30 Years in the TARDIS

TV review by Adam McGeehan

Unlike the recent Resistance is Useless clips-documentary, 30 Years in the TARDIS gives a proper analysis of a televisual event and a British institution. Past the simply stunning opening titles showing each Doctor and his respective title sequence all neatly tinted different colours, we get interviews with Barry Letts, Verity Lambert, Terrance Dicks and a whole host of fans and actors associated with the show.

A real treat is seeing such rarities as the recently unearthed clips from The Power of the Daleks Episode Six and The Daleks' Master Plan: The Day of Armageddon, as well as fascinating excerpts from ancient editions of Blue Peter and Talk Back; the clip from the latter of a school boy trying to explain away the TARDIS as scientifically impossible left me paralyzed with laughter.

Unfortunately wonderful though this documentary is, it does have some faults. A lot of the clips have simply been lifted straight from Resistance is Useless and Whose Doctor Who. Also, only two of the Doctors are interviewed (Colin Baker and Jon Pertwee) and the 'Essential Information' segments should be retitled 'Mildly interesting If Somewhat Trivial'; trivial being the key word here. However these are only minor points that are easily forgotten as you take a pleasant journey back over thirty years of adventure.