The Frequently Asked Questions Lists for

Doctor Who  Home Videos and DVDs and

Blu-Ray Discs in the United States and

Canada

LATEST NEWS

Last updated May 16, 2012.   Recently updated sections are in red.

Compiled by Steve Manfred,  smanfred at comcast.net  

(change at to @ and remove the spaces to email me)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE MAIN DVD FAQ LIST.  or

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE VHS HOME VIDEO FAQ LIST.

 

A PAIR OF ACES AND EDEN IN MAY

 

BBC Worldwide Americas have three new DVD releases coming out on May 8.

 

They are:

 

Doctor Who: Nightmare of Eden starring Tom Baker

            (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

Doctor Who: Dragonfire starring Sylvester McCoy

            (3 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)  and

 

Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol starring Sylvester McCoy

            (3 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

Nightmare of Eden was the fourth story of the series' seventeenth season in 1979.

The Doctor, Romana, and K9 investigate a distress call from two spaceships that have

become fused together in a hyperspace collision, a collision caused by a co-pilot under

the influence of the most addictive drug in the galaxy.

 

Dragonfire was the last story of the series' 24th season in 1987.  A shopping center called

Iceworld on the frozen planet Svartos conceals the activities of a galactic criminal

desperate to get his hands on a treasure hidden in the planet's tunnels and guarded by a

fire-breathing dragon.  Of course, the Doctor just has to look for the treasure himself...

This story sees the departure of Bonnie Langford as Melanie, the arrival of Sophie Aldred

as Ace, and a return guest appearance of Tony Selby as Glitz.

 

The Happiness Patrol was the second story of the series' 25th season in 1988. 

The Doctor and Ace visit a future Earth colony planet called Terra Alpha where the

inhabitants are required to be happy at all times.  Failure to be happy invites an audition

at the Forum, a visit to the deadly Kandy Kitchen and it's Kandy Man, or a firing squad

formed from the Happiness Patrol itself. 

 

The two Seventh Doctor and Ace stories are coming out in the UK together in the

"Ace Adventures" box set but are being released separately in North America.

 

Full details of these can be found below.

 

UPCOMING RELEASE CALENDAR

 

June 12, 2012

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Fifth Season

   (6 30-minute episodes comprising 3 stories, 1 DVD disc, $19.98)

 

Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death Special Edition starring Patrick Troughton

   (6 25-minute episodes, 2 DVD discs, $34.98)   and

 

Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks Special Edition starring Peter Davison

   (2 50-minute episodes, 2 DVD discs, $34.98)

 

SJA: The Complete Fifth Season  is the final three 2-part stories of The Sarah Jane

Adventures which aired on the BBC in the autumn of last year.  They had been shot in

2010 before Elisabeth Sladen's tragic death, intended to form the first half of a full

season of 6 stories.  With Luke away at college, Sarah takes a young girl under her wing

called Sky, while Clyde learns about the homeless the hard way when he falls under a

strange curse, and the world's most popular mobile computer and it's genius creator

may have something alien behind them...

 

The Seeds of Death Special Edition is a re-release of the fifth story of the series'

sixth season in 1969.  It came out in the UK as part of the Revisitations 2 box set.

Earth in the future is entirely dependent on a global instantaneous transportation

system called T-Mat, which leaves it very vulnerable when the Ice Warriors attack

its Moonbase control point for an attack on Earth.

 

Resurrection of the Daleks Special Edition is a re-release of the fourth story of the

series' twenty-first season in 1984.  It came out in the UK as part of the Revisitations 2

box set.  A desperate squad of Daleks lashes out by capturing the TARDIS in a time

corridor, by plotting an invasion of Earth using cloned duplicates, and attacking a human

space station to rescue their imprisoned creator, Davros.

 

July 14, 2012

Doctor Who: The Krotons starring Patrick Troughton

  (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)    and

 

Doctor Who: Death to the Daleks starring Jon Pertwee

  (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

The Krotons is the fourth story of the series' sixth season, from 1969.

The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe arrive in a poisoned wasteland nearby to the City of the

Gonds, a culture wrapped up in a self-perpetuating slavery to their supposed

benefactors, the crystalline Krotons.  It is the Day of Selection, when the brightest

Gond students are made Companions of the Krotons, and never seen again...

With this release, every Second Doctor story that is still complete in the BBC

archives will have been released on DVD, and every still-existing episode from

the sixth season will have been as well.

 

Death to the Daleks is the third story of the series' eleventh season in 1974.

En route to a paradise planet, the TARDIS is instead dragged off course to a

desolate world and drained of all power.  The Doctor and Sarah meet a space

expedition from Earth marooned in similar circumstances, and all find themselves

being forced to become allies with the latest arrivals - a ship full of similarly

affected Daleks.    With this release, all of the stories from the eleventh season

will have been released on DVD.  Also, this will "complete the set" of Dalek

stories in the classic series.  All will be available on DVD as of this one.

 

August 14, 2012

Doctor Who: Spearhead from Space Special Edition starring Jon Pertwee

  (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)  and

 

Doctor Who: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy starring Sylvester McCoy

  (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

Spearhead from Space was a lot of firsts.  It was the first story for the Third Doctor

and Liz Shaw, the first appearance of the Nestene-Autons, the first story shot in color

and entirely on location, and the first story of the 1970 season, the series' seventh.

The Doctor's exile to Earth begins with his landing amidst a meteorite shower.

UNIT tries to investigate the meteorites, but finds they've mostly been mysteriously

collected and taken somewhere. A nearby plastics company has them, and designs

to build a conquering army of plastic mannequins from the energy found inside each.

 

With this release, North America will be completely caught up to the UK with their

recent Revistation/Special Edition re-release titles, though more are now said to be

in the works.  See below for more.

 

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy was the last story of the series' 25th anniversary

season in 1988-89.  An advertising satellite lures the Doctor and Ace to the Psychic

Circus on the planet Segonax with the promise of a talent contest.  The small number

of fellow contestants learn to their cost that circuses, and in particular their clowns,

are sinister and creepy... and when the acts fail to entertain, deadly.

 

With this release, all of the Seventh Doctor's stories will have been released on DVD.

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions: Why are we getting these re-released Special

Editions? What are the Revisitations?  Are they delaying the release of "fresh" titles?

 

Answers: 

Over the last two years there has been an ongoing series in the UK where many of the

titles that were released very early on in the DVD range have been seeing re-releases

in 3-story box sets called Revisitations.  These re-releases include restoration that has

been redone from scratch (using techniques available now that weren’t 10 years ago when

they first came out) and including the sorts of making-of featurettes that have become

standard in the rest of the range but which weren’t in common use at the start of it. 

 

Three of these sets have come out in the UK.  Similar treatment was also given to

Jon Pertwee’s debut story Spearhead from Space and released as part of a 2-story “Auton

box set alongside new-to-DVD story Terror of the Autons.  (North America has so far

only got Terror of the Autons all by itself).  A special edition of Vengeance on Varos is

also now promised for sometime in the future, probably near the end of the year. 

It was indicated by Steve Roberts of the Restoration Team, speaking at the Gallifrey One

convention in Los Angeles, that there may be still more stories revisited in the future,

but probably much less often, and one-at-a-time (not in box sets anymore).

 

These re-releases had been slow to come out in North America as we were behind the UK

in getting "fresh" titles out.  They worked in the first half of 2011 to get the new-to-DVD

titles caught up and in sync with those coming out in the UK.  This left no room in the release

schedules for re-releases of older titles.  As of June 2011, however, the last of the “catch-up”

titles was released, and the schedule opened up a bit.  Consequently, the first of the

Revisitations re-releases came out in North America in October 2011, and the second in

February 2012.  Three more have been released in March 2012, another is now out in

April, and the last two of the Revisitations 2 set are set for June.  That will leave only

Spearhead from Space from the backlog and, eventually, Vengeance on Varos, which isn't

out in the UK yet.

 

The name Revisitations is not being used in North America, and they will not be available in

box sets.  Instead they will come out as individual titles with the moniker “Special Edition”

attached to them. 

 

These re-releases are not delaying the release of "fresh" titles.  Anytime a fresh title

comes out in the UK, North America schedules it for the first available slot they can.

Indeed, in March, they were originally told that there would be no fresh titles available,

so they scheduled all three of the Revisitations 3 titles for March, and then were later told

that the fresh The Face of Evil would be available after all, and so they added that and had

four titles come out in March.

 

As they prepare to release a Special Edition, they are stopping “reprints” of the original

editions of those titles, which is why some of those older titles are now becoming very hard

to order as supplies run out. 

 

The Future

 

The following stories have been listed in Doctor Who Magazine as being on the docket for

release in 2012.  The order they will be released in has now been partly revealed...

 

Death to the Daleks starring Jon Pertwee (4 episodes, UK release in June, North

            American release on July 10.)

The Krotons starring Patrick Troughton (4 episodes, UK release July 9, North

            American release on July 10.)

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy starring Sylvester McCoy (4 episodes,

            UK release July 30, North American release on August 14.)

Planet of Giants starring William Hartnell (3 episodes, UK release Aug. 20.

            North American release therefore probably Sept. 11 (not official yet))

Vengeance on Varos Special Edition starring Colin Baker (2 45-minute episodes,

            UK release Sept. 10. North American release therefore probably Sept. 11

            (but not official yet))

 

It is also known that these next two titles will be out in 2012, but their order isn't known

yet:

 

The Reign of Terror starring William Hartnell (4 surviving episodes – 2 still missing –

            The missing episodes are being animated to the original soundtracks like as

            happened with the two missing episodes of The Invasion)

Shada starring Tom Baker (6 unfinished episodes)

 

After the titles listed above have come out, there will be very few complete stories

left to release.   Those remaining titles are:

 

The Ambassadors of Death starring Jon Pertwee (7 episodes)

            It's known that work has been done on this fairly recently, and it could

            conceivably be advanced to a 2012 release.

