Doctor Who - The Caves of Androzani (Episode 136)
by Graham Harper
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Nicola Bryant, Peter DavisonDirector: Graham Harper
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-04-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Video
Movie Reviews of Doctor Who - The Caves of Androzani (Episode 136)
Movie Review: Doctor Five's Farewell Adventure
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Caves of Androzani" is a strange beast. It is both great and goofy. It features Peter Davison's best performance as the Doctor and what I consider to be one of Nicola Bryant's worst displays as Peri. It has a very cool anti-hero, Sharaz Jek (wonderfully played by Christopher Gable), who draws sympathy from the viewer and then it has a monster in it that looks like overgrown Texas highway roadkill (In case you don't know what that is, it's an armadillo). There's a script full of deception, greed, and vengeance and then there's fade-happy direction. In all, this episode is the best and worst of both worlds.
The story is somewhat uneven. The serial opens with the Doctor and Peri on Androzani Minor, a fairly uninhabited sandy planet where a drug known as Spectrox is mined. Mistaken for gunrunners in Sharaz Jek's resistance group, the Doctor and Peri find themselves in front of a firing squad. With assistance from an unlikely source, they manage to escape and from there the story gets deeper. We learn the motives behind Jek's actions as well as the more sinister plans of Morgus (John Normington). Meanwhile, a band of soldiers are trying to find Jek and have to fight off his androids and the aforementioned armadillo of death. With all of this going on, Jek's gunrunners are in cahoots with the enemy. Finally, when the Doctor and Peri first entered the caves, they managed to stumble upon some pure spectrox and have three days to live. Whew, got all that?
It isn't quite as confusing as it seems, and the characters are drawn out very well despite all of the subplots. Davison pulls out all the stops with his performance, making the Doctor a protective father figure to Peri (perhaps due to the loss of another companion in another serial). As many have mentioned before, this is his final adventure as the Doctor, and we get to see his regeneration into the sixth Doctor, Colin Baker. Bryant's accent wavers, especially in Episode 1, and her performance overall is less than stellar. Still, she runs through a large range of emotions in this serial that makes some of her goofs forgiveable. Christopher Gable turns in a wonderful performance as the masked Jek, and is rivaled only by John Normington's sinisterly subdued Morgus. The rest of the cast is fairly solid as well.
The DVD is very good. There are only a few noticeable blemishes throughout the entire serial. As always, the special features are excellent. There are three newscast snippets focusing on Davison's farewell as well as a wonderful documentary on the development of Jek narrated by Gable. The process of filming the regeneration scene is given a somewhat boring treatment, but it's fun to watch a production happen. The standard extras are also here, including a photo gallery, a "Who's Who" on selected actors and an excellent audio commentary.
Is this the best fifth Doctor story? Some would argue that it is. I personally don't think so. It's weighed down by its direction, sometimes confusing script and a very bad monster. However, it does feature Davison's best performance, a wonderful villain, an even better anti-hero, and a nice introduction to the Colin Baker era. Recommended.
Summary of Doctor Who - The Caves of Androzani (Episode 136)
"Curiosity's always been my downfall." Captured for arms-running on the mining planet of Androzani Minor, the Doctor and Perry are under sentence of death. Then a mysterious masked intruder comes to their aid. But is Sharaz Jek, master android creator, really their saviour? The rulers of the planet are certainly desperate for his head. But then, he does control Androzani's supply of spectrox and it's a substance men are prepared to die for. Originally transmitted 8-16 March 1984, this four part adventure marks the end of the Peter Davison era for Doctor Who and the timelord's sixth regeneration.DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:by actors Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant and director Graeme Harper
Biographies
Deleted Scenes
Documentaries:on creating Sharez Jek and regeneration sequence
Production Notes:Optional caption stream
Peter Davison's final adventure, "The Caves of Androzani," pulls out all stops to give this Doctor an unforgettable farewell. Deep within the titular caves, the disfigured, masked antihero Sharez Jek (Christopher Gable) and his regiment of androids are locked in conflict with an army unit and a group of smugglers for control of the life-extending Spectrox. When the Doctor and Peri (Nicola Bryant) enter this labyrinth, they immediately become victims of deadly Spectrox poisoning. The story's numerous subplots involve espionage, betrayal, and revenge, as well as big-business corruption, political assassination, and silly-looking reptilian monsters. And the first episode has one of the best cliffhangers ever: our heroes are executed by a firing squad armed with submachine guns.
Robert Holmes (who wrote the more satirical Doctor Who story "The Sun Makers") here concentrates on delivering a breathlessly paced action thriller, with relentless death and destruction unfolding like in a Sam Peckinpah film, making Davison's heroic pacifism all the more effective. --Gary S. Dalkin
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