Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

The reason we're not getting Underwater Menace yet is because the UK hasn't gotten it. I'm sure it will be out eventually, though.

The reason for the split-season releases of the 2005-present series is to have a lower-cost product on the US market, since the US office of the BBC seem unwilling to discount the boxsets nearly as much as they do in the UK.


And then there's this bullshit with certain DVDs being out of print. I have all of the out of print titles so I don't feel denied, but what about people that don't have them? Why not at a minimum offer them through the Warner Brothers Archive? [/quote]

Warner only distributes the BBC titles in the US, they do not own them. There is no "Archive" distribution agreement in place, so it would take the BBC actually wanting the shows distributed this way. I kinda doubt that'll happen.

It wouldn't surprise me if they re-release all the colour episodes as season sets in the near future.


You got any figures to back this up? I doubt it would be considered a top-seller in the USA once you remove all the 2005-present Series sales from the mix. Let's admit it: classic Who is very much a niche product here in the US.

I'm so glad I switched to Region 2 releases years ago. I've saved a lot of money, never have to worry about them going OOP, can wait for them to fall to around US$10.00 each, and with multi-system equipment, can watch them in their native PAL resolution.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

For the prices people would pay for the Region 1 discs, they could buy the Region 2s AND an all region DVD player and still be saving some money.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

I've lucked out in finding many of my R1 DVDs in used DVD shops and getting them at the Barnes and Noble BBC sales, but that means I have to pick up stuff at random. Just found The Time Monster for $4.99 yesterday.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

I don't have a figure amount, I was going by something I read from Variety a few years ago. Having Googled it and looked at the article again I see that it also includes downloads and TV ratings and more in addition to the DVD sales. So all those together may very well mean that it isn't one of the best selling DVD series. The article by the way is here: http://variety.com/2009/biz/news/doc...ss-1118006512/

However, even though it perhaps isn't one of the best selling series on DVD (or maybe it is), and I will admit I don't have figures to back this up, I would at least guess that it's selling pretty well for Region 1 users if they've released all of the classic episodes over here which they have for Region 2 users. There have also been special edition releases of serials for Region 1 that had previous releases over here too. If the original 2 disc release of say The Talons of Weng-Chiang didn't sell well over here then I don't think they would have released a 3 disc special edition. Then again, maybe it could be argued that the titles which went OOP for Region 1 users didn't sell well here.

I'd personally like to go region free, except I don't know how much that would cost and if the player would work on my Samsung TV. One of the reasons I wanted to go region free was because region 2 users have a nice complete series set for the 90's Spider-Man animated series which I was prepared to order last night from Amazon UK. The problem? Out of all the Marvel animated series on Amazon UK that's the only one that is sold out! :(

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Note that the award was for most successful sci-fi series, so some other genre TV series may be more successful. Also, the article seems to indicate that it was based on worldwide sales, not just US. There's no denying Doctor Who sells very well in the UK, but likely less well here.

Yeah, each release likely sells enough to justify its release in R1, but probably not enough to keep them all in print. SE releases actually would appeal to Warner more than keeping a title in print, since they can push it as a "new release," and also likely get some people to double-dio.

Going region free for DVD is ridiculously cheap and easy. There's often region-unlock codes for cheap players you can buy at the store, and many of them will convert the PAL signal to an NSTC or compatible upconverted HD signal. Heck, it's possible your existing player can be "hacked" to be region-free. See here:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Region-free, as Jay said, is really easy for DVD (a little less so for Blu-ray). Since your TV is a Samsung, you'll definitely need a player that converts PAL to NTSC, since Samsung (along with Panasonic) is one of the US brands that can't handle 50hz framerates. Most DVD players that can be made region-free do this conversion (some don't even give you a choice of playing the native PAL). Some give better picture quality than others on such conversions (top marks go to Oppo, in my experience).

If you're looking for a blu-ray player to do the region-free with (whether it's only DVDs you want region-free, or blu-rays as well) , you'll need to visit somewhere like this thread, which breaks down which players can handle 50hz content or not, and how they handle it (by converting to 60hz, by playing through at native framerate only, or switchable). Also tells whether a player can be made region-free or not. Again, top marks to Oppo. Most of the low-end conversions are okay enough, but make all shot-on-tape shows look like film, which defeats the whole VidFire process that was applied to the B/W Doctor Who releases.

