The Frequently Asked Questions List for Doctor Who
DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs in
Or… click
here to see the VHS
Home Video FAQ, or here to see the LATEST NEWS,
or here to return to the TITLE PAGE.
Last updated
Compiled by Steve Manfred, smanfred at
comcast.net (change at to @ and remove
the spaces to email me)
UPCOMING RELEASES
2 25-minute episodes in The Rescue on one disc and 4 25-minute episodes in The Romans
on the other, $34.98). These stories will not be sold separately (but they’re consecutive
stories in the chronological order in any case).
Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen starring Colin Baker (2 45-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98)
1 disc, high-definition BLU-RAY for $19.89 or standard-definition DVD for $14.98 for DVD)
Also includes a 60-minute Doctor Who Confidential
Torchwood: The Complete Second Season (13 50-minute episodes, 4 BLU-RAY discs, high-def, $79.98)
Torchwood: Children of Earth starring John Barrowman and Eve Myles (5 50-minute episodes,
2 discs, high-definition BLU-RAY for $34.99 or standard-definition DVD for $29.98 for DVD)
Also includes Torchwood Declassified
Doctor Who: Image of the Fendahl starring Tom Baker (4 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98)
Doctor Who: Delta and the Bannermen starring Sylvester McCoy (3 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98)
Further classic series titles will follow in November. The exact titles are yet to be announced.
LATEST DVD RELEASES
Contains three stories:
Full Circle (4 episodes), State of Decay (4 episodes), and Warriors’ Gate (4 episodes).
The stories will not be available separately, only in the box set.
Doctor Who: Battlefield starring Sylvester McCoy (4 25-minute episodes and a new feature-
length Special Edition, 2 discs, $34.98)
$99.98)
Contains six stories, which will also be available separately:
The Ribos Operation (4 episodes), The Pirate Planet (4 episodes), The Stones of Blood
(4 episodes), The Androids of Tara (4 episodes), The Power of Kroll (4 episodes), and
The Armageddon Factor (6 episodes). The 4-parters will be 1-discers at $24.98 each and the
6-parter is $34.98 on 2 discs.
Doctor Who: Four to Doomsday starring Peter Davison (4 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $24.98)
12 45-minute episodes, 6 discs, $99.98)
Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest starring David Tennant (45-minute animated adventure, 1 disc, $9.98)
Blu-Ray discs (13 50-minute
episodes, 6 discs, $99.98) in
Torchwood: The Complete Second Season in
Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time Lord starring Colin Baker (14 25-minute episodes, 4 discs, $59.98)
and
The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete First Season starring Elisabeth Sladen (1 60-minute
episode and 10 30-minute episodes (6 stories), 4 discs, $49.98)
(13 50-minute episodes, 5 discs, $79.98
Torchwood: The Complete First Season starring John Barrowman and Eve Myles
(13 50-minute episodes, 6
high-definition Blu-Ray discs, $99.98,
and John Leeson (4 25-minute episodes on disc 1, 50-minute special on disc 2)
Doctor Who: The Invasion of Time starring Tom Baker (6 25-minute episodes, 2 discs, $34.98)
RECENT DVD
RELEASES
Doctor Who: Black Orchid starring Peter Davison (2 25-minute episodes, 1 disc, $14.98), and
Doctor Who: The Five Doctors 25th Anniversary Edition starring Peter Davison, Jon Pertwee,
Patrick Troughton, Richard Hurndall, Tom Baker, and William Hartnell (90 minute special on
disc 1, 100-minute special edition on disc 2, $34.98).
The three stories in this set are all of those that features the Silurians and/or their cousins, the Sea Devils.
They will also be made available separately. They are:
Doctor Who and the Silurians starring Jon Pertwee (2 discs, $34.98),
The Sea Devils starring Jon Pertwee (1 disc, $24.98), and
Warriors of the Deep starring Peter Davison (1 disc, $24.98).
April 1, 2008 The Time Warrior starring Jon Pertwee (1 disc, $24.98) and
Timelash starring Colin Baker (1 disc, $24.98)
***THE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS LIST***
1. Are Doctor
Who stories available on DVD? Who
makes them and where can I find them?
Yes. A limited number of Doctor Who stories are available now on DVD, and the number gradually increases every few months.
Their content comes from BBC Worldwide Americas. The manufacturing and distribution is accomplished by Warner Home Video.
The DVDs are available from both brick-and-mortar video sales stores and from online sellers such as amazon.com or Warner’s site,
http://whv.warnerbros.com/ or BBC Worldwide America’s sales site, http://www.bbcamericashop.com/
2. Will the new Doctor Who TV series affect the classic series
releases?
No, the new series has had no effect on the classic series releases, other than changing the timing of some of them.
3. I’m interested in perhaps buying some of these DVDs. What should I know?
You should be aware that most of the Doctor Who DVDs released so far have had extensive restoration work done on them
prior to authoring and now look better than they ever have before. The only ones that had lighter restoration done didn’t need
much in the first place. We’ve never seen Doctor Who look this good – it’s much better than the old PBS broadcasts.
You should also know that to date, all of the DVDs have bonus materials on them that are not available on the VHS tapes.
