Doctor Who In The Old Manner
929905
Doctor Who lands on Earth at a school for athletes that compete in the Games. He gets involved in a series of murders by electrocutions even before the Sontarans arrive.

They are looking for something and wanting to assess the capabilities of Humans. They set up their own versions of the Games where death is the penalties for the losers.

The Doctor, the tenth by the way, must save the young athletes, as many as he can anyway, and learn what they are looking for.

Not a bad book. A short, quick read in the manner of the early Who novels based on the serials.
3585998
I think one would either love Doctor Who or think it so, so.  I got hooked too many years back than I would like to admit.
2975171
Spoilers...

Okay, so the whovian doesn't really need to watch the doctor retrospectives.  Don't get me wrong, they where well done, but required?  Hmmm.  The day of the doctor is really cool though!  I enjoyed it immensely!
4512273
As a child I have fond memories of watching that crazy Doctor who jumps into a police box and zooms off to different planets and times doing all sorts of mischief.
And now here he is again, re-imagined for a new world, so many years later, and different from before.
As an adult, I think Doctor Who is the definition of compulsive viewing, and this season was no different.
46776
Since this last year was Doctor Who's fifty year  anniversary..We aren't counting the gap of a few years between Sylvester McCoy series ending  and Paul McGann's TV movie or the restart start a few years later ..Lets say a round 50 and go on

This collection is the first four doctors. I started with Doctor 4 played by  Tom Baker. Thank god to PBS, they ran some of the Doctors William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee. So I saw many of these episodes in movie format. FYI-you should try to find the episode The Three Doctors which has Hartnell (his last DR WHO Appearance),, Troughton and Pertwee together. If you really want a treat try the Five Doctor's DVD special edition.

The unique thing about this collection is the choice the viewer has in regards to watching these episodes. You have a choice of  movie format (98 minute movie) or original four episodes. Foe the Doctor fan is is a nice keepsake, Never the less it is just the episodes.

 The one problem I miss is on the original DVD of these episodes there are audio commentary,  interviews and other extras. This package has none of the single DVD goodies. You also have a mini documentary like it ran on BBC America of the Doctor Revisited. A 30 minutes film  explaining the different  doctor and his companions

Is it worth getting? For the low price and having an episode of each of the four doctors,, it is! For me, I like the extras, so this set as good as it is, isn't what I would buy. Nevertheless, it is worth the price

Bennet Pomerantz
AUDIOWORLD
2460140
This is CLASSIC classic Doctor Who. If you haven't seen any of the vintage stuff, this is kinda the best of the best. Tom Baker really is the good doctor!
2182704
I was pleasantly surprised with this one.  I don't normally read stories with the 8th Doctor and don't know this companion, Sam, but it was a really satisfying adventure.  We got to see interesting places, real emotions from the characters, growth, surprises.  Honestly it felt like an old fashioned , well written, classic Dr. Who story.  Good job, Mr. Blum!
3917637
"The Caves of Androzani" is easily one of the best Doctor Who stories ever made - if not the very best. It boasts a great script by Robert Holmes, exciting direction by Graeme Harper, and Peter Davison's most thoughtful performance as the Doctor. Add to the mix an unusually sympathetic villain in the form of Sharaz Jek, a creepy music score, and a few intense action scenes, and hey presto, you've got a classic.

Of course, if you're a Doctor Who fan, you probably already know all this. So, I should get to the real reason why I'm writing this review, which is to assess the DVD "special edition" of this story. The original DVD of "Caves" is about 10 years old now, so this new version is being touted as a significant improvement.

Which it is, to an extent. The print on the special edition, while not spectacular (old BBC video footage is never spectacular), is definitely an improvement on any print I've seen before. Certainly, for such a dark serial, it helps to have the picture cleaned up and the black backgrounds made "blacker." The sound quality on the new DVD is also very good; in one scene, I could even hear the cloth on the soldiers' uniforms swishing. Still, the source material is quite dated, so don't expect a truly stunning presentation.

