Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
“Merry Christmas Sarah!”
I was happy to get the ‘Doctor Who – The Collection’ DVD from the 40th anniversary issue of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ back in October 2019! It was worth getting and a joy! It had ‘Doctor Who’ DVD/Blu-ray special features with Sarah Sutton, my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion and best friend at conventions, in them.
It also contains excerpts of special features for the upcoming Season 26 Blu-ray box set, which I’m currently looking forward to seeing in full. Also contained are items I’d already seen on other Blu-ray box set releases of classic ‘Doctor Who’ seasons including Season 12 and Season 23, which I was happy about.
As well as excerpts for the Season 26 Blu-ray box set, there are the three bonus ‘Doctor Who Cookbook Revisited’ recipes from the Season 23 Blu-ray box set; the Blu-ray box set trailers and more. It’s a nice ‘Doctor Who’ DVD disc to have. You can play it on a portable DVD player should you go on holiday. 😀
The DVD lifted my spirits in the week I saw it when I purchased the 40th anniversary issue of ‘DWM’. For this Christmas review, I’m going to share what the special features are on this ‘Doctor Who Magazine 40th Anniversary Disc’ for ‘Doctor Who – The Collection’. I hope you’ll enjoy these reviews. 🙂
N.B. Some of the special features on this DVD disc aren’t the complete versions. Some of them can be found in the Blu-ray box sets allocated for them, especially the Season 26 Blu-ray box set. I will add complete versions of my reviews on these special features once I come to update my Season 26 reviews on Blu-ray.
In the meantime, enjoy! 🙂
‘DOCTOR WHO: MESSAGES FROM SPACE’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
I love the ‘Messages From Space’ extra with Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding! This was clearly meant to be for the ‘Logopolis’ disc on the Season 18 Blu-ray box set, but it was never included on the Season 18 Blu-ray box set. Here it makes its exclusive worldwide debut on home media for this DVD. Amazing!
‘Messages From Space’ was originally shown at select cinemas in the USA for ‘Logopolis’. It has Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton visiting the Lovel Telescope at Jodrell Bank where they meet and talk to Professor Tim O’Brien. He talks to them about what a space observatory like the Lovel Telescope does.
It was intriguing to hear Professor Tim share the scientific stuff about pulsars and quasars. He clearly knows his stuff and Sarah and Janet seem intrigued by what he says. I think though Sarah must’ve been baffled throughout as she didn’t explain the difference between pulsars and quasars to Janet. 😀
I enjoyed seeing Sarah and Janet together for this DVD special feature. It was funny when Sarah pleaded to Janet not to touch anything when they were in the observatory control room. 😀 First, the two ladies are outside talking to Professor Tim about the telescope before they go inside the control room.
After talking to Professor Tim, I enjoyed Sarah and Janet share memories of working on ‘Logopolis’ as well as ‘Doctor Who’ in general. They compare the real life telescope to the one in the TV story and they share their journeys in the series. There’s a nice interview bite with Tom Baker at the start too. 🙂
‘SOPHIE ALDRED: IN CONVERSATION’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. The following is an excerpt from the upcoming Season 26 Blu-ray box set.
I enjoyed seeing Sophie Aldred being interviewed by Matthew Sweet for the Season 26 Blu-ray box set. Having met Sophie at conventions and becoming friends with her, it was nice to see her share her experiences of working on ‘Doctor Who’. Her insight into the making of the show was intriguing.
Sophie shares her early memories of working on ‘Dragonfire’. It was intriguing how she started work at BBC’s Television Centre, working with Bonnie Langford, Tony Selby, Edward Peel and Sylvester McCoy. It was also so intriguing how producer John Nathan-Turner chose her as the new companion.
TO BE CONTINUED…
‘SHOWMAN: THE LIFE OF JOHN NATHAN-TURNER’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. The following is an excerpt from the upcoming Season 26 Blu-ray box set.
This feature-length documentary looks into the life and career of ‘Doctor Who’s longest-serving producer, John Nathan-Turner. This features contributions from people like Peter Davison; Colin Baker; Janet Fielding; author Richard Marson and many who knew him personally and professionally.
It was interesting to see and hear what JNT’s life was like before he became a ‘Doctor Who’ producer. His early life gets touched on with where he came from; what his school life was like; his love for pantomime and how he very soon worked in the theatre and got to work behind-the-scenes.
