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

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

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

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 31, 2019

It’s been a little disjunctive lately with regard to BBC releases of the venerable Doctor Who series, with a bit of what might be called “Time Lord and/or time traveling ping pong” going on whereby BBC has been offering both the latest installment of the Doctor courtesy of releases like Doctor Who: The Complete Eleventh Series, and older versions of the character as exemplified by releases like Doctor Who: Tom Baker - Complete Season One. Into that kind of mind boggling fray comes this latest BBC offering, one which presents Tom Baker’s “swan song” as one of the most iconic characters in the annals of television. There’s some frankly rather amazingly honest background information imparted in some of the copious supplements included on this impressive eight disc set, and one of the things that becomes apparent may reside in that oft quoted “the more things change, the more they stay the same” territory. As is discussed in some of the supplements on the Jodie Whittaker releases, the creative staff behind Doctor Who is only too aware of what a legendary show they’re helping to sustain, but there’s a similar awareness that they can’t simply keep doing the same things over and over again. It’s kind of bracing in a way to hear a number of people, including (then) new producer John Nathan-Turner and Tom Baker himself, discuss some of the perceived problems with Doctor Who going into the final year of Baker’s tenure in the role. There seemed to be a general consensus that things had gotten too “silly” due to some contributions by scribe Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), and in fact one talking head pretty much states that “‘silly’ was Douglas Adams’ thing”. But there was also a growing awareness that Baker had attempted to make Doctor Who “The Tom Baker Show,” in the words of one of the production crew, an assessment that Baker himself seems to at least partially admit, stating in one of the interviews that he had gotten a bit full of himself at this point in the show’s history.

One of the perhaps ironic things that is discussed in some of the copious supplemental material included on this release was a desire by several folks on the creative staff to make this season of Doctor Who more "scientifically accurate", which may then beg the question as to why such arguably unscientific things like vampires show up in various arcs. That's said with tongue in cheek, of course, but the supposed "more serious" tone of this season may be only fleetingly discernable at times, and in fact there's still a rather abundant amount of goofiness running rampant through Baker's final year in the role. Some of that silliness is due to the still "controversial" character of K9 (fans will note a newly restored version of the ostensible pilot for a K9 series is included on Disc Eight of this set). But even without the questionable blandishments of a computerized dog, the lo-fi ambience of the production, courtesy of what is repeatedly mentioned in the supplements as an absolutely paltry budget, may make this season play on the campy side for some.

As is briefly discussed in a supplement, there is a through line of sorts suffusing this season, even above and beyond what’s been called “The E- Space Trilogy” (three sets of episodes take place at least partially in this netherworld), and that’s the idea that, as William Butler Yeats once put it, “the center will not hold”. There are overt references to the concept of entropy, but even given that supposed “scientific” underpinning, the often hyperbolic performance style of Baker combined with less than thrilling special effects can occasionally provoke giggles, not necessarily of the appreciative kind.

Still, part of what helped define Doctor Who during this era was its kind of low tech charm, and that continues in abundance this season. Lalla Ward (who was married to Baker for a short time) makes for an appealing Romana, even if large swaths of certain episodes are given over to interplay between her and K9. Later in the season Matthew Waterhouse appears as Adric. Kind of interestingly, the series doesn’t really go for the emotional jugular in saying goodbye to one of these companions, as it has tended to do in later incarnations. As is discussed in some of the supplements, another farewell, the “goodbye” to K9, was actually looked forward to by any number of participants.

