Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, Trailer, TV | Tagged: bbc, colin baker, doctor who, Nicola Bryant, peri, sixth doctor

Doctor Who: Elaborate Blu-Ray Boxset Trailer Reveals Peri's Future

Doctor Who usually gets the best and most copious bonus features with the Blu-Ray boxsets these days. The BBC knows fans love that stuff and packs the releases with them. One new feature is a new mini-episode featuring a former companion from that era in a sort of epilogue to their story years, even decades after they left the show. This time, "The Eternal Mystery" features Peri (Nicola Bryant) to promote the Blu-Ray boxset release of the Sixth Doctor's (Colin Baker) second season from 1985.

Peri's departure from the show in 1986 was vague and possibly tragic. Her brain seemed to be removed and replaced with the brain of alien villain Kiv's. Later, the writers walked back her fate by saying that her death was faked and she married warrior king Yrcanos, who was played by Brian Blessed. Yes, that BRIAN! BLESSED! HE OF BELLOWING VOICE!

Now "The Eternal Mystery" reveals that Peri did survive after all and rejoined the Doctor after her husband passed away. The Doctor takes her back to visit his tomb every year on the anniversary of his death. It's really a framing device for a trailer for all the cool special features of the boxset. These promo epilogue videos usually have a goofy fan service-y charm, written and directed by current series writer Peter Tighe, once touted as a possible future showrunner for Doctor Who.

Every era of Doctor Who has its fans, no matter how bad it might have been. For some of us, the Sixth Doctor era is one of the worst, with the most inconsistent stories, gratuitously bloody, a gratuitously mean and brutal Doctor, and a massively flawed companion, under the worst producer/showrunner the show ever had who seemed to forget that the show was supposed to be for children. It's not the actors' fault, since they were stuck with the scripts they were given.

"The Eternal Mystery" is, alas, not very good. Of all the fan service-y epilogue videos, it looks like the cheapest, the writing is the most clunky and clichéd, possibly indicating limited time and an even more limited budget than the previous ones. It's probably churlish to complain since it's given to us for free and fulfills fans' need for every companion to have a happy ending. And every companion has their fans. That's the beauty of pop culture. That's the beauty of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: Season 22 Blu-Ray Boxset is out on

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