★★★★★ RELEASED OUT NOW! 1977-1978 | 12 | Blu-ray Producer Graham Williams Cast Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, John Leeson Producer
BLU-RAY DEBUT In 1977, Tom Baker’s Time Lord was phasing between realities. Incoming producer Graham Williams had orders to remove the “sadism and violence” that had made previous seasons such full-blooded entertainments while winding up Mary Whitehouse.
As this latest The Collection box set proves, it took a while to turn around the timeship. Kill-crazed, fogbound opener “Horror Of Fang Rock” is strictly business as usual, while “Image Of The Fendahl” – also deliciously spooky – delivers a Nigel Kneale-inspired fusion of science and superstition. But the spirit of Doctor Who is clearly shifting. “The Invisible Enemy” introduces cute robot K-9 to a generation still counting the days to Star Wars, while “The Sun Makers” and “Underworld” offer by turns a witty, dystopian satire – hey, kids, taxes! – and a dreary cosmic riff on Greek mythology, undone by some ambitiously experimental effects.