Doctor Who - The Trial Of A Time Lord [1986] [1963]
![Doctor Who - The Trial Of A Time Lord [1986] [1963]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51InJoMJT8L._SL160_.jpg) RRP £49.99 Lowest New Price £28.44 
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Parental Guidance 2 Entertain Video Release date: Monday 29th of September 2008 Starring: Format: PAL, Region code: 2 Running time: 349 minutes |
The key to the story is that the Doctor is on trial, facing a potential death penalty, and the courtroom saga works as a backdrop to a collection of stories that sit on top. So there’s The Mysterious Planet, which is a decent enough yarn, the weak and puzzling Mindwarp, the surprisingly enjoyable Terror Of The Vervoids, and then the twisty The Ultimate Foe. While The Trial Of A Time Lord does have a few notable missteps, with some occasionally muddled writing, and while it does introduce arguably the worst companion the Doctor has ever travelled with (Bonnie Langford’s Mel), it’s still a fascinating series to watch, warts and all. Fortunately, it’s backed by a substantive collection of extras, including numerous commentaries and documentaries, that provide an honest glance back at a story that arrived in the midst of one of Doctor Who’s most troubled periods. All that, ultimately, makes it a worthwhile purchase for Who fans, even if after reacquainting themselves with it, they’re still not likely to put The Trial Of A Time Lord near their aforementioned top ten list… --Jon Foster
RRP: £49.99
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Few of Doctor Who’s long-standing fans will tell you that The Trial Of A Time Lord is a story that hits their top ten list, and with good reason. A 14-episode opus that formed an entire series of Colin Baker’s reign in the Tardis, it’s a patchy production, that does have some qualities to it, but is probably one for the hardened Who fan rather than the casual viewer.
Features are great
Review date: 2009-01-02 Rating: 8 out of 10
I thought this was great when it came on TV, and thought the death scene was fantastic. Watching again the show is surprisingly good 20 odd years on. A fantastic addition to this DVD set is the special feature "Making of" series. The cast and crew are very open and give a clear insight into the problems facing the show at the time it was being made. It makes you sad that Colin Baker didn't stay on and "Beat Toms record".
Reviews
doctor who on trial
Review date: 2008-12-22 Rating: 6 out of 10
complete in one box and spread over four discs: all fourteen episodes of the twenty third season of the original doctor who. four stories that all join together to form one big one: the trial of a timelord.
the show having been suspended the year before and told it had to get better, it's eagerly awaited return in the autumn of 1986, in the shape of this story, brought us a tale of the doctor put on trial by his own people, the time lords. the charge is unwarranted meddling in other species destiny. with arrogant prosecutor the valeyard seemingly make the quest to find the doctor guilty a very personal one, and icy invigilator the inquisitor ruling the courtroom with a rod of iron, can the doctor survive?
it should be a very satsfying epic, but like so much doctor who from the 80's, for everything that's good, there's something that isn't. shoddy production values and weak acting and undeveloped ideas hamper good ideas and good acting and memorable moments. there's good stuff in here. but there's also less memorable things. all of which is a shame because after a slightly uncertain first few stories, colin baker's doctor really comes into his own here. and it's his final story and as such a rather ignomonious exit. you're left feeling he deserved much better.
the product comes in an attractive cardboard box, containing four regulat dvd sized boxes, each with their own cover and inlay.
the first disc contains parts one to four of the trial of a timelord. these four episodes are known as the mysterious planet. they begin with a very impressive effects shot showing the tardis being pulled into the vessel where the trial is taking place. the valeyard then shows the events of the story - the doctor and peri exploring a mysterious world called ravalox - on a viewing screen. there's initially a lot of mystery because peri isn't with the doctor and the trial and he has no idea where she's gone.
a common problem with the trial story does hit right from the start. there's a lot of flashing back to the courtroom, always for arguments between the invigilator the valeyard and the doctor. the latter indulges in a lot of name calling for the valeyard, often using rare words which you'll want to look up. and this slows things down and gets annoying.
the events on ravalox are well filmed, feature a couple of impressively built robots, and fun characters in the shape of rogue space trader sabalom glitz and his sidekick dibber, but ultimately it's not too special as stories go.
the story has a commentary by colin baker and nicola bryant [peri] tony selby [glitz] and adam blackwood [a character called balazar]. script editor of the time eric saward provides his own commentary for part two. the reason for him doing it solo may be touched on come disc four.
other extras on this disc:
the making of the mysterious planet: a documentary about the story running for roughly twenty minutes, and well up to the usual standards of these, although it does take a while to get from the genesis of the season to these actual four episodes.
deleted and extended scenes: about nine minutes worth of these, and there are some decent and interesting moments in them.
