As the cyber-leader would say - `Excellent!'

Barcode: 5014503115326

Earthshock - beginning with the return of the cybermen with a new design and ending with the death of companion Adric, it makes for a memorable story and many would argue that to this day it remains one of the best 5th Doctor stories. Many comment on the new feel beginning to creep into the series with this episode, sign of John Nathan-Turner's vision of how the series would evolve during the 80s.

This episode feels filmic in its story and effects, in particular, it's very `Aliens' with the soldiers creeping through dark tunnels and corridors and Tegan taking on an almost Ripley type role as she dons some overalls and arms herself with a cyberman's gun. This is what Earthshock is all about, pace, tension and action, which it does extremely well - Nyssa, Tegan and even the Doctor all get to shoot guns which I thought was pretty cool! A little uncharacteristic but it's nice to see a little variation once in a while and plus, the dire situation of this episode would push anyone to desperate measures.

Despite many saying Beryl Reid was out of place as the freighter captain I think she was great in the role, getting the balance of comedy and stern authority-figure just right. Lieutenant Scott and his soldiers are great too, showing immense courage against the cybermen and adding a grittyness to the episode which brilliantly counterbalances the cold, calculated nature of the cybermen.

The cybermen themselves are ridiculously camp but still feel extremely threatening and dangerous. I actually really like the 80s design of them too, maybe even more than the cybermen in the 2006 series. The threat they pose to earth with their bomb is extremely palpable and one of my favourite scenes from this serial is when the cyber leader threatens to kill Tegan if the Doctor does not co-operate. It's an intensely moving moment as he runs to her side, refusing to let the cybermen kill her and shows the human side to the Doctor that makes him such an intriguing figure.

The Doctor and all three of his companions really get to shine in this episode - it's a shame Nyssa gets stuck in the TARDIS for most of the episode as she's such a charming character but it's nice to see her remaining cool, composed and intelligent in the face of danger. Adric on the other hand is an enigma, I know a lot of people don't like him although personally I don't really feel either way for him. That said, even I felt a little sad at his death though as he stares unflinching out of the freighter's window at the approaching earth.

So, all in all, I found it an immensely enjoyable serial and one I could go back to again and again and never tire of. The extras on this DVD only add to the story's appeal with the customary talking heads documentary which is always nice as it sets the context of the episode within Doctor Who as a whole. Truly, the highlight has to be the commentary though featuring Peter, Janet, Sarah and Matthew - in other words, the Doctor and all three of his companions. As usual, Matthew and Sarah remain quite subdued as Peter and Janet do most of the talking, just as cheeky as ever - all four have really interesting points to express on the story though. It's great fun to listen to and serves as the perfect accompaniment to an excellent story.

"The Good, the Fun & the Myrka"

A fine boxset where the Silurians & Sea Devils go on the pull for customers charitably taking their socially inpet moose of a friend Warriors of the Deep with them.

Dr Who & the Silurians is the most serious and poignant of the stories. The themes of obsession, xenophobia and greed are well expressed in a clever story with a touch of Quatermass as the invaders were on Earth before man.

Shorn of the broad comedy of his 1st story Pertwee excels as the story's moral voice, desparately trying to forge a peace between both sides. Here is a doctor who can see the bigger picture even though most other characters and at many points in the story even the viewers, do not support him.

The supporting characters offer a range of obsessives; paranoid Dr Lawrence, ruthless Dr Quinn determined to use the Silurains to make his name and the xenophobic Major Baker. The misguided patriot is a great favourite of author Malcom Hulke.

If Humanity is not at its best in this stiory, the Silurians are no better attempting to reign destruction on the upstart apes. They are a good design with body language and a special voice distracting from obvious joins in the costume.

Unit is at its most military and seems to actually have troops in this story. The cosy Unit family atmosphere is in short supply and the dependent but less chummy relationship between the Doctor and Brig serves the story well.

Nice touches are sound effects for Silurian technology & that the Doctor has difficulty writing out a chemical formula, a very naturalistic moment from Mr. Pertwee.

A little overlong but still v good stuff.

