Doctor Who DVD Release Schedule...

Is anyone else feeling a bit flat at the current output from the Beeb??
Where are the classics like The Daemons, Terror Of The Zygons & Invasion Of The Dinosaurs?? Instead we get the very worst of the '80s like most recently, Battlefield. So much of Pertwee & Baker is still in limbo while stories are released that had lower budgets than Rentaghost & companions to match. Last year I purchased a load of the DVD's in a couple of months of the Pertwee/Baker era .. but now there is nothing. Just a brick wall - with no light at the end of the tunnel. Wikipedia has stated for about 2 years that a commentary was recorded for Daemons, so what are they sitting on it for?

I can't help but agree with you on this - we've seen some really bad or even worse mediocre releases of late. I am dying for a Daemons DVD release - espically if the "dalek war" boxset coming out later in the year is an example the colour restoration of recovered Pertwee episodes. I think they should ignore all the remaining 7th doctor stories (preferably in a single 2 season boxset of those god-awful stories) until we get The Daemons, Revenge of the Cybermen, Planet of the Spiders, Face of Evil...basically all the rest of the 3rd and 4th doctor stories.

Well I believe Colin Baker's entire (if quite short) run is very soon to be available, with all of Trial Of A Time Lord, Attack of the Cybermen, and The Twin Dilemma either already out or coming soon - although depending on your own personal predelictions, this might actually be the worst thing to have happened in Doctor Who since the cassting of Matt Smith (only kidding, peeps).

'All my episodes out on DVD, my dear - and it seems not a moment too soon!' (Apologies for tedious regeneration quote joke only noticeable to Who obsessives).

They probably will put out complete 6th / 7th Doctor boxsets as well - but only once they've conned the hardcore fraternity into buying the individual stories singly for an unreasonable price.

Curse you, BBC! I f%^&ed your grandaughter! And created a time paradox. Again.

I'm sure the beeb could manage to slip the odd Tom Baker/Pertwee release out simultaneously with a Colin Baker/McCoy one, as they did with the Hartnell 'The War Machines' last year.

The whole schedule is just too slow! In the middle of such a glacial scheme it also seemed ridiculous to release a limited-edition boxset of 'The Key To Time'. Priorities?

I agree about the Daemons - they were so proud of the rediscovery and then...nothing!

Every year (until recently) it used to be a case of roughly one or two great story releases, a couple of average ones and the rest dross. This made business sense, but now I'm finding - as a casual fan only, that NOTHING I WANT IS GETTING RELEASED. Is this down to 2-Entertain recently being/or still being in administration - due to the BBC's partner Woolworths's demise? Or is it now a policy to release ALL of the worst stuff before any remaining gems see the light of day?

Yes, I wondered if the Woolworths situation would affect future releases.
I wish they'd make some of the individual stories available that are presently only on box sets eg The Power Of Kroll.
Here's another one I would really like to see; The Seeds Of Death (or is it Doom? I mix them up!) Anyway that one with the mad botanist & the alien plant that I think was called a Krynoid.
It absoluteley sucks; I've looked on Amazon for the forthcoming releases & it's just more tripe - It's just going to deter newer fans from checking out the older stuff - Imagine if you started with Colin Baker, or even worse, McCoy - would you even bother to buy anymore from ANY era??!

richard, do you vote in the poll in doctor who magazine every year for what story people want to have released? Because the results of that do have a bearing on the release schedule. and the results of it can be surprising, the trial of a timelord having won for two years in a row and the happiness patrol regularly placing above the deadly assassin. they do need to do a few more pertwees though because at the moment tom baker, who made more stories, is ahead of him on number left to be released. I was informed on another site though that all the season eight stories that remain to be released have taken this long because they all need a lot of restoration work. so it may be a while, but they should be worth it when we get them.

there are four releases for this year still to be announced. one will be a box set of three. odds on the black guardian trilogy since there's no davisons on schedule at the moment

To Adam: It's 'The Seeds Of Doom' you're referring to and it's an absolute corker! - so probably won't see the light of day for a VERY long time.

