The Macra Terror
This story is not known to exist in its original format
(4 black-and-white 25-minute TV episodes)
in its entirety.
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DVD NTSC
Region 1
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DVD PAL
Region 2
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CD Audio
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(Doctor Who Story No. 34, starring Patrick Troughton)
- written by Ian Stuart Black
- directed by John Davies
- produced by Innes Lloyd
- music by Dudley Simpson, with
John Baker (source), and
Wilfred Johns (jingles)
- 4 episodes @ 25 minutes each
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Story: Ben and Polly are pleased to enjoy the good life
and holiday pampering offered to them by an idyllic society
on a colonized planet in the future, but the Doctor and Jamie
are more skeptical. Why are those who protest sent to
a mental correction center? What exactly is the "hard work" that
the colony's inhabitants so joyfully put their hearts and souls
into? What is their refined gas used for, if not for heating
or fuel? Is it true that giant crab-like creatures lurk and crawl
through the streets at night? Is it just colony propaganda that
there are no such things as "Macra"?
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2-disc DVD Features include:
- Four animated recreation episodes (#1 - 4),
synchronized to the original television sound. (Colour & BW options)
- Alternate "telesnap" version - using telesnap photos by John Cura
and the story soundtrack with optional narration by Anneke Wills.
- Plus extra features:
- Audio commentary by Frazer Hines (Jamie),
Maureen Lane (Drum Majorette),
Anthony Gardner (Alvis),
Terence Lodge (Medok), and
director John Davies.
Moderated by Tobe Hadoke.
- surviving footage (2 min.)
- Behind the scenes at Shawcraft models (12 min.)
- alternate audio-only 1992 version, narrated by Colin Baker.
- bonus abridged recreation of "The Wheel in Space" episode 1 (10 min.)
- animation test & animatics
- photo galleries
- DVD-Rom: production paperwork
Buyers' Guide Review
by Martin Izsak
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(A more in-depth analysis, containing "SPOILERS" and intended
for those who have already seen the program, can be accessed
here.)
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Writer Ian Stuart Black is back with another dystopia for the Doctor to
unravel. This one perhaps doesn't work quite as well as
"The Savages" (story no. 26)
in terms of the story making sense, because many of the
characters aren't in fact developed well enough to make
the set-up of today's situation credible.
As a model of perfect happiness, the colony presented in this
story will not appeal to any but the most simple, tasteless, blind
followers. Their whole daily routine revolves around music, as
the colony's "Pilot" proudly announces, and it is probably the least
palatable sections that will stick out and leave the most lasting
impression on the viewer/listener. Much of Dudley Simpson's incidentals
backing tense encounters and possible encounters with creatures
are cheesy and random, sounding almost as though they are played on some
synthesizer organ with one finger, and as though
they were made up in the moment as the story was being taped live,
with awkward pauses as well, as though the musician was desperately
panicking to figure out what he should play next. This material
competes strongly for the honour of being Simpson's worst ever
for Doctor Who, and really doesn't work well for those scenes.
It's no wonder so many other directors preferred BBC library music.
Yet another musician was hired to produce "jingles" for the story,
which are even worse. Realistically
speaking, the jingles are more likely to motivate people into instant
passionate rebellion as they attempt to silence the vocalists.
This story, as scripted, needs music that will hypnotically
take you into states of contentedness and mindless submission
whether you intend it or not.
But instead of catchy tunes and jingles, we get revolting ones,
which really just makes "The Macra Terror" an unpleasant experience
for the viewer/listener.
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"What about John Baker's `Time In Advance' track?" ask those
who, like me, enjoy listening to it on the
Radiophonic 60's Doctor Who CD. Yes this is a great and
appropriate piece of music for the story. Trouble is, its one
and only appearance in the finished TV episodes is very brief
and almost inaudible under a wash of dialogue surrounding
Troughton's antics in episode one. Had it been used front and
center and more often, like Mr. Simpson's music, it might have
a chance to weigh in better towards the story's ratings.
Alright, the music doesn't work (understatement), but other
dystopian brain-washing techniques do,
and episode two brings this front
and center extremely well.
Michael Craze's performance as Ben, and the lines that
Black gives Ben in the script, really help sell
many of the tale's critical ideas.
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Music by Dudley Simpson and John Baker;
Sound Effects by Brian Hodgson:
Heartbeat Chase (Hodgson, 1:57),
Chromophone Band (Simpson, 1:56),
Controller Chimes (Hodgson, 0:10),
Musak - from "Time in Advance" (Baker, 3:19), and
Propaganda sleep machine (Hodgson, 1:08)
are available on:
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Audio CD -
Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
- Volume 1:
The Early Years 1963-1969
Find out more here.
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Quality in "The Macra Terror" changes radically from scene
to scene, going from dramatically excellent to excruciatingly
bad throughout - a really decent Troughton adventure could be
salvaged from the original footage, IF the trash was edited out
and/or pared down, and the dialogueless action/suspense scenes
had their soundtrack overhauled. The bad stuff is worse than
"The Underwater Menace" (story no. 32),
but has virtually no impact on plot,
making it very disposable/replaceable. And what is left afterwards
is a fairly intelligent drama.
The Macra creatures of this story are only really working on a level
other than the obvious.... but on that level they are working well.
To avoid spoilers, I'll only say more in the
in-depth analysis version of this review.
There's some really good stuff in this adventure.
The story does wrap up a little too quickly, and the final
scene has very little going for it.
The ending begs for some explanations and details,
but none are given.
What actually happens is somewhat left as a matter
for speculation.
All in all, "The Macra Terror" is a sci-fi social drama with
much potential, but lacking severely in many areas of execution.
This story has been reconstructed in an animated form for 2019.
Click on the Amazon symbol for the location nearest you
for pricing and availability:
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DVD NTSC Region 1
for the North American market:
in the U.S.
in Canada
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DVD PAL Region 2
for the U.K.
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Doctor Who: Lost in Time - Patrick Troughton
2 DVD discs
(also included in Lost in Time Boxed Sets) |
Coverage on The Macra Terror includes:
- censor clips from episodes 2 & 3 (1 min.)
- 8mm off-screen clips from episode 3 (1 min.)
More details & buying options for "Lost in Time" DVD's
This audio CD set features the complete audio tracks of all
4 television episodes of this story, narrated by
actor Colin Baker (who also played the sixth Doctor)
to help listeners follow what used to be visual aspects
of the story. (This is the only story to reuse the
narration from the cassette version [see below] on
the subsequent CD.)
This version
is playable in any normal audio CD player.
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Audio Cassette -
The Macra Terror
(2 tapes).
This earlier release of the audio
from the television episodes
is narrated by
actor Colin Baker (the 6th Doctor).
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