"Doctor Who": The Lost TV Episodes Collection: (1964-1965) No. 1 [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Firstly, let me start by saying that the title of the review isn't completely accurate. All of the CDs in this set (bar the bonus disc) have been released before.

As I'm sure your aware, a good portion of Doctor Who from the 1960s no longer exist in the BBC Archives. But thanks to the work of dedicated fans armed with their audio tape recorders, we can now enjoy the soundtracks of these lost episodes, accompanied by linking narration from a member of the cast who worked on the story. The stories in this set consist of Marco Polo, The Reign of Terror, The Crusade, Galaxy 4 and The Myth Makers. Of these 5, four of them are historicals, with only Galaxy 4 being a sci-fi oriented adventure, but don't let that discourage you. All the stories in this set are brilliant in their own way.

Marco Polo: The earliest story to be missing from the BBC, this is a fantastic historical story, detailing the Doctor and his friends' journey with Marco Polo as he travels to Peking. Despite being seven episodes long, the story rattles along nicely, with several good action moments, though this one does center a lot on the characters and their relationships with each other. Marco Polo's journal entries help sustain the fact that the story takes place over several months, which helps make it feel epic.

The Reign of Terror: I approached this not knowing whether I'd enjoy it or not, and I am glad to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, though slightly less than Marco Polo. Whilst previous historicals had all featured noteworthy historical characters, this is the first story to feature a major historical event, namely the French Revolution, which helps add a sense of urgency to affairs. For some reason, I think this works particularly well on audio, and I thought that Carole Ann Ford's narration complimented the story well. This serial is also lighter in tone compared to previous historicals, sadly this is where it is inferior to Marco Polo, but otherwise it is another great story.

The Crusade: I had previously seen the extant episodes on the fabulous Lost in Time DVD set, as well as listening to the soundtracks of tghe missing episodes that were also included. At the time, because of the lack of linking narration to piece the story together, I lost track of what was happening quite quickly, and for a while it remained one of my least favourite stories ever. Thanks to the narration included on the CD however, I have managed to cotton on to the story, and am now happy to say I enjoy it immenesely, with partivcular praise going to Julian Glover, who plays King Richard.

Galaxy 4: The only sci-fi entry in the set, Galaxy 4 is probably my favourite story out of the five, probably because in all honesty, I do prefer the Science Fiction stories over the historical ones. The Chumblies are cute without being annoying and I enjoy some of the dialogue given to the Drahvins, which makes them sound really alien. The planet the Drahvins are trapped on is described beautifully on CD, and I can only imagine what it must have looked like beyond what is available to see in the surving six minutes of footage ibcluded on the Lost in Time set.

The Myth Makers: Probably the weakest story in the set, but that doesn't stop it from being somehat enjoyable. A Doctor Who Version of Carry on Cleo, the story is at times really funny, but once again I don't think that this suits the historical stories as well as it should.

All in all a fantastic set of stories that no Doctor Who fan should be without. If you don't want to fork out for this set, you can find them individually around Amazon

Well this is a nice little collection of re-remastered 1960's Hartnell episodes that no longer exist in the BBC Film and Television archives. All the episodes in this box set have been individually released before by the BBC from about 2000 - 2005, however, these little beauties have been specially remastered using all the very latest software. The sound is crystal clear and really helps the listener to enjoy the programmes. The stories on offer in this value-packed BBC boxed set are;

1.Marco Polo - 7 Episodes - 0 Existing in the archives.
2.The Reign of Terror - 6 Episodes - Episodes 1,2,3,6 exist in the archives.
3.The Crusade - 4 Episodes - Episodes 1 & 3 exist in the archives.
4.Galaxy 4 - 4 Episodes - Newly discovered {2011} episode 3 exists in the archives.
5.The Myth Makers - 4 Episodes - 0 Existing in the archives.

So, now we have cleared that up, on with the reviews.

