Dr Who fans got a real treat this month with the Feb 2nd release of Doctor Who: The Complete Specials from BBC Home Video.

This collection includes four special episodes from David Tennant’s turn as Doctor Who, one of which is split into two parts.

Each hour long special gets its own disc.

The first special in the set is called The Next Doctor, where The Doctor arrives in London in 1851 and finds another man who claims to be The Doctor.

Assuming that this is himself from a future regeneration, The Doctor quizzes the new Doctor and over time finds that his sonic screwdriver is just a regular screwdriver and his TARDIS is a hot air balloon.

It turns out that the Cybermen are behind the mystery and together the two Doctors work to defeat them.

Currently this collection is the only way to own this episode on Blu-ray Disc.

The second special in the collection was previously released individually on Blu-ray - Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead has been previously covered, see details here.

The third episode in the set is The Waters of Mars, where The Doctor encounters the first human colony on Mars in 2059, where he quickly realizes that he already knows how this plays out and that he has arrived the very day that the colony is destroyed.

While he knows that he needs to get away from the events that are about to unfold, he finds himself compelled to at least try and help the people there who inevitably all die in ‘future history’.

This episode is certainly one of the darker episodes in the collection and Doctor Who: The Waters Of Mars is available separately, also released Feb 2nd.

The last special comes in two parts - The End of Time Parts I and II - each on a separate Blu-ray Disc.

These episodes aired at the end of 2009 and round out David Tennant’s run as The Doctor.

The Master gets resurrected on Earth by a cult, though things don’t quite work out as planned and the Master has unusual powers as well as a ravenous hunger.

The Master is brought in by billionaire Joshua Naismith to repair an alien device Naismith recovered from Torchwood in the hope to grant his daughter Abigail immortality.

Needless to say things go horribly awry, and in addition to that the Time Lords are trying to take advantage of these events to make a return.

This episode is also the last story for David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and we see his character regenerate into the eleventh incarnation played by Matt Smith.

I hope that we will also see Matt Smith’s episodes presented on Blu-ray Disc in the future.

Doctor Who: The End Of Time is also available individually.

Overall I find the new Doctor Who episodes to be pretty enjoyable and the mix of strong writing and relatively low budget special effects to be a worthwhile watch.

The episodes in The Complete Specials were largely directed by Euros Lyn.

The video on this release features VC-1 1080i encoding at around 30 Mbps, and are presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

Full resolution PNG screen captures can be seen at the details page for Doctor Who: The Complete Specials.

The main audio is DTS-HD High Resolution with 5.1 channels - 16 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The discs are dual layer BD50 discs and are coded for All Regions.

Each episode comes with a making of documentary they call the Doctor Who Confidential.

Extra footage is included with deleted scenes introduction from Russell T Davies.

An interesting supplement is Doctor Who at the Proms, where the music from Doctor Who is played along with illustration and effects from the show, along with many special appearances.

The set also has segments with the David Tennant Video Diaries, Doctor Who BBC Christmas Idents and Doctor Who at Comic-Con.

Doctor Who is a great choice for people who are fans of Science Fiction, but it comes with a British leaning.

Certainly though the Doctor Who: The Complete Specials from BBC Home Video is an excellent choice for fans of the show.

The retail price is $59.99, and it is available at Amazon for $44.99, saving 25%!

Extras:

• Doctor Who Confidential
• Doctor Who at the Proms
• Deleted Scenes with Introduction from Russell T Davies
• David Tennant Video Diaries
• Doctor Who BBC Christmas Idents
• Audio Commentaries
• Doctor Who At Comic-Con

Synopsis:

The Next Doctor, Planet Of The Dead, The Waters Of Mars, The End Of Time, Part One and Part Two

Cover Art Gallery for the week of the 25th of October 2009:

Click on any cover to see the details for the title.

October 6th 2009 was a great day for fans of British Sci-fi comedy with the arrival of the BBC Warner Blu-ray release Red Dwarf: Back To Earth.

The original Red Dwarf show ran on the BBC back in the late eighties and early nineties, and was certainly a favourite in its time.

The show follows Dave Lister, the last living human on the Red Dwarf, along with his companions - the hologram of Arnold J. Rimmer, a mechanoid named Kryten, and the humanoid creature that evolved from his cat.

While this premise may seem a little strange for those unfamiliar with the show, the four had some great adventures that were both hilarious and at the same time some excellent science fiction.

While the Red Dwarf team had tried a number of times to make a Red Dwarf movie, the project was never completed.

Now, on the 21st anniversary of the show’s inception, one of the shows co-creators produced three new episodes of Red Dwarf entitled Back to Earth.

