Old Doctor Who - Part 4

[The Roofdog]

The Caves of Androzani is the Citizen Kane of Doctor Who.

There, I've said it. I don't know what it means but I've said it.

[Replies From View]

Never seen Citizen Kane but that does sound about right, I'd say.


City of Death, that's probably the Ice Cold in Alex of Doctor Who.

[Ambient Sheep]

The greatest Doctor Who story remains Pyramids of Mars.

This.  Probably.

[Ambient Sheep]

City of Death, that's probably the Ice Cold in Alex of Doctor Who.

They repurposed it for a lager advert??!!

"Exquisite!"

[Glebe]

I wasn't sure where to post this and didn't want to start a new thread, but on a (kinda) Who-related note the 1981 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series has gotten a Blu-ray release... according to that review it's an upscale and doesn't look great, which seems in line with one or two old Who releases that've gotten similar treatment I think.

[pigamus]

I like The Stones of Blood - in fact I've watched two episodes of it this afternoon - but I wouldn't go that far.

It starts off brilliantly, but all that stuff with the Megara, I can't be doing with it

[JamesTC]

I wasn't sure where to post this and didn't want to start a new thread, but on a (kinda) Who-related note the 1981 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series has gotten a Blu-ray release... according to that review it's an upscale and doesn't look great, which seems in line with one or two old Who releases that've gotten similar treatment I think.

I'd say it is slightly better than the DVD but nowhere near the increase in quality you'd expect from such a release. Only buy it if it is cheap and you want the extras too.

The Doctor Who upscales in the collection range all look superb on Blu. The only Classic Who release which was poor on Blu-Ray was The TV Movie which was just the DVD master lazily upscaled which makes it look worse than the DVD. I look forward to the collection tackling The TV Movie and being able to upscale in the original US framerate.

[pigamus]

Quite a few Blu-ray disappointments supposedly, Day of the Triffids, Red Dwarf

[JamesTC]

Quite a few Blu-ray disappointments supposedly, Day of the Triffids, Red Dwarf

Day of the Triffids was in the choices made for it rather than lack of effort. Don't remember exactly what the issue was as I didn't buy it myself but I think it was that they filmised the video sections to align with the film sections with the idea being that it would be consistent. The choice wasn't popular and you'd hope that the department has learned a lesson.

Red Dwarf is overstated when people talk it down. It had a full remaster with picture repair. Series III looks better than it ever has. Series V and VI look great. II and IV look good. I is meh. VII and VIII don't look much different. It was the issues with the original III and V discs that took them ages to fix that caused a lot of consternation about the release.

[Replies From View]

Imagine bothering to release series 8 of Red Dwarf on blu ray

[JamesTC]

The Web of Fear Episode 3 getting the animation treatment with a Blu-Ray/DVD release next year.

[The Roofdog]

The Web of Fear Episode 3 getting the animation treatment with a Blu-Ray/DVD release next year.

So £20 for one new animated episode? Is there at least a documentary or something?

[Glebe]

I'd say it is slightly better than the DVD but nowhere near the increase in quality you'd expect from such a release. Only buy it if it is cheap and you want the extras too.

The Doctor Who upscales in the collection range all look superb on Blu. The only Classic Who release which was poor on Blu-Ray was The TV Movie which was just the DVD master lazily upscaled which makes it look worse than the DVD. I look forward to the collection tackling The TV Movie and being able to upscale in the original US framerate.

Ah right. Maybe it was only one review I saw, got 2/5 stars on Blu-ray.com.

[Malcy]

Trailer for Web


https://youtube.com/watch?v=BsG6QRSpS40

[JamesTC]

So £20 for one new animated episode? Is there at least a documentary or something?

It will no doubt get the full SE treatment just like The Enemy of the World and The Power of the Daleks. New full restoration, new animation, new telesnap recon, new documentary and loads of archive stuff.

