Home : Archive : TSV 41-50 : TSV 43 : Review

Doctor Who Trading Cards Series 2

Review by Jon Preddle

The second set of Cornerstone Communications' Doctor Who cards is now available. I was critical of the first set (reviewed in TSV 39) but I'm happy to say these new cards are a vast improvement.

Like Set 1, there are 110 main cards, numbered 111 to 220 as part of the full set. There are 52 'Adventures' cards, some of which are in black and white for those few Hartnell and Troughton stories for which no colour photos exist (It is now easy to work out which stories will be represented in Set 3!).

The 14 'Doctors' cards have some interesting topics covered on the back, almost Doctor's Dilemma-like in their approach. There are 10 'Companions' (again, it will be easy to work out who will appear in Set 3), 13 'Villains', and 18 cards covering 'The Legend' of Doctor Who.

The text on the back of the cards is free of the sort of errors that dogged Set 1 - almost. The Massacre summary seems to be have been taken from the novelisation and not the actual TV version; Card 200 claims to be Terry Molloy's Davros, when it is obviously Michael Wisher, and Card 212 is of Borusa, not Hedin. Oddly, Card 215 is clearly a photo taken off a TV screen as the scan lines are visible.

In order to acquire a complete set there are the six foil cards, featuring the Daleks and Cybermen, and the nine 'Premier' cards also to collect. The Premier cards are printed on a different type of card, and when arranged in order an image of William Hartnell is formed on the back. Even harder to get are the randomly inserted autograph cards of which, like last time, I got zip!

This item appeared in TSV 43 (March 1995).