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

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

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

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 4, 2026

Could this be the penultimate release of a standalone "vintage" season of Doctor Who? While BBC has already announced Doctor Who: Peter Davison Complete Season Three as a July 2026 release, the temporary (?) demise of the series as outlined in our recent Doctor Who: Season Two Blu-ray review may have put the kibosh on any other older years of the once seemingly immortal series getting their own releases. There frankly aren't that many seasons left to even bring out as standalone releases, and some of those (as in the William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton years in particular) are evidently no longer extant, which has in turn led to some of the more whimsical BBC Doctor Who releases like Doctor Who: Galaxy 4, Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen, Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker, Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace and Doctor Who: The Savages. Of course, older Doctor Who episodes are often not that different from live action cartoons at times, and that quality certainly pervades this collection.

Vis a vis missing seasons, one of the probably (?) complete seasons still not out as a standalone release is Tom Baker's fifth season as the doctor, though all the other seasons have been reviewed:

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

Doctor Who: Tom Baker: Complete Season Two Blu-ray review

Doctor Who: Tom Baker - Complete Season Three Blu-ray review

Doctor Who: Tom Baker - Complete Season Four Blu-ray review

Doctor Who: Tom Baker - Complete Season Six Blu-ray review

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

Despite the perhaps impending demise of releases, recently it's been a rather full schedule of appearances on 1080 (and even occasionally 4K) Blu-ray by Doctor Who, and as our Doctor Who: The Movie 4K Blu-ray review details, by the time Sylvester McCoy had assumed to role, things had arguably once again fallen into near self parody and a probably undeniably cartoonish ambience. While all of the "vintage" Doctor Who seasons certainly have elements of what might be called "kiddie entertainment" value, the Tom Baker years in particular saw an uptick in much darker stories, so much so that Whovians have described the mid seventies era as especially "gothic". That element certainly pervades this series, with several of the serials in this season overtly echoing such classics as Frankenstein, The Mummy and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There's also what might be joking called a Game of Thrones attrition rate in terms of sidebar characters who (at times briefly) pass through various narratives before "exiting" under perilous circumstances.

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

Doctor Who: Tom Baker - Complete Season Two is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with AVC encoded 1080i transfers in 1.33:1. This is actually one of the better looking sets of upscales of vintage Doctor Who material, though that is perhaps damning with faint praise. There are still manifest quality differences that can be easily spotted between the videotaped and filmed elements, and this season in particular seems to be hobbled by more ghosting in the video segments than usual. That said, detail levels are often surprisingly spry throughout, and even some fine detail on things like patterned costumes can be appealing. Effects work is often on the laughable side, and even some of the "new and improved" special effects may not exactly reach Industrial Light & Magic levels. One of the best things about this set of episodes, as has often been the case with even the shoddiest looking seasons, is a rather robust looking palette.

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

Doctor Who: Tom Baker - Complete Season Two features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks for all episodes, with some DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mixes added to the fray as detailed in the listing of special features on each disc, below. The audio here is perfectly in line with virtually all of the other seasons offered on Blu-ray, with narrow but still nicely prioritized mono mixes that offer the at times bombastic scoring and goofy sound effects (and maybe equally goofy dialogue, at least in passing) without any issues. The surround repurposings do offer some more spaciousness, and even some fun panning or discrete channelization, especially in effects scenes, though like some of the upgraded special effects probably aren't going to knock the socks (and/or earlobes) off of audiophiles. Optional English subtitles are available.

Doctor Who: Tom Baker: 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 supplement "series", 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 save the two Omnibus versions offered on separate 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: Terror of the Zygons

• Making of Documentary (SD; 31:24)


• Deleted Scene (SD; 1:50)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 35:27)


• The Unit Family: Part Three (SD; 26:27)


• Douglas Camfield Tribute (SD; 30:04)


• South Today (SD; 3:10)


• BBC News (SD; 00:43) features the announcement of the death of William Hartnell.


• Disney Time (SD; 4:41) has Baker perhaps appropriately interacting with cartoon characters.


• Merry Go Round (SD; 19:40) features Elisabeth Sladen.


• Tom Baker Interview (SD; 25:58)


• VFX Featurette (HD; 11:25)


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 2:59)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 12:22 )


• Audio Archive (HD; 22:41) features location sound rushes.


• Coming Soon (SD; 1:00)


• Part One Extended Version (HD; 23:24) is available as a standalone or as part of the entire serial.


