Revisitations:3 - DVD Boxset

The last of our three packages revisiting three previously released stories in enhanced quality with a greatly expanded set of extras. The Second Doctor, Victoria and Jamie join an expedition to open the final resting place of the Cybermen in 'The Tomb of the Cybermen', the First, Second and Third Doctors join forces to battle renegade Time Lord Omega in 'The Three Doctors', and the Fourth Doctor and Leela find themselves on board a sandmine with a killer on the loose...

Disc Contents:

The Tomb of the Cybermen

Disc 1

• 4 x 25 min monochrome episodes with mono audio.

• Commentary 1 – original release commentary with actors Deborah Watling and Frazer Hines.

• Commentary 2 – new commentary with actors Deborah Watling, Frazer Hines, Bernard Holley, Shirley Cooklin and Reg Whitehead, script editor Victor Pemberton. Moderated by Toby Hadoke.

• Morris Barry Introduction (dur. 3’ 06”) – the director’s introduction from the 1993 VHS release.

• Title Sequence Tests (dur. 3’ 27”) – tests and build-up elements for the Patrick Troughton title sequence.

• Late Night Line-Up (dur. 2’ 49”) – the late sixties arts programme sends Joan Bakewell behind the scenes at the BBC Visual Effects department to interview department head Jack Kine.

• The Final End (dur. 17” caption card + 1’ 20”) – the previous story, the epic seven-part ‘The Evil of the Daleks’, is mostly missing from the BBC archives. A small taste of the climactic battle can be seen here however, put together from an off-air audio recording of episode 7 coupled with an 8mm film shot in studio by Tony Cornell, a resident designer at Ealing Studios.

• Abominable Snowmen Audio Trailer (dur. 0’ 51”) - an off-air amateur recording of the original BBC1 trailer for the following story.

Disc 2

• The Lost Giants (dur. 26’ 52”) – cast and crew look back on the making of the story. With actors Deborah Watling, Frazer Hines, Shirley Cooklin, Bernard Holley and Michael Kilgarriff, script editor Victor Pemberton and visual effects designer Peter Day.

• The Curse of the Cybermen’s Tomb (dur. 14’ 25”) – ‘The Tomb of the Cybermen’ draws on both real-life archaeology and fictional horror as story influences. In this documentary, Sir Christopher Frayling and Dr Debbie Challis examine the ancient Egyptian origins to the story of the Cybermen’s tomb on Telos.

• Cybermen – Extended Edition (dur. 32’ 35”) – an extended version of this history of the Cybermen from their first appearance in 1966 right through to the new series. Presented by writer and broadcaster Matthew Sweet.

• The Magic of VidFIRE (dur. 6’ 56”) – a look at the technology behind the VidFIRE process developed specifically for the Doctor Who DVD range in order to restore the original live studio video look to episodes that now only survive as film recordings. 16:9 FHA.

• Sky Ray Advert (dur. 0’ 30”) – 1960’s Doctor Who themed promo for Walls Sky Ray ice lolly.

The Three Doctors

Disc 1

• 4 x 25 min episodes with mono audio.

• Commentary with actors Katy Manning and Nicholas Courtney, producer Barry Letts.

• Pebble Mill at One (dur. 20’ 43”) - Bernard Wilkie and Patrick Troughton interviews from Christmas '73.

• Blue Peter 5/11/73 (dur. 13’ 29) - Jon Pertwee and the Whomobile in the studio, plus a look back at the first ten years of Doctor Who.

• BSB Highlights (dur. 10’ 14”) - Excerpts from BSB's '31Who' weekend, including the trail for 'The Three Doctors', interviews with Jon Pertwee, Nick Courtney, script editor Terrance Dicks and writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin. Introduced by John Nathan-Turner. Ex S-VHS.

• 'Five Faces of Doctor Who' trail (dur. 4’ 09”) BBC2 trail for the 1981 repeat season, in which 'The Three Doctors' was repeated.

• BBC1 Trail (dur. 0’ 48”) - a poor quality off-air audio recording of the original 1972 BBC1 trail, married up with remastered pictures.

• 40th Anniversary Promo (dur. 3’ 00) – 40th anniversary DVD trailer as per original 2003 release.

Disc 2

• Happy Birthday to Who (dur. 23’ 12) – cast and crew look back at the making of the story which served as a fitting tenth birthday treat for Doctor Who fans. With actors Katy Manning and Stephen Thorne, producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks, co-writer Bob Baker. Narrated by Toby Hadoke.

• Was Doctor Who Rubbish? (dur. 13’ 58”) – four fans of the classic series raise a brave defence against the traditional claims that the programme was all wobbly sets, bad actors, dodgy special effects and always filmed in quarries. With Joe Lidster, Thomas Guerrier, Karen Davies and Katreena Dare.

• Girls, Girls, Girls – 1970s (dur. 21’ 16”) – Caroline John, Katy Manning and Louise Jameson discuss the trials and tribulations of being a 1970’s Who girl. Introduced by Peter Purves.

The Robots of Death

• 4 x 25 min colour episodes with mono audio.

• Commentary 1 - original release commentary with producer Philip Hinchcliffe and writer Chris Boucher.

• Commentary 2 - new commentary with actors Tom Baker, Louise Jameson and Pamela Salem, director Michael E. Briant.

• The Sandmine Murders (dur. 32’ 23”) – cast and crew look back at the making of the story. With actors Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, David Collings, Pamela Salem, Brian Croucher, director Michael E. Briant, producer Philip Hinchcliffe and costume designer Elizabeth Waller.

• Robophobia (dur. 11’ 47”) – Toby Hadoke takes a humorous look at the history of robots, with particular reference to their appearances in Doctor Who. .

• Studio Sound (dur. 0’10” caption + 1’ 15”) – example of a studio scene before the Robot voice effects were added. **

• Model Shots (dur. 0’10 caption + 7’ 34”) – black and white timecoded Shibaden recording of the original model insert film. **

• Studio Floor Plan – interactive look at the studio layout via the original floorplan drawings.

• Continuity (dur. 0’ 20”) – off-air continuity for the first episode’s original transmission plus mute continuity slide. **

• Plus of course the usual PDF materials (including printed material for the Walls Sky Ray promotion) , Coming Soon trailer, Programme Subtitles, Subtitle Production Notes and Photo Gallery.