The Frequently Asked Questions Lists for
Doctor Who
Home Videos and DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs in the
LATEST NEWS
Last updated
Compiled by Steve Manfred, smanfred at comcast.net (change at to @ and remove the spaces to email me)
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE MAIN DVD FAQ LIST. or CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE VHS HOME VIDEO FAQ LIST.
A SUMMER TRIANGLE OF CLASSIC STORIES ON
JULY 7
BBC Worldwides
They are…
Doctor Who: The Rescue / The Romans starring William Hartnell (2
stories, The Rescue is 2 25-minute
episodes,
and The Romans is 4 25-minute
episodes, 2 discs, $34.98)
and
Doctor Who:
Attack of the Cybermen starring Colin Baker (2 45-minute episodes, 1
disc, $24.98)
Doctor Who: The Rescue / The Romans is a double pack of two consecutive stories
from the classic series’
second season. In the first, a
two-part story called The Rescue, the
TARDIS travelers arrive on the planet
Dido in the future where a crashed spaceship houses but two survivors,
one of whom keeps a terrible secret.
This story sees Maureen O’Brien join the regular cast as new
companion Vicki.
The second story, a four-part story called The Romans, sees our heroes enjoying a bit of a break in a villa
in
he and Vicki are away and seeing close-up the court of Caesar Nero, Ian
(William Russell) and Barbara
(Jacqueline Hill) find themselves captured and sold as slaves.
Doctor Who:
Attack of the Cybermen was the opening story of the classic
series’ twenty-second season.
The Doctor (Colin Baker) and Peri (Nicola Bryant) track an
intergalactic distress signal to 1985
find two old enemies on the transmitting end: the treacherous mercenary
Lytton, and a force of Cybermen from
the future hatching a history-altering plan from
Scroll down for further details of all the features on these two
releases.
UPCOMING RELEASE CALENDAR
July 7 Doctor Who: The Rescue /
The Romans starring William Hartnell (2 stories in one 2-disc set:
2
25-minute episodes in The Rescue on one
disc and 4 25-minute episodes in The
Romans
on the other,
$34.98). These stories will not be sold
separately (but they’re consecutive
stories in the
chronological order in any case).
Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen starring
Colin Baker (2 45-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98)
July 28 Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead
starring David Tennant and Michelle Ryan (1 60-minute episode,
1
disc, high-definition BLU-RAY for $19.89 or standard-definition DVD for $14.98
for DVD)
Also
includes a 60-minute Doctor Who
Confidential
Torchwood: The Complete Second Season (13
50-minute episodes, 4 BLU-RAY discs, high-def, $79.98)
Torchwood: Children of Earth starring
John Barrowman and Eve Myles (5 50-minute episodes,
2
discs, high-definition BLU-RAY for $34.99 or standard-definition DVD for $29.98
for DVD)
Also
includes Torchwood Declassified
September 1 Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin starring Tom Baker (4 25-minute
episodes, 1 disc, $24.98)
Doctor Who: Image of the Fendahl starring
Tom Baker (4 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98)
Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen starring
Sylvester McCoy (3 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98)
September 15 Doctor Who: The Next Doctor starring
David Tennant (1 60-minute episode, 1 disc, $14.98)
Further classic series titles will follow in November. The exact titles are yet to be announced,
although they are
extremely likely to just be the same ones that are coming out in the
them, just 4-5 months after they get them.
Also, expect the single-disc release of the 2008 Doctor Who Christmas special
The Next Doctor starring
David Tennant sometime in the autumn.
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead was the 2009 Easter Special
featuring the Tenth Doctor on a bus that gets drawn
through a wormhole to a desolate alien planet.
It will be released on July 28th both on DVD and, for the
first time for Doctor Who, on
high-definition Blu-Ray disc.
Torchwood: The Complete Second Season is as the name implies, the
entire second season of the adult-themed
Doctor
Who spinoff series Torchwood that
aired on the BBC in 2008. This will be the Blu-Ray high-definition
release
(1080i). The
on-disc contents will otherwise be the same as the DVD release of this set
which came out in 2008,
just all in high-definition.
Torchwood: Children of Earth is
the entire 5-episode mini-series that will air on the BBC and BBC America this
summer
during the week before the DVD/Blu-Ray release date.
Doctor Who: The
Deadly Assassin is the classic story where the Doctor is summoned back to
Gallifrey and framed
by his archenemy, the Master, for the assassination of the Time Lord
President. It was the first time the
Doctor
traveled without a companion in the series’ history, and the first time
an entire story took place on his home planet.
It was the third story in Tom Baker’s third season (the
fourteenth overall).
Doctor Who: Image of the Fendahl
sees the Doctor and Leela investigating a dangerous time fissure, only to find
an even more dangerous ancient enemy of life itself, a psychic gestalt
creature called the Fendahl. Scientists
at
a contemporary English country house have unwittingly reactivated it, or
at least some of them have been unwitting…
This was the third story in Tom Baker’s fourth season (the
fifteenth overall).
Doctor Who: Delta and the
Bannermen is a truly madcap romp where the Doctor and Melanie join a group
of
space/time tourists on their way to Earth in the 1950s for a rock-and-roll
holiday, not knowing that one of the
passengers, Delta, is the last survivor of a genocide being pursued by the army
that killed her people, the Bannermen.
This was the third story in Sylvester McCoy’s first season (the
twenty-fourth overall).
Doctor
Who: The Next Doctor is the single
60-minute Christmas special from 2008 starring David Tennant, where
the Doctor visits
Victorian
stranger known only as…
the Doctor? This DVD will contain the
episode by itself with no commentary plus one extra
feature, a 60-minute
featurette called Doctor Who at the Proms,
which contains the highlights of a symphony orchestra
concert of music from the
new series with appearances by many of the series stars and monsters.
(This was the last episode to be made in
standard-definition, and as such will be sold on standard DVD only.)
In the chronological order of the series, it
falls after Series Four and before Planet
of the Dead (which is actually
being DVD-and-Blu-Ray-released
before this story, on July 28.)
OTHER RECENT RELEASES
3
discs, $49.98) and
Doctor Who –
Battlefield starring Sylvester McCoy (4 25-min. episodes and a 95-min.
Special
Edition, 2 discs, $34.98)
Contains
all six stories of the 1978-79 season, also available
separately:
Doctor Who:
The Ribos Operation Special Edition (4 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98),
Doctor Who: The
Pirate Planet Special Edition (4 25-minute episodes.,
1 disc, $24.98),
Doctor Who:
The Stones of Blood Special Edition (4 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98),
Doctor Who:
The Androids of Tara Special Edition (4 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98),
Doctor Who: The
Power of Kroll Special Edition (4 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98),
and
Doctor Who:
The Armageddon Factor Special Edition (6 25-minute episodes, 2 discs,
$34.98)
Doctor Who: Four
to Doomsday starring Peter Davison (4 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98).
Catherine
Tate as Donna Noble, with guest stars Kylie Minogue as Astrid Peth,
Freema Agyeman as
Martha Jones, John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness,
Elisabeth
Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler.
(6-disc
set. 14 episodes, each at least 45
minutes long. $99.98 is the suggested retail price.)
Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest
starring the voices of David Tennant and Freema Agyeman
(1
disc, 1 45-minute animated adventure, $9.98)
Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time
Lord starring Colin Baker (4 discs, 14 25-min. episodes,
$59.98)
The Sarah Jane
Adventures – The Complete First Season starring
Elisabeth Sladen
(4
discs, 1 60-minute episode and 10 30-minute episodes, $49.98)
Torchwood: The Complete First Season on high-definition Blu-Ray
(13 50-minute episodes,
6
Blu-Ray discs, $99.98)
(starring Elisabeth Sladen and John Leeson) (4 25-minute
episodes on disc 1, 50-minute
special on disc 2, $34.98)
Doctor Who: The Invasion of Time starring Tom Baker (6 25-minute
episodes, 2 discs, $34.98)
Doctor Who: Black
Orchid starring Peter Davison (2 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $14.98),
and
Doctor Who: The Five Doctors 25th Anniversary Edition starring
Peter Davison, Jon Pertwee,
Patrick
Troughton, Richard Hurndall, Tom Baker, and William Hartnell
(90
minute special on disc 1, 100-minute special edition on disc 2, $34.98).
