Doctor Who: The Macra Terror is FINALLY available on DVD in North America!

Many months after its release in the UK earlier this year, the classic lost Doctor Who story The Macra Terror has finally been released in North America!

I have been waiting an extremely long time for this! The Macra Terror, the animated version of the lost Doctor Who classic, has finally been released on DVD (sadly not Blu-Ray) in North America (last week in the US and only today in Canada) – almost eight months after its release in the UK!

I’ve been excited to check this out, for quite a few reasons. Firstly, I love the Second Doctor. OK, that’s true for at least most of the Doctors, admittedly. But Patrick Troughton’s Doctor was special.

Taking over from the original Doctor William Hartnell, Troughton had to prove that the show could continue with a completely new actor in the role. That might not be such a difficult thing now, but it was incredibly bold when only one other actor had played it before. So Troughton’s brilliant performance really helped to establish the longevity of the series in a big way.

Sadly, not many of his episodes survive. While his last season is missing only a handful of episodes, there are huge gaps in his first two seasons, unfortunately. In fact, there’s not a single complete story from Season Four, his first season in the role.

Bringing back a classic

Thankfully, using surviving audio from these missing episodes, animation has helped to fill in these gaps. The Invasion and The Ice Warriors, both of which are missing two episodes each, have been somewhat completed for their DVD releases thanks to animation.

But in the last few years, the animated releases have been a little more ambitious. In 2016, The Power of the Daleks – Patrick Troughton’s first ever story as the Second Doctor – was animated in full, both in color and in black and white.

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Which is what makes The Macra Terror so exciting. Another completely missing story from Troughton’s era, it’s fantastic to see it being given the animated treatment. And in two formats, too – like Power, we get to see this new version in both color and black and white.

While it’s a shame it hasn’t been released on Blu-Ray over here, fans can still enjoy the vast number of special features that this release carries. These include audio commentary, episode reconstructions, and even a bonus mini-episode!

North American fans have had to wait considerably longer for this release, but at least The Macra Terror is finally here! Here’s hoping The Faceless Ones gets released quicker!

Have you watched The Macra Terror? Have you been looking forward to its release in the US and Canada? Which missing story do you hope will get the animated treatment? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out fellow contributor Raphael’s review for the story here.