Rating: 
Summary: A great way to spend ten hours or so ...
Review: The Key to Time is an excellent series of adventures featuring everyone's favorite Doctor, Tom Baker (though in all truthfulness it's the other Doctor named Baker, Colin, who is my own personal favorite). This boxed set gives us all six adventures in that paricular season, divided out of twenty-six short-ish episodes (laying all the pieces together, end to end, will give you about ten hours of viewing time, not counting special features). This gives us a nice range of stories told in various different styles which means that who(m)ever gets their hands on this will have a nice sampling of the various different kinds of tales Doctor Who is capable of telling, while a common theme pervades throughout each one to unite them.Through the course of six adventures, the Doctor and his new assistant, Romana (played by the gorgeous Mary Tamm), together with a robotic dog named K-9 (the pun has been completely lost on me, I realize now, after so many years of Who viewing) travel throughout time and the universe in search of six segments to a powerful artifact known as the Key of Time which is capable of providing it's keeper with absolute power over all that exists/has existed/ever will exist. Luckily, in order to use the key of time one has to be powerful enough to be able to put it to use, and out of all that exists there exist only two beings capable of doing this. Unforunately (and inevitably), one of them is pure evil, and if the Key falls into his hands... well, you get the picture. Of the six, my favorite has to be the first, "The Ribos Operation", set on a Medieval-esque planet that is just on the verge of an astronomic revolution, while contrary to most people's opinions, my second favorite is the fourth, "The Androids of Tara", also set on a Medieval-esque planet but in specific, hidden ways technologically superior to our own time. Going onto a tangent that includes a minor complaint extending not just to these six stories but much of the entire series: a question arises when one considers just how earth-like each of the planets the Doctor visits, as far as flora and fauna and inhabitants go... How can we explain this? Either a tremendous coincidence is at work, or each planet was long ago terraformed or colonized by humans in the distant, distant past. I would have enjoyed at least some small attempt to make the sights and sounds of each less developed planet at least a LITTLE alien (the swamp environment of Power of Kroll was a step in the right direction, but what if the plants were all tinted blue or even purple? Why should the skies always be blue?). Of course, in letting this little factoid bother me I'm stepping away from the point of Doctor Who, which is of course good, imaginative, and exciting stories, all of which are entirely present in each of the stories we're given. Incidentally, three and a half stories I realize now are excempt from my little complaint, at least only as far as the setting goes: "The Pirate Planet" (penned by "Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" author Douglas Adams) is fine because it's set on a technologically advanced planet quite a few steps ahead of present day earth; "Stones of Blood" is set on modern-day (read, mid-seventies) Earth; and the final tale, the extended epic "The Armageddon Factor", is once again set on a trio of planets with a highly developed technological society. The half comes with "Power of Kroll", as the fact that the humans in the story specifically are descendants of colonists from Earth is stated more than once as the narrative progresses. Also, a familiar face guest stars as one of the villains in "The Armageddon Factor": the Marshall is played by John Woodvine, who(m) I immediately recognized as the doctor (lower-case "d") from John Landis' classic "An American Werewolf in London", one of my favorite movies. Just cool to see him, nothing really more than that. The main reason to own these stories is for the stories themselves... extras aren't such a big deal to me, but we're still given a few, which I appreciate. Each story has a commentary track (with Tom Baker on three of them), plus a few actor bios and behind the scenes photographs. Good enough for me. I would like to mention the covers on each DVD case... my gosh but they're awful! Compare any of the covers from the Key of Time series with other DVDs from BBC's Doctor Who line... they could have done a lot better if they'd tried. But as it's what's inside that counts, that won't go against my perfect five-star rating. All in all, "The Key of Time" is an excellent smorgasbord of Doctor Who adventures, with something unique to turn to for every day of the week. You'll get some great humor, some interesting ideas, and some lovely acting, and you will have a lot of fun in the process. Buy it today! (and thank you for reading these random, disorganized thoughts) Carry on Carry on, MN
Rating: 
Summary: "I'm sorry, K9, the holiday's off."
