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THE TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN :: DVD REVIEW by Nigel Last Updated Tuesday, April 22 2003 The BBC's DVD releases for 2002, kick off with the eagerly anticipated release of the Patrick Troughton classic The Tomb of the Cybermen. As fans will know, this serial filmed in 1967, was one of the stories that was 'junked' by the BBC in the 1970's, as it had outlived its usefulness at the time. Of course, no one back then would have believed the show would still be as popular some 30 years later. It was therefore, considered lost forever... However in 1992, a set of film cans were returned to the BBC from Hong Kong and, contained within, were the full set of 16mm Film Prints for this story and a few months later, the story was rush released onto VHS Video. (Sadly, Tomb is the only story from Season 5 that exists in its entirety in the BBC archives - every other story is only represented by an odd episode or two). ... Now some 10 years later, the BBC release the feature packed DVD edition of The Tomb of the Cybermen. . » THE PLOT ... . The once-feared Cybermen have disappeared from the universe without a trace. An expedition from Earth arrives on Telos - homeworld of the Cybermen - to try and discover exactly what has become of the silver giants. Soon after the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria joint the archaeological party, the first mysterious death occurs. With the group now stranded on Telos, it becomes clear that the Cybermen may not be as 'dead' as it was first thought... Beneath the planet's surface, giant ice-tombs hold the last remains of the Cybermen in a frozen sleep. And someone is working to re-activate them from their slumber... . » THE MENU'S ... . The menus are presented in the same format and style as the previous releases. A 3D CGI TARDIS spins around the screen, to the tune of the title music and takes you through the doors, where you’re presented with the navigation options, to find your way around the disc. Interestingly, the menus in this release are presented in a 'Monochrome' style, to match the Black & White format of the actual story. A nice touch, as having colour splashed around the menu may have been a little distracting. As usual, the left hand side of the menu is nicely animated, containing a compilation of several clips from the story itself. As is the case with previous releases, you are able to select each episode individually and have a further selection of six scene access points in each episode, as the screen grab below illustrates. » THE PICTURE / SOUND ... . Given the age of the material, and knowing that the film prints were in a right old state before work began on this release, full credit must be awarded to the hard work and dedication of the guys in the Doctor Who Restoration Team, who once again have clearly pulled out all the stops to ensure this release couldn't get any better. Due to the appalling condition of the original videotape that was used in the 1960's to create the film prints that ended up in Hong Kong, over 16,000 film faults were painstakingly repaired by the Restoration Team. As a result, picture grain is kept to a minimum and keeps sharp throughout pretty much all of the story. The sound meanwhile, is presented in it's original Mono format, which has been expertly cleaned up by Mark Ayres. It has been reported that Episode 1 suffers from a Lip Sync problem, meaning in this instance that the sound is two frames out from the video. However, I've played the disc on both a standalone DVD player and a PC DVD-ROM Drive and cannot notice any problem at all, so do not let this influence your decision as it's not noticeable and will not spoil your enjoyment. » WHAT ABOUT THOSE EXTRA'S ONLY DVD CAN PROVIDE? . The BBC once again shows Hollywood how to do it, as this DVD has been packed to the rafters with some quality extra's, which will appeal to all. The obligatory Audio Commentary, is expertly provided this time around by Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Deborah Watling (Victoria) and is full of humorous anecdotes and tales from the set, which will not fail to raise a smile. Again the commentary is subtitled for the hard of hearing (as is the story itself). The Photo Gallery this time around, consists of a nice selection of promotional and behind the scenes photo's, most of which you have probably seen before. There's not as many as on previous releases, which is not such a bad thing as there's less repetition here and you also get a photo of the 'Tomb' cover, which featured on the September 2nd 1967 issue of the Radio Times. The additional Special Features on this disc are; Title Sequence Tests - Some rare footage for Troughton's title sequences that never quite made it, together will parts that were used in the final version. A nice inclusion to the disc, as it's something that you'd never otherwise get to see. Late Night Line Up - Running to around three minutes, this shortened version is taken from a 1967 edition of 'Late Night Line-Up', which featured the BBC's Visual Effects department. Jack Kine