Doctor Who The Macra Terror [DVD] [2019]

Patrick Troughton's fifth Doctor Who story comes to DVD. Originally broadcast by the BBC in 1967, it's a four parter. Which sees the Doctor, along with Jamie, Ben and Polly, visit a human colony on a far flung world. Where all is happy. All are having a great time working for the good of the colony. People mine gas from below ground. And anyone who claims there are monsters in the shadows is dealt with. Who are the Macra? And what do they want? It's a perfectly capable little tale, one that isn't quite a five star classic but still does a lot of things very well. It does take the base under siege format and do it a little differently, and it does get into some interesting areas in regards to free will. There's also some good comedy for the Doctor, and also for Jamie in part four. It has a strong supporting performance from Peter Jeffrey as the colony's pilot. But it doesn't exist in the bbc archives anymore, all four parts having been wiped back in the day when that's what they did rather than save them for repeat purposes. But the story has been brought to us, like the recent release of the Power of the Daleks, via animation. The animation is in a similar style to that, and it's pretty good. Some basic background and figure work go together rather well, the facial expressions are good and used well. And it renders the Macra, who by all accounts came over as a bit inert on the screen, much more threatening. It's not quite a complete copy of the story, as it has to change a few things and cut one short scene from part one to make it work, but only the real completists will mind that. And the way the animation lip movements go with the dialogue from the soundtrack to the story is flawless. Language and subtitle options for the dvd: Languages: English. English audio captioned. Subtitles; English. This has a lot to go with it in this dvd box, as well. There's a production notes booklets, with details of the making of the story. And some about the animation. It's a little shorter than you might expect, but still good. But there are two discs here. On the first, you get the four parts in colour animation. Or if you prefer, you can find them in black and white, just like the original episodes were, on disc two. There are also episode reconstructions. These rebuild the episodes via stills and what footage does survive, and marry it to the soundtrack and some narration - voiced by Polly actress Anneke Wills for the cd release of the soundtrack years back - to produce another way to view it. Parts one and two are on disc one. Parts three and four on disc two. Also on disc one are a few more extras: Bonus mini-episode: a ten minute long colour animation of the early part of the second Doctor episode 'The Wheel in Space part one. In colour, and just as good as any of the animation on this. But it does of course end abruptly. Animation test: a short animated version of one scene, done before all others. In both colour then black and white. Animatics: the rough drawings, with soundtrack, for three scenes. These can only be viewed in a row, and in total these run for six minutes as a whole. Animation gallery: two mins worth of character drawings. This kind of thing is usually done as a gallery, but this can only be viewed as a whole. Teaser trailer: a very short trailer of a macra in a tunnel, designed to announce the dvd was on the way. On disc two: 1992 audio presentation: the soundtrack was originally released in 1992 on cassette, with narration by Colin Baker. That audio is presented here in full. Surviving footage: what bits of the story still survive. Roughly two mins worth. Well worth a look after you've seen the animation to see how they compare. Behind the scenes film: a twelve min long look around Shawcraft models, who did a lot of modelwork for Doctor Who, plus other shows and films, in the 1960's. It has some interesting narration. Censored scene: some of the surviving footage was cut from the Australian showing of the story. This is presented here along with the rest of the scene that wasn't cut, but the latter of course as stills. And then you get the cut version. So it's just the stills. Title sequences: The Troughton title sequence with his face in it was first used on this story. And here are various versions, from raw film to restored to animated. Photo gallery: thirty six stills from the making of the story. Production paperwork: various paperwork about the original production can be viewed by putting the dvd into your computer and looking at the cd rom drive. The box comes in a carboard sleeve, but theres a regular style dvd one inside, and you do get a reversible sleeve so it will line up with all the others on your shelves. It's a pity there's no making of feature. But never mind. Because this is a four star story made into a five star by having an excellent package to go with it.

