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

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		2.5

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

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 16, 2020

In a way it’s almost intentionally ironic that this season of Doctor Who offers a “long form” arc entitled The Trial of a Time Lord, since Colin Baker’s tenure in the role could easily have been subtitled The Trials (and/or Tribulations) of a Time Lord. Doctor Who was nearing the end of its “original” run when The Trial of a Time Lord aired from September until December of 1986, and the series' status as “must see television” had seriously diminished by that time. All sorts of production issues were cropping up, and it seems the venerable BBC didn’t really have the good Doctor’s “back” anymore, as evidenced by the fact that the series was put on hiatus before The Trial of a Time Lord aired, something that at least contributed to Baker's (forced) exit from the role, at least a year before his contract was supposedly up. As such, The Trial of a Time Lord may be of interest to devoted Whovians for a number of "historical" reasons, even if some of those same diehard fans might admit under duress that this fourteen episode "serial" may come off as more than a bit padded at times, with a perhaps higher than usual "silly" quotient even for this often pretty silly series.

The Trial of a Time Lord kind of weirdly plays as an amalgam of elements from Star Trek: The Original Series, notably the so-called “prime directive” over interfering with “alien” civilizations, and (kind of hilariously) The Matrix Trilogy, albeit with an understanding that the term “matrix” has a somewhat different but still arguably similar meaning in this Doctor Who adventure to what it conveys in the Wachowski films. While there are four so-called “serials” in this season, the entire story is interwoven, with frequent interstitials at the trial of the Doctor, where an imperious figure known as the Valeyard (Michael Jayston, Nicholas and Alexandra) seems to be tweaking the evidence in order to guarantee a guilty verdict. It’s all resolutely goofy a lot of the time, with the courtroom antics in particular kind of looking and sounding like bizarro world outtakes from an old Flash Gordon serial.

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

Doctor Who: Colin Baker: Complete Season Two is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.34:1. As will probably be pretty obvious to anyone taking even a cursory look at the screenshots accompanying this review, this is another upscale of early standard definition material, and as such, it's one of those "it is what it is" properties. This season, if I'm understanding some of the production hurdles, actually videotaped even (at least some of) the location work, and as such there's more of a homogeneous look here than in some other seasons that are kind of bifurcated between taped and filmed elements, but unfortunately that isn't necessarily a good thing. There's a smooth, waxy, rubbery look to a lot of this upscaled imagery, with detail levels rarely rising above middling levels in midrange and wide shots, but admittedly doing a bit better in close-ups. Some of the effects work will look pretty shoddy to modern day eyes. The best part of this transfer is with regard to the palette, which generally looks fresh and vibrant, though if you're among those who objected to this Doctor's rather outrageous costuming, that also may not be a good thing.

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

Doctor Who: Colin Baker: Complete Season Two features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (original) mixes as well as rejiggered DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes for all fourteen episodes of this season. I haven't really been an overly huge fan of the surround remixes, finding them often a bit "phase-y" sounding, especially since they seem to be attempting to create immersion by replicating effects in more than one channel. That said, the surround mixes on this set are generally quite well done, and do definitely up the ambience of the midrange and lower frequencies, both of which tend to be used in effects sequences. Both tracks offer fine fidelity, with dialogue always presented cleanly and clearly. I noticed no real issues with regard to age related wear and tear.

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

As with several of these other standalone releases of Doctor Who material by BBC, each of the four so-called "serials" which comprise this season are offered on separate discs, and the featurettes on those discs can tend to be devoted to that serial, though the season long arc of The Trial of a Time Lord means that there's also some "spill over" at times.

Disc One - The Mysterious Planet

• Making Of Documentary (Part One) (480i; 25:03)


• Deleted and Extended Scenes (480i; 8:29)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 54:29) continues the enjoyable tradition of having various cast and crew sit on a couch and reminisce, while also offering sometimes trenchant commentary on various episodes.


• The Doctor's Table (1080i; 41:23) offers Colin Baker and friends dining together and chatting.


• Wogan (480i; 14:24) is an archival talk show with Colin Baker.


• Saturday Picture Show (480i; 7:32) is another talk show, this time with Bonnie Langford.


• Points of View (480i; 2:23) is a kind of funny "news" piece which offers perhaps dubious supposed positive fan feedback for the show's long hiatus, though offering a few fan critiques as well.


• Blue Peter (480i; 6:51)


• Studio and Location Footage (480i; 1:35:35)


• Model Footage (1080i; 1:15)


• Music Videos each feature Original Stereo (DTS-HD Master Audio) and 5.1 Surround (DTS-HD Master Audio) Mixes, with the first two also offering 2008 Stereo (DTS-HD Master Audio) remixes:

  Clean Opening and Closing Titles (480i; 2:18)

  
  

  Theme Music Remix (480i; 3:07)

  
  

  The Trial Theme (480i; 2:49)

• BBC Trails and Continuity (480i; 10:38)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 12:33)


• Isolated Music Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.


