planet of giants & underworld

Sunday, 19 January 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

BBC Worldwide Americas has issued press releases for the forthcoming Planet of Giantsand Underworld VHS releases on May 6 in North America, including cover illustrations (click on the thumbnail for a larger version). Outpost Gallifrey previously confirmed these May releases last month. The details are as follows:

PLANET OF GIANTS
Warner Home Video #E1740

In an attempt to return Ian and Barbara to the twentieth century, the Doctor tries an unorthodox new technique. It causes the TARDIS doors to open in mid-flight, which sets alarms ringing inside the craft. The time travelers arrive on Earth only to discover that they have been drastically reduced in size. They are now tiny people in a world of giant objects. The TARDIS has materialized between the cracks in a garden patio. The garden is teeming with giant worms, ants and cats - all deadly hazards for the miniature time travelers. Worse still, the TARDIS crew learns that this garden is the testing site for a deadly insecticide, DN6. Developed to eliminate all insect life, the chemical may be equally effective against miniscule time travelers. Starring Jacqueline Hill, William Hartnell, William Russell, Carole Ann Ford. Street date: May 6.

UNDERWORLD
Warner Home Video #E1741

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the Time Lords of Gallifrey began exploring space and time with their new TARDIS technology. The first alien race they encountered were the Minyans, who treated the Time Lords as gods. In return, the Time Lords gave medical and scientific aid. As the Minyans became more advanced, they renounced their former gods. The war that followed destroyed the planet Minyos and set the Time Lords on the path of non-interference with the affairs of the universe. Before Minyos was totally destroyed, a single ship - the P7E - escaped. It carried the future of the Minyan species, locked into its onboard race banks. But the P7E disappeared into deep space centuries ago. Now the last of the Minyans have embarked on a quest to recover their lost race banks. Their quest is destined to bring the Minyans once again into contact with the Time Lords - one Time Lord in particular. Starring Tom Baker, Louise Jameson. Street date: May 6.

FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

further video & audio update?

Saturday, 18 January 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

The Galaxy 4 shop in the UK is reporting that the schedule for 2003 of Doctor Who audio soundtrack releases from the BBC Radio Collection is as follows: "The Power of the Daleks" in May, "The Evil of the Daleks" in August and "Marco Polo" in November. Outpost Gallifrey received a report this week that artist Max Ellis has been commissioned for these three covers. None of this has been officially confirmed by BBC sources, though we believe the report is factual. Meanwhile, the newest issue of TV Zone magazine is reporting a mid-year (May 2003) release of the story Invasion of the Dinosaurs on VHS; obviously this is also not yet confirmed, but likely considering that there are so few stories yet to be released. (Thanks to Lissa Levesque, Div, Keith Randall)

FILTER: - Audio - Blu-ray/DVD

two seeds are better than one

Friday, 10 January 2003 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Steve Roberts of the BBC's Doctor Who Restoration Team confirmed today that the forthcoming release of The Seeds of Death - the first six-part story released on DVD in the UK - will be a two-disc set. We'd heard this before but were waiting for official confirmation. (Thanks to Steve Roberts

FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

dvd & video updates

Sunday, 8 December 2002 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

In the UK, the DVD release of The Three Doctors, originally moved from January 2003 to November 2003, is now currently scheduled for a July 2003 release according to the Restoration Team. Meanwhile, Resurrection Of The Daleks starring Peter Davison will be available on DVD in Australia on February 3, 2003. Finally, in the US, two new VHS releases have been confirmed from BBC Worldwide for release on May 13, 2003: Planet of Giants with William Hartnell, and Underworld with Tom Baker. There will also be a further video release in the US in September, with the two-month gaps filled in by DVD releases. (Thanks to Steve Roberts, Sean Brady, Rodney Hrvatin)

FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

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)

FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

three doctors & seeds of death

Thursday, 26 September 2002 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

