Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Ooh, Jon Pertwee! It's been a while since we got one of his on shiny 6 inch disc! And it's another Robert Holmes? Well, this should be good! Well, lets get to it, shall we? But first, the standard Doctor Who Primer for those of you just joining us:

From 1963 to 1989 (and a couple of false starts thereafter) the BBC ran an immensely popular family program called Doctor Who. The main character is called The Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He travels the universe in the TARDIS, a wondrous spaceship that can go anywhere in time and space - provided that the Doctor can steer it correctly. During his adventures, he and his companion (usually a young human female with weak ankles and good lungs) combat evil and injustice wherever they find it. Key to the longevity of the series - Doctor Who can do what the James Bond movies have done several times. When fatally injured, Time Lords have the ability to regenerate, totally changing their faces and personalities, allowing the ability to swap out the lead roll when the actor wants to leave the series. So there have been several Doctors with different faces (ten, so far), but all of them the same character.

Oh, and the name of the show is Doctor Who. The main character is simply called The Doctor.

Hurray! The third Doctor (the one with the smoking jacket and ruffles) is pardoned from the exile by the Time Lords and free to wander time and space again. His first destination is taking Jo to the lovely blue planet of Metebelis Three - well, in theory. True to form, the TARDIS lands on a cargo ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean circa 1926. Everything seems normal - well all the way up until the (largely unconvincing) sea monster puppet shows up and attacks the crew.

While certainly odd, things take a even strange turn as the events - note for note - play themselves out again and again. The passengers don’t realize that they're repeating the same actions again and again, and the largely unconvincing sock puppet monster shows up on cue.

Eventually the Doctor finds a panel made of some kind of alien metal in the bulkhead of the ship, popping same in short order with the Sonic Screwdriver. In short order the Doctor realizes that they are inside a Miniscope, a machine that keeps miniaturized groups of creatures in exact duplicates of their natural environments. Roll up, roll up! Pay a credit, get to see a real life Tellurian!

Unfortunately the Doctor comes to this epiphany shortly after finding the Drashig enclosure - large (and also largely unconvincing) monsters that never give up a scent, pursuing their meal with mindless (if not terribly methodical) relentlessness. Now, hunted by the Drashigs, the Doctor has to escape the Miniscope, save the rest of the occupants of the scope and shut down this little side show once and for all. . . . .

I wont deny that there aren’t problems lurking in the production of Carnival of Monsters, crap monsters, tacky seventies production design - and that sort of thing. But you know what, with a story this enjoyable, I'm willing to cut it some slack. Ok, it's not a classic, but its fun none the less.

The performances are commendable on all fronts. Jon Pertwee is pure gold, as always with a surprisingly varied performance. Jo was never one of my favorite companions (too airheaded for my tastes), but Katie Manning goes a long way to win me over. Michael Wisher (the soon-to-be Davros) is probably the best of the guest cast, with Ian Marter (the soon-to-be Harry Sullivan) coming in a close second.

All in all, Carnival of Monsters will probably not worry The Deadly Assassin or The Talons of Weng-Chiang too much for fear of taking over their position as Fan Favorites, but it’s some nice solid entertaining television that everyone in the family can enjoy. Cant go wrong with that!

THE DVD -
Again the Restoration team goes far beyond what any other television show being release today would get, by going back to the best source material they can get and returning the video and audio to near pristine quality. The episode got some extended time in the Scratchbox for intensive frame by frame retouching (some 4,000 scratches on the film were removed), and lots of DVNR to reduce and remove the minor faults and grain.

THE EXTRAS -
We get a very good range of extras here, including some deleted scenes (from the early edit of episode two), the director's preferred ending to episode four (which he prepared for a BBC2 repeat in the eighties and which deletes a shot of the join on an obvious alien headpiece), some behind the scenes footage shot in both the studio and the gallery. We also get some visual effects tests, the opening titles and closing credits with alternative theme music, a trailer for the Five Faces of Doctor Who, a TARDIS-Cam and a short demonstration of how blue screen (called Color Separation Overlay here) from the early seventies. Oh, and we get the usual production subtitle notes and photo gallery.

THE BOTTOM LINE -
You know, I'm really running out of ways to say "this is a fun story, lovingly restored and packed with loads of bonus materials". I really need to review a crap story with nothing as far as extras on the disc.

OTHER DOCTOR WHO EPISODES ON DVD:

DOCTOR ONE -
* The Beginning * Doctor Who and the Daleks * The Aztecs * The Lost in Time Collection*
DOCTOR TWO -
* Tomb of the Cybermen* The Seeds of Death
DOCTOR THREE -
* Spearhead From Space * The Three Doctors * Carnival of Monsters*
DOCTOR FOUR -
* The Ark in Space * Genesis of the Daleks * The Pyramids of Mars * The Robots of Death * The Talons of Weng-Chiang *
DOCTOR FIVE -
* The Five Doctors * Resurrection of the Daleks * The Caves of Androzani*
DOCTOR SIX -
* Vengeance on Varos * Revelation of the Daleks*
DOCTOR SEVEN -
* Rememberance of the Daleks * The Television Movie*
THE NEW SERIES -
* Doctor Who - Series One * Doctor Who - Series Two * Torchwood - Series One * Doctor Who - Series Three * The Infinite Quest*


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12