You should also know the difference between "episode form" and "movie form". The natural format of most of the classic
Doctor Who series is as a cliffhanger adventure serial. Each true "episode" of the classic series was usually 25 minutes long and
ends in a cliffhanger and crashing theme music, with the original viewers on the BBC having to wait usually a whole week before
the next installment. The most common serial length was 4 such episodes, with 6-parters also being heavily used in the first half of
the series' life with some
other odd lengths mixed in here and there. Most PBS outlets in the
this format, but instead showed what became known as "movie form," where all the episodes of each serial were edited together
to form one long movie. (4-parters usually came to about 90 minutes, 6-parters to 2 hours and 20 minutes.) The DVD releases
all present the stories in episode form (when applicable). The fans prefer this because it is the true format the series should be seen
in, because the episodes were plotted and paced with only 25-minute installments in mind, and because the cliffhangers themselves
sometimes have differences between what's shown at the end of one episode versus the beginning of the next, with altered shots
and changes made to the
music. In the "movie form" practice, one of those versions
always has to be cut out.
The standard episode length of the classic series’ 22nd season and of the new series that began in 2005 is 45 minutes.
Most of the new series episodes are now stand-alones, but some are part of two-part stories. The season 22 stories were all at
least two 45-minute episodes long.
4. Why are these
DVDs so much higher-priced than most American TV series on DVD? And why don’t they
release season box sets of the classic series?
As you might expect, Doctor
Who DVDs do the most sales in the
much of the enormous price erosion of TV DVDs that the North American market has. Also, multi-standard TVs and
multi-region DVD players are
very commonplace in the
price Doctor Who (or any other BBC DVDs) more in line with what the American DVD market is used to, then they will see
large numbers of
the price will still be lower
than what it would be if they bought the DVD off a
strength of the British pound versus the US dollar these days. They therefore price the North American editions at a level only
slightly lower than the
until prices for DVDs in the
Regarding season box sets... Doctor Who classic series DVD releases began in the
single-story-at-a-time model
that had been in use on VHS. Before
season box sets started becoming the norm in the
(and other countries), many
stories had already seen release in the
consumers would be forced to re-buy some stories they already had. Just as importantly, production budgets on single titles
are higher than they would be for season sets, which means that each single title can be (and is) packed with special features.
Were they to switch to the season model, the special features would have to be reduced. They have instead adopted a compromise
plan where they release a few smaller box sets per year of stories that were linked together in some way (like a story arc)
while continuing the single-story-at-a-time model the rest of the year. The new series is another case entirely, as the extra features
are being made concurrently with the series itself, which allows those DVDs to be almost as full as the classic series ones and still be
in a season box set (and, of course, the “rebuying” issue isn’t a problem as these are all-new episodes).
An exception to what I’ve just said is talked about in the next question….
4a. Why
have they re-released The Key to Time
(especially when half the rest of the series isn’t out yet?)
The answer has to do with how and
why we got the 2002 edition of this set.
In their first DVD releases in
in 2001 and early 2002, BBC Worldwide Americas included a questionnaire that pointed to a website poll
where their customers could choose from amongst a list of titles which Doctor Who title they would most like to see
released
next. On that list was The Key to Time, and it won the poll. They went back
to their partners in the
requested that it be released. They met with some resistance as the UK BBC people didn’t feel the time was right
for their market for a box set of this many episodes to be released, however the BBC WA people emphasized how
important box sets had already become in the North American market and how having one was in fact now essential
to get stores to stock Doctor Who titles at all. They’d had a wave of some individual titles in 2002 that many chains
chose not to stock because all they were was individual stories. A box set was now seen as a requirement to save the
range’s
future in
late 2002
in
and it
probably will never happen again. Due to
there being no
quick turnaround time needed, the titles in the 2002 set came out with only minimal extras. Although they did all
have commentaries and production notes, they had no featurettes, only a few deleted scenes, and the restoration work
was very minimal.
Nowadays, with the revival of the series’ fortunes that began with the coming of the new series, the market for classic
Doctor
Who in the
noticed there have been more of them in recent years, and that when they come out they get the same full treatment
extras-wise
that the individual titles get. And so
in 2007, they decided to bring The Key to
Time to the
full press
of extras. The release pattern in
same order
that they come out in the
had the
old edition on the market, and also they’d fallen behind the increased
pace of releases coming from the
wanted to catch us up on the titles we had never seen before first. Now in 2009, that catching-up has been largely
completed,
and they feel they can spend a release slot on bringing us the
begin
selling it in
it from the original edition.
5. Will Doctor Who be released in a
high-definition DVD format, i.e. on BluRay?
Beginning with the 2009 Easter special, Planet of the Dead, the new series of Doctor Who is switching up to high-
definition, and so from there on I would expect Blu-Ray releases of Doctor Who in high-definition to begin happening
in late 2009 or early 2010, but only of the episodes shot in high-definition.
Everything up until that story has been predominantly shot on standard-definition videotape, and what you see on the
standard-definition DVDs is almost the best it can ever look. However, the better codecs that are now available on
BluRay would improve the pictures somewhat. Also, from 1967 onwards, the BBC was using 625-line PAL, which
was a superior system to the North American 525-line NTSC system, and if they were to be re-released on BluRay,
North Americans with high-def TVs would see an improved picture just from that that the Brits wouldn’t.
