Doctor Who: The Moonbase [DVD]

Patrick Troughton's fourth Doctor Who story comes to DVD. Originally a four part story with Black and White episodes of twenty five minutes in duration. Parts one and three are missing from the BBC archives. So as with other recent releases of stories in this state, they have been recreated via animation and the original soundtrack.The story sees the Doctor, Ben, Polly, and Jamie - in his first adventure since joining the ship - make a forced landing on the moon in the year 2070. Where there is a base from which Earth's weather is controlled. The multi national crew and it's leader Hobson are having problems with people falling prey to a strange sickness.The TARDIS isn't the only vessel nearby. A Cyberman spaceship is there. And they have a plan...The Troughton era hadn't quite clicked until this point. But here is where it found it's groove and successful format. Bringing back the Cybermen for a second go pretty soon after their successful debut in 'The Tenth Planet', the costumes having been redesigned to make them easier for those inside. The voices are also slightly different. But they are nonetheless effective. And often scary given how they creep around in the shadows and take people by surprise.This is, as with the Tenth Planet, a base under siege story. A format the show would return to every so often. With a small outpost of humans having to fight monstrous incursions. The cast are convincing with their varied accents, as such a base would have. And the whole thing is held together very well with a strong performance by Partick Barr as Hobson. One of those character actors for whom it just seems to come naturally.It fits Jamie in by leaving him unconscious for a lot of the early episodes. But since a lot of the action takes place in the sickbay, that works okay. Ben and Polly do get a great share of the action, managing to do an awful lot to help in part three.Part four is a thrilling finale, and action packed with it.The animation for parts one and three is in the same style as on the recent release of the Tenth Planet. Relatively detailed black and white drawings with some figure movement. The drawings of the actors are quite good. It will all be down to taste how well the animation is received, but I found it worked fine.A classic story of it's kind. Parts two and four were previously released on Doctor Who - Lost in Time [DVD] [1963], so you're not getting any new released live action episodes from this release. But it's worth it anyhow if you don't mind that.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English.Subtitles: English.It's also English audio captioned.Extras are the usual:Production information subtitles.Photo gallery of stills from the story and it's production.The radio times listings for the story as a PDF file.A trailer for an upcoming release in this range. In this case 'The Underwater Menace.' Although the trailer gives no indication when it will be out or whether it's missing episodes will be replaced with animation or something else.The commentary from Frazer Hines [Jamie] and Anneke Wills [Polly], plus one of the guest actors and a crew member, is only on parts two and four. Parts one and three use archive interviews with Cybermen actors, the producer, and the daughters of the writer.There's also a twenty one minute long making of documentary. Which is just interviews interspersed with clips. But it's pacy and the interviewees are good, so it's a good watch.

This is the 2nd story with the Cyberman who were introduced in William Hartnell's last story The Tenth Planet and they must have been a success as the creator Kit Pedler was asked to bring them back.The year is 2070 and the Earths weather is now being controlled on the moon, The Tardis arrives at the moonbase but the Doctor, Polly, Ben and new member Jamie find themselves being accused of causing some sort of plague that has overtaken the bases crew.It is not too long until the Doctor knows what or who is responsible and is determined to help the base leader fight the culprits and make sure no more crewmembers become infected..2 of the 4 episodes are missing so we do get them in animation form and it works really well, you don't feel cheated and this is the start of the first Cyberman redesign that would occur throughout their appearances in classic and New who.We get commentary for episode 2 and 4 with Anneke Wills, Frazer Hines, Edward Phillips, Brian Hodgson.Episodes 1 and 3 commentary there is a series of one to one interviews including those with Kit Pedlers daughters.Great behind the scenes documentary by cast and crew who worked on this story, must have in collection if you are a fan of the Cyberman.

It was with genuine excitement that I wached this Doctor Who! Not because it was Patrick Troughton (although I must admit, he does grow on you) or that it's the Cybermen back again for their second outing. It was because I never really expected that serials with missing episodes would ever be released for fans to treasure. I'm no youngster and have collected these DVD's for many years so to see titles released that you never thought you'd own is a great treat!The animation on this release is perhaps the most satisfying of all the releases so far, The Ice Warriors taking up the 'worst' spot without any problem. It reminded me of the 60's Captain Pugwash.With 'Underwater Menace' and 'Web of Fear' due later this year, I fear these may be the final releases from the 'Classic' era. Perhaps 'The Crusade' may appear! If the standard of animation was as good as in 'Moonbase' I would be more than happy to own titles with more than just two animated episodes or even an entire adventure, if that was the only way to complete the collection. Well done BBC, why not give it serious consideration!!

Delivered on time.

