AI on Classic Doctor Who. Why it's bad.

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   I can’t believe I am writing a post like this, but I really fear for the future of The Collection.     The restoration work carried out on Classic Doctor Who had always been to such a high standard. When the show started coming out on Blu-ray in 2018 I was incredibly impressed how the picture looked. Free from DVD compression, allowing the master tapes of episodes shot on 2” or 1”inch video tape to shine through. There was picture noise, a bit of blurriness at times, but that was ok. No-one complained because we all knew how the episodes were made back in the 20 th Century. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. So I have to question why BBC Studios decided to risk all of that by starting to use AI to upscale the footage? In principle it may sound good, maybe even beneficial to the episodes, but the problem is AI is just what an algorithm thinks an image should look like, leaving in its wake a huge number artefacts that change how an episode looks. P...
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Season 2 - Intital Thoughts

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Hurrah! Finally a 60’s set.  It’s about time the black and white era got some of the love. Lee Binding has worked his magic once again, it looks incredible. 9 discs makes it the biggest set yet and a season in desperate need of some new restoration.

Firstly, I’m going to address the elephant in the room, the reconstruction for The Crusade. It’s fine. Of course I would prefer it animated. But even if the animations continue, for me it’s bottom of the to do list. For such a resource heavy story that’s 50% existing, I think there are more effective uses for a budget to tell us a story that has less exposure.

What a trailer though. Probably my favourite yet. Magical to see Maureen O’Brien back as Vicki. Something I’d never thought I’d see. Beautifully written and Directed as usual. Worth the price of the box set alone!

I had strong doubts that William Russell would be well enough to participate in an In Conversation, so I’m glad to be proven wrong.

The Flight Through Eternity documentary (not the first documentary to have that name) is a clever way of filling in all those making-of documentary gaps in one easy production. I hope there are a lot of interviewees.

I’m glad David Whitaker is getting a documentary.  Such an important figure who isn’t talked about enough.  And lovely to see Emily Cook present a documentary about merchandise in the 60’s.  Good stuff.

Behind the Sofa looks a hoot with some of my favourite contributors so far on this one.

There’s lots of other exciting content to look forward to, particularly the convention panel with Jaqueline Hill, Carole Ann Ford, Adrienne Hill and Michael Craze.

There is a little piece of me that’s disappointed there’s not a new cast commentary for The Crusade, or that it has it’s own making-of (something that I thought would be a shoe-in considering the number of people still with us).  But at least there’s something on The Lion recovery.

I for one was perhaps hoping some more gaps in the 60’s set would be filled in by The Collection, but I am still very happy with what there. Roll on DWM with the full breakdown.

Only one Doctor left without a set now…

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