The Sea Devils is less poignant but more mobile. the Doctor is still playing Peace Ambassador but with less weight than in Silurians. the addition of the Master gives the story more humour especially with his prison scenes and relationship with the Doctor. We get an early tip off that the prison is not what it seems.

The real Royal Navy replace Unit and the use of their hardware jacks production values up several notches.

There is good support from another misguided patriot in Prison Governor Trenchard (though why anyone thought he could cope with the Master is a mystery!), long suffering Jane Blythe, sea faring Brig surrogate Cap Hart and the pompous civil servant Walker.

A good story for the Doctor and jo, the strong working relationship between Katy Manning & Pertwee making them a haphazard Avengers!

The Sea Devils are another fine monster design, synmpathetic turtle faces and a rugged enough suit to allow them to rise out of the sea in an iconic cliffhanger. The only ineffectual moment is when 1 runs from a minefield like a scalded cat! A fast moving story with very little padding.

Warriors of the Deep is awful. A pointless resurrection of an old monster in a half baked cold war parable. The regulars battle with a poor script & make the most of the few good moments they get.

Part 1 is the worst offender for sheer padding. It consist of endless reiteration of the need to revive the Sea Devils by 2 Silurians, running around for the tardis crew after avoiding a missile and a bafflegab contest for the missile base crew.

None of the guest cast get a good role and a wasted Ingrid Pitt while still in her prime was made to look really ugly by ill-judged make up. Only Nigel Humphreys makes an impression as the computer sync operator. In a better story he might have been memorable.
The Silurian mask is a good redesign but sat atop a costume including a beer gut and scaly flares, with a grating tinny voice, they are just ridiculous.
The Sea Devils are faithful to the originals in voice and mask and with moving eyes one up on the original, but having had a visit from Trinny & Susannah they've taken to dressing up as Samurai! Looked bad then, looks bad now.
As for new monster the Myrka, it's a pantomime Sea Cow and beyond that it defies description!
Several slip ups see a completely unnnatural fall into water for the Doctor, Sea Devil heads flopping to 1 side, 2 Sea Devils in the background walking into each other and split Silurian costumes.

Only the model work is good and justly the subject of an Easter egg as Mat Irvine shows his souvenirs.

Commentaries for all 3 stories. A pic n' mix for Silurians with producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks and various others dropping in & out. Particularly good points are Letts' recollections of what he didn't want to inherit from predecessors, location memories + companion Caroline John on the differences between script and the novel which she had just narrated for CD.

Dicks and Letts are joined by director Michael Briant on Sea Devils, moderated by Andrew Cartmel. All 3 have so clear many memories that Cartmel becoems a 5th wheel but self effacingly keeps quiet much of the time and just enjoys the chat. The Navy's involvement and the howlers with ranks and so on are good as are the memories of Roger Delgado's bravery in facing his fear of water. But one thing, can 2 Entertain stop Terrance Dicks from repeating the Pertwee Bouffant story? Several commentaries ago it was funny but together with Silurians it's on the same boxset twice.

We get a Pete'n Jan show for Warriors where they are joined by Mat Irvine who is game for a fun commentary. They make no bones about the quality of the story and have lots of fun with it and remembering guest star Tom Adams!

Documentaries are present for each story just a short making of for Silurians but the lengthy look at the social/political situation at the time and its influence on the story is excellent, watch for Roy Hattersley! More of the same please.

Hello Sailor is a fun making of Sea Devils notable for Katy Manning's 1st onscreen interview, Michael Briant's involvement and the Navy personnel who were involved. we aklso get some super 8 footage shot by them with a commentary.

The Depths is a making of Warriors which makes no bones about its shortcomings but looks at how & why it ended up that way. It is complaimented by the equally excellent They came from beneath the Sea featurette on the monsters of that show.

A featurette on the music of the 2 70's stories plus a look at the colour restoration for Silurians complete a fine package.

More of a Notalgiafest for us Classic who fans than a package for the newer fans. But if you want to show them any story Sea Devils is your best bet.

Delightful Gem

There are no strange aliens or even stranger worlds in this story, just a historically set story in which the Doctor and his companions are allowed to show their incomprehension of the era in which they have fallen. The almost perpetual confusion of Nyssa and Adric over the local idioms was neat and the whole Nyssa/Ann twin thing was handled excellently.

