July 3rd, 2012
142 comments
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The Ambassadors of Death DVD
The Ambassadors of Death DVD
Due for release on 01 October 2012.
Original VHS cover and information
When all communication is lost from Mars Probe 7 shortly after jt leaves. Mars and begins its trip back to Earth, a second craft is launched to investigate. As’ Recovery 7 docks in space, it ,too. loses all communication The Doctor and UNIT are given the task of investigating the mystery, as Recovery 7 returns to Earth.
It appears that no one can be trusted, as the space capsule is hijacked from its UNIT convoy With, military precision. What has happened to the missing astronauts? Could this be a secret-invasion from Mars, -or is the enemy much closer to home?
As the Doctor plans a daring space mission of his own, his assistant Liz Shaw goes missing. Who is working against UNIT in order to bring mankind into conflict with an alien race…? .
A few cost-saving measures were used on ‘Ambassadors’. The space:suits worn by the aliens incorporated helmets left over from the 1969 Hammer film ‘Moon Zero Two’. To further save costs on the building of the set of ‘Recovery 7’, it was agreed to share the expense with another BBC series, ‘Doomwatch’. The ‘Doomwatch’ crew filmed their material in the capsule interior first (tilled ‘Sunfire One’ for their purposes), whilst the ‘Doctor Who’ team were Mill in rehearsals.
The ‘Doomwatch’ episode featuring this set ‘Re Entry Forbidden’ – was screened on BBC! OTI Monday 16th March 1970, some five days prior to episode 1 of ‘The Ambassadors of Death’ transmission.
Director Michael Ferguson had firs! worked on ‘Doctor Who’ as a floor assistant on The Dale-Its’ (1963). As a director, he was responsible for ‘The War Machines’ (1966), ‘The Seeds of Death’ (1969) and ‘The Claws of Axos’ (1971). Working as floor assistant on this story was John Nathan Turner, who would go on to produce ‘Doctor Who’ from 1979 – 89.
The day that part 4 of this story was screened on BBCT – Saturday Illh April was also the day that the ill-fated Apollo 13 moonlanding mission launched in America. In the days that followed, the whole world was gripped as NASA tried everything in its power to return the three marooned astronauts safely to Earth.
Their successful return on 17th April the day before part 5 was screened was the cause of worldwide celabration. Eerily, life imitated art, as that week the Doctor was on his own quest to rescue some stranded astronauts.
This story’ was originally broadcast on BBC 1 between 21stMarch -2nd May 1970.
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the TARDIS
July 4th, 2012 - 5:32pmBudget cover. But this is one of my most eagerly anticipated releases this year though, can’t wait.
Gordon
July 5th, 2012 - 1:00amHardly budget cover when each cover has same budget. Its very basic but thats more down to lee binding not have any decent pics to work from
the TARDIS
July 8th, 2012 - 5:06pmI was more meaning it could do with something else going on in the background.
Give me a Dalek any day
July 4th, 2012 - 5:22pmYay! Can’t wait for this!!!! 😀 😀
JonPertweeisthebest
July 4th, 2012 - 3:53pmThis year has been a good year so far, concerning Pertwee releases.The Daemons and Death to the daleks which are brilliant stories and now we have Ambassadors. Only Mind of Evil could improve this year!
Gordon
July 5th, 2012 - 1:02amNo chance for mind of evil this year. Babelcolour is colourising ep 1 and he aint nowhere near finished
Alan Dobbie
July 10th, 2012 - 11:14amI find the comments about the colour on Mind of Evil interesting given that both Nicholas Courtney and Katy Manning commented they’d seen it in colour when doing the DVD commentary.
Gordon
July 10th, 2012 - 7:01pmColour recovery on eps 2 to 6 were completed by march 2009 so they would have been shown at least those episodes in colour for the commentary. It still needed a lot of further work to bring up to standard for dvd though.
Jordan
July 4th, 2012 - 3:44pmCannot wait for this to come out! I was so dissapointed when it didn’t come out last year in the solar system box with The Sun Makers. But now it has a release date, it is really reassuring and exciting!
Gordon
July 5th, 2012 - 1:03amThe fact its coming out in full colour is worth the extra 14 months wait
Classic Who Is Cool
July 4th, 2012 - 1:20pmWill definatley be getting this, not too sure about the cover though 🙂
JonPertweeisthebest
July 4th, 2012 - 3:55pmThe cover is good, but it is definately lacking somthing around the edge.
