The Doctor Who Thread

[Criterion7]

Originally Posted by suziginajackson

As far as I am aware, there isn't a Volume 4 being planned at the moment.

However, we do have a 'special edition' of 'Vengeance on Varos' to look forward to later in the year

When it comes to box-sets, these are the ones that have been released:

Many serials have been released in box sets:

• Lost in Time—Contains various "orphan episodes" and clips from the time of the first two doctors (see above for details on this).
• The Beginning—Contains the first three serials: An Unearthly Child, The Daleks, The Edge of Destruction, plus a condensed reconstruction of the fourth serial Marco Polo (see above for details on this)
• New Beginnings—Contains The Keeper of Traken, Logopolis, and Castrovalva.
• The Key to Time—Contains The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, The Stones of Blood, The Androids of Tara, The Power of Kroll, and The Armageddon Factor. All regions received the boxed set only. Was released in Region 1 only in 2002 with a minimal restoration effort, as BBC Worldwide believed a full season boxed set would sell better than the individual releases. It received a full restoration and Region 2 release in 2007 but this was a limited 15,000 copy run. A non-limited Region 2 release was released on 16 November 2009.
• Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity were released in a boxed set in Regions 2 and 4, but separately in Region 1. Released on 6 August 2007 in Region 2.
• The Complete Davros Collection — the five serials featuring Davros (Genesis of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks, and a remastered version of Remembrance of the Daleks). The remastered version of Remembrance of the Daleks was released separately from this set on 20 July 2009 along with the Davros Connections documentary. The boxed set also contains all seven Davros-related Big Finish audio plays except for the Unbound play Masters of War (Davros, The Juggernauts, Terror Firma, I, Davros: Innocence, I, Davros: Purity, I, Davros: Corruption, and I, Davros: Guilt) as well as a new play, The Davros Mission, which is not available separately from this box set. The boxed set also contains two documentaries—Davros Connections, and Big Finish's audio documentary on the making of I, Davros.
• Beneath the Surface—Contains the three serials Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Sea Devils, and Warriors of the Deep.
• K9 Tales—Contains K-9's debut story The Invisible Enemy as well as the spin-off show K-9 and Company.
• The Trial of a Time Lord—Contains The Trial of a Time Lord, the season-spanning story from Colin Baker's final season.
• The E-Space Trilogy—Contains three stories from Tom Baker's final season, Full Circle, State of Decay and Warriors' Gate which together form a trilogy set in E-Space
• The Rescue and The Romans were released together
• The Black Guardian Trilogy—Contains the Season 20 stories Mawdryn Undead, Terminus, Enlightenment and a new special edition of Enlightenment.
• Dalek War—Contains the two consecutive Jon Pertwee stories Frontier in Space and Planet of the Daleks.
• Peladon Tales—Contains the two Jon Pertwee stories set on the planet of Peladon featuring the Ice Warriors. The Curse of Peladon and The Monster of Peladon.
• The Space Museum and The Chase were released together. In Region 1 a scene was cut out of The Chase involving The Beatles due to rights issues.
• Myths & Legends—Contains the three stories The Time Monster, Underworld and The Horns of Nimon.
• Kamelion Tales—Contains the two stories featuring the Doctor's shape changing robotic companion Kamelion: The King's Demons and Planet of Fire.
• Cyberman Set—Contains Revenge of the Cybermen and Silver Nemesis.
• Mara Tales—Contains Kinda and Snakedance with brand new CGI effects.
• Mannequin Mania—Contains Spearhead from Space: Special Edition and Terror of the Autons
• Earth Story—Contains The Gunfighters and The Awakening
• U.N.I.T. Files—Contains Invasion of the Dinosaurs and The Android Invasion
• Ace Adventures—Contain Dragonfire and The Happiness Patrol

To be released in 2012

• The Legacy Box—To contain the unfinished segments of Shada, with the 1993 documentary More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS

Other box sets have been released repackaging previously released serials (often with a recently released one):

• 40th Anniversary Set—Contains The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Resurrection of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks.
• Cyberman Collection—Contains The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Invasion & Earthshock.
• The Third Doctor Collection—Contains Spearhead from Space, Inferno, The Claws of Axos, The Three Doctors, Carnival of Monsters, and The Green Death.
• The Daleks Collection—Contains The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Genesis of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks
• Bred for War—Contains the four Sontaran serials from the classic series (The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Experiment, The Invasion of Time, and The Two Doctors)

Being a HUGE fan of Colin Vengance on Varos SE goes straight to the top of my list.