A late addition to the forthcoming DVD release of The Three Doctors is a recently located high-quality audio copy of the BBC News obituary of William Hartnell, the first Doctor, loaned to the Doctor Who Restoration Team by fan Ronald McDevitt. The RT is currently locating photo stills of Hartnell to be used alongside the extra, which will likely be featured as an easter egg on the disc. Meanwhile, the Restoration Team has also updated their site with a new article about the cleanup and restoration work done on the forthcoming DVD release of The Seeds of Death starring Patrick Troughton; visit the Restoration Team site, click "DVD Releases" and "The Seeds of Death". (Thanks to Steve Roberts & the Restoration Team)

FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

seeds of death commentary

Tuesday, 17 September 2002 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Actors Wendy Padbury (Zoe) and Frazer Hines (Jamie), director Michael Ferguson and writer Terrance Dicks will be featured on the forthcoming DVD commentary track on the release of The Seeds of Death, the Patrick Troughton serial. Padbury, Hines and Ferguson will be doing the commentary on episodes 1 and 2; Hines, Padbury and Dicks on episode 3 (along with Ferguson briefly); Dicks and Ferguson on episode 4; and all four on episodes 5 and 6. The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, on sale this week, broke the story on the commentaries. Outpost Gallifrey has also learned from the Doctor Who Restoration Team that the Seeds disc contains a 25 minute documentary called 'Ssssowing the Sssseedssss', in which Ice Warrior actors Sonny Caldinez and Alan Bennion and make-up designer Sylvia James talk about the process of bringing the Martians to life. (Thanks to DWM, Steve Roberts and the Restoration Team).

FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

DVD

Wednesday, 6 June 2001 - Reported by Marcus

Compiled by:
Shaun Lyon

Exclusive Commentary on North American DVD Release: Steve Roberts of the DW Restoration Team confirmed a story we'd only recently heard: Peter Davison and Terrance Dicks were recently in studio recording a commentary to be used exclusively on the Region 1 (North America) DVD release of The Five Doctors. At present, the commentary will not be on any other recordings.

Australia DVD Update: Roadshow and BBC Worldwide have apparently settled their differences with regards to Australian DVD releases of Doctor Who stories. Roadshow will be producing the discs in Australia, using masters supplied by BBC Worldwide (a similar situation to the video releases). Robots of Death will be the first DVD released under this arrangement, appearing in stores in July. Some reports suggest that Spearhead from Space will also be released at the same time, however the official word from Roadshow is that the title will see release in September. Future DVDs are expected to released every three to four months after this. (Thanks to Jason Fraser & Dr. Who Club of Australia)

Doctor Who DVDs in North America in September 2001: Further to our exclusive announcement of the onset of Doctor Who DVD in North America last week, we have now received official word from BBC Worldwide Americas that, in conjunction with Warner Home Video, they are finally bringing Doctor Who onto DVD in North America on September 11, with the simultaneous triple-release of "The Five Doctors", "The Robots of Death" and "Spearhead from Space"(contrary to earlier reports that they were being released months apart). The two releases will match their UK DVD counterparts in features very closely; commentaries, photo galleries, trailers, model footage and the UNIT Recruitment Film on "Spearhead" will definitely be included. All three DVDs are expected to retail for US $24.99. TV Zone Magazine is reporting that the US version of "The Five Doctors" will also have "The King's Demons" on it, but we are highly sceptical of this; our sources at BBC Worldwide Americas haven't mentioned this, and it's possible they are referring to the VHS version in confusion. (Thanks to BBC Worldwide Americas for the final confirmation, as well as Brian Burkart, Jennifer Kelley, Michael Sliger, Kenneth Parker, Patrick Neighly, D. Callinicos and others)

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. Click on the graphic for the screen shots of the menus from this DVD release! (Thanks to Grant Watson, and to Gallifrey 5 for the image!)