To Paul: I'm only a casual fan so I don't buy the magazine, but thanks for the valuable insight. It's good to know that someone knows what's going on.

Just checked the release schedule for 2009. Delta & The Bannermen????!!!!!! Dear God, please don't let it be true! What are they going to do? Give away 10 copies with every purchase of Dalek War?

I've always been convinced that they would release S24 & 25 as complete boxsets. I mean, who in their right (or even deranged) mind is going to shelve out a tenner for Delta and the Bannermen?

Still no Daemons :-(

Hey Adam, I DID start out with Baker 2 and McCoy, and I'm still here!

Although I was young and impressionable at the time. ie stupid enough to not know any better.

I also think that the schedule makes no sense. I suppose that they don't want to leave the crap to the very end, but there are some great classics still unreleased. It's amazing to have Battlefield or Attack of the Cybermen prior to The War Games, Terror of the Zygons, The Daemons, even Terror of the Autons. I'm Spanish, so I have to watch the Classic Whos on DVD, no chance of any TV channel broadcasting them as cult TV, and I'm aching to see some of those stories far more than others. Mind you, if they really have to put a 7th Dr. story, why not The greatest show in the Galaxy? It's far better than most of the McCoy releases so far, I reckon...

How bemusing - I was actually thinking the schedule had evened out nicely recently (though as ever the schedules are dominated by Tom - which might make sense as the longest-running Doctor, but Pertwee was only two seasons behind him and has been rather unrepresented).

But then, I find something to enjoy in almost every story, and I'm rather fond of apparently terrible releases like Battlefield and Attack of the Cybermen (I'm impatiently awaiting Delta and the Bannermen, an underrated story that's got charm, heart and a sense of humour, tempered with a bit of mystery and random violence).

The one thing that irritates me about these releases is the BBC's puzzling decision to sabotage themselves - liner notes on Timelash that amount to 'It's rubbish. Sorry about that.' and a Trial boxset packed full of 'what were we thinking?' special features is hardly a good advertisment for the series, which has a lot going for it even in the alleged 'low periods'. It's frustrating enough when fellow fans insist stories you love are irredeemable rubbish, but inexcusable to proclaim it on the back of the official DVD release (or under the guise of 'special features').

Tsk.

I, for one, am quite pleased with the 2009 release schedule. One or two gems, a handful of good ones, some mediocre and one or two stinkers is actually representative for the entire series. Some of the 'bad' stories aren't bad at all, in my opinon, and all the more interesting for it. It's nice to have something to look forward to. And I'm looking forward to both Image of the Fendahl _and_ Attack of the Cybermen.

Could the absence of Daemons be anything to do with the BBC only having a black and white copy? Its recolourising was outsourced in the 90s and broadcast once, to my knowledge, as such but I have a vague recollection that Auntie didn't want to pay to keep it. Certainly the repeat broadcasts on UK Gold were in black and white.

Even a B&W release would be very welcome - especially with good extras.

Everyone has favourites and some that I consider total classics ( Tenth Planet , Mind Robber ) get torn to pieces regularly by critics and fans alike while utter tosh is held up to be golden stuff ( most of Tom Bakers later series ) its all subjective my dears . I just wish they would get a move on and start releasing stuff that I want to own . Is there any Pat Troughton stuff that has yet to be restored ( but not badly animated captain pugwash style , I loved Invasion but would have preferred stills and audio commentry to that godawfull 12 fps mess ) see I've gone and prooved my own point !

The Pertwee stories need a lot of restoration so I guess they are leaving them as long as possible so that the technology is the best it can be, there are maybe four or five that don't need major restoration work and they should probably relaease these next, Peladon, Day of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks, Planet of the Spiders. I'm pretty happy with all the Tom's being released, Deadly Assasin is due in May and then there's only Seeds of Doom and Terror of the Zygons to complete the glory years. They have to release the 80s stuff too so the mixture is fine, I can ignore the ones I don't like. Lots of Hartnell this year too which is great. Not much left of Pat's stuff to release.

