Search - Doctor Who - Lost in Time Collection of Rare Episodes - The William Hartnell Years and the Patrick Troughton Years on DVD

18 Rare Episodes of Doctor Who!

Stephen Wall | Raleigh, NC USA | 07/25/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What a thrill this DVD boxset is! EIGHTEEN rarely-seen episodes from the Hartnell and Troughton eras of Doctor Who, contained on three DVDs. These episodes have never been aired on US television. The sad reality about Doctor Who, is that a fair number of the earliest episodes of the program have not survived, so we are left with certain early stories which only have the occasional episode in existence.

As for the goodies inside:

THE CRUSADE 1 & 3 - A historical story in which the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki encounter the era of King Richard the Lionhearted, (played by Julian Glover), and his sister Joanna (played by Jean Marsh). A four-part story originally, the second and fourth parts are included on the DVD in audio-only format, so you can experience the complete story as much as is humanly possible. Also, as a bonus, there is a commentary track for the third episode.

THE DALEKS' MASTER PLAN 2, 5 & 10 - These three episodes are all that remain from this epic 12-part adventure, (and in fact the second episode was only just discovered at the beginning of 2004, and has never been seen anywhere since its original transmission in 1965!) This story features the Doctor and his companion Steven, with seldom seen companions Katarina and Sara Kingdom. This story also features the first appearance of Nicholas Courtney, who would gain fame later in the program as the Brigadier. Plus, it has Daleks! Episode 2 also features a commentary track.

THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER 4 - The final part of a 4-part adventure, featuring the Doctor, Steven and Dodo playing a deadly game against the Celestial Toymaker, (played by Michael Gough, perhaps better known in this day and age as Alfred the Butler in the Batman movies of the 1990's). Great fun this one is.

THE UNDERWATER MENACE 3 - Originally a four-part story, only the third part exists, but it does provide the earliest existing episode to feature Patrick Troughton's unique take on the Doctor, accompanied by his companions Ben, Polly and Jamie. The episode is rather bizarre, featuring an adventure in Atlantis with fish-people and a mad scientist, but it is unlike anything else ever seen in the series.

THE MOONBASE 2 & 4 - Enter the Cybermen for this adventure, in only their second appearance on Doctor Who. This time the action takes place on the moon itself, and as an added bonus, the two missing episodes (1 & 3) are included in audio-only format, so one can follow the entire story. Find out how Polly's tea-making skills save the day!

THE FACELESS ONES 1 & 3 - Two existing episodes from the six-parter in which chameleon-like aliens are hijacking airline passengers for their own nefarious plot. Features location footage at Gatwick Airport in London, and is also the last story to feature Ben and Polly as the Doctor's companions.

EVIL OF THE DALEKS 2 - The final appearance of the Daleks in the 1960's, this existing episode from the 7-parter, offers a unique look at a story many consider to be one of the all-time classics. Also, features the debut of Victoria. Commentary track is available for this episode.

THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN 2 - The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria encounter the deadly Yeti in the Himalayans in this surviving episode from the 6-parter. This episode also has an optional commentary track.

THE ENEMY OF THE WORLD 3 - A taste of espionage in this thriller, in which Patrick Troughton doubles as the villanous Salamander. The only surviving episode from the 6-parter.

THE WEB OF FEAR 1 - The Yeti return, this time in the Underground System of a deserted London. This is the existing first part of the 6-part story. There is an optional commentary track for this episode.

THE WHEEL IN SPACE 3 & 6 - The Cybermen return in this adventure set on a space station. Zoe makes her first appearance in the series, and episode 6 features an optional commentary. Originally a six-part story.

THE SPACE PIRATES 2 - This sole survivor of the six-part story puts the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe in the midst of a grand space adventure.

As if these 18 episodes weren't enough, also included are an insane number of clips from other 1960's Doctor Who adventures, plus a meaty documentary about The Missing Years.

Granted, these odds and ends may not be for everyone, but they are a unique collection of episodes that are quite rare, and they have all been cleaned up and have never looked better. A worthwhile investment for any Doctor Who fan."

Although it makes you crave for more, still worth the wait

El Kabong | Bethesda, Maryland United States | 09/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Lost In Time set is something hardcore Doctor Who fans, including me, have been looking forward to for a long time. For those who aren't familiar with the history of this show, back in the 70's, a bunch of BBC executives decided they wanted to save money in storage space by destroying a bunch of tapes containing episodes of many of their old shows. This was a time before there was a market for video compilations, and they figured no one would want to see these again. Also responsible were some of the short-sighted agreements the actors/musician unions had with the BBC which limited how many times one could rerun programs. But before they destroyed their copies, they transferred many of them onto film for exporting to other TV stations around the world. By the time they saw the error of their ways, it was too late, and the search was on for the stories they exported which continue to this day. Although I heard that the number of Dr. Who episodes destroyed pales in comparison to other archived shows, it was still a short-sighted move on their part, regardless of their rationale at the time.

So unless a miracle occurs, these restored episodes from stories where half or less of the episodes survive are all we have left of some of the early 60's stories when William Hartnell and later Patrick Troughton portrayed the Doctor. The set includes the remaining episodes as well as surviving clips of some of the stories where none of the episodes exist, and a 1998 BBC special on the missing episodes hosted by Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling.

Some of the stories featured:

1) The Crusade (ep's 1 & 3) - Historical story during the Hartnell era which includes Episode 1 that was recovered in 1999. Some parts of the episode could not be fully restored, but considering the circumstances, we should be lucky to even have it.

