- The Tardis has brought the Doctor, Romana and K9 to an alternate unvierse, E-Space, where huge poisonous spiders, space vampires and gateways between past and future are commonplace.Running Time: 279 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION Rating: NR Age: 883929066971 UPC: 883929066971 Manufacturer No: 1000094920
The Tardis has brought the Doctor, Romana and K9 to an alternate unvierse, E-Space, where huge poisonous spiders, space vampires and gateways between past and future are commonplace.
DVD Features:
Deleted Scenes
Featurette
Interviews
Production Notes
The E-Space Trilogy is a well-regarded trio of stories from the tail end of Tom Baker’s tenure as the Doctor (and the show’s 18th season), and find him lost in a parallel universe full of alarming new foes; the trilogy also serves as a farewell to one of the Doctor’s best-loved companions, Romana (Lalla Ward) and an introduction to one of his most controversial, the teenaged Adric (Matthew Waterhouse). The TARDIS enters the alternate universe–known as Exo-Space or E-Space in 1980’s Full Circle, which finds the Doctor and Romana charting a course for their home planet of Gallifrey but instead finding themselves on the planet Alzarius, where a small band of humanoids find conflict within their number as well as from menacing, reptilian Marshmen. One of the humanoids, a teenager named Adric, stows away aboard the TARDIS and accompanies the Doctor to a new planet in State of Decay; there, they discover a medieval-like society in the grip of three lords who demand sacrifice from the population. The true identity of the lords lends an air of Hammer-style horror to the story, which is perhaps the most engaging of the set. Finally, an escape route from E-Space is revealed in Warriors’ Gate, but first, the Doctor and his companions must contend with a slave ship and its cargo of lion-like creatures called Tharils. Though the Doctor is eventually freed from E-Space, his departure does not come without its costs, as revealed by the final fate of Romana and fan favorite K-9 Mk II.
Though by no means among the best of the Baker episodes, the E-Space Trilogy delivers plenty of thrills in its three stories. Fans may find areas to quibble over–especially in regard to Adric, whose presence pales in comparison to Baker’s previous companions–but they bear up well in regard to solid plotting and consistent entertainment, especially when compared to the lighter tone of the previous season, which was overseen by Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame. Baker and Ward are once again the anchors of the show, and her departure is an unfortunate one (the Doctor would struggle to find an equally strong companion in the years that followed); Baker of course, remains a pleasure as the Time Lord, though one can occasionally perceive his growing dissatisfaction with the role (he would depart the series at the end of the season). And perhaps that’s the reason why he is absent from the set’s wealth of extras, leaving Waterhouse to contribute the majority of the commentaries, though Ward weighs in on Warriors’ Gate. Archival footage from UK TV chronicles Waterhouse’s debut on the series and preserves the original continuity announcements from the BBC broadcasts, while featurettes cover everything from Ward’s stylish wardrobe to the making of each episodes. One of the most interesting extras is “Leaves of Blood,” a 20-minute examination of vampires in literature and history, and featuring comments by such noted authors as Ramsay Campbell and Kim Newman. Deleted scenes and an isolated score option round out the supplemental features. — Paul Gaita
Buy “Doctor Who: The E-Space Trilogy – Full Circle/State of Decay/Warriors’ Gate “ For Only $33.88
March 5, 2010
#1
This is 3 titles about 100 minutes each. All three are great and a must own for any Whoian. State of Decay(5 stars) is one of my all-time Tom Baker episodes. Warriors Gate(4.5 stars) is very very good and Full Circle(4 stars) is entertaining. All three together make an excellent trilogy.
The Doctor and Romana get pulled into in E-Space along with K-9. they have difficulty getting out! Things just are not the same in E-Space!
This VHS set was selling for over $100 a few years ago and was almost impossible to find new, because it has been out of print for a long time. BBC made a wise choice in bringing this one time rarity to DVD. Again a must see!
March 5, 2010
#2
Although John Pertwee took the Tardis into an alternate existence before Tom Baker, the E-Space trilogy covered new territory in this science fiction BBC series. The first episode, Full Circle, mixed the concept of macro-evolution with the concept of being stranded on a planet… for a long time. The second episode, was not as original in concept; however, introducing vampires as an ancient enemy of the Timelords was a nice touch. The final episode, Warrior’s Gate, wraps up the trilogy, leaving two companions in E-Space.
March 5, 2010
#3
I hate reviews that end up being a synopsis instead of an actual review, but some Doctor Who fans may need a memory jog as to which episodes are which, so I’ll try to keep it to a minimum… While probably some of the lower rated Tom Baker Episodes, the E-space Trilogy is a must have and I’m excited it’s finally out on DVD (mainly because my VHS tapes are showing their wear after all these years). In Full Circle the TARDIS lands Doctor and Romana in E-Space, an alternate universe on a planet called Alzarius where they meet Adric as well as his race who supposedly landed there generations ago and have been spending lifetimes repairing their ship in hopes of returning to their home planet of Terradon. Not a great story, not the worst but again, a must have for collectors.
