Tom Baker Season 12 Blu-ray

That list of features does sound tempting to try.

Just hoping the "remastered" versions aren't 16:9 cropped pictures that BBC America plans on showing on air.

Here is a list of the features (at least as of now):

   Existing Extras:
       Existing bonus material from the original DVD's

   Brand New Bonus Features:
       Brand new one hour candid interview: 'Tom Baker in conversation'
       Behind The Sofa: classic clips from Season 12 viewed by Tom Baker, Philip Hinchcliffe, Louise Jameson, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Sadie Miller
       New making-of documentaries for 'The Sontaran Experiment' and 'Revenge of the Cybermen'
       Optional brand new updated special effects for Revenge of the Cybermen
       Genesis of the Daleks: omnibus movie version
       The Tom Baker Years: VHS release on disc for the first time
   Production archive material and scripts from the BBC Archives
   Some other archive treats to be announced

Still no confirmation on the video format yet...

While there hasn't been an article on the Restoration Team website, I've slogged through dozens of forum pages where members of the Restoration Team have been making comments on this set.

Yes, it looks like the Restoration Team is behind the remastering of these episodes.  They're going back to clean and re-grade episodes again and are making the transfers to HD themselves.  So that's all good news and it's not "Mill Creek Entertainment" just trying to upscale the Region 1 DVDs or bizarre cut-down aspect ratios.  Plus there appears to be tons of new features that Rogue listed on the last page.  I've also seen mention that two serials will get 5.1 Audio mixes on Mark Ayers' Twitter feed.

A non-restoration team member indicated they would be in 50i (50 frames per second interlaced) for the UK market.  So now the only question is how will the discs be modified for the US market since I guess we use 60i as our default frame rate for Blu-Ray.  I guess that's where Region A could get a mixed up conversion and where we sometimes complain about shows running fast and needing pitch correction?  That all gets a bit technical so I'll wait for one of the experts to dumb it down for me and say if it's been properly converted or not.  Although I haven't had much complaint on past releases other than the end credits for Red Dwarf Series XII.

So it's now pretty certain that I'll go for this set.  Just need to see if there are comments on the Region A mastering that cause any hesitation to purchase.

If only because of all the space my collection takes up I would be interested in getting this set. Of course I have to make sure these are 'better' than my current ones, because I will sell those off to help pay for it.

The 5.1 Audio mix sounds interesting, not read or heard that one any where else. I will assume they now have all the "build material" necessary to remake the serials in 5.1?

50i, the i being for interlaced? That's too bad, as progressive would look better

I believe on UK TVs 50i looks better

Bob1963 wrote:

The 5.1 Audio mix sounds interesting, not read or heard that one any where else.  I will assume they now have all the "build material" necessary to remake the serials in 5.1?

Restoration Team Retweeted
Mark Ayres @MarkAyresRWS

I am currently working on "IMMERSIVE 5.1 SURROUND SOUND MIXES"! Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 12 coming to Blu-ray boxset | Articles | Doctor Who

I'm not great at linking to Tweets, but you get the idea. I wouldn't think they still had all the raw materials to build a 5.1 audio track, but maybe they have enough to cheat it.

They might be simply remixing the finished product in 5.1 which is technically a cheat. Mark A did all those music only CDs but said to remake them in stereo he needed the original music cues to do it. But if they are simply taking the whole story and converting it as is that could be technically called cheating.

Now if we get new music only CDs like Survival then we know that they have the original music tapes

Tom Baker Season 1 Blu-Ray: JUNE 19

For the first time ever, fan favorite Tom Baker's first season in Doctor Who is available in one collection, newly remastered in brilliant Blu-ray quality with 5.1 audio, available on 6/19!
Tom Baker's acclaimed first season as the Fourth Doctor, originally aired in 1975/76. With his best friend Sarah Jane Smith and new companion Harry, the Doctor pits his wits against a giant robot, the insect Wirrn, Cybermen, Sontarans and Daleks. Twenty episodes, specially restored for Blu-Ray and packed with new and old special features. Build your own archive of classic Doctor Who seasons with this six-disc special boxset.

Includes five Tom Baker Stories:
-Revenge of the Cybermen
-Ark in Space
-Robot
-The Sontaran Experiment
-Genesis of the Daleks

Newly remastered in high definition with 5.1 audio
First time classic Doctor Who will be available in full season set
First time on Blu-ray; single DVD skus on moratorium
Features all new bonus content including newly recorded interviews with Tom Baker

I just put up my single dvd sets up on ebay so I can defer the cost of buying this new set. Looking forward to the new content and watching Revenge of the Cybermen with CGI FX.

