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Gonna Start Collecting Classic Who - Advice Needed!
Piipp
Posts: 2,440 Forum Member
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Okay, so I've made the brave decision to start collecting classic Who stories on DVD. I've not seen all too many, but it's a legacy I want to own and have the opportunity to experience for myself. Now, I know a large number of first and second Doctor stories no longer exist, but I know that some of those stories have been re-released as refurbished Target books. So, I can fill in SOME of the gaps with those.
What I really want to know, is where would you recommend I start? I've looked here:
http://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/features/dvd/
and I've noticed that some of the DVDs listed seem near impossible to obtain; one of the First Doctor stories I looked for on Amazon was £99! Now, it is available in a box set, but I was hoping more to have to whole set of single DVDs. So, question time!
-With the boxsets, are the stories on those stories which happened in succession? Or are they a random collection of stories piled together in one box? Because, if I can't have them all on single DVDs, I hoping to at least have a collection where I can literally watch each DVD one to the next in chronological order without having to keep jumping back to and opening a boxset up view stories I haven't got a single DVD of.
-Are there stories which are older and no longer being produced which I should aim for before others?
-Where exactly should I start? At the very beginning? Follow my original plan of collecting all the Dalek stories then going from there? I'm really not sure what to do.
Any help is much appreciated; I know you guys are the people to ask about these things! Thanks in advance.
What I really want to know, is where would you recommend I start? I've looked here:
http://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/features/dvd/
and I've noticed that some of the DVDs listed seem near impossible to obtain; one of the First Doctor stories I looked for on Amazon was £99! Now, it is available in a box set, but I was hoping more to have to whole set of single DVDs. So, question time!
-With the boxsets, are the stories on those stories which happened in succession? Or are they a random collection of stories piled together in one box? Because, if I can't have them all on single DVDs, I hoping to at least have a collection where I can literally watch each DVD one to the next in chronological order without having to keep jumping back to and opening a boxset up view stories I haven't got a single DVD of.
-Are there stories which are older and no longer being produced which I should aim for before others?
-Where exactly should I start? At the very beginning? Follow my original plan of collecting all the Dalek stories then going from there? I'm really not sure what to do.
Any help is much appreciated; I know you guys are the people to ask about these things! Thanks in advance.
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1)Mixture of both
2)Not that I know of, except some stories are being rereleased as special editions, so check out the future releases before uying some.
3) follow your heart, and when you've done that, move on by comparing how many you have from each reespective era, copmpare a couple of Dvds, and choosing a story that sounds interesting to you. It's what I do
Genesis of the Daleks, The Caves of Androzani, Pyramids of Mars, The Robots of Death, City of Death and The Talons of Weng-Chiang tend to be the most highly regarded classic stories if that helps. All the dvds should still be in print. Some of the boxsets are concurrent stories and some aren't. All the dvds should still be in print, which one was £99 on amazon?
And JCR, I can't remember which one it was, but I know that I can't find a single copy of the first two Hartnell stories ANYWHERE, seems they are only available now as part of a box set.
The first 3 Hartnells weren't released seperately, this set is the first 13 episodes of old Who- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Beginning-Unearthly-Destruction/dp/B000C6EMTC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355270822&sr=8-1
I'd recommend that one, actually. The broadcast version of the pilot is the best episode of any tv show ever in my 'umble opinion, and the documentary on the Edge of Destruction dvd is really good.
They were never released on DVD as anything else.
As said the Box Sets are a mixture of ones that feature Chronological stories and ones that have a (sometimes lose) connection such as the "Beneath the Surface" Box Set that features all the Silurian/Sea Devil Stories or "Bred for War" which is a Sontaran Box Set.
Most Box Sets contain 3 stories but there are two which contain all the stories from a specific Season (The Key to Time and Trial of a Time Lord).
This is the set I was considering for my first buy and since you recommend it so highly I think it will be the first purchase I make in my new collection!
One thing though, are you sure the first three stories were never released individually? The site in the link I posted in my opening poster shows single DVD for each of them. I was just assuming they'd been taken out of print in favour of the boxset, but perhaps the site I'm looking at invented the images for the individual DVDs themselves?
That site has seperated all the stories in all the Box Sets.
Each Story is packaged in it's own plastic DVD Box which are then put together in a cardboard Box Set.
Ah, so I can get the boxsets then pull out each individual DVD to make a chronological collection?
The box set called 'The Beginning' featuring William Hartnell, is only available as a box set. I've got every Dr Who story released on DVD so far, including the stories broadcast between Chris Eccleston's Doctor's series in 2005 and Amy Pond and Rory Williams leaving in October.
As I'm such a huge fan of Doctor Who, I've got action figures of 21st Century Who and Classic Who too. I've also got some of the re-released Target books including Doctor Who and the Cybermen with Pat Troughton, which I believe was called 'The Moonbase' on TV and Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion which I believe was called 'Spearhead from Space' on TV with Jon Pertwee.
I've also got some books about the show as well. The Telos Publishing books that Stephen James Walker wrote are very informative. This is one that he has written:
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/stephen+james+walker/third+dimension/6019985/
It's all about the 2007 series of Doctor Who featuring Freema Ageyman.
