Doctor Who - The Collection - Season 12 [Blu-ray] [2021]

I grew up with Tom Baker's Doctor Who and to me he remains the greatest of all the Doctors. He had physical presence and his interpretation of the Doctor mixed levity and gravitas in a way which was truly compelling. There was steel in his Doctor and at times his was really rather a dark character despite the flamboyance, humour and clownish behaviour he could indulge in. For all that Tom Baker played the part wonderfully well, he was very well served by the writers as his era was a high point in terms of the stories and script quality. He was also accompanied by excellent companions and supporting characters. Sarah Jane and Harry were wonderful companions, and of course there is a crossover with the UNIT of the Troughton and Pertwee eras. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart was an old school army officer and the UNIT of that time felt like a quintessentially British Army unit (is that a pun?).The stories are very much of their time, with a 1970's vision of high technology and the future, yet they are rich in drama and thoroughly enjoyable. For me, as I suspect for a few others, the principal attraction of this season is Genesis of the Daleks, which for me remains not only the best Dalek story but the best Doctor Who story ever. The season was Tom Baker's first and so starts with the the regeneration from Pertwee to Baker. Despite the ropey robots it is a solid start. The Ark in Space is another solid effort, the Sontaran Experiment feels like a bit of a filler really, while I think Revenge of the Cybermen has been unfairly maligned by some.This is basically an economy version of the first limited edition deluxe blu-ray release, the only difference is more basic (and I'd say more practical) packaging. The blu-ray transfers are superb and are noticeably superior to any other versions of these episodes I have seen. I must say here that some expectation management is needed here, as the transfers do not match the quality of modern UHD material. However, definition is a world away from the old VHS transfers and a significant improvement over the DVD releases. Sound quality is again limited by the original source material but is remarkably good and again a step up from the DVD releases. In the case of Genesis of the Daleks I still have the VHS tapes, an individual DVD release plus the Davros boxed set DVD and this is definitely the version to own.Outstanding, a classic season from the definitive Doctor, 5* is not enough!

From the moment Tom Baker changes from Jon Pertwee it's not long before he searches in the cupboards of the Tardis for the outfit that most whovians recognise him for.From his very first words in his opening story Robot he proves to the viewers loyal to 3rd Doctor that there is nothing to fear he may have a new face but The Doctor within is still there.I am so grateful that we got a standard release for these blu ray collection sets as many people missed out not only the first time but the second as well.The collection comes with all the stories from Tom Bakers first series as the Doctor, the booklet may only be 12 pages but even though we lose the production details and how the stories came into being we still get what the extras are written down so we know what to expect from each blu ray set. The discs still have the same features as the limited edition sets the only difference is the packaging but doesn't bother me apart from the height as I did get previous doctors limited editions and it would be nice if season 12 fit in between them standing a little bit taller that matches the rest of the collection. The only feature that has not been transfered to the blu ray is The Dalek Tapes so make sure to keep your Genesis of The Daleks DVD for this feature just in case it does not show up on any future blu ray releases.All the discs work fine and have correct Doctor and Story written on all to define what adventure you want to watch.I do recommend getting the standard releases if you have previously missed out on buying the special limited editions and can't afford the expensive ones being sold by those who bought so many of certain retailers to sell them second hand at outrageous prices. I am only missing season 8 and 14 which hopefully gets a scheduled release date ASAP.Those of you who have the dvds but are collection buffs then this is a must for you to have. Tom Baker starts as he means to go on for the next 7 years and does not disappoint proving why fans all over the world regard him as the best Doctor.

For those of us of a certain age, the Jon Pertwee / early Tom Baker seasons of Doctor Who represent the show at its childhood peak. Tom's first season, which comprises this thankfully reissued box set, is interesting, as it starts off very much in a Pertwee vein, with UNIT, the Brigadier and an Earthbound adventure with 'Robot', then heads off into new territory as the new Doctor, Sarah and Harry head off into a set of stories which are interlinked in a way which hadn't been seen since the 1960s. Along the way the tone of the series becomes just that bit more frightening, with the body horror of 'The Ark In Space', 'The Sontaran Experiment's sadistic games and the hellish war-torn landscape of Skaro in 'Genesis of the Daleks'. For me, 'Revenge of the Cybermen' is the only story of this loose arc which falls short of excellence, but it's still a solid enough production.It's also fascinating to see Tom Baker getting a handle on how he's going to play the Doctor, and after the initial post-regeneration eccentric shenanigans, he absolutely nails it. He also, from the off, has considerable chemistry with Lis Sladen and Ian Marter, and the three actors bounce off each other very nicely.The Blu-Ray presentation is immaculate - obviously, something made on 625 line VT in 1974-5 is never going to look HD, but these episodes, benefitting from a relative lack of compression, are a visible step up from the DVD releases, with the studio sequences especially looking crisp and clean. A nice set of extras too - some imported from the DVDs, but others exclusive to the Blu Rays. It's great that with these new standard editions, these bits of TV history are now widely available to those of us who missed the limited editions.(as a side note, thanks Amazon for so quickly sorting out a replacement set when the original one went AWOL in delivery!)

Coffret faisant partie de la collection des classiques de docteur who, il est en anglais et version sous-titre en anglais .Pour les fans de la série

Tom Baker was the original and best Dr!

Vous connaissez le docteur. Le 4eme docteur est le plus célébré des docteurs historiques. Les transferts en HD sont efficaces et sans artefact. Pourquoi certains épisodes sont en 5.1 et pas d’autres ? On ne sait pas.La BBC sait que Doctor Who a un grand succès partout Ca n’aurait rien couté d’avoir des sous-titres en français, allemand, espagnol, italien…. Mais non !Il se dégage une sensation de mépris des amateurs non anglais.

A fantastic season with fantastic bonus content. The standard packaging is also excellent - the slim and uniform width of these of the standard designs makes this much more favourable to my OCD, as the limited edition vary in width. Slightly shorter then the limited edition versions, and standard dvds, however it fits in well with the collection! I really recommend this to anyone who is a Whovian!!

For those who love Doctor Who - what a great place to start building up your collections of classic Who.