Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: The Key to Time (Special Collector's Edition) (Stories 98-103)

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Yes, these are technically re-releases of shows that have already been put out on DVD. For the 'die-hard' fans these may not be totally redundant like Lucas and his Star Wars releases.

The Key to Time Series: I would get this again ONLY because it is loaded with commentaries by Tom Baker and Mary Tamm which were not available on some of the episodes within the previous DVD set released. As well, there are new making-of documentaries regarding each of the shows per each segment of the Key that are, again, totally new.

I am biased towards loving this season of Tom Baker's run. Thus, if you aren't that crazy about these then, yes, the purchase is totally unnecessary. However, if you are 'avid', then this set should be rewarding to succumb to the 'double-dip'... with the new special features in plenty...

The NEW 350 minutes-worth of special features details are as follows. All the making-of features are new and NEW commentaries are marked with an *:

I. The Ribos Operation: Special Edition (1 DVD; 4 episodes; 98 mins)
1. Commentary with Tom Baker and Mary Tamm
2. A Matter of Time - A new 60-minute Documentary
3. The Ribos File - Cast and Crew Interviews about the making of
this story
4. Continuities - off-air continuity links from the story's
original BBC1 transmission
5. Season 16 Trailer - BBC1 trailer for the forthcoming season
6. Photo Gallery

II. The Pirate Planet: Special Edition (1 DVD; 4 episodes; 100 mins)
2 Audio Commentary Tracks:
1. Commentary with Bruce Purchase and director Pennant Roberts
2. * Commentary with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and script editor Anthony
Read
3. Parrot Fashion - Documentary that includes old and new
interviews, including Douglas Adams
4. Film Inserts, Deleted Scenes & Outtakes
5. Weird Science - A funny look at the science seen in The Key to
Time
6. Continuities - off-air continuity links from the story's
original BBC1 transmission
7. Photo Gallery

III. The Stones Of Blood: Special Edition (1 DVD; 4 episodes; 95 mins)
2 Audio Commentary Tracks:
1. Commentary with Mary Tamm and director Darrol Blake
2. * Commentary with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Susan Engel and writer
David Fisher
3. Getting Blood from the Stones - Cast and Crew Interviews about
the making of this story
4. Hammer Horror - Featurette about the influences of horror films
on Doctor Who stories
5. Stones Free - Mary Tamm visits the Rollright Stones location and
talks to local experts
6. Deleted Scenes
7. Continuities - off-air continuity links from the story's
original BBC1 transmission
8. Excerpt from 'The Model World of Robert Symes'
9. Blue Peter segment about the 15th anniversary of Doctor Who
10. BBC's Nationwide news program segment about the 15th
anniversary of Doctor Who
11. Photo Gallery

IV. The Androids Of Tara: Special Edition (1 DVD; 4 episodes; 97 mins)
1. Commentary with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and director Michael Hayes
2. The Humans of Tara - Cast and Crew Interviews about the making
of this story
3. Now & Then: The Androids of Tara - compares and contrasts
present day locations as they are now with how they appeared in
the story
4. Double Trouble - a brief history of 'doubles' in other Doctor
Who stories
5. Photo Gallery

V. The Power Of Kroll: Special Edition (1 DVD; 4 episodes; 90 mins)
1. Commentary with Tom Baker and John Leeson
2. In Studio - a glimpse inside the studio during recording of the
story
3. Variations - a BBC local news programme visits the story's
location during filming
4. There's Something About Mary - Mary Tamm looks back at her
single-season starring role as the Doctor's companion
5. Philip Madoc: A Villain for All Seasons - Madoc looks back on
his numerous roles as a Doctor Who villain down the years
6. Continuities - off-air continuity links from the story's
original BBC1 transmission
7. Photo Gallery

