Doctor Who – Lost in Time Collection of Rare Episodes – The William Hartnell Years and the Patrick Troughton Years

Description

These episodes offer an enticing glimpse into ‘lost’
stories that have achieved legendary status. Fans can relish rare appearances
of the Daleks, Cybermen and Yeti, and guest star turns by Julian Glover
(Indiana Jones) and Michael Gough (Batman). New to video is the recently
recovered Episode 2 of The Daleks’ Master Plan, which marked the series debut
of Nicholas Courtney, who later returned as the Brigadier. The sad
fact faced by all fans of the BBC’s long-running science fiction series Doctor
Who is that nearly half of the 200+ episodes are considered lost or incomplete
due to improper storage. However, episodes and tantalizing glimpses of
“orphaned” stories from the reign of the first Doctor, William Hartnell
(1963-66) have been culled together from 16 and 35mm prints and restored for
this set. The most noteworthy treasure is “Day of Armageddon,” the second
episode in the epic 12-part story from season 3, “The Daleks’ Master Plan,”
which has been unseen by the public since its initial airing in 1965. Also
among the recently recovered is “The Lion,” the first episode of season’s 2’s
“The Crusade.” The only other surviving episodes from these stories–episodes
5 and 10 from “The Daleks’ Master Plan,” and episode 3 from “The Crusade”
(audio tracks and narrative links for the second and fourth episodes of this
story are also included), as well as the sole remaining episode (4, “The
Final Test”) from “The Celestial Toymaker” (featuring veteran actor Michael
Gough) round out the disc. The DVD extras include fragments from the lost
episodes of “The Daleks’ Master Plan” and season 4’s “The Smugglers” and “The
Tenth Planet,” all rescued from a variety of far-flung places; also included
is commentary by actor Julian Glover for episode 3 of “The Crusade” and actors
Peter Purves and Kevin Stoney, along with designer Raymond Cusick for “Day of
Armaggedon,” and some 8mm off-screen footage from the Hartnell era. Viewers
can also access introductions to and an afterword for “The Crusade” (taken
from the original VHS release) by accessing the “Play All” option on the main
menu. 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

Features:

Product Details:

• Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Television
• Format: NTSC, Box set, Multiple Formats
• Contributor: David Ellis, Patrick Troughton, Peter Bryant, Dennis Spooner, Pat Gorman, Jacqueline Hill, Malcolm Hulke, Nicholas Courtney, Robert Holmes, Terry Nation, Brian Hayles, Kit Pedler, Frazer Hines, David Whitaker, Geoffrey Orme, Henry Lincoln, Mervyn Haisman, William Hartnell See more
• Language: English
• Number Of Discs: 3
• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 8.8 Ounces
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ 3Videos
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Box set, Multiple Formats
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 7 hours and 14 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ November 2, 2004
• Actors ‏ : ‎ William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, Nicholas Courtney, Jacqueline Hill
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English