Part Two of Our Classic Who Review!
Video and Audio
Season 21 follows in the footsteps of 13 with AI upscaling throughout, which occasionally works quite well, but otherwise creates various anomalies, the worst being Colin Baker seemingly losing an eye during a scene in The Twin Dilemma.
Similarly to Season 19, several stories do have their original location film materials, which thankfully aren’t as heavily treated and look rather lovely here, but it’s clear now that the feedback for Season 13 wasn’t going to be taken on-board in time to allow an extensive reworking here.
It remains to be seen if these issues will be toned down for future Boxsets but as is it’s a massive shame, and honestly a gut-punch considering how this wasn’t an issue just a few sets ago but has crept in and only gotten worse over the past year or two.
As I said previously, ideally replacements discs need be provided and this issue fixed, as they managed to for certain discs from the Season 20 boxset that have been making their way to buyers.
The audio presentation from Mark Ayres thankfully at least remains consistently strong, and we get a new optional 5.1 Surround Sound option for Warriors Special Edition, The Awakening, and The Caves of Androzani.
Season 21 upholds tradition, sporting a fold-out book-styled packaging, with a compartment for the booklet and a stack of disc trays. The exterior artwork by Lee Binding showcases Peter Davison in his tattered Season 21 outfit and holding a vat of Bat’s Milk from Caves, with a regeneration effect acting as the background, plus most of the monsters from the season included in another great montage as well.
The back art, which is taken fromThe Twin Dilemma, is a nice touch and gives me a clearer idea of how Season 4 will be handled further down the line. 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.
Season 21 is the biggest Collection set to date at 10 discs, and kicks off with a Special Edition version of Warriors of the Deep, which though not entirely able to fix the issues throughout the story, really helps with the Myrka, which no longer romps along and actually provides some threat.
The Awakening, Frontios, Resurrection of the Daleks and The Caves of Androzani all get new optional special effects which are a nice addition, and we get a new commentary for The Awakening as well – the only story for which Peter Davison hadn’t previously recorded one for. The older Special Edition of Planet of Fire is also included, though oddly not on the same disc as the original version.
Resurrection and The Twin Dilemma also get making-of documentaries here, which are great to have, and slot in nicely amongst the existing features we have, including existing making-of’s and a comprehensive overview of Davison’s time as the Doctor, Come in Number Five.
The Behind the Sofa segments see a return of having a different guest per story featuring alongside the regulars, providing us with Peter Davison (The Doctor), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Sophie Aldred (Ace) Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Bonnie Langford (Mel), Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Tara Ward (Preston), Keith Jayne (Will), Jeff Rawle (Plantagenet), Rula Lenska (Styles), director Graeme Harper, Paul Conrad (Romulus) and Andrew Conrad (Remus).
Elsewhere, we get two new Escape Room segments for team Fifth and Sixth Doctor’s which were about as entertaining as I expected, but the three new In-Conversations with Janet Fielding (solo), Mark Strickson, and Matthew Waterhouse made for more fascinating and substantial additions, and I’m glad Waterhouse didn’t miss out.
Some more comedic features also make their way here as 48-Hours with Janet Fielding and Let’s Go Boating were good fun, and curiously we get the Tales of the TARDIS edition of Earthshock, but not Vengeance on Varos sadly, which is a missed opportunity. Finally, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, made during the 50th Anniversary, is included here with a new commentary.
We’re down to two colour seasons to hopefully not be AI’d to buggery, and 16 seems to the winner for the next set to come. Hopefully some animation news is also on the horizon as they can’t hold back Seasons 1, 3-6 forever (I’ve heard rumours of The Space Pirates being next, so fingers crossed that emerges soon.)
The Stories:
4/5
The Packaging:
3/5
The Video:
2/5
The Audio:
4.5/5
Special Features:
4.5/5
Overall:
3/5 – Season 21 represented a tonal shift for the series to come, with darker storylines and higher body counts, a more certain portrayal of the Fifth Doctor, and a bold regeneration story that cemented itself as a classic. It’s just a shame that this is let down once again by some highly questionable restorations decision that must be addressed for future releases, and ideally be corrected for the Standard Edition set.
Look back at Part One of the review for more details on the stories included.
By HW Reynolds
Images Courtesy of the BBC
Reverbium 
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