35mm film sequence: the original film footage of the opening special effects sequence, without any sound or music.
trails and continuities: trailers for the episodes of the story. two real curios tnat are worth watching in the middle of this: links for the programme roland rat the series, that preceded doctor who in the broadcast schedules that autumn, and which are done by colin baker in costume and character as the doctor. also there's a short clip from a programme called eureka and watch this carefully because one of the featured actors appears to be sylvester mccoy, who would of course become the doctor soon after this.
music videos: three different versions of the opening and closing credits and the music used for them
wogan: a clip from the long running chat show with terry wogan interviewing colin baker and lynda bellingham [the inquisitor]. both are very affable interviewees but despite some funny bits with wogan being menaced by doctor who monsters it's not a desperately memorable chat.
blue peter: a ten minute long clip with a presenter of the time looking at the story and the making of the robots used, which is quite interesting.
points of view: a clip from the viewers opinion show, presented by anne robinson, with viewers opinions of the story. it's less patronising than you might expect.
plus the usual photo gallery of stills from the story and it's production and information text that is like subtitles but gives information about the story.
and there are also english language subtitles.
then move to disc two for mindwarp, episodes five to eight of the trial. this story involves the doctor and peri visiting the planet thoros beta [rudminentary computer graphics produce an effectively alien looking world] and running into avaricious alien slug sil, from the previous years story vengeance on varos. sil's boss needs a new body to house his brain. and with the help of an unscrupulous doctor, peri's might just suit the bill. but why is the doctor helping him?
containing a memorable but typically over the top performance from brian blessed as an alien warrior king who wants to destroy the villains of the piece, mindwarp has some great ideas and convincingly alien characters and a lot of it's very well realised, but there are suggestions that not all of what we are seeing is actually happening, and these are never quite adequately followed through, so it can be a bit frustrating at times. full marks for a shockingly memorable ending, though.
a commentary is provided by colin baker and nicola bryant, plus philip martin who wrote it. there's a making of documentary which runs for roughly fifteen minutes, and contains some very good talk with brian blessed, who has a great anecdote about a buckingham palace trip he once made.
a short documentary called now and then looks at the locations where the filming was done and what they're like now, and is interesting viewing, especially for some quality scenery.
a short two minute long item called a fate worse than death has colin baker and nicola bryant providing commentary on a scene from episode fourteen of the trial that relates to peri. don't watch this before that if you don't know what happens in part fourteen. but if you do, then this is a good little item. you'll see why
trails and continuities is the usual bbc trailers and announcements of the time about the story
deleted and extended scenes contains roughly seven minutes worth of them. and there's nothing desperately essential in this batch
comedy sketch is a short doctor who parody from the lenny henry show of the time. despite having some dated references to 80's politics this is actually quite funny at points. and lenny henry's doctor costume is pretty good.
and this disc also has a photo gallery information text and english language subtitles.
on disc three, episodes nine to twelve of trail are called terror of the vervoids. the doctor is showing the court a story from his future, where he now has a fitness fanatic and computer programming companion called mel, played by bonnie langford. the latter is a very good actress but does take a while to find her feet in the role and comes off a bit too theatrical at first. the tardis lands on a spaceship where they have to solve a murder and deal with humanoid plant creatures called vervoids who want to kill all on board.
there are some good ideas in this one but again some over the top acting and cheap production values let it down a bit.
a commentary comes from colin baker, nicola bryant, the director chris clough, the writers pip and jane baker, and actor michael craig, who plays the captain of the ship in the story.
theres another making of documentary, running fifteen minutes.
almost as long as the deleted and extended scenes for this one. but most of them are people walking along corridors, so there's not much worth looking at.
a twelve minute long documentary called the lost season looks at what's known about the six stories that would have been made had the whole suspension of the show not happened in the first place. there are artists impressions of scenes from some of them. this is well worth a watch, and will leave you wondering what might have been.