The Mind of Evil starring Jon Pertwee (6 episodes)

            This and Ambassadors have wound up near the back of the queue because they

            both need extensive color restoration, which takes extra time.

Terror of the Zygons starring Tom Baker (4 episodes)

            Steve Roberts of the Restoration Team has said that he believes this will be

            saved to be the very last classic series title to be released.

 

There are also some stories that have missing episodes, but which have more than half

of their episodes intact, and thus are candidates to be completed with animated episodes.

It is known that at least one of these is being worked on in at least a preliminary manner,

right now.  (which one, they haven't said)     These stories are:

 

The Tenth Planet starring William Hartnell (4 episodes, episode #4 is missing) and

The Ice Warriors starring Patrick Troughton (6 episodes, episodes 2 and 3 are missing)

 

All the other stories with missing episodes have what's left of them already in release

in the Lost in Time DVD sets,  and are thus unlikely animation candidates, unless the

costs of doing animations somehow plummet. 

 

There is, however, the special case of The Underwater Menace starring Patrick Troughton,

a 4-episode story that used to have only one episode in existence.  In December 2011,

it was revealed that episode no. 2 had just been recovered as well, meaning that half of

that story now exists, and episode 2 isn't already on Lost in Time.  Could this now be

an animation candidate as well?  

At the same time, the third episode of Galaxy 4 starring William Hartnell (a 4-episode

story) was also recovered, but as that's only 25% of that one back, it doesn't seem a

likely animation candidate.  And yet, 2entertain have said they want to see both of these

recovered episodes released on DVD in 2013.

Many ideas are being mooted for how to release these, including a Special Edition of

Lost in Time that could also include more commentaries than the original had. 

When plans are settled on and announced, I will pass along the news here.

 

Plans to continue the Special Edition (Revisitation) program of re-releases have

recently been revealed, and will be continuing even beyond the natural end of the DVD

range once all the complete stories have been released.  The first title to be looked at

will likely be the Jon Pertwee story Inferno, where it was felt that the picture restoration

could be improved over what was originally released.  Don't look for this until 2013 though.

 

 

OTHER RECENT RELEASES

 

April 10, 2012

 

Doctor Who: The Dæmons starring Jon Pertwee

            (5 25-minute episodes, 2 discs, $34.98)   and

 

Doctor Who: Carnival of Monsters Special Edition starring Jon Pertwee

            (4 25-minute episodes, 2 discs, $34.98)

 

April 3, 2012

 

Torchwood: Miracle Day starring John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Mekhi Phifer,

            Bill Pullman, Alexa Havins, and Kai Owen.

            (10 55-minute episodes, 4 discs: either a DVD set for $49.98 or Blu-Ray for $59.98)

 

March 13, 2012

 

Doctor Who: The Face of Evil starring Tom Baker

            (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen Special Edition starring Patrick Troughton

            (4 25-minute episodes, 2 DVD discs, $34.98) ,

 

Doctor Who: The Three Doctors Special Edition starring Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton,

            and William Hartnell (4 25-minute episodes, 2 DVD discs, $34.98) and

 

Doctor Who: The Robots of Death Special Edition starring Tom Baker

            (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

 

February 14, 2012

 

Doctor Who: The Sensorites starring William Hartnell (6 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc,

            $24.98) 

 

Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani Special Edition starring Peter Davison

            (4 25-minute episodes, 2 DVD discs, $34.98)  and

 

Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe starring Matt Smith

            (1 60-minute episode, 1 DVD disc for $14.98 or 1 Blu-Ray disc for $19.98)

 

January 10, 2012

 

Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs starring Jon Pertwee (6 25-minute episodes,

            2 DVD discs, $34.98) and

 

Doctor Who: The Android Invasion starring Tom Baker (4 25-minute episodes,

            1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

December 6, 2011

 

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Fourth Season starring Elisabeth Sladen

            (12 30-minute episodes, 2 DVD discs for $29.98)

 

November 22, 2011

 

Doctor Who: The Complete Sixth Series starring Matt Smith

            (1 60-minute episode and 13 45-minute episodes

            6 DVD discs for $79.98 or 6 Blu-Ray discs for $89.98)

 

November 8, 2011

 

Doctor Who: The Sixth Series, Part Two starring Matt Smith

            (6 45-minute episodes, 2 DVD discs for $24.98 or 2 Blu-Ray discs for $29.98)

 

Doctor Who: Colony in Space starring Jon Pertwee 

            (6 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

October 11, 2011

 

Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang  Special Edition starring Tom Baker

            (6 25-minute episodes, 3 DVD discs, $34.98)

and

 

Doctor Who: The David Tennant Years Gift Set starring David Tennant

            (26 DVD discs, $199.98)

 

September 13, 2011

 

Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks starring Jon Pertwee

            (4 25-minute episodes and a Special Edition, 2 DVD discs, $34.98)          

 

August 9, 2011

 

Doctor Who: The Sun Makers starring Tom Baker

            (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)         

and

Doctor Who: Paradise Towers starring Sylvester McCoy

            (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

July 19, 2011

Doctor Who: Series Six, Part 1 starring Matt Smith

            (2 DVD discs for $24.98 or 2 Blu-Ray discs for $29.98,

            7 45-minute episodes)

 

July 12, 2011

 

Doctor Who: The Gunfighters starring William Hartnell

            (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

Doctor Who: The Awakening starring Peter Davison

            (2 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $14.98)

 

June 14, 2011

Doctor Who: Frontios starring Peter Davison

            (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

Doctor Who: Time and the Rani starring Sylvester McCoy

            (4 25-minute episodes, 1 DVD disc, $24.98)

 

WARNING: COUNTERFEIT DISCS ON EBAY

I have received multiple recent reports from different readers of a Doctor Who

DVD counterfeiting ring.  These are coming from people who have tried buying new

series DVD sets on eBay and received these inferior products instead.  The counterfeit

packages look like the real ones at first glance, but upon further inspection there are

numerous changes and mistakes.  They are usually also missing the description booklets

that should come with them, and most importantly, the picture quality on the discs is very

inferior to the real ones.  The reports cover discs from all of the new series box sets

released so far, from Chris Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith series.  This link

to a youtube video I was sent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGcbIwaefJ0&feature=related

demonstrates the differences one viewer found in a counterfeit set of Series Three last

autumn.   

 

The counterfeits appear to be originating from southeast Asia.  eBay has been made aware

and at least some of the sellers accounts have been suspended, but there may be others.

 

I recommend not purchasing any used DVDs from online sources unless you know the

seller personally. 

 

If you have been affected by counterfeit BBC DVDs, the BBC would like to hear about it.

Please write them an email about it to this address: antipiracy@bbc.com

 

MAY RELEASES IN DETAIL

Doctor Who: Nightmare of Eden starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Lalla Ward as

            Romana, and David Brierley as the voice of K9.

- All 4 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- Optional commentary track with a rotation of contributors.  They are actors Lalla Ward

     and Peter Craze (Costa), writer Bob Baker, visual effects designer Colin Mapson,

     and make-up designer Joan Stribling.  Moderated by Toby Hadoke.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout the story.

- The Nightmare of Television Centre.  A 13-minute featurette about the fractious making

     of this story, featuring most of the commentary track contributors as well as assistant

     floor manager Val McCrimmon.

- Going Solo.  An 8-minute interview with writer Bob Baker about how he tackled writing

     for the series on his own after 8 years of working in a partnership previously.

- The Doctor's Strange Love.  A 16-minute discussion between young professional writers

     Simon Guerrier (of Big Finish Doctor Who audios), Josie Long (British TV writer), and

     Joe Lidster (from The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood) about what they thought

     of this story.

- Ask Aspel.  An 11-minute interview with Lalla Ward from a British talk show in 1980.

- Photo Gallery.  Plays 6 minutes worth of still photos taken during the production.

- Coming Soon trailer for Dragonfire and The Happiness Patrol.  2 minutes.

- PDF Materials.  Place this disc into a computer and you can have a look at the Radio

  Times billing for this story from 1979.

 

Doctor Who: Dragonfire starring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, Bonnie Langford as

            Melanie, and introducing Sophie Aldred as Ace, and guest starring Tony Selby

            as Glitz.

- All 3 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- Optional commentary track with a rotation of contributors.  They are actors Sophie Aldred

     and Edward Peel (Kane), director Chris Clough, writer Ian Briggs, script editor Andrew

     Cartmel, and incidental music composer Dominic Glynn. Moderated by Mark Ayres.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout the story.

- Fire and Ice.  A 35-minute making-of featurette, featuring interviews with most of the

     commentary contributors, plus Sylvester McCoy.

- Deleted and Extended Scenes.  A 10-minute package of 36 deleted or trimmed scenes

     from throughout the story.

- The Doctor's Strange Love.  A 16-minute discussion between young professional writers

     Simon Guerrier (of Big Finish Doctor Who audios), Josie Long (British TV writer), and

     Joe Lidster (from The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood) about what they thought

     of this story.

- The Big Bang Theory. A 13-minute featurette where Danny Hargreaves, the practical

     effects designer on the new Doctor Who series compares and contrasts his work with

     some of the bigger explosions shown in the classic series. 

- Photo Gallery.  Plays 5 minutes worth of still photos taken during the production.

- Isolated Music Option.  Plays the episodes with only the incidental music track playing.

- Coming Soon trailer for Death to the Daleks. 2 minutes.

- PDF Materials.  Place this disc into a computer and you can have a look at the Radio

  Times billing for this story from 1987.

 

Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol  starring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor and Sophie

            Aldred as Ace.

