Let’s look at the technical aspect of this classic collection!
Video and Audio:
Season 25 is another late 80s offering and fares similarly from a restoration perspective. The move to 1-inch videotape and lack of 16mm filming result in a picture quality that can only go so far. With the exception of Remembrance (which got a re-release DVD later on), all of the stories in this season were later DVD releases but all act as solid upgrades overall.
The audio, which is handled wonderfully by Mark Ayres as always, cleans up nicely and we get a new 5.1 Surround Sound mixes for every story and their extended + special edition versions. It was especially nice to see what Ayres did with his own score for Greatest Show.
The Packaging:
Season 25 upholds the fold-out book-styled packaging, with a compartment for the booklet and a stack of disc trays. The exterior artwork by Lee Binding is one of his best to date, opting for a more minimalist number of villains and making good use of the bow and arrow iconography from Silver Nemesis, and ensuring that McCoy actually looks like himself after a few uncanny valley facial features on previous artworks. As always we get another detailed booklet with retrospective content by Pete McTighe which packs in the little details for these stories that make it an essential element of the set.
In contrast to Season 15, this is another 80s set that feels like a kitchen sink release – with as much crammed in as possible. As an aside with only one 80s set to go (21) I suspect this will be one of the last to receive such a treatment but for me, it’s a quality over quantity situation. Luckily for us Who fans though this set has both!
Every story in this season has received both extended episodes built from scenes removed for the TV edits, but also special editions with various visual enhancements that in some cases completely transform the overall look of the story, like with The Happiness Patrol. These versions were a real labour of love, though it’s those extended versions that I love the most. After watching Remembrance so many times it was a treat to see the extra content, and for other serials, the extra scenes can improve pacing and story – a flaw especially evident with the three-parters.
As you’d expect, this collection set collates the previous DVD special features like The Davros Connections documentary, making-of and TV appearances alongside prominent recurring ones like the Behind the Sofa segments and Matthew Sweet’s In Conversation pieces.
The Behind the Sofa segments see the return of Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred who sit alongside a different guest star for each story which adds a bit of variety which is otherwise lacking with yet another appearance of Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton who feature alongside Wendy Padbury and make for a fun trio. The final sofa comprises Bonnie Langford and Nicola Bryant and these segments were solid fun overall but I’d like to see more new faces in the future.
Like with Season 22, 25 sees three In Conversation interviews, this time with Andrew Cartmel, the visionary Script Editor for the McCoy era, Chris Clough, who directed several mid to late-80s stories and became an industry name, and for the first time in the range a second interview with Sophie Aldred, which covers her return to the series. I enjoyed all three of these and they’re easily some of the best features in the range.
Chris Chapman flexes his documentary skills once again with a deep dive into the life of actor Dursley McLinden with “Looking for Dursley”, an actor who passed away far too soon and was referenced via a tribute in Russell T. Davies’ “It’s a Sin”. It’s another wonderful tribute piece that shines a light on a talented actor that’s well worth the watch as close friends and family including Sophie Aldred and Nicola Bryant reminisce on their friendships with the late actor.
Other featurettes include the first appearance of the US-made Silver Nemesis documentary “The Making of Doctor Who” since its VHS release in 1993, and new entries into “The Collectors”, this time covering the 1980s, and “The Doctor Who Escape Room” series’ which began recurrence as of the Season 2 and The Celestial Toymaker animation releases respectively.
Whilst The Collectors was solidly informative and fun, The Escape Room series continues to be overlong and features a fair amount of tedium as Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, and Sophie Aldred solve puzzles within an allotted time. This clocked in at 75 minutes and lacked some snappier editing, and while Emily Cook is a good presenter for The Collector’s features, The Escape Room doesn’t make much use of her presence there. Despite this less memorable feature, however, Season 25 still offers a solid package for extras once again.
As of writing this review, there is no news of the next set in the collection range, but rumours are circulating around Season 7 being next, and considering similar rumours around this season came to fruition I’m inclined to believe Pertwee’s debut isn’t too far off in joining the range.
I’ll revise my predictions from last time around and say I’m expecting seasons 7, 6, and 21 to be the next three, maybe with season 1 thrown in for good measure. With only ten (or 11 if you count 1990-2004) sets left to release, and unless the plan is to leave seasons 1, 3, 4, 5, & 6 until the end, the ’60s has to make a resurgence sooner or later!
The Stories:
4.5/5
The Packaging:
3.5/5
The Video:
3.5/5
The Audio:
5/5
Special Features:
4.5/5
Overall:
4.5/5 – Season 25 was a true return to form for Doctor Who, acting as almost a soft reboot and revisiting it here with so many different ways to watch was a joy. Silver Nemesis still leaves me a bit lukewarm but the other three stories here, Remembrance and Greatest Show especially are, in my eyes, some of the finest of the classic era.
Look back at Part One of the review for more detail on the stories included.
By HW Reynolds
Images Courtesy of the BBC
Reverbium 
One thought