Doctor Who: New Beginnings DVD Set

This newly released three-disc DVD set chronicles the transition from the end of Tom Baker's seven-year tenure as the Doctor to Peter Davison's debut as the Time Lord. This set includes Baker's last two Doctor Who adventures, The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis, plus Davison first story Castrovalva. These episodes also mark the return of the Doctor's archenemy the Master as a recurring enemy for the first time since Roger Delgado's run as the villainous Time Lord during the early 1970's.

The Keeper of Traken opens the trilogy as the Doctor and Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) receive a visit from the Keeper, the ruler of the peaceful Traken Union. The Keeper (Denis Carey) is nearing the end of his reign, and he is fearful that a great evil is about to seize control of the biomechanical Source, the keystone of Traken Union society.

Anthony Ainley plays Tremas, a Traken consul who is nominated to become the next Keeper. Tremas is newly married, and his bride, Consul Kassia, fears losing her new husband. Kassia has also been entrusted to care for the Melkur, a calcified statue said to have once been an evil entity attracted to the goodness and tranquility of the Traken Union before finding its resting place in the garden. The Melkur whispers to Kassia, claiming that he can help her save Tremas.

Through a series of deceptions, the Melkur becomes Keeper and is revealed to be the Master's TARDIS. The blackened, decaying Time Lord--now at the end of his twelfth regeneration--wants to use the power of the Source the rejuvenate his body. While the Doctor does manage to thwart his enemy and help the Trakenites install a new Keeper, the Master takes over Tremas' body and transforms into a younger villain (also played by Ainley) before fleeing. Tremas' daughter Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) is credited in a guest-starring role for Keeper, but she would return in the following story as one of the Doctor's new companions.

The second story, Logopolis, marks Baker's swan song as the Fourth Doctor. The Time Lord wants to travel to Logopolis to repair the TARDIS' chameleon circuit. But first, he must travel to Earth to locate an actual British police call box to measure its dimensions. The Master is also present, leaving his calling card in a couple of shrunken corpses courtesy of his Tissue Compression Eliminator.

As the Doctor and Adric travel to Logopolis, where they discover the Master is planning to steal the Logopolitans' secrets, namely that of their large radio telescope which resembles the Pharos Project on Earth. The Monitor, the Logopolitan leader, reveals that the universe has long since passed its normal heat death, and the Logopolitans' calculations are preventing the universe from unraveling, as their programs keep open several CVE's (Charged Vacuum Emboitments) to drain the excess entropy from our universe.

The Master's interference threatens the universe as the CVE's begin to close. The Doctor and the Master are forced to cooperate as they return to Earth to use the Pharos Project to keep one remaining CVE open. The treachery that ensues leads to the Doctor's regeneration, and Tom Baker's exit from Doctor Who. Logopolis also marks the introduction of another new companion in Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding), an Australian flight attendant who wanders into the TARDIS, mistaking it for an actual police box.

The third story in this box set is Castrovalva, the four-part story that opened Season Nineteen and launched Peter Davison's three-year run as the Doctor. Picking up where Logopolis left off, Castrovalva finds the newly regenerated Time Lord suffering from post regeneration trauma. With the help of Adric, Nyssa and Tegan, the Doctor escapes in his TARDIS where they narrowly escape destruction as the ship is thrown back in time toward the Big Bang.

The Time Travelers then seek sanctuary on the peaceful world of Castrovalva. There the Master has laid out a trap with the help of an unwilling Adric, who is being held captive by the Doctor's old enemy. In his weakened state, the Doctor must regain his wits, thwart the Master, and rescue Adric while discovering the secret of Castrovalva itself.

New Beginnings is loaded with many fine bonus features, as Doctor Who fans have come to expect from Classic Series DVD's. Writer Johnny Byrne joins actors Matthew Waterhouse, Sarah Sutton and Anthony Ainley on the commentary track The Keeper of Traken, while Tom Baker and Janet Fielding team with writer Christopher H. Bidmead on Logopolis. Bidmead and Fielding also join Peter Davison and director Fiona Cumming on the Castrovalva commentary. All three DVD's contain documentaries and featurettes, plus interviews, pop-up production notes and photo galleries.

Altogether, New Beginnings makes an excellent 3-disc set covering the transition from the Fourth to Fifth Doctor, and introducing a new Master as well as new companions to travel with the Doctor. This collection is a must-have for fans of the Classic Series, as well as New Series fans who enjoyed seeing the Master reintroduced last season, played first by Sir Derek Jacobi, and then by John Simm. New Beginnings also allows us to see the Master reborn.

Other Doctor Who DVD releases you may enjoy:

Doctor Who: The Beginning Collection (First three adventures from the Classic Series)

Doctor Who: The Complete Series One (Season One of the New Series)

Doctor Who: The Key to Time Collection (Season 16 of the Classic Series with Tom Baker)