Doctor Who: The Caves Of Androzani

When the Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison, decided to call it a day, he did so with what is, to date, the best of the "regeneration" stories, and one of the best stories period from either the old or new series.

The story focuses on the Doctor and Peri arriving at Androzani, where they find out that, as per usual for places they visit, things aren't going well. There's a bit of a war on between rebels and the corporation that controls the planet. This was in the 1980s, you see, when corporations controlled everything, unlike now where...uh...actually, I don't know how to finish that. Moving on. The Doctor inserts himself into the middle of things, but this time does so at the cost of his own life.

It's an excellent story, and directed by Graeme Harper, who has since gone on to direct several new series episodes. It's really great, and I'm pleased that it's getting a special edition version, as it was one of the earlier DVD releases and was somewhat bare-bones.

Here's what you get (lifted from a review on Amazon's UK website):

Disc 1

· 4 x 25 min colour episodes with mono audio.
· Commentary with actors Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant and director Graeme Harper.
· Isolated Music - option to view the episodes with isolated music scores.
· Behind the Scenes - The Regeneration (dur. 7' 53") - a look inside the studio during the shooting of the climactic regeneration scene. Features an optional commentary track with Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant and Graeme Harper.
· Behind the Scenes - Creating Sharaz Jek (dur. 5' 04") - inside the character of Sharaz Jek, courtesy of an audio recording of the late Christopher Gable talking about his role in the story, photographs from Gable's own collection and footage from the studio recording.
· Extended Scenes (dur. 4' 12") - three extended scenes taken from the original film sequences and timecoded production tapes. The first has an optional commentary track with Peter Davison and Graeme Harper.
· Trailer (dur. 0' 28") - BBC1 trailer for the first episode.
· News (dur. 5' 21") - a compilation of news reports and interviews about Peter Davison leaving the series.
· Coming Soon (dur. approx 1' 00") - a trail for a forthcoming DVD release.
· PDF material - Radio Times listings in PDF format.
· Programme Subtitles
· Subtitle Production Notes

Disc 2
· Chain Reaction (dur. 36' 04") - cast and crew look back at the making of the story that is regularly voted as the best Doctor Who story of all time. With actors Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant, Maurice Roëves, Robert Glenister and Martin Cochrane, director Graeme Harper, script editor Eric Saward, production designer John Hurst and composer Roger Limb. Written and presented by Matthew Sweet.
· Directing Who: Then & Now (dur. 11' 44" - Graeme Harper is the only director to have worked on both the classic and new series of Doctor Who. In this featurette he talks about the different production techniques used on both.
· Russell Harty (dur. 8' 36") - Peter Davison and Colin Baker appear on the Russell Harty Show in the week between Davison's last episode and Baker's first.
· Photo Gallery (dur. 4' 55") - a selection of design and production photographs from the story.

The extras alone make it worthwhile for me, but I can understand that this kind of "double-dip" isn't for everyone. As for me, I'll be ordering it, you bet!

"The Caves of Androzani" is easily one of the best Doctor Who stories ever made - if not the very best. It boasts a great script by Robert Holmes, exciting direction by Graeme Harper, and Peter Davison's most thoughtful performance as the Doctor. Add to the mix an unusually sympathetic villain in the form of Sharaz Jek, a creepy music score, and a few intense action scenes, and hey presto, you've got a classic.

Of course, if you're a Doctor Who fan, you probably already know all this. So, I should get to the real reason why I'm writing this review, which is to assess the DVD "special edition" of this story. The original DVD of "Caves" is about 10 years old now, so this new version is being touted as a significant improvement.

Which it is, to an extent. The print on the special edition, while not spectacular (old BBC video footage is never spectacular), is definitely an improvement on any print I've seen before. Certainly, for such a dark serial, it helps to have the picture cleaned up and the black backgrounds made "blacker." The sound quality on the new DVD is also very good; in one scene, I could even hear the cloth on the soldiers' uniforms swishing. Still, the source material is quite dated, so don't expect a truly stunning presentation.

The new special features, meanwhile, are my main source of disappointment here. The special edition comes with a new featurette, "Chain Reaction," which covers the making of "Caves" in a fairly predictable way. I've been watching similar special features on Doctor Who DVDs for about 10 years now, and at this point, I'm quite familiar with the show's weird production style and the problems it caused. How many times must I hear the actors complain that they had only one or two takes to film a scene, and that the studio was always shut down promptly at 10 PM? To Doctor Who veterans such as myself, these stories are old hat.