I would recommend that you start getting the official Doctor Who Magazine, as in each issue, they say what DVDs have just been released and what ones are forthcoming in the next 3-4 months. I've been collecting this magazine, once a month, every month since September 2009 and I'm due to get the next one in about a week or so. Should be good! It's the Christmas one with Jenna Louise Coleman featured. Apparently it's going to have ten extra pages and a poster as well. It's usually £4.50, but for this one it's going to be £4.99.
If you are going to start getting the classic stories on DVD, one you really should think about purchasing is Destiny of the Daleks. That one is so good! That has Tom Baker and Lalla Ward, and a group of people called the Movellans.
I usually go for the DVDs not only for the stories, but also the extras.
Finally before I go to bed, :yawn: I think the Doctor that had the best stories was Tom Baker, so I should start collecting those first. You will not regret it!
All of those are out now, apart from Terror of the Zygons from late 1975 and Shada which was a story that would have been shown in January 1980. The production team at that time didn't complete filming on this. There was a strike and only episodes 1-3 were completed. That was the strike that saw the last ever episode of Fawlty Towers 'Basil The Rat' pushed back six months after the other five episodes had been shown, before it was shown on TV.
Shada is going to be released in a box set called 'Legacy' and is out next month. It has the 30th Anniversary documentary 'More Than 30 Years in the Tardis' as an extra.
I hope I've helped.
Yep.
Most of the Box Sets are the only DVD release of the stories they contain so that is the only way to buy them.
The Revisitation Box Sets are ones that contain previously released stories but the DVDS are updated with more extras.
The List here shows whcih stories are in which Box set.
If you want a Complete collection of all stories Audio versions of all the missing stories have been released (made fom recordings done when the stories were first broadcast).
As for sources, I found Amazon.co.uk and the BBC shop were the cheapest options, and they are all available there, but give eBay a try as well. I obtained many bargains there, always going for items in Very Good, As New or Sealed condition.
Best of luck in your collecting!
You can download nearly every episode from the 3rd Doctor onwards if you look in the right places, plus there are some sites that have the episodes streaming.
As long as you understand who the Doctor is, and what the TARDIS, you could probably start from any point, especially as, unlike in NuWho, there werent really stories with big arcs so you shouldnt watch one with no idea whats going o. There are a few arcs in some classic seasons, and of course there's always the odd returning character or monster, but apart from all that you should be fine. I'd actually recommend you start the latest point, rather than the earliest, with the 1996 America TV Movie, as thats probably the most like NuWho in terms of look and feel, and is not nearly as bad as many seem to think. A lot of the later stuff in the 80's I wouldnt bother with though. It's all a metter of opinion but if you aske me the 80's werent the best time for Dr Who (though some 5th Doctor stories are very good). A lot of the 1st and 2nd Doctor stories are really good (I recommend the first 3 stories in Dr Who, An Unearthly Child, The Daleks & The Edge of Destruction, and for the 2nd Doctor, The Tomb of the Cybermen and The War Games are really good), however in my op, the best era for Who were early-mid 70's, we're talking the 3rd Doctor's era and the first half of the 4th Doctor's era.
With the 3rd Doctor you've got lots of good earth based stories with means it doesent suffer as much from the bad special effects (that's another thing about the classic series, you have to be prepared for at times laughably bad special effects) and you have some really good sci fi plots, some really good characters as the Doctor has to work with U.N.I.T. We also have the first appearence of the Master! As for the 4th Doctor, you have some really gripping atmospheric horror stories that make this one of the best era's for Who. And of course, Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor is brilliant.
My personal favourite 3rd Doctor and 4th Doctor stories are Spearhead from Space (a really good place to start as Dr Who did sort of start fresh here with the introduction of the 3rd Doctor), Inferno, The Daemons, the Sea Devils, The Green Death (this is a really good one), The Ark in Space, Genesis of the Daleks (the best Dalek story), Pyramids of Mars, The Seeds of Doom or the Talons of Wneg Chiang. I think most of these are availible on DVD to
Ark In Space (February)
Aztecs (March)
Inferno
Visitation
Green Death is rumoured as well.
I am in a similar situation as you but not willing to start buying just yet due partly to being bitter about throwing old VHS away and partly as I'm enjoying the books a lot. To answer your questions though:
1. It's a bit of both to be honest. Some stories are only available in box set form and others only available singularly. The first 2 or 3 Hartnell stories are in one box set only so that's a good place to start. The other box set worth a mention is the Spearhead From Space/Terror of the Autons one, it is the only place you can get Terror of the Autons however Spearhead for Space is available on it's own and I believe in a new edition too, so get the boxset unless you care about the new extras. Some episdoes don't exist in video at all. I believe they have all been released on Audio CD however, or in Missing boxsets.
2. I believe all DVD's are still available, if not then you will still be able to get them easily enough. You mentioned you saw one for £99. Was this an Amazon seller? Some of these put up crazy prices when the DVD isn't in stock at Amazon, but you can go to eBay/Play/HMV etc. and find it for the usual price pretty easily.
3. Start wherever you like. You like Dalek stories? get those. Do look out on eBay regularly though, getting them cheap is always good, so they are a good place to carry on your collection. If you want recommendations, Pertwee's era is very good, as is the vast majority of Tom Bakers. Hartnell, Troughton and Davison's are mostly good, but the earlier ones havn't aged so well and Davison suffered from some awful stories during his run. Colin Baker and McCoy have the odd gem in there stories, but for the most part the writing at this time was lacking to say the least. Read the synopsis' yourself though and pick whatever takes your fancy.