Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18995 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-07-15
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Doctor Who adventure "Carnival of Monsters" finds Jon Pertwee's third Doctor and Jo Grant (Katy Manning) materialising on the SS Bernice in the Indian Ocean in 1926, on the very day the ship is about to give rise to a famous sea mystery. Passengers and crew, including Ian Marter (who would return as companion Harry Sullivan two years later), are reliving the same few moments over and over again, and there is a plesiosaur in the ocean.

Meanwhile two travelling show people, Vorg (Leslie Dwyer), and Shirna (Cheryl Hall), have arrived on the bureaucracy laden planet Inter Minor with an illegal Miniscope peepshow. In a variation on the miniaturisation plot of Fantastic Voyage (1966), and harking back to Doctor Who's own "Planet of the Giants" story from 1964, the Doctor and Jo have materialised within the Miniscope's compression field and are trapped inside. For company they have the ferocious alien Drashigs while outside the machine a potentially devastating conspiracy is afoot.

As the second story in the 10th season of Doctor Who, this fast-moving, witty and surreal adventure slots into series continuity between "The Three Doctors" and "Frontier in Space". A long-time fan favourite, the four-part thriller remains one of the most enjoyable of the Jon Pertwee era stories.

On the DVD: Doctor Who: Carnival of Monsters on DVD has an excellent 4:3 image and mono sound far better than was ever heard on the original broadcasts. Heading a massive range of extras is a commentary with Katy Manning being wonderfully enthusiastic and producer-director Barry Letts getting a little more technical. There are English subtitles not only for the episodes but also for the commentary, as well as a separate on-screen information text option. Also included are two extended and one deleted scene, Barry Lett's more tightly edited preferred ending, a trailer for a 1981 season of Doctor Who repeats and a never used arrangement of the title music. Additionally there is a compilation of visual effects test film, some studio shooting footage, a short computer animation of the TARDIS, a photo gallery and a demonstration of the CSO special effects technique. Anything more comprehensive would be hard to imagine. --Gary S Dalkin

Special Features
English
Region 2
Commentary
Behind The Scenes
Visual Effects Tests
Extended Scenes
Barry Letts Demonstartes CSO Video Effects
Alternate Opening And Closing Music
Easter Eggs Photo Gallery

Synopsis
When the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) takes the TARDIS on a test run, he finds himself trapped inside a miniaturised world and must face the ferocious Drashigs.

Customer Reviews

Roll-up, roll-up!
The second story in Jon Pertwee's final season as The Doctor sees The Timelord, along with assistant Jo Grant, receive a replacement 'dimensional stabilizer' for his TARDIS from The Timelords as a thankyou for his defeat of Omega in The Three Doctors. This enables him to finally leave Earth and UNIT behind and explore the cosmos once more. It is good to see the production team rise to the challenge of a different scenario from the Earthbound adventures that had made up the majority of the Third Doctor's tenure. The story is a self-contained gem; The TARDIS arrives aboard what seems to be a cargo cruiser on the Indian Ocean in 1926 however they soon discover that they are in fact inside an intergalactic 'mini-scope', used by a pair of travelling entertainers who are currently on the planet Inter Minor. Unfortunately for the entertainers (or 'Lurmans') the officials on the planet are entirely without humour and promptly impound the scope in order to destroy it...
The Doctor manages to escape from the machine and stumbles into a political coup, with the protagonists hoping to use the Scope as their weapon. They plan to let the Drashigs escape therby proving their president has lost control and should be removed from office. This idea of a meta-world is something that Doctor Who has always done well - think 'The Invisible Enemy', 'The Deadly Assassin' or 'The Mind Robber' - and Carnival is no exception. It is colourful, kitsch and charming; Pertwee is in fine form and the guest cast rise to the challenge too. The entertainers: Vorg and Shirna are as good a double-act as any seen before whilst the denizens of Inter Minor are both stagily (and perhaps unintentionally) hilarious, with their painted grey faces and Ogron-like haircuts. Even the Drashig - a giant reptile that escapes from the scope - is well-realised for the early 70s (it is far, far better than The Myrka..!) and the sub-plot featuring a pre-Harry Sullivan era Ian Marter is both inventive and strangely comforting, as Edwardian Doctor Who is wont to be. DVD extras are extensive; the pick of these are Behind the Scenes - Looking In: A 1972, snippet that was part of the BBC's 50th Anniversary celebrations and a nice litte 'Easter egg'.

