Revisitations 3 - The Money For Old Rope Box Set

[Anthony Williams]

Well, since the box art for the Revistations set has been released, and is clearly labelled as "Revistations 1", it seems clear that there are plans for future Revistations sets...

So, I ask of Planet Skaro, what would you like to see in "Revisitations 2"? Below is the list of stories that I believe are probably in need of Revisiting, and are thus options....

The Tomb of the Cybermen (needs Vidfiring)
Spearhead from Space (early release, could do with more extras)
The Three Doctors (to fix the error at the end of one of the episodes...)
The Green Death (spread over 2 discs, so that the picture quality could be better)
The Ark in Space (early release, could do with more extras)
Vengeance on Varos (early release, could do with more extras)

If you think there are any other stories that could do with Revisiting, please don't feel restricted by the six stories that I've picked on!

So... I think that the three that I would like to see in Revisitations 2 are....

The Tomb of the Cybermen
Spearhead from Space
The Ark in Space

Ant x

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Robots of Death, being an early release is woefully light on extras, and to me it's with Genesis being one of the all time great stories. Sadly Russell Hunter the captain is no longer with us.

[SiHart]

I think I'd go for Robots, Tomb and Spearhead myself. I don't think the others suffer all that much from their extras or picture quality issues.

Si xx

[Perry Vale]

All the rumours/gossip seem to point towards it being Robots/Tomb/Spearhead, and it seems likely to me. Isn't Vengeance being saved for the final boxset that will finish the range, supposedly?

[Si Hunt]

Why?! It's hardly a classic.

Si.

[Anthony Williams]

Dan Hall made some comment about how the final year of releases will see at least one story from every Doctor. They've gotta release something from Colin's era, and that being the one with the worst extras makes it the best candidate...

Ant x

[Si Hunt]

Ah I see.

Si.

[stuartdg]

I would also like to see The Aztecs revisited

[Matthew T]

All the rumours/gossip seem to point towards it being Robots/Tomb/Spearhead, and it seems likely to me. Isn't Vengeance being saved for the final boxset that will finish the range, supposedly?

One of the guys from the RT said that NONE of these three will be on the second set.

Current signs point towards Seeds Of Death and Carnival of Monsters, plus another as yet unidentified title!

[Dino]

I made two guess. The first guess as to what the compilers would think were fan pleasers and the second one as pleasing me as a fan.

"2"
Pyramids Of Mars
Earthshock
Remembrance Of The Daleks

Or.. "2"
The Ark In Space
Enlightenment
Ghost Light

A claustrophobic set of stories. I was going to include Time Flight! Ark In Space trapped with the Wirrn, Ghost Light trapped in a Mansion, so Time Flight was going to be trapped on another planet. Then I remembered it.
No idea of extras. Only more of them!

Current signs point towards Seeds Of Death and Carnival of Monsters, plus another as yet unidentified title!

Those two alone are a tidy result!

[Perry Vale]

Current signs point towards Seeds Of Death and Carnival of Monsters, plus another as yet unidentified title!

Hopefully the 'unidentified' title will actually be one that would make me buy the set...

[Lissa]

What more could they do with Seeds of Death? It's already a 2 disc set with immaculate picture and a fantastic commentary. Unless they're going to put The Ice Warriors on a third disc for Revisitations II it seems a bit pointless.

[Larry]

I made two guess. The first guess as to what the compilers would think were fan pleasers and the second one as pleasing me as a fan.

"2"
Pyramids Of Mars
Earthshock
Remembrance Of The Daleks

!

well rememberance has already been re-released and both pyramids and Earthshock already have a full compliment of extras so I think it very unlikely any of these stories would be re-released.

my personal choice - assuming another revisiting set will consist of 3 stories would be

Spearhead from Space
Ark in Space
Robots of Death

[SiHart]

Doctor Who Newspage report that:

2|entertain have confirmed that the third story in the Revisitations 2 Box Set will be the Second Doctor Story The Seeds of Death.