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

Doctor Who: Tom Baker Complete Season Seven is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with AVC encoded 1080i transfers in 1.34:1. This is another case of kind of bifurcated quality, much as has been discussed previously in both our Doctor Who: Peter Davison - Complete Season One Blu-ray review and our Doctor Who: Tom Baker - Complete Season One Blu-ray review. The location and/or outdoor footage here, culled from 16mm film source elements, looks rather good, all things considered, with consistent densities, a largely appealing palette, and a natural looking grainfield. As with the two other seasons linked to above, the upscaled video elements, typically all of the studio shot material, is widely variable in quality. Once again, the palette actually looks nicely suffused and vivid quite a bit of the time, and detail levels on things like the Doctor's bohemian chic costume can be quite impressive. But there are manifest issues apparent as well, with some, like aliasing or haloing, probably exacerbated by the upscaling, and others, like some ghosting and vertical striping, which I'm assuming are "baked into" the proceedings. There are occasional chroma anomalies on display, especially in darker moments, where there can be brief but noticeable "blooms" of color, typically in the black or purple ranges. All in all, those who are used to what these upscales look like, will not be surprised one way or the other by the appearance of this season, and devoted Whovians who are used to the upscales may well feel a higher score is justified. Others are encouraged to spend some time looking at the screenshots accompanying this review for an idea of what things look like.

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

As with some of the earlier season of Doctor Who , all of the episodes included in this volume feature DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mixes, while two of them have been "upgraded" with optional DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes. As I've discussed in some of the other reviews, I personally haven't been that enamored of the surround repurposings, but here perhaps due to the new emphasis on some of the musical elements, I actually liked some of the opening up of the soundstage, though "The Leisure Hive" in particular sounds like only the music is consistently populating the surround channels. (Before I had even received a screener from BBC, I had a member message me quite some time ago about whether "The Leisure Hive"'s surround mix was missing effects, and all I can say is, in pretty relentless toggling between the two tracks, I didn't notice anything actually missing, despite rewinding and sampling quite a few moments on both tracks. I did notice that the effects are noticeably down in the mix in the surround version to the point that they're hard to hear at times. That said, I admittedly did not listen to either the entire surround or mono track all the way through the entire set of episodes since I was toggling back and forth, so if I overlooked something that someone can point me definitively to, let me know and I can update the review.) The music and effects sequences on "Warriors' Gate" probably benefit most from the 5.1 repurposing, but the "improvement" will of course be in the ears of the beholder and will probably not strike many audiophiles as overwhelming in any case. The mono tracks all offer fine fidelity, perhaps a little boxy sounding at times, though as is even discussed in some of the supplements, the ubiquity of the synth laden score may wear on some after a while. Dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly with no problems whatsoever.

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

As with some of the previous multi-disc releases of older seasons of Doctor Who, this one also includes some supplement "series", like Making Of documentaries on the separate episode arcs, or the enjoyable Behind the Sofa offerings. I'm not going into huge detail on any of these, since their outlines are so well known to Whovians by now, but I will say that the Making Of documentaries in particular are unusually interesting this time around. 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. It does look to me like the Disc Seven has incorrect PDF files, but maybe I'm missing something.

Disc One "The Leisure Hive"

• Making Of Documentary (480i; 30:20)


• From Avalon to Argolis (480i; 14:19) covers the writing of this disc's set of episodes.


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 29:12) continues the tradition of various cast and crew members watching episodes and commenting.


• Studio Footage (480i; 26:21) offers raw footage from studio work.


• Synthesizing Starfields (480i; 9:14) offers parts of an archival interview with composer Peter Howell, along with more contemporary interviews with him.


• Clean Opening and Closing Titles (1080i; 1:55)


• Costume Featurette (480i; 6:50) features costume designer June Hudson, who also has some fun if pointed comments in the Making Of featurette.


• Blue Peter (480i; 3:57)


• BBC1 Continuity (480i; 5:21) offers bumpers and the like.


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 10:14)


• Coming Soon (480i; 1:08) features ads for (ahem) DVDs.


• Episode Commentary 1 features Lalla Ward, Lovett Bickford (director), and Christopher Bidmead (Script Editor), and can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu (you have to select the Commentary, and then go back to the Play Menu to begin things).


• Episode Commentary 2 features Matthew Sweet and Tom Baker, and can be accessed under the Audio Options Menu.