Sadly the Cybermen collection is OOP and sells for 99 pounds on amazon.

I'm guessing that next to Revisitation boxsets Trial is the most extra-loaed dvds out there.

Does anyone listen to the commentaries? Which Doctor has been the best for them? I'd hazard a guess at it being Colin since he actually seems like he'd say what he was thinking which can be good for Tom as log as Tom doesn't get too nutty..lol

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by ArrowFan

Sadly the Cybermen collection is OOP and sells for 99 pounds on amazon.

That was an 'Amazon exclusive' release, so it wasn't available in the shops. Luckily I had got all the stories separately

Originally Posted by ArrowFan

Does anyone listen to the commentaries? Which Doctor has been the best for them? I'd hazard a guess at it being Colin since he actually seems like he'd say what he was thinking which can be good for Tom as log as Tom doesn't get too nutty..lol

I always listen to the coms. Obviously Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee are not featured

I found the Tom Baker ones on the early releases to be very disappointing. It was as if he still didn't care about the show, and couldn't really be bothered. The ones on his later releases are best, even if he does spend a lot of time letching at the women on the screen (apart from Lalla, of course)!

Peter Davison's ones are very enjoyable. He is my least favourite Doctor from the classic series, but his coms are possibly the best ones. However, he does tend to repeat the 'Doctor daddy' story quite a lot!

Colin Baker is also enjoyable, as is Sylvester McCoy

Paul McGann's com I have no memory of!

Aside from the Doctor's, I have always found Terrance Dicks and Nicholas Courtney to be good value for money, and their love for the show shines thru

[Criterion7]

Originally Posted by suziginajackson

That was an 'Amazon exclusive' release, so it wasn't available in the shops. Luckily I had got all the stories separately



I always listen to the coms. Obviously Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee are not featured

I found the Tom Baker ones on the early releases to be very disappointing. It was as if he still didn't care about the show, and couldn't really be bothered. The ones on his later releases are best, even if he does spend a lot of time letching at the women on the screen (apart from Lalla, of course)!

Peter Davison's ones are very enjoyable. He is my least favourite Doctor from the classic series, but his coms are possibly the best ones. However, he does tend to repeat the 'Doctor daddy' story quite a lot!

Colin Baker is also enjoyable, as is Sylvester McCoy

Paul McGann's com I have no memory of!

Aside from the Doctor's, I have always found Terrance Dicks and Nicholas Courtney to be good value for money, and their love for the show shines thru

My gf will stop what she is doing to listen when Terrance is speaking in a featurette. He's just such an entertaining guy.

I had planned on ordering Trial boxset along with E-Space Trilogy or Trial with Genesis of the Daleks and Five Doctors(curious about the Tennant commentary) but am leading towards Trial and Revisitations 1. I definitely want all three Revisitations though.

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by ArrowFan

I had planned on ordering Trial boxset along with E-Space Trilogy or Trial with Genesis of the Daleks and Five Doctors(curious about the Tennant commentary) but am leading towards Trial and Revisitations 1. I definitely want all three Revisitations though.

If you are more interested in the extra features, it might be worth you trying to track down 'The Key to Time' box set:

Story One: The Ribos Operation

• 4 x 25 mins approx colour episodes with mono audio.
  
• Commentary with Tom Baker and Mary Tamm.
  
• A Matter of Time (dur. 60' 00" ) - the flagship documentary of this boxset , this new 60-minute documentary written by Nicholas Pegg and produced by Ed Stradling, covers not only the Key to Time season but the entirety of Graham Williams' eventful three years as producer of Doctor Who in the late 1970s. Featuring interviews with Graham Williams in extracts from two 1980's conventions, actors Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Mary Tamm, Lalla Ward (her first interview for the DVD range), John Leeson and Paul Seed, script editors Anthony Read and Douglas Adams (interviewed in 1992), writers Bob Baker, Dave Martin (his last interview) and David Fisher, directors Pennant Roberts, Michael Hayes, Ken Grieve, Christopher Barry and Darrol Blake, designers Richard McManan-Smith and Dick Coles, visual effects designers Mat Irvine and Colin Mapson, new series writer Gareth Roberts, DWAS founder member Jeremy Bentham, and Graham's widow, Jackie Williams. Narrated by Toby Longworth.
  