TO BE CONTINUED…
‘THE WRITERS’ ROOM: SEASON 26′
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. The following is an excerpt from the upcoming Season 26 Blu-ray box set.
It’s time for ‘The Writer’s Room’ again! This time it’s on Season 26 of ‘Doctor Who’ with script editor Andrew Cartmel; writer Ben Aaronovitch of ‘Battlefield’; Marc Platt of ‘Ghost Light’; Ian Briggs of ‘The Curse of Fenric’ and Rona Munro of ‘Survival’. It was nice to see these five people reunite here.
They meet each other in the pub over pints and such. The first part of the feature has Andrew Cartmel setting up what the planning of Season 26 of ‘Doctor Who’ was like in the script department. We then have Ben Aaronovitch share his memories and his mixed feelings about writing ‘Battlefield’.
TO BE CONTINUED…
‘THE DOCTOR WHO COOKBOOK REVISITED: BONUS RECIPE – KIPPER OF TRAKEN’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. This special feature can be found in the Season 23 Blu-ray box set.
I love the three bonus recipes from ‘The Doctor Who Cookbook Revisited’ documentary, all with commentary by India Fisher. They’re better than the actual documentary. 😀 The first bonus recipe has Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding with Toby Hadoke cooking the Kipper of Traken, which is a recipe provided by writer Johnny Byrne. 🙂
I concur with Sarah, Janet and Toby. I don’t think having the Kipper of Traken is a good idea since it didn’t look appetising in the final result, despite not having left it in the fridge for four days. I’m surprised they didn’t have a ‘this is what I made earlier’ version of the recipe from four days before.
Johnny Byrne is of course the writer of ‘The Keeper of Traken’ and the creator of Nyssa. I like how Toby points that out to Sarah and Janet when talking to them in the kitchen. It was interesting and amusing how Nyssa took the recipe with her before escaping Traken according to the author’s note.
It was amusing to see Sarah tell Janet off to be careful whilst preparing the Kipper of Traken dish in the kitchen. That’s just so Sarah isn’t it? 😀 She even tells Toby off for making sure the ‘salad dressing’ jar is tight shut. Janet tells Sarah “Ah, you English! You’re such wimps!” Steady on, Janet! 😀
I agree that Johnny Byrne must have done the Kipper of Traken recipe for the pun-making. You know, ‘Kipper’; ‘Keeper’ and such. 😀 It was intriguing how Toby encouraged the viewers to try the recipe out; despite saying it’s not ‘the best of the bunch’. Janet advises kids not to try it at home.
‘THE DOCTOR WHO COOKBOOK REVISITED: BONUS RECIPE – DALEK SOUP’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. This special feature can be found in the Season 23 Blu-ray box set.
The second bonus recipe from ‘The Doctor Who Cookbook Revisited’ has Frazer Hines with Toby Hadoke cooking some Dalek soup. Well actually, it’s ‘vegetable soup with Dalek Krotons’. Get it? Dalek Krotons – garlic crotons 😀 . It’s a recipe provided by Second Doctor actor Patrick Troughton. 🙂
I enjoyed the banter shared between Frazer and Toby in this item. Frazer makes Toby cook the soup whilst he reads from the instructions in the cookbook, which wasn’t what Toby planned. 😀 I enjoyed the jokes they made whilst cooking. The ‘dice’ joke made by Frazer to Toby is my favourite in this. 😀
It was intriguing to hear the anecdotes shared by Frazer to Toby about Patrick being a war hero, though Patrick never ‘talked about the war’. It wasn’t a done thing. It was also intriguing that Patrick may have cooked a meal for Frazer once – or rather it was his lady Bunny in a house in Richmond. 😀
During the cooking of the broth, Toby and Frazer are shocked about adding a floury paste to the soup. They’re not happy about this and it does seem like an odd thing to add to the soup. But it does look nice in the finished result when they pour the soup into a bowl and add the Dalek Krotons to it.
I liked it when Toby and Frazer tested the vegetable soup with Dalek Krotons themselves in the kitchen. They seemed to really like it. Thank goodness for that! I thought they wouldn’t like it for a minute. It does look like a really good dish served in the winter. I must try and make it myself soon. 🙂
‘THE DOCTOR WHO COOKBOOK REVISITED: BONUS RECIPE – LASAGNE’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. This special feature can be found in the Season 23 Blu-ray box set.
