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March 15th, 2019 588 comments

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Doctor Who The Collection Season 18 Blu-ray

Available to order from www.zoom.co.uk

Also available to order from www.amazon.co.uk

Available to order from www.amazon.com #ad

BBC Studios announces Tom Baker’s final series as the next instalment in the DOCTOR WHO: THE COLLECTION Blu-ray range

BBC Studios continues to offer Doctor Who fans the opportunity to build their own home archive on Blu-ray. Following the sell-out success of Tom Baker’s debut season, his seventh and final series will be released on 25th February as Doctor Who – The Collection: Season 18.

Tom Baker’s final year saw the programme undergo radical changes in front of the cameras and behind the scenes.

Producer John Nathan-Turner revamped the series with new writers, new directors, a new title sequence and theme arrangement, glossy production standards and – throughout the course of the season – a brand new regular cast. Over seven classic adventures the Doctor and his companions encountered the Foamasi, Meglos, the Marshmen, vampires and Tharils, building to a final deadly showdown between the Doctor and his arch nemesis the Master.

As a special bonus this set also includes the 1981 K9 & Company Christmas pilot episode, plus hours of brand new material.

Starring alongside Tom Baker are Lalla Ward as Romana, Matthew Waterhouse as Adric, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa, Janet Fielding as Tegan, Anthony Ainley as the Master, Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah-Jane Smith and John Leeson as K9.

Special Features exclusive to this set include:

  • New Making-Of documentary and updated special effects for Logopolis
  • Revealing new 2019 commentaries moderated by Matthew Sweet (Tom Baker on The Leisure Hive, Lalla Ward & Rachel Davies on State Of Decay)
  • Surround sound mix for Warriors’ Gate
  • Rare behind-the-scenes footage from The Leisure Hive, Full Circle and Logopolis
  • Eight more editions of Behind The Sofa
  • Brand new documentaries The Writers Room and Weekend With Waterhouse
  • New interview with K9 & Company’s Ian Sears
  • Another dip into the Panopticon convention archives with Tom Baker
  • HD photo galleries plus scripts, production files and rare documentation provided as PDFs
  • The eight-disc box set also includes hours of extensive special features previously released on DVD.

All material has been remastered for Blu-ray by Peter Crocker and Mark Ayres. Lee Binding has provided stunning packaging and new series writer/content consultant Pete McTighe has written another extensive booklet. Russell Minton is Executive Producer.

Blu-ray trivia: when filming took place for Logopolis (1980), Tom Baker’s last adventure, the intention was to shoot at the University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Observatory. Instead, production took place at Crowsley Park with the team using model shots.

For the brand new Blu-ray, almost 40 years later, BBC Studios received permission to film at Jodrell Bank with a drone. Offered as an alternative viewing option, fans will now be able to experience the finished product just as it was originally intended.

DOCTOR WHO: THE COLLECTION – SEASON 18 includes the following stories from 1980/81:

  • The Leisure Hive (four episodes)
  • Meglos (four episodes)
  • Full Circle (four episodes)
  • State Of Decay (four episodes); Warriors’ Gate (four episodes)
  • The Keeper Of Traken (four episodes)
  • Logopolis (four episodes)
  • plus K9 & Company – A Girl’s Best Friend.

RRP: £56.16


Categorised under: Blu-ray, DVD

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588 comments

  • creed

    December 1st, 2018 - 11:09am

    If I preorder from hmv, will I charged upon ordering or when the item is dispatched?

    Reply
    • Gordon

      December 1st, 2018 - 11:14am

      You get charged when it gets dispatched. There is also the PayPal option which means you get charged straight away

    • Anonymous

      December 1st, 2018 - 4:27pm

      And if the hmv price goes down that’s the price you’ll pay

  • Andrew

    November 30th, 2018 - 6:25pm

    If you order this on Amazon before 5th December use code freedelivery and you won’t pay delivery on it! Just cancelled my original order and placed a new order with the code

    Reply
    • philip shaw

      November 30th, 2018 - 8:56pm

      You don’t pay delivery on anything over £20 usually anyway…

    • Lee

      November 30th, 2018 - 9:52pm

      Why did you cancel the original?
      I just select free delivery every time, as it’s always free on anything over £20.

      The cheapest this will go down to is £39.99, so it’ll still be free delivery.

