DVD Reviews

Doctor Who: The Awakening – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Jul 22, 2011, 13:56 GMT

Little Hodcombe, 1984. The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough arrive in a small English village, looking forward to spending some time with Tegan\'s grandfather. They soon discover that all is not well - Tegan\'s grandfather is missing and the locals are reenacting dangerous war games from 1643. With the past mixed up with the present, can the Doctor stop the games before an evil entity hidden in the village church awakens? ...more

The Awakening is a short trip, but an effective one for its short running time - although it does have an ever-so-quick wrap-up.  The special effects department also got some recognition from an unlikely source culled from my fandom memory.       

The Doctor (Peter Davison), Turlough (Mark Strickson), and Tegan (Janet Fielding) land the TARDIS in the village of Little Hodcombe to visit Tegan’s grandfather Andrew Verney (Frederick Hall).  They were supposed to be in 1984 but soon find that people are running about in 1643 garb.  Has the TARDIS miscalculated? 

No, Sir George Hutchinson (Denis Lill) is recreating a battle that occurred in the village and playing dress-up war games and school teacher Jane Hampden (Polly James) thinks that he is taking things too far. 

There is a reason for that since there is a sinister force lurking in an abandoned church and a young lad named Will (Keith Jayne) has been flung forward from 1643 as this long dormant creature begins to stir and affect the villagers. 

The Awakening was, at first, envisioned as a four part episode but time constraints would whittle it down to just two.  This was even before the script was written so we’re not talking about massive editing.  Therefore it may succeed when its history seems to tell that it should have failed. 

It obviously feels rushed, especially in the final wrap-up as each set of characters gets a few seconds of dialogue to close up their storylines and we whip around the TARDIS control room “ending” them all.  However, the performances are good and the special effects are better.  The church set is very nice, the Malus villain effective and well made, and the model of the church earned some fame in fandom.

I recall reading a story that after the show aired that someone wrote into the BBC that it was a shame that they destroyed that quaint old church just for the sake of a television program.  Needless to say, that letter ended up on the bulletin board at the BBC special effects workshop.  It was a nice model, so no churches were harmed in the making of this episode. 

Well, except for a fake trellis that is destroyed by an overanxious horse – one that got replayed on several blooper shows.  A third episode may have fleshed out the story a little more and answered questions better, but as it stands the Awakening is an enjoyable one. 

The Awakening is presented in fullscreen.  Special features include a commentary with director Michael Owen Morris, script editor Eric Saward, and moderated by comedian Toby Hadoke, a pop-up trivia track, an isolated score, the 19 minute “Return to Little Hodcombe” revisits the filming locations and villagers who helped, the 7 minute “Making the Malus” tracks down the prop and its in surprisingly good condition, the 7 minute “Now and Then” again looks at the locations, 9 minutes of deleted scenes, the 2 minute “Golden Egg Awards” clip about the equine blooper, a photo gallery, and the Radio Times in PDF on the DVD-ROM side. 

It may have gotten trimmed, but the Awakening turns out decent enough.  Who was always short on time and money, but this episode ends up working well enough – just don’t look too closely for the seams.  There’s a nice selection of special features that will put a smile on your big stone face. 

Visit the DVD database for more information.