Last week, the classic Doctor Who serial “Day of the Daleks” starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant was released to the DVD format. The story – which features some sci-fi tropes that have comparisons to the X-Men’s “Days of Future Past” and even the Terminator movies – was the first episode in the color era of the series to feature the Daleks.
The producers of this DVD went all out to make sure to justify the 2-disc release. Did they succeed?
Yes.
In addition to the four-part serial, there’s audio commentary, about an hour of behind-the-scenes material and featurettes, a half-hour feature on the Doctor’s allies in UNIT, and more. But most exciting is the addition of the “Day Of The Daleks Special Edition” which improves upon the episode’s effects, adds some new shots, and re-dubs the Dalek voices with that of Nicholas Briggs, who voices the Daleks on the new Doctor Who episodes. Unlike the previous attempt at doing such a thing with “Planet of Fire,” this “remixing” seems to work and not go overboard. And as shown in a featurette on Disc 2, every attempt is made to ensure that the new material matches the classic in look – even though the original serial aired nearly 40 years ago.
“Day of the Daleks” has characters from the future trying to change their past, it has Daleks (of course!), it introduces the Ogrons, and the Third Doctor and Jo Grant are in it! And – being at only four chapters – it’s not as long as the usual Pertwee episode and thus, might be an easier “sell” to someone who’s not so familiar with the classic material. It’s also a good representation of the series’ era in general. I love the fact that the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who is almost completely released, and its discs like this that will [hopefully] sell enough so that we can get a complete set.
“Day of the Daleks” is now available in stores. You can also order it online at a discounted price from Amazon.com here.
