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I'm not the greatest Third Doctor fan, and I'm certainly not the greatest fan of Jo Grant. However, since a lot of my dislike of the era revolves around the decline of UNIT, the first story set after the events of THE THREE DOCTORS doesn't have that particular drawback. Having said that, I've always found some of the acclaim for CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS somewhat OTT. It might be written by Robert Holmes, but for me, it's not his best work for the programme. However, rewatching it for the first time in ages, there was plenty to enjoy about the story. Holmes was always able to give his characters good dialogue, and this story sees the first of his memorable "double acts" for the show - Kalik and Orum and Vorg and Shirna. The characters on the S.S. Bernice are less interesting, primarily because their roles largely involve saying and doing the same things over and over again. The story itself isn't that great, and it's the dialogue rather than the plot than proved the more entertaining. On the effects side, the Drashigs mostly look quite impressive, but some shots of them work rather less well. The shots of the Plesiosaur are also less than convincing, as are some of the other uses of CSO (although, to be fair, Barry Letts is prepared to criticise some of his directorial decisions). As usual, the Restoration Team have restored the episodes and generally they look pretty good, although the text on the opening titles looks very ragged. Without wishing to sound like a miserable git, DVD extras usually tend to be something that I watch once and never bother with again. That said, the RT have also assembled a set of extras that put most other thirty year old TV series to shame. The main one is, of course, the commentary track by Barry Letts and Katy Manning. As both the director and producer, Letts has plenty to say, although Manning does admit that this was the first time she'd seen the story since its original transmission. However, the pair have a good rapport and the commentary is generally a good one. Other extras include the usual production notes, photo gallery (not enough Shirna in this if you ask me!) and TARDIS-cam sequence. Also included are a demonstration of CSO by Barry Letts, some behind the scenes footage, test model shots, a couple of deleted/extended scenes, the edited ending used on the 1981 repeat, a trailer for the FIVE FACES OF DOCTOR WHO season and the title sequence using the rejected "Delaware" theme. But despite my cynicism, CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS is an enoyable story supported by a good set of extras. BACK TO THE TOP |
CARNIVAL
OF MONSTERS |
