Doctor Who: Tom Baker’s final season out now on Blu-ray!
By James Aggas
Season Eighteen, Tom Baker’s final year as the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who, is finally out on Blu-ray today, and we couldn’t be more excited about that!
Fourth Doctor fans, fans of Classic Who or even just Doctor Who in general, you’re going to want to know about this. Today sees the release of the complete Season Eighteen on Blu-ray. In the UK, you’ll find it as Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 18 (in rather gorgeous packaging, too). In the US and Canada, it’s listed as Doctor Who: Tom Baker – Complete Season Seven (in packaging that’s sadly not quite so gorgeous).
Regardless of what you want to call it, (even though the UK name is obviously more accurate than the other,) there’s a very simple reason why fans are going to want this set. Because it’s Tom Baker’s final season as the Fourth Doctor.
At this point, this was Tom’s seventh year as the Doctor. He’d already gone through two complete eras of two producers, and his final year would see a new one: John Nathan-Turner. The man who would serve as Doctor Who‘s longest running producer made a lot of changes in just his first year alone, and this ensured that Tom Baker’s final season would be very different to all of his previous ones.
Particularly with Christopher H. Bidmead as script-editor. A more serious tone was brought into the series compared to the more whimsical and more humorous approach in previous seasons.
Ending one era while establishing the new
Season Eighteen would see a lot of change over the course of its seven stories. Along with the Fourth Doctor’s regeneration at the end of the season, major companions Romana and K9 would also make their exits.
However, while this season was aiming to resolve one era, John Nathan-Turner was already beginning a new one. Not just in terms of style, with a brand new version of the theme tune by Peter Howell and even a new costume for Baker’s Doctor. But also with a brand new team of companions, too.
This may sound rather obvious, but this does make Season Eighteen rather essential to watch before Season Nineteen. While I can understand why the latter season was released earlier on Blu-ray, since it was Peter Davison’s first season as the Fifth Doctor, there’s too much that’s set up in Tom Baker’s last season to really jump into it.
New companions and old enemies
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For example, all of the Fifth Doctor’s companions of the following season have their stories begin in this one. We meet Adric in Full Circle; Nyssa in The Keeper of Traken, and Tegan joins just in time for the Fourth Doctor’s regeneration in Logopolis.
On top of that, beginning with The Keeper of Traken, we also get the first two of three consecutive Master stories, with each serial leading directly into the next. As a result, watching Castrovalva (the Fifth Doctor’s opening story) first means that you miss out on a lot of buildup to it.
There are many seasons you can just jump on board with in the Classic Series, but Season Nineteen isn’t really one of them. If you haven’t bought it yet, I recommend getting Season Eighteen first.
Regardless, Season Eighteen is an essential purchase for Doctor Who fans, anyway. Not just as the final season of a much-loved Doctor, but also as the beginning of a new direction for the series, for better or worse. And I can’t wait to watch that fresh start in HD.
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Are you a fan of Season Eighteen? Were you sad to say goodbye to Tom Baker’s Doctor? Which story is your favorite from the season? Let us know in the comments below.