State of Decay finds Adric stowed away on the TARDIS as the Doctor and Romana are still trying to find their way out of E-space and back into their N-space. They land on a planet that seems to be going backward currently in a modern midevil period with a few inhabitants who are way more technologically advanced for the time – and live off of blood.
Warrior’s Gate is Romana and K9′s final story as well as the last arc in E-space where they end up kind of in-between e-space and n-space realities at a null space with zero coordinates. They soon find a slave ship stuck in the void using their slave creatures called ‘Tharil’s to hopefully nagigate them out of the void. The Tharil’s, in a way find themselves full circle as they used to be slave owners using people as their servants and now find themselves as the slaves and fighting for freedom, hopefully all the wiser from experiencing both sides of slavery. Through a mirror (i.e. gateway), we go from parallel E-space to a parallel world the Tharil people are eventually freed in and Romana, with K9 enter the gateway with the freed Tharil to aid in freeing the rest of the Tharil people all over the galaxy, while the Doctor and Adric use the gateway to navigate themselves back to N-space, leaving Romana, K9, and the parallel universe forever. Probably the best of the E-space story arcs – as this is the episode that finally made me accept the ‘new’ Romana (I preferred Mary Tamm’s version), of course it had to happen just as she was making her departure from the series.
March 5, 2010
#4
What else needs to be said? It’s absolutely classic and if you’re a Dr. Who fan, it’s a must-have that ranks just behind the Key To Time series. We pick up Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) and unfortunately lose Romana and K9 who stay behind in E-Space.
As far as the stories themselves go, Warrior’s Gate is by far the best and one of the top Dr. Who stories of the Tom Baker era. The other two are good but not among the best plots, IMHO.
In Full Circle, the Tardis is sucked into E-Space (Exo-Space), an alternate universe, through a Charged Vacuum Emboitment (CVE) whatever that is!
We learn where the CVE’s came from in Logopolis, Tom’s final story. E-Space is a universe without a lot of stars and the Tardis lands on Alzarius where they find a crashed ship with a population of people who are actively engaged in repairing the ship. Adric is one of the young people on board and someone with advanced mathematical abilities. We later find out that the ship has been there for generations and the “crew” are afraid to attempt a takeoff because the original pilots are long since dead. The leaders keep secret the fact that the ship is ready to go and have everyone constantly repairing it. A major aspect of the plot is the relationship of the crew to the indigenous creatures on the planet. But you have to watch it. At any rate the Doctor solves the mysteries and helps them finally take off. Adric stows away on the Tardis. This is another excellent Tom Baker story.
But the Tardis is stuck in E-Space with no apparent way to get back to N-Space!
In State of Decay, the Tardis lands on a world near a small village. The villagers fear the rulers who live in a nearby castle. It turns out that the castle is actually an ancient space ship from Earth and the rulers are actually the original officers of the ship, kept alive because they were turned into vampires by a giant vampire. This giant is a creature from the lore of ancient Gallifrey. The Time Lords had once battled the race of vampires and drove the leader into E-Space. The Doctor defeats the vampire, freeing the villagers. The Doctor, Romana, and now Adric, leave the planet. Personally, I never like stories about blood thirsty vampires so this one is not my favorite. Nevertheless, like “The Empire Strikes Back” it’s part of the storyline and leads into the next story, Warrior’s Gate.
In Warrior’s Gate the Tardis becomes stuck in a rift between the two universes. It turns out that there is another vessel also stuck in the rift and this vessel contains a load of slave Tharils, a race to time sensitive, leonine people. Tharils are used to navigate through the timelines and are considered a valuable commodity. In order to keep the Tharils contained on the ship, its hull had to be made from a dwarf star alloy which means the ship had incredibly high mass. In the center of the rift is a structure, a building, and the Doctor realizes it contains a gateway to N-Space. But since the slaver ship is so massive, it starts contracting the space around the gate, precipitating a crisis. The Doctor discovers that the Tharils were once a dominant and tyrannical race who have now been reduced to slavery. One Tharil named Biroc helps the Doctor learn the truth about the Tharils and how to pass through the gate back into N-Space. Meanwhile the slave ship, in desperation to escape the rift and its imminent collapse, turns the ship’s engines on the gateway hoping to use the back blast to open it. But instead the back blast destroys the ship allowing the enslaved Tharils to escape. Romana elects to stay behind in order to help the Tharils and the Doctor gives her K9 to help her in the effort. Just before passing through the gateway the Doctor calls out “You were the best Romana”. With absolutely no offense to Mary Tamm, the first Romana, Lalla Ward was certainly a terrific Romana. Of course, two months later Baker and Ward were married but unfortunately the marriage didn’t last.
Everything about Warrior’s Gate is outstanding and no Doctor Who collection is complete without it.
March 5, 2010
#5
I liked this series. There was a brief skip in the middle of Full Circle (Episode 3), but I cleaned the disc and it was fine.