The new special features, meanwhile, are my main source of disappointment here. The special edition comes with a new featurette, "Chain Reaction," which covers the making of "Caves" in a fairly predictable way. I've been watching similar special features on Doctor Who DVDs for about 10 years now, and at this point, I'm quite familiar with the show's weird production style and the problems it caused. How many times must I hear the actors complain that they had only one or two takes to film a scene, and that the studio was always shut down promptly at 10 PM? To Doctor Who veterans such as myself, these stories are old hat.

I would've been happier if the featurette had instead (or, at least, additionally) addressed the major *themes* of "Caves" -- what the story is saying about war, death, the quest for eternal youth, or whatever. Alas, for some odd reason, most Doctor Who fans - apart from maybe Robert Shearman - shy away from discussing themes, and instead get caught up in surface analysis of the episodes. "Chain Reaction," which makes the superficial observation that Harper's direction is energetic about 700 times over, is a prime example of this.

But I guess I'm moaning too much. If you consider the package of special features as a whole -- it also includes shorter featurettes and some period news items -- it's pretty good. I just happen to think that the special edition of "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" was handled better, and included more interesting material on that serial's background and historical context. By comparison, the special edition of "Caves" is good but pedestrian.
2137369
I hadn't seen this one in years!  But after watching it, Icould see it was still one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time. Probably in the TOP 5 Dalek stories as well.  The doctor and his partyarrive on a seemingly "dead" planet, which after a little investigation, is not so dead.  They discover a fantastic city, and the Doctor (curious as always) just has to take a look.  It doesn't take long to discover what lurks beneath the city....DALEKS...don't be fooled because this series is over 37 years old!  And don't let anyone tell you the effects are cheesy...This is CLASSIC WHO, and any true fan should watch!  And the effects are still pretty good, even by todays standards.  And the story is great!  A must have for any Dalek fan (like myself) and Who fan in general.  A Highlight.... Dalek's first use of their now historical punchline "E-X-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-E"....
1733519
It's the beginnings of the Daleks, have to see that, don't you? The effects and scale of the episode's visuals pale by the modern show standards (what, are the cities within walking distance?), but the story stands strong. Meddling with time has consequences and nothing that makes big changes to time comes easily. Themes that reappear throughout Doctor Who. Greatest episode of Who ever? I'm not sure, but it's certainly on the short list of must-see episodes for ever the most casual fan.
1354658
All in all, this is a fantastic regeneration of a classic TV series, and it's nice to have the "Doctor Who" saga continuing after such a long and unfortunate lapse. Still, as anyone familiar with the show knows, the Doctor is always disoriented and weakened immediately after he regenerates, and the same must be admitted of this first season. It's still better than much of what passes for entertainment nowadays, and I liked it a lot, but it must be admitted that it falls somewhat short of its full potential and of what longtime followers of the renegade Time Lord's adventures have come to expect.

Christopher Eccleston's rendition of the Doctor is a compelling one, and he brings a real screen presence and charisma to the role. He's taken on the much beloved eccentricity, lighthearted wackiness, and comforting sense of justice of the character and alloyed it with a bitter sense of sarcasm and a short temper in a convincing fashion (with a streak of arrogance reminiscent of William Hartnell's original Doctor). It's a tough balance to strike, but he manages quite well and gives us a Doctor who is very much alien but very much likeable.

The Doctor's companion Rose is also a nice, believable character with a more active role in the stories and a life outside the Tardis--the effects upon both oneself and one's family & friends of whisking oneself away from one's everyday grind and traveling time and space with a cosmic hobo is explored here in a way unprecedented in "Doctor Who" history and I found it refreshingly realistic and original. Even if it all does get a bit "domestic" sometimes.

However, while it's all fine and well to give the show a faster pace in line with contemporary sensibilities and frankly wonderful to endow it with the production values it's always deserved (i.e. cool special effects), the heart of "Doctor Who" has always been in the excellent quality of its science fiction storytelling, and that's the part that's really shaky and unsteady here. Actually, the first three stories are truly excellent and well-told, but the quality starts gradually dropping off from there (with peaks nonetheless, like "Dalek" and "The Empty Child"). Many of the stories seem a bit rushed and slapdash, with crisis resolutions annoyingly sudden and unprepared for, like rabbits pulled out of a magician's hat. The worst offender on the latter score transpires in the otherwise exciting and promising season finale, where we get a very literal (!) "Deus ex Machina" solution--c'mon folks, even the ancient Greeks got tired of that one.

