Doctor Who DVDS

Here is a title that everyone can contribute to.

I just saw the news that the Key To Time Season is being released on Region 2 DVD this year. (Region 2 for any of us that dont know, is the European format, and not comapatible with ours which is Region 1)

The report went on to further say that it was going to have the "extras it has always deserved".

No mention of whether we would eventually get the souped up version of the DVD's or not. But if anyone else gets any info let me know, so I can sell mine off now and save for the new edition

And for anyone interested there is an official website for the restoration team. Let me know if anyone wants to see it and I will post it.

Since everyone was getting itchy about that sort of stuff I will wait till someone says go ahead to do it.

Well, phooey.
I try to avoid buying the same thing twice. If it comes here I will probably do without., as I am constantly running a year behind on the DVDs anyway.

Looks like the restoration team is going to take their time and do a 'proper' restoration on them. It might be worth an upgrade from the R1 set.
I'm sure they'll have a bit of extra money to put toward extras, already having the commentaries for them done.

Like Calixar wrote, already have them and no longer in the habit of buying the same thing again. Will most likely pass on this one.

The initial release of the Key to Time season, I'm told, really helped out the DW dvd sales and put Doctor Who solidly on the shelf in the US market. "Proper restoration" really won't make a visible difference, as they were in good shape to beging with.

I doubt another version of the season box set will appear in the US, nor would be be neccessary.

What would be nice is if the R2 extras were made available as a promo or mail-order DVD for US fans. Perhaps even an Amazon or Big Finish promo or something?

rplath wrote:

I doubt another version of the season box set will appear in the US, nor would be be neccessary.

May not be necessary, but I think they will show up here in the US, just to try to get more money from us.

Not sure what was on the NA set...but here's the official release of what's on this one...
Extras revealed for epic box set.

Quote :

The Key to Time, starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, is a seven-DVD box set containing the six linked stories of Doctor Who's 16th season, along with a huge array of extras.

In The Key to Time, the Doctor and his new companion, Time Lady Romana (Mary Tamm) are dispatched by the White Guardian to recover the six segments of a powerful device with the ability to stop time.

The six stories that make up The Key To Time are as follows:

The Ribos Operation: The Doctor and Romana trace the first segment of the Key to Time to the planet Ribos, where they encounter two con artists who are engaged in a scam to sell the entire planet to the Graff Vynda-K, deposed ruler of Levithia.

Extras include:

* Commentary with Tom Baker and Mary Tamm.
* A Matter of Time - the flagship documentary of this box set explores Graham Williams' three year tenure as Doctor Who's producer.
* The Ribos File - cast and crew look back at the making of this story.
* Continuities - off-air continuity links from the story's original BBC1 transmission.
* Season 16 Trailer.
* Photo Gallery.
* Coming Soon.
* Radio Times Listings.
* Programme subtitles. Subtitle Production Notes.

The Pirate Planet: Douglas Adams penned this episode in which the tracer detects the second segment on the planet Calufrax. The TARDIS makes a bumpy landing, and the Doctor and Romana soon discover that they are not on Calufrax at all.

Extras Include:

* Commentary 1 - With Bruce Purchase and director Pennant Roberts.
* Commentary 2 -With Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and script editor Anthony Read.
* Parrot Fashion - cast and crew look back at the making of this story.
* Film Inserts, Deleted Scenes and Outtakes - a collection of extra material from the story's production.
* Weird Science - a spoof seventies schools science show looks at some the science seen in 'The Key to Time'.
* Continuities - off-air continuity links from the story's original BBC1 transmission.
* Photo Gallery.
* Coming Soon.
* Radio Times Listings.
* Programme subtitles. Subtitle Production Notes.

The Stones of Blood: The search for the third segment of the Key leads the Doctor and Romana to the English countryside and an ancient stone circle called The Nine Travellers. But the third segment is nowhere to be found.

