STORY PLOTLINE
An alien war machine, the Malus, is affecting the inhabitants of the English country village of Little Hodcombe in 1984 so that a re-enactment of a Civil War battle turns into the real thing. The Malus's aim is to gather sufficient psychic energy to activate itself fully. The TARDIS travellers arrive to meet Tegan's grandfather - one of the villagers - but become involved in the machinations of Sir George Hutchinson, who is in theall to the Malus. The battle in 1643 becomes linked theough time to 1984.
The BBC AUDIO novelisation release is read by Nerys Hughes.
BBC AUDIO UNABRIDGED COMMENT
Read the reviews of the unabridged audiobook
DVD (as part of the EARTH STORY boxset)
DVD - "Value Added Material"
- RETURN TO LITTLE HODCOMBE – Director Michael Owen, actors Janet Fielding and Keith Jayne and script editor Eric Saward return to the three villages that played host to the locations for ‘The Awakening’, and along with locals they reminisce about a memorable shoot…
- STUDIO COMMENTARY - with director Michael Owen Morris and script editor Eric Saward, moderated by Toby Hadoke.
- MAKING THE MALUS – visual effects designer Tony Harding and modelmaker Richard Gregory are reunited with the Malus prop they built for the story. Current owner Paul Burrows is on hand to describe the reality of living with a giant stone monster on the lounge wall…
- NOW & THEN – the latest in the ongoing series visits the villages of Martin, Shapwick and Tarrant Monkton to compare the locations used in the story with how they appear today.
- FROM THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR – extended and deleted scenes from a timecoded VHS of the original edit and unedited film sequences, plus location action from the film rushes.
- THE GOLDEN EGG AWARDS – the inadvertent destruction of a prop lychgate by a horse was the winner of The Late Late Breakfast Show’s Golden Egg Award. Peter Davison is on hand to collect the trophy from host Noel Edmonds.
- PHOTO GALLERY - production, design and publicity photos from the story.
- ISOLATED MUSIC – option to view the story with the isolated music score.
- COMING SOON - a trailer for a forthcoming DVD release + RADIO TIMES LISTINGS in Adobe PDF format + PROGRAMME SUBTITLES + SUBTITLE PRODUCTION NOTES.
COMMENT Spoliers ahead
As part of Peter Davison’s final season of stories, Eric Pringle’s 1984 story revelled in distilling two elements of DOCTOR WHO that singularly always worked (more often than not); science fiction and a “historical” setting. Whilst he manipulated the “historical” setting in an unusual format, DOCTOR WHO – THE AWAKENING is a skilful evocation that, within its fifty-minute format that we have come to accept in recent years, has not lost any of its ability to thrill, threaten and entertain over the preceding decades.
The release of the two-parter on BBC DVD will offer an opportunity to those jaded fans who watched it in time-situ (37 years ago) and for new viewers who were captivated by the/our Fifth Doctor’s most recent appearance opposite their Tenth Doctor (TIME CRASH, 2008).
The DVD studio commentary highlights are:
On the history of Eric Pringle’s THE AWAKENING story, Eric Saward: It had been a round for a while. It had been offered to Robert Holmes when he was Script Editor (1974-1978), and he wrote the best scripts for DOCTOR WHO.
On Peter Davison as the Doctor. Michael Owen Morris: Great energy.
Eric Saward: Very easy man to be with and around with.
On the plotline of THE AWAKENING, Michael Owen Morris: The more I see it nowadays the less I understand it. Why was the Malus there? I never quite understood why it was there.
On the celebrity casting within DOCTOR WHO, Eric Saward: JNT (John Nathan-Turner) cast “names” whether suitable for the character or not and when you start doing that you get yourself into trouble.
Remembering EARTHSHOCK, Toby Hadoke: Beryl Reid playing Sigourney Weaver.
Eric Saward: Yes, don’t remind me.
On the rumour that Will Chandler may become a “companion”, Eric Saward: I never heard of this that he was going to be used as a companion. I think it would have been problematical.
On the use of the Turlough character, Eric Saward: It was always my biggest sadness that we never did much with him. He was never developed, Mark was 100% Turlough; looking villainous.
On the music contribution of the Radiophonic Workshop, Eric Saward: I always thought that there was too much of it.
On the set design created by Barry Newbery, Michael Owen Morris: Absolutely brilliant, especially the church. Such a big set and it had to match the exterior. One of wall of the church was a “painted cloth” as we did not have the budget to finish it.
