by Erin Hatch, Editor-at-Large

After my adventures reviewing two sets of classic Doctor Who episodes from the Jon Pertwee years, I hopped in my TARDIS and jumped forward to the mysterious 1980’s to look at an another two recently released Who story arcs: “Frontios” from 1984, starring Peter Davison, and “Time and the Rani” from 1987, with Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, which are now available to own on DVD!

Unlike the Jon Pertwee story arcs, the Davison and McCoy episodes will seem more familiar to fans of the newer Doctors. Instead of grounding their action on Contemporary Earth (as in the Jon Pertwee years), these Doctors can be found gallivanting about the universe in their respective versions of the TARDIS, visiting alien worlds and far off times.

“Frontios”, a story arc from the last season of Peter Davison’s run as everyone’s favorite Time Lord, features the Doctor and his companions Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson), as they crash on a planet in the far future, at the limit of the TARDIS’ ability to travel. On this world, Frontios, they discover a small colony of humans who had fled the destruction of Earth, only to find themselves isolated on a hostile world. The Doctor and his friends are forced to earn the survivors’ trust and find the extraterrestrial source of the disasters plaguing the humans.

“Time and the Rani” represents the first story arc featuring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, and one of the last attempts to prevent the BBC from canceling the series. Over the course of the four episode arc, the new Doctor comes to terms with his sudden regeneration while he attempts to thwart the machinations of the Rani, another renegade Time Lord who has holed up on a backwater planet, coerced the local populace to work for her, and is working to construct a device that will help her gain even more power.

While both sets are definitely more watchable compared to older Doctor Who, not to mention being very interesting historically, there is something lacking about the episodes. In many ways, their similarities to episodes in the 2005 series work against them, as viewers who have seen the later episodes will probably find the earlier works similar but lacking many of the entertaining aspects added to later incarnations of the ideas. Also, both of these four-part story arcs feel like they likely could have been condensed to two episodes without losing much of value.

Part of what makes these classic story arcs interesting are the special effects, and “Time and the Rani” is particularly interesting in its usage of early CGI work, especially how the post-production CGI special effects are merged with plentiful helpings of on-location pyrotechnics. The team goes a little over the top with their newfound ability to create fantastic devices, and while the effects are dated, they still show a remarkable amount of technical proficiency.

Special Features:
“Frontios” Extras:
-Audio Commentary by actors Peter Davison (the Doctor), Jeff Rawle, John Gillett, script editor Eric Saward and Special Sounds Designer Dick Mills.
-Driven to Distraction: Making Of with the cast and crew.
-Deleted and Extended Scenes.
-Photo Gallery
-PDF Materials

“Time and the Rani” Extras:
-Audio Commentary by actors Sylvester McCoy (the Doctor) and Bonnie Langford, and writers Pip and Jane Baker.
-Last Chance Saloon: A making-of in which the cast and crew talk about working on the series at a time when the BBC was considering whether to cancel the program.
-7D FX: A short featurette in which crew members responsible for this story arc’s visual effects discuss the process of working with special effects at the time.
-Helter Skelter: An interview with the creators of Doctor Who’s first computer generated title sequence.
-Lakertya: A brief examination of the creative process in designing the setting for Time and the Rani.
-Hot Gossip: A short interview with Kate O’Mara (the Rani) and Sylvester McCoy over working with several friends for this story arc.
-On Location: An excerpt of a news program discussing the transformation of an old quarry into the extra-terrestrial setting for “Time and the Rani,” including interviews with the cast.
-Blue Peter: An introduction of Sylvester McCoy as the new Doctor.
-Photo Gallery
-PDF Materials

Overall:
As a historical examination of Doctor Who, these collections of old story arcs provide new fans an excellent opportunity to experience bits and pieces of the Doctor’s massive history, without investing too much time in tracking down old episodes. The special features also do a lot to elaborate on the historical conditions behind the scenes, especially the excellent extras in the “Time and the Rani” DVD. Unfortunately, while watching these classic story arcs was interesting, it wasn’t particularly fun. The quality of film for these stories is much higher than the story arcs from the Jon Pertwee era, but at the same time it lacks a lot of the absurdity that made the Jon Pertwee material fun to watch. Long time Doctor Who fans may enjoy adding these stories to their DVD collections, and followers of the recent series should enjoy seeing bits and pieces of the past that they have missed, but these will only be fully appreciated by the most dedicated fans, and are probably a little bit too dated to be enjoyed by general audiences.

ComicsOnline gives Doctor Who: Frontios – 3.5 out of 5 crazy rubber alien bugs.

ComicsOnline gives Doctor Who: Time and the Rani – 4 out of 5 excessive pyrotechnic displays.

Get your copy of Doctor Who: Frontios and Doctor Who: Time and the Rani at Amazon.

Use your Tardis and travel back to ComicsOnline.com for more Doctor Who coverage and for everything geek pop culture!