Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		2.5

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 12, 2021

It may strike even devoted Whovians as a little unexpected that in one notable poll, Sylvester McCoy managed to outpace Tom Baker as voters' favorite "incarnation" of Doctor Who. That may be unexpected because McCoy rightly or wrongly has been accused by other devoted Whovians as having "killed" the series, if it turns out only temporarily. That assessment is of course probably manifestly unfair to McCoy, since this release makes it abundantly clear that Doctor Who had fallen into ruts of both storylines and presentational aspects that reduced the series from something at least putatively aimed at a relatively broad swath of the viewing public to what might be charitably termed less than effective kiddie fare. There are still pleasures to be found, of course, and this first season offering McCoy as the venerable doctor has some goofy physical comedy that may appeal to some (though relatively short lived in his tenure, McCoy's "arc" as the Doctor is really rather interesting, and this comedic aspect tended to give way to darker manifestations later in the run).

This season gets off to a less than auspicious start with Time and the Rani, which features Kate O'Mara as a scenery chewing villainess who struck me as having been lifted from an old Flash Gordon serial. Unfortunately, things don't get much better in Paradise Towers, which has an almost Dredd-like quality in terms of presenting a (once?) high tech skyscraper now overrun with bad actors. Speaking of bad actors, this set of episodes features David Briers chewing the scenery in ways that make Kate O'Mara look positively tame by comparison. While those reading this review just as it's being pushed live may understandably be a bit hesitant to watch anything with "Delta" in its title, Delta and the Bannermen is at least an incremental step upward in quality, with a story that ends up being a patently goofy road trip of sorts, along with a bit of a time traveling element. This season's last serial, Dragonfire, has an inherently bittersweet quality due to the regular Doctor Who occurrence of "changing partners" and/or companions, but it also has a relatively interesting through line following a mastermind criminal who's attempting to break free from imprisonment and return home.

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season One is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.32:1. Fans of the series who have been getting previous upscaled seasons will know that video quality of these releases can be variable at best, and downright problematic at worst, and this is another salient example. As I've mentioned in many previous reviews of individual seasons of Doctor Who, it's the nicely suffused palette that probably comes off best overall, with some lushly saturated tones that offer a bit of diversion from what are recurrent issues with the taped material in particular, where upscaling can add all sorts of expected anomalies like stair stepping and ringing. There seems to be actual ghosting in evidence on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, the filmed elements don't really look that much better. The special effects are often pretty laughable, in true Doctor Who fashion, and this release offers only a fitful "update" of the initial transformation from the sixth to the seventh doctors.

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Some previous seasons of Doctor Who have offered only occasional 5.1 mixes in addition to DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono mixes, but this set features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options for all four serials. The results are intermittently effective, especially in some of the effects laden scenes that depend on sonics to establish things, but the mono tracks really suffice perfectly well for a series that simply didn't seem to have the budget for any sustained sound design overkill. While the surround tracks can offer noticeable engagement of the side and rear channels in fits and spurts, they at least don't really exhibit some of the out of phase quality that can sometimes attend these surround repurposings. Dialogue and score are both rendered without any problems. Optional English subtitles are available.

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This release continues BBC's tradition of offering some of the same types of supplements seen in many previous releases of this series on Blu-ray, as in the Audio Commentaries or Behind the Sofa "in person" commentaries, both of which feature revolving sets of cast and crew members. There's the typical gamut of news or infotainment offerings included on this set, with a number of snippets from British children's shows that have some kind of Doctor Who tie in. This set has surround tracks as options for all of the episodes, and so I haven't included those in the list below, as has sometimes been the case in prior reviews of Doctor Who Blu-ray releases. This set also features (slightly) extended versions of all of the episodes on the Bonus discs, as detailed below:

Disc One - Time and the Rani

• Making of Documentary (SD; 28:38)


• Deleted & Extended Scenes (SD; 8:44)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 34:32)


• Casting Featurette (SD; 3:47)


• Seventh Doctor Audition Tapes

  Sylvester McCoy (SD; 17:02)

  
  

  Dermot Crowley (SD; 14: 12)

  
  

  David Fielder (SD; 7:54)

• Location Featurette (SD; 2:03)


• Visual Effects Featurette (SD; 11:22)


• Visual Effects Footage - Inserts (SD; 5:28)


• Visual Effects Footage - Trims (SD; 32:17)


• Title Sequence Featurette (SD; 9:16)


• Regeneration Studio Footage (SD; 14:59)


• Hot Gossip (SD; 2:28)


• TV Promotion & Appearances

  Saturday Superstore (SD; 9:02)

  
  

  BBC Six O'Clock News (SD; 1:24)

  
  

  Blue Peter - Sylvester McCoy (SD; 1:23)

  
  

  Pamela Armstrong (SD; 9:58)

  
  

  Breakfast Time (SD; 4:06)

  
  

  Breakfast Time - Location Rushes (SD; 44:23)

  
  

  It's Wicked (SD; 12:07)

  
  

  Points of View (SD; 1:55)

  
  

  Blue Peter - Dalek Car (SD; 2:54)

  
  

  Open Air (SD; 24:55)

• Season 24 Press Trailer (SD; 1:54)


• Opening and Closing Titles

  Clean Opening & Closing Titles (HD; 2:11) offer the following audio options: Stereo Full Mix, 5.1 Surround Full Mix, Stereo Effects Only and Stereo Music Only.