JULY RELEASES IN DETAIL
Doctor Who: The Rescue / The Romans starring William Hartnell as
Doctor Who, William Russell as Ian Chesterton,
Jacqueline Hill as
Barbara Wright, and introducing Maureen O’Brien
as Vicki.
Contains two
consecutive stories from the middle of the 1964-1965 (2nd) season. Each is on
its own disc,
sold
together in one 2-disc Amaray case. The
stories are NOT sold separately.
Contained on each
disc:
Disc 1: The Rescue
-
Both 25-minute
episodes with full restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Optional
commentary track with actor William Russell, designer Raymond Cusick, and
director Christopher Barry. Moderated by Doctor Who expert Toby Hadoke.
- Information Text subtitles option. Displays pop-up production
trivia throughout the story.
-
“Mounting
the Rescue” A 22-minute making-of
documentary featuring interviews with
actors William Russell, Maureen O’Brien and
Ray Barrett (Bennett), designer Raymond
Cusick,
director Christopher Barry, and avid viewer Ian McLachlan.
-
Photo
Gallery. An 8-minute montage of still
photographs from the production.
-
PDF
Materials. Two pdf files that your home
computer can read from the disc if you put it
into your computer’s DVD-ROM drive. One is the Radio Times TV listings for this
story
from 1965 (with a feature article about Maureen
O’Brien), and the other is a set of Design
Drawings
from the time made by RaymondCusick for the sets and a model of the TARDIS.
-
The disc boots
up with trailers for the Complete Fourth Series DVD set, and one for the BBC
America cable
channel, but these are skipable with your remote.
Disc 2: The Romans
-
All four
25-minute episodes with full restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Optional
commentary track with actors William Russell, Barry Jackson (Ascaris), and Nick
Evans
(Didius),
designer Raymond Cusick, and director Christopher Barry.
-
Information Text
subtitles option. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
-
“What Has
‘The Romans’ Ever Done For Us?” A 34-minute featurette about the making
of this story, and also about depictions of
Caesar Nero in other BBC productions, and
the true history of
William
Russell, Barry Jackson, Kay Patrick (Poppea), Anthony Andrews (Nero in A.D.
Anno Domini), Christopher Biggins (Nero
in I, Claudius), historian Dr. Mark
Bradley,
avid viewer Ian McLachlan, designer Raymond
Cusick, new series Doctor Who writer
James Moran, and Doctor Who
Magazine editor Tom Spilsbury.
-
Roma Pava. 3-minute featurette where director
Christopher Barry shows off the designer’s
original set design model from the 1964/65
production that he’s kept all these years.
- Dennis Spooner – Wanna Write a
Television Series? 18-minute featurette
about the career
of Dennis Spooner, writer of The Romans (amongst others) and the series’ second Story
Editor.
Features
interviews with actors William Russell and Peter Purves (Steven Taylor),
Story
Editor Donald Tosh, friends and colleagues Brian and Janet Clemens, and new
Doctor Who series writer
Robert Shearman.
-
Girls! Girls!
Girls! The 1960s. An 18-minute featurette looking at all of
the Doctor’s female
companions from the 1960s. Features interviews with Carole Ann Ford
(Susan), Jean Marsh
(
(Cathy Gale from The Avengers), William Russell (Ian), Peter
Purves (Steven), Frazer
Hines
(Jamie), Story Editor Donald Tosh, and director Christopher Barry.
-
Photo
Gallery. A 6-minute montage of still
photos taken during the production.
-
PDF
Materials. One pdf files that your home
computer can read from the disc if you put it
into your computer’s DVD-ROM drive. It is the Radio Times TV listings for this
story
from 1965.
-
The disc boots
up with trailers for the Complete Fourth Series DVD set, and one for the BBC
America cable
channel, but these are skipable with your remote.
Doctor Who:
Attack of the Cybermen starring Colin Baker as the Doctor and Nicola
Bryant as Peri.
-
Both 45-minute
episodes with full restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Optional
commentary track with actors Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Terry Molloy
(Russell),
and Sarah Berger (Rost)
-
Optional
isolated music track, that plays the episodes with
only the music soundtrack playing.
-
Information Text
subtitles option. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
-
“The Cold
War” 27-minute making-of
documentary featuring interviews with actors
Colin Baker,
Nicola Bryant, Terry Molloy, and Sarah Berger, Script Editor and
surreptitious writer Eric Saward, fan consultant Ian
Levine, Film Cameraman Godfrey
Johnson, and Director Matthew Robinson.
-
“The Cyber
Story” 23-minute featurette about
all of the Cybermen’s appearances
throughout all of Doctor
Who through 2007. Features
interviews with their original
Costume Designer
Sandra Reid, original voice actor Roy Skelton, Director Morris Barry,
Writer/Script
Editor Eric Saward, Earthshock Costume
Designer Dinah Collin,
Cyber-actor Mark
Hardy, and Kevin Warwick, a scientist attempting to become the world’s
first real cyborg.
-
“Human
Cyborg” 8-minute featurette about
scientist Kevin Warwick’s efforts to become the
world’s first real cyborg.
-
Photo
Gallery. 8-minute photo montage of
stills taken throughout the production.
-
The
Cyber-Generations. A second 8-minute
photo montage of the Cybermen as they appeared
in every classic series story.
-
Trails and
Continuity. 3-minute featurette of the
advertising and introduction materials from
the original 1985 broadcasts.
-
Coming Soon
trailer. A 1-minute trailer for the
forthcoming DVD of Image of the Fendahl
starring Tom Baker.
-
PDF
Materials. Three pdf files that your
home computer can read from the disc if you put it
into your computer’s DVD-ROM drive. One is the Radio Times TV listings for this
story
from 1985, including feature articles. The other two are files that were originally
intended
to appear in the DVD of the Patrick Troughton
Cybermen story The Invasion but were
left
out by error (an error common to every edition
in every region around the world). The
first of these are the Radio Times TV listings
and features for the 1968 Invasion broadcast.
The second is a
feature article for a magazine called The
Listener about the future of
robotics written by Dr. Kit Pedler, the co-creator
of the Cybermen.
-
The disc boots
up with trailers for the Complete Fourth Series DVD set, and one for the BBC
America cable
channel, but these are skipable with your remote.
-
1 Easter Egg. Highlight the
blank area below to reveal the invisible text and see what this is and
how to find it.
Go into the second page of the Special Features menu, then
highlight the Cyber-Generations
Option and press the left arrow. A Doctor
Who logo will appear. Click on this
and you’ll
see a 1-minute featurette about an autonomous Dalek that Kevin
Warwick has built in his lab.
MAY RELEASES IN DETAIL
Doctor Who: The E-Space Trilogy
starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Lalla Ward as Romana, John Leeson
as
the Voice of K9, and introducing Matthew Waterhouse as Adric.
Contains three
consecutive stories from the middle of the 1980-81 (18th) season. Each is in
its own
Amaray case, and all
three are sold together inside an outer slipcase. They are NOT sold separately.
Contained on each:
Disc 1:
-
All four 25-minute
episodes with full restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Optional
commentary track with actor Matthew Waterhouse, writer Andrew Smith, and
Script Editor
Christopher H. Bidmead.
-
Information Text
subtitles option. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
-
Isolated Music
option. Plays the story with only the
music soundtrack playing by itself.
-
“All
Aboard the Starliner” 24-minute
featurette about the making of the story, featuring
interviews with actors Lalla Ward, John Leeson,
George Baker (Login),
Bernard Padden
(Tylos), writer Andrew Smith, script editor Christopher H. Bidmead,
film cameraman Max Samett, and an archival
interview with director Peter Grimwade.
-
“K9 in
E-Space” A 5-minute featurette
about K9’s final three stories of the classic series,
featuring interviews with Christopher H. Bidmead,
Lalla Ward, Andrew Smith, John Leeson,
and writer Terrance Dicks.