- All 3 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- Optional commentary track with a rotation of contributors.  They are actors Sophie Aldred,

     director Chris Clough, writer Graeme Curry, script editor Andrew Cartmel, and incidental

     music composer Dominic Glynn. Moderated by Toby Hadoke.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout the story.

- Happiness Will Prevail.  A 24-minute making-of featurette with interviews with most of

     the commentary contributors, plus actor David John Pope (the Kandy Man).

- Deleted and Extended Scenes.  A 23-minute package of 56 deleted or trimmed scenes

     from throughout the story.

- When Worlds Collide.  A 46-minute featurette about how real world politics influences

     the plots of Doctor Who stories, covering every era in both the classic and new series.

     Features script editors Terrance Dicks and Andrew Cartmel, writers Gareth Roberts,

     Bob Baker, and Graeme Curry, and journalist Steve O'Brien.

- Photo Gallery.  Plays 5 minutes worth of still photos taken during the production.

- Isolated Music Option.  Plays the episodes with only the incidental music track playing.

- Coming Soon trailer for Death to the Daleks. 2 minutes.

- PDF Materials.  Place this disc into a computer and you can have a look at the Radio

  Times billing for this story from 1988.

 

 

APRIL RELEASES IN DETAIL

Torchwood: Miracle Day starring John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, Eve Myles

            as Gwen Cooper, Mekhi Phifer as Rex Matheson, Bill Pullman as Oswald Danes,

            Alexa Havins as Esther Drummond, and Kai Owen as Rhys Williams.

A 4-disc release.   On all 4 discs:

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

            impaired.

- DTS HD Sound.

- Original 16:9 video.  (High-definition on the Blu-Ray release (1080i))

- Each episode has an extra 1-minute introduction by John Barrowman and executive

  producer Russell T. Davies

On Disc 1:

- Episode 1: The New World  Episode 2: Rendition  and Episode 3: Dead of Night

- Optional commentary on The New World with executive producers Russell T. Davies

            and Julie Gardner.

- Five "Character Profiles" (2 minutes each), spotlighting Capt. Jack Harkness,

            Gwen Cooper, Rex Matheson, Oswald Danes, and Rhys Williams.

On Disc 2:

- Episode 4: Escape to LA  Episode 5: The Categories of Life  Episode 6: The Middle Men

- FX Special.  A 16-minute Torchwood Declassified featurette spotlighting the visual

            effects throughout the season.

On Disc 3:

- Episode 7: Immortal Sins  Episode 8: End of the Road

- Behind the Scenes  A 30-minute Torchwood Declassified featurette about the making of

            the season, featuring interviews with all the regular cast and all the key production

            personnel. 

On Disc 4:

- Episode 9: The Gathering and Episode 10: The Blood Line

- Optional commentary on The Blood Line by Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner

- Torchwood Motion Comic.  A 28-minute animated featurette starring John Barrowman,

            Eve Myles, and Eliza Dushku.  This is all of the animated sequences from the iPod/

            iPhone/iPad video game Web of Lies that was released in parallel with the original

            broadcasts. 

- Deleted Scenes.  Five scenes cut from the finished shows, totaling 8 minutes, including

            some on-set material before and after each take.

 

Doctor Who: The Dæmons starring Jon Pertwee as Doctor Who, Nicholas Courtney as

  Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Roger Delgado as the Master, Katy Manning as Jo Grant,

  Richard Franklin as Captain Yates, and John Levene as Sergeant Benton.

A 2-disc release.  On Disc 1:

- All 5 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored. This story existed in the

   archives as only black-and-white film prints until 1993 when the color was restored from

   US-sourced tapes recorded off-air and released on VHS then.  The same general

   technique has been applied again but this time with much more rigorous restoration and

   much better technology than was available then, resulting in a night-and-day improvement

   over the VHS version. (And Episode 4 still survived from its original 1971 master.)

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- Optional commentary track that was recorded in 2003 with actors Katy Manning,

   Richard Franklin, and Damaris Hayman (Miss Hawthorne), and director Christopher Barry.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout the story.

On Disc 2:

- The Devil Rides Out. A new 29-minute "making of" featurette with interviews with

   the commentary contributors, plus script editor Terrance Dicks, producer and co-writer

   Barry Letts, and assistant floor manager Sue Hedden.

- Remembering Barry Letts.  A 34-minute featurette about the life and career of the late

   Barry Letts, featuring interviews with his actor sons Crispin and Dominic, Terrance Dicks,

   his predecessor Derrick Sherwin, and former BBC executive Ronald Marsh.

- Location Film.  7 minutes of mute "home movie" footage shot in the village of Aldbourne

   (presumably by a local resident) during the making of this story.

- Colourisation Test.  25 minutes.  An early stab at the recolorisation of Episode 1 is

   presented in full.  (The titles are in black and white because they knew they could

   replace those at any time from their archived masters.)

- Tomorrow's World.  A 5-minute segment from a 1992 BBC program that spotlighted the

   color restoration applied to this story in time for its rebroadcast and VHS release then.

- Photo Gallery.  6 minutes of still photos taken during the making of the story.

- PDF Materials.  Place this disc into a computer and you can have a look at the Radio

  Times billing for this story from 1971, which included short interviews with Katy Manning

  and Jon Pertwee.

- Coming Soon Trailer.  A 2-minute trailer for the forthcoming DVD release of Nightmare

  of Eden.

 

Doctor Who: Carnival of Monsters Special Edition starring Jon Pertwee as DR. WHO and

  Katy Manning as Jo Grant.

This DVD originally came out in 2003 as a single-disc release.  This special edition

contains nearly all of the content from the original DVD plus many new features.  The

features listed in italics below are new to the Special Edition.

A 2-disc set.  On Disc 1:

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and optional subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- Optional commentary track no. 1 by Katy Manning (Jo) and Producer/Director Barry Letts.

- Optional commentary track no. 2 moderated by Toby Hadoke and featuring actors

  Cheryl Hall (Shirna), Jennie McCracken (Clare), and Peter Halliday (Pletrac), and

  sound effects designer Brian Hodgson.

- Production Notes Subtitles.

- In the 2003 edition, there was an Extended and Deleted Scenes package, salvaged from

   a surviving early edit of episode 2. On this edition, the entire early edit of Episode 2 is

   presented instead.  It also includes the "Delaware" version of the theme music which

  had been presented as its own featurette on the original DVD.  30 minutes.

- Behind-the-Scenes – film footage from various places in the studio taken during camera

   rehearsals

- Five Faces of Doctor Who – a trailer from a 1981 series of repeats on BBC2 which

   included Carnival of Monsters.  4 minutes.

- Director’s amended ending – showing Barry Letts’ preferred ending to the story which

   cuts around a bad bald cap on one of the alien actors.  1 minute.

- Visual Effects Test Film – raw film footage of some of the model and puppet work used

   in the story.  9 minutes.

- TARDIS-Cam No. 2 – visual effects of the TARDIS travelling through the time vortex,

    originally made for use on the BBCi website. 1 minute.

- CSO Demo – BBC training footage of Barry Letts showing how the color seperation

   overlay process worked.  3 minutes.

- One Easter Egg - highlight below here to see how to get it and what it is:

            - Go into the Special Features’ menu.  Stay on the first page, and arrow down to

            highlight “Director's Amended Ending” 

            - Press the left arrow, and a Doctor Who logo icon will appear and be highlighted. 

            Click on it to see the Easter Egg.

            - The egg is the full-length, fully restored Jon Pertwee opening title sequence

            without any episode credits on it. 

      - The 2003 DVD had an additional Easter Egg of the clapperboard countdown

      from the start of the early edit of Episode 2. That's now included in the full

      early edit of Episode 2 featurette on this edition, to the Easter Egg was now

      redundant and is not on this edition.

On Disc 2:

- Destroy All Monsters!  A 23-minute "making of" featurette with interviews with all

   the contributors to both commentaries, plus assistant floor manager Karilyn Collier,

   and visual effects assistant Colin Mapson.

- On Target with Ian Marter.  A 16-minute featurette spotlighting Ian Marter, who guest

   stars in this story as Andrews and later played companion Harry Sullivan opposite Tom

   Baker and Elisabeth Sladen, with emphasis on his writing of the Target novelisations

   of Doctor Who TV stories in the 1970s and 80s.  Features interviews with writers

   Terrance Dicks and Gary Russell, actors Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas

   Courtney, and Nigel Pluskitt (Unstoffe in The Ribos Operation).

- The A-Z of Gadgets and Gizmos.  A 12-minute featurette spotlighting 26 of the strange

   pieces of equipment the classic series Doctors have worked with, each starting with a

   different letter of the alphabet.

- Mary Celeste.  An 18-minute featurette with historical experts discussing the stories

   of several maritime mysteries about ships that disappeared without trace (like the

   fictional SS Bernice does in this story) with particular attention to the Mary Celeste

   which was found abandoned and adrift in 1872.

- Photo Gallery.  3 minutes of still photos taken during production of the story.

 

The original edition included a "Who's Who" selection that displayed cast biographies as

text files. These have been left off this release.

 

           

MARCH'S RELEASES IN DETAIL

Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen Special Edition starring Patrick Troughton as

  Dr. Who, Frazer Hines as Jamie, and Deborah Watling as Victoria.

This DVD originally came out in 2002 as a single-disc release.  This special edition

contains most of the content from the original DVD plus many new features.  The

features listed in italics below are new to the Special Edition.

A 2-disc release.  On Disc 1:

- All 4 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored. The remastering has been

  redone from scratch and now includes the VidFIRE video-look processing that was not

  used on the original DVD release.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- Two optional audio commentaries.  Commentary 1 is from the original DVD release

   with Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling.  Recorded in 2001.  Commentary 2 is new

   and features a rotating mixture of these contributors: Deborah Watling, Frazer Hines,

   Bernard Holley (Hayden), Shirley Cooklin (Kaftan), Reg Whitehead (Cyberman),

   and script editor Victor Pemberton.  Moderated by Toby Hadoke.