Review: The Key To Time season - a season of highs and lows. Supposedly the Doctor's quest to find and recover all six segments of the powerful Key To Time, the hunt was really just an excuse for the Doctor to go on his usual adventures, albeit this time with a fellow Time Lord and a mission. This season (and indeed the time that Graham Williams spent in the producer's chair) isn't exactly my favorite, yet I still find quite a lot here to appreciate. The sense of fun and adventure never left the series, and both can be seen here in spades. The season itself is not one of the greatest that Doctor Who ever did, but it is certainly worth anyone's time. Doctor Who definitely exhibited a lot of variety during its 26 year run, and the stories showcased here display that diversity. We go from a medieval-Russian styled story of swindlers and con-artists to a high-concept science-fiction story from the pen of Douglas "Hitchhiker's Guide" Adams to an Earth-based horror tale to a homage to THE PRISONER OF ZENDA to an old-fashioned monster story before wrapping everything up in a tale of galactic warfare. And not only are all those stories part of the same TV series, but they're all part of the giant umbrella arc. Quite impressive that a show could manage to combine all those dissimilar elements yet still retain a unique flavor of its own. If you already own this set on VHS, then I can only state that purchasing this on DVD is definitely worth it. Fans who have been following the Doctor Who DVD releases will already know that the discs have been vastly cleaned up in terms of clearer picture quality and crisper sound. The Key To Time set is no exception. The audio commentaries are also a great idea, and even the more uneventful are never less than entertaining (THE ARMAGEDDON FACTOR being the exception). Actors Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Bruce Purchase, John Leeson and John Woodvine and directors Pennant Roberts, Darrol Blake, and Michael Hayes all share their remembrances and experiences. To be honest though, not all of the anecdotes have weathered the decades intact, and Tom Baker seems to only be dimly aware that he once played a character known as "The Doctor". But again, entertainment counts for something, and listening to Baker tell various anecdotes about old ladies attacking him with shopping trolleys is very enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. While there are a few rough spots in this collection, this DVD set is really more than the sum of its parts. It's easy for Doctor Who fans to take Tom Baker for granted after seeing his episodes rerun into infinity, but a release like this can really make one stop and take notice of how enjoyable Doctor Who can be. Fans have probably watched many of these stories multiple times, yet I see this set as a reminder to sit myself down again and watch them as if it were the first time. I noticed things here that I had never caught before, and I remembered a lot of characters and clever bits of dialog that I thought I had forgotten. And if you've somehow never seen the adventures of Tom Baker, wacky Time Lord, then this DVD set is an excellent introduction to the fun, magic and variety that is Doctor Who. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Good to have 'em on DVD, but a bit light on features
Review: The Key To Time season of Doctor Who is one of the high points of Tom Baker's later years, and possibly even the best slate of episodes laid out for Baker and company since his debut season. It's lovely to have them on shiny round things now instead of slowly-deteriorating tapes. But those of you who have gotten used to the feature-rich Doctor Who DVD releases like "Ark In Space," "Caves Of Androzani," "Remembrance Of The Daleks" or the region 2 "Doctor Who: The Movie" release may feel a bit betrayed by these discs. At most, there's a commentary, a trivia text subtitle, and a "Who's Who" on most of the discs, with some surviving raw location film footage on the "Pirate Planet" DVD. When so much has been written in Doctor Who Magazine or the Howe-Stammers-Walker books about this season's creation and execution, one feels like perhaps these episodes were rushed to DVD. Still, I can't fault them too much - producing special features for one disc takes long enough, but six? So a solid four out of five stars for this box set.
Rating:
Summary: Beware the Black Guardian...
Review: The Key to Time season, season 16, of Doctor Who is a mixed bag. As fans know, this was the first Doctor Who season to have a true ongoing storyline throughout the entire season. Yes, it's true, Season 8 does have the Master in each story, for a link of sorts. Each Season 8 story can be enjoyed on its own without confusion, while the average viewer watching in the 1970's who had started watching in the middle of the season might wonder what this "Key To Time" is. This experiment works, for the most part, although some of the stories are uneven. If I could, I would probably give the stories alone 3 stars, but the DVD commentaries and pop-up production text bump my rating up to 4 stars.
