Click here to go BACK to the DVD FAQ. or Click here to go BACK to VHS FAQ.
Serial: 6P Episode Nos. 619, 620, 621, and 622. Title: Resurrection of the Daleks Special Edition
The TARDIS is drawn into a time corridor and deposited on 20th century Earth near an
abandoned warehouse. Inside, a bomb disposal squad is investigating alien objects stored there.
They contain a virus lethal to the Daleks, who, seeking a cure for it, attack a space prison to recover
their creator Davros. Can the Doctor bring himself to destroy Davros and the Daleks this time,
or will they be reborn and successfully invade the universe?
This story sees the departure of Janet Fielding as Tegan.
starring Peter Davison as the Doctor, Janet Fielding as Tegan, and Mark Strickson as Turlough.
Written by Eric Saward, Produced by John Nathan-Turner, and Directed by Matthew Robinson.
Originally
transmitted from
This story was originally released on DVD in 2003. This Special Edition includes all of the
features that were in the original release (bar the
Who's Who text biographies of the cast)
plus many new features besides. The restoration work has been redone from scratch.
The 2003 DVD edition presented the story as 4 25-minute episodes, which
was how the story
was first planned to be shown, however a
last-minute scheduling change due to BBC coverage
of the 1984 Winter Olympics caused it to be
changed into 2 47-minute episodes instead and that's
the version that the BBC broadcasted. This Special Edition presents the story in
both formats.
The 2-part 47-minute episode version is on Disc 1, and the 4 25-minute
episode version is
on Disc 2.
** Features that are new to the Special Edition are listed in
italics.
DVD Features:
A 2-disc set. On Disc 1:
- The 2-part
version of the story, each part about 47 minutes long.
- Graphical menus, episode selection features, and scene selection
features.
- Optional subtitles
for the hearing impared.
- 5.1 Dolby Digital sound option. (The default sound is the original mono
soundtrack;
the 5.1 option must be selected under Audio Options.)
- Optional Commentary Track featuring actor Terry Molloy (Davros), visual effects
designer Peter Wragg,
and Writer/Script Editor Eric Saward. Moderated by Nicholas Pegg.
- Isolated Music option – selecting this sound option plays the
story with only the incidental music
playing…
no dialog or sound action is heard, just music
- Casting Far and Wide - A 32-minute piece where Toby Hadoke interviews five of the
character actors who
appeared in this story. They are Roger
Davenport (Trooper),
Del Henney (Col.
Archer), Leslie Grantham (Kiston), Jim Findley
(Mercer), and
William Sleigh (
- TARDIS-Cam No. 4 – more visual effects of the TARDIS’
travels from the former BBCi website
- Breakfast Time – a BBC morning program interviews Janet
Fielding and Producer
John Nathan-Turner, and visits
the BBC Radiophonic Workshop where
they
speak to Malcolm Clarke as he is composing the music for this story.
- On Location – 19-minute featurette
where Director Matthew Robinson and Script Editor Eric
Saward
discuss the story out in the
Elsewhere, Producer John
Nathan-Turner gives what was to be his last interview about the series
before
his death in 2002.
- The Last Dalek. 10 minutes of model effects footage from the
1967 Second Doctor story
The Evil of the Daleks
narrated by the visual effects designers who made it.
- Extended and Deleted Scenes: 7 minutes of scenes that were removed or
trimmed from the
final
versions.
- BBC1 broadcast trailer for the story.
33 seconds.
- PDF
Files. Place this DVD into your
computer's drive and you'll find a .pdf file
containing
the 1984 Radio
Times TV listings for this story.
- Coming Soon
Trailer for the forthcoming release of the Third Doctor story Death to the Daleks.
- Two Easter Eggs. To see how to
find them and what they are, highlight the empty area
below
with your mouse:
- Egg
1: Go into the Special Features menu and
select Audio Options. Once inside the Audio
Options
menu, highlight Feature Audio (mono) and then press the left arrow.
A Doctor
Who logo will appear and be highlighted.
Select this and you'll see the studio clock
countdown slate from the start of the master tape f episode
2, onto which a clever stagehand
has drawn a couple of cute Daleks.
- Egg 2: Go
into the Episode Selection menu.
Highlight Part Two, then press the right arrow.
A Doctor
Who logo will appear and be highlighted.
Click this and you'll see the full-length
opening and closing Peter Davison title sequence, without
any credits on it. It comes from a
fresh transfer off the film, and looks exceptionally clear
and sharp.
- Both of these Easter eggs were on the 2002
edition of the DVD, but located in different places.
On Disc 2:
- The 4-part version
of the story, each episode being about 25 minutes long.
- Optional commentary track by Peter Davison (the Doctor), Janet
Fielding (Tegan), and
Director Matthew Robinson.
- Information Text. Displays pop-up production notes throughout the story as subtiles.
- Photo Gallery – presents still photos from the production. This
is a new assembly of the photos
and
is 5 minutes long.
- Come in Number Five - A 56-minute documentary about the whole of
the Fifth Doctor's era,
presented by Tenth
Doctor, David Tennant. Features
interviews with actors Peter Davison,
Janet Fielding, and Mark Strickson,
director Fiona Cumming, script editors Christopher H.
Bidmead, Antony Root, and Eric Saward,
producer John Nathan-Turner, executive producer
Barry Letts, Head of
BBC Series and Serials David Reid, and current (as of 2012) executive
producer of Doctor
Who, Steven Moffat.
- Tomorrow's
Times - The Fifth Doctor. A 12-minute
look at the press clippings and reviews
the Peter Davison era
received at the time of original broadcast. Presented by
Frazer Hines.
-
Walrus. A 1-minute comedy sketch from
1984 where a Dalek meets the stereotyped wife
of a Welsh miner.
- Coming Soon
Trailer for the forthcoming release of the Third Doctor story Death to the Daleks.
Incidentally, long-time fans who saw this story on PBS in the 1980s may remember seeing versions
that were mistakenly absent their sound effects and incidental music for a large section of the story
(my stations had them missing from the second half). The reason for that mistake was uncovered as
this new DVD edition was prepared: the switch-over from making this as a 4-parter to a 2-parter
apparently happened halfway through the final dubbing of the 4-part version, and the resulting
confusing
paperwork led to some undubbed versions getting loose
in
