I know Paul Scoones, who has written some of them.
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The commentary for Vengeance on Varos is fine (although I do think those with a moderator flow a bit better). This was recorded back in 2001! 25 years ago!! And, to some extent, I think it shows. The familiar stories are trotted out - Colin defending the acid bath scene; Nicola explaining why she got stuck in leotards and shorts. There were a couple I wasn’t as familiar with - not sure I ever remember hearing that Sil was considered as being brought back as a companion!! Colin claims it but I call bobbins on that one.
But what really struck me was how, towards the end of episode 2, Nabil Shaban makes a comment about how ‘nowadays’ he is very much against the use of facial disfigurement as a short hand for ‘bad guy’ (in reference to Quillam). As an disabled actor himself, this is of course a really important point.
Except Colin goes ahead and completely dismisses it by saying that ‘has it ever been thus’ citing 19th century literature onwards and seemingly missing what Shaban is trying to say.
It’s something I don’t think he’d say nowadays (at least I hope not) as society is (hopefully) becoming a bit more enlightened about disability and it’s use in storytelling but it was a bit of a sour note.
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I’ve been working through Who Talk’s commentaries for The Web of Fear. These were the first releases Fantom did in this range, in light of the two recovered stories (this and Enemy) being rush released as vanilla DVDs. Obviously we’ve got special feature packed editions since but these were recorded not that long after the episodes were initially released. Some of the contributors are the same as those that ultimately ended up on the official DVD but this is still a lovely package.
Ralph Watson is on three episodes and is delightful. Roger Bunce, the cameraman does two and has a great behind the scenes perspective. Deborah Watling is on here too and obviously is lovely. Episode 3 has a fascinating chat with Sue Malden about her job. Derek Martin pops up on Episode 4 to talk about his stunt work and he, too, is great value.
Episode 6 has Sylvia James who is always fun to listen to when she does interviews. But she’s joined by John Levene. I don’t know if this is a controversial opinion but I find him, as a person, extremely unsettling. I know he paints it as someone who struggled with their shyness and self-worth but, nowadays, the self-pity and weirdly expressed enthusiasm comes across as extremely performative. Maybe I’m misjudging him, but I really don’t enjoy listening to Levene. Occasionally, he relaxes and the performance drops and he’s fine but more often than not, he’s just, for want of a better word, creepy.
Oddly, Who Talk also did an extra commentary as part of their Monster Era release for episode 6 with Deborah Watling and Philip Morris. Very little is said about the episode itself and it basically turns into Watling and Hadoke interviewing Morris about how he recovered the episodes. It’s a bit superfluous really.
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More war games things: Terrance (dicks) said that during one scene someone said “Zoe and the resistance men” and Frazer turned around and said “sounds like a pop group”. Frazer does not remember this happening but laughed his ass off regardless
They also made a joke over Frazer having to get oil rubbed on his legs by the makeup lady after the scene with the horse because it was very itchy and sore (and I mean riding a horse with basically bare legs yeah I can see why)
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Started Marcia Wheeler and Sylvia James on the Who Talk commentary for Wheel in Space 3. It’s amazing how much some of these people remember from a job they did decades ago.
Some comment made on making Peter Laird up to look like he is Chinese. Not sure Sylvia needed to say ‘we got quite good at it, the eyes etc’.
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I know what you mean about Levene. I haven’t really been sure what to make of him, but gave him the benefit of the doubt as a weird eccentric until I watched the In Conversation with him. Didn’t like how he came across at all, it felt very inauthentic.
Pertwee and Tom didn’t have exactly rosy upbringings but whenever they spoke about it, they absolutely didn’t throw a total pity party the way Levene does. It felt like he was desperate for people to like him, which, especially at 80 or whatever age he is now, just feels a bit pathetic?
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Just watched The Sontaran Stratagem with the DVD commentary. Julie, Neill and Dan. Nothing altogether groundbreaking, but fun when Julie asked the other two for their favourite classic episodes.
Neill Gorton went for The Brain of Morbius because he used to have nightmares about the creature. He credited some Doctor Who exhibitions for getting him interested in design for TV.
Dan Starkey chose The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Julie: Oh I know that one, the rat!). His first experience of it was the Target novel, until he managed to get the VHS. He credits Doctor Who as more of an indirect influence on going into acting.
Oh and Julie unironically describes the Sontarans as ‘sexy’.
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Does she “hear me out” them, or are we left to figure out what could be found attractive?
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probic vent?
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Listened to the Wheel in Space 6 and it’s a bit of an odd one. Even though it’s on the same Who Talk release (Cyber 60s) and features Sylvia James who is also on the episode 3 commentary, Toby Hadoke repeats two stories that he says on the episode 3 commentary with Sylvia and Marcia Wheeler. (It’s Wendy Padbury with Sylvia on 6). I was trying to work out which way round they were recorded but there was obviously quite a gap in between for him to repeat the stories, almost verbatim on both episodes (one about Peter Laird and stuff about Jerome Flynn).
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She likes that they’re so ‘butch’ and muscley apparently.
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The only existing classic Doctor Who episodes without an official commentary are:
An Unearthly Child - 2 & 3
The Daleks - 1, 3, 5-6
The Edge of Destruction - 1 & 2
The Daleks’ Master Plan - 1, 3, 5, 10
The Wheel in Space - 3
The Space Pirates - 2
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I always found the commentary to The Long Game a bit lacking. It’s mainly just Brian Grant talking about his camera angles. Nothing thematic, no amusing behind the scenes anecdotes, just camera angles.
I like camera angles, they help me see what’s going on….but come on.
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I was just going through some old files on my home server and I found mp3 rips I made of all the commentaries from the DVDs. These must be 10+ years old. Such a nerd.
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Frontier in Space commentary is interesting with Bazza Letts & Uncle Terry talking about how they wanted to end the story.
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Don’t know about informative and not Sixth Doctor, but I remember Colin is pretty hilarious in the Arc of Infinity commentary. Don’t ask why it took me six weeks to remember that!
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Just got done with the Castrovalva commentary, what a ball, I’d forgotton how funny the Davison commentary tracks are. Davison, Fielding, Chris Bidmead and Fiona Cumming were all on this one.
Two of my favourite bits got magnified by how funny they thought it was. You can tell Peter was totally cringing at his “we’re caught in a space-time trap!” acting, and just by looking at his face, you can tell he’s trying hard not to burst out laughing through the grimace. Also, Shardovan’s “you made us, man of evil, but we are free!” got a big cheer and a laugh, which I was glad at. Both the most poignantly sad yet hilariously cheesy bit of Who dialogue I’ve heard in a long time.
Probably the best bit was Chris Bidmead shushing everyone to listen to his carefully crafted dialogue, just for Tegan’s next line to be, “What am I saying? I’m talking nonsense!”
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That one I have heard about. There were some memes from it making the rounds some years ago. I’ve heard more about that commentary than any of the Six ones 
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Yes! Love it!
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Fiona is also on the ones for Enlightenment and Planet of Fire, she’s great on commentaries.
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