Got my DVD of The Macra Terror yesterday and have just watched. When comparing to the Shada animation and direction, it is much better which surprised me as I thought the Shada animation was already great but when comparing it to Power of the Daleks, the animation is SO much better. We went from crappy cardboard cutouts to great animation with edgy faces to something so clean and fluent. The slight redesign of the Macra is better then the original design which, even though Shawcraft Models did try, looked like an overturned coconut with bits sticking out of it and stupid looking mouth. the special features are nice and the fact that we don't need to buy a separate DVD for it in colour is great (probably because no one would bother to buy a separate DVD for a colour version like with the Power of the Daleks DVD). The colour version is actually very nice and I am currently thinking if it's better in colour then in black and white. The entire story reminds me of the visuals in a comic book being bright and colorful with a mix of old and new. This just proves my point that you can make some small changes to the story as I bet the actual story didn't look as good as this and making changes can improve on some things like how The Tenth Planet and The Moonbase DVDs had new nice looking angles and direction or how Mission to the Unknowns animation has the alien ambassadors look more like aliens rather then men in costumes which weren't in the original but made it look better. My only criticism is, like with the Power of the Daleks animation, I noticed there are a few parts which have been left out but unlike the Power of the Daleks animation, instead of small parts in the Power of the Daleks animation, for The Macra Terror, it's an entire scene. The scene is the scene is in episode 1 where every one is being treated and the Doctor is tidied up by a machine to only reverse it and come out looking like he did before. There might be more cut scenes but that was the only one that I noticed. This annoys me as this was really close to becoming a near perfect release. However, I noticed on later viewings on the Power of the Daleks DVD, the parts not animated were suddenly animated?! I don't know if the BBC have the power to update DVDs, but I know there is a difference! They updated it some how so the same might happen with The Macra Terror. I already was a fan of The Macra Terror but watching proper visuals rather then a still re-construction by Loose Canon or narrated Audio makes this story so much better. If you like the 2nd Dr (like me) then get this DVD. If you like the missing stories, get this DVD. If you like cheesy but enjoyable stories, GET THIS DVD!!! The acting is great, the special features are neat and animation is one of the best so far if not the best with it's only competition being The Moonbase animation and Mission to the Unknown's fan animation. Out of 10 I give the story an 8, the DVD I give a 9 and the animation I give a 9. So, I'm sure what everyone is thinking what is the next animation and when it will come out. Well in my opinion, with all the evidence, I think The Wheel in Space will be the next animation. I say this because they have already animated 10 minutes from episode 1 so it will be silly if they just left it at that as they have already made character designs and CGI renders. There is the fact that when The Sun made a post on the missing episodes animations saying that The Macra Terror and The Wheel in Space will be animated. We see that they were right about The Macra Terror so they were probably right about The Wheel in Space. I mean they must have gotten the news story from somewhere and it just so happens that they were right about The Macra Terror and that parts of it have already been animated. A coincidence, I don't think so. And before someone say maybe they meant the cut down version but I would disagree as the article said 8 episodes, not 4 and a bit. Also, a Wheel in Space animation would make sense as it would mean we would have all the Cyberman stories released on DVD which would give 2-Entertain a chance to release big box sets of Cybermen stories. So yea, The Wheel in Space is the next animation 95%, I just hope that they make some alterations to what they have already animated so that Jamie's wearing the right clothes as in the mini-sode, Jamie is wearing the clothes he wears in The Moonbase, The Macra Terror, The Faceless Ones and Evil of the Daleks instead of the neck tie and fur jacket he wears in Fury from the Deep, The Wheel in space and The Dominators. As for a proper release date, I think work on The Wheel in space animation would have happened directly after, if not during, the work on The Macra Terror and so will be released in the later half of 2019, from September to December, so we will have 2 new DVDs this year as a present by the BBC as to make up the fact we didn't have anything in 2018. But what about after The Wheel in Space for our animation reconstruction for 2020 and the next few years? Well we know that the animations work best with action filled and Sci-Fi stories so they will be first before the historical or slower paste atmospheric stories. So don't expect Marco Polo, The Myth Makers, The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve, The Smugglers, The Highlanders, The Abominable Snowmen or Fury from the Deep being animated anytime soon, not because there bad (believe me, I think Marco Polo and Fury from the Deep are two of the best stories in the entire history of the show) but they include a lot more characters, aren't filled with as much action and have more atmospheric scenes which would be really hard to replicate into animation. I know there are some rumours that Fury form the Deep is the next animation but you already know what I think is the next animation. Expect Galaxy 4, The Celestial Toymaker, The Savages, The Underwater Menace, The Faceless Ones, The Web of Fear and The Space Pirates to be animated soon. As for the stories I didn't mention, The Crusade, Mission to the Unknown, The Daleks' Master Plan and Evil of the Daleks, I'm not sure. The Crusade is a pure historical and has loads of characters and costume changes which is why it has not been animated yet, according to someone who worked on the Power of the Daleks animation, but it is only made up of only 4 episodes and it is only missing 2. Mission to the Unknown has already been animated by Ian Levine however the BBC won't release it and they probably never will (for some reason) but if they tired to do their own, I don't think it would be as good as Ian's is and with it being conformed that there is a New version of Mission being filmed in a university which has a proper production and support by the BBC, an official animation by the BBC will probably never happen. The Daleks' Master Plan is interesting as it full of action and is one of the ones which fans want animated the most, like me, but it is 12 episodes long and 9 of its episodes will have to be animated which will take a long time which might mean they could rush it like they did with Power of the Daleks which is one of the poorer animations. Finally, Evil of the Daleks is interesting as even episodes 1, 3-5 are very slow and fits in with what I was talking about the stories that won't work with animation but episode 6-7 fits more with the stories which would work with animation and that Rob Ritchie, who worked on Power of the Daleks and The Macra Terror, is working on doing an Evil of the Daleks animation so the BBC might use some of that if they do want to do an animation of Evil. Anyway, after all that, I'm done. Bye. Written by Stanley Gleed