  • Anonymous

    November 28th, 2018 - 11:24pm

    Hi

    If I order from Zoom

    Do they take the money on dispatch or when you place the order

    Reply
    • Gordon

      November 28th, 2018 - 11:30pm

      They will do a hold charge of £1. Which is returned to you. Then the money gets taken off just before delivery. The option of paying it now via PayPal is also available

    • Rob W

      November 29th, 2018 - 9:19am

      You may also recieve your blu-rays on the Saturday before the Monday release day too…

    • Anonymous

      November 29th, 2018 - 10:53am

      Hi

      Thank you for the replies

      Thanks for the help

    • booboo

      November 29th, 2018 - 11:09am

      yes is a paypal thing with all retailers

  • Dr. 1963

    November 28th, 2018 - 8:32pm

    Most likely, it will ACTUALLY be released in December!

    Reply
    • TigerMan1995

      November 28th, 2018 - 9:49pm

      Season 19 is December, Season 18 is February/March (UK/US)

    • Dr. 1963

      November 29th, 2018 - 3:39pm

      No, what i meant was next December since they delay the boxsets so much!

    • Gordon

      November 29th, 2018 - 4:14pm

      A 3 week delay is hardly 10 months.

    • Dr. 1963

      November 29th, 2018 - 9:24pm

      Trust me, Gordon the delay feels like 10 months

    • Gordon

      November 29th, 2018 - 10:18pm

      But necessary. There was authoring issues which meant manufacturaring taking longer than expected. I’d rather see them take as long as necessary

      At least it isn’t as bad as the 14 month delay for the ambassadors dvd

    • Dr. 1963

      November 30th, 2018 - 6:48pm

      Yeah, Gordon, you are right, always!

  • Roosta

    November 28th, 2018 - 7:39pm

    I am frustrated by these releases because as I missed out on S12 and future collection will forever be missing that set – which makes owning the others all a bit pointless IMO. If they re-release in a “standard” packaging then I can get those but as Gordon has suggested that they won’t actually be doing this and no further physical copies of S12 will be produced why should I bother investing in these other sets? Although even if they did re-release in a Standard I would then want ALL of them in the same packaging and so would wait each time rather than by a set that won’t match! It is so silly from where I sit, that knowing from past experience with the dvd range and how fussy we can be with our spines and “sets” that they would go down this route but there you have it, it is what it is! My loss i suppose.

    Reply
    • Lee

      November 28th, 2018 - 10:13pm

      Why don’t you pick up the US set? I know it won’t exactly match when it comes to the boxes, but at least you’ll have the HD episodes and extra content. Better than nothing and at least you’ll be able to have the full set.

    • Gordon

      November 28th, 2018 - 10:37pm

      I’d still buy seasons 19/18. There is always the chance that someone may sell an affordable version of season 12. Of it ever does gets rereleased down the line the ltd box set version price will drop considerably.

    • Anonymous

      November 28th, 2018 - 11:08pm

      Copies of 12 on ebay for £60

    • Jon

      November 30th, 2018 - 11:13am

      I’m in the same boat and can totally relate to you. I Missed 12 and now not going to be picking-up any of these because I doubt there will be a re-release in the same packaging.

      Such a shame for those of us who aren’t as committed as the hardcore fans and have a more casual attitude towards purchasing. At least if there were some communication around series 12 and if it were going to be re-released in this packaging. The entire ‘grab it now or forever loose your chance’ just turns me right off. What ever happened to just going to a shop and buying something when you wanted to?

      I would have bought every single one of these and now will not be buying any for the sake of one boxset, what’s the point to drop hundreds and hundreds of pounds to have an incomplete set?

      Plus, the streaming version on Amazon is SD and not HD so not even going to go that route. As a viewer I miss out, the BBC miss out on my money so where does that leave us? Makes zero business sense and a total farce IMO.

  • Rick

    November 28th, 2018 - 2:07pm

    Gordon, what is the likelyhood that the new series could be released as part of The Collection range on Blu-Ray?

    Reply
    • Gordon

      November 28th, 2018 - 4:05pm

      Possibly. No guarantees though

  • Prof Horner

    November 28th, 2018 - 1:43pm

    Disappointed it’s not season ten , sti!l look forward to getting this and this and season nineteen are the best of JNT. Just need to get a Blu-ray player for Christmas and I will be away!

    Reply
    • Ogron

      November 29th, 2018 - 8:33am

      Season 10 is next.

