Own It Today On Blu-ray Disc Or DVD
Own It Today On Blu-ray Disc Or DVD
Doctor Who: The Complete Specials
Media: 5-Disc Blu-ray Disc and DVD Sets (Sold Separately)
Genre: Science Fiction Space Opera
Episodes: The Next Doctor, Planet Of The Dead, The Waters Of Mars, The End Of Time, Part One, The End Of Time, Part Two
Stars: David Tennant, David Morrissey, Michelle Ryan, Lindsay Duncan, Bernard Cribbins, John Simm, Timothy Dalton, and Catherine Tate
Writers: Russell T. Davies, Gareth Roberts, and Phil Ford
Directors: Andy Goddard, James Strong, Graeme Harper, and Euros Lyn
Executive Producers: Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner
Extras: Doctor Who Confidential For All Five Episodes, Doctor Who At The Proms, David Tennant Video Diary – The Final Days, Doctor Who BBC Idents, Audio Commentary With David Tennant, Catherine Tate, John Simms, and Euros Lyn, Doctor Who At Comic-Con, Deleted Scenes With Introduction From Russell T Davies
Blu-ray Disc/DVD Language And Sound Options: English DTS-HD High Resolution Sound/English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf and Hearing Impaired
Episode Chapter Stops: 12 Each
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
Sci-fi fans will remember the decade that was the 2000s as a decade when three science fiction franchises people had seemingly written off came back stronger than ever. The SCI FI Channel, now called SyFy, hosted the enormously successful re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series while J.J. Abrams successfully reinvigorated Star Trek on the big screen in a way that paid respect to all that had come before it and even left a door open for stories that take place in the original timeline to be told in whatever media is made available and still there is a brave new world for Star Trek fans to discover. Even older than Star Trek as a franchise is the BBC series Doctor Who, which saw a return to television that continued onward from the original television series that ran from 1963 through 1989 and had a 1996 American and BBC television co-production TV movie. While there has been no official passing of the TARDIS from the Eighth Doctor Paul McGann to Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston, at least as far as I know, it seems to be a tradition that when The Doctor regenerates the previous Doctor is present as we witness his transformation from one incarnation to the next. This is how the BBC has been able to keep the show going with carefully selected actors to portray The Doctor with each actor bringing his own sensibility to the character while maintaining certain attributes The Doctor generally carries about his personality that include a sense of wonder and a keen intellect that is sometimes hidden behind The Doctor’s eccentricities. Above all things though, The Doctor is humanitarian has a knack for bringing the best out of his companions as well as turning up at specific moments in space and time where his expertise is needed.
Credit must be given to Writer and Producer Russell T. Davies for reinvigorating the franchise with the love and care of a true fan of the series itself and bringing in modern elements to make it appeal to a new generation as well as previous generations of fans worldwide and he inserted some humor into it as well, which was something the series had with previous incarnations, like The Fourth Doctor played by Tom Baker, who is still to this day the most popular and universally recognizable version of the Time Lord to have ever appeared on the small screen, at least in the USA anyway. Since the end of the first series entitled The Parting Of Ways, David Tennant has portrayed The Tenth Doctor, but while there were other reasons professionally for Tennant choosing not stay on as the character for another full series, I like to think that no one can deny the opportunity of playing The Doctor to another Actor because the experience is so damn fun that it transcends any sort petty emotions like miserliness over being the character itself, which is as much of an icon of sci-fi as anything seen in Star Trek or even Star Wars. So after the fourth series, which was Tennant’s third as The Doctor, five live action TV specials were produced that aired on BBC America in the States. The first four series aired on what is now SyFy and BBC America, but I believe the new series featuring The Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, will premiere stateside on BBC America. Tennant does pass The TARDIS to Smith at the very end of the final TV special, as was the case between Eccleston and Tennant at the end of the first series.
The five specials, which aired abroad as what has become the annual Christmas special in 2008, included an Easter special in 2009, a Thanksgiving timed special in 2009, and the two-part finale airing on Christmas 2009 and New Years 2010 respectively. Please note that while I’ve identified American holidays with the time in which the specials aired, Planet Of The Dead, The Waters Of Mars, The End Of Time, Part One and The End Of Time, Part Two have nothing to do with the holidays themselves. The Next Doctor just happens to take place during the holiday season in England, circa 1851. This special features Actor David Morrissey, who some fans had mentioned he was under consideration to play The Doctor and in a way he does, but he is a man traumatized by the actions of Cybermen, who have escaped from the void using Dalek technology to mid 19th Century England with the intention of assimilating the population and creating the steam powered CyberKing? Somehow this Doctor believes he is The Doctor, but uses 19th Century technology with familiar sounding names and even has a companion too.