As other reviews have stated, the basic story is rather Agatha Christie-ish but the BBC have always excelled at this sort of story. The relatively short storyline meant it didn't get bogged down in inconsequentials and the large amount of on site filming meant that we got a feel of the world around the story.

Tegan is the companion who really shone in this story as she introduced the Charleston to the British Aristocracy.

The extras aren't too hot - a Making Of/Then and Now comparison of the on site scenes and the problems of shooting outside in an English autumn proving the best of a relatively weak selection.

Troughton IS the Doctor

The Doctor along with Jamie and at the time a brand new companion Victoria, join an archaeological expedition on the planet Telos that has apparently stumbled across what they believe to be a lost and abandoned Cyberman city. But the place isn't as dead as first thought and while the expedition leader has only discovery and research in mind there are some amongst the party who have far more malign intensions.

This once lost Doctor Who classic is an enjoyable reminder of what the television series used to be without the frantic rush and silly over-the-top hype that the modern version seems to get. It has it's obvious flaws but 'The Tomb Of The Cybermen' still manages to tell a pretty good four part story. The cast work well together and Patrick Troughton is as always truly superb as Doctor Who number two. He manages to convey intelligence like all the other Doctor's, but also gives the viewer a real sense of the characters vulnerability. Please keep in mind that this story was made in the late sixties and though not deliberately meant to be offensive it is definitely not pc.

An Enjoyable but Unessential Story.

This is a fun story, but its simple plot does reveal that much of the production team in its era pitched the show squarely to children.(If you can't surmise the Meddler's plan by the end of the first episode you shouldn't be allowed to drive, vote or look after a friend's pet while they are on holiday.)

Unfortunately, it doesn't really enlages the Whovian mythos either as some reviewers are suggesting - all we really learn is that there is more than one TARDIS in existence. We don't learn the Doctor is an alien let alone a Timelord.But let's don't condemn it for what it isn't. This is a slow, unremarkable outing. The Master is a much better foe for our hero.

That said Peter Butterworth is great, he porttrays the Meddler with such charm and with a twinkle in his eye that it is easy to feel sorry for the old rogue.(Perhaps Big Finish could produce a sequel?)But charm is not enough to rate this as high as"Genesis of the Daleks","The Caves of Androzani" or"Blink".

The commentary is great though; Clayton Hickman is a genial, informed moderator and Verity Lambert and her friends are great company. Unfortuately, this just highlights the shameful lack of a tribute documentary to Verity who arguably helped to form the series into an icon of British television drama.

?????????

what happened here? Eric saward wanted a chance to redeem himself??? Well what a poor job he did, the acting is rubbish, the dalek voices are way off track and what a poor cliffhanger and story!!! just do this- DON'T BUY THIS

The Time Cabinet

Most people overlook the classic episodes of Doctor Who which don't contain daleks or cybermen. The Talons of Weng-Chiang however, should not be. This is a two disc set that has a very high standard of extras as well as a cracking story line. I'll start with the extras which are great. They include commentry and a"making of" feature that is very enjoyable to watch. The story is a long six parter, but despite this the action keeps you gripped, and even though it is early days for the Doctor and Leela they are getting along nicely. The rest of the cast are on top form with some great lines between them. with Opium, suicide, murder and floating dead bodies this is definately a darker more adult Doctor who than some others. Full marks to the director and costume designer as they really made you feel like you had gone back in time. The sets are also accurate and detailed.

This is Baker at his best and you should definately consider adding it to your collection.

It Begins!

That's right, Tom baker's era as The Doctor begins here. This is back when Tom baker was an un-heard of actor, struggling for any role at the time.
Robot, as a story, works very well with the 'mostly' convincing effects. I was never much a fan of Terrance Dick's writing on Doctor Who. However, here, Dick's pens a truely brilliant opening story for Baker. The contrast from Pertwee is immediate and a chemestry between Baker and Sladen is almost immediately established.
Robot is a quaint and rewarding story, showing from the (very) later days of The Doctor's career with UNIT. Also, just as a point, watch out for the action man 'tank' at the end of Part Three. It's BBC budgeting at its absolute best.
The Documentary, 'Are Friends Electric' is a good, thirty-nine minute affair, pading out the extras nicely. I'm sure after such a good serial as Robot, extras can only seem like a 'sweetener'.
So, finally, all to be said is: 'Enjoy Baker's first day'.

