Resurrection of the Daleks
(DVD)


Starring Peter Davison
4 Episodes
1984
100 minutes (color)
Single Disc



 
 

 

Production Notes
Doctor Who
Peter Davison

Tegan Jovanka
Janet Fielding

Turlough
Mark Strickson

Written by
Eric Saward

Directed by
Matthew Robinson
Produced by
John Nathan-Turner

Original Airdate
Feb 8, 1984 - Feb 15, 1984

US DVD Release Date
July 2003

Warner Home Video
#E1759

U.K. Cover




 

 

Cover Blurb

Trapped in a time corridor, the TARDIS veers off course, emerging in London's deserted docklands. In the far future, a prison ship in deep space comes under attack. These two remote events are linked by one terrible purpose. 

Davros, the ruthless creator of the Daleks, has been liberated after 90 years of imprisonment to assist in the resurrection of his Dalek army. He's their best hope for finding the antidote to the deadly anti-Dalek virus devised by their longtime robotic rivals, the Movellans. 

Davros sets about his appointed task with a secret agenda of his own - one that may force the Doctor to descend to Davros's level of evil.

 

 


 

DVD Features
  • TARDIS - Cam #4:
 The fourth in a series of TARDIS- Cam extras.  Some time ago BBCi started an online feature called the TARDIS-Cam which would show people browsing the Internet different locations that the Doctor has traveled to.  Most are simply photos taken from stories already made.  A handful were specially created.  One of these is included as an extra.  Very much a non-event.
 

 
  • Breakfast Time:
 Two separate segments from this morning talk show taken from 1984 and 1986 have been edited together for this featurette.  The first segment contains producer John Nathan-Turner and actress Janet Fielding discussing the character of Tegan.  The second segment features Radiophonic Workshop composers Brian Hodgson and Malcolm Clarke discussing composing music for the series.  This feature lasts nearly 8 minutes.
 

 
  • Audio Options:
 Under this feature you have four choices...

First option is to view the story in 5.1 Dolby Digital sound.  One of the very few discs that are able to offer this feature!

The second choice would be the other soundtrack option - that of the original mono soundtrack (as originally broadcast).

The third choice is the commentary track.  Commentary is provided by Peter Davison (Doctor #5) Janet Fielding (Tegan) and Matthew Robinson (director).  This is a great commentary!

The final audio option is the isolated soundtrack.  With this feature you will hear Malcolm Clarke's excellent musical score sequentially as it appears in the episode (rather than edited together as in the case of "The Five Doctors Special Edition" DVD).  This does mean that there are long gaps of silence in between music cues.
 

 

  • On Location:

 This 18 minute documentary was shot near London's Tower Bridge where the original location footage was shot for this story.  Interviews with director Matthew Robinson, script editor Eric Saward and producer John Nathan-Turner.  Sadly, John Nathan-Turner died shortly after this footage was recorded.
 

 
  • Information Text:
 Lots of trivia and tidbits of Whovian detail are provided.  The text appears intermittently along the bottom of the screen and is written by Richard Molesworth of the Doctor Who Restoration Team.
 

 
  • Extended and Deleted Scene:
 Included in the features section is a section of taped scenes not used in the story.  They total up to 7 minutes and appear without sound effects or music.
 

 
  • BBC1 Trailer:
 A recreation of the trailer for this story.  Existing audio is used in combination with better quality visual scenes to recreate the trailer.
 

 
  • Who's Who:
 A feature unique to the North American DVD releases.  It lists short biographical information on many of the actors involved in the story.
 

 
  • Photo Gallery:
 Lots of rare and never before seen photos taken during the production of this story.  Very nice.
 

 
  • Easter Eggs:
 There is 2 eggs included in this release.  Highlight the blank area below to find out more information on each one.  For a full list of known Easter Eggs and screen grabs of them click HERE.

 

#1. ORIGINAL COUNTDOWN CLOCK
Go to the 'Special Features' menu.
Click on the hidden Doctor Who logo to the left of the 'On Location'

 

 

#2. CLEAN OPENING AND CLOSING TITLES
Go to the 'Special Features' menu.
Click on the hidden Doctor Who logo to the left of the 'Who's Who'

 

 


 

 

Additional Notes
  • "Resurrection of the Daleks" marks the departure of long time companion Tegan Jovanka.  Her character is written out quite abruptly at the end of the story.
  • The Daleks return after a 5 year absence, as does Davros.
  • This story was originally transmitted as two 50 minute segments rather than the traditional 25 minute episode format because of the broadcast of the '84 Olympics in Britain.  They have been restored to their original 4 episode versions for this DVD release.
  • There is quite a high body count by the end of this story, prompting some to question (yet again) the level of violence in the program.
  • This story is written by then Doctor Who script editor, Eric Saward.
  • Resurrection of the Daleks was originally intended to be part of the previous 20th anniversary season for Doctor Who.  
  • The Doctor Who Restoration Team, have fixed two noticeable problems with this story.  The first is a rather noticeable jump in the shot as the TARDIS arrives.  The other was a bad slow motion effect added to Lytton in episode 1 as he walks away from the camera.  The shot was slowed to keep the same length of the scene without exposing a boom that came into shot near the end.  Both of these problems have been fixed the the RT.
  • As with all of the U.K. DVD releases to date, the Doctor Who Restoration Team did extensive work on this story to create the best possible transfer.