Product reviewsDoctor Who - Lost In Time (DVD, 2004)

What's left of the best Doctor Who years

It is generally acknowledged that without such a strong start, the Doctor Who series would have had a short run and probably been largely forgotten about. In the early days of TV many shows were broadcast live and there was no market for repeats as a back catalogue had yet to be be built up. Videotape was very expensive back then and so those shows which were recorded were often 'wiped' as there was not considered to be any commercial justification for keeping them. If only the TV executives could have hitched a ride into the future in the TARDIS! Another incorrect assumption was that, with the advent of colour, there would be no demand for old black and white shows (although TV showed lots of old B&W feature films).
Doctor Who began transmission in 1963 and it is a testament to the talent of all those involved that there is still a market for even fragments of the early stories nearly sixty years later.
The Hartnell and Troughton Doctors were very much free spirits who, although Earth based, flitted around space and time with very little constraint, which the writers took full advantage of. Although the series is/was generally classed as science fiction, many of the early stories had an ethereal quality about them. Unfortunately in the final Troughton adventure, the epic War Games, the authority of the Time Lords finally caught up with our errant Doctor and he was exiled to Earth. Doctor Who would never be quite the same again.
When parts of Doctor Who were eventually released on VHS in the 1980's some of the older stories were definitely showing their age technically.. 'Lost in Time' was released onto DVD in 2004 by which time digital restoration techniques had restored some of the earlier episodes to probably look even better than they did originally because a 405 line TV system was in operation in the UK until the late 1960's when the 625 line upgrade was completed.
'Lost in Time' comprises three DVD's containing eighteen complete episodes from the Hartnell and Troughton eras. Some episodes have commentaries and, as you would expect from BBC DVD's of the time, there are plenty of 'extras'. Since its release, a few more episodes have been found and some of the adventures released in their entirety, via a mixture of restored footage and animated reconstructions.

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Nostalgic Television

A feast for the fan of Dr Who. It comprises random incomplete episodes and other material from the early days of this sci-fi classic.
Probably not suitable for those wanting complete stories, but a treat for those who remember the era are interested in seeing how televisual effects etc have moved on.Read full review...

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Great stuff

Great value and great collection of dr who episodes.

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Dr Who Lost in Time

Great DVD

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18 Orphaned Episodes of Doctor Who from the B&W era.

Disc 1
The Crusades Episodes 1 and 3
Dalek Master Plan episodes 2, 5 and 10
The Celestial Toymaker episode 4

Disc 2
The Underwater Menace episode 3
The Moonbase episodes 2 and 4<br>The Faceless Ones episodes 1 and 3
Evil Of The Daleks episode 2

Disc 3
The Abominable Snowman episode 2
The Enemy Of The World episode 3
The Web Of Fear episode 1
The Wheel In Space episodes 3 and 6
The Space Pirates episode 2

The recovered Galaxy 4 episode is on the Aztecs Special edition DVD and the recovered episode of the Underwater Menace has a stand alone release with a bad recon for the two remaining episodes from this story.

This DVD compilation was released 9 years before the missing episodes of Enemy and Web were found. Only buy if you are a completest or you have OCD and got to have it to complete the set.Read full review...

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Great Buy

Hard to get and entertaining.

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Brilliant

Brilliant

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Fantastic just as expected.

Brilliant thank you.

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Lost In Time

The is a must for all doctor who fans. If you are looking for everything doctor who that is.
Lost in time is a complation of lost works of the earlier series. It is 18 full episodes but not all film based/some are audio recordings which is a let down but unavoidable. Due to the way filming was in the 60's once an episode was aired they then re-used the tapes and recorded over the earlier episodes. The bbc also burned or lost earlier episodes.
It was my 8 year old son who has got me back into doctor who so im now re-living my child hood and even looking for the william Hartnell episodes as i was too young to remember them the 1st time round.
If you are looking for continuity of story line then this video is not for you. As i have previously mentioned this is a compliation of digitally restored episodes from stories that no longer exist in their entirety. As stated on the cover they offer a climpse at classic adventures which are now lost.
It is a shame that there are some episodes that for whatever the reason are no longer available even though the acting, props, costumes and other special effects that make the modern doctor who so compelling for todays generation are somwhat dubious and laughable today.
I don't think it was just down to doctor who but more of the era that doctor who was created in, as the same could be said for the majority of television and film making of that era, compared to todays' standards, although there were alot of many good film makers and actors that cam out of that era. Many of which skills and appreciation of which are lost on todays' generation.
However for the purists of those that love Doctor Who past and present i would say that this compilation is must have an anyone collection.
The special features in this dvd are very good and informative which give you more of an insight into the missing episodes, along with clips from those missing episodes.Read full review...

What a gem!!!

Are you a serious Whovian? There are 3 discs in this set running to over 7 hours of Who!!! However, there are NO complete serials in this pack and it exists solely to give an opportunity to see otherwise lost storylines. Many do have complete existing audio soundtracks which can be bought, but as Doctor Who was not written as a radio play, these are not nearly as good as seeing the show.
Episode guide (what you really want, eh!):
DISC ONE:
The Crusade - Episodes #1; #3 1965 Hartnell
The Dalek's Master Plan - Episodes #2; #5; #10 1965/6 Hartnell
The Celestial Toymaker - Episode #4 1966 Troughton
Various surviving clips: Dalek's Masterplan; Smugglers; Tenth Planet. Various Off screen footage. Couple of Intros to 'The Crusade' by William Russell (companion).
DISC TWO:
The Underwater Menace - Ep #3 1967 Troughton
The Moonbase - Ep #2; 4 1967 - Troughton
The Faceless Ones - Ep #3 1967 - Troughton
The Evil of the Daleks - Ep #2 1967 - Troughton
Surviving clips: Power of the Daleks; Highlanders; Underwater Menace; Macra Terror. Various 8mm off screen footage.
DISC THREE:
The Abominable Snowman - Ep #2 1967 - Troughton
The Enemy of the World - Ep #3 1968 - Troughton
Web of Fear - Ep #1 1968 - Troughton
Wheel in Space - Ep #3; #6 1968 - Troughton
The Space Pirates - Ep #2 1969 - Troughton
Also, surviving clips: Abominable Snowman; Web of Fear; Fury From the Deep; Wheel in Space; Space Pirates. 8mm footage off screen from Ab Snowman & Fury From Deep. Plus, 'Missing Years' Documentary with Frazer Hines & Deborah Watling (the Rose & Mickey of the era...).

You DO get a chance to see how Doctor Who was shaped from 1963 to 1969 by Hartnell and Troughton, but obviously sadly fragmented and in B&W. But the 1960s episodes were all filmed in B&W and many were erased. Every now and again a rare film cannister is unearthed in America or Australia or Hong Kong and then the film is restored. This DVD is the fruit of that.
For my money, any opportunity to see Troughton as the Doctor is money well spent. If you are really keen, watch out for future releases possibly filling in the missing bits with animation using the preserved soundtrax. One of these has already been released (Troughton in 'Invasion' with 2 episodes animated).
So go on then... Quick! Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow!!!Read full review...