Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: The Space Museum/The Chase (Stories 15 and 16)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Season Two.
The Space Museum.
After a series of weird happenings aboard ship. The TARDIS appears to land on the planet Xeros, but when travelling through time and space appearances can sometimes be deceptive.
As, "Realtime" catches up, the Tardis crew realize they have been given a glimpse of their future fate.
They must change this future or face eternity as exhibits in the Morok War Museum...
Ep.1-"The Space Museum". Wandering around the museum one of the exhibits catches their eye.
Ep.2-"The Dimensions of Time". The Doctor plays mind games with a mind probe.
Ep.3-"The Search". Vicki encourages the Xerosians to revolt.
Ep.4-"The Final Phase". The Doctor is prepared for his, "exhibition", but the revolution is successful and the Tardis crew leave Xeros, with a device called a time space visualizer.
But across the gulf of space, evil exterminating eyes have been watching them,
...and this time they mean business!
Episode one is possibly the most intriguing episode in the programmes long history, it's a shame the remaining three episodes don't quite maintain episode ones intriguing premise.
After, "The Web Planet's" overspend of most of season two's budget, this was the story that had to, "cut cost's".
It does rather show, unfortunately. (The sets are very sparsely furnished.)
But still, five stars for episode one.
~~~~
DVD extras.
Defending The Museum
My Grandfather The Doctor
The Space Museum - Photo Gallery
A Holiday For The Doctor
Don't let the fact it's in Black and White put you off.
Airdate:- 24/4/65 -15/5/65.
~~~~
The Chase.
The Daleks have had enough of the Doctors interference in their plans, so they despatch an execution squad of Daleks to persue and exterminate the Tardis crew. The Doctor and his friends have got to keep one step ahead.... their very lives depend on it.
I like this story It's six episodes of fun, a madcap run-a-round of a story of which they did a lot in sixties TV shows.
In it's basic concept it is similar to The Keys Of Marinus, but I feel the ingredients work better in this story, giving a more satisfying viewing experience.
Mr Hartnell finally get's a chance to do a bit of comedy, check out his reaction when the Frankenstein creature rises from the laboratory bench.
I simply must mention episode six, I think Ray Cusick's Mechonoid design is as fantastic looking now just as I did when I watched on original transmission. The Dalek/Mechonoid fight scene is also a tour de force for the special effects guys.
So get out the popcorn take the phone off the hook and enjoy this silly slice of campy sixties fun, I know I do.
Individual episode titles.
Ep.1- "The Executioners". The Daleks despatch the execution squad.
Ep.2- "The Death of Time". The Aridians are coerced by the Daleks to hand over the Tardis crew.
Ep.3- "Flight through Eternity". A mystery of the sea is finally explained.
Ep.4- "Journey Into Terror". Just a haunted house, or a nightmare world?
Ep.5- "The Death of Doctor Who". Double trouble for the Doctor.
Ep.6- "The Planet of Decision". Success, and a way back to a, "normal" life for some of the Tardis crew, if they take it.
Due to copright reasons The Beatles playing "A Ticket to Ride", will only be on the region two release. Their, "on screen" time is only twenty five seconds.
~~~~
DVD extras.
The Thrill Of The Chase
(Give-a-Show Slides)
Doctor Who - Follow That Dalek
Shawcraft - The Original Monster Makers
The Chase - Photo Gallery
Last Stop White City
Beyond the Screen
Enter+++ Enter+++ Zero +++ Stop (EASTER EGG)
Daleks! Conquer And Destroy
Trivia:- For anyone wishing to see the inspiration of the Mechonoids design, just check out a picture of the communication satellite, "Telstar".
This is also the first story to feature the Daleks with their vertical slats, I've always thought they were solar panels.
Airdate:- 22/5/65 - 26/6/65.
On sale at amazon.co.uk.
Enjoy.

