Doctor Who: Colin Baker - Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Doctor Who: Colin Baker - Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 10, 2023

While it may be at least possible and perhaps even probable that some devoted Whovian out there in the big, wide world might have already created a labyrinthine database detailing various ins and outs for this almost absurdly long running series, for those who don't have easy access to a bevy of trivial pursuit answers, this so-called "Colin Baker Complete Season One" features Baker as the Sixth Doctor Who, following Peter Davison (the link points to the only standalone release BBC has offered from the Davison years, in this case Davison's "season one"), and presaging Sylvester McCoy (while BBC in this particular instance has released McCoy's Complete Season Three, the previous links points to McCoy's "Season One" for consistency's sake). This particular Baker era of Doctor Who might be more accurately enumerated as Seasons 22 and 23, and therefore this release is of Season 22, which aired in the early months of 1985. This was a period in the long and occasionally troubled life of Doctor Who (the character and the series), and there was a somewhat infamous "hiatus" that was forced on the show after this season and what one assumes will be an upcoming "Complete Season Two" in the Baker Blu-ray discography.

This season slightly increased episode lengths, which frankly may not have been the wisest decision, though fans of the show are certain to get a kick out of "returning guest villains" like the Master, the Cybermen and/or the Daleks. One of the things that created issues for this season of Doctor Who was the perception that it had become way too violent for a show arguably aimed at kids, as is actually overtly mentioned in some supplements, including one of the brief Points of View snippets seen below in the Bonus Features listing, where a concerned mother wrote in to the BBC about her children watching Vengeance on Varos. This interesting serial actually kind of reminded me in a way of Peeping Tom, or perhaps a more subtle example, Rear Window, in that it kind of implicates the viewer as a voyeur in less than tasteful activities, in this case the torture of prisoners in a penal colony, sessions which are broadcast to an avid viewing public. One might therefore easily agree with a concerned parent, but the serial itself is rather interestingly provocative for Doctor Who.

There's the requisite amount of what might be termed more appropriate "kiddie" fare, at least in terms of goofier elements like the Cybermen (who at times seem more comical than threatening), and this is another season that features some fun guest turns from previous Doctors, in this case Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, who is aided by his companion Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines). Baker's Doctor enjoys the companionship of Peri Brown (Nicola Bryant).

Doctor Who: Colin Baker - Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Doctor Who: Colin Baker - Complete Season One is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with AVC encoded 1080i transfers in 1.32:1. Fans of the show know that these older episodes can be hugely variant in quality, with the filmed sequences typically looking at least a bit better than the shot on video sequences, but what's kind of interesting about the video quality of this season is that things can be variant in either format. Some of the filmed material looks markedly better than the bulk of the presentation, with a robust palette and at least somewhat convincing detail levels, but other moments look fuzzy and seem to have some of the same upscaling anomalies that regularly afflict the video footage. Countering that is the fact that while the video footage probably is more problematic overall, it, too, can have moments of relative clarity and decent detail levels, but then descend into some of the more typical looking upscales from other seasons, with other video issues entering the fray like ghosting. As with several other seasons that have offered the same approach, the "updated special effects" seen here may not be mind blowing but probably improve at least marginally on some of the quainter aspects of the series (which some may actually feel is a detriment). Taken as a whole I'd rate this as probably a bit above average overall for what fans have been seeing with these BBC Blu-ray releases for years.

Doctor Who: Colin Baker - Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

All of the episodes included in this set feature DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks, and several also offer a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 upgrade (see the listings of the individual discs below, where I detail the surround tracks that are available). This season has some unusually interesting music and effects work, and all of that sounds nicely full bodied if occasionally just a bit brash throughout. The surround tracks are intermittently immersive, and frequently rely on what sounds like duplicating the same audio material into various channels, though occasionally some effects can be clearly identified as discretely channelized. I still frankly preferred the original audio even where surround tracks were available, though of course individual mileage may vary. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Doctor Who: Colin Baker - Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As with some of the previous multi-disc releases of other seasons of Doctor Who, this one also includes some supplement "series", like Making Of documentaries on the separate episode arcs, or the enjoyable Behind the Sofa offerings which feature cast members doing an almost MST3K commentary on various episodes. I'm not going into huge detail on any of these, since their outlines are so well known to Whovians by now. Some of the standard definition supplements can have moments of image instability. Also, for those who can access the data, all of the discs have really fascinating promotional and other material (like scripts) available as PDFs in a ROM_CONTENT_PDFs folder that you can open when viewing the disc's file structure.

Disc One: Attack of the Cybermen

• Making of Documentary (SD; 27:28)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 32:52)


• Colin Baker in Conversation (HD; 1:23:41)


• The Cyber Story (SD; 22:50) offers some information on the Cyber Men.


• Breakfast Time (SD; 3:53)


• Saturday Superstore (SD; 14:47)


• 2021 Blu-ray Trailer (HD; 4:14)


• BBC Trails and Continuity (SD; 3:18)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 12:41)


• Cybermen Photo Gallery (SD; 7:50)


• Coming Soon (SD; 1:10)


• Human Cyborg (SD; 9:11) features an interview with an ostensible human cyborg.


• Episode Commentaries can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and is accessible under the Audio Options Menu (these episodes also feature either 5.1 or 2.0 Mono audio options).


• Episode Info Text can be accessed under the Subtitles and Info Text Menu.


• PDF Written Archive is accessible via a BD-ROM drive.

Disc Two: Vengeance on Varos

• Making of Documentary (SD; 29:39)


• Deleted and Extended Scenes SD; 17:44) have a timecode caption.