FACT: Toby Hadoke revealed that both Peter Davison and Polly James were to participate on the commentary but had unforeseen events to attend to.
On the non-appearance of shape-shifting robot Kamelion, Eric Saward: We tried to forget him. The robot never worked.
Michael Owen Morris: It kept seizing-up halfway through a take.
Like a “Pick n Mix” bag from the defunct WOOLWORTH’S store, the documentary content fills out the DVD content for this two-part story and, on the whole, it is engaging enough to make you feel that the boxset’s purchase price was vindicated.
The RETURN TO LITTLE HODCOMBE sees the cast and crew return to the locations used throughout the story, and interviews Will Chandler’s mother about the thrill of the villagers of having the BBC series filming in the locality. Well, when I say “Will Chandler’s mother” I mean a snaggled-toothed pensioner draped over her stable door; you’ll see what I mean when you watch it.
The perennially beautiful & youthful Janet Fielding strolls leisurely from location to location offering valuable insights into the filming, whilst, unsurprisingly, Eric Saward heads straight to the local hostelry (read: pub/bar) after chipping in his tuppence worth.
On the engagement of first-time director, Michael Owen Morris, Janet Fielding: What a cruel thing to a director – an impossible gig.
On the Series Producer, Eric Saward: A devious turn of mind…”
Charmingly wonderful, and it would be fantastic to see Fielding return for future releases but whether she’ll be keen is another matter.
Having a two metre tall fibreglass alien entity hanging on your living room wall may not be everyone’s cup of infused liquid with tannin but for “uber-fan”, Paul Burrows the Malus prop has been a part of his life since buying it (£3,500) at a DOCTOR WHO auction. MAKING THE MALUS sees its original operator (Tony Harding) and creator (Richard Gregory) visiting the benign alien in an innocuous workshop to give it the “once over”. It is a shame that initial drawings, manufacture contracts, or behind-the-scenes images could not have been shown more at length to give the discussion a more substantial context.
Both NOW & THEN and FROM THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR are essential viewing – preferably back-to-back – to demonstrate the lengths to which the cash-strapped production teams back in the 1980s went to bring DOCTOR WHO to our screens. One interesting item is that a special effect technique – called a “glass-shot” – was used to create Little Hodcombe’s fictitious church as the team was filming over 10 miles away from the actual church.
Any viewer with an aversion to “goatee beards” should avoid THE GOLDEN EGG AWARDS with all haste. Following the demolition of Barry Newbery’s crafted church lynch gate by an errant horse, the comedic “outtake” was celebrated by Noel Edmonds as part of his light entertainment programme, THE LATE LATE BREAKFAST SHOW. In receiving the award on behalf of the horse, Peter Davison gets carried away with his acceptance speech. Literally. Vintage stuff.
Mark Ayres has re-mastered the soundtrack for THE AWAKENING and BBC DVD is giving viewers an option to listen to Peter Howell’s score in isolation.
With the usual “value added material” suspects – Photo gallery, Radio Times Listings PDF material, on-screen Information Text, and a COMING TO DVD SOON… trailer for PARADISE TOWERS – this DVD is, like Tegan in a flimsy summer frock, neatly & perfectly formed.
However, there is one glaring omission; a focus on the genius set designer, Barry Newbery for whom DOCTOR WHO – THE AWAKENING was his final story (of 14 he worked extensively on). The studio set design of Little Hodcombe’s church interior was, in my humble opinion, singularly the best set created for the CLASSIC SERIES. I am sure a number of technical drawings, studio plans and (additional) behind the scenes photographs of this set could have been salvaged from the BBC archive and Newbery’s own files. Yes, there has been a documentary detailing Newbery’s DOCTOR WHO work but it could have been updated and for this release.
Overall, for me, DOCTOR WHO – THE AWAKENING is like flipping through a family photograph album – no, not an impersonal digital version but a physical, tangible book with self-adhesive cellophane coversheets under which photos of the past have inevitably become faded & time-tinted – as it recovers the memory of “when, where and who” that we all intransigently hold within.
Yet whilst 1984 was another life with recollections being as hazy and as yellowed those entombed photographs, I do recall that, for a teenage, viewing DOCTOR WHO – THE AWAKENING was thrilling and awe-inspiring in equal measure.
Re-viewing Eric Pringle’s story 37 years later I still get the same feelings, and I hope that new viewers of the NEW SERIES will feel similar.
