Customer Reviews
aka The Ones the BBC Threw in the Bin - By: Someone on holiday in 1954, 29 Mar 2008 
Here they are - the episodes that the BBC was able to obtain copies of from Tom, Dick & Harry. Episodes that they had previously chucked in the bin during the 1970's, as despite being the dominant force in the British TV industry, they couldn't foresee the video tape sales market, which was then less than ten years away!
So four stars for the episodes on this DVD collection, 1,000 stars to the collectors who saved copies of them.
Zero stars to the BBC numpties who binned both these episodes & over 100 others that unfortunately have never been recovered.
Wonderful stuff! - By: Sea Sprite, 07 Mar 2008 
You do need to be a Doctor Who fan, or a tv historian, to enjoy watching this collection of isolated, surviving episodes, but to a long standing fan of the classic show this is pure gold. The only negative comment I have about this is that it makes me sad that the rest of these wonderful stories are seemingly gone forever. This dvd, though, is captivating & well worth the price.
This Boxset Appeals To Anyone, Fans Or Non Fans. - By: Scott Fraser, 16 Jul 2007 I disagree with what seems to be the general consensus from my fellow reviewers the this set is for fans only. Now I am a Doctor Who fanatic & have been for 40 years & such a release as this is of course tremendously exciting, although being a fan I have had the episodes presented on this disc for many years on VHS (Day of Armageddon excepting of course), the true joy for me was seeing the material in restored form & this gave the impression of almost seeing the episodes anew.
The statement that this is for fans only riled me, why should a good release like this be pidgeon-holed into a kind of cult status only fit for the supposed minority that are interested in such things, a potential buyer will be put off by comments stating that there is nothing for the casual viewer.
Casual veiwers are not stupid & this release can appeal to anyone, for instance those interested in archive material, people wanting a nostalgia trip, people that are interested in the various actors that appear in the episodes, members of the public that watch the new series & are interested in the different style of stories from the sixties, or just the fact that it can introduce new fans to fact that there were other Doctors before Eccleston & Tennant the list is endless. If the case for fans only is true then releases like The Andromeda Anthology, The Quatermass Collection & Adam Adamant Lives have no value in being released because the ammount of people buying them does not justify the expense of making the discs. The vast majority of people that buy this set will be fans but that does not mean that non fans cannot enjoy the material on offer.
The episodes themselves are a mixed batch as one would expect coming from a wide variety of stories, the picture & sound quality have been lovingly restored & make the viewing experience extremely pleasant.
The set was inspired by the discovery of Day of Armageddon, the second episode of The Daleks' Masterplan & fortunately is perhaps one of the best episodes in the set. The episodes on this set give the viewer the chance to see a glimpse of lesser known stories even amongst many fans, stories like The Faceless Ones were for many years as big a mystery to fans as to non fans & the flavour that these bits & pieces provide are very welcome indeed.
The release sees 18 episodes presented, 6 Hartnell, 12 Troughton & are spread over three discs & are a reminder to me of the dark days in the 70's & 80's when 90% of these instalments were lost & the subsequent joy at their rediscovery.
One of the episodes is entitled The Wheel of Fortune & is one of the greatest single episodes from the series. Period. This proves my point that prior knowledge of the previous episodes is not a requirement, The Wheel of Fortune is the third instalment of The Crusade & is so good that it can be viewed on it's own, the design & acting is world class for the time, the subject matter is more adult then anything seen in Doctor Who at that point & it is without a doubt William Hartnell's finest ever performance of the Doctor bar the very first episode, tell me now there is nothing to interest non fans. The rest of the episodes alll range from OK to excellent, there is not a reallly bad instalment on the disc.
The extras on the other hand are for fans only, I cannot see a non fan sitting down & watching 8mm Film material of fragments of missing episodes of varying quality, but to a fan moments thought lost forever are pricelessly preserved in these little film clips. There is a documentary about the missing episodes that is actuallly of limited interest as it was seen on VHS & audio commentaries of selected episodes are included.
