recognized Julian Glover in THE CRUSADE (he played General Veers in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK) and Jeremy Bulloch in THE SPACE MUSEUM (he played Boba Fett in the trilogy). The two "missing" episodes of THE CRUSADE are provided on compact disc - better that than nothing. But on the video, William Russell provides linking narration in character as Ian Chesterton to fill in the gaps. Very well done!

William Russell does a wonderful job in filling in the missing episodes to "The Crusade." It is a shame that we do not get to see Ian covered in ants! That would be a sight. Still, Julian Glover's performance with old Billy was enjoyable.

"The Space Museum" was a wonderful story as well. I loved the use of the time displacement. The only problem I have is how the Doctor was so concerned about a button being missing when he doesn't even recognize that Barbara's sweater will go missing. Still, it was a wonderful story. It is a perfect buy for all Doctor Who fans.

THE SPACE MUSEUM is definitely one of the best Dr Who stories of the first Doctor sagas. The acting is very realistic, particularly with the first episode. (The first episode also has a neat surprise!). For THE CRUSADES, all I can say is too bad the BBC threw out the other two episodes. This story proved that Dr Who didn't have to be all about monsters. Superb acting all of the say!

This tape gives some classic examples of Doctor Who's early years. First a historical story full of political intrigue (coupled with the tragedy of the missing episodes), followed by a way out adventure in Time and Space. It was great to see William Russell reprising his role as Ian Chesterton for the linking narration in the introduction of the first episode and for the missing second and forth episodes of "The Crusade"(I haven't listened to the CD with the audio from episodes 2 and 4 yet). I only got to see the black and white episodes once when I was growing up but I remember enjoying "The Space Museum" and it was a real treat to see it again. The collectible postcards with scenes from The Crusade were also a nice touch. Well worth adding to your collection.

This tape consists of the two remaining episodes of The Crusade and the complete version of The Space Museum. The Space Museum's first episode is fantastic, but the remaining three are a complete let-down. Don't let this keep you from buying this tape. The Crusade more than makes up for it; the plot and characterization are fantastic. It's only a shame it isn't complete. The missing episode's audio tracks do exist and are included on CD.

First you have "The Crusade". Not much here. You only get Episodes 1 & 3 because Episodes 2 & 4 were destroyed and lost. You do, however, get the audio of Episodes 2 & 4, but without an audio narration and no script which makes it very difficult to understand what's going on. But I do have the scripts of the episodes that I printed off the internet, and I can honestly tell you that apart from Episode 1 this story was crap. But "The Space Museum" is another story.

"The Space Museum" was a great story. I can't understand why this story is always criticized. Everyone agrees that Episode 1 is brilliant, but everyone seems to hate the rest of the story. Episode 2 was kind of a disappointment. The acting is bland, so is the directing, and Dennis Spooner's changes to the script of that episode doesn't help it. But Episodes 3 & 4 are great! This was no doubt the best story of the second season. A lot better than the highly overrated "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", and it has a lot better special effects too. Highly recommended!