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Circuit Breaker - The Black Archive Files: What's the deal?

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I often talk about how much care and attention to detail goes into the Classic Series releases to convince us fans to shell out on something a lot of us have already bought at least two or three times. Then comes along a random release out of the blue that makes you ask who does this appeal to? But some unexpected new bonus material alongside some unusual and rare episode variants perhaps gives enough value to justify buying.    Circuit Breaker is the latest multi-platform event from BBC Studios, following on from Time Lord Victorious (2020) and Doom’s Day (2023). This time focusing on the mysterious Fugitive Doctor as played by Jo Martin, who has refreshingly been heavily involved with the entire range. I’ve personally not been following the story that closely, but the premise involves the Doctor teaming up with Osgood who is now working in the Black Archive as objects from the Doctor’s personal timeline have gone missing. This new Blu-ray release features 10 Doctor Who stori...
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Doctor Who Series 1-4 Blu-ray Box Set - What's the deal?

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 UPDATE 05/02/24 - Replacement discs are being issued for The Specials Disc 2 (The End of Time disc) to correct the wrong screengrabs on the scene selection menu and subtitles.    2023 saw another new release of Series 1-4 in the UK on Blu-ray. Containing new upscales of the standard definition episodes (this time at the correct speed!). Some fans have asked me is this release worth getting? That’s a very tricky thing to answer. In truth (with the exception of The Next Doctor, I’ll get on to that), this is the best release this of these episodes hands down - but there are some caveats. I’ll attempt to answer the question in more detail.   Now we have had a bit of time to digest this release, (there was far too much going on in November and December in the Whoniverse to look at this properly) I thought this package could do with a proper write up explaining my thoughts.   The Packaging In terms of how box set is laid out, it was definitely the right ap...
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New Nu-Who box set?

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With the interesting news that the BBC are releasing a complete “Nu Who” box set in Region 1 (USA and Canada), this release could offer a diamond opportunity revisit some of those releases. Especially earlier titles that the BBC released on Blu-ray.     When the BBC chose to ‘remaster’ Series 1-4 on Blu-ray in 2013, they were designed for the Region 1 market. The new copies that were made were poorly done, resulting in the episodes running at a lower frame rate, which slows down the episodes. Other mistakes were also made like the misspelling of Phil Collinson’s name on the Rose credits. These discs were then used in the UK as well. We didn’t need the change in frame rate and have to put up with the slowed down episodes. Whilst the picture quality is better, the DVD’s still have some quite big benefits over the Blu-rays. Early 5.1 mixes that were created for the box sets are controversial in the sound mix. Audio levels were adjusted meaning dialogue in places became unclea...
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What a difference a year makes - The Future of 60's Who on Blu-ray

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  About a year ago The Mirror reported the end of Doctor Who missing episode animations because BBC America had pulled out of co-funding them, with the final release being The Abominable Snowmen last September. It was very disappointing news. It felt like it was the worst time to stop. We were just 5 episodes away from being over the half way mark in terms of animated episodes. But thankfully situations can change. 11 months after the original article The Mirror reported that funding had been sourced and that the completely missing Hartnell story The Smugglers and 50% missing story The Underwater Menace are next in line. If that wasn’t exciting enough, the article also stated that colourisations of Hartnell and Troughton episodes are planned including “An Unearthly Child”.   Of course this is a newspaper we are talking about, and sometimes the stories they report aren’t always true, particularly on the entertainment front. However the journalist Nicola Methven has an ext...
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