Also, a BluRay disc would be able to hold perhaps 3-4 whole classic stories.
For these reasons, it is becoming more likely that the classic series and perhaps the first four seasons of the new series
could see re-release on BluRay sometime in the future, however, nothing along these lines is planned for 2009.
There is one single story of the classic series that was shot completely on film and could benefit from a high-definition
BluRay re-release someday, and that was Jon Pertwee’s debut story Spearhead from Space, so that one may be
a special case and could perhaps happen sooner than the others would.
6. Will the
spinoff series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures be released on
DVD? Might they see
release in a high-definition format?
Both series are getting standard-definition DVD release
to
Torchwood is shot in 1080i high-definition, and there has already been a BluRay high-definition release of the first season in
November 2008. The second and third seasons will probably follow at a later date in 2009.
The Sarah Jane Adventures is only shot at standard-definition, and so it will not be seeing a BluRay release.
7.
Do any of the Doctor Who DVDs have edits? Have they cut anything out, like the SciFi Channel does?
The versions on the DVDs of the new series are the same
as those shown on the BBC in the
editing that the SciFi Channel, and to a lesser extent, BBC America does to it to accommodate their commercial loads.
The running times of Doctor Who episodes vary more than most US-made fare does, so if you’re watching on the SciFi
Channel, you could be seeing an episode with nothing cut out (because it was a short one to start with) or one with up to
five minutes cut out (when it runs long).
That said, there is still a caption missing in the episode Blink on The Complete Third Series Box Set. At the start of the final scene
set in the DVD store, there was originally a caption which read “ONE YEAR LATER,” which is mysteriously absent from this DVD.
(It’s missing from the
Also, the commentary track that was recorded for the
Freema Agyeman, and John Barrowman, is not on the North American edition and is instead replaced by the one from the
official Doctor Who website podcast with Russell T. Davies, Phil Collinson, and Julie Gardner. This had to be done
because David, Freema, and John frequently sing bits of songs during their commentary as a running gag, which couldn’t
be copyright cleared in time for the North American production deadlines.
They have cleared it since then, however, and have made it available for download from this address:
http://bbcamerica.com/content/123/commentary.jsp
For the classic series, there have been a few changes made to the original programs in a few instances. Here’s what they were
and why:
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
This one is so small I would never have noticed it myself, but some others have. Apparently if you’re looking very carefully at the
background in one of the on-location chase sequences in the third episode, in the original version you could see a contemporary
truck parked on the street, but it was very small... only a few pixels in fact. During restoration, the engineers thought they’d see
how easy it would be to paint that out, never intending to leave it like that, but then a miscommunication happened and the copy
with the truck painted out got
used on the DVD master by mistake.
The Time Meddler
The print used for the third episode on this DVD is one returned to the BBC from an overseas broadcaster. This broadcaster
had made a censorship cut to the death scene of the Viking named Ulf, feeling it to be too violent for the timeslot they were
running the series in. That clip is still missing, although a soundtrack recording of this scene has been recovered and is
included in a featurette on the DVD.
The War Machines
The prints used on this DVD were ones returned to the BBC from overseas broadcasters. These broadcasters had made some
censorship cuts of so-called violent scenes to episodes 2, 3, and 4. Many of these censored bits have been recovered by other
means and inserted back into the prints, but there are still a few absent or incomplete. The Restoration Team have worked
wonders to bridge these small gaps (and there is a full featurette on what they did on the DVD), and you might not have ever
known they were there, but technically, these are still some cuts from the original version.
The Seeds of Death
A small mistake was made during the restoration process, where the VidFIRE video-look restoration tool was wrongly applied
to a scene that was shot on film. The Restoration Team normally try to make the whole production look as it originally did, with
the studio video scenes processed but film inserts left alone to keep looking like film. So, if you look carefully, near the end of
episode 5 (and in the recap at the start of episode 6), you’ll see a scene of the Doctor trying to get into the Weather Control Bureau
that has been VidFIREd when it shouldn’t have been.
Spearhead From Space
In episode 2, during the establishing shots of the plastics factory, some electric guitar music was used to accompany the shots.
This music came from a track called “Oh Well (Part One)” by a band that was just up-and-coming in 1969/70, when Spearhead
was made. They made it pretty big later on though… perhaps you’ve heard of Fleetwood Mac? Well, these days their
management tends to ask for a lot of money for even a few bars of their songs to be used in anything that gets republished, such
as a DVD release, and the BBC couldn’t justify the enormous expense to leave the track on here. So, as they did on the original
VHS release, they’ve taken some of the background sound effects from the plastics factory and used those to replace the
Fleetwood Mac track. The scene and the shots are all still there, just not the music. For similar reasons, they also had to change
the music on one of the broadcast trailers that appears on the DVD as an extra.
The Stones of Blood
The DVD of this is the original broadcast version. There’s been nothing cut out. However, the original VHS release included
a deleted scene, and that scene is not present anywhere on the DVD. The scene in question was early in Part Two, lasted 30
seconds, and showed the characters of De Vries and Martha panicking over their failure at the sacrifice and arguing over running
away to
The Five Doctors Special Edition
This was one of the first DVDs to be released in
replaced with The Five Doctors 25th Anniversary Edition. This original DVD release was not the original version of
The Five Doctors, but rather a souped-up version that was originally made for a special VHS release in 1995. The contents
of this original DVD are completely available along with the original version of the story and much bonus material besides in the
new 25th Anniversary Edition.