DVD commissioning editor Dan Hall gave the news in an interview with Radio Free Skaro. The Seeds of Death stars Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon and Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot alongside Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. It was first released on DVD in February 2003.

The story joins The Carnival of Monsters with Jon Pertwee and Resurrection of the Daleks with Peter Davison, on the box set expected to be released mid 2011.

Hall confirmed that The Resurrection of the Daleks will contain a documentary fronted by Tenth Doctor David Tennant (mentioned here). He said the story will be released in both the four episode and two episode edition.

He confirmed that the missing Tom Baker Story Shada is in production and at present the plan is to release it with another title.

In the wide ranging interview Hall also talked about his plans for the range and his hopes and desires for the remaining classic stories which still have to be released.

So the rumours were entirely accurate then.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

I'd love to read a transcript of that interview.

Si. :mobile

[SiHart]

I think you can download it as a podcast or something

Si xx

[SiHart]

Try here Si: http://www.radiofreeskaro.com/

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

Thanks for the link Si, I listened to it this morning on the train.

Lots of titsbits not widely reported (although the interview was painfully slow getting going and these stupid American podcasters spent about 20 minutes discussing the synchronised Region 1/2/4 DVD release decision. Yawn!).

Shada is in "pre-pre Production", meaning they're discussing what to do with it. He mentions "trapping the Restoration Team in a restaurant and not letting them have pudding until we decide". Depressingly, a "surprising" number of people have e-mailed him saying that to release "Shada" at all is "sacriledge" and that it would be better if they simply didn't attempt anything. Who are these morons, trying to ruin it for the rest of us!? If you don't want to see an attempt to release it, don't buy it! Dan jokes that if they had "£750,000" they could remount it! He states that they will aim for "somewhere in the middle" of said remount and not releasing it at all.

The reason that all the Pertwees are being left 'til last is because they can "mop up" underspends on other releases to pay for them! Ah. Why didn't they just say! That makes perfect sense and I can now make my peace with the long wait for them all. It seems budgets DO work that way after all.

He mentioned "going out with a bang" when they finish the range in 2-3 years time. So this is exciting, wondering just what that "bang" will encompass and a little disheartening. I always figured they might continue the releases "part time" if, for example, it took a couple of years to get the funding for a special animation or something. But this seems to suggest that when they finish, that'll be it. I guess everyone would go off and do other things. I suppose Dan himself would have to get another job, so couldn't nip back and supervise a one-off DVD release, realistically.

Animated missing episodes - he says that discussions are going on "almost continuously" to animate "The Reign of Terror", "The Ice Warriors" and "The Tenth Planet" (the seperation between these stories and the other incomplete ones seems distinct; the attitude seems to be, for all other missing stories, if you want them then buy the Audio CD's). He seems adamant that animation is the way to complete them, and likens the wait to the gestation of the TV Movie as discussed on the recent new documentary - sometimes these things take years to happen, but if you plug away for years then you get there. It's certainly good news that it's a constant effort!

People who want the releases out quicker, or object to "Revisitations" sets, might like to ponder that the natural conclusion to all this is that the longer they drag out the end of the range (and the more money they make from re-issues) then the more chance there is that we'll get animated stories before the end. As this is a fixed point, then we should want to delay it as soon as possible and increase the chances that better money, technology and opportunities arise before that day, don't you all think?

Si.

[Jason Thompson]

Depressingly, a "surprising" number of people have e-mailed him saying that to release "Shada" at all is "sacriledge" and that it would be better if they simply didn't attempt anything.

That attitude really amazes me. Are there really fans who want a full hour of shot material never to see the light of day on DVD? What on earth justifies that view?

The reason that all the Pertwees are being left 'til last is because they can "mop up" underspends on other releases to pay for them!

Indeed. They need a lot of work, with recolouring, reverse stadards conversions, and all sort of things like that. I'd be leaving those until I had more money too.

