‘Doctor Who’: The Mara Tales DVD extras revealed

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Featuring two stories, ‘Kinda’ and ‘Snakedance’, the 3-disc boxset will released on 7th March 2011.

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Originally broadcast in February 1982, ‘Kinda’ is set on paradise planet, Deva Loka. Its inhabitants, the Kinda, are a gentle and seemingly primitive people. On the surface, a perfect place to colonise. But why are the colonisation team disappearing one by one?

The second story, ‘Snakedance’, was first shown in January 1983 and sees the Doctor and Tegan land on Manussa. Upon learning that Manussa was once home of the Sumaran Empire, the Doctor knows that their arrival has been no accident but has been orchestrated by a hostile force – a force which is rapidly gaining control of Tegan’s will.

The extras are as follows:

‘Kinda’
– Commentary with actors Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Matthew Waterhouse and Nerys Hughes.
– ‘Dream Time’ (a 34-minute look back at the making of the story, with actors Janet Fielding, Nerys Hughes, Simon Rouse and Adrian Mills, director Peter Grimwade, writer Christopher Bailey, script editors Christopher H. Bidmead, Eric Saward and Antony Root, designer Malcolm Thornton and new series writer Robert Shearman).
‘Peter Grimwade: Directing With Attitude’ (a 22-minute look at the Doctor Who career of writer and director Peter Grimwade).
– 14 minutes of deleted and extended scenes.
– Optional CGI effects sequence (option to view Episode 4 with the original giant puppet snake replaced by a CGI snake).
– Trails & continuity, featuring BBC trails and continuity announcements from the story’s original transmission.
– Photo gallery, featuring production, design and publicity photos from the story.
– Isolated music (option to watch the story with the isolated music score).

‘Snakedance’
– Commentary with actors Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton.
‘Snake Charmer’ (a 24-minute look back at the making of the story, with actors Peter Davison and Janet Fielding, director Fiona Cumming, writer Christopher Bailey, script editor Eric Saward, designer Jan Spoczynski, and new series writer Robert Shearman).
– 3 minutes of deleted scenes.
‘In Studio’ (a rare glimpse inside the studio during recording of effects sequences for the story, including the infamous ‘farting Mara’).
– ‘Saturday Superstore’ (Peter Davison guests on the Saturday morning children’s show, where he plays cricket with Mike Read and John Craven and takes questions from callers).
– Photo gallery, featuring production, design and publicity photos from the story.
– Isolated music (option to watch the story with the isolated music score).
– Radio Times listings in Adobe PDF format.