Mara Tales: DVD release details

Wednesday, 2 February 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The two tales featuring the Mara are to be released in the United Kingdom by 2|Entertain on the 7th March 2011 (see here for the North American release date). Details for the two stories in the Mara Tales boxed set, Kinda and Snakedance, are listed below.

2|Entertain released a trailer online last year to promote the set, featuring some of the new special effects that have been especially created for the two tales; this can be viewed in our earlier article about the DVD.

Kinda

Written by Christopher Bailey
Directed by Peter Grimwade
Broadcast: 1st-9th February 1982

On a beautiful, paradise planet, Deva Loka, its inhabitants, the Kinda, are a gentle and seemingly primitive people. On the surface, a perfect place to colonise. But if it is so perfect, why are the colonisation team disappearing one by one?

Unaware of this, the Doctor and his companions choose to rest on Deva Loka. Enchanted by the beautiful Chimes, "the place of dreams", Tegan sleeps and falls prey to the Mara, a malevolent force out to steal her mind. But just what are its ultimate evil intentions?  Meanwhile, the Doctor and Adric are captured by the surviving colonisation team's officers, Sanders and the unstable Hindle. When Sanders disappears, Hindle collapses into a world of paranoid delusions and suddenly the security of the entire base is at risk.

Can the Doctor rescue Tegan from the Mara and defeat it - before it pushes Hindle over the edge? And who is the mysterious blind woman who appears in visions? Will she help the Doctor or ultimately impede him...

Special Features

Commentary - stereo. With actors Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Matthew Waterhouse and Nerys Hughes.
Dream Time (dur. 34’ 05”) – cast and crew look back at the making of the story. With actors Janet Fielding, Nerys Hughes, Simon Rouse and Adrian Mills, director Peter Grimwade, writer Christopher Bailey, script editors Christopher H. Bidmead, Eric Saward and Antony Root, designer Malcolm Thornton, new series writer Robert Shearman.
Peter Grimwade - Directing with Attitude (dur. 22’ 57”) – a look at the Doctor Who career of writer and director Peter Grimwade. With Peter Grimwade, actors Janet Fielding and Nerys Hughes, writer Christopher Bailey, script editor Eric Saward, production assistant Margot Hayhoe, designer Malcolm Thornton, production secretary Jane Judge, script consultant Ian Levine, and Target Books editor Nigel Robinson. Presented by Mark Strickson.
Deleted and Extended Scenes (dur. 14’ 36”) – a fascinating collection of deleted sequences taken from timecoded domestic videotape copies of the story’s early edits.
Optional CGI Effects Sequence – option to view episode four with the original giant puppet snake replaced by a CGI snake
CGI Effects Comparison (dur. 1’ 34”) – a side by side comparison of the original puppet and new CGI snake shots.
Trails & Continuity (dur. 4’ 13”) – BBC trails and continuity announcements from the story’s original transmission.
Photo Gallery (dur. 4’ 42”) - production, design and publicity photos from the story.
Isolated Music – option to watch the story with the isolated music score.

Snakedance

Written by Christopher Bailey
Directed by Fiona Cumming
Broadcast: 18th-26th January 1983

Surely Tegan must have made a mistake when she set the TARDIS' co-ordinates, because the Doctor certainly hadn't intended landing on Manussa? But upon learning that Manussa was once home of the Sumaran Empire, the Doctor knows that their arrival has been no accident but has been orchestrated by a hostile force - a force which is rapidly gaining control of Tegan's will.

By first infiltrating Tegan's subconscious mind, through strange and disturbing dreams dominated by the image of a huge snake's skull, this force - the Mara - is planning on as a vehicle for its return to power on the planet Manussa.  So just as Manussa prepares festivities to commemorate the destruction of the Sumaran Empire by the ruling Federation, it seems that the Legend of the Mara could be about to come true. According to this Legend, the Mara was never destroyed by the Federation but merely banished.

Furthermore, the Legend claims that the Mara will return in a dream - a precursor to its gaining control of all their minds... It is clear to the Doctor that the first steps in the Mara's return have already been taken...

Special Features

Commentary - stereo. With actors Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton.
Snake Charmer (dur. 24’ 37”) – cast and crew look back at the making of the story. With actors Peter Davison and Janet Fielding, director Fiona Cumming, writer Christopher Bailey, script editor Eric Saward, designer Jan Spoczynski, and new series writer Robert Shearman.
Deleted Scenes (dur. 3’ 05”) – scenes from the original ending of episode four, courtesy of a timecoded recording kept by producer John Nathan-Turner.
In Studio (dur. 6’ 12”) – a rare glimpse inside the studio during recording of effects sequences for the story, including the infamous ‘farting Mara’!
Saturday Superstore (dur. 14’ 16”) – Peter Davison guests on the Saturday morning children’s show, where he plays cricket with Mike Read and John Craven and takes questions from callers.
Photo Gallery (dur. 5’ 21”) - production, design and publicity photos from the story.
Isolated Music – option to watch the story with the isolated music score.
Radio Times Listings in Adobe PDF format.

