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

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

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

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 21, 2018

A pop (culture?) quiz of sorts was posited in our Doctor Who: Series 10 Part 1 Blu-ray review, when I mentioned that even devoted Whovians might have a momentary pause or two if asked to list in order all of the actors who have played the venerable title character of this insanely long running BBC series. Just in case that assignment wasn’t challenging enough, here’s another: can you name what two signal achievements Tom Baker, the so-called “Fourth Doctor”, has to his name, one directly related to Doctor Who and the other a kind of interesting sidebar data point? The Doctor Who related item is probably pretty easy, and in fact generally well known to a lot of diehard Doctor Who fans: Baker holds the record as having portrayed the good (if sometimes curmudgeonly) doctor the longest, in a tenure that lasted from roughly 1974 to 1981. The second item is a bit more arcane, but additionally separates Baker from the rest of his Doctor Who pack: by my non-scientific cursory research, I believe Baker is the only actor (and/or actress) to portray the Doctor who burst onto the feature film scene with a performance that garnered not one but two Golden Globe nominations. Baker’s turn as the nefarious enchanter Rasputin in Franklin J. Schaffner’s 1971 Nicholas and Alexandra received a lot of attention at the time of the film’s original release, and while Baker was kind of strangely overlooked in the Best Supporting Actor Oscar sweepstakes that year, he did score a Golden Globe nomination in that award’s category for Supporting Actor, along with another nomination for Most Promising Newcomer (a nomination he kind of ironically shared with “Alexandra” herself, Janet Suzman). Despite this widely acclaimed major feature film debut (Baker did have one previous film credit to his name, a “filmed play” version of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, from 1967), Baker had a bit of a rough spell after Nicholas and Alexandra, appearing in only a handful of projects over the subsequent couple of years. Kind of humorously, at least for those who are amused by the vagaries of show business, it wasn’t Nicholas and Alexandra or any of its immediate follow ups that garnered Baker the offer of playing Doctor Who. Instead, it was 1974’s The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, the sort of film most actors would hardly consider optimum material for a “demo reel”. What’s kind of interesting about both Nicholas and Alexandra and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, at least in terms of the casting of Doctor Who, is that Baker was the unrepentant villain in both films, rather than the putative (if sometimes curmudgeonly) hero.

There are five so-called “serials” contained in this first season of Doctor Who adventures starring Tom Baker, Robot, The Ark in Space, The Sontaran Experiment, Genesis of the Daleks and Revenge of the Cybermen. My hunch is longtime Whovians who haven’t yet seen the Baker outings will probably find the Daleks and Cybermen arcs the most consistently interesting. One thing to keep in mind with regard to all of the episodes in this set is that they are at times almost hilariously low tech looking, with obvious studio set work (like the Ark) interspersed with location footage of various British environments. The kind of underlying goofy element includes the very depiction of the Doctor in this season, with Baker adorned with a huge floppy hat, velveteen purple waistcoat and muffler that makes this "Time Lord" indeed look like a refuge from another time period — namely, the Summer of Love in San Francisco, circa 1967.

The show's technical aspects (in terms of things like "special effects") is kind of charmingly old school, but part of the charm of this series is how the stories actually often manage to carry the show past some of its presentational deficiencies. (As will be noted below in the Supplements section, some "serials" offer updated special effects, but anyone expecting state of the art CGI had best temper their hopes.) You can still occasionally feel Baker and his cohorts feeling their way in their new roles, but the Daleks arc especially is kind of thrillingly nostalgic at times (and by then, everyone was pretty comfy with their interpretations). I have to say that for me personally, the lo-fi aspects of this era of Doctor Who actually help the Cybermen arc. The Capaldi Cybermen episodes literally made me laugh out loud, and probably not in a good way, simply because the "sock over the head" "makeup" was so hilariously anachronistic to the otherwise relatively glossy production elements. Here, the Cybermen just kind of blend into the generally smaller scale production design efforts, and so the disconnect is perhaps not as unintentionally humorous.

