Mind of Evil - DVDs arriving in the nick of time NOW!

[SiHart]

Apparently Dan Hall has said this will be released on DVD sometime next year. Lots of Pertwee next year it seems, doesn't it?

Nothing yet on whether it's going to be fully, partially or not at all recolourised... fingers crossed, eh?

Si xx

[Pip Madeley]

Given his in-vision comments on the Planet of the Daleks disc, I fear it'll be a black and white release, which would be very disappointing if we're honest.

[Simon R]

What did he say Pip?

[Darren]

This is one of my favourite Third Doctor stories. Dark, gritty and thought provoking. I hope it isn't colourised, as I find b&w to be far more atmospheric.

[Captain Tancredi]

Given his in-vision comments on the Planet of the Daleks disc, I fear it'll be a black and white release, which would be very disappointing if we're honest.

Especially as it's more or less an open secret that various bits (depending on who you speak to) have been recoloured or are doable. How many potential buyers will hang back in the hope of something better a couple of years down the line?

[Pip Madeley]

What did he say Pip?

"Technology had got to the point where it was affordable to do now - if we had been looking at this five years ago, it would've been too expensive. Now, it's not cheap, but it's becoming more affordable to do, and because there was just the one episode that needed work, it made it even more affordable. I doubt whether we could do it for a whole series, I doubt whether we could even do it for two episodes... "

[Captain Tancredi]

I suppose part of the argument is that doing 'Planet' 3 effectively gave them the potential to do the Dalek War set, which in itself has a lot of the ingredients to be a big seller as far as the classic series range is concerned.

From a restoration point of view, I suspect that part of the problem is trying to avoid getting to a situation where the end of the range is made up entirely of the long-term projects like the stories which were last recoloured nearly 20 years ago and the train wreck of 'Ambassadors of Death'. Perhaps part of the thinking is that bringing out a crystal clear b/w 'Mind' next year means that it can be put on a back burner so that whatever the next medium is, by the time they get around to releasing it in another ten years' time the technology will be even better and cost peanuts.

[Pip Madeley]

This is one of my favourite Third Doctor stories. Dark, gritty and thought provoking. I hope it isn't colourised, as I find b&w to be far more atmospheric.

That's a bit silly though isn't it? If you want to watch it in black and white all you need to do is turn down the colour with your TV remote...

[Antony Cox]

I'd still rather wait until it's affordable to release in colour. Then, those who are in the "It's better in black & white" camp can just turn the colour down on their TVs.

[Pip Madeley]

Spooky, on the same wavelength there Mr Cox

[Logo Polish]

Steve Roberts has said on Roobarbs that this information is mistaken and it's not due out in 2010. It's actually The Time Monster which is supposed to be, apparently.

[Si Hunt]

"Technology had got to the point where it was affordable to do now - if we had been looking at this five years ago, it would've been too expensive. Now, it's not cheap, but it's becoming more affordable to do, and because there was just the one episode that needed work, it made it even more affordable. I doubt whether we could do it for a whole series, I doubt whether we could even do it for two episodes... "

But wasn't that in the bit where they were discussing the colourising done in the US from scratch before they'd discovered Chromadot? They wouldn't need to do that for "Mind" as they have Chromadot for five of the episodes.

This is one of my favourite Third Doctor stories. Dark, gritty and thought provoking. I hope it isn't colourised, as I find b&w to be far more atmospheric.

Turn the colour down then.

Si.

[Si Hunt]

Steve Roberts has said on Roobarbs that this information is mistaken and it's not due out in 2010. It's actually The Time Monster which is supposed to be, apparently.

There we go then - panic over! Phew.

Si.

[Darren]

Turn the colour down then

Didn't think of that. But it's academic now.

[shada pavlova]

So is that a "yes" to the possible "Myths 'n' Legends 'n' ting" boxset?

[Si Hunt]

Yes, it's definately a Yes to the possibility. Possibly.

Si. :mobile

[Larry]

. Lots of Pertwee next year it seems, doesn't it?
Si xx

well looking at how many stories of his were left for release we could be looking at 3 or 4 pertwees for the next couple of years.

[Si Hunt]

[SiHart]

All good things come to those who wait. Doctor Who fans are never paitent though.

Si xx

[Thasc]

Yay I'm looking forward to The Time Monster being released, it's one of my favourite stories

[Si Hunt]

Not patient? Some of us waited 15 years for it to come back after "Survival"!

Si.

[Rob McCow]

And in that 15 years not once did a Doctor Who fan impatiently phone the BBC asking when the show was coming back.

I'm looking forward to The Time Monster too - any excuse for a few drinks!

[Perry Vale]

Some interesting comments about the range taken from an interview with Steve Roberts (in the link below), and the full story (finally!) about the state of Mind Of Evil....

http://www.doctorwhoblog.com/

[Pip Madeley]

Nice one Steve...

That CR has been used on The Mind of Evil is probably the worst kept secret in Doctor Who today. But Steve finally had permission to give fans the whole story of what was going on with the colour recovery on The Mind of Evil and the answer is more complex.



Yes, they have managed to achieve colour recovery on The Mind of Evil episodes 2-6 (Episode 1 is apparently unrecoverable due to some setting made in original transmission that prevented the chroma information from being recorded). But the result is far from stable. While some scenes, such as one shown to us from Episode 2, are stunning in how well the original colours were able to be recovered, other scenes are much less than satisfactory. We saw a clip from the climax of the story in Episode 6 where the colours bled badly into each other and there was psychadelic strobing effects when characters moved on screen.

So the short story here is: yes, The Mind of Evil is now (mostly) in colour through a process that seemed like science fiction even a year ago. No, it’s not coming out on DVD anytime soon.

Steve Roberts indicated that the story has been pushed back as far as possible to allow for other cost-effective solutions to transpire to stabilize the colour recovery through manual intervention, computer colourization, further enhancements of the Chroma Dot recovery process or some other still-to-be-discovered means. And if nothing can be found it may be released in Black and White. Fans wait and hold their breath until then…

Interesting stuff. I think if it doesn't turn out to be possible to release it wholly in colour then it would at least be nice to have the segments that are recoverable as an extra.

[Andrew Curnow]

At least we know - and it makes a lot of sense (IMHO) to push the release back as far as possible in the schedule. You never know what technological doohicky might be just around the corner.