Doctor Who - Infinite Quest

Have to say I loved the Infinite Quest on Totally Doctor Who and watched all 13 parts the full run witch was shown after. It's great that this animated episode is coming to DVD and I hope it will have lots of extras on the disc as well, although with other single Doctor who DVD's they don't, but maybe because it's animated that would be different.

Anyway this story goes with the Doctor and Martha looking for a Starship called the Infinite witch has the power to give anyone their heart's desire, but a masked alien called Baltazar wants to find this ship so he can get his revenge on the Doctor, because he stopped him from destroying the Earth and rusted his ship to bits.

A great story with some good one liners, this shows that Doctor Who can jump from the live screen to the animated one with no problem at all. Let hope more like this are done next year, maybe this time with the Doctor and Donna played by Catherine Tate who will be returning to the series next year.

"Sontarans and South Africans"

A good 2 parter shot entirely on location, Dartmoor adding more than a little atmosphere.

Yes, the script is a bit scatalogical. We can accept the experiments are all testing the mortality of Humans, but given there's so few on the planet, why bother? I reckon Styre's just making snuff videos for the Marshall!

Great characterisation for the Sontarans, easily the best non-Robert Holmes Sontaran script-so far! Kevin Lindsay's performance takes full advantage of lines like (on reacting to a scream)"Why did you make that disagreeable noise?" and calling the Doctor a"maggot"!

The Doctor/Sarah/Harry triumvirate is working well here, 3 never seems like a crowd. Sarah becomes a torture victim largely relying on camera angles and Elisabeth Sladen's strong performance, Harry switches from credible doctor (he knows someone deprived of water should be given a small amount and not a cupfull) to someone who can fall down a"whacking great subsidence" and then resolve to teach a murderous Sontaran a lesson without ever seeming a buffoon.

Uncle Tom plays the action man here falling down the same subsidence and challenging the Sontaran to a duel. The sequence where he declares"I'm the Warrior Class!" is a joy!

The colonists are not so memorable although it's good they're not speaking in received pronunciation, even if the South African accent is so easily identifiable.

A good functional design for the robot.

"Built for War" covers the 4 Sontaran stories, focussing mainly on the 1st 2, utilising Lis Sladen but also featuring soundbites from Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant & others. Great stuff.

Of course there's a commentary (sadly not a Tommentary) which stars Ms Sladen and covers memories of the location, Kevin Lindsay's lunch being sent up the hill on a tray and Tom's snapped collar bone.

A great start for the budget DVDs with better extras than some of the full price ones (yes"Claws of Axos", I am talking about you!).

Recommended for all.

Now let's have 'Terror of the Autons' Please!

Spearhead from space is possibly the best beginning for amny Doctor. Only the great Jon Pertwee could have a beginning this good.
Robert Holmes brings a script with a difference pitting The Doctor against earthly foes and aliens. The exile began here!
With convincing (and terrifying) baddies, plus UNIT and, of course, a Robert Holmes/Jon Pertwee script, Spearhead from Space stands out as being the top of the first Pertwee Season (with the exception of 'Inferno', of course.)
Of there is a bad side to this release, then it's the addition of so-so 'companion' Liz Shaw. Of course, the moments of comedy between the Brig. and The Doctor are golden moments in Doctor Who.

The extras are sparse (as they were with the earlier DVD releases) but enjoyable and memorable.

Finally, with Spearhead from Space available for us all to enjoy (any Pertwee-Head will!) all that is left is to beg for the release of 'Terror of the Autons', featuring the Auton return and the best (Roger Delgardo's) Master.

Points out why I failed in life

Why couldn't I be like the bad guys here? I would have had a great life! Reason - never had the time to get that degree of STYLE. And besides, I'm just too old to even try now.

