Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5818 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-01-19
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Doctor Who: The Visitation is a routine adventure from the show's 19th season, beginning with Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor trying to return air hostess Tegan (Janet Fielding) to Heathrow Airport but materialising the TARDIS just as the Plague is ravaging 17th-century England. Three stranded Terileptils (humanoid-reptilian-fish hybrids in laughable costumes) are planning to wipe out humanity, while the local population have accepted the invader's puzzlingly camp robot for the Grim Reaper incarnate. There's much running around, being imprisoned and escaping again, but little substance in the story bar a return to the original series concept of tying the plot to elements of real history. Trying to find something for all the companions to do stretches the material thin, with the best entertainment coming from Michael Robbins' memorable turn as Richard Mace, an out-of-work actor turned charmingly genial highwayman. The "surprise" ending is predictable, Matthew Waterhouse's Adric as earnestly tiresome as ever and Tegan still tediously grumpy. Sarah Sutton as Nyssa is left too long building a sonic weapon which can vibrate a robot to pieces but doesn't harm the TARDIS or herself, yet Davison goes a long way to redeeming the tale with a charismatic intensity the yarn just doesn't deserve.

On the DVD: Doctor Who: The Visitation is presented in the original 4:3 aspect ratio with a good if variable picture. There are numerous unavoidable light trails on the video-shot studio material and some visual distortion on a few scenes. The mono sound is good and extends to an optional isolated presentation of Paddy Kingsland's musical score, a feature complemented by a new 16-minute interview with the composer by fellow Who musician, Mark Ayres. Of greater general interest is a 26-minute reminiscence by director Peter Moffatt covering all the six Doctor Who adventures he helmed. There is a good feature on Eric Saward and on the writing of the show, five minutes of extraordinarily dull Film Trims, detailed Information Text and an automated photo gallery. There are subtitles for both the episodes and a commentary that finds Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Peter Moffatt, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse having great fun bantering their way through the four episodes, a feature that proves far more enjoyable than the serial itself. --Gary S Dalkin

DVD Description
England, 1666 – the darkest days of the Great Plague. When the Doctor and his companions step from the TARDIS into a land gripped by fear and mistrust, they soon discover that they are not the only new arrivals. Strange lights have been seen in the sky, the Grim Reaper stalks the local woods and evidence of advanced technology is all around …

Special Features

• Commentary by Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Matthew Waterhouse and Peter Moffatt (stereo)
  
• Directing Who - Peter Moffatt – Director Peter Moffatt looks back at his time on Doctor Who
  
• Writing a Final Visitation – Author Eric Saward discusses the origins of this, his debut script for Doctor Who
  
• Scoring The Visitation – Paddy Kingsland discusses in detail his musical score
  
• Film Trims – additional shots and dialogue that were cut from the finished episodes before transmission
  
• Music-only option (mono) – allows the viewer to listen to Paddy Kingsland’s specially composed score on an isolated music track
  
• Photo Gallery

DVD Technical Information:

• Total Running Time: 95 minutes approx.
  
• Audio: Mono
  
• Subtitles: English SDH
  
• Region Code: 2, 4
  
• PAL
  
• Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  
• Disc Format: DVD-9
  
• Digitally remastered picture and sound quality

Customer Reviews

Highly Enjoyable
The Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa & Adric land in 1666 (instead of 1982 to return Tegan home). In a village they find new technology, impossible to originate from earth. The Doctor then stumbles on mind controlling devices, an android disguised as death and a Terileptil prisoner, whose ship blew up in the atmosphere.

Despite an unbelievably slow Part 1, Parts 2-4 are brilliant and highly exciting on the otherhand, going incredibly quickly and unbelievably enjoyable

Death stalks the woodsy woods of Heathrow, 1666
Story: 4/5 - Extras: 4/5

"The Visitation", by Eric Saward, is an old school "Doctor Who" story. Relatively sedately paced with lots of location filming in damp-looking woodlands, and conforming to the classic pseudo-historical formula of an alien force invading superstitious pre-industrial Earth, "The Visitation" hardly pushes the boundaries of 1980s television, but it does provide a relatively moody tale that takes advantage of the major event of the era (the Great Plague) in true historical style, and even offers a cheeky explanation for the Great Fire of London.
For the four episodes that constitute "The Visitation", the regular crew of the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric (as if the TARDIS wasn't crowded enough already) are joined by gentleman of the road and sometime thespian Richard Mace, played in true OTT style by actor Michael Robbins, and as a result the story is positively bloated with foreground characters. However, given this challenge, writer Eric Saward manages remarkably well to give them all something to do. Much as in "Earthshock", Nyssa spends a certain amount of time hanging around in the TARDIS towards the end of the story, but at least this time it's for a reason.
The principal monsters of the piece - the reptilian Terileptils and their jewel-encrusted android - are pretty well realised given the era and the budget, there's a nice introductory sequence to set the scene, a distinctive score and a whimsical closing shot that doesn't quite make you cringe. Overall, "The Visitation" is an enjoyable little story.
On the DVD, there's a raucous commentary with the full TARDIS crew plus director Peter Moffatt. It's fun, although they do get a little carried away from time to time in slagging off actor Michael Robbins. Beyond the commentary and the usual on-screen production notes, a few original featurettes are thrown in to make up a reasonable DVD package.

Another worthy DVD release.
The Visitation is in my opinion a much underrated story. Peter Davisons fifth doctor tries to take Tegan back to Heathrow in order for her to return to the flight she was supposed to be on before joining the Doctor. The TARDIS however ends up in 1666. 300 years before Heathrow was built. The Doctor and his companions then get caught up in a plot by three fugitive tereliptils and their 'grim reaper' android.
This is an enjoyable adventure with convincing monsters [apart from the tights they wear] and top performances particuarly from Davison and Michael Robbins who plays out of work actor Richard Mace.
This is worth a DVD despite what many may say and despite its flaws it is a good DOCTOR WHO adventure.