• The Ribos File (dur. 19' 36") - cast and crew look back at the making of the story. Featuring interviews with actors Nigel Plaskitt, Paul Seed, Mary Tamm, Prentis Hancock and Stuart Fell, with Doctor Who Magazine editor Clayton Hickman. Produced by Ed Stradling
  
• Continuities (dur. 2' 06") - off-air continuity links from the story's original BBC1 transmission.
  
• Season 16 Trailer (dur. 0' 40") - BBC1 trailer for the forthcoming season.
  
• Photo Gallery (dur. 6' 01") - design, production and publicity stills for the story.

Story Two: The Pirate Planet

• 4 x 25 mins approx colour episodes with mono audio.
  
• Commentary 1 with Bruce Purchase and director Pennant Roberts.
  
• Commentary 2 with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and script editor Anthony Read.
  
• Parrot Fashion (dur. 30' 28") - Kevin Davies' documentary looks at the writing and production of the story. Featuring an archive interview with writer Douglas Adams, actors Mary Tamm, John Leeson, Bruce Purchase, Rosalind Lloyd and Primi Townsend, script editor Anthony Read, director Pennant Roberts, film cameraman Elmer Cossey, visual effects designer Colin Mapson, Douglas Adams' half-brother James Thrift ,and friend and biographer Nick Webb.
  
• Film Inserts, Deleted Scenes & Outtakes (dur. 13' 56") - a collection of extra material from the story's production.
  
• Weird Science (dur. 17' 14") - a spoof seventies schools science show looks at some the science seen in 'The Key to Time'. Featuring David Graham and Mat Irvine, with Stevii the super-computer. Produced by Phoenix Media.
  
• Continuities (dur. 3' 42") - off-air continuity links from the story's original BBC1 transmission.
  
• Photo Gallery (dur. 7' 00") - design, production and publicity stills for the story.

Story Three: The Stones of Blood

• 4 x 25 mins approx colour episodes with mono audio.
  
• Commentary 1 with Mary Tamm and director Darrol Blake.
  
• Commentary 2 with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Susan Engel and writer David Fisher.
  
• Getting Blood from the Stones (dur. 26' 32") - cast and crew look back at the making of the story in this new feature produced by Ed Stradling. Featuring interviews with writer David Fisher, script editor Anthony Read, director Darrol Blake, actors Mary Tamm, John Leeson and Susan Engel, visual effects designer Mat Irvine, with DWM's Clayton Hickman and SFX's Steve O'Brien.
  
• Hammer Horror (dur. 13' 05") - Marcus Hearn's featurette looks at the influences of horror films on Doctor Who stories down the years. Featuring interviews with former Shivers magazine editor David Miller, author Jonathan Rigby, script editors Terrance Dicks and Anthony Read, with archive interview from actor Tom Baker. Produced by Phoenix Media.
  
• Stones Free (dur. 9' 08") - Mary Tamm visits the Rollright Stones location used in the story to meet local experts on this ancient stone circle. Produced by Phoenix Media.
  
• Deleted Scenes (dur. 2' 10") - deleted scenes from episode two.
  
• Continuities (dur. 2' 23") - off-air continuity links from the story's original BBC1 transmission.
  
• Model World (dur. 2' 40") - an excerpt from 'The Model World of Robert Symes' looks at the model work for this story, with designer Mat Irvine.
  
• Blue Peter (dur. 6' 03") - the famous children's show looks back at the history of Doctor Who on the show's fifteen anniversary.
  
• Nationwide (dur. 8' 49") - the BBC1 news magazine programme looks back on 15 years of Doctor Who with a surreal interview from Tom Baker, with Mary Tamm and Carole Ann Ford.
  
