Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited 9-11

Three Final Specials Followed by Six Fabulous Episodes!
2013 is the 50th Anniversary of Dr. Who. The classic era had 7 Doctors, running from 1963 to 1989. An American one-off made-for-TV movie gave us the 8th Doctor in 1996. The modern era started in 2005. This DVD set is the last set of 50th Anniversary "Doctors Revisited" TV Specials and covers the 3 modern Doctors, 9 - 11. Each Special has commentators, photos and clips from the series. The DVDs contain the three documentary Specials PLUS the episodes that originally aired following the documentaries AND special introductions to each by current showrunner Steven Moffat. The episodes picked are action-packed convoluted science fiction at its best.

Previously issued:
In July 2013, the Specials for Doctors 1-4:
Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited 1-4
In October 2013, the Specials for Doctors 5-8:
Doctor Who: The Doctors...

Three sets of two-parters for Doctor's 9, 10, & 11
The BBC states the following will be on this set:
Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor in "Bad Wolf" and "Parting of the Ways," David Tennant as the 10th Doctor in "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End," and Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor in "The impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon."

Like the previous 'Revisited' sets, this one features a bonus specially-recorded Introduction by Current Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat.

In my opinion, not bad choices in episodes to represent each Doctor. However, I think that "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday" would have been a better choice for the 10th (Tennant).

The Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors
Doctor Who turned the big 50 last weekend and BBC is continuing the celebration by releasing Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited - Ninth-Eleventh featuring a 2-part story for each actor's (Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith) tenure as the Doctor. Each story is presented in its original 2-part version, a feature film version with an introduction by Steven Moffat and a 25-minute documentary on each Doctor. Additionally, there are four magnets included with the set.

Christopher Eccleston's stay as the ninth Doctor may have been short, but he did help reboot the franchise for a new generation of fans. His final two episodes, Bad Wolf & The Parting of Ways) are presented in this set. The Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack Harkness suddenly find themselves separated on various game shows (The Weakest Link, Big Brother and What Not To Wear), only for a few minor changes - the losers are exterminated. As the Doctor escapes the game show, he soon learns his enemy - Daleks are...

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Doctor Who, Story 29: The Tenth Planet

At long last...
If you only own one other Dr. Who video, your collection is incomplete without The Tenth Planet. It depicts, of course, the most significant turning point in the history of the show, the departure of William Hartnell as the Doctor. That, in itself is more than enough reason to buy this video.

As a special bonus, there are the Cybermen. Don't be fooled as I was by the still photos which gave them a cheesy appearance. They don't appear terrifying at all until you see them in action. The lip action and voice characterization are nothing less than chilling. I first saw the Cybermen in "Revenge" then later in "Earthshock" and "Attack" and found them scary enough then. Now that I've seen "Tenth" I realize that they actually got less and less scary as time went on, which makes this one the scariest ever.

The reconstruction of the unfortunately missing final episode is surprisingly and absolutely brilliant. The audio track is complete and...

DVD Extras for a Long-Awaited Serial with Cybermen Ancestors!
It's 1986. Two astronauts in the Zeus IV space capsule relay photos back to their base, code-named Snowcap, buried under the Antarctic snow. Everything is going smoothly until one of the soldiers at Earth base looks through his periscope to the snowstormed continent surface and sees - a pretty woman!

It's Polly! She, Ben and the Doctor just landed in the TARDIS, and decided to explore. In short order, soldiers appear from a hatch and take our trio down into the buried base. They're at the South Pole Base of International Space Command, and the suspicious C.O., General Cutler, doesn't buy their story of landing in "a sort of spaceship".

However, the General has more to worry about. The Doctor informs him that a 10th planet has appeared. Not only is its gravitational pull affecting Zeus IV, but it is draining the power from the capsule, endangering the astronauts.

Before you can say "cyber-bully", three robot-like aliens infiltrate and take over the...

A new body, at last!
Whether you grew up watching "Doctor Who" as it was first broadcast in the UK, or in endless 1980s US PBS reruns, "The Tenth Planet" is one of those stories you were dying to see again and again. Annoyingly, you couldn't, because the BBC destroyed all prints of the fourth and final episode, and the story was thus "incomplete" and never re-aired.

The recent BBC releases of stories featuring William Hartnell, the First Doctor, have been exemplary, and this VHS continues the trend. The first 3 episodes of "Tenth Planet" -- long seen only on dim, bootlegged, Nth generation copies of the original -- are nearly pristine. Episode 4 is reconstructed using existing still photos, the audio track, and a few well-used video effects which serve to add to the pictures, not detract from them. (It's heartening to note that for this story, the "restoration" team did not seek to alter the existing footage by replacing scenes with outtakes, or...

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Doctor Who: Series Seven - Part Two

Eight Episodes and no Christmas Special
The 2012 Christmas special, "The Snowmen", and it's Prequels, will not be part of the May release of Series 7 - Part 2. "The Snowmen" MAY be part of the Complete Season 7 DVD/Blu-Ray release, but BBC has not said so yet.
(You can purchase "The Snowmen" on its own for region 1, in DVD or Blu-Ray.)

[Added later: Yes, the Complete Series 7 will have "The Snowmen" PLUS a new commentary track with Michael Pickwoad (production designer) and Paul Spriggs (art director).]

The 8 episodes are only 45 minutes each. Though I love Doctor Who, I think the shorter time-frame does hobble the story-telling. Lots of detail crammed into a short time.

Wouldn't it be great if some of the new series had a commentary track like the Classic Doctor Who DVD's?
[Added August 2013: The Complete Season 7 does have four new commentary tracks, including on "The Snowmen" mentioned above. Matt Smith (about time he does a commentary!) and Jamie Payne (director) do the...

A Companion Steps Up And A Doctor Bows Out: Eight Episodes Of Change And Transition
One thing is constant in the world of Doctor Who, change is inevitable. Just as you get to know and love a Doctor and/or his companion, the series will pull the rug out and begin things anew. Some of the most dramatic moments of this current BBC incarnation of Doctor Who came in these episodes where we had to say goodbye. In the eight episodes that comprise "Doctor Who: Series Seven, Part Two" (that's a mouthful), we deal with two such cataclysmic shifts. First, the enigmatic Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) takes center stage as a new companion after we bid farewell (very sadly) to Amy and Rory in the preceding DVD release of Series Seven, Part One. As if that were not traumatic enough, this is also the swan song of Matt Smith as the ever-changing Doctor. As such, these shows serve as a transitional period. Just as we acquaint ourselves with this new pairing, it has ended. And with the recent announcement that the brilliant Scottish actor Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It) will...

Series 7 Part 2
This Blu-ray set features all 8 (BBC announced that "The Snowmen" will not be included in this set on 5/2) episodes of Series 7 Part 2:

*The Bells of Saint John
*The Rings of Akhaten
*Cold War
*Hide
*Journey To The Center of The TARDIS
*The Crimson Horror
*Nightmare in Silver (The Last Cyberman)
*The Name of The Doctor

This set also has the following special features:
*Note* Special Features subject to change, will update with the most accurate info as it becomes available.

*Prequel to The Snowmen
*Prequel to The Bells Of Saint John
*45 minute special: The Companions

*Episode Reviews*

"The Bells Of Saint John" Written by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock) and directed by Colm McCarthy (MI-5, Ripper Street) was a great episode. I really liked how the episode started with the Doctor as a monk in 1200 AD and Clara Oswald in the present and brought them together via the magic of the...

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