The next release for Doctor Who: The Collection has been announced by BBC Studios. Following on from the success of the first two sets, the next box set will be Tom Baker’s final season, Season 18
The Complete Season 12 sold out quickly, and The Complete Season 19 is almost sold out on pre-orders alone. And now the successful range continues with Doctor Who: The Complete Season 18, available for pre-order from today. It will be released on the 25th of February, 2019.
28 episodes across 7 stories make up the Fourth Doctor’s final set of adventures. BBC Studios have remastered all these episodes for high definition in this new 8 disc Blu-Ray boxset.
With Tom Baker’s iconic Doctor in the TARDIS as the season begins are Lalla Ward (Romana) and John Leeson (K9). Before long Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) all step aboard. In a season heavy with foreboding and themes of decay, the Doctor is locked into a path towards the planet Logopolis, and inevitable change. Along the way he’ll also visit the nuclear blasted world of the Leisure Hive, spend three stories trapped in the pocket universe of E-Space, and renew his rivalry with his best enemy, The Master.
Also included in this set is the 1981 spin-off K9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend. This Christmas themed adventure saw former companions Sarah Jane Smith and K9 to battle witchcraft in the eerie villages of 1980s England.
And as with the prior two sets, The Complete Season 18 carries over content from the original DVD releases with few exceptions. (Some extras are being moved from one season set to another if appropriate). And, as always, an impressive list of new extras have been produced especially for this release.
Brand new special features exclusive to this set include:
- A new Making-Of documentary and updated special effects for Logopolis
- Revealing new 2019 commentaries moderated by Matthew Sweet (Tom Baker on The Leisure Hive, and Lalla Ward and Rachel Davies on State Of Decay)
- Surround sound mix for Warriors’ Gate
- Rare behind-the-scenes footage from The Leisure Hive, Full Circle and Logopolis
- Eight more editions of Behind The Sofa
- Band new documentaries The Writers Room featuring four of the Season 18 writers in conversation
- Weekend With Waterhouse featuring Toby Hadoke and Matthew Waterhouse
- Brendan and Company – A new interview with K9 and Company’s Ian Sears (Brendan)
- Another dip into the Panopticon convention archives with Tom Baker
- An alternate viewing option for Logopolis shows the originally intended filming location of Jodrell Bank Observatory created with newly filmed drone footage
- HD photo galleries plus scripts, production files and rare documentation provided as PDFs
Peter Crocker and Mark Ayres have remastered all of the material for Blu-ray. Meanwhile, The Collection’s resident artist Lee Binding has provided another fantastic design for the set. Kerblam! writer Pete McTighe has especially written the accompanying booklet.
The Collection sets are limited edition releases. Pre-ordering is strongly recommended by Blogtor Who if you want to be certain of getting your copy.
Russell Minton is executive producer of Doctor Who: The Collection for BBC Studios.
