Dr Who Anniversary Specials — The Daleks In Colour — A Review

23rd November 2023: The Daleks In Colour — Introduced.

Yes: I know.

It’s Thursday: and I’m planning on watching TV.

After I’ve had dinner.

And … ?   As ever, I’m planning on watching a very specific TV show.

Given today is officially the 60th Anniversary of the first broadcast of TV show, Doctor Who?

Given I’m a fan?

I’m doing dinner slightly earlier: so that I can catch the 19:30 broadcast of The Daleks In Colour on BBC 4.

The thing’s an edited, colourised version of the original Dalek story.

Granted?

I’m worried it could go the way of the original VHS release of The Brain of Morbius.

We’ll have to see!

~≈Ω≈~

24rd November 2023: The Daleks In Colour — Reviewed.

The Daleks In Colour opens with a colourised version of the original opening credits: and an augmented version of the theme tune.

Then shifts: to show us the original crew of the Ship — the Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, and Susan Foreman (William Hartnell, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and Carole Anne Ford) — getting out of the Ship to explore the strange new surroundings they find themselves in.

As colour slowly bleeds into the picture … ?

The crew find they’re in a forest that is far from ordinary: the trees aren’t swaying in the breeze, as they seem to have long since petrified.

Flowers beautifully preserved: but just as dead as the trees… 

And soil as dry as a bone … 

It’s only after they spot a — seemingly — abandoned city?

That the Doctor admits he seriously wants to explore.

Over the objections of Ian and Barbara.

It’s only after the crew return to the Ship that they notice a few things.

• All of them are feeling decidedly ill.
• Someone has knocked at the door, to leave them something.
• The Ship can’t take off without the mercury the Doctor has run out of.

Heading for the city, to ask about mercury?

Seems the only option …

~≈Ω≈~

Now … what did I make of The Daleks In Colour?

How well put together was it?

What was the colour like?

And what on Earth did I mean when I mentioned The Brain of Morbius?

Let’s get that last bit out of the way, first, shall we?

I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s.

If you wanted to watch a show during the 1970s, you had to be watching the TV at the time of broadcast: or wait for a very rare repeat.

During the 1980s?

For most of the early 1980s, the same was true … until video cassette recorders — VCRs to our American cousins, just plain videos to us in the UK — became available at prices families could afford.

We had a lot of arguments about who was taping what, when, I seem to recall.

And that someone in the family managed to get a copy ET: The Extraterrestrial that had fallen off the back of a lorry … before the thing had been on TV!

At any rate?

Videos changed thing: they meant you could watch what you wanted, when you wanted.

And buy or rent films and TV shows you wanted to see again.

It was about then the BBC decided that they’d try and make money from the back catalogue: and release some old TV shows.

Just to try and supplement the license fee revenue, you understand.

The first Dr Who story they picked?

Was the four episode, 1976 series, The Brain of Morbius: something that, over the course of its original broadcast, came in at a total of one hundred minutes.

Four episodes: at ~twenty-five minutes a time.

The BBC’s shiny new VHS version?

Came in at some sixty minutes.

According to TARDIS Fandom, it was supposed to be a family friendly version of the story, aimed at the US market.

I personally think it was to try and keep costs down: sixty minutes of tape would be cheaper than one hundred minutes of tape.

For whatever reason, The Brain of Morbius was badly butchered: and its edited release caused an uproar amongst the fans I knew.

It’s not something that was repeated, as far as I know.

Until the BBC announced that a seventy-five minute, colourised, version of The Daleks would air on the night of the 60th Anniversary, itself.

I was curious.

But VERY aware that The Brain of Morbius had suffered form the editing.

I was — and am — aware of other things.

That the full version of The Daleks runs to some one hundred and seventy-five minute: just shy of three hours.

That younger audiences may want to see a version of the story that, like the Peter Cushing version of the tale, isn’t much longer than ninety minutes.

Dr. Who and the Daleks comes in at a technicoloured eighty minutes.