Classic Who Is Cool
July 4th, 2012 - 8:01pmits alright, but i thought it was going to have more colour on it 😀
oscarwho
July 4th, 2012 - 10:17ammy fav pertwween dvd is out this year yes
Anonymous
July 3rd, 2012 - 10:47pmI,M GLAD CAROLINES ON THE COMMENTARY,THATS SOMETHING I SUPPOSE. SO THE DVD RANGE WONT LIKELY BE FINISHED IN 2013. I,M JUST WONDERING WITH DVDS SEEN AS AN OLD FORMAT EVEN NOW,HOW LONG BEFORE SOME NEW FORMAT SHOWS UP AND MAKES THIS 13 YEAR COLLECTION OF MINE TOTALLY DEFUNCT.
Gordon
July 4th, 2012 - 12:38amBlu ray we can rule out. Due to the fact very little can be done to improve picture quality in most stories (excluding spearhead in space) because the type of recording used. Plus the cost of upscaling for a blu ray disc at the moment is very cost prohibitive. Only real advantage classic who on blu ray has is more disc space to fit more eps. Only other possibe replacement at the momentis digital downloads which i know bbc worldwide are heading in that direction.
Gordon
July 4th, 2012 - 12:42amAs long as dvd or blu ray players are still around there should be any need to replace the dvds, Dvds play on blu ray players and i cant see blu ray going away any time in the next 5 years at least. As long as discs of that size are still being made i expect there will always be calls for dvd
matparks08
July 4th, 2012 - 9:46am10 years on I still own my ‘defunct’ VHS collection, that took about 13 years to complete as well! The last video I bought….Ambassadors of Death – spooky, eh!
booboo
July 4th, 2012 - 9:48amI still have them all as well, i bought everything, they would have cost a fortune over the years and are now mostly worthless
Gordon
July 4th, 2012 - 10:38amPeople still charge silly ammounts for vhs tapes for unreleased stories. Hell at the moment there are some sites offering 30 to 40 quid for ambassadors. Shortly that will not even be worth 10 percent of that
Anonymous
July 4th, 2012 - 10:59amI DONT OWN A VHS RECORDER,SO NO LONGER INTERESTED. THERE ARE ITEMS OCCASIONALLY THAT WERE ON THE VHS TAPE THAT WERENT INCLUDED ON DVD..iE:SILVER NEMESIS MAKING OF..ETC, IJUST SORT OF MOVE WITH THE TIMES. THESE DVDS SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRACTICALLY RELEASED BY NOW,ITS JUST DRAGGING IT OUT NOW WERE COMING TO THE LAST FEW.
Anonymous
July 4th, 2012 - 11:05amI CAN UNDERSTAND MIND OF EVIL BECAUSE FANS WOULD LOVE TO SEE THIS IN FULL COLOUR ALA AMBASSADORS OF DEATH AND I KNOW THEYVE BEEN WAITING FOR THE COST OF ANIMATION TO COME DOWN IN PRICE,AS TO RELEASE SAY THE REIGN OF TERROR,THE ICE WARRIORS ETC.. BUT THE OTHERS LIKE TERROR OF THE ZYGONS SHOULD BE OUT. ITS NOT LIKE THERE USING CGI ON ANY FURTHER TITLES.
Gordon
July 4th, 2012 - 12:39pmThe reason zygons was held back was to do something special with it. No idea what though. I think also when they were doing early planning for the last few releases back in 2009/10 it was unsure whether or not animation was going to be affordable and colour recovery on mind for ep1 was going to good enough and affordable so they kept it back so there was at least 1 story that wouldnt disapointed.
Gordon
July 4th, 2012 - 1:11pmWe are practacly at the end of all the easy restorations anyway (ie ones that dont have colourisation or animation issues). There are only 3 easy ones left (4 if they rerelease the vhs version of shada which has been hinted. We know shada is coming out just dont know in what form)to come out and 2 of those are due out seperatly within the next 6 weeks
Anonymous
July 4th, 2012 - 1:44pmWHY DIDNT THEY START ANIMATING THE ICE WARRIORS AND THE TENTH PLANET BACK IN 2006?. THEY ARE BOTH POPULAR STORIES LIKE THE INVASION. IF THEY HAD FAITH IN THAT STORY SELLING WELL,SURELY THEY COULD HAVE KILLED 3 BIRDS WITH ONE STONE THERE AND RELEASED THEM AFTER EACH OTHER. WAS THE INVASION JUST A TRYOUT FOR COSGROVE HALL?
