November 13th, 2021
158 comments
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Doctor Who Galaxy 4 DVD
Available to order from www.amazon.co.uk, www.hive.co.uk, www.zavvi.com and other selected retailers.
This item should also be available to order at a later date from www.hive.co.uk and www.base.com
BBC Studios have announced the new Doctor Who: Galaxy 4 animation starring William Hartnell as the Doctor and can reveal artwork alongside a sneak peak of what’s included in the release. The new animated release will be available online and in store on DVD, Blu-ray and a Limited Edition Blu-ray Steelbook.
Galaxy 4 (alternatively spelled Galaxy Four) is the mostly-missing first serial of the third season of the British series Doctor Who, which originally aired in four weekly episodes from 11th September to 2nd October 1965.
Following the success of the existing animations, Galaxy 4 fills another gap in the missing Doctor Who content lost from the BBC’s archive soon after the programme’s original transmission. However, audio-only recordings of all four episodes have survived and have been used here to create a brand new fully animated presentation of the entirety of this lost classic, alongside the original surviving Episode 3 and over five minutes of original footage from the otherwise lost Episode 1.
The Doctor (William Hartnell) stars alongside his travel companions Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) and Steven (Peter Purves) which sees the TARDIS landing on a planet on the verge of total annihilation as it drifts too close to the three suns which it orbits. Trapped on the planet with them are the Drahvins, a race of warrior women, and the reptilian Rills. The Drahvins want to steal the Rill spaceship to escape the planet’s death throes, and enlist the Doctor’s help, which he is forced to give when Maaga, the cunning Drahvin leader, keeps first Vicki and then later Steven as her hostage. Even though the Doctor is determined to broker a peace deal between the two sides in this conflict and help everyone escape safely, Maaga doesn’t trust him, or the Rills…
The two disc release gives fans the opportunity to enjoy the four new animated episodes of Galaxy 4, in either colour or black and white.
The release will also include:
- Remastered Surviving Original Episode 3
- Remastered Surviving Clip from Episode 1
- Telesnap Reconstructions of Episodes 1,2 and 4.
- Audio Commentaries
- Making Of Documentary
- Finding Galaxy 4 Documentary
- Photo Gallery
- Production Subtitles
Gary Russell, Executive Producer from Big Finish Creative of the 2021 production said “After a gap of many years, it is very exciting to bring the era of the First Doctor back into the animation world. Galaxy 4 is one of the most traditional adventures of 1960s Doctor Who and it’s been a real honour to work on this alternative version which hopefully reflects those technicolour thrills that sci-fi moves of the ’60s had but which Doctor Who’s monochrome TV limitations couldn’t yet achieve.”
BFI Southbank will host a special screening of all 4 episodes of the newly animated story Galaxy 4 on 7th November 2021; tickets go on sale on 16th September at 11:30 to BFI Champions and Patrons, at 12:30 to BFI Members and at 16:00 to the general public.
DOCTOR WHO: GALAXY 4
Written by William Emms
Directed by Chloe Grech (2021 Production)
Directed by Derek Martinus (1965 Production)
Executive Producers for Big Finish Creative – Gary Russell, Mark B.Oliver and Jason Haigh-Ellery (2021 Production)
Executive Producer for BBC Studios – Russell Minton (2021 Production)
Produced by Verity Lambert (1965 Production)
Starring William Hartnell, Maureen O’Brien, Peter Purves, Stephanie Bidmead, Marina Martin, Susanna Caroll, Lyn Ashley.
Categorised under: Doctor Who DVDs, DVD
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James
December 13th, 2021 - 9:59pmIs there any difference between the dvd, the bluray, and the steelbook? Apart from the disc format and box
RPG74
December 14th, 2021 - 7:46pmDolby sound on the DVD and DTS-HD MA on the blu ray, but they’re both mono sound so I wouldn’t be bothered about the difference.
Superior picture quality on the blu ray, obviously, but aside from that there are no different or extra features on any of the discs, including the steel book. Exactly the same content
Mark
November 20th, 2021 - 6:36pmSome on here misread, my message, the seeds of death as referring to second doctor Patrick troughton was never released in episodic form on vhs, it was the first and only patrick troughton story on vhs before episodic formats.
I made no mention of Jon pertwee or tom baker because the subject was about seeds of death. The reason it was released edited was because it was released before the sell through range came into effect. If you don,t know the sell through range I suggest you look it up.
But many many titles were rereleased at these more respectable prices.
Children of davros
November 20th, 2021 - 8:24pmYou did say in your original comment seeds was the ‘only’ story not released in episode form and yes it was the first black and white, the first troughton, but it was not the ‘only’ story to never be released in episode form until DVD. Time warrior and talons also weren’t released again in vhs.
Tim M
November 18th, 2021 - 10:03pmJust watched the photo/clips/CGI reconstruction on disc one alongside the existing episode 3. Really enjoyed it. A great recon and a much closer approximation of the visual look to how the episodes likely appeared on original transmission.
me
November 17th, 2021 - 11:06pmi just watched disc 1 of the dvd s i thought it was done really good hope there is more to come maybe an historical one
Auton
November 18th, 2021 - 7:40amHopefully, the massacre, the smugglers, the highlanders, the crusade, the myth makers and Marco Polo will be soon as they are all some of my favourite 60s stories
Callum Eales
November 17th, 2021 - 3:19pmJust watched the b&w animated with ep3 live action. Really enjoyed it. Bring on the next release. Was nice to watch a 1st doctor story. But i must say i do prefer the 2nd as he is my favorite.
Jamie Fletcher
November 16th, 2021 - 1:20pmSo we know (unofficially) that The Abominable Snowmen is coming in 2022, what else is rumored to be getting animated next?
It would be nice to think that Mission to the Unknown and DMP are being worked on with the inclusion of the clip in the final episode of Galaxy Four. Now Big Finish have models of the First Doctor, Vikki and Steven created we could get The Savages.
Auton
November 16th, 2021 - 1:33pmDodo is in the savages not Vicki. I would love the mission to the unknown to be animated but as a separate release to the DMP. I think Daleks master plan will be one of the last animations they make due to the amount of episodes needed. I agree that the savages is probably next after abominable then perhaps an underwater menace special edition
Neil
November 16th, 2021 - 9:28amReally enjoyed this story, despite its less than great reputation. Hope to see more Hartnell stories animated soon.
Doctor Blu
November 15th, 2021 - 6:33pmVery good animation. I prefer the colour version. I tend to watch a full colour animation if less than half the story exists. If half or more of a story exists, I would rather watch the existing episodes alongside black and white animation. Of the stories left to be animated, only with ‘The Crusade’ and ‘The Underwater Menace’ would I watch the two existing episodes alongside two black and white animated ones.
mick
November 15th, 2021 - 3:15pmgot mine today from amazon, damaged as usual. damaged slip case and it looks like someone tried to fold the dvd case down the middle!
Whorules
November 14th, 2021 - 2:59pmAnd that’s galaxy 4 finished. Great stuff. The animation is very good and helps tell the story visually. Both versions work well and the reconstruction is very good. The extras are fun and interesting. It’s scary to think I’ve actually owned the CD version of galaxy 4 for 21 years now. Lovely to finally be able to watch it though.