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Series 4 Box Set

I put the set on my Christmas list, then at my mom's request ordered it myself and had it shipped to her address for wrapping (she doesn't like dealing with computers). In order to make the wait a bit more bearable, I ordered Spearhead from Space and Pyramids of Mars to tide me over.
 
Actually, Georgia Moffett is on the box set commentary for "The Doctor's Daughter." The booklet listing is incorrect; instead of Russell T Davies, David Tennant, and Ben Foster, it's Catherine Tate, Georgia Moffett, and Ben Foster.
^ Excellent! Too bad Tennant's not there, but oh well. :)
 
^Tennant had already been on the podcast commentary for the episode. (Along with RTD and director Alice Troughton.)

I finished listening to the commentaries this afternoon. Although there is some variation in quality, they're all enjoyable listens, with only limited dead air. Personally I found the ones on "Silence in the Library," "Midnight," and the two final episodes most interesting and entertaining.

The deleted scenes are a bit on the dull side. Apart from the original framing sequence for "The Unicorn and the Wasp," they don't add much. More interesting is the chance they offer to see what footage looks like prior to filmizing and the addition of music and effects.

The featurette is firmly in the Confidential tradition of offering endless clips interspersed with inconsequential comments from the production team, but it's even worse than the typical episode in lack of interesting contact. If you want a gentle overview of the four series so far, this is a nice way to get it, but there's no real making-of content here.

Tennant's video diaries are probably the best extra; I wish he'd done more this year. The first is memorable mostly for Tennant and Gardner's incredulous enthusiasm for their police escort, while the second captures a variety of nice moments during the shooting of the finale, including a John Barrowman attack, a Lis Sladen interview, and Catherine Tate and Billie Piper discussing baked beans in hot chocolate. Not to be missed.
 
Question: What is the packaging like this time around? I know for series 1 and 2 they put the DVDs in the cardboard fold out design, (which I don't feel strongly about one way or the other) but I hated the flimsy plastic sleeve that went over the set. They cracked almost immediately!

Thankfully for series 3 they went for a cardboard slipcase in place of the thin plastic, but even the cardboard sleeve is kind-of tricky to slide in and out.

So have they done anything noticeably different for this set?

The regular Season 4 DVDs are just like the Season 3 DVDs. I don't know why the BBC/2entertain is being so crappy about this. Would it kill them to make a box that wasn't so tight that you risk damaging the packaging every time you take it in & out?!:klingon: I never have this problem with their Torchwood DVDs. What gives?!

Also, the store where I bought it puts it in this extra anti-theft security packaging that leaves an indentation on the sides of the box as well. I'd have been really pissed except that I got it 20% off as part of my Suncoast birthday discount. (I also took the opportunity to get a couple old Patrick Troughton stories-- "Tomb of the Cybermen" & "The Mind Robber.")

I didn't buy "The Infinite Quest" but I didn't have any trouble finding it at the store I went to. (Now, finding The Catherine Tate Show, that's hard.) I'll probably borrow it from my friend when he buys it. It's only fair considering I was the one who got him into the show and they practically kept my copy of Season 2 hostage.
 
Question: What is the packaging like this time around? I know for series 1 and 2 they put the DVDs in the cardboard fold out design, (which I don't feel strongly about one way or the other) but I hated the flimsy plastic sleeve that went over the set. They cracked almost immediately!

Thankfully for series 3 they went for a cardboard slipcase in place of the thin plastic, but even the cardboard sleeve is kind-of tricky to slide in and out.

So have they done anything noticeably different for this set?

The regular Season 4 DVDs are just like the Season 3 DVDs. I don't know why the BBC/2entertain is being so crappy about this. Would it kill them to make a box that wasn't so tight that you risk damaging the packaging every time you take it in & out?!:klingon: I never have this problem with their Torchwood DVDs. What gives?!

^ Thanks for the details. :)

Yeah, I don't get it. You would think with the prices they are charging, they could afford to spend even the briefest amount of time coming up with a quick fix to their ongoing packaging problems! It's not asking all that much.

I guess to be fair, DW's packaging could always be worse. The Star Trek franchise (at least in the US) has to go down in history as having some of the most bafflingly stupid DVD packaging.

So it could always be worse.
 
I'm not wealthy enough to own the new series on DVD.

Maybe I'll win the lottery one day.
 
I guess to be fair, DW's packaging could always be worse. The Star Trek franchise (at least in the US) has to go down in history as having some of the most bafflingly stupid DVD packaging.

So it could always be worse.

I don't think all of the Star Trek box sets were that bad. DS9 & Voyager were pretty good. I don't have any severe complaints about The Next Generation, although it does take up more shelf space than it needs to.

But The Original Series was like unwrapping a mummy. (Although, at least it wasn't prone to damaging itself like Doctor Who or the new BBC version of Robin Hood.) I never bought any of the Enterprise box sets, so I can't speak first hand but I do think it was a mistake to make them such an odd shape. They didn't fit on a lot of the store racks I saw.

At least Paramount/CBS seems to have learned their lesson with the Fan Collective DVDs. Those have perfectly good packaging.
 
I guess to be fair, DW's packaging could always be worse. The Star Trek franchise (at least in the US) has to go down in history as having some of the most bafflingly stupid DVD packaging.

So it could always be worse.

At least Paramount/CBS seems to have learned their lesson with the Fan Collective DVDs. Those have perfectly good packaging.

Agreed. :)
 
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