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Season 9 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Jon Pertwee on Blu-ray #1

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Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time to revisit Season 9 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, starring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant with Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier, Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, John Levene as Sergeant Benton and Roger Delgado as the Master. This week, I’m sharing my updated reviews on the five stories featured in Season 9, based on ‘The Collection’ Blu-ray box set that was released in March 2023. Let’s start off our look into Season 9 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series by checking out the four-part story ‘Day of the Daleks’. Continue reading →

Blu-ray Review – ‘The Underwater Menace’ (Doctor Who)

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Today, I’m sharing my updated review on the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Underwater Menace’. This updated review is based on the latest in a line of mostly missing black-and-white ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories from the 1960s that have been animated on DVD and Blu-ray for today. The story stars Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor, Anneke Wills as Polly Wright, Michael Craze as Ben Jackson and Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon. This story also features Joseph Fürst as the titular ‘underwater menace’ – Professor Zaroff. Continue reading →

Blu-ray Review – ‘The Celestial Toymaker’ (Doctor Who)

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s Bank Holiday Monday in August in the UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland to be precise) in 2024 today. Here’s my updated review on the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Celestial Toymaker’. This updated review is based on the latest in a line of mostly missing black-and-white ‘Doctor Who’ TV stories from the 1960s that have been animated on DVD and Blu-ray for today. The story stars William Hartnell as the First Doctor, Peter Purves as Steven Taylor and Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet. This story also features Michael Gough in the titular role of the Toymaker. Continue reading →

Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ with William Hartnell on Blu-ray #9

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time to check out the ninth and final story of Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series called ‘The Time Meddler’. This is a four-part story by Dennis Spooner, starring William Hartnell as the First Doctor, Maureen O’Brien as Vicki and Peter Purves as new companion Steven Taylor. In this story, our heroes visit Northumbria on the planet Earth in the year 1066. It’s a time where the Vikings are about to invade the home of the Saxons, and the Battle of Hastings is to take place in that year. But the Doctor discovers Peter Butterworth as the Meddling Monk, who’s about to tamper with the course with Earth’s history. Can our heroes uncover why the Monk is doing this? Is the Monk all he seems to be? How is it that the Doctor and the Monk know each other so well? Continue reading →

Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ with William Hartnell on Blu-ray #8

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Here we are on the penultimate story of Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who‘ TV series. It’s time for another one of my favourite stories from the William Hartnell/First Doctor era – a six-part adventure called ‘The Chase’, featuring the third appearance of the Daleks on TV. This story is notable for featuring the debut of Peter Purves in ‘Doctor Who’ where he plays Morton Dill in the third episode and Steven Taylor in the sixth episode. Steven Taylor becomes a new ‘Doctor Who’ companion after this story. There’s also the introduction of the Mechanoids in this story. ‘The Chase’ also features the departure of TARDIS regulars William Russell as Ian Chesterton and Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright, who have been in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV series since the beginning. Continue reading →

Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ with William Hartnell on Blu-ray #7

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time to check out what is regarded the weakest story out of the nine stories featured in Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series called ‘The Space Museum’, a four-part story by Glyn Jones. The story has the TARDIS jumping a time-track and our heroes – William Hartnell as the First Doctor, William Russell as Ian, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara and Maureen O’Brien as Vicki – have to avert a future where they end up dead in boxes in display at a futuristic Space Museum on the planet Xeros, run by the militaristic Moroks. The story also features special guest star Jeremy Bulloch as Tor, the Xeron leader. Jeremy Bulloch would go on to play Hal the Archer in ‘The Time Warrior’ and be the body of Boba Fett in the original ‘Star Wars’ film trilogy. Continue reading →

Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ with William Hartnell on Blu-ray #6

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

In today’s instalment of our look into Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series via its Blu-ray box set, we come to what’s considered an oddity in the season. Not so much on the story, but the fact that it happens to be an incomplete story featured in the story. It’s time for the four-part story ‘The Crusade’ by David Whitaker, which has two of the four episodes still remaining. The first and third episodes are intact whilst the second and fourth episodes are filled in by telesnap reconstructions on ‘The Crusade’s Blu-ray disc. The story stars William Hartnell as the First Doctor, William Russell as Ian, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara and Maureen O’Brien as Vicki. There are also special guest stars Julian Glover as Richard the Lionheart and Jean Marsh as Joanna, King Richard’s sister. Continue reading →

Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ with William Hartnell on Blu-ray #5

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Today in our look of Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series via its Blu-ray box set, it’s time to check out one of the most ambitious ‘Doctor Who’ stories ever made from the William Hartnell/First Doctor era. It’s time for ‘The Web Planet’, a six-part adventure by Bill Strutton. This story has our heroes – William Hartnell as the First Doctor, William Russell as Ian, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara and Maureen O’Brien as Vicki – visiting the planet Vortis. On the planet, there are a variety of insect-like aliens, including the butterfly-like Menoptera, the ant-like Zarbi, the worm-like Larvae Guns (Venom Grubs), the woodlice-like Optera and the spider-like Animus. Continue reading →

Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ with William Hartnell on Blu-ray #4

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time for one of my favourite stories out of Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series as well as my favourite story from the William Hartnell/First Doctor era. Today, we’re taking a look at ‘The Romans’, a four-part historical adventure where our heroes – William Hartnell as the First Doctor, William Russell as Ian, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara and Maureen O’Brien as Vicki – get to visit Italy in 64 A.D. They start in a Roman villa in Assisium before ending up in Rome where the fifth Emperor – Derek Francis as Caesar Nero – reigns. This is a ‘Doctor Who’ historical adventure that is injected with a lot of comedy by the story’s writer Dennis Spooner, who’s also the script editor on Season 2. Continue reading →

Season 2 of ‘Doctor Who’ with William Hartnell on Blu-ray #3

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Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Today, we’re on the third story in Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series on Blu-ray. It’s time for ‘The Rescue’, a two-part story that introduces Maureen O’Brien as Vicki, a new ‘Doctor Who’ companion who joins William Hartnell as the First Doctor, William Russell as Ian and Jacqueline Hill as Barbara in the TARDIS. This story also features special guest star Ray Barrett as Bennett. Ray Barrett is well-known for voicing John Tracy and the Hood in ‘Thunderbirds’. There’s also the monster-like Koquillion, played by Sydney Wilson. 😀 Will the Doctor, Ian and Barbara help Vicki when she and Bennett are terrified of Koquillion after crash-landing on the planet Dido? Continue reading →