Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #699 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-10-05
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 286 minutes

DVD Description
Featuring two six-part Jon Pertwee adventures involving one of the Doctor’s greatest nemeses. Packed with a host of fantastic special features, this four-disc box set contains Frontier in Space and Planet of the Daleks. Frontier in space
When the TARDIS accidentally brings the Doctor and Jo aboard Earth cargo ship C982, they find it under attack. The crew perceive the Doctor, Jo and the attackers as Draconians, whose empire currently rivals Earth's for control of the galaxy. But the Doctor and Jo see only Ogrons - brutish, simian mercenaries who steal the cargo, including the TARDIS, and head off into space.

The Doctor's investigations take him to Earth, the Moon and then to Draconia itself. He discovers that the Ogrons are employed by his sworn enemy, the Master, who is attempting to provoke a war between the space empires. The Doctor suspects the scale of the plan is too grand for the Master, but even he is shocked to discover the identity of the far deadlier foe waiting in the wings... Planet of the Daleks
Injured after a shoot-out between his old nemesis the Master and the Ogrons, slaves to the evil Daleks, the Doctor sends a message to the Time Lords, asking them to pilot his TARDIS and follow the Daleks to their new base. After he slips into a coma, it falls to his assistant Jo Grant to explore the planet where the TARDIS finally materialises. She meets a party of Thals and is left in hiding aboard their crashed spaceship while they go to the Doctor's aid. On his recovery, the Doctor learns of their mission to destroy a party of Daleks sent here to discover the native Spiridons' secret of invisibility.

Not only must the Doctor contend with the Daleks' new scheme, but he must try to stop them unleashing a plague that will exterminate all organic life. When a rescue ship of Thals arrive, they bring with them darker news still - somewhere on Spiridon 12,000 Daleks are waiting to emerge and take what they believe is their rightful place as the Universe's supreme beings!

EXTRAS:

Frontier in Space (Disc 1 - Episodes)
• Commentary - With actor Katy Manning, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks, moderated by Clayton Hickman.
• Programme Subtitles
• Subtitle Production Notes

Frontier in Space (Disc 2 - Extras)
• Perfect Scenario: Lost Frontier - In the far future, the remaining population of an oxygen-depleted planet Earth lies in enforced stasis in The Field of Dreams, their minds kept active through the work of scenariosmiths. Looking for ideas to help him re-connect to his captive audience, Zed, a young scenariosmith, turns to the world of Doctor Who for inspiration… Featuring interviews with actors Katy Manning, Janet Fielding, Vera Fusek and Michael Hawkins, producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks, visual effects designers John Friedlander and Mat Irvine. With Rich Batsford, Mick Broster, Tony Broster, Henry Dunn and Paul Ewing, and the voices of Steve Broster, David Harley and Cathryn Miller.
• The Space War - Cast and crew look back at the making of the story.
• Roger Delgado: The Master - A biography of actor Roger Delgado, most famous for playing the Doctor's arch-nemesis The Master from his introduction in 1971 until his tragic death two years later. Featuring previously unseen photographs, rare excerpts from his many BBC TV appearances and interviews with those who knew and loved him.
• Stripped for Action: The Third Doctor - The ongoing series looking at the Doctor's comic book adventures reaches his third incarnation.
• Photo Galley
• Coming Soon
• PDF Material

Planet of the Daleks (Disc 1)
Since the mid-seventies, episode three of this story has only been available as a 16mm monochrome film recording, but for this DVD release it has been returned to full colour using a brand new process.
• Commentary - With actors Katy Manning, Prentice Hancock and Tim Preece, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks.
• Programme Subtitles
• Subtitle Production Notes

Planet of the Daleks (Disc 2)
• Perfect Scenario: The End of Dreams - Continuing his search for inspiration, scenariosmith Zed resumes his studies of twentieth century television's Doctor Who. What he finds will have a profound effect on the lives of all of the remaining sleepers in The Field of Dreams… Featuring interviews with actors Katy Manning, Jane How, Janet Fielding, Bernard Horsfall and Tim Preece, producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks. With Rich Batsford, Mick Broster, Tony Broster and Paul Ewing, and the voices of Steve Broster, David Harley and Cathryn Miller.
• The Rumble in the Jungle - Cast and crew look back at the making of the story.
• Multi-colourisation - A look at the colour restoration of episode three.
• Stripped for Action: The Daleks - The ongoing series looking at the Doctor's comic book adventures focuses on his deadliest foes - the Daleks!
• Blue Peter - Two items from the childrens' magazine programme, featuring an appeal for any information on the theft of two Daleks from the BBC and their subsequent return.
• Photo Galley
• Coming Soon
• PDF Material

Synopsis
This collection features the entire 'Dalek War' storyline from 1973, starring Jon Pertwee as The Doctor. Features the following episodes: 'Frontier In Space' and 'Planet Of The Daleks'.

