Doctor Who Classic Series and DVDs

[Mark]

you can see why getting rid of Katarina was the right move. Imagine if we'd spent 112 episodes having everything explained to Jamie at great length.

The character was a lot more 'primitive' though, to be fair, with no concept of The TARDIS or other worlds, and thinking she was in her 'Place of Perfection", which of course, she was in episode 4.

Her demise was actually filmed first, as Maureen O' Brien had not had her contract renewed, they needed a character to bridge the end of "The Myth Makers" and the start of "Daleks Master Plan", as Terry Nation had specified Steven should be injured at the start of "Masterplan", and tended to, while The Doctor goes off for help, so Katarina had that purpose.

[lovecraft]

I see Pertwee's second season is coming to blu ray in February.

[Mark]

Had it on Pre-order for a short while now.

Does look very good with some nice extras.

[paul.austin]

(What if they'd made Tegan Russian instead of Australian)

"Adric, darlihink, whoski is ziz Doctoriski person? I vant to go backski to
home-country Moscow Airport to keep killing Moose and Squirrell..."

[Richard Charles Skryngestone]

I wish they'd done these Season sets on DVD all along.

Rather than a single release with 2 25 minute episodes

[brigham]

I wish they'd done these Season sets on DVD all along.

Rather than a single release with 2 25 minute episodes

We'd have had a long wait between releases.
Too long in some cases.

[Richard Charles Skryngestone]

I wish they'd done these Season sets on DVD all along.

Rather than a single release with 2 25 minute episodes

We'd have had a long wait between releases.
Too long in some cases.

How is that different from the long waits for the individual story releases?

[brigham]

I wish they'd done these Season sets on DVD all along.

Rather than a single release with 2 25 minute episodes

We'd have had a long wait between releases.
Too long in some cases.

How is that different from the long waits for the individual story releases?

I'll let you work that out for yourself.
Search 'Doctor Who DVD Releases' if you get stuck.

[paul.austin]

1988 DWM: McCoy and Aldred are the finest thespians to ever grace the series!

1998 RADW: McCrap single handedly caused the series to be cancelled!

[Richard Charles Skryngestone]

We'd have had a long wait between releases.
Too long in some cases.

How is that different from the long waits for the individual story releases?

I'll let you work that out for yourself.
Search 'Doctor Who DVD Releases' if you get stuck.

My point was that it still took years for everything to be released. The first DVD was released in 1999, wasn't it? And, even excluding the animations,it was nearly 20 years before all the existing episodes got a release.

I understand you mean that 26 sets would have resulted in 9 month periods(or whatever the length may have been) between each set.

But the sheer volume of over 100 individual releases still resulted in years and years before everything existing got a release.

I can remember looking at the release schedules and seeing that this or that story wouldn't be available for another two years or so.

However it would appear that for some people having a new release every 5 or so weeks obscured the fact that there was a very long wait.

[Richard Charles Skryngestone]

1988 DWM: McCoy and Aldred are the finest thespians to ever grace the series!

1998 RADW: McCrap single handedly caused the series to be cancelled!

The people who felt that McCoy Who was wonderful were never anything other than a very vocal minority.

[drmih]

How is that different from the long waits for the individual story releases?

I'll let you work that out for yourself.
Search 'Doctor Who DVD Releases' if you get stuck.

My point was that it still took years for everything to be released. The first DVD was released in 1999, wasn't it? And, even excluding the animations,it was nearly 20 years before all the existing episodes got a release.

I understand you mean that 26 sets would have resulted in 9 month periods(or whatever the length may have been) between each set.

But the sheer volume of over 100 individual releases still resulted in years and years before everything existing got a release.

I can remember looking at the release schedules and seeing that this or that story wouldn't be available for another two years or so.

However it would appear that for some people having a new release every 5 or so weeks obscured the fact that there was a very long wait.

I'm sure that everything compete had been done before the WoF / EotW releases in 2013- perhaps a few difficult Pertwee ones which needed work came later. I think they came out pretty quickly given that they weren't vanilla but had lots of extras. I also assume that they had to be funded from sales, and by a single team, so they had to be done linearly.

[brigham]

I think that everybody got a taste of their favourite era much sooner with the release policy adopted.

If you had been an enthusiast of the egregious McCoy, you would have had a very long wait before the tosser appeared.

[drmih]

If they'd had wanted to do complete seasons, they'd have had to start with the 12th I guess, as where else could you logically start. The good thing with the current releases is that soon the 2nd Doctor becomes viable, albeit through animations.

[Richard Charles Skryngestone]

Indeed. I didn't mean Season 1, then Season 2, through 26. Theycould have started with a Tom Baker set, then a Pertwee one etc.

As for the extras, while some were very welcome, others were anything but. There were several "special features" where people were effectively apologising that the serial you had just bought had ever been made in the first place. And others where the message was a clear "Nu Who is much better than this cheap and nasty rubbish! Why don't you go and watch Tennant instead?"

Some of the documentaries are also full of smug, self-satisfied people patting themselves on the back. While others are factually inaccurate. As one example, Ian Levine debunked the "Lost Season 23" story, only to be attacked. But who would know better? Someone who was actually there, or the people who thought it was a good idea to present Bidisha as an "expert" on Doctor Who?