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

Doctor Who: Tom Baker Complete Season One is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.32:1. As my colleague Ken Brown mentioned in his exhaustive Doctor Who: Complete Series 1-7 Blu-ray review, these Baker episodes come from (as Ken termed it) the same "take it or leave it" standard definition source as the other relatively early Doctor Who seasons that Ken covered in that review, and those who are unfamiliar with what upscales look like may be in for a bit of a shock, especially if they're expecting the same levels of sharpness and detail that are regular features of contemporary Doctor Who Blu-ray releases. That said, in my personal estimation, these are not bad looking for upscales, which of course may be damning with faint praise. On the minus side, there are passing video anomalies like slight ghosting, haloing, and several moments of chroma anomalies where splotches of color will mask certain parts of the frame. Detail levels are variable, especially in midrange and wide shots, though commendably "little" things like stray pill on fabric tend to come through reasonably well in close-ups. On the plus side, the palette is quite healthy looking throughout all of the episodes, though there are noticeable differences between studio set moments and the location work, which can occasionally look just slightly dowdy when compared to sequences shot in more controlled environments. Nothing here is going to knock any videophiles' socks off, but there's similarly nothing here that I found overly problematic.

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

With the exception of the "new, improved" DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix which is available as a kinda sorta supplement on The Ark in Space and The Genesis of the Daleks discs (more about which in a moment), the rest of the serials feature DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mixes. For the most part, the fidelity here is fine, if never overly inspiring. The fun theme music and underscore resonate clearly enough, and dialogue is consistently clear and easy to understand. Some of the sound effects are on the goofy side, but encounter no real problems. The one exception to my ears on the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mixes is Part One of The Sontaran Experiment. I'm not sure what's going on here (and I no longer have DVD versions to see if it existed in previous home video incarnations), but it almost sounds like someone pushed the gain up too far and also did something to the EQ that has resulted in an overly bright, tinny sound that also has noticeable clipping and distortion at higher amplitudes (and this entire track is already noticeably louder to my ears than Part Two). This anomaly aside, I was still able to understand everything easily in this section of this serial, but there is definitely a difference in quality. I frankly found the 5.1 mixes unnecessary. It does occasionally open up the effects work, and arguably the music (but less so than I personally expected in that regard), but it also just didn't sound "natural" to my ears.

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

Disc One: Robot

• Making of Documentary (480i; 39:00) is a fun overview that offers information about this set of episodes.


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 44:19) is a newer piece with some spirited interviews with Baker and other cast members in what might be thought of as a kind of "reverse Mystery Science Theater 3000", with the camera facing a couch that has various people commenting on episodes.


• Television Drama (480i; 35:59) focuses on this episode and includes elements like the first table read.


• Location Footage (480i; 1:11) offers some brief candid snippets.


• Blackpool Footage (1080i; 00:16) seems to be a promo for a Doctor Who convention.


• Blue Peter (480i; 2:14) is a "crossover" of sorts with the popular British children's show that had several connections to Doctor Who through the years.


• The Tunnel Effect (480i; 13:47) looks at the then "high tech" special effects that went into the "groundbreaking" title sequence, which is analogous in some ways to the "light show" that began ABC's concurrently running Movie of the Week.


• Clean Opening and Closing Titles (1080i; 2:26)


• Unused Title Sequence (480i; 00:46)


• On Target: Terrance Dicks (1080i; 21:28) is another really interesting "backstage" piece documenting the writer and some of the ideas he provided to the series.


• Original BBC Continuity (480i; 00:41) offers the initial promotions announcing Baker taking over the role.


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 4:16)


• Coming Soon - The Ark in Space (480i; 1:01)


• Audio Commentaries featuring a revolving door of cast and crew, including Tom Baker and producer Barry Letts.


• Info Text (available under the Subtitle Menu) offers factoids as episodes play.

