An Explosive Season Awaits!

Several months after the release of Season 15, and on election day no less, we finally have confirmation of our second, and no doubt, final Collection release of 2024 with Season 25.

Much like Season 15 before it, 25 has been rumoured for a while. It comes over three years after the previous Sylvester McCoy set, Season 24 which came in June 2021 (interesting pattern there with Baker and McCoy sets – or maybe I’m a typical human, seeing patterns that aren’t there!). 

Designer Lee Binding gave us a tease of the colour palette being used for the cover some time ago but I wasn’t expecting this layout – it’s certainly striking though. In contrast to the recent run of teaser trailers, Season 25’s is more stripped back, but does a great job of showcasing just how much has been jammed into this eight-disc release. 

Season 25 ran from 5th October 1988 to 4th January 1989, and comprises four stories:

  1. Remembrance of the Daleks 
  2. The Happiness Patrol
  3. Silver Nemesis
  4. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

Season 25, the penultimate for the classic era, marked 25 years since the series began, and though Silver Nemesis was designed to be the anniversary special, season opener Remembrance of the Daleks contains many throwbacks to An Unearthly Child and is also one of the best stories ever of the original run. This was the first season where script editor Andrew Cartmel had proper control over proceedings and the results are (mostly) very impressive, with two of the four stories being top 10 Who for me – stay tuned for the review in October!

The Collection: Season 25 contains the following confirmed special features:

  • UPDATED SPECIAL EFFECTS: Exclusive to Blu-ray, on the original broadcast versions of Remembrance of The Daleks, Silver Nemesis and The Greatest Show in The Galaxy.
  • BEHIND THE SOFA: New episodes with Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Bonnie Langford (Mel), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Dame Sheila Hancock (Helen A), Jessica Martin (Mags), Karen Gledhill (Allison) and Mark Hardy (Cyber-Lieutenant).
  • IN CONVERSATION: Three new episodes, with Sophie Aldred, script editor Andrew Cartmel and director Chris Clough.
  • LOOKING FOR DURSLEY: A documentary looking back at the life and career of Dursley McLinden (Mike).
  • THE MAKING OF DOCTOR WHO: A rare vintage documentary from 1988, previously only available on VHS.
  • SILVER NEMESIS – VHS EXTENDED VERSION: A version of the story originally released on VHS with extra footage.
  • SILVER NEMESIS – SPECIAL EDITION OMNIBUS: A special cut-down feature-length version of this adventure, in the tradition of the 1970s Christmas repeats.
  • THE COLLECTORS – THE 1980s: Host Emily Cook chats to Doctor Who collectors about their 1980s treasures.
  • THE DOCTOR WHO ESCAPE ROOM – TEAM SEVENTH DOCTOR: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Bonnie Langford attempt to escape the room of doom.
  • WHEN SOPHIE MET LESLEY: Sophie Aldred chats to Lesley Dunlop, her co-star from The Happiness Patrol who also appeared in the Fifth Doctor story Frontios (1984).
  • STEPHEN MANSFIELD INTERVIEW: The practical effects genius looks back on his Season 25 work.
  • STUDIO & LOCATION FOOTAGE: Hours of raw footage and outtakes captured during the making of all four stories.
  • 5.1 SURROUND SOUND
  • RARE ARCHIVAL MATERIAL FROM THE BBC VAULTS
  • EXCLUSIVE CONVENTION FOOTAGE
  • HD PHOTO GALLERIES
  • INFO TEXT
  • PDF ARCHIVE
  • PLUS LOTS MORE!

This is looking to be an absolutely packed set, with multiple versions of each serial to choose from and a plethora of VAM, old and new, to explore. I’m especially excited to hear Andrew Cartmel’s reminiscing for the In Conversation piece, owing to his Script Doctor book being a fantastic read. We do actually have a release date this time of 21st October. Quite the wait for the set and I’m not expecting the rumoured season 6 or 7 to come until the following March at the minimum but it’s something to look forward to during the spookiest time of year!

By HW Reynolds

Images provided by the BBC

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  1. Pingback: Doctor Who Season 25 Blu Ray Review – Part 1 (Story Content) – Reverbium

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