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The picture quality is excellent; the sound quality...well, the copy I have seems to crackle every so often. Whether or not I have a faulty copy I don't know - if anyone else has the same problem, let me know. Nor can I overlook the score problems on the Region 2 DVD!
Score for The Five Doctors:Special Edition 8 suites compiling the music from this story.
The isolated score is the sole extra on the Region 2 DVD and I would rate it at minus 10%. Its a good score, featuring some fine music provided by Peter Howell. Unfortunately, as I understand it, when this adventure was submitted for authoring there was some software incompatability which resulted in the score playing at a slower speed. For those who recall the days of vinyl decks with multiple speeds its the equivalent of playing a 45 at say 40 rpm. Its not significantly slow but is is noticeably slow.
I have been assured that the Region 1 version has the corrected score - so good news for those in the US and Canada and for those with multi-region DVD players (not forgetting that the Region 1 also has an additional extra - a commentary by Peter Davison and Terrance Dicks).
My hope would be that BBC Worldwide will someday release a double-disc version of this story similar to The Curse of Fenric, the first disc containing the original broadcast version of the story, the second disc containing the Special Edition (with corrected, isolated score).
The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough are enjoying a well-earned break on the tranquil planet of the Eye of Orion. That tranquility is shattered when the Doctor feels parts of himself being whittled away - his past selves are being removed from time. Returning to the TARDIS the Doctor returns to his home planet of Gallifrey, or more precisely, to a once-sealed section of it known as the Death Zone. There he encounters his first incarnation and sets off for the Dark Tower, the heart of the Death Zone, in search of the answer to the question of why he has been brought there.
The Time Lords are also concerned that someone has gained access to forbidden knowledge and activated the Death Zone. Such is their concern they have asked the Doctor's arch-enemy, the Master, to enter the Death Zone and rescue the Doctor. Previous attempts have failed as the Death Zone is aptly named - filled as it is with lethal traps. Will the Master help the Doctor? Who has brought them all to the Death Zone? And why? Could there be any truth to the legend that Rassilon, greatest of all Time Lords, is not dead but in hibernation at the heart of the Death Zone? And that he has the secret of immortality?
The Doctors must make their own ways to the Dark Tower to learn the identity of their mysterious foe and escape from the Death Zone.
REVIEW BY
(d) D.S.Carlin