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Tarfumes.com - Doctor Who - The Curse of Fatal Death

Doctor Who - The Curse of Fatal Death
List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $129.99
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
Starring: Dr. Who
Average Customer Rating: Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5

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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780790757117
Format: Color
ISBN: 0790757117
Label: BBC Warner
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: BBC Warner
Release Date: 2000-10-10
Running Time: 60
Studio: BBC Warner
Theatrical Release Date: 1999

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Editorial Reviews:

For an entire generation who hid behind the sofa during the scary bits, jokes about Doctor Who are almost inescapably funny. "The Curse of Fatal Death," an extended sketch for Comic Relief, stars more unlikely actors and comedians as the Doctor than anyone could have imagined plausible--Rowan Atkinson, to begin with, and both Hugh and Richard E. Grant. The last-named performance indeed gives one uncomfortable thoughts about roads not taken, as does Jonathan Pryce's remarkable tribute to Roger Delgado as the Master. The tape is filled out with an informative behind-the-scenes documentary and three Doctor Who-related sketches by Victoria Wood and Jim Broadbent, by Lenny Henry, and by French and Saunders. This last sketch, never before shown, with French and Saunders as extras playing reptilian aliens, is particularly hilarious. --Roz Kaveney


Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: this needs to be released on dvd
Comment: rowan atkinson should have played the doctor in one of the real series. he's wonderful even if much of the writing depends on flatulent humour. regardless, with this cast, a dvd is really required. get to it, auntie beeb!

Customer Rating: Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5Average rating of 4/5
Summary: Definitely worth a DVD release.
Comment: Maybe a DVD release would be a great time to release this show unedited? Since the VHS copy is butchered it would make sense now that this is rereleased in a new unedited DVD. If someone needs me to sign a petition please email me. I'll gladly sign.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: The Sofa of Reasonable Comfort
Comment: Rowan Atkinson stars in this parody of the long-running Doctor Who. Joanthan Pryce makes an execellent Master.
The Doctor meets with the Master and tells him he has fallen in love with his lovely companion and says he will travel in time no more. The laughs come fast in this parody! Also on the tape are behind-the-scences taping of the parody and 3 comedy sketches.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5Average rating of 2/5
Summary: The Curse of Fatal Editing
Comment: The earlier reviews posted here have pretty well covered the merits of the plot, but a brief note is needed on the technicalities, as this story has been re-edited for video.

When it was shown on television, "The Curse of Fatal Death" was in four parts, each one ending in a cliffhanger. But BBC Video, always happy to throw in a spoiler where it can, has chosen for no good reason to pointlessly spoil this story by re-editing it into a 2-parter.

So do be aware that this video is not what was presented on television.


Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: I'll explain later--just watch this video.
Comment: OK, they had The Three Doctors, the Five Doctors, and The Two Doctors, not to mention pairings of Doctors in the New Adventures and Missing Adventures. Well, how does five Doctors in a short comic special sound, especially if one of those Doctors is Rowan Atkinson?

The show mentions a lot of the cliches that made Doctor Who the show it was. To avoid program discontinuity or lengthy answers to questions, there's "I'll explain later." Then there's the escape up the ventilation shaft, endless gravel quarries. That's not to say the Comic Relief special disrespects Doctor Who, but merely has a lot of fun with it.

And talk about intentionally ridiculous dialogue! "The deadly vengeance of deadly revenge." And my personal favourite, "Prepare for 300 miles of fear and feces."

The end of episode I is a gag lifted from a scene in the revamped Star Wars, the part where Han Solo chases some stormtroopers on the Death Star and then...

Jonathon Pryce plays the Master (Evita, Tomorrow Never Dies, Stigmata) and probably has the most fun in this special. With the widow's peak and goatee, he's clearly modelled after Roger Delgado's Master, but he is really OTT, bringing about a manic megalomania that's exaggerated to amuse. He has the best lines here as well.

If they ever bring the show back, I'd nominate Julia Sawalha as a companion or a regular. Perky, gentle, bubbly, she's got the right stuff. I liked her here and in A Midwinter's Tale. More thrilling than an army of cybernetic slugs? Definitely. In simple terms, the most warm and lovable companion since Jo Grant.

And Rowan Atkinson or Hugh Grant would be perfect candidates to play the Doctor, although Hugh Grant has Hollywood commitments, and as much as I like the man, Rowan Atkinson seems to have peaked with Mr. Bean. Unless the show is spectacular and remains essentially British while still catering to Americans, a new series seems unlikely.

Wait, there's more. There's a making of documentary, Comic Relief Uncovered, that's about 26 minutes long. It's full of bloopers, behind the scenes stuff, interviews with the cast and crew, and clips from the original stories. I even found out how they make cobwebs, glue sprayed from an aerosol can. There are also scenes from amateur Doctor Who productions, and people who make TARDIS consoles and Daleks for them. It's a passion more than a mere hobby for these dedicated people.

Then there are three Who sketches from British TV programs--French and Saunders, Victoria Wood On TV, and The Lenny Henry Show, all which total 14 or so minutes. We are so isolated from what little we get of British comedies, except for more successful ones like Monty Python, Are You Being Served?, Allo Allo, Keeping Up Appearances on PBS or A&E, or the few video releases without esoteric references that only a Briton would understand, that anything else seems exotic.

Anyway, the French and Saunders sketch sends up Colin Baker's Trial Of A Timelord story, with jabs at program continuity, and the robot dog K9. French and Saunders play two silly, flibbertigibbet actresses playing Silurians who give the director of the story headache after headache. Comment: the actor is obviously doing the Tom Baker Doctor, but he seems to have stolen his scarf from Harry Potter.

The Lenny Henry sketch of Oct. 1985 is another jab at the Colin Baker era, especially the cancellation crisis, technobabble, Cybermen, and Margaret Thatcher. It's brief but fun.

Any Doctor Who or Rowan Atkinson fan will appreciate this spoof special. I know I did.



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