Dreamland - Region 1 DVD announced

[23skidoo]

If you're in North America and having David Tennant withdrawal, BBC Video just announced it's issuing the animated Tenth Doctor serial Dreamland to DVD in May:

http://www.TVShowsOnDVD.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=13262

Apparently, according to the report while the show itself is only the length of a standard episode, this is being released on 2 discs with a version of Doctor Who's Greatest Moments (a 3-part documentary the BBC aired last fall) included as a bonus.

Georgia Moffett (Jenny, the Doctor's daughter, but here playing one-off companion Cassie) and Trek/Tron veteran David Warner also provide voiceover work.

Alex

 

[wamdue]

2 discs? seems like a waste of DVDs, it is only the length of a standard episode, are DVD not capable of holding 3 x 1hour & 1 x 45 minutes

 

[23skidoo]

2 discs? seems like a waste of DVDs, it is only the length of a standard episode, are DVD not capable of holding 3 x 1hour & 1 x 45 minutes

Doctor Who's Greatest Moments being 3 hours long might still justify the extra disc, especially if they want to add other features.

Titanic had to be split over 2 discs as well and it was about the same length. It has something to do with things like picture quality. I have noticed that discs with 4 hour-long episodes don't tend to look as good as discs with 2 or 3 episodes.

A Blu-Ray would hold all this stuff on one, though.

Alex

 

[Worf2DS9]

I've already watched "Dreamland" on YouTube, so I'll be passing on the DVD. I didn't like it as much as "The Infinite Quest".

 

[23skidoo]

I've already watched "Dreamland" on YouTube, so I'll be passing on the DVD. I didn't like it as much as "The Infinite Quest".

I thought it was OK. The animation took a little getting used to, but as a few people have noted, if you ignore the visuals it's still a great audio drama. I felt the story was better than Infinite Quest, which was basically a remake of Keys of Marinus (a story I've noted elsewhere as being one I didn't care for that much). As long as they keep the price to a reasonable level. 2-disc DWs sometimes can be a little pricey, but if the cost remains about the same as Infinite Quest, it'll be worth it to complete the collection.

Alex

 

[ClayinCA]

Well, it won't cost the same as "Infinite Quest," because that was a one-disc and this will be a two-disc...so don't get your hopes up.

 

[23skidoo]

Well, it won't cost the same as "Infinite Quest," because that was a one-disc and this will be a two-disc...so don't get your hopes up.

It's listed at $24.95 which is the norm for a single-disc classic series story here in Canada (i.e. Twin Dilemma, Keys of Marinus), so that works for me. Considering you're getting the episode plus the three-hour documentary (which aired on the BBC to big ratings last fall), that's a good deal. (Even though the documentary constitutes the extent of the extra features for the set - the press release was incorrect. But since no one but me apparently gives a damn for extras, that's not a big deal). Now had it been in the $40 range like the regular two-disc sets, then that might have been a bit much.

And of course this is just RRP I'm talking about probably means I'll be able to order it from Amazon or buy it at Best Buy with day-of-release pricing for $20 or less.

It boils down to whether you're interested in it or not. If you want Dreamland to own you'll buy it; otherwise there's always Netflix. I'm not particularly interested in buying the Peladon stories, so my money will go to buying Dreamland and Masque of Mandragora that day.

Alex

 

[OmahaStar]

The date has changed. It's been delayed ... New release date isn't until OCTOBER. Ugh.

source, and confirmed on Amazon.com.

 

[23skidoo]

The date has changed. It's been delayed ... New release date isn't until OCTOBER. Ugh.

source, and confirmed on Amazon.com.

Of course it's always possible someone misread the UK format of dating and got October 5 mixed up with May 10. But sadly it does seem it's been pushed back.

Since May 4 already has Monster of Peladon, Curse of Peladon AND Masque of Mandragora all coming out at the same time maybe they felt the date was too crowded.

It also occurs to me that this change of date may relate to the BBC America scheduling of Series 5. Maybe they don't want it coming out in direct competition with the Matt Smith broadcasts?

Alex

 

[Phillip Culley]

Of course it's always possible someone misread the UK format of dating and got October 5 mixed up with May 10.

Since May 10th is a Wednesday, and October 5th a Tuesday, I believe the October date is correct since DVDs always seem to come out on a Tuesday (except for special releases, and I really don't think Dreamland is that special!)

 

[danjamesb]

The delay is cos they're clearing the music used on Greatest Moments.

 

[23skidoo]

The delay is cos they're clearing the music used on Greatest Moments.

Which is bizarre considering you'd think they'd have already done that for the UK release, since this is no different than BBC Video giving us mostly uncut Confidentials in the Specials box set. And the UK got the same Cutdown versions we did because of music and other clearances.

I really wish they'd just not bother using popular tunes on these shows. They don't really add anything and just mess things up for later releases. Odds are the money that's going to be spent on either clearing the music or replacing it could just as easily have gone into, I don't know, Murray Gold or Mark Ayre's* pockets to compose some new music for the thing. Or just use existing music already composed for the four seasons and the specials. They've already paid for it anyway!

Personally I wouldn't cry if Greatest Moments wasn't included with the Region 1 release anyway. It's not as if it provides anything new - it's just a retrospective/glorified clip show as I understand it. Do we really need it to be released on DVD? I'd rather have, say, some of the interviews with Georgia Moffat and others that were posted to the BBC's website promoting Dreamland included, or maybe a DVD version of Attack of the Graske. Or even the Scream of the Shalka animated webcast that Tennant performed a pre-Doctor voice role for (if ever there was an excuse for BBC Video to finally release that thing, this would be the perfect excuse).

Alex

* Mark Ayres, for anyone not up on classic series personnel, was one of the house composers for the series during the McCoy era and who later composed soundtracks for a number of spin-off productions such as the MythMakers video interview series.

 

[23skidoo]

Just to add to the above, I have heard in another venue that the reason may have more to do with release timing more than licensing issues, so take that for what it's worth. My point above still stands, but whether it applies to this release in the end we'll have to wait and see.

Alex