As good as Oppo's PAL to NTSC conversion is, nothing beats having a TV compatible with PAL and playing the disc unconverted. Even the Oppo conversions have noticeable artifacts. I know you're probably not in the market for a new TV now, but in my own tests, US brands that are compatible with 50hz refresh rates include Sharp (my pick), LG, Sony, Vizio and probably others. Only way to find out for sure is do what I did and take a player to the store, hook it up and play it in PAL mode to see what is displayed.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Thanks guys :). I've gotten tired of waiting for certain things to get Region 1 releases that have releases elsewhere, so this is a priority for me.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

I would almost consider going region-free, except I'd rather have region 1 titles.

Also, I'd like to have my collection future-proofed. Region-free DVD players might not be available or cheap ten years from now, and most the region free players are cheap ones that probably won't last long.

But, truth be told, I'd rather have full season sets. Just take the existing releases of Pertwee-McCoy, put them in slim cases, box those up, cut the prices down to $60 or so, and I'll bite.

Another option would be the custom case route, buy up all of the individual releases, and print out custom season covers, and then stick them in 1" multi-disc cases, but all of the custom covers for full seasons I've seen have been ugly and unappealing.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Region-free hacks for DVD players have been around for nearly 2 decades at this point, and there's several Blu-ray players that have remote hacks to make at least the DVD playback region free. It seems like the BDA have stricter guidelines in place to make going region-free for Blu-ray as easy, but it really doesn't look like the number of players that can go region free for DVD is going to dry up anytime soon.

I wonder if there's a restriction on season sets, like Warner would have to get approval from the BBC first. Certainly I could see BBC not wanting season sets in the UK while the singles still sell well, and low priced US sets could cause a reverse importing issue.

There's also the question of what to do with the incomplete seasons, since they couldn't be labeled "full" season sets, and there's always the slim chance that additional lost episodes could be discovered, which they'd likely want to release on their own first.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

There are, sorta, already two season releases of Classic Who. Both the Key to Time and Trial of a Timelord story arcs are complete seasons and were released together on DVD (Key was released twice!). I don't see why others couldn't be done.

As for Hartnell and Troughton's incomplete seasons, looking at the lists on the first page of this thread, Hartnell's first season is only missing Marco Polo (with animation for Reign), second is missing Crusade, 3-4-5 are pretty well gutted and 6 only needs animation for the Space Pirates. I suppose they could release these as they are but labeled as "volumes".

Looking at the last 3-4 seasons of Classic Who (under C. Baker and McCoy, the seasons look fairly short, I imagine they could do those pretty easily as complete sets. )

And it seems pretty fishy to me that the animation projects were stopped all of a sudden. Really makes me want to believe in the omni-rumour.

---------------

Off topic, but would any care to spoil for me how they ended the Sarah Jane spinoff? Were they planning for her passing?

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

It's important to note that those were released as complete seasons as the story arcs are complete seasons; the BBC releases complete story arcs, so those pretty much had to be season sets. As it is, Key to Time has a $100 MSRP, while Trial of a Timelord is about half the length of previous seasons and so is cheaper.

She passed away halfway through the production of a season, so the last episode produced doesn't end the series plotwise on any final note. They added a montage with a voiceover by Elisabeth Sladen (based on outtakes from a speech she gave in the pilot) to the end of the episode.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man...ane_Adventures)

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Thanks Jay.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

I just checked on amazon.co.uk, and it seems like pretty much all of the Doctor Who releases are available for around £6 to £8, which, even at the exchange rate is about $12 per release, even newer ones like Terror of the Zygons. Even Shada, which is $40 MSRP (and $26 on Amazon.com) is only £7.25 (which is about $12 US).

I might consider looking into this, though I'd still be looking at around $1300 for a complete set and I'm not sure, with the sheer volume of material and, thus, limited replay value, I'm willing to spend that much.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Luckily, when I was mulling over making the switch, I only had a handful of the R1 releases (20 or less), so I didn't have as many to offload/rebuy as someone who has a bunch of the R1s. As my investment in the range was (at that time) very small, it was a no-brainer for me (especially as I decided my upcoming purchase of an HDTV was going to be a multi-standard set).