In some cases, less truly is more.

[paul.austin]

I was born in 1980 so McCoy is my generation's Doctor. I have no time for the glorification of Hinchcliffe and Holmes and the concurrent inferred dismissal of everyone else who worked on the show as second rate. Hinchcliffe was soon kicked sideways for upsetting too many adult viewers who were NOT Mary Whitehouse. As for Holmes, as with Stahlman, his liver played too big a role.

[Mark]

Indeed. I didn't mean Season 1, then Season 2, through 26. Theycould have started with a Tom Baker set, then a Pertwee one etc.

As for the extras, while some were very welcome, others were anything but. There were several "special features" where people were effectively apologising that the serial you had just bought had ever been made in the first place. And others where the message was a clear "Nu Who is much better than this cheap and nasty rubbish! Why don't you go and watch Tennant instead?"

Some of the documentaries are also full of smug, self-satisfied people patting themselves on the back. While others are factually inaccurate. As one example, Ian Levine debunked the "Lost Season 23" story, only to be attacked. But who would know better? Someone who was actually there, or the people who thought it was a good idea to present Bidisha as an "expert" on Doctor Who?

In some cases, less truly is more.

There did seem to be a lot of negativity in some features, didn't there, I tried to avoid them where possible.

With the new season sets, there is only about a couple or so a year, so even concentrating on Pertwee onwards, that's twenty runs of the show, could still take a while.

[Mark]

I was born in 1980 so McCoy is my generation's Doctor. I have no time for the glorification of Hinchcliffe and Holmes and the concurrent inferred dismissal of everyone else who worked on the show as second rate. Hinchcliffe was soon kicked sideways for upsetting too many adult viewers who were NOT Mary Whitehouse. As for Holmes, as with Stahlman, his liver played too big a role.

McCoy was very good, I thought, but you lost me on the rest.

Hinchcliffe era was controversial, but the ratings were very strong, and both he and the best "Who" writer ever, Robert Holmes took the programme, arguably, to the peak of it's potential.

I have to say I have unconditional love for the first 7 Doctor Era's, mainly because I saw them all.

[paul.austin]

Hinchcliffe did not last long precisely _because_ he was controversial. Most houses only had one television set and the adults that controlled those sets had *very* different views of Saint Phillip and Saint Bob than their kids did.

[Mark]

It's ironic though, with it being so popular, there had always been complaints from parents, who seemed to forget they enjoyed being scared when they were young as well.

"The Deadly Assassin" probably tipped it over the edge.

[drmih]

Hinchcliffe did not last long precisely _because_ he was controversial. Most houses only had one television set and the adults that controlled those sets had *very* different views of Saint Phillip and Saint Bob than their kids did.

I'm not sure this is factual, rather than your opinion. Yes he did 3 seasons, and did get quite a bit of grief from Mary Whitehouse, but did provide the BBC with the best average viewing figures there have been. Therefore, all of these 'adults' controlling their tv sets must have been watching as well. My memory of the time, although not a child, was that they were well regarded, and those series still have many of the best stories ever.

[paul.austin]

If it had *just* been Whitehouse, I doubt Hinchliffe would have been moved on.

[drmih]

I think that Whitehouse did get to the BBC hierarchy (wasn't there an apology over The Deadly Assassin) and there was a desire to tone the violence down, but I'm not sure that there were lots of complaints from the general public.

However, that aside, wouldn't Target have been a step up from DW, given it was mainstream primetime adult tv, although I know that he was planning a 4th season?

[Mark]

To be fair, there had always been complaints from the public, as it was always perceived as a children's programme rather than a family show, and it was in the top ten most violent programmes, back in the early 70's.

The BBC did admit that "Deadly Assassin" went too far with the drowning scene, and the broadcast master was edited ( as seen, or rather not seen, on it's 77 repeat).

Series 13 is up there with series 5, for me, they have a lot in common, and are shining examples of what the show was capable of.

[lovecraft]

Anyone had the latest Pertwee blu rays sent yet? Amazon seem to be a bit slow off the mark, still showing as unavailable, whereas Zavvi are apparently sending them out already.....ordered via another as well site just in case. You know how quick these things seem to get sold out.

[Brian F]

My Amazon order is just showing "Arriving Monday", no dispatch email yet.

[Mark]

Mine arrived today ( Mon).

S24 is next, already had that on preorder.

[Brian F]

A few hours later than indicated but mine was with me late yesterday afternoon.

[lovecraft]

Yeah, mine was with me on Monday as promised. Do you think people miss out on these at point of sale because I don't think they are in stock on any website for any length of time? Amazon was 'item unavailable' the whole time, so only pre-orders can have been fulfilled. And they are already going for north of £60 on ebay. Do they ever make it to a bricks and mortar? I wonder what the philosophy is behind all this...

[Mark]

Making a quick buck, I guess.

Not sure why they have to be limited editions, when straight box sets would be perfectly acceptable, and a bit cheaper as well ( I'm sure they will be re-released like that eventually).