Doctor Who: Tom Baker Complete First Season [Blu-ray]

I'm going to focus my review on Blu-Ray quality since Tom Baker is always the quintessential Doctor, most die-hard fans have the DVDs, so the question about the purchase involve extra materials and video/sound quality to justify a double-dip. And is it justified?The packaging is wonderfully minimal considering the number of discs included. So much nicer than the old DVD releases in this regard.I've always been skeptical of blu-ray titles that do nothing more than upscale standard definition (525 line, interlaced NTSC videotape) content, especially as it is impossible to add detail into an image. But I don't see much in the way of problems. Especially given problems that aging videotape can have.Being made in England in the 1970s, they used 625 line interlaced PAL videotape. Which means a frame has a little extra vertical detail, but interlacing means one frame is split into two halves (fields) that cannot be seen by the naked eye and the two fields, containing movement, can cause problems. It's important to know that, since upconverting takes a video stream and deinterlaces it, combining two fields into one native frame. The resultant frame can have anomalies that just look odd (jagged lines, blur, distortion in rapid movement scenes.) The only thing I've seen is a slight "filmic" effect (24 frames per second instead of the 29.97 are accustomed to in NTSC regions. Considering the original DVD release looks more fluid, is it off-putting in this remastered release? Not really. I was not expecting the image quality to look this good considering its low-resolution limitations.Especially reds, which develop problems over time when stored on videotape and far more when compressed onto DVD. The blu-ray shows remarkably little bleed and zero compression artifacts that one can see on a paused frame. Just the usual signs of upscaling (edge sharpening halos and other issues that aren't really seen as prominently when watching the episode in motion as opposed to gawking at a frozen screen frame.)The other issue about detail and upscaling: Look, for example, at the police box's "pull to open" sign when it is at medium or distance shot. If the story was filmed in HD, you'd be able to read it all clearly. But shot on SD, the text is still blurry - even when enlarged. Upscaling doesn't add detail, but the lack of compression still allows the text to be somewhat readable. Despite the haloing around the text that's indicative of edge sharpening algorithms, which you would not see in true/native HD content.The dual mono audio comes in handy on surround sound systems rather nicely as well. Sound quality is excellent, top notch.The new material and Tom Baker interview - absolutely, it's a must-see and is alone worth the price IMHO.The episodes won't ever sound any better, and won't look any better unless there's a future home video format that doesn't require video compression - but a terabyte per disc instead of blu-ray's smaller (appx 1/20th) capacity? That's not going to happen any time soon, and certainly not for upscaled 625i material no matter how well it looks.This set was made with care and it shows. Is it worthy of a double-dip? That's up to you. Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by the video and sound quality so, yes, I believe it's worthy. Especially as home video players and TV sets, which also do upscaling if they need to, won't do as good of a job with upscaling DVDs on their own - and those sets also have to deal with DVD (MPEG) compression on top of resizing the image to fit its display. MPEG compression is something I'm not seeing in freeze-frame on the blu-ray edition, but is seen quite often on the DVD. Again, detail is not added, that's impossible. But the lack of MPEG compression-related artifacts helps reveal detail that had been shrouded by blurriness, color bleed, reduced color palette, jagged box-like artifacts, or similar. All of these more than compensate for the original material's limited resolution, and it's still glorious to see. Never thought I'd say that. :)And the price, $50, it's hard to go wrong either way. The pros outweigh the cons, which are none. Another Blu-ray benefit is the scratch-resistant coating to help protect the disc from getting damaged or unplayable.Am looking forward to the rest of Tom Baker's run and, indeed, the rest of the classic era on blu-ray. I really have been wowed by everything in this set.

I grew up with Tom Baker's Doctor. Although I love all classic Doctor Who, it was Baker that made Doctor Who the franchise that it became - worldwide. His first season, now on BluRay, highlights some of the top stories from his tenure. These demonstrate the reason why Baker's Doctor became a fan favorite. Baker played the role with such panache: strong-willed, enigmatic and just a little nuts - but somehow hilarious.From the first story, "Robot" we see that Baker wasn't going to be a Pertwee or a Hartnell. He was definitely closer to a Troughton; even wearing a clown outfit for a minute whilst changing costumes (my favorite is the Viking). But unlike Troughton's fallibility, Baker's was unafraid and anti-establishment. Baker quickly warms to the role and Elisabeth Sladen easily warms to the new Doctor. Ian Marter begins and nearly ends his role in this season as well as the long-suffering and obliging Harry Sullivan. The only sad part of the season is seeing the end to the long-running relationship between the Doctor and UNIT, especially Nicholas Courtney's Brigadier and John Levene's Sergeant Benton.The Ark in Space begins a four part story arc that endures the remainder of the season. While "Ark" could've been the least of the first season, it was not a bad story at all and sets precedent for many other like-minded sci-fi stories. Also, it has some of the best special effects for the season.Sontaran Experiment was, I believe, the last two-episode story until Black Orchid with Peter Davison and the only two-episode story for Baker. Tom Baker broke his collar bone in this episode and many of his shots were done by a stunt double.Genesis of the Daleks is the first Davros episode and one of the best Dalek stories of all time. Epic story and great guest stars including Guy Siner of Allo Allo fame.Finally, Revenge of the Cybermen reintroduces the mean tin men not seen since Troughton's Invasion... and then unseen again until Davison's Earthshock. Though not my favorite Cybermen story, it's got some memorable lines --- "Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!"I was thrilled that the Tom Baker Years volume 1 and 2, previously released on VHS in the early 1990s, was finally brought to disk on the Sontaran Experiment special features! Tom Baker hosted this 2 hour extravaganza that features 2 minute clips from every story he made and his memories and takes on the story, etc. Truly a treasure for the Doctor Who and Tom Baker fan.But, for me, best of all was the "Behind the Sofa" special features. I would've paid for the whole thing just for this! Tom Baker, Philip Hinchcliffe, Louise Jameson, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and Elisabeth Sladen's daughter Sadie (who could've been her mother's twin) commenting on these above stories. I'm so thankful that especially Janet and Sarah participated in these extras (since they worked with Tom so little) and their memories of him aren't as fond. I loved everyone's candor and unscripted views; I felt like I was watching these old classics alongside them!I truly hope that this set is only the beginning of the entire library of Classic Doctor Who stories.

This is my first introduction to Tom Baker as Dr Who. His look and attire is what I think the doctor should look like. Anyway, I enjoyed this first season and love the extras. The dvd arrived quickly and intact. I highly recommend these early adventures of Dr WHO.

Today this product brought back my childhood, I remember I was trolling through the channels I turned on my local PBS and watched Monty Python, Benny Hill, the next show from the haunting music started my journey into becoming a Doctor Who fan. December 1974, I was 5, when I saw Jon Pertwee change into Tom Baker, I found a hero. I wanted since January to get this and it's worth the wait all the classic foes are here: Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans. This was my introduction into Doctor Who, if someone wanted to start watching Doctor Who I would start with Season 1 of Tom Baker.