The Ribos Operation, The Stones of Blood, and The Androids of Tara work quite well, in my opinion. The Pirate Planet, Power of Kroll, and Armageddon Factor don't work quite as well.
The season is full of great double acts. Garron and Unstoffe in 'Ribos', The Pirate Captain and Mr. Fibuli in 'Pirate', Emilia Rumford & Vivien Fay in 'Stones' and Major Shapp and the Marshall in 'Armagedon'.
Tom Baker gets rather silly in some of the stories and, in my opinion, was allowed too much control with the character. A little flippancy is fine, but Tom's mugging to the camera and doing silly things like throwing coins in the air that take forever to fall would have never been allowed under Baker's first producer, Phillip Hinchliffe. Graham Williams needed to keep better control of his star. Tom's little eye rolling mad speech at the end of 'Armageddon Factor' is amusing but far too jokey.
Still, Tom Baker gives mostly marvellous performances and Mary Tamm shines as Romana.
The set is well packaged, with the 6 individually plastic cased stories in a nice presentation box. The artwork on the packages isn't all that pretty, but it's what's on the inside that counts.
Each story has terrific audio commentary and pop up production text. Tom Baker and Mary Tamm work well in their commentaries and don't have any of the tension that supposedly existed during the production of the stories. The other commetaries are nice, too, but the 3 with Tom are the most entertaining. Bios and Photo Galleries are on each disc, too. The only other extra is about 10 minutes of location filming from 'The Pirate Planet' which includes footage that wasn't in the story when broadcast. I wish there were more extras, but Warner Video and BBC Worldwide Americas gave the BBC in the UK very little time to prepare these 6 stories for release...
The picture quality and sound are terrific for programs that are over 20 years old.
I do hope that there aren't more season releases like this one. The only other season with an 'umbrella' theme is the 'Trial of a Time Lord' which was 14 episodes. The majority of Doctor Who doesn't have an ongoing storyline like programs such as The Sopranos, Buffy, or Babylon 5, which are more suited to the season set approach. I would rather have the stories that come out in the UK first, which are painstakingly restored and are packed with extras.
Still, I do recommend this set. It is a fun way to spend 9 hours. Acually 18 hours, if you watch the stories without the commentary and then with!
Rating:
Summary: Who's new direction
Review: The latest DVD release for the intrepid Time Lord marks a unique entry in the long running BBC Sci-Fi show's history. Producer Graham Williams took the decision to link the entire sixteenth season under one ongoing theme - the search for The Key to Time, with each of the individual six stories focusing on the Doctor's search for one of the pieces, scattered randomly around the universe by the White Guardian. The linking concept changed the nature of the show and for the first time gave the Doctor a purpose and aim, rather than just his typical aimless wandering the galaxy in prior stories. The entire series has been simultaneously released on DVD now for the first time, with each story on its own disc, released separately or all together in a box set. I opted for the individual discs, thinking this was the way to have all the individual covers, but in fact the box-set does have all the separate cases, so it is a much better bargain. The stories themselves hold up very well, although as with any Doctor Who season, there are definitely highs and lows. As far as most fans are concerned, the biggest high comes with the second story - The Pirate Planet, penned by Douglas Adams, shortly before he was appointed script editor for the show and a couple of years before he embarked on the Hitch Hiker's Guides. It certainly is a good story, but my personal favorite is the season opener, The Ribos Operation, penned by the show's former script editor Robert Holmes. It's full of whimsical characters, terrific jokes, wonderful sets and some great acting. The low points for me have to be the last two stories, particularly the frankly attrocious six-parter The Armageddon Factor, which tied up all the loose ends for the entire season most unsatisfactorily. Personally, the absolute highlight of the entire season is the inclusion of the stunning Mary Tamm as the Doctor's assistant, fellow Gallifreyan Romana. Her haughty interplay with the Doctor is magical and Tamm provided an incredibly glamorous presence in the show. It's a great pity she signed up for just the one season and couldn't be persuaded to stay on for the next. The DVD's themselves are of excellent picture and sound quality, but I'm disappointed that there are hardly any extras included at all. Each story has a commentary provided by a mix of the