VI. The Armageddon Factor: Special Edition (2 DVDs; 6 episodes; 147 mins)
2 Audio Commentary Tracks:
1. Commentary with Mary Tamm, John Woodvine and director Michael
Hayes
2. * Commentary with Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and John Leeson
3. DVD-ROM: 1979 Doctor Who Annual in Adobe PDF format
4. Defining Shadows - Cast and Crew Interviews about the making of
this story
5. Alternative / Extended Scene
6. Directing Who - Michael Hayes looks back on his directing career
on Doctor Who
7. Rogue Time Lords - a potted history of errant Time Lords
8. Pebble Mill at One - Tom Baker interview from 1978
9. Radiophonic Feature - a Pebble Mill at One interview looking at
Radiophonic music and effects in Doctor Who
10. The New Sound of Music - Dick Mills talks about creating Doctor
Who sound effects
11. Merry Christmas, Doctor Who - a special Christmas sketch,
recorded on the set of 'The Armageddon Factor' for the BBC
Christmas Tape that year
12. Continuities - off-air continuity links from the story's
original BBC1 transmission
13. Photo Gallery
14. Late Night Story - Tom Baker reads five spine-chilling stories
from this 1978 series:
a. The Photograph by Nigel Kneale
b. The Emissary by Ray Bradbury
c. Nursery Tea by Mary Danby
d. The End of the Party by Graham Greene
e. Sredni Vashtar by Saki (never broadcast)
15. Easter Egg

Adding up the running times gives us 627 minutes for the box set. All episodes are presented in full frame video, with the original English mono audio and with English subtitles.

I have been reading the reveiews for the new "Key To Time Set", and I find it funny that they only get the story only half right on why they have re-released this set.

So I checked on http://home.comcast.net/~smanfred/Latest.html (Steve Manfred's website) who is the man to talk too about all Doctor Who DVD (and hell, even VHS) releases in the US. FROM STEVE MANFRED's WEB SITE:

A very Frequently Asked Question I've been getting lately is "Why are they re-releasing The Key to Time (especially when half the rest of the series isn't out yet?)"

The answer has to do with how and why we got the 2002 edition of this set. In their first DVD releases in North America in 2001 and early 2002, BBC Worldwide Americas included a questionnaire that pointed to a website poll where their customers could choose from amongst a list of titles which Doctor Who title they would most like to see released next. On that list was The Key to Time, and it won the poll. They went back to their partners in the UK and requested that it be released. They met with some resistance as the UK BBC people didn't feel the time was right for their market for a box set of this many episodes to be released, however the BBC WA people emphasized how important box sets had already become in the North American market and how having one was in fact now essential to get stores to stock Doctor Who titles at all. They'd had a wave of some individual titles in 2002 that many chains chose not to stock because all they were was individual stories. A box set was now seen as a requirement to save the range's future in North America. And so an agreement was reached whereby The Key to Time could be released in late 2002 in North America without there having been a UK release first. This is the only time that this has happened, and it probably will never happen again. Due to there being no UK release, the volume of episodes in the set, and the quick turnaround time needed, the titles in the 2002 set came out with only minimal extras. Although they did all have commentaries and production notes, they had no featurettes, only a few deleted scenes, and the restoration work was very minimal.

Nowadays, with the revival of the series' fortunes that began with the coming of the new series, the market for classic Doctor Who in the UK has become much healthier, and box sets have become much more attractive, and you'll have noticed there have been more of them in recent years, and that when they come out they get the same full treatment extras-wise that the individual titles get. And so in 2007, they decided to bring The Key to Time to the UK, with that full press of extras. The release pattern in North America is for them to bring out the UK's recent titles in largely the same order that they come out in the UK, but they decided to hold off for a while on this particular title as they already had the old edition on the market, and also they'd fallen behind the increased pace of releases coming from the UK and wanted to catch us up on the titles we had never seen before first. Now in 2009, that catching-up has been largely completed, and they feel they can spend a release slot on bringing us the UK's edition of The Key to Time, and will begin selling it in North America on March 3 with the "Special Edition" moniker attached to all the titles to distinguish it from the original edition.

