March 15th, 2019
322 comments
We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.
Doctor Who The Macra Terror DVD
Available to order in the UK from www.amazon.co.uk
Also available to order in the UK from www.zoom.co.uk
Available to order in the USA from www.amazon.com #ad
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 standard and reversible covers…
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.
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.
Special features for the DVD and Blu-ray release include:
- Audio Commentary: Toby Hadoke presents an audio commentary track on all four episodes of ‘The Macra Terror’, featuring cast and crew from the original 1967 production – Frazer Hines (Jamie), Terence Lodge (Medok), Anthony Gardner (Alvis), Maureen Lane (Majorette) and director, John Davies. Commentary produced by John Kelly and recorded in London on 4th January 2019.
- Episode Reconstructions: Surviving film frames, fragments of existing footage and set photographs are brought together with the original unedited audio to reconstruct a presentation of the original now lost live-action production of ‘The Macra Terror’, as seen by viewers of BBC 1 in 1967. Produced by Derek Handley. Available to watch with or without an optional narration track read by Anneke Wills.
- Bonus Mini-Episode: A ten-minute animated short, built around an otherwise lost Doctor Who episode from 1968 starring Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines. Directed by AnneMarie Walsh.
- Animation Test: Prior to the project being formally commissioned, this short animation test (of a scene from episode 3 of ‘The Macra Terror’) was produced in March 2018, to investigate the feasibility of mounting the production in full.
- Animatics: A selection of scenes showing how the new animated production of ‘The Macra Terror’ went from initial storyboards to final animation. Storyboard art by Adrian Salmon.
- Animation Gallery: A gallery of artwork from the development, pre-production and animation of the new animated version of ‘The Macra Terror’, including character art from Martin Geraghty and background paintings from Graham Bleathman, Colin Howard and Lydia Butz.
- Teaser Trailer: A short teaser trailer animated by Rob Ritchie, produced to promote the announcement of a new production of ‘The Macra Terror’ in December 2018.
- Alternative Black and White presentation: The full four-part animation is also available to view in an alternative black and white format on disc 2.
- 1992 Audio Presentation: In 1992, the BBC Audio Collection released ‘The Macra Terror’ on audio cassette, in a special release narrated by Colin Baker. It was the first time that the story had been made commercially available by the BBC and that audio-only release is included here in full.
- Surviving Footage: Less than two minutes of original footage still exist from the 1967 production of ‘The Macra Terror’. These film fragments have been painstakingly restored and digitally remastered for this release, with considerable improvements made to the overall picture quality and resolution of this unique footage. Film restoration by Peter Crocker.
- Behind the scenes film: In 1967, during pre-production of ‘The Macra Terror’, film cameras visited the visual effects workshop in Uxbridge where work was underway on construction of the Macra props. Special effects props and models from other Doctor Who stories can also be seen in the workshop, including parts of a Cyberman from ‘The Tenth Planet’ (1966) and an aeroplane from ‘The Faceless Ones’ (1967). This footage is accompanied by a new audio commentary track from Doctor Who visual effects designer and BBC visual effects historian, Mike Tucker, explaining some of the effects techniques and props featured in the film.
- Censored Scene: A reconstruction of a scene from episode 2 of ‘The Macra Terror’ that was heavily re-edited by censors for the episode’s Australian television transmission in November 1967.
- Title sequences: ‘The Macra Terror’ saw the debut of a new title sequence for Doctor Who – the first time the programme had made such a change. The title sequence is presented here in full, remastered in HD and in a number of alternative versions.
- Photo gallery: A collection of 36 photographs taken during the production of ‘The Macra Terror’ in 1967, featuring original design department set photographs and Radio Times publicity images. All presented in HD.
- Production Paperwork: A full set of original camera scripts, studio schedules, floor plans and other materials are available to view by accessing disc 2 via your computer’s DVD or Blu Ray ROM drive.