The Caves of Androzani
In the original version of this story, the first few scenes on the surface of the alien planet weren’t as convincing as they could’ve
been because of a shaking film image of the live action being married into a completely stationary matte painting glass shot of the
planet’s surface. That original version is still to be found on this DVD, but to see it you need to select that you want to see that
version from the DVD’s bonus menu. The DVD instead defaults to a new version of the scene where the shaking film image has
been stabilized. Also, the smoke effects laid in over the action are slightly different from the original.
This was the first time the Restoration Team made an alternate effects shot like this available in the DVD, and after this they changed
policy so that the original version of the scene is always the default version and the new one must be selected from the menu.
The Trial of a Time Lord
A mistake was made in the sound restoration of the opening episode. On the opening shot of the Time Lords’ space station,
as the camera panned over to the doorway that shoots out the tractor beam that grabs the TARDIS, originally a humming
sound effect was heard to imply that doorway opening. That humming sound is now absent on the DVD.
Remembrance of the Daleks
In the scenes set in Harry’s Café, some original Beatles music was to be heard on occasion being played on the café’s jukebox.
One of the current co-owners of the rights to the original Beatles recordings would not permit them to be used at any price, and
so it had to be replaced with other music tracks in the scenes in question. The original 1993 VHS release was not affected by
this, as the co-ownership agreement of the Beatles catalog which is the problem took force in 1995.
8. Are the Doctor Who DVDs remastered for DVD, or did they just stick the old VHS masters on discs?
All of the Doctor
Who DVDs that were first released in the
by the BBC Restoration Team. Full details of their work can be found at http://www.restoration-team.co.uk/
The six DVDs comprising The Key to Time – The Complete Adventure box set received a much lighter restoration treatment,
but the source material here didn’t need much work to start with. The only obvious “flaw” is you can hear a bit of tape hiss in the \
sound if you’re listening for it.
9. I saw some "Dr. Who" DVDs on the shelf that star Peter Cushing and Daleks... what are these?
The Daleks became so popular in the mid-1960s that a British film producer named Milton Subotsky acquired the license to make
three films based on Terry Nation's Dalek stories for the TV series. Two of these were produced and released to theaters and
are currently available on DVD
in
The first film was released in 1965 and is in DVD
release in
DV11577. It is color (technicolor even), 80 minutes, closed captioned, 2:35:1 aspect ratio, and usually retails for $19.98 or less.
The second film was released in 1966 and is in video
release in
number DV11578. It is also color, 80 minutes, 2:35:1 aspect ratio, closed captioned, and $19.98 or less.
The films are also available in a box set, where they come with a third DVD called “Dalekmania”, a 1-hour documentary about
the two films made in 1995. The catalog number for the whole box set is DV11958.
These films star Peter Cushing as "Dr. Who". "Who" is his actual last name, and here the character is an ordinary human
scientist who has invented a TARDIS in his backyard. The first film's plot is a condensed version of the first Dalek television story,
The Daleks, and the second film's plot is a condensed version of the second Dalek television story, The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
Both of those original television stories are available on DVD from BBC Worldwide Americas and Warner Home Video.
10. My favorite story hasn't been released yet! Would writing to Warner help to get it released soon?
BBC Worldwide Americas currently decide what to release
based on what's recently been released in the
of
they have a list to choose
from. When the North American releases
are close behind the
choice and just release them as
they come from the
When there is a queue, the rules of thumb to what we’d likely get first is if it had Tom Baker as the Doctor, if it had Daleks in it,
or if it’s a box set of multiple stories.
Warner makes none of the release decisions themselves. They only distribute. Your better option is to write BBC Video in the
11. What are Warner's and BBC Video's mailing addresses?
Warner's is:
Warner Home Video
If you want to address the horse's mouth at BBC Video in
the
BBC Video (Doctor Who)
BBC Woodlands
80,
BBC Worldwide America’s address is:
BBC Worldwide Americas Inc.
747
12. Why hasn't the 1996 Fox TV Movie with Paul
McGann come out on DVD yet? It's been out since 2001 in the
This is a special case. Under the co-production deal between the Fox TV Network, Universal, and BBC Worldwide, the North
American video release rights now seem to rest with Universal, and they have shown no interest in either releasing it themselves
or in licensing it back to BBC
Worldwide. The only hope for this ever
to be released in
new TV series becomes a hit in
the
success. So far, the new series’ success at the SciFi Channel does not seem to have been of a high enough magnitude to interest
them.
13. I'm sick of waiting for (insert title here) to
come out in the
country). I want to order it from an overseas vendor. Are there any special problems I should expect if I do this?
There are two obstacles you first need to overcome
before you can play a UK-made DVD in
First, you must somehow defeat “region coding.” Region coding is an instruction written into most DVDs that the players all look
for to see if it can play the disc. This is not a legal restriction but rather a voluntary restriction that was settled on by the international
DVD standards consortium.
