The Collection: Season 22 - A Review

The latest Blu-ray box set release is for Season 22 - Colin Baker's first (and, in some ways, only).

The stories covered are Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos, Mark of the Rani, The Two Doctors, Timelash and Revelation of the Daleks. Two very good stories, three okay ones, and one pretty bad one.

The Cyberman story is famously bogged down by continuity, which is a shame. There is the hint of a good story here, but there are too many references to previous Cyberman stories. Even fans disliked this as they failed to honour the continuity properly. Controller and Tombs look nothing like the ones seen previously. Lots of characters get introduced whose plot goes nowhere.

Varos is the only story to have no references to previous stories, and is a far better story. Sil makes for a great villain. Mark of the Rani suffers from the Master's presence. He is simply one Time Lord too many. A lot of nice location filming. The Two Doctors is a bit of a mess. Robert Holmes was presented with too many plot elements, which don't all gel. The biggest problem is that the two Doctors don't get to spend more than about 10 minutes screen time together, and Troughton is even separated from Frazer Hines for much of it. Apparently Holmes was not happy with the previous Sontaran story, but they are woefully underused here.

Timelash is the season's turkey. This one gets new CGI effects which help a little, as this was one of its biggest embarrassment areas. The plot and acting can't be improved with CGI, however. One of its issues was that JNT took the regulars out of rehearsals for his pantomime, which he prioritised over the programme.

The Dalek story is the other very good one. It also has new CGI, dating back to the DVD release.

Apart from the Rani story, the level of on-screen violence has certainly been upped this year - which is one of the reasons given for the hiatus imposed upon the programme, announced part way through The Two Doctors. This event runs like a thread throughout the various interviews and documentaries on this set.

There are three interviews courtesy of Matthew Sweet. The first is with Colin Baker. This is an excellent piece, which only gets to Doctor Who in its final third. The rest is very much about his early life and other work, plus the events surrounding the death of his baby son. The interview with Nicola Bryant seems to get stuck on the fact that she only pretended to be an American to get the role, which Sweet just can't get over. She has more to say about JNT, especially his more controlling aspects.

The reason she did not feature in the Jim'll Fix It Sontaran skit was because she had refused to do the pantomime.

The third interview is with Michael Grade, in which he admits that there was never supposed to be a hiatus but a complete cancellation. He seemed surprised to learn that the series continued for a further four years after the suspension. He is quite unapologetic about his actions, claiming (rightly in a way) that the series was past its best, was too violent, and it was a mistake to throw licence payers money at something which just could not compete with other sci-fi TV and movies of the mid 1980's.

He certainly does not come across as the villain fans thought him to be.

As far as documentaries go, only The Two Doctors gets a new one. The others all had perfectly good ones accompanying their DVD releases. This new doc has its issues. We get a bloke in a Sontaran costume wandering around Seville - except he's just badly superimposed over some still images. There's also a really annoying deliberate image flicker prior to each interviewee being introduced, enough to trigger an epileptic fit.

One other doc associated with this story is a 2006 piece, wherein Nicola Bryant went back to Seville with some fans to visit the locations. This comes across as a very amateurish piece, and should have been better edited. It would have worked far better with Bryant presenting on her own, instead of being part of a large group. More than half the doc sees the group visit locations which didn't even feature in the story, like being forced to watch someone's holiday video.

Sticking with The Two Doctors (which does get two of the eight discs to itself) the short A Fix With Sontarans is included. This comes with a commentary (Baker, Fielding and Gareth Jenkins). The piece is edited to entirely omit Jimmy Saville, his appearance at the end being replaced with an image of Sontaran spaceships on the TARDIS scanner.

Another extra on these discs is the radio serial Slipback. I have to admit that I had managed to go 36 years without listening to this. I really wish I could have gone another 36 years without listening to it.

