I would go for the later I think Martin.

Though if you're talking about available extras then why are 2Entertain releasing The Rescue and The Romans - 2 stories that pre-date the Pertwee era.

Surely it would be harder to find available extras for those older stories ones than stuff from the Pertwee years???

2Entertain are like the Rubbicks Cube - an eternally puzzling enigma.

Some day it'll be releases on a new format (BluRay? Crystals? Neo-Quanta Virtual Brain Implants?) where the extras will be the old 2entertain war horses explaining their decisions in the current DVDs.

Oh dear.

I see that the Sylvester McCoy story Battlefield is to be released after the Trial of a Timelord box set.

No doubt Andrew Cartmel will say that the story could have been better had the lighting been darker, etc.

The hits keep on coming from 2Entertain - NOT!

Wonder what their 2009 schedule looks like:

Battlefield

Time and the Rani

Dimensions in Time

Colin Baker talks about himself

Various actors who've played Doctors opening fairs, shopping malls, Virgin Megastores etc.

2entertain warriors explain how they came to make the commercial decisions they've taken

Colin Baker talks about Sylvester McCoy

John Nathan-Turner --  not a DVD release,  they will actually force his ghost into your body

Or maybe the 2Entertain staff will hold a seance to bring back JNT?

Seriously, I dread the day when Time and the Rani gets released.  I bet anything it gets released before a classic like The Daemons.

Come on 2Entertain don't let me down!!!

Have they ever?
Seriously, they have done some good work. They tell us.

THE WAR MACHINES

Nearing the end of the Hartnell era, The War Machines arrived at an important moment for the show.

The departure of Dodo and the imminent exit of Hartnell paved the way for a new beginning which needed to be made.

The idea of moving away from the historical epic so noted during Hartnell's reign was a good one, although unfortunately its execution was poor.

Although done many times since 1966, the story of a machine taking over mankind was reasonably novel back in those days and was well entwined with the newly built post office tower.

What really makes things come unstuck is the several plot holes that develops.  The ease in which WOTAN can hypnotise its subjects is ludicrous beyond belief as is the speed in which its servants can build 12 deadly machines all in a space of hours.

The war machnes themselves are very cumbersome and have all the menace of Mr Squiggle without strings attached.  The sight of the cast running screaming from a giant moveable box is horrible to say the least and an embarrassment for all concerned.

Now I'm sure there have been countless explanations for this but why does WOTAN refer to the Doctor as 'Doctor Who'?  Was this an error by the production team or was there some meaning I missed???  Even JNT in his worst days wouldn't have made a mistake like that one.

One thing that can't be faulted is the acting, which is of a generally high standard.  Hartnell really knew his character at this point and works well with the arrival of Ben and Polly.

Both Anneke Wills and Michael Craze made for potentially good companions and it's a bit sad to think that most of their stories are no longer around.

The scenes in the nightclub are unintentionally amusing - who knew that swinging 60s teens were so well dressed and behaved?  On that point it was also nice to see that Professor Brett knew how to help WOTAN take over the world wearing a cool white bow tie!!!

The departure of Dodo is very badly handled and it seemed rather rude of the Doctor not to at least say goodbye to her in person. This would probably tie with the departure of Leela as being a companion's least satisfying exit.

Overall the story just didn't grab me at all - it was clumsily made and ended up being a non stop chase around the city streets.  A very forgettable story.

For the dvd - what can I say?  For the first time in awhile the picture quality is very mediocre - at times almost unwatchable.  To be fair according to one of the dvd docos the prints were incomplete and sourced from different film stock.  Only very occassionally does the film actually look any good - pretty disappointing considering the job that went into the Lost Years set for example.

The extras are a pretty dull bunch too - the obligatory Blue Peter segment is there along with a doco presented by a former MP who takes us for a tour in the Post Office Tower.

No doco on the actual making of the show is here - strange given it was a pretty imporant story in terms of future events.

The War Machines is a bit of a dud and yet again 2Entertain have seemingly chosen one of the worst stories to release instead of something fans want to see.

Next up is Four to Doomsday - I'm so looking forward to that one (insert sarcastic tone here)!!!!

Axel f, How'd you manage to get the DVD? They're currently unavailable in Australia due to a supply issue!

I can't wait to get hold of my copy!
I've always thought "The War Machines" was a classic - and it was a precursor of what was to come in the series' history.

