Doctor Who: Any chance the classic series will arrive on Blu - Blu-ray Forum

DrrnHarr · 12-23-2009, 01:14 PM

I am a fan of the classic Dr. Who series and not so much the new episodes (that mess too much with the canon for my liking).

Anyway, my question is this: Do people think there is any chance the classic episodes will be remastered and released on Blu-ray?

I know the original TV broadcasts were below even DVD in quality but that did not seem to stop the BBC from doing updated effects and some remastering of the elements for a DVD release. There also have been Blu-ray releases of other 1960s TV shows that have been widely praised for their quality ("The Prisoner" etc).

The reason I am asking is that I have a hankering for Dr. Who and am checking up on the releases currently available on DVD and notice the prices are quite expensive (in some cases substantially compared to Blu-ray TV product). I would gladly pay $25 for my favorite classic Dr. Who adventure ("Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth") but don't want to double-dip should classic Dr. Who start getting the BD treatment.

Thoughts?

.

thorthefifth · 12-23-2009, 01:46 PM

Doubtful because most of the classics were filmed on SD video I believe

KingLeonidas300 · 12-23-2009, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thorthefifth

Doubtful because most of the classics were filmed on SD video I believe

I agree..

benricci · 12-23-2009, 02:16 PM

Also many of the original episodes are now lost, having been erased by the BBC in the 70's. I think there are well over 100 episodes that are now lost forever, having been wiped from their video masters.

jason00 · 12-23-2009, 04:13 PM

There are two classic Doctor Who stories shot all on film that would look good on blu: 'Spearhead from Space' featuring the 3rd Doctor and the 1996 tv movie with Paul McGann.

DrrnHarr · 12-23-2009, 04:48 PM

Ref: The missing episodes. Many of the classic episodes were lost in a fire in the 1970s such as "The Highlanders" (with the second Doctor).

I really am in two-minds as regards snapping up the episodes on DVD which are a higher defoinition than the original TV broadcasts anyway or waiting to see if the Beeb puts any of them down for a BD release.

With all the work they put in remastering some of the classic series for DVD and, in some cases, adding updated special effects, you'd think it would not be a stretch to release them in high def.

I agree that "Spearhead from Space" and the TV Movie from 1996 would be good candidates for a BD release.

.

EricJ · 12-23-2009, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason00

There are two classic Doctor Who stories shot all on film that would look good on blu: 'Spearhead from Space' featuring the 3rd Doctor and the 1996 tv movie with Paul McGann.

Actually, most of the entire Jon Pertwee season was transferred to film, since that was the only way PAL broadcast could export to NTSC countries in the 70's.
The older folks remember seeing the original broadcasts as a kid in fuzzy speed-tweaked PBS imports--But as for 16mm film-print restoration, that was then, and A&E's "Prisoner" and "Pride & Prejudice" is now.

Cruel Angel · 12-23-2009, 07:26 PM

Right when they put out the End of the Universe set that completed having all of the extant arcs out on VHS, I started buying the VHS's to fill in the gaps from what I had taped off of PBS... finally had all of them on tape. Took a few years into the dvd releases for me to finally decide I wanted to take on the expense of replacing everything on vhs with the dvd releases. At the rate they are going, will probably take another 3-4 years to get all the extant arcs out on dvd...

After all that time and money on the regular dvds... I wouldn't go for yet another 'completist' collection on blu (I'd probably be a senior citizen by the time that would finish anyway).

I would probably be very picky and only get my most favorite arcs.Talons of WC, Pyramids of Mars, Horror of Fang Rock, Ghost Light, Curse of Fenric... that would be about it for me for the most part.

Jeff Kleist · 12-23-2009, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Actually, most of the entire Jon Pertwee season was transferred to film, since that was the only way PAL broadcast could export to NTSC countries in the 70's.

That would be Kinescope (film camera pointed at a screen essentially). Ugly as hell, and not HD at all

HotRats · 12-24-2009, 08:54 AM

Here's the site for details on the restorations http://www.restoration-team.co.uk/ Spearhead From Space was the only title shot entirely on film until the McGann film so those are the only ones that would be likely to benefit from blu. I'd buy them.

jerwin · 12-24-2009, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thorthefifth

Doubtful because most of the classics were filmed on SD video I believe

625i PAL, not 525i ntsc.

r.sienicki · 08-12-2016, 03:02 PM

The McGann movie will be released on Blu-Ray next month. Hopefully they can do some magic and release more of the classic series into BD.

But probably it will just be Spearhead and this...

El_Fez · 08-12-2016, 03:05 PM

Would I buy them? Hell yeah. Will this ever happen? Not in a million years. The only real reason to upgrade is not so much the A/V quality but for space considerations. That's the best Blu could offer the old series.

ElectricPeterTork · 08-12-2016, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by r.sienicki

The McGann movie will be released on Blu-Ray next month. Hopefully they can do some magic and release more of the classic series into BD.

But probably it will just be Spearhead and this...