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


• Optional DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Track is also available on this set of episodes, and can be found under the Audio Options Menu.


• Info Text delivers datapoints via subtitles, and is accessible under the Subtitles Menu.

Disc Two "Meglos"

• Meglos Men (480i; 18:10) features writers John Flanagan and Andy McCulloch (along with some great footage of St. Pancras Station in London).


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 28:28)


• The Scene Sync Story (480i; 11:04) gets into some of the "high tech" the series uses, like older techniques such as chromakey, and then new fangled computer control cameras.


• Jacqueline Hill Tribute (480i; 12:57)


• BBC News Report (480i; 1:12) focuses on Baker's goodbye in the role.


• BBC1 Continuity (480i; 3:04)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 7:53)


• Coming Soon (480i; 1:12)


• Episode Commentary features Lalla Ward, John Flanagan (Co-Writer), Christopher Owen (Earthling), Paddy Kingsland (Composer), and can be found under the Audio Options Menu.


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


• Info Text delivers datapoints via subtitles, and is accessible under the Subtitles Menu.

Disc Three "Full Circle"

• Making Of Documentary (480i; 24:19)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 26:29)


• Studio Footage (480i; 9:33)


• K9 in E-Space (480i; 4:38) discusses the fate of this character.


• A Weekend With Waterhouse (1080i; 40:14) is one of the new documentaries included on this set, and features Matthew Waterhouse in some charming candid settings with host Toby Hadoke.


• Swap Shop (480i; 8:08) is an archival interview with Matthew Waterhouse.


• BBC News Report (480i; 00:31) announces Peter Davison as the new Doctor Who.


• Nationwide (480i; 3:42) is another piece devoted to Davison taking over the role, but gets into some of the history of other actors who played the role.


• BBC1 Continuity (480i; 6:37)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 8:00)


• Science Featurette (480i; 14:36) features Christopher Bidmead discussing his preference for more scientifically accurate stories. Does this mean there isn't a Sonic Screwdriver?


• Episode Commentary features Matthew Waterhouse, Christopher Bidmead, and Andrew Smith (Writer), and can be found under the Audio Options Menu.


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


• Info Text delivers datapoints via subtitles, and is accessible under the Subtitles Menu.

Disc Four "State of Decay"

• Making of Documentary (480i; 20:25)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 21:19)


• Film Trims (480i; 5:34)


• BBC News Report (480i; 00:25) documents Tom Baker's marriage to co-star Lalla Ward.


• BBC1 Continuity (480i; 3:18)


• Pickwick Audiobook (1:00:55) is an abridged audio version of "State of Decay".


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 5:11)


• Leaves of Blood (480i; 17:04) deals with vampires.


• The Blood Show (480i; 10:29) discussed blood, both the real kind and the special effects kind.


• The Frayling Reading (480i; 4:36) offers Sir Christopher Frayling relating vampirism to Marxist ideology (no, that's not a typo).


• Episode Commentary 1 features Peter Moffatt (Director), Matthew Waterhouse and Terrance Dicks (Writer), and is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


• Episode Commentary 2 features Matthew Sweet, Lana Ward and Rachel Davis, and is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


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


• Info Text delivers datapoints via subtitles, and is accessible under the Subtitles Menu.

Disc Five "Warriors' Gate"

• Making Of Documentary (480i; 27:10)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 23:13)


• Extended & Deleted Scenes (480i; 4:11)


• Lalla's Wardrobe (480i; 19:00) looks at some of the costuming for Romana.


• The Axe Man (480i; 1:04) discusses an issue with props.


• Swap Shop (480i; 9:18) looks at special effects.


• Prime Computer Adverts (480i; 3:09) are some kind of cheeky advertisements with Baker and Ward.


• BBC1 Continuity (480i; 2:04)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 8:22)


• Episode Commentary features Paul Joyce (Director), John Leeson (K9), Matt Williams (SFX Designer) Chris Bidmead (Script Editor) and Lalla Ward, and is accessible under the Audio Options Menu.


