Classic Doctor Who DVDs reversible covers

[Takeru]

I just got The Green Death Special Edition ans The Ice Warriors and noticed that they have reversible covers that don't feature the purple BBC logo, I had no idea! I checked the other purple logo DVDs and they all have reversible covers! Why didn't anyone tell me, I feel so stupid.

It always annoyed me that the covers of the newer DVDs looked different. I'm going to flip them all.

 

[diankra]

Some of the Missing Story soundtrack CDs also have reversible covers; BBC Audio had made a change to their overall design, but after complaints from fans they started using the old design on the reverse so old and new releases would look consistent in story order on shelves.
The K9 and Company DVD also has a reversible cover, one side with a unique design as K9 & Company, the other using the standard Doctor Who style as if it was a Who story.

 

[Takeru]

It's nice that they did that, do all soundtrack releases have matching covers now or is there a gap between them changing the look and starting reversible covers that was never closed?

I knew about the K9 cover because there was a sticker on the DVD but I never thought about checking the others.

I spend the last 30 minutes reversing all new covers, turns out the stupid "creature from the pit" DVD is the only one without a reversible cover.

 

[Green Lantern]

Oh yeah, I noticed that a while back. I reversed them all as I prefer the older design. It all blends in together better.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

I've never bothered changing any of mine. I had a Who VHS shelf and a Who book shelf that looked like patchwork quilts for years, so a lack of conformity is part of the process as far as I'm concerned.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Big Finish has been doing the same thing for the last few years for their audio plays (main range, companion chronicles, Fourth Doctor adventures, at least), flipping between the Big Finish-style logo and the logo of that era.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

With Big Finish, it's the inserts that have reversible covers - not just the logos, even the lettering is in the correct fonts for each era. (Though the Tom Baker audios use the stupid red and orange coloured merchandise version of the diamond logo, not the blue one from the actual title seqeunce.) Now I don't mind reversing the inserts, because it's great having the correct logo for each Doctor, and it's not done for OCD reasons of having everything look the same on the shelf. Indeed, Big Finish don't have reversible spines anyway - so the shelf looks like a right jumble - in fact they've changed the style of the spine lettering several times over the years, and there's nothing that reversible inserts can do to change that.

 

[Rarewolf]

It's nice that they did that, do all soundtrack releases have matching covers now or is there a gap between them changing the look and starting reversible covers that was never closed?

There's two gaps, the Cybermen set containing The Invasion and Tenth Planet, and the Silurian/Sea Devil set. But if you only have mostly missing stories those aren't so much a concern.

I spend the last 30 minutes reversing all new covers, turns out the stupid "creature from the pit" DVD is the only one without a reversible cover.

Actually it does, or rather it did. Just seems to have got lost in a more recent reprinting.

Most fans mock the need for the reversable cover, I for one am glad of it. Apparently when it started it was so they could do a more drastic change of style but that seemed to have got called off.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

They haven't done that for the American releases have they?

As for the Big Finish audios, I gave up on them completely fitting in when I listened to the early ones and they used the Seasons 1-17 version of the theme song even though all of the Doctors featured were from Seasons 19-26.

 

[Lance]

Most fans mock the need for the reversable cover, I for one am glad of it. Apparently when it started it was so they could do a more drastic change of style but that seemed to have got called off.

It's a pity they never followed through with this. I've always felt the Region 1 covers were better because the artwork has room to 'breathe' without the grey roundel thing blocking out half the image, and the two most recent ones ("The Enemy of the World" and "The Web of Fear") look fantastic as well.

I for one would've approved of a change of style. And for those for whom the older style mattered, the reversible sleeves would have made for a pleasant alternative.

It was cool that the recent Red Dwarf series 10 release had a reversible cover that matched the preceeding volumes as well, for those that wanted them all to match. It's nice when DVD production companies consider the fanbase that way.

 

[StalwartUK]

I always liked the look of the US DVDs more too. Less grey and no blasted BBFC logos especially on the spines, some have them and some don't. Also I think the US ones have the story number on them too whereas the UK ones don't.

Still it's better than what the Australians get. Their rating logos end up taking up the entire bottom and the artwork is crammed into a narrow space in the middle.

 

[Lance]

Still it's better than what the Australians get. Their rating logos end up taking up the entire bottom and the artwork is crammed into a narrow space in the middle.

Being in Australia at the moment, I've got a mixture of UK and AUS discs, and while they do look eclectic on the shelf, the fact that the template is basically the same means they don't look nearly as odd sitting there together as we'd imagine.

I always liked the look of the US DVDs more too. Less grey and no blasted BBFC logos especially on the spines, some have them and some don't. Also I think the US ones have the story number on them too whereas the UK ones don't.

Yeah, I also like how the US covers have got a pleasingly 'retro' vibe that comes from them basically carrying over the VHS cover template.

But the cover art definitely has more opportunity to 'breathe' without the grey blocks, and as you said the story numbers are a neat touch too.