The First Doctor, Steven and Vicki encounter the beautiful but cold Drahvins on a planet that’s destined for destruction…

The last story produced by Verity Lambert for Doctor Who – or at least, set up by her; John Wiles was in charge for much of it – Galaxy 4 is very few people’s idea of a strong William Hartnell serial. For many years all that existed was a clip from episode 1 before Air Lock, its third episode, was found in 2011 (the story of which forms one of the documentaries on the 2nd disc). It’s now the first of what executive producer Gary Russell, in his commentary for episode 1, describes as a new wave of Hartnell animations, following on from the pretty much total focus on the Patrick Troughton era over the last five years.

The story itself could be – and indeed has been – told in considerably less than 100 minutes, but the new animation adopts a Technicolor approach that makes it feel on a par with the original Star Trek animated series. The issue with windmilling arms that have plagued some earlier releases seems to be much less prevalent this time around, and Maureen O’Brien’s Vicki, in particular, feels true to life. The template for the Doctor feels like a stylised version of Hartnell which takes a little getting used to, and there’s been a deliberate decision to make the Drahvins (bar Maaga) clones – which obviously makes life somewhat easier for the animators.

This is very much a reinterpretation of the script and soundtrack rather than trying to slavishly recreate what might have been seen in 1965, with some reveals coming at different times than the original (which of course is seen in heresy in some circles!). The recreation is present in what’s usually a telesnap-based reconstruction, but which uses some clever methods to tell the story.

Toby Hadoke is on fine commentary duty, with those who are still around contributing their memories, as well as Russell and director Chloe Grech giving insight into the 2021 version, and there’s a fun documentary from Chris Chapman built around a chat between Hadoke and Peter Purves at the latter’s home (which appears to have an infestation).

Verdict: A story that’s sometimes written off as “boring sci-fi” gets a retelling on an expanded canvas. 8/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order from Amazon.co.uk