(Mara Tales is available to pre-order from our Amazon Shop)

FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD - Peter Davison

Sun Makers goes Solo

Friday, 28 January 2011 - Reported by Marcus

Following the announcement of the delay to the DVD release of Ambassadors of Death, 2|Entertain have confirmed that the original idea of a Solar System Box Set has been abandoned.

The release of the 1977 Fourth Doctor story, The Sun Makers will go ahead as planned with the story being released in the same slot, but as a stand-alone story.

For full details of the global DVD release schedule see our product page.

FILTER: - Tom Baker - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Pertwee bonanza in Spring

Thursday, 27 January 2011 - Reported by Marcus

Spring will be a bumper season for fans of the Third Doctor with Warner Home Video announcing that both Terror of the Autons and Planet of the Spiders will be released on DVD in the United States and Canada on May 10th.

tvshowsondvd.com report on the two Jon Pertwee stories, details of which were released last month.

The North American release means the stories will be released in the UK during April or the first week of May. Planet of the Spiders, which was the final story for Jon Pertwee, will be released as a standalone story, while Terror of the Autons will be paired with a remastered version of Pertwee's first story, Spearhead from Space.

A release in Australia is also expected shortly after the UK release.

For full details of the global DVD release schedule see our product page.

FILTER: - Canada - USA - UK - Jon Pertwee - Blu-ray/DVD

Ambassadors Delayed

Wednesday, 26 January 2011 - Reported by Marcus

2|Entertain have announced that the DVD release of the Third Doctor story The Ambassadors of Death has been delayed due to ongoing restoration issues.

It was hoped that the story would be out later this year and it was due to be released along with the 1977 story The Sun Makers. However the company confirmed via their twitter account that the story will not now be released this year.

The story only existed in the BBC Archives in a mixture of formats. Although the original Transmission Master of Episode One exists, the rest of the story was only kept as 16mm black and white film. A second generation colour copy exists as an off air recording from WNED Channel 17 in Buffalo, and this was used to restore episodes five and six to colour for the 2002 Video release. However the quality of the colour recording was not good enough to allow for the restoration of the rest of the story.

Earlier this year it was reported that the remaining episodes were being restored to colour using the same technique applied to Episode Three of the 1973 story Planet of the Daleks. However it appears this process has run into problems and the release date has been delayed to give the restoration team more time to work on the project.

FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Fleetwood Mac included on Spearhead

Tuesday, 18 January 2011 - Reported by Marcus

It has been confirmed that the upcoming DVD re-release of the Third Doctor's first story, Spearhead from Space, will include the previously missing Fleetwood Mac track, Oh Well Part One.

Steve Roberts of the Doctor Who Restoration Team posted on Gallifrey Base that the track will be included on the soundtrack of the story due for release around the world later this year.

The music was present on the original transmission, during scenes of dolls being manufactured at Auto Plastics. Because of rights issues the track was removed from the 1988 BBC Video release and the 2001 DVD Release. The track is now covered by the PPL agreement, the same agreement which allowed the missing Beatles music to be included on the UK release of The Chase.

However, unlike the release of The Chase, the Fleetwood Mac track is covered internationally and so will be included on all versions of the story.

FILTER: - Jon Pertwee - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

DVD 2011 Update

Thursday, 13 January 2011 - Reported by Marcus

2|entertain have confirmed the classic Doctor Who stories currently being worked on for release in 2011. The stories will follow the previously announced releases of The Mutants, The Ark, Mara Tales and Revisitations 2.

The details came in an interview with the members of the classic Doctor Who DVD team in the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine. In the interview Commissioning Editor Dan Hall revealed an additional title was considered for re-visiting, but was dropped after review. Hall has revealed via the ClassicDW twitter account that this title was the Sixth Doctor story Vengeance on Varos. Hall has indicated he would be willing to reconsider this decision should there be a groundswell of opinion favouring this re-release.

Stories due for release during 2011:

The swansong of the third Doctor, originally shown in 1974. The story written by Robert Sloman and Barry Letts features Jon Pertwee in an epic battle with the Giant Spiders of Metebelis 3. The story also features Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, John Levene as Sergeant Benton, Gareth Hunt as Arak, Kevin Lindsay as Cho-je, John Dearth as Lupton and John Kane as Tommy.