- Morris Barry Introduction.  Plays the 3-minute introduction that Director Morris Barry

   did for the 1992 VHS release of the story.

- Title Sequence Tests.  3-1/2 minutes of graphics footage used to form the basis of the

   Troughton era title sequence, set to an extended version of his era's theme music.

- Late Night Line Up.  A 3-minute interview from 1967 with BBC Visual Effects

   Designer Jack Kine in the BBC's effects workshop.

- The Final End.  A little over a minute of special effects footage from the conclusion of

   the preceding missing story The Evil of the Daleks showing some of the Dalek civil war.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout the story.

- Coming Soon trailer for the DVD of The Face of Evil.

- Audio-only trailer for the following story, The Abominable Snowmen.  This was hidden

   as an Easter Egg in the original DVD, and though it's not flagged on this one, it's not

   exactly hidden either. Simply go to the Episode Selection screen and it plays while

   that menu appears.

- 1 Easter Egg.  Highlight the blank area of text below to see what is an how to find it.

    In the Special Features menu, highlight the Title Sequence Tests option and press the

    left arrow. A Doctor Who logo will appear.  Click this and you will see the full-length

    Patrick Troughton era title sequence without any captions on it.

On Disc 2:

- The Lost Giants. A new 27-minute making-of documentary featuring interviews with

  the commentary contributors, plus actor Michael Kilgariff (Cyberman Controller) and

  visual effects designer Peter Day.

- The Curse of the Cybermen's Tomb.  A 14-minute featurette with actual archaelogists

 tracing the ancient Egyptian origins of the story told in Tomb of the Cybermen.

- Cybermen Extended Edition.  A 32-minute "history of the Cybermen" made by host

  Matthew Sweet tracing the Cybermen's evolution and strategies throughout the series

  up to the end of the 2010 season.

- The Magic of VidFIRE.  A 6-minute featurette about the video-look restoration tool.

- Sky Ray Advert.  A 30-second commercial from the 1960s for a Doctor Who themed candy.

- Photo Gallery.  A new 3-1/2 compilation of still photos taken during production.

- PDF Files.  The Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer. Also available are promotional materials from the Sky Ray candy

promotion.

- There are two features that were in the original DVD release in 2002 not present

   in this Special Edition.  One is the simple "Who's Who" text biographies of the key

   cast members.  The other was a 30-minute featurette called "Tombwatch" that

   showed a panel of the cast and crew at a convention discussing Tomb shortly after it

   was rediscovered in 1992. This was left off this release as the rights could not be

   re-cleared with the footage's owner.  (There was also an Easter Egg on the 2002

   version that showed one scene with the VidFIRE processing, but as the whole story now

   has this in the special edition, this egg was now irrelevant and left out. )

 

 

Doctor Who: The Three Doctors Special Edition starring Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton,

  and William Hartnell as Dr. Who, Katy Manning as Jo Grant, Nicholas Courtney as

  Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and John Levene as Sergeant Benton.

This DVD originally came out in 2003 as a single-disc release.  This special edition

contains most of the content from the original DVD plus many new features.  The

features listed in italics below are new to the Special Edition.

A 2-disc release.  On Disc 1:

- All 4 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Katy Manning and Nicholas Courtney and

   producer Barry Letts.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout the story.

- Pebble Mill at One.  21 minutes from a 1973 BBC daytime talk show where

  Doctor Who’s 10th anniversary was spotlighted, using interviews with BBC

  visual effects designer Bernard Wilkie, and second Doctor Patrick Troughton.

- Blue Peter 5-11-73.  14 minutes from a 1973 installment of BBC children’s series

  Blue Peter which also spotlighted the series’ 10th anniversary, featuring Jon

   Pertwee showing off the Doctor’s new alien car, and co-host Peter Purves mentioning

   his own time on the series as Steven in the Hartnell era.  (The original DVD had

   only 7 minutes of this segment.)

- “BSB Highlights” – 10 minutes of highlights from a 1994 special Doctor Who marathon

   that ran on a satellite TV station called BSB. It features short interviews with producer

   Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks, writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin,

   and Third Doctor Jon Pertwee. Later producer John Nathan-Turner co-hosts.

- “Five Faces of Doctor Who Trail” – an advertising trailer that was used to promote a

   series of repeats on BBC2 in 1981, one of which was The Three Doctors.

- BBC1 trailer. A recreation of the original advertising trailer used in 1972 to promote

   the start of The Three Doctors.

- Coming Soon Trailer for the DVD of The Face of Evil.

- PDF Files.  The Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

   into a computer.

On Disc 2:

- Happy Birthday to Who.  A 23-minute featurette about the making of the story

  featuring interviews with actors Katy Manning and Stephen Thorne (Omega),

  producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks and co-writer Bob Baker.

  Hosted by Toby Hadoke.

- Was Doctor Who Rubbish?  A 14-minute featurette where fans discuss the common

  criticisms leveled at classic Doctor Who by general members of the public and how

  to refute them.

- Girls, Girls, Girls - the 1970s.  A 14-minute featurette where 1970s companion

  actresses Caroline John (Liz Shaw), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), and Louise Jameson

  (Leela) discuss their roles with each other.

- Photo Gallery.  4 minutes of photo stills taken during the production of the story.

- There are two features that were in the original DVD release in 2002 not present

   in this Special Edition.  One is the simple "Who's Who" text biographies of the key

   cast members.  The other was a 30-minute featurette called "Panopticon 1993" that

   featured footage of a Q&A session with Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, and Nicholas

   Courtney. This footage could not be re-cleared with the footage's owner.

 

Doctor Who: The Face of Evil starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who and introducing

   Louise Jameson as Leela.    

- All 4 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- Optional commentary track with a rotation of contributors.  They are actors Louise

   Jameson (Leela), Leslie Schofield (Calib), David Garfield (Neeva), Mike Elles

   (Gentek), and Harry H Fielder (Assassin), producer Philip Hinchcliffe, and film

   cameraman John McGlashan.  Moderated by Toby Hadoke.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout the story.

- Into the Wild.  A 25-minute making-of featurette.  Features interviews with producer

   Philip Hinchcliffe, director Pennant Roberts, actors Louise Jameson and Anthony

   Frieze (young voice of Xoanon), visual effects designer Mat Irvine, and production

   designer Austin Ruddy.

- From the Cutting Room Floor.  9 minutes of mute 16mm film trims.

- Tomorrow's Times: The Fourth Doctor.  Wendy Padbury presents 14 minutes of

   press clippings from throughout Tom Baker's era as the Doctor.

- Doctor Who Stories: Louise Jameson.  A 17-minute interview with Louise Jameson

   recorded in 2003.

- Swap Shop.  A 4-1/2 minute segment from this 1977 BBC program where Louise

   Jameson was interviewed.

- Denys Fisher Toys Advert.  A 30-second ad for a 1977 Doctor Who toy line which

   included a Leela doll.

- Photo Gallery.  6 minutes of photo stills taken during the production of the story.

- PDF Files.  The Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer. Also available are promotional materials from the Typhoo Tea

Packet promotion.

- Coming Soon Trailer for the forthcoming DVD of The Dæmons.

 

Doctor Who: The Robots of Death starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who and Louise

  Jameson as Leela.

This DVD originally came out in 2001.  This special edition contains most of the

content from the original DVD plus many new features.  The features listed in italics

below are new to the Special Edition.

- All 4 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- 2 optional commentary tracks.  Commentary 1 is from the 2001 edition with producer

   Philip Hinchcliffe and writer Chris Boucher.  Commentary 2 is new and features

   actors Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, and Pamela Salem (Toos), and director

   Michael E. Briant.

- The Sandmine Murders.  A 32-minute making-of featurette with interviews with

   actors Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Pamela Salem, David Collings (Poul), and

   Brian Croucher (Borg), producer Philip Hinchcliffe, costume designer Elizabeth

   Waller, and director Michael E. Briant.

- Robophobia.  A 12-minute featurette about comparing the history of robots in the

    real and fictional worlds hosted by comedian Toby Hadoke.

- Studio Sound.  A 1-minute scene from the story where the natural sound on the

   take is played rather than that applied in post-production (particularly different

   is the sound of the robot's voice.) This is a shortened version of a featurette on

   the original release that included more very poor quality studio footage that has 

   been left out of this release.

- Model Shots.  An 8-minute featurette showing unused footage of the models of

  the sandminer and the landscape surrounding it.

- Studio Floor Plan.  A browseable-with-your-remote display of the original floor plans

   for the sets.

- Continuity.  A 1-minute trailer used for the original 1977 broadcast.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story.

- Coming Soon Trailer for the DVD of The Face of Evil.

- PDF Files.  The Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

   into a computer.

- There are two features that were in the original DVD release in 2001 not present

   in this Special Edition.  One is the simple "Who's Who" text biographies of the key

   cast members.  The other was a 20-minute featurette showing all of the introductions

   and trailers narrated by Howard DaSilva used in the original Time-Life syndication

   package in the US in 1978.  

 

 

FEBRUARY'S RELEASES IN DETAIL

Doctor Who: The Sensorites starring William Hartnell as Dr. Who, William Russell as Ian

 Chesterton, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright, and Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman.

- All 6 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors William Russell, Carole Ann Ford, Joe Greig

    (several Sensorites), Martyn Huntley (1st Human), and Giles Phibbs (2nd Human),

    Make-Up Designer Sonia Markham, Production Designer Raymond Cusick, and

    Director Frank Cox.  Moderated by Toby Hadoke.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout the story.