The actors that play the main characters in Red Dwarf are Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Robert Llewellyn and Danny John-Jules - all of whom returned for the new episodes.

In the new episodes, the crew are catapulted through a portal back into the 21st century Earth where they discover that they are in fact characters in a TV show.

Guided by the synopsis on a DVD of their television show, they set off to find the actors that play their characters and the makers of the show, on a quest to save the lives of the show’s characters, to give themselves a longer life.

The show certainly pays homage to Blade Runner and this fact is often explicitly mentioned in the dialogue.

The Red Dwarf team has a lot of fun with the Back to Earth episodes, including a cross over with a long running British soap called Coronation Street, which currently features Craig Charles, the actor who also plays Dave Lister.

All in all I thought that it started off a little slower than usual, but once it got into its stride it was a lot of fun.

You have the choice of watching the show episodically or in a single feature length ‘directors cut’ - though the HD audio is only available for the director’s cut version.

Red Dwarf: Back To Earth was directed by Doug Naylor, one of the original co-creators of Red Dwarf series.

With an IMDb score of 6.5/10, the show has a middle of the road reception from the critics.

The video on the disc is a VC-1 1080i encode at 26 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

The show was shot using the Red One 4k digital cinema cameras, so it has a very clean look to it.

Check out the details page for Red Dwarf: Back To Earth to see full resolution PNG screen captures.

The main audio is DTS-HD High Resolution with 5.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 32.6 GB used and is coded for All Regions.

The release contains extensive extras, most of which reside on a second BD50 disc.

Perhaps the most impressive is a new ‘Making Of’ documentary that is presented in two parts and runs almost as long as the feature itself.

As well as a lot of on set footage, there are extensive interviews which reveal much about the production development and the difficulty in making the show on such a small budget.

For example the ‘Car Bug’ Smart car was personally purchased by the director and a lot of the effects artists were fans and worked for next to nothing.

It is pretty clear that the production crew and cast put everything they could into making this new Red Dwarf installment as good as possible and as true as possible to the early part of the original series.

Additional footage is presented in both a selection of Deleted Scenes (with commentary) and a huge number of out takes in the Smeg Ups feature.

There is an additional wide range of Featurettes covering aspects such as the special effects, the Premiere, a cast signing session, behind the scenes web videos and the video Press Kit.

The Trailers section covers a wide range of promotions and trailers including US PBS announcements and Max Headroom like blipverts made for the Dave channel - a British TV channel named after the Dave Lister character.

There are a pair of Photo Galleries with both production stills and a set of behind the scenes photographs.

The cast commentary and director commentary are of course on the feature disc.

Red Dwarf: Back To Earth is an excellent release from BBC Warner, with extensive extras and fresh new content for a comedy favourite.

This release is a must have for any fan of Red Dwarf, as well comedy or Sci-fi fans looking for something new and different.

As a big fan of Red Dwarf I highly recommend it.

The retail price is $29.99, or order it right now at Amazon for $19.99, saving 33%!

Extras:

• Cast Commentary
• Director Commentary
• All-New Exclusive Documentary
• The Making Of
• Deleted Scenes
• Smeg Ups
• Featurettes
• Trailers
• Web Videos
• Photo Gallery
• Easter Egg

Synopsis:

The boys are back, and while they may be older, they’re still none the wiser. The crew discover a dimension-hopping leviathan, but Rimmer is threatened with replacement by the new, improved holograph Katrina. She is determined to guide Lister to his home planet, but no one is prepared for Earth 2009, where the hapless crew face death unless they can track down their creators.

The BBC is continuing its fine tradition of nature documentary titles with the release of Yellowstone: Battle For Life on Blu-ray Disc September 29th.

Yellowstone was America’s first National Park and with a combination of the snow covered mountains and geothermal activity is considered to be one of the most spectacular wildernesses on the planet.

Yellowstone: Battle for Life reveals both the beauty of the area as well as the struggles of the local wildlife.

The Blu-ray release contains the three hour-long episodes covering the seasons of Winter, Summer and Autumn at Yellowstone National Park.

The documentary primarily follows the lives of the wolves, bears and grazing animals that inhabit the park.

Winter time is the domain of the wolf - as other animals grow weaker, the wolves have stronger chances for successful hunting.

In early summer the bears emerge seeking nourishment, facing competition from wolves, coyotes and even the bald eagles.

We also follow herds of buffalo, elk and moose that congregate by the thousands across the plains of Yellowstone as they graze and compete for mating rights.

The documentary additionally covers animals from otters to humming birds and the natural fires and geothermal events that can threaten their existence.