    • Gordon

      November 29th, 2018 - 8:57am

      That’s whats rumoured to be next. For a while it was rumoured the running order was going to be 19 10 18 but obviously that didn’t happen. Plans may change

  • Alvin Amey

    November 28th, 2018 - 1:14pm

    I’m not too keen on Season 18 and I already own all the stories on DVD, but what the heck I’ll still buy it and support the range,

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    November 28th, 2018 - 1:02pm

    Can I just say I adore the cover on this. The best out of the three. I do hope season 7 or 10 is next

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    November 28th, 2018 - 12:42pm

    Yes another set with a few episodes i havent seen, out of this set ive only watched and own The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis, whats everyones opinions of the other episodes and K9 and Company because i havent seen that either (as much as i am a massive Doctor Who fan theres still a lot of classic episodes i havent seen haha)

    Reply
    • DalekAgent

      November 28th, 2018 - 12:43pm

      That was me

    • Anonymous

      November 28th, 2018 - 4:37pm

      Season 18 looks good and the stories are less tongue in cheek than the previous season. I quite like this season. Lalla and tom work well together, k9 keeps being sidelined In these stories which I didn’t mind. Nyssa is a great addition, tegan is performed well but she does grate a bit! Adric is a bit marmite, people either love him or hate him. I didn’t mind his character, but I do think his acting inexperience does show through sometimes.
      As for the stories. The leisure hive is good fun, meglos is the same, although both suffer from some overacting (names have been withheld to protect the hammy) but overall I enjoy them. Full circle is great, good story and good looking monster. I love state of decay, great story, good acting and vampires in a teatime time slot! Which meant no blood! I have to say I find warrior’s gate a bit hard work, acting is good though. Keeper is great as well, Geoffrey beevers is excellent as the master and it introduces nyssa as well. I like logopolis as well, although I find ainley less convincing as the master. He’s fun but overly loopy.
      Now the important bit. My opinion means nothing. Try them all yourself and make up your own mind

    • Anonymous

      November 28th, 2018 - 4:43pm

      Sorry missed out k9 and company. Lots of people have a downer on it but it’s ok. Story is decent, acting is generally good but there are few dodgy performances. I find it passes over quickly enough and I’ve always enjoyed watching it. Not perfect but it is decent. The theme tune is embarrassing though!

    • Moonfall777

      November 30th, 2018 - 12:18am

      The Leisure Hive and Meglos are interesting, albeit bizarre, but feel totally unique compared to the previous seasons. Next, Full Circle never completely comes together, but is still a decent watch. State of Decay is my personal fave out of the run, and one of my all-time favorite episodes, period. And lastly, I never finished Warrior’s Gate before Hulu removed it, but it’s an intriguing, atmospheric tale, from what I can tell. And since the last two stories lead directly to Castrovalva, I’m glad 19 and 18 are being released so close to each other.

  • Gordon

    November 28th, 2018 - 12:41pm

    https://youtu.be/WqgaRb3Le5Q

    Trailer. Pure class

    Reply
    • Gordon

      November 28th, 2018 - 12:55pm

      Galactic Glitter Package Tours were created by Chameleon Tours and Navarion Nostalgia Trips, as part of the Max Capricorn/Kerblam Company.

    • Anonymous

      November 28th, 2018 - 2:43pm

      The E stands for Excellent.

  • GallifreyanKnight

    November 28th, 2018 - 11:57am

    Well I’m glad that this is an ongoing range.
    Hopefully all 26 seasons will eventually end up on blu-ray, minus the still missing 97 episodes from the archive of course.

    I just wish I had got S12 when it was available. I had the money, so I have no idea why I didn’t pull the trigger.

    When this range is eventually complete, my S12 and Lost In Time DVD’s are going to stand out like a sore thumb.

    Reply
  • doctor whom

    November 28th, 2018 - 11:41am

    why do these have to be blue rays, iv’e been wanting to collect these for ages but i don’t have a blue ray player!!

    Reply
    • Gordon

      November 28th, 2018 - 11:58am

      Because a lot of the technological improvements used to restore these episodes wouldn’t benefit the dvds. Also due to the sheer amount of extras it would take much more discs than the dvds. For instance season 19 has about 27 hours of extras. That’s about 9 discs just for the extras. You would be looking at about 16 discs. The cost of the dvds would end up being more expensive than the blu rays.

    • Alvin Amey

      November 28th, 2018 - 1:16pm

      I recommend investing in a bluray player as they are dropping in price these days and they will still play your DVDs

    • Anonymous

      November 28th, 2018 - 5:10pm

      Then buy the DVDs?!

    • doctor whom

      November 30th, 2018 - 12:26pm

      thanks for getting back to me so quickly!!!

  • Bryan

    November 28th, 2018 - 11:29am

    Wow, was not expecting the Third instalment so soon,specially as Season 19 has been pushed back to 10th September.