cast and production crew. Baker and Tamm provide the commentary together on two of the stories. Tamm appears on two others, and Baker and K9 actor John Leeson appear on The Power of Kroll, with writers, directors and guest actors helping out on the others. Sadly, Producer Williams, and writer's Holmes and Adams are all deceased. I am sure their contributions would have been wonderful. Mary Tamm seems to have almost total recall, whereas Tom Baker appears to remember nothing at all of the shows. It doesn't matter, since their warmth and obvious enjoyment of working together again comes across clearly, and Baker is obviously delighted to be reminded of the show once more. It's a bit of a shame on The Androids of Tara that the pair seem to run out of anything at all to say, and there are long silences. What is mildly annoying is that the on screen captions mirror almost word for word what the commentators are saying. I would have preferred it if the two elements provided alternative explanations of the show's background and production history. There are also subtitles available, but that's about it! None of the extra features we've come to associate with the release of Doctor Who on DVD appear here. A missed opportunity I think. Since this series is only released so far in region one, I hope the BBC don't opt to augment the extras for the British/European releases at a later time. Another small irritation is that the cover artwork for each case often features photos from a different part of the six stories. Some simple research could have avoided that error. I suppose the concept of the linking series was not considered a winner (despite huge TV ratings in the UK), since it wasn't attempted again until Colin Baker's ill-fated run as the Doctor many years later, but it works for me!
Rating:
Summary: The End made me Angry
Review: The whole time he goes around time and space looking for these pieces FOR NO REASON. In the end we find out he never really should have started and that his whole mission was essentially pointless. He didn't even question the white guardian at the very beggining at all. Didn't ask for credentials or anything. Just immediately took his word for it. This was one of the lesser plausible plots of a dr who episode. This after a wopping 26 episodes of viewing. I give it 4 stars anyway because of the superior acting of Tom Baker.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest of the Doctor's adventures
Review: There are a few Doctor Who story arcs which are inarguable classics. This one is possibly the best of them all. The Doctor, fresh from rescuing Gallifrey from invasion by the Sontarans and having just left his companion Leela there to marry Andred, is suddenly diverted to a meeting with the White Guardian of Time, who has a tremendously urgent mission: Find and assemble the pieces of the immeasurably powerful artifact, the Key to Time. To assist him, the Doctor is given a new companion, the Timelady Romanavoradtralundar (Romana for short), and the two begin a huge quest to locate the hidden pieces of the Key -- which can literally be anything, ranging from a creature to a stone to an entire planet. Once assembled, the Key will be used to make minor adjustments to Creation in order to keep things working smoothly... unless it is the Black, rather than the White, Guardian who gets hold of the Key first!
Rating:
Summary: Key to Time Series: Box Set vs. Individual DVDs
Review: There is hardly any added value to buying this Doctor Who box set as opposed to buying the "Key to Time" DVDs individually. The only benefits are:
- all 6 stories purchased at once at a lower per disc cost
- a box to keep these discs together The only extra that comes with this box set is the box itself (which features additional artwork on the two sides and a publicity photo from "The Stones of Blood" on the back). An interesting note is that the box set does describe "The Pirate Planet" story having extended scenes as a feature whereas this is not mentioned on the "The Pirate Planet" DVD case itself.
Rating:
Summary: Great DVD Pack, but should I buy them all separate ??
Review: There's no doubt that this will be a great release in the Dr. Who series.
But should I buy the Gift Set or all 6 disks individually?
The gift set sounds great, but not if it comes on a piece of cardboard with 6 cd's attached. A definite purchase, I'll just have to wait to see what one is better to have in my collection.
Rating:
Summary: nice box set
Review: they should have put it on fewer disks since dvd can hold more than the video tape and can store on both sides of a disk.
Hopefully they will do that on the E-space trillogy it saves storage space.
I only give it a 4 because they didn't take advantage of the abillity to store more of the stories in a smaller amount of space.
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