Disc Two - The Ark in Space

• Omnibus Version (1080i; 1:09:54) is a kind of Reader's Digest redaction.


• Making of Documentary (480i; 29:53) has some fun footage and information on the so-called "special effects".


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 37:52) offers more reminiscences from the cast.


• Model Effects (1080i; 7:10) offers more glimpses of the "special effects".


• BBC 1 Trailer (1080i; 00:53)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 7:06)


• Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off.


• Updated Special Effects Roll (480i; 1:32) prove that these are probably not even to circa 1968 Kubrick standards, but arguably better than the originals, which tend to look more like circa 1965 Gerry Anderson.


• Technical Specs (1080i; 1:09) purports to give "engineering" data on some of the props and the like.


• Roger Murray Leach Interview (1080i; 10:30) features the show's designer.


• Audio Commentaries


• Info Text


• Additionally, a rejiggered DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is available.

Disc Three - The Sontaran Experiment

• Making of Documentary (1080i; 36:46) is subtitled Like Nothing on Earth and features a number of quite interesting interviews.


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 17:44) features more fun reminsicences related to this set of episodes.


• Built for War (480i; 39:37) looks at some of the admittedly goofy aspects of this story, including some of the outlandish characters.


• Location Report (1080i; 2:55) is actually an audio supplement culled from a BBC broadcast.


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 4:49)


• On Target: Ian Marter (1080i; 16:11)


• The Tom Baker Years (480i; 1:29:58) seems to be ported over from an old videocassette, at least if one takes the opening warning about using "tracking controls" to rectify picture anomalies seriously. That element aside, this provides a lot of information on this era of Doctor Who and of course features Baker himself quite a bit.


• The Tom Baker Years (480i; 1:26:43) is more of the same, including the warning of unsightly tracking problems.


• Audio Commentaries


• Info Text

Disc Four - Genesis of the Daleks

• Making of Documentary (480i; 1:02:09) is titled Making of a Classic and deals with both the set of episodes and their lasting impact in Doctor Who history.


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 43:11) features more fun footage of the cast sitting on a couch and laughing about the show.


• Blue Peter (480i; 7:12)


• Continuity (480i; 6:15) offers more BBC announcements, circa 1975.


• Live from the TVC Canteen (1080i; 47:06) is another audio supplement, recorded on an outing for lunch with several cast and production members.


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 8:00)


• Audio Commentaries


• Info Text


• Additionally, a rejiggered DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is available.

Disc Five - Revenge of the Cybermen

• Making of Documentary (1080i; 32:13) features more engaging interviews and background on the story.


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 31:57) offers more kind of silly shenanigans as the cast watches and comments.


• Cheques, Lies and Videotape (1080i; 28:18)


• Location Report (1080i; 5:56) has some fun looks at makeup and costumes.


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 4:38)


• Optional Updated Special Effects can be toggled on or off.


• Audio Commentaries


• Info Text

Disc Six

• Tom Baker in Conversation (1080i; 1:04:21) is a really lovely overview of Baker's now iconic run in this role.


• Genesis of the Daleks Omnibus (1080i; 1:25:57)


• Studio Clocks (1080i; 6:36) is a kind of odd supplement showing timings of shots (at least I think that's what this is, I'm frankly not entirely sure).

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

Is this era of Doctor Who kind of unabashedly silly? Yeah, probably. But, you know what? — it's also inarguably fun, with Baker and the supporting cast falling into their roles fairly quickly. Some of the serials this season probably aren't going to make anyone's all time Top Ten Doctor Who episodes list, but I personally loved the Daleks arc and actually was surprisingly fond of the Cybermen episodes as well. There are some technical hurdles with both video and audio here, but the supplementary package is outstanding. For Doctor Who fans (who will probably be willing to overlook some of the technical shortcomings due to the historical importance of this era of the show, and because of the supplements), Doctor Who: Tom Baker Complete Season One comes Recommended.