Doctor Who: Lost In Time - The William Hartnell Years

This release contains six episodes of early Doctor Who, but unlike practically every other release, these are assorted episodes from a variety of stories. The sad fact is that not every episode of the series survived to the present day. Many of the earliest were destroyed, but fortunately, not all of them. As a result, this collection doesn't really contain a complete story, but what it does offer, is a fascinating look at what exists from these incomplete stories. The other postitive thing is that these episodes have never been aired on US television!

As for the goodies inside:

THE CRUSADE 1 & 3 - A historical story in which the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki encounter the era of King Richard the Lionhearted, (played by Julian Glover), and his sister Joanna (played by Jean Marsh). A four-part story originally, the second and fourth parts are included on the DVD in audio-only format, so you can experience the complete story as much as is humanly possible. Also, as a bonus, there is a commentary track for the third episode.

THE DALEKS' MASTER PLAN 2, 5 & 10 - These three episodes are all that remain from this epic 12-part adventure, (and in fact the second episode was only just discovered at the beginning of 2004, and has never been seen anywhere since its original transmission in 1965!) This story features the Doctor and his companion Steven, with seldom seen companions Katarina and Sara Kingdom. This story also features the first appearance of Nicholas Courtney, who would gain fame later in the program as the Brigadier. Plus, it has Daleks! Episode 2 also features a commentary track.

THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER 4 - The final part of a 4-part adventure, featuring the Doctor, Steven and Dodo playing a deadly game against the Celestial Toymaker, (played by Michael Gough, perhaps better known in this day and age as Alfred the Butler in the Batman movies of the 1990's). Great fun this one is.

As if that wasn't enough, the DVD release also features a variety of surviving clips from various other Hartnell stories.

This collection is a real treasure! To be honest, it may not be the best purchase for someone who is just getting into Doctor Who, as these aren't complete stories, but then again, they do offer an appealling assortment of goodies from three very different early stories. As sad as it is that there are episodes missing from the early days of Doctor Who, it is gratifying that these gems to exist to give you a taste of the wonders they were creating for this unique series.

One final note - if you think you might be at all interested in this, consider buying the Troughton set too, which contains a further 12 episodes from that era!

As most Doctor Who fans know, there are huge gaps in the archives for the black and white era of the show that featured the first two actors to play the role, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton. Due to a total disregard for archiving material and, criminally, as a cost cutting exercise, there was a systematic junking policy for `expired' TV shows across many broadcast networks through to the 1970's. In many ways, Doctor Who fared better than most with many complete stories surviving either in private hands or more often by happy accidents.

Although anything to have survived is miraculous, in many cases, irritatingly, stories were left incomplete on the archive shelves. Pretty much useless to any broadcaster and indeed seemingly for home DVD or video release. But the bright guys at the BBC have spotted a way to gather up all this stray material and package it together on a collection of three discs featuring not only eighteen complete episodes but a whole myriad of other snippets and gems from the vaults.

As a huge Doctor Who fan, I was thrilled to see all these homeless relics gathered together, but from a wider commercial viewpoint, I don't think it's a particularly interesting project. But isn't it wonderful for fans to be indulged in this way? I'd never seen either episodes of The Faceless Ones before, so this was a real treat, as it was to see the newly discovered gem from The Daleks' Master Plan.

The problem for me is that alone, or even where two or more episodes exist, it's exceptionally frustrating to watch what remains of these stories. If you're watching episode one for example, you're completely hooked by the end and then hugely disappointed that there is no more! For stories that just have the odd episode from the middle of the story, it's enough to drive you barmy. My biggest irritation came from watching episode 4 of The Celestial Toymaker. What on earth is going on? It would have been so, so much better had the DVD contained a synopsis of what was missing to help flesh out some of the material and put things into context. Definitely an opportunity missed. In a step towards this, there are soundtracks included for two missing episodes from The Crusade and The Moonbase, which does help complete those stories, but since photos exist of both missing episodes, why weren't they included? When all there is to hear is music or sound effects, it leaves you bewildered as to what might be happening. A photo or a subtitle would have been so much more effective.

Also gathered from the cutting room floor are many, many short clips (in some cases, don't blink or you'll miss them) from other completely deleted episodes. It's sad that in so many cases these split second clips are all that have remained. There's also a lot of home movie footage, which is really interesting. I believe this to be the only color examples of footage from the era and although short, they are wonderful to see.

We can but hope that as time goes on, some of the missing material will turn up. No one would have thought the complete Tomb of the Cybermen would suddenly reappear in 1992. So hope springs eternal. Until then, here's some classic Who, brilliantly restored and remastered to enjoy.

If you are a Whovian and love the show, then you will adore this set. Filled with an incredible array of material, Lost in Time will make a proud addition to your Doctor Who DVD collection. But be warned that if you're a little fuzzy on your first two Doctors, you may be a bit lost during some of the stories. And, even worse, these discs will make you want more. If you can handle that, then go out and buy this. You won't regret it. It's a fantastic effort that gives you as extensive an experience as possible. The only thing better than owning this set would be to have seen the episodes when they originally aired on the BBC.