Extras include:

Commentary
90 minute compilation edition
Jon Pertwee on Wogan
John Kane remembers
The Final Curtain - Documentary
Directing Doctor Who: Barry Letts
Now and Then: Locations

Mannequin Mania - Spearhead from Space / Terror of the Autons

A double release featuring an updated version of Jon Pertwee's first story re-released alongside the debut story of Roger Delgado as The Master and Katy Manning as Jo Grant

Spearhead from Space
The TARDIS arrives on Earth in the middle of a meteorite shower and the Doctor is found by UNIT troops and taken to a nearby hospital. Originally shown in 1970 the story, written by Robert Holmes, introduces the Autons as well as the third Doctor. Alongside Jon Pertwee it stars Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Caroline John as Liz Shaw, Hugh Burden as Channing, John Woodnutt as Hibbert and Hamilton Dyce as Major General Scobie

Extras include:

Regenerations: Documentary
UNIT Recruitment film
Down to Earth: Documentary
New Commentary

Terror of the Autons
This 1971 story introduces The Master as who arrives on Earth at a circus run by a man named Rossini and steals a dormant Nestene energy unit from a museum. Written by Robert Holmes the story introduces Jo Grant played by Katy Manning as The Doctor's new companion. Also featuring Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, John Levene as Sergeant Benton, Harry Towb as McDermott, Michael Wisher as Rex Farrel and Roger Delgado as The Master.

Extras include:

Extra Footage
Commentary
Plastic Fantastic: Documentary
The Doctor's Moriarty
Life on Earth: Documentary

The Fifth Doctor faces danger when the TARDIS is dragged down to the surface of the planet Frontios and apparently destroyed during a meteorite bombardment. Originally shown in 1984 the story written by Christopher H Bidmead stars Peter Davison as The Doctor, Janet Fielding as Tegan, Mark Strickson as Turlough, Peter Gilmore as Brazen, Lesley Dunlop as Norna, Jeff Rawle as Plantagenet and William Lucas as Range.

Extras include:

Commentary
Isolated Score
Driven to Distraction

Earthstory - The Awakening / The Gunfighters

A Box-Set containing two stories set on Earth

The Awakening

An alien war machine, the Malus, is affecting the inhabitants of the English country village of Little Hodcombe in 1984 so that a re-enactment of a Civil War battle turns into the real thing. Originally shown in 1984 the story written by Eric Pringle stars Peter Davison as The Doctor, Janet Fielding as Tegan, Mark Strickson as Turlough, Frederick Hall as Andrew Verney, Glyn Houston as Colonel Wolsey, Polly James as Jane Hampden, Denis Lill as Sir George and Keith Jayne as Will Chandler.

Extras include:

Commentary
Outake
On the Cutting Room Floor
Kamelion deleted scene
Barry Newbury - Designer: Documentary
Location Footage
Now and Then

The Gunfighters
The 1966 story has the First Doctor visiting the town of Tombstone where he attempts to locate a dentist and gets caught up in the feud between Doc Holliday and the Clanton family. The story is written by Donald Cotton and alongside William Hartnell features Jackie Lane as Dodo, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, Anthony Jacobs as Doc Holliday, William Hurndall as Ike Clanton, Laurence Payne as Johnny Ringo and Sheena Marshe as Kate. It features the voice of Lynda Baron

Extras include:

Commentary
End of the Line: Documentary
Tomorrow's Times, The First Doctor

Previously reported in November, the story has the Seventh Doctor battling the inhabitants of Paradise Towers a run-down and dilapidated tower block where gangs of Kangs roam wild, the apartments are inhabited by cannibalistic old ladies, the Rezzies; and the building is managed by a group of dictatorial caretakers, presided over by the Chief Caretaker.

The 1987 story was written by Stephen Wyatt and stars Sylvester McCoy as The Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Mel, alongside Annabel Yuresha as Bin Liner, Catherine Cusack as Blue Kang Leader, Richard Briers as Chief Caretaker, Clive Merrison as Deputy Chief , Julie Brennon as Fire Escape, Judy Cornwell as Maddy, Howard Cooke as Pex, Elizabeth Spriggs as Tabby and Brenda Bruce as Tilda.

Extras include:

Commentary
Girls Girls Girls: 1980's
Horror of the High-Rise: Documentary
Rejected Score
Jigsaw

Revisitations 3 - Tomb of the Cybermen / The Three Doctors / Robots of Death

The third box set in the Revisitation series, comprising stories which were released near the start of the DVD range and now released with additional restoration work and special features.