now get out of that is a half hour long look at doctor who cliffhangers, giving good and bad examples. a highly entertaining piece but it's probably better for hardcore fans than casual viewers as it makes little concession to the latter.
the trails and continuities on this one arent very long but contain a notable item, the bbc announcing the cancellation of the noel edmonds show of the time, the late late breakfast show.
there's also an eleven minute long clip from childrens programme the saturday picture show with the presenter interviewing bonnie langford about her career and work on doctor who. since she'd just started on the latter at the time she doesnt get to say much about it
and this disc like all the other has the photo gallery subtitles in english and production information subtitles
on the fourth and final disc is the ultimate foe, the last two episodes of the trial. the doctor gets help from an unexpected source. the valeyard shows his true colours - a moments that's a great idea but could have been better developed - and all things come to a head.
part one of this story is the best of the trial, thanks to some good guest stars and some excellent location work. part two isnt as strong. the original writer died, the second - script editor eric saward - fell out with the producer and dropped out, and then the writers of the previous four episodes had to take over at short notice, and do a script that tied it all up. and they couldnt for legal reasons look at the versions that had been abandoned.
but what they came up with just about sufficies, although there's one lame cop out which undoes an earlier bit of boldness, and a final twist that's a nice idea but never got revisited so now seems rather wasted.
colin baker tony selby chris clough and pip and jane baker do a commentary on the second part, and eric saward does one on the first.
there's a fifteen minute long look at the making of the story.
roughly seven minutes of deleted and extended scenes. again none are too essential.
three minutes worth of trailers from the bbc of the time.
and then the real meat on this disc: trials and tribulations. a fifty five minute long documentary about colin baker's era and everything that happened with the suspension, the trial of a timelord,and him losing the part. the facts are all here, and given what it shows about the bbc management of the time we are lucky that this season ever got made. bbc boss jonathan powell, one of those responsible for the decision to rest the show is interviewed [as part of a much larger interview about his whole tv career] and for all his defences of his actions you come away thinking he should have done a better job. they never gave the production team clear intructions about what was required of them, and the impression that another bbc staffer gives of the man, that he didnt want them to make a programme that he didnt like, seems to be true.
eric saward talks about him leaving the show and falling out with the producer. is this the aforementioned reason why he does commentaries on his own? we can but wonder.
1985 hiatus has two clips from the bbc news of the time about the suspension, and one funny clip from wogan with a cyberleader praising the bbc leadership.
doctor in distress is a pop video for a record made to highlight the plight of the show. colin baker says in trials and tribulations that he wishes he'd not done it but his arm was twisted, and you can see why. doctor who cast and various pop stars sing - or just speak the words - a very poorly writtern ballad with aomse very bad scanning of words, and the video is them singing plus some very cheap 80's style computer graphics. colin baker's expresison does seem to say 'get me out of this!'. keep your eyes on the screen when one lady sings for the man standing behind her trying not to laugh and failing. the worst thing about this? you won't get the song off your mind for ages afterwards.
there's a fourteen minute long clip from childrens saturday morning show saturday superstore with colin baker as a guest, drawing a contest result from a basket held by a rather embarrassed looking extra dressed as a timelord [who nonetheless does a great job of getting through a small door in a bulky costume] and then taking phone questions from young viewers. he's wonderfully affable all the time, and you get the feeling he really enjoyed playing the part.
another infamous item is open air, a clip from a bbc show of the time where the public could air their views on shows. it has members of a liverpool based branch of the doctor who appreciation society giving their views on the season and talking to the writers pip and jane baker.
I'd heard about this a great many times before seeing it, and how rude they were to the writers. but it's really quite different, because like a lot of interview shows it suffers for time and writing reasons. beginning with a typically patronising presenter laughing about being too thick to understand the show, the doctor who fans then first tell the writers the show is too complicated, and then say other episodes weren't complicated enough. it's no wonder the poor writers look confused and lost for words. A future doctor who writer actually turns up in this. The young bespectacled chris is chris chibnall, later head writer on torchwood and author of the doctor who episode 42.
there's also the photo gallery, production information subtitles, english language subtitles.
as a pdf file accessible by viewing the disc on a computer: radio times listings for the trial episodes and other magazine coverage of the time.