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


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


• Info Text delivers datapoints via subtitles, and is accessible under the Subtitles Menu.

Disc Six "The Keeper of Traken"

• Making Of Documentary (480i; 30:01)


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 21:08)


• The Return of the Master (480i; 9:40) is devoted to "He's baaaack".


• Commentary Extra (2:56) contains audio "overruns" from the commentary recording.


• Swap Shop (480i; 11:14) features Sara Moon Stallion.


• BBC1 Continuity (480i; 6:37)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 7:27)


• Episode Commentary features Matthew Waterhouse and Johnny Byrne (Writer).


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


• Info Text delivers datapoints via subtitles, and is accessible under the Subtitles Menu.

Disc Seven "Logopolis"

• Making Of Documentary (480i; 58:08)


• A New Body at Last (480i; 50:23) focuses on the transition to and from Tom Baker, with an overview of Baker's record setting tenure in the role.


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 26:48)


• Studio Footage (480i; 21:08) features timecode captions.


• Audio Restoration (480i; 3:11) is an interesting if brief look at some fixes that were made to the audio.


• BBC1 Continuity (480i; 5:58)


• The Five Faces of Dr. Who (480i; 4:11) is a brief piece featuring various episodes like "Logopolis" and "Carnival of Monsters".


• Tomorrow's Times (480i; 14:06) looks at critics' reviews of Doctor Who over the years.


• Stripped for Action (480i; 20:20) deals with Doctor Who comics. Get it?


• Doctor Who Stories (480i; 22:56) features a 2003 interview with Tom Baker.


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 8:34)


• Science Featurette (480i; 4:53) looks at entropy.


• Updated Special Effects are available via a toggle switch. Don't expect miracles.


• Episode Commentary features Chris Bidmead (Writer), Janet Fielding and Tom Baker.


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


• Info Text delivers datapoints via subtitles, and is accessible under the Subtitles Menu.

Disc Eight "K9 and Company"

• The K9 Files (480i; 11:41) looks at the little mechanical doggie.


• Behind the Sofa (1080i; 36:25)


• Brendan and Company (1080i; 13:34) is an interview with Ian Sears.


• Pebble Mill at One (480i; 2:40) is a brief snippet featuring K9.


• Trailers and Continuity (480i; 2:19)


• Happy Christmas Trailer (480i; 00:46)


• Photo Gallery (1080i; 5:23)


• A Dog's Tale (480i; 3:25) is a supposed interview with K9.


• The Writers' Room (1080i; 35:19) is a fun conversation between Bidmead, Flanagan, Smith and Gallagher, at a pub (of course).


• The Fourth Doctor Revisited (1080i; 27:45) looks back over Baker's reign.


• 50th Anniversary Archive (1080i; 7:44) features a museum installation.


• The Panopticon Archive (480i; 59:23) is an archival piece from 1993 with Tom Baker, Anneke Wills and Elisabeth Sladen.


• Commercial Break (480i; 3:17) features more advertisements with Tom Baker, this time for a retirement savings plan.


• Blu-ray Trailer (1080i; 2:41)


• Studio Clocks (1080i; 4:14)


• Scratchman Trailer (1080i; 00:15)


• Episode Commentary features Eric Saward (Script Editor), Elisabeth Sladen, John Leeson, and Linda Polan (Juno).


• Info Text delivers datapoints via subtitles, and is accessible under the Subtitles Menu.

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

I'm not sure if it was due at least in part to the fact that Tom Baker was around for so long in this role, but his final season just didn't have the same emotional build up for me that some other "transitional" years have had. There are some fun elements in this season, but there are also some unabashedly silly elements as well, and those who are more used to, say, the Peter Capaldi years may find this season a bit of a slog. BBC has once again provided a veritable glut of extras, which may help to balance the (up)scales (sorry, couldn't resist). With caveats noted, Recommended.