Doctor Who Revisitations 3 (The Tomb of the Cybermen/Robots of Death/The Three Doctors) [DVD]

As a life-long fan of the show (thats almost forty-two years of viewing pleasure) I am happily willing to put my hands up and say if it exists in the BBC archives, it's on my dvd shelf. However, I never ever miss an official BBC release and this one I was exceptionally eager to get my grubby little protuberances on.
This third revisitations boxset is arguably the very best, because let's face it the original releases of the three stories it contains were seriously woeful.
Lets take them in order.................

The Tomb of the Cybermen looks absolutely stunning now that it has been cleaned up even more than before. The picture is crisp, the sound sharp, and all the atmosphere that I imagine was there on its original broadcast is there for all to see in glorious monochrome. Tomb stands the test of time, Troughton easily stealing his show, but its the extras that shine for me. Not only are all the original extras here, including the embarrassing Morris Barry intros to the video version release, but a host of new bits and bobs that do not fail to grip and enthrall.

Thr Three Doctors is the same - great story, beautiful restoration, but get to the special features and wallow in the nostalgia. Especially poignant for me are the explanations of Billy Hartnell's short appearances. We all know how ill the man was, but now we have the full story and we can realise that we are immensely fortunate to have him in the story at all. I remember watching this one on transmission, and thinking "who are these other Doctors????", and its fantastic to be able to not only re-watch a classic tale from my youth, but also enjoy the background to the story as well.

Ah - The Robots of Death.
A four-part epic that truly deserves its status as one of the all-time greats. MY Doctor at his best.
The Louise Jameson interview - from 2003's Story of Doctor Who - is my favourite. She is a truly amazing actress ( come on people - go get a copy of Tenko ) and her thoughts and anecdotes are worth watching over and over again.
This single disc release is arguably the best of the lot, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I watched the entire disc twice on the day the boxset dropped on my mat.

If you are sitting there reading this, and you've got down to here, then take my advice - get your debit/credit card out, add this to your basket, then when it arrives just sit back with a bottle of your favourite tipple and immerse yourself in three of the best stories ever written, not only of Doctor Who but of drama as a whole. Watch the extras first, then enjoy twelve of the finest episodes of the greatest TV show in the world. You will NOT regret it.

Trust me, I'm a Doctor

Doctor Who - Revisitations box set volume 3 - the final collection of restored classics and by far the greatest line-up that could have been put together. This I must own, to hell with owning the originals, they are nearly as old as me so to have this brand new ultimate edition collection of restored classics is a must. Each of the three serials you get in this collection is a masterpiece, Doctor Who at its greatest, The Tomb of the Cybermen for me is the greatest 1960's Doctor Who serial ever made, I have reviewed this serial before {2002 edition} and I really must stress the greatness of this Pat Troughton Cyber Classic. The Three Doctor's, the second title of this collection is another Jon Pertwee great, come to think of it, I have not seen a Jon Pertwee serial I have not liked. This 10th anniversary special is indeed special, reuniting William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and new Doctor Jon Pertwee was a masterstoke from Barry Letts, the then producer. Finally, Tom Baker's The Robots of Death is yet another classic from the greatest 3 years of the show, classic-mania. The Philip Hinchcliffe era of the programme saw the most controversal and entertaining stories ever made and record viewing figures backed this up.

The Tomb of the Cybermen ~ The once feared Cybermen have disappeared from the universe without a trace. An expedition from Earth arrives on Telos - homeworld of the Cybermen - to try and discover exactly what has become of the silver giants. Soon after the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria join the archaeological party, the first mysterious death occurs. With the group now stranded on Telos because of the traitors in their midst, it becomes clear that the Cybermen may not be as dead as first thought. Beneath the planets surface, giant ice-tombs hold the last remains of the Cybermen in a frozen sleep. So who is working against the team to reawaken an old threat.

Brand New & Original Special Features On The New Revisitation Release;

* Morris Barry Introduction - The director's introduction from the 1993 VHS release.
* Title Sequence - Tests and build-up elements for the Patrick Troughton title sequence.
* Late Night Line-Up - behind the scenes at the BBC Visual Effects department to interview Jack Kine.
* The Final End - The Evil of the Daleks is mostly missing from the BBC archives. A taste of the climactic battle...
* Abominable Snowmen Audio Trailer
* Coming Soon Trailer
* Production Subtitles
* The Lost Giants - Cast and crew look back on the making of the story.
* The Curse of the Cybermen's Tomb - Sir Christopher Frayling & Dr Debbie Challis examine the Egyptian origins to the story.
* Cybermen - Extended Edition - A history of the Cybermen.
* The Magic of VidFIRE - A look at the technology behind the VidFIRE process.
* Sky Ray Advert - 1960's Doctor Who themed promo for Walls Sky Ray ice lolly.
* Photo Gallery
* Radio Times Listings

The Three Doctors ~ UNIT HQ comes under attack by an alien force, and the Doctor has no other option but to call on his own people, the Time Lords for help. Breaking their own rules and laws, the high council decide to send the 2 former incarnations of the Doctor to aid his future self. However, In a universe of anti-matter, an all-powerful figure from Time Lord history is waiting, and even all 3 incarnations of TV's favourite hero might not to able to thwart him.

