Here’s the covers and synopses for the upcoming Hartnell DVD double-pack release “The Rescue / The Romans”.

The Rescue

Arriving on the planet Dido in the late 25th Century, the time travellers come upon a crashed spaceship from Earth. Its two occupants – a paralysed man named Bennett and a young girl, Vicki – are living in fear of a creature called Koquillion, a native whose people have apparently killed the other members of the human expedition.

However, the Doctor quickly deduces that Koquillion is in fact Bennett in disguise; it was he who killed the others in order to conceal an earlier murder he had committed on the ship.

Special Features

• Commentary with actor William Russell, director Christopher Barry and designer Raymond Cusick
• Mounting The Rescue – cast and crew look back on the making of the story. With actors William Russell, Maureen O’Brien and Ray Barrett, director Christopher Barry, designer Raymon Cusick and 1960’s viewer Ian McLachlan.
• Photo Gallery
• Coming Soon Trailer
• Also Available
• Programme Subtitles

The Romans

The four time travellers are enjoying a rare holiday, staying at a villa not far from Rome in the year 64 AD. The Doctor soon becomes restless and sets off to visit the city, taking Vicki with him. In their absence, Ian and Barbara are kidnapped by slave traders.

Having been mistaken for the famous lyre player Maximus Pettulian and asked to perform at the Emperor Nero’s Court, the Doctor has to devise ever more elaborate schemes to avoid revealing that he cannot actually play the instrument.

Ian meanwhile becomes a galley slave, while Barbara is sold to Nero’s slave buyer Tavius at an auction in Rome. Ian and a fellow slave named Delos escape from the galley when it is wrecked in a storm and make their way to Rome to try to find and rescue Barbara.

Special Features

• Commentary with actors William Russell, Nick Evans and Barry Jackson, and director Christopher Barry.
• What Has ‘The Romans’ Ever Done For Us? – actors, crew and historians look at both the reality and fantasy behind the story of ‘The Romans’. With actors William Russell, Kay Patrick, Barry Jackson, Anthony Andrews and Christopher Biggins, director Christopher Barry, designer Raymond Cusick, historian Dr. Mark Bradley, writer James Moran, Doctor Who Magazine editor Tom Spilsbury and 1960’s viewer Ian McLachlan. Narrated by John Bowe.
• Roma Parva – director Christopher Barry demonstrates the use of a model of the studio set in the planning of camera positions and moves during recording.
• Dennis Spooner, Wanna Write a Television Series? – a look at writer Dennis Spooner’s work on Doctor Who. With actors William Russell and Peter Purves, script editor Donald Tosh, writers Brian Clemens and Rob Shearman, and Spooner’s friend Jane Clemens. Narrated by Anna Hope.
• Blue Peter – The Blue Peter team hold a Roman banquet in the studio.
• Girls! Girls! Girls! The 1960’s – an affectionate look back at the sixties Who-Girls. With actors Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, Peter Purves, Anneke Wills, Deborah Watling, Frazer Hines, Jean Marsh and Honor Blackman, script editor Donald Tosh and director Christopher Barry. Narrated by Dona Croll.
• Photo Gallery
• Coming Soon Trailer
• PDF Material
• Programme Subtitles

If you enjoyed last Christmas’ Doctor Who adventure “The Next Doctor” and want to do so again, you can now buy it on DVD.

Extras are:

• Doctor Who Confidential Christmas Episode
• 2008 Doctor Who Proms presented by Freema Agyeman
• Music of the Spheres mini-episode

Big Finish have released the synopses for numbers 120 and 121 in their monthly Doctor Who audio range. They are the April and May releases, respectively.

The Magic Mousetrap
Switzerland, 1926: the Doctor finds himself halfway up an Alpine mountainside, on his way to an exclusive sanatorium for the rich and famous run by the Viennese alienist Ludovic ‘Ludo’ Comfort. In between bouts of electric shock therapy, Ludo’s patients – including faded music hall turn Harry Randall, chess grandmaster Swapnil Khan and Lola Luna, darling of the Weimar cabaret scene – fill their time with endless rounds of Snap!, among other diversions.

But the Doctor soon suspects that someone’s playing an altogether more sinister game. Someone with a score to settle…

Enemy of the Daleks
Bliss used to be a paradise planet. The Galapagos Islands of space. But when the TARDIS brings the Doctor, Ace and Hex to Bliss, it’s been over-run with ironweed plants, and the air is heavy with the stench of burnt silk and static electricity.

Worse, the Daleks are coming, on the trail of a lost patrol of starship troopers. Holed up in the Roarke 279 research facility, Lieutenant Beth Stokes is preparing her last stand against the invaders.

But there’s a secret on Bliss, a secret guarded by the obsessive Professor Shimura…

This time, could it be the Daleks need saving?

2Entertain have revealed that the First Doctor serial “The Keys of Marinus” is to be released in 2009. Among the extras will be a documentary entitled A Set Piece by producer James Goss. The release is planned for the first half of the year.

Seems that Character Options have decided that the “Collect ‘N’ Build” idea is the way forward, so they’ve announced that their upcoming wave of figures will also take on this format. This time the main figures are from series 1-3 and the multiple part figure is the Gelth Phantoms from “Unquiet Dead”. Not quite as impressive as the K-1 Robot, perhaps. The figures available in this wave will be:

• Jabe (Series 1)
• Clockwork Man (Purple) (Series 2)
• Astrid Peth (Series 3)
• Bannakaffalatta (Series 3)
• The Tenth Doctor (Old & Ancient) (Series 3)
• The Master (Regenerated) (Series 3)
• Captain Jack Harkness (Series 3)

It would seem that Character Options are planning to re-release the Series 4 figures, but this time each one will come with part of a Vespiform figure, the wasp-like monster from “Unicorn and the Wasp”. Bit annoying if you already have the Series 4 figures… To be fair, there is one new one, but it’s a pack of 25 little adipose. Anyway, this lot are out in February.

Vespiform