Customer Reviews

Doctor Who - Lost in Time Collection of Rare Episodes - The William Hartnell Years 1963-1966

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This release contains six episodes of early Doctor Who, but unlike practically every other release, these are assorted episodes from a variety of stories. The sad fact is that not every episode of the series survived to the present day. Many of the earliest were destroyed, but fortunately, not all of them. As a result, this collection doesn't really contain a complete story, but what it does offer, is a fascinating look at what exists from these incomplete stories. The other postitive thing is that these episodes have never been aired on US television!

As for the goodies inside:

THE CRUSADE 1 & 3 - A historical story in which the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki encounter the era of King Richard the Lionhearted, (played by Julian Glover), and his sister Joanna (played by Jean Marsh). A four-part story originally, the second and fourth parts are included on the DVD in audio-only format, so you can experience the complete story as much as is humanly possible. Also, as a bonus, there is a commentary track for the third episode.

THE DALEKS' MASTER PLAN 2, 5 & 10 - These three episodes are all that remain from this epic 12-part adventure, (and in fact the second episode was only just discovered at the beginning of 2004, and has never been seen anywhere since its original transmission in 1965!) This story features the Doctor and his companion Steven, with seldom seen companions Katarina and Sara Kingdom. This story also features the first appearance of Nicholas Courtney, who would gain fame later in the program as the Brigadier. Plus, it has Daleks! Episode 2 also features a commentary track.

THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER 4 - The final part of a 4-part adventure, featuring the Doctor, Steven and Dodo playing a deadly game against the Celestial Toymaker, (played by Michael Gough, perhaps better known in this day and age as Alfred the Butler in the Batman movies of the 1990's). Great fun this one is.

As if that wasn't enough, the DVD release also features a variety of surviving clips from various other Hartnell stories.

This collection is a real treasure! To be honest, it may not be the best purchase for someone who is just getting into Doctor Who, as these aren't complete stories, but then again, they do offer an appealling assortment of goodies from three very different early stories. As sad as it is that there are episodes missing from the early days of Doctor Who, it is gratifying that these gems to exist to give you a taste of the wonders they were creating for this unique series.

One final note - if you think you might be at all interested in this, consider buying the Troughton set too, which contains a further 12 episodes from that era!

As most Doctor Who fans know, there are huge gaps in the archives for the black and white era of the show that featured the first two actors to play the role, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. Due to a total disregard for archiving material and, criminally, as a cost cutting exercise, there was a systematic junking policy for `expired' TV shows across many broadcast networks through to the 1970's. In many ways, Doctor Who fared better than most with many complete stories surviving either in private hands or more often by happy accidents.

Although anything to have survived is miraculous, in many cases, irritatingly, stories were left incomplete on the archive shelves. Pretty much useless to any broadcaster and indeed seemingly for home DVD or video release. But the bright guys at the BBC have spotted a way to gather up all this stray material and package it together on a collection of three discs featuring not only eighteen complete episodes but a whole myriad of other snippets and gems from the vaults.

As a huge Doctor Who fan, I was thrilled to see all these homeless relics gathered together, but from a wider commercial viewpoint, I don't think it's a particularly interesting project. But isn't it wonderful for fans to be indulged in this way? I'd never seen either episodes of The Faceless Ones before, so this was a real treat, as it was to see the newly discovered gem from The Daleks' Master Plan.

The problem for me is that alone, or even where two or more episodes exist, it's exceptionally frustrating to watch what remains of these stories. If you're watching episode one for example, you're completely hooked by the end and then hugely disappointed that there is no more! For stories that just have the odd episode from the middle of the story, it's enough to drive you barmy. My biggest irritation came from watching episode 4 of The Celestial Toymaker. What on earth is going on? It would have been so, so much better had the DVD contained a synopsis of what was missing to help flesh out some of the material and put things into context. Definitely an opportunity missed. In a step towards this, there are soundtracks included for two missing episodes from The Crusade and The Moonbase, which does help complete those stories, but since photos exist of both missing episodes, why weren't they included? When all there is to hear is music or sound effects, it leaves you bewildered as to what might be happening. A photo or a subtitle would have been so much more effective.

Also gathered from the cutting room floor are many, many short clips (in some cases, don't blink or you'll miss them) from other completely deleted episodes. It's sad that in so many cases these split second clips are all that have remained. There's also a lot of home movie footage, which is really interesting. I believe this to be the only color examples of footage from the era and although short, they are wonderful to see.

We can but hope that as time goes on, some of the missing material will turn up. No one would have thought the complete Tomb of the Cybermen would suddenly reappear in 1992. So hope springs eternal. Until then, here's some classic Who, brilliantly restored and remastered to enjoy.

If you are a Whovian and love the show, then you will adore this set. Filled with an incredible array of material, Lost in Time will make a proud addition to your Doctor Who DVD collection. But be warned that if you're a little fuzzy on your first two Doctors, you may be a bit lost during some of the stories. And, even worse, these discs will make you want more. If you can handle that, then go out and buy this. You won't regret it. It's a fantastic effort that gives you as extensive an experience as possible. The only thing better than owning this set would be to have seen the episodes when they originally aired on the BBC.

Fans will understand. The beginning had the the flavor of the show we have loved for 48 years. Mint condition jewel!!

No matter which Actor you most-closely associate with Dr. Who, William Hartnell is certainly one you should take a look at. Episodes from this period are truly sparse & give viewers who discovered Dr. Who far later, and excellent historical perspective. Not to mention the Daleks!

The only part really worth seeing was Story 14: The Crusade, episodes 22-25 of season 2. While the first and third episode are actually there, you still get at least the audio for the second and forth episodes--PLUS Ian Chesterton's recollections to help fill in some gaps if you want to skip the audio. That was kind of a kick to see him "all grown up."

It also has Story 21: The Dalek's Master Plan--which I was completely lost on. The original story from season 3 had been created using episodes 10-21. All you get here are 11,14, and 19. You know, coming in on the second episode wasn't so terrible, but then skipping two more and coming back in was horrible, and then going to the third to last--where The Monk somehow gets back in--was just too much. If they had provided audio--which I understand if it wasn't possible--or someone to fill in gaps like they had Ian do, I think it would have been more tolerable. But such as it is, it only frustrated me.

And then finally, they had one solitary episode from Story 24. It looked like it would have been a good one, but showing the last episode of a four episode story was rather pointless. Originally, it was a season 3 story containing episodes 30-33.

We became intrigued with the new version of Dr. Who, but when in Britain recently, came upon an exhibit of the original Dr. Who, quite a celebrity there. This DVD brings the viewer back to Dr. Who as it originally was conceived, and is great fun, although I have to say that I prefer the modern version.

I love Hartnell. I own 8 other dvds that are first Doctor, but this one was very disapointing. The special features were no good not to mention that you only get fragments of a few episodes. As much as I love Doctor Who I couldn't get into it.

I was somewat disappointed by this patchwork as it has no complete story at all. While the Moonbase and the Crusade offer Audio for the missing episodes there is no commentary so you are left to wonder what is happening in the silences.

I expected more from the BBC

The episodes that are shown are captivating and do give an insight into the quality and occasional lack of quality that makes up Doctor Who.

The Underwater Menace with its string transported Fish People and exaggerated evil madman was quite amusing.

Yes the Show was great what a shame the DVD production is not.

This episode sort of ties up the missiong episodes that are included which are The Crusade, & The Celestial Toymaker.