Doctor Who season 8

Last updated

Doctor Who
Season 8
Doctor Who Season 8 Blu-ray.jpg
Cover art of the Blu-ray release for the complete season
Starring
No. of episodes25
Release
Original network BBC1
Original release2 January (1971-01-02) 
19 June 1971 (1971-06-19)
Season chronology
 Previous
Season 7
Next 
Season 9
List of episodes

The eighth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 2 January 1971 with Terror of the Autons and ended with The Dæmons featuring Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. This is the second of five series which Barry Letts produced consecutively and Terrance Dicks was the script editor.

Contents

Casting

Main cast

Jon Pertwee continues his role as the Third Doctor. Katy Manning makes her first appearance as companion Jo Grant in Terror of the Autons .

Recurring cast

Nicholas Courtney and John Levene continue their roles of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Sergeant Benton, while Richard Franklin makes his first appearance as Captain Mike Yates.

Roger Delgado makes his first appearance as The Master in Terror of the Autons and continues to make appearances in each of the five serials.

Guest stars

Michael Wisher returns as a guest playing Rex Farrell in Terror of the Autons . Fernanda Marlowe makes appearances in The Mind of Evil and The Claws of Axos as Corporal Bell. Bernard Kay makes his fourth and final appearance in the show as Caldwell in Colony in Space .

Serials

The season marks the first appearance of the Master who goes on to make further appearances through the season in every serial as the main antagonist who is finally captured at the end of the season. Colony in Space was the first serial set away from Earth since The War Games at the end of Season 6, and came about as a result of producer Barry Letts' feeling that the Earthbound stories of the Doctor's exile were too limiting in terms of potential plotting.

No.
story
No. in
season
Serial titleEpisode titlesDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code
UK viewers
(millions) [1]
AI [1]
551 Terror of the Autons "Episode One" Barry Letts Robert Holmes 2 January 1971 (1971-01-02)EEE7.3
"Episode Two"9 January 1971 (1971-01-09)8.0
"Episode Three"16 January 1971 (1971-01-16)8.1
"Episode Four"23 January 1971 (1971-01-23)8.4
The Master arrives on Earth and makes an alliance with the Autons to conquer the planet.
562 The Mind of Evil "Episode One" Timothy Combe Don Houghton 30 January 1971 (1971-01-30)FFF6.1
"Episode Two"6 February 1971 (1971-02-06)8.8
"Episode Three"13 February 1971 (1971-02-13)7.5
"Episode Four"20 February 1971 (1971-02-20)7.4
"Episode Five"27 February 1971 (1971-02-27)7.6
"Episode Six"6 March 1971 (1971-03-06)7.3
The Master creates the Keller Machine, a device that appears to rehabilitate prisoners, but instead kills them.
573 The Claws of Axos "Episode One" Michael Ferguson Bob Baker and Dave Martin 13 March 1971 (1971-03-13)GGG7.3
"Episode Two"20 March 1971 (1971-03-20)8.0
"Episode Three"27 March 1971 (1971-03-27)6.4
"Episode Four"3 April 1971 (1971-04-03)7.8
The Axons land on Earth supposedly peacefully, even offering a new energy source. However, that is not their real purpose.
584 Colony in Space "Episode One" Michael E. Briant Malcolm Hulke 10 April 1971 (1971-04-10)HHH7.6
"Episode Two"17 April 1971 (1971-04-17)8.5
"Episode Three"24 April 1971 (1971-04-24)9.5
"Episode Four"1 May 1971 (1971-05-01)8.1
"Episode Five"8 May 1971 (1971-05-08)8.8
"Episode Six"15 May 1971 (1971-05-15)8.7
On the human colony Uxarieus, the colonists' crops are failing and a giant reptile appears to be killing them.
595 The Dæmons "Episode One" Christopher Barry Guy Leopold (Robert Sloman and Barry Letts)22 May 1971 (1971-05-22)JJJ9.2
"Episode Two"29 May 1971 (1971-05-29)8.0
"Episode Three"5 June 1971 (1971-06-05)8.1
"Episode Four"12 June 1971 (1971-06-12)8.1
"Episode Five"19 June 1971 (1971-06-19)8.3
The Master awakens the demonic Azal from his spaceship under a Bronze Age burial mound.

Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 2 January to 19 June 1971.

Home media

VHS releases

SeasonStory no.Serial nameNumber and duration
of episodes
UK release dateAustralia release dateUSA/Canada release date
855 Terror of the Autons
4 × 25 min.April 1993 [2] [3] June 1993 [3] June 1995 [3]
56 The Mind of Evil 6 × 25 min.May 1998 [4] [5]
(B+W Re-mastered)
(2 x VHS)
March 1999 [5] January 1999 [5]
(2 x VHS)
57 The Claws of Axos 4 × 25 min.May 1992 [6] [7] October 1992 [7] June 1996 [7]
58 Colony in Space 6 × 25 min.November 2001 [8] [9]
(released only in UK as part of a boxset "Colony in Space / The Time Monster")
(2 x VHS)
December 2001 [9]
(released only in AU as part of a boxset "Colony in Space / The Time Monster")
(2 x VHS)
January 2003 [10]
59 The Dæmons 5 × 25 min.March 1993 [11] [12] July 1993 [12] October 1993 [12]

DVD and Blu-ray releases

All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated:

SeasonStory no.Serial nameNumber and duration
of episodes
R2 release dateR4 release dateR1 release date
855 Terror of the Autons [lower-alpha 1] 4 × 25 min.9 May 2011 [13] [14] [15] 2 June 2011 [16] [17] [18] 10 May 2011 [19]
56 The Mind of Evil 6 × 25 min.3 June 2013 [20] [21] [22] 5 June 2013 [23] 11 June 2013 [24]
57 The Claws of Axos 4 × 25 min.25 April 2005 [25] [26] [27] 7 July 2005 [28] 8 November 2005 [29]
The Claws of Axos (Special Edition)4 × 25 min.22 October 2012 [26] [30] [31] 7 November 2012 [32] [33] [34] 13 November 2012 [35]
58 Colony in Space 6 × 25 min.3 October 2011 [36] [37] 1 December 2011 [38] [39] [40] 8 November 2011 [41]
59 The Dæmons 5 × 25 min.19 March 2012 [42] [43] [44] 19 April 2012 [45] [46] 10 April 2012 [47]
55–59Complete Season 8 [lower-alpha 2] 25 × 25 min.
1 × 30 min.
1 × 90 min.
8 March 2021 (B) [48] 26 May 2021 (B) [49] 1 June 2021 (B) [50]
  1. Only available as part of the Mannequin Mania box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
  2. Released as Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 8 in Region B. Released as Doctor Who – Jon Pertwee: Complete Season Two in Region A.

In print

SeasonStory no.Library no. [lower-alpha 1] Novelisation titleAuthorHardcover
release date [lower-alpha 2]
Paperback
release date [lower-alpha 3]
Audiobook
release date [lower-alpha 4]
805563 Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons Terrance Dicks19 February 198115 May 19755 August 2010
05696 The Mind of Evil 21 March 198511 July 19856 April 2017
05710 Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos 21 April 19774 June 2016
05823 Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon Malcolm Hulke 18 March 198218 March 19743 September 2007
05915 Doctor Who and the Dæmons Barry Letts 14 January 198217 October 197414 August 2008
  1. Number in Target's Doctor Who Library, if applicable
  2. Published by Target's parent companies (Allen Wingate, W. H. Allen, BBC Books) unless otherwise indicated
  3. Published by Target Books (or by BBC Books under the Target Collection umbrella) unless otherwise indicated
  4. Unabridged from BBC Audio/AudioGo unless otherwise indicated

Tie-In Comics

During the release of the season, several comics were published to tie in to the events of the season. The Kingdom Builders (Set before the events of the season) was published in TV Comic magazine. Gemini Plan, Timebenders (Set after the events of the season) & The Vogan Slaves (Set years into The Doctor's future) were published in Countdown magazine.

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Bibliography

  • Smith, Paul (2014). The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium. United Kingdom: Wonderful Books. ISBN   978-0-9576062-2-7.