Region 1 DVD player, the player will refuse to play it. (This all has to do with what company has what right to publish what
show or movie in what territory.) It is possible, especially if you look on-line, to buy DVD players that are either
region-free, or can be programmed to become region-free and thus enable you to play the disc.
The second problem is the difference between the
television technical standards in the two regions. The
“standard-definition” uses a PAL color standard with 625 lines and 50 fields per second. North American’s traditional
“standard-definition” TVs used the NTSC color standard, with 525 lines and 60 fields per second. The practical upshot of this
is that the two TV systems are incompatible. Even if you defeat the region coding, the DVD player will be outputting a PAL TV
signal that your NTSC TV won’t be able to understand. This problem is solvable too, however. You could buy yourself a
PAL TV set to watch your PAL DVD on, but this can be
very expensive, and might become harder to do as the
switches from PAL to high-definition.
Another option is to hack (er, program) the DVD player on your computer to be able to play Region 2 DVDs and watch
them on your computer. Computers and their monitors already have a lot more resolution than either NTSC or PAL and
can easily cope with either image system. The downside here is that computer monitors don’t use interlaced frames, whereas
standard television does. This means that motion from a videotape source will look jerky when played on a monitor, and as
most Doctor Who was predominantly shot on videotape, you’ll lose the smooth motion effect of video. (Interlaced frames
work like this: a TV updates only half its image every 1/60th of a second by lighting up only the even-numbered lines of pixels
in its screen in that 60th of a second. In the next 60th, it goes back up the screen and lights up all the odd-numbered lines of pixels,
then in the next it does all the even-numbered ones again, etc. The result of this is terrific “temporal” resolution, and a live, smooth
look much like real life. Computer monitors display rather like film images, where the entire image is updated at once, and like
film projections, motion tends to look a lot more jerky. It’s the difference between watching a football game live (video) or watching
it on an NFL Films highlight show (film). ) Some of those television DVD players that can be made multi-region can also be
programmed to convert the PAL signal into an NTSC one that your TV can cope with. The downside of that is you’ll lose the
extra resolution a PAL image would bring, and you’ll get some conversion artifacts in the images (little bits in the picture that
shouldn’t be there). Also, most of these in-built PAL-to-NTSC converters leave out a lot of the interlaced video fields in the
conversion process, and so the videotape look of most Doctor Who will be lost. This loss-of-fields on computer monitors
and through converting DVD players especially affects the new VidFIRE video restoration tool being used on black and white
stories...you won’t see any effect at all in either instance. However, a Region 1 NTSC disc played on a normal player and
TV set will look as it should.
Also, there is another reason to hold back and continue to buy North American DVDs, even if they do come out later than the
UK ones… it seems that frequently a mistake or two gets made in the authoring process of the UK DVDs, which then subsequently
gets fixed in time for the
North American release. For example, the
on-screen production notes subtitles on the
Vengeance on Varos DVD malfunction halfway through and become unavailable. That should be fixed for the North American release.
There were also some special effects shots that went
missing in the original
were reinstated for the Region 1 release. The latest one was an authoring fault in The Invisible Enemy which caused the
DVD to skip a chapter during playback. They’ve since done a recall of that disc, but the North American edition never had
this problem at all as it was
spotted in the
Also, the waiting time between
only a few months behind the
14. I live in the
Actually, it might. I hear that both DVD players
and television sets in the
counterparts in
standards (NTSC vs PAL) problem.
15. I am hearing impaired, or I want to get DVDs for
someone who is. Are the videos closed captioned? Do they have subtitles?
All but the first 5 BBC classic series Doctor Who DVDs to be released in
program available in the DVD options. Those first 5 DVDs did have closed captions for the hearing impaired encoded into
them, however. Those DVDs were Spearhead from Space, The Robots of Death, The Five Doctors Special Edition,
The Caves of Androzani, and Remembrance of the Daleks. That original release of The Five Doctors Special Edition
has since been withdrawn and replaced with The Five Doctors 25th Anniversary Edition which has subtitles instead.
These subtitles and closed captions do not, unfortunately, cover the extra commentary tracks by the actors and production staff.
16. What DVDs are available, how much are they, and what extra features do they all contain?
There are now (or just about to be) 72 DVD releases of the Doctor Who TV series available, and also the two Peter Cushing Dalek movies,
and now also some of the spinoff series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and the animated adventure The Infinite Quest.
Suggested retail prices are given in US dollars.
A quick summary of the TV titles is below, listed in the chronological order of the TV series.
Clicking on a
title will give a description of the story, and of all the DVD features.
|
Catalog # |
Story No. |
Title |
#
of Eps.
