 I had forgotten how much I enjoy reviewing
the Dr Who DVDs in my collection. I also really
look forward to the new ones arriving through the post.
My Ghost Light DVD is no exception! Our
copy of this release came from www.sendit.com where we got it for the bargain
price of £9.99 ~ cover price is £19.99,
so this was a very good deal.
Produced by the BBC, this DVD
was released on 20th September 2004 and has one disc,
which contains the main feature adventure (a three part
story this time) and a variety of other Special Features,
accessible by a series of interactive menu screens.
As usual, if you don’t want to know some of the
plot details skip onwards three paragraphs and join
us later.
THE PLOT
Ghost Light delves into the
slightly darker side of Dr Who, and also into a frightening
part of the Doctor’s current companion’s history. Ace
(played by Sophie Aldred) and the Seventh Doctor (played
by Sylvester McCoy) land the TARDIS at Gabriel Chase
(an old Victorian House that we later learn was destroyed
by fire in the late 20th Century) in Perivale in 1883.
Here they meet a variety of weird characters
that emerge once the clock strikes, to show night has
fallen.
The time travelers have to deal
with murder, an evolved alien called Josiah Samuel Smith,
a plot to kill Queen Victoria, Neanderthals and a brush
with a powerful alien called “Light”. It is a
fast paced, often a little confusing story, that manages
to hold itself together mainly due to some fantastic
acting performances. I would recommend watching
this one a couple of times to really get the gist of
what is going on behind the surfaces of the Victorian
veneer!
Suffice it to say that it all
works out in the end ~ the Doctor saves Earth from destruction
by convincing Light that his study of the planet can
never be completed because everything is evolving constantly.
We also learn a little more about Ace and see
her relationship with the Doctor evolving too ~ lots
of good character acting and emotions!
This story was originally broadcast
on TV from the 4th to the 18th of October 1989. An
interesting fact is that this was the last story to
be made before the series was cut from the BBC schedule,
although it didn’t end up being the last one broadcast.
I did think that reviewing the last ever made
story would be appropriate somehow ~ it is just one
week before the first story of the brand new series
hits the screens after all!
THE DVD EXTRAS
***Commentary***
This time we get a quite entertaining
commentary from Sophie Aldred (who plays feisty Ace),
Marc Platt (who wrote the story), Mark Ayres (who composed
the incidental music) and Andrew Cartmel (the script
editor). I think that adding Sylvester McCoy to
the line up would have improved the commentary because
of the rapport that there is between Ace and the Doctor.
The commentary does seem relaxed and informal
though and everyone seems to have something to say.
This is one of the better commentaries and one
I have managed to listen to all the way through without
getting fed up!
***Info text***
Still one of my favourite features
because I am nosy and like to know all about where things
are filmed, who was in the stories and how many people
watched each episode. They also tell you facts
about the actors, eliminating the “isn’t she the woman
who used to be in?” type conversations.
***Light in Dark Places***
This is a forty minute documentary
with various people involved taking about the making
of Ghost Light. It is generally quite interesting,
but at forty minutes does seem a bit too long. I
admit to fast forwarding a few bits, but enjoyed most
of it, especially the fondness that those making it
obviously had for the series.
***Writer’s Question Time***
This lasts for around 12 minutes
and shows Marc Platt’s interview at a Dr Who Convention
in 1990 (called Panoptican). This wasn’t of real
interest to me ~ most of what he said is “old news”
and I’d heard it all before. Worth watching I
suppose to see what Dr Who fans were wearing in 1990
I suppose!
***Deleted and Extended Scenes***
This is actually presented a
little better than the usual round of cut scenes and
deleted bits. They have presented it like scenes
in a Victorian novel and it is worth watching. I
wish that some of the scenes had been left in because
they would have helped to iron out some of the plot
issues (in other words you would have had a better idea
of what the story was all about).
***Photo Gallery***
This is a regular feature on
these releases and has around fifty shots of the cast
and moments from during production. I don’t often
rate the photo galleries very highly, but some of the
pictures are quite interesting and it is a better example
than most.
***Music Only Option***
You can select the option from
the interactive menu to watch the story without the
dialogue or other sounds and just listen to the incidental
music score. A nice idea and the music does add
a great atmosphere to the story ~ don’t see the point
though I’m afraid. Five minutes of the music and
I’m wondering what the cast are saying!
***Dolby 5.1 mix***
Mark Ayres has produced a 5.1
Dolby soundtrack and you can choose whether to watch
the story with this, or with the original stereo version.
I watched both and there is a distinct improvement
in the new version that surprised me. Watch with
both and see what YOU think!
***Shooting Ghosts***
I really rather enjoyed this
feature. It lasts for about twenty minutes and
shows footage of the filming of Ghost Light. The
length is just about right, not so short that you don’t
learn anything and not so long that it gets boring.
I found the behind the scenes insight informative
and find it helps to appreciate how much work and planning
goes into a whole adventure.
***Easter Egg***
If you haven’t seen this feature
before, Easter Eggs are extra bonus features that can
be found by selecting buttons from the Interactive menu
in a “secret” order. This time the Easter Egg
(and there is just one this time) is a little more disappointing
than usual. I won’t give it away, but I’ll just
tell you that it isn’t really worth the effort!
CONCLUSION
Ghost Light had the potential
to be a really great story. As it is, it is a
GOOD story that would have benefited from certain aspects
being explained a little better. It has atmosphere,
melodrama and a lot of mystery. The sound and
picture quality is as crisp and clear as I have come
to expect. In fact we dug out our old video recording
of it to compare and were surprised how flat and dull
the old version was.
Special Feature wise, there
isn’t quite as much on offer as in some releases, but
there is still enough material to interest fans of the
series and to introduce the series to new people. My
favourite features are the Shooting Ghosts documentary
and the Information Text (again!) because they are well
made and are really interesting to me as a fan. The
documentaries and deleted scenes also help to clear
up all those little mysteries not explained fully in
the plot ~ that has got to be a bonus!
It is well worth investing in,
even if you have the video version because the quality
is so much improved and there is a lot more than just
the main feature to watch.
Once again the BBC have given
us a well laid out, easy to access disc with good use
of the interactive menus. It is, for me, an essential
addition to any Dr Who collection and a great story
to boot! I have already watched it several times
and enjoyed it more each time.
Recommended!
» Review by Andrea Waterhouse, Copyright 2005.
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