    Excellent these are coming faster. Beautiful Cover and internal images (is that Tom Baker,sitting in an Alzarian glade, from the Stereoscopic pics. looks stunning.

    and the extras look superb

    Reply
  • Tyler Prescott

    November 28th, 2018 - 10:17am

    I’d get these, but I’d rather have a complete DVD collection than a mix of DVDs and Blu-Rays.

    Reply
    • Dalek Eye Stalk

      November 28th, 2018 - 1:01pm

      I’m happy enough with the quality of the episodes on the DVDs. I’ve spent a lot of money buying those over the years. I can’t get excited about upcoming Blu-ray releases. Seems a waste of money to me.

  • Duncan

    November 28th, 2018 - 9:34am

    Does anyone know if these sets are going to get a standard release?

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      November 28th, 2018 - 10:15am

      no, BBC have been very clear that these are “the final” releases, all will be available online digitally but when they are gone, they are gone. Few commenters on her will tell you different but I can assure you when season 12 was announced the BBC was upfront that this was the last physical release for all of these, this is why the extras are so full as they have squeezed everything they can

    • Gordon

      November 28th, 2018 - 10:36am

      If you want the standard versions just buy the us version. They are region free

    • the ergon

      November 28th, 2018 - 3:01pm

      Are the region free US versions in Blu-ray Sealed plastic cases?

    • Gordon

      November 28th, 2018 - 4:03pm

      Yes

  • Luck4Unow

    November 28th, 2018 - 6:42am

    Well that is my preorder set.

    And I now can now set my viewing schedule for early 2019. I will watch Season 18 in February, going into a Season 19 marathon in March. Perhaps Season 10 will be ready for mid-year?

    Reply
    • Lee

      December 1st, 2018 - 7:17pm

      Just a bit of friendly advice here – watch them as soon as you get them. After the Season 12 mistakes, I’d advise watching them to check there’s no mistakes on the discs ASAP. Hopefully there won’t be on future releases, but I’d rather find out sooner than later.

    • Gordon

      December 1st, 2018 - 8:45pm

      I’m sure if there is any issues people will notice them and bring them to peoples attention. It’s out in the us on Tuesday. We should at least know by release date if there are any issues. Chris chapman who has been doing some of the documentary’s on these sets has said they are taking the criticism of the season 12 on board and taking quality control very seriously

    • Lee

      December 1st, 2018 - 9:08pm

      Completely agree on that Gordon, however there could still be faults with individual sets, discs not playing, etc. And I wouldn’t want to risk waiting 3 months. As you’d never get a refund after that time from a retailer. Plus you’d probably not be able to pick one up cheap again if they sell out. I wouldn’t risk waiting 3 months on anything I’d bought before finding out there’s a problem with it. Retailers aren’t always as forgiving about sending things back. Although I don’t know what the BBC policies are. If you found out you had a defective disc after 3 months, would they let you return it?

      Good to hear they’ve taken the feedback on board though.

  • flo

    November 28th, 2018 - 5:47am

    yes….yes….yes….YESSSSS ! 🙂

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    November 28th, 2018 - 5:33am

    Jesus, that’s possibly Lee Binding’s best work.

    Reply
  • Anon

    November 28th, 2018 - 2:47am

    What!? Out of all the classic-who seasons? Season 18? Who could forget such critically acclaimed episodes such as “The Leisure Hive” featuring the Slitheen’s reptilian cousins, or “That one with the cactus”! Introducing fan-favourite companions like Adric!

    Tell you what though, the Jodrell Bank stuff for Logopolis sounds interesting. I hope they fix those awful model shots of the action figure Tom dangling from the radio telescope.

    Reply
    • Matt P

      November 28th, 2018 - 11:05am

      Not forgetting the cardboard cut out Master in the doorway watching the action 😉

  • Gordon

    November 28th, 2018 - 1:59am

    Just over £35 for 8 discs and plenty of new extras. Bargain

    Reply
  • Gordon

    November 28th, 2018 - 1:27am

    Knew it was coming sooner rather than later. Glad it’s out before season 10. There is much higher scope for extras in season 18 than 10

    Reply
  • Adam W

    November 28th, 2018 - 12:35am

    Looks like zoom.co.uk have also got it, at 38.99

    Reply
    • flo

      November 28th, 2018 - 5:41am

      Amazon pre-order prices will decrease as usual 🙂

  • Adam W

    November 28th, 2018 - 12:33am

    Looks like zoom.co.uk have it too. For 38.99.
    http://www.zoom.co.uk

    Reply
  • TM

    November 28th, 2018 - 12:31am

    Blu-Ray is expensive, DVD is cheaper.

