Product Details

• Actors: Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding
• Directors: Ron Jones
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: BBC Worldwide
• DVD Release Date: November 6, 2007
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000TSTEOQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,002 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/06/2007

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Season 19 ends on a bit of a rum story, February 9, 2004

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who - Time-Flight [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Following Adric's death from the previous story, the Doctor decides to cheer Nyssa and Tegan by taking them to the Great London Exhibition of 1851, but something draws the TARDIS off course, forcing them to...of all places, Heathrow Airport in contemporary England, where Tegan wanted to return (q.v. The Visitation.) After using his UNIT credentials to get them out of trouble with airport security, he is then drawn into the strange disappearance of a Concorde Jet over the British Channel. To that end, he enlists the use of another Concorde to retrace the path of its twin. "The question is where but when" the plane has vanished, as he equates it with the TARDIS trouble they had earlier. The pilot, Captain Stapley, turns out to be a reliable and solid fellow throughout the adventure.

They find the answer in the Jurassic Period, which is where the time contour that hijacked them ends. The crew and passengers of the other flight are under some hypnotic influence, all that is except for a Professor Hayter, a university scientist specializing in hypnotism who was unaffected. He thinks that the plane was hijacked by the Soviets and that they are behind the iron curtain.

The sight of a crashed spaceship, a citadel, and a grotesque-looking Oriental magician named Kalid, leads the travellers to believe there's more to their predicament.

Nyssa plays a larger role by acting as a medium for some aliens divided into good and evil halves, and there's a kind of sixth sense about her, which may come from her being from Traken. And at least Tegan finally gets to be a stewardess, having worn her uniform all throughout the season.

I can't tell more without spoiling the rest. Paleontology seems to be a weak case in Doctor Who (q.v. The Silurians, The Sea Devils). 140 million years ago is indeed the close of the Jurassic Period, but then the Doctor says they must be near the Pleistocene Era. Two goofs: he must have meant the Cretaceous Era, and second, it should be the Pleistocene Epoch, which wouldn't occur for another 138 million years after.

Some credit should be given to British Airways giving producer John Nathan-Turner permission to feature the Concorde and airport authorities giving him the go-ahead to film at Heathrow.

Occasionally, the series has some stories that don't cut the mustard, and sadly, Timeflight is one of them. The regulars come out good as usual, with worthy performances from Richard Easton (Stapley) and Nigel Stock (Hayter). The main problem, though, is the concept of two Concordes being hijacked to the end of the Jurassic Period and the bad story idea and execution.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flight across time, June 1, 2001

By 

G.Spider - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doctor Who - Time-Flight [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Doctor and his companions arrive at Heathrow and find Concorde has gone missing. Before long it transpires the aeroplane has been transported back to the Jurassic where the Doctor soon comes across his old enemy the Master.

This was a story which seemed doomed to disaster. The limited budget had to cope with finding a way of making two concordes crash-land (the season had already had problems with bringing a giant snake to life), the storyline is a little confusing (it isn't all that clear what the Master is trying to do, or why he bothers with a disguise when there's nobody there to see him), and the stock footage of concorde and the airport was no doubt seen by Heathrow as more a promotional gimmick than anything else.

Strange, therefore, that what we have here is 90 minutes of entertaining, interesting and highly enjoyable sci-fi. The concept of concorde flying through time is an inspired one, the characters are well-written and there are some genuinely haunting scenes. Well worth seeing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh, come on, it's better than you think!, January 20, 2008

By 

The Cougar (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doctor Who: Time-Flight - Story 123 (DVD)

Thanks to reviewer John Liosatos, I was convinced to have a second look at Time Flight when it came out on DVD and I'm glad I did. I have a newfound liking for the story, it's a good light-hearted simple adventure.

Like Timelash, Time-Flight certainly isn't a classic, I can't give it five stars, because there are a few things still niggling, the way they leave Tegan still feels jarring, as does the Master dressing up as an Arabic zombie.

But despite that... Time-Flight is great! Once they get over the sadness of Adric being killed, this TARDIS crew of the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa suddenly work a lot better, without Adric's petulant streak that was apparent with his time with the Fifth Doctor. I love the irony that the Doctor keeps trying to get Tegan to Heathrow Airport, but fails, and when he doesn't try, he reaches it bang on target, right place, right time. And the script has some good quips in it, with the Doctor climbing out of the TARDIS and into a side compartment of the plane, and saying in wonder, "This is smaller on the inside than it is on the outside!" Nice twist on the common quote.

As for the same old argument, the special effects are worse here, Grimwade (the writer) shoulod've known better, boo-hoo, get over it. The sole positive viewpoint on the DVD with the Grimwade interview says it perfectly, "You've got to keep pushing the ideas" Good on ya Grimwade. If you can't stretch your imagination, and let yourself get into the story (sending a Concorde back to prehistoric times... you don't see that in every sci-fi show), then frankly, you're a mindless zombie. I remember when Star Wars Episode 2 came out in the cinemas, and me and a friend who had just seen it were talking about it, his comment was... "Well, there wasn't really a story. It was... just special effects. But man, they were good!" Six years later, he's a new Doctor Who fan thanks to this very DVD!

And after some forgettable extra characters in Earthshock, we have what Janet calls on the commentary, "Crispin's Boys!" (??) Captain Stapley makes an excellent short-term friend for the Doctor, taking in all his unreal surroundings with a mixture of wonder and daring (Who else tries to sabotage the TARDIS to stop the Master?) Oh, and Professor Hayter makes a good foil, at the start seeming like a closed-minded sceptic, but at the end, sacrifices himself to the Xeraphin. Oh, and at the end, where the three pilots try to convince security that they went back 140 million years, and one of them quips "Think of the overtime!" is hilarious. A 1980's pilot's yearly salary multiplied by 140 million... anyone know how much that will be?

All in all, give it a go. Be careful, though, because most of the extras, like Timelash, are on the negative side. After the commentary, I was almost convinced that I had watched the worst Doctor Who story ever. Then I remembered Last of the Time Lords, Boom Town, Parting of the Ways, Silver Nemesis, Arc of Infinity, and I came back to my senses.