The Two Doctors
(DVD)


Starring Colin Baker
&
Patrick Troughton
3 Episodes (45 minutes each)
1985
133 minutes (color)
Double Disc


 

 

Production Notes
Doctor Who
Colin Baker
&
Patrick Troughton

Peri Brown
Nicola Bryant

Jamie McCrimmon
Frazer Hines

Written by
Robert Holmes
Directed by
Peter Moffatt

Produced by
John Nathan-Turner

Original Airdate
Feb 16, 1985 - Mar 2, 1985

US DVD Release Date
June 2004

Warner Home Video
#E1994

U.K. Cover




 

 

 
Cover Blurb
While investigating unauthorized experiment in time travel aboard Space Station Camera, the Second Doctor and Jamie come under attack from the warlike Sontarans. Not long afterward, the Sixth Doctor and Peri pay a visit to Camera. The space station appears to be abandoned until they discover Jamie hiding in the air ducts. Half-crazed, he insists that the Doctor has been murdered!

 

 

 

 


 


DVD Features 
 

Disc One
All 3 (45 minute) episodes as they were originally transmitted in 1985.

 
  • In A Fix With The Sontarans:
 Back during the 1980's a television show called "Jim'll Fix It" ran an episode where a young boy's wish to be part of a Doctor Who adventure came true.  Colin Baker (6th Doctor) and Janet Fielding (Tegan) starred in this short 9 minute "sketch" involving Sontarans and this young boy saving the day.  Silly fun.
 

 
  • Information Text:
 Lots of trivia and tidbits of Whovian detail are provided.  The text appears intermittently along the bottom of the screen and is written by Richard Molesworth of the Doctor Who Restoration Team.
 

 
  • Audio Options:

Two choices here...

A commentary track including Colin Baker (Doctor #6), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Jacqueline Pearce (Chessene), Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Peter Moffatt (director).  It's a great commentary that is both fun and entertaining.

The second audio option is the isolated soundtrack.  With this feature you will hear the phenomenal music Peter Howell composed for this story sequentially as it appears in the episode (rather than edited together as in the case of "The Five Doctors Special Edition" DVD).  This does mean that there are long gaps of silence in between music cues.

 

 
 

Disc Two
The remaining DVD bonus features.
 
  • Behind the Sofa - Robert Holmes & Doctor Who:
 A 45 minute featurette on the works of Doctor Who's most prolific writer, Robert Holmes.  It includes interviews with such notable Doctor Who alumni as Barry Letts, Terrance Dicks, Philip Hinchcliffe, Chris Boucher and Eric Saward.  One of the best featurettes in the Who DVD range (and that IS saying something).
 

 
  • Beneath the Lights:
 A 28 minute featurette showing much of the raw footage shot in the studio.  This is marginally more interesting than Beneath the Sun.  Here we get to see the filming of several key scenes from episode two along with the trials and tribulations that went into making the scenes work.
 

 
  • Beneath the Sun:
 A 36 minute featurette showing much of the raw footage shot in Seville, Spain.  To be perfectly honest, this is dry and boring even to die hard fans.  On the up side, it's a great cure for insomnia!
 

 

  • 40th Anniversary Celebration:

 A specially created "music video" celebrating the first 40 years of the show's history.  The video uses quite a few clips spanning the entire history of the series.  A variation of the signature theme song (as performed by the group Orbital) is used in the video.  It runs for approximately 3 minutes.
 

 
  • Adventures in Time and Spain:
 A 30 minute featurette led by former Doctor Who production manager Gary Downie.  Gary walks the viewers through the process of trials and tribulations of location filming.  When I first heard about this featurette, I was skeptical about it's entertainment value.  Boy, was I wrong.  This is a great featurette that is both informative and entertaining too!
 

 
  • Photo Gallery:
 Color and black and white photos showing many publicity shots from the production of this story.  Many of the pictures are rare or even never before seen.
 

 
  • Who's Who:
 A feature unique to the North American DVD releases.  It lists short biographical information on many of the actors involved in the story.
 

 
  • Wavelength:
 A documentary done in 1985 for radio detailing the making of the show.  Interesting stuff.
 

 
  • Easter Eggs:
 One easter egg is  included in this release.  Highlight the blank area below to find out more information on each one.  For a full list of known Easter Eggs and screen grabs of them click HERE.
 

#1. CLEAN OPENING AND CLOSING TITLES
(Season 22)

Go to the main menu on Disc One.
Click on the hidden Doctor Who logo to the left of the 'Scene Selection'

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Notes

  • "The Two Doctors" was the fourth story in Colin Baker's first season.

  • Season 22 had a slightly different episodic format than the rest of the series.   Episodes were 45 minutes long (effectively making two shorter episodes into one longer episode).  It was felt that longer episodes could foster better story writing.   However, the format was abandoned after this season and the series went back to the traditional 23 minutes/episode format.

  • "The Two Doctors" sees the return of the 2nd Doctor and his companion Jamie.   Originally intended as a story involving the 1st Doctor and his granddaughter Susan, the story had to be retooled to fit the 2nd Doctor when the actor who played the 1st Doctor (Richard Hurndall) in "The Five Doctors" died just before filming was to begin on the new season.

  • This story was penned by one of the most prolific writers for Doctor Who, Robert Holmes.

  • The Sontarans make a reappearance after more than 7 years absence.

  • Blake's 7 fans can watch for Jacqueline Pearce who plays the augmented Chessene.

  • Watch for the humorous exchanges between the 6th and 2nd Doctors as well as Jamie and the 6th Doctor.  

  • Also worth noting is the performance of James Saxon as Oscar Botcheby and John Stratton as Shockeye.