The third bonus recipe from ‘The Doctor Who Cookbook Revisited’ is my favourite of the lot and in my opinion the best! 😀 It has Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding with Toby Hadoke cooking lasagne. This is a recipe provided by Sarah Sutton herself. I was very excited it when I saw this special feature.
As already established, Sarah is my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ companion and best friend at conventions. So it was lovely to see that Sarah added a recipe to the cookbook herself. She could’ve easily called it ‘Nyssa’s Lasagne’ rather than ‘Luvic’s Lasagne’ or ‘Lazar’s Lasagne’ as Toby suggested.
Seeing Sarah cooking the lasagne with Janet and Toby’s help was inspirational. After seeing this special feature, I cooked my own recipe ‘Billy Walker’s Spaghetti Bolognese’, which I cooked a while back. I enjoyed cooking again and it’s thanks to Sarah’s lasagne recipe that gave me that inspiration.
I’ve taken down Sarah Sutton’s recipe for lasagne myself in a notepad from the special feature and hope to have a go at cooking it myself. 😀 I enjoyed it when Sarah shared what her life was like commuting in London and sharing a flat in Chiswick. Janet regarded Sarah on her cake-baking highly.
It was amusing when Sarah was onto Janet again with her cheese grating. 😀 Janet even threatened Toby with cheddar cheese in Sarah’s kitchen. 😀 The final result in the lasagne dish looks delicious. Seeing the lasagne makes me want to eat it myself. I must get around to cooking lasagne sometime.
‘TOM BAKER: IN CONVERSATION’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. This special feature can be found in the Season 12 Blu-ray box set.
I enjoyed seeing Tom Baker being interviewed by Matthew Sweet for the Season 12 Blu-ray box set. Having had photo shoots with him at conventions, it was nice to see this in-depth interview on what Tom Baker’s ‘Doctor Who’ acting career was like. This is an hour-long interview with Tom Baker here.
The first thing talked about is how Tom Baker got the role of the Fourth Doctor by first writing a letter to Bill Slater, the Head of Serials at the time. It’s really amazing how in a short amount of time, Tom Baker became the new Doctor and how the announcement had changed his life in an instant. 🙂
The interview goes into more depth on how Tom started playing the role of the Doctor and what the interaction with his co-stars, including Elisabeth Sladen, Ian Marter and Louise Jameson, were like. There’s also the issue raised about with Tom’s working relationship with producer Graham Williams.
I like how Tom looks back fondly on his relationship with writer/script editor Douglas Adams. Tom approved of ‘The Krikkitmen’ script, which was rejected by script editor Robert Holmes at the time. Tom also shares what working with producer John Nathan-Turner was like before leaving the series.
I liked the references made to Tom doing the ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish as well as working with Matt Smith in ‘The Day of the Doctor’. I liked how Matthew Sweet opened a bottle of wine for him and Tom to try out. Matthew and Tom are still chatting to each other after the item’s finished. 🙂
‘BEHIND THE SOFA: ‘GENESIS OF THE DALEKS’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. This special feature can be found in the Season 12 Blu-ray box set.
I greatly enjoyed the ‘Behind The Sofa’ feature on ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ with Tom Baker (the Fourth Doctor); Sadie Miller, Elisabeth Sladen’s daughter and producer Philip Hinchcliffe as well as Louise Jameson (Leela); Janet Fielding (Tegan) and Sarah Sutton (Nyssa). It was superb and fun to watch! 😀
I enjoyed the reactions to this classic ‘Doctor Who’ story. The highlight was the reactions to Guy Siner as Ravon before he did ‘Allo, ‘Allo’. I knew Sarah liked ‘Allo, ‘Allo’. It was fun to chat to her about it at the ‘Film & Comic Con Glasgow 2019’. Richard Gibson and Kim Hartman were there too. 🙂
Interestingly, I’ve written a story called ‘Psychic Image’ in the ‘Genesis of Terror’ anthology by the Divergent Wordsmiths. It has the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy in an alternative ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ scenario. It was surreal to see Sarah’s reactions to ‘Genesis’ with Janet and Louise from that.