Tomb of the Cybermen

In this 1967 Second Doctor story, once thought to be lost forever, the TARDIS arrives on the planet Telos where an Earth archaeological expedition, led by Professor Parry, is attempting to uncover the lost tombs of the Cybermen. The story by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis is the earliest surviving complete story with the Second Doctor. Joining Patrick Troughton in the cast are Frazer Hines as Jamie, Deborah Watling as Victoria, George Roubicek as Captain Hopper, George Pastell as Eric Klieg, Clive Merrison as Jim Callum, Cyril Shaps as John Viner, Shirley Cooklin as Kaftan and Roy Stewart as Toberman.

The story has now been through the VidFire process designed to restore the look of the print to its original condition.

Extras include:

New Commentary
Tomb and the magic of VidFIRE: Documentary
Sky Ray promo
Lost Giants Documentary
Curse of the Cybermen: Documentary
Cybermen: Documentary

The Three Doctors

The tenth anniverasary story unites the first three Doctors in a battle against renegade Time-Lord Omega.
Written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin the story stars Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton and William Hartnell as The Doctor alongside Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Katy Manning as Jo Grant, John Levene as Sergeant Benton, Rex Robinson as Dr. Tyler and Stephen Thorne as Omega

Extras include:

Making of Documentary
When Doctor Who was Uncool: Documentary

The Robots of Death

The fourth Doctor story sees the TARDIS materialise on board a massive sandminer vehicle combing an alien world for precious minerals. The miner is run by a small human crew with the aid of numerous robots split into three classes: Dums, Vocs and a single controlling Super Voc but the crew are being picked off one by one by an unseen killer. Written by Chris Boucher the story stars Tom Baker as The Doctor, Louise Jameson as Leela, Brian Croucher as Borg, Tariq Yunis as Cass, Rob Edwards as Chub, David Bailie as Dask, David Collings as Poul, Pamela Salem as Toos, Russell Hunter as Uvanov and Tania Rogers as Zilda

Extras include:

Sandmine Murders: Documentary
Robophobia Documentary
Girls Girls Girls 1970's

The Solar System - Ambassadors of Death / The Sun Makers

A box-set comprising two stories set within our own Solar System.

Ambassadors of Death

This third Doctor story was recently tipped for release having been restored to full colour using a similar process to that used on the 2009 release of Planet of the Daleks. The Malcolm Hulke story, first shown in 1970, sees the Doctor join a UNIT investigation into a mystery surrounding Mars Probe 7. It stars Jon Pertwee as The Doctor along with Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Caroline John as Liz Shaw, John Levene as Sgt Benton and Ronald Allen as Ralph Cornish.

Extras include:

Battle for Mars Probe 7: Documentary
Tomorrow's Times, The Third Doctor

The Sun Makers

The Fourth Doctor story by Robert Holmes sees the TARDIS arrives in the future on the planet Pluto where there are now six suns, a breathable atmosphere and a large industrial community. The Company controls the planet and exploits the workers, pays them a pittance and then taxes them on everything imaginable. The Doctor and Leela join forces with an underground band of rebels led by a man named Mandrel.

The 1977 story stars Tom Baker as The Doctor with Louise Jameson as Leela, John Leeson as Voice of K9, David Rowlands as Bisham, Henry Woolf as Collector and Michael Keating as Goudry.

Extras include:

TX Trail
Running from the Tax Man: Documentary
Doctor's Composer: Dudley Simpson

Previously announced at Time and Space 2010.

Extras include:

Blasting Past Documentary
Blue Peter
Cheating Memory; Documentary
Nationwide - Win a Dalek
UNIT: Dating Conundrum
View from the Gallery
Teaser

FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

DVD Commentary News

Tuesday, 11 January 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

2|Entertain have reported via their Classic Series twitter feed that two commentaries are due to be recorded in London this coming Sunday. The two remaining original TARDIS travellers William Russell (Ian Chesterton) and Carole Ann Ford (Susan) will be reunited to record the commentary for First Doctor adventure The Sensorites, whilst Third Doctor tale Colony in Space will feature Katy Manning (Jo Grant) alongside (then) assistant floor manager Graeme Harper. Both recording sessions will see additional reflections from other, as yet unnamed, guests.

As usual, this announcement should not be taken as an indication of the stories coming out on DVD imminently, as commentaries are often recorded way in advance of release to take advantage of the commentators' availability!

FILTER: - Jon Pertwee - William Hartnell - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

The Ambassadors of Death DVD developments

Tuesday, 4 January 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Wired Magazine have reported that Third Doctor Jon Pertwee's adventure from Season Seven, The Ambassadors of Death is in the process of being completed for DVD.