Marco Polo - A fantastic 7 part epic story from Doctor Who's 1st season, it stars all the regular cast and includes such actors as Mark Eden and Derren Nesbitt, I never listened to this story before or really watched the fantastic full colour reconstruction done by Loose Cannon Productions, however, after 2 years of putting it off, I finally gave this story the time of day and really enjoyed it, it stands as probably the best Hartnell historical ever, if not for the Aztecs it would be no. 1 for me. The epic feel to this drama is fantastic and all I can say is that it does not disapoint at all, the actors are all on top form and you get a feel that they are all having tremendous fun whilst working on this story. The direction from Waris Hussein is great and he really uses all the space available to him. This is a personal fav of mine now. I must recommend you also try the Loose Cannon Reconstruction of this story as well as the great audiobook from the Beeb.

The Reign of Terror - Never a favourite of mine, this story really drags for me and it really could have been a better 4 parter, the actors are fine but William Hartnell carries the show for me here. Its not as if everybody but Hartnell is left out, Barbara has her own romantic agenda and Ian is quite happy playing spies. Susan is busy screaming as usual and the quest cast are all to busy not trusting each other to notice anything. Overall, this is my least favourite Hartnell historical. Its nothing personal, or maybe it is. Who knows?

The Crusade - Far to short to be taken seriously, its a tale of waring kings and brave noble men. The TARDIS crew are yet again embroiled in events unfolding in the holy land, I never thought I would say this but The Crusade could do with an extra couple of episodes to help it live up to its serious tone. The serial is of decent quality and as always the regulars put in extra special perfomances because its a historical and since most actors from the 60's were classically Shakespearian, they feel quite at home here than in the distant future stories. The story is ok but I personally would rate it 3 stars. Its just not long enough for a real story to unfold.

Galaxy 4 - My favourite story in this set, I know this has its faults and even I am aware that it is slated by fans but since episode 3 was recovered in December 2011, I feel myself wanting to relive the story with a fresh heart. I saw this story in full a couple of years ago via Loose Cannon's reconstruction of it and the visual's really helped sell it to me, I can't wait to see the newly found part 3 but that aside I have always been a supporter of Galaxy 4.
The villain in this serial, Maaga, is chilling, she is gorgeous but so cold and evil. As with many of Doctor Who's villains they are ugly and repulsive to the eye, the Rill's are no exeption to this but in this adventure are perculiarly the good guys, a bit machine like and cold I grant you but nevertheless good inside. I personally love this quaint story and am glad that episode 3 has reared its head so we can all finally judge Galaxy 4 from actually viewing it. 10/10.

The Myth Makers - The final story of this first volume boxed set and what a close to the days events we have, Myth Makers is a classic Who story by far, all 4 episodes have been obliterated and believe me I'm upset at this, just like any missing episode of Doctor Who. This story really needed part 4 to still exist though, the events that lead up to the finale are epic, as with Marco Polo, this is a story that takes place over time. This story kept me glued to the screen {Loose Cannon} when I watched it and the Audio for this adventure as narrated by Peter Purves is exeptional. The recordings are clear, you can hear a pin drop, well done Mark Ayres we love you, the Myth Makers is well worth a listen, the cast are impressive and alot of well known faces appear here, which famously made a certain Hartnell jealous. All in all 10/10 for this classic piece of British television.

To finish my review of this CD boxed set and its contents, I will say BARGAIN, ABSOLUTE BARGAIN, us Doctor Who fans are truly privileged that the BBC are releasing eveything to do with this show in every format out there, weekly.

This is a great edition to any Whovian's collection and certainly has pride of place on my shelf.

Many thanks for your time.

M.B.

Good audio recordings of the actual TV production sound, captured here and linked by extra narration from the cast to make full adventures of otherwise lost episodes. It works very well too.

It is good to hear them. It is just a shame that there were no video recorders back then to replace the footage.

Shame on the BBC for being so short sighted and wiping so much invaluable stuff. I bet that they are kicking themselves now.