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Setting aside, for the moment, that Resurrection Of The Daleks sees the metallic monsters still very much alive (it’s really Dalek creator Davros who’s being revived, and even then he’s only in suspended animation), it’s interesting to see this story again, and in this form.

To start with, a hasty rescheduling forced by the 1984 Winter Olympics meant that this, Davison’s only TV meeting with the Daleks, had to be re-edited into two 50-minute-long episodes at the last minute; like other episodes of its era, Resurrection was originally intended to consist of four 25-minute episodes. For this DVD, the original four-part version was restored, bringing the story full circle to the way it was always meant to be seen. (more…)

I have a hard time deciding what kind of Doctor Who DVD I love best - the ’70s and ’80s episodes I grew up with, now with extra features, or the 1960s episodes I only discovered in my 20s, now cleaned up and restored and made to look like they were shot yesterday (the episodes, that is, not my 20s). When a great example of the BBC’s painstaking restoration work like The Dalek Invasion Of Earth lands in my DVD player, it’s a pretty close race. (more…)

One of the more distinctive and well-done Tom Baker stories, The Talons Of Weng-Chiang is an excellent candidate for the stellar DVD treatment that Doctor Who has been getting. BBC Video didn’t waste that opportunity, either.

Disc one contains all six episodes, including commentary from Louise “Leela” Jameson, fellow cast members Christopher Benjamin (guest starring in Talons as irrepressible showman Henry Gordon Jago) and John Bennett (as the villainous Li H’sen Chang), director David Maloney and producer Philip Hinchcliffe. (more…)

Given out as part of a Battle Of The Planets promo packet by Top Cow Comics at the 2002 San Diego Comic Con, this mini-DVD - the most recent (and possibly last) Battle Of The Planets DVD release - contains the two-part episode Invasion Of Space Center - and nothing more. Unlike the commercial releases, this disc doesn’t include the Japanese equivalents from the original Gatchaman series, nor does it include the equivalent episodes from the Turner Broadcasting-butchered G-Force series. The menu is significantly simplified. (more…)

Well, here it is at last, Without Warning fans - your show’s finally on DVD. That’s the good news. I’ve had a tape of this for the past nine years, and in keeping with my hard-and-fast rule in the site’s FAQ page, I’ve turned down the literally hundreds of requests I’ve received over the years for copies. Now everyone can have a copy, albeit minus any extras, on a shiny round thing. That’s very good news.

Actually, I did almost grant one copy request: early in 2003, when I contacted screenwriter Peter Lance to talk about possibly doing an interview about the making of Without Warning, he confessed to me that he didn’t even have a tape of it (!). (more…)