When it add up to Doctor Who in the 1960s , people do n’t usually cerebrate of it as having especially artsy direction . There were some nerveless scares , and a few really iconic scenes here and there — but for the most part , director were working with television camera the sizing of wooly mammoth , on sets the size of it of matchboxes . But there ’s one director from the other years of Doctor Who who really stands out as making adventurous choices and using inventive camera Angle : Michael Ferguson .
Fergusononly take four stories : “ The War Machines , “ The Seeds of last , ” “ The Ambassadors of Death ” and “ The Claws of Axos . ” But those first three stories , in picky , really give birth his unique visual stamp . In “ War Machines ” and “ Ambassadors , ” in particular , he takes stories where there ’s a lot of ho-hum build - up , and he manages to make it look really tense and electrifying — by charge people from below so they ’re looking down at something , or by make the oh - so - obtuse advance of the warfare machines or the alien astronauts look more paranoia - inducing with tight angles and the occasional Pisces the Fishes - eye electron lens .
Check out the awesome “ mind command ” sequence from “ The War Machines , ” with the slow zoom in on the professor ’s face as he ’s resist WOTAN ’s mind control .
The new reprinting of “ ejaculate of demise , ” in a luxurious DVD software system , really emphasize how imaginative Ferguson really was — the picture see a bit crisper than I remember learn it before , and that benefits some of the scenes where the Doctor is ensnare in the Moonbase with the Ice Warriors . There are some chase vista where the Doctor is running around quest after by Ice Warriors , and Ferguson uses mirrors and other eldritch tricks to make them look downright trippy . Plus , in the clip above , you could pick up about how Ferguson made the actors work on “ Seeds of demise ” do a ace - firm performance of each instalment at the end of a day ’s dry run . Oh , and the product subtitles include weird small inside information , like some dead reckoning where Ferguson in reality — gasp ! — used a hand - held camera .
rediscover the occasional cool visual is one of the chief thrills about the new “ Seeds of Death ” DVD — although , as with most of the Special Edition reissues , it ’s probably not deserving grease one’s palms if you already own the earliest reading on DVD . There is a new featurette , about the history of the Ice warrior , but give that the original dismissal of “ Seeds of Death ” was the first ever two - DVD set for a single story , there ’s not that much room to beef up the extras .
But if you have n’t seen “ Seeds of Death ” before , it ’s a pretty merriment story , and deserving checking out . The story take place in the hereafter , when humanity has given up on rockets and only uses a shape of teleportation , call T - Mat , to get around or transport good . Because T - Mat is controlled from one central hub on the Moon , it ’s an easy target for the Ice Warriors , who practice it to set up a plan to change the aura on Earth with seeds of … wait for it … demise . As with a lot of the later Patrick Troughton stories , the whole affair is kept pretty light and frothy , and Patrick Troughton is in overt clown mode , but the aforementioned direction add a nice stratum of tension . And the Ice warrior are a genuinely baleful foe .
The other recent DVD reissue , “ Resurrection of Christ of the Daleks , ” is still just as nonsensical and fun as it ever was — and you may watch it in both the two - part variant show in the U.K. , and the four - part version show overseas . ( Although this time , the four part variation in reality has all the music and healthy effects , unlike when it was first shown in the U.S. ) The new extra on the “ Resurrection ” band are a bit more telling than the one on “ Seeds of decease ” — admit an hour - long documentary about the Peter Davison era , hosted by David Tennant , in which the great unwashed go moderately deep into the minutia of the behind - the - scene changes during Davison ’s land tenure . ( perchance deeper than some of us would give care to go . )
All in all , these “ Special Edition ” videodisc remain a smashing way for fans of the fresh Doctor Who to duck into the classic series , with lots of fillip subject to allow for context . Pretty much none of them are essential if you already own those stories — but they ’re a fun mode to kill an evening if you have n’t thought about “ Seeds of Death ” or “ Christ’s Resurrection of the Daleks ” since you last saw them on PBS or nicknack .
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