44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Differences between this Special Edition and 2003 DVD release, June 19, 2011
I'm giving this five stars because "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" is one of the all-time spookiest of the Dr. Who stories, and Tom Baker is my favorite of the original run Doctors. As a point of interest, if you have an old VHS version, you may be missing some minor footage. When "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" was first issued on VHS, back in 1988, the producers wanted a British PG rating. In one scene, however, nunchuks are used by the Tong of the Black Scorpion. As nunchuks were then illegal in 1988, the VHS couldn't receive a PG rating with them shown. So the nunchuks use was edited out.
Primarily, I'm writing this review to let you know the differences between this (upcoming, as I write this) October 2011 Special Edition DVD set, and the first DVD set released back in 2003. I checked this out for my own purposes. I have the 2003 set, and I need to figure out if I "need" to purchase the Special Edition set when it comes out in four months.
Here's the extras on the older 2003 two-disc DVD set (issued as part of the Dr. Who 40th anniversary year). This set includes an option for English subtitles, and is complete and unedited (you can see the nunchuks!):
1. Commentary by producer Philip Hinchcliffe, director David Maloney, actor Louise Jameson (Leela), actor John Bennett (Li H'Sen Chiang), and actor Christopher Benjamin (Jago)
2. "Whose Doctor Who", a 59 minute 1977 episode from the BBC2 TV series, "The Lively Arts". Hosted by Melvyn Bragg, this is a fun look at the psychological impact of the Doctor Who show over the years, and includes interviews with school-children. Part of the program has behind-the-scenes footage of "The Talons of Weng-Chiang".
3. "Blue Peter: Make Your Own Doctor Who Theater", a 25 minute 1977 TV episode of a British show, "Blue Peter Theatre", a kid's show. It includes showing kids how to make a Doctor Who episode, complete with sound effects.
4. Behind the Scenes, 24 minutes of raw footage from the filming of "The Talons of Weng-Chiang". It's in black & white and poor quality, but it gives you an idea of the compromises the cast and crew made to film the episode with it's time/money/space constraints.
5. 1977 Interview with producer Philip Hinchcliffe on the BBC TV show "Pebble Mill at One". He talks about Doctor Who in general, as well as the impact of screen violence on children. I always find it interesting that Doctor Who was considered a children's show in England. In the U.S., it's mostly sci-fi loving adults, like me, who get a kick out of it.
6. Intros and teasers by Howard Da Silva
7. Production Note option
8. Photo Gallery, both design and production stills, accompanied by atmospheric music.
9. "TARDIS-Cam No. 6". This footage was originally produced for the BBC Doctor Who website, though I don't have a year. The idea was to show what could be done with Doctor Who in the era of CGI. Of course, now we KNOW how Doctor Who looks with CGI. One shot has the TARDIS moving with a pod of space whales (shades of Fantasia 2000!). Apparently, this figured in a Doctor Who story that never made it to production.
10. Trailers and Continuity Announcements
I am assuming that this 2011 DVD release for Region 1 (U.S. and Canada) will follow the October 2010 release in England (Region 2) - they both have the same name, "Special Edition". It always takes a while for videos from England to be translated to Region 1, and usually the content is the same.
Assuming that the U.S. edition follows the British edition, there will be three DVD discs in the Special Edition, one more than the two discs in the 2003 DVD set. Discs number 1 and number 3 will be the same as the 2003 DVD release, with the exception that the show itself has been remastered. The resultant show is crisper and cleaner, though there's only so much you can clean up the cheesy sets and poor lighting! The audio is reportedly the same as the first DVD release. The extras on this Special Edition disc #2 are new.
Extras for the Special Edition are as follows:
Disc 1:
1. Commentary by five people. (The same as extra #1 of the 2003 DVDs.)
2. Production Subtitles (same as #7 of the 2003)
3. Coming soon trailer for "The Seeds of Doom" episode
Disc 2:
4. "The Last Hurrah". This description is from a British review site: "Tom Baker and Philip Hinchcliffe meet at the Baker residence to discuss the making of what would be their final story together. There are also contributions from actors Louise Jameson, Trevor Baxter, Christopher Benjamin, along with late director David Maloney, designer Roger Murray-Leach and costume designer John Bloomfield. This is great stuff, a definitive look at the making of one of the best (if not the best) stories in the show as a whole--Baker and Hinchcliffe spark marvellously off each other, and having the producer and Louise Jameson chatting informally together (not to mention Baxter and Benjamin) also makes this more interesting than the average talking head style of documentary--it's fabulous stuff, and even has Baker and Hinchcliffe debating as to whether the depiction of the Chinese in the story could be considered racist. The end of this featurette is almost moving, as it has a list of the Doctor Who production team who were to leave at the end of the shoot of The Talons of Weng Chiang. Oh, and be sure to check out the running visual gag during the Tom Baker interview."
5. "Moving On", a short interview with producer Philip Hinchcliffe. "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" was his last Dr. Who episode and he discusses why he left.
6. "The Foe from the Future", a short interview with writer Robert Banks Stewart and producer Philip Hinchcliffe. The subject is the original idea for an episode called "The Foe from the Future", which didn't pull together, and eventually "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" was produced instead.
7. "Now and Then", a short feature where locations shown in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" are compared to how those locations look now.
8. "Look East", a TV news clip from January 1977, when David Case, a regional BBC news reporter, watched some of the filming of "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" at the Northampton Repertory Theatre, and interviewed Tom Baker.
9. "Victoriana and Chinoiserie", a short feature where producer Philip Hinchcliffe and Dr. Ann Witchard discuss literary influences and references that writer Robert Holmes included in his script for this story.