Recommended Retail: $69.99

Not a bad price $69.99. Will still wait and see what it looks like before making a final decision tor quadruple dip.

Sadly for those of us who have been around Dr. Who for a while

Ill give this example of my personal video history of collecting The Ark in Space

1 VHS T-120 Tape 1970's PBS of Commercial TV broadcast with Howard Da Silva NTSC
2 VHS T-120 Tape PBS broadcast NTSC
3 VHS Omnibus BBC Video (1980's) PAL
4 VHS Complete & unedited (1990's) PAL
5 DVD Release (2000's) R2 + 4 PAL
6 DVD Special edition R2 + 4 pal (2010 ish).


Now if I did not have them on the shelf I would jump at this, now the BBC is not going to suck me in a 5th time unless it looks like the Blue Rays of Star Trek (1966) and Lost in Space (1965) BD release

2 major sites have moved the date up to JUNE 26th In America. Listing is for limited edition packaging

I read a post on F B from one of the people involved I the new set that while pre orders are doing well in the United Kingdom here in the United States they are not doing well at all. They need to see more pre orders in advance or release instead of closer or after the release date.

No reason was given for this

I planned to wait until late may to order... Guess I will have to preorder next paycheck.

If it were me I would pre order when I am ready to pre order, not when I am told to pre order, especially if they take the money in advance.

I suspect they wont get to start on the next series of Blue Rays if they don't get enough sales off the bat. That is just a guess and I have nothing to back it up. Just surprised there concerned about a lack of pre sales in the USA. There primary market is after all the United Kingdom / Australia / New Zealand

Since they only officially announced this title for order yesterday, I don't know how anyone can say the pre-orders are not meeting expectations. We just got the Warner email yesterday. We found the "dummy" holder by chance over a month ago, but it wasn't even announced at that time.

And if the makers understand anything about most buyers of Blu and DVD, we usually wait for a sale so we can save a few bucks, which we will put towards future purchases.

Who North America wrote:

Since they only officially announced this title for order yesterday, I don't know how anyone can say the pre-orders are not meeting expectations. We just got the Warner email yesterday. We found the "dummy" holder by chance over a month ago, but it wasn't even announced at that time.

It was a member of the Doctor Who Restoration Team who posted about American Sales. My private opinion is that is that the BBC Worldwide are looking at American Pre Orders to help decide to continue releasing these sets and like in 1986 American sales of these series to PBS stations kept the show running for another three years.

I am also curious why they are so concerned about American Sales when the UK / Australia / New Zealand is there primary target. One would think BBC World Wide America's would be the ones concerned about American sales

If they are going to look at USA pre orders, even after the 'official' announcement, it's the wrong factor to look at.

The blu rays are not a 'new' product, they are an upgrade to the existing dvd's. The question is simply: is the upgrade worth it?

I think a lot of people (myself included) are not going to blind buy this set on a pre-order, but are going to wait until it's released, and see what those who did say about it online. THOSE comments/reviews are going to be the make or break of actual interest in ordering the set.

If people say it's a big jump in the video quality and was worth the upgrade, the hold outs will commit and there will be a surge in sales AFTER release. If the video quality is simply on par with dvd, or better-but not a big difference... all the people that already have the dvds will not have much reason to upgrade.

The one great thing about the Blu-Ray sets, as a retailer, is that we get new series fans ALL THE TIME who want to buy a complete season of the classic Doctors (some even ask if there is a set with everything, lol). The Blu-Ray sets are fabulous for the New Series fans because they don't want individual stories and they don't understand why they are released in that fashion. Classic fans are used to it from the VHS days.

Will who north be posting this item as a pre order or selling it on the day of release?

When we get closer, we will take pre-orders, but we have our initial order in so they can see what we are picking up.

From a business perspective is it possible that BBC World Wide were not happy with the initial amount that Warner pre ordered from them? I only ask as I have had contact with members of the Doctor Who Restoration Team since the 1990's when they first re mastered the VHS release of The War Machines. I have stayed in touch with them threw the years and several are even face book friends.

I don't believe one would intentionally post that information had it been incorrect which is what makes me think.

Yes this is great for Nu Who fans but its kind of obvious that they need us Classic Series fans to buy it again to make the range viable. Now I would consider a Blue Ray of Revenge of the Cybermen if it were available stand alone so I could test the waters and see how it looks on BD and check out the up graded special effects to see if its worth it to continue buying.


Reality is the BBC needs Classic series fans to re buy (there are lots of us still around) Nu Who fans alone purchasing may not be enough to support this range ?