If you're a diehard fan of classic Doctor Who who simply must have every episode of the First Doctor available on DVD, then you're stuck: You have no choice but to pony up for this overpriced dual offering of two of the dullest stories from the William Hartnell years. If you just want a taste of what early Doctor Who was about, go with "The Aztecs" or "The Web Planet."

In the "The Space Museum," the Doctor and his companions discover they have been turned into a museum exhibit on a planet on the fringes of a moribund galactic empire and must change history to escape their fate. The four-episode story was so bad that the Special Features menu includes "Defending the Museum," a re-evaluation of the sequence by Who critic Robert Shearman explaining why the story wasn't THAT bad, but still pretty bad. There's also a bizarre spoof feature in which comedian Christopher Green, in his Ida Barr persona, explains how the show cleverly covered for actors while they were on vacation, briefly writing them out of scripts or taping bits that could be edited in later. It's an interesting, behind-the-scenes look at one aspect of producing a weekly TV serial, but the point of the Ida Barr shtick will be lost on most American viewers.

"The Chase" is a tired, late Terry Nation story in which the Daleks chase the Doctor and his companions through time as they land in various times and places, mostly in Earth history. Peter Purves makes a dual appearance, first as an American Southerner sightseeing at the top of the Empire State Building and later as Steven Taylor, a captive of the planet Mechanus who will become one of the Doctor's companions in "The Time Meddler." "The Chase" is episodic and entirely unremarkable, except as the story in which Ian and Barbara return to 1965 London.

The Special Features included on the third disc redeem the substandard program content somewhat, but do not justify the nearly $50 list price. Not to be missed are a brief documentary on Shawcraft, the private modeling company commissioned by the BBC to build the first Daleks, and "Follow That Dalek," an amateur color film showing how Shawcraft made many of the early props for Doctor Who as well as the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car.

Finally, a word about "helpful votes": Please do not rate this review as "unhelpful" simply because I don't give every Doctor Who story five stars. I love Doctor Who and regard it as the greatest science fiction TV series of all time, but I believe the point of reviews is to elevate the great above the merely good and the good above the plainly bad. If you disagree with me, write your own review and rate mine "helpful" for inspiring you to contribute something you might not otherwise have done. Save "unhelpful" for reviewers who can't spell or write a complete sentence. Thanks.

I'm not much of a Beatles fan, but I did like the scene in "The Chase" that they cut out on this DVD release. It's not only important to emphasize the Beatles impact on popular culture at the time this episode was made, but it also has some great and funny character moments in that scene between the Doctor's companions. And the scene is NOT a few seconds long as some people put it, it's at least a couple of minutes! I loved that scene, and you don't get it here on this DVD. That said, both "The Space Museum" and "The Chase" were great stories that any Whovian would enjoy!

First off let me say that it's my understanding that if the fans had not brought up the subject so vocally beforehand, the Beatles scene might have just slipped in under the radar. I'm not going to blame anyone on the BBC side, least of all the Restoration Team who work so hard on these releases.

Now let me tell you ... it irks me to no end that the scene has been cut from the American release. Is it crucial to understanding the overall storyline? Well it's definitely important to that episode but overall I suppose not ... though many other scenes fit that description even more so. Regardless, they BELONG there. And we can talk all day about protecting artistic rights but cutting this scene, with its historical significance within the program as well as in real life, does nothing for the surviving artists themselves -- who as we know wanted to appear on the show. Not allowing the scene is simply a crime against culture.

My personal solution? Though I don't support its being released with the scene cut and I in no way believe that refusing to buy this one story will endanger future releases, I've decided that I will buy it ... and I will also illegally download the entire Beatles catalog*. Further, I will keep only The Space Museum and give away The Chase, making sure the recipient knows all about the missing scene and how to find it if so desired. Finally, this is my cue to buy a region free dvd player ... which I'll need to watch the intact version I'll be buying from the UK. When I watch The Chase it will NOT be an edited version.