- "Looking for Peter"  A 21-minute documentary where Toby Hadoke and Richard Bignell

   get to the bottom of who the author of this story, Peter R. Newman, was. 

- Vision On.  A 7-minute interview with Vision Mixer Clive Doig who explains his old

   job's function and how the studio gallery worked during productions.

- Secret Voices of the Sense Sphere.  2 more minutes of Clive Doig explaining the origins

   of mysterious voices audible on the soundtrack at various points in this and other 60s

   stories.

- Photo Gallery.  A 5-minute compilation of stills taken during production of the story.

- Coming Soon Trailer.  A 2-minute trailer for the forthcoming DVDs of The Robots of

   Death, The Tomb of the Cybermen, and The Three Doctors.  These came out under the

   "Revisitations 3" banner in the UK and this trailer is still labeled as such, but in North

   America they are being released separately as "Special Editions". 

- PDF Materials.  The Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer. Also available are some of Prod. Designer Raymond Cusick's

design drawings from the original production.

 

Doctor Who: The Caves of Androzani Special Edition starring Peter Davison as the

  Doctor, Nicola Bryant as Peri, and introducing Colin Baker as the Doctor.

This DVD originally came out in 2001 as a single-disc release.  This special edition

contains most of the content from the original DVD plus many new features.  The

features listed in italics below are new to the Special Edition.

2 Disc Set.  On Disc 1:

- All 4 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored.  The restoration has been

  redone from scratch.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing

   impaired.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout the story.

- Optional commentary track by actors Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant, and Director

   Graeme Harper.  (Recorded for the original release in 2001.)

- Behind the Scenes: The Regeneration.  An 8-minute featurette showing behind-the-scenes

   footage shot while the regeneration scene was recorded.  It's playable either with the raw

   sound from the time or with this disc's commentary crew talking over it.

- Behind the Scenes: Creating Sharaz Jek.  A 5-minute featurette showing behind-the-scenes

   footage shot during some of Sharaz Jek's key scenes while the late actor Christopher

   Gable speaks about the role from an audio interview he gave.

- Deleted Scenes.  Three scenes cut from the finished show.  The first was present on the

   original DVD release and has an optional commentary track from the cast and Graeme

   Harper.  The remaining two are new to this release and have no commentary track.

- Trailer.  An original 30-second trailer from the 1984 broadcast.

- News.  Three different news segments covering Peter Davison's departure from 1984,

  totaling 5 minutes.

- Isolated Music Soundtrack.  Plays the entire show with only the music soundtrack playing.

- Coming Soon Trailer.  A 1-minute trailer for the already released DVD of The Seeds of

   Doom.

- PDF Materials.  The Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

   into a computer.

- 1 Easter Egg.  Highlight the area of blank text below to see what it is and how to find it:

   Go to the Episode Selection screen and highlight Part One, then press the left arrow.

   The Doctor Who logo in the top left will become highlighted.  Click on this and you

   will see the first four minutes of the episode playing with the  original, unrestored

   opening shots of Androzani Minor where the matted-in background mountains were

   stable while the foreground location footage wobbled as the film weaved.

 

On Disc 2:

- "Chain Reaction"  A new 36-minute making-of documentary presented by Matthew Sweet.

  Features interviews with actors Peter Davison, Nicola Bryant, Martin Cochrane (Chellak),

  Robert Glenister (Salateen), and Maurice Roëves (Stotz), script editor Eric Saward,

  director Graeme Harper, production designer John Hurst, and incidental musician

  Roger Limb.

- Directing Who: Then and Now  A 12-minute interview with director Graeme Harper

  who compares directing Doctor Who in the 1980s with directing it in the late 2000s

  on the new series.  Includes behind-the-scenes footage from both eras.

- Russell Harty  A 9-minute segment from Russell Harty's talk show in 1984 where he

  simultaneously interviewed Peter Davison and Colin Baker.

- Photo Gallery.  A new 5-minute featurette displaying production stills from the story.

 

- Other Notes.  In the original release, the restoration involved the replacement of a smoke

  effect over some of the location film scenes with a new one that didn't quite match the

  original, and a seamless branch point to allow the viewer to switch between the two.

  This time the original effect has been preserved and the branch point has been removed.

  Also, unfortunately, a mistake happened in the new restoration where a transition between

  two scenes originally accomplished with a dissolve effect was replaced with a simple jump cut

  instead.  The original North American release (but not the UK one) also included a Who's

  Who list of cast biographies that has been left out of the new one.

 

Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe starring Matt Smith as the Doctor

   and Claire Skinner as Madge Arwell.

- Available either as a standard-definition DVD or a high-definition (1080i) Blu-Ray.

- The 60-minute episode as shown on the BBC. 

- DTS HD Surround sound on the feature and the prequel.  Stereo on the "Best of" specials.

- Trailers for Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock (a video game coming in 2012) and for the

   Complete Sixth Series Box Set.

- Prequel.  A 1:30 prequel scene of the Doctor on the spaceship at the start of the show

   that featured on the BBC websites in the weeks prior to broadcast.

- BBC America's "Best Of" Specials.  These were 43 minutes each and featured American

   TV, music, and comedy figures discussing highlights from the entire series.  There are

   three here: "The Best of the Doctor," "The Best of the Companions," and "The Best

   of the Monsters."   (These seem to be taking the place of the usual Doctor Who

   Confidential special that would go on a release like this, but that series has been cancelled

   now and so there was no special to include this time.)

- Inside the cover is a set of 6 Doctor Who: Worlds in Time stickers. 

 

JANUARY'S RELEASES IN DETAIL

Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs starring Jon Pertwee as Doctor Who,

 Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart,

 Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, and John Levene as Sergeant Benton.

A 2-disc set.   On Disc 1:

- All 6 episodes of the story digitally remastered and restored.

    Parts 2-6 are in full color and source from the original broadcast tapes. 

    Part 1's original broadcast tape no longer exists, however a black and white film copy of

    it does, and it is presented here as the default version when you play the disc.

    The Restoration Team's Color Recovery program has been applied to this film copy,

    and reasonable but imperfect color was pulled back out of the film and is available to

    watch here by turning it on from the Special Features menu.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Richard Franklin, Peter Miles (Prof. Whitaker),

   and Terence Wilton (Mark), production designer Richard Morris, script editor

   Terrance Dicks, and director Paddy Russell.  Moderated by Toby Hadoke. 

   (Russell appears only with Mr. Hadoke and on parts 1, 4, and 5.  Hadoke moderates

   a mix-and-match panel of the others on the remaining episodes.)

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story

- Coming Soon trailer for the forthcoming DVD of The Sensorites.

On Disc 2:

-  "People, Power, and Puppetry."  A 33-minute making-of documentary hosted by Matthew

   Sweet and featuring interviews with everyone from the commentary track as well as

   archive interviews with producer Barry Letts and the Doctor himself, Jon Pertwee.

- Deleted Scenes.  5 minutes worth of scenes (5 in number) deleted from the final show.

- Now and Then.  Another installment of this often-appearing DVD feature comparing

   and contrasting the locations as they looked in 1973 during shooting versus how they

   look at the time of the DVD's production.  15 minutes.

- "Doctor Who Stories: Elisabeth Sladen Part 1"  A 14-minute interview with Elisabeth

   Sladen recorded in 2003 detailing her memories of all her stories with the Third Doctor.

   Future parts will appear on other forthcoming DVDs.

- John Levene Commentary.  Mr. Levene submitted his own solo commentary for certain

   of his episodes, and 10 minutes of what he had to say about the start of Part Five are

   presented here.

- Photo Gallery.  A 6-minute compilation of photo stills taken during the production.

- Billy Smart's Circus.  A 2-minute segment from a 1974 circus show where Jon Pertwee

   drives the Whomobile into a circus for a chat with two children.

- PDF Materials. The Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer. So too are two sets of artwork from the 1975 and 1977 Weetabix

Doctor Who tie-in box covers.

- 1 Easter Egg.  Highlight the blank area below to see what it is and how to find it:

      Go to the Special Features menu, highlight the Now and Then selection and press

      the left arrow.  A Doctor Who logo will appear.  Select this and you will see the

      30-second countdown clock from the start of the master tape for Part Five. 

 

Doctor Who: The Android Invasion starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Elisabeth Sladen

  as Sarah Jane Smith, Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan, and John Levene as RSM Benton.

- All 4 episodes of the story, digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Milton Johns (Guy Crayford) and Martin Friend

   (Styggron), producer Philip Hinchcliffe, and production manager Marion McDougall.

   Moderated by Toby Hadoke.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story.

- "The Village That Came to Life"  A 31-minute making-of where presenter Nicholas

   Briggs takes on a tour around the real-life village that stood in for Devesham in this

   story.  Features interviews with real villagers who were around during the shooting.

   Also features discussions with director Barry Letts, producer Philip Hinchcliffe,

   and actors Martin Friend and Milton Johns.

-  Life After Who.  Producer Philip Hinchcliffe is interviewed for 30 minutes about his

   career and life after leaving Doctor Who by none other than his own daughter

   Celina Hinchcliffe, herself now a BBC sports presenter. 

-  Photo Gallery.  A 5-minute compilation of photo stills taken during the production.

-  Weetabix Advert.  A 30-second commercial from the time for Dalek Weetabix.

-  Coming Soon Trailer for the forthcoming DVD of The Sensorites.

-  PDF Materials. The Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer.

- 1 Easter Egg.  Highlight the blank area below to see what it is and how to find it:

      Go to the Special Features menu and highlight the Weetabix Advert selection, then

      press the right arrow.  A Doctor Who logo will appear.  Selecting this will play

      8 minutes of sound rushes from the location filming.

