"Queensbury rules?" - The Doctor
Carnival of Monsters
Year of Release - 1973
DVD Release - BBC - 2002
Region 4 - PAL - Rated G
Running Time - 98:14
Directed by Barry Letts
Starring: Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Tenniel Evans, Ian Marter, Peter Halliday, Michael Wisher and Terence Lodge
Music by Dudley Simpson
On the surface, Carnival of Monsters looks ridiculous. Bad masks, hand puppets for Monsters and insane costumes. But don't let looks fool you, this is a wonderfully crafted story, written by Robert Holmes and directed by the then series Producer, Barry Letts.
SYNOPSIS
I think that the blurb sum's it up best.
It is the year 1926, and the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Jo (Katy Manning) arrive on board the SS Bernice, a small cargo ship peacefully crossing the Indian Ocean.
Millions of miles away from Earth, on the planet Inter Minor, a travelling showman named Vorg and his assistant, Shirna, arrive to entertain the populous. With them is an amazing machine - an intergalactic peepshow called the Scope. As Vorg's show begins, alien worlds and strage creatures are conjured up from the Scope for the watching officials of Inter Minor...
On board the SS Bernice, the journey is suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a Plesiosaur - a dinosaur that died out over 130 million years ago. The Doctor and Jo soon realise that things are not quite what they seem, but can they convince their fellow passengers of the danger they are in?
Or will they all be made to suffer in the name of "entertainment"...?
This story is strengthened by some excellent acting. Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning as the Doctor and Jo Grant respectively, are on song, as usual. Manning, especially puts in a great performance.
On the SS Bernice, Major Daly (Tenniel Evans), Lieutenant John Andrews (Ian Marter) and Claire Daly (Jenny McCracken) play a strong supporting role. Ian Marter later went on to play Harry Sullivan - a companion to Tom Baker's Doctor.
Vorg and Shirna, played by Leslie Dwyer and Cheryl Hall, are eccentric, colourful characters and are perfect foils to the, literally, grey Inter Minor officials. Dwyer was actually a Carnival man before he became an actor, so he fits the role like no other. He even throws in a bit of Carney-speak.
The trio of Inter Minor officials are xenophobic, by-the-book-, ignoramusses (or is that 'ignorami'?), wonderfully played by Peter Halliday, Michael Wisher and Terence Lodge.
What can be said about the Special Effects? By today's standards they will produce a bit of a chuckle. However, one must remember that this was 1972 and was pioneering the CSO (Colour Seperation Overlay) process.
VIDEO
As usual, the Restoration Team have turned in another remarkable piece of work. The video quality is nothing short of incredible, considering the age of the source material. It's better than some of the DVDs released now.
The layer change, as with the other Doctor Who DVDs is between episodes and is next to impossible to detect.
AUDIO
The soundtrack is is Dolby 2.0 - the dialogue and sound is very clear. The music is by Doctor Who regular, Dudley Simpson.
EXTRAS
Audio Commentary - Barry Letts and Katy Manning
Another fantastic commentary. My favourite commentaries are ones which have both an actor and one of the production staff, because they are informative and entertaining at the same time. This one is no exception.
Deleted Scenes
When Carnival of Monsters was sent to Australia it was an early edit of Episode 2. As this DVD is the proper edit, the extended/deleted scenes are the bits and pieces that were in the Australian edit.
Alternate Ending
At the end of Episode 4, Peter Halliday's bald-cap was really showing that it was a bald-cap and Barry Letts hated it. So when Carnival of Monsters was repeated in 1981 during a "Five Faces of Doctor Who" special, Barry was able to edit the ending.
Featurette - Five Faces of Doctor Who
This is a TV spot advertising the "Five Faces of Doctor Who" special screenings.
Featurette - Delaware Opening Titles
When the early edit of Episode 2 was sent to Australia, the opening and closing titles of it featured an alternate, but never officailly used, theme tune (lovingly called the "boingy-boingy" version by Doctor Who fans...).
Featurette - Visual Effects Test Film
A sometimes amusing reel of model and puppet tests.
Photo Gallery
Better than most Photo Galleries in that it is animated and in theme.
Informational Subtitles
One of the Doctor Who DVDs strengths is the Informational Subtitles. The are, as you would expect, quite informative. I usually have these playing with the Commentary.
Featurette - Behind The Scenes
About 2 minutes of behind the scenes footage. What is interesting is you get a brief glimse of footage that is not in the deleted scenes, but was never used.
Featurette - TARDIS-cam No.2
Another funky CG clip of the TARDIS flying about.
Featurette - CSO Demonstration
Barry Letts presents this internal BBC film about the benefits and uses of CSO (Colour Separation Overlay). An interesting quote by Letts; "This is a technique that could definitly be developed and in terms of Colour Separation in the future it would make it much, much easier if one could always cut from one CSO set-up to another CSO set-up. And then there wouldn't be any need even for real sets. You could play an entire scene, entirely with models."
Which predates George Lucas by a good 6 years...
Easter Eggs - SPOILER
To access these Eggs, first go to the "Delaware Opening Titles" and press Left. A Doctor Who Symbol should highlight. Press it and you will get a "clean" opening titles sequence.
Then go to "Subtitles" select it, then press Left. The Doctor Who symbol should highlight. Press it and you will get and amusing 30 second countdown to Carnival of Monsters.
OVERALL
Carnival of Monsters is an intelligent and entertaining Doctor Who story. It has elements of humour, politics, xenophobia and even the ethical treatment of creatures. Wonderfully acted, wonderfully directed and wonderfully put together technically, Carnival of Monsters is a classic by any sense of the word.
The Film: 
1/2
The Disk:
"Dark Lord" Paul Lenkic
"Accept the Lord of Darkness as your saviour!" - The Undertaker
© 2002