What I'd really like for the fiftieth anniversary...

[MikeS]

I'm someone who only really got into "Who" in its new form. I've only seen a few original episodes, but those I have, I love (Spearhead From Space, Genesis of the Daleks the TV movie).

If anyone from the BBC monitors these boards, I would pay good money to see "Complete Doctor" blu-ray sets released for each Doctor. Preferably in HD, I don't know if they still have the original film elements, but TNG is a good example of what can be achieved. I realise some of the First and Second doctor serials are missing and can only be viewed in cartoon form but that doesn't matter.

"Complete Doctor" sets please. Unless someone knows of why these aren't/won't be available, in any format?

 

[VDCNI]

Sadly you're going to be disappointed for the 50th at least. It's a bit late to do it, other than storage there's no benefit in releasing Classic Who in blu ray and they haven't finished releasing the classic series in DVD anyway.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I have no interest in anything in HD, especially classic Who, which wouldn't benefit from the format at all, in my opinion. I guess it would be wiser to release stripped-down "Complete Seasons" sets for the classic series.

 

[Shazam!]

Spearhead From Space is getting the HD treatment. I'm not sure you can upgrade any other stories (although possibly the TV movie) as many elements were taped straight to video.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm not sure you can upgrade any other stories (although possibly the TV movie) as many elements were taped straight to video.

The television movie can't be upgraded to HD; the film elements aren't believed to exist any more. If they do exist, they would be somewhere in Universal's archives, and it's probably not worth it to the BBC to pay Universal to go on a snipe hunt for the film elements.

 

[OmahaStar]

Spearhead From Space is getting the HD treatment. I'm not sure you can upgrade any other stories (although possibly the TV movie) as many elements were taped straight to video.

Exactly. Because of various things going on (yet another strike), Spearhead is the only story that was recorded entirely on film. Because it's on film, it can be released on HD. Other stories had, at most, a few scenes shot on film. The HD element simply isn't there on videotape.

 

[Irvy]

As much as I would love to see it, and secretly hoped for at least 1 to be released for the anniversary, the big problem would be the production values on the sets. You'd get a lovely crisp 1080p look at just how shoddy everything was, as it was never intended to be seen at that level of detail.

 

[diankra]

As much as I would love to see it, and secretly hoped for at least 1 to be released for the anniversary, the big problem would be the production values on the sets. You'd get a lovely crisp 1080p look at just how shoddy everything was, as it was never intended to be seen at that level of detail.

Except that it wouldn't - as others have pointed out, the maximum resolution available for most of the 20th century series series is 576 lines (the actual number of visible lines in the 625 line format, the other 49 lines worth of content being used for sync signals, subtitles etc).
For many surviving episodes it's less, around 350 lines, and for a handful of season one and two episodes that only exist as 'suppressed field' telerecording it's as low as 180 lines. If you want an idea of what some of The Reign of Terror would look like once blown up to 1080 format, try taking an avatar and blowing it up to fill your monitor...

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I'd be tickled pink if all the episodes were available on Netflix streaming.

"Complete Doctor" sets please. Unless someone knows of why these aren't/won't be available, in any format?

I'd say two factors, one they weren't all available right from the beginning and also $$$$. Those discs were always expensive and while it might be hard to get someone to pay $120 for a season of Who, you might be able to get them to buy six discs at $20.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

"Complete Doctor" sets please. Unless someone knows of why these aren't/won't be available, in any format?

I'd say two factors, one they weren't all available right from the beginning and also $$$$. Those discs were always expensive and while it might be hard to get someone to pay $120 for a season of Who, you might be able to get them to buy six discs at $20.

This reminds me of a rather sad incident in Doctor Who fandom -- the fan backlash in 2001 and 2002 to Warner Home Videos' plan to release bare-bones DVDs in Region 1 of stories that were just coming to VHS but weren't, obviously, on DVD yet. They were going to be inexpensive by five to ten dollars than the feature-rich DVDs of, say, The Five Doctors and Spearhead in Space, but there was backlash from fandom because 1) Region 1 was getting something Region 2 wasn't, 2) the Restoration Team wasn't involved, and 3) there were no special features for these discs. As a consequence of the backlash, WHV backtracked. The first barebones DVD, as I recall, was to be Attack of the Cybermen.

Now that we're on the cusp of all of the extant Doctor Who becoming available digitally, the materials would be there and ready to be repackaged in season box sets.

 

[Mr Awe]

^^ It's just a matter of time. Probably shortly (as in a couple of years) after the last single story DVD is released!

 

[Rarewolf]

If anyone from the BBC monitors these boards, I would pay good money to see "Complete Doctor" blu-ray sets released for each Doctor.

If it happens its unlikely to be on Blu-ray, apparently to release Blu-ray (at least in the UK, the majority of the release has to be HD. They won't release SD on Blu-ray.

Indeed even the DVD extras from Spearhead From Space won't be on the Blu-ray release.

The television movie can't be upgraded to HD; the film elements aren't believed to exist any more. If they do exist, they would be somewhere in Universal's archives.

I thought the general opinion was they do exist, but as you say unobtainable.

 

[Nightowl1701]

You mean the archives that went up in flames about five years ago, taking Back To The Future's Hill Valley backlot with it? Yeah, that film's negatives are gone, pal.

 

[Brendan Moody]

^Everything in that particular archive was a digital copy of an original kept elsewhere, so no negatives or film masters were destroyed and there were no permanent losses.