Doctor Who: The E Space Trilogy | 
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| Actors: Tom Baker, Lalla Ward, Matthew Waterhouse, John Leeson
Studio: 2 Entertain
Category: DVD
List Price: £34.99
Buy New: £25.69
You Save: £9.30 (27%)
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 160
Format: Pal
Rating: To Be Announced
Number Of Items: 3
Running Time: 275
EAN: 5014503183523
Release Date: January 26, 2009 (In 18 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet released
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| Customer Reviews:
Tom Baker at his best.... December 31, 2008
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
Well, here it is. One of the best sections of Doctor Who that was made.
There can be no denying that John Nathan Turner, much as people grew to loath him for what happened to the programme in its later years under his 'care', did great things in his first season as producer.
This season does away with the rather silly humour that had crept in in the late 70's, (all the more poignant when JNT made the same mistake in the McCoy era and introduced too much humour) and replaced it with a more serious sci-fi air that had not really been seen since Pertwee's first season.
A raft of good stories, and Tom Baker in atmospherically subdued form; some people say the tone of this season was funereal, and all the better for it.
And so to the E-Space trilogy. What a brilliant concept. Doctor Who had done parallel worlds before, and Russel T Davies would do so again in the new series. But here we have a slightly different spin on the idea; that of a negative universe with negative co-ordinates. It made perfect sense to the 10 year old me, who was doing negative co-ordinates in Maths at school and i found the idea fascinating. I still do 28 years later.
The stories are great;
Full Circle, is in some ways a classic Who; people trapped in a confined space; a horrible monster lurking about, and Tom Baker and Lalla Ward on good form.
But the story is intriguing, and i won't give it away.
Its a shame that good use wasn't made of K9 here, as in many stories, the writers simply get him out of the way to avoid writing for him. But, there are some good moments nonetheless.
This story is notable for introducing the character of Adric, a companion hated by many.
I rather liked him as a viewer back then as he was a change to the tiresome screaming girls that had been around for seemingly ever, (i was ten!) and i thought it was great that there should be a boy companion.
I think Adric was a really good idea, and was well realised by Matt Waterhouse, and was exactly as he should have been portrayed, so i have trouble seeing why people don't like the character. In the Davison era he would go on to contribute well to the Tardis 'family' which made the show more interesting and enjoyable then. Oh well, each to their own!
State of Decay is a Terrance Dicks masterpiece, has vampires, a civilisation descended from the crew of an ancient space ship and sees technology lost and a people in decline. This is fantastic stuff and has some genuinely creepy moments.
The last story Warriors Gate is perhaps the most confusing and needs to be watched a few times for it to make sense, but, without giving anything away, it sees a goodbye or two, another fascinating concept and higher than average production values. The model work is good and the incidental music evokes real atmosphere.
I cannot think of any negatives here really. These three tales stand up well today. Obviosly the effetcs are of their time, but very good considering that, and there are some impressive shots in the last story particularly.
This set of stories really is top notch. This is Doctor Who at its finest and should be added to anyones collection.
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