Amazon shipped my Pyramids/Earthshock package yesterday. Hoping to get them by the weekend.


Andrew

I watched Pyramids of Mars today, fantastic! I haven't seen the story in over 10 years and it really stood the test of time. The documentaries on the disk are amazing. One of the best disks in the whole range.

I'll watch Earthshock tomorrow. I had the VHS Video of Earthshock and gave it to the goodwill shop last week. hopefully somebody will enjoy it who normally wouldn't buy Doctor Who.

Got my DVDs today! Woo Hoo!

Can't wait til I get home tonight!!!


Andrew

Earthshock - Episode 5

One of the funniest things I've seen in a while!!!

Watched Earthshock last night. Not as good as I remember but still an enjoyable story.

The Easter Egg was hysterical tho.

Andrew

these DVDs just keep getting better and better, the documentaries on both disks (Earthshock and Pyramids) are very professional and well done, features like "Oh Mummy" and "Episode 5" show Doctor Who fans can safely make fun of thier own show, something fans of other sci fi series rarely do.

It seems, on average, the 70's stories like Pyramids of Mars have stood the test of time better than the 80's stuff. Still Earthshock is one of the best 80's stories.

Can't wait for the Lost in Time missing episode set... it comes out on election day! but I'm looking forward to more complete stories on DVD. anyone want to guess what the first two DVD's of 2005 will be for us in North America? I'm guessing Green Death will be one, not sure about the other.

I have some B&M coupons but for whatever reason, they didn't get these discs this time. I've always preordered off Amazon before, so this is espically annoying...

Spearhead From Space
 

I'm a huge fan of the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who and since this is the first serial he did and it's on DVD. Since I'm very apt in wanting to purchase this, does anyone who has this can give me some of their opinions and whatnot on this DVD? Thanks.

Has anyone watched Earthshock with the CGI effects turned on? Great stuff, the final scene is much more effective and the laser blasts look good too.

of the 3 Jon Pertwee stories on DVD so far, this is by far the best one. Spearhead from Space is 4 episodes long and have the Autons in it... who are rumored to return in the new series! when they made this story there was a strike at the BBC studios and it had to be all shot on location and on film, so it has a cool different look than most Doctor Who stories. it was remastered from the original film and the picture quality is beautiful. this was one of the very first DVD's they came out with so it doesn't have all the extras that the new disks have, but it still has a great commentary by Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John (The Brigadier & Liz), trailers, and a funny comedy short called "The UNIT Recruitment Film". I highly suggest this DVD. ;)

Yes! I've read on Outpost Gallifrey that this was shot on 16mm and looks brilliant. Here's a copy and paste about this serial I'm so adamant about purchasing.

"Spearhead from Space" is the birth of a new era for Doctor Who: the first story transmitted in color, and the first serial with Jon Pertwee. It also featured the return of Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, becoming a member of the regular cast; the debut of Caroline John as new companion Dr. Liz Shaw; and the first of two appearances of the menacing plastic Autons and the sinister force behind them, the Nestene Consciousness. Due to a labor action at the BBC, "Spearhead" was recorded entirely on film with no videotape used. A new opening title sequence was designed by Bernard Lodge with a variation on the original theme music (along with a matching closing title sequence, a first for the series). In the original transmission, a Fleetwood Mac song ("Oh Well Part One") was used over glimpses of the plastics factory. The Doctor is first credited in this story as "Doctor Who" (as opposed to Dr. Who). The opening titles feature the camera zooming in on the words so that they appeared to rush towards the viewer. The working title for the story was "Facsimile" and was based upon a film screenplay, "Invasion," from 1966 by Robert Holmes and Roger Marshal that was never produced.

So, as you can tell, I wish more of the Jon Pertwee Doctor came out on DVD. Preferrably: Inferno; The Sea Devils; Frontier in Space; Planet of the Daleks and The Green Death.

same here, I loved Pertwee's earth bound stories with UNIT. The Green Death is already out in England and comes out in the US early 2005.

When the new series airs, I will be interested to hear what new fans think of the old stories and Doctors when they start picking up the classic series DVD's.

Well, that's not right. Invasion was indeed produced as a feature film, starring Edward Judd. Damn fine film it is, too. I'd love a DVD (besides the one that I made myself, that is)!

