Doctor Who - The Collection - Season 19 [Blu-ray] [2021]

The Blu-ray was in a very good condition

I remember enjoying these stories very much back in 1992, and watching them again nearly 40 years later, they hold up remarkably well. Castrovalva is perhaps not the most exciting introduction to a Doctor, but the new CGI vastly improves on some of the less successful aspects and reinforces the MC Escher inspirations of the story. Four to Doomsday is fun and benefits from excellent production design. Kinda is a tour-de-force in all respects and the 5.1 soundtrack is gorgeous, The Visitation is a fantastic pseudo historical with great location filming, Black Orchid is a lovely diversion into a pure historical with no sci fi elements except the TARDIS, Earthshock is fast moving, exciting and very well directed, and even the much derided Time-Flight has its plus points. All of the stories (except Kinda and Four to Doomsday) benefit from having the film elements scanned and presented in HD here and they look great, and the extras are many and varied. It was lovely revisiting all of these stories and I'd definitely recommend this box set to any fan!

He love the old dr who very happy with what I had bought for him if not am sure he would let me know good dvd and good quality to watch

After the mixed reviews of Tom's dramatic exit what was really needed was a strong new set of stories with a Doctor worthy of them. Unfortunately incoming Story Editor Eric Saward had some of the former but none of the latter. Davison is a rare example of JNT's stunt casting habbit backfiring as Davison has admitted recently he was too young, inexperienced and frankly baffled by the material to effectively portray a role intended from its inception for an older character actor rather than a generic indistinct leading man. Present day Davison, thanks to Big Finish, has become a great Doctor, 1980s Davison however... oh dear...That said against the odds of a crowded TARDIS, an uncertain lead and a couple of truly bizzare barely finished stories Season 19 is far from the worst thing to come from the Classic series and everyone involved has an utter ball making fun of themselves in the extras as always.Castrovalva 6/10"Never get trapped in an M C Escher painting, believe me its not as fun as it sounds"- Eyebrows CapaldiA high concept acid trip that tries to pick up where Logopolis left off with varying degrees of success. On the one hand the visuals are way ahead of their time but as Aaronovitch pointed out in the Season 26 extras "sometimes that's the bloody problem." Ainley's Master is on top form as always as he desperately tries to escape literally disappearing up this story's backside.Four to Doomsday 7/10"Oooh look at me, saving the world with a cricket ball and peice of string"- Time Tot TennantBeing mocked by your inferior modern knock off for a moment of sheer genius that doesn't involve just waving a techno wand at something must have really stung poor old Peter! Anyway that aside this is a servicable first outing (the regeneration having finally stabilised) with a truly innovative villain that reinvents a lot of what are by now tiring tropes of the series in a way that seems quite fresh and new. A guest cast of enslaved mechanised humans from vastly different cultures all jockeying for their personal advantage is a joy to watch especially Burt Kwok's manipulative feudal Chinese civil servant lurking around every corner.Kinda 7/10"That snake is utterly traumatising"- Sophie AldredA very well put together piece of psychadellic theatre with excellent performances from Janet Fielding and Sarah Prince. It is however let down heavily by the precident it establishes for stories of the mystical where the curtain isn't pulled back and the cold hard scientific reality remains occulded. A central driving force of the Doctor's character is the de-mystification of the irrational and the supersitious and the handwavy lipservice given to trying to explain this one in scientific terms is a joke exploited by far worse writers in the decades to come.The Visitation 9/10"That felt like you killed an old and very dear friend"- Drippy DavisonJNT HATED the sonic screwdriver, a position ultimately vindicated by what it has become in the post 2005 remake though not as understandable at the time as at this point it was still just a glorified power tool. Either way the "death" of the sonic is handled really well and not only is the overstuffed TARDIS effectively used but a 4th one off companion, the delightfully roguish acTOR and highwayman Richard Mace. A true gem.The Black Orchid 10/10"You would never believe the s*** I had to put up with every time I suggested doing a pure historical in the writer's room"- Mark GattisThe last of the true historicals where the only anachronistic elements are the TARDIS and its crew is a brilliant drawing room mystery with shades of Agatha Christie by way of the Fall of the House of Usher and the mentally ill/disabled relative in the attic brand of slasher movie. Sarah Sutton is in particularly fine form in her dual role here and the guest cast led by "old cocky" as Miss Aldred delightfully calls him in the extras are on fine tragi-comic form.Earthshock 9/10"Oh, now I'll never know if I was right"- AdricA tense action thriller in the rapidly emerging "space trucker" subgenre popularised by the Alien movies this is, as the Cyberleader himself might say, "EXCELLENT." Even with forknowledge of its arrival the climax continues to shock to this day as a very clever little idiot looks to his coming demise with a beautifully delivered final quip. For those of a more sadistic bent the unoffical Episode 5 of YouTube fame is included.Time Flight 5/10"You would never believe how much trouble I had getting a gobby Australian back to Heathrow"- Chinny SmithWhilst The Sea Devils managed to balance its nature as a fluff piece for the Royal Navy with being a genuinely good story (even though its outspoken Communist author nearly disowned it as a result) this Doctor Who-Concorde promotion fails to promote either or provide much, if anything of a story. Ainley is having a whale of a time chewing both the scenary and his fellow performers but everyone else seems to realise what an utter stinker they are in and not all of them accept it with good grace of Davison and Fielding. On the plus side, Waterhouse is right in his comment about the handling of Adric's death. A pause to reflect then onto the next adventure none of the insufferable wingeing of the remake.