Additional extras exclusive to Steelbook:
- Gridlock: The Macra returned to Doctor Who in 2007, in this episode starring David Tennant and written by Russell T. Davies
- Audio commentary: Julie Gardner, Travis Oliver and Marie Jones discuss the making of ‘Gridlock’ in this audio commentary track from 2007.
- Doctor Who Confidential – Are we there yet?: A documentary looking at the making of the 2007 story, ‘Gridlock’.
Categorised under: Doctor Who DVDs, DVD, Featured
The Doctor Who Site
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Merchandise
Flickr
YouTube
Edward Benjamin Baumeister
March 31st, 2019 - 3:45amAny chance we will get a reversible cover for the region 1 DVDs as well? It would be great to fit it in with the other classic DVDs in the range on this side if the pond as well.
Euan Bird
March 30th, 2019 - 12:10pmJust got the Blu-Ray today in Sainsbury’s. Was hoping it would be slightly cheaper but it was £18. Really looking forward to watching it now
Anonymous
March 28th, 2019 - 11:37pmthis one is a bit like marmite you like it or you don t i think it is better then the missing story audio book as much as like it . but on the dvd you got both
Anonymous
March 31st, 2019 - 1:27pmIt’s better than just having an audio version. The recon is excellent and worth it for that alone. The animation is good, I prefer the black and white to the colour but for me there are too many differences. There are too many places where we know what the actions are that link to the soundtrack that have been ignored. For instance, instead of the doctor sliding up and down on a seat taking readings before drawing the formula out we get the sliding sound animated as noises of him writing. We see medok lying dead in the mine but not in the animation. I don’t see the point in animating if you are not going to even try and be accurate. The animators of the ice warriors went out of their way to get it as close as possible to how it might have been. With macra the animators seem to have taken the view of expedience over accuracy.
The 14th Doctor
March 28th, 2019 - 6:11pmi am sorry to say this but i do not like this animation. it has lost all its original character and it doesn’t look right.
Anonymous
March 28th, 2019 - 7:16pmHave to agree, I watched it again but I just don’t like the version they’ve created with the animation. I’m sticking to the recon from now on.
Anonymous
March 28th, 2019 - 7:18pmIt’s not so much that I dislike the animation my problem is it differs far too much from the original story.
Tim M
March 29th, 2019 - 10:52pmI do like the animation. But I think I can see another reason why they don’t want to do Historical adventures, apart from costumes, amount of characters and sets. This type and style of animation would not suit an historical tale. I couldn’t see ‘Marco Polo’ work with this style, and I certainly can’t see this particular style of animation working alongside the two surviving episodes of ‘The Crusade’. It’s far too comic strip cartoon to be suitable. Fine for the Sci-fi episodes, and in particular, stories that are completely missing.
The Jamie
March 28th, 2019 - 1:03pmDo we know what the next story could be and if it will be a fully animated one(meaning they pick a story that’s fully missing)
Also what’s the latest one finding any lost storys
Gordon
March 28th, 2019 - 2:18pmFury of the deep wheel in space or highlanders are the 3 rumoured stories next. The animators seem to be interested with fully missing stories based upon them doing power and macra. Fury seems the most likely out of the completely missing stories as there aren’t many sets costumes or characters. When deciding on animating macra the highlanders was an option but was ruled out as there was more characters. They didn’t rule it out in future though. Some seem to think that because they animated 10 minutes of wheel they are doing the rest however it was a seperate production made specificly and quickly for the bfi. Pretty much all the assets was existing. The servo robot and the spaceship and wheel was 10 years old as it was taken off the loose canon recons and doctor and Jamie was taken from the Macra Terror even if it was the wrong costume for Jamie. However If they were doing it next they would have made sure that they were animating the correct costume. It only means they have to redo a good chunk of it when they get round to actually doing it fully. If it was next it would have made better sense to keep it for the wheel release?