 

 

DECEMBER’S RELEASE IN DETAIL

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Fourth Season starring Elisabeth Sladen as

 Sarah Jane Smith, Tommy Knight as Luke Smith, Daniel Anthony as Clyde Langer,

 Anjli Mohindra as Rani Chandra, Alexander Armstrong as the Voice of Mr. Smith,

  and John Leeson as the Voice of K9.

 The third story guest stars Matt Smith as the Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Jones

 (nee Grant).

- 2 Discs.  On both discs, graphical menus, scene selection features, and

   subtitles for the hearing impaired.

- Disc 1 contains stories 1 – 3: The Nightmare Man, The Vault of Secrets and

   Death of the Doctor

- Disc 2 contains stories 4 – 6:  The Empty Planet, Lost in Time and

  Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith

- There are no special features on this release, just the episodes.  It’s a “vanilla” set.

- The UK release was also made available on high-definition Blu-Ray.  This is not

   being done in North America.  Only the DVD edition will be available.

- The UK release also included a bonus disc that contained Doctor Who: Pyramids of

    Mars, the 1975 story starring Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen.  This has been

    removed from the North American edition as the additional disc would have added

    significant cost, and BBC Worldwide Americas wanted to keep the price down.

 

 

NOVEMBER RELEASES IN DETAIL

Doctor Who: The Complete Sixth Series starring Matt Smith as the Doctor, Karen Gillan

  as Amy Pond, and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams. Guest stars Alex Kingston as River Song.

6 Discs.  Available either in standard-definition yet widescreen DVD or high-definition

(1080i) Blu-Ray.  The disc contents are otherwise identical between the sets.

It has an outer cover, containing a “booklet” style box within with each disc on its own “page”

of the booklet.  The booklet also has some pages detailing the contents, and a comic-book

style page of artwork that depicts key moments from the story arc.

 

On all of the discs: 

- DTS HD 5.1 sound.

- Graphical menus, scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.

On Disc 1:

- The 2010 Christmas Special, A Christmas Carol.  62 minutes. 

- A Christmas Carol Confidential.  Full 56-minute length making-of-the-show documentary.

- Comic Relief Sketches: Space (4 minutes) and Time (3 minutes).  These are mini-episodes

  made for the annual Comic Relief charity telethon featuring the main stars, and the problems

  that arise when the TARDIS materializes inside itself.

On Disc 2:

- Episodes 1 – 3 of the 2011 series.  These are The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon,

   and The Curse of the Black Spot. 

- Commentary track for The Impossible Astronaut featuring Arthur Darvill, Producer Marcus

   Wilson, and Line Producer (US) David Mason.

- Monster File – The Silence.  An 11-minute featurette spotlighting the Silence monsters.

- Prequels.  These appeared on the BBC website in advance of the broadcast of Episodes 1

   and 3 and run 1-2 minutes long.  The first features President Nixon receiving a mysterious

   phone call in the Oval Office.  The other is a diary entry by Captain Avery about the

   circumstances that have befallen his pirate ship.

On Disc 3:

- Episodes 4 - 6 of the 2011 series.  These are The Doctor’s Wife, The Rebel Flesh, and

   The Almost People.

- Commentary track for The Doctor’s Wife featuring writer Neil Gaiman.

- Commentary track for The Rebel Flesh featuring actors Marshall Lancaster (Buzzer),

    Mark Bonnar (Jimmy), and Director Julian Simpson.

- Monster File – The Gangers.  A 13-minute featurette spotlighting the Gangers.

- “Night and the Doctor”  These are a set of 4 mini-episodes exclusive to this set, never before

   seen on television.  They are:

   -  “Bad Night” (4 minutes) where Amy catches the Doctor off having adventures on his

        own while she and Rory sleep at “night” in the TARDIS. 

   -  “Good Night”  (5 minutes) where Amy and the Doctor have a heart-to-heart about the

        conflicting memories she has about the two different timelines she’s lived in.

   -  “First Night”  (2 minutes) where we see the first time the Doctor broke River Song out

        of Stormcage Prison for a night out on the universe.

   -   “Last Night”  (4 minutes) where the Doctor takes River out three times over, and

        discovers the tragedy of one of those times. 

On Disc 4:

- Episodes 7 – 10 of the 2011 series.  These are A Good Man Goes to War, Let’s Kill Hitler,

   Night Terrors, and The Girl Who Waited.

- Commentary track for A Good Man Goes to War featuring actors Arthur Darvill, Neve

   McIntosh (Madame Vastra), and visual FX supervisor Tim Barter.

- Monster File – The Anti-Bodies.  A 9-minute featurette spotlighting the antibody robots from

   Let’s Kill Hitler.

- Prequels.  More from the BBC website.  Again 1-2 minutes long, and there are two here, one

   for A Good Man Goes to War where the Headless Monks make a purchase from Dorium, and

   one for Let’s Kill Hitler where Amy leaves a message for the Doctor on the TARDIS asking

   if he’s found her daughter yet.

On Disc 5:

- Episodes 11 – 13 of the 2011 series.  These are The God Complex, Closing Time, and

   The Wedding of River Song.

- Commentary track for The Wedding of River Song featuring Writer and Executive Producer

   Steven Moffat, actress Francis Barber (Madame Kovarian), and Director Jeremy Webb.

- Monster File – the Cybermats.  A 10-minute featurette spotlighting the Cybermats seen in

   Closing Time.

- Prequel.  A 1-minute prequel from the BBC website for The Wedding of River Song where

   the ominous children’s rhyme plays over scenes from the episode.

- “Night and the Doctor – Up All Night.”  One more 2-minute scene from this series, although

   this one looks more like an unused website prequel. It goes with Closing Time and features

   Craig, Daisy, and baby Alfie in their kitchen just before Daisy leaves for the weekend.

- Trailers (2).  The 1-minute long each trailers that previewed the two halves of the season on

   the BBC. 

On Disc 6:

- Doctor Who Confidential Cut-Down.  These are abbreviated versions of the Doctor Who

   Confidential documentary series that accompanied each episode on BBC3 straight after

   BBC1 transmission.  (The series has just been cancelled as well, so this is the last set we’ll

   see these on.)

- The episodes are:  1) “Coming to America” (14 minutes), 2) “Breaking the Silence” (11 min),

    3) “Ship Ahoy!” (12 min), 4) “Bigger on the Inside” (12 min), 5) “Double Trouble” (14 min),

    6) “Take Two” (12 min), 7) “The Born Identity (9 min), 8) “River Runs Wild” (13 min),

    9) “About a Boy” (14 min), 10) “What Dreams May Come” (11 min), 11) “Heartbreak

    Hotel” (9 min), 12) “Open All Hours (13 min), 13) “When Time Froze” (9 min), and

    14) “The Night’s Tale” (15 minutes).

- That last one, “The Night’s Tale,” is exclusive to this set and has never been broadcast on

   television.  It spotlights, with Director Richard Senior, the making of the mini-specials that

   appear elsewhere on this set. 

 

Frequently Asked Question:  What are the differences between the “vanilla” versions of the

sixth series episodes that were released earlier and what’s on this set?

Answer:  Everything that was on the vanilla releases is also present on this set, with one

exception.  The standalone release of A Christmas Carol contained the 57-minute Doctor Who

at the Proms special of concert Doctor Who music from the Royal Albert Hall in the summer

of 2010.  That is not present on this set. 

 

Doctor Who: Colony in Space  starring Jon Pertwee as Doctor Who, Katy Manning as Jo Grant,

  and Roger Delgado as the Master. (cameo by Nicholas Courtney as Brig. Lethbridge-Stewart)

- All 6 episodes of the story as originally broadcast, but digitally remastered and restored.

   It should be noted, however, that the archive’s videotapes for this story are not the original ones

   it was made on and are of noticeably lower quality than usual. (Still much better than the VHS

   release was though.)

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Bernard Kay (Caldwell),

   Morris Perry (Dent), director Michael Briant, script editor Terrance Dicks, and assistant

   floor manager Graeme Harper.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story

- “IMC Needs You”  A 25-minute making-of-the-show documentary framed with an “IMC

   Recruitment” video.  Features interviews with all of the commentary contributors, plus

   producer Barry Letts.

- From the Cutting Room Floor.  13 minutes of mute film trims from the location shoot.

- Photo Gallery.  A 6-minute featurette of photo stills taken throughout the production of the story.

- PDF Materials. The Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

    into a computer.  

- Coming Soon Trailer.  A 1:30 trailer for the forthcoming DVDs of Invasion of the Dinosaurs

   and The Android Invasion.

 

Doctor Who: Series Six, Part Two starring Matt Smith as the Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond

         and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams.  Guest stars Alex Kingston as River Song.

         (6 45-minute episodes, 2 DVD discs for $24.98 or 2 Blu-Ray discs for $29.98.)

On Disc 1:

- Episode 8, Let’s Kill Hitler, Episode 9:Night Terrors, and Episode 10: The Girl Who Waited.

- The Monster Files: the Antibodies.  A short behind-the-scenes featurette about the making

    of the monsters from Let’s Kill Hitler.

On Disc 2

- Episode 11: The God Complex,  Episode 12: Closing Time, and Episode 13: The Wedding

   of River Song.

- Monster Files:  the Cybermats.  A short featurette about the Cybermats seen in Closing Time.

There is also a DTS 5.1 sound mix on all episodes, and the Blu-Ray versions contain the

full 1080i high-definition versions of the episodes. There are also subtitles for the hearing

impaired.

 

OCTOBER RELEASE IN DETAIL

Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang Special Edition starring Tom Baker as

   Doctor Who and Louise Jameson as Leela.   3 discs.

On Disc 1: 

- All 4 episodes of the story as originally broadcast, but digitally remastered and restored.

   The restoration has been completely redone from scratch for this Special Edition.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Louise Jameson (Leela), John Bennett (Li H’Sen

    Chang), and Christopher Benjamin (Henry Gordon Jago), producer Philip Hinchcliffe,

    and director David Maloney. (This is the same commentary as in the earlier release.)

