My wish for classic Doctor Who on Blu Ray

[Marcello Cristiano]

I wish 2/Entertain would release TOM's and the rest of the Doctors episodes by seasons on BluRay, instead of releasing them individually(which they've been doing on DVD). It takes FOREVER to collect the show when the stories are released seperately. Doctor Who has got to be the only show that's having it's episodes released individually. Although, I can see why 2/Entertain is doing it. It is making them more money. Hopefully we'll get Doctor Who released by seasons sometime in the future. If 2/Entertain does that, I'll finally buy myself a BluRay player.

[The Weary Professor]

Marcello,

I share your dismay over the agonising wait between classic Dr. Who DVD releases. To be fair to the Dr. Who Restoration Team and 2Entertain/BBC, they do load most of them up to the gills with special features. No other classic television series that I am aware of gets this royal treatment for each and every story arc. I feel they are well worth the price, but wouldn't mind if they could dispense with a bit of bonus material for each and offer us more episodes per year.

Since the BBC shot the episodes on a mix of both film (for location shooting) and video (studio material), the masters are really hit or miss in terms of quality. The Doctor Who Restoration Team maintained a website (alas, no longer updated) where they detailed their obsessive and Herculean efforts to restore/upgrade the material for DVD. I imagine it would be an even greater ordeal preparing the material for an HD release. It may not even be possible in the case of the video studio material, which exists at a fixed and rather low resolution, although the location film footage would no doubt benefit from the clarity.

There are many other good reasons to buy a blu-ray player. Here in the states, some players are less than $100 and quite a few good films may be had for as little as $7.99. If you have a high definition set, then I encourage you to make the leap. Many blu-rays even come packaged with DVD versions now, so you can easily compare them. The difference can be staggering.

All best,
The Weary Professor

[Marcello Cristiano]

Dear Weary Professor:

Hello! You're quite right. I agree with you about the special features on the DVD releases, they have been magnificent! Especially the commentaries and documentaries.

Speaking of a BluRay player, I've been tempted of late to buy one, just to see what the new Doctor Who series looks like in HD. So I may get one sooner than I expected.

It's a pleasure to meet you BTW, Professor! See you around this beautiful place!