The only things that were on the 2002 edition that are not in the Special Edition are the original photo galleries(which were very minimal and have been replaced by much better ones on the special edition) and the Who's Who text file biographies of the principal cast members, which were discontinued from all releases some time ago.

I hope this all helps!

I did not buy the original 2002 Key to Time set; I figured that I would wait until the UK came out with its own version of the set, which would, in keeping with all Doctor Who DVD releases, be fully remastered and jammed to the gills with quality bonus features. So, over a year after the UK got the Key to Time in a fully remastered box set, North America receives the upgraded set.

I'll break this review down into two questions.

Firstly, is the new edition worth buying for those who've already bought the original?

Yes, it is. The picture is fully remastered and quite good-looking and sounding for late 70's videotape. The Pirate Planet's film sequences have also been remastered and look much improved. The special features are bound to keep even the most hardcore fan occupied for days, with everything from the continuity announcements for the original broadcasts (relatively insignificant, but I enjoy them) to the obligatory audio commentaries (while the commentaries from the 2002 edition are reused, there are a couple of new ones as well), as well as some documentaries on the production and an easter egg reconstructing a technical breakdown that occurred on the original broadcast of part five of The Armageddon Factor. All in all, the usual stuffed package we've come to expect from the BBC.

If you didn't buy the original set and are interested in the episodes, how good is it?

Well, this set comprises the entire sixteenth season of the show. I'll break it down, story by story:

The Ribos Operation is a great opener to the season, written by the majestic Robert Holmes. It boasts some great dialogue and surprisingly good production values for a studio-bound story, and is a promising start.

The Pirate Planet, written by Douglas Adams, is even better, overflowing with wit and humour. The aforementioned location filming is quite effective in creating atmosphere (particularly the cave sequences from parts two and three), and the story is also one of many in this season to mesh drama and humour effortlessly.

The Stones of Blood starts interesting and gradually gets better as we get into part two, held up by some of the greatest acting ever seen in the show. Unfortunately, once we reach the last episode and the "twinkle twinkle little star" judge and jury beings show up, it completely falls to pieces.

The Androids of Tara is a great costume drama, compounded by a really well done sword fight in the final episode. The cliffhanger to part two is also brilliantly shocking and suspenseful.

The Power of Kroll... oh dear God. I still can't believe Robert Holmes wrote this (yeah, the same Robert Holmes who wrote Ribos). It's incredibly dull (not helped by the fact that I watched it at 1 in the morning), there isn't any good dialogue, the visual effect shots of Kroll, while improved slightly for this re-release, are laughable, and it suffers from the age old end-of-season "OMG we're out of money" effect, not helped by poor acting and unlikeable characters.

The Armageddon Factor, while not a particularly good story and a lacklustre end to the season, is at least better than what preceded it. I do admit, though, that sequence in part six where the Doctor has assembled the Key and flutters his eyelids while ranting about having power over everything made me laugh quite hard. Speaking of which, the villain in this story has a stereotypical "mad" laugh that even Mojo Jojo would probably find a bit too extreme.

All in all, a pretty good season of the show wrapped up nicely in an excellent DVD set. A must buy, in any case.

The Key to Time season features, without a doubt, some of the best of the various aspects of "Doctor Who" that have made the series so beloved:

1. Strong, competent companions: in this case, we get two. There's Romanadvoratrelundar (the Doctor gives her the choice of shortening her name to Romana or Fred), played by the beautiful Mary Tamm; and K-9 Mk. II, voiced by John Leeson. Though she starts out somewhat irritating, Romana soon becomes one of the Doctor's most capable and helpful companions (sometimes even managing to upstage the Doctor in brilliance), while K-9 is as helpful and adorable as ever.

2. The plots, while not always making sense, go along at a nice clip, with little to no padding. My particular favorites are "The Pirate Planet," "The Stones of Blood," and "The Androids of Tara."

