Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #422 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-09-07
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 99 minutes

DVD Description
A race of giant gastropods has taken over the planet Jaconda. Their leader, Mestor, now intends to cause an enormous explosion in order to spread his people's eggs throughout the galaxy, and he kidnaps juvenile twin geniuses from Earth to work out the necessary mathematical equations. Space fighters led by Lieutenant Hugo Lang are dispatched to get the twins back, but they come under attack and Lang is the sole survivor when his ship crashes on the asteroid Titan 3.

The Doctor and Peri become involved and help Jaconda's elderly former ruler Professor Edgeworth, who is really a Time Lord named Azmael, to defeat Mestor and free the planet's bird-like indigenous people from the gastropods' reign of terror

Customer Reviews

Dilemma indeed
I imagine this will create a dilemma for anyone thinking about buying it. Consistently ranked bottom of any favourite-Who-stories list, there is little on the surface to recommend it, even to die-hard Dr Who fans. So why should you buy it?

The story is frankly bonkers, involving giant slugs kidnapping a pair of child geniuses to crash some planets together to create a supernova to...you get the idea. The costumes are uniformly terrible, with garish colours bleeding from the Doctor's horrible new wardrobe onto all the supporting cast, who end up looking like they have been wrapped in coloured tin foil. The twins themselves act like they're reading their lines off a rejected Noddy script, and come across as smug, self-righteous and intensely dislikeable. The Gastropods shuffle around woodenly like a poor man's Tractator from the vastly superior (and as yet unavailable on dvd) Frontios from earlier in the season, with quick-setting slime as their only USP. Wonder why they never got a second story...

So again, why should you buy this dvd? Well, for a start, Colin Baker is a real revelation in his first story, blustering and rampant in his random mood swings, terrifying his poor assistant and indeed nearly choking her to death at one point. As different a character from Peter Davison's subtle, nuanced performance as possible, this is one hell of a way to bring in the changes. This is also Colin's final story to be released on dvd, so you can now have all of his unfairly-truncated tenure on your shelf. There are also some good themes in the examination of relationships, be it father to son, master to pupil, or even Time Lord to human companion. It features some good planet-hopping scenes and moves at a brisk pace to start off, before tailing off into tepid melodrama and tired cliché. There's the appearance of another Time Lord from the Doctor's past, painting a larger background for the Gallifreyans. As with all the DW dvd's, the Restoration Team have done their usual stellar job with extras, interviews, behind-the scenes footage and related items.

And that's kind of it really. Let's not pretend that Twin Dilemma is a misunderstood classic ripe for rediscovery. It is what it is, an example of Dr Who at its worst: cheap, tacky and lacking in almost every department. Do not show it to any new-Who fans in an attempt to get them into classic Who, you will only put them off the whole programme. Wait til it's in the sale if you must have it, if not save your money for the Dalek War boxset due at the end of the year. That's a good one to show the kids. This one is probably one for completists and masochists only. You know who you are.

Doctor Who, The Twin Dilemma. A bumpy start for the 6th Doctor.
Received fan wisdom tells us that this is the worst Who series ever made. Not having seen it since it was first on TV, when I was 7, my memory was a little hazy and I was willing to give it an unbiased view.

On reflection, I am of the opinion that while there is much wrong with this series, such as the Doctor's prickly character, Peri, bad costumes and shakey plot, it's not the worst. The plot is a bit wobbly, but not as incomprehensible as some. Colin is a good actor, and does well with the character given to him, and in some scenes really shines. The central problem, however, is the choice of actors for the twins. Wooden is an understatement. They make Thunderbirds puppets look like Olivier in Richard the Third.

On reflection, 2 stars. Not the worst story, but certainly not the place for newcomers to the series to start.

To buy or not to buy - a REAL dilemma
In 1984, hot on the heels of the much-loved Peter Davison swansong "The Caves of Androzani" there was much eager anticipation for the imminent brave new dawn of DOCTOR WHO with Colin Baker about to take on the role in his first broadcast story.

Unfortunately, what we got was THE TWIN DILEMMA. The trailer for this story (in the "Black Guardian Trilogy" box set) rather outstayed its welcome at under a minute and the story itself suffers not only from a long held poor reputation, but also from some truly awful acting performances and some eye-poppingly bad costume and scenic design (I find it mildly interesting that I first saw these episodes on a black and white TV set and - it's a strange thought but - maybe turning off the colour might help you enjoy this story more) as well as some pretty poor scripting.

However, having sat through it again after not seeing it for a long time, I felt that it really wasn't as bad as I remembered it to be and there's about two and a half episodes (out of the four) of really more than acceptable stuff in there. Colin Baker is actually pretty good throughout this story and seizes the part by the scruff of the neck but suffers slightly from some of the more unsympathetic situations he's required to perform. The first half of the story generally looks as good as any other 1980s DOCTOR WHO with one or two jarring sequences letting it down occasionally, but more occasionally than you might think. Maurice Denham and Kevin McNally (despite a very poor toy gun and an alarming disco top that gives Colin's outfit a run for its money) give strong support and the cast is only let down by the (admittedly inexperienced) twins and a rather shoddy monster and some fairly unsympathetic dialogue for Nicola Bryant's Peri which she gamely survives to become a fondly remembered companion.

There are definite extremes on display here. The bird people look great, but the slug people are a disaster. The location filming and model work look rather good, but the studio work is variable with atmospheric darkly lit tunnel scenes juxtaposed with overlit caves with obviously painted floors. Some of the props (like the toy gun and the "hula-hoop" planetarium) are risible. At least the costumes are uniformly awful so that after a while they fail to surprise you by getting any worse. It all just has that air of stretching the budget beyond breaking point, but at least they tried and it's difficult to see what other options might have presented themselves other than simply not making the show at all or binning the script and attempting a much simpler tale.

On commentary, Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Kevin McNally are great company throughout and I actually left the commentary wanting more of it. The production notes are as comprehensive as ever and the package of extra features, whilst not including a "behind the scenes" piece this time around does have a nice little 5 minute bit about the title sequence, a rather self indulgent 10 minute bit about the Doctor's various outfits and even the 17 minute piece on the comic strips manages to be quite interesting for once. There are clips from Breakfast Time and Blue Peter which are nice to have, the (now) usual photo galleries, continuity clips and Radio Times listings and the "coming soon" trailer for KEYS OF MARINUS looks strangely fabulous. Whether this extras package makes it a worthwhile purchase, well, in the end, that is more of a dilemma, but I think they just edge it into the affirmative, although the addition of a trailer for the DVD range to the startup pages is starting to take it over two minutes which is bordering on the ridiculous.