Cover Changes: The Doctor Who DVD covers are set to feature a new look with the release of Caves of Androzani later this year in June. The photograph on the front cover will be replaced with artwork from the people responsible for the latest book covers. This decision is likely to please a large number of fans who are disappointed with the current covers, so much so that the debate has even reached the letters page of Doctor Who Magazine! (Thanks to Doctor Who Shop)

BBC DVD Release Strategy Reexamined: Due to the amount of delays, due both to production as well as packaging, the BBC is reexamining its DVD release strategy for 2001. To that end, The Caves of Androzani has been pushed back from its April 2001 release date to June. In addition, the 1996 TV Movie, originally due in the summer (by early reports), will be released in the autumn.

DVD Release Notes
These releases are only currently in PAL format (for UK, Australia and New Zealand & compatible DVD players); NTSC format (US/Canada) are expected from BBC Worldwide in late 2001. Special thanks to Steve Roberts of the Restoration Team and our other correspondents for this information.

Previously Released (in UK or abroad):

The Five Doctors: Now in release in UK and Australia/New Zealand; coming soon in US/Canada. This is the 'special edition' remastered originally for video release. Dual-layered with Dolby Digital soundtrack; the soundtrack was remixed using full multi-channel sound and the disc includes the full music soundtrack. Includes subtitles in six languages. North America release includes Peter Davison/Terrance Dicks commentary.
Robots of Death: Now in release in UK; coming soon in Australia/New Zealand, US/Canada. Includes a commentary by author Chris Boucher and producer Philip Hinchcliffe; 10 minutes of shots and model footage ("unused footage, ex-monochrome Shibaden tape"); an image stills gallery; production notes; and a floor plan from the production.
Spearhead from Space: Now in release in UK; coming soon in Australia/New Zealand, US/Canada. Includes commentary by actors Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John. Musical cuts were made, including digital removal of a Fleetwood Mac track in part two and replacement of a Led Zeppelin track from the trailer for part three. Includes Kevin Davies' five-minute spoof "UNIT Recruitment Film"; a photo gallery with rare or previously unseen photos; two BBC trailers from the 1999 repeat season; a specially shot 35mm trailer for the 1999 Doctor Who night; and a bonus hidden feature (Easter Egg). Also included is the option to display production information via on-screen subtitles, which gives the viewer details of the locations used and other points of interest throughout the story.
Remembrance of the Daleks: Now in release in UK. Includes commentary by actors Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred; a four-minute extra including deleted scenes, bloopers and outtakes; two original BBC1 trailers (one of which was reconstructed specially for this disc); two multi-angle sequences featuring Ace's baseball attack on a Dalek and subsequent escape, and the gate explosion sequence; and an isolated music track provided by musician Keff McCulloch including a couple of unused music cues. Two pieces of music by the Beatles were removed digitally. An error in production has allowed a couple of small scenes to be released on the disc without requisite effects, using earlier takes for the scenes. Among them is a sequence in the scrapyard where a soldier is shot by a Dalek beam; the ray is not added to this version. The Restoration Team are hoping to correct this for future pressings including overseas releases, but cannot guarantee that any work will be able to be done to fix it.
Forthcoming:
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."
The 1996 TV Movie: Release scheduled for August 2001. Confirmed DVD material is as follows: digitally remastered, previously unreleased unedited version; audio commentary with director Geoffrey Sax; isolated synchronous music soundtrack (stereo sound); four previously unreleased music tracks: "In a Dream" (featured playing on the gramophone in the TARDIS), "All Dressed Up" (featured playing on the radio in the morgue scenes), "Ride Into The Moonlight" (featured playing at the Hospital's New Year's party) and "Auld Lang Syne" (recorded for, but not used in, the final scenes); US FOX network promo feature; interviews with the stars, producer and director from 1996; behind the scenes footage and tour of the TARDIS set; interview with producer Philip Segal in 2001, looking back on the film from five years on; two alternative versions of existing scenes (Puccini and Give Me The Keys); two BBC trails; subtitle production commentary; English