Hey, I will second Planet Of The Spiders!
Bottom line, it's a disgrace that such vintage TV has been so incompetently archived (or not archived!!) by the BBC!!!!

I myself want to see Delta and the Bannermen just because I have not seen it before, It all goes down to what people like but have an open mind and even the bad Doctor who's don't look too bad like Underworld for one.

I thought they did a great job with the animation of the missing episodes of "Invasion" -wish they would do the same with the missing episodes of "Ice Warriors". "The War Games " is due out later this year i think in the form of a triple box set. these two stories would complete the best of the remaining Troughton stories to be released. I'm also looking forward to the restoration and release of "The Keys of Marinus" a 'gem' from the William Hartnell era, penned by terry nation incase any one didn't know!

For all you Who Buffs out there here's a list of what's missing at present (I've excluded Hartnell / Troughton as a great deal of that is missing for good).

Jon Pertwee :-

The Ambassadors of Death - Only version in the Beeb archive is a really ratty NTSC copy off PBS in the States.
Terror of The Autons
The Mind of Evil
Colony In Space
The Daemons - Rumour of a Commentary being recorded, I remember the colourised version and it looked a bit hazy.
Day of The Daleks
The Curse of Peladon
The Mutants
The Time Monster
Frontier In Space / Planet of The Daleks - Has been annouced as the 'Dalek War' Boxed Set, no Release Date.
Invasion of The Dinosaurs
Death To The Daleks
The Monster of Peladon
Planet of The Spiders.

Tom Baker :-

Revenge of The Cybermen
Terror of The Zygons
The Android Invasion
The Seeds of Doom
The Masque of Mandragora
The Deadly Assassin - May
The Face of Evil
Image of The Fendhal - April
The Sun Makers
Underworld
The Creature From The Pit
Nightmare of Eden
The Horns of Nimon
Meglos

Beyond this I've heard rumour of a Black Guardian Trilogy set (Mawdryn Undead / Terminus / Enlightenment), Keys of Marinus and The War Games.

Just to be an anorak, here's what's missing from my previous list :-

Hartnell (Only Complete Stories) :-

The Keys Of Marinus - Announced But No Date Yet
The Sensorites
Planet Of The Giants
The Space Museum
The Chase - Announced But No Date Yet
The Ark
The Gunfighters

Troughton (Completes Only Again) :-

The Dominators
The Krotons - I know a Print of this exists as I saw back in '81 in the '5 Faces Of Dr Who' Season.
The War Games - Announced But No Date Yet (I Suspect This May Be The One They Put Out In Place Of A Season Box For This Year).

Davison :-

Kinda
Snakedance
Mawdryn Unddead / Terminus / Enlightenment - Announced as 'The Black Guardian Trilogy' No Date Yet.
The King's Demons
The Awakening
Frontios
Planet Of Fire - Vague Mention of Possible 2009 Release

Colin Baker :-

The Twin Dilemma - Announced But No Date Yet

McCoy :-

Time And The Rani
Paradise Towers
Delta And The Bannermen - June
Dragonfire
The Happiness Patrol
Silver Nemesis
The Greatest Show In The Galaxy

Stephen; You are right in that The Krotons does definitely exist, as it was released on VHS (I've got it on my shelf), so there is definitely a suitable source for DVD transfer somewhere.

I'm surprised by the notable absence of Terror of the Zygons and Seeds of Doom, both outstanding stories, which are FAR more worthy of a prompt release than rubbish like Delta and the Bannermen. Also, from a purely personal POV, I'd LOVE to see Invasion of the Dinosaurs released. Granted the dinosaur effects are naff, but the storyline is so damn good, who cares! If they want to go "all out", they could release it with enhanced CGI option, as they have with many other stories. Full on Jurassic Park style dinosaurs.. now THAT would be impressive (if a tad ridiculous!)

Bring it on, Sir!!!