Already seen some scoffing about this release from fans. They don't seem to understand that the collection season releases couldn't afford new animations, restorations, documentaries all at the same time. Animations need to be paid for on their own and if we can get the restoration sorted as well as the documentary for Web then that opens up the budget for the Season 5 set to concentrate on other areas.

[purlieu]

Red Dwarf is overstated when people talk it down. It had a full remaster with picture repair. Series III looks better than it ever has. Series V and VI look great. II and IV look good. I is meh. VII and VIII don't look much different. It was the issues with the original III and V discs that took them ages to fix that caused a lot of consternation about the release.

They gave it a colour grade that washed out the original lighting, only a year after they'd done a special feature on the XII Blu Ray about how important John Pomphrey's use of lightning and colour gave the show its distinctive atmosphere.
I suppose the fact that Thank for the Memory is called Thanks for the Memories on the menu also suggested a certain lack of attention to detail that it deserved.


Back to books...
Doctor Who and the Casual Person's Idea of What a Doctor Who Story Looks Like All Consuming Fire by Andy Lane


The Doctor. Sherlock Holmes. A religious idol. Some weird shaped alien... thing. What could be going on here?!
Actually, it's the first cover in ages that does a good job of illustrating the actual story, rather than a random scene from it. The whole thing is written as a Sherlock Holmes novel - as recounted by Watson - and Lane does a reasonable job of approximating Conan-Doyle's style. He, of course, went on to write the Young Sherlock Holmes books, so is clearly a big fan of the originals. Apparently, in the Whoniverse, Holmes and Watson are a real duo, albeit with different names. Conan-Doyle is a friend, who tidies up Watson's diaries into more novelistic style, and the three share the profits. I'm not sure this entirely ties in with the Fourth Doctor meeting C-D in Evolution (even though this is directly referenced), but it's a just-about-plausible way to crowbar Doctor Who into a Sherlock Holmes novel.
Holmes and Watson may not have been canonised into the Whoniverse, but the Lovecraft mythos is. Here we have the infamous explanation from The Doctor about how the Great Old Ones were from a past universe, explaining just who Yog Sothoth and such are. Whether The Great Intelligence, Animus, Fenric, etc. really need to be explained as part of this is something I'm not sure about yet: I don't mind it, specifically, but it maybe seems a touch too... I'm not even sure. It just seems unnecessary, maybe.
The Azathoth in this book turns out to just be a pretender, so that's at least one we haven't actually met yet. The story itself is nicely twisty-turny, starting out with some stolen books and a strange alien creature at a dog fight, before heading to India to stop a British colonial army adding another planet to its empire, and ending up on Ry'leh to stop the reverse happening. It's pacy and pretty fun. There are references to past stories, but none of them feel like fanwank (the Doctor lodging with Jago & Litefoot made me smile). The characters are mostly spot-on: the first third of the book is pretty much Watson and Holmes's story, while Benny becomes the main driving force of the remainder. The Doctor is given a supporting role, always there but rarely opening up too much information; his mysterious nature and behind-the-scenes plotting is really brought to the fore with a story told from the perspective of someone who's never met him before.
Overall, very enjoyable.

There may now be a wait while I try and locate my copy of Blood Harvest, which has gone walkabout.

[Norton Canes]

With 23^rd November swinging round again, Outpost Gallifrey's annual Top Three Tournament - where the bestest Doctor Who story ever ever is decided by a couple of hundred fans voting through endless rounds of stories - has reached its final. This year there is much excitement that a Sylvester McCoy story has somehow survived to take its place among the line-up of more conventionally accepted classics :

The War Games
Inferno
Genesis of the Daleks
The Robots of Death
The Curse of Fenric
The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
Heaven Sent

Last year Fenric and Remembrance Of The Daleks made it to the final, agonisingly splitting the McCoy vote and finishing in second and third place to Genesis. This time round it looks frighteningly like the McCoy fans have got their shit together!