I keep hoping that Inferno will pop up on the Restoration Team's list now that they have starting releasing a few 2-disc editions.

Well, while all you Johhny-come-latelys are drooling over Earthshock and Pyramids, my copy of Ghostlight just shipped from england. It should be here in about a week.

Full report forthcoming, of course.

El Kabong, do you replace your R2 dics when the R1's come out? from what I heard the R1's look better and play smoother than the R2's converted to play on R1. if you know what I mean.

That's due to the R1s being NTSC and the R2s being PAL, of course and unless "El" has a multi-system television, then you're right, his DVD player will have to do a standards conversion to display the PAL picture in NTSC.

Though most multi-system DVD players do a decent conversion, they cannot compare to the broadcast-quality conversion done for the R1 discs.

This is much more noticeable on the B/W "VidFIREd" stories, though. The VidFIRE look (restoring the B/W episodes to their original videotaped look) gets lost in the translation if you're playing the R2s in R1.

I like Dr. Who and all (it used to be my favourite show back in the '80s), but I'm willing to wait for the R1s so that the picture quality is as good as can be (for America). A pity about the artwork on the R1 packaging, though (I like the format...just poor composition/photo choices).

Also, sometimes glitches/mistakes are discovered when the R2s come out which get corrected for the R1 (such as the missing FX in "Remembrance of the Daleks").

I'm thinking that once this Thread hits Page 10, I'm gonna shift everything over to a new Thread (Version 7) just to keep things tidy and less HUGE.

Just a head's up.

And El, please let us know how Ghost Light is. It's one of my favorites!


Andrew

sounds good.

I bet when the new series starts to air we'll get all sorts of new people.

I'm hoping.

Here's another Johnny-come-lately (although my wife tells me I'm a Johnny-come-too bloody soon :) )

I watched Earthshock last night and it brought back memories back when it first aired. Man, I jumped in the air yelling when I saw the Cybermen appear at the end of episode one. Those were the good old days when it was very hard to spoil a surprise.

Anyone else love "episode 5?" I LMAO watching that.

The great things I love about the Doctor Who discs (apart from the stories, that is) are those wonderful extras. "Blue Peter," "Pebble Mill At One," "Did You See...?" I mean it's great nostalgia watching those programmes and I am very glad that the American versions keep them.

Cybermen rule, by the way.

For El and anyone else who isn't a Johnny-Come-Lately:


Excellent.


Andrew

That is awesome news. 'Horror of Fang Rock' is one of my favorites.


Mike

Claws of Axos and Horror of Fang Rock huh? not bad, I'll place both these stories somewhere between average and good on my scale and I'm sure they will make great DVDs.

they sure do, why do you think Star Trek stole them? :D
Cybermen = Borg
we'll get 4 more Cybermen episodes when the Lost in Time missing episode set comes out in November! YAY

I only have one thing to say to that.

EXTERMINATE! :P

Speaking of which, of the Daleks, I think of them as nothing but pepperpots with the plunger hands of doom with a mechanically monotone voice. Next Doctor Who DVD I'm buying after the Region 1 available Jon Pertwee ones is a Dalek story. If any of you can recommend a Dalek storyline like The Dalek Invasion of Earth, which I'm unsure of if it's available on DVD, that'd be much appreciated.

Glad to hear The Claws of Axos is coming to DVD. Until I get more used to the Tom Baker Doctor and since he feels awkward at the moment since I've seen so few storylines with him in it, I've embraced Jon in the role. I guess you could compare it to James Bond and the different actors who've portrayed him but since this is television instead of cinema, the lines of comparison draws from a small similarity. Henceforth, I'll let Tom grow on me as The Doctor as I watch more storylines with him. Any recommendations of some top-notch stories with Tom will be most thankful.

Andrew

there are only 2 other Dalek stories out on DVD at this point, Ressurection of the Daleks (5th Doctor, Peter Davison) and Rememberance of the Daleks (7th Doctor, Sylvester McCoy) out of those two Rememberance is the best, it's earthbound and kind of Pertwee-ish with the british soldiers fighting the Daleks but both are good average Doctor Who stories IMO.