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 31:27)


• The Idiot's Lantern (SD; 7:31) features an overview of Vengeance on Varos.


• See Hear (SD; 6:06)


• Points of View (SD; 1:52)


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 1:30)


• Audio Archive (HD; 2:42) features Ron Jones.


• Photo Gallery (HD; 9:42)


• Episode Commentaries can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in either DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 or DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and is accessible under the Audio Options Menu (these episodes also feature either 5.1 or 2.0 Mono audio options).


• Production Audio can be accessed under the Audio Options menu.


• Episode Info Text can be accessed under the Subtitles and Info Text Menu.


• PDF Written Archive is accessible via a BD-ROM drive.

Disc Three: Vengeance on Varos - Extended

• The Colin Baker Years (SD; 1:30:08) has a kind of quaint preamble alerting folks that tracking adjustments can help to stabilize video quality.


• Michael Grade in Conversation (HD; 53:29)


• Studio Footage (SD; 1:18:46)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 28:39)


• Alternate Music Cue (SD; 1:38)


• Audio Archive (HD; 1:05:48) offers Slipback in six parts from BBC Audio.

PDF Written Archive is accessible via a BD-ROM drive.

Disc Four: The Mark of the Rani

• Making of Documentary (SD; 43:17)


• Deleted Scenes (SD; 8:40)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 31:51)


• Now and Then (SD; 4:06)


• Location Location Location (HD; 47:24) features on site footage.


• Composer Featurette (SD; 9:44) features Jonathan Gibbs.


• Blue Peter (SD; 11:23)


• Breakfast Time (SD; 1:01)


• Female Villains Featurette (SD; 22:38)


• Rogue Time Lords Featurette (SD; 13:12)


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 1:54)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 9:57)


• Episode Commentary can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Alternate Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Info Text can be accessed under the Subtitles and Info Text Menu.


• PDF Written Archive is accessible via a BD-ROM drive.

Disc Five: The Two Doctors

• Making of Documentary (HD; 38:18)


• Adventures in Time and Spain (SD; 29:25) features Gary Downie.


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 31:06)


• Convention Message (SD; 4:14)


• Hiatus News Reports (SD; 5:59)


• A Fix with Sontarans (HD; 8:14) features an optional commentary for this "mini-sode".


• Points of View (SD; 1:12) kind of hilariously offers a viewer letter requesting the BBC stop buying "rubbish" like Dynasty and Cagney and Lacey and instead devote their funds to Doctor Who.


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 1:22)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 13:35)


• Episode Commentary can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Info Text can be accessed under the Subtitles and Info Text Menu.


• PDF Written Archive is accessible via a BD-ROM drive.

Disc Six: The Two Doctors - Extended

• On Location with Nicola Bryant (SD; 40:48)


• Location Footage (SD; 36:15)


• Studio Footage (SD; 52:30)


• Robert Holmes Documentary (SD; 45:28)


• The Panopticon Archive (HD; 1:09:36) features Colin Baker "and the rest" from 1997.


• Audio Archive

  Robert Holmes Interview (HD; 1:12:50)

  
  

  Wavelength Radio Documentary (HD: 28;56)

• PDF Written Archive is accessible via a BD-ROM drive.

Disc Seven: Timelash

• Making of Documentary (SD; 25:02)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 30:49)


• HG Wells Featurette (SD; 13:16)


• Nicola Bryant in Conversation (HD; 1:12:15)


• Studio Footage (SD; 21:01)


• Was Doctor Who Rubbish? (SD; 14:01)


• BBC Trails and Continuity (SD; 1:29)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 9:48)


• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off from the Main Menu.


• Episode Commentaries can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


• PDF Written Archive is accessible via a BD-ROM drive.

Disc Eight: Revelation of the Daleks

• Making of Documentary (SD; 45:52)


• Deleted Scenes (SD; 2:17)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 31:22)


• Directing Who (SD; 11:46) features Graeme Harper.


• The Eternal Mystery (HD; 6:54)


• The Lenny Henry Show (SD; 4:36)


• Children in Need (SD; 3:17)


• Breakfast Time: Eleanor Bron (SD; 2:44)


• Breakfast Time: Exhibition (SD; 1:08)


• Breakfast Time: John Nathan-Turner (SD; 4:51)


• Take Two (SD; 2:48)


• Micro Live (SD; 1:37)


• Film Rushes (SD; 28:11)


• Studio Footage Highlights (SD; 15:38) feature optional commentary.


• Studio Footage (SD; 1:05:10)


• Doctor in Distress (SD; 3:45)


• BBC Trails and Continuity (SD; 6:04)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 10:37)


• DVD Easter Egg (SD; 00:49)


• Coming Soon (SD; 1:17)


• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off from the Main Menu.


• Episode Commentaries can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu. This features commentaries from 2005 and 2021.


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and is accessible under the Audio Options Menu (these episodes also feature either 5.1 or 2.0 Mono audio options).


• PDF Written Archive is accessible via a BD-ROM drive.

Doctor Who: Colin Baker - Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This season of Doctor Who is a mixed bag, as so many seasons from this same general time period tended to be, but it has some fun moments, even if its production design seems almost deliberately more sixties or seventies than mid-eighties. This is another set where the video side of things "is what it is", again like so many other Blu-ray releases of this series BBC has released through the years, but audio is fine (I personally preferred the original mixes to the rejiggered surround mixes), and as has always been the real calling card of these BBC Blu-ray releases, the supplements are outstanding. With caveats noted, Recommended.