Customer Reviews

What the future used to look like
This 4-disc set of two consecutive stories from 1973 is great. Frontier in Space, the first story (2 hrs 23 mins), is a complex tale of interplanetary intrigue and diplomacy, in which the Master is engineering a war between to powerful empires, Earth and the proud, honourable Draconians, who face each other distrustully across the eponymous boundary. If this sounds like Star Trek, it is - it was written a month after the first UK broadcast of the similarly-themed "Balance of Terror". You wouldn't get away with that nowadays! This story is probably best remembered for its aliens du jour, the Draconians, who are both well-written and well-realised, with even close-ups bearing close scrutiny. It's a high point of science fiction alien makeup. Another high point is Roger Delgado, in his final appearance as the Master. Here he is almost jovial as he schemes to destroy Earth's empire, apparently solely to humiliate the Doctor. It's a playful interpretation of the role we get from Delgado here, and he has a great rapport with both the principals. Sadly, after five and a half excellent episodes, the ending is a real botch job. It's hard to work out what's actually happening. The various extras explain what went wrong, and what should have happened. That aside, Frontier in Space was always one of my favourites, and this release confirms its place in my Who top ten.

Planet of the Daleks (2 hrs 20 mins) is a different kettle of fish, despite segueing directly from the previous story. Written by Dalek creator Terry Nation, it's basically a rehash of two of his previous stories - "The Daleks" (1963-4) and "The Daleks' Master Plan" (1965-6). Longtime Who fans may experience deja vu while watching. However, there's still much worth seeing. Where Frontier in Space explores the broad sweep of interplanetary diplomacy, Planet of the Daleks emphasises the personal struggles of survival in a hostile environment and the search for courage and leadership, as a small group of people attempt to prevent the Daleks from learning the secret of invisibility. It's slightly let down by some cheap-looking production values, but the story mostly gets away with it due to the conviction of the cast (Jon Pertwee and Bernard Horsfall especially, and even Prentis Hancock is much better here than his lacklustre performance in Planet of Evil). While nowhere near as good as either Frontier in Space, or Nation's later Genesis of the Daleks, Planet of the Daleks is still a thoroughly entertaining adventure.

Extras (3 hours)
Frontier in Space:

Commentary with Katy Manning, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks, moderated by Clayton Hickman. A Thoroughly entertaining and informative soundtrack. *****

Perfect Scenario: Lost Frontier (30 mins) - This is an attempt to show how Frontier in Space drew on current affairs for inspiration. While there is much interesting material to illustrate the point, it's bizarrely framed in a pointless, distracting Matrix-themed science-fiction story where a future computer and student discuss the information. I'm going to sound like a Grumpy Old Man here, but do we really need a documentary to be jazzed up with a back-of-envelope framing story and look-what-i-can-do effects? No more please. **

The Space War (18 mins) - cast and crew recollect the making of the serial. Quite interesting. ****

Roger Delgado: The Master (33 mins) - a biography of actor Roger Delgado. An excellent tribute to one of the show's best regular actors, with many clips from his appearances in everything from Quatermass to a documentary. There are also many fond reminiscences from his colleagues, and a moving description by his widow Kismet in which she describes hearing the news of his death in a car accident. A worthy tribute to a fine actor. *****

Stripped for Action: The Third Doctor (16 mins) - The third Doctor's adventures in comics appear to have been an artistic high point, and this is well worth watching for the beautiful illustrations. *****

Photo Gallery ****
Production subtitles - all the production trivia, alternate scripts, trivia and asides you'll ever need. ****

There's meant to be an easter egg, but I'm blowed if I can find it.