-
“Swap
Shop” An 8-minute segment from a
1980 edition of Multi-Coloured Swap Shop
where
Matthew
Waterhouse was interviewed shortly after getting the part of Adric.
-
“E-Space:
Fact or Fiction?” A 15-minute
featurette narrated by Sophie Aldred speculating
on the real-life possibilities of there being
other universes. Features interviews
with
Doctor Who cast and crew, other science
fiction authors, and real scientists, including
Sir Patrick
Moore.
-
Continuity. 3 minutes of the BBC’s introductions
and trailers for the episodes on their original
1980 broadcasts.
- Photo Gallery with Info
Text option. 6 minutes of still
photographs from the production, now with
the option to display descriptive captions as subtitles.
-
Radio Times
Listings. PDF files for your computer containing
the original Radio Times TV
listings for this story, as well as some
contemporaneous articles about it they ran.
Disc 2: State
of
-
All four
25-minute episodes with full restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Optional
commentary track with actor Matthew Waterhouse, Writer Terrance Dicks, and
Director Peter
Moffatt.
-
Information Text
subtitles option. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
-
Isolated Music
option. Plays the story with only the
music soundtrack playing by itself.
-
“The
Vampire Lovers”
20-minute featurette about the making of the story. Features interviews
with actors Lalla
Ward, John Leeson, and
Script Editor Christopher H. Bidmead, Designer Christine Ruscoe, and
Director Peter Moffatt.
-
Film Trims. 5 minutes of silent film from the modelwork
sessions of the Tower and the Great Vampire.
-
“Leaves of
Blood” 17-minute featurette about
the historical depiction of vampires in literature
including interviews
with historians and published authors such as Kim Newman.
-
“The Blood
Show” 10-minute
featurette about blood itself and its uses in our diets. Has nothing
t o
do with Doctor Who.
-
“The Frayling
Reading” 5-minute featurette where
Sir Christopher Frayling analyzes where
State of Decay fits into the more general mythology of vampires.
-
Continuity. 4 minutes of the BBC’s introductions
and trailers for the episodes on their original
1980 broadcasts.
- Photo Gallery with Info
Text option. 6 minutes of still
photographs from the production, now with
the option to display descriptive captions as subtitles.
-
Radio Times
Listings. PDF files for your computer
containing the original Radio Times TV
listings for this story, as well as some
contemporaneous articles about it they ran.
Disc 3: Warriors’
Gate
-
All four
25-minute episodes with full restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Optional
commentary track with actors Lalla Ward and John Leeson, Visual Effects
Designer
Mat
-
Information Text
subtitles option. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
-
Isolated Music
option. Plays the story with only the
music soundtrack playing by itself.
-
“The
Dreaming” 27-minute
featurette about the making of the story.
Features interviews with
Actors Lalla
Ward, John Leeson, David Weston (Biroc), and Clifford Rose (Rorvik),
Writer Steve
Gallagher, Script Editor Christopher H. Bidmead, Visual Effects Designer
Mat
-
“The Boy
With the Golden Star” 20-minute
interview with Matthew Waterhouse covering all
of Adric’s stories in the series.
-
“Lalla’s
Wardrobe” A 19-minute featurette
about the various outfits worn by Lalla Ward as
Romana throughout
the series, with interviews with Ward herself, classic series costume
designer June Hudson, new series costume designer
Louise Page, writers
Jonathan Morris, and some ordinary girls in the street.
-
Extended and
Deleted Scenes. 4 minute assembly of
eight different scenes that were trimmed
or removed altogether from the finished
story.
-
Continuity. 2 minutes of the BBC’s introductions
and trailers for the episodes on their original
1981 broadcasts.
- Photo Gallery with Info
Text option. 6 minutes of still
photographs from the production, now with
the option to display descriptive captions as subtitles.
-
Radio Times
Listings. PDF files for your computer
containing the original Radio Times TV
listings for this story, as well as some
contemporaneous articles about it they ran.
Doctor Who: Battlefield starring
Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Ace, and guest starring
Nicholas
Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. 2 discs.
On Disc 1:
-
All four
25-minute episodes (the original 1989 versions) with full restoration
treatment.
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Optional
commentary track with actors Sophie Aldred, Nicholas Courtney, and Angela Bruce
(Brigadier
Winifred Bambera), Writer Ben Aaronovitch, and Script Editor Andrew Cartmel.
-
Information Text
subtitles option. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
-
Isolated Music
option. Plays the story with only the
music soundtrack playing by itself.
-
“Storm
Over Avallion” 23-minute
featurette about the making of the story, featuring interviews
with Actors Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred,
Angela Bruce, Nicholas Courtney, and
Jean Marsh
(Morgaine), Writer Ben Aaronovitch, Script Editor Andrew Cartmel, and
Director Michael
Kerrigan.
-
“Past and
Future King” 12-minute featurette
about the writing of this story, featuring
interviews with Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel,
Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred,
Angela Bruce, and Michael Kerrigan.
-
“Watertank” 7-minute featurette that goes into detail
about the near-fatal accident that
occurred during the scene of Ace trapped in the
flooding spacecraft airlock when the
glass in the tank she was in cracked open.
-
Studio
Recording. 19 minutes of raw footage
from the studio floor during the original studio
recording session for this story.
-
“From
Kingdom to Queen” 8-minute
interview with Jean Marsh charting her 1965, 1966,
and 1989 appearances in Doctor Who.
- Radio Times Listings. PDF files for your computer containing the
original Radio Times TV
listings for this story, as well as some
contemporaneous articles about it they ran.
On Disc 2:
-
Battlefield Special Edition.
A 95-minute
movie-format version of the story, with numerous deleted scenes edited
back into the action, other reediting of the
action and the music, boosted CGI effects,
and a Dolby 5.1 sound mix. Comes with graphical menus, scene selection
menu,
and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Season 26
Trailer
A
THE WHATs and WHYs of THE KEY TO TIME – SPECIAL EDITION
A very Frequently Asked Question I’ve
been getting lately is “Why are they re-releasing The Key to Time (especially
when half the rest of the series isn’t out yet?)”
The answer has to do with how and why we got the 2002 edition of this
set. In their first DVD releases in
North America
in 2001 and early 2002, BBC Worldwide
where their customers could choose from amongst a list of titles which Doctor Who title they would most like to
see
released next. On that list was The Key to Time, and it won the poll. They went back
to their partners in the
requested that it be released. They met
with some resistance as the
for their market for a box set of this many episodes to be released,
however the BBC WA people emphasized how
important box sets had already become in the North American market and how
having one was in fact now essential
to get stores to stock Doctor Who titles
at all. They’d had a wave of some
individual titles in 2002 that many chains
chose not to stock because all they were was individual stories. A box set was now seen as a requirement to
save the
range’s future in
late 2002 in
and it probably will never happen again.
Due to there being no
quick turnaround time needed, the titles in the 2002 set came out with only minimal extras. Although they did all
have commentaries and production notes, they had no featurettes, only a few
deleted scenes, and the restoration work
was very minimal.
Nowadays, with the revival of the series’ fortunes that began
with the coming of the new series, the market for classic
Doctor Who in the
noticed there have been more of them in recent years, and that when they come
out they get the same full treatment
extras-wise that the individual titles get.
And so in 2007, they decided to bring The Key to Time to the
full press of extras. The release
pattern in
same order that they come out in the
had the old edition on the market, and also they’d fallen behind the
increased pace of releases coming from the
wanted to catch us up on the titles we had never seen before first. Now in 2009, that catching-up has been
largely
completed, and they feel they can spend a release slot on bringing us the
begin selling it in
it from the original edition.
Descriptions of the contents of each title in the set follow
below.
Extras and features that appeared on the
2002 editions are listed in italics.
Doctor Who: The Key to Time Special
Edition starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Mary Tamm as
Romana, and
John
Leeson as the Voice of K9.
-
Available as a
single digistack box set containing 7 discs for the suggested retail price of
$99.98.
-
The individual stories
are also available separately in single Amaray cases for $24.98 each, except
The Armageddon Factor which contains 2
discs and is priced at $34.98.
Descriptions of the individual
titles follow, but remember that everything in
the individual titles is also on the discs in the box set.
