Jon Pertwee's era of Doctor Who has long been a popular one, and it's easy to see why. While extremely colorful and filled with great monsters and villains, it also had many excellent stories with a fierce political edge to them. Best of all of course was Jon Pertwee himself. While he had been mainly known for his comedy, Pertwee took the role of the Doctor completely seriously, presenting us with a Doctor that was stylish, eccentric, passionate, and often argumentative, but still caring. It's no wonder that his era lasted as long as five years.
It all began with Season 7 - perhaps one of Doctor Who's most unusual and distinctive seasons ever made. In some ways, it's recognizably Doctor Who. There's the Doctor and his companion, as well as monsters and alien invasions. The opening story "Spearhead from Space" was clearly influential, to the extent that New Series debut episode "Rose" was essentially a 21st-century retelling of it.
But at the same time, Season 7 has a style that's clearly unique. It's darker, grittier, even more paranoid than what we'd usually see in Who. And while it features monsters, not all of them are clearcut villains. It's an extremely distinctive season of the show - and it's finally available on Blu-ray in the UK.
Four stories, seven discs
Rather fittingly, Season 7 has been released as a 7-disc box set. Four of those discs feature the original serials as transmitted: "Spearhead from Space", "Doctor Who and the Silurians", "The Ambassadors of Death", and "Inferno". Because three of those stories are 7-parters, you still get a lengthy 25-episode season with this box set. And of course, each of the discs for those stories is filled with special features, including documentaries, extensive interviews, and even cast reactions with Behind the Sofa. (You can read more details on those special features here.)
Along with those discs, you have two more for omnibus editions of "Doctor Who and the Silurians" (or "The Cave Monsters", as the omnibus is called) and "Inferno". The original transmitted versions of these stories are close to 3 hours long each, but the omnibus editions have been edited down to just 107 and 96 minutes, respectively. I'm genuinely curious to see how well each edit works.
Lastly, because there are so many special features included in this set, old and new, a bonus disc is included to ensure that there's room for everything. The whole box set sounds extensive, and definitely an essential purchase for fans of the Classic Series. It's worth mentioning that the UK release is currently a limited edition, and while a "standard edition" will eventually be released, it likely won't be for another couple of years. So grab this set sooner rather than later, if you can.
US fans have a little longer to wait for this box, as Season 7 (or Jon Pertwee: Complete Season One, as it'll be titled for its North American release) won't be released until Jun 3. But based on how good this box set looks, it'll definitely be worth the wait.