subtitles; photo gallery. Many of the extras come from the Electronic Press Kit produced for the FOX network and television trailers (including a caption tribute to the late Jon Pertwee which was broadcast with the movie on BBC1 in 1996, interviews and FOX's "Behind the Scenes" minidocumentary). The 10-minute interview with film producer Philip Segal (who spearheaded the 1996 film) was taped at the Gallifrey 2001 convention; among other comments, Segal notes some of the changes he'd have made if he had not been strongarmed by FOX, such as the romantic aspect and the "Americanisation" of the program. Additionally, director Geoffrey Sax does the the first single-person commentary for a Doctor Who DVD release; according to the Restoration Team, Sax gave "great insight into the technical complexeties of making the show." Paul McGann was asked to do the commentary track but declined.
Vengeance on Varos: Release scheduled for October 2001. Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Nabil Shaban (Sil) taped a commentary on March 29 for this release, which will (unlike previous releases) not include an isolated music soundtrack. "This was purely because the music was used so sparsely throughout the story that we felt it did not work in the synchronous-use form for which we held the rights," says the Restoration Team website, which also notes the reconstruction of a particular scene in episode one. "There is a technical fault with some shots of the gun used to torture Jason Connery. Inside the gun is a red light, which was too bright and caused an illegal video signal... To overcome this, a Philips VS4 noise reducer was put into a mode which severly blurs the video in both horizontal and vertical directions.... The uneveness was then removed by locking onto that particular shade of red using the Pogle secondary colour corrector and then turning the saturation up so that the red went into clipping and removed any level variations." A one-inch studio recording spool for the story still exists, which will be used as the basis for a small feature which shows a problem scene and how the director used multiple retakes to give him the shots he needed. Early 71 edits of both episodes exist on timecoded U-matic dubs (of the director's VHS copies) in Ian Levine's collection, which Ian has kindly loaned to the Restoration Team; these will provide a number of extended and deleted scenes for inclusion on the disc.
The Tomb of the Cybermen: Due in January 2002. The original Hong Kong prints were used, ultrasonically film cleaned and then transferred completely raw by Senior Colourist Jonathan Wood on the Spirit telecine for optimum quality - and also to provide us with a source of pictures for 'before and after' shots which could possibly form part of a featurette on the remastering processing. An "Edifis Sting with Scratchbox" utility was used by the Restoration Team to clean some film damage. Will feature commentary by Deborah Watling and Frazer Hines plus text production notes and photo gallery. The RT plans to use an introduction featured on the 1992 VHS release by Morris Barry and some material from BAFTA's 'Tombwatch' 1992 video launch event. Other features are TBA. (Thanks to everyone who pointed out that we featured much of this on the Release Guide page but forgot to update the News Page...)
Future Releases: BBC Video wants to run the gamut through all seven TV Doctors for DVD releases first. Releases of one Hartnell and one Troughton story are likely for 2002 along with more Tom Baker releases. One website, the Wolves of Fenric, reported that "Pyramids of Mars" and "The Ark in Space" might be on the schedule sometime soon, but both have been denied.
Doctor Who Films on DVD: Doctor Who comes to DVD in North America on an unexpected avenue: the two 1960's Doctor Who films, "Dr. Who and the Daleks" and "Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD" will be released on DVD by Anchor Bay in late 2001, a change from 2002 as previously mentioned, according to Anchor Bay's website. The DVDs will be released separately, with a 5000-count special edition version available for purchase. Actors Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey recently were in studio recording commentary for the releases, just one of the extras that will be included. Release info can be found on the Anchor Bay website (http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com). (Thanks to Steve Hill and J. Garth Wilcox)
Australia DVD Update: Despite of previous announcements that it wouldn't be releasing Doctor Who on DVD in Australia, Sydney-based Roadshow Entertainment (the company that currently releases Who videos down under) has begun releasing them. But the 1960's films will be released; see above! (Thanks to Rob Irwin)

FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD

Video

Wednesday, 30 May 2001 - Reported by Marcus

Compiled by:
Shaun Lyon

Davros Box Set Release: A special video release, specifically for one of the major chain retailers in the UK (but, as stated by the Restoration team, definitely not Woolworths), of the five Davros stories already in release on BBC Video: Genesis of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks and Remembrance of the Daleks. This is not an official BBC Video release, but instead was prepared by BBC Worldwide at the request of the retailer as a special. (Thanks to Nigel Potter)

Calling All Researchers!: Paul Vanezis of the Restoration Team has put out the following call for action: "I've had a message that Patrick Troughton episodes were screened on Channel 9, a CBS affiliate in Washington DC in the late sixties/early seventies. The report comes from someone who remembers seeing 'The Wheel in Space' after school (round about 4pm)and that Gilligans Island re-runs had just been introduced. The person also remembers that these programmes were replaced with an afternoon film some time later, one of which was 'The Creature from the Black Lagoon'. Are there any US TV researchers out there who have access to TV listings from around about then? We're talking about 1969, possibly 1970. It's also worth pointing out that I have contacted the TV station (now WUSA-TV) who say they did not screen the episodes and do not have any copies. Also, our scant records indicate that the series was not sold to this market at that time." If you have any information that can be provided to the Restoration Team, please visit the Restoration Team Discussion Forum.

UK TV Movie Video In Deletion: Says Steve Roberts of the Restoration Team, "UK fans should be aware that the VHS version of the McGann TV movie is about to be withdrawn and deleted. This is because the unedited DVD is shortly to be released and will have a higher certificate. BBFC rules currently don't allow a title to be available in two different certificated versions at the same time." The DVD will be out in the autumn in the UK; no word on Australia/New Zealand release. (A North American release of the TV movie in any format is unlikely.)

Australia Video Update: The Sunmakers will see release in September, with Four to Doomsday in November. However, at this stage, Roadshow has no plans to release Delta and the Bannermen, as BBC Worldwide have not made clearances for certain pieces of music, performed during the story, outside the UK market. The practical conclusion is that the story will not see video release in Australia (for the foreseeable future at least), with the only way of purchasing this story being direct from the UK. (Thanks to Jason Fraser & Dr. Who Club of Australia)

Blackstar Video Promotion: UK video retailer Blackstar is running a special Doctor Who promotion with reduced-rate Doctor Who titles selling for the low price of only £7.99. The stories on sale include An Unearthly Child (remastered edition), The Edge of Destruction/Original Pilot, Carnival of Monsters, Horror of Fang Rock, The Face of Evil, Nightmare of Eden, Time Flight, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Silver Nemesis and Battlefield as well as The Colin Baker Years and More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS. Click on the graphic to visit their site!

2001 UK Releases: "Delta and the Bannermen," originally scheduled for early March, is now due for release on March 26. Tenth Planet has arranged for a special pre-release on March 10; videos will be in stores on the regular date after that. A re-release of "City of Death" (Tom Baker) is planned for May 7, 2001. July 9, 2001 is the new confirmed release date for "The Sunmakers", the Tom Baker season 15 story. After that, the final unreleased Peter Davison story "Four to Doomsday" is on the schedule for September 3, 2001. The BBC's official website is now confirming our earlier report that "Colony in Space" and "The Time Monster," both Jon Pertwee serials, will be released in a package together on November 5, 2001 as "The Master Box Set". A possible Patrick Troughton clips tape and a compilation of episodes from missing stories remastered in better format is rumored to be planned for 2002. (Thanks to Doctor Who Magazine and the BBC Official Website for much of this info.)