The Monitor
July 4th, 2012 - 5:45pmI saw 60 DW videos sell for £25 last week. Last year I saw people buying them at £3 per time.
Silver Nemesis should still be worth quite a bit of money if people woke up and realised that the version on this is far better than the DVD (content wise,not picture quality).
Interest-wise. It depends on completists etc. They are worthless to nearly everyone, and have value to others. Bit like records, and still far from everyone can see where that is going…
As more and more VHS are thrown away because of mould, there will be less and less…
Gordon
July 5th, 2012 - 1:19amThe 2 invasion eps were a bit of luck i heard. Dont know how much of this is true but i swear i heard this. 2003 bbci had comissioned an original dr who story scream of the shalka with richard e grant as 9th doctor produced by cosgrove hall. It was a sucsess and a sequal was planned however Rtd new series getting commisioned put those plans on hold. As cossgrove hall had already been contracted they decided to animate something else ie invasion. The plan was to show it on bbc 3 but by the time it was completed RTD series had took off
Gordon
July 5th, 2012 - 1:29amand bbc bosses only had intrests in showing new who at the time. 2e who had not long took over said they would have it and more or less ended up with it for nothing with only paying for a few tweeks. 2e did look into a possibility of other animations through ch but could not find it anyway near affordable on their current budget and would need a partner to make it affordable which they have done with big finish with reign of terror
LG
July 11th, 2012 - 7:09pmI still have some videos but I am swapping for dvds, I am keeping a few, The mind robber, the five doctors original release, my signed copy of the mark of the Rani(signed by Colin Baker)and Silver Nemesis
Gordon
July 3rd, 2012 - 8:50pmCleared Special Features:
• 00:01:27:01 – (DOCTOR WHO – THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH) (TRAILER)
• 00:13:05:07 – TOMORROW’S TIMES – THE THIRD DOCTOR
• 00:04:24:15 – THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH – PHOTO GALLERY
• 00:25:49:16 – MARS PROBE 7: MAKING THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH
Gordon
July 3rd, 2012 - 8:58pmCommentary team
Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney, Michael Ferguson, Peter Halliday, Derek Ware and Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who DVD Collector
July 8th, 2012 - 9:22amis that all the special features? They’re getting less and less and less arn’t they!
MrWho63
July 8th, 2012 - 9:46amHow many more comentries did Nic courtney actually do before he died that we don’t yet know about?
Gordon
July 8th, 2012 - 10:20amrecolourisation ate most of the budget for this one i reckon it dont bother me as its coming out in full colour. Nick courtney is also on the mind of evil commentary.
MrWho63
July 8th, 2012 - 10:27amOh erm, by the way, what are your thoughts on the covers of these dvds. I AM DEEPLY DISSAPOINTED! I am considering swapping the real covers with a fan made one!
Gordon
July 8th, 2012 - 10:37amI think the cover is basic but i like it. Like a few of the recent covers over the past year that lee binding has worked on has very little decent photos to make a cover. He cant use screen grabs to make covers either as the quality isnt high enough
matparks08
July 3rd, 2012 - 8:35pmI wonder if this will be the last release of 2012? I know other titles had been confirmed but for many years the classic releases finish in October and start again in January – I suppose, because of its re-coloring, it’s a special story to end the year on?
Gordon
July 3rd, 2012 - 8:50pmWe Might get Reign of terror late october to finish off the year. I doubt they will want that important title delayed from its originally anounced late 2012 release. Legacy was announced as likely for this year but i would say it feels more like it fits more in with january’s traditional box set release
JonPertweeisthebest
July 4th, 2012 - 3:57pmI wouldnt really mind if it was the last release this year because that would mean that the dvd range may last that little bit longer than expected and the releases we are dying for will seem alot more special if they keep us waiting for them.
Renegade Dalek
July 3rd, 2012 - 8:27pmdefo gonna get this. =D looks brill
matparks08
July 3rd, 2012 - 5:04pmcheck out the amazing cover on play.com – it’s due out in October too according to them!
Gordon
July 2nd, 2012 - 11:07pmAccording to someone on the dr who online forum that contacted bbc worldwide concerning the ambassadors release date got a response saying 1st october.
