DOCTOR WHO: EVIL OF THE DALEKS is one of those early classic Doctor Who stories that is missing most of it's episodes with only one episode still existing (episode Two) and the whole story surviving only as off TV audio recordings. Now the BBC has animated this old Dalek story as black and white and in widescreen color as part of their animated series of old DOCTOR WHO stories that are missing all or some episodes (possibly to the sands of time to never be seen again). As with the previous two Second Doctor animated stories, they have decided to improve on the original and go beyond the budget limitations that low budget Doctor Who had in the first 26 seasons of the show's run. The animation may not appeal to some long time Doctor Who fans, but you have to know these are done on limited budgets and the results are good for the budgets they have. Some of the animations now are better than some of the previous Doctor Who animations which animated a missing episode or two to complete a story for DVD release.

The animation is presented in two versions- black and white in 1.33:1 and color in 1.78:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen). The three disc set contains a variety of extras with three different versions of the story with the animated versions on disc 1 and 2 and the Episode Reconstructions on disc 3. I ordered the blu-ray steelbook through Zavii since the BBC releases in North America for the animated stories are only in DVD so far while the UK and some other countries also get a blu-ray release in addition to DVD. The steelbook has a beautiful cover featuring the Emperor Dalek. It is the best artwork for an animated steelbook of DOCTOR WHO.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio commentaries
Original Episode 2 (the only surviving episode of the story unless more episodes are found somewhere in a collector's hands or a TV archive that didn't return episodes or prints to the BBC)
THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS audio book narrated by Tom Baker
Episode Reconstructions with optional commentary from actor Frazer Hines

Animation Gallery and Photo Gallery
THE LAST DALEK- behind-the-scenes model footage with audio commentary
AN ASSIGNMENT WITH GRIM EVIL- Interview with Chris Thompson
THE DALEK FACTOR (Making of)- retrospective documentary on the making of the story with surviving members of the cast and crew
Episode 1- 1968 introduction (Audio)
PDF ROM content

FINAL ANALYSIS: It is nice to finally see THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS get the animated treatment. Lots of great extras including the surviving episode (which could use some restoration and HD scan though). I hope more of the original episodes do show up, but the steelbook is the best release to get of this animated version of this DOCTOR HWO STORY.

This blu-ray review is (c)12-10-2021 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com