Extras Include:

* Commentary 1 - With Mary Tamm and director Darrol Blake.
* Commentary 2 - With Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Susan Engel and writer David Fisher.
* Getting Blood from the Stones - cast and crew look back at the making of this story.
* Hammer Horror - looks at the influences of horror films on Doctor Who stories down the years.
* Stones Free - Mary Tamm visits the Rollright Stones location used in the story to meet local experts on this ancient stone circle.
* Deleted Scenes - deleted scenes from episode two.
* Continuities - off-air continuity links from the story's original BBC1 transmission.
* Model World - an excerpt from The Model World of Robert Symes looks at the model work for this story, with designer Mat Irvine.
* Blue Peter - the famous children's show looks back at the history of Doctor Who on the show's fifteen anniversary.
* Nationwide - the BBC1 news magazine programme looks back on 15 years of Doctor Who.
* Photo Gallery.
* Coming Soon.
* Radio Times Listings.
* Programme subtitles.
* Subtitle Production Notes.

The Androids of Tara: The tracer brings the TARDIS to the planet Tara. Romana finds the fourth segment disguised as part of a statue, but is then taken prisoner by Count Grendel of Gracht.

Extras Include:

* Commentary - With Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and director Michael Hayes.
* The Humans of Tara - cast and crew look back at the making of this story.
* Now and Then - The Androids of Tara - comparing and contrasting present day locations as they are now with how they appeared in the story.
* Double Trouble - a brief history of 'doubles' in Doctor Who.
* Photo Gallery.
* Coming Soon.
* Radio Times Listings.
* Programme subtitles.
* Subtitle Production Notes.

The Power of Kroll: The search for the fifth segment of the Key to Time lands the Doctor and Romana in danger. The Doctor is shot and Romana is kidnapped.

Extras Include:

* Commentary - With Tom Baker and John Leeson.
* In Studio - a fascinating glimpse inside the studio recording of the story, recovered from timecoded monochrome production recordings.
* Variations - a BBC local news programme visits the story location during filming.
* There's Something About Mary - Mary Tamm looks back at her single-season starring role as the Doctor's companion.
* Philip Madoc - A Villain for All Seasons - a retrospective of actor Philip Madoc's numerous roles as a Doctor Who villain down the years.
* Continuities - off-air continuity links from the story's original BBC1 transmission.
* Photo Gallery - design, production and publicity stills for the story.
* Coming Soon.
* Radio Times Listings.
* Programme subtitles. Subtitle Production Notes.

The Armageddon Factor: The search for the Sixth (and last) Segment of the Key to Time bring the Doctor, Romana and K9 to the planet Atrios, where they encounter a interplanetary war and Princess Astra.

Extras Include:

Disc 1

* Commentary 1 -With Mary Tamm, John Woodvine and director Michael Hayes.
* Commentary 2 - With Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and John Leeson.
* Coming Soon.
* 1979 Doctor Who Annual.
* Radio Times Listings.
* Programme subtitles.
Subtitle Production Notes.

Disc 2

* Defining Shadows - cast and crew look back at the making of this story.
* Alternative / Extended Scene - taken from a timecoded monochrome studio recording.
* Directing Who - Michael Hayes looks back on his directing career on Doctor Who.
* Rogue Time Lords - a potted history of errant Time Lords.
* Pebble Mill at One - Tom Baker interviewed on the long-running lunchtime magazine show in 1978.
* Radiophonic Feature - a Pebble Mill at One interview with Dick Mills and Brian Hodgson looking at Radiophonic music and effects in Doctor Who.
* The New Sound of Music - sound effects supremo Dick Mills talks about creating a Doctor Who sound effects in this extract.
* Merry Christmas, Doctor Who- a special Christmas sketch, recorded on the set of 'The Armageddon Factor' for the BBC Christmas Tape that year.
* Continuities - off-air continuity links from the story's original BBC1 transmission.
* Photo Gallery.
* Late Night Story - Tom Baker reads five spine-chilling stories from this 1978 series - The Photograph, The Emissary, Nursery Tea, The End of the Party and Sredni Vashtar.
* Easter Egg.