Gordon
July 3rd, 2012 - 1:30pmup for pre order. Its released 1st october http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/33699001/0/Doctor-Who-The-Ambassadors-Of-Death/ListingDetails.html
Gordon
June 27th, 2012 - 9:56pmNew doctor who magazine finally confirms something that most fans knew was happenning ages ago. Ambassadors of death will be getting a full colour release
Alan Dobbie
June 29th, 2012 - 12:40pmHoping the same for ‘The Mind of Evil’ now
Gordon
June 29th, 2012 - 12:44pmBabelcolour is colourising ep 1. Ep 2 to 6 has been recoloured using colour recovery
Alan Dobbie
June 21st, 2012 - 1:11pmVery sad to hear of the news of the passing of Caroline John. It will be strange hearing her on the DVD commentary on Ambassadors later in the year with Nick Courtney. I shed a little tear on the Planet of Spiders DVD hearing Liz, Nick and Barry Letts – the same will certainly happen again. RIP Caroline and thank-you.
gordon
June 21st, 2012 - 12:33pmCaroline john has passed away. The pertwee era has lost another legend RIP
JonPertweeisthebest
July 4th, 2012 - 4:02pmThe last couple of years have been very sad for the Pertwee years cast and crew. First we lost Barry Letts,then Nicholas Courtney, Elisabeth Sladen and now Caroline John which means hardly any Third Doctor companions are left except Jo, Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates, which is a shame as we wont see them in anything for the 50th anniversary next year!:(
gordon
June 6th, 2012 - 11:13amLee Binding has said on twitter that the artwork is green no liz shaw on the cover as there are no decent photos that he can use as a cover and there are 3 ambassadors on it.
gordon
June 11th, 2012 - 8:25pmComparison between the vhs and new restoration for the ucoming dvd release http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13497241/594847037.jpg
prof horner
May 27th, 2012 - 2:13pmWe have had to wait a long time for the Jon Pertwee stories on dvd. Another year for the mind of evil will be worth the wait if it is in full colour.
Gordon
May 27th, 2012 - 11:39pmmind of evil is coming out in full colour (steve roberts of the restoration team confirmed it). Colour recovery for eps 2 to 6 Is never going to look perfect (same with ambassadors) but im sure the restoration team will do their best with the available resources. I dont mind if mind of evil is delayed till 2014 its going to be a great release
Anonymous
May 28th, 2012 - 5:38am2 entertain has said that all realeases will be done by the end of 2013 except if there is going to be special editions
Gordon
May 28th, 2012 - 10:25amI know its the plan to have every complete story out by the end of 2013 but dan hall recently implied that 2013 would possibly not be the end of the range.Work on mind of evil might not get completed on time. (babelcolour has 7000 seperate frames to recolour on ep1 which could take well over a year and if there is any deays with that or the hundreds of hours of clean up of ep2 to 6 they could have no option but to delay it till 2014).
Gordon
May 28th, 2012 - 10:37amAnimation is another reason why they might not get everything out in 2013. 10th planet and ice warriors are both hinted as getting animated (not comfirmed). 10th planet shouldnt be a problem as 1 episode should take about 6 to 7 months but ice warriors (based on the length of time reign of terror) will take about a year and if they use thetasigma for those as well (i suspect they will do)they wont have enough staff to do both at same time and they just wont be finished in time to end in 2013
prof horner
May 25th, 2012 - 4:25pmLets hope that the ambassors of death is released in september with the mind of evil soon after.
Gordon
May 26th, 2012 - 10:49pmWe will probably have to wait a while for mind of evil. Babecolour (a famous youtuber) is currently colorising episode 1. He has thousands of frames to work on. It wouldnt suprise me if we are still waiting for mind of evil this time next year.
Gordon
May 22nd, 2012 - 5:20pmWe are one step closer to getting it released. Some of the extras have been passed by the bbfc http://www.bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/ClassifiedWorks/15072F3EF9C1785C80257A0600590FD6
Hopefully a release date will be announced soon. (Im thinking/hoping late september/early october as the release schedule is up to september 10 for vengance on varos SE and as the bbfc passed ambassadors extras just after the varos extras im think/hoping it should be next after varos)
McGann is the Doctor.
March 23rd, 2012 - 10:30amWill it be colourised and restored ? ❓ I hope they do, it was delayed because they had problems with it, so I hope the delay hasn’t been for nothing, although I’m not actually getting it.
McGann is the Doctor.
March 23rd, 2012 - 10:34amI’m getting the Auton set, Colony in Space, the Daemons, Day of the Daleks, Green death, Planet of the Spiders.