And the movie is rumored to be just an upconversion of the SD video, not a true HD upgrade, so you might as well stick with the DVD.

/if the Restoration Team knew nothing about this and did no work on it, odds are its just a cash grab.

knight17 · 08-12-2016, 04:06 PM

I recall reading a bit exclusively on Dr.Who as I was interested in trying to see the classic series. From what I read, prior to 1970, most of the episodes filmed were not erased from archives to make way for newer materials and by the time they saw the error of their ways, several episodes were permanently wiped out as a result.

While some of these episodes were recovered from tapes in other countries such as Australa, New Zealand and so on, there are still a lot of episodes that are irrevocably lost.

A shame though as it would have been nice to get this classic series on Blu.

BluBonnet · 08-12-2016, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by El_Fez

Would I buy them? Hell yeah. Will this ever happen? Not in a million years. The only real reason to upgrade is not so much the A/V quality but for space considerations. That's the best Blu could offer the old series.

Unfortunately, that is the bottom line. Unlike The Prisoner or Star Trek TOS, most of Doctor Who wasn't shot on film (for the most part), so there's no way to make it look as good as some other TV gems from the 60s.

But the space considerations still might make it worthwhile to release SD versions on blu-ray sets

Ray_Rogers · 08-12-2016, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElectricPeterTork

And the movie is rumored to be just an upconversion of the SD video, not a true HD upgrade, so you might as well stick with the DVD.

/if the Restoration Team knew nothing about this and did no work on it, odds are its just a cash grab.

But for a lot of Classic Who the exteriors were shot on film. All would need to be upconverted would be the SD video. But I'd rather import from Amazon UK the rest of Classic Who on DVD. Unless if they go for BD50's and do Season sets that way.
Not sure though.

StingingVelvet · 08-12-2016, 07:33 PM

If the movie is a upconversion it's literally pointless. I was excited for the modern series 1-4 on BD because the compression was so bad on the DVDs, but the movie DVD looks fine. Seems like a silly release to me.

As for the classic series I don't see it ever happening for reasons stated above. Some mostly outdoor stories like The Visitation would probably look great, but there's just no real market for it. I haven't even finished my classic DVD collection yet and it's a struggle to put money towards it. Such a poor release strategy and so many of the stories are utter crap. Would kill for a time machine to go back and turn them into season sets.

topdollar · 08-12-2016, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by r.sienicki

The McGann movie will be released on Blu-Ray next month. Hopefully they can do some magic and release more of the classic series into BD.

But probably it will just be Spearhead and this...

No point whatsoever releasing Bluray editions of material made on standard def videotape.
One might say the higher bitrate would improve the picture which would be true if the dvd's cut corners on bitrate but they didn't.
They used a high enough bitrate to get the images as close to broadcast quality as possible.
The Troughton and Hartnell telerecordings would be even more pointless.

topdollar · 08-12-2016, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

But for a lot of Classic Who the exteriors were shot on film. All would need to be upconverted would be the SD video. But I'd rather import from Amazon UK the rest of Classic Who on DVD. Unless if they go for BD50's and do Season sets that way.
Not sure though.

They wiped / junked entire stories even ones that only existed as 16mm telerecordings - so do you think they would bother keeping incomplete bits and pieces?

The exteriors shot on film were all transferred to tape for broadcast and except for a very small number of stories the original film elements for those exteriors are long gone.
I believe that the handful of stories where some or all of the 16mm film exists did result in the team rescanning the original film and inserting it into the dvd version but once again the amount is so small as to make a Blu version a waste of time.
Fortunately only Germany seems to have taken the option of releasing Blurays filled with SD material.
It's not really a practice I think that needs encouraging

12-23-2009, 01:14 PM	#1
DrrnHarr Power Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2008 Location:Wisconsin 4K collection:41 Blu-ray collection:818 DVD collection:352 MA collection:2122 Digital collection:6033 iTunes collection:6958 Prime collection:282 Blu-ray reviews: 13 Trading Score:3	Doctor Who: Any chance the classic series will arrive on Blu I am a fan of the classic Dr. Who series and not so much the new episodes (that mess too much with the canon for my liking). Anyway, my question is this: Do people think there is any chance the classic episodes will be remastered and released on Blu-ray? I know the original TV broadcasts were below even DVD in quality but that did not seem to stop the BBC from doing updated effects and some remastering of the elements for a DVD release. There also have been Blu-ray releases of other 1960s TV shows that have been widely praised for their quality ("The Prisoner" etc). The reason I am asking is that I have a hankering for Dr. Who and am checking up on the releases currently available on DVD and notice the prices are quite expensive (in some cases substantially compared to Blu-ray TV product). I would gladly pay $25 for my favorite classic Dr. Who adventure ("Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth") but don't want to double-dip should classic Dr. Who start getting the BD treatment. Thoughts? . Last edited by DrrnHarr; 12-23-2009 at 01:52 PM.