2) The Dalek Masterplan (ep's 2, 5, 10) - Epic 12-episode Dalek story. Included is episode 2 "Day of Armageddon", returned to the BBC in January 2004. First appearance of actor Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon. He would later return as longtime recurring character Colonel (later Brigadier) Lethbridge-Stewart.

3) The Evil of the Daleks (ep. 2) - Only surviving episode of this 7-parter. Debut of Deborah Watling as travel companion Victoria Waterfield.

4) The Web of Fear (ep. 1) - The second story to feature the Yeti invading the London Underground, and was the debut of Nicholas Courtney as Lethbridge-Stewart, although he's not featured in episode 1.

5) The Wheel In Space (ep. 3 & 6) - Cybermen story and the debut of companion Zoe Herriot (Wendy Padbury).

As enjoyable as this collection is, it nevertheless makes you crave for more for obvious reasons. It's frustrating to be able to see stories at only the beginning or middle or end. This is the sad legacy of the BBC's short-sightedness that we can only hope there are some private collectors who are secretly stashing episodes and are just waiting for the right time to come out with them (what those reasons are I have no idea). If you are a beginner Dr. Who fan, then wait until you see some of the complete stories first before checking this out."

A treat for devoted fans

David H. Olivier | Brantford, Ontario Canada | 01/13/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Quite frankly, there should be two ratings for this collection. If you've never seen Doctor Who before, this collection is not for you, so don't bother buying it. On the other hand, if you're a serious fan of the classic BBC science-fiction series, this is a rare gem of a collection, well worth the expense.It's a bit unusual in that, although more of the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) stories are forever lost, the Troughton collection takes up two DVDs, while the First Doctor (William Hartnell) has only one DVD.Nevertheless, the BBC is to be commended for the production values they've put into this collection. On some stories (The Moonbase, eg.), they've included the entire story, even though only two of the four episodes still exist. For the other two episodes, the BBC have included the original audio soundtrack, so it is possible to at least listen to the entire story. Audio and video quality is surprisingly good. (It's often interesting to compare the sharpness of 1960s B&W video with the dreadful quality of late 1960s and early 1970s colour video - anyone who can receive a CHUM-CITY station such as VR or PL can check out the washed-out prints of Ironside or Kojak, or hockey fans can compare the quality of the recent Canada Cup rebroadcasts on TSN.)The DVDs contain existing episodes from a number of stories which are incomplete, and also hold a number of gems such as original BBC trailers for stories, including a trailer for Troughton's first story, "Power of the Daleks".An often-overlooked gem is the "Who's Who", biographies of some of the key actors in various stories. Some people who went on to bigger and better things appeared in the series in the Sixties, such as Julian Glover and Jean Marsh. It's also interesting to note how many actors in 1960s British TV played guest roles in Doctor Who, The Avengers, and Z Cars.Certainly, this release is very specialized in nature, given its fragmentary condition. However, no fan should be without it."

Lost in time.... but worth the find!

JKO | New York, NY USA | 11/08/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As most Doctor Who fans know, there are huge gaps in the archives for the black and white era of the show that featured the first two actors to play the role, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. Due to a total disregard for archiving material and, criminally, as a cost cutting exercise, there was a systematic junking policy for `expired' TV shows across many broadcast networks through to the 1970's. In many ways, Doctor Who fared better than most with many complete stories surviving either in private hands or more often by happy accidents.

Although anything to have survived is miraculous, in many cases, irritatingly, stories were left incomplete on the archive shelves. Pretty much useless to any broadcaster and indeed seemingly for home DVD or video release. But the bright guys at the BBC have spotted a way to gather up all this stray material and package it together on a collection of three discs featuring not only eighteen complete episodes but a whole myriad of other snippets and gems from the vaults.

As a huge Doctor Who fan, I was thrilled to see all these homeless relics gathered together, but from a wider commercial viewpoint, I don't think it's a particularly interesting project. But isn't it wonderful for fans to be indulged in this way? I'd never seen either episodes of The Faceless Ones before, so this was a real treat, as it was to see the newly discovered gem from The Daleks' Master Plan.

The problem for me is that alone, or even where two or more episodes exist, it's exceptionally frustrating to watch what remains of these stories. If you're watching episode one for example, you're completely hooked by the end and then hugely disappointed that there is no more! For stories that just have the odd episode from the middle of the story, it's enough to drive you barmy. My biggest irritation came from watching episode 4 of The Celestial Toymaker. What on earth is going on? It would have been so, so much better had the DVD contained a synopsis of what was missing to help flesh out some of the material and put things into context. Definitely an opportunity missed. In a step towards this, there are soundtracks included for two missing episodes from The Crusade and The Moonbase, which does help complete those stories, but since photos exist of both missing episodes, why weren't they included? When all there is to hear is music or sound effects, it leaves you bewildered as to what might be happening. A photo or a subtitle would have been so much more effective.

Also gathered from the cutting room floor are many, many short clips (in some cases, don't blink or you'll miss them) from other completely deleted episodes. It's sad that in so many cases these split second clips are all that have remained. There's also a lot of home movie footage, which is really interesting. I believe this to be the only color examples of footage from the era and although short, they are wonderful to see.

We can but hope that as time goes on, some of the missing material will turn up. No one would have thought the complete Tomb of the Cybermen would suddenly reappear in 1992. So hope springs eternal. Until then, here's some classic Who, brilliantly restored and remastered to enjoy."