Product Details

• Format: Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: BBC Warner
• VHS Release Date: July 19, 2000
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004WG74
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #360,804 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tell the Doctor, winner takes all!, March 20, 2002

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who - Enlightenment [VHS] (VHS Tape)

That's the message the White Guardian desperately tells Tegan in the final chapter of the Black Guardian/Turlough trilogy, which concludes with a fascinating concept dealing with immortal Eternals and mortal Ephemerals, in which being an Ephemeral is better. The Eternals are engaged in a spaceship race, where the craft are replicas of Earth vessels from various periods, with the officers and crew wearing uniforms conforming to a given period. The craft the TARDIS crew land on is an early 20th century Edwardian racing yacht, with the crew taken from 1901, the same year the first British submarine was launched. The prize? Enlightenment.

The Eternals don't have human ingenuity and imagination of their own, something that Ephemerals, or as Tegan says accurately, "human beings," are gifted with. The Doctor denounces them as parasites who feed on living minds.

Turlough's desperation is at a fever pitch here. He constantly beseeches the Black Guardian for advice, but by this time, the powerful being is fed up with the boy and has doomed him to living until he kills the Doctor. He looks more to the Doctor as his source of guidance and protection, but the weasel always working to better his position, especially when it appears he is joining sides with Wrack, the menacing pirate captain of the Buccaneer who has an equally menacing laugh. Kudos to Lynda Barron.

Tegan's her usual grumpy self, but she does show outrage when the Eternals react to the destruction of a rival competitor without compassion. Heck, I would be grumpy if I was being courted by a first mate who finds my mind fascinating.

In the dinner scene, the Doctor appreciates fine wine like he did in Day Of The Daleks. He also finds time to change his celery.

The best line is when the Doctor tells the seasick Tegan, "Brave heart, Tegan." To which the hapless Australian replies, "It's not my heart I'm worried about."

Marriner is the only Eternal who is the closest to likable, as he helps the Doctor aboard the Buccaneer. True, his obsession with Tegan makes him like a creep sometimes, but he is beginning to find out what it's like to be human. If he could choose, would he forsake his immortality in exchange for living with Tegan, or is his emotional insulation, as Romana would've called it, too advanced for him to actually care for her? It's almost like Wim Wenders' Himmel Uber Berlin.

The balance of power in the universe can be summed up in this exchange between the Black and White Guardian.

White Guardian: You will never destroy the light.
Black Guardian: Others will do it for me.
White Guardian: Destroy the light and you destroy yourself. Dark cannot exist without knowledge of light.
Black Guardian: "Nor light without dark."

That knowledge itself is enlightening.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An "Enlightening" Review, September 30, 2002

By 

Rachel Beverly (Alabama USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doctor Who - Enlightenment [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This was always one of my favorite Doctor Who epidodes. It's mysterious, exciting, well written, and well played. A true Doctor Who classic. I'd put it in the top five of the greatest Doctor Who episodes. The "confrontation" between the Black and White guardians at the end is thought provoking, and an end is finally brought to Turlough's annoying two-facedness. The Eternals are brilliantly, even chillingly, well played. And while it has been mentioned that Captain Wrack (sp?) is far to emotional to be a true Eternal, I think that is easily explained by the mulitude of extreamly emotional people she is "feeding" off of. On the down side, the costumes of the Black and White guardians are less than impressive when compared to how they previously looked. I think a simpler aproach than the decked out outfits they were kitted up with would have worked better. But this is a small part of the overall story and doesn't really make that much difference.
This is a truly wonderful episode and a must for any Doctor Who video collection.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Dr Who Ever!, July 9, 2000

By 

Mr. C. Lewis "Christopher D Lewis" (Montreal, Quebec) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who - Enlightenment [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Enlightenment is surley the best Dr Who ever-Seriously! It is futuristic and is a joy to watch. Everyone puts in there best efforts and with a great storyline, GREAT musicand great outfits E.T.C It makes it probably the best Dr Who adventure of all time! COULDN'T RECCOMEND IT MORE!