Customer Reviews

make sure this doctor dies slowly - By: chace, 26 Jul 2010
this dvd set is very meaningfull to me. but ill get to that later the dvd set has two storys the kings deamons & planet of fire

altrough both storys is lackluster in who fandom ( kings more so) i love them they have a lot of fantastic moments, my own personal moments but still fantastic none,the less

the kings deamons

the doctor landsin 18th century england to be met by a old rival,

the story is standard & as a two parter its very much rush rush but the acting is decent not of the best 5th era but still decent the location work is stunningin my veiw the detail of the kings house ( i think is a set ) is really nice & realistic all the dialog is very real for this time the manner of their lifes is also very detailed ( their loyalty to the king for example)

i know thats a lot of good stuff for something standard, but their is also the bad anthony ainly as a french night is cringhworthy. its only when the cliffhangner happens that hes back to form the 5th doctor shows early signs of his 7th persona. this is not a good thing cause it wasent handled very well & 5th dose not do the twisted side well tegan & turglo dose not fair much better & dose nothing but complain or get captured

the swordfight was one of the worse ive seenin a longtime all iam saying

now part two is more like it with the master at his best the mind fight is also good but done betterin brain of morbius & the ending is very diffrent at the time

so allin all not a bad story but not the best

**1/2

planet of fire

planet of fire was the first doctor who story i bought on vhs & was so glad to get it on dvd i love this story for many reasons,including the one above this is fith at his best one of his more daker storys. ( kinda nd caves also) i cant think of anything to say other than i love it

****

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The forgotten companion - By: Paul Tapner, 18 Jul 2010
K9 as a popular Doctor Who character & he got the show a lot of publicity. So come the mid 80's the production team took the chance offered to them to have a real robot as a character on the show. A real robot! How could it possibly go wrong?

Well it did. A humanoid figure who can walk & talk & act human is something, as peter davison says on these dvds, that can't even be done nowadays. So it was an ever taller orderin the early 1980's. Kamelion was introducedin two part story the King's Demons & then rather forgotten about because he didn't work as well as hoped. A scene due to featurein subsequent story the awakening was cut for timing reasons. But several stories later, the four parter planet of fire had to wrap up all the loose ends from the Davison era. Kamelion was one of them.

His two stories are presented herein one box set.

The King's demons sees the TARDIS crew arrivein medieval england only to find an old enemy is there, using Kamelionin order to stop magna carta being signed. Can the Doctor stop history being changed?

Despite the usual excellent bbc production values for a period piece, there's not much else to this story. It starts well but it peters outin part two. The master is only seemingly doing this for the sake of it. The number of companionsin the story means Turlough is completely sidelined. And part two lacks action & suspense. It's not a terrible story but it's a bit inconsequential.

Planet of fire sees the TARDIS on lanzarote. And then on volcanic planet sarn. The mysteries of Turlough's past & his heritage are about to come into play & several lives are changed as a result.

Planet of fire had to: write out turlough. Introduce new companion Peri. Get rid of Kamelion. Use Lanzarote for the locations. And possibly kill off the master. It does all of this, & makes Turlough a stronger character than he'd been written as on a few occasions, but it can't quite provide a great story to go with it also. The locations are great. Guest actor Peter Wyngarde delivers a great performance by virtue of sheer charisma - although the directing of his characters last scene is all wrong & robs it of the impact it should have - & the story revitalises the fifth doctor by wrapping up loose ends & letting him travel with just one companion. It's thus a bit of a shame that his next adventure was his last...

Both stories have the usual:

subtitles & language tracksin english.

English audio captioned.

Photo gallery of stills from the story & it's production.

Production information subtitles.

Commentary from various cast & crew members.

Rsdio times billings as pdf files.

Isolated score.

And trailer for the next dvdin this range.

The King's Demons also has a fifteen minute long feature about Kamelion. What they hoped he'd be able to do & what they did when they found he couldn't. Featuring some entertaining contributions & some of that deleted scene from that subsequent story it's very entertaining.

There's also a twenty five minute long feature about magna carta & the history of why it was signed & why it's so important even to this day. Full of great detail & absorbing viewing if you don't know the history although elements of the script do feel like first drafts.

Planet of Fire has a twenty five minute long making of documentary. The best of these for a little while it also has contributions from the late producer John Nathan Turner, by virtue of clips from his audio memoirs, & it's nice to hear these. Although it does duplicate some of the Kamelion documentary from King's demons.

Return to the planet of fire sees director & designer return to lanzarote. A nice changein style from the usual then & now look at locations this is good viewing. Be sure to watch to the very end of the credits.

Designs on sarn has the designer talking about some of the challenges he faced.

Deleted & extended scenes runs for fifteen minutes & is mostly extended versions of scenes showing people walking or running places. You have to watch them all at once & there's nothing majorly interesting here.

There's also a couple of minutes worth of bbc continuity announcements & trailers from the time of broadcast.

Disc two of planet of fire has a movie version of the story with it edited into a sixty six minute long feature & with cgi effects added. There's also a short introduction from the director. The cgi is rather obvious & the running time means a bit has been cut though, but this doesn't have to replace the original. Just offer a different version.

