“Remembrance of the Daleks” is the first adventure of the twentyfifth season of “Doctor Who” classic series, which aired in 1988. It follows “Dragonfire” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Ben Aaronovitch and directed by Andrew Morgan.

The story

The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) brings Ace (Sophie Aldred) to London, in 1963. Group Captain Gilmore and his men are investigating the strange magnetic fluctuations outside a school. The Doctor contacts Professor Rachel Jensen, a scientific consultant for the military, and shows her he knows much more than her about the potential threat.

In a warehouse nearby a Dalek is found but Group Captain Gilmore’s men are not able to counter his arms. Ace manages to destroy the Dalek with a Nitro-9 charge but it’s clear that there must be others in the area. The Doctor will have to face his old enemies and in the meantime to secure the Hand of Omega, a device he had brought with him from Gallifrey and had left on Earth.

Extras

The original edition contains a fair amount of extras while the Special Edition is rich in extras. In both editions there are typical contents such as a gallery of pictures from this adventure. The Special Edition also contains production subtitles and the Radio Times Listings.

There are various comments in the adventure alternative audio track of both editions by its protagonists Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.

Both editions contain:

Deleted Scenes. Thirteen scenes partly or completely deleted from the final editing with an introduction that gives some details about them.

Out-Takes. A brief compilation of bloopers and various mistakes made ​​during the recording of this adventure.

Multi-Angle Scenes. Some action scenes were recorded using two different cameras. This option gives you the ability to switch from one view to another in the course of these scenes.

Isolated Score. The option to watch this adventure with Keff McCulloch’s complete soundtrack in an isolated audio track.

BBC1 Trailers / Trails and Continuity. Various BBC promos from the period in which this adventure was transmitted.

The Special Edition also contains:

Back to School. A documentary almost 33 minutes long about the production of this adventure.

Remembrances. A documentary about 15 minutes long about the influences and references to other “Doctor Who” adventures found in “Remembrance of the Daleks”.

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix. The option to listen to this adventure in the new Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround version created for this DVD.

Davros Connections. A documentary about 43 minutes long about the history of Davros, which includes references to the TV adventures but also to Big Finish audio adventures. An excellent extra that puts a little order in the history of this character.

The Special Edition also contains an “Easter egg” in which Sophie Aldred is recording one of the introductions to the deleted scenes.

[ad name=”AmazonDVDDoctorWho468″]

For the 25th “Doctor Who” anniversary, producer John Nathan-Turner and script editor Andrew Cartmel wanted to celebrate the show with new appearances of the most classic enemies, Daleks and Cybermen. At the same time, they wanted to create a new sense of wonder around the figure of the Doctor, who over the years had lost the aura of mystery he had in his his early days.

Terry Nation, the creator and owner of the rights to the Daleks, was offered the chance to write another script for “Doctor Who” but declined the offer reserving only the right to approve the work of another author. Andrew Cartmel entrusted the job to Ben Aaronovitch, a young writer who had submitted some ideas to the show production that for various reasons weren’t considered suitable.

In the new “Doctor Who” series, the episodes often contain references to the past. This strengthens the ties with decades of stories that have as their protagonists so many different actors but that”s possible because the complete classic stories and even some incomplete ones have been published in DVD and most of the fans had the chance to watch them. When the original series was aired, only older fans remembered the adventures of the ’60s because VHS releases started only in the ’80s and reruns on TV were limited.

By the standards of the classic series, “Remembrance of the Daleks” contains a huge amount of references to the past and in particular to its beginning. The school and the warehouse where it all started are part of this adventure but you can see that at the time it was as something extraordinary because the sign “I.M. Foreman” is wrong, being spelled as “I.M. Forman”.

“Remembrance of the Daleks” is set in 1963, before UNIT was formed, but the group commanded by Group Captain Gilmore recalls it in various ways. Rachel Jensen worked in Cambridge, like Liz Shaw, but physically looks more like Barbara Wright, one of the Doctor’s original companions. There’s even an in-joke referencing the show itself when Ace turns off the TV while a new science fiction iw being announced which is “Doctor Who”.

“Remembrance of the Daleks” also contains some homages to the Quatermass series, a science fiction TV show aired on the BBC from 1953 whose success was one of the influences that led to the creation of “Doctor Who”.

References to the past are not just homages. “Remembrance of the Daleks” is in some ways a continuation of the previous adventures with the Daleks and sees two opposing factions, already seen in “Revelation of the Daleks“. There’s even a bit of explanation as to why at the end of that adventure Davros had been taken away as a prisoner while in this new adventure is the leader of the new Daleks. Usually in the classic series an enemy could reappear even when in theory had been killed at the end of his previous appearance with no explanations.

From the beginning, the Daleks were a metaphor for the Nazis, in “Remembrance of the Daleks” there’s a more general theme of racism. The Daleks are so xenophobic that the two factions now genetically different, want to exterminate each other. In the story, however, there are also examples of racism among humans and the issue is developed in a manner not always subtle.

In this scenario, the Doctor behaves in a mysterious way. In his first season, the Seventh Doctor had often a clownish behavior, now he starts behaving as a manipulator and his figure suddenly becomes mysterious. It turns out that he had brought from Gallifrey the Hand of Omega, a device that is important in the history of the Time Lords. How can it be in his possession?

The basic idea was to add something new around the figure of the Doctor that was connected to his role and his backstory among the Time Lords. In his conversation with Davros a piece where he says he’s much more than a mere a Time Lord was cut. It was an idea that was supposed to be developed in long-term, even in the evolution of the character of Ace, but the cancellation of “Doctor Who” in 1989 prevented them from accomplishing it.

In this scenario, a story is developed that by the standards of the time has a fast pace and has good special effects beyond the Daleks that are a bit wobbly. The cast performances are generally high standard for a result that overall is really good even though I don’t like Ace very much and in this adventure her relationship with Sergeant Mike Smith seems pointless.

The original edition of the DVD was one of the first of “Doctor Who” so it contains just a few extras. For the Special Edition new ones have been created that make it much more interesting, in my opinion a must-have for anyone interested in this show.