Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

An Adventure in Space and Time Blu-ray Movie Review

A pleasant surprise. Not sure why I expected anything less...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 2, 2015

It doesn't take a lifelong Whovian to appreciate BAFTA Award-nominated television drama An Adventure in Space and Time. Even without any knowledge of Doctor Who, its cultural impact (on this side of the pond or the other), or its 50-year legacy, the film can simply be viewed as a quiet, heartbreaking character study of a man slowly losing control of his faculties just as his star truly begins to shine. For those who adore all things Who, though, it's a much richer experience, encapsulating the beginnings of a cult phenomenon, the evolution of the Time Lord mythos, and the near-misses that almost prevented the series from seeing a Second Doctor, much less a Twelfth all these years later. Moreover, the performances, particularly from David Bradley and Jessica Raine, are exceptional, uncovering the human spirit at the ragged heart of a now-iconic BBC programme, as is Mark Gatiss' script, which gracefully employs sentimentality and nostalgia without yanking heartstrings or plunging into melodrama. Perhaps if the further behind-the-scenes stories of later Doctors are as compelling, BBC will elect to tell further tales of the men and women who made Doctor Who the longest running series in television history.

Travel back in time to witness the dramatic birth of the BBC's Doctor Who. Aging actor William Hartnell (David Bradley, Game of Thrones, the Harry Potter films) felt trapped by a succession of tough-guy roles. Wannabe producer Verity Lambert (Jessica Raine, Call the Midwife) was frustrated by the TV industry's glass ceiling. The unlikely duo would find even unlikelier hope and unexpected challenges in the form of a Saturday afternoon drama, time travel and monsters. Allied with a brilliant creative team backed by BBC executive Sydney Newman (Brian Cox, The Bourne Supremacy, Braveheart), Hartnell and Lambert went on to introduce the world to the good Doctor who, after facing Daleks, Cybermen and all forms of seemingly unstoppable evil, eventually succumbed to deteriorating health and debilitating arteriosclerosis.

Bradley's effortless shimmy from cantankerous ol' cuss to grandfatherly hero to millions is as hypnotic as it was to those who encountered the real First Doctor some fifty years ago. While a certain warm fuzziness dictates the terms of Gatiss' depiction of Hartnell, with the actor's gruff demeanor and initial resistance to the project presented as positively endearing, there's also a magic to the more softball elements of the biopic. (Think Disney's Saving Mr. Banks.) The performance not only makes the film's convenient oversights and casual fibs easier to stomach, it grants Space and Time a greater opportunity to put the fascinating true tale of the series' origins in the spotlight. Raine is also sensational, and without much of a closing arc to her character. Her exit from Doctor Who is as abrupt as her exit from the film, but it only bonds us to Hartnell, in some ways abandoned and left to fend for himself, and allows his story, and really the legacy of Doctor Who, to resonate much more than it otherwise would. Cox has a blast as well, embracing the broader strokes of his exuberant executive to laugh-out-loud ends, though his performance (by design) is two-dimensional compared to his co-stars.

There's also a real thrill to watching Doctor Who materialize, regardless of how familiar (or not so familiar) you might be with the series itself. Invention and innovation are often the stuff of engrossing cinema and television, no matter how invested one is in the final product, and here too Gatiss' script and Terry McDonough's direction shines, deftly balancing the character drama with the development, struggles and success of the show being created. (Sometimes on the fly, with an infectiously fun seat-of-their-pants optimism driving the project forward.) These humble beginnings are perhaps treated a bit too reverentially, with succinct but memorable beats involving the things like the genesis of the TARDIS, the look of its interior, the idea behind regeneration, interpersonal conflicts amongst the cast members et al. But with so much to ground to cover and limited time to do so, Gatiss has crafted a lean highlight reel with all the right moments. Could it have been longer? Absolutely. Three hours would have still seemed too short. As is, though, An Adventure in Space and Time is engaging, entertaining and surprisingly light on its feet, paying respect to a series that will still be going strong when Gatiss' well-received 50th anniversary biopic has all but been forgotten.

