4/5 The Romans is worth the price of the set
  by John D. Saltzburg (King Of Prussia, PA United States)
these 2 episodes were consecutive in airing and were also released as a set on Video so that isn't anything new. the transfer is of course cleaner and the digital "reconstruction" of the film to video motion is moticiable if you have the VHS to compare with.
The prior reviews here gives perfect epsidoe summaries. Rescue is exposed as a pure filler episode (but the set design expence shows it was not a budgetary constraint story) to explain how Vicky joins the crew. William hartnell's emotive performance is very good you very much beleive his is a grandfather who misses his grandchild in the first few minutes as the departure of Susan is recapped.

Romans is the real gem. haveing seen every Classic story that still exists (and the still/clips plus audio reconstructions of the ones that don't) it is my abosulute favorite Historical episode. When compared to Aztecs (on dvd) or Reign of Terror (on vhs only) you can see just how far the production team had come. The set design is lavish for the period. The scripts are very good with humor abundant from Mr Hartnell (showing his comedy backround) and Nero. if all the historical stories had been as good maybe they wouldn't have stopped making them with Highlanders and the Davison era black orchid.
in the commentary William Russel is cogent and funny making me wonder why the current show hasn't seen fit to bring him in as a guest.

4/5 great Hartnell double-feature
  by E. D. (Dallas, TX)
One of the better Hartnell features. Introduces the character of Vickie. Particularly good is the Roman episode, one of the best of the historical Hartnell stories, with suitable intrigue combined with lavish (for the time and budget) sets, and a good amount of humour sprinkled in, as well. The Ian-Barbara scenes are particularly good, and the way the story is constructed and executed, like a classic baudy French farce, is delightful. The special features are quite informative, as well. The supporting roles of Nero and the slave-buyer who helps Barbara escape are particularly well-played and written, and there are some genuine moments of peril and tension, as well as bonding and sacrifice, features that would continue to be strongly emphasized throughout the series. A good episode to show those rather new to the show, as both stories are short.

3/5 Doctor Who The Rescue/The Romans
  by Paul Jutras (Florida, USA)
This was a real twist as I expected from Doctor Who marathon behind the scenes clips that The Romans would be the better of the two. However I found upon watching it that while The Romans was a interesting story where Barbara is sold as a slave and has to escape on her own as doctor learns nothing about it I find The Rescue that first introduces character Vicki to be much more enjoyable story.

5/5 dr who romans
  by Carol J. Rader (Gahanna, OH USA)
This Dr Who DVD:The Rescue/The Romans has excellent clarity, wonderful commentary and fun facts about it's production. With so many of the early Dr Who episodes stupidly burned, it is great to see these early related stories presented so well on dvd. I have them on VHS, but think having the DVD a better viewing experience.

4/5 "That, Your Excellency, would be an impossibissity!"
  by Jason A. Miller (New York, New York USA)
This double-pack is occasioned only by the fact that these two stories were made back-to-back. However, it's a neat little window on "Doctor Who"'s radical early days -- a two-episode outer-space character piece set 500 years in the future, followed by a 4-episode romp through Ancient Rome. "Doctor Who"'s genius then and now is its willingness to try absolutely any form of drama, making it up as it goes along and succeeding most of the time.

"The Rescue" is basically a filler episode designed to introduce a replacement character for original companion Susan. Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) is a teenage orphan from the 25th Century. Marooned on the planet Dido, Vicki finds herself menaced by a reptilian biped with the unlikely name of Koquilion. There's a mystery in the middle of all this, which the Doctor solves without breaking a sweat. It helps that he's been to Dido before... The script hasn't held up very well, but director Christopher Barry (previously seen helming "The Daleks") adds some inventive directorial flourishes.

This is one of the restoration team's "lite" releases so there's not a whole lot going on in the extra features. Maureen O'Brien, who played Vicki for parts of two seasons (before the character went off to help found the city of Rome) pops up very briefly in the making-of documentary, but not in the commentary track.

Speaking of Rome, the other episode in the case has held up shockingly well. "The Romans" was "Doctor Who"'s first foray into farce. William Hartnell's Doctor gets to play comedy for the first time, and kicks into overdrive -- palling around with Caesar Nero, unsuccessfuly learning how to play the lyre, and demonstrating the fine art of fisticuffs (which, we learn, he once taught to the Mountain Mauler of Montana). He gets to deliver some comedic zingers, and even his line-readin fluffs add to the charm. The main guest character, Nero, also gets a slew of terrific lines ("I'll have you killed over and over again!") and plenty of wonderful character moments (not the least of which is his creative disposal of an overzealous cup-bearer).

The story itself has a huge scope; each individual half-hour seems to have its own mini-plot and unique settings. From the rural marketplace to the slave galley to gladiators in the arena to the burning of Rome, "The Romans" moves along at a breakneck pace more befitting the 2005 revival of "Doctor Who" than something from 45 years ago.

The extras on the "Romans" disk are of the deluxe variety. The making-of featurette is over half an hour long and puts the story in its historical context. "Doctor Who" in its first two years was an extremely radical program, and if it all looks slow and dull and black-&-white today, this documentary will quickly disabuse you of that viewpoint. Also charming is a featurette on Dennis Spooner, the writer of the story and "Doctor Who"'s second script editor; the MVP of this extra is current "Who" writer Rob Shearman, who makes a far-reaching but convincing argument that the show wouldn't have survived this long without Spooner's creativity and risk-taking. There's also an overview on "Who"'s female companions throughout the 1960s decade (demonstrated in this story by the strong-willed schoolteacher Barbara, and the sweet but innocent future-girl Vicki). Finally there's a crowded commentary booth, moderated by British comedian Toby Hadoke, who's much more lively that previous Hartnell-episode-commentary-track moderators.