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12-23-2009, 01:46 PM	#2
thorthefifth Senior Member Member since:May 2008 Location:Memphis, TN 4K collection:21 Blu-ray collection:21 Blu-ray reviews:1 Trading Score:154	Doubtful because most of the classics were filmed on SD video I believe

12-23-2009, 02:16 PM	#4
benricci Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Sep 2008 Blu-ray reviews:1	Also many of the original episodes are now lost, having been erased by the BBC in the 70's. I think there are well over 100 episodes that are now lost forever, having been wiped from their video masters.

12-23-2009, 04:13 PM	#5
jason00 Expert Member Member since:Mar 2009 Location:Milwaukee, WI 4K collection:34 Blu-ray collection:674 DVD collection:28 Trading Score:5	There are two classic Doctor Who stories shot all on film that would look good on blu: 'Spearhead from Space' featuring the 3rd Doctor and the 1996 tv movie with Paul McGann.

12-23-2009, 04:48 PM	#6
DrrnHarr Power Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2008 Location:Wisconsin 4K collection:41 Blu-ray collection:818 DVD collection:352 MA collection:2122 Digital collection:6033 iTunes collection:6958 Prime collection:282 Blu-ray reviews: 13 Trading Score:3	Ref: The missing episodes. Many of the classic episodes were lost in a fire in the 1970s such as "The Highlanders" (with the second Doctor). I really am in two-minds as regards snapping up the episodes on DVD which are a higher defoinition than the original TV broadcasts anyway or waiting to see if the Beeb puts any of them down for a BD release. With all the work they put in remastering some of the classic series for DVD and, in some cases, adding updated special effects, you'd think it would not be a stretch to release them in high def. I agree that "Spearhead from Space" and the TV Movie from 1996 would be good candidates for a BD release. .

12-23-2009, 07:26 PM	#8
Cruel Angel Blu-ray Prince Member since:Nov 2009 Location:San Antonio TX 4K collection:315 Blu-ray collection:1187 DVD collection:281	Right when they put out the End of the Universe set that completed having all of the extant arcs out on VHS, I started buying the VHS's to fill in the gaps from what I had taped off of PBS... finally had all of them on tape. Took a few years into the dvd releases for me to finally decide I wanted to take on the expense of replacing everything on vhs with the dvd releases. At the rate they are going, will probably take another 3-4 years to get all the extant arcs out on dvd... After all that time and money on the regular dvds... I wouldn't go for yet another 'completist' collection on blu (I'd probably be a senior citizen by the time that would finish anyway). I would probably be very picky and only get my most favorite arcs.Talons of WC, Pyramids of Mars, Horror of Fang Rock, Ghost Light, Curse of Fenric... that would be about it for me for the most part.

12-24-2009, 08:54 AM	#10
HotRats Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Mar 2009	Here's the site for details on the restorations http://www.restoration-team.co.uk/ Spearhead From Space was the only title shot entirely on film until the McGann film so those are the only ones that would be likely to benefit from blu. I'd buy them.

08-12-2016, 03:02 PM	#12
r.sienicki Active Member Member since:Apr 2014 Location:Poland Blu-ray collection:85 DVD collection:50	The McGann movie will be released on Blu-Ray next month. Hopefully they can do some magic and release more of the classic series into BD. But probably it will just be Spearhead and this...

08-12-2016, 03:05 PM	#13
El_Fez Blu-ray Ninja Member since:Oct 2012 Location:Funkytown 4K collection:49 Blu-ray collection:1923 DVD collection:405 Trading Score:9	Would I buy them? Hell yeah. Will this ever happen? Not in a million years. The only real reason to upgrade is not so much the A/V quality but for space considerations. That's the best Blu could offer the old series.

08-12-2016, 04:06 PM	#15
knight17 Expert Member Member since:Jan 2016 4K collection:2 Blu-ray collection:1134 Trading Score:9	I recall reading a bit exclusively on Dr.Who as I was interested in trying to see the classic series. From what I read, prior to 1970, most of the episodes filmed were not erased from archives to make way for newer materials and by the time they saw the error of their ways, several episodes were permanently wiped out as a result. While some of these episodes were recovered from tapes in other countries such as Australa, New Zealand and so on, there are still a lot of episodes that are irrevocably lost. A shame though as it would have been nice to get this classic series on Blu.

08-12-2016, 07:33 PM	#18
StingingVelvet Blu-ray Grand Duke Member since:Jan 2014 Location:Philadelphia, PA 4K collection:851 Blu-ray collection:2331 DVD collection:111 Digital collection:12 Trading Score:69	If the movie is a upconversion it's literally pointless. I was excited for the modern series 1-4 on BD because the compression was so bad on the DVDs, but the movie DVD looks fine. Seems like a silly release to me. As for the classic series I don't see it ever happening for reasons stated above. Some mostly outdoor stories like The Visitation would probably look great, but there's just no real market for it. I haven't even finished my classic DVD collection yet and it's a struggle to put money towards it. Such a poor release strategy and so many of the stories are utter crap. Would kill for a time machine to go back and turn them into season sets.

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