All these sets are terrific value for money - even if they had just the stories they would be worth the money. But we have all the extras from the DVD releases plus new ones such as the Behind The Sofa series which I'm finding addictive for all the sets (Pertwee through McCoy). Enjoy!

Most fans will have the dvds and these are slightly better in terms of picture quality but its the extras that are worth it with extended scenes on Black Orchid and studio floor footage etc. I personally love the cgi footage updating the old effects but they are an option not a replacement. Its a definitive season collection and at this price very reasonable and a must have for classic fans. You cannot beat the stories/scripts and beats the new series hands down.

Excellent set very impressed with quality and the extras are excellent 👌

Season is really good but the story that stands out is earth shock with the Cybermen. Recommended

A thoroughly enjoyable series, but bear in mind that as a 1080i source it may not display as 16:9 on some TV's despite adjusting the aspect ratio setting.

The quality of the transfer is brilliant, outdoor scenes and scenes shot on film really shine and are very sharp (brickwork detail, petals on flowers, thread of the doctors jumper) and although the quality of the shots done on sets arent as clear, this bluray contains the highest quality video ever released, more then the recent iPlayer additions, plus the lossless audio. This is a definite archive piece.All the added features like the documentaries, behind the scenes and pdf production notes are all top notch.But i want to take a moment to talk about the updated CGI, especially on KindaTheres 3 episodes that have gotten the treatment, Castrovalva, Earthshock and Kinda.The first two are nice updates to laser weapons and a lightning bolt effect, much nicer.But Kinda, oh boy. In the final episode, theres a snake. Its a 2d image in the original, but in this release theyve worked magic and the snake is not only a 3d render but theyve matched the colour grade so it really looks like a prop that was there on the day, a very fine attention to detail was performed here and theyve done all dr who collectors a service in the effort they went to.I hope they plan to make more 🙏

The bluray features are extensive. Made with love to fans, rare stuff, funny things, weird info.Exhaustive making of season 19. Picture is immaculate.

One of my all time favourite seasons! Excellent episodes and stories and a fantastic start to the amazing 5th Doctor played by Peter Davison. Love the standard packaging, however I had to repurchase this as the plastic DVD case was broken in transit - however refunds and returns are quick and easy with Amazon!

This Boxset is preferable to the limited editon versions due to size and simplicity, not being as fragile as the limited sets, all the content is same on the discs so unless You already own this season I would recommend picking this up instead. my copy came slightly creased but I blame that on postage and not the product.