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Doctor Who Season 17: Tom Baker Boxset Comes with Extras Galore

Published Fri, 08 Oct 2021 10:07:12 -0500

The 17^th season of Doctor Who, Tom Baker's penultimate as the 4^th Doctor, with Lalla Ward as Romana, is getting a Blu-Ray boxset stuffed with exclusive extras, including a new, definitive restoration and cut of the lost story "Shada". In 1979, Tom Baker's Doctor was in full flight. With Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy) as script editor, the series leaned into Baker's penchant for humour, pairing his Doctor with a regenerated Romana (Ward) as his traveling companion. Together, they would form one of the most popular Doctor-companion duos of all time.

Doctor Who Season 17 Blu-Ray Boxset Comes with Extras Galore — "Doctor Who Seasons 17" Blu-Ray box art courtesy of BBC

The BBC also released a special teaser and short today featuring Davros, written by Peter Tighe (Kerblam!, Praxeus), who was previously touted as a possible future showrunner of the series after Chris Chibnall leaves the current show, and featuring David Gooderson back as Davros:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwv3-PGCw8o

Although Season 17 was crippled behind-the-scenes by strike action (resulting in the season finale being abandoned part-way through production), it remains a beloved slice of Doctor Who history, featuring the return of Davros and the Daleks, and one of the all-time classic stories, Douglas Adams' own City Of Death.

With all episodes newly remastered from the best available sources, this Blu-ray box set also includes extensive and exclusive Special Features including:

Brand New Documentaries – Including a Making-Of documentary for Destiny Of The Daleks and a new featurette for The Creature From The Pit
Tom Talks – A candid interview with Tom Baker as he gives us his unique take on life, the universe, and everything
Douglas Adams Tribute – Friends and colleagues remember the Doctor Who writer/script editor and creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
In Conversation – Matthew Sweet chats to Bob Baker, writer of Nightmare Of Eden, co-creator of K9 & one of the creative forces behind Wallace & Gromit
Behind The Sofa – New episodes with actors Colin Baker, Katy Manning, Matthew Waterhouse, Nicola Bryant, June Hudson, Graeme Harper & Mat Irvine
Lalla Ward Interview – An extensive interview discussing her first year on the programme.
Updated Special Effects – View Nightmare Of Eden with optional new effects
Shada – An updated version of the 'lost' story, completed with enhanced animation and presented in six episodes for the very first time, alongside the original 1992 VHS and 2017 versions
Exclusive New Audio Commentaries – With Tom Baker on episodes of Destiny Of The Daleks and City Of Death, and Lalla Ward & Catherine Schell on City Of Death
Extended Episodes – An early cut of The Creature From The Pit Three
Blu-ray Trailer – A familiar face returns in a brand new mini-episode of classic Doctor Who
Immersive 5.1 Surround Sound – On Destiny Of The Daleks and Shada
Rare Gems From the Archive – BBC archive material covering the promotion of this season
Convention Footage – A triumphant 1997 appearance from Tom Baker
HD Photo Galleries – Including many previously unseen images
Production Subtitles
Behind-the-scenes information and trivia on every episode
Scripts, Costume Designs, Rare BBC Production Files & Other Rarities from our PDF Archive

The seven-disc box set also includes hours of special features previously released on DVD. Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 17 includes the following stories from 1979 and 1980:

Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 17 can be pre-ordered from Amazon, Zavvi, Rarewaves, and HMV in the UK, from Sanity and JB in Australia, and Amazon in the US.

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