I enjoyed it when Janet reacted to Davros’ ranting during ‘Genesis’. It was also nice to hear anecdotes shared by Sadie who talks about being introduced to the Daleks by her mother at a convention. Tom also shares memories of working with Michael Wisher and other actors in the tale.
I like how Philip Hinchcliffe shared his insight into making the story with Tom and Sadie. I did think it was getting a little dodgy when Louise made a Brexit joke during the viewing. 😀 At the end, Louise, Janet and Sarah held their hands together and, as Sarah put it, ‘hold onto the Time Ring and spin’. 😀
‘HELLO BOYS’ SEASON 10 BLU-RAY TRAILER
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. This special feature can be found in the Season 10 Blu-ray box set.
I enjoyed seeing the ‘Doctor Who’ Season 10 Blu-ray announcement trailer when I saw it on YouTube in April 2019. It was lovely to see Katy Manning back as Jo as well as Stewart Bevan back as Clifford Jones. Jo and Cliff are still married since ‘The Green Death’. I’m extremely happy about that!
In the trailer, Jo and Cliff return to the Wholeweal ‘Nuthutch’ in Llanfairfach, Wales. They drive in Bessie – the WHO1 one, not the WHO7 one from ‘Battlefield’. 😀 After watching the Season 10 Blu-ray box set, Katy and Stewart drove in Bessie from the ‘Keeping Up With The Joneses’ documentary.
Jo and Cliff have come back to Llanfairfach in order to fight off some giant maggots in the ‘Nuthutch’. Where did those maggots come from? Were they remnants from the ‘Global Conspiracy?’ report by Terry Scanlon? Or is this connected to the ‘Torchwood’ tale ‘The Green Life’?
I liked what was advertised in the Blu-ray box set for Season 10 of ‘Doctor Who’. I was disappointed Sarah Sutton wasn’t in the ‘Behind The Sofa’ items for this box set, but I still looked forward to receiving the Blu-ray box set of Season 10 in the post once I had pre-ordered it from Amazon that day.
The trailer ends with Jo and Cliff having defeated the giant maggots and turned them into smaller ones. Cliff then receives a phone call from Mike Yates who tells Jo there’s trouble in a place called Devil’s End from ‘The Dæmons’. I wonder if it’s linked to the spin-off dramas by Reeltime Pictures. 😀
‘GALACTIC GLITTER TOURS’ SEASON 18 BLU-RAY TRAILER
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. This special feature can be found in the Season 18 Blu-ray box set.
I was pretty excited to see the announcement trailer for the Season 18 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’ on YouTube back in November 2018! The Season 19 Blu-ray box set hadn’t been released yet. But still, they were announcing these classic ‘Doctor Who’ seasons on Blu-ray box sets pretty quickly.
It was fun to hear Tom Baker narrate the ‘Galactic Glitter Package Tours’ for the Season 18 stories in the Blu-ray box set. I wonder if it was all Pete McTighe’s writing for those adverts or whether Tom adlibbed some lines of his own. Probably both! It was entertaining and amusing to hear throughout.
Watching the trailer, I was excited about a third ‘Doctor Who’ Blu-ray box set featuring Sarah Sutton. This is due to ‘The Keeper of Traken’ and ‘Logopolis’ being the last two stories featuring Nyssa in Season 18. I was looking forward to the other stories as well, but those two were a definite highlight.
It was a nice surprise to see that the ‘K-9 & Company’ special would be included in the Season 18 Blu-ray box set. I was so excited to see Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton included in the extras part of the trailer since they took part in the ‘Hanging on a Thread’ making-of documentary for ‘Logopolis’. 🙂
I didn’t know Sarah, Janet and Wendy Padbury would be in the ‘Behind The Sofa’ items for the Season 18 Blu-ray box set. It was a nice surprise for me. In the trailer, they only showed Tom Baker, costume designer June Hudson and K-9 voice actor John Leeson for those ‘Behind The Sofa’ items. 🙂
‘A MESSAGE FROM JOVANKA AIRLINES’ SEASON 19 BLU-RAY TRAILER
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. This special feature can be found in the Season 19 Blu-ray box set.
I love the announcement trailer for the Season 19 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’! This was the Blu-ray box set I wanted to see the most! I was pretty excited when I saw the trailer on YouTube back in August 2018. It was to be the big top Christmas present for me when I received it in December 2018!
