Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Doctor Who: Peter Davison - Complete Season Two Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 30, 2024

Maybe the numbers are finally lining up, at least relatively speaking, in terms of the sometimes confusing verbiage BBC has utilized with their long running standalone releases of various seasons of Doctor Who. This release is labelled as the Complete Season Two of Peter Davison's tenure in the title role, but as several online data aggregators list, it was actually the complete season 20 of the show overall, which at least offers a "times 10" alignment between the two numbers. If the actual serials in this season, whatever its number, are pretty much "more of the same" in terms of this era of Doctor Who, this release offers the allure of the series' 20th anniversary special, which reunited several former doctors and companions. That special was called The Five Doctors, but considering the fact that this release offers the special in three different versions, that number might itself be multiplied to be fifteen doctors.

As I mentioned in the Doctor Who: Peter Davison - Complete Season One Blu-ray review, this general era of Doctor Who was still pretty much firmly in the "kiddie show" arena, even if some nascent attempts at breaking free of that mold might be apparent, at least in passing. But this is another season with ridiculously low rent sets and some probably hilarious alien "costuming" choices that amount to huge rubber suits, and it probably can't help but be unintentionally funny at times. That said, even if aimed toward younger sensibilities, the series does have a sense of humor about itself, and Davison's portrayal of the Doctor is probably more grounded (no outer space pun intended) in this second year of his tenure. There is a "traditional" hand off of "companion" duties partway through this season.

If the actual serials of this season are as goofily enjoyable as usual, it's The Five Doctors that will probably hold the most appeal, and if some of the differences between the three versions offered here aren't earth (or other planet) shattering, they're fun to see. BBC also offers "new, improved" Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 remixes for two of the three versions.

Doctor Who: Peter Davison - Complete Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Doctor Who: Peter Davison - Complete Season Two is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with an AVC encoded (upconverted) 1080i transfer in 1.33:1. Anyone who has been collecting this general era of Doctor Who will know pretty much what to expect, and while a lot of the studio (video) sequences can be afflicted by clear signs of upscaling, including at times rampant haloing and aliasing, I have to say the palette was really rather nice looking a lot of the time. Detail levels are fairly variable, but larger patterned elements on some of the costumes look at least decent, and textures on some of those aforementioned rubber suits look properly, well, rubbery. The filmed material may offer a more organic appearance, and one probably not as obviously littered with signs of upscaling, but it may not offer any substantial improvement in detail levels. The "new, improved" special effects noted in the Supplements listing need to be taken with whatever the visual equivalent of a grain of salt might be.

Doctor Who: Peter Davison - Complete Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Doctor Who: Peter Davison - Complete Season Two features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks for all the episodes, with bonus DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and/or Dolby Atmos tracks available as I've outlined in the Supplements listing below. I'd probably advise that approaching the surround options needs to be accepted with (this time) whatever the aural equivalent of a grain of salt might be, because the "upgrade" can be sporadic at best, most noticeable in scoring and some of the often goofy sound effects that accompany both some of the TARDIS material but also various more energetic interactions with various nemeses. Some of the 5.1 material in particular sounded just slightly phased to me, but the 5.1 mix on The Five Doctors may actually offer a more focused midrange and low end than the Atmos version. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Doctor Who: Peter Davison - Complete Season Two 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 of the same sorts of supplements, 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: Arc of Infinity

• Making of Documentary (SD; 34:56)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 31:07)


• Deleted Scenes (SD; 2:55) have timecode captions.


• Omega Featurette (SD; 14:56)


• Saturday Superstore: Peter Davison (SD; 21:11)


• Russell Harty's Christmas Party (SD; 3:32)


• Captain Zep (SD; 00:37) is a brief oddity from an offshoot of sorts that few people probably remember.


• Studio Footage Footage DVD Highlights (SD; 11:32) has timecode captions.


• Studio Footage Expanded (SD; 59:31) has timecode captions.


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 3:42)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 9:15)


• Audio Archive (HD; 5:22) features an interview with Ron Jones.


• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off via the Special Features Menu.


