Cheap Doctor Who - Carnival of Monsters (DVD) (Rex Tucker, Julia Smith, John Gorrie, Ron Jones (II), Alan Wareing, David Maloney, Richard Martin (IV), Peter Moffatt, Derek Martinus, Fiona Cumming) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Doctor Who - Carnival of Monsters

"And a most merciful and compassionate gesture..."
The TARDIS has landed on a cargo ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean...or have they? Not convinced that they are on Earth, the Doctor discovers that He and Jo, along with other kidnapped earthlings and aliens, are in a minscope, a machine that contains living organisms from around the universe in their own minaturised enviorment. "Carnival of Monsters" is the highlight of the Tenth season. Robert Holmes does it again, poking fun at TV and his audience. The production is pretty good, the direction from Letts is superb. Ian Marter making his fist Who appearance is great, and so is Micheal Wisher( not making his first appearance). Shurna and Vorg are hilarious. The Drashigs(on film) aren't that bad. Even though we can see the edge of the bald cap on Pletrac, and a couple of cheap effects, "Carnival" is thoroughly entertaing, even with repeated viewings.

---

Underrated Pertwee adventure gets new life on DVD
After getting several classic Doctor Who episodes on DVD, the time has come to revisit the Pertwee era, and for this outing, we're treated to 'Carnival of Monsters.'

Often regarded as a curiosity between the fan-favorite stories 'The Three Doctors' and 'Frontier In Space,' this story actually has a lot going for it, and is given the full treatment on this new DVD release.

The story has been carefully restored and remastered, and, as a first, is finally presented in the way it was originally broadcast. The previous videotape version had some curiosities about it, namely the early edit of episode two, which featured some additional, non-broadcast material and a different arrangement of the traditional theme music. Additionally, when the story was repeated in 1981, the director, Barry Letts, requested a reedit of part 4 and got it - so the original hasn't been seen for ages! Don't let that put you off though; it's been polished and shined and I can only guess that it's never looked as good!

All the material from that early edit of episode 2 has been preserved here in the form of extras: you get a title sequence using the aborted 'Delaware' theme, deleted scenes, and also a presentation of the edited ending. That's not all though, as there's a great commentary from actress Katy Manning (Jo) and Director/Producer Barry Letts. Katy is obviously having a great time watching it and provides lots of humor, while Barry reveals quite a lot of behind-the-scenes info. There's also the now-standard pop-up production notes (one of my favorite parts of the whole line), a Who's Who section for information on the actors, a fascinating actual look at the shooting of the story from 1972, test footage of the visual effects, a photo gallery...plus even more. This disc is packed to the gills, and contains everything you'd like to have, and some things you probably didn't even know about.

All in all, it will make a great addition to your growing Doctor Who DVD library. If you hadn't thought about this one before, the fantastic extras more than make the difference, as they reveal some rare behind-the-scenes info, and a chance to see the story as it was originally intended.

---

Carnival gets a first-class release
Hoo-boy!-another Doctor Who DVD release....As far as Dvds go, this one is loaded with some pretty decent extras. There are at least four deleted, extended and changed scenes. There is an alternate opening sequence that sounds as if Keith Emerson may have had more of a hand in composing than the BBC workshop. There are commentary tracks, but for some reason, my player wouldn't work in that mode. The DVD transfer is of above average quality, but somehow the deleted scenes looked better. Go figure. The audio quality is also above average. I had no trouble understanding any of the spoken dialogue. The photo gallery is nice; I was really surprised to see the way Katy Manning hadn't aged one iota--she truly is a beautiful woman. There is also a small behind the scenes clip that shows just how much work went into the production of just one scene from the series, another reason we fans should be grateful to the creative architects who helmed the series over the years. There are even a couple of hidden features that showcase an extneded opening sequence and some guy counting backwards from 30. As for the story itself, Carnival was never one of my favorites from the Pertwee era, which is why the four stars instead of five. I would have rather seen Inferno or another Master episode released. It's way overhyped. Granted, the writing is very clever, but the action and plot are real yawners. Still any Who you can see is good who.