The only thing
you miss out on in the box set is the individual title covers.
-
The box set
contains an 8-page booklet that contains the text details on one page each that
are on the
back covers of the separate Amaray box
releases, so you don’t miss out on any of that if you buy the box.
Doctor Who: The Ribos Operation Special
Edition starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Mary Tamm as
Romana, and
John
Leeson as the Voice of K9. Guest starring Cyril Luckham as the White Guardian.
-
All four 25-minute episodes with full
restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus, episode and scene selection
features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Commentary
with actors Tom Baker and Mary Tamm
-
Production
Notes subtitles. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
- “A Matter of Time” 60-minute
documentary about the whole of Graham Williams' producer-ship.
Features
interviews with actors Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, John Leeson, Louise Jameson
(Leela),
Lalla
Ward (the second Romana), Paul Seed (Graff Vynda-K), writers Bob Baker, Dave
Martin,
Gareth
Roberts, David Fisher, Douglas Adams, script editor Anthony Read, visual effects designers
Colin
Mapson and Mat
Production
designers Richard McManon-Smith and Dick Coles, directors Pennant Roberts,
Darrol
Blake, Michael Hayes, Ken Grieve, and Christopher Barry, and Graham
Williams’ widow
Jackie
Williams. Narrated by
Toby Longworth.
- “The Ribos
File” 20-minute featurette about the making of The Ribos Operation.
Features interviews
with actors Mary
Tamm, Paul Seed, Nigel Plaskitt (Unstoffe), and Prentis Hancock (Captain of the
Shrieves), stuntman Stuart Fell, and Doctor Who Magazine editor Clayton Hickman.
- Continuities. 2 minutes of the
intro and outros from the BBC broadcasts.
- Season 16 Trailer.
40 seconds.
- Photo Gallery.
6 minutes of stills. (Not the same ones as on the old set. This is true for all
the discs.)
- Radio Times Listings. A pdf file on the disc of
the TV listings for this story, readable by a computer.
Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet Special
Edition starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Mary Tamm as
Romana, and
John
Leeson as the Voice of K9.
-
All four 25-minute episodes with full
restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus, episode and scene selection
features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
- Commentary 1 with director Pennant
Roberts and actor Bruce Purchase (the Captain)
- Commentary 2 with actors Tom Baker
and Mary Tamm, and script editor Anthony Read.
-
Production
Notes subtitles. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
-
“Parrot
Fashion” 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary. Features interviews with writer Douglas Adams
(archival footage),
Tamm, Bruce
Purchase, Primi Townsend (Mula), Rosalind Lloyd (Nurse/Xanxia), and John
Leeson,
script editor Anthony Read, Visual Effects
Designer Colin Mapson, Film Cameraman Elmer Cassey,
and Director Pennant Roberts.
-
Film Inserts, Deleted Scenes,
and Outtakes. 13 minutes. Over twenty
deleted scenes, alternative
takes, or
outtakes. (Most of the ones from film
inserts also appeared on the 2002 edition.)
- “Weird Science” 17-minute
spoof science show that takes the mickey out of the science in 70s s.f. shows.
Starring David Graham, Matthew Irvine, and STEVII the super-computer.
- Continuities. 4 minutes. (These are the BBC introductions and trailers
for the episodes.)
- Photo Gallery.
7 minutes.
- Radio Times Listings. A pdf file on the disc of
the TV listings for this story, readable by a computer.
Doctor Who: The Stones of Blood Special
Edition starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Mary Tamm as
Romana, and
John
Leeson as the Voice of K9.
-
All four 25-minute episodes with full
restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus, episode and scene selection
features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
- Commentary 1 with actor Mary Tamm and
director Darrol Blake
- Commentary 2 with actors Tom Baker,
Mary Tamm, and Susan Engel (Vivien Fey), and writer David Fisher.
-
Production
Notes subtitles. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
-
“Getting
Blood From the Stones” 27-minute making-of
documentary. Features interviews with
actors Mary
Tamm, John
Leeson, and Susan Engel, writer David Fisher, script editor Anthony Read, Doctor Who Magazine
Editor
Clayton Hickman, SFX Magazine’s
Steve O’Brien, and director Darrol Blake.
-
“Hammer
Horror” 13-minute documentary looking at links between Hammer horror
movies and Doctor Who.
Features
interviews with actor Tom Baker, writers Terrance Dicks and Anthony Read, Shivers’ magazine’s
David Miller, and
English Gothic magazine’s
Jonathan Rigby.
-
“Stones
Free” 9-minute documentary about the real life stone circle in the story,
hosted by Mary Tamm,
where she talks to local historians about the
site.
- Deleted Scenes. Two scenes taken out of
Part Two. 2
minutes’ duration.
- Continuities. 2-1/2
minutes. (These are the BBC
introductions and trailers for the episodes.)
- Model World. 2-1/2 minute excerpt from a contemporaneous
show that looked at the model work in this story.
- Blue Peter. 6-minute segment from
1978 that spotlighted Doctor Who's 15th anniversary.
- Nationwide. 9-minute
segment from 1978, again about the anniversary. Interviews Tom Baker,
Mary Tamm,
and Carole Ann Ford.
- Photo Gallery.
8 minutes.
- Radio Times Listings. A pdf file on the disc of
the TV listings for this story, readable by a computer.
Doctor Who: The Androids of Tara Special
Edition starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Mary Tamm as
Romana, and
John
Leeson as the Voice of K9.
-
All four 25-minute episodes with full restoration
treatment.
-
Graphical menus, episode and scene selection
features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Commentary
with actors Tom Baker and
Mary Tamm, and director Michael Hayes.
-
Production
Notes subtitles. Displays pop-up production
trivia throughout the story.
- “The Humans of
Paul
Lavers (Farrah), and Neville Jason (Prince Reynart), writer David Fisher,
script editor Anthony Read,
and director Michael
Hayes.
- “Now and Then: The Androids of
in the making of this
story, spotlighting how it looked in 1978 compared to the present.
- “Double
Trouble” 11-minute featurette on the history of doubles in Doctor Who. With interviews with Tom
Spilsbury of Doctor Who Magazine,
and Paul Lang and Moray Laing from Doctor
Who Adventures.
- Photo Gallery.
8 minutes.
- Radio Times Listings. A pdf file on the disc of
the TV listings for this story, readable by a computer.
Doctor Who: The Power of Kroll
Special Edition starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who and Mary Tamm
as Romana.
-
All four 25-minute episodes with full
restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus, episode and scene selection
features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Commentary
with actors Tom Baker and John Leeson
-
Production
Notes subtitles. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
- “In Studio” 11 minutes of the
raw studio recording taken from a surviving black and white videotape of the
session, featuring
the making of two scenes from late in the story in the refinery control room.
- Variations. 6-minute
segment from a local news program that visited the location filming.
- “There's Something
About Mary” 10 minute featurette spotlighting Mary Tamm's year on the
show, featuring
interviews with her.
- “Philip Madoc: A Villain for
All Seasons” 10-minute featurette about Philip Madoc's four roles in the
series
and his one in the
second
- Continuities. 3 minutes. (These are
the BBC introductions and trailers for the episodes.)
- Photo Gallery. 5 minutes.
- Radio Times Listings. A pdf file on the disc of
the TV listings for this story, readable by a computer.
Doctor Who: The Armageddon Factor Special
Edition starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Mary Tamm as
Romana,
John Leeson as the
Voice of K9, and guest starring Valentine Dyall as the
Black Guardian.
2
discs.
On Disc 1:
-
All six 25-minute episodes with full
restoration treatment.
-
Graphical menus, episode and scene selection
features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
- Commentary 1 with actors Mary Tamm and
John Woodvine (the Marshal) and director Michael Hayes.
- Commentary 2 with actors Tom Baker,
Mary Tamm, and John Leeson.
-
Production
Notes subtitles. Displays pop-up
production trivia throughout the story.
-
PDF Files. Two pdf files on the disc: one of the Radio
Times TV listings for this story, and the 1979
Doctor
Who Annual. The files are readable by a
computer.
