Why so few 3rd doc DVD's?

[Botany Bay]

Any theories guys?

Looking at my DVD shelf he looks very under-represented for a guy who played the part for so long.

So far I've seen Doctors 1, 2, 3, (plenty of) 4, 9 and 10, but would like to see more 3. Guess I'm in the minority

 

[Chaos Descending]

Good question! I wouldn't mind seeing more Pertwee on DVD either.

 

[StCoop]

Because of all the existing stories his require the most restoration work, due to the fact that they were being made at the dawn of British colour television.

You've got 'Planet Of The Daleks' coming out next week with one recoloured episode and 'The Mind Of Evil' coming out next year with every episode being recoloured.

'Ambasadors Of Death' will need to be completely recoloured as will the first episode of 'Invasion Of The Dinosaurs'.

 

[N-121973]

Because of all the existing stories his require the most restoration work, due to the fact that they were being made at the dawn of British colour television.

You've got 'Planet Of The Daleks' coming out next week with one recoloured episode and 'The Mind Of Evil' coming out next year with every episode being recoloured.

'Ambasadors Of Death' will need to be completely recoloured as will the first episode of 'Invasion Of The Dinosaurs'.

As far as Invasion of the Dinosaurs is concerned they're not only going to have to recolourise episode 1, they're also going to have to update the dinosaur effects.

 

[Rarewolf]

There's been no absolute proof Mind Of Evil will be next year; most of it is wishful thinking. Extras may have been worked on (and I was at the event where Nick & Katy said they had contributed to it) but that doesn't mean its due any time soon.

 

[23skidoo]

Any theories guys?

Looking at my DVD shelf he looks very under-represented for a guy who played the part for so long.

So far I've seen Doctors 1, 2, 3, (plenty of) 4, 9 and 10, but would like to see more 3. Guess I'm in the minority

As noted, I don't think it's a conspiracy more than the fact the Third Doctor stories require some level of restoration work, and at the moment it seems priority is being given to restoring the existing Hartnell and Troughton stories.

Also, it's possible/probable that the more recent stories are easier to market because they're more recent. Also, since Pertwee, sadly, is no longer available for commentaries, that takes away a bit of marketing oomph, unlike the later Doctors stories many of which benefit from have the Doctor actor giving commentary.

However, there is a bright side to all of this. With the release of The Twin Dilemma, all of the Colin Baker stories are done. And there are only a few more Davison and McCoy stories left to go (several of which are in the pipe in the coming months - the Black Guardian box set takes care of 3 Davisons in one go). There also can't be that many Tom Bakers left, and unless 2 Entertain loosens the pursestrings and pays for some more Invasion-style animations, there aren't likely to be many more Hartnell or Troughton releases, either.

So at the end of the day it will likely be Pertwee as last Doctor standing!

By the way, make sure you get The War Games when it comes out, because it includes the fan-made film Devious which stars Pertwee in his final performance as the Third Doctor (why it's on a Troughton disc, I don't know).

Alex

 

[FalTorPan]

As far as Invasion of the Dinosaurs is concerned they're not only going to have to recolourise episode 1, they're also going to have to update the dinosaur effects.

Why?

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

By the way, make sure you get The War Games when it comes out, because it includes the fan-made film Devious which stars Pertwee in his final performance as the Third Doctor (why it's on a Troughton disc, I don't know).

Devious is a direct followup to The War Games, so logically they could either put it there or on the Spearhead From Space DVD.

 

[N-121973]

As far as Invasion of the Dinosaurs is concerned they're not only going to have to recolourise episode 1, they're also going to have to update the dinosaur effects.

Why?

I think I've got this right, its been a while since I heard/read this but apparently the people who worked on the episode were displeased by the quality of the dinosaur effects. Perhaps somebody else can help me out with this but I think they may have been a rush job or farmed themout to someone on the outside.

 

[Peacemaker]

We also live in the age of Walking With Dinosaurs. They can be redone as an SFX extra. I'd certainly like to see this story redone in that manner. Ditto to the SFX in Revenge of the Cybermen.

 

[Timofnine]

Pertwee is probably my joint favourite Doctor with McCoy. Would love to see more of both of them on DVD!

 

[23skidoo]

By the way, make sure you get The War Games when it comes out, because it includes the fan-made film Devious which stars Pertwee in his final performance as the Third Doctor (why it's on a Troughton disc, I don't know).

Devious is a direct followup to The War Games, so logically they could either put it there or on the Spearhead From Space DVD.

Ah, fair enough. We haven't gotten the War Games DVD here in Canada yet, so I wasn't aware of the link, though it would probably have fitted well on the Spearhead from Space DVD, too.