The narration for this BBC / Discovery Channel co-production is provided by Peter Firth and the cinematography won a prize at the Missoula International Wildlife Film Festival.

Yellowstone: Battle For Life was produced by Andrew Murray, who was also a producer for Galapagos.

The documentary has been well received by folks at the IMDb with a score of 8.8/10.

The video on the disc is an AVC 1080i encode at 27.5 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

This looks like the first time a BBC title has used the AVC codec for a US release, an unusual choice for a title released through Warner.

Check out the details page for Yellowstone: Battle For Life to see full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc.

The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 16 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

Again I think this is the first time the lossless Master Audio codec has been used by the BBC, who have recently been using DTS-HD High Resolution lossy compression for their releases.

I hope that these new choices feature on more BBC releases in the future.

The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 39.6 GB used and is coded for All Regions.

The bonus feature The People Of Yellowstone is divided into three parts, covering Jeff Henry: The Snow Man, the so called Geyser Gazers and Mike Kasic: The Fish Man - the latter being a sound recordist with a penchant for swimming in the icy Yellowstone river.

These shorts offer a look at the people who were behind the series.

Yellowstone: Battle For Life is a great documentary release from BBC Warner, one which I can recommend to fans of quality nature documentary.

The retail price is $24.99, or order it right now at Amazon for $17.49, saving 30%!

Extras:

• The People Of Yellowstone

Synopsis:

Yellowstone is no ordinary wilderness, it is the world’s first national park: a lost world of vast plains and endless forests defended on all sides by towering mountains, home to America’s last great bison herds, the grizzly bear and realm of the wolf. It is the most extensive thermal area on earth with more than 10,000 boiling springs, fumaroles and bubbling mud pits and more geysers than the rest of the world put together. It’s these strange natural wonders that first made Yellowstone famous and still make it unique today. This landmark series reveals the grandeur of this unique place as its animals struggle to survive over the course of the vividly changing seasons.

I see a Blu-ray Bargain at the Amazon Gold Box today.

Amazon is listing the The BBC Earth Collection for only $52.99, a savings of almost 60%.

The collection contains both the complete BBC Planet Earth series and Earth: The Biography for little more than the price of just the Planet Earth series.

This offer is for today only.

BBC Warner released another key SciFi Blu-ray title recently - Torchwood: Children Of Earth hit store shelves July 28th 2009.

Originally Torchwood was a spin-off from the popular sci-fi show Doctor Who.

The show is set in Cardiff, Wales and follows a group of investigators that specialise in alien technology that has landed on Earth.

The mysterious Captain Jack Harkness is the leader of the team comprised of former police officer Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones.

Children of Earth is season three of Torchwood, and contains 5 episodes, each an hour long.

Unlike US television, these episodes run almost the full hour, so the two disc set contains almost five hours of content.

Also unlike US television, this BBC show contains content for ‘grown ups’, with occasional nudity (male butt nudity) and ‘four letter words’, including the one that rhymes with truck.

Personally I find relatively uncensored TV refreshing, though it is worth noting that this is somewhat stronger than we are used to in the USA for television content.

In Children of Earth, a particularly nasty alien species known as the 456 has returned to Earth and has taken control over the children, causing every child on the planet to stop and announce their presence.

This causes the British government to try to cover up the past, including an attempt to destroy Torchwood, sending the team into hiding.

As events unfold we learn about Britain’s sins of the past and the devastating demands from the aliens.

This season of Torchwood is the BBC at its best, with a biting science fiction drama that pulls no punches and keeps you involved from start to finish.

As much as the show is about aliens on Earth, it is equally or even more about the characters and their reactions, as well as the sacrifices they make as the events unfold.

Once I had started watching I was hooked, and took in the whole five hours in only two sittings!

Torchwood: Children Of Earth was directed by Euros Lyn, who is a veteran BBC television director.

The season was extremely well received by critics, earning a Rotten Tomatoes score of 85% and IMDb score of 8.8/10.

The video on the disc is a VC-1 1080i encode at 29.5 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

Check out the details page for Torchwood: Children Of Earth to see full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc.

The main audio is DTS-HD High Resolution with 5.1 channels - 16 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The discs are dual layer BD50s, with roughly 45 GB used and are coded for All Regions.

There is only one extra, though it is a good one.

The Torchwood Declassified featurette runs a half hour and takes a look behind the scenes, featuring interviews with cast and crew.

Torchwood: Children Of Earth is an excellent SciFi show and a solid Blu-ray release from BBC Warner.

The retail price is $34.99, or order it right now at Amazon for $23.99, saving 31%!