Pyramids of Mars is excellent, the best Tom out on DVD for sure. Talons of Wang Chiang and Robots of Death are excellent as well. Anything from Tom's first 3 seasons is all-time classic Doctor Who, while his later stuff is a rather mixed bag of bad and silly stories with the few good stories... all my opinion, of course.

I envy you. Growing up my PBS station only aired the Tom Baker episodes, with 2 Davison eps thrown in. To me Tom Baker is the Sean Connery of 'Who', to use your James Bond reference.

yeah, my PBS station ran the Tom Baker stories so many times they got boring because I knew them so well. they showed Pertwee and the 80's Doctors once or twice each and never showed the black and white stuff. I think Tom Baker is the most popular Doctor in the states just because he was the one that was shown the most.

I wonder if new fans, when they look back at all the old Doctors on DVD, will they like Tom Baker as much as the old fans do? I believe the "favorite" doctor of new fans will be more spread out due to all the different Doctors being equally available on DVD.

As a fan of five months, I'd say Tom Baker still stands out, particularly if you like your Who with a bit of comic relief. I've seen every R1 DVD for Doctors 4-7 and 8's movie in R2, and Tom Baker is by far my favorite, though I'll gladly watch Davison, C. Baker or McGann. (The verdict's still out on McCoy.) Currently what I've seen of Doctors 1-3 has been restricted to DVD extras and "The Two/Three/Five Doctors" stories (though I do plan on seeing their other DVDs), but I doubt any of them will ultimately surpass Tom Baker in my estimation.

It wasn't just in the states. Tom continues to be the most popular doctor worldwide.

As to my own perspective on this, I've seen all the doctors except the movie one (and only a little of McCoy). Of the remaining doctors I probably saw 80 - 95% of their episodes. Tom is my favorite by a wide margin though I do like the others as well. Davison is probably my least favorite (though I'd have to think about this some more to be sure). What I liked about Tom was his playful curiosity and how he enjoyed paradox and absurdity.

I think Baker was the best Doctor - partly because he was (is) a genuine eccentric, and partly because of the high quality of the writing/production staff during his tenure.

The only Doctor I never really cared for was Colin Baker - not his fault, really - he just jumped on board when the show started free-falling.

My favorite used to be Pertwee, but I've grown to love them all, especially Troughton (my current favorite).

I'd forgotten about Coin Baker. I'd agree with your assessment of him...

Colin was hamstrung by bad scripts, bad directing and a bad costume. Go listen to his Big Finish audios, to see (um, hear) exactly how his Doctor would have been out from under the JNT regime. He is absolutely marvelous!

Go listen to The One Doctor, Doctor Who and the Pirates or Jubilee - your opinion of his Doctor will completely turn around.

Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.

is the best BY FAR of the doctor who's

Welcome to the forum.

1. Wasn't Colin Baker in that whole Doctor Who Trial story arc as well... I remember it having some twists, but it certainly didn't follow the flow of the previous doctors...

2. Daleks: Invasion 2150 A.D. - I think there were some episodes I far preferred from the Doctor Who television series featuring these guys - but in all honesty I'd seen this as a kid and couldn't put a finger on some of the images that stayed with me for years, that is until the DVDs were put out a couple of years ago... yay DVD? ...anyways, I liked Cushing as the Doctor, I just had a harder time swallowing the difference in the character and the background story is all - it was a little like Never Say Never Again to me, it was a good flick, but kinda like "Never Say Never Again" with the unofficiality to it and all...

Without a doubt, I would LOVE a Trial Box Set!


And Beethoven, welcome to the Forum!

Andrew

Colin Baker - he's my favorite Doctor! too bad he didn't get a chance to do more stories. I thought Season 22 with Colin was on average much better than Peter Davisons time on the show.

Daleks: Invasion 2150 A.D. - Peter Cushing wasn't an offical Doctor. Daleks: Invasion 2150 A.D. was a movie remake of the TV story The Dalek Invasion of Earth with William Hartnell as the first Doctor. I've seen both versions and I think the original TV version is much better. Peter Cushings version was way too silly.

When the Lost in Time set comes out I think we should start about 10 different threads on it like the Star Wars DVD's have this week :D

just kidding. ;)