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


• DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Mix is accessible under the Audio Options 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: Planet of Evil

• Making of Documentary (SD; 25:51)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 33:34)


• Planetary Performance (SD; 13:33) features Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen.


• Return to Thirteen (HD; 57:07) is one of the newly produced pieces for this set, and features Philip Hinchcliffe and Toby Hadoke.


• Studio Footage (SD; 00:50)


• Philip Hinchcliffe at Caversham (SD; 10:42)


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 3:49)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 9:24)


• Episode Commentaries 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 Three: Pyramids of Mars

• Making of Documentary (SD; 22:10)


• Deleted and Extended Scenes (SD; 2:57)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 39:25)


• Elisabeth Sladen Interview (SD; 12:29)


• Michael Sheard Interview (SD; 13:31)


• Locations Now and Then (SD; 7:52)


• Dr. Where (HD; 33:03) is culled from a BBC series called Mathshow.


• BBC Trails and Continuities HD; 5:00)


• Audio Archive HD; 14:40) features Elisabeth Sladen.


• Photo Gallery (HD; 13:02)


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


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


• Episode Commentaries 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: Pyramids of Mars: Omnibus

• Tom Talks (1080p; 36:05) features Tom Baker.


• Panopticon Archive (HD; 39:40) features Caroline John and Elisabeth Sladen hosted by Nicholas Courtney.


• Season 13 Blu-ray Trailer (HD; 4:21)

Disc Five: The Android Invasion

• Making Of Documentary (SD; 30:58)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 36:55)


• Ian Marter Tribute (HD; 1:17:28) is another of the newly produced pieces for this collection.


• Directing Who (SD; 14:40) features Barry Letts.


• Weetabix Advert (SD; 00:33) hilariously features a Dalek as salesperson.


• The Generation Game (SD; 4:27) has a cheeky Star Trek sendup with a "special guest star".


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 2:12)


• Audio Archive

Location Sound Rushes (HD; 7:51)




Pete Murray's Open House (HD; 9:01)

• Photo Gallery (HD; 7:26)


• Coming Soon (SD; 1:00)


• Episode Commentaries 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 Brain of Morbius

• Making of Documentary (SD; 32:06)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 37:17)


• The Brain of Morbius: Omnibus (HD; 1:00:34)


• Design Featurette (SD; 6:10)


• Phillip Madoc Featurette (SD; 9:41)


• Concept Sketch Gallery (SD; 2:23)


• Virtual Set Tour (SD; 2:11)


• DVD Easter Eggs (SD; 2:56)


• BBC Trails and Continuities (SD; 2:49)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 7:57)


• Coming Soon (SD; 00:51)


• Episode Commentary 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 Seeds of Doom

• Making of Documentary (HD; 37:16)


• Behind the Sofa (HD; 39:40)


• Outtake (SD; 00:10)


• Crackerjack

Hallo My Dalek (SD; 7:42)




Space Odyssey (SD; 12:40)

• Ken Dodd's Seaside Special (SD; 1:57) features Tom Baker.


• Graeme Harper Featurette (SD; 6:24)


• Composer Interview (SD; 10:04) features Geoffrey Burgon, who obviously has to learn how to correctly spell his first name (that's a joke, folks).


• Locations Now and Then (SD; 8:57)


• DVD Easter Egg (SD; 1:16)


• BBC Trails and Continuities HD; 5:00)


• Photo Gallery (HD; 10:06)


• Coming Soon (SD; 00:59)


• Coming Soon: Season 14 (HD; 2:52)


• 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 Eight: The Seeds of Doom: Omnibus

• Graeme Harper in Conversation (HD; 1:23:20) is a newly produced piece featuring Harper and Matthew Sweet.


• Doctor Who Escape Room (HD; 1:14:44) is another pretty silly episode, this one featuring Matthew Waterhouse, Michael E. Briant and Toby Hadoke.


• Merry Go Round (SD; 1:56)


• Studio Clocks (HD; 10:01)

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

Doctor Who: Tom Baker - Complete Season Four had as one of its many supplements an interesting piece documenting the influence of Hammer Horror on at least this general era of the series, and while there's on similar documentary included in this set, it might be stated that these episodes go "back to the source", at least cinematically speaking, by sometimes seeming to evoke the classic Universal horror films of yore. This is overall one of the more consistently entertaining Baker years, and this set is elevated by some really outstanding supplements. Recommended.