and a trailer for the dvd doctor who four to doomsday. billed as coming soon but a schedule change meant it came out before this one did. as usual with these trailers its very well done and gives the story more of an epic feel than it actually has, although epileptics might find the fast cutting between scenes a pain.
so just like the story, the package as a whole isnt perfect, but contains some worthwhile things
The nadir
Review date: 2008-12-19 Rating: 6 out of 10
It was a shocking and farcical that Doctor Who was put on `hiatus' at the end of an enjoyable and successful season that ended with the highly regarded `Revelation of the Daleks'; especially considering that production was well underway for a season that never materialised. This statement would apply doubly to the end of Sylvester McCoy's final season and 'Ghost Light' or `Survival'; however in this case there was a second chance:
Enter `Trial of a Time Lord'. Now the surprise is that the show was NOT cancelled! The first two segments are far too silly, self-deprecating and self-referential. We have seen time and again that Doctor Who does not work when it is too silly (Russell T Davies should have taken note of that!). The court-room scenes do interrupt the flow, but in these segments, they are also the only scenes where we can see Colin Baker as we knew him. The rest of the time he is acting deliberately out-of-character, and not a very strong lead (truly I would rather watch `The Twin Dilemma'). The acting in general is both over the top and unconvincing. The fact that we cannot be sure of what is real equally destroys these stories.
Happily, the final two segments (yes, those with Mel!) do bring the whole thing up and permit me to award the three stars. Colin Baker is back on form in `Terror of the Vervoids', which is also an enjoyable traditional story with less interruption and `alteration'. The Ultimate Foe is a mostly satisfying conclusion.
This was the low point of the classic series, the aftermath of which resonated through most of Sylvester MCoy's first season, but thankfully the show dragged itself to new heights astonishingly quickly, starting with `Remembrance of the Daleks'.
The extras are excellent throughout with lots of deleted and extended scenes, commentaries, trails and continuity, music videos, snippets from interviews, points of view and Lenny Henry; and plenty of documentaries, including an excellent one on the missing season. Having watched this and read the novelizations, I'm devastated that it was never made. No celestial toymaker, Blackpool beach, Ice Warriors or Autons. (`Ultimate Evil' would've been fantastic.) My only consolation is that if that season had been made Colin Baker wouldn't have been sacked, there would no Sylvester McCoy.
In conclusion, this is mildly entertaining and improves a lot for the last 6 episodes, but is ultimately infuriatingly unsatisfying. I eagerly await `Attack of the Cybermen' on DVD, Colin Baker at his best!
BETTER THAN EXPECTED!
Review date: 2008-11-03 Rating: 8 out of 10
We've all heard the naff reviews over the years, my advice? Ignore them and check this out!
Negatives first-yes, the courtroom scenes can drag (but we soon lose those throughout the series) and some of the acting is dross (that's what you get employing theatre luvvies)
Positives-Colin Baker (top form, should have stayed on),the storylines (varying)and a superb ending.
By the end of this, you really wish the 6th Doctor would have remainied on and even Bonnie Langford seems less irritating from the series first 80s airing.
Loads of extras, good all-round boxset.
"Objections sustained, or overruled"
Review date: 2008-10-27 Rating: 6 out of 10
Fun stories but a long way from classics. Slightly the epic that never was as the defiance of reflecting the BBC attitude to the show in the stories needed stranger scripts to sustain it. Breaking away from stories to come back to the courtroom does slow things down a lot. With an actor of Michael Jayston's calibre playing the prosecuting Valeyard we get some dramatic confrontations, but on the whole trial scenes are samey.
A thankless but necessary role for Linda Bellingham playing the inquisitor made up like a young Barbara Cartland and whittering on about court procedure! At 1 point I noticed an extra looking like Leonard Sachs playing Borusa, maybe they found him in a cupboard!
After some top notch FX summoning the Tardis to court and a scene establishing the trial we're in to the 1st of the stoires that the Timelords have matrix pirated copies of.
Celebrated writer Robert Holmes' last complete story "The Mysterious Planet" is sadly not his best, but he was v ill at the time. Better than Power of Kroll or Space Pirates he offers a slightly Planet of the Apes post apocalypse scenario with good characters (especially Glitz darker than in later offerings and dear old Katryca too), wit and crsip dialogue. What it lacks is energy.