I did alright selling my old discs on, but thanks to some of those now being OOP, I kinda wish I'd hung onto them so I'd have them to sell now (don't get me wrong, I appreciate the fact I was able to recoup my costs, and then some, but kinda wish I still had a "Two Doctors" to sell for a hundred-plus!).

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Where you really make out like a bandit is with the many, many multi-story boxsets that the UK got which we didn't ("Bred for War", the three "Revisitations" boxes, etc). I remember buying "Bred for War"--which contains the four Sontaran stories--for less than £10, making each of those stories work out to less than £2.50 each.

Combining the fact that multi-story boxes are inherently less expensive, plus the generous UK price drops, and it made the decision way easier!

You know, though, it wouldn't surprise me at all if (when the range is officially finished) the BBC were to go back and release season sets of all the colour episodes at a reduced price (in slimmer packaging) as another way to cash-in, at least in the UK, perhaps not here.

They did a similar thing with 'Steptoe and Son'. Released all the individual series in Amaray sized cases. Once all the series were out, they released a "complete" boxset in a DigiStack case which is about half the thickness of all those Amarays.

I have absolutely no proof anything like this would happen, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they started doing this to try and squeeze a few more pounds out of the franchise (to catch all those people who wouldn't dream of buying story-by-story). Then again, they may decide streaming/downloads are good enough for those people.

Sorry for the detour!

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

I ordered Doctor Who Series 7 on Blu-Ray for $29.99. Part of me says I shouldn't have done it because the past Matt Smith series have been $19.99, and they might release a set of Series 7+Day Of The Doctor+Time Of The Doctor. But they may not, and the Series 7 set includes 2 Christmas specials and I think 13 episodes. I hope I did the right thing.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Best Buy puts these Doctor Who sets on sale for $19.99 every six months or once a year; I wouldn't be shocked at all if season seven wasn't $19.99 come November. But you never know; they might not have them on sale again.

As for "Day of the Doctor" and "Time of the Doctor," I suspect that we'll see a 50th Anniversary boxed set coming out in the near future that contains Day of the Doctor, Day of the Doctor 3D, Time of the Doctor, And Adventure in Space and Time, and possibly some other never-before released content (such as The Five-ish Doctors). Just speculation, but this is the same way they released the David Tennant specials; those four specials were released individually and then combined into a boxed set.

I tend to doubt that they would re-release the complete seventh season with these specials. That's overkill even for the BBC. A 50th Anniversary box would include four or five discs worth of material, which is just about the right size and consistent with the other complete series sets.

Just speculation based on the history of these releases.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Classic Doctor Who is returning to the US airwaves via the channel RetroTV:
http://www.myretrotv.com/news/-retro...ramming-lineup

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Although too bad it's not on a national cable network (or even a digital broadcaster with bigger affiliate base, like MeTV or Antenna TV), this is far more potential viewership for the classic series than the 1980s (until this deal, only one PBS station in Washington is broadcasting the classic series).

I don't have a Retro TV affiliate close enough to me to get signal, but I have my DVDs to keep me happy. Good news for those who can get it, though.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

KPTS, the public television station in Wichita, KS, started running the Tom Baker Doctor Whos a couple of months ago. Looks like they're only doing one half-hour a week, though.

Not sure why this isn't on BBC America. It might cut into all of the Top Gear and Star Trek The Next Generation they play.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

NJ is the worst state for cable....

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Do you think we will know the contents of a Series 8 Blu-Ray/DVD release before December of this year?

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Ah, KPTS. They were a really, really good home to classic sci-fi shows back in the day (the '80s). I recall they aired uncut prints of Space: 1999, among other things (until the DVDs came along, VHS tapes of their airings of this were in my collection).


Long before the New Series started, the classic episodes were a part of their schedule.

Like the Sci-Fi Channel and FX (and many others) before them, they've pretty much abandoned old reruns of almost any sort and are only interested in "new" or "original" programming.

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Finished my collection. I don't have the blu-ray of Spearhead from Space and I have the old dvd of Vengeance on Varos rather than the newer special edition. I might try to get the Spearhead bluray during the next B&N 50% off sale.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ps98a65a5a.jpg

Re: The One & Only DOCTOR WHO DVD Thread (8th Incarnation)
 

Is that everything? Cause it looks like the size of my collection but I'm still missing a bit.