(25 minutes long each) |
#
of Discs |
b/w
or color |
sound |
Price |
|
|
|
starring WILLIAM HARTNELL |
|
|
|
|
|
|
E2489 |
1-3 |
14 |
3 |
b/w |
mono |
37.92 |
|
|
E1719 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
b/w |
mono |
9.98 |
|
|
E1813 |
10 |
6 |
2 |
b/w |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
3000021803 |
11,12 |
6 |
2 |
b/w |
mono |
34.98 |
|
|
E2666 |
13 |
6 |
1 |
b/w |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
1000029559 |
17 |
4 |
1 |
b/w |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
1000043356 |
27 |
4 |
1 |
b/w |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E2081 |
14,21, 24 |
6 + 2 audio |
1 |
b/w |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
|
|
starring PATRICK TROUGHTON |
|
|
|
|
|
|
E2082 |
32,33, 35,36, 38,40, 41,43, 49 |
12 + 2 audio |
2 |
b/w |
mono |
29.98 |
|
|
E2083 |
14,21, 24,32, 33,35, 36,40, 41,43, 49 |
Lost in Time – all 3 discs in one box set |
18 + 4 audio |
3 |
b/w |
mono |
44.98 |
|
E1181 |
37 |
4 |
1 |
b/w |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E2316 |
45 |
5 |
1 |
b/w |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
E2856 |
46 |
8 |
2 |
b/w |
mono |
34.98 |
|
|
E1924 |
48 |
6 |
2 |
b/w |
mono |
29.98 |
|
|
|
|
starring JON PERTWEE |
|
|
|
|
|
|
E1163 |
51 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
1000037805 |
52 |
7 |
2 |
Color |
mono |
34.98 |
|
|
E2667 |
54 |
7 |
2 |
Color |
mono |
29.98 |
|
|
E2398 |
57 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
1000037740 |
62 |
6 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E1925 |
65 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
E1758 |
66 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E2156 |
69 |
6 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
1000035800 |
70 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
|
|
starring TOM BAKER |
|
|
|
|
|
|
E4112 |
75 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E1162 |
76 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E2859 |
77 |
2 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E2503 |
78 |
6 |
2 |
Color |
mono |
29.98 |
|
|
1000036283 |
81 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E2023 |
82 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
1000039823 |
84 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E2731 |
87 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
E1120 |
90 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
E1814 |
91 |
6 |
2 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E2317 |
92 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
1000040097 |
93 |
4
+ 50 min special |
2 |
Color |
mono |
34.98 |
|
|
1000039686 |
97 |
6 |
2 |
Color |
mono |
34.98 |
|
|
1000036458 |
98 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
1000036459 |
99 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
1000036550 |
100 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
1000036223 |
101 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
1000036457 |
102 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
1000036480 |
103 |
6 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
34.98 |
|
|
1000088287 |
98-103 |
26 |
7 |
Color |
mono |
99.98 |
|
|
E1336 |
98 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E1338 |
99 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E1314 |
100 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E1310 |
101 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E1337 |
102 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E1340 |
103 |
6 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
E1692 |
98-103 |
26 |
6 |
Color |
mono |
99.98 |
|
|
1000036282 |
104 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E2399 |
105 |
4 |
2 |
Color |
mono |
29.98 |
|
|
E2217 |
110 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono
& Dolby 5.1 |
19.98 |
|
|
1000094920 |
112-114 |
The E-Space
Trilogy (Box Set containing |
12 |
3 |
Color |
mono |
49.98 |
|
E4010 |
115 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E4011 |
116 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E4013 |
115-117 |
(Box
Set of Nos. 115-117. Tom Baker’s in 115-116, Peter Davison in 117) |
12 |
3 |
Color |
mono |
49.98 |
|
|
|
starring PETER DAVISON |
|
|
|
|
|
|
E4012 |
117 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
1000043537 |
118 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E2157 |
120 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
1000038779 |
121 |
2 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E2022 |
122 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
E4191 |
123 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
E4190 |
124 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
1000038866 |
130 |
90
minutes & 100 minutes |
2 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
34.98 |
|
|
E1596 |
130 |
The Five Doctors Special
Edition THIS WAS THE 2001 DVD RELEASE, ONLY
SELLING WHILE STOCKS LAST - BEING REPLACED WITH 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION |
100 minutes |
1 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
14.98 |
|
1000037649 |
131 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E1759 |
134 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
14.98 |
|
|
E1183 |
136 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
|
|
starring COLIN BAKER |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3000021802 |
138 |
2 45-min. eps. |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E1718 |
139 |
2 45-min. eps. |
1 |
Color |
mono |
14.98 |
|
|
E2732 |
140 |
2 45-min. eps. |
1 |
Color |
mono |
19.98 |
|
|
E1994 |
141 |
3 45-min. eps. |
2 |
Color |
mono |
29.98 |
|
|
1000035899 |
142 |
2 45-min. eps. |
1 |
Color |
mono |
24.98 |
|
|
E2504 |
143 |
2 45-min. eps. |
1 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
19.98 |
|
|
1000039713 |
144-147 |
14 25-min. eps. |
4 |
Color |
mono |
59.98 |
|
|
|
|
starring SYLVESTER McCOY |
|
|
|
|
|
|
E1608 |
152 |
4 |
1 |
Color |
stereo |
14.98 |
|
|
1000093206 |
156 |
4 & |
2 |
Color |
stereo
& Dolby 5.1 |
34.98 |
|
|
E2218 |
157 |
3 |
1 |
Color |
stereo