I'm thinking about the quotes particularly, but if I .... only... had the chops to turn out some of these, say, when I was 19 or so, my life would have been very different.

My wife regards this very highly, but ONLY for the immortal line

"... what have I been LIVING WITH for all these years???!!!!"

Can't imagine why. But in any case, this entire production comes very close to an"entire life management" kind of video. John Cleese was at this time filming his various and highly sucessful shorts on how to manage (or NOT to manage a company). I remember these if only because when we watched the one we had hired, half the guys in the room had to leave because, well, they could barely control themselves... And you can tell that Cleese is in top form here - completely straight and yet somehow, in a way that ONLY he can achieve, completely barking mad.

Wonderful!

And Tom is equally possessed here. If he had occupied the stage like this in every story for the seasons following, the resulting cult movements established in drop dead hommage would have been astonishing. You really have to get hold of this to see what I mean, but Julian Glover, Tom Baker, and whatshimname Cleese make for a very potent mixture - you may well have to have a change of underwear close to hand.

If this is an attempt to pander to the many (male and adolescent) Doctor Who fans who want to empathise with (and in fact, become) a kind of shy, but fierce and fearless action man, Duggan is the perfect foil; a brilliant acted complicated and very moral bloke who should really have been a companion to the good Doctor, but for some reason didn't quite make it. THAT was a waste. What was it? Nerves? Self preservation? We'll never know now.

I simply cannot list the number of lines here that have shaped (or even DEFINED) the way I think about art galleries, monsters, memory regression therapy, the origins of man, theology and hairstyling. As far as prime ham goes, only"Image of the Fendahl" comes close - and this is definitely Ginger Beer and John Buchan territory (aka CS Lewis), and therefore eminnently watchable, nay, irresitable.

It's better than that - a real treasure.

Very dissappointing

I was too young to see these stories when they came out so i bought them with no real knowledge about them. And what a mistake it was.

Every story is poor, and the only good thing about them is the DVD extras. But even they don't justify the purpose of buying the DVD.

The main reason i bought this was because the Master was in it. But what a dissappointment he was. I expected a head-to-head battle with the Doctor in each story - but you barely saw the master in any story. I expected a battle of wits like we saw in the brilliant Roger Delgado stories, but it just never happened. There was nothing wrong with Anthony Ainley, but all he seemed to do was give an evil laugh and then disappear again. It's a case of Roger Delgado 1, Anthony Ainley 0.

I would not recommend buying this DVD at all. Very poor.

Fabulous Hartnell

This brilliant Hartnell episode is fantastic
In the Aztecs Barbara attempts to convert the Aztecs from thier sacrificial past to a peaceful existance in her power as a believed reincarnation of an Aztecs high priest. The Doctor accidentally gets engaged to a woman by drinking hot chocolate. Ian ends up as a warrior and struggles to fight against another Aztec warrior for control of the armies. Unfortunately Susan has a much less part.

Highly recommended

The first episode of Doctor Who to feature more than one Doctor at once!

This is a brilliant Doctor Who story!
It features William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee as the Doctor as well as Jo Grant (Katy Manning), Brigadier Lethbridgwe Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) and Sergeant Benton (John Levene) battle against the4 evil Omega (Stephen Thorne) and his Cell Guards.
This story was meant to be the shows Tenth Anniversary special however it was broadcast just 5 weeks after its Ninth.
Still this story is a brilliant one and a must have (just like the rest!)!

Poor- and it's the writer's fault

The Two Doctors is probably the worst story in Colin Baker's brief tenure as the Doctor and the fault lies squarely with script writer Robert Holmes. Despite many's determination to cast the blame on production values, these are frankly no worse than at any other period in the series history. The cannibalism theme was a major error of judgment. Holmes has written some wonderful scripts for Dr. Who. Sadly this was not one of them