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story

 

On Disc 2:

All of the content on this disc is new.  None of it appeared in the earlier release.

- “The Last Hurrah”  A 32-minute conversation between Tom Baker and Philip Hinchcliffe

  at Tom’s home where they discuss how this was their last story together.  Also features

  actors Louise Jameson, Christopher Benjamin, Trevor Baxter (Prof. Litefoot), costume

  designer John Bloomfield, designer Roger Murray-Leach, and director David Maloney.

- “Moving On”  A 5-minute look by Philip Hinchcliffe at the ideas he had for the next

   season had he remained in charge.

- “The Foe From the Future”  A 7-minute look at the original unmade story concept by

    writer Robert Banks Stewart and producer Philip Hinchcliffe that was then completely

    changed and rewritten into The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

- “Now and Then”  An 11-minute look at the locations the story was shot at and how

    they look today.

- “Look East”  A 4-minute feature a 1977 news program did on the making of this story

    on location, including an interview with Tom Baker.

- “Victoriana and Chinoiserie” An 8-minute discussion of the literary influences in this

    story between producer Philip Hinchcliffe and Dr. Anne Witchard, an expert in literature.

- “Music Hall”  A 22-minute documentary about the history of the real music hall theaters.

- “Limehouse: A Victorian Chinatown  A 19-minute documentary about the Limehouse area

   and its uses in this story and in other stories in English literature.

 

On Disc 3

This contains nearly all of the bonus content that was on Disc 2 of the original UK release.

It is missing two features that were on the original North American edition (because they

weren’t on the UK one and this disc is basically a copy of that), which were the

“Who’s Who” biography text and the Howard DaSilva introduction narration featurette. 

It also missing the title sequence Easter Egg that was present on the original releases in all

territories.

- “Whose Doctor Who” – a 1977 BBC2 documentary running 1 hour that examined the

   program’s history, how it affects children, and went behind-the-scenes on the making of

   The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

- Philip Hinchcliffe Interview – a 1977 BBC TV interview with producer Philip Hinchcliffe,

   running 11 minutes. 

- Behind-the-Scenes – 24 minutes of poor quality “wild” video footage of the final

   Talons studio session.

- Blue Peter – 26 minutes of segments from 1970s episodes of the children’s series

   Blue Peter that taught children at home how to build their own Doctor Who

   theater from items found around the house.

- 40th Anniversary Celebration – a 3 minute “music video” of clips from the entire series

   set to a reedited version of the theme music as recorded by dance club music group Orbital.

- Subtitles option.  All featurettes can be played with caption subtitles for the

   hearing impared.

- Trails and Continuity.  A little more than 2 minutes of the BBC announcers trailers

   for The Talons of Weng-Chiang and the Whose Doctor Who documentary.

- Photo Gallery

 

SEPTEMBER RELEASE IN DETAIL

Doctor Who; Day of the Daleks starring Jon Pertwee as Dr Who, Nicholas Courtney as

  Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Katy Manning as Jo Grant, Richard Franklin as Captain

  Yates, and John Levene as Sergeant Benton.

On Disc 1:

- All 4 episodes of the story as originally broadcast, but digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Anna Barry (Anat) and Jimmy Winston (Shura),

   producer Barry Letts, and script editor Terrance Dicks.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story.

- “Blasting the Past” A new 30-minute featurette about the making of the story, featuring

   interviews with actors Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Anna Barry (Anat), Jimmy Winston

   (Shura), Nicholas Briggs (Dalek Voices) and Ricky Newby (Dalek Operator),

    maskmaker John Friedlander, Doctor Who Magazine writer Dave Owen, Doctor Who

    writers (of other stories) Paul Cornell and Ben Aaronovitch, script editor Terrance

    Dicks, and producer Barry Letts.

- “A View From the Gallery”  A new 20-minute featurette spotlighting how Doctor Who

    was shot from the studio control gallery, with producer Barry Letts, and the Vision

    Mixer on this story, Mike Catherwood.

- Nationwide.  A 3-minute segment from this news magazine show from the time showing a

  a school class receiving a Dalek as a prize from a Radio Times competition they won.

- Blue Peter.  A 5-minute segment from the venerable children’s magazine show from

  1972 that both spotlights presenter Peter Purves’ former role on the series and the

  Daleks from this story, hinting at their imminent return.

- Photo Gallery.  A package of still photos taken during the production.  6 minutes long.

- PDF Materials.  : the Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer.  This story received a special cover and extra articles, and these are

included.

- Coming Soon Trailer for the forthcoming release of Colony in Space.

On Disc 2:

- The Special Edition.  All 4 episodes of the story are presented again, but this time

   they’ve been boosted with newly-created special effects and newly-shot footage to

   enhance the key action scenes, and the original Dalek voices have been replaces with

   newly recorded ones by new series Dalek voice artist Nicholas Briggs so that they

   better match voices heard in the rest of the series (unlike the originals on this one).

  There are also episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for the hearing impaired.

- The Making of the Special Edition.  A 14-minute featurette.  It’s title tells you the rest.

- Now and Then.  A 5-minute featurette in an ongoing series about how the locations used

   looked when the show was shot versus how they look when the DVD was made.

- The UNIT Family Part Two.  A new 31-minute featurette about the family of characters

    that surrounded the Doctor during his exile to Earth by the Time Lords.  This is “Part

    Two” and spotlights the middle Jon Petwee years.  Part One appeared on the DVD of

    Inferno, and Part Three will appear on a future DVD.  Features interviews with

    actors Nicholas Courtney, Katy Manning, Richard Franklin, John Levene, and

    Fernanda Marlowe (Corporal Bell), stuntman and founder of HAVOC Derek Ware,

    script editor Terrance Dicks, and producer Barry Letts.  

- The UNIT Dating Conundrum.  A 9-minute featurette narrated by Toby Hadoke about

    the inconsistencies in the series continuity when it comes to the years that the UNIT

    stories were supposed to be taking place in.  Features Ben Aaronovitch, Nicholas Briggs,

    Dave Owen, and Terrance Dicks.

- The Cheating Memory.  An 8-minute featurette where memory expert Dr. Sarita Robinson

    (herself a Doctor Who fan) explains how our memories of a show we saw when we were

    very young can be so different to the reality. 

- Teaser.  A 20-second teaser that was used to publicize this DVD release in advance.

  

AUGUST RELEASES IN DETAIL

 

Doctor Who: The Sun Makers starring Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Louise Jameson

  as Leela, and John Leeson as the Voice of K9.

- All 4 episodes of the story, digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, and Michael

   Keating (Goudry), and director Pennant Roberts.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story.

- “Running From the Tax Man”.  A new 25-minute documentary about the making of the

   story, featuring interviews with Louise Jameson, Pennant Roberts, Michael Keating,

   TV historian Dominic Sandbrook, and astronomer Marek Kukula. 

-  Trailer.  A 43-second trailer that advertised the story in 1977.

-  “The Doctor’s Composter – Part 2.”  An interview with the regular music composer for

   the series throughout the 1970s, Dudley Simpson.  (Part 1 appeared on the previously

   released DVD of The War Games and was about his 1960s stories.)

- Outtakes.  Half-a-minute of bloopers from a scene where Cordo tries to fire a gun into

   the ceiling that doesn’t want to fire.

- Photo Gallery.  A package of still photos taken during the production.  4 minutes long.

- PDF Materials.  : the Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer.

 

Doctor Who: Paradise Towers  starring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor and

      Bonnie Langford as Melanie.

- All 4 episodes of the story, digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actress Judy Cornwell (Maddy), writer Stephen Wyatt,

   special sound designer Dick Mills, and moderated by Mark Ayres.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story.

- Alternate Score.  Selecting this in the Audio Options menu will play the story with a

    different music score to the broadcast version (which was by Keff McCulloch).  This

    is the score that was composed by David Snell and then rejected near the last minute

    by producer John Nathan-Turner and the McCulloch version hurriedly written to

    replace it. 

- “Horror on the High Rise.”  A 34-minute documentary about the making of the story,

   presented by Mark Ayres.  Features interviews with script editor Andrew Cartmel,

   writer Stephen Wyatt, composers David Snell and Keff McCulloch, and actors

   Catherine Cusack (Blue Kang Leader), Howard Cooke (Pex), and Richard Briers

   (Chief Caretaker/Kroagnon). 

-  Deleted and Extended Scenes.  An 8-minute package of 18 deleted scenes.

-  Continuity.  A 4-minute package of the BBC’s continuity announcements introducing

    and advertising the story from 1987. 

-  Girls! Girls! Girls! The Eighties.  A 22-minute discussion between three of the 1980s

    companion actresses: Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan), and Sophie

    Aldred (Ace). 

-  Casting Sylvester.  A 4-minute interview with Producer Clive Doig, who played a role

     in the casting of Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor.

- Photo Gallery.  A package of still photos taken during the production.  5 minutes long.

- PDF Materials.  : the Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer.

 

JULY RELEASES IN DETAIL

 

Doctor Who: The Gunfighers starring William Hartnell as Doctor Who, Peter Purves

  as Steven, and Jackie Lane as Dodo.

- All 4 episodes of the story, digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Peter Purves, Shane Rimmer (Seth Harper),

            David Graham (Charley the Barman), Richard Beale (Bat Masterston),

            production assistant Tristan de Vere Cole, and moderator Toby Hadoke.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story.

- “The End of the Line” 43-minute featurette about the turbulence behind-the-scenes

   in this period that would lead to total turnover in cast and crew, including William

   Hartnell.  Features interviews with story editor Donald Tosh, actors Peter Purves,

   Maureen O’Brien (Vicki), Anneke Wills (Polly), new series writer Gareth Roberts,

   and Ian Levine (consultant).