Extras:

• Torchwood Declassified: An exclusive look behind the scenes featuring cast and crew

Synopsis:

An ordinary day becomes a world of terror, as every single child in the world stops. A message is sent to all the governments of Earth: “We are coming.” But as a trap closes around Captain Jack, sins of the past are returning, as long-forgotten events from 1965 threaten to reveal an awful truth. Torchwood is forced underground, as the government takes swift and brutal action. With members of the team being hunted down, Britain risks becoming a rogue state, with the mysterious and powerful 456 drawing ever closer, Captain Jack, Gwen and Ianto are helpless, as events escalate until mankind faces the end of civilization itself.

July 28th marked the release of the BBC Warner Sci Fi title Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead - an episode from the most recent season.

I remember watching Doctor Who when I was young - reruns of black and white TV episodes with Daleks and swamp monsters - those were the days.

Needless to say I was very excited when they decided to revamp the franchise for the new century.

Sadly the first episodes of the new Doctor Who weren’t produced in Hi Def, so no chance of a Blu-ray release.

Fortunately the BBC eventually saw the light and produced recent episodes, including Planet of the Dead, in high definition.

I am happy to say that these new episodes live up to the spirit of the original Doctor Who style.

The current Doctor is played by David Tennant, and he adds a certain quirkiness and charm to the character.

David took over the role of The Doctor in the second season of the reboot of the show back in 2006.

The cast in this episode includes Michelle Ryan as the sexy aristocratic thief Lady Christina de Souza.

In this episode, The Doctor and Christina are both on a bus that travels through a worm hole to a planet on the other side of the universe.

With the bus parked in the middle of the desert planet, the motley crew of Londoners work to get the bus mobile again so that they can return through the worm hole, back to their own planet.

In typical Doctor Who style, many things are not as they seem and the challenges mount - can The Doctor save the day?

Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead was directed by James Strong, who has directed seven of the Doctor Who episodes, as well as a couple of Torchwood episodes.

This episode did fairly ok at the IMDb with a score of 7.1/10.

The video on the disc is an VC-1 1080i encode at 31 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.

Check out the details page for Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead to see full resolution PNG screen captures.

The main audio is DTS-HD High Resolution with 5.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

With Warner squeezing so many titles onto BD25, I was surprised to see that the disc is a dual layer BD50, with 32.2 GB used and is coded for All Regions.

There is only really one extra feature on the disc, but it is a pretty good one.

Doctor Who Confidential is almost as long as the episode itself and covers the production behind the scenes, revealing the challenges of shooting in Dubai and getting a bus into the middle of the desert.

Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead is a fun Blu-ray release from BBC Warner - a must own title for Doctor Who fans and worth a look for any science fiction fans - though keep in mind that the budgets aren’t Hollywood and that Doctor Who doesn’t take itself too seriously.

While this title only runs one hour, the retail price is only $19.89, or order it right now at Amazon for $13.99, saving 30%!

Extras:

• Doctor Who Confidential: A 60-minute special that brings you behind the scenes

Synopsis:

When a London bus travels through a worm-hole to an alien worm-hole to an alien world, the Doctor must join forces with the mysterious, aristocratic Lady Christina to help the unfortunate passengers, and themselves, get back home. But the mysterious planet holds terrifying secrets, hidden in the sand. And time is running out, as the deadly swarm gets closer…

Amazon seems to be continuously reducing the price for Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series, a favourite on Blu-ray Disc.

Their price is now at only $38.49, which I think is the first time I have seen this for less than $40.

With over 60% saving, this is an excellent time to buy this magnificent nature documentary set!

I see at Amazon today you can get Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series for 52% off retail, only $47.99.

This excellent series is definitely considered one of the ‘must have’ Blu-ray titles.

If you prefer the US broadcast of the series, there is good news for you also - Planet Earth: The Complete Series Blu-ray Set (U.S. version) is currently $49.99, 50% off retail!

Either way it is a great time to save on these wonderful documentaries.

Actually, if you like these Discovery Channel documentaries, be aware that the Discovery Store has every DVD on sale with up to 70% discount during their semi-annual sale.

This includes their Blu-ray Disc titles.

Red Dwarf was one of my favourite BBC TV shows from last century - if you have not heard of it, think Dr Who, but funny.

For the first six or seven seasons, very funny indeed.

I was certainly surprised to read that BBC Warner has Red Dwarf: Back to Earth        coming to Blu-ray on October 6th, 2009.

This appears to be perhaps a reboot of the series, though the premise of having ‘our heroes’ return to Earth does have the potential for being a bit too silly - but I will reserve judgment until I see it.

In any case, retail is set at $29.99 - you can pre-order at Amazon for only $20.99.