A popular extra on these sets is "Behind the Sofa". We have three sets of viewers for these stories. The first is Baker and Bryant, joined by Terry Molloy, who features in the first and last of the stories present). The second group comprises Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton. The third is Sylvester McCoy, accompanied by Wendy Padbury. She gets one of the best lines when, after commenting on the violence in the Varos story she longs for the return of one of her old foes - "Bring back a Quark, I say".

I know there are those who refuse to buy these sets. The reasons given are usually that most of the content is already out there on DVD, the picture quality can't get all that much better due to the nature of the archive video material, and cost. 

I certainly agree that these are expensive, but thanks to the (over)long gaps between releases you can budget for them easily enough. The picture quality is noticeably improved, and I long to see what they can do with older monochrome material. There are always enough new items as extras to justify the purchase as far as I'm concerned.

Talking of those long gaps, we have yet to be told what the next release is going to be. There are two seasons where we know for definite that new material has been recorded - Season 2 and Season 20.

Of the two, I'd obviously prefer the Hartnell season to be next, but Davison is now lagging behind, with only the one release (19) going back a few years now. An anniversary season for an anniversary year would make sense, so if not next then Season 20 will certainly be seen before 2023 is out.

KO Round 1.10

 

This time we have the Battle of the Bakers, as Tom's final season goes up against Colin's first.

Season 18 comprises The Leisure Hive, Meglos, Full Circle, State of Decay, Warriors' Gate, The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis. The Blu-ray box set for this season also includes the K9 Special A Girl's Best Friend.

This is the first season to be produced by John Nathan-Turner, and when you watch The Leisure Hive following The Horns of Nimon, it is very much a case of the shock of the new. New incidental music, re-arranged theme music, new titles, and a new costume for Tom Baker. The latter, with its question marks on the collar, is turned into a uniform - one of the big mistakes of the JNT era. The ditching of Dudley Simpson is another. This season contains a lot of what JNT got right, and a lot of what he got wrong. The opening few minutes of Hive is one long tracking shot across Brighton beach, passing colourful bathing tents before settling on the TARDIS. The Doctor's snores get louder as we move towards his ship. As an opening, it is both brave, and boring.

Meglos is a definite throwback to Season 17. We then get the first of two trilogies - the one set in the pocket universe of E-Space. Full Circle was written by a 17 year old and is one of the highlights of the season. The Marshmen looking like the Creature from the Black lagoon were not his idea. New companion Adric is introduced. A promising character, but badly played and he will never be properly developed. State of a Decay is a vampire story - a left-over script from Season 15 by Terrance Dicks.

Warriors' Gate looks good, but it is a triumph of style over content, as there is a lot to confuse. Romana and K9 depart.

The Keeper of Traken marks the beginning of the next trilogy, which reintroduces the Master and sets up the ending for the Fourth Doctor in Logopolis. Tom Baker's departure after seven years hangs like a pall over the whole season, often lending a funereal atmosphere.

The K9 adventure sees the return of Sarah Jane Smith. It proved to be a failed pilot for a K9 series. It is very hard to judge from this what such a series might have looked like.

Season 22 is the only full traditional-style season which Colin Baker got to appear in. 

On paper it ought to have been a classic - Cybermen, Sontarans, the Master, Daleks and Davros all making an appearance. There's also a great new alien in Sil, and a new rogue Time Lord - female this time. To cap it all, we have the return of the Second Doctor and Jamie.

That it failed was due to a number of factors - excessive violence, an unlikeable Doctor, an annoying Doctor / companion relationship, over-reliance on continuity and some shoddy production values.

The stories are Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos, The Mark of the Rani, The Two Doctors, Timelash and Revelation of the Daleks.

The Cyberman story is a sequel to Resurrection of the Daleks, and to just about every other Cyberman story. For those who like continuity references, this is the one that shows the dangers of taking them too far. Varos is one of the best Colin Baker stories with a great new villain in Sil. Unfortunately the Doctor and Peri don't turn up until halfway through the story - a real problem which besets this entire season. It's as if Script Editor Eric Saward much prefers the rest of the characters, and can't really be bothered with the TARDIS and its occupants. Mark is another historical story which would have worked better had the Rani been left as sole villain, Instead we get the Master shoe-horned in as well, and this totally unbalances the story.