On Disc 2:
-
“Defining
Shadows" 16-minute making-of featurette, featuring interviews with writers
Bob Baker and
Dave
Martin, actors Lalla Ward (Princess Astra), Barry Jackson (Drax), Davyd Harries
(Shapp),
designer Richard
McManan-Smith, and director Michael Hayes.
- Alternative/Extended Scene. 3 minutes
from a black and white videotape of a scene that was truncated
a bit in the final
edit in Part Three of the Doctor meeting up with Shapp on Zeos.
- Directing Who. 8-minute featurette
about Michael Hayes' three stories as the director (those were
The Androids of Tara, The
Armageddon Factor, and City of Death), featuring an interview with
Hayes
himself.
- “Rogue Time Lords” 13-minute
featurette about all the renegade Time Lords we've met down the years.
- Pebble Mill at One. 8-minute
interview with Tom Baker from 1979 tying in to the series hitting its 500th
episode as of Part
One of this story.
- Radiophonic Feature. 4-minute segment
from Pebble Mill in 1979 that visited the BBC Radiophonic
Workshop. Features interviews with
Dick Mills and Brian Hodgson of the Workshop.
- The New Sound of Music. 1-minute bit
from the cutting room floor of that same BBC RW feature.
- Merry Christmas, Doctor Who. Special
1-minute sketch recorded from the Armageddon
Factor set where
K9
asks the Doctor what he most desires at Christmas... and then he has a look at
Romana....
- Continuities. 3 minutes. (These are the BBC introductions and trailers
for the episodes.)
- Photo Gallery.
5 minutes.
- Late Night Stories. Five children’s short story readings by Tom Baker for a short
TV series.
Each
is about 15 minutes. The titles are The Photograph, The Emissary, Nursery Tea, The End
of the
Party, and Sredni Vashtar.
- Easter Egg. Highlight the blank area below to reveal the
invisible text and find out what this is and where…
Highlight the “Continuities” selection on page
2 of the Special Features, then press the right arrow.
A Doctor Who logo
will appear up in the top right corner.
Select this and you will see a reconstruction
of a technical fault that occurred during the
original 1979 broadcast that interrupted the program for
a minute as the video playback machine jammed
and they put up some music to cover the dead air.
The only things that were on the 2002 edition that are not in the
Special Edition are the original photo galleries
(which were very minimal and have been
replaced by much better ones on the special edition) and the Who’s Who
text file biographies of the principal cast members, which were
discontinued from all releases some time ago.
JANUARY CLASSIC SERIES DVDs IN DETAIL
Here’s what you’ll find in the two January classic series Doctor Who releases:
Doctor Who: The War Machines starring William Hartnell as Dr.
Who, Jackie Lane as Dodo, and
introducing Anneke Wills as Polly, and Michael Craze as Ben.
-
All four
25-minute episodes.
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Commentary track
by actor Anneke Wills (Polly) and Director Michael Ferguson.
-
“Now and
Then” A 7-minute featurette
looking at the locations used for the filming in 1966 and how they
look in the present-day.
- Blue Peter.
A 16-minute featurette presenting three different segments from
then-contemporary episodes of
the children’s magazine show Blue Peter. The first is a
segment on the completion of the
The second
is a segment where a War Machine invaded their studio. The third is a segment where they
present a school
class that built its own Dalek
- “One Foot in the Past” An 8-minute
featurette hosted by
shows us around the
what it’s still used for now.
- “WOTAN Assembly” A 9-minute featurette about the
extensive restoration given to these episodes film prints.
-
Information Text. Selecting this
displays pop-up production notes trivia as the story plays.
- Photo Gallery with Info Text Option. Displays 4 minutes worth of
production stills. New to this
DVD is an option
to turn on descriptive captions as the stills play out.
- PDF Materials. Place this DVD into the DVD-ROM drive of a
computer and you can look at two different PDF
files. One is the
original Radio Times TV listings for
this story. The other is a production
design drawing
giving specifications to the independent contractor on how
to build the War Machine for the story.
- 1 Easter Egg. Highlight the area of blank space below to
see what it is and how to find it.
Go into the Episode Selection menu. Highlight the selection for Episode 2, and
then press the right arrow
on
your remote. A Doctor Who logo will appear.
Click on this and you will see a 1 minute 35 mm film reel
that
was shot on location of the War Machine attacking the army.
-
The disc boots up with an ads for the Complete Fourth Series Box Set and
for BBC America, both of which are
skippable with your
remote.
Doctor Who: Four
to Doomsday starring Peter Davison as the Doctor, Janet Fielding as
Tegan,
Sarah
Sutton as Nyssa, and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric.
-
All four
25-minute episodes.
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Commentary track
by actors Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, and Matthew Waterhouse,
and
Director John Black.
-
“Studio
Recording” A 27-minute featurette
of footage from Peter Davison’s first day in the studio playing
the Doctor, showing
highlights of what went on between takes on the studio floor.
- “Saturday
Night at the Mill” A 14-minute TV
interview recorded with Peter Davison in 1980 just after his
casting as the
Doctor.
-
Theme Music
Video. A 3-1/2 minute featurette
presenting a mix of the “starfield” title sequences used for
Tom Baker’s final season and all of
Peter Davison’s era to the accompaniment of a new Dolby 5.1 extended
remix of the theme
music from this era. This featurette has
been previously seen in the “New Beginnings”
box set.
-
Photo
Gallery. A 7-minute featurette showing
production stills taken during the making of the story.
-
Information
Text. Selecting this displays pop-up
production notes trivia as the story plays.
-
Radio Times PDF
Files. If you place this DVD into the
DVD-ROM drive of a computer, you can find and view
a PDF file
containing the original Radio Times TV
schedule listings for this story.
- The disc boots up
with an ads for the Complete Fourth Series Box Set and for BBC America, both of
which are
skippable with
your remote.
NOVEMBER 2008 NEW SERIES DVDs IN DETAIL
Here’s what you’ll find in the two November new series Doctor Who releases:
Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series starring David Tennant as the Doctor and
Catherine Tate as Donna Noble,
with
guest stars Kylie Minogue as Astrid Peth, Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones, John
Barrowman as
Captain
Jack Harkness, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, and Billie Piper as Rose
Tyler.
6-disc set. 14 episodes. $99.98
is the suggested retail price. Catalog
number 3000018377 for the standard
cardboard box, and 3000019207 for special steelbox available only at Best Buy
stores.
On all the discs:
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Dolby 5.1 sound
-
16:9 Enhanced
aspect ratio.
-
Discs 1-3 boot
up with trailers for other BBC Video DVD sets, but these are skippable with
your remote.
On Disc 1:
-
Voyage of the Damned (the
71-minute 2007 Christmas special. Guest stars Kylie Minogue as Astrid Peth.)
with optional commentary track by actor Russell
Tovey (Midshipman Frame),
composer), and first assistant director Peter Bennett.
-
Children in Need: Time Crash (the 8-minute charity special scene of the
Tenth Doctor (David Tennant)
meeting his earlier self, the Fifth Doctor (Peter
Davison). Viewers may wish to watch this
first as
it fits into the opening scene of Voyage of the Damned.)
-
David
Tennant’s Video Diary. 15 minutes
of David Tennant documenting his mad rush to the
lighting ceremony at the famous
-
Deleted Scenes.
Russell T. Davies introduces three scenes deleted from Voyage of the Damned,
and indeed he introduces all the deleted
scenes on all the other discs where they appear. 3 minutes.
-
BBC
Trailers. Five trailers used on
broadcast and in cinemas to advertise Voyage
of the Damned. 4 minutes.
On Disc 2:
-
Episode 1: Partners in Crime with optional
commentary by Executive Producer/Writer Russell T. Davies,
Executive
Producer Julie Gardner, and Director James Strong.
-
Episode 2: The Fires of Pompeii with optional
commentary by actors David Tennant and Catherine Tate,
and Production Manager Tracie Simpson.
-
Episode 3: Planet
of the Ood with optional commentary by actor Roger Griffiths (Cmdr. Kess)
and
Director Graeme
Harper.
-
All episodes are
45 minutes in duration.
