With the departure of David Tennant as the star of the BBC’s Doctor Who, BBC America and Warner Home Video have released Doctor Who: The Complete Specials. Featuring five specials (The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars and the first and second parts of The End of Time) over five DVDs, the box set features a wide array of features, commentary and documentaries and is available to own on DVD and Blu-Ray now after their February 2 release.
For hardcore fans of the series, this collection is a great sendoff to the current Doctor and showrunner Russell T. Davies, whose classic interpretation of the characters and the show have been well-received by fans and critics. The series, in addition to being a ratings success in the BBC and a staple of BBC America’s lineup, has inspired comic book spinoffs in the US and the UK and has led to interest in a US remake of the program. It’s a continuation of the BBC’s late ‘60s-late ‘80s run and has inspired a popular, Davies-helmed spinoff, Torchwood.
For more casual fans or those looking to acquaint themselves with the ideas of the show, this particular box set is a decent enough jumping-on point; Tennant has been widely praised as possibly the best Doctor ever to be featured on the show, and obviously the series finale (“The End of Time”) would be a decent enough lead-in to what’s currently a great jumping-on point for them, though: the introduction of a new Doctor (Matt Smith, introduced in part two of that story) with the new season. The show itself isn’t for everyone; the continuation of the old show is not only story-wise, but technically as well; it looks just like it did in the ‘60s, and has the very analog special effects and costuming of that era. Featuring a number of big-name guest-stars, the specials are an enjoyable, if campy, peek at the show.
February 7th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
“The show itself isn’t for everyone; the continuation of the old show is not only story-wise, but technically as well; it looks just like it did in the ‘60s, and has the very analog special effects and costuming of that era.”
So… either you’re joking, or you’re lying about ever having actually either incarnation of this show?
That or some kind of impairment…
February 8th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
“and obviously the series finale (“The End of the World”) would be a decent enough lead-in to what’s currently a great jumping-on point for them”
Sure, if they wanted to watch the 2nd episode of the first season of the rebooted series, they *could* watch the episode “The End of the World”.
Or they could watch “The End of Time”, which is actually part of this DVD/Blu-Ray set.
“The show itself isn’t for everyone; the continuation of the old show is not only story-wise, but technically as well; it looks just like it did in the ‘60s, and has the very analog special effects and costuming of that era.”
This is one of the most incredibly nonsensical sentences I’ve ever read. Story-wise what?; technically what?; why was the ; used more than once?
And I’d have to agree with Ed: if you think the show now ‘looks just like it did in the ’60s’, then you’re quite literally brain damaged.