December 5th, 2018
109 comments
Doctor Who The Macra Terror DVD
Available to order from www.amazon.co.uk
Also available to order from www.zoom.co.uk and www.hmv.co.uk
Please note ALL formats contain both the B&W and Colour versions.
BBC Studios to release brand new animation of 1967 Doctor Who missing serial The Macra Terror
The 4 x 25 min missing episodes, which were originally part of Doctor Who’s (now mostly lost) fourth season, have been animated for the first time, to be released on DVD, Blu-ray, special edition Steelbook and digital download.
Originally broadcast in four weekly parts from 11th March to 1st April 1967, and starring Patrick Troughton, Anneke Wills, Michael Craze and Frazer Hines, no full episodes of this serial are known to have survived on film.
Fortunately for fans, a complete audio recording of all four parts still exists. Now, 52 years later, the four episodes will be brought back to life through the power of animation, available on disc and digital download, in both colour and black and white, from 18th March 2019.
Anneke Wills says, ‘Back in 1967 “There’s no such thing as Macra!” was the cry; and for many years after there was no such thing as “The Macra Terror”. Now, thanks to the magic of animation, we can see the story come to life again. I can’t wait to see this adventure and how gratifying to have a little more of Ben and Polly’s time with the Doctor available to be seen by new generations.’
The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his companions arrive on a human colony in the far flung future. The colony appears to be a giant recreational complex – a holiday camp for rest and relaxation. Everyone looks happy and carefree but all is not as it seems. The colony has been infiltrated and brainwashed by a race of giant parasitic crab creatures called the Macra.
The Macra have only returned once since, 40 years later, coming face to face with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) in the 2007 episode Gridlock.
Paul Hembury, Executive Producer, BBC Studios says, ‘After the success of Shada, we were very excited by the possibility of further animations. We are therefore delighted to be able to bring fans these missing episodes in a completely new form.’
Special features for the DVD and Blu-ray release include: Animation Gallery, Behind the Scenes Film and Audio Commentary.
Doctor Who: The Macra Terror will be released on digital download, DVD (RRP £20.42), Blu-ray (RRP £25.52) and special edition Steelbook (RRP £40.84) on 18th March 2019.
A special screening of Doctor Who: The Macra Terror will be held at the BFI Southbank, London on the 16th March 2019. Tickets will go on sale to BFI members on Tuesday 5th February with public sale opening on Tuesday 12th February. Further information will be available soon via the BFI website.
Categorised under: Doctor Who DVDs, DVD
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Anonymous
December 11th, 2018 - 2:21pmHmmm, just finished listening to Marco polo again. First time in about 14 years I’ve listened to it. A classic? Rather dull actually. Very little happens really. But here’s the thing. If it were animated It might be easier to get through. Trouble is how commercial would a 7 part historical story be? For fans yes, but for the general buying public? It’s a difficult question. As a fan I want Marco polo animated or even better found but as a realist I understand the limited commercial power of this and other stories. Don’t get me wrong I would happily buy it tomorrow but we have to realise that not all who stories may be animated purely down to money issues. Especially when you consider the uncertain economic future of the UK.
bob is nice
December 9th, 2018 - 2:51pmnice
Tim M
December 9th, 2018 - 8:54amI hope the black and white and colour animated versions of ‘The Macra Terror’ are on the DVD release.
Anonymous
December 9th, 2018 - 10:31amIt’ll be on the bluray like power.
Anonymous
December 9th, 2018 - 10:33amShould have added that it would be nice if it was on the DVD but it will be bluray.
the silly timelord
December 8th, 2018 - 6:54pmexcited
Anonymous
December 8th, 2018 - 12:19pmhow about. WE JUST GET THE CRUSADE OUT OF THE WAY. I don’t care. Just Do A Really Fancy Telesnap Animation, there no one is offended. And then. Do all the other stories. Sorry, I really want all of Season 2 on my self
Gordon
December 8th, 2018 - 12:45pmOr how about we just wait till they do things properly rather than rush it out. It’s 1 story that completes a season and thus will likely get done at some point especially if they want a season 2 blu ray set. They may even use part of the season 2 blu ray budget to help fund the crusade animation. It’s not a cheap story to animate. Due to the sheer number of characters sets costumes and locations it would cost more than power and it doesn’t help that it’s a historical. Reign of terror was the worst selling animated story and that was a historical
Gareth Pugh
December 8th, 2018 - 1:18pmI wouldn’t be surprised if, when they do reconstruct The Crusade (be it telesnaps or animation) it’s exclusive to the Season 2 BluRay box as a big selling hook for that (at least initially perhaps, maybe standalone formats could follow).
