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Doctors (The): Pat Troughton Years (The): Behind the Scenes Vol. 2
R0 - United Kingdom - Reeltime Pictures Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (16th August 2022). |
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The Film
 These six documentaries are the best in-depth interviews with Derek Martinus (Director), Douglas Camfield (Director), Christopher Barry (Director), Michael E Briant (Director) and Barry Newbery (Designer) ever undertaken! Also, special productions featuring The Peter Brant Team of Peter Bryant (Producer), Morris Barry (Director) and Victor Pemberton (Writer) plus actors Peter Craze, Jane Sherwin, Hubert Rees, Terence Bayler and Roy Spencer! Presented by “voice of the Daleks” Nicholas Briggs. For all Doctor Who fans, this special collector’s edition is over 5 hours of pure nostalgia, which will give you a whole new insight into the making of your favourite science fiction series! These six documentaries are the best in-depth interviews with Shaun Sutton (Head of Drama), Victor Pemberton (Script Editor) and Derrick Sherwin (Script Editor) ever undertaken! Plus special productions featuring Innes Lloyd (Producer), Peter Bryant (Producer), Michael Craze (Ben) and also actors Beryl Braham, Anthony Colby, Martin Cort, John Greenwood, George Leyton, Raymond Llewellyn, Sonia Markham, Christopher Robbie, Peter Roy, Ralph Watson and Reg Whitehead! Presented by “voice of the Daleks” Nicholas Briggs. For all Doctor Who fans, this special collector’s edition is over 5 hours of pure nostalgia, which will give you a whole new insight into the making of your favourite science fiction series!
Video
Keith Barnfather has been interviewing Doctor Who (and Blake's 7) alumni since the 1980s for his long running Myth Makers range of behind the scenes interview VHS and latterly DVD releases. This latest edition collects together chats with several, personnel from the 1966-69 period that was the Patrick Troughton / Second Doctor era. We have an excellent collection of beautifully conducted interviews. My technical comments on these releases tend to be identical for each set released: Image quality tends to vary as you would expect from these kind of productions but none of the segments are poor in any way. All of the interviews are shot on varying types of video and I'd say most are in standard definition and as this is a DVD release that's fine and dandy. Contrast is acceptable, black levels are likewise if occasionally dark greyish. Flesh tones are natural and colours matter of fact without much digital regrading in evidence. Some specific notes to this release are concerning the Douglas Camfield segment which has been recorded very early on (1982) using ancient home video equipment. The image is incredibly soft with muffled sound (see below). It's probably a notch better quality image wise the the rare Graham Williams interview from The Tom Baker Behind the Scenes set I covered recently, although sound on that piece was clearer. I won't dock anything off the rating purely because everything else is well up to par. That said, I did notice some aliasing on scene transitions in Flight Through Eternity segment, but that's nothing new with these. I suspect it's an artefact of the PAL > NTSC conversion. Top marks for the format, taking into consideration the sources; 'B-'. NTSC / MPEG-2 / 2 x DVD-9 / 1.33:1, 1.78:1 / 327:37
Audio
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono / Surround Subtitles: None Basic 2.0 stereo that gets the job done with no surrounds unless channelled through ProLogic II or similar. Frankly, playing these through PLII is pointless as there's the occasional bleed in which sounds from the front appear in the rear. Stick to "straight" or "direct" (AFD Auto = Auto Format Direct). Speech, which is THE main point of these sets, is always crisp and clear and what little music there is (intros and outros) doesn't get in the way ('C+'). Sadly, no subtitles have been provided so the hearing impaired are up a gum tree without a paddle.
Extras
"Myth Makers: Derek Martinus" 2006 interview (48:59) "Myth Makers: Douglas Camfield" 2006 featurette showcasing a 1982 interview conducted by Ian McLachlan (56:24) "Myth Makers: The Directors, Volume 2" 2006 featurette showcasing 1986 interviews with Christopher Barry and Michael E. Briant conducted by Chris Dunk (51:28) "Myth Makers: Barry Newbery" 1999 interview (56:29) "Myth Makers: The Peter Bryant Team" 2005 featurette showcasing 1988 interviews with Morris Barry, Derek Martinus, Peter Bryant and Victor Pemberton by Ian McLachlan (61:52) "Myth Makers: Flight Through Eternity, The Sixties: Vol 3." 2007 interviews with Peter Craze, Jane Sherwin, Hubert Rees, Terence Bayler and Roy Spencer (52:39) The value of these interviews increases year on year and sadly because the interviewee's continue to age and die. However, they live on here for posterity giving their thoughts. Christopher Barry (1925-2014) Morris Barry (1918-2000) Terence Bayler (1930-2016) Peter Bryant (1923-2006) Douglas Camfield (1931-84) Peter Craze (1946-2020) Derek Martinus (1931-2014) Barry Newbery (1927-2015) Victor Pemberton (1931-2017) Hubert Rees (1928-2009) Jane Sherwin (1934-2022) Happily still with us ... Michael E. Briant (born 1942) Roy Spencer Sadly, interviewer Ian McLachlan also died recently (1953-2022). RIP.
Packaging
Standard, black 2-disc DVD Keepcase.
Overall
I can't praise these superb and valuable releases enough. They offer absolute value for money (each costs £15 directly from Reeltime Pictures website (see below). Image and sound are solid considering how these interviews were produced which sounds like I'm damning with faint praise, but I'm not. These are very professionally put together by a dedicated team of professional fans led by Keith. One of the more poignant aspects of this release is seeing interviewer Ian McLachlan, so vital and young interviewing the celebrities on camera here. I knew him in passing as he was a frequent poster on Roobarb's Forum and occasionally interacted with him there. A passionate fan of archive telly. He'll be missed. If you're a fan of Doctor Who, these Myth Makers sets are must and an essential,purchase tomait longside your collection of BBC produced DVDs and BDs. https://timetraveltv.com/programme/563
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