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As with the First Doctor, a number of episodes and stories from Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor tenure (1966-69) are also incomplete or missing altogether, so The Patrick Troughton Years attempts to reconstruct the "orphaned" stories through episodes and clips culled from a variety of sources. For Who historians, the most important footage here is from Troughton's first appearance as the Doctor in season 5's "The Power of the Daleks," which is missing in its entirety; a rough glimpse of the transition from actor William Hartnell to Troughton is included, along with other surviving fragments. The complete episodes offered here are the sole remaining episode from season 4's "The Underwater Menace" (fragments from this story are included in the extras), episodes 2 and 4 from "The Moonbase," which features the return of the Cybermen (audio from episodes 1 and 3 is featured in the extras), episodes 1 and 3 from "The Faceless Ones," and episode 2 from "The Evil of the Daleks" (which includes commentary by actress Deborah Watling, who played the Doctor's companion, Victoria). Disc 2 marks the only episode from the Yetis' debut in "The Abominable Snowmen" (Watling again provides commentary), two episodes from "The Wheel in Space" (with commentary by director Tristan de Vere Cole and story editor Derrick Sherwin) and just one apiece for "The Web of Fear," "The Space Pirates," and "The Enemy of the World." Chief among the extras is the 1998 documentary The Missing Years, which interviews several of the film collectors responsible for rescuing these lost episodes and fragments (the doc has been updated to reflect the 2004 discovery of two William Hartnell episodes); the supplemental features offer fragments and behind-the-scenes footage from "The Macra Terror" (with a rare clip of the monsters), "Fury from the Deep" (which includes a scene reconstruction), "The Highlanders," and the aforementioned stories.
The William Hartnell Years and the Patrick Troughton Years are also available individually. Either scenario is sure to please the die-hard Doctor Who fan. --Paul Gaita
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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.
THE UNDERWATER MENACE 3 - Originally a four-part story, only the third part exists, but it does provide the earliest existing episode to feature Patrick Troughton's unique take on the Doctor, accompanied by his companions Ben, Polly and Jamie. The episode is rather bizarre, featuring an adventure in Atlantis with fish-people and a mad scientist, but it is unlike anything else ever seen in the series.
THE MOONBASE 2 & 4 - Enter the Cybermen for this adventure, in only their second appearance on Doctor Who. This time the action takes place on the moon itself, and as an added bonus, the two missing episodes (1 & 3) are included in audio-only format, so one can follow the entire story. Find out how Polly's tea-making skills save the day!
THE FACELESS ONES 1 & 3 - Two existing episodes from the six-parter in which chameleon-like aliens are hijacking airline passengers for their own nefarious plot. Features location footage at Gatwick Airport in London, and is also the last story to feature Ben and Polly as the Doctor's companions.
EVIL OF THE DALEKS 2 - The final appearance of the Daleks in the 1960's, this existing episode from the 7-parter, offers a unique look at a story many consider to be one of the all-time classics. Also, features the debut of Victoria. Commentary track is available for this episode.
THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN 2 - The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria encounter the deadly Yeti in the Himalayans in this surviving episode from the 6-parter. This episode also has an optional commentary track.
THE ENEMY OF THE WORLD 3 - A taste of espionage in this thriller, in which Patrick Troughton doubles as the villanous Salamander. The only surviving episode from the 6-parter.
THE WEB OF FEAR 1 - The Yeti return, this time in the Underground System of a deserted London. This is the existing first part of the 6-part story. There is an optional commentary track for this episode.
THE WHEEL IN SPACE 3 & 6 - The Cybermen return in this adventure set on a space station. Zoe makes her first appearance in the series, and episode 6 features an optional commentary. Originally a six-part story.
THE SPACE PIRATES 2 - This sole survivor of the six-part story puts the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe in the midst of a grand space adventure.
As if these 18 episodes weren't enough, also included are an insane number of clips from other 1960's Doctor Who adventures, plus a meaty documentary about The Missing Years.
Granted, these odds and ends may not be for everyone, but they are a unique collection of episodes that are quite rare, and they have all been cleaned up and have never looked better. A worthwhile investment for any Doctor Who fan.
It's a bit unusual in that, although more of the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) stories are forever lost, the Troughton collection takes up two DVDs, while the First Doctor (William Hartnell) has only one DVD.
Nevertheless, the BBC is to be commended for the production values they've put into this collection. On some stories (The Moonbase, eg.), they've included the entire story, even though only two of the four episodes still exist. For the other two episodes, the BBC have included the original audio soundtrack, so it is possible to at least listen to the entire story. Audio and video quality is surprisingly good. (It's often interesting to compare the sharpness of 1960s B&W video with the dreadful quality of late 1960s and early 1970s colour video - anyone who can receive a CHUM-CITY station such as VR or PL can check out the washed-out prints of Ironside or Kojak, or hockey fans can compare the quality of the recent Canada Cup rebroadcasts on TSN.)
The DVDs contain existing episodes from a number of stories which are incomplete, and also hold a number of gems such as original BBC trailers for stories, including a trailer for Troughton's first story, "Power of the Daleks".
An often-overlooked gem is the "Who's Who", biographies of some of the key actors in various stories. Some people who went on to bigger and better things appeared in the series in the Sixties, such as Julian Glover and Jean Marsh. It's also interesting to note how many actors in 1960s British TV played guest roles in Doctor Who, The Avengers, and Z Cars.
Certainly, this release is very specialized in nature, given its fragmentary condition. However, no fan should be without it.
So unless a miracle occurs, these restored episodes from stories where half or less of the episodes survive are all we have left of some of the early 60's stories when William Hartnell and later Patrick Troughton portrayed the Doctor. The set includes the remaining episodes as well as surviving clips of some of the stories where none of the episodes exist, and a 1998 BBC special on the missing episodes hosted by Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling.
Some of the stories featured:
1) The Crusade (ep's 1 & 3) - Historical story during the Hartnell era which includes Episode 1 that was recovered in 1999. Some parts of the episode could not be fully restored, but considering the circumstances, we should be lucky to even have it.
2) The Dalek Masterplan (ep's 2, 5, 10) - Epic 12-episode Dalek story. Included is episode 2 "Day of Armageddon", returned to the BBC in January 2004. First appearance of actor Nicholas Courtney as Bret Vyon. He would later return as longtime recurring character Colonel (later Brigadier) Lethbridge-Stewart.
3) The Evil of the Daleks (ep. 2) - Only surviving episode of this 7-parter. Debut of Deborah Watling as travel companion Victoria Waterfield.
4) The Web of Fear (ep. 1) - The second story to feature the Yeti invading the London Underground, and was the debut of Nicholas Courtney as Lethbridge-Stewart, although he's not featured in episode 1.
5) The Wheel In Space (ep. 3 & 6) - Cybermen story and the debut of companion Zoe Herriot (Wendy Padbury).
As enjoyable as this collection is, it nevertheless makes you crave for more for obvious reasons. It's frustrating to be able to see stories at only the beginning or middle or end. This is the sad legacy of the BBC's short-sightedness that we can only hope there are some private collectors who are secretly stashing episodes and are just waiting for the right time to come out with them (what those reasons are I have no idea). If you are a beginner Dr. Who fan, then wait until you see some of the complete stories first before checking this out.
I had seen most of them when they were screened in Australia way back in the 60s and 70s, and it brought... Read more
