The Caves of Androzani

Arriving on the barren world of Androzani Minor, the Doctor and Peri find themselves embroiled in a long-running underground war.
Military troops mount an armed blockade whilst gunrunners bring in weapons for the sinister, masked renegade, Sharaz Jek. Meanwhile, lethal androids guard the caves, a deadly creature lurks in the shadows, killing all in its path. At the heart of the conflict is a substance called Spectrox - the most valuable item in the universe...and the deadliest!
The very presence of the Doctor and Peri on Androzani sets in motion a chain of events that will have dramatic consequences for everyone involved. As the situation gets even more desperate, the Doctor realises time is running out - both for Peri and himself.
Will the Doctor make the ultimate sacrifice to save his young friend's life... ?

-- from the DVD release, 2001

The final adventure for the fifth Doctor was, ironically, the first of his released on DVD.

Episode timings on DVD: 24'34", 25'02", 24'38", 25'41"
Episode timings on PasC: 24'33", 25'00", 24'36", 25'37"

Behind The Scenes: The Regeneration (7'39")
A compilation of footage from the 70-minutes of studio tape that survives of Part Four, with optional commentary by director Harper and actors Davison and Bryant.

Original Opening Scene (3'05")
For the DVD release, the opening sequence of the Doctor and Peri on location was recomposited, as problems were caused in 1984 by the film 'wobbling', while the matte shot stayed stable. Despite the increase in quality (and also the MPEG encoding), this was not as originally broadcast (and the third layer of the shot - some smoke - could not be located in 2001 and as such is not 'genuine'), so this option allows the episode to be played without the correction. The timing here is derived from the length of Title 3, Chapter 7, the track on the disc where both versions of this scene are contained.

Extended Scene (2'28")
While all the film footage recorded on location for this story still exists, only one piece of extra film work appears. It is presented here with optional commentary by Harper. Note that the majority of this scene is as broadcast, with only an extra line appearing at the end.

Creating Sharaz Jek (5'04")
This featurette is made up primarily of more footage from the 70 minute studio tape, along with an audio interview conducted in the 1980s by Peter Finklestone (and remastered by Mark Ayres) and some of the since-deceased actor Christopher Gable's Polaroid photos of the make-up sessions.
Gable explains the concept of the mask, how it was put together and the difficulties in performing behind it. He talks about lack of time and money affecting the makeup application - his took about 90 minutes to apply - and explains the application process more clearly. Finally he goes into his thoughts behind the character's voice.
Thanks to Ken Clarke, Peter Finklestone & David Stead
Videotape editor: Tim Savage
Producer: Paul Vanzis
BBC Worldwide (C) BBC MMI.

BBC1 Trailer

Commentary
Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant and Graham Harper recorded in Dubbing Theatre Y at BBC Television Centre on 25/9/2000. Due to a back injury, Bryant was forced to record the whole commentary standing.

Isolated Music
Created by Mark Ayres using Limb's original tapes, this option allows the story to be played without studio or film sound. Four cues from Part Two are, unfortunately missing, and a number had to be 'recreated' by editing other cues.

Information Text
By Richard Molesworth

Photo Gallery
56 colour photos from the making of the serial.