Decent story, good extras

This story when first transmitted was watched by one in five people in Britain - pretty impressive. What they saw was the Doc and Sarah landing on a lurid planet (on the commentary Baker says it reminded him of the inside of his mind!) where they're immediately suspected of having something to do with the murders that are going on there. And this blaming takes up too much time - it bogs the story down. It's the sort of thing that the marvellous new series doesn't bother with, wisely. Other negative points: Sarah has very little to do; it's a slow starter. Good points: Tom Baker is great; the cliffhangers are all good ones; and some of the set design looks suitably weird.
If it wasn't for the extras I would say this definitely wasn't worth the price tag. Baker's commentary is predictably hilarious, and Philip Hinchcliffe is adept at shedding more light on the production, at some length. Elisabeth Sladen also contributes, and it's always nice to hear her.
I would like to see more 'update the special effects yourself' on these DVDs, as was the case with The Time Warrior. I'd also like to see more great stories that haven't been released on the format yet - the prospect of stories like The Time Meddler isn't a very exciting one.

SONTAR!!!!

The first story from Jon Pertwee's final season as doctor who comes to dvd. this was originally released in 1989 on video, and all the episodes were edited together. Thus this is a welcome and long overdue re release, as it's no longer been edited.

In this four part story an alien called a sontaran crash lands his spaceship in medieval england, and teams up with a robber baron in a partnership of convenience. the sontaran's scheme will effect the future of the human race. can the doctor stop him? And what will he do about that journalist called sarah jane who stowed away in the tardis.

A solidly enjoyable story, with a superb performance from kevin lindsay as the alien. watch also for june brown as lady eleanor. she's better known for her eastenders work.

There are two easter eggs [one in the top left of the main menu and one in the bottom left of the second page of special features] a commentary, and a good documentary about the making of the story. this runs for half an hour, and has some very nice music. Also of note are the CGI effects you can choose to switch on and have replace the original effects. they are not intrusive and they make these sequences better.

A good package for a good little story

The Doctor's Complete Sontaran Encounters!

Simply put this another villain boxset eg. The Cybermen, Th Daleks & Davros, The Return of the Master(New Beginnings). This time around, The Sontarans. Those miltaristic, sadistic enemies of the Rutans, for some reason they have their sights on the Earth again. Anyway, for those of us wise enough not to buy the following that were previously released & are up for release: The Time Warrior, The Two Doctors, The Sontaran Experiment & the Invasion of Time, good for you, a definite saving to do it now! For the rest of us passionate enough to purchase before, no love lost. You can focus on the other upcoming releases for the rest of 2008!

The best of the original series

1984 The Caves of Androzani failed to win the best story in the annual season survey conducted by Doctor Who magazine, particularly surprising as this story is now consider by many to be the best one of the original series and certainly of any broadcast during producer's John Nathan Turner somewhat maligned period in charge of the programme. In his final appearance in the series, Peter Davison gives his best performance as The Doctor. It is a shame that the actor chose not to stay, perhaps if he had more scripts of this quality, he would have done a fourth year. One criticism of the Peter Davison era was that The Tardis was somewhat overcrowded, with 2 or 3 companions regularly appearing alongside The Doctor. Here there is just The Doctor, and new companion Peri, and the pair have an excellent chemistry in their second and final story together.
The story itself is set as the title implies, on the planet Androzani, were a war is being fought over a product found on the planet, Spectrox. Spectrox is a substance that offers up to twice normal lifespan for those that drink it. However raw spectrox that has not been refined, is deadly to anyone who comes into contact with it, as The Doctor and Peri discover to their cost. It is then a race against time for The Doctor to find a cure, but in the meantime he has to find a way of avoiding execution after being wrongly accused of gunrunning, and Peri finds herself in the grasp of a madman living in caves under the planet and obsessed with her beauty.
The character of Sharez Jek in the serial has often been compared to that of The Phantom Of The Opera, but the serial also has the feeling of a Shakespearean tragedy.
From the moment, this the most innocent of all The Doctor's, arrives on the planet, he is in trouble. With the exception of The Doctor and Peri there are no nice characters in the serial, everyone is flawed in someway,from the hopelessly incompetent army Chief, General Chellak to the evil and manipulating Morgus. Although every actor is superb, particularly memorable are Maurice Roeves as Stotz, and the late Christopher Gable as Sheraz Kek. JOhn Normington is equally believable as Morgus and his regular asides to the camera, actually work. The only criticism of the story is the Magna creature, although its appearance is kept to a minimal.
This is an essential purchase.