DVD Corner

Doctor Who- The Horns Of Nimon and Doctor Who- Underworld DVD Reviews

“The Horns Of Nimon” and “Underworld” are two passable Tom Baker “Doctor Who” adventures.

Grades:

Content: C+

Picture: B-

Audio: B-

Extras: A-

In “The Horns Of Nimon,” the Doctor, Romana II and K9 find themselves on board spaceship en route to the planet Skonnos. The Doctor quickly learns that something isn’t right when he discovers a group of people bearing crystals whom are meant to be “sacrifices” for the creature known as the Nimon. The people of Skonnos obey the Nimon’s demands because they have been promised help by the Nimon. Of course, the Nimon is up to his own devious plan, but the question is what is this creature doing? Can the Doctor find out his plan or will all chaos break loose?

In “Underworld,” the Doctor, Leela and K-9 once again arrive on board a ship (known as the R1C). They discover the crew of this vessel are the supposed last members of the Minyan race. The crew is on a quest to find the race banks of the Minyan race on board a vessel called the P7E. Upon further investigation, their quest leads them to a planet that is in formation. Arriving in the caves of this planet, the Doctor, Leela, K-9 and the R1C crew members discover slaves, guards, two robot seers and an Oracle that is in charge of everything. What does this all mean? Will the Minyan race be saved? Tune in to find out.

Despite being two separate stories, both “The Horns Of Nimon” and “Underworld” are re-workings of Greek myths. ‘Nimon’ is a sci-fi re-telling of the Theseus and the Minotaur tale and “Underworld” is a spin on the “Jason And The Argonauts” story. While that may sound intriguing on paper, the writers can’t quite pull it off successfully. ‘Nimon’ suffers from being a pretty standard alien threat story and “Underworld,” while not as bad as its reputation, features far too much running around and boring seqences to fully work. It doesn’t help that both episodes feature pitiful production values thanks to the low budgets they were given. If you don’t believe me, check out the grunting Minotaur esque creature in high heels in ‘Nimon’ and the blue screen work and the folder clip used on K-9 in “Underworld.” Additionally, the acting from the supporting cast is less than stellar in ‘Nimon’ especially (see Graham Crowden and Malcolm Terris and their horrendous overacting for examples).

On the bright side, these two episodes do have their moments. As usual, Tom Baker is superb in both stories (most notably ‘Nimon’). I particularly liked the scenes where he offers up Jelly Babies to people, spouts the line “Take me to your leader,” and puts the first prize ribbon on K-9. I was also a fan of the ending of ‘Nimon’ as I found the Nimon’s ‘plan’ to be fairly engaging plot wise. As for “Underworld,” I appreciated the fact that this was a story about saving an alien race for once. In most classic ‘Who,’ it’s almost always about an alien threat. While there is a threat in this episode, the overall story is about preserving an alien species.

Summary: Completists should buy “The Horns Of Nimon” and “Underworld” while casual fans should just give them a rent.

The 4:3 fullscreen picture quality is superb for “The Horns Of Nimon.” The colors looked especially vibrant. “Underworld,” on the other hand, was one of the weaker transfers I have seen lately. The picture looked very fuzzy most of the time.

The Dolby Digital Mono audio tracks are satisfactory for both discs. The dialogue was a little hard to hear over the Nimon creatures and the blasting music score in “The Horns Of Nimon” though.

“The Horns Of Nimon” Extras:
* “Doctor Who” series 4 and “The Creature From The Pit,” photo gallery, info text,  and DVD-ROM extras Radio Times Listings and studio foor plans.
* Peter Howell Music Demos
* Read The Writer- An interesting interview with writer Anthony Read in which he talks about Douglas Adams and “The Horns Of Nimon.”
* Who Peter- Partners In Time- A cool featurette on the “Doctor Who” segments on “Blue Peter” over the past five decades that is loaded with interesting facts and interviews.
* A solid commentary by Lalla Ward, Janet Ellis, Graham Crowden, and Anthony Read. Discussion topics range from f/x and sets to dialogue and acting.

“Underworld” Extras:

* Info text, Radio Times Listings, photo gallery, trailers for “The Creature From The Pit” and “Doctor Who” series 4.
* “Underworld- In Studio”- A neat behind-the-scenes look at the recording process. It was fascinating to watch Tom Baker and the other cast members when they weren’t acting.
* Commentary by Tom Baker, Louise Jameson and Bob Baker. When you throw Tom into the mix, you can expect a fun listen and this track is no exception. Expect discussions on new K9, the script, the goofy costumes and Tom cracking plenty of jokes.
* “Into The Unknown”- A making of featurette that goes into depth about the blue screen, budget issues, the “Jason And The Argonauts” influence, etc.

July 5, 2010 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Doctor Who- The Horns Of Nimon DVD Review, Doctor Who- Underworld DVD Review, Tom Baker