10. "Music Hall", a 20 minute feature that looks at the history of the Victorian music hall, and features songs performed by Katy Baker. If you've already seen "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", you know that a music hall features prominantly in this episode.
11. "Limehouse: A Victorian Chinatown", a 19 minute documentary, tells the history of the Limehouse, the old docklands in London's East End. In the Victorian era, this was a rough and ready, but vibrant and commercially necessary area
12. Photo Gallery. Unlike the photo gallery of the 2003 DVD release, this time the photos are shown as moving past you, as if you're viewing them on a film tape. Perhaps this is supposed to make it more exciting. Accompanied by music.
13. PDF Materials. You can put disc 2 into your PC and pull up these PDF files: the original Radio Times listings for "The Talons of Weng Chiang", the original Radio Times listings for "The Lively Arts: Whose Doctor Who" episode (see extra #2 on the 2003 release), a letter from an eleven-year-old complaining that there aren't enough monsters in Doctor Who, and the reply by "Producer Designate" Graham Williams, and a letter from a gentleman asking when Leela is going to be back in her leathers. Leela spent most of this episode in proper Victorian attire, obviously not to everybody's liking.
Disc 3:
14. "The Lively Arts: Whose Doctor Who", same as extra #2 of the 2003 DVD
15. "Blue Peter Theatre" episode, same as extra #3 of the 2003 DVD
16. Behind the Scenes, same as extra #4 of 2003 DVD
17. Interview with Philip Hinchcliffe, same as extra #5 of the 2003 DVD
18. Trailers and Continuity, same as extra #10 of of the 2003 DVD
19. Photo Gallery, same as extra #8 of the 2003 DVD
20. Tardis Cam No. 6, same as extra #9 of the 2003 DVD
At this time, I cannot find any direct information on what will be on the Region 1 release of "Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang Special Edition", but looking at the Region 2 release gives us an idea. If, as is currently shown on this amazon page, the U.S. Special Edition has only two discs, I'd say it's a given that the show itself will be the new remastered version. But what extras will and won't be on the 2nd disc (if there's only 2 discs) remains to be seen. It may be that the new disc number two will replace the old disc number two, and the 2011 version will still have only two discs. On the plus side, we do finally get to see an interview with Tom Baker, even if he doesn't do commentary.
As some other commentator noted, the photo of the DVD case, shown on this page, does say "3-discs" if you enlarge it. So it's probable that the region 2 release will have three discs, the same as the region 1 release.
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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Doctor Who in London, October 30, 2003
By A Customer
There are those who consider Doctor Who to be at its very best when the errant Time Lord is visiting Earth and dealing with alien threats that are Earthbound. Doctor #3 himself, the late Jon Pertwee, often stated this story genre to be his favorite, and judging by the number of Earthbound stories from the show's lengthy history, many agreed. The latest two releases on DVD from the BBC archives are united in their "Earth invasion" theme, but both have taken an interesting and indeed unique slant on the alien invasion of London twist.
The "Dalek invasion of Earth" was the last adventure made in the first season production block, way back in 1964, albeit held over and broadcast as the second story in season two. The adventure is significant for many reasons, mainly because it featured the departure of one of the original Tardis crew, and also because it was the first "sequel" to feature in the show, featuring the return of the enormously popular Daleks, created by Terry Nation. Set almost 200 years in the future, the adventure mainly takes place in central London, allowing for much location filming around familiar sights, which adds to the realism of the story. It was the first real use of extensive location filming in the show's history and was well worth the effort to take the show out of the studio and bring a more epic quality to the production. The closing sequence featuring the Doctor (as played by William Hartnell) bidding farewell to his granddaughter Susan, played by Carole Ann Ford, may also be one of the entire series most poignant scenes.
All six of the original black and white episodes have been painstakingly restored to almost their original broadcast quality, with many enhancements to some of the laughable special effects added as an option. Potentially, it's the other bonus material that may prove the most interesting to fans and casual viewers alike. The commentary from the surviving cast (Carole Ann Ford and William Russell) together with the producer and director is first class. The on-screen captions also go a long way to fleshing out the background to the production. Almost the entire guest cast appear in newly shot interviews airing their reminiscences, plus there are all sorts of behind the scenes programme's, trailers and other goodies gathered onto a 2nd disc.
The same is true of the companion release, "The Talons of Weng-Chiang." Made twelve years later, in glorious colour, this six part series took another twist on the Earth invader theme by taking the Doctor, this time played by Tom Baker, and his companion Leela back into Victorian London to deal with a sinister alien menace. For many, this story is often regarded as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) story of the Doctor Who canon. And I'm not going to disagree. The production values alone would be enough to set it apart, but the wonderful script, incredible design and superlative acting by the entire cast adds a special magic to the show that few other Who adventures have ever matched. Like the earlier Dalek story, it also marks the end of an era, since this was the last adventure produced by Philip Hinchcliffe. Quite honestly - the show was never the same again!
Again, there are all sorts of goodies available on a 2nd disc to accompany the restored six-part adventure. A documentary on the history of Doctor Who televised at the conclusion of the serial is just one bonus worth having; the commentary from the cast and crew is another. It's great to hear Louise Jameson (Leela) making her DVD debut, and it's a real shame Tom Baker himself did not take part.
Both stories are excellent additions to the growing Doctor Who library, clearly demonstrating the changing production values and story making not only of this particular show, but also British TV drama in general. I'd highly recommend them and look forward to the next two releases in 2004.
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