It was funny to see Janet Fielding as…Tegan I think (I know it says so in the YouTube video description 😀 ) presenting this announcement trailer as an airline safety video from ‘Jovanka Airlines’. The jokes featured in this trailer are very wittily written by new series writer Pete McTighe.
I was thrilled to bits to see Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton in the trailer with Janet Fielding. This was filmed from the ‘Turbulence’ making-of documentary for ‘Time-Flight’ of course. Peter and Sarah are wonderful doing the comedy scenes with Janet as passengers wanting to get to Heathrow Airport. 😀
I should know how good Sarah is at doing the comedy acting having worked with her in an ‘April Fools Sketch’ and a ‘4th Anniversary Sketch’ for my blog. 🙂 It was pretty exciting for me to see the new bonus content being advertised for the Season 19 Blu-ray box set including new documentaries.
I was excited about there being a new making-of documentary for ‘Black Orchid’ as well as for ‘Castrovalva’, ‘Four To Doomsday’, ‘Earthshock’ and ‘Time-Flight’. I was pleased about the ‘Behind The Sofa’ items featuring Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and Matthew Waterhouse too.
‘BACK ON TRIAL’ SEASON 23 BLU-RAY TRAILER
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. This special feature can be found in the Season 23 Blu-ray box set.
The announcement trailer for the Season 23 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’ is very funny and amazing to watch! Once again, I was excited to see this on the ‘Doctor Who’ YouTube channel back in June 2019. The trailer stars Colin Baker back on trail again as well as Nicola Bryant at the very end.
Season 23 of ‘Doctor Who’ is of course ‘The Trial of a Time Lord’. It was amusing to see Colin Baker in a court room to reflect that whilst advertising the Blu-ray box set. Colin has been charged with an unpaid parking fine of all things because he was busy making the special features for the Blu-ray set.
I enjoyed it when the magistrate and the prosecutor were unimpressed and bemused by Colin Baker’s claims that his being involved in the making of the Season 23 Blu-ray box set was far more important than his paying the unpaid parking fine. Colin is so into that Doctor-mode by this stage. 😀
In the end, Colin is put in a prison cell. There he finds Nicola Bryant. He asks her, “What are you in here for?” She answers, “Marrying Brian Blessed.” I love the reaction Colin gives before he says, “Fair enough.” Is it a crime to marry Brian Blessed then? I had no idea. I must keep this in mind next time. 😀
The extras being advertised in the trailer were exciting to see, including the ‘Behind The Sofa’ items; the ‘Terror of the Vervoids’ Special Edition and ‘The Doctor’s Table’ feature. I had no idea that Sarah Sutton would be in ‘The Doctor Who Cookbook Revisited’ after watching the Season 23 Blu-ray box set.
‘THE PROMISE’ SEASON 26 BLU-RAY TRAILER
Please feel free to comment on my review.
N.B. This special feature can be found in the upcoming Season 26 Blu-ray box set.
At the time of this review, I’ve yet to see the Season 26 Blu-ray box set of ‘Doctor Who’. When I saw the announcement trailer for it back in September 2019, I was pretty excited. It was lovely to see Sophie Aldred back as Ace to advertise the trailer as well as hear Sylvester McCoy doing a voiceover.
It was so surreal to see Sophie back as Ace, having met her at conventions and having done a 4th Anniversary sketch for my blog with her recently. I like how the trailer depicted Ace as she is 30 years later. I also did like the tie-in to the ‘A Charitable Earth’ charity Ace is in charge of in the trailer.
Russell T. Davies established Ace and the ‘A Charitable Earth’ charity in ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ story ‘Death of the Doctor’. So it was nice to see it make a first appearance in this trailer. The trailer also has a montage of Ace and the Doctor travelling together during the Season 26 stories she’s in.
Eventually, Ace has a visit from the Doctor as she hears the TARDIS arriving when in her open-window office in London. She sees a question mark handle behind a door and exclaims, “Wicked!” I wonder if this all ties into a future adventure Ace has such as ‘Dark Universe’ or ‘At Childhood’s End’.
I was excited to see what was in store for the Season 26 Blu-ray box set in terms of extras. I was looking forward to seeing the ‘Behind The Sofa’ items, which features Sarah Sutton in them. 😀 The brand-new documentaries; extended edits of stories and ‘more’ seem exciting to look forward to. 😀
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
Bradley's Basement 