Season 17 Collection - A Review

I won't say too much about the stories which comprise Season 17, as I only recently featured them in a Season Knock-Out post (it beat Season 16).

Destiny of the Daleks was already given enhanced CGI effects for its DVD release, and on this set Nightmare of Eden gets the same. Personally, I would have saved these for Creature from the Pit, whose fourth episode is very effects-heavy.

The set includes Shada - in different versions, including the partly animated one which was released in 2017. However, here it has been presented in episodic form, and some of the animation has been improved.

The extras include the regular feature of "Behind the Sofa". There are seven individuals, in three groupings, but include only two people who actually worked on this season. The first is June Hudson, costume designer, and the other is Mat Irvine, VFX designer. Each of them only worked on parts of the season, not its entirety. They are accompanied by director Graeme Harper. The other two pairings are Katy Manning with Nicola Bryant, and Colin Baker with Matthew Waterhouse. For the most part they seem to enjoy the season, and are impressed with the way Shada was completed. They also seem to be in synch with things they did not like - such as commenting on the poor pacing of certain stories. Hudson and Irvine can obviously provide proper information about the stories they worked on, or comment on the work of their colleagues on the others.

The Lalla Ward interview is nearly 20 years old. A more recent Ward appears in the Douglas Adams tribute, interviewed in Hong Kong. 

The Matthew Sweet interview is with writer Bob Baker, who contributed his only solo effort for this season (Eden). Of course, Baker passed away just before this set was released - too late for this to be mentioned anywhere on it. Ironically, Sweet ends the interview pointing out to Baker that he is "last man standing" as far as Pertwee era writers are concerned.

Destiny of the Daleks gets a brand new "Making of" documentary - Return to Skaro.

Of the older material, from the DVD releases, the overview of the Graham Williams era remains the best item. The Destiny disc also includes The Dalek Tapes, which is an overview of all the Dalek appearances over the course of the whole Classic era.

The second half of the Dudley Simpson interview covering the 1970's stories - The Doctor's Composer - is also present.

There's a short archive interview with David Brierly - but the BBC presenter can't shut up so we don't really get to hear much from him.

No news yet of what the first Collection release of 2022 will be. I suspect it will be a Peter Davison one, probably Season 20.