Planet Of The Dead stars the lovely Michelle Ryan as an expert super-thief who ends up with the Doctor and a bunch of others traveling through a gateway to a desert world aboard a red double-decker bus only to find out that they are not alone as a ravenous species prepares to attack the Earth. The Waters Of Mars stars the elegant Lindsay Duncan, who fans of the HBO original series ROME will recognize, as a woman whose actions are destined to shape the course of human history, but in order to do so The Doctor must not interfere with history, which has her written off as dead, but considered her to be a role model for generations to come. The events of this special open up for the final two-part episode, which brings back John Simms, Catherine Tate, and Bernard Cribbons along with a host of other Actors in cameos as the Tenth Doctor’s Adventures come to a close. Timothy Dalton brings great gravitas as Rassilon, perhaps the most recognizable name of a Time Lord outside of The Doctor and his arch nemesis The Master. Brian Cox provides the voice for an eldar telepathic alien called the Ood. The end is poignant, but as any Doctor Who fans knows, it is always possible for The Doctor to encounter one of his past and or future selves or as they say “in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, death is never final.”
Bernard Cribbins who plays Wilfred Mott in the two-part The End Of Time episode has had the distinction of working with many fine actors and filmmakers on both the big and small screen and in addition to his recurring role in Doctor Who; he auditioned for the role of playing The Doctor himself. This role ultimately went to Tom Baker, but Cribbins was no stranger to Doctor Who even then because he played s Police Constable who attempts to call in a robbery and accidentally walks into the TARDIS thinking it is a Police Box. From there he has an adventure with The Doctor as played by Peter Cushing in Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150A.D. That film was based on a First Doctor serial though it has no continuity with the TV series and in fact never was never intended too since it was a sequel to an earlier film where Cushing played a human being literally called Doctor Who rather than a Time Lord from another planet.
The Next Doctor was shot in standard definition. Unlike the spin-off Torchwood, which was recorded in HD from the beginning, Doctor Who did not actually start shooting in HD until the second special Planet Of The Dead so as a result the first special is presented in upconverted 1080/60p despite being recorded on to a Blu-ray Disc. While the episode looks quite good, one can see a definite improvement in detail and color saturation with the other specials, which are presented in up to true 1080/24p where available. The Next Doctor also features the BBC broadcast of Doctor Who At The Proms, which is a concert featuring the composer of the series music and a full orchestra and even has a bonus short that plays during concert called Doctor Who: The Music Of The Spheres with David Tennant seeming to react at the audience to give the allusion of a true interactive experience between the audience and The Doctor.
There are Doctor Who Confidential specials for all five programs and audio commentary with David Tennant, Catherine Tate, John Simms, and Euros Lyn. Simms participates in the second half of the commentary and Tennant comments when asked if he gave any advice to the new Doctor, Matt Smith, he remarks that he didn’t have to and was amazed how talented the 27-year-old successor is. The bulk of the bonus features presented in either standard or high definition include David Tennant’s Video Diary – The Final Days, Doctor Who BBC Idents, Doctor Who At Comic-Con, and a reel of deleted scenes with introductions from Russell T Davies. These extra value features are spread out across the final two discs and are otherwise identical to the standard definition DVD release. The episodes on both standard definition DVD and Blu-ray Disc look excellent, but the added detail of the HD picture quality reveals certain gaps in character makeup, particularly with the green skinned aliens featured in the two-part finale. DTS HD High Resolution 5.1 Surround Sound is provided for the five episodes on Blu-ray while the DVD features a well-rounded English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack. A beautifully photographed episode guide containing liner notes comes inside the glossy five-disc Digipack gatefold that is housed in a glossy cardboard slipcase for both the Blu-ray Disc and DVD release. There was a CGI animated special featuring David Tennant as The Doctor entitled Dreamland that was not included in this release. Hopefully it will be made available on DVD or as a Blu-ray double feature along with the other Doctor Who animated special produced during Series Three, but only available on DVD separately, The Infinite Quest. While I’m at it, I wish the BBC would release the lone TV movie with Paul McGann at the Eigth Doctor entitled simply, Doctor Who: The Movie.
Doctor Who: The Complete Specials 5-Disc Set is available now on both Blu-ray Disc and DVD, but sold separately at retailers on and offline courtesy of BBC Video.
© Copyright 2010 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Own It Today On Blu-ray Disc Or DVD