I’m also aware that the colourisation process took time.

Colouring in each frame would take a while: rendering and exporting the resulting video file could take even more time.

The shorter a given video that needs exporting?   Or the lower the resolution?   The less time that rendering takes.

Making videos for YouTube, and using Handbrake to recode stuff, teaches you things.

So?

I wasn’t surprised this new, shiny, colourised, version of the story had been edited in to a shorter form.

Was I right to be concerned?

About the length?

No!

Absolutely not!

Whoever’s edited the episodes together to make this feature length version, has done a very good job.

It’s fast, zippy, paced, and kept me glued to my seat.

Granted, some scenes are repeated: but seem to be more reminders of what’s happened, rather than fillers.

Mark Ayres’ additional music … ?

Genuinely seems good.

Granted, there’s times it seemed intrusive: it did when Barbara first encounters a Dalek, and when the rest of the crew do, minutes later.

There’s also times — when the Daleks are deciding to release more radiation into Skaro’s atmosphere springs to mind — where the music’s perfect!

Generally speaking?

The score is well done: and helped add to the pace of things.

The colourisation itself?

The colourisation, sometimes, isn’t perfect.

There’s one scene — in the Geiger Counter room — where parts of the actors’ faces still seem to be in black and white: but other parts seem to have a lilac tinge.

There’s also later scenes where the bumps on the Dalek’s casing seem to be an even shade of light blue: where — in earlier scenes — they were shades of light and dark, light and dark that showed us where the lights were.

Quite what happened there?

I don’t know.

But, for the most part?

It’s countered by the simple fact that the colourisation job is — if not perfect — then certainly a very good job indeed.

Especially in well lit scenes: the colour design is very good.

Bordering on monumental.

Frankly?

Between Terry Nation’s original writing, the original cast and production crew’s work, and the modern editing, scoring, direction and colourisation?

We have a formidable, and formidably watchable, piece of work.

~≈Ω≈~

As a last point?

I am very aware that a blu-ray version of The Daleks In Colour is available to pre-order: on both the UK, and US branch of Amazon.

Complete with this colourised version of the story, upscaled versions of the original episodes, and some extra features.

I don’t know if the blu-ray will be available, outside the UK and US.

I’m also very aware that the animated reconstructions — of classic stories that are largely missing — were halted after the release of The Abominable Snowmen: as funding from BBC America was pulled.

But have recently restarted, with the release of The Underwater Menace.

I don’t know who’s helping with the funding, there: but I’m glad they did.

The Underwater Menace is something I’m currently reviewing: you can watch them, here.

There’s also the BBC’s Dr Who: The Collection range: blu-ray box sets of complete series of Classic Dr Who.

Those are getting fairly regular releases.

But?

Most of the ones that have been released, come from the later years: Jon Pertwee’s seasons and later.

The earliest that’s been released is the second season, William Hartnell’s second year.

I’m assuming that’s because season two is the one with the least missing episodes.

This leaves me thinking a couple of things.

I don’t think we’ll see boxsets of seasons one, and three to six, for a while: until the BBC can find more of the missing episodes.

But?

I think that individual, complete, stories from those seasons — An Unearthly Child, say, or The Ark — can be made as a colourised feature: and sold in blu-ray form.

That way, we get to see more of these colourised stories, alongside upscaled versions of the original, source material.

Given how well The Daleks In Colour has been done?

I think that sort of release could be a money spinner.

The Daleks In Colour.

★★★★

~≈Ω≈~

With all that said … !?

I’m going to leave things, there!

Except to highlight some dates.

I’m writing this post on Friday, 24th November.

I will be watching the first of the Anniversary specials — The Star Beast — tomorrow: the 25th.

I’ll have my written and video reviews up on the 26th November!

There’s more!

I’ll be watching “The Bear Hug”, the next episode of For All Mankind, on Monday, 27th November: and posting my written and video reviews on the 28th November.

Hopefully?

I’ll see you then!

Be seeing you!