Troughton was long before my time, I was the very end of the baker era, and the beginning of the Davison era, but my mum loved Patrick Troughton, and we did catch a few episodes as re-runs now and again. In my adulthood, with more spare cash, I'm able to buy these DVDs and re-watch the shows my parents would have watched, and they're superb. A far cry from the new Dr. Whos which are all running around at a million miles an hour solving problems by fast talking, these older Dr. Whos involve the doctor finding out the problem over the course of a few episodes, and then figuring out a way to solve it in the last episode.. Lots of running around corridors happening in between. The Macra Terror takes place on a mining planet where the humans are living in a mining colony, ostensibly 'controlled' by alien overlords, the Macra. However, the Macra hide their presence, speaking instead through a "Big Brother". Speaking about them, or pointing out the activities which are suspicious gets you branded as a non-conformer. Then, the ultimate non-conformer arrives, in the form of the Doctor; the great disruptor... The art style in these DVD recreations is really nice. It's a "paperdoll" style, similar to shadow puppetry. I guess it's a telltale of how Illustrator animates via interpolated splines, but it's easy to see how they were made. The kids loved the story, and were terrified when the great 'reveal' happened and the macra showed themselves... They were halfway out the door, ready to run if it got too scary, which I remember doing myself when I watched Logopolis and the white man was at the fence, watching. A lovely old story, great to see it get the love it deserves. I can only hope that the emerging field of AI can re-create the live action so we can possibly once again have an idea what the story really looked like, by using the stage direction and studio notes! Thanks for doing this DVD, Beeb. We loved it.

I really didn’t know what to expect from The Macra Terror having read the novelisation years ago when it was first published. Turns out it is like George Orwell’s 1984 seemingly set in a holiday camp but which actually is a gas mine/work camp with something deadly lurking in the shadows. It’s only the type of story that Doctor Who can pull off. I know some people complain about animating lost stories but I love them for the fact that we get to see a version of stories are that are missing. That to me seems better than not having any story at all. The animation in this is uniformly excellent through out and allows for bigger scapes to be shown on screen then otherwise the show could afford in the 1960’s. The planet, city and mine scapes are all impressive and all the characters move smoothly which wasn’t always the case in the animation of Power of the Daleks. The sound is excellent too, patchy in a few places but amazing when you think the soundtrack is just an audio recording. Overall, the picture and sound quality on the animation are very sharp and I particularly like the colour version of the then new Second Doctor title sequence. As the story itself, I think it’s a 3 star one, competent and well told, very good in places and certainly you can tell that by early 1967, the Doctor Who production team knew the base under seige story worked for the show as did having ‘a monster of the week’. As ever, the TARDIS with three companions is a crowd and although Jamie is given more to do here than in the previous story The Moonbase, he is given the least to do but does prove his loyalty to the Doctor which will only grow in the next two years. Polly and Ben have more to do, particularly Ben (I won’t spoil it by saying why) and Anneke Wilks, Michael Craze and Frazer Hines put in great performances. But the story really belongs to Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor. It’s clear that he’s really found his groove by now, playful, mischievous, watching and learning from the events around him but with a streak of authority coming to the fore when needed. It is such a shame that so many episodes and stories of the Second Doctor are missing but we get to more of him and them albeit in a different form with these animations. I am delving into the extras at the moment but having a 10 minute animated snippet of episode 1 of The Wheel In Space from 1968 gives me hope that the 4 missing episodes will be animated and released with the two other episodes held in the archives in due course. The animation on that is also excellent, in particular the Servo Robot. All in all, a great release and product. (P.S. If someone could get animating the two missing episodes of the First Doctor story, The Crusade from 1965 to release them with the two held in the archives, that would be great. After all, every other story which is 50 per cent or more complete has been given the animation treatment, so it’s about time this one did as well!)

