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Doctor Who
Season 25
Cover art of the Blu-ray release for the complete season
Starring	Sylvester McCoy Sophie Aldred
No. of stories	4
No. of episodes	14
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	5 October 1988 (1988-10-05) – 4 January 1989 (1989-01-04)
Season chronology
← Previous Season 24Next → Season 26
List of episodes

The twenty-fifth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 5 October 1988. It comprised four separate serials, beginning with Remembrance of the Daleks and ending with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. To mark the 25th anniversary season, producer John Nathan-Turner brought back the Daleks and the Cybermen. The American New Jersey Network also made a special behind-the-scenes documentary called The Making of Doctor Who, which followed the production of the 25th anniversary story Silver Nemesis. Andrew Cartmel script edited the series.

Background

Season 25 saw script editor Andrew Cartmel, who had joined for the previous season, exert a greater influence on the style of the series. He had watched serials from the Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes era such as The Seeds of Doom and The Talons of Weng-Chiang in preparation for it and concluded that the series should return to a more serious and dramatic approach. The season also saw the start of a move to explore the Doctor's past; Cartmel had felt that as more of the character's own history, together with the history of the Time Lords, had been revealed, some of the mystery about the Doctor had been lost. As a consequence, together with new writers Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt, he began developing the seeds of a new backstory, which would be hinted at throughout the season, that suggested the Doctor to be more powerful than most people were aware of. This concept eventually came to be known as the "Cartmel Masterplan".

Cartmel Masterplan

The Cartmel Masterplan is a fan name for the planned Doctor Who backstory developed primarily by script editor Andrew Cartmel and writers Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt, by which they intended to restore some of the mystery of the Doctor's background that had been lost through revelation of the existing backstory. Although hints were dropped in the last two seasons, the proposed revelations never materialised on screen as the programme was not renewed into the 1990s.

Some of the stories during the Seventh Doctor's tenure were intended to deal with the lack of mystery by suggesting that much of what was believed about the Doctor was wrong and that he was a far more powerful and mysterious figure than previously thought. In an untelevised scene in Remembrance of the Daleks (1988), the Doctor stated that he was "far more than just another Time Lord." In Silver Nemesis (1988), lines about the creation of validium and Lady Peinforte knowing the Doctor's secrets were meant to point towards this mystery.

In 2014, Cartmel speculated that the "great secret" Lady Peinforte knew about the Doctor in Silver Nemesis was "perhaps" connected to his name, which during the siege on the Fields of Trenzalore in "The Time of the Doctor" (2013) is said to be what would allow the Time Lords to return to the universe.

The Other was first mentioned explicitly in the novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks (1990) by Ben Aaronovitch as a shadowy figure in Time Lord history, one of the founding Triumvirate of Time Lord society after the overthrow of the cult of the Pythia that had, until then, dominated Gallifrey. The other two members of the Triumvirate were Rassilon and Omega.

Casting

Main cast

• Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor
• Sophie Aldred as Ace

Recurring stars

• Terry Molloy as Davros

Terry Molloy makes his final appearance as Davros, the Dalek creator (now acting as the Dalek Emperor) in Remembrance of the Daleks.

Guest Stars

John Leeson who previously regularly voiced the robot companion K9 from 1977 to 1978 and 1980–1981, appears as one of the Dalek voices in Remembrance of the Daleks.

David Banks makes his final of four appearances in the series in Silver Nemesis as a Cyber-leader.

Serials

This season was broadcast on Wednesdays.