• Audio Commentaries are accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Two - Mindwarp

• Making Of Documentary (Part Two) (480i; 20:22)


• Deleted and Extended Scenes (480i; 9:03)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 35:16)


• Temps X (480i; 16:32) is a kind of fun French television look at the series.


• Breakfast Time (480i; 8:37) is another talk show (or maybe even an aggregation of more than one episode), this time with Janet Fielding.


• Now and Then (480i; 21:01) is kind of cheekily subtitled The Trail of a Time Lord and provides a bit of a retrospective on the series.


• Studio and Location Footage (480i; 39:48)


• Blessed on Doctor Who (480i; 19:54) focuses on Brian Blessed and includes some 2007 interview segments with the actor.


• The Sixth Doctor Revisited (1080i; 25:07) looks over Colin Baker's reign in the role.


• 50 Years in the Tardis (1080i; 20:54) is a newer interview with Colin Baker.


• BBC Trails and Continuity (480i; 3:42)


• Commentary Bonus (480i; 2:23)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 8:00)


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.


• Audio Commentaries are accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Three - Terror of the Vervoids

• Making Of Documentary (Part Three) (480i; 19:17)


• Deleted and Extended Scenes (480i; 14:06)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 37:01)


• Studio Footage (480i; 1:26:32)


• BBC Trails and Continuity (480i; 3:38)


• Terror of the Vervoids - Special Edition (1080i; 1:26:31) can be played with either DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono or 5.1 audio.
• Photo Gallery (1080i; 9:08)


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.


• Audio Commentaries are available under the Audio Options Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Four - The Ultimate Foe

• Making Of Documentary (Part Four) (480i; 15:14)


• Deleted and Extended Scenes (480i; 4:37)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 33:10)


• Saturday Superstore (480i; 13:32) is yet another talk show, with Colin Baker.


• Open Air (480i; 10:29) is a kind of promotional "infotainment" piece with some fans.


• Tomorrow's World (480i; 28:26) is a kind of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me-ish game show (at least, I think that's what it is) with Colin Baker as one of the players.


• French and Saunders (480i; 7:35) is a fun sendup of the show from the legendary comedy pair.


• Location Material (480i; 59:39)


• Trials and Tribulations (480i; 55:05) dissects some of the show's history during this period.


• Bonnie Langford in Conversation (1080i; 1:02:07)


• The Lost Season (480i; 10:58) looks at the hiatus and what that meant, including the loss of the "original" formulation for season 23.


• The Writers' Room (1080i; 32:14) is another appealing pub sitdown with some of the writing staff.


• Tomorrow's Times (480i; 12:56) is a retrospective of contemporary reviews.


• Stripped for Action (480i; 17:46) looks at comic adaptations (get it?).


• BBC Trails and Continuity (480i; 1:23)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 7:03)


• Coming Soon (480i; 00:39) is a promo for something called a DVD.


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.


• Audio Commentaries are available under the Audio Options Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Five - 71 Edits Part One features extended cuts of the following episodes:

• Part One (1080i; 29:31)


• Part Two (1080i; 24:56)


• Part Three (1080i; 24:11)


• Part Four (1080i; 25:45)


• Part Five (1080i; 26:43)


• Part Six (1080i; 24:47)


• Part Seven (1080i; 25:24)


• Part Eight (1080i; 27:54)


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Five - 71 Edits Part Two features extended cuts of the following episodes:

• Part Nine (1080i; 29:34)


• Part Ten (1080i; 24:52)


• Part Eleven (1080i; 24:00)


• Part Twelve (1080i; 27:07)


• Part Thirteen (1080i; 26:02)


• Part Fourteen (1080i; 31:43)


• Special Features

  The Doctor Who Cookbook Revisited (1080i; 39:33)

  
  

  Bonus Recipe #1 (1080i; 3:09)

  
  

  Bonus Recipe #2 (1080i; 5:07)

  
  

  Bonus Recipe #3 (1080i; 5:29)

  
  

  Season 23 Blu-ray Trailer (1080i; 3:41)

  
  

  Now Get Out of That! (480i; 28:20) is a fun look at Doctor Who cliffhangers.

  
  

  The Panopticon Archive (480i; 32:36) is a 1983 piece with Colin Baker and others.

  
  

  Studio Clocks (1080i; 4:26)

• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

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

The Trial of a Time Lord ended with a "guilty" verdict for Baker if not for the Doctor, and as such this odd "long form" set of episodes may be of particular interest to some longtime Doctor Who fans. That said, it's often downright ridiculous, and it often tends to err on the goofy humorous side of things, which may annoy some viewers. This is another upscaled presentation that can't overcome the built in deficits of the source material, but audio is fine (including the surround remixes), and, as usual, BBC has provided a treasure trove of supplemental material, which may be the ultimate calling card for those considering a purchase.