Doctor Who 005 The Keys Of Marinus Six part serial that aired April 11 to May 16 1964 Written by Terry Nation and directed by John Gorrie.
I find I still have some of the same complaints I had when I watched the serial for the first time back in 2013, mostly about Terry Nation's writing skills. Not that I'm hating to watch the show, I understand the problems behind the scenes, no money, no time, having to work with Terry Nation. It's a tough business.
Doctor Who 006 The Aztecs Four part serial that aired May 23 to June 13 1964. Written by John Lucarotti and directed by John Crockett.
When I watched this serial back in 2013 I watched the 2003 US DVD, today I watched the 2013 UK 2 disc Special Edition DVD. There was a single DVD edition in the UK in 2002. The content of the first disc is the same in both UK DVDs. The US disc has the same material plus a special Who's Who extra with short bios of the main cast. The second disc on the 2013 UK Special Edition is mostly taken up with a 64 min condensed version of the 18th serial Galaxy 4. The video of the third episode of Galaxy 4 is the only episode of the serial to have survived the big erase.
In this version of Galaxy 4 they've edited out the quiet bits and added stills from the story to make the episodes more interesting to watch. There have been better animated versions of some serials but not all are going to get that treatment because of the cost. Luckily the missing episodes all have audio counterparts out on CD. They've added a good bit of narration to the audio releases and it makes the story easier to understand.
The paper insert in the UK DVD tells me the serial has "greatly improved restoration" and a quick comparison sees some improvement. All the images on the left are from the 2003 US DVD and the right images are from the 2013 UK DVD.
It is a sharper and darker image on the UK side. The audio seems similar to me but I've no high end speakers or high end ears to really put them to the test. Story wise I still feel the same as I did in 2013, mostly a good story with some low points when the characters act like idiots.
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