As far as Invasion of the Dinosaurs is concerned they're not only going to have to recolourise episode 1, they're also going to have to update the dinosaur effects.

Why?

I think I've got this right, its been a while since I heard/read this but apparently the people who worked on the episode were displeased by the quality of the dinosaur effects. Perhaps somebody else can help me out with this but I think they may have been a rush job or farmed themout to someone on the outside.

Except one of the blessings of the BBC's handling of Doctor Who is that they haven't gotten the same fetish for redoing everything like Paramount has with TOS Remastered. What they HAVE done is in a few rare occasions provided new CGI versions of some effects that can be viewed optionally. However these are primarily stock shots (shots of space stations or of spacecraft flying around). Something like the Dinosaurs would require a bit more effort since they're featured throughout. That's an expensive proposition and, frankly (referring to discussion on the "Why not animate the McGann audios" thread) if BBC Video/2 Entertain can't afford the costs of animating any more lost episodes, they won't shell out to add CG to a multi-episode serial.

Considering Invasion of the Dinosaurs is generally considered not only the worst story of the Pertwee era but is usually listed with The Twin Dilemma and The Gunfighters as among the worst of the whole series, I can't really see 2 Entertain going through a lot of effort on this one in any regard, especially if they redo the effects on stories like the marginally-better-regarded Power of Kroll (which had worse effects, IMO, than the Dinosaurs story). We'll see it released eventually, but I wouldn't put it high on the priority list.

Alex

 

[Captain Pike]

Kroll ain't that bad! I think it looks great apart from the perfectly straight horizontal line on the horizon.

 

[Tomalak]

As far as Invasion of the Dinosaurs is concerned they're not only going to have to recolourise episode 1, they're also going to have to update the dinosaur effects.

Why?

I think I've got this right, its been a while since I heard/read this but apparently the people who worked on the episode were displeased by the quality of the dinosaur effects. Perhaps somebody else can help me out with this but I think they may have been a rush job or farmed themout to someone on the outside.

Barry Letts always hated them, and when he saw the updated effects on The Time Warrior, he asked if it were possible to redo the dinosaurs as well.

The short answer is that it isn't really. It would be a huge amount of work, and probably unaffordable for 2 Entertain, especially if the first episode is colourised.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The Third Doctor was always my favorite.

Who knows, maybe the reason he's not getting his fair shake on DVD is because all of the most recent Doctors are so young (in appearance) and they don't want to give too much attention to a Doctor who's so old looking?

(and yes, I do think it's high time that an older actor get the chance to play the Doctor again)

 

[Tomalak]

The Third Doctor was always my favorite.

Who knows, maybe the reason he's not getting his fair shake on DVD is because all of the most recent Doctors are so young (in appearance) and they don't want to give too much attention to a Doctor who's so old looking?

(and yes, I do think it's high time that an older actor get the chance to play the Doctor again)

I love Pertwee too. I watched the first episode of The Sea Devils last night, and he really is superb!

Very unfashionable at the moment, but I think once more of his stories do come out on shiny disc, he will find favour again.

 

[Cutter John]

Agree with what's been said before. I'm frankly puzzled why Terror of the Autons and Planet of the Spiders haven't come out long before now.
I just want more Roger Delgado.

As for the dinosaurs, I wouldn't mind having remastered cg dinosaurs added as a viewing option. But boy, that'd be an expensive dvd to produce.

 

[ClayinCA]

Terror of the Autons hasn't been released because it only exists in black-and-white and needs too much restoration work. As for Planet of the Spiders, well - I'm right there with you!

 

[diankra]

Terror of the Autons hasn't been released because it only exists in black-and-white and needs too much restoration work. As for Planet of the Spiders, well - I'm right there with you!

Correction: Terror exists in colour, but in the same reconstructed-from-two-sources form as Silurians (which has been released) and Daemons and Ambassadors of Death (which haven't).
So it could be released, but yes, it ideally needs work, as the current reconstruction was done 16 years ago, and a far better result could be produced now by redoing it, either by the improved version of the same method (as on Silurians), or possibly by using the new colour-recovery technique used on Planet of the Daleks 3 (possibly as the B&W film prints can't always be used for this: if the technician making the B&W copy did his job properly and put in the widget to remove the colour information, then there's nothing there to recover).

 

[Hennessy Badger]

^ For those who can't wait for the DVD, both Terror of the Autons and Planet of the Spiders are available for download through the US iTunes store. Of course, there's no extras and I can't speak for the quality of the footage. But it's nice that the option is there.