*OK I won't really be illegally downloading the Beatles ... but I won't be buying them either ;-)

This release includes 2 unrelated stories from the William Hartnell era. The only thing that links them is that The Chase followed The Space Museum in sequential order. The first story, The Space Museum, has a nice, eerie and atmospheric beginning. However, the rest of the story, once our heroes have officially "arrived" doesn't make much sense. Yes, the Doctor's interrogation scene is a lot of fun, and it's a bit amusing to see Vicki as a rebellion leader, but Ian and Barbara are a bit wasted. So much of this story is sub-par, set design, costume design, story development, that it's not really not worth watching more than once.

The Chase brings the beloved Daleks back. The Daleks have somehow gotten their hands on a time machine and have decided that they must follow the Doctor through space and time to destroy him. Every week was a new location, like Terry Nation's previous story, The Keys of Marinus, making sure that the designers had to design new sets and alien costumes for each week. It's an odd assembly, that seems more like, hey what if the Daleks met Frankenstein's monster, yeah how about Dracula too! You know what, we can blame the Marie Celeste mystery on the Daleks, etc., etc. It's not a bad story, it's just not that interesting. The beginning with the time T.V. apparatus is fun, but is quickly left behind. It almost would have been more interesting to have the Doctor, Ian and Barbara watching various instances in history that are now wrong because a Dalek has shown up, and the Doctor realizes that he has to go correct this.

Everyone is so upset that somewhere between 10 seconds and 2 minutes have been cut from the Chase, but no one has really mentioned the true crime here... Why did I have to get the Space Museum just to watch the Chase?! I've seen The Space Museum, and even had it on VHS. It is a lukewarm story at best, but I really had no desire to upgrade it to the DVD format. Yes, the fist episode is quite unique and fascinating, why are there no footprints, why can't anyone see them, why are their clothes changed, but the next three episodes really don't live up to that fascinating beginning. Even the extras on the Space Museum all seem to focus on, well yes it's bad, but it's not THAT bad.

Now to the Chase. Yes, I would have loved to have seen the Beatles on Doctor Who. Yes, I've heard about that clip for years, and I was disappointed that it wasn't allowed to be on the DVD because of the whole Beatles rights in North America. But, the edit didn't affect the story. In fact, the story itself is actually just o.k. There are a few fun bits, especially the end where Ian and Barbara mug their way through London, delighted to be home. There are some nice extras on the Chase, mostly having to do with Dalekmania, but they are still fun.

So, this isn't an amazing DVD set. It's 2 fair to middling stories from the WIlliam Hartnell era. However, if you are a Dalek fan, you should definitely get this for the extras on the Chase.

Here we have the fifteenth and sixteenth stories of "Doctor Who". Yes, from way back in the mid-1960's we get these little gems which aren't great, but are certainly entertaining. Plus the mere fact that they're 1960's "Doctor Who" THAT WE STILL HAVE makes them important.

"The Space Museum" is a four-part story where the TARDIS crew begins to experience some odd wibbly-womey, timey-wimey stuff. They have different clothes for no obvious reason, Vicki breaks a glass which then mends itself and they appear to not be leaving footsteps when they walk on sand. Things get even more bizarre when they wander into a museum where no one seems to notice them and where they see themselves on display.

I rather liked this story, though it's true the last three parts don't hold up to the standard set by the first. It's something of a pity, but despite that I found the story to be rather entertaining, and was surprised to learn that it has something of a "meh" reputation among fans. Besides, you have to love the look on Hartnell's face when he emerges from an improvised hiding place. Oh, and a bit of fun: "Star Wars" fans should keep an eye open for a young Jeremy Bulloch, who later went on to play Boba Fett.

"The Chase" is a six-parter showing the Daleks and the TARDIS crew locked in... well, a chase. Across space and time. The Doctor and company run somewhere. The Daleks follow. Wash, rinse, repeat for six parts.