& Dolby 5.1 |
19.98 |
|
|
E1993 |
158 |
4
& |
2 |
Color |
stereo
& Dolby 5.1 |
29.98 |
|
|
E2915 |
159 |
3 |
2 |
Color |
Stereo
& Dolby 5.1 |
34.98 |
|
|
|
|
starring PAUL McGANN |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
None to date |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
starring CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON |
Episodes from here on are 45 minutes or
longer |
|
|
|
|
|
E2501 |
161-170 |
13 |
5 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
99.98 |
|
|
E2733 |
161-163 |
(Rose, The End of the World, The Unquiet Dead) (no extras) |
3. |
1 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
19.98 |
|
E2734 |
164-165 |
(Aliens of London/World War Three, Dalek) (no extras) |
3 |
1 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
19.98 |
|
E2735 |
166-168 |
Series One: Volume Three (The Long Game, Father’s Day, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances) (no extras) |
4 |
1 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
19.98 |
|
E2736 |
169-170 |
Series One: Volume Four (Boom Town, Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways) (no extras) |
3 |
1 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
19.98 |
|
|
|
starring DAVID TENNANT |
|
|
|
|
|
|
E2786 |
171-181 |
14 |
6 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
99.98 |
|
|
E4202 |
182-191 |
14 |
6 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
99.98 |
|
|
3000018377 |
192-202 |
14 |
6 |
Color |
Dolby 5.1 |
99.98 |
THE THEATRICAL
MOVIES
Doctor Who
and the Daleks starring Peter Cushing as Dr. Who Suggested retail
price of $14.98
- Widescreen presentation 2.35:1, enhanced for 16x9 TVs
- commentary by actors Jennie
Linden (Barbara) and Roberta Tovey (Susan) moderated by journalist Jonathan
Sothcott
- theatrical trailer
- poster and photo gallery
- photo essay : a History of
Doctor Who
- Peter Cushing bio
- This is the complete theatrical release with no edits
or changes.
Daleks
– Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. starring Peter Cushing as Dr.
Who Suggested retail price of $14.98
- Widescreen presentation 2.35:1, enhanced for 16x9 TVs
- theatrical trailer
- poster and photo gallery
- Peter Cushing bio
- optional French language
soundtrack
- The entire theatrical release is here, but with one change. The first scene with Tom Campbell trying to catch the jewel thieves and
stumbling into the TARDIS was originally a pre-credits sequence, but in this print, it’s been pushed to behind the credits. No
footage is missing, it’s just rearranged.
The Dr. Who Collection
Suggested retail price of $39.98
- This is a box set of both of the Peter Cushing movies, plus a third disc that contains a 60-minute documentary about the making
of the films called Dalekmania.
THE SPINOFF
SERIES
Torchwood
– The Complete First Season
Suggested retail price of $79.98.
For complete
details, click here.
Torchwood
– The Complete Second Season
Suggested retail price of $79.98.
For complete
details, click here.
K9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend
This is sold with
the Doctor Who story The
Invisible Enemy. Suggested retail price of $34.98.
The Sarah Jane
Adventures – The Complete First Season Suggested retail price of $49.98.
For complete
details, click the name.
Doctor Who
– The Infinite Quest animated episode starring David Tennant and Freema Agyeman.
Suggested
retail price of $9.98. Catalog no. 3000018108. Click the title for details.
17. Why are the pictures on the
back of the Inferno all in
black-and-white? I thought this story
was in color.
It is in color, just like the caption on the box says. The pictures on the back of all the Doctor Who DVDs come from photographic
stills that were taken during production. The only existing photo stills for Inferno were all taken with black-and-white cameras,
apart from some rehearsal shots, but though those are in color, they can’t be used as the cast are not in full costume.
(You see some of these in the photo gallery on Disc 2.) Why were they all black-and-white photos when the show was made in color?
This is probably because this was the first year of full color for BBC1 and for Doctor Who and there was still a transition of equipment
taking place. Why didn’t they use screen grabs from the color episodes? The production deadlines that BBC Worldwide Americas
must meet for Warner’s manufacturing schedule regarding the packaging came earlier than when the finished DVD assets were made
available
to them from the
similar thing happened on the VHS release of this story, only in that instance, the caption on the back of the box actually read
“black and white” as well, when it should have said color.
18. Are there any episodes that will never be released?
There are still 108 episodes missing from the BBC Archives. The missing episodes are scattered across the first six seasons,
with William Hartnell's last and Patrick Troughton's first two being the hardest hit.
The soundtracks to all of the
missing episodes still exist, however, and these have been released on official
BBC
CDs with narration from cast members to explain visual action not apparent from
the dialog.
All of the missing episodes have now been released in the CD format. If you’re interested in picking these up, I can suggest you
shop online at either www.whona.com or at www.alienentertainment.com They usually have these titles in stock.
All of
these releases are now also available for download from iTunes.
The surviving episodes from stories
with half or less of their episodes still remaining have been released on DVD
in
on
There has been a new development in the missing episodes saga. The Patrick Troughton story The Invasion, which is missing 2
of its 8 episodes has been DVD-released with the two missing episodes replaced with Flash animation by Cosgrove Hall, done in
black and white, matching the original camera shots that were scripted, and mated to the still-existing original soundtracks.
It is conceivable that the rest of the missing episodes could eventually see release in a similar fashion, however this has been
suspended for now for lack of funding.