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


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 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 Two: Snakedance

• Making of Documentary (SD; 24:41)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 30:55)


• Deleted Scenes (SD; 3:06)


• Martin Clunes Interview (HD; 23:23)


• The Passenger (HD; 13:02)


• Making The Passenger (HD; 5:57)


• Christopher Bailey Interview (SD; 14:18)


• Film Footage (HD; 1:01)


• Studio Footage (SD; 21:14)


• 50th Anniversary Archive (HD; 36:01)


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 3:08)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 9:19)


• Coming Soon (SD; 1:10)


• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off via the Special Features Menu.


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


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


• DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Audio 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 Three: Mawdryn Undead

• Making of Documentary (SD; 24:32)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 33:18)


• Deleted and Extended Scenes (HD; 5:16)


• Film Trims (HD; 13:32)


• Outtakes (HD; 7:50)


• Mark Strickson Featurette (SD; 8:29)


• Points of View (SD; 1:42)


• Once Upon a Time Lord (SD; 28:23)


• Convention Footage (SD; 47:35)


• Liberty Hall (SD; 7:20)


• DVD Easter Eggs (SD; 1:11)


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 3:48)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 10:08)


• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off via the Special Features Menu.


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


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 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 Four: Terminus

• Making of Documentary (SD; 22:54)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 31:59)


• In Conversation (HD; 1:06:25) features Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding.


• Sarah Sutton Featurette (SD; 7:46)


• Model Shots (SD; 3:31)


• Storyboards (SD; 1:19)


• Origins of the Universe (SD; 6:28)


• DVD Easter Eggs (SD; 1:27)


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 3:36)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 9:40)


• Audio Archive (HD; 8:42) features Sarah Sutton.


• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off via the Special Features Menu.


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


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 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 Five: Enlightenment

• Making of Documentary (SD; 23:49)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 32:12)


• Cast Featurette (SD; 10:10) begins with a rather interesting text card that it's been edited for "compliance reasons".


• Writer Featurette (SD; 5:13)


• Visual Effects Featurette (HD; 7:43)


• The Guardians Featurette (SD; 11:55)


• Storyboards (SD; 5:58)


• Film Trims (HD; 5:44)


• Original Edit Comparison (SD; 2:35) pertains to Episode Three and features a timecode caption.


• Breakfast Time: The Doctors (SD; 15:50)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 7:41)


• Special Edition DVD Edit (SD; 1:29 intro; 1:14:08 ) features either DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 or DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options.


• Re-Enlightenment (SD; 14:22) features a roundtable (actually rectangular, but I digress) discussion about the then new Special Edition.


• DVD Easter Eggs (SD; 4:36)


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 3:07)


• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off via the Special Features Menu.


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


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 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 Six: The King's Demons

• Making of Documentary (HD; 34:32)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 29:55)


• Kamelion Featurette (SD; 13:53)


• Magna Carta (SD; 20:43) has another "compliance reasons" edit disclaimer.


• TV Promotion: Season 20

  Nationwide: The Doctors (SD; 9:09)

  
  

  Points of View (SD; 00:39)

  
  

  Saturday Superstore (SD; 23:04)

  
  

  Nationwide: Radiophonics (SD; 10:03)

  
  

  Swap Shop Star Awards (SD; 3:23)

  
  

  South East at Six: USA (SD; 4:15)

• Longleat Celebration Content

  BBC News: Longleat Convention (SD; 00:56)

  
  

  BBC Longleat Featurette (SD; 12:18)

  
  

  Convention Panel: Jon Pertwee (SD; 8:07)

  
  

  Convention Panel Patrick Troughton (SD; 20:26)

  
  

  Convention Panel: Third Doctor Era (SD; 5:48)

  
  

  Convention Panel: Season 20 Cast (SD; 14:25)

  
  

  Convention Panel: First Doctor Era (SD; 12:17)

  
  

  Convention Panel: Tom Baker & John Leeson (SD; 12:08)

  
  

  Photo Gallery: 20th Anniversary (HD; 9:01)

  
  

  Audio Archive (HD; 28:37) features Ed Stewart.