North American Release Update: "The Tenth Planet" starring William Hartnell was released on May 8 (instead of being part of a twin release with "Attack of the Cybermen," it is being released separately here.) With the release of "Tenth Planet," BBC Worldwide Americas has officially put its VHS video releases for the remainder of 2001 on hold while they concentrate more fully on DVD (see section below), and so the planned releases of "The Daleks: Remastered" and "Attack of the Cybermen" have been held. They may be released in late 2001, but at this point are not on the 2001 schedule. (Thanks to our contact at BBC Worldwide Americas for the release information.)

Edge of Destruction - North America Re-release: The "Edge of Destruction, Original Pilot & Missing Years" tape has been re-released by BBC Worldwide in America; it is being spotted across North America at retail shops. Warner Home Video has reclassified this new release as E1578 (the older release # being E1497); to avoid the cost of printing new sleeves, the new catalog number is stickered on the back of the sleeves. The original version was released with substantial errors, including the broadcast version of "An Unearthly Child" and the syndicated master of "Edge of Destruction" rather than the home video master. (A good way to tell from the tape: the second episode of "Edge" on bad tapes is missing the lead-in to "Marco Polo".) (Thanks to Graeme Burk, Matt O'Grady, Steve Roberts, Steve Manfred and BBCWA.)

FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD

DVD

Wednesday, 4 April 2001 - Reported by Marcus

Compiled by:
Shaun Lyon

Doctor Who DVDs in North America in September 2001: Further to our exclusive announcement of the onset of Doctor Who DVD in North America last week, we have now received official word from BBC Worldwide Americas that, in conjunction with Warner Home Video, they are finally bringing Doctor Who onto DVD in North America on September 11, with the simultaneous triple-release of "The Five Doctors", "The Robots of Death" and "Spearhead from Space" (contrary to earlier reports that they were being released months apart). The two releases will match their UK DVD counterparts in features very closely; commentaries, photo galleries, trailers, model footage and the UNIT Recruitment Film on "Spearhead" will definitely be included. All three DVDs are expected to retail for US $24.99. (Thanks to BBC Worldwide Americas for the final confirmation, as well as Brian Burkart, Jennifer Kelley, Michael Sliger, Kenneth Parker, Patrick Neighly and others)

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!)

Australia DVD Troubles: Village Roadshow's releases of Doctor Who DVDs have apparently stopped after the release of "The Five Doctors" late in 2000. Further releases are "on hold until official notice" according to Village Roadshow, though no reason for the stoppage is forthcoming. We're currently investigating. (Thanks to Reid Withnell)

Previously Released (in UK or abroad):