- Tomorrow’s Times.  Mary Tamm presents a look at the contemporary press coverage

   of the First Doctor’s era.   14 minutes long.

- Photo Gallery.  A package of still photos taken during the production, set to the full

Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon.  4 minutes long.

- Coming Soon trailer.

- PDF Materials.  : the Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer.

 

Doctor Who: The Awakening starring Peter Davison as the Doctor, Janet Fielding

  as Tegan, and Mark Strickson as Turlough.

- Both episodes of the story, digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by director Michael Owen Morris, script editor Eric Saward,

and moderator Toby Hadoke.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story.

- “Return to Little Hodcombe”.  A featurette where some of the cast and crew revisit

    the village locations as they discuss the making of the story. Includes actors Janet

    Fielding, Keith Jayne (Will Chandler), script editor Eric Saward, director Michael Owen

    Morris, and some of the real villagers who were present during filming. 20 minutes.

- “Making the Malus”.  The visual effects team physically revisit their creation of the Malus.

     Features designer Tony Harding, craftsman Richard Gregory, and Paul Burrows, the fan

     who paid 3500 pounds to buy the Malus prop and currently preserves it.  7 minutes.

- “Now and Then”  A featurette comparing and contrasting the locations as they appeared

   in the original production with how they look today.  7 minutes.

- “From the Cutting Room Floor.”  An extended and deleted scenes package.  This one

   is more notable than most in that includes a long-lost scene with the shape-changing

   Kamelion robot that was an experimental companion of the Doctor’s in this period.

   There are six scenes and additional film trims and outtakes.  9 minutes.

- “The Golden Egg Awards”  A program from 1984 where Doctor Who and Peter Davison

   were awarded a special prize by Noel Edmonds for providing the best blooper footage

   from television for the year.  The winning clip was the massive destruction caused by

   a horse to a prop lych-gate in this story.  2 minutes.

-  Isolated Music option.  Plays the program with only the incidental music score playing.

- Photo Gallery.  A package of still photos taken during the production.

- Coming Soon trailer.

- PDF Materials.  : the Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer.

 

Doctor Who: Series Six, Part One starring Matt Smith as the Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond

         and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams.  Guest stars Alex Kingston as River Song.

         (7 45-minute episodes, 2 DVD discs for $24.98 or 2 Blu-Ray discs for $29.98.)

On Disc 1:

- Episode 1, The Impossible Astronaut, Episode 2, Day of the Moon, Episode 3 The Curse of the

  Black Spot, and Episode 4 The Doctor’s Wife.

- The Monster Files: the Silence.  An 11-minute behind-the-scenes featurette about the making

of the monsters from the opening two-parter.

 

On Disc 2

- Episode 5 The Rebel Flesh, Episode 6 The Almost People, and Episode 7 A Good Man Goes

   to War

- Monster Files:  the Flesh.  A 13-minute featurette about the Flesh creatures seen in

   episodes 5 and 6.

There is also a DTS 5.1 sound mix on all episodes, and the Blu-Ray versions contain the

full 1080i high-definition versions of the episodes. There are also subtitles for the hearing

impaired.

 

JUNE RELEASES IN DETAIL

Doctor Who: Frontios starring Peter Davison as the Doctor, Janet Fielding as Tegan,

            and Mark Strickson as Turlough.

- All 4 episodes of the story, digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Peter Davison and Jeff Rawle (Plantagenet),

            John Gillett (the Gravis), script editor Eric Saward, and special sound designer

            Dick Mills.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story.

- “Driven to Distraction”  A new 33-minute behind-the-scenes featurette featuring

   interviews with writer Christopher H. Bidmead, script editor Eric Saward, production

   designer David Buckingham, and actors Peter Davison, Mark Strickson, Jeff Rawle,

   and John Gillett. 

- Deleted and Extended Scenes.  A 16-minute package of deleted footage from

over 30 different scenes.

- Photo Gallery.  A 5-minute package of still photos taken during the production.

- Isolated Music track.  Selecting this will play the episodes with only the incidental

      music playing.

- Coming Soon trailer for Earthstory, a 2-story box set coming to the UK that will in fact

      be released as separate stories in North America: The Gunfighters and The Awakening.

- PDF Materials.  : the Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer.

 

Doctor Who: Time and the Rani starring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, Bonnie Langford

     as Melanie, and Kate O’Mara as the Rani.

- All 4 episodes of the story, digitally remastered and restored.

- Graphical menus, episode and scene selection features, and subtitles for

   the hearing impaired.

- Optional commentary track by actors Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford, and

   writers Pip and Jane Baker.

- Information Text subtitles option.  Displays pop-up production trivia throughout

   the story.

- “The Last Chance Salloon  A 29-minute featurette about the rapid setting-up of this

   entire season, casting the 7th Doctor, and production of this story.  Features interviews

   with former BBC Executive Jonathan Powell, producer John Nathan-Turner,

   director Andrew Morgan, actors Sylvester McCoy and Kate O’Mara, incoming script

   editor Andrew Cartmel, and title sequence designer Oliver Elmes.  Also features footage

   from the screen tests recorded by Sylvester McCoy, and other hopefuls David Fielder

   and Dermot Crowley, acting opposite Janet Fielding as a villain.

- “7D FX.”  An 11-minute featurette about the making of the special effects for this story,

   which for the first time included extensive CGI.  Features interviews with visual effects

   designers Mike Tucker, Colin Mapson, and Dave Chapman.

- “Helter Skelter  A 9-minute featurette about the creation of Doctor Who’s first CGI

title sequence by designer Oliver Elmes and Gareth Edwards of CAL Video.

- “Lakertya  A 2-minute featurette of dueling interview subjects: the director Andrew Morgan,

and writers Pip and Jane Baker over their visions of what this alien planet should’ve looked

like.

- “Hot Gossip”  A 2-minute featurette where some of the subjects of the previous interviews

      talk at length about their co-stars Wanda Ventham and Donald Pickering.

- “On Location”  A 4-minute segment from a magazine show from 1987 that took a look at

the location recording and interviewed Sylvester McCoy, Bonnie Langford, and Kate O’Mara.                       

- “Blue Peter”  A 1-minute segment from a 1987 edition of venerable kids’ magazine show

Blue Peter that introduced the new Doctor to the viewers.

- Photo Gallery.  An 8-minute package of still photos taken during the production.

- PDF Materials.  : the Radio Times listings are available as a .pdf file if you put the disc

into a computer.  These include some season-launch interviews.

- 3 Easter Eggs.  Highlight the blank area below to see what they are and how to find them.

Egg 1:  Go to the Special Features menu, highlight the “7D FX” feature, and press the

      left arrow.  A Doctor Who logo will appear.  Click this and you’ll see a new version

      of the regeneration scene where Colin Baker’s real face has been added to the start

      of it.

Egg 2:  Go to the Special Features menu, 2nd page.  Highlight the PDFs option and press

      the left arrow.  You will see Sylvester McCoy tell a story about how he was in a play

      with Timothy Dalton when he was informed he’d be taking over James Bond, and at

      almost the same time Sylvester had won the part of the Doctor.

Egg 3:  Go to the Special Features menu, 2nd page.  Highlight the Blue Peter option and

      press the left arrow.  You will see a short interview section with Kate O’Mara and other

      crew where they relate the story of an injury she suffered to her eyes from hanging

      upside-down too long with the Tetraps.  

 

 

UK DVD RELEASES

Though we can’t play the UK’s Region 2 DVDs on our ordinary North American DVD

players and TV sets, it’s still worth our while to keep an eye on what they’re getting

over there, as the titles we get are usually what’s first been released over there, and

usually with the same sets of bonus features, and usually (but not always) in the same

order they got it.

 

The titles they’ve got that we haven’t yet are as follows:

Revisitations 2  Another box set of previously released stories with new extra features.

                  They are The Seeds of Death starring Patrick Troughton, Carnival of

                  Monsters starring Jon Pertwee and Resurrection of the Daleks starring

                  Peter Davison.  (UK in March 2011.  Carnival of Monsters in North America

                   in April 2012.  The other two in North America in June 2012.)           

Spearhead from Space Special Edition starring Jon Pertwee.  (Came out in the UK paired

                  with Terror of the Autons in a box set.  Similar treatment to this story as

                  in the Revisitations series.)

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Fifth Season starring Elisabeth Sladen

            (UK on February 6.  North America on June 12.)

 

Upcoming…

Nightmare of Eden starring Tom Baker (North America on May 8, UK sometime before that.)

Ace Adventures (will contain Dragonfire and The Happiness Patrol) starring Sylvester McCoy

            (North America on May 8, UK  on May 7.)

Death to the Daleks starring Jon Pertwee  (UK in June. North America July 10.)

The Krotons starring Patrick Troughton (UK in July. North America July 10.)

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy starring Sylvester McCoy (UK on July 30. 

            North American release therefore probably Aug. 14 (but not official yet))

Planet of Giants starring William Hartnell (3 episodes, UK Aug. 20.

            North American release therefore probably Sept. 11 (not official yet))

Vengenace on Varos Special Edition starring Colin Baker (2 45-minute episodes,

            UK release Sept. 10. North American release therefore probably Sept. 11

            (but not official yet))

 

And the following titles have been announced by 2entertain in the UK as coming out in 2012

(not necessarily in this order, however):

The Reign of Terror starring William Hartnell, including animated episodes to cover the

            two missing episodes of this 6-parter.

Shada starring Tom Baker

 

 

 

 

 

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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!
Compiled by Steve Manfred,  smanfred at comcast.net  

(change at to @ and remove the spaces to email me)

I’m also on Twitter under the name: @DrWhoExpert 

I also post intermittently on the Gallifrey Base forum under my real name, Steve Manfred.