For the majority of Doctor Who fans living in the United States, their first exposure to the long-running British science-fiction show came via public television in the 1980s…with the great Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. With his trademark hart and flowing scarf, and with a seemingly never ending supply of jelly babies, Baker’s Doctor charmed audiences so much that even to this day he is considered the best lead on Doctor Who ever. (Although David Tennant sure gives him a run for his money, feel free to debate this point in the comments).
On June 19th, the first year of Baker’s run as the Doctor hits Blu-ray in its entirety. Here’s the scoop on Doctor Who: Tom Baker: Season 1:
Tom Baker assumed the role of the Doctor’s fourth incarnation in the series’s 12th season (after a brief appearance in season 11). Fresh from his latest regeneration, the Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), and new companion Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter) must defeat a giant mechanical menace, in “Robot.” “The Ark in Space” finds the Time Lord and his friends in the distant future, where the last survivors of Earth are threatened by insect-like aliens who take control of human hosts. Next, the Doctor and his companions help would-be settlers of an abandoned future Earth overcome the menace of “The Sontaran Experiment.” The Doctor is sent to the war-ravaged planet Skaro’s distant past in an attempt to alter history and disrupt the “Genesis of the Daleks.” And, the Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry travel to the far future, where they try to free a manned space station from tyranny, in “Revenge of the Cybermen.”
The extra features, certain to work all Whovians in a Dalek-style frenzy, include the following:
– Existing bonus material from the original DVD’s
– Brand new one hour candid interview: ‘Tom Baker in conversation’
– Behind The Sofa: classic clips from Season 12 viewed by Tom Baker, Philip Hinchcliffe, Louise Jameson, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Sadie Miller
– New making-of documentaries for The Sontaran Experiment and Revenge of the Cybermen
– Optional brand new updated special effects for Revenge of the Cybermen
– An “omnibus movie edition” of Genesis of the Daleks
– The Tom Baker Years: VHS release on disc for the first time
– Production archive material and scripts from the BBC Archives
This is an adventure spanning the entirety of time and space, and as such is a must-watch. We just wish we had our own TARDIS so that we could jump to June already and check this out.