"Walking with Drashigs"
Robert Holmes serves up a 4-dimensional Big Brother as The Doctor & Jo get trapped in a miniscope which holds lifeforms for paying customers to watch as a peepshow.
His script is as ever chock full of wit and memorable characters. Pertwee hugely enjoys himself in a story that gives him the chance to play humourous scenes such as banter with a blimpish Major Daly & intergalactic conman Vorg and also be full of moral indignation at the existence of such a cruel device as the scope.
Katy Manning is served well too getting to tell the Doctor that alien life forms that resemble chickens are "chickens" and commenting on the repeated behaviour patterns that characterise scope inhabitants;

"It's alright, I know the routine!"

The supporting cast are all good and fans of Uncle Tom should watch for Harry Sullivan as Ian Marter plays Andrews and Davros as Michael wisher plays the sadistic Khalik.

The Drashigs are a fun monster very well done for the time as they are seen mostly on film, dripping wet and briefly, accompanied by a memorable scream. On video they do fall rather flat though.

Top of the things not to think about list is why the Doctor & Jo don't get stuck in the behaviour loops, especially as Vorg bumping up the agression levels cause the Doctor to spar with young Andrews (let's hope this doesn't give Endemol producers ideas!).

Extras include; a vintage presentation on the benefits of CSO by producer Barry Letts, brief making of footage from a show made at the time, an extended scene, test model footage (you need to be seriously into that to find it interesting), test Drashig footage (where they are a bit Basil Brush)and titles with the infamous unused Delaware version of the theme. believe me only the themes from the old years videos and Dimensions in Time are worse!

We also have a commentary in which the mad as a packet of chocolate frogs with balsamic vinegar Katy Manning is the star!

A fun story and good package fron fans of all the versions of the show and in particular if they like Big Brother! (This must be a favourite of Russell T Davies!)

Well, it's certainly diverse
Story: 3/5 - Extras: 4/5

Carnival of Monsters is described on the liner notes as "a quaint little story", and such a description wouldn't be so far for the truth. Written once again by Robert Holmes, Carnival seems to be as much a showcase for the then-new CSO (Colour Separation Overlay) filming techniques as it does a serious Doctor Who story.
Like all Holmes scripts, the story is filled with well-written characters who help to liven up events, from the witlessly beaureaucratic Inter Minor officials to the roguish Vorg and the utterly British ship's Lieutenant John Andrews (Ian Marter, who would later play the part of Fourth Doctor companion Harry Sullivan), but at the end of the day no amount of witty dialogue can entirely overcome the story's essential limitations - it's just plain surreal, and neither especially action-packed nor particularly thought-provoking.
On the other hand, the Drashigs (horrific alien inmates of the Scope) make for surprisingly good monsters, better than many rubber Who creatures of the day, aided by some neat sound effects. Given the age and budget of the story, some of the CSO is also surprisingly seamless (although some, such as the episode one cliff-hanger, is utterly chronic).
Carnival remains worth buying as a piece of true Who from the archives, and of course for the extras. Whilst there are no exclusive documentary features this time round, this is made up for to some extent by the quantity of stuff on offer: there are on-screen production notes and an audio commentary from Katy Manning and producer Barry Letts, extended and deleted scenes, behind the scenes footage, original model sequences, a 1970s BBC information film on the use of CSO presented by Barry Letts, a rare opportunity to see the title sequence accompanied by the (awful) scrapped Delaware version of the theme tune, and one or two other bits and bobs. Overall a decent selection of stuff.