Again, this isn't a bad story idea, though the execution isn't great. Still, there are some entertaining moments, like watching a Dalek fumbling math, seeing a Dalek go overboard on a ship and watching Daleks being menaced by Dracula (?) and Frankenstein's monster (?!). I also liked the bit where the TARDIS ends up in New York. Sadly there really isn't much of a story, per se, but the little scenes come together nicely and make for an overall entertaining tale.

There's lots of special features on these discs, as always, and the audio/video are quite good. I wouldn't be surprised if they're actually better than what they were when they were broadcast.

Now onto the Beatles thing. I'm not kidding in my headline here. If you didn't know it wasn't there, you wouldn't miss it. What's removed is a roughly 90 second clip showing the TARDIS crew seeing the Beatles performing "Ticket to Ride". It's a cute scene and I'm always amused by watching Ian's little dance. But it adds nothing to the plot and if you really feel the need to see it, a few moments of work on YouTube will get it to you. It's a pity that the clip had to be removed, but don't blame the BBC or 2|Entertain; blame the Beatles' people, who apparently didn't want to sell the rights to the clip. Refusing to buy this product because of a minor, non-story impacting clip is just silly and will keep you from seeing a delightful couple of stories.

I really enjoyed these DVDs. You might really enjoy them too, if you are willing to see the comedy in what is many ways a parody of other Doctor who episodes, and if you are willing to care about the characters. Otherwise, it does not work, and there are hard core Doctor Who fans who just did like these stories.

First, these stories are comic in intent. In 1965, the Doctor Who people thought Daleks are funny, time travel can be funny, and the Doctor himself can sometimes be a bumbling fool. The Doctor Who series involves a time traveling alien whose space craft resembles a police call box, at least from the out side. This alien is just called the doctor. In the the first two seasons of the show, the Doctor and his friends had traveled to various periods in earth's past, the Aztec empire, Tibet at the time of Marco Polo, and so on. The doctor had also traveled to distant planets where he encountered other aliens. In particular, he had encountered Daleks, a race of aliens who had adapted to living inside of metal robot like bodies--if you do not know Daleks imagine R2D2 with a plunger for a hand, an eye that sits at the end of a stalk--a bug like eye-and a deadly ray gun built into the Dalek's body. The doctor had apparently wiped out the Daleks in an early episode, but another episode the doctor visits earth in the 22nd century and learns that Daleks have invaded and conquered earth. The Doctore saves the earth, of course. The concept of time travel, however, had been developed very little. The show had never dealt with the time travel paradox, and the show had never introduced the possibility that there might be other aliens, aside from the Doctor, who had time travel. The first story in this collection deals with the paradox. The Doctor and friends, have an encounter with a future where they see themselves as exhibits in a museum, and try to change that future. The episode has a lot of stumbling, and ill conceived ideas about how to change the future. The episode, has Daleks on display in a museum, and the people running the museum are part of an evil empire that is going down hill, and the museum intended as a monument to this empire is largely ignored. It is clearly a joke. The next story involves the Daleks creating a time machine to chase down the doctor because they are angry about what he did to them in two previous stories. The idea of a chase through time and space is clearly a joke, and to underscore this the sound track is a lively rag time piano piece. Both stories are parodies of B-movies and of previous Doctor Who episodes. Since this was made in 1965, the special effects are B-movie quality.

