“Planet of the Giants” opened the second season of Doctor Who with William Hartnell’s Doctor and companions Susan, Barbara and Ian finding themselves in a mysterious labyrinth filled with dead giant ants. A TARDIS malfunction has left the travellers an inch high and they have landed in the cracks in a garden path, part of a testing ground for an insecticide which could trigger a biological apocalypse. The plot combines the urgent warning of Rachel Carson’s 1962 environmental landmark Silent Spring, with the basic scenario of Richard Matheson’s The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), the characters facing similar hazards including being menaced by a domestic cat. The low budget means the huge props necessary to realise the story are limited, but what there are prove surprisingly good. Even the over-size ants and a big fly look fairly impressive. The story maintains an unsettling mood, with an effective cliff-hanger involving the laboratory sink. Continuity problems stem from the original four-episode story being re-edited into three parts prior to transmission, but this is still a superior example of early Doctor Who, predating the popular American TV series Land of the Giants (1968) by four years. Lindsay Gutteridge’s once popular 1973 novel Cold War in a Country Garden owed much to the story. –Gary S Dalkin
The miniscules The first story from the second season of Doctor Who comes to DVD. Originally broadcast in 1964, all three black and white episodes are presented here on a single disc dvd.It features the First Doctor, along with his companions Susan, Ian and Barbara.The story uses an idea that had been under consideration ever since the start of the show. What if the TARDIS shrunk? In Planet of Giants, the doors of the TARDIS coming open in mid flight lead to that happening. The ship has landed in the middle of the garden of an old house in a sleepy English village. But in addition to all the dangers the crew face from insects and nature as a result of their diminished size, they have another problem. In the house is a ruthless businessman who is so determined to get a new pesticide onto the market, despite it’s devastating effects to all kinds life, he will stop at nothing, even murder, to achieve his aims.Can the Doctor and friends survive, return to their normal size, and save the Earth from the perils of the pesticide?In the early days of the show the ambition of the production team was never stopped by the limitations of tv of the time. Or by the budget. As anyone who has seen ‘The Web Planet’ will know. But whilst Planet of Giants does it’s best to create a bit of drama, and it does do some set pieces reasonably well, it can’t get past the problem of being rather dull. There’s no great tension to any of the proceedings, and the dated visuals and effects make it very hard to suspend your disbelief or really get hooked on the story.It’s also rather lacking in pace. Which is one reason why it was cut down from the originally planned four episodes into three. The third episode is the result of the original parts three and four being re-edited into one.This is by no means a bad story. It’s just not the most involving of them.The dvd has the usual language and subtitle options:Languages: English. And also Arabic, since the BBC still hold a copy of the print that was sold to certain arabic speaking countries, so you can listen to it in that if you wish.Subtitles: English.It’s also English audio captioned.It has the usual features of this dvd range:Production information subtitles.A photo gallery of stills from the story and shots from it being made.A commentary. None of the guest cast of the story are still with us, so this one is done entirely by members of the production staff.A trailer for the next release in the dvd range.And in addition to the usual Radio Times listings for the story as a PDF file you also get prop design plans from it.Other extras:Two more sets of interviews originally made for a 2003 documentary about Doctor Who. One with original producer Verity Lambert, and one with Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan. Both run for fifteen minutes [approx]. Both are good interviews. Both also need to be watched right to the end of the credits in order to see an additional moment.The dvd also contains a reconstruction of the original full length third and fourth parts. This is run together as one long extra of just over fifty one minutes, but each part does have ending and opening credits. If you want to watch just one at a time you can get to the start of of part via the chapter button on the dvd remote, and pressing it till the part starts.The original footage that was cut is no longer with us, so it has been restored by putting in reprised shots from elsewhere in the story. Occasional bits of cgi. And having a new recording of the dialogue. Given that William Russell [Ian] and Carole Ann Ford are still with us, they reprise their roles. And new actors do the other characters. The new cast are very good. The actor who does the Doctor’s voice especially so. But you can’t get by the fact that they all sound different to the original cast. And that is very noticeable.Whilst this version of part three isn’t too badly paced part four does feel slow and lacking in pace at points. So you can see why it was cut.Be aware [Mild spoiler] that these two episodes do contain a couple of moments that young children and animal lovers might find a bit distressing. Although that might not be a problem since they may not be able to suspend their disbelief at the points in question [end of mild spoiler].But these two new versions are nonethless an interesting look at what might have been.There is also a seven minute long feature on how they were done, complete with lots of footage of the new voice cast at work.
