It’s May Bank Holiday Monday in the UK today! And you probably know what’s coming!
“Mayday, mayday, mayday!”
And yes, we’re back to Bank Holiday Monday this year! Last year, it was Bank Holiday Friday! Which was also my birthday on that day! As well as the 75th anniversary of V.E. Day. (Pause) Anyway, that was the past. Here on the present day, I’m sharing some of my favourite ‘Doctor Who’ reviews again.
In 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic – please keep safe – I enjoyed re-watching the stories featured in the Blu-ray box sets of ‘Doctor Who’ including Season 18 with Tom Baker and Season 19 with Peter Davison. It helped to cheer me up during difficult times and it was fun to revisit these tales.
In 2021, I’ve done it again with revisiting Season 18 and Season 19 of ‘Doctor Who’, starting in the middle of April this year. At this point, I’m probably watching the end of Season 18 with Tom Baker. I hope to build this up by watching Season 19 with Peter Davison in the lead-up to my birthday and beyond in May. I’m very excited! 🙂
Please feel free to check out the links to my reviews on these stories featured in Seasons 18 and 19 of ‘Doctor Who’. In Season 18, there are the stories ‘The Leisure Hive’, ‘Meglos’, ‘Full Circle’, ‘State of Decay’, ‘Warriors’ Gate’, ‘The Keeper of Traken’ and ‘Logopolis’. In Season 19, there are the stories ‘Castrovalva’, ‘Four To Doomsday’, ‘Kinda’, ‘The Visitation’, ‘Black Orchid’, ‘Earthshock’ and ‘Time-Flight’. There’s also the spin-off ‘K-9 & Company: A Girl’s Best Friend’ with Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith and John Leeson as K-9 to check out.
Season 18 of ‘Doctor Who’ stars Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor with Lalla Ward as Romana, John Leeson as K-9, Matthew Waterhouse as Adric, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Janet Fielding as Tegan. Season 19 of ‘Doctor Who’ stars Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor with Janet Fielding as Tegan, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Matthew Waterhouse as Adric. Season 19 is my favourite season of the lot here.
There are some reviews on the Target novelizations/audiobooks for these stories in Seasons 18 and 19 attached to their pages. There are novelization/audiobook reviews on ‘Full Circle’ by Andrew Smith, ‘State of Decay’ by Terrance Dicks, ‘Warriors’ Gate’ by Stephen Gallagher writing as John Lydecker, ‘The Keeper of Traken’ by Terrance Dicks, ‘Logopolis’ and ‘Castrovalva’ by Christopher H. Bidmead, ‘Four To Doomsday’ and ‘Kinda’ by Terrance Dicks, ‘The Visitation’ by Eric Saward, ‘Black Orchid’ by Terence Dudley, ‘Earthshock’ by Ian Marter and ‘Time-Flight’ by Peter Grimwade. Some of the novelization reviews by me will be updated soon with brand-new audiobooks including ‘Time-Flight’.
I hope you’ll enjoy checking out my reviews on the Season 18 and 19 stories of ‘Doctor Who’ featured in their unique Blu-ray box sets. There are also Big Finish audios set during Seasons 18 and 19 to check out including ‘Purgatory 12’, ‘Chase the Night’, ‘The Planet of Witches’, ‘The Quest of the Engineer’, ‘Psychodrome’, ‘The Star Men’, ‘Kingdom of Lies’, ‘Iterations of I’ and many more stories!
Take care and keep safe!
Bye for now!
Tim. 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
While Season 18 features a more subdued Fourth Doctor as I’ve got older i appreciate the set of stories more, thank you for recommendations of the Warrior’s Gate Target audiobook as that helped me understand the story far better.
As for Season 19 you know my love for that season, Monday & Tuesday nights at my nans eating sausage & chips or burgers & chips with a can of coke watching it on her black & white tv, i cryed when Adric died & remember my nan saying he be back next week the Doctor will save him lol.
Strange i watched seasons 20-26 but it’s always this season for some reason i remember more fondly, maybe because of a new Doctor & three companions i don’t know but what i do know is it’s a favourite season of mine & one dear to my heart.
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Hi Simon.
I’m currently watching ‘Logopolis’ this week. Hope to watch ‘Castrovalva’ next. I’m pleased you enjoyed the new ‘Warriors’ Gate’ Target audiobook. It’s certainly a different version of the story compared to the TV story, which I saw recently and still find very baffling. 😀
Season 19 will always remain one of my favourite seasons of ‘Doctor Who’ from the classic series. I get a buzz out of watching Season 19, especially on Blu-ray with the new special features such as making-of documentaries and ‘Behind the Sofa’ items featuring Peter, Sarah, Janet and Matthew.
Interesting how Season 19 has stayed with you more fondly compared to Seasons 20 to 26 afterwards. I’m sure the stories must have been exciting for you when you watched them back in 1982 on your nan’s TV, having sausage, chips and coke with it. 😀
Many thanks for your comments.
Tim 🙂
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Hello Tim.