An Adventure in Space and Time Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

An Adventure in Space and Time features a lovely 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation that doesn't have any discernible issues. Colors are strong but favor the usual period docudrama paletting, with yellows, browns and dusty hues dominating the screen. Contrast is consistent and delineation is excellent, while detail remains crisp and clean throughout. Edges are naturally defined, without any ringing, halos or other distracting anomalies, and fine textures are terrifically resolved. The film does have a rather pristine digital sheen, but it's in keeping with other BBC productions, so no surprises there. Artifacting, banding and errant noise aren't factors either, allowing the faithful presentation to impress from start to finish.

An Adventure in Space and Time Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

BBC's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track delivers too, even if it isn't quite as remarkable as the disc's video presentation. Dialogue is always intelligible, nicely grounded in the soundscape, and neatly prioritized, and effects -- whether in the real world or in the recreations of first season Doctor Who scenes -- are, respectively, perfectly convincing and delightfully cheesy. LFE output and rear speaker activity is reserved on the whole, but low-end elements are given welcome weight and presence and the soundfield is full of playful directional fun, smooth pans and other qualities that increase the immersiveness of the experience. I was thoroughly pleased with the results.

An Adventure in Space and Time Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• An Unearthly Child (SD, 121 minutes): Doctor Who diehards and completists will be thrilled to find that both the series' original abandoned pilot (complete with visible production woes) and the first official Doctor Who serial, a 4-part adventure titled "An Unearthly Child," is bundled with the Blu-ray release of An Adventure in Space and Time. Yes, it's included on a standard DVD disc rather than on a Blu-ray disc with an upscaled high definition presentation, but "upscaled" is the key word. Even if it were presented in HD, it wouldn't look much better than it does here. Episodes include:
  
  
  • Original Pilot
  • An Unearthly Child (Pilot Redux)
  • The Cave of Skulls
  • The Forest of Fear
  • The Firemaker
• An Unearthly Child Special Features (SD): The set's second disc also features additional bonus content specific to the "An Unearthly Child" serial, including:
  
  
  • Episode 1 Commentary with Gary Russell (the Doctor Who relaunch, Torchwood), producer Verity Lambert, and actors Carole Ann Ford and William Russell
  • Episode 4 Commentary with Gary Russell, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, and director Waris Hussein
  • Pilot Episode Studio Recording (47 min.)
  • Studio Recording Commentary, with Gary Russell, Lambert and Hussein
  • Theme Music Video, in Dolby Digital 5.1, DD 2.0, and original mono (3 min.)
  • Mark Gatiss/David Williams Comedy Sketches: The Pitch of Fear, The Corridor Sketch, The Web of Caves, and The Kidnappers (17 min.)
  • Photo Gallery (6 min.)
• William Hartnell: The Original (HD, 5 minutes): An all too brief bio of actor William Hartnell, featuring interviews with surviving actors, producers and family members who knew the First Doctor personally.
• The Making of an Adventure (HD, 11 minutes): This behind-the-scenes featurette is more generous with its content but still doesn't offer as much insight as Whovians might expect.
• Reconstructions (HD, 7 minutes): Convincing re-creations of sequences from the original series, including "Scenes from An Unearthly Child and the Pilot," "Regenerations," "Farewell to Susan" and "Festive Greeting."
• The Title Sequences (HD, 1 minute): A comparison of the original series' titles and the new film's titles.
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 2 minutes): Two short scenes: "Radiophonic Workshop" and "Verity's Leaving Party."

An Adventure in Space and Time Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

An Adventure in Space and Time, a somewhat short but sweeping film by television docudrama standards, offers a terrific script, outstanding performances, endless behind-the-scenes drama and fun, and a truly heartfelt look at the man who became the First Doctor and the creative minds that made Doctor Who a cultural phenomenon. Made with loving reverence -- perhaps a bit too loving a bit too reverentially -- it nevertheless engrosses and entertains, granting Whovians a whole new appreciation for the series' humble beginnings. BBC Home Entertainment's Blu-ray release is another must-have for Doctor Who fans, and features an excellent AV presentation, a small selection of docudrama special features, and a bonus DVD that includes the series' original 1963 pilot, the first 4-part Doctor Who serial, several audio commentaries and more.