The Jamie
March 28th, 2019 - 4:45pmI wonder why they don’t pick stories that have a lot of the episodes because that would be cheaper wouldn’t it
The Jamie
March 28th, 2019 - 4:47pmI meant stories that episodes that have been find over the ones that are missing all of them
Gordon
March 28th, 2019 - 5:29pmNot necessary cheaper as in the case of crusade lts a very expensive one to do and would cost a lot more than a lot of 6 parters. The more characters sets and costumes the more expensive it is. There are some completely missing 4 or 6 parters that have less assets to create than a story that only has 2 missing episodes. The problem becomes more apparent in historicals like Marco Polo or the crusade that has numerous locations multiple costume changes and massive casts. A story like fury from the deep has about half the cast of crusade (about 13 guest cast plus the regulars) not anywhere near the costume changes of crusade and if I remember correctly has less set changes in 6 episodes of fury than there is in 1 of the crusade
Mark Belsom.
March 28th, 2019 - 6:18pmHaving watched the ten minutes of Wheel in space I really hope it’s the next release. But any missing story will be a bonus.
The Jamie
March 28th, 2019 - 6:57pmThanks for the insight gordon, i just hope they eventually get all missing stories out either animated or they find them. Just wondering when do you think the next story will come out or when they could announce it?
Steven Taylor
March 28th, 2019 - 8:20pmI personally feel stories like Marco Polo and the cruades wouldn’t benefit much with animation as there not very action packed and would feature the characters just standing there for a while talking, however stories like evil of The Daleks and the celestial toymaker would benefit with animation as they are very action packed and visual stories, releasing Marco Polo and the cruades on dvd using telesnaps would be a really cheap way of getting money, they could use loose canon ones they are missing a bit opporties
Gordon
March 28th, 2019 - 8:33pmProbably be a while before we hear anything. They started preprep on macra in March of last year and we didn’t find out officially till December. We might get something announced by the end of the year
isitneil
March 28th, 2019 - 7:18amOrdered mine a couple of days ago; so looking foward to receiving it any day now. Thanks to everyone here who has placed comments – they have been both informative and enjoyable while awaiting my copy; and in the decision as to which format to buy 1st. I will leave further comments on my thoughts once received and watched.
Chrispy
March 27th, 2019 - 6:57pmWatched first two episodes today – great!
Enjoyed this on audio so was pleased when the animation was announced.
Hope they will animate more stories if enough of us buy this.
I’d only watch the b&w version of power – colour seemed very wrong because I’d seen the telesnaps so much.
But for Macra I’m really liking the colour version.
Callum
March 27th, 2019 - 2:52pmThe sudden change in animation style is a bit weird. But fantastic we are getting more of the 2nd doctor. And of course you have to watch in b&w they way these classics are ment to be watched.
Anonymous
March 27th, 2019 - 4:44pmThe colour is far superior
Gordon
March 27th, 2019 - 5:31pmIf you want to watch it in colour you can. If you want to watch in black in white the option is also there. Both options are available. It’s not an either or thing.
Anonymous
April 4th, 2019 - 12:43pmHey. Remember the original episode was shot in black and white. And this version was animated in colour. This version is a sort of reimagining. That is main version on the disc (what I mean is it’s Master format is the colour version). but the black and white version is optional. It’s like the cover on the dvd. Whatever you prefer
Mark Belsom.
March 27th, 2019 - 2:05pmReally impressed with the Macra Terror,only watched the b&w version so far. The opening scene with the TARDIS is just brilliant. Also loved the ten minutes of wheel in space but I want more. Can’t wait for the next release.
Anonymous
March 26th, 2019 - 3:50pmgreat version of the story both in black and white and in colour. good dvd extras and a reversible cover not bad for £13
Tim M
March 26th, 2019 - 6:38pmIndeed. A great dvd. A well made animation. Hopefully we will get more. The 10 minute animation of episode 1 of ‘The Wheel in Space’ was wonderful. I’m actually hoping that is the next story to be animated. Like ‘Macra’ it only needs 4 episodes animating. I really like ‘The Wheel in Space’ and it’s still so remarkably underrated!