I hope you enjoyed revisiting seasons 18 and 19 on Blu-Ray. I am hoping to get around to them when I purchase them in standard packaging. First though, I will be watching Season 12 when it arrives either today or tommorow. I rewatched ‘Robot’ on DVD recently and my viewing on Blu-Ray will be my fourth viewing of it. I am also still working my way through seasons 14 and 8. I saw part 1 of ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’ and I am watching part 4 of ‘The Mind of Evil’ as I type this. I’m looking forward to season 24 when that materialises on my doorstep. When I do an update video on my collection, you will see probably see all 9 existing sets on my shelf when I do that. I am also hoping to purchase ‘Psychodrome’ and ‘Iterations of I’ as well as a few audio dramas set during season 18.
I heard through Twitter last year that season 20 might be in the works. I haven’t actually heard anything since then, though I believe one of the features has Peter, Sarah and Janet revisiting Amsterdam. One other thing I remember seeing on Twitter was an outtake for what I believe to be ‘Mawdryn Undead’. It has the three aforementioned cast members with Nick Courtney and Sarah ends up stumbling on a line at which she utters a profanity. So if you ever wanted to hear Sarah Sutton/Nyssa swear, you’ll be able to, unless it was already included on the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ DVD. I am going to wait until the next box set is announced and if it isn’t season 20, then I will consider purchasing the ‘Black Guardian’ DVD box set.
Take care, WF92.
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Hi WF92,
I have enjoyed revisiting Seasons 18 and 19 of ‘Doctor Who’ on Blu-ray recently thanks. Just finished revisiting ‘Time-Flight’ over the weekend. I hope to check out more of the box sets in their in-depth special features. I’m currently looking forward to Season 24 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Sylvester McCoy. Should be an exciting experience after checking out Season 8 with Jon Pertwee, which I’m currently re-sharing reviews on this week. 😀 I hope to get the latest issue of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ soon which should contain details of the upcoming Season 24 Blu-ray box set.
Yes, I believe Season 20 is meant to be in the works as the new classic ‘Doctor Who’ Blu-ray box set. Don’t know if that’s coming up next after Season 24, but it should be something to look forward. Sarah did stumble on a line and swore accidentally in one of the ‘Mawdryn Undead’ bloopers on the DVD, but it’s very brief. I did have the subtitles on when I re-watched the outtakes. Needless to say, I was a little bit shocked. 😀
Many thanks, WF92. Enjoy your day!
Tim. 🙂
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Hello again Tim.
I found a photo off of the season 19 companions team on the internet that I thought I’d share with you here. The photo is of Matthew, Sarah and Janet posing in their costumes. However, whilst Matthew and Sarah are wearing the exact costumes that they wore on the show, Janet’s costume is still an air hostess uniform but slightly different to how it was in the final series. The photo is in black and white so I can’t tell if the uniform is a different colour to how it was on the show, but the jacket definitely looks different in terms of design and her scarf has polka dots on. I wonder the costume she wears here is dfferent to the one she wore on the show.
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Hi WF92.
Thanks for sharing this photo of Sarah, Matthew and Janet. That is an unusual air hostess uniform Janet is wearing. I don’t know why she wore that instead of the usual lilac uniform she’s so recognisable for wearing as Tegan in the TV series. Maybe they were trying out different air hostess uniforms in the early stages before they settled on the lilac one. It is a nice photo despite it being black-and-white. Not sure why Matthew is sitting under Sarah and Janet, but there you go. 😀
Many thanks,
Tim. 🙂
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Seasons 18 and 19, certainly with the departure of Tom Baker, were quite the change for me after all that I was used to in classic Dr. Who up to that point. I was somewhat prepared for Adric’s death, having read a spoiler in a 20th Anniversary magazine when The Five Doctors aired rather prematurely here in Ottawa for big fans like myself. But seeing it actually happen, and how well Matthew and his co-stars performed, was still quite the affirmation of how seriously dramatic Dr. Who would become in its final decade on TV. This was a time when Dr. Who would be most significantly challenged. But still with fond memories, and most particularly Tom Baker’s final stories in Season 18. Especially the E-Space trilogy. Thank you, Tim.
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Hi scifimike,
It always gives me a thrill when revisiting Seasons 18 and 19 of classic ‘Doctor Who’ on Blu-ray now and again. I’m very pleased Season 20 is out on Blu-ray at last and I’m looking forward to updating my reviews on the stories in Seasons 2, 9, 15 and 20 once I’ve enjoyed my next convention weekend in Bolton, with Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton as guests. I’m looking forward to revisiting ‘Black Orchid’ for my birthday tomorrow, as I always enjoy watching it in the Season 19 Blu-ray box set and in its extended form (with ‘Part One’ being extended). Thanks for sharing your thoughts about these two seasons, including Tom Baker’s departure from the TV show, ‘The E Space Trilogy’ and Adric’s death in ‘Earthshock’.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
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Happy Birthday, Tim. Black Orchid can certainly be one of the most thought-provoking Dr. Who classics to revisit. It was one of the best signs for me of how much more profound it would become for classic Dr. Who in addressing the most delicate content. In some ways even more than the Hinchcliffe era which says a lot.
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Hi scifimike,
‘Black Orchid’ is definitely a ‘Doctor Who’ story that inspired me in wanting to write my own fanfiction series featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy. I’m very pleased I’ve been able to check out the TV story and its Target novelization/audiobook to appreciate its significance and it’s prompted me to see people like Sarah Sutton at conventions.
Many thanks,
Tim 🙂
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