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TV show review: CONTINUUM season 4
PHOTOGRAPHY

AN ADVENTURE IN TIME AND SPACE (Blu-ray/ DVD combo)

Review by David Blackwell

 

DETAILS:   87 minutes, three featurettes, two deleted scenes, recreated scenes, DVD of TV movies, DVD of first Doctor Who story

VIDEO: 1.78:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen) 1080p High Definition

AUDIO: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA (Blu-ray), English 5.1 Dolby Digital (DVD)

Subtitles: English SDH

 

STUDIO: BBC/ BBC Worldwide Americas/ BBC Worldwide LTD/ Warner Home Video

RELEASE DATE:  5-27-2014

AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME chronicles the first years of the making of DOCTOR WHO which captures the wonder of the being a fan of the program while telling a piece of history through the screenplay written by longtime DOCTOR WHO fan Mark Gatiss.   It sometimes gets the real story correct while blending some elements and adding things to tell the origins of the making of the show back in the 1960s.   Sydney Newman was a larger than life guy who had the dream of coming up with a new children’s sci-fi program called DOCTOR WHO and he got a woman (filled with piss and vinegar) named Verity Lambert- who was his former production assistant on a TV show.   Then you have William Hartnell who felt he was being typecast by the roles he got when he was offer the part of the Doctor.   Hartnell set the standard for the mysterious authority figure that would save worlds and people along the way.   He was also the gateway to exploring history in the early years of DOCOR WHO.   Hartnell was forced to step down after playing the part for three years, but it also paved the way for the continuous reinvention of the series which has let it stand the test of time since 1963. 

 

AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME brought to life for me all of the behind-the-scenes drama that went into making the show and made me love the show as much as I did when I first discovered ARK IN SPACE Part 1 on PBS back in 1983.   It is one of few shows that I still have a passion for through today and I have been an avid reader of DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE since 1989.   I have read about all of the behind-the-scenes stories and even heard about them through countless DOCTOR WHO making-of documentaries on the classic series DVDs.  Verity Lambert and Sydney Newman were both looking to shake things up, and Sydney was a legend in his own right while Verity became a formidable producer during her long career.   I may have had a few minor nitpicks (the actor cast as Patrick Troughton, Cyberman smoking outside the TARDIS) about the docudrama, but it captured the feel of the period and the struggles of the people making the iconic show

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

WILLIAM HARTNELL: THE ORIGINAL- interviews with his granddaughter and William Russell on their memories about the actor who played the First Doctor in addition to people from the TV movie including David Bradley giving their insights and observations on Hartnell

THE MAKING OF AN ADVENTURE narrated by Carole Ann Ford (who played the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan) which is a promo piece on the origins of the TV movie and the production of AN ADVENTUR EIN TIME AND SPACE

THE TITLE SEQUENCES- comparing the first DOCTOR WHO title sequence to the beginning credits sequence of AN ADVENTURE IN TIME AND SPACE

 

Reconstructions of various DOCTOR WHO scenes using original Marconi cameras- SCENES FROM AN UNEARTHLY CHILD AND THE PILOT, REGENERATIOSN of the Second and Third Doctors, FAREWELL TO SUSAN, and a recreation of the FESTIVE GREETING from THE DALEK MASTERPLAN

Two Deleted Scenes: THE RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP and a cut moment from VERITY’S LEAVING PARTY

 

AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME on DVD in Standard Definition with the same extras as the blu-ray disc

 

AN UNEARTHLY CHILD (the first DOCTOR WHO story) on DVD

EXTRAS- the original PILOT studio recording

Theme Music Video

Comedy Sketches: THE PITCH OF FEAR, THE CORRIDOR SKETCH, THE WEB OF CAVES, THE KIDNAPPERS

Audio commentary for the Pilot Studio Recording, and AN UNEARTHLY CHILD episodes 1 and 4

Information Text track option

Photo Gallery

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME is a wonderful look at the origins of the show while retaining the wonder of the show the first cast and crew set out to make.  The behind-the-scenes extras aren’t bad, but I wish they were more extensive in the making of the docudrama.

 

This review is ©6-14-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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