Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Three Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.0

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

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 4, 2020

It was probably unintentional irony that the last serial in the original broadcast run of this venerable series was entitled Survival, given the fact that even though the cancellation of Doctor Who may well have been expected, it was not known to be actually imminent as the serial was in production. And really in the annals of broadcast television, there had been nothing quite like the survival of Doctor Who, which famously began its over two decade run on the BBC on November 23, 1963, the day after President Kennedy’s assassination, an event which actually delayed the start time of the broadcast for about a minute and a half (one presumes to make “room” for a news update). That means by the time “Survival” shuffled off the mortal coil (and/or airwaves) on December 6, 1989 (the date of the broadcast of the last episode of “Survival”), Doctor Who had been delighting and occasionally infuriating fans for an amazing 26 years. Sylvester McCoy had assumed the role of The Doctor around two years previously, after Colin Baker ended his run in the role in 1986. The McCoy years were among the more controversial in the series' long run, especially in McCoy's first season in the role, where the show's creative team seemed to take the almost clownlike outfit that Colin Baker had worn as the Doctor to heart, making the early McCoy episodes feature pretty low comedy that no doubt appealed to the kiddies, but probably left adults wanting a bit more. By the time this third season came along, at least some corrective measures had been put in place, and McCoy's Doctor is a considerably darker, more curmudgeonly, character. In that regard it struck me that McCoy's so-called "character arc" was kind of a reverse mirror image of the one traversed by Peter Capaldi when he took over the role decades later.

That clownish aspect is actually pretty overtly on display at times even in this season, as in an early scene in the original broadcast version of Battlefield , where the Doctor tries to find a fake ID for Ace (Sophie Aldred) to get them past some military barricades, and he pulls out a veritable grabbag of stuff from various pockets that seem to defy the laws of physics, before he finally remembers the ID is resting on his head under his hat. That's kind of the level of the "comedy" in this season, but it's also perhaps indicative of a certain rote aspect some of the writing offers.

This season features four so-called serials, including the first, the aforementioned Battlefield, a patently silly outing that admittedly is fun at times, including when villainness Jean Marsh as Arthurian nemesis Morgaine enters the fray (parts of this serial play probably unintentionally like elements of Monty Python and the Holy Grail). The "monster" (Marek Anton) she magically summons is just the first of several arguably unfortunate makeup decisions this season makes, the worst being the so-called Cheetah People who are at the core of this season's (and the original series') finale, the also aforementioned Survival, where they look like the backwoods cousins of the bizarre human-CGI feline hybrids seen in Cats.

The two middle serials both involve time travel, with Ghost Light journeying back to the 19th century in an enjoyable romp that includes, among other subplots, an attempt to assassinate Queen Victoria. The Curse of Fenric is a kind of silly vampire meets World War II tale that kind of humorously offers the Nazis only as "backup" villains. This season attempts to get out and about at regular junctures, something that opens up the show, but the biggest down side to this season isn't any stylistic choice like that, but some tired feeling writing.

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

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Three is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with 1080i transfers in 1.34:1. For those of you who have either seen or purchased any of the other upscaled seasons of Doctor Who that BBC has released, you won't see anything here that will overly surprise you. Most of the episodes in any of their many versions (more about that in a moment) regularly show crushed blacks, aliasing and at times pretty prevalent quasi-ghosting where repeated visual "echoes" of edges of people and other objects in the frame ripple out from the source. To my eyes the best single looking episode version here is the Special Edition of The Curse of Fenric, one which offers better clarity and especially palette suffusion than either of the other versions. On the other hand, I didn't really notice a ton of difference between the three versions of Battlefield. Ghost Light, perhaps because it's almost entirely set indoors on studio sets, has the most "video"-esque look, but it's also the darkest and softest (and all of the presentations are on the soft side).

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

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Three features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and 5.1 tracks for all of the "main" serials. I've been on record repeatedly as saying I'm not an especially huge fan of the surround rejiggerings of the Doctor Who episodes, and that feeling remains consistent with me in this season. There's been an obvious attempt to splay effects and score, but with regard to theme (for example), things just sound disbursed and unfocused, though admittedly some effects, like the whooshing of overhead missles in Battlefield, probably gain a bit from the surround repurposing. The 2.0 track sounded much more focused to my ears, offering excellent support for dialogue, effects and score.

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

As with several of these other standalone releases of Doctor Who material by BBC, each of the 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 there's also some "spill over" at times.

Disc One - Battlefield - Original TV Version (1080i; 1:36:50) and Special Edition

• Battlefield: Special Edition (1080i; 1:34:55) features either DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 or DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.


• Season 26 Press Trailer (480i; 1:43)


• BBC Trails and Continuity (480i; 8:43)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 13:23)


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


• Audio Commentaries are accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Info Text is available on all episodes.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Two - Battlefield: Extended VHS Version (1080i; 1:41:32)

• Making Of Documentary (480i; 22:31)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 31:27) 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.