Anonymous
December 8th, 2018 - 8:48pmIt would have to be a standalone release for me to buy it. If they did do it exclusively in a season 2 bluray set well, it’s a shame but I won’t be buying it. Commercially I think it would have to be released as a DVD, bluray and steel book to stand a chance of making the costs back.
rgb
December 7th, 2018 - 9:50pmI hope the cover art matches the rest of the range with the classic logo
the macra are better than you think
December 8th, 2018 - 11:24ami think it will match otherwise that would be a bit silly
Gareth Pugh
December 8th, 2018 - 1:22pmI’m pretty confident the DVD release will have a reversible sleeve with the new logo on the outside and the old ‘Classic’ (Pertwee/McGann) logo – and design layout – on the inside that you can flip round if you want consistency on your shelf. Much like they did with Power, Enemy if the World etc
doctor in distress #2
December 7th, 2018 - 6:48pmlove this dvd
doctor whom
December 7th, 2018 - 7:17pmso do i
bob
December 7th, 2018 - 6:00pmcan’t wait!
the silly timelord
December 8th, 2018 - 11:25amneither can i.
acefan2005
December 7th, 2018 - 1:33pmdoctor whom, thank you very much! I Would really love to see Animal turned into an animation would you!?
Anonymous
December 7th, 2018 - 3:18pmAfraid that’s something they will not do. BBC won’t animate a big finish CD story even if it’s based on an unused script
Doctor whom
December 7th, 2018 - 4:15pmThanks, not really as I never seen it
prototype dalek
December 6th, 2018 - 5:02pmPre Ordered my copy, interesting story to animate so will look forward to watching this one.
doctor whom
December 6th, 2018 - 4:08pmthese are the DVD’s i want from 2019:
web of fear special edition
dragon fire special edition
macra terror
wheel in space
pyramids of mars special edition
evil of the daleks
daleks master plan
season 18
season 19
season 10
season 29
season 13
season 24
season 7
some of these have already been planed.
Anonymous
December 6th, 2018 - 5:11pmBeing realistic we might get one other animation next year, but I wouldn’t count on it. And I can’t see anymore special editions coming with the possible exception of web of fear. Dragonfire and pyramids already have a reasonable amount of extras so are unlikely to be done. I hope we get another animation on top of macra but I would be a bit surprised if we did.
Gordon
December 6th, 2018 - 5:18pmDue to the amount of work each blu ray set takes The limit is 3-4 season sets a year. 18 is confirmed 10 is supposedly coming out later in 2019 and 26 has been confirmed by 1 of the actresses as coming out December 2019. That only leaves room for 1 other release and seeing as Lalla Ward and one of the actresses from city of death were recording extras for that I’d guess it’s quite possibly season 17. Season 19 is out next week. I doubt dragon fire and pyramid of mars will get special editions. They have taken them as far as they can on dvd and they want to keep any special features for the season 13 and 24 blu ray sets. Only way I see a web se is if Phil turns up with ep 3. As much as I’d like to have both evil and masterplan out next year I just can’t see it. Masterplan alone would be at least a years work for the team that worked on power etc so I can’t see it and also you don’t want all your big hitters out in 1 go. Wheel in space is very likely happening but the big question is on if it’s being animated. Sure there is that 10 minute mini ep that is based upon ep 1 (which rob Ritchie says will be going on the macra dvd) but then if they are animating the whole thing why have Jamie in the wrong outfit. Surely would be better to have him in the right outfit as you wouldn’t have to go back and change it when they go to animate the rest of the story. Doesn’t make sense.
Anonymous
December 6th, 2018 - 5:30pmI would love to see galaxy 4 animated it would be less animation than some of the longer hartnell stories especially if they use the 6 min existing section from episode 1 to reduce animation further. But much as I would love that I have the feeling that the troughton era is just more saleable. I would buy all the hartnell stories in a shot but at the moment I’ll take what ever we get!
doctor whom
December 6th, 2018 - 5:54pmthanks for giving me your thoughts. this was more of a wish list than a prediction.
Acefan2005
December 6th, 2018 - 10:16pmThat’s good I believe that the wheel in space is going to come out very very soon in America but i would ask for:
The faceless ones
The Daleks Master Plan
Mission to the unknown
Revisitations 4 (Web of fear special edition, Death to the Daleks special edition & the underwater menace special edition
I would also like to see season 27 made into animations so then we could see Ace’s exit even tho she Leaves in love & war
doctor whom
December 7th, 2018 - 8:40amthats a good idea
Acefan2005
December 7th, 2018 - 1:52pmDoctor whom thank you very much would you like to see Animal released as an animation!?