Still, I'm willing to chalk these shortcoming up to regeneration disorientation. Overall, the show is thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable, and it's nice to have the ride of a lifetime (or nine lifetimes, rather) back on the road again.
4021540
If you do not understand the title all I can say is see it because I will not reveal it here. This is the crowded time in the Tardis as there are 3 companions and the Doctor. The cybermen are present and the story moves along at a good clip.
Peter Davidson had a good run as the lead and his Doctor was a good departure from the last Doctor. He was the youngest Doctor at his start at that time and he is very credible in the role. He grew into the part and finished in fine style.
This episode is one of the better ones and the cast and writers did a fine job on what has become a classic episode.
996438
Quite a delight. As good as any of the Classic Dr. Who's with a surprise cameo near the end for those who have followed the doctor for a long time!
253928
'Doctor Who: Tales of Trenzalore: The Eleventh Doctor's Last Stand' is almost a longer title than the book! It fills in the gap in the 800th (!) episode of Doctor Who, The Time Of The Doctor. In the episode, the current Doctor spends hundreds of years in a town called Christmas on the planet Trenzalore fending off whatever alien bad guys show up. We don't see most of them, but we do see that a tremendous amount of time passes as the Doctor is quite aged by the end of the episode.

This book features four novellas which occur during that unknown time. The planet has defenses, including a truth field, so the bad guys have to be quite clever, and they are. From ice meteors to seed pods to monsters that look like the Doctor and monsters who co-op the townspeople. They are all after the Doctor and the Doctor stands up against all of them.

My favorite was George Mann's 'An Apple a Day' with the aforementioned seedpods. The others are good, with the story featuring the Autons being perhaps the weakest. In all of them, I think they really got the eleventh Doctor's mannerisms, even in old age. It was a good collection, and there could be more volumes since the Doctor was on this planet for hundreds of years and faced hundreds of enemies.

I was given a review copy of this ebook by BBC Books and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
4472067
Really like the episodes where past Doctors get together to do the "things". It was great to see Tennant and Smith together and the word play was terrific (e.g. comparing the sizes of there sonic screwdrivers and Timey Whimey logic) I think John Hurt provided the anchor to keep the two others from bouncing off the walls with their exuberance. From the light hearted moments to the darker side of the War Doctor this is a terrific Special leading into the Time of the Doctor season finale. P.S. Loved the cameo by Tom Baker (shhh!) The fourth Doctor was my first Doctor. So sad to hear that many of his companions have passed on.
1255733
Soon after the modern Doctor Who series exploded onto the television scene, we fell in love with all things Doctor Who.  Naturally we wanted to learn more about how it all started.  Buying Doctor Who: The Beginning (An Unearthly Child/The Daleks/The Edge of Destruction) (Stories 1-3) was an easy decision to make.  These DVDs include some of the few remaining black and white, Doctor Who episodes with the First Doctor.  The episodes are done in serial style with stories extended over multiple episodes, with cliff hanger type endings in between.  First released in 1963, these episodes are not the action packed, special effects filled adventures modern Doctor Who fans watch today.

Seeing how it all began was truly an eye opening experience.  From a modern perspective, the beloved Doctor truly had rather humble beginnings.  Traveling with his niece in the original TARDIS, the Doctor visits different times and different places just like the modern Doctor.  However, watching the original few shows is a great way to see just how much the Doctor has evolved over the decades.  I certainly never got the impression the William Hartnell Doctor was from a planet called Galifrey and the Daleks certainly didn't appear to be involved with a long term war with the Doctors people.  However, loving the Doctor means suspending disbelief anyway so nothing much changes in that regard.

All in all, these early quirky shows are best suited for true Doctor Who fans.  We love them though we do not watch them over and over like with do the modern episodes.
2327135
Doctor who especially Tom Bakers 3rd Doctor has a special place in my heart. The Show still holds up due to The great acting and well written scripts.
Many have trouble getting past what is considered "cheesy" by today's CGI standards but it's really good story telling something that is missing in today's Television and is hit or miss with the current Doctor who.