• Photo Gallery (dur. 8' 00") - design, production and publicity stills for the story.

Story Four: The Androids of Tara

• 4 x 25 mins approx colour episodes with mono audio.
  
• Commentary with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and director Michael Hayes.
  
• The Humans of Tara (dur. 21' 12") - a look back at the making of this story, featuring interviews with actors Paul Lavers, Mary Tamm and Neville Jason, writer David Fisher, script editor Anthony Read and director Michael Hayes. Produced by Ed Stradling and edited by Steve Broster.
  
• Now & Then - The Androids of Tara (dur. 10' 17") - the latest in the irregular series, Doctor Who historian Richard Bignell's featurette compares and contrasts present day locations as they are now with how they appeared in the story. Narrated by Paul Lavers.
  
• Double Trouble (dur. 11' 02") - a brief history of 'doubles' in other Doctor Who stories. With contributions from DWM assistant editor Tom Spilsbury, Doctor Who Adventures editor Moray Laing and art editor Paul Lang.
  
• Photo Gallery (dur. 7' 44") - design, production and publicity stills for the story.

Story Five: The Power of Kroll

• 4 x 25 mins approx colour episodes with mono audio.
  
• Commentary with Tom Baker and John Leeson.
  
• In Studio (dur. 11' 25") - a fascinating glimpse inside the studio during recording of the story, recovered from timecoded monochrome production recordings.
  
• Variations (dur. 6' 24") - a BBC local news programme visits the story's location during filming.
  
• There's Something About Mary (dur. 9' 47") - Mary Tamm looks back at her single-season starring role as the Doctor's companion. Produced by Richard Molesworth, edited by Steve Broster.
  
• Philip Madoc - A Villain for All Seasons (dur. 9' 40") - actor Philip Madoc looks back on his numerous roles as a Doctor Who villain down the years, including his appearance in the 1966 feature film 'Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD'. Narrated by Jonathan Rigby. Produced by Phoenix Media.
  
• Continuities (dur. 2' 48") - off-air continuity links from the story's original BBC1 transmission.
  
• Photo Gallery (dur. 4' 52") - design, production and publicity stills for the story.

Story Six: The Armageddon Factor (Two discs)

DISC 1

• 6 x 25 mins approx colour episodes with mono audio.
  
• Commentary 1 with Mary Tamm, John Woodvine and director Michael Hayes.
  
• Commentary 2 with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and John Leeson.
  
• 1979 Doctor Who Annual in Adobe PDF format for viewing on PC or Mac.

DISC 2

• Defining Shadows (dur. 15' 38") - cast and crew look back at the making of this story, with interviews from writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin, director Michael Hayes, script editor Anthony Read, designer Richard McManan-Smith, with actors Mary Tamm, Lalla Ward, David Harries and Barry Jackson . Produced by Ed Stradling, edited by Steve Bagley.
  
• Alternative / Extended Scene (dur. 2' 49") - taken from a timecoded monochrome studio recording.
  
• Directing Who (dur. 8' 25") - Michael Hayes looks back on his directing career on Doctor Who in this short featurette produced by Ed Stradling.
  
• Rogue Time Lords (dur. 13' 10") - a potted history of other errant Time Lords. Featuring actor Nicholas Courtney, script editor Terrance Dicks, writers Pip and Jane Baker, DWM assistant editor Tom Spilsbury, Doctor Who Adventures editor Moray Laing and art editor Paul Lang. Produced by Phoenix Media.
  
• Pebble Mill at One (dur. 8' 21") - Tom Baker interviewed on the long-running lunchtime magazine show in 1978.
  
• Radiophonic Feature (dur. 4' 26") - a Pebble Mill at One interview by Tony Francis, with Dick Mills and Brian Hodgson looking at Radiophonic music and effects in Doctor Who.
  
• The New Sound of Music (dur. 0' 59") - sound effects supremo Dick Mills talks about creating a Doctor Who sound effects in this extract from the BBC documentary.
  
• Merry Christmas, Doctor Who (dur. 1' 11") - a special Christmas sketch, recorded on the set of 'The Armageddon Factor' for the BBC Christmas Tape that year.
  
• Continuities (dur. 2' 54") - off-air continuity links from the story's original BBC1 transmission.
  