• Writing Battlefield (480i; 12:01) features Andrew Cartmel and Ben Aaronovich.


• Becoming the Destroyer (1080i; 12:00) features Marek Anton and members of the effects team.


• Studio and Location Footage (480i; 2:27:43) comes with a warning about quality. Some of the clips have timecode captions.


• Watertank Footage (480i; 6:37) is a kind of fun featurette devoted to Sophie Aldred.


• Gallery FX Footage (480i; 14:33) features some raw footage utilized to create effects sequences.


• Noel's Saturday Roadshow (480i; 4:25) is a snippet from a television show features Sylvester McCoy.


• Nicholas Courtney Tribute (480i; 25:59)


• Jean Marsh Featurette (480i; 8:07)

Disc Three - Ghost Light (1080i; 1:12:58)

• Ghost Light - Extended Workprint (480i; 1:23:02) has a rather odd submenu that allows you to select either DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 or DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, although instead of just an audio selection, they line up the episodes in two columns, one for each audio codec.


• Making Of Documentary (480i; 38:51)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 33:01)


• Deleted and Extended Scenes (480i; 18:03)


• Studio Footage (480i; 2:58:42) comes with a warning about quality. Some of the clips have timecode captions.


• Marc Platt Interview (480i; 12:10)


• Little Girl Lost (480i; 16:32) is an archival piece with Sophie Aldred.


• BBC Trails and Continuity (480i; 5:08)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 12:25)


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


• Audio Commentaries are accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Info Text is available on all episodes.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Four - The Curse of Fenric - Original TV Version (1080i; 1:37:10) and Special Edition

• The Curse of Fenric - Special Edition (1080i; 1:43:51) features either DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 or DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks.


• Commentary Footage (480i; 6:01) is some behind the scenes footage of folks preparing for a commentary.


• Special Edition Featurette (480i; 15:07) is a fun archival piece talking about the rejiggering done for this version.


• Mark Ayres Interview (480i; 6:12)


• BBC Trails and Continuity (480i; 3:50)


• 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.


• Info Text is available on all episodes.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Five - The Curse of Fenric - Extended VHS Version (1080i; 1:44:28)

• Making of Documentary (1080i; 55:53) is called Buried Treasure: 30 Years of Fenric, and includes some fun interviews, including Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 29:57)


• Ian Briggs Interview (480i; 24:53)


• Ken Trew Interview (480i; 17:06)


• Location Recce & FX Footage (480i; 17:40)


• Location Footage (480i; 22:26)


• Take Two (480i; 4:32) is a brief behind the scenes production staff piece evidently done for a kids' show.


• Prosthetics Featurette (480i; 5:12)


• Convention Footage (480i; 58:28) is a Fenric Q & A with cast and crew from 1990.

Disc Six - Survival (1080i; 24:17, 24:16, 24:23)*

• Making of Documentary (Part One) (480i; 28:05)


• Making of Documentary (Part Two) (480i; 34:00)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 31:57)


• Deleted & Extended Scenes (1080i; 18:20)


• Out-takes (480i; 16:25)


• Now & Then (1080i; 6:37) looks at some of the serial's locations.


• Location Footage (480i; 52:12) is sourced from an old 16mm element in black and white.


• BBC Trails and Continuities (480i; 4:59)


• The Writers' Room (1080i; 32:38) is another fun pub set sit down with the writing staff.


• Stripped for Action (1080i; 21:34) offers info on a Doctor Who comic strip.


• Tomorrow's Times (480i; 14:31) looks back at some then contemporary press coverage.


• The Panopticon Archive (480i; 1:00:00) is a 1993 interview with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.
• Photo Gallery (1080i; 12:01)


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


• Audio Commentaries (including an alternate commentary for Episode Three) are accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Info Text is available on all episodes.


• PDF Files are available via a computer drive.

Disc Seven - Extras

• Sophie Aldred in Conversation (1080i; 1:12:12)


• Showman - The Life of John Nathan-Turner (1080i; 1:22:11)


• Endgame (480i; 44:21) is a look back at the cancellation of the long running series.


• The Seventh Doctor Revisited (1080i; 24:59) is a fun overview of McCoy's version of the character.


• Who Peter: 1963 - 1989 (480i; 29:57) features Gethin Jones offering an overview of the kids' show Blue Peter's connection to this series.


• Blu-ray Trailer (1080i; 3:33)

* For whatever reason, BBC authored the episodes under separate timecodes on this disc even when you choose the Play All option. On the other discs in this set, choosing Play All gives you a "cumulative" running time.

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

This season of Doctor Who just struck me as slightly anemic, with the more buffoonish aspects of McCoy's Doctor kind of downright annoying at times, and with some occasionally really clunky writing also mucking up the works. This is another release of Doctor Who which features at times iffy looking upscaled video, but which has such a great slate of supplements (including alternate versions of several of the serials) that it may still be a "must have" for devoted Whovians.