Obviously, it would be hard to pay attention to 10 episodes of jokes about B-movies if you don't care about the characters. But, I am going to make the case that characters are strong point of the first two seasons of Doctor Who. For those who do not know--Doctor Who is a program that is still on the air. The Doctor has been played by eleven different actors, on TV. The thirty second season of Doctor Who is about to be aired. The Doctor has always kept friend with him on his various journeys, and most of these friends have been human. The Doctor is known for saving the earth from all sorts of alien plots, many of these by Daleks. The interesting thing about the first two season's of Doctor who is that he was evolving into the character who would be loved for decades to come. When we first met the Doctor--see the Doctor Who: The Beginning (An Unearthy Child / The Daleks / The Edge of Destruction). He did not like humans, he did not trust humans, and he cared about other people very little. He had deliberately abducted two other characters--Ian and Barbra--because they had learned about his time machine, and the Doctor did not trust them with that kind of information. He could not just take them back to their time, because where his space-time machine landed was more or less random. In the stories in the Beginning collection, the Doctor, Ian and Barbra learn that they can trust each other, often need each other. Over the course of the first season, all three of them become willing to risk their lives to save the other two. The Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth (Story 10), is the first time the Doctor, fights to save the earth, rather than just save his friends. In a certain twist, at the end of the Chase, when Ian and Barbra find a way to get to their own time, the Doctor is as concerned about being left without them as anything, and tries to talk them out of leaving. Another character, Viki, defends, Ian and Barbra's decision, but this is after a time when she feels that with all the people in the space-time ship, she is a "fifth wheel." The characters involved in the story are complex, and it would be hard to sit through these stories without caring about them as individuals.

Interestingly, this is the penultimate, show of the second season, and in the final episode, The Time Meddler, the Doctor has finally become the hero who we know and love. In that story, he heroically fights another time traveler--from the Doctor's own planet--who is plotting to change earth's history. It took two years to get to the Doctor as we know him, and that is what makes the episodes from the first two seasons interesting. You learn about the various people who changed the Doctors life, and the Space Museum and the Chase is a essentially the end of the story. It might help to have seen the stories in the Beginning collection before you watch these stories. The special effects are terrible, but you may not notice if you are laughing at the whole show, and the extras are not as fantastic as some extras in other other Doctor Who collections. The high points are the commentary on Ian and Barbra, and the account of Dalek toys and comic books in the 1960s.

I had great fun with this video: it is wonderful laughs.

The Chase was a wonderful Doctor Who episode. I find it sad that so many people gave such a fantastic episode one star just because some Beatles stock footage was removed. Sure that was a cute scene but I don't see taking it down to one star it's not as though the scene was vital to the plot. Personally I loved finding out why the Mary Celeste was a ghost ship. That scene alone is worth buying the DVD. It's a very fun episode the humor is intentional. It is also a very important episode because in the end we say goodbye to the Doctor's very first human companions. A little note for the younger fans neither of these two companions were in love with the Doctor or running away from their wedding day.

The Space Museum is a wonderful story focused on time. Doctor and his people arrive before they arrive. Well, the use of time as a major part of the plot does make it an interesting Doctor Who story. Sad to say the rest of the story - themes, settings, and characters drag the story down. On the other hand, we get to see a Dalek as a museum display. Weird.
Will the Doctor and his companions escape before they also become displays?
The Chase is one of those epic stories. The Doctor and his companions are chased by the Daleks, which is the meaning of the title. It seems that the Daleks have decided to take out the Timelord once and for all. Also, they have invented a Time Machine which is, in fact, easier to handle than the Doctor's own time machine. They visit many places in time and space including New York City!
Both stories have commentaries and extras which is worth watching or listening to. If you liked this set I would suggest Doctor Who: The Rescue / The Romans (Stories 11 & 12).

I really like The Space Museum. It was about how they needed to change the future, but weren't sure what would do that. Even the Doctor was clueless--and he's always saying to make sure you don't change anything. Yet in the Romans, if he hadn't done certain things, historical events would not have come to pass. In this one, he shows that no one really knows what will affect the future. Plus it was a quick story filled with actual action. The Space Museum was episodes 26-29 of season 2.

As for The Chase, it was okay, but we see how young and unknowledgeable this
doctor is compared to the current series. And then there is this one comment that bugs me where they have this thing that can show you images from the past, and a particular one comes up, and he's all "Well, it had to happen in the past for it to be on here." Hel-lo! You're in a time machine! Past, present, and future are all relative. And it may be in the past of where you are now 6000 years in the future, but that doesn't mean it's sudden;y going to start affecting you in two seconds. But I really did love the Frankenstein House episode. The Chase is made up of episodes 30-35 of season 2.