Doctor Who: The Complete History Of The BBC VHS Range

My Own Vision

It's fun to imagine exactly how something like a Doctor Who range, whether it's home media, books, comics, toys, anything really, could have gone very differently. For example, if it existed in the archives, The Tomb Of The Cybermen would have been the first story to be out on video. For example, if neither Tomb nor The Crusade: The Lion returned to the BBC Archives, we wouldn't of had those special releases of the recovered episodes. If the BBC had of rush released stories as they were recovered in the mid-late 80s, e/g The Time Meddler, The War Machines, or The Ice Warriors (even if it still wasn't complete), there would have been no restoration done to them. If The Ambassadors Of Death had the unfinished restoration still released in the mid 1990s, would it had been released in 1993 or 1994? What if to say if my favourite story Genesis Of The Daleks, a story still voted to be the best (or at least one of the best stories) ever, had been the first story to be released on video? 

The reason why I think this wasn't done for Genesis Of The Daleks was that it was shown on BBC1 in an edited complied 2 x 50 minute format for the Doctor Who and the Monsters repeat showing in July-August 1982. Therefore, some fans would have made their own video recording of the story if they had the opportunity. And most had the chance to watch it anyway. It was quite late in the range before this iconic story was released in the range - October 1991. But at least it take in a special double pack set with The Sontaran Experiment, making it a special set. It would have been interesting to see the 1983 cover if Genesis was the first set. The wrong 4th Doctor outfit and logo would still have been present, probably with the wrong Dalek/Davros on the front too. Revenge Of The Cybermen could have followed in 1984 with The Brain Of Morbius also.

Say as well if BBC Enterprises had continued to release 3 stories per year in the 1980s, I would have imagined Talons or Terror being released at the end of 1986, and then the other one of those two, along with Death and Spearhead in 1987. The range would have essentially have been three releases ahead of its actual run it lasted for. Perhaps if the BBC had more funding for these releases, the range would of had say the amount of releases that year being the year that it was i/e 1988 had 8 releases, 1989 had 9 releases, 1990 had 10 releases and so and so forth. 

As well, if the VHS range had not of been rebranded in 1996, judging by how quickly the videos were being released by 1995, the range probably would have concluded by the 35th Anniversary of the series in 1998. The painted artworks would have been used as would have the diamond shaped logo probably if the rebranding not had taken place. The Restoration Team would have been very busy doing so the restoration of so many stories, and may not have been to the standard they were hoping for. Granted, there would have been other releases that still would have happened, such as the recovery of Episode 1 of The Crusade, or the release of The Curse Of The Fatal Death. 

I like to imagine if there had been more releases, or more compiled releases. For example, if say all the episodes that were in a complied format were rereleased episodically then the remaining stories to be released episodically could have been released in this format I will explain. It could have been done as a WH Smith exclusive in September 2000, ahead of their other exclusive box sets in 2001-2003, and a maximum number of 10,000 units made. A maximum of 12 tapes per year, including the WH Smith ones, were probably only allowed. The stories in new Black Sheep cover artwork would be packaged in a "The Monsters and Villains" set containing The Seeds Of Death, The Silurians, Terror Of The Autons, The Time Warrior, and The Talons Of Weng Chiang.

The antagonists included would have featured Ice Warriors, Silurians, the Master, Autons, Sontarans, Magnus Greel and Mr Sin in a special box set. Seeds would need restoration work done to it, but still made it an acceptable and easy release for DVD for the less work needed to be put into it in 2003. The Silurians and Terror Of The Autons had restoration done in 1999 for the BBC2 repeat screening, and both forms would be rereleased with improved picture quality. The Terror restoration would not be publically seen as it was not used for the 2011 DVD release. The Whose Doctor Who documentary would still be absent from Talons as this would exceed the amount of tapes allowed to release per year.  The internal notes will describe production details and the restoration needed for each story, as well as the contemporary advert for Doctor Who products.

The exclusively made US Region 1 set of The Key To Time from October 2002, made with minimum restoration done to the 26 episodes, could have been released in the UK, albeit in VHS format. It would have been released as another WH Smith exclusive in September 2003 across six tapes in a Key To Time style box set (much like the DVD). It would be a limited set of 8,000 units, and include the same US restoration. The first tape, The Ribos Operation, would of included the 40th Anniversary trailer at the start before the story began. The extended scenes from The Pirate Planet, present on the US DVD, could have been included at the end of the tape for the story. Again, the internal notes will describe production details and the restoration needed for each story, as well as the contemporary advert for Doctor Who products.

In terms of deletion of tapes, I would have imagined same with the releases per year, i/e one deleted tape per the number of year so in 1991, one tape would have been deleted, then two in 1992 and so on. Get to about 2005 when VHS tapes were becoming obsolete, the majority of Doctor Who tapes would have been deleted, and if not 2005 would have seen the later tapes go completely out of print.