Brand New & Original Special Features On The New Revisitation Release;

* Commentary
* Happy Birthday To Who - A brand-new look at the making of this anniversary story.
* Was Doctor Who Rubbish? - Raising a defence against criticism of the classic series.
* Girls, Girls, Girls - The 1970s Katy Manning, Caroline John & Louise Jameson on being a 1970s Doctor Who girl.
* Pebble Mill At One - Interview with the second Doctor Patrick Troughton and visual effects wizard Bernard Wilkie.
* Blue Peter Jon Pertwee introduces the Whomobile.
* BSB Highlights Cast and crew discuss The Three Doctors
* The Five Faces Of Doctor Who - The full trailer for the 1981 repeat season which included The Three Doctors.
* BBC1 Trailer
* 40th Anniversary Trailer
* Radio Times listings
* Production Subtitles
* Photo Gallery
* Coming Soon Trailer
* Digitally remastered picture and sound

The Robots of Death ~ On a distant, barren planet, storm mine 4 trawls across bleak life-less deserts and through fierce duststorms in search of rare and valuable materials. The crew are assisted by thier legion of robot servants who deal with all manor of tasks. They are so confident that thier robotic servants are completely fault-less that when a dead body is discovered, the blame soon finds its way to the newly arrived Doctor and Leela. As the death count rises, mistrust runs supreme until a final showdown between the last few survivors {the Doctor and Leela included of course} and the maniac behind the killings and the robots unviels.

Brand New & Original Special Features On The New Revisitation Release;

* Commentary 1 - Original release commentary.
* Commentary 2 - New commentary with Tom Baker, Louise Jameson and Pamela Salem and director Michael E Briant.
* The Sandmine Murders - Cast and crew look back at the making of the story.
* Robophobia - Toby Hadoke takes a humorous look at the history of robots.
* Studio Sound - Example of a studio scene before the robot voice effects were added.
* Model Shots Black and white time-coded recording of the original model insert film.
* Studio Floor Plan - Interactive view of the studio layout via the original floor plan drawings.
* Continuity - Off-air continuity for the first episode's original transmission plus mute continuity slide.
* Radio Times listings
* Programme subtitles
* Production information subtitles
* Photo gallery
* Coming soon trailer
* Digitally remastered picture and sound quality

Its hotting up to be a great year for Doctor Who on DVD, I will be grabbing this when it comes out and am really looking foward to watching these timeless classics again in super picture + sound resoration. I don't care what anyone says, these BBC revisit box sets are true value and are a welcome addition to the vast range of over 150 Doctor Who DVD's we currently have to enjoy.

Many thanks for your time in reading this sum-up, its very appreciated.

M.B.

Well here's another mixed bag of nuts for you to consume, and hopefully you won't have a negative reaction to. I'm not going to summarize these stories since any fan already knows them, and if you're not a fan, this is NOT the first Doctor Who set you should buy because you'll be completely lost.

To be fair, when it comes to picture and sound restoration, these have been significantly improved, and for many people, this alone makes these worth the purchase. But when it comes down to the specials, I'm a tough nut to crack. While yes, there has been some new bonus features added, some of the bonus features from the previous releases were omitted. So if you're getting this new set, and want to have all the bonus material that has been released, DON'T SELL YOUR OLDER RELEASES. Many of the recent DVD releases have been far short of impressive for bonus features, so not including everything from prior releases with new material is just sad. Also, if anyone is a geek about the text commentary like I am, these are usually up-dated in the Revisitation sets, but the originals are also omitted. Personally, I want it all. Just because the information on these previously released text commentaries are old, it doesn't make them any less interesting. After all, both new and old audio commentaries are available on the new releases when applicable, so why leave out an older text commentary? Can we say "marketing ploy?"

Something else that bothers me is that while it's fantastic to see these restored with better picture and sound, why doesn't 2|entertain first focus on releasing all the other previously unreleased stories, before re-releasing these stories? I would think that you should crawl, then walk, then fly. But these releases are more like crawling, then walking, then going back to crawling, but at a faster pace.

And finally, can we PLEASE get rid of Toby Hadoke? There has to be someone, ANYONE, who was directly part of these stories that can be utilized for commentaries and special features. I would give my walnuts to never hear or see him on future releases.

My bottom line is, that while the stories get five stars, the few additional extras, and lack of including some previous extras, make brings it down to 2 to 3 three stars, so that's why I'm giving this overall package a 4 star rating. Perhaps the Re-re-release will have all this current, and previously released material, with some more new bonus material.

Please let me know if this review is helpful to you, and please tell me your opinions on my review so that I can hopefully improve upon my reviews for future reviews. Thank you for taking the time to read this and consider my opinion.