Gordon
March 26th, 2019 - 3:38amIt seems a perfect fit to have macra released on Patrick Troughton’s 99th birthday. Hopefully we have something in a years time for his 100th. Fury from the deep would be the perfect 1. Out of the remaining unanimated stories I’d say it’s the best 1 to do. Evil in my opinion is overrated (could have been a good 4-5 parter) and doing web 3 wouldn’t seem a big deal for his 100th especially if it’s supposedly out there. The soundtrack to fury is so good and eerie. The cliffhanger in episode 3 is just so unsettling. It introduces the sonic screwdriver and Victoria leaves so it has a lot going for it story wise and to market. The seaweed monster and foam make it an easier villain to draw. The cast only has 16 cast members and 2 of which already been animated in the doctor and Jamie. That’s less people than macra and round about the same number of cast as in power. There aren’t a massive amount of sets either.
Steven taylor
March 26th, 2019 - 6:47amI love fury from the deep too, it’s so underrated, if they animate I hope they design the sonic the way it was, it was the whistle of Victoria’s life jacket, and not the pen light design leter shown in the dominators and war games, it’s only a very small detail but it’s one, if done properly, that would make me happy
Anonymous
March 28th, 2019 - 6:55amit’s 6 parts though
so it will take more time than Macra Terror so I think we’ll end up with sort of combination between power and macra. or at least so I think
I actually did listen to fury from the deep. I think it’s overrated, it’s good, I think I will listen to it a couple of times to get into it really.
Gordon
March 28th, 2019 - 1:16pmNot necessary. The big thing is the sets costumes and characters. Due to the sheer amount of sets costumes and characters 2 episodes of crusade would take longer to do than 4 episodes of macra or even 6 episodes of fury. Fury doesn’t have that many characters sets or costume changes.
me
March 25th, 2019 - 8:35pmjust finished watching both the B&W and Colour versions of the dvd..more please
Rob W
March 25th, 2019 - 9:29pmI wonder why they changed the words Doctor Who to Green in the animation when the feature on disc 2 shows it as White?
Anonymous
March 25th, 2019 - 12:16pmHas anyone been able to access the CD-ROM features? I can’t find it on the second disc?
me
March 25th, 2019 - 3:20pmyes it is a bit hard to find look for doctor who dvd on the left on windows ex not much on there the radio times listings are good
Tim M
March 24th, 2019 - 11:43pmI got it in the post today! Watched it this evening after work. Really enjoyed it, the animation was excellent. ‘The Macra Terror’ however is a good story but by no means a classic. I’d give it 7/10. The short ‘Wheel in Space’ animation for episode 1 was also very good, so good that I wanted to see more! Seriously guys, you can’t just tease us with a short but well executed animation of a mostly missing story, and not do anymore…
Anonymous
March 24th, 2019 - 9:07pmI have watched like ten minutes of episode one. But can I just say. This is my favourite animation to date. So much better than every other one. They have improved so much since the dreadful power of the Daleks one. Also I didn’t mind the colour this time. It felt so much more natural
David
March 24th, 2019 - 7:26pmI know this is the DVD page, but since the special features look to be the same on DVD and blu ray, which one do you think is best to get? aside from the now growing blu ray box sets, the only other doctor who blu ray I own is the TV Movie.
Anonymous
March 25th, 2019 - 8:57amI have the dvd and bluray of macra. I have a 4k tv and the dvd resolution looks extremely low and bad on it. The quality is not there for a big tv. I think the files are too compressed to fit all the episodes on there a few times over.
The bluray however looks as good as it should so i would recommend getting that one.
David
March 25th, 2019 - 9:03pmThank you so much, I bought the blu ray in the end, such a good release!