    Reply
    • J45ON96

      November 28th, 2018 - 12:43am

      Blu-ray has been getting consistently cheaper for the better part of a decade, look at the upcoming Red Dwarf set for an example of that.

      Blu-ray allows for 50-60hz recordings to be utilised properly, and uncompressed video and audio, and other High-definition content to be used.

      So, to respond to your comment, yes, DVD is cheaper, but it’s also a much lesser format, so what do you expect?

    • TigerMan1995

      November 28th, 2018 - 12:59am

      Well, Amazon’s set wrong. It’s the usual 40 quid. And the DVD all added up are 43.16 and that has Castrovalva included

    • Gordon

      November 28th, 2018 - 1:42am

      Amazon is just listing the rrp price. It will drop. Nobody pays that

    • Steven Appleton

      November 28th, 2018 - 1:46am

      DVD is also old hat too, keep with the times

    • Duncan

      November 28th, 2018 - 9:30am

      Dvd maybe old hat but they still outsell blu rays

    • Gordon

      November 28th, 2018 - 10:14am

      Shada sold more on blu ray than dvd

    • the ergon

      November 28th, 2018 - 10:43am

      I would buy these if they had the same kind of packaging as the shada release. These are more prone to wear and are more fragile.
      i say this because i got the season 12( with the faults) having checked it over and the overall picture quality for Bluray didn,t seem any different in fact a few of the episodes weren,t as good and looked quite blurry. The additional extras were alright but not good enough to justify keeping this so i sent it back. I can only hope the replacements for that release were a massive improvement. it put me off but i,m glad so many people are enjoying them. If season 12 hadn,t had the problems i may have bought them just for the disc and replaced them inside the standard DVD release.

    • the ergon

      November 28th, 2018 - 10:46am

      Gordon. How do you personally rate these stories for this season?

    • Gordon

      November 28th, 2018 - 11:05am

      My copy of season 12 is in fantastic condition. Not damaged in any way. I can’t agree with the picture quality being better on dvd. Watching it on a 50 inch tv I found the difference very noticeable. As for rating the stories it’s been years since I watched these so my memory might seem a bit off but from memory:

      Leisure hive: 6/10
      Meglos: 4/10
      Full circle: 8/10
      State of decay: 7/10
      Warriors gate: 9/10
      Keeper Of Traken: 3/10 (dullllllllll)
      Legopolis 8/10
      K9 and company: 5/10

      I’m not a massive fan of the season

    • the ergon

      November 28th, 2018 - 3:14pm

      May seem a lot clearer if on 50 inch or play clearer on UHD, even though the picture is downgraded and just for 4k. We own a standard HD 39 inch tv and for me it seemed less the experience, but that may have been those Discs again for season 12.
      I like those cliffhangers and the incidental music for the keeper of Traken but yes, there is a lot of dull drawn out conversation inbetween.

  • Anonymous

    November 28th, 2018 - 12:31am

    So I’m gonna take a guess that the next box set is season 21

    Reply
    • TigerMan1995

      November 28th, 2018 - 12:59am

      Actually no, Maybe 10. Then 26 at the end of the year.

  • J45ON96

    November 28th, 2018 - 12:30am

    I just want to say as always, the packaging and artwork is phenomenal, I absolutely love it.

    Reply
  • Anonymous

    November 28th, 2018 - 12:30am

    Is the price gonna change?

    Reply
    • Adam W

      November 28th, 2018 - 12:30am

      Looks like hmv have it for 39.99

    • J45ON96

      November 28th, 2018 - 12:31am

      Yes, it’s on amazon, and it always will, if you pre-order it and the price drops, you will pay the lower price.

      It’s amazing how often this question gets asked.

  • Adam W

    November 28th, 2018 - 12:29am

    Wow! Hope they also release season 12 some point. But this looks good. See how season 19 is and hopefully no issues 🙂

    Reply
    • Adam W

      November 28th, 2018 - 12:30am

      *re-release

  • the ergon

    November 28th, 2018 - 12:21am

    The liesure hive 7
    Meglos 6 A guilty pleasure
    full circle 7
    State of Decay 5 like the gothic feel and the weakest link of the E space trilogy
    Warriors Gate 9 Steve gallaghers Who masterpiece
    The keeper of traken 8
    logopolis 8 Tom deserved a grander finale instead of that dodgy CS0
    K-9 A girls best friend 4. Cheesy and slightly cringeworthy. so 80s

    Reply

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