There's an eight minute long feature on disc two called calling the shots with the cast & crew talking about the challenges of tv production backin the 80's. It's illuminating stuff & worth a watch.

And there's remembering Anthony Ainley, a thirteen minute long look at the actor who played the masterin the 1980's, mostly via clips from his stories & film of him at a convention. It's worth watching for that as he turns out to have been a very entertaining speaker.

For an easter egg watch planet of fire disc one on a computer & move the pointer over the first page of special features till you light up a hidden logo. In order to see a minute's worth of electronic test cards. So it's not really worth it.

This is another box set that does the best it can with two of the not quite top of the range old doctor who stories.

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The rise and fall of a tin man - By: Emanon, 13 Jul 2010
Kamelion was a rather forgettable shape-shifting robot that was introduced as a different kind of companion to Peter Davison's DOCTOR WHOin 1983 & swiftly written out when it was realised that it was not one of the better ideas the show had ever come up with. It featuredin the two stories includedin this set & a scene deleted from one other that does appear (at least partially)in one of the accompanying extras & failed to get any kind of mentionin any of the intervening stories during which it presumably hid somewherein the bowels of the TARDIS gathering dust & trying to remember how to walk properly.

The two stories - THE KING's DEMONS & PLANET OF FIRE - that make up THE KAMELION COLLECTION are plucked from Peter Davison's second & third yearsin the role & are separated by 5 other stories & about a yearin production time which means that by the time of PLANET OF FIRE Janet Fielding's Tegan has departed & Mark Strickson's Turlough is about to. (If you want to learn Tegan's fate you'll need to take a look at RESURRECTION OF THE DALEKS which is the story immediately preceding it.)

The two parter that is THE KING'S DEMONS is intended as little more than a cheapish filler that served to introduce the Kamelion before the epic finale to the twentieth anniversary season. Unfortunately strike action meant that the finale was postponed & this story was the last broadcast story of that series & would leave the charactersin a kind of limbo heading off towards the Eye of Orion for the fateful anniversary special THE FIVE DOCTORS later on that year. The TARDIS landsin a pretty well realised medieval England at around the time of Magna Carta where a "Masterieux Frainch Knaiight" is using Kamelion to impersonate King Johnin order to achieve a diabolical masterplan where the whole of civilisation would be brought down by bad singing. Or something. Actually it's all a bit bizarre, but there's an impressive enough swordfight, some rather nice jousting & a mind battle with an old enemy for control of the robot - presumably whoever loses gets to keep the bloomin' thing. Gerald Flood, Frank Windsor & Isla Blair are among a strong supporting cast that attack the script with masses of conviction but the short running time doesn't give them much to do & companions Tegan & Turlough are sidelined for the most part.

PLANET OF FIRE, the four parter that was Peter Davison's penultimate broadcast adventure does at least manage to look relatively expensive having been largely filmed on locationin Lanzorote which makes it look different & genuinely hot & gives the planet of Sarn (for which it also doubles) a distinctly unique feel. This story has a lot to achieve as, alongside the conclusions to both the Turlough & Kamelion storylines, it has to introduce the rather delightful Perpugilliam (Peri) Brown as played by Nicola Bryant who makes a rather memorable first impression & would go on to be one of the more popular assets of the Colin Baker era. The story also reintroduces a bearded, black-clad old enemy of the Doctor's who is having his own little problems but luckily also has something of an affinity with Kamelion. All-in-all it does manage to succeed, but the story does tend to veer all over the place jumping between its themes of religious fanaticism & these other story requirements so that by the end of it it's quite difficult to put your finger on what it's all been about. Still, the rather excellent guest cast including Peter Wyngarde, Barbara Shelley, Edward Highmore & Dallas Adams are committed enough & the regulars are as reliable as ever & manage to give Turlough a fairly satisfying sendoff, despite some unfortunate costume design decisions which find much of the young male cast wearing short shorts which they might have lived to regret.

The extras include a third disc which is a re-edit of PLANET OF FIRE which does little to enhance its reputation as well as the usual comprehensive text commentaries, PDF materials, photo galleries, isolated scores, continuity announcements & so forth. There are a couple of "ho-hum" documentaries about the development & problematic short life of Kamelion & on Magna Carta on THE KING'S DEMONS disc & a couple of "behind the scenes" pieces on the PLANET OF FIRE discs alongside a slightly disappointing tribute to the enigmatic Anthony Ainley. All the commentaries are quite jolly with Peter Davison featuring on all six of the episodes alongside some of his co-stars & production staff which manage to give frank & insightful insight into the ups & downs of the various episodes & the problems of working with an electronic co-star that never really managed to live up to its potential.

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Dr Who - By: sanddancer, 11 Jul 2010
Trying to complete my collection as I've been a fan of the show since it began when I was a toddlerin 1963.

I'm starting to appreciate Peter Davison more now thanin the 80's whenhe had the part. I always felt that Kamelion didn't get used as much as he deserved, so it's nice to see him back again.

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Great boxset! - By: dylan, 04 Jul 2010
I'm going to keep my review very short.
Like every classic doctor who box set that has been released
it fails to disappoint, & I hope they continue to bring alot more classic
doctor who episodes out on dvd for many years to come. And series 5 was just amazing btw. :D

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