Doctor Who 0034 The Macra Terror Four part story that aired March 11 to April 1 1967. Written by Ian Stuart Black, directed by John Davies. All but less than 2 mins of video remain after the big wipe. The audio exists and the first audio CDs were released in 1992 with narration by Colin Baker, they were remastered and released in 2000. These are included as part of the Special Features on the 2019 DVD release of the animated version of the story.
The audio was remastered and released on CD in 2012. The linking story was written by Robert Ayres and was narrated by Anneke Wills. All the audio CDs were collected in 5 multi disc sets that were released in 2019 and 2020. I listened to the audio version first and as usual I found them quite enjoyable. It's been nicely converted from the audio track of a TV show to a nice radio play. Something they still have a good handle on at the BBC.
The 2019 2 disc DVD release, also available as a Blu-ray, has all four episodes animated in color and B&W. The 4 episodes are also presented in a photo reconstruction. I watched the color version first, then listened to all the commentaries, episode 1 & 2 of the reconstruction and extras on disc 1. I really like the color versions of the episodes.
Disc 2 has the B&W version of the animation, episodes 3 & 4 of the photo reconstruction, plus a nice number of short bits and pieces in the special features. Sadly more and more of the people behind the scenes have passed away and they are having to rely on old interviews. The BBC should really get a big pat on the back for all the material they've pulled together for the show.
The Tardis lands on a planet with colony of Earth men. The locals seem happy but that's just a cover for something sinister going on behind the scenes.
The Tardis gang consists of The Doctor, Polly, Ben and Jamie. They pop out of the Tardis to have a look around. Jamie brings a big stick because he's seen the giant claw in the viewer. They don't see the creature they expected, instead they see a guy called Medok, he's on the run, guards from the colony are chasing him. They explain that Medok has escaped from the hospital of correction.
Medok tells stories about giant creatures and the colony's manager, the Pilot, claims the man is crazy. The Pilot doesn't want anyone to believe there's anything odd going on in the colony. Anyone causing trouble is forced to work in the gas mines. That's a death sentence for some.
As the Doctor spends time in the colony he comes to realize that the citizens are under control of some unknown creatures called the Macra, they keep the human's in their power with mind control gas. Ben gets a big whiff and his mind is controlled by the creatures. Jamie, Polly and the Doctor fight back with the help of Medok and later the Pilot. Ben fights the mind control and joins the Tardis gang in the fight.
Eventually the Doctor blows up the Macra and frees the colony. He runs off when he hears that the locals want him to be the new Pilot. I thought it was a fun serial. Sadly the Macra creatures look so much better in the animated version.
There's a short featurette on Shawcraft, they were the company that made a lot of models for Doctor Who before the BBC's in-house effects department had grown large enough to take over the job. I'd stick in a screencap of the Macra creature but it's filmed so dark that it's hard to see anything. The Shawcraft featurette shows the creature in daylight and it was kind of sad. Best to keep it in the dark. The animation also makes it easier to have more creatures. That model Shawcraft made is said to cost £5000, that was in 1967, about £77,000 in today's coin.
The above images are screen captures from the B&W reconstruction. The new animated version has had the aspect ratio changed to fit the modern 16:9 TVs.
Seeing the photo versions makes me wish that we had the real video. There's a slim chance that it will ever be found at this point. Here's a few screencaps from the animated and colorized opening titles.
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