Doctor Who: The Complete Specials on Blu-ray Disc Released February 2nd, 2010
Posted in Commentary on February 13th, 2010 by Dave
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









