The Two Doctors ought to have been a classic story, but it the direction is pedestrian, the Sontarans badly redesigned, the foreign location irrelevant, and the two Doctors are kept apart until the last few minutes. It is also overlong. Its own writer - Robert Holmes - hated it, as he had been forced to abide by one of JNT's infamous shopping lists of elements. Timelash has a two word anagram that is highly appropriate...

Revelation manages to just about save the set. It isn't perfect - it's another story where the Doctor and Peri needn't have bothered turning up. It's the best story of the Sixth Doctor era - but not the best Sixth Doctor story, if you see what I mean. That would be Varos, once Baker actually gets to be involved.

It was during The Two Doctors that the BBC attempted to cancel the show - instead placing it on temporary hiatus following popular outcry. The main reasons given were: cost, a feeling the show was well past its sell-by date, the failure of the 45 minute episode format, and the levels of violence.

I may have been knocking it, but my favourite of these two seasons is actually the Colin Baker one. It tries so hard to be liked, and you have to thank it for that, even if it fails a lot of the time. 

I find the Tom Baker one just a little bit more boring. I think I resent the changes too much as well. Saward's predecessor had a habit of sucking all the fun out of the series, so determined was he to include proper science. The irony was that he came up with some seriously stupid science of his own - like time loops that you could just talk your way out of.

Season 22 on Blu-ray - Confirmed

 

It has now been confirmed that Season 22 will be the next to be released as part of the Blu-ray Collection. This was Colin Baker's first full season, featuring returning villains the Master, Davros, Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans. Popular new creations were the Rani and Sil. We also get Patrick Troughton's final appearance as the Second Doctor.

The stories are: Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos, Mark of the Rani, The Two Doctors, Timelash and Revelation of the Daleks.

Extra material includes:

> New VFX for Timelash. A CGI Bandrill perhaps?

> Extended episodes for Vengeance, The Two Doctors (part One) and Revelation (Part One).

> 8 participants for Behind the Sofa, including three Doctors. The only new contributor is Terry Molloy.

> Three big interviews (Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and a mystery guest).

> A Fix With The Sontarans - the Jim'll Fix It minisode, which we weren't at all sure would be included due to the controversy surrounding Saville. It even gets a commentary.

> The radio story Slipback.

The UK release date is apparently March 14th.

Season 22 for Blu-ray in March?

Apparently the same German DVD site which leaked that Season 17 would be released last December is now saying that Season 22 will be released in March - so there's a very good chance that this rumour might be true.

The season consists of six stories, including appearances by Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans and the Master, as well as the introductions of both the Rani and Sil. There's also Patrick Troughton's final appearance as the Doctor. On paper it ought to have been one of the greatest, but...

We have Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos, The Mark of the Rani, The Two Doctors, Timelash and Revelation of the Daleks,

I had expected three releases in 2022 - a Peter Davison one, a Tom Baker one and a Jon Pertwee one. I figured that Season 22 would be held back for a bit longer as otherwise there's no more Colin Baker left to release. However, I'd neglected to consider that The Twin Dilemma will be still be waiting for Season 21 to be released. Will it be Season 20 this year, or will they save an anniversary season for an anniversary year?

I had also considered Season 11 the most likely for Pertwee, but then I recalled when posting about Legend of the Sea Devils that 2022 is the 50th anniversary of Season 9 - making it more likely to be that season which is released this year. It would be silly to miss this anniversary, as well as the tie-in of a new Sea Devil story.

I still expect the Tom Baker season to be either 15 or 16 - assuming they're keeping the best (Season 13) 'til last.

Maybe 2022 will see three releases, but they will be Seasons 9, 15/16, and 22.