Thoughts on National Character
An Article on the lost episode reconstructions
Review of "The Tenth Planet"
This story has a reputation for being dull (I read the novelization years ago and found it a yawner), but it's also the one that everyone wants to see, for being the first appearance of The Cybermen and the last hurrah for William Hartnell. Rick Brindell's new reconstruction combines an complete set of Cura's Telesnaps with an unexpected wealth of film clips.
The tape opens with a professional-quality credits sequence followed by a nice bonus: a "March of the Cybermen" montage featuring images of the Cybermen in all their incarnations matched with great Cyber-music. This is more than just a fan-pleasing gesture as it helps set the mood for what follows.
"The Tenth Planet" itself is better than I expected it to be: the novelisation and the scripts available on-line are no substitute for seeing the real thing. The direction is much more atmospheric than I expected, lots of shadow (presumably to make the Cybermen look more menacing, but it lends weight to the entire story and especially to the regeneration scene with the TARDIS central column spewing light into dark and Hartnell's sillhouetted face lowering to the console as he begins to collapse), dramatic closeups, and stark imagery. The Cyberman themselves, despite obviously being cheaply done up with ski-masks and lanterns on their heads, have a genuinely spooky quality that they lost in later incarnations; one thing I was really unprepared for is the sing-song mechanical cadence in which they speak, very much like the tones a modem makes as it dials up the internet: this was also dropped in later Cyber-appearances, I think to the detriment of the concept (though the reasons for dropping it are obvious: the speech pattern makes them sound more alien but it also makes them harder to understand).
Also, this story offers a VERY strong performance from Hartnell. Over the summer months I've immersed myself in the Hartnell shows; as a result my appreciation for his tenure has increased many times. He is frequently better than the material, and he is in top form here, suggesting that speculation of his leaving the show due to a disagreement with the producers rather than for health reasons could be true.
As to the reconstruction of episode 4, this is of such high quality that I prefer to call it a restoration. The telesnaps are full-screen and razor sharp (well, as razor-sharp as any photo taken off of a television screen could be), and Rick has "directed" them beautifully to have the maximum dramatic impact -- for the most part, I really felt as if I was watching an episode of the show, rather than a collection of pictures tossed onto a soundtrack. From time to time, Rick adds some "morphing" effects, as when Mondas begins to melt -- a nice touch. Descriptive text "crawls" are kept to a minimum, but when they appear they are professional-looking, easy to read, concise, and advance the story without getting in the way.
The moments when the telesnaps "fade" into actual (and near-perfectly synchronized) footage are astonishing. Rick does this part of it so well that it's *eerie*. The restoration's finest moment comes just after Ben releases the Doctor from his bonds in the cyber-ship: the telesnaps "morph" into actual video footage and back again, and for a moment we get to see the awful, drained, faded look on Hartnell's face as the regeneration begins. It is an historical moment, and it hits hard.
The only weak link to the restoration is its sound quality -- not Rick's fault, we have to make do with the best we have, which is not very good (the official BBC audio releases of THE MARCA TERROR and EVIL OF THE DALEKS both share difficult and disappointing sound quality). This is as good an argument in favor of the reconstructions as any, because the soundtrack alone does not bring these epsodes to life.
Rick Brindell has done that for us in his new restoration of THE TENTH PLANET. I'm eagerly looking forward to his other reconstructions.
-- Doug Thornsjo