Cybermen on the moon sounds like a curious dream, but it's actually a fun, four episode story featuring the charming and immensely watchable Patrick Trougton as the Doctor. He's an absolute treat to watch, but as any fan knows, many of his episodes were not saved, including some painfully key stories in the series. But as a base under siege story (the humans have a base on the moon, under attack by the Cybermen), The Moonbase at least holds up as really entertaining.With this particular story, two of the episodes are in the BBC archives, and the remaining two have been animated to the original soundtrack (as it's the visuals that are missing), so fans will get a mix of visuals, but it isn't jarring to watch, and the animation is excellent with impressive likenesses of the actors -- Planet 55 has already animated several releases.A handful of other stories have been released with one or two animated episodes, including The Invasion, The Ice Warriors (Troughton) and The Reign of Terror and The Tenth Planet (William Hartnell as the Doctor). Hopefully these releases will do well enough that we'll see more of this. Here's what to expect:- Fully remastered episodes 2 and 4.- Animated episodes 1 and 3, with the original soundtrack recordings- Lunar Landing: the cast and crew look back on making the story- Commentary on all episodes featuring actors and production staff- Photo gallery- Trailer for the next release.

The Doctor is supposed to be taking Jamie and Polly to Mars, but instead they land in 2070 on the moon. (Remember, the TARDIS may not take the Doctor where he wants to go, but she always takes him where he needs to go.) They don their spacesuits and Jamie's larking ends up with him concussed. Fortunately, they're taken in at the Moonbase, and Jamie is settled into the sick bay.The Moonbase has an international crew of 19 scientists; their job is to run and maintain the Gravitron. By controlling the Earth's tides, they control Earth's weather.But all is not well at the Moonbase. Crewmen have been falling ill with a mysterious virus. Secondly, a communications expert says that "Someone, not too far away from the base, is listening to every word we say." And on top of that, the leader, Hobson, reports that "There were two more of those momentary drops in air pressure while I was on."This makes the scientists naturally suspicious when the Doctor turns up, especially when crew start vanishing from the sick bay. Polly returns to the sick bay to nurse Jamie there, when she lets loose a scream. She thought she saw a Cyberman. But that couldn't be - they were destroyed in "The Tenth Planet" series, right? HAHThe transformation of man into Cyberman in "The Moonbase" reminds me of how the Borg inject and transform men in the "Star Trek: First Contact" movie. (sidebar: Borg Queen, best bad guy EVER.)The black & white "The Moonbase" first aired Feb./March 1967, in 4 episodes of 25 minutes each. This is a review for the February 2014 one-disc DVD release.This series was previously released on DVD as part of the 2004 "Lost in Time Collection of Rare Episodes: The Patrick Troughton Years" set with pretty much no restoration. Video has survived for only two episodes of "The Moonbase", #2 and #4. Thanks to fans, though, recorded audio for episodes #1 and #3 have survived. In "Lost in Time", episodes #1 and #3 were presented in audio only (not even snapshots were used), so it is like listening to the radio.For this 2014 DVD, however, episodes #1 and #3 are presented in animation synched to the recordings. The two missing episodes are animated by Planet 55 Studios, who also animated "The Tenth Planet" (episode 4) and "The Reign of Terror" (episode 4 & 5). I have really liked Planet 55's animation style.[Added after my DVD was received and watched] I really liked the animation for the two "The Moonbase" episodes. Another excellent series by Planet 55.When the new episodes were discovered, they were immediately published on itunes. BBC had already cleaned up "The Moonbase" before it went to itunes, but itunes cannot support the VidFIRED result (I do not know enough about it to be more exact.) The DVD, however, was supposed to show the newly cleaned up VidFIRED episodes. Unfortunately, a mastering error resulted in the DVD version being the same non-vidFIRED version as is available on itunes. I understand the pain of the reviewers enraged by this, but as a non-technophile, I can genuinely write that I wasn't bothered at all while viewing the DVD. [However, I should mention that we do not have a super-large TV.]According to the BBC, the sound (4 episodes) has been digitally remastered. [See other reviews concerning how sound had to be slightly corrected due to the DVD mastering error.] All episodes are available with English subtitles.DVD Bonus Extras::The Audio Commentary is extra #4, but I want to cover it first. In a departure from previous DVD releases, "The Moonbase" animated episodes also have commentary.Once again, Toby Hadoke moderates. This time, the commentators have fun trying to trip him up. Is there anything he doesn't know about Doctor Who? Commentators include Innes Lloyd (from a 1966 interview), Toby Hadoke's interviews with Carol Topolski and Lucy Pedler (Kit Pedler's daughters), Edward Phillips (plays Bob, a moonbase scientist), Anneke Wills (plays Polly), Brian Hodgson (sound designer) and Frazer Hines (plays Jamie), and Toby Hadoke's interviews with Lovett Bickford (assistant floor manager, who later directed "The Leisure Hive" series), Derek Chafer (extra, plays Cyberman), Barry Noble (plays Cyberman) and Reg Whitehead (plays a Cyberman, and was the very first Cyberman in "The Tenth Planet"). Also there's an excerpt recording of Peter Hawkins (voice of the Cybermen) from a convention.Dr. Christopher Magnus Howard Pedler, known as Kit, was brought in to lend "scientific rigor". He wrote three scripts for Dr Who, all having Cybermen: "The Tenth Planet", "The Moonbase" and "The Tomb of the Cybermen". This is not happenstance. As Carol notes, her father "had a genuine concern, particularly about ... social irresponsibility in science." A man of many parts, "he once built a nuclear bomb in the garage of the townhouse. As you do!. Because he wanted to prove that you could [that the information was readily available]."The Cybermen costumes had always been uncomfortable. As Chafer notes, "The first ones were the worst ones, when they had the stocking masks. And the falling over! The front pack they wore was too heavy." The second costumes, for "The Moonbase", were not much better: "On the set, the heat was fantastic. I've actually seen steam coming out of the eyeholes."Hadoke to Whitehead: "Does it crop up? Do you still have to say to people occasionally, 'I was the first Cyberman'?"Whitehead: "It's something which I don't bring up too often, mainly because I have a wife who's so bored with anything about Cybermen. An incredible number of people come up to me... who are amazed that I was one."1. "Lunar Landing: Making The Moonbase" (44 minutes) Commentators include Anneke Wills, Reg Whitehead, Frazer Hines, Desmond McCarthy (production assistant). Anneke says, "I actually liked [the look of] the original Cybermen... They weren't far removed from the human being," which made them more of a warning of what science may wrought.2. Photo Gallery. All B&W with appropriate Cybermen music in the background.3. PDF Materials. Put the disc in your computer to see the Radio Times Listing.4. Audio Options - Commentary5. Info Text. Info Text is available only on the non-animated episodes, numbers 2 & 4. Always interesting. "The hinged Cyber-mouthpiece was wired to the actor's jaw, so he could operate it by opening his own mouth, if he remembered to do so, of course...." Watch for when the actor forgets!Uncredited extras who played Cybermen included John Levene, who later played Sergeant Benton of UNIT.6. Coming Soon. This is a trailer for the DVD release of "The Underwater Menace". This 4-episode Patrick Troughton series originally aired right before "The Moonbase". Original video is missing for episodes 1 & 4.Happy Reader

