Doctor Who : Lost In Time Collection (1 Viewer)

BBC Worldwide have confirmed that this year's November release for their Doctor Who range will be the much-rumoured Lost in Time box set. The three disk set will contain the eighteen episodes from stories currently too incomplete in the BBC's archives to merit a DVD release of their own, including the first chance most fans will get to see episode two of The Dalek's Masterplan, Day of Armageddon, which was only returned in January this year. The first disk will contain the stories from William Hartnell's era of the programme and the second and third those from Patrick Troughton's.

All episodes will be extensively cleaned up and run through the VidFIRE process by the ever-diligent Restoration Team and in addition there will be:

Commentaries on six episodes

Behind the Scenes Footage

Surviving Clips from episodes still missing

Audio recordings of the still missing episodes of The Crusade and The Moonbase

An extended version of documentary The Missing Years

The set will be released simultaneously on Region One and Two, with Region One buyers having the choice of purchasing the Hartnell or Troughton disks separately as well as together.

I would be interested to know what a general DVD buying audience thinks of this release from BBCWW. Of course the 18 orphan episodes from William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton will be painstakingly restored. Still I think I would have preferred a complete Black and White story considering there are still 17 Hartnells and 4 Troughtons complete awaiting release and the release rate is so slow we will be waiting for years for them. What do you think ?

The general DVD-buying audience doesn't watch Doctor Who, and many of them probably don't even know what Doctor Who is.

As for a Doctor Who fan, I, like you, would've preferred another complete story. I wish they'd saved this release awhile longer in case some more 'lost episodes' turn up. There's already a rumour floating around about an episode of "Marco Polo" ("Rider from Shang-Tu") that was supposedly in the possession of a deceased theatre projectionist.

Ah, but how long do you wait? A year? Two years? Five years? Meantime, the fans all keep clamouring for Daleks' Masterplan 2 to be released in one format or another, so BBC Worldwide probably think this is the best moment to release these orphaned episodes and get maximum sales.

If something else shows up they can fit in another set somehow, a 2nd(3rd) disk extra. Marco Polo, for example, could go in The Beginning" boxset next year, since it's a 1st season story. The BBC may expect more episodes to turn up. More to market. I would have preferred this set later,(there are complete stories I haven't seen in entirety, like The Romans) I just hope the "boxset" idea continues.

I'm sure it will. In the UK (at least), a Doctor Who boxset has pretty much been a holiday tradition for years (The high street retailers like to have a holiday package).

The only difference this year is it's DVDs instead of videos.

i got mine pre-orderd...

Personally, I am excited. Yes, I can understand the desire for a set of completed stories, but this is still exciting. For the fans that had to try and build up their collections of orphaned episodes one or two at a time, by buying the Years tapes or different tapes, it is quite nice to have them all in one piece.

Steve Roberts recently made this comment in the context of a discussion of the LiT catelogue number:

So a Beginning box set, with An Unearthly Child, Daleks, and Edge of Destruction was planned. Presumably this was cancelled because of general demand to see the newly found episode. Next year, there will probably be a box set with complete stories. If you don't want this title, be glad you can save your money for something else.