  
  Note: All of the Convention Panel material comes with a disclaimer about variant audio quality.

• TV Promotion: All Change

  Breakfast Time: Nicola Bryant (SD; 8:59)

  
  

  BBC News: Davison Departs (SD; 1:50)

  
  

  Newsround (SD; 00:37)

  
  

  South East at Six: Davison & JNT (SD; 3:39)

  
  

  Breakfast Time: Peter Davison (SD; 11:36)

  
  

  BBC News: Sixth Doctor (SD; 1:16)

  
  

  Breakfast Time: Colin Baker (SD; 8:26)

• Australian Convention Footage (SD; 57:00)


• BBC Trails & Continuities (SD; 4:52)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 6:09)


• Audio Archive

  Blackpool Exhibition (HD; 5:47)

  
  

  Gerald Flood Interview (HD; 27;59)

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


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 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 Seven: The Five Doctors - TX Version

• Celebration Documentary (SD; 52:05) has yet another "compliance reasons" edit disclaimer.


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 34:44)


• Studio Footage Highlights

  Five Doctors, One Studio (SD; 18:46)

  
  

  (Not So) Special Effects (SD; 9:00)

  
  

  Outtakes (SD; 6:36)

• The Ties That Bind Us (SD; 15:56)


• TV Promotion

  The Late, Late Breakfast Show (SD; 1:07)

  
  

  Pebble Mill at One (SD; 9:06)

  
  

  Blue Peter (SD; 8:04)

  
  

  BBC2 Closedown (SD; 4:10)

  
  

  Breakfast Time (SD; 1:33)

  
  

  Children in Need (SD; 3:12)

  
  

  BBC News (SD; 2:03)

  
  

  Saturday Superstore - Preview (SD; 2:01)

  
  

  Saturday Superstore - Radio Times Special (SD; 1:04)

  
  

  BBC Trails & Continuities (SD; 9:25)

• Repeat Screening

  Breakfast Time (SD; 1:07)

  
  

  Cliffhangers & Credits (SD; 9:51)

• DVD Easter Egg (SD; 00:22)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 13:26)


• Audio Archive (HD; 19:54) features John Nathan-Turner.


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


• Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options are accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


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


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

Disc Eight The Five Doctors - 40th Anniversary Edition

• Location Footage (SD; 32:41)


• Studio Footage

  Tuesday 29th March 1983 (SD; 53:30)

  
  

  Wednesday 30th March 1983 (SD; 1:17:03)

  
  

  Thursday 31st March 1983 (SD; 1:20:07)

  
  Note: The above come with a disclaimer about variant source quality.

• Australian Convention Footage (SD; 1:27:29) has a similar disclaimer about variant quality.


• The Panopticon Archive (SD; 41:30) features Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy.


• Coming Soon (SD; 1:13)


• Messages from Space (HD; 21:14) features Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and a brief moment with Tom Baker.


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


• Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options are accessible under the Audio Options Menu.

Disc Nine: The Five Doctors - Special Edition

• Look Who's Driving (HD; 1:07:14) features Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, and Janet Fielding on a rather funny road (and sea) trip to Germany.


• Let's Go Dutch! (HD; 1:15:46) offers more shenanigans with the above trio along with Mark Strickson and the "Dutch Whovian Community".


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


• DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


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

Doctor Who: Peter Davison - Complete Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly didn't have the typical lump in the throat that has accompanied some other transitions in companions through the years, and it can't be denied that a lot of this season has just downright silly plots, but there's still fun to be had, and I found the penultimate Enlightenment episodes to be especially enjoyable. Technical merits are once again on the highly variant side with regard to video, but BBC continues to rejigger its audio offerings on these standalone releases, and if the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Atmos options may not be as consistently exciting as modern day equivalents, it's at least commendable that BBC is trying to "dress up" these older offerings. As has typically been the case with the standalone Doctor Who releases, the supplements are bounteous and outstanding. With caveats about video noted, and at least for Whovians, Recommended.