The Two Doctors was unfortunate enough to be on air when the show was famously cancelled by the BBC, albeit to return 18 months later in a revised and truncated format. Perhaps it is for this reason that this story is not that highly rated, but in all honesty it's more likely to be that the adventure was typically symptomatic of everything that seemed to be wrong with the production at this time.

The first six part adventure to be made and broadcast since 1978, this lengthy story was in fact broadcast in three double-length episodes at the beginning of 1985 in the first full season to feature the controversial sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker. I've always believed that Colin had the personality and charisma to be a very, very fine Doctor indeed and had he followed Tom Baker and not Peter Davison, things could have been very different for him. As it is, his characterization was horribly misconceived, as was his truly appalling costume and he successfully alienated the very loyal and devoted fans of the show and the general public alike. By the time The Two Doctors was on air, one third of the audience had switched off from the start of the season and the BBC was naturally looking to see why. They blamed the violence enveloping the show and watching this story, they wouldn't be far wrong.

Written by probably the greatest writer ever associated with the show, the late, great former script editor Robert Holmes, this story had so many elements that could have made it a success, but was completely let down by some gratuitous violence, grisly, unnecessary deaths and far too complex a plot. Even the return of one of the show's most popular incumbents, second Doctor Patrick Troughton and his popular sidekick Jamie were unable to save the show. More's the pity since Troughton died the following year and this is hardly a fitting tribute to his contribution to the show.

When the program did make it back on to air in 1986 it was a shadow of its former greatness and although it staggered onwards for another four seasons, the death knell was never far away. The Curse of Fenric comes from the very end of the show's run and is possibly the greatest example of everything that was wrong with the production at the time. Essentially, from the very beginning of the series in 1963, the production team had always worked with their backs to the wall, with never enough time or budget to achieve what they were striving for, and yet, in 26 years, they'd always managed to find entertaining and popular stories that generally worked against all the odds. The Curse of Fenric was simply an unworkable mess. A good mess; a promising mess; but a mess nonetheless. It's staggering to think that a professional TV producer would pull together a script that was so incredibly complex and essentially unworkable under the show's format and then be surprised that the material couldn't be worked into the show's slot. It's only thanks to home video and DVD that we can now see the show how it was intended, which rather ignores the fact that it is a TV show intended for a much wider audience and not the select fans who will buy the DVD or Video.

The DVD set contains the four episodes as they were transmitted (itself a first for home video) plus a (second) attempt to restore all the deleted material and re-order the scenes to make more sense. Certainly it does just that, but I'm still baffled 15 years after it was made and I doubt it will ever truly make sense! Thankfully the writer has recorded a long explanation of how his story was meant to be. Thanks, but that doesn't and didn't help the viewers of BBC1 back in 1989! But as always with the Doctor Who DVD's, it's the extras that make these releases so worthwhile, regardless of the quality of the stories themselves. With the Two Doctors there are all sorts of goodies, including a great commentary from the main cast and director and all sorts of out-takes, behind the scenes information and (perhaps unwisely) a lengthy piece by the producer's ex-partner explaining at length how they unnecessarily set the story in Spain so as to get some fabulous vacation time for themselves. Oops! The Curse of Fenric commentary from Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Nicholas Parsons is also highly entertaining and the extras on this two-disc set certainly prove most interesting, even it is all a bit long winded.

Doctor Who was never very good when it took itself too seriously. The fans love all the in-jokes and references to the past. But it hardly works for the general viewer who simply is baffled because they didn't see the story from last season that ties into this, or can't remember something from 10 years ago that drives the whole plot. Sadly, that's what Doctor Who in its final years was all about. At least these discs go someway to making it a little clearer!

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The story itself is a classic Dr Who monster tale, but with a few grown up twists added, and also gives the companion, Ace, some maturation in the process. This is a story I'd recommend to people I'd try to get hooked on the series, even though I'm still embarrassed over the question mark vest the Doctor wears... I am a fan of JNT and what he had done with the show despite the crass slop the script editor prior to Andrew Cartmel had allowed during his years as script editor, and the only thing I can't forgive JNT for is the question mark pullover vest. Even the 6th Doctor's outfit is far less grating on the nerves. But I digress. Andrew Cartmel, script editor for all of the 7th Doctor's era, is at his best here. He reintroduced the concept of mystery and seriousness to the show and he did it right. If only the show had continued for another year, with more stories to fill out their plans...

The video quality itself is quite good, even exceptional. Given the high prices that Who discs command, it's a shame that Warner Bros won't release them on dual-layer discs to improve the compression artifacting, but this release (along with "The Two Doctors"...) seem to be the most visually clean stories they've released to date. Even so, the releases up to now have been more or less great (with only "Ressurection of the Daleks" really showing the artifacting to an annoying level.)

The audio had been remastered into Dolby 5.1, because somebody kept the original audio tapes. Apart from the theme music (which sounds better as the original stereo*), the 5.1 remastering is very effective.

There are numerous extras, primarily encompassing the behind the scenes efforts in producing this story, and interviews with cast and crew.

The special 'movie' edition is extraordinary. Many of the newly added scenes are worth their weight. They also treated the video to look more consistent, given the stormy nature of the later half of the story. They also improved on some of the effects. The only problem is with some of the music. It betrays that this story was originally composed of four episodes. It's most noticeable when, 25 minutes into the story, you hear music that's got action to it but doesn't fall back and leaves you hanging (ala a cliffhanger). It's a very MINOR issue, but as I love to whine about problems, I felt I should mention it. :-)

The only problem with the disc (#1) is when you go to watch the titles sequences - if you select the 'original stereo' version, you get the original MONO version. I hope they fix this someday and offer free exchanges...

In the end, it's a shame the BBC lost faith in the series. (the monsters in this tale would take full notice if it too, heh.) This one is a MUST for any fan of the show. Even if you're not a fan of the 7th Doctor era (the scripts in novel form are rather better than how they were put on screen), this one is worthy of buying.

I'm looking forward for the remainder of the 7th Doctor on DVD.

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