3. The hammy performances. Oh God, the hammy performances. In "The Pirate Planet" alone (written, appropriately enough, by Douglas Adams) we get the Captain, who gives us such wonderfully bombastic lines as "NO! BY THE WINGS OF THE SKY DEMON, I SAY NOOOOOO!!!" This is the kind of ham that is a joy to watch, rather than a chore to sit through.

4. The humor. In particular there's "The Stones of Blood," in which every other scene after the first episode has some sort of funny moment, whether it's the Doctor insisting that K-9 has always wanted to be a bloodhound, despite the robot dog's insistence to the contrary; or the Doctor's wily maneuvers during his trial by the Megara.

For those of you who have never seen classic "Doctor Who," or have never seen "Doctor Who" at all, this is a perfectly good way to begin.

You never forget your first Doctor and mine was Tom Baker, arguably the definitive Doctor Who until David Tennant put his stamp on the role of the time-traveling busybody in recent years. Baker held sway from 1974 to 1981 and while I've been clamoring for years that they do the obvious and release boxed sets devoted to the entire run of each Doctor, I must admit that Doctor Who: The Key To Time Special Edition ($99.98; BBC America) comes close -- it presents an entire season, which just happens to be one long story arc. A similar set was released (at a lower price) in 2002, but this one is jam-packed with all the extras of that one plus many more, including making-of documentaries. Family viewing is probably damning with faint praise but that's exactly what this is. Visit me at michaelgiltz dot com.

I believe there are people intent on getting every Doctor Who story created in the 20th century, and these people will buy this no matter what I say, and there are those would not care to see a television space opera from the 1970s, and these people will not buy this. I can think of three kinds of people who might be interested in my comments: someone wondering if this collection is good way to get a sense of what Dr. Who was in its golden age of the late 1970s, a casual Who won't buy everything, but is looking for a good buy, and finally someone curious about the early career of novelist Douglas Adams. I believe that some people from all three categories would be very happy with this boxed set.

Doctor Who in the 1970s was quite a phenomenon. Viewers had a strong empathy with shows star played by Tom Baker and the show getting the highest ratings it would every see despite a pitiful special effects budget. the show featured a space hero called The Doctor who travelled through space and time in a police box. The doctor came from a race beings called Time Lords, and was usually accompanied by woman who served as a portable damsel in distress, and sometimes and additional companion. In the late 1970's the extra companion was a robot dog named K-9. The show was presented in a serial format in which a story was spread out over a number of episodes, and different stories were quite different. If you are not familiar with the show, then I imagine you would say, "That's weird". Indeed, it is weird, and there has never been anything quite like it, but it is a very popular weird show, and you might enjoy it for the same reason that many other people enjoy it. So, if you want a sense of what the show was like then you would want to watch a number of stories in order. In general, buying multiple stories costs a fair amount, and this is the only collection of 6 20th century Doctor Who stories that I am aware of, and on the whole it costs a lot less than individual episodes. They let us buy season 16 as a single set because put together the season was an epic quest, to find the six segments of the keys to time, and in many ways the over all story is better than any of the six parts. The version is special edition. Every episode has at least one commentary by cast and crew (14 of 26 episodes have two commentaries), and every episode has subtitled production notes. I thought some of the commentary was quite interesting. There is a documentary about the producer Graham Williams who was the main creative force behind the whole idea of making a season of Doctor Who a quest, and the context of how he got put in charge of that show. There are special documentaries about the making of 5 out of six of the stories in the collection--that does mean that there was story that they really did not want to discuss the production of. Beyond that the additions are a bit thrown in but a couple of the throw ins are very entertaining. There are old videos of Tom Baker reading scary stories, and he is very good at it. Tom Baker is usually very funny when playing Doctor Who, but he seems very good at doing a serious reading of a scary story. The best story in the set was written by Saki. Another interesting snippet is an old comedy piece called "Weird Science" which pokes fun at the science in season 16 of Doctor Who. On the whole, the extras are very good.