On the production side there's a terrific robot design in Drathro (although the L1 looks a bit Wallace & Grommit!), and a spectacular location for the tribal huts.
Philip Martin's "Mindwarp" works better in spite of itself, the finished script is a bit of a mess. The sheer energy plus the direction and performances really lift it. Patricularly noteworthy are returning character Sil played by Nabil Shaban, his weary boss Kiv played by Staal from Sontaran Strategm: Christopher Ryan, the loud and lovely Brian Blessed and Patrick Ryecart as Crozier, the scientist dipping into Dr Moreau's(1)xmas bumper books of cruel experiments. His measured insanity is even menacing when he's drinking tea!
Colouring the sky to look alien & the pink sea is terrific. Pink must be the official respray colour of the look at the old Terileptil costume.
Watch for Martha's dad as Trevor Laird plays a guard!
"Terror of the Vervoids" is a fun bit of fluff, a lightweight but very enjoyable whodunnit in space. It goes a bit Terence Dudley with red herrings but is pacy and entertaining.
The Vervoids are a silly monster with a head that I can't describe in case children are reading. Oddly on original transmission, we never noticed!
"The Ultimate Foe" is the best bit, as the Valeyard's true nature is revealed for a showdown inside the fantasy world of the matrix. The Doctor gets help from 2 unlikely sources; Glitz (again marvellously played by Tony Selby) and the Master. Anthony Ainley's Master is at his best just enjoying the events and waiting for a chance to do the Doctor/Valeyard or both in. One of Ainley's most relaxed and charming portrayals, his scens with Glitz are a joy.
Uncle Colin gives some of his best work in this season. Witness when he comforts Peri that her Earth is safe whatever happens in the future (long before a similar scene in End of the World) and his reaction to her "death". Just 2 examples, there are many more.
The Doctor and Peri get a warmer relationship in Mysterious Planet but are shortchanged in Mindwarp. Even before the Doctor is damaged by an interrogation machine, he has taken Peri to the home planet of Sil without even warning her and jokes about her nearly being transmogrified into a bird!
In story 2 & 3 it's never really resolved what is making the Doctor act out of character and this weakens Colin's good work.
SPOILER ALERT!
I think this is pretty well known now but having killed Peri off chillingly in "Mindwarp" they reverse it in "Ultimate Foe" never explaining what actually happened in Mindwarp.
Sorry but at the time Bonnie Langford was miscast. She never gives bad performances but is announcing her lines rather than naturally delivering them Ultimate Foe.To be fair she has some awful lines to work with and made me eat my words by being so good in Big Finish CDs.
A ton of extras, Uncle Colin gives great commentaries for every episode with various others and they talk about plot points that Philip Martin wrote into Mindwarp that got left out, location work,wheeler dealer Geoffrey Hughes & what was Colin's last scene recorded. Eric Saward does lone commentaries for episode 1 and 13 of the season, remembering how he acted out of mourning at the time after Holmes'death.
There is a 4 part documentary, 1 part for each story & they are good if a little short. As per usual there are some gems like Dominic Glynn's explanation of how he came to creat the new version of the theme & even though I think his version's weak, I still found it interesting.
Show piece doc "Trials & Tribulations" covers the Colin Baker era and is full of treats like how Colin hated his costume, that charity record, how he loved his role of course and the sound bites from Jonathan Powell giving the real lowdown on why the show was cancelled and whether fan protests made a difference.
"Now get out of that" is a fun look at cliffhangers right up to the current version of the show.
There are many pieces of contemporary footage Blue Peter, Superstore & Wogan plus music videos inclduing the infamous charity record.
Deleted scens are mostly wisely cut courtroom action.
There is noting new form Lynda Bellingham, nabil Shaban or Bonnie Llangford all are in archive stuff.There's a lot of Pip N'Jane Baker who remind me of Neil & Christine Hamilton.
A great package of stories that are more for big Colin fans than others but if you can find it at a good price the extras are so good you'll be bound to find something you like.
1) See The Island of Dr Moreau by H.G.Wells
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Colin Baker
Creators:
Colin Baker (Primary Contributor)
Recording label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
EAN: 5014503242220
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 4
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2008-09-29
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 349 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1963
Tech info, cast and quotes/trivia when available. Exclusions may apply with free delivery. Price and availabiltity subject to change