I already have The original Spearhead from Space, I have the Silurians and Inferno, Carnival of Monsters, Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks, the Time Warrior the Monster of Peladon.
It will take ages for me to get the other Pertwee stories ! I might also get the Time monster. 😉
gordon
March 23rd, 2012 - 11:27amYes its getting recoloured. The reason for the delay was colour recovery for it was taking a lot longer than expected. As peter croker (who restores the episodes) said restoration work was due for completion early march and once you take into consideration the artwork paperwork needing signed off bbfc classifing the extras etc we are looking at a release maybe 5-6 months time at the earliest so maybe august september time if they dont hold it back till 2013 but if they do hold it back it will prob come out early 2013.
KORSAIR
March 23rd, 2012 - 9:53amNot one of my favs to be honest, though I will be buying it, just to me it was the worst of Pertwee’s first season.
McGann is the Doctor.
March 23rd, 2012 - 10:30amI thought people LOVED that story ?
I’m not fussed on it, from what I’ve seen, it’s a direct remake of Quatermass.
Besides, I’ve seen the other three stories of Pertwee’s 1st season and will be moving on to the next one, no time to go back and see this one.
RICHARD MANSELL
March 22nd, 2012 - 3:57pmNo Gordon not Timelash, it was DW Collectors Wiki, which is very reliable. As for the date you suggested, the 25th June, that would be very feasible. And another thing 2entertain have released two classic DVDs in one Month, don`t ask which, but it has happened!
gordon
March 23rd, 2012 - 7:49amWiki can be edited by anybody thats why id take that date with a pinch of salt until its confirmed elsewhere. They have released 2 releases in the same month but i cant see it happening at that date at all as it would mean we would be getting 2 classic releases 2 weeks in a row (death is due the week before)which has never happened and i dont think ever will. Another reason why i think a release in june wont happen is the artwork hasnt even been commisioned yet (if it was coming out in june it would have been completed by now)
RICHARD MANSELL
March 21st, 2012 - 9:00amThe Ambassadors of Death will be released in June 2012. No exact date has been given as yet!
gordon
March 21st, 2012 - 10:25amI doubt that it will be ready that soon.(i take it you found that on timelash.com which has had about 7 different release dates of ambassadors already) Plus June already has death to the daleks (due out 18th june). Seeing as the only other available date in june is the 25th i cant see it happening. They wont release 2 classic releases in 2 consecutive weeks. Plus krotons will be out before ambassadors as its been ready for release for about a month which ambassadors hasnt been
gordon
January 12th, 2012 - 10:38amRumours are flying round that ambassadors problems has been sorted. Nothing has been confirmed yet by 2e or the restoration team though.
Gordon
February 5th, 2012 - 11:29pmLooks like the rumours of the problems being sorted are true but there is still some work to do though. Peter Crocker who deals with visual restoration just posted this on the galifrey base forum:Work recommences on “The Ambassadors of Death” tomorrow, with a target completion date of early March.
simon
February 17th, 2012 - 12:27pmit says this is coming out early next year
Gordon
February 18th, 2012 - 1:12amWhere does it say that? Nothing has been officially revealed about the release date appart from the delay
Simon
December 4th, 2011 - 9:52amIs this story coming out in late 2012??
Doctor Who DVD Collector
September 24th, 2011 - 12:42pmPleased to let you all know that Doctor Who “The Ambassadors of Death”will now be released in March 2012!
gordon
September 25th, 2011 - 2:41amWould not bet on that. For the simple fact its not ready yet. Even if it was ready it would not get released that quick as there are title or titles already planned for march 2012 and and those title/s were already planned for that month long before ambassadors was delayed. When it becomes ready it will need to get rescheduled which means it will have to wait till there is a gap in the schedule (end of the year or if something gets delayed are 2 possible reasons why a gap may occur).Shoving it out as the next release would muck up 2/e schedule
lewis
October 2nd, 2011 - 7:04pmHi,
Just wondering what dates doctor who the ambassadors of Death dvd in March 2012 now?
Thanks,
dalek dude 97
September 8th, 2011 - 9:18pmi forgot its mostly in black and white
dan
August 12th, 2011 - 9:09amwhen is it coming
Biggest Doctor Who Fan Ever!
July 22nd, 2011 - 7:07amWhen is this released???
lewis
July 19th, 2011 - 2:50pmHi,
Just wondering which month doctor who ambassadors of death dvd not out Yet?
please to let you know it this year 2011 or next year 2012 or 2013 now,
Thanks Lewis,