Planet of the Daleks:

Commentary wth actors Katy Manning, Prentis Hancock and Tim Preece, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks. A good-natured and lively commentary track. ****

Perfect Scenario: The End of Dreams (30mins) - the second part of this effort loses its way, as Planet of the Daleks had less current-events context to make this feasible. This idea hasn't worked and I hope all involved are sent to bed without supper. *

The Rumble in the Jungle (17 mins) - cast and crew look back at the making of the story. Quite good but nothing amazing. ***

Multi-colourisation (11 mins) - How episode 3 had its colour restored. The highlight for me was that some of the software for this highly technical and complex process was written in BBC BASIC! Fascinating exploration of the restoration, which incidentally is now indistinguishable from the other episodes, it's a first-class job. ****

Stripped for Action: The Daleks (14 mins) - a reasonable exploration of the Daleks' appearances in comics, concentrating on the early seventies. ***

Blue Peter (13 mins) - two items from the childrens' magazine programme, featuring an appeal for any information on the theft of two Daleks from the BBC, and their subsequent return. OK but a bit too long, especially as some of this was on the Genesis of the Daleks DVD. ***

Photo gallery ****
Production subtitles ****

TL;DR - Frontier in Space is a classic of TV sci-fi, Planet of the Daleks is good entertainment, the extras are variable but plentiful. Buy it.

"Somewhere on this planet there are TEN THOUSAND Daleks!"
There has been a lot of revisionist opinion spouted in recent times criticising Jon Pertwee's time on DOCTOR WHO, a great deal of it from people who weren't even born at the time, and that's a bit of a shame because when I was an eight year old, Jon Pertwee as DOCTOR WHO was, quite simply, the best thing ever. Many of the elements that still influence the modern version of the show came to prominence during this era - The Master, the Brigadier and UNIT, to name just a few. Also, there were some of my earliest televisual memories; Sea Devils, Giant Maggots and lovely old Bessie. UNIT was at the peak of its popularity and the feisty and foxy Jo Grant (played by Katy Manning) was the big sister you really wished you had.

So the arrival of the DALEK WAR BOX SET on DVD to bolster this sadly under-represented era of the series is an absolute joy and it completes the releases from 1973's Series 10, following directly on from CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS. Twelve episodes spread over 2 linked stories which show the series sometimes at its very best (the make up - especially on both the Draconians and the Ogrons - and some of the model work being as good as any seen in the show), sometimes at its most derivative (the dalek story riffing at length on its own mythology) and sometimes absolutely awful (stand up the monster on the Ogron's home planet - oh, you can't...). There are also lots of quarries on display, but then, well, it is DOCTOR WHO, isn't it?

FRONTIER IN SPACE is Malcolm Hulke's six part space opera which introduces the rather striking samurai-like Draconians who are being manipulated into a war with the human race by a "mysterious" third party - see the name of this box set for a bit of a clue - who are working in association with the Doctor's "best enemy" The Master, played here for the final time by Roger Delgado who died shortly after filming this story. As ever with Malcolm Hulke's scripts there's a bit of an underlying political theme going on which can make it a little slow going at times, but all in all there's a lot to like.

The story ends on a (fairly) thumping great cliffhanger which leads directly into the next story, which - happily enough - is also included in the set. PLANET OF THE DALEKS sees Terry Nation providing his first script for the series since his epic contribution to THE DALEK MASTER PLAN back in the William Hartnell era and in many ways the elements of this are a "greatest hits" package of his previous contributions - a deadly jungle, invisible monsters, caves of ice, super viruses, bonkers escape plans and the return of the Thals - but there's enough of a spin on these well used themes to keep things interesting and the underlying threat of the hidden army of Daleks being "somewhere" is effective enough to keep the plot moving along. Sometimes the budget doesn't quite stretch far enough - the TARDIS wardrobe and the miraculous cassette box being good examples here - but sometimes it's frankly brilliant (the jungle, the fungus) in an altogether bonkers way and Jo really does get to have her finest (half) hour...

The production team of Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks are now regarded as some of the "high priests" of classic Who and yet their era seems to be less than loved in certain quarters, which is rather a shame really, as the Pertwee years really do have a lot to offer if you give them the chance. Certainly the moral stance that the Doctor takes during the coda to the Dalek story is enough to make the viewer stop and think - something this era attempts a lot - and that's something to be truly admired in a TV show aimed at a family audience.