The episodes were selected carefully to give a good grounding for different types of story, The aforementioned The Wheel of Fortune & Day of Armageddon are wonderful commentaries featuring guest actor Julian Glover in the former who gives a lively & informative discussion moderated by Gary Russell, a first class commentary to a first class episode. Peter Purves, Kevin Stoney & Dalek designer Ray Cusick give another great debate on Day of Armageddon with Purves' presentation & interview skills evident throughout.
The Troughton episode commentaries are not so fortunate with the exception of The Wheel in Space part 6 by director Tristan de Vere Cole & producer Derrick Sherwin, now these two people are very rarely interviewed about Doctor Who & their points of view & comments are brand new & interesting with little known facts emerging that keeps the watcher interested, unfortunately the same cannot be said of The Evil of the Daleks 2, The Abominable Snowmen 2 & The Web of Fear 1 as they alll feature a track by Deborah Watling who adds nothing of interest & just repeats stories & facts that she has been telling at conventions for years, even moderator Gary Russell struggles to prompt her memory or find something interesting to say & the saving grace for The Web of Fear part 1 is that Deborah Watling is joined by Derrick Sherwin who does have something interesting to reveal.
All in alll this is a brilliant boxset of vintage Doctor Who that will appeal to anyone. Buy & enjoy.
A great release but could of been better. - By: Mr. Joseph S. Haynes, 02 Jul 2007 When i first found out that as many as 108 episodes of doctor who were missing i was very sad indeed. i then found out that many episodes were alone in there entirety & would never get a release on there own. Thats why im so happy with this release. All 18 Episodes of stories that cant be completed are present. The prints of alll episodes have been remastered to the best they can be & the audio sounds great!
Avoid if a new fan
The disapointing thing about this releases is that it casn be a bit boring & confusing watching 6 part stories where only one episodes exists. For the crusade & the moonbase (2 great stories) they have decided to have audio tracks for each missing episode from the 2 stories. It fits well but is very disapointing that the audio doesnt have narration or photographs to go along with it. This makes it hard to follow for new listeners/viewers of the story, especiallly The Crusade.
Special Features:
The special features can be seen as both Amazing & a let down at the same time. The 3 dvds collect unseen clips of missing episodes, some as long as 2minutes while others are just a split second long. This is great for fans who love to see every existing clip possible , aswell as showing seens & characters not present in the other non missing episodes.
The let down is the non clip special features. Theres commentries for only half the episodes, as well there is a 25 min documentry that was show on tv about missing Dr Who episodes. The docu is good but the fact that it says it has been updated with new footage is more a lie than truth. the new footage is about 2 mins long. With that. there is no more extra features. no interviews with people who found missing episodes. no doc about the bbcs junking days. which leaves me slightly disapointed.
So the episodes & clips get a big thumbs up
the extras get a thumb down saddly.
A taste of the Hartnell and Troughton years of Doctor Who. - By: Mr. Andrew Young, 19 Aug 2006 This is a three-disc set of some rare surviving episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s. The two episodes of the Crusade are an example of superb sixties T.V. drama. Julian Glover & Jean Marsh are superb, & Hartnell turns on the style. Glover's commentary on episode 3 is worth tuning into too.
Other highlights on this set are the recently discovered Day of Armageddon from the Dalek's Masterplan, the second episode of Troughton's Evil of the Daleks & the first episode of Troughton's Web of Fear. Disappointingly, the set ends on a weak note. Episode 2 of the Space Pirates is for me, the weakest episode in the selection, & rather boring!
Another disappointment is that there is no linking narration for the audio episodes of the Crusade & the Moonbase, as on the audio releases of missing stories. This makes them harder to follow.
This is a good set for fans. In addition to full episodes there are some interesting clips from stories such as Power of the Daleks, although in some cases, blink & you'll miss what's going on! However, if you reallly want a taste of the Hartnell & Troughton eras, then try & get hold of the Aztecs, Tomb of the Cybermen, & the great classic The War Games. Overalll though, not bad.
