There is a school of thought that suggests all multi-national corporations are evil and want profits at the expense of humanity (for conclusive proof see Dr Who and the Green Death). One of their worst crimes is the notion of 'Planned Obsolescence' or the idea that products are not only
not built to last, they are actually designed to stop working after a specific period of time so you will be forced to go out and buy a new one. Media storage formats are a perfect example of this; if you want to watch a film at home you could have had Super 8 cine film, then Laser Disks, then videotapes and now DVDs. The problem is, at the moment DVDs look fairly well ensconced and there is no need to replace them any time soon.
So if, like me you have already copies of (say) The Talons of Weng Chiang, Caves of Androzani and Doctor Who - The Movie, why on Earth would you pay £28 for them again. The world of media, instead of planned technical obsolescence have gone for content upgrade. Yes you can have your old tatty Caves but why not have it re-mastered and with some added special features? Is it worth shelling out £28 for three stories that I already have
not on blu ray but with a few extras? Alas, I cannot answer that for you. I can only tell you that the extras are mighty fine. Talons has an amazing meeting between Philip Hinchcliffe and Tom Baker where they discuss working together. Caves and The Movie provide wonderful 'Making of..' features and there are so many little gems on each story. You really do get some value added with this box set. I also think that both of the BBC stories are good enough to justify a little spring cleaning and the extras for the Movie help place it within its context.
So, who should buy this box set? I think it is not for everyone. If you already have them and you think they are ok but nothing special then, seriously, buy a bottle of Moet instead. As I have said elsewhere, I think this is an ideal entry level set for those who haven't experienced any Classic DW before - the two stories are just brilliant (though I don't think Talons is quite the masterpiece that it is sometimes made out to be). I am unashamed to say that Caves is my favourite Classic Who story and the extras for both of these are brilliant and give great depth to the stories. The Movie is something of a curio but if you've never seen it then you should really give it a go - if only to find out what the fuss is about and what state the show was in before RTD got hold of it.
There is an element of content based obsolescence about this release - instead of re-restoring these, one is tempted to ask why didn't 2Entertain try and spruce up something like Terror of the Autons (which we haven't got at all) but that, I suppose, is a different question. However, in conclusion and expressing a purely personal opinion, I have no problem having bought this set. I feel they do add something to the stories and the stories themselves are amazing.