4 discs means that there's a pretty hefty set of extras provided for both stories. Alongside the now obligatory PDF and photo collections, and an entertaining set of commentaries from members of the cast and production teams, there's a bumper crop of documentaries that range from the frankly wonderful (a marvelous tribute to Roger Delgado) to the utterly annoying (the "Zed's quest" pieces). Actually the "Zed" things are an attempt to put the televised stories in a contemporary social context and as an idea it's pretty sound, but the format chosen just irritates. There are two more comic strip documentaries of which the Dalek one is the pick and a bizarre couple of sequences about Dalek theft from BLUE PETER that have to be seen to be believed. The 2 "making of" pieces are hardly comprehensive, being little more than interview pieces and mostly had me wondering if Katy Manning is channeling TERRAHAWKS these days...

There is, of course, also the opportunity to see the rather splendid colour restoration job that's been done on episode 3 of PLANET - THE big selling point of this collection - and there's also a 10 minute documentary looking at how that was achieved.

The following story THE GREEN DEATH would see the departure of Jo Grant and the release of these two tales completes the tenth season releases of DOCTOR WHO on DVD, ironically meaning that Jon Pertwee now has a complete season available (which is more than some Doctors do) despite the relative rarity of releases from his era.

All-in-all then, a pretty good set. Not perfect, by any means, and if you don't love 1970's DOCTOR WHO, it's unlikely to change your mind, but it is certainly amongst the best releases in the range so far.

DVD review: Lived up to my expectation!
Frontier In Space & Planet Of The Daleks has always been my all-time favourite Dr Who stories than any other Classic/New Series adventure. For me, Planet Of The Daleks is better than any other Dalek Story ever made including the New Series of Dr Who. But that's just me. I just love everything about it. The two stories are completely different only inter-link in between, which is why both stories stand alone brilliantly on their own merits.

Planet of The Daleks is a solid Dalek story adventure that has elements of the early Dalek stories from the 60s and does not have Davros in it. The Dalek props used in them have such a metallic authenticity, that gleams. The Dalek Supreme truly excels on screen. There are so many memorable scenes, one of them is on location film where the Daleks are pushed into the pool of ice. The exotic jungle, has an alien planet feel to it, where the subdue lighting by director David Maloney is really effective, even more so in the Dalek Head Quarters and corridors and is now evident in the colour episode three.

I won't go into the storyline but focus on the DVD.

Firstly the dvd cover sleeve for each story is reversible. But why have the same picture? An alternative cover like `K9 & Company' dvd sleeve would have been great or an internal photo collage for each story.

Frontier In Space Disc 2:
Perfect Scenario: Lost Frontier: is a documentary dealing with social issues of 1972/73 around the World and some of it's reflection on `Frontier In Space'. The concept of a futuristic dreamers into discovering the similar social issues in this story is bizarre and padding, though very interesting.

The Space War: is the making of the story, with some great insights from Michael Hawkins (played General Williams).

Roger Delgado Biography: is well documented and strongly absorbing.

The Easter Egg: the experimental Dr Who theme for the opening/end credits to episode 5 at the time, that did not take off.

The photo gallery is really great. I remember pictures of Frontier in Space that featured in Dr Who Weekly, then Monthly and now called Magazine, well they are all featured in this gallery.

Planet of the Daleks Episode 3 was truly a visual experience. It looks fantastic in COLOUR! Though the texture is different to the other episodes just like in `The Sea Devils' and `Claws of Axos' DVDs. It must be said the colour match to the other five episodes are the same. Well done to the Dr Who Restoration Team!

The Easter egg is an original alternative commentary from 2007 for episode 3 before the colourisation restoration was considered.

I found the `Perfect Scenario: End of Dreams fared better than `Frontier In Space', this one focuses again on the social issues around the world in 1972 like the Vietnam War and how `Planet of the Daleks was conceived by Terry Nation. Though by now the two white coloured suited dreamers in the chairs and repeated scenes are a bit padding. But the contents and particularly the interviews are great. `Rumble in the Jungle' is a great look at the making of `Planet of the Daleks' with interviewed footage of the Director David Maloney.

The photo gallery is just simply brilliant! It has some stunning pictures of the Daleks on location as well as deep in the Dalek Headquarters. There's a wide selection of behind the scenes, particularly the Daleks on the Tardis set.

These are THE best Dr Who DVDs I have seen. The extras are a real treat. The Dalek War Box set has lived up to my expectation.