The Five Doctors: Now in release in UK and Australia/New Zealand. This is the 'special edition' remastered originally for video release. Dual-layered with Dolby Digital soundtrack; the soundtrack was remixed using full multi-channel sound and the disc includes the full music soundtrack. Includes subtitles in six languages. Intended for US/Canada release in late 2001.
Robots of Death: Now in release in UK. Includes a commentary by author Chris Boucher and producer Philip Hinchcliffe; 10 minutes of shots and model footage ("unused footage, ex-monochrome Shibaden tape"); an image stills gallery; production notes; and a floor plan from the production. Australia/New Zealand release delayed; scheduled for US/Canada release at the end of 2001.
Spearhead from Space: Now in release in UK. Includes commentary by actors Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John. Musical cuts were made, including digital removal of a Fleetwood Mac track in part two and replacement of a Led Zeppelin track from the trailer for part three. Includes Kevin Davies' five-minute spoof "UNIT Recruitment Film"; a photo gallery with rare or previously unseen photos; two BBC trailers from the 1999 repeat season; a specially shot 35mm trailer for the 1999 Doctor Who night; and a bonus hidden feature (Easter Egg). Also included is the option to display production information via on-screen subtitles, which gives the viewer details of the locations used and other points of interest throughout the story.
Remembrance of the Daleks: Now in release in UK. Includes commentary by actors Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred; a four-minute extra including deleted scenes, bloopers and outtakes; two original BBC1 trailers (one of which was reconstructed specially for this disc); two multi-angle sequences featuring Ace's baseball attack on a Dalek and subsequent escape, and the gate explosion sequence; and an isolated music track provided by musician Keff McCulloch including a couple of unused music cues. Two pieces of music by the Beatles were removed digitally. An error in production has allowed a couple of small scenes to be released on the disc without requisite effects, using earlier takes for the scenes. Among them is a sequence in the scrapyard where a soldier is shot by a Dalek beam; the ray is not added to this version. The Restoration Team are hoping to correct this for future pressings including overseas releases, but cannot guarantee that any work will be able to be done to fix it.
Forthcoming:
The Caves of Androzani: Release date moved to June 13, 2001. 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."
The 1996 TV Movie: Release scheduled for autumn 2001, likely August. This DVD will contain the complete, uncut print of the film as well as many extras including the Electronic Press Kit produced for the FOX network and television trailers (including a caption tribute to the late Jon Pertwee which was broadcast with the movie on BBC1 in 1996). Film producer Philip Segal (who spearheaded the 1996 film) taped a 10-minute interview with Steve Roberts at the Gallifrey 2001 convention, which will be included on the DVD release (an earlier announced introduction was not used). Among other comments, Segal notes some of the changes he'd have made if he had not been strongarmed by FOX, such as the romantic aspect and the "Americanisation" of the program. Additionally, director Geoffrey Sax has taped the first single-person commentary for a Doctor Who DVD release; according to the Restoration Team, he gave "great insight into the technical complexeties of making the show." Paul McGann was asked to do the commentary track but declined.
Vengeance on Varos: Release scheduled for October 2001. Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Nabil Shaban (Sil) taped a commentary on March 29 for this release, which will (unlike previous releases) not include an isolated music soundtrack. "This was purely because the music was used so sparsely throughout the story that we felt it did not work in the synchronous-use form for which we held the rights," says the Restoration Team website, which also notes the reconstruction of a particular scene in episode one. "There is a technical fault with some shots of the gun used to torture Jason Connery. Inside the gun is a red light, which was too bright and caused an illegal video signal... To overcome this, a Philips VS4 noise reducer was put into a mode which severly blurs the video in both horizontal and vertical directions.... The uneveness was then removed by locking onto that particular shade of red using the Pogle secondary colour corrector and then turning the saturation up so that the red went into clipping and removed any level variations." A one-inch studio recording spool for the story still exists, which will be used as the basis for a small feature which shows a problem scene and how the director used multiple retakes to give him the shots he needed. Early 71 edits of both episodes exist on timecoded U-matic dubs (of the director's VHS copies) in Ian Levine's collection, which Ian has kindly loaned to the Restoration Team; these will provide a number of extended and deleted scenes for inclusion on the disc.
The Tomb of the Cybermen: Due in January 2002. No further information available.
Future Releases: BBC Video wants to run the gamut through all seven TV Doctors for DVD releases first. Releases of one Hartnell and one Troughton story are likely for 2002 along with more Tom Baker releases. One website, the Wolves of Fenric, reported that "Pyramids of Mars" and "The Ark in Space" might be on the schedule sometime soon, but both have been denied.
Doctor Who Films on DVD: Doctor Who comes to DVD in North America on an unexpected avenue: the two 1960's Doctor Who films, "Dr. Who and the Daleks" and "Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 AD" will be released in 2002 on DVD by Anchor Bay. Actors Jennie Linden and Roberta Tovey recently were in studio recording commentary for the releases, just one of the extras that will be included. Release info can be found on the Anchor Bay website (http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com) as being released in 2002. (Thanks to Steve Hill)
Australia DVD Update: Despite of previous announcements that it wouldn't be releasing Doctor Who on DVD in Australia, Sydney-based Roadshow Entertainment (the company that currently releases Who videos down under) has begun releasing them. But the 1960's films will be released; see above! (Thanks to Rob Irwin)

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