Doctor Who : The Day of the Doctor 3D Blu-ray (2013) [Region Free]

[emailking]

Thanks! I ordered it and will watch on my vacation and let you know what I think on 11/17.

[Jay G.]

Maybe the only thing you "need" to know before watching The Day of the Doctor is that The Doctor is a single character played by many actors over the years, a bit like James Bond, but there's an in-universe explanation in that when The Doctor dies, they regenerate into a new body. The special strongly infers this information throughout it, but I don't recall it being explicitly stated in it.

Also, there's a prequel web "minisode" that was released right before the special and ties into it (the minisode is explicitly included in the novelization of the special), and while not "essential" to watch the special, does provide some more background information, as well as being very good in its own right.

The Night of the Doctor: A Mini Episode | The Day of the Doctor Prequel | Doctor Who | BBC - YouTube

[TMOSteel]

Originally Posted by cdx47

This is a fun extended 3D episode of Doctor Who with some great 3D effects. It ties nicely into the established cannon, answering one of the biggest questions from the show. The audio isn't bad for a TV movie either. I'm no Whovian, but this fun departure brought me back to a time when Doctor Who was relevant. A time when they respected the lore back to the OG Doctor William Hartnell. A time before they decided to blow it up and retcon it into irrelevance. A sad ending to a great franchise. but at least we have this.

I'm going to try and pick up the series 8 finale in 3D, which means of course I'm now going to have to pick up series 8 lol. But since Missy is one of my two favorite Dr Who characters of all time (River Song is the other one) I don't mind picking up the series

Saw this simulcast in NYC in 3D and it was a great event indeed. To bad the intros by Strax and the Doctors weren't included in the home 3D release...

[emailking]

Originally Posted by emailking

Thanks! I ordered it and will watch on my vacation and let you know what I think on 11/17.

As promised I am here to tell you what I think. First of all, even though the UK disc is region free, it does NOT play in 3D on a North American PS3 (or PS4). This is because the screen where you choose 2D or 3D is encoded at 50 fps. A USA PS3 can't handle 50fps so