The story is one of a number that do not exist in the BBC Archives in full colour; though an off-air camera copy exists, this does not provide a good signal for recreating a colour version as seen in the DVD release Doctor Who And The Silurians (details of that process may be read from the Restoration Team's Beneath the Surface article). A new colour decoding strategy was deployed for episode three of the Planet of the Daleks DVD release (see article), and has now reached maturity to tackle the third Doctor's third adventure:

Their method is a refined version of that trialled on the 2009 Planet of the Daleks re-release; it is now being deployed on a seven-part 1970 Jon Pertwee adventure, The Ambassadors of Death. "It seemed on most recordings, they didn't filter off the colour carrier [encoded as a 'chroma dot' pattern in each frame], which for the last few decades has been nothing more than an annoyance." Team member Richard Russell used the signal to reverse-engineer raw colour pictures that could be retouched frame by frame. "It's very, very labour intensive -- several hundred man hours' work every episode," says Steve Roberts. Luckily, a new "quadrant editor" is helping them to produce better source material upfront, so they hope to deliver the Ambassadors episodes to the BBC within weeks.

No other details on the future DVD release is known at present, though a commentary for the story was recorded back in late 2009, featuring members of the cast and crew including Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), Terrance Dicks (script editor), Peter Halliday (alien voices) and Derek Ware (stunts/fight arranger).

Follow classic Doctor Who DVD developments on Twitter: @classicdw.

FILTER: - Jon Pertwee - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

DVD Update

Thursday, 30 December 2010 - Reported by Marcus

The two stories comprising The Mara Tales will be released in North America as separate stories on April 12, 2011. Kinda and Snakedance feature the Fifth Doctor and are released as a boxset in the UK a month earlier.

Meanwhile it has been confirmed that Australia will see the release of the Third Doctor story, The Mutants, on February 3, 2011, just a few days after its UK release.

2|entertain have announced, via their Twitter feed, that they hope to launch a YouTube channel in January on with they will post trailers and additional material made to complement the release of classic Doctor Who DVDs.

For full details of the global DVD release schedule see our product page.

FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

K9: UK DVD release update

Wednesday, 22 December 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The official press information for the forthcoming release of K9 on DVD has clarified that it will be entitled Series One Volume One, and not The Complete Series as previously indicated by online retailers for pre-order. The first thirteen episodes are due to be released on 31st January 2011, with the latter half of the series following on 7th March.

K9 BLAST BLASTS INTO HIS OWN LIVE ACTION SCI-FI ADVENTURE SERIES COMBINING COMEDY, ACTION AND SUSPENSE!

Originally created for the classic British sci-fi show Doctor Who in 1977, K9 has long been an iconic television character. He was created by Bob Baker & Dave Martin, who had been long standing contributors to the show from the Jon Pertwee days through to the Tom Baker era. The robotic dog worked his way into the nation’s hearts and he made on screen come back in 2006 showing up in the David Tennant story School Reunion.

K9 now blasts into his own sci-fi/adventure series combining comedy, action and suspense, which is being shown on shown on Five in the UK. The series combines live action and stunning visual effects and comes from his original creators Bob Baker and Dave Martin.

Synopsis:

London, the near future: Orphan teenager Starkey, ultimately plans to bring down the system but for the time being he is prepared to simply slip through the cracks. He and his friend Jorjie hide out in the residence of reclusive scientist, Professor Gryffen and his errand boy Darius, who are experimenting with alien technology. The Professor blows a hole in the fabric of space/time and they are attacked by two reptilian warrior JIXEN, but they are saved by a small dog-like robot, K9, who follows the Jixen through the portal.

K9 and Starkey, with the assistance of Jorjie, Darius and Gryffen, become the earth’s front line defence against dangers threatening from anywhere and anytime in the galaxy. They will have a lot of fun, adventure, and some scares along the way, saving the earth from alien creatures, monsters and more than a few human threats.

K9 is currently being broadcast in the United Kingdom every morning over the holiday period on Channel Five, and all episodes shown so far are available for those in the UK to watch on their Demand 5 service. The series has been achieving ratings of around 200,000 viewers, about average for the timeslot.

FILTER: - Merchandise - UK - Blu-ray/DVD - K9

Previous 10 Stories

Mara Tales: DVD release details

Sun Makers goes Solo

Pertwee bonanza in Spring

Ambassadors Delayed

Fleetwood Mac included on Spearhead

DVD 2011 Update

DVD Commentary News

The Ambassadors of Death DVD developments

DVD Update

K9: UK DVD release update

This Week in Doctor Who

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