Here's a complete list of what we'll likely never see in its original form though:
starring
WILLIAM HARTNELL
4. Marco Polo (7 episodes, all missing)
8. The Reign of Terror (6 episodes, missing episodes 4 and 5 - could be
released with narration i.e. The Crusade VHS)
14. The Crusade (4 episodes, missing episodes 2 and 4; 1 and 3 are on
the Lost in Time DVD set)
18. Galaxy 4 (4 episodes, all missing)
19.
20. The Myth Makers (4 episodes, all missing)
21. The Daleks' Master Plan (12 episodes, all missing bar 2, 5 &
10. Those are on the Lost in Time DVD set)
22. The Massacre (of St. Bartholomew's Eve) (4 episodes, all missing)
24. The Celestial Toymaker (4 episodes, all missing bar
4. 4 in release on the Lost in Time
DVD set.)
26. The Savages (4 episodes, all missing)
28. The Smugglers (4 episodes, all missing)
29. The Tenth Planet (4 episodes, number 4 is missing. In VHS release in
starring
PATRICK TROUGHTON
30. The Power of the Daleks (6 episodes, all missing)
31. The Highlanders (4 episodes, all missing)
32. The Underwater Menace (4 episodes, all missing bar 3. 3 in release
on the Lost in Time DVD set.)
33. The Moonbase (4 episodes, numbers 1 and 3 are missing. 2 &
4 are in DVD release on the Lost in
Time DVD set.)
34. The Macra Terror (4 episodes, all missing)
35. The Faceless Ones (6 episodes, all missing bar 1
and 3. Those are on the DVD Lost in Time set.)
36. The Evil of the Daleks (7 episodes, all missing bar 2. 2 in
release on the DVD Lost in Time set.)
38. The Abominable Snowmen (6 episodes, all missing bar 2. 2 in
release on the Lost in Time DVD set.)
39. The Ice Warriors (6 episodes, numbers 2 and 3 are missing.
Others in VHS release w/soundtracks to 2 & 3 - see catalog)
40. The Enemy of the World (6 episodes, all missing bar 3. 3 in
release on the Lost in Time DVD set.)
41. The Web of Fear (6 episodes, all missing bar 1. 1 in release on the Lost in Time DVD set.)
42. Fury From the Deep (6 episodes, all
missing)
43. The Wheel in Space (6 episodes, all missing bar 3 and 6. 3 & 6
in release on the Lost in Time DVD
set.)
46. The Invasion (8 episodes, numbers 1 and 4 are missing. Others
in VHS release - see catalog)
49. The Space Pirates (6 episodes, all missing bar 2. 2 in release
on the Lost in Time DVD set.)
Additionally, there are 13 episodes
starring JON PERTWEE that were originally shot in color that only exist
presently
in black and white. These are:
53. The Ambassadors of Death (7 episodes, 1 and 5 completely color, 4
b&w, others a mix of restored color and b&w )
56. The Mind of Evil (6
episodes, all b&w - in release in b&w)
68. Planet of the Daleks (6 episodes, number 3 is
b&w - in release with episode 3 in b&w)
71. Invasion of the Dinosaurs (6 episodes, number 1 is b&w)
There is always the possibility
that some or all of these could be restored to color with future technology,
but at
present the process for a complete restoration from scratch as would be
required with these 13 is not cost-effective
for BBC Video.
Also, I suspect that due to the
"flop" status of the 1996 TV Movie in Universal's eyes, together with
the complicated
rights issues that exist between Universal, Fox, and BBC Worldwide make a DVD release of this
in
unlikely.
The
This is probably also not going to
see the light of day in
19. How long is it going to take before we can get the whole series on DVD?
If the BBC maintains its current pace of release,
everything that still exists of the classic series should be available in the
by the end of 2013 (just in
time for the series’ 50th anniversary), with
If missing episodes turn up or get the animation treatment, that could extend the time. And of course we all hope that
the new series is still making episodes indefinitely, so we’d rather not ever have a “complete” set. J
20. How do you know all this? (about this site)
I own a complete collection of the entire video catalog, and have been watching the series avidly and repeatedly since 1982.
I may in fact have seen every still-existing episode of the TV series more times than anyone else on the North American
continent, and I've got lots of trivia contest victories under my belt to back it up. For crying out loud, I even went
and bought a Doctor Who pinball machine! J
This video FAQ started life as a simple listing of all the videos that were in release at the time I first found the Usenet
newsgroup rec.arts.drwho, sometime circa 1991/92. For years it was posted regularly to that newsgroup in plain
text format, and when the world wide web started a friend named Bill Thompson put up a web version of that text FAQ
on his website. After a
little while I put up a web page of my own, this one, and the FAQ has continued
to evolve and be
updated here ever since.
Doctor Who is the copyright
of the BBC, BBC Worldwide, BBC Video, and is released on home video in
It was previously released
on home video by CBS/Fox. No infringement upon this copyright is intended in
any way by this site.
This site is a purely
volunteer effort to inform consumers as to where they can find Doctor Who
videos, and it details what is on each video.
All images used by this
site are also the copyright of the BBC and/or CBS/Fox Video and/or Warner Home
Video and are taken from Steve Hill's Doctor Who
Image Archive at http://www.shillpages.com/dw/dwia.htm,
so sue him first. J
I hope this all helps!
Steve Manfred
email address: smanfred
at comcast.net (remove the spaces and substitute an @ to
email me)