The Series (5/5)

     A few months ago Doctor Who - The Collection Season 12 was announced for Blu-ray. This is known as Tom Baker's first season on the show from 1974, and contains the 4 "Nerva" sequence serials.  It introduced fans to the iconic Fourth Doctor who can easily be considered the most iconic Doctor of the show's original run if not all time. It is also a release that shocked me, as it was totally, and utterly unexpected as the two classic-era Doctor Who Blu-ray releases that I thought were possible were "The Movie" with Paul McGann, and Spearhead from Space the 1969 debut serial featuring Jon Pertwee, as both of those were the only classic era Who serials to be shot on film, and would see a visual benefit from a Blu-ray upgrade.

    The season 12 Blu-ray collection contains 5 Serials Robot, The Ark in Space, The Sontaran Experiment, Genesis of the Daleks, and Revenge of the Cybermen. Within this season we have the final serial of the prior showrunner Barry Lett's era (Robot), and the first of incoming showrunner Philip Hinchcliffe's era(The Ark in Space), whose run is considered by many to be Who's Golden Age with it's focus on gothic horror and scarier sci-fi elemenets.

    The first serial of the set "Robot" sees the after effects of prior serial Planet of the Spiders as the Third Doctor has regenerated into the Fourth while at UNIT HQ.  Like most regenerating Doctors there are moments of confusion early on, but this is dispatched with soon enough to make way for a story involving a giant robot controlled by a group trying to take over the Earth. There is a nice homage to the 1933 King Kong here with Sarah Jane in place of Fay Wray.

    Though Planet of the Spiders was the final episode with the Third Doctor, Robot in many ways could be seen as the true send off to the UNIT family as seen throughout the Third Doctor's era. Though UNIT would continue to appear sporadically in the early Fourth Doctor run, they would never again appear like they do here. The episode feels tonally different from the next episode, and the rest of the Tom Baker run going forward (though I do feel there are 3 distinct moods in Tom's years, but I digress).

   The Second of the serials  included in the set is the iconic "Ark in Space", which I believe is the serial that solidified The Fourth Doctor in the minds of fans, and made him a legend for all time. This serial sees the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, and Harry Sullivan end up on the "Nerva Beacon" in the far future only to discover that it was an "ark" for the survivors of Earth, after solar flares created an apocalyptic scenario for the planet.  Unfortunately, those survivors overslept by thousands of years, and the few that were awoke into the beacon have discovered an alien menace aboard the Beacon. The Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry must work with them to try and stop the aliens who are also possessing the revived members of the crew.

    The Ark in Space though looking very much like a sterile space set sci-fi episode truly begins the horror atmospherics of the Hinchcliffe era. We are aboard an isolated space beacon thousands of years in Earth's future with creepy aliens some of whom possess the power to possess humans, and control their minds. The episodes see Baker truly come into his own as the Doctor with a humorous, but rough around the edges attitude.

    The third serial in the set is the 2 part "Sontaran Experiment". The episode sees the Doctor and company, leave the Nerva Beacon via transport for the Earth below only to find themselves hunted by a lone Sontaran who wants to use them for experiments (OK, so  that's in the title). This serial is short, to the point, and has a good deal of suspense running through the whole thing. It also leads right into the next serial and one many viewers should be quite excited about, Genesis of the Daleks.
 

    The Fourth Serial in the set is Genesis of the Daleks. It is considered along with the Fifth Doctor swansong Caves of Androzani to be Doctor Who's finest hour, and for the most part it is easy to see why. Over the years Doctor Who has touched on the Daleks quite a bit, but this serial written by Dalek creator Terry Nation is the first to go back to their true origins when the mad scientist Davros created the Daleks as the final single-minded, and evil doing evolutionary phase of his Kaled race in order to end a thousand year war with the Thals they shared the planet Skaro with. The Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry Sullivan are sent by the Time Lords in what has been retconned to be the first moments of the Time War to destroy the Daleks, before they exist.

   The serial is six episodes long, and for the most part doesn't feel it. It is exciting to watch the post-apocalyptic war-torn Skaro in its death throws as the Doctor tries to put an end to this age-old conflict, and at the same time destroy his arch nemesis the Daleks before they exist, but does he have the right?

    The final serial, and one I enjoy despite it's reputation as a lesser entry to the series is Revenge of the Cybermen. This serial sees a return to the series of the single-minded cybernetic creatures after a lengthy break during the Pertwee era.  The Doctor and crew return to Nerva only to find themselves in a different era then the one they left behind. They also find Nerva host to a huge amount of dead bodies, which initially they believe died of plague, but are soon discovered to have been poisoned by a cybermat making way for an invasion of Cybermen. The serial does have issues, and does change elements of the Cybermen's origins, but overall it's a fun watch after the sheer dark brutality of the prior serial, and a nice send off for this season.

Audio/Video (3/5)

    Can I just make this "It's Complicated". Doctor Who  - The Complete Season 12 is presented 1:33:1 in a 1080i AVC encoded transfer. Now, here's the thing about this. Doctor Who in the classic era was shot using SD video, therefore for the most part it should not look significantly different on a Blu-ray then a DVD, or at least not look "High Definition", because by it's very nature it isn't.

    However, all 5 serials show a marked improvement over their DVD counterparts. Aside from the Sontaran Experiment which was shot using SD Outdoor Video, outdoor sequences in classic Who, up until the late 70's were shot using film cameras, so those sequences feature improved resolution (See Genesis of the Daleks for example). Further, the BBC Blu-ray discs and in putting the content on a larger space does away with some of the ocmpression and pixelation issues that were seen on the DVD's.  Further, there was additional remastering done by the folks at the Doctor Who retoration team so clarity and color are improved for the Blu-ray releases.

   Audio is handled by DTS-HD MA 2.0 tracks for Robot, Sontaran Experiment, and Revenge of the Cybermen. There are 5.1 DTS-HD MA remixes for Ark in Space and Genesis of the Daleks which are quite effective with great balance and separation of sound and clarity. 

Extras (5/5)

    For the most part all prior DVD extras have been ported over to this set. In addition the BBC have made this set worth it for fans by adding much in the way of extra content. We get the omnibus version of Genesis of the Daleks, a new one hour interview with Tom Baker, revised effects on Revenge of the Cybermen, new making of docs, and something called "Behind the Sofa" which features Baker plus companions watching classic clips and commenting.

Overall

    I never thought I'd want the classic era on Blu-ray, but between clearing my shelf space, the newly cleaned up image, and the excellent new extras provided Doctor Who - The Collection Season 12 has become a must own for fans of Classic Doctor Who. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.