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Doctor Who - The Collection: Season 18 Blu-ray

28 November 2018 SebDWO Merchandise News

BBC Studios continues to offer Doctor Who fans the opportunity to build their own home archive on Blu-ray. Following the sell-out success of Tom Baker’s debut season, his seventh and final series will be released on 25th February as Doctor Who - The Collection: Season 18.

Tom Baker’s final year saw the programme undergo radical changes in front of the cameras and behind the scenes. Producer John Nathan-Turner revamped the series with new writers, new directors, a new title sequence and theme arrangement, glossy production standards and – throughout the course of the season – a brand new regular cast. Over seven classic adventures the Doctor and his companions encountered the Foamasi, Meglos, the Marshmen, vampires and Tharils, building to a final deadly showdown between the Doctor and his arch nemesis the Master. As a special bonus this set also includes the 1981 K9 & Company Christmas pilot episode, plus hours of brand new material.

Starring alongside Tom Baker are Lalla Ward as Romana, Matthew Waterhouse as Adric, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan, Anthony Ainley as the Master, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah-Jane Smith and John Leeson as K9.

Special Features exclusive to this set include: a new Making-Of documentary and updated special effects for Logopolis, revealing new 2019 commentaries moderated by Matthew Sweet (Tom Baker on The Leisure Hive, Lalla Ward & Rachel Davies on State Of Decay), surround sound mix for Warriors’ Gate, rare behind-the-scenes footage from The Leisure Hive, Full Circle and Logopolis, eight more editions of Behind The Sofa, brand new documentaries The Writers Room and Weekend With Waterhouse, a new interview with K9 & Company’s Ian Sears, another dip into the Panopticon convention archives with Tom Baker, HD photo galleries plus scripts, production files and rare documentation provided as PDFs. The eight-disc box set also includes hours of extensive special features previously released on DVD.

All material has been remastered for Blu-ray by Peter Crocker and Mark Ayres. Lee Binding has provided stunning packaging and new series writer/content consultant Pete McTighe has written another extensive booklet. Russell Minton is Executive Producer.

Blu-ray trivia: when filming took place for Logopolis (1980), Tom Baker’s last adventure, the intention was to shoot at the University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Observatory. Instead, production took place at Crowsley Park with the team using model shots. For the brand new Blu-ray, almost 40 years later, BBC Studios received permission to film at Jodrell Bank with a drone. Offered as an alternative viewing option, fans will now be able to experience the finished product just as it was originally intended. 

The set will be released on 25th February 2019, priced £56.16, although we expect the date could be pushed back if there are any technical issues.

+ PREORDER this title from Amazon.co.uk! 

[Source: BBC Studios]

The 50 Year Diary - The Fourth Doctor Overview

04 August 2014 Will-Brooks General News

Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start... 

Day 580 Extra: Fourth Doctor Overview

Dear diary,

Well. It feels like a long old time since I’ve had to write one of these entries, doesn’t it? As is tradition, let’s take a look back to my Third Doctor Overview (posted way back on February 4th) and see what I said about the era ahead of me...

And now I’m off into a bold new era. It’s a bit of a false start from tomorrow, because while Tom Baker is new to the mix, we’ve still got the same UNIT lab, with Bessie, and the Brig, and Barry Letts in the producer’s chair. It’s a few days from now, when The Ark in Space rolls around and Philip Hinchcliffe takes over the reigns that I’ll be entering the period that’s repeatedly held up as being ‘the best Doctor Who ever made’.

...I’ve never really understood the fuss. I’ve seen plenty of his stories before, and while I know he’s very good in the role, I’ve never been completely floored by his performance in the way that people seem to expect you to be. But I’m excited. Watching through this far has given me a whole new perspective and insight into the first eleven years of the programme, and I’m sure I’ll keep finding things to love as I move into the Fourth Doctor’s era.

All of that sounds cautiously optimistic, doesn’t it? I’m pleased to say that these last seven seasons have given me a great insight in to the Fourth Doctor, and I can understand why people love him so much, even if I’m still not able to call him my favourite Doctor ever. As usual, in the sidebar to the right, you’ll find a list of all the Fourth Doctor stores, listed by their average rating from The 50 Year Diary. You can click on the image for a larger one.

As ever, looking at the figures gives some somewhat surprising results for me. I’d expected my highest rated seasons to be Season Fourteen (for the boost the programme gets when Leela joined), and Season Eighteen, because I’ve felt as though I’ve really enjoyed this one. Actually, though, Season Thirteen takes the lead, with a whopping average of 7.22/10 - making it one of my highest rated seasons ever! Maybe there is something to the idea of calling that period a ‘golden age’!

At the other end of the spectrum, the Key to Time arc in Season Sixteen has come out as my lowest rated season ever - averaging just 5.81/10. I think I’d just grown weary of things by that point, and a dislike for The Pirate Planet really didn’t help matters very much. Indeed, that story came in as my lowest rated of all the Fourth Doctor’s tales - averaging just 3.75 across the four episodes. It’s a score which also (sorry, The Pirate Planet) pushes it in to being my lowest rated story of the first eighteen seasons. Ouch.

That Season Fourteen ‘Leela Boost’ does rear its head in the figures, though, because The Face of Evil has come out as my highest rated Tom Baker story - with an average of 8.25. It’s not enough to push it in to the spot of ‘top story’, but it does make it joint-fourth place alongside The Macra Terror and Inferno. Well done, Evil One!

And that’s that! Seven seasons later, Tom Baker has hung up his scarf and handed over the keys of the TARDIS to Peter Davison. I’m really looking forward to this new era, and seeing how it stacks up against everything that we’ve been through so far. The Tom Baker years have been a bit of an up-and-down, with stories from all three producer- ships doing both very well, and not so well. As with all Doctor Who, there’s good bits and bad bits, but there’s always something to enjoy.

Most surprising to me was that on average, Tom is actually my least favourite Doctor! With an average of 6.54 across his seven seasons, he comes in marginally behind William Hartnell in the runnings (which also surprises me, because I remember rather liking Hartnell). I guess if there’s a moral to this, it’s that I don’t really have a ‘least favourite Doctor. Not really. He just happens to be my fourth favourite at the moment...

Although this last season has taken place in the 1980s, it’s really the arrival of Davison to the role which kicks off the decade, and it’s not one which is famed for being Doctor Who’s best. I’m keen to get on with it, though, and see what I think...