Tag Archives: gary russell

Week 21 – ‘The Nyssa Challenge’ REVISITED & UPDATED

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 –UPDATED REVIEW ON AUDIO CD AND VINYL TODAY–

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

I’ve recently purchased a brand-new vinyl recorder player to play my ‘Doctor Who’ vinyls on. And because I’ve checked out the latest Big Finish audio story ‘Genesis of the Cybermen’ in my current ‘Nyssa Challenge’ mini-review season, I decided to revisit the Big Finish audio story ‘Spare Parts’ by Marc Platt, which has another version of the origins of the Cybermen on the planet Mondas. I regard ‘Spare Parts’ very highly and I prefer it over ‘Genesis of the Cybermen’. Not that ‘Genesis of the Cybermen’ is bad or anything. Far from it! It’s just I grew up with ‘Spare Parts’ first and I feel a leaning more towards that as a Mondasian Cybermen origins story compared to ‘Genesis of the Cybermen’. Continue reading →

Season 25 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Sylvester McCoy on Blu-ray #1

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s taken me a while, but I’m at last checking out and sharing my updated reviews on Season 25 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, starring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace. This is the 25th anniversary season of ‘Doctor Who’, which was shown from October 1988 to January 1989. The Blu-ray box set came out in October 2024, but I had to check out Seasons 15 and 20 on Blu-ray first before getting onto sharing my updated thoughts on the four stories in Season 25. Let’s begin out look into Season 25 by checking out ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’, a four-part story by Ben Aaronvitch, who makes his first contribution to the TV series. Continue reading →

Season 20 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Peter Davison on Blu-ray #3

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

In the third week of our look into Season 20 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series, it’s time to check out the third story of the season called ‘Mawdryn Undead’, which is also the first story of ‘The Black Guardian Trilogy’. This is a four-part story by Peter Grimwade, who previously directed ‘Full Circle’, ‘Logopolis’, ‘Kinda’ and ‘Earthshock’ and wrote ‘Time-Flight’. The story is directed by Peter Moffatt, who previously directed ‘State of Decay’ and ‘The Visitation’. ‘Mawdryn Undead’ stars Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Janet Fielding as Tegan. The story features the return of Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, the introduction of new ‘Doctor Who’ companion Mark Strickson as Turlough, and the return of Valentine Dyall as the Black Guardian. There’s also David Collings as the titular Mawdryn. Continue reading →

Season 15 of ‘Doctor Who’ with Tom Baker on Blu-ray #6

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

And here we are on the sixth and final story of Season 15 in the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series. It’s time for an updated review on the six-part season finale ‘The Invasion of Time’ by David Agnew. The review was done by me and Timelord007 back in 2017. Today, we’re sharing our updated thoughts on the story, which sees Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor returning to Gallifrey, along with Louise Jameson as Leela and K-9, voiced by John Leeson. The guest cast includes John Arnatt as Chancellor Borusa, Milton Johns as Castellan Kelner, Chris Tranchell as Andred and Hilray Ryan as Rodan. The story also features the mysterious Vardans, and the war-like Sontarans, led by Derek Deadman as Commander Stor. This story also features the departure of Leela and K-9 Mark I. Continue reading →

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

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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 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 #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 #2

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s time to check out the second story in Season 2 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series on Blu-ray, and it’s a very significant story in the TV show’s history. Today, we’re checking out ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’, which is the second TV story to feature the evil pepperpots. William Hartnell as the First Doctor is joined by William Russell as Ian, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara and Carole Ann Ford as Susan, as they help the rebels in London on Earth in the 22nd century to battle against the Daleks, as they’ve invaded and occupied the planet for a long time. This story also features the final regular departure of Carole Ann Ford as Susan from the classic TV series. Continue reading →

Novelization/Audiobook Review – ‘Doctor Who – The Star Beast’

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Hello everyone! 🙂

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

It’s been a while, but I’m back on track with checking out Target novelizations/audiobooks of ‘Doctor Who’ at last! I’ve a lot to catch up on, but hopefully I’ll be able to cover the latest and upcoming Target novelizations/audiobooks very soon. For a start, let’s check out the first of three Target novelizations/audiobooks on the three 60th anniversary specials of ‘Doctor Who’, as they’re still fresh in my mind. The first Target novelization/audiobook of the three 60th anniversary specials is on the TV story ‘The Star Beast’, featuring the Fourteenth Doctor, Donna Noble and Beep the Meep. Continue reading →