Broadcast

The entire season was broadcast from 5 October 1988 to 4 January 1989. Transmission moved to Wednesday nights. Season twenty-five was originally to have been broadcast in production order, with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy second. However, the expected start of the season on 7 September was postponed to 5 October as a result of BBC coverage of the Seoul Summer Olympics. Nathan-Turner still wanted to lead off the year with Remembrance of the Daleks and have episode one of the twenty-fifth anniversary story, Silver Nemesis, broadcast on 23 November – the actual date of Doctor Who's 25th anniversary. This left only three weeks in between the two serials. Consequently, the original season finale, The Happiness Patrol, was exchanged with The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

Home media

VHS releases

DVD and Blu-ray releases

All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated:

• indicates a Blu-ray release

1. ^ Parts Two and Three of Silver Nemesis were first broadcast in New Zealand on 25 November 1988 as part of a compilation broadcast before their UK transmission.
2. Available individually or in The Complete Davros Collection box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
3. The Regions 2 and 4 releases of the Special Edition of Remembrance of the Daleks was originally only available as part of The Complete Davros Collection box set, but was later re-released on its own.
4. The Regions 2 and 4 releases of the Special Edition of Remembrance of the Daleks was originally only available as part of The Complete Davros Collection box set, but was later re-released on its own.
5. Only available as part of the Ace Adventures box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
6. Only available as part of the Cybermen box set in Regions 2 and 4. Only available individually in Region 1.
7. Released as Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 25 in Region B.

In print

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

References

1. David J. Howe; Mark Stammers; Stephen James Walker (1997). Doctor Who: The Eighties. Virgin Publishing. p. 113. ISBN 978-0753501283.
2. ^ Cartmel, Andrew (2005). Script Doctor: The Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986–89. London: Reynolds & Hearn. pp. 134–135. ISBN 1-903111-89-7.
3. Cartmel, Andrew (August 2014). "The Cartmel Master Plan Part Two: More Than Just a Time Lord". Doctor Who Magazine (#475). Tunbridge Wells: Panini UK Ltd: 33.
4. Parkin, Lance; Lars Pearson (2007). AHistory: An Unauthorized History of the Doctor Who universe (2nd ed.). Des Moines, Iowa: Mad Norwegian Press. p. 380. ISBN 978-0-9759446-6-0.
5. ^ Wright, Mark, ed. (29 November 2017). "Dragonfire, Remembrance of the Daleks and The Happiness Patrol". Doctor Who: The Complete History. No. 44. Panini Comics, Hachette Partworks. p. 95, 135. ISSN 2057-6048.
6. ^ Wright, Mark, ed. (24 February 2016). "Silver Nemesis, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and Battlefield". Doctor Who: The Complete History. No. 45. Panini Comics, Hachette Partworks. pp. 41, 84. ISSN 2057-6048.
7. Howe, David J; Walker, Stephen James (1998). "Part Two – Fiction: The Stories". Doctor Who – The Handbook: The Seventh Doctor. London: Doctor Who Books. p. 69. ISBN 0-426-20527-8.
8. Smith 2014, Remembrance of the Daleks.
9. "Doctor Who Remembrance of the Daleks by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
10. "Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks". 2 April 2002. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
11. Smith 2014, Remembrance of the Daleks Special Edition.
12. "Doctor Who The Complete Davros Boxset by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
13. "Doctor Who by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
14. "Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks (Story 152) - Special Edition". 2 March 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
15. Smith 2014, The Happiness Patrol.
16. "Doctor Who Ace Adventures by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
17. "Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol". 8 May 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
18. Smith 2014, Silver Nemesis.
19. "Doctor Who Cybermen Boxset by Roadshow Entertainment - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
20. "Doctor Who: Silver Nemesis". 2 November 2010. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
21. Smith 2014, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.
22. "Doctor Who - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - Shop Online for Movies, DVDs in Australia". Fishpond. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
23. "Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy". 14 August 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2017 – via Amazon.
24. "Season 25 announced as the next instalment in The Collection Blu-ray range". Doctor Who Website. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
25. "Doctor Who - The Collection - Season 25 - Limited Edition Blu-ray". Sanity. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
26. "Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Two Blu-ray". Retrieved 20 December 2024.
27. Clarke, Kevin (6 July 2023). Doctor Who: Silver Nemesis – via Penguin.co.uk.

Bibliography

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

• 1988 British television seasons
• 1989 British television seasons
• Doctor Who lists
• Doctor Who series
• Seventh Doctor serials