  
  

  Rejected Opening & Closing Titles (HD; 2:11) offer the following audio options: Mono Full Mix, Mono Effects Only and Mono Music Only.

• DVD Easter Eggs (SD; 2:54)


• BBC Trails & Continuities (SD; 5:50)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 12:02)


• Coming Soon (SD; 1:20)


• Isolated Music Soundtrack can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


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


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


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Two - Time and the Rani Bonus features slightly extended versions of the episodes, as well as:

• Location Footage (SD; 2:46:47)


• Studio Footage (SD; 4:10:59)

Disc Three - Paradise Towers

• Making Of Documentary (HD; 34:04)


• Deleted & Extended Scenes (SD; 7:56)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 29:45)


• The Doctor's Table (HD; 40:06) features Sylvester McCoy Bonnie Langford, Sophie Aldred and Clive Merrison in a piece that looks like it was shot during Christmastime.


• BBC Trails & Continuities (SD; 4:55)


• Open Air (SD; 4:53) is an archival interview Richard Bryers.


• Convention Footage (SD; 12:35)


• Audio Archive (HD; 13:09) features a 1987 interview with Nicholas Mallett conducted by Richard Marson.


• Photo Gallery (HD; 9:21)


• Coming Soon (SD; 1:01)


• Alternate Music Episode Audio is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Commentary is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Info Text is accessible under the Subtitles & Info Text Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Four - Paradise Towers Bonus features slightly extended versions of the episodes, as well as:

• Location Footage (SD; 2:49:37)


• Studio Footage (SD; 4:19:59)

Disc Five - Delta and the Bannermen

• Making of Documentary (HD; 45:38)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 27:26)


• 50 Years in the Tardis (HD; 15:46) features Bonnie Langford.


• 50th Anniversary Archive (HD; 11:55)


• Hugh Lloyd Interview (SD; 7:04)


• Wales Today (SD; 2:16)


• But First This (SD; 6:08)


• But First This - Location Rushes (SD; 43:30)


• Going Live (SD; 16:57)


• Did You See? (SD; 9:32)


• Noel Edmonds' Saturday Roadshow (SD; 5:40)


• BBC Trails & Continuities (SD; 3:47)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 12:01)


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Commentary is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Info Text is accessible under the Subtitles & Info Text Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Six - Delta and the Bannermen Bonus features slightly extended versions of the episodes, as well as:

• Location Footage - Part 1 (SD; 2:59:59)


• Location Footage - Part 2 (SD; 3:28:38)


• Wrap Party (SD; 27:21)

Disc Seven - Dragonfire

• Making of Documentary (HD; 35:06)


• Deleted & Extended Scenes (SD; 9:57)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 31:32)


• Patricia Quinn Interview (HD; 27:15)


• Hartbeat (SD; 4:52)


• Corners (SD; 3:33)


• The Lowdown (SD; 3:37)


• The Doctor's Strange Love (SD; 15:42)


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


• Studio Footage (SD; 41:59)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 8:36)


• Isolated Music Soundtrack is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Commentary is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Info Text is accessible under the Subtitles & Info Text Menu.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Eight - Dragonfire Bonus features slightly extended versions of the episodes, as well as:

• Here's to the Future (HD; 1:09:23) is a really interesting overview of this season, including how the transition from one actor to the next was handled.


• Sylvester McCoy in Conversation (HD; 1:15:19) is another very fun piece which offers a lot of background information, as well as some kind of funny archival footage.


• 24 Carat (HD; 8:00) is a fun short that offers a kind of galactic Shark Tank scenario (with a Doctor Who tie in, of course). This comes with either stereo or surround tracks.

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even diehard fans of Doctor Who can be forced (sometimes under duress) to admit that the show was obviously in a waning quality situation as the McCoy years started and continued (for a short while, anyway). This is another season that has occasional moments of effectiveness, but which is too often repetitive and just too hyperbolically silly, something that may recommend it to the youngest tots in the audience, but which may try the patience of even older children. Technical merits are once again pretty iffy in the video department, but fine in the audio department, and this set from BBC really goes into hyperdrive (sorry, couldn't resist) for those who may be considering making a purchase.