Or maybe not:

1 The Robots of Death = 217pts
2 The Curse of Fenric = 205pts
3 The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances = 176pts
4 Genesis of the Daleks = 152pts
5 Heaven Sent = 148pts
6 The War Games = 140pts
7 Inferno = 114pts

The only other story there that's not previously made the final (or indeed won the tournament) is Robots Of Death, which gets my vote - love me a bit of fancy-hatted lucanol bickering

Yay.

[mjwilson]

Toby Hadoke has launched a few dozen Doctor Who podcasts, it seems, each with a different focus.

[Norton Canes]

As long as he's written his contributions to Running Through Corridors vol.3 I don't care what he does

[daf]

Good news everyone!

The 50th Anniversary set (which is out of print & going for hundreds of quid) is getting a steelbook release -

[Ambient Sheep]

Also limited edition.

Fuckoff fuckoff fuckoff fuckoff fuckoff fuckoff fuckoff fuckoff you absolute utter cunts.


_{^{P.S. Thanks for letting us know.}}

[pigamus]

Or maybe not:

1 The Robots of Death = 217pts

And both the star and the director thought the script was complete dogshit!

[Replies From View]

worth it though to get everything lined up with the new Chibnall logo innit


simply think of your shelf all corrected into the Chibnall history of the show.  very pleasing

[Deanjam]

Pretty.

[JamesTC]

8 discs is mad for a five story season. Sounds like Daemons will get an omnibus edition which will be one of the bonus discs. The other bonus disc could be Return to Devil's End if they've got the rights.

[Gurke and Hare]

I'm almost certainly an outlier on here, but I'm not a fan of the Pertwee era in general, and the UNIT/Master stories in particular, so it's a no from me I'm afraid. That cover should come with a trigger warning.

[JamesTC]

Trailer.

With all episodes newly remastered, this Blu-ray box set also contains extensive and exclusive special features including:

❉ Behind the Sofa – New episodes with Katy Manning, Stewart Bevan, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Sacha Dhawan and Anjli Mohindra.
❉ In Conversation – Matthew Sweet chats to companion Katy Manning.
❉ A Devils Weekend – Actors Katy Manning and John Levene take a personal trip back to the picturesque village of Aldbourne, 50 years after they recorded the Doctor Who story The Daemons there.
❉ The Direct Route – Doctor Who directors Michael Briant, Graeme Harper and Tim Combe take an epic road trip to all the filming locations from Season 8 as they discuss directing the show in the early 1970s.
❉ Terrance and Me – Lifelong Doctor Who fan, Frank Skinner sets out to meet the family, friends and colleagues of the late, much-loved writer, Terrance Dicks.
❉ Blu-Ray trailer – A specially shot mini-episode
❉ Extended Episode 1 of The Claws of Axos
❉ 90 minute omnibus edition of The Daemons
❉ Immersive 5.1 surround sound on Terror of the Autons and The Daemons
❉ Optional updated special effects and CSO clean-up on Terror of the Autons
❉ Unseen studio footage
❉ Rare archive treats
❉ Convention footage
❉ HD photo galleries
❉ Scripts, costume designs, rare BBC production files
❉ And lots more!

[Malcy]

I was going to do a Pertwee rewatch soon but I'm considering doing the whole classic era all the way through. I've seen/heard everything but not in order.

I'd really like this, especially the omnibus version of the Daemons, wish every release had the omnibus versions. It can get annoying watching a 6 parter and having to fast forward all the titles, credits and recaps.

I'll keep money aside for this set, I'm always skint when they're released and then the price goes up to stupid money.  I've been enjoying these special trailers for the sets as well, hope they keep them up.

[purlieu]

Ah, lovely. Got a few months to save up for that, whacked a pre-order in on Amazon in case everywhere else sells out before I can put the cash aside. Glad these are finally up and running again.

[daf]

Yes, the good thing about Amazon is that they only charge when they send it (plus if the price drops at any time before the release, you get the lowest price)