Acefan2005
December 9th, 2018 - 10:22pmDo you think the modern series episodes should be made into individual Epiodes & realised story by story so basically:
Rose
The End of the world
& so on
the ergon
December 6th, 2018 - 3:36pmI,m pleased they are animating these missing stories but i would much rather them do the stories with the odd existing episodes first and leave some mystery with the completely lost. Its like has been mentioned, the animation, why,ll fine, isn,t top drawer in the way ‘The Invasion’ was animated by cosgrove Hall.
Gordon
December 6th, 2018 - 6:23pmThe animations don’t have anywhere near the budget of cosgrove hall either. I’m guessing the choice of missing story comes down to bbc America wanting something they can show on bbc America in colour and widescreen. Power in colour was because bbc America wanted it in colour. If they did a partial missing story it would mean it would probably be in black and white. You also have to take into account that a fully missing story is more marketable. I mean what is more marketable a special edition of underwater menace which has already had a dvd release or a brand new dvd release of Macra Terror which has never been released on dvd before
the ergon
December 6th, 2018 - 8:56pmI take your point with regards to the overseas market and it is more economically viable but maybe they could focus on the black and white partial stories for the UK market first. I personally prefer to see these partial stories first and foremost in black and white, in which they were intended even if the colour is optional. I,m just a purist. I will buy this of course and subsequent others, i guess I just miss the Cosgrove Hall style of animation more.
Anonymous
December 6th, 2018 - 10:03pmI prefer the black and white animation anyway. That’s the way it was originally done so I’m very happy with that. I’m not bothered about watching the hartnell/troughton era as a colour version
Gordon
December 6th, 2018 - 11:58pmThe problem is bbc America are heavily involved with financing the animations. They need to see a return in that investment. I’m in the minority but I preferred power in colour. I just found it an easier watch
Anonymous
December 7th, 2018 - 12:22amThing is Gordon that’s fine. If you liked the colour version more – great. I’m happy for a colour version to be done as long as it’s not instead of a monochrome version but as an extra version. If they did two DVD releases say of macra, one monochrome one colour I’d buy the monochrome one but that’s just me. I suppose it’s because I also love b&w movies. It just doesn’t matter to me that it’s b&w.
the ergon
December 7th, 2018 - 12:50amGordon, did you get to see Power when it was transmitted? Sorry if it sounds like i,m prying but just wondered why you enjoyed the experience of a black and white classic in colour, thats all.
Gordon
December 7th, 2018 - 1:39amI didn’t see it when it was broadcast but I normally do prefer the animations and episodes being in black and white. However the power animation style I feel lends itself better to being in colour. I totally struggled to get through the black and white version but the colour version felt easier to get through
doctor whom
December 6th, 2018 - 11:54amhi when will we get to see the official cover art?
Gordon
December 6th, 2018 - 11:59amWhen it’s ready. I don’t think they are at that point yet
Anonymous
December 6th, 2018 - 5:14pmI think if I remember rightly the cover art wasn’t released until shortly before the releases of power and shada so it could be a while yet
Duncan Parsons
December 6th, 2018 - 8:21amIt would be pretty good if they went back and did the animation for the underwater menace
Gordon
December 6th, 2018 - 11:32amI’d rather they focused on things that didn’t already have a dvd on the shelf. The recon is terrible admitedly but the extras for that dvd are good
Anonymous
December 6th, 2018 - 12:44pmI agree with Gordon here. Unless they did a boxset of say, the Highlanders and the underwater menace. Otherwise loads of people would complain about the underwater menace being done again. I’d still buy it happily in order to have a fuller version but I’d prefer a few more releases before that one.
Steven Taylor
December 11th, 2018 - 10:24amI think if they release a much better telesnap recon of the underwater Menace like by loose canon they could animate another story like the highlanders or something and release it near the same time as underwater then people won’t complain as much because there rereleasing underwater because there will also be an animation
Kevin
December 6th, 2018 - 7:52amI’ve ordered mine through HMV as the Amazon links don’t work, only want this on DVD as all my classic Who collection is on DVD so just prefer the same format. 🙂
the ergon
December 6th, 2018 - 12:51amI hope philip Morris or paul vanezis have some good news before the 60th. I hope there are private collectors who would relinquish any more classics.These are fine substitutes but there is nothing like the real thing.
Anonymous
December 6th, 2018 - 12:23amAt the time of posting none of the Amazon links are working but all three hmv links are. Hmv prices are £12.99 for DVD. £24.99 for steel book and £24.99 for blu-ray
Anonymous
December 6th, 2018 - 12:16amOrdered via hmv £12.99 for the dvd
doctor whom
December 6th, 2018 - 1:40pmbest price
C’rizz the Cheshire Cat
December 6th, 2018 - 12:13amHave to confess, since Cosgrove Hall died I’ve been a little wary of these animation styles. They seem a little too concerned on mirroring the exact actions than making it look fluid and natural.