• Photo Gallery (dur. 4' 45") - design, production and publicity stills for the story.
  
• Late Night Story - Tom Baker reads five spine-chilling stories from this 1978 series:
  [i] The Photograph by Nigel Kneale (dur. 14' 29")
  [ii] The Emissary by Ray Bradbury (dur. 13' 41")
  [iii] Nursery Tea by Mary Danby (dur. 14' 16")
  [iv] The End of the Party by Graham Greene (dur. 14' 58")
  [v] Sredni Vashtar by Saki (dur. 12' 50") - this episode was never transmitted.
  
• Easter Egg

Originally Posted by ArrowFan

I had planned on ordering Trial boxset along with E-Space Trilogy or Trial with Genesis of the Daleks and Five Doctors(curious about the Tennant commentary) but am leading towards Trial and Revisitations 1. I definitely want all three Revisitations though.

This is a hidden feature on the disc, so you will need to do a bit of jiggery-pokery with your handset control to actually find it! This commentary is only on the transmitted version of the story (disc 1) and NOT on the special edition of the story (disc 2)

[Mojo]

I really like the revamped versions too, though their recent appearances seem to be because they've got the costumes lying around, as opposed to a good story.

Originally Posted by Demdike

I'm the opposite.

I was really impressed with them in Rise of the Cybermen. They seemed big, noisy and above all a lot of them.

Army of Ghosts was also excellent (ending aside), and i thought The Next Doctor was a great slice of entertainment, a big dollop of Christmas fun.

Moffat has no idea what to do with them it seems and i hope they have a rest for a while.

They need to come back all big and menacing once more, not just be seen as the whipping boys. They could kill a companion, that would be cool.

Couldn't agree more Demdike

[Mojo]

My Top 20 classic Who:

Spearhead From Space
Inferno
The Invasion
The Robots Of Death
Dr Who And The Silurians
Pyramids Of Mars
The Daemons
The Talons Of Weng Chiang
The Mind Robber
The Ambassadors Of Death
Genesis Of The Daleks
Revelation Of The Daleks
Earthshock
The Claws Of Axos
Daleks Invasion Of Earth
The Sea Devils
Tomb Of The Cybermen
City Of Death
The War Games
Kinda

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Great list, Mojo.

[Demoncrat]

Well the McCoy radio thing certainly shifted up a gear in last night's episode, Roll on tonight's (new 4 parter) The Architects of History!! This will probably spur me on to properly investigate his era (finally) as he is quite spiky in some scenes....

Better late than never etc

[Criterion7]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

Well the McCoy radio thing certainly shifted up a gear in last night's episode, Roll on tonight's (new 4 parter) The Architects of History!! This will probably spur me on to properly investigate his era (finally) as he is quite spiky in some scenes....

Better late than never etc

McCoy is severely under-rated as the doctor. I loved the direction they were taking him in. Especially in the final series. There was an interesting darkness to him.

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by ArrowFan

McCoy is severely under-rated as the doctor. I loved the direction they were taking him in. Especially in the final series. There was an interesting darkness to him.

During the last few series' with McCoy, script editor Andrew Cartmel WAS taking the show in a new direction, making the Doctor more mysterious and darker


In 'Silver Nemesis', there is a quote from Lady Peinfort (which I don't remember word-for-word), but it went along the lines of 'I know who you are, Doctor. I know your secret'. It's been suggested that if the show had continued after 'Survival', it would ultimately be revealled that The Doctor was in fact God!

On the Doctor Who database blog, Cartmel states: "I’ve just seen an episode of The Simpsons where Ned Flanders turned out to be God. That worked rather well. As for the Doctor, I certainly thought it was an interesting notion if he turned out to be the Prime Mover. The butterfly wing that causes the hurricane. After all, that’s virtually what his power amounts to. Doctor Who as God was considered a somewhat controversial notion, though.

But then I came up with a concept that I like even better. That the Doctor and the Master are a single entity, one being, all powerful and both good and evil in balance. Light and darkness, yin and yang. That’s probably also too controversial. Perhaps the Doctor should turn out to be Ned Flanders."

Maybe we should be glad that this never happened