-
Howard Attfield
Deleted Scenes. Three scenes and their
introductions totaling 7 minutes where the late
actor Howard Attfield had returned to play
Donna’s father in Partners in Crime,
but which scenes
were later reshot with Bernard Cribbins as
Donna’s grandfather Wilf instead when it became clear that
Attfield was too
ill to continue later in the series, and indeed he sadly passed away not long
afterwards.
-
Deleted
Scenes. 11 minutes worth of eight other
deleted scenes from the other episodes on this disc.
-
BBC
Trailers. Six trailers used on broadcast
and in cinemas to advertise these episodes.
4 minutes.
On Disc 3:
-
Episode 4: The
Sontaran Stratagem with optional commentary by actor Dan Starkey (Commander
Skor),
Neill
Gorton (Prosthetics Designer), and Executive Producer Julie Gardner.
-
Episode 5: The
Poison Sky with optional commentary by actor David Tennant, Producer Susie
Liggat, and
Executive
Producer Russell T. Davies.
-
Episode 6: The
Doctor’s Daughter with optional commentary by actors Catherine
(Jenny),
and Orchestra Conductor Ben Foster. Note that the accompanying
episode guide booklet
promises a different commentary line-up to the one
that’s actually here. This appears
to be a mistake
in the booklet, and not like the commentary
swap that happened on the North American Series Three set
last year as the
-
Episode 7: The Unicorn and the Wasp with optional
commentary by actors Fenella Woolgar (Agatha Christie),
and Felicity Kendall (Lady Eddison).
-
All episodes are
45 minutes in duration.
-
Deleted
Scenes. 14 minutes worth of scenes
deleted from episodes 6 and 7, eight scenes in total.
-
BBC
Trailers. Four trailers used on
broadcast to advertise these episodes. 2
minutes.
On Disc 4:
-
Episode 8: Silence in the Library with optional commentary
by actor David Tennant, Writer and future
Executive
Producer Steven Moffat, and Executive Producer Julie
Gardner.
-
Episode 9:
Louise Page, and Director Euros Lyn.
-
Episode 10:
Writer/Executive
Producer Russell T. Davies.
-
All episodes are
45 minutes in duration.
-
Deleted
Scenes. 6 minutes worth of deleted
scenes from episodes 9, 11, and 13. Four
scenes in all.
-
BBC
Trailers. Three trailers used on
broadcast to advertise these episodes. 2
minutes.
On Disc 5:
-
Episode 11: Turn Left with optional commentary by
actors Catherine Tate, Jacqueline King (Sylvia Noble),
and Bernard Cribbins (Wilf).
-
Episode 12: The Stolen Earth with optional
commentary by actor David Tennant, Executive Producer
Julie Gardner, and Executive Producer/Writer Russell T. Davies.
-
Episode 13: Journey’s
End with optional commentary by actors David Tennand and Catherine Tate,
and Executive Producer/Writer Russell T.
Davies.
-
Episodes 11 and
12 are 45 minutes in duration. Episode
13 is 63 minutes.
-
David
Tennant’s Video Diary. 16 minutes
of behind-the-scenes footage shot by David Tennant during
the making of The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End.
-
“The
Journey (So Far)”
A new 31-minute featurette that looks back on all four seasons of
the new series.
-
BBC
Trailers. Five trailers used on
broadcast and in cinemas to advertise these episodes. 2 minutes.
On Disc 6:
-
14 episodes of Doctor Who: Confidential: Cut Down. This is the companion behind-the-scenes
documentary
series that airs directly after each parent
episode. There is one for every episode
in this set.
Each is between
10-15 minutes long.
Also in the Box Set:
-
An 18-page
illustrated booklet called “Series 4 Episode Guide,” including an
introduction from Russell T. Davies.
Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest an animated adventure starring the voices of
David Tennant as the Doctor,
Freema
Agyeman as Martha Jones and Anthony Stewart Head as the villainous Balthazar.
1
disc. Main program is 47
minutes. Suggested
retail price of $9.98.
- This was originally a series of
3-minute-long separate episodes that ran as part of the children’s
magazine
series Totally Doctor
Who in 2007 concurrent with the broadcast of the 2007 season of Doctor Who
(Series Three). All of the episodes have been edited together
into one program on this DVD.
-
Graphical menus,
scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
16:9 enhanced
aspect ratio.
-
Stereo sound.
-
The disc boots
up with ads for other BBC DVD sets.
These are skippable with your remote.
-
Character Profiles. Displays text and graphics of each of the
speaking characters in the story.
-
Actor
Interviews. 1-3 minute interviews with
each of the following participants:
David Tennant,
Freema
Agyeman, Anthony Stewart Head, Toby Longworth, and director Gary Russell.
-
Animation
Tests. 42 seconds worth of animation
demonstrations used in the pre-production process.
-
Photo
Gallery.
-
Trailers for the
Complete Fourth Series box set and
also The Sarah Jane Adventures.
-
Behind the
Scenes With the Animators. A 2-minute look at the animation studio.
-
Behind the
Scenes With the Voice Artists (with Barney
Harwood). This segment, which appeared
on
Totally Doctor Who, sees series host
Barney Harwood visit the recording studio and contribute a
small acting role of his own.
-
Dialogue
Recording: Episode 1. Raw video footage of the actors recording
what was episode 1 of the series.
4 minutes.
- Dialogue Recording: Episode 9. More raw video of
voice recording, this time from episode 9.
4 minutes.
- Animatics and Deleted Scenes. 9 minutes of sketch art for scenes that were
later fully animated, and a few
that never were.
-
1 Easter Egg. Highlight the
invisible text area below to see what it is and how to find it.
-
While on the main menu, highlight the “Extras”
selection and then press the up arrow on your remote.
A switch on the TARDIS console will light up. Click on this and you will see a clip of
David Tennant
recording the section where the Doctor imitates a
pirate.
OCTOBER 2008 DVDs DETAILED
Here’s what you’ll find in the October North American Doctor Who-releated releases:
First, every October disc starts off with a trailer for The Complete Fourth Series Box Set starring
David Tennant.
Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who and
Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith.
-
4 25-minute
episodes.
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Commentary track
by actors Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, and Philip Madoc (Solon), Producer
Philip Hinchcliffe, and Director Christopher Barry.
-
“Getting a
Head” A
new 32-minute behind-the-scenes featurette narrated by Paul McGann.
Features interviews
with actors Philip Madoc, Cynthia Grenville (Maron), Gillian Brown (Ohica),
and Colin Fay (Condo), producer Philip
Hinchcliffe, director Christopher Barry, designer Barry
Newbury, and musician Dudley Simpson.
-
“Designs
on Karn” A
new 6-minute interview with designer Barry Newbury about how the sets were
made.
-
“Set Tour” A 2-minute
computer-generated virtual tour of the studio and how the sets were fitted into
it.
-
Photo
Gallery. A 5-minute presentation of
still photos taken during the production.
-
Sketch
Gallery. A 2-minute presentation of the
designer’s sketches and of the DVD featurette artwork.
-
Information
Text. Select this option and production
trivia subtitles will appear as you watch the story.
-
Radio Times
Listings. Place the DVD into the DVD-ROM
drive of a computer and you can access pdf
files containing the original Radio Times TV
listings for this story.
-
Two Easter
Eggs. Highlight the blank text below to
see what it is and how to find it:
Egg 1: Go to the Special Features menu and highlight
“Set Tour,” then press the left arrow on your remote.
A Doctor Who logo
will appear. Click on this and
you’ll see and hear being read a letter
of complaint written by a young fan in 1975 to
“Robin Bland,” the so-called author of the story,
and script editor Robert Holmes’ reply.
Egg
2: Go to the Episode Selection menu, then highlight
the Main Menu option. Then press the
left
arrow. A Doctor Who logo will appear. Click on this and for about a minute and a
half you’ll
see the virtual studio tour take you into the Sacred Flame
of Karn and then play you a video
showing how this story links to some of those used in the
spinoff fiction.
Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time Lord starring Colin Baker as the
Doctor, Nicola Bryant as Peri, Bonnie Langford
as
Melanie, Michael Jayston as the Valeyard, Lynda Bellingham as the Inquisitor,
Tony Selby as Glitz, and
Anthony
Ainley as the Master.
Four separate Amaray-style cases, each
containing one disc which has one of the four sub-stories on it.
Each disc
has graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles
for the hearing impaired. Each also has
the Information Text option that plays pop-up production trivia subtitles
as you watch the story when selected.
In
-
Disc One, containing the sub-story The Mysterious Planet. 4 25-minute episodes.
-
Two different
commentary tracks. The first covers the
whole story and features actors Colin Baker,
Nicola
Bryant, Tony Selby, and Adam Blackwood (Balazar). The
second is only on the first episode
and features script editor Eric Saward
detailing the problems he encountered in scripting the season.
-
“The
Making of The Mysterious Planet” A
new 25-minute behind-the-scenes documentary featuring
interviews with actors Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant,
Michael Jayston, and Tony Selby, script editor
Eric Saward,
musician Dominic Glynn, visual effects designer Mike Kelt, and journalists Jim
Sangster
and Clayton Hickman. Also features archive clips from Blue Peter. Narrated
by Michael Jayston.
-
Deleted and
Extended Scenes. 8 minutes of fifteen
different scenes that were cut or trimmed before the
final edit.
-
Trails and
Continuity. 10 minutes of trailers and
“previously on Doctor Who”
segments used by the BBC
before or after each broadcast.
-
35mm Film
Sequence. The entire 1-minute motion
control model shot sequence of the Time Lord space
station seen at the start of the story.
-
Music
Videos. Leads to a sub-menu where you can
select one of three video sequences, each with 2-3
optional soundtracks. They are:
o Clean Titles. Plays the opening and closing title sequences
in full without any credits on them.
§
Sound options
are Original Music, a 2008 Stereo Remix by original arranger Dominic
Glynn, and that same 2008 remix rejigged again
for Dolby 5.1.
o Theme Music Remix. Plays treated title sequence video mixed with
footage from the stories to the
accompaniment of one
of three sound options:
§
Sound
options are Original (which is the stereo version of the theme music Dominic
Glynn
made in 1986 for use
on commercial albums and cassettes and later CDs), a 2008 Stereo
Remix
where Glynn has rejigged that version, and then that same 2008 remix again but
in
Dolby 5.1.
o The Trial Theme. Plays a montage of video from throughout the
trial to the accompaniment of
a music track Dominic Glynn made for a Doctor Who Magazine promotional disc in
1987,
which mixed some of his incidental music from
this story with some newly composed music.
§
Sound
options are Stereo or Dolby 5.1
-
Wogan. Plays a 14-minute section of an episode of
Terry Wogan’s talk show from 1986 where
Colin Baker and
Lynda Bellingham were interviewed.
-
Blue Peter. Plays a 7-minute segment of a 1986 edition of
the children’s magazine show that showed off
the robots from this story, briefly spoke with
Nabil Shaban in costume as Sil, and also briefly spoke
with Colin Baker and Bonnie Langford.
-
Photo
Gallery. Plays a 7-minute presentation
of still photos taken during the production.
-
There is one
featurette that is on the Region 2 edition of this disc that has had to be
removed from this
North
American edition due to rights clearance issues. This was a 2-minute segment
from a viewer
feedback show called “Points of View”
hosted by Anne Robinson.
In
- Disc Two,
containing the sub-story Mindwarp. 4 25-minute episodes.
- Commentary track by actors Colin Baker and
Nicola Bryant and writer Philip Martin.
- “The Making of Mindwarp” A new
20-minute behind-the-scenes documentary featuring interviews
with actors Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Michael Jayston,
Brian Blessed (King Yrcanos),
Patrick
Ryecart (Crozier), script editor Eric Saward, writer Philip Martin, and
journalists Jim
Sangster and Clayton Hickman.
-
Deleted and
Extended Scenes. 9 minutes of footage
from seventeen different scenes that were cut or
trimmed before the final edit.
-
“Now and
Then: On The Trail of a Time Lord”
A 21-minute featurette that looks at the locations used
in all of the trial stories as they were then
and as they are now, and also talks about the changing
techniques used to capture location material on Doctor Who.
- “A Fate Worse Than Death?” Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant watch and
commentate on the final 2
minutes of the final episode of the final story
where more information about Peri’s departure is
revealed to the Doctor. Don’t watch this unless until
you’ve seen the entire trial all the way through,
as it’s a spoiler.
-
Trails and
Continuity. 3 minutes of trailers and
“previously on Doctor Who”
segments used by the BBC
before or after each broadcast.
-
Children in
Need. A 3 minute segment from the 1986
“Children in Need” appeal where a couple dozen
former cast members present checks of money
raised by fans for this annual charity telethon.
-
Lenny
Henry. A 5-minute Doctor Who spoof sketch from The
Lenny Henry Show that aired
shortly before this time.
- Photo Gallery. Plays a 7-minute presentation
of still photos taken during the production.
In
-
Disc Three, containing the sub-story Terror of the Vervoids. 4 25-minute episodes.
-
Commentary track
by actors Colin Baker and Michael Craig (Commodore Travers), writers Pip and
Jane Baker, and director Chris Clough.
-
“The
Making of Terror of the Vervoids”
A new 19-minute behind-the-scenes documentary featuring
interviews with actors Colin Baker, Michael Craig and
Malcolm Tierney (Doland), writers Pip and
Jane
Baker, script editor Eric Saward, and journalists Jim Sangster and Clayton
Hickman.
-
Deleted and
Extended Scenes. 14 minutes worth of
edits and trims made to thirty-two different scenes.
-
Trails and
Continuity. 3 minutes of more trailers
and “previously on Doctor Who”
segments.
-
“The Lost
Season.” An 11-minute featurette
about the stories that were being planned to form the
original 23rd season of Doctor Who before the series was put on
hiatus by Michael Grade.
Narrated by Colin
Baker and featuring interviews with script editor Eric Saward and writer
Philip Martin.
-
“Now, Get
Out of That” A new 28-minute
featurette about cliffhangers and their uses and drawbacks
throughout all of Doctor
Who. Features interviews with actors
Tom Baker (the Fourth Doctor),
Peter Davison
(the Fifth Doctor), Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), Anneke Wills (Polly),
Sophie Aldred (Ace), and writers Robert Shearman,
-
Saturday Picture
Show. A 7-minute segment of a 1986
magazine show that interviewed Bonnie Langford
about her taking on the role of Melanie.
-
Photo
Gallery. A 6-minute presentation of
still photos taken during the production.
In
-
Disc Four,
containing the concluding sub-story The
Ultimate Foe. 2 episodes, 25 and 30
minutes respectively.
-
Two commentary
tracks. The first features actors Colin
Baker and Tony Selby and director Chris Clough
on episode 13, and
then they are joined by writers Pip and Jane Baker on episode 14. The second
commentary is only on
episode 13 and features script editor Eric Saward discussing by himself the
scripting problems
that came with this season and his own acrimonious departure at this time.
-
“Making of
the Ultimate Foe” A new 15-minute
behind-the-scenes featurette featuring interviews
with actors Colin Baker, Michael Jayston, and
Tony Selby, writers Pip and Jane Baker,
script editor Eric Saward, director Chris Clough,
and journalists Jim Sangster and Clayton Hickman.
-
Deleted and
Extended Scenes. 5 minutes worth of
deletions and edits made to ten different scenes.
-
Trails and Continuity. 1 minute of more trailers and
“previously on Doctor Who”
segments.
-
“Trials
and Tribulations” A new 55-minute
documentary about the whole of the Sixth Doctor’s era
and the numerous obstacles it had to face both
from within and without, leading to Colin Baker’s
dismissal.
One of the best featurettes yet, it features new interviews with actors
Colin Baker
and Nicola Bryant, script editor Eric Saward,
writers Pip and Jane Baker and Philip Martin,
former BBC Head of Series and Serials David Reid
and his successor Jonathan Powell (under whose
dubious leadership this era was made), fan adviser
Ian Levine, fanzine editor Gary Leigh,
and archival interviews with producer John
Nathan-Turner and BBC1 Controller Michael Grade.
