earthshock: 2003
Sunday, 29 September 2002 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
At the Tenth Planet signing in the UK on September 29, Janet Fielding (Tegan), in a rare Doctor Who-related appearance, confirmed that she would soon be in-studio recording the commentary for Earthshock, which she said would be released on DVD some time during 2003. Fielding also mentioned that, according to her information, the hopes were to have Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse all present for the commentary. (Thanks to Jon Frame, Zygon Curry)
The Caves of Androzani: Scheduled for release on June 13, 2001. Confirmed extras: Commentary by Peter Davison (the Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri) and Graeme Harper (director); Original BBC 1 trailer; BBC News item on Peter Davison departing the show; BBC News interview with Peter Davison. South East at Six News feature with Peter Davison and John Nathan-Turner (producer); 8 minute featurette with commentary; 5 minute featurette including a commentary from Christopher Gable on the creation of his character, Sharez Jek; Isolated Music Soundtrack; Photo Gallery; Scene Selection, Graphical Menus, Production Information Subtitles. As the master tapes have seen some decay, the Restoration Team is busy doing some much-needed work for its DVD release. Director Graeme Harper has been liaising with the RT on some of the work, which includes remaking the planet surface matte shots in episode one to remove movement between the foreground and background elements. Harper, Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant recently taped commentary audio in the studio for the release. In addition, a number of special items will be included on the disc, including a BBC-1 trailer for part one (remade in broadcast quality); three news items including the announcement of Davison's departure on the One O'Clock News, a Kate Adie interview with Davison on the same day, and an interview with Davison and producer John Nathan-Turner from the following day's "Southeast at Six"; a photo gallery; and a subtitle 'text commentary'. Says Steve Roberts: "A 75-minute isolated camera recording from the last studio session exists (an 'iso' recording is generally designed to capture alternative angles that are not always being covered by the main cameras and provide additional shots for the director to use in post-production) and includes the shooting of the regeneration from Peter Davison into Colin Baker. An eight-minute featurette is being prepared which will include some of this material and will be accompanied by a commentary. An audio interview with the late Christopher Gable, who played Sharaz Jek in the story, has been loaned to us and forms the basis of a separate four minute featurette entitled 'Creating Sharaz Jek', which also includes previously unseen photographs from Gable's own collection, rehearsal and iso camera material from the last studio recording session, and extracts from the finished show." Musician Mark Ayres is working on the isolated soundtrack which will be presented in its entirety. Roberts also explains: "Nearly two hundred tape dropouts and scratches were repaired over the four episodes. Several technical errors in the original editing were spotted and corrected. The most noticeable of these were a one-frame zoom into the picture just prior to a cut near the end of episode three, which was corrected by repeating the previous frame, and a sideways hop halfway through a shot in episode two. The latter was quite tricky to fix, as the entire shot moved to the right halfway down one field and then stayed in this position for the rest of the shot. There is another occurrence of this in the same episode, but unfortunately it has the holographic communications screen superimposed over it, so it was impossible to fix the displacement of the background without affecting the superimposed foreground element."
Doctor Who 1960's Films on DVD and Video: Australia video buyers have received word that Universal Australia is releasing a special DVD package in May 2001 -- the two Dalek movies of the 1960's, "Dr. Who and the Daleks" and "Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD,"along with a special bonus feature, the "Dalekmania" documentary. The retailer's suggested price is $AUS 39.95. Part of the advertising being distributed suggests that it is being released in Australia before the rest of the world. The package is also being released as a double VHS package on the same day as DVD release. (Thanks to Grant Watson, and to Doctor Who Shop for the image!)
Do You Have a Licence to Save this Planet? - A new half-hour film from BBV written by Paul Ebbs & Gareth Preston. "Starring in the film is Sylvester McCoy in a role that has absolutely no relationship to anything else he may have played in the past. Yes, he's the intrepid traveller in time and space, The Foot Doctor, and this time he'll be battling the massed forces of Autons, Krynoids, Sontarans and Cyberons. With sparkling dialogue and physical comedy from a master at work "Do you have a Licence..." is not to be missed... or we'll set the Licensed Reality Corporation on you! "Do you have a Licence..." is already deep in post-production." The finished portion video debuted in America at the Gallifrey convention. The video is due to be finished by April and will make its final full debut at the DWAS@25 Convention. An extended video release (including extra scenes and out-takes) will follow in the UK.
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