SOTO/The Five Doctors (home media)

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The Five Doctors has been released in many forms of home media since its original television broadcast.

First released in this format on 9 July 1985.


VHS[[edit] | [edit source]]

First release[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Five Doctors has had three separate VHS releases. It was first released in the UK on 9 September 1985 by BBC Video. The version released had two minutes of footage edited out, like the one screened in the US. The same version was released in Australia by ABC Video on 1 May 1988 and in the US by BBC Video Worldwide in March 1989.

Second release[[edit] | [edit source]]

A complete unabridged version was then released in on 2 July 1990 with The Brain of Morbius. Available at the same time was a similar edition that came with a "free" Dalek toy.

The Five Doctors was released again in the US on 19 July 2000.

Box set[[edit] | [edit source]]

6 November 1995 was the UK release date of a special edition box set containing The Five Doctors and The King's Demons. This also contained an album, in which "postcards" from other Doctor Who VHS releases could be placed. The initial release of this edition notably had an error with the Dolby Surround, and replacement tapes had to be issued. The same box set was released on 11 February 1997 in the US, and on 14 July of the same year in Australia.

First released in this format on 24 August 1994.

Laserdisc[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Five Doctors was also released on Laserdisc on 24 August 1994.

First released in this format on 1 November 1999.

DVD[[edit] | [edit source]]

First release[[edit] | [edit source]]

When Doctor Who was chosen as one of six DVDs released to represent the BBC as a "test" of the DVD market, The Five Doctors was the serial selected. It therefore became the very first Doctor Who story to be released on DVD when it was released in that format in Region 2 on 1 November 1999. It introduced several features that remain with the range today.

Following the UK release, TFD was subsequently released in Region 4 on 9 October 2000, and in Region 1 on 11 September 2001. Only the American (R1) release had special features: specifically, audio commentary, and Who's Who.

Second release[[edit] | [edit source]]

This serial was later re-released on DVD in 2008 to celebrate 45 years of Doctor Who. Notably, it was advertised — and labelled — as the twenty-fifth anniversary edition, which would actually have been in 1988. This was a two-disk set, and included both versions of the story: as broadcast and the extended version from the first release. It was distributed in Region 2 on 3 March, in Region 4 on 8 May and in 1 on 5 August.