-
1985
Hiatus. 4 minutes worth of BBC news
clips that covered the ’85 hiatus events.
-
Doctor in
Distress. The infamous 4-minute music
video released during 1985 hiatus to raise money
for charity and demand the return of Doctor Who to television.
-
Open Air. A 10-minute segment from a 1986 edition of
this BBC feedback show that pitted disgruntled
fans from the Doctor
Who Appreciation Society against writers Pip and Jane Baker and a disdainful
host. Of particular interest is that one of these
fans is none other than Chris Chibnall, who twenty
years later would
become the head writer and showrunner on Torchwood
and also wrote the David
Tennant
Doctor Who
episode 42.
-
Saturday
Superstore. A 13-minute segment of Colin
Baker appearing on this Saturday morning call-in
show for kids -
from 1986.
-
Photo
Gallery. A 5-minute presentation of
photographic stills taken during production.
-
PDF Files. Place this disc into your computer and you
can access three different PDF files.
They are:
o Radio Times. The TV listings for all 14 episodes of the
trial.
o BBC Press Offfice Release. A 12-page press release about the season from
1986.
o Zig Zag.
A 4-page segment from a magazine that went behind-the-scenes on the
production
of this season.
There are no Easter Eggs anywhere on this set.
The Sarah Jane
Adventures – The Complete First Season starring
Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith,
Yasmin Paige as Maria
Jackson, Tommy Knight as Luke Smith, Daniel Anthony as
with
Alexander Armstrong as the voice of Mr. Smith and John Leeson as the voice of
K9.
On every disc:
-
Graphical menus,
episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.
-
Stereo sound on
all episodes.
- “Sarah’s PC” A facsimile of Sarah’s desk computer
with three sub-folders:
- “Character Profiles” Text files about all the main
characters we’ve met up to this point.
- “Investigating Tools” Text files about all of Sarah
Jane’s hardware we’ve seen to this point.
- “Alien Profiles” Text files about the alien creatures
we’ve met so far.
On each
disc, each sub-folder is added to with the new characters, tools, or aliens
we’ve met
in the episodes on
that disc.
On Disc 1:
Story One: Invasion of the Bane (60-minute
pilot episode)
-
“Telescope” Graphics of the telescope in Sarah’s
attic leading to two trailers, one for the pilot
episode that was used on the BBC’s website, and one for the Doctor Who Complete Third
Series Box Set.
- “Mr. Smith” Sarah’s super-computer opens up to
reveal links to the following featurettes:
- “Sarah Jane Smith: From Journalist to
Time Traveller and Beyond”
A
collection of clips from Sarah’s episodes of Doctor Who, telling the story of
her friendship with the Doctor. Stories that are highlighted are The Time Warrior,
Planet
of the Spiders (where we see the Third Doctor regenerate into the Fourth),
Robot, The Sontaran
Experiment, The Hand of Fear, The Five Doctors,
School
Each
starts with some explanatory text.
- BBC Norfolk Web TV: Interview with
Elisabeth Sladen. A
7-minute interview with the star.
- Blue Peter Footage. A 5-minute segment from children’s
magazine show Blue Peter
where they
go behind-the-scenes on the sets and talk with Elisabeth Sladen,
Yasmin Paige,
and Samantha Bond (Mrs. Wormwood)
- Behind the Scenes. A collection of still
photos taken during production.
-
When booting up, this disc plays a trailer for
the movie Journey to the Center of the
Earth and
another one for BBC
America. These are skippable with your
remote.
On Disc 2:
Story Two: Revenge of the Slitheen (2 30-minute
episodes) and
Story Three: Eye of the Gorgon (2 30-minute episodes)
-
When booting up,
this disc plays a trailer for the BBC’s Robin Hood series. It is
skippable with
your remote.
On Disc 3:
Story Four: Warriors
of Kudlak (2 30-minute episodes) and
Story Five: Whatever
Happened to Sarah Jane? (2 30-minute
episodes)
-
When booting up,
this disc plays a trailer for Doctor Who
– The Complete Fourth Series box set.
It is skippable
with your remote.
On Disc 4:
Story Six: The
Last Boy (2 30-minute episodes)
-
“The Sofa
Area”: A graphic of Sarah’s
sofa, where a book sits on the nearby coffee table. This
book opens to display text synopses of every
episode in the series.
- “Telescope” Graphics of Sarah’s telescope again
leading to two trailers for the series used on
CBBC, one of 20 seconds and one of 40 seconds.
-
“Mr. Smith” More super-computer links to the following
featurettes:
-
“Blue
Peter TV Spot: Making of a Slitheen
Mask” A 4-minute segment from Blue Peter
where Elisabeth Sladen is interviewed and where
Yasmin Paige, Tommy Knight, and
Daniel Anthony
try to make a Slitheen mask.
-
“BBC
Breakfast News TV Spot: Interview with
Elisabeht Sladen” An 8-minute
interview
with Elisabeth Sladen from 2006 just before her
reappearance in the School Reunion
episode of Doctor
Who.
-
Audio Adventures
Two 1-minute audio-only
trailers for two Sarah Jane Adventures
talking books that available
Elsewhere: The
Thirteenth Stone and The Glittering Storm.
-
Photo
Gallery. A collection of still photos
taken during the production.
-
Quiz
Area…. Leading to Outtakes.
You’re asked some multiple choice questions about the
episodes.
Get five of them in a row right, and you’ll be played fifteen
different outtakes
from the series, totaling about four minutes.
and trailers that
ran on the original BBC1 broadcasts of
this story.
Though we can’t play the
worth our while to keep an eye on what they’re getting over there, as
the titles we get are usually what’s first been
released over there, and usually with the same sets of bonus features, and
usually (but not always) in the same order
they got it.
The titles they’ve got that we haven’t yet are as follows:
Doctor Who (the TV Movie)
starring Paul McGann (
This may never be released in
this production.
Davros
Box Set (
The Next Doctor (
The Rescue and The Romans starring
William Hartnell (2-story box set.
in July 2009.)
Attack of the Cybermen starring
Colin Baker (
Image of the Fendahl starring
Tom Baker (
The Deadly Assassin starring
Tom Baker (
Upcoming…
Delta and the Bannermen starring
Sylvester McCoy (
Planet of the Dead starring
David Tennant (
The War Games starring
Patrick Troughton (
Remembrance of the Daleks:
Special Edition starring Sylvester McCoy (
The Black Guardian Trilogy starring
Peter Davison (3 stories in a 4-disc set.
Stories are Mawdryn Undead,
Terminus, and Enlightenment.
Torchwood: Children of Earth starring
John Barrowman and Eve Myles (2 discs, standard DVD or Blu-Ray.
The Twin Dilemma starring
Colin Baker (
The Keys of Marinus starring
William Hartnell (
Dalek War Box Set starring
Jon Pertwee (
Frontier in Space and Planet of the Daleks. The third episode of Planet of the Daleks has been restored
to
full color for the first time in 30 years for this DVD release.)
There will reportedly be no classic series releases in October or
November in the
releases from the new series and its spinoffs, though those titles are yet to
be announced.
There is one further box set being heavily rumored to be coming out in
2010.
It’s s called Myths and Legends
and will contain three stories that were all based on classical Greek
myths.
These are Jon Pertwee’s The
Time Monster and Tom Baker’s Underworld and The Horns of Nimon.
Doctor
Who is the copyright of the BBC, BBC Worldwide, BBC Video, and is distributed
on VHS and DVD in
It was previously released on home video by
CBS/Fox. No infringement upon this copyright is intended in any way by this
site. This site is a purely volunteer effort
to inform consumers as to where they can find
Doctor Who videos, and it details what is on each video. All images
used by this site are also the copyright of the
BBC
and/or CBS/Fox Video and/or Warner Home Video and are taken from Steve Hill's
Doctor Who Image Archive at http://www.shillpages.com/dw/dwia.htm
(so
sue him first). J
I hope this all helps!
Compiled by Steve Manfred, smanfred at comcast.net (change at to @ and remove the spaces to
email me)