talks to Joan Bakewell about the role of the department and Doctor Who props that make an appearance include; Cybermats from Tomb and a Yeti that shoots off a Cybermans Head, forcing it to 'bleed' foam from the inside .. Nice! Also included are two brief clips from 'The Abominable Snowmen' episode 4. Remastering For DVD - A interesting look at the restoration work that went on behind the scenes to restore the story. You're shown several scenes 'before' and 'after' work was carried out on them and these and highlights the excellent work the Restoration Team did on cleaning up the story for this DVD release. Morris Barry Introduction - The stories Director gives an insight into the making of the story, and amonst other things, talks about some of the special effects and the casting of Michael Kilgarriff as the CyberController. (This is the same extra that appeared on the 1992 VHS Release). Tombwatch - Running to thirty minutes, this special feature was put together by Paul Vanezis and Peter Finklestone from the Restoration Team, and presents footage shot at the BAFTA "Tombwatch" Video launch in 1992. The cast and crew talk enthusiastically about their memories of shooting the story, giving a humorous insight into what went on behind the scenes. The Final End - This special sequence concentrates on the story that preceded Tomb, The Evil of the Daleks and contains extracts from 'The Last Dalek' (footage shot in 1967 during filming of 'Evil' by Tony Cornell), accompanied by the actual story soundtrack from episode 7 and gives you the opportunity to see how the final climactic battle between the Daleks would have looked. Sadly, the episode itself no longer exists in the BBC archives, so this is as good as it's going to get and is a very welcome addition to the DVD. On Screen Production Notes - When turned on will give you information at relevant points through the story. There are also three Easter Egg's present, which aren't too hard to find, however if you are impatient and can't wait to unlock those secret areas, highlight the text below to find out how to find them; Easter Egg 1 » Highlight the Doctor Who logo on the main menu and when selected you'll be treated to a 'Clean' version of the Opening Titles, minus any episode title/captions. Easter Egg 2 » As above, highlight the Doctor Who logo on the main menu and then press right to highlight Troughton's face. Select this and you'll see some test footage from Episode 3, which has been through the recent 'VidFIRE' technique to restore the video look to the episode. Sadly, this relatively new process wasn't developed enough to be used on the entire release. (You can however see the full effect on the new Planet of Giants VHS release, which is available now). Easter Egg 3 » Finally, on the second page of Special Features, choose the Audio Options selection, and then highlight the Doctor Who logo at the top. Selecting this will result in an audio trailer for the next televised story, The Abominable Snowmen. » SUMMARY ... . Overall Score : 10/10 The Tomb of the Cybermen, is a classic Doctor Who story that is highly regarded amongst fandom, and it has been given the treatment it deserves with this DVD. It's fair to say, It's difficult to find anything bad to say about this disc, so other than the fact that the story does look a little dated by today's standards and some of the acting is a little 'hammy', I won't say anything else, as in a way that's what's always made Doctor Who so appealing. If you're already lucky enough to own the 1992 VHS video release of the story, you might be asking yourself 'Why should I shell out again?'. Simply put, you'll be kicking yourself if you don't! If you put aside all the extra features that are included on the disc and simply concentrate on the story itself, the work that has gone into restoring the film prints for this release, blows the video out of the water when compared. Without getting too technical, there are no video dropouts, no video off locks, no audio pops, nothing but a fantastic, clear transfer that puts other 'classic' releases to shame. So .. If I've convinced you that this is a must have, then you can simply click HERE to order The Tomb of the Cybermen on DVD from Blackstar.co.uk. Here's looking forward to the next DVD release - Tom Baker's The Ark in Space, which hits the shelves in April, and this too can currently be pre-ordered from Blackstar HERE. . » TECHNICAL DETAILS ... Region Dual Encoded as Region 2 (UK/Europe) & 4 (Australia) Certificate PG Aspect Ratio 4:3 Full Screen (As Broadcast) Audio English Language (Dolby Digital, Mono) Subtitles English (Audio Commentary also English Subtitled) First Broadcast 2nd - 23rd September 1967 Director Morris Barry Producer Peter Bryant Writer Kit Pedler & Gerry Davis Release Date 14th January 2002 Released By BBC Worldwide Catalogue Number BBCDVD1032 Reviewed By Nigel, Webmaster of Gallifrey5.co.uk - ©2002 Gallifrey5 All screen grabs and images appearing in the above review are Copyright (C) BBC Worldwide Ltd 2002. . » All reviews are © to their respective authors and may not be reproduced elsewhere without prior permission