Colin Baker’s second season of Doctor Who, also known as The Trial of a Time Lord, will be released on Blu-ray in September!
Well, this is exciting! Just two months after the upcoming release of Season Ten comes out on Blu-ray, we’re getting another complete season of Classic Doctor Who! This time, it’s Season Twenty-Three – not only Colin Baker’s second (and sadly last) season as the Sixth Doctor, but it’s also (technically) one long serial: The Trial of a Time Lord!
The Trial of a Time Lord takes the format of being a single serial in fourteen parts, but is actually closer to four stories in one. The overall arc of the season is the Doctor being put on trial by the Time Lords for interfering in the affairs of other races and planets.
Adventures from his past and future are used in his case, both for the prosecution and the defense. The Doctor, the Valeyard (his prosecutor) and the Inquisitor all watch these adventures on a Matrix screen. Naturally, we watch these adventures with them.
You can watch a trailer for the new box set, featuring clips of not just the stories but also brand new bonus features (as well as a gloriously indignant Colin Baker) in the clip below.
Turbulent times
This one’s noticeably shorter than previous releases in Doctor Who: The Collection, as the season features just fourteen episodes. Which doesn’t sound too bad, until you factor in that they’re just twenty-five minutes each.
The Trial of a Time Lord was made at one of the more turbulent times for the series. The year before, Doctor Who had been put on hiatus by BBC controller Michael Grade. When the series was quickly brought back, it was so heavily retooled that the original plans for Season Twenty-Three were completely scrapped. (Audio adaptations of these had been made for Big Finish’s The Lost Stories. Two more adaptations will be released later this year.)
While some elements of the serial don’t quite work (particularly the trial scenes, which consistently only interrupt the story rather than add to it), the season is still very enjoyable overall. But if the story itself doesn’t grab your interest, then the special features certainly will.
Special features
Here’s what we can expect from the new Blu-ray release:
"Extended edits – of all fourteen episodesTerror of the Vervoids – four-part standalone edition with updated FxImmersive 5.1 surround sound & isolated scores – on all 14 broadcast episodesBehind the Sofa – new episodes with Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Bonnie Langford, Mark Strickson, Frazer Hines and Matthew WaterhouseThe Writers’ Room – Eric Saward, Philip Martin, Christopher H Bidmead & Waly K Daly discuss the ‘Lost’ Season 23The Doctor Who Cookbook Revisited – brave cast members tackle their original recipes from the 1980s official cookbookThe Doctor’s Table – join Colin Baker and friends for dinnerMore from Winter is ComingFor All Mankind finally gives us information in Episode 405, “Goldilocks”Watch a stunning VFX breakdown of The Wheel of Time season 2Of course Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) thinks Eve Best (Rhaenys Targaryen) should rule WesterosConfirmed: The Last of Us season 2 will air in 2025Final season of Star Trek: Discovery will have “a lot of action, a lot of adventure, a lot of fun”In Conversation – Matthew Sweet chats to companion Bonnie LangfordPlus: unseen studio footage, rare archive treats, convention footage, Blu-ray trailer, HD photo galleries, scripts, costume designs & more in the PDF Archive.The six-disc box set also includes hours of extensive special features previously released on DVD."
I must admit, I’m rather surprised that this will feature extended versions of all the episodes. I’m cautious about this. While some stories benefit from a longer length, one problem that The Trial of a Time Lord had was how padded out it was, at times. But, at the same time, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little curious about these.
However, The Writers’ Room and In Conversation sound like huge highlights. It’ll be interesting to learn more about the original plans for Season Twenty-Three, as well as get Bonnie Langford’s view of what Doctor Who was like when she came on board.
Overall, this looks set to be another high-quality Blu-ray release for the Classic Series, and is bound to appeal to a lot of fans.
Doctor Who: The Collection: Season Twenty-Three will be released on Blu-ray in the UK on Monday 23rd September. A release date for the US and Canada has yet to be announced.
Are you a fan of The Trial of a Time Lord? Are you excited about this Blu-ray? Which season from the Classic Series would you like to see announced next? Let us know in the comments below.