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I considered purchasing this Patrick Troughton DVD of Moonbase numerous times and kept detouring away because of some rather harsh reviews left by others about it. I HONESTLY was thinking that it would turn out to be, literally, unwatchable trash. The negative reviews are intensely detailed, drowning the reader with all of their highly educated video nerd jargon. They're clearly wanting the potential buyers to steer clear of this one because according to them this is an inexcusable stunt that the BBC has committed. They want this horrible release corrected. Period.Since the DVD was only about $14.00 I decided to take a chance, finally. If it turned out to be a presentation that was purely rock bottom then I would see it as though I was warned and accept it.This is what my reaction was to this 4 part story with parts 1 and 3 brought back to life by cartoon and 2 and 4 still existing as live action...The cartoon animation right off the bat was stunning, very well done with the recreation of the actors looking dead on like the real people. In other Dr Who classics I have, the recreated animated episodes are just still frames paralleled with the audio throughout the entire episode, in this the cartoons move. The eyes move, the lips move, they walk around and interact with everything which I thought was awesome. The animated Cybermen were particularly impressive. I am pretty sure that the animation alone must have taken quite a bit of time and work to put together. The ending of episode 2 shows a live action Cyberman hop off of a table and surprise the humans, the beginning of the animated episode 3 that same sequence is recreated as a cartoon that looks very precise. Beautiful work. All of the live action of episodes 2 and 4 are just as good as any other classic Dr Who I've purchased. They are just fine in the presentations which deliver, all in all, a wonderful Patrick Troughton addition to any Dr Who fan's collection. The disc is also loaded with plenty of special features.I am very glad I bought this and I think the people who are posting the negatives need to stop crying and babbling on about their video nerd expectations. It is very easy to see why BBC would ignore this issue since there is nothing wrong with this DVD at all.To be able to go onto Amazon and comb through all these different classic Dr Who stories on DVD on your iphone, order whatever you want, have it sent directly to your front door, brand new, factory sealed, jammed with bonus features, painstakingly recreated animated episodes.....I would have to say it is a blessing.The very existance of these old classics is a miracle.The one star reviews are completely silly. They're people who are unappreciative to a good thing. They're overly critical whiners.Moonbase turned out to be typically terrific.