It was such a pleasure to watch a newly animated Patrick Troughton Dr Who adventure. I honesty believe these animations will prove more popular than the originals, even when they do turn up! I absolutely LOVE the animation. Just wanted to thank all the animators for so lovingly drawing out everything and the colors, shades and lightening so painstakingly and caringly done. Also, I have never seen the Doctor so happy. It' such a treat to watch. The story is so different from the others. Macra is actually an Indian word for 'Macra' which translated in English means Insect, so it's very appropriate! From start to finish, all I can say is that I was glued to my tv screen. As a respect to the BBC, I watch these episodes as they were intended, as cliff-hangers, and that way I get the optimal enjoyment. I loved the toe-tapping music and the party atmosphere. The rule on this planet is to just 'party and enjoy' but not to mention the 'M' word, 'Macra'. I could go on, but will end by saying that please don't hesitate, just buy the dvd. You will LOVE IT! :-)

This was an amazing retelling of a captivating story. I was lucky - as a 10 year old I had a recording of the 1/4 inch audio of this story direct from the TV. This was fuzzy and hard to make out and with no visuals at all and this being a very visual story, I couldn't imagine what was happening in all of the 'suspense' / Pinter pauses. A few years on I managed to get a copy of the telesnaps from the story and in the 90's got a copy of the telesnaps put along to the audio, so had a rough idea as to what was going on. However that did not prepare me for this. This is a more accurate telling of the story. The animation works and the fact that this is Troughton Who in colour! Wow! That said, the animations are rather stiff and a lot of the dynamic movement (dancing, fight scenes, etc) are still too much for the animators and that was clear, but I liked the fact that they thinked 'outside of the box' and 'scaled up'. The rooms are bigger, more lavish and the Macra are 4 times their original size, giving them a degree of menace a bit of plastic fibre in the 60's really was not able to convey. The only shame was the character Ben. This was supposed to be Ben's main story. Here, he comes across as a villain and emotes like a Stratford Bard. He should be wrangling through emotions as is fighting hypnosis, eventually freeing himself from the grip of the 'controlling voice'. This did not come across at all. More work on emotions and dynamic movement would have helped here. For me the best moment was Jamie's escape through the 'forbidden ground'. This was told well and in the original was not very good. The Macra's attacks are actually quite unnerving and work with the audio well. Remember: The animation team had to work to the audio. Normally animators are not as tightly contained as they have been here. My only gripe were the cuts and there were reason behind them. In the original audio there is a scene where the Doctor and his friends are pampered. The Doctor doesn't want to, but finally is 'preened' and comes out of a machine looking immaculate. He hates it so darts into a sauna machine and comes out the same as before - his dishevelled self. It was a bit of fun, cut for no reason. So in all, a good story, but please: Production staff stop interfering. The audio is Canon and should be respected. Let's do this justice without cutting corners.

This offering is an excellent one ... You can watch this in Colour, B&W, Telesnap reconstruction or listen via Audio with Colin Baker narration. That should be enough options to cater to anybodys taste. The animation is decent imo, I watched the Colour version. I will watch or listen to it a different way next time. Some nice extras including audio commentary with Frazer Hines. The story is a fun and entertaining one with a 1984ish vibe. Obviously I wish the original footage would turn up, but in the meantime this is an accesible and acceptable offering. I'd give the story 8/10 The animation 7.5/10 The presentation and Extras 8 8/10 Check it out!

The Doctor, Ben, Polly and Jamie land on a colony planet in the far future. Everybody seems happy but there's something sinister on the planet that forces Ben to turn against his friends. Missing 2nd Doctor serial now given the animation treatment. If this is the only way to see the remaining missing early episodes of Doctor Who then I say keep them coming. This is an excellent 4 part serial from early in 2nd Doctor Patrick Troughton's run as The Doctor. The animation is excellent, perhaps one of the best done for Doctor Who so far with the original soundtrack still complete and included. There's both a colour version and black and white version to make it seem more like the original broadcast and a telesnap reconstruction with photos and surviving footage and another 10 minute short animated episode based on another missing episode.

A wonderful lost episode 🤗

Auch bei diesem Abenteuer sind nur Fragmente des ursprünglichen Filmmaterials übriggebleiben - wohl aber die Tonspur der Radioadaption. Und so wurde mit viel Aufwand dieses klassische Patrick Troughton-Abenteuer wiederbelebt, in dem der Doctor mit Polly, Jamie und Ben auf einem Planeten landen, wo alle sehr glücklich zu arbeiten scheinen. Doch hinter diesem Glück liegen überaus düstere Geheimnisse. Ein spanende SF-Geschichte über Kontrolle und Überlebenskampf, die hier in einer farbigen und in einer - zum Original passenden - Schwarz-Weiß-Version vorliegt. In den Extras gibt es eine ganze Menge Dokumentation zum Animationsprozeß, einen neuen Kurzfilm und ein kurzer Bericht über Zensur an Macra in Australien bei der Erstausstrahlung. Gelungen.