The Key To Time box set is released on 24 September 2007.

FYI a thing like Region X for regular DVD players or your player's unlock code will allow you to watch any region on your player. Most DVD drives on CPU's are not locked to one region.

what is on the current US version are the 1st commentaries. The Pirate Planet was the only one that had a second feature, the behind the scenes bits. They all had pop up production notes and the now discontinued who's who.

I will definitely be buying, only because the new extras make it worth it. They are sometimes more interesting than the actual stories, can anyone say Power of Kroll? :doc4:

This comes directly from Steve Manfred's excellent site:
www.doctorwhodvdfaq.com

Looks like I was wrong about the release of Key to Time, as it WILL be coming ...

THE FUTURE OF “THE KEY TO TIME”

In 2002, North America saw the release of The Key to Time box set, containing all 6 stories from the series’ 16th season featuring Tom Baker’s

Doctor searching the universe for the six segments of the all-powerful Key to Time. This release was exclusive to North America Region 1.



In late September of this year, BBC Video/2entertain in the UK will release a new Region 2 edition of The Key to Time over there. This new

edition contains many more extras than the 2002 Region 1 edition did, as well as more extensive restoration. BBC Worldwide

Americas intend to release this new version in North America (Region 1) as well sometime in 2008 when its normal turn in the rotation would

come up, and that when they do, the 2002 version will be withdrawn from the market.

That is why I will feel no guilt about downloading these discs when they are "available" online.

JohnP wrote:

That is why I will feel no guilt about downloading these discs when they are "available" online.

Normally I'd disagree with you, but in this case I Just can't. This is absolute BS! It's bad enough these dvds cost an arm and a leg, but now they're going to re-release them too.

Tuf wrote:

This is absolute BS! It's bad enough these dvds cost an arm and a leg, but now they're going to re-release them too.

I'll not debate price with you, nor will I debate the seeming scam of being continually recharged by any entertainment media. With that said though, this is nothing new...

I love Led Zeppelin. Their albums were released years ago. When the media became available they were released to cassette, then DVD. Eventually Page learned that by using newer technology he could take the master recordings and eliminate the hisses and pops and any other imperfections. They re-released songs on a 3 disc set. More work led to more songs and they released another 2 disc set. Eventually they restored all of their albums and released a complete box set. I won't go into extra recordings discovered here and there. Do you know anyone who still listens to vinyl and says "I bought 'em once already."

While a different media this is the same principle. We have gone through media changes in video, and now they're going from analog to digital to High Def. Would you honestly say your original Key to Time set will hold up past 1080(i)(p)? They know a lot of people will feel ripped off, so look at everything extra they went and dug up to put on these discs. Hell, the last two discs are worthy of a $50 stand alone set themselves.

If you want to stay with "vinyl" that's a choice, but let's not rail against them for this or future releases because their bean counters are making an extra buck from us. I want them to keep working at making it the best they can, and like most I want it along the way, not when it's completely the last version ever. I look forward to the day I can sit in the living room and view an experience that would make Tom Baker say "I was there that day and it didn't look this good."

I can see upgrading to a different media but this is simply not the case. I bought all of the stories when they came out on vhs and I've bought all of them on dvd. I have no problem with that. But these dvds are the same stories already released with a few extras. As somebody already brought up, why can't they just release the extras on a disc or two and just sell them?

As of yet, there is no word that this new edition will ever become a USA DVD release.

There never was a UK release, only the original USA season set release with a few bonus exras. It is now a couple years past the original USA release and the Restoration Team has gotten ahold of the masters, cleaned them up, located and created lots of bonus materials, and now will do a full UK release.

I'm glad I passed on buying the first release of this set, now it's just one more dvd set to look forward to.