If you have seen a fair amount of 20th century Doctor Who and are wondering if this video collection is your thing, then you would want to know more about each story. It seems that for many of these stories feelings about the quality differ wildly, and there are five stories than many people feel might be the best in collection, and one story that most people seem not to like because of the really bad special effects. So, my personal feelings on any of the episodes are not the point, and I will try to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each story.

The first story--the Ribos Operation-- begins was a being claiming to be "The White Guardian" telling the doctor to find the six segments of key to time which have the power to "restore the balance of the universe." He also tells the doctor that there is a "Black Guardian" who would like to use key to time for evil. The Doctor is shown to be familiar with the concept of guardians so the Manichean mythology that underlies the story is to be taken at face value. The Guardian claiming to be white uses threat of death to get the Doctor to fulfill the quest, and he uses deception to get Romona--another Time Lord--to act as the doctor's assistant. This means that the claiming to be embodiment of good has no qualms about using force and lies to get his way. In any event, in the first story, the Doctor, Romona and K-9 go to a backward medieval looking planet to find the first segment of the key to time, but encounter a strange scuffle involving a pair of criminal who want to sell the backward planet to a deposed monarch. The medieval setting works well with the quest for a segment concept, and the story is humerus, well timed and fun. Romona--played by Mary Tam--has been thrown in with the doctor and there is a lot friction between the two, but this works well.

The next story occupies an unusual place in the history of television because it is the first television script written by Douglas Adams who would go on to become best selling novelist. It came out at about the same time as the radio script version "Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy." The basic story involves a pirate who is able to make the outer shell of his planet materialize around another planet The captain in this story called "Pirate Planet" has a robot parrot that is adept at killing for its captain. The Doctor Romona and K-9 must not only find the second segment of the key, but stop the captain before he materialize his planet around the earth and kills the whole of the human race. The pirate idea fits into the quest idea well, and it is filled Adam's sense of humor.

The third story is called "Stones of Blood" which puts the doctor in conflict with a group of witches in 20th century England. Of course, as usual in Doctor Who stories, what gives these witches their power is an alien intelligence. I found the way the story resolved a bit anticlimactic, but I have learned that a number of people found it satisfying.

The fourth story is "The Androids of Tara" which is a well mannered and elegant version of the "Prisoner of Zenda." The story is complicated by technology that permits androids to impersonate people, and by special electronics in the crossbow bolts and swords that the characters fight with. The story plays very little emphasis on main theme of the book, namely that a person forced to impersonate a king because necessity might actually make better king than the king. So, the story becomes a drama centered on action and sword fights.

The fifth story called "The Power of Kroll", is the one that might really be a bad idea, but had some positive points. According to the write up that accompanies the DVD collection, the writer Robert Holmes was told to create the largest monster that had ever been in a Doctor Who story, and part of the difficulty with the story is that with special effects budget you could not create a building sized monster that was believable. Another problem is that the natives who worship Kroll are green skinned people who wear nothing but loin clothes and capes. I know exactly why the writer chose to have them wear loin clothes and capes, that was what Aztecs wore before the Spanish came, and these natives think Romona should be honored by their plans to sacrifice her to Kroll. In effect, these are alien Aztecs. The humans are intent on driving these natives off their land so that they can produce more methane fuel, so there is fairly interesting political situation because while the natives are portrayed as far from noble savages the civilized humans are in many ways more savage than the natives. The author of this script was Robert Holmes who created a number of good scripts for doctor who, including the "Ribos Operation" and his scripts are usually interesting even when they do not really work. As a story, this one really does not work because people wearing green make up all over their bodies worshiping something that looks like a cheap model of a plastic squid does not work, but it does make a fifth part of the great mythic quest, so it can be enjoyed in the context of the larger story.