Animated missing episodes - he says that discussions are going on "almost continuously" to animate "The Reign of Terror", "The Ice Warriors" and "The Tenth Planet" (the seperation between these stories and the other incomplete ones seems distinct; the attitude seems to be, for all other missing stories, if you want them then buy the Audio CD's).

That makes sense, as these are the only missing stories that are more intact than missing. Animations of every missing episode would be nice, but expensive. To be perfectly honest I didn't rate the animation on The Invasion much at all, so I wouldn't want to sit through most or all of a story of it.

People who want the releases out quicker, or object to "Revisitations" sets, might like to ponder that the natural conclusion to all this is that the longer they drag out the end of the range (and the more money they make from re-issues) then the more chance there is that we'll get animated stories before the end. As this is a fixed point, then we should want to delay it as soon as possible and increase the chances that better money, technology and opportunities arise before that day, don't you all think?

Si.

While this is true, the fact that technology is constantly developing and improving makes this a situation where a fixed point has to be set. A better way to animate missing episodes or recolour black and white Pertwee ones may forever be just around the corner. Would anyone rather have waited until the techniques that were used to give us the superb recoloured Planet of the Daleks part 3 were available before things like The Daemons and Terror of the Autons saw release on VHS back in 1993? Should they have left the VHS release of Ambassadors of Death until they could release it in full colour?

There comes a point where they will have to compromise between the best possible result and the best they can do at the time. To be honest I'm all for re-releases, but I'd prefer re-releases to have made a significant difference to the main feature than have a bunch of new special features. I loook forward to Revisitations 2 with its 2-part Resurrection, and I will look forward to any re-release set that includes a VidFIREd Tomb of the Cybermen.

I doubt very much that the day that the DVD releases include every existing episode in one form or another will mean the end of Doctor Who on DVD forever, so long as there are ever-improving ways to restore the episodes and a group of fans willing to expend the time and effort to do it. Let's not forget that that was exactly hjow the Restoration Team started. Restoring Doctor Who episodes may be something they are paid to do, but they are also fans, so there is a great deal of love for the material involved there. Are they going to stop trying to restore old episodes if and when better methods come along? I doubt it. We might have to wait until it all comes out on Blu-ray, but...

[Si Hunt]

Oh yeah, and they have a "Blu Ray strategy" for the Classic Range, but they arn't revealing it until they see how the market pans out. But he mentioned that Classic Who on Blu-Ray would be "slightly nearer the master tapes" quality wise, plus would enable fans to "shrink their bookshelves further" by putting several stories on one Blu Ray disc.

Would you buy "Trial of a Time Lord" or the Complete Season 12 on Blu Ray if it meant having the whole thing on a single disc?

Si.

[Jason Thompson]

Not until I get a Blu-ray player! lol

It would largely depend on the nature of the release. If it was just the episodes then I wouldn't find much in it to prompt me to replace the DVDs, with all their extra features. A Blu-ray box set of a complete season plus extras might tempt me, but as I rather like the extras on the DVDs I probably wouldn't replace them unless I had to.

So the most probable answer is not unless the Blu-ray releases included everything on the DVDs and more.

[Perry Vale]

Interesting, thanks for saving me the trouble of listening to the podcast!

Ultimately, nothing there that you couldn't have made an educated guess at, and I'd be very surprised to see Blurays filled with episodes just to reduce shelf space. I've yet to see a company take that route. There'll always be that (false) view of "added value" in more discs, like we saw with the double VHS range.

And I really don't want to see any more animations...

[Si Hunt]

My ear was drawn to the suggestion of a miniscule improvement in quality. That's the sort of selling point that would drag idiots like me screaming to the interweb to purchase "Robots of Death" on Blu-Ray, under the delusion I'm a minute distance closer to "as broadcast" quality...

Si.

[Jason Thompson]

You're probably already better than as broadcast quality, or at least 'as received and shown on your telly at the time' quality, with all the improvements in screen resolution and colour presentation and such like since then.

[Jason Thompson]

And I really don't want to see any more animations...

Why not?