8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Originally transmitted from December 1963 to February 1964, The Daleks introduced one of the Doctor’s most formidable and enduring foes. The story follows the very first crew of the TARDIS as they land in a petrified forest on an alien planet. Determined to explore, the Doctor (William Hartnell) leads his companions into the metal city, where they discover danger at every corner and what will become his deadliest enemy, the mutant Daleks.
Starring: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker (I), Peter DavisonSci-Fi | 100% |
Adventure | 35% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080i (upconverted)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Revisionism has been front and center in my review queue for the last couple of weeks, courtesy of the hotly debated releases of The Abyss 4K, True Lies 4K, and Aliens 4K, all of which were pretty aggressively "tweaked" by James Cameron for their debuts in 4K UHD. I mentioned in some of my reviews how Cameron's decision seemed to have provoked considerable umbrage in the same way that George Lucas' also hotly debated "upgrades" to the Star Wars: Original Trilogy had decades earlier. That would seem to suggest that to many aficionados, "revisionism" is almost always a "bad" thing, though it might be interesting to quiz any home theater fans who happen to be in the intersection of the Venn Diagram offering circles of James Cameron, Star Wars, and Doctor Who fans how they feel about this latest effort from BBC, which has not only colorized (and/or "colourized" as is the preferred spelling on this disc) the second Doctor Who serial from circa 1963-64, they've also pretty radically redacted it from its original seven 25 minute or so episodes to one 75 minute or so outing. Perhaps as a standard definition consolation prize of sorts for those who do tend to think of revisionism as something less than desirable, BBC has included a DVD in this package that features the original black and white serial in its entirety, along with some extra supplements.
The Daleks in Color is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.33:1. This is a somewhat schizophrenic feeling presentation to assess on one level, since it's obviously sourced from an older archival element that was probably not crystal clear to begin with, and which even modern technologies can't completely improve. The vagaries of the tape source are quite apparent in this "upgrade", and perhaps even exacerbated at times by the colorization, which can only draw attention to fuzziness and a kind of wavering quality to the edges of things (whether those be props or actual humans). Close-ups without a lot of movement tend to fare best in terms of consistent detail levels, while many midrange and wider framings can be positively blurry at times. By far the best thing about this presentation is the rather impressively robust "new" palette. When I first starting writing for this site around a decade and a half ago (!), I routinely reviewed colorized releases from the likes of Legend, a label that few probably even remember, and while I found those efforts to be rather good as far that era's colorization technologies went, these episodes are by far some of the most nicely suffused colorizing I've personally seen. There are still anomalies aplenty to be spotted where hues can vary and not even fully "penetrate" whatever object they're supposed to adding color to, but on the whole, this is a nicely inventive reimagining of the series, with a color design that was evidently based at least in part on actual color photographs taken of the serial when it was being shot. Kind of weirdly, they've decided to start things out in black and white for a few seconds before morphing to color (see screenshot 19). I'm assuming these were perhaps culled from kinescopes or something similar, leading to a number of kind of ugly mottled moments like that seen in screenshot 18.
If videophiles may be somewhat "iffy" with the appearance of The Daleks in Color, audiophiles should be generally very well pleased with either the Dolby Atmos or DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options on this disc. Admittedly, the Atmos track in particular is not going to be reference quality material, but both of the surround offerings substantially open up the soundstage, with a variety of ambient environmental effects clearly emanating from the side and rear channels. There was evidently some new recording done for this version, and the good news is it's been integrated seamlessly into the pre-existing soundtrack. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, though of course the Dalek voices are comically mechanical sounding. Optional English subtitles are available.
Disc One (Blu-ray)
- Episode 2 - The Survivors: Commentary by Verity Lambert (Producer), Christopher Barry (Director), Gary Russell (Moderator)
- Episode 4 - The Ambush: Commentary by William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman), Christopher Barry (Director), Gary Russell (Moderator)
- Episode 7 - The Rescue: Commentary by William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Carole Ann Ford (Susan Foreman), Richard Martin (Director), Gary Russell (Moderator)
My hunch is the most diehard Whovians may be more upset with the redaction of the original than by the colorizing of it, but that said, the Readers Digest version offered on the Blu-ray disc really doesn't omit anything major, and in fact may support the thesis offered in the making of featurette that the sixties original was kind of slow and ponderous, and maybe even a bit padded. Technical merits are actually kind of hard to adequately assess per our normal criteria, but I'd say the actual colorizing is on the whole rather impressive. Audio is great, and both the making of featurette on the Blu-ray and the commentaries on the DVD are especially interesting, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.
1964-1965
1965
1966
1967
1967
1967
1970
1971
1972
1972-1973
1974-1975
1976-1977
1977-1978
1979-1980
1980-1981
1982
1983
1985
1986
1987
1988-1989
1989
(Still not reliable for this title)
The Star Beast / Wild Blue Yonder / The Giggle
2023
50th Anniversary Special
2013
1965
Doctor Who Docudrama / Includes 'An Unearthly Child' Bonus DVD
2013
2020-2023
1966
2009
1966-1969
Budget Re-release
1987-1994
10th Anniversary Collector's Edition | Limited
2014
1995-2001
The Director's Edition | Remastered
1979
1975-1977
Budget Re-release
2001-2005
45th Anniversary Edition
1978
2019
2016
2000
The Remastered Collection
1978-1980
2018