"The Armageddon Factory" is the last story so it has a great deal to do: it must be centered on large enough stakes to qualify as a dramatic climax, and it has to create an adequate resolution to underlying plot of the whole season. To fulfill the first requirement, it makes the final story about preventing the "Black Guardian" from turning the whole universe into a great war. Obviously, in the climax a great quest the hero would do things like rescue a princess from near certain doom. Resolving the conflict of the entire season is a bit trickery because it is implicit in the whole season that the Doctor will have to decide what he does when he has the key to time which grants its holder god like powers. I am not giving away the answer because people who want a spoiler can find the answer on many web-cites, and some people do not want the answer. Lets just say that I was happy with the way that things were resolved, but some people found the whole thing anti-climactic.

Interestingly Douglas Adams who wrote the second story was given the job or writing the conclusion where the Doctor faces the big decision, even though other people were the writers of "the Armageddon Factor." Adams was in fact about to be promoted to script writer. For this reason, I think that the collection might be interesting to Douglas Adams fans, even though I doubt that Adams fans are usually who fans.

Taking into account all of the extras, I think the collection is pretty good.

This partiular season of Dr Who was unusual as it dealt with the one theme, to get the Key Of Time for the White Guardian.
This complilation no longer available in the U.K. is first class, the quality is great, even though it is on the American NTSC system. The special features for each story is full and enjoyable, overall this is a very good buy.

Leslie Kent

I admit I usually fall for "double dipping" on CDs and DVDS. I also admit to typically feeling swindled by doing so. However, I am not at all upset about this new "Key to Time" set.

First of all, it's been nearly seven years since the original set came out. Second, the original "Key to Time" set was a rushed North American release (a highly unusual situation described in other reviews) which included none of the fine extras the Doctor Who DVDs are known for. Further, the episodes were only minimally remastered. This "Special Edition" is meticulously remastered with, I believe, over 7 hours of new extras. Third, and perhaps least important, this set is very nicely packaged in a multifold case very similar to the Series 1-4 sets of the new Doctor Who series. As a result, it takes up far less shelf space!

With regard to the episodes themselves, they are, admittedly, not the series' best. However, I have a great deal of nostalgia for all of them and find them highly enjoyable. You have some of the finest scriptwriters the show ever had here, including Robert Holmes (The Armageddon Factor) and Douglas Adams (The Pirate Planet).

In short, if you never bought the first "Key to Time" set, you still have to buy this. If you did, you have to buy this!

Tom Baker is my first doctor that I watched. I have since then become a fan to DrWho. I still think that Tom's wit adds a lot of value to the show with his humorous responses to events and his charisma as the Doctor makes him my most Favorite Doctor.

I have all of the Tom Baker episodes on VHS. I would like to buy them on DVD. I also enjoy the New Seasons of Doctor Who. The BBC is now making the monsters more believe-able. With the old series you just had to over look the low budget and get into the characters. Tom Baker and his companions did a good job of acting out their parts.

Tom Baker is a phenomenal actor. I have seen him in Sinbad, a horror movie, a made for television mini series,and of course Doctor Who. In fact he was the first Doctor I was introduced to. As a matter of fact, this series, The Key to Time, was among the first episodes I saw. By todays standards of course the special effects and the storyline are passe to say the least. But to a true Doctor Who fan (known best as a Whovian), these are among some of thr best episodes in a story arc. Others include the E-space trilogy, Trial of a Time Lord, and Bakers final episodes and Davisons first. Set out to find the six segments to the key to time, the Doctor and his newest companion Romana, must travel across time and space meeting villain after villain. Several books were written that tell tales of the adventures in between the segments. From the Ribos Operartion to the Armageddon Factor, each episode is rich with lush scenery (except the Power of Kroll of course LOL), classic villains and classic characters that want to be good or bad in their own right. If you're a true Whovian, you have this box set in your collection.