I would've been happier if the featurette had instead (or, at least, additionally) addressed the major *themes* of "Caves" -- what the story is saying about war, death, the quest for eternal youth, or whatever. Alas, for some odd reason, most Doctor Who fans - apart from maybe Robert Shearman - shy away from discussing themes, and instead get caught up in surface analysis of the episodes. "Chain Reaction," which makes the superficial observation that Harper's direction is energetic about 700 times over, is a prime example of this.

But I guess I'm moaning too much. If you consider the package of special features as a whole -- it also includes shorter featurettes and some period news items -- it's pretty good. I just happen to think that the special edition of "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" was handled better, and included more interesting material on that serial's background and historical context. By comparison, the special edition of "Caves" is good but pedestrian.

[This is the same review I wrote for the previous DVD version of "The Caves of Androzani". I don't really have anything I'd like to add, but I hope this review compels you to purchase this fan-favorite, and hopefully nobody will be bothered by my copy/paste review.]

The best "Doctor Who" stories are remembered for being inventive science-fiction stories with unique characters and villainous schemes. But it's rare that a story gets remembered on an emotional level. After all, what can we make of a time traveler who gets into trouble, and doesn't seem to notice how dangerous his meddling can be? As it turns out with "The Caves of Androzani", there is some drama buried beneath the adventures through time and space. Peter Davison's turn as The Doctor was underrated for various reasons. Some fans were still getting over their understandable attachment to Tom Baker's 7-year run, while haters couldn't be blamed because many of Davison's stories (IMO) had mediocre writing. But like almost every "Doctor Who" fan will tell you, they couldn't have picked a better story to close Davison's tenure in the lead role. It easily Davison's best --- and the actor's personal favorite --- and one of the best "Doctor Who" stories in general.

So, why does "The Caves of Androzani" work better than most stories? After all, we've seen companions in trouble, villains with evil plots, alien worlds, and even The Doctor dying before. Why is this one special? There are many reasons (of which I'll share a few), but the key reason for me is that every single twist and turn in the plot makes sense 100% of the time. The action sequences (even that rubber-suit dragon creature) all have a purpose, and the characters have motivations that never ring false. People aren't evil just for the sake of being evil, and every character with an ounce of heroism has ulterior motives that may prove to be their undoing. The corporate magnate Morgus and the violent smuggler Stotz aren't just bad guys (though they're pretty sinister); their efforts to control the Spectrox trade and arms dealings all boil down to a greed that we've seen throughout human history. General Chellak indeed has a code of honor when performing his duties to maintain the deadly planet's environmental hazards & illegal trading ring...if only he could control his desire to be remembered as a legendary soldier rather than a corporate lackey. And as twisted as Sharaz Jek's mysteries are, even he earns some sympathy by the very end.

Of course The Doctor and his companion Peri deserve to be recognized as well. I always thought Peri was underrated companion, because people always focused on her American accent and good-looking body. But if you really watch "The Caves of Androzani", she plays a much more pivotal role in the story than companions usually do. Even though she begins as The Doctor's tagalong, she's really the only true voice of reason and conscience in the whole story. Even The Doctor can't resist being a little sarcastic with his various captors; as he says early in the story, "Curiosity has always been my downfall." What a sad and powerful way to look at the series! The Doctor and Peri's fates are, in a roundabout way, his fault. Plus, who knows if the people on the two Androzani planets might've been better off without The Doctor's recent arrival? When all the characters' fates are met, think on that for a moment.

Although I'm a huge fan of this entire TV franchise, I have to admit that few stories are perfect. Some are 1 or 2 parts too many, some suffer from the show's insanely low budget, etc. "The Caves of Androzani", however, is just about perfect with the length, production quality, acting, and storytelling. Case in point (to quote another "Doctor Who" fan), just watch the Part 3 cliffhanger and NOT want to watch Part 4. Or, do you wonder how a story involving running around in caves somehow manages to maintain its intensity and intriguing mystery. It's amazing this Fifth Doctor's farewell managed to be this good.

So, diehard fans already know that this is a must-have part of the collection. But if you're new to "Doctor Who", and want some good stories to start you off, this one is highly recommended. Don't worry if you haven't seen other Peter Davison stories. Although there are some good ones ("Earthshock" and "The Five Doctors" are a couple personal favorites), most of his stories have mixed reviews at best. But in the final hour, everyone realized how good Peter Davison really was, leaving his successors with larger shoes to fill than some realized. "The Caves of Androzani" is a TV classic!