It's a shame to hear about the extras; it seems that 2entertain are not only bonkers when it comes to their release schedule, but they're also beginning to reduce the level of quality of the DVDs as well.

Whoops sorry to burst you bubble about The War Machines being a classic Jimmy - but then again as I said - everyone has their own opinions.

I got my copy at the Angus and Robertson store at Norwood - the one thats half books and half record store - they had several copies on sale.

I've been very disapointed in the extras content of the recent dvds, although the ones for the Trial of a Timelord box set look interesting - especially the obligatory bitchy Eric Saward audio commentary - cant wait!!

It seems that 2entertain really lash out on the extras when it's a boxed set. The single DVDs don't seem to attract many features - I imagine that this is a cost cutting exercise.
And yeah, you're right about "Trail of a Timelord"; the extras look phenomenal - there's a 'making of' featurette for each of the 'story sections', there's a feature on the cancellation crisis of 1985, I even believe that they may cover the 'lost' ending that was supposed to be penned by Holmes; all in all there will be a wide variety of extras. Pity that it's not such a classic story!

I'm certainly looking forward to Eric Saward's commentary for episode 13 - one would assume that JNT is no longer around he can loosen his lips a bit more now???

Though I see that the Doctor in Distress video clip will be one of the extras as well - surely a distress for us long suffering fans?

The whole Doctor in distress thing is abhorrent, but it's a part of Dr Who history. Same can be said for the Sylvester McCoy years!

But I should think that the extras for "Trial" will be fascinating to say the least; there's even going to be interviews (contemporary ones I must add) with Michael Grade about the whole cancellation debacle. Should be quite enlightening! And as for Saward/Nathan-Turner, the more I read about it in Doctor Who Magazine, the more complex the whole thing seems to get. Saward has a very strong point of view about the whole thing (the 'Riegn of Turner'), so does Gary Downie, Nathan-Turner provides a lot of (backed up) info about how he was mainpulated with 'passive' coesion by the BBC, and Colin Baker also adds a lot of information as to how the 'Reign of Turner' functioned and the various controversies that surronded the era. I could go on for hours/pages about it! I suggest you read the DWMs from 2002-2004, they give lots of information about the period and how it affected cast and crew (especailly check out the exclusive Colin Baker interviews from 2004; they're fascinating and insightful accounts from behind the scenes).
Whatever my be the case, I'm sure we'll get a whole lot more info in the "Trial" extras, but I think it's a shame that JNT isn't around anymore to defend himself and his decisons.

Yes I guess it's a shame JNT isn't around....would have been very interesting to hear his audio commentaries that's for sure.

I do find it interesting that ever since JNT's death, Eric Saward has been far more outgoing in fandom and willing to speak more about his time on the show.

As I said - the laws of libel don't extend from the great beyond..........

I'm STILL waiting for my copy of "The War Machines" from EzyDVD!!!!! i see it in other stores, but I put down a $10 deposit for this one. EzyDVD are usually very good.
This is really annoying!!!!!!!!!!

In answer to many inquiries, Duggan has posted on the DWCV forum that new series stories only will be available on Blu-ray from 2010.

What?????  The stories won't be available on normal dvd?  That's criminal.  Yet another way to force people to buy Blu-Ray - typical!

As for Ezydvd - it seems rather odd that they wouldn't have The War Machines as yet - have you tried the ABC Shop?

-No!

The story is new series (not classic) will be available on Blu-ray.

I'm expecting DVD classic series, DVD and Blu-ray new series.

But feel free to be outraged.

yes, I shall continue to rage against 2Entertain with as much hypocrytical indignation as I can muster!!!

They had better see the classic series all the way thru on normal dvd or I'll force them to watch Time and the Rani 100 times as punishment!

To be fair I do not know if any of this is correct. And you may recall season 17 gems such as Creature from the Pit were released on VHS for about five minutes before they were deleted.

I don't think it's hypocritical -- they've got something valuable and despite simply being given much of the material they still make a mess of it.  And Elizabeth Sladen recently said she'd love to do more commentaries but her contract's expiring they weren't giving her another one.

If you're reading this 2entertain, just hand over the Who contract.

Do the actors have specific audio commentary contracts?  Call me naive, but that's a new one on me.

I assumed they would get a call up whenever they released one of their stories and the actors themselves either said yes or no to doing it.

Shows you how much I know about the dvd biz!

But still, 2Entertain really need to lift their game - especially in releasing some more Pertwee stories, which I feel have been given short shrift.