 |
Its a short two parter from season 19 which why,llst not without its many plotholes and flaws is an entertaining period story that fits in well.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Superb Picture quality and sound.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Fantastic
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Excellent once more, many thanks
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
It’s fairly clear, within minutes of their commentary track for Doctor Who: Black Orchid starting, that the majority of the participants in the story aren’t very fond of it. At all. Peter Davison is perhaps the most scathing, calling it a “lazy story”, that Terence Dudley got out of the drawer and turned into a Doctor Who episode. And let’s be frank: there aren’t too many elements you’d associate with Doctor Who in Black Orchid: the show’s clearly done historical stories exceptionally well in the past, but this has not a jot of science fiction in it, leading the commentary team to speculate that it’s a Miss Marple-alike story that Dudley, for reasons easily explained by the sieve-like plot, couldn’t sell. And yet this reviewer at least doesn’t mind it too much. There’s not a great deal to it, granted. It’s a two part mystery set in the 1920s, that – despite its total 50 minute running time – still manages to shoehorn around five minutes of Peter Davison playing cricket, another few minutes of Nyssa and Tegan dancing, and umpteen shots of Adric, er, eating. Yet it’s breezy enough (literally and figuratively) to watch, and passes before your eyes perfectly harmlessly. The premise is that the Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan (for this was in the days when the Tardis was full of companions, a choice criticised in the recent commentary track for The Five Doctors) arrived in England in 1925, where thanks to a case of mistaken identity, they’re scooted off to Cranleigh Hall for the aforementioned cricket match. But behind the scenes at Cranleigh Hall, things are amiss. There’s a double for Nyssa for starters, in the shape of Ann Talbot (both, naturally, are played by Sarah Sutton), a strange man with some ring like device coming out of his mouth (it’s hilarious, to be fair) and a series of murders. There’s also a fleeting reference to the black orchid flower, which justifies the title of the story. Just. In the midst of all of this is a fancy dress ball, which sees Nyssa and Ann confusing everybody by wearing identical outfits, while the Doctor ends up in a strange harlequin costume, just minutes after it was used by the murderer. If there was much substance to it, this would be the part where the plot thickens. But it never does. With a script that sees people doing things that defy logic, and with not a great deal of meat to the fairly obvious plot, it’s fair to say that Black Orchid is no classic. But it’s still surprisingly good fun, especially given the opinions of those who were in it! Which leads us neatly to the main DVD extra, a commentary track with Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton (the only one to like the story, primarily because it did something a little different), Janet Fielding (who is on great form again, verbally bouncing off Davison) and Matthew Waterhouse. There’s no director or writer here, meaning it’s very much a non-technical, actors’ commentary. And it’s an absolute hoot. They’ve marked their card within minutes by declaring dislike of the story, and from there they’re happy to royally rip the piss out of it. “None of us come out of this well”, muses Fielding towards the end, with the track also pointing out the variable weather in the main outdoor sequences, Davison’s hatred for the costume he had to wear, the lighting, the script holes and chest hair! There is some meat in here. John Nathan-Turner’s dislike of six part episodes was the reason they ended up with a two-parter hereRead full review
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best-selling in DVDs & Blu-rays
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on DVDs & Blu-rays
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