“…magical… a refresh re-appraisal… a pristine print…” COMMENT – Spoliers aheadMagical.Perhaps, that’s the only word.It’s August 2012 and we’re revelling in a magical William Hartnell adventure from the monochromatic era of humming, overheating cathode ray tubes and pea-souper smog. Complete with clasped-hook cloak, Hartnell diligently performs as the brusque alien with an extraordinarily advanced yet flawed time-space ship, DOCTOR WHO – PLANET OF GIANTS is a wonderfully evocative three-parter that opened the second season (ah, `older’ fans will relish that wording instead of the current labelling of `series’) but it would seem that the Louis Marks penned story had had a traumatic (or, perhaps, difficult or circuitous) route to air.Originally planned as the first-ever broadcast story (eventually replaced by DOCTOR WHO – 100,000 BC: AN UNEARTHLY CHILD), the story could not be developed sufficiently enough to warrant the financial investment and was shelved. However, it was re-commissioned with Louis Marks submitting a four-episode script that, under the direction of Donald Wilson (BBC’s Head of Serials), was truncated to three episodes as it deemed to be “too slow” in dramatic action.With its first release on DVD (single-disc), BBC DVD has delivered a pristine print and aurally clean version of DOCTOR WHO – PLANET OF GIANTS that is a welcome addition to the ever growing back catalogue, and whilst it may not be the most emotionally stirring, intellectually taxing stories in the history of the drama series it has some credibility for its ahead-of-its-time viewpoint on agricultural chemical & pesticide use and consequences.In the first of DOCTOR WHO DVD its kind, DOCTOR WHO – PLANET OF GIANTS has been “reconstructed” with more episodes than it originally had. Assiduously, taking the script of the abandoned fourth episode (that has been combined into a new third episode) reconstruction experts (led by the legendary DOCTOR WHO fan, Ian Levine) has recorded a new soundtrack and amalgamated existing film material to “match” in order to create an all-new 25-minute episode. Unsurprisingly, the result is genius and a credit to the production team (and to the BBC for approving the venture; a venture that should be repeated for other `missing’ episodes).The story of this reconstruction, REDISCOVERING THE URGE TO LIVE, is fascinatingly documented with interviews with Levine (“…a labour of love, … and work with your heroes…”), BBC DVD features producer, Ed Stradling, actors Toby Hadoke and John Guilor (voicing the role of the First Doctor, who described working with the original cast as like “…working with The Beatles”), and CLASSIC SERIES actors & original TARDIS companions, Carole Ann Ford (“…a very talkative story…”) and William Russell (“…my memory is entirely with a box of matches the size of telegraph poles…”). Even if the prospect of enduring an episode, that was originally deemed to be to dull and slow, is too daunting I recommend indulging in a caffeine drink as you will be wholly rewarded.Opening with the upbeat dance tune of “John Smith and the Common Men” (from DOCTOR WHO – 100,000 BC: AN UNEARTHLY CHILD), in SUDDENLY SUSAN, the perennially charming Carole Ann Ford – recorded in 2003 – charts the development (or not, depending on your point of view) of her character, Susan, across the first and second seasons of the series. Asserting the potential dramatic fact that the character could have been “…hundreds of years old…” (A Time Lady with regenerative abilities?), Ford recalls the series’ filming, her working relationship with William Hartnell (“…we were genuinely fond of each other…” and “…there was an edge to his performance… an unexploded bomb…”), on her fame (“…it got quite frantic at time. It was like being a pop star…”), on her favourite story (“…just beautiful…”) and, of course, DOCTOR WHO – PLANET OF GIANTS (“…part fun, part nightmare…).Unlike the contents of a disappointing Christmas Cracker complete with its tawdry & cheap contents that cost a mere handful of `coppers’, THE LAMBERT TAPES is a filler `featurette’ that delivers an explosion rather than that lukewarm `snap’ when opened.Certainly, if it was not for the tenacity and courage of her convictions then DOCTOR WHO may not have endured for nearly five decades; Verity Lambert deserves all the plaudits that both fans and the television industry can offer. In this documentary, with Lambert recorded in 2003, she re-outlines the original premise of the series and the Doctor’s character (the NEW SERIES producer’s should take not) and how her lead actor “…embodied the character…” and how the minuscule financial budget forced her team to “…use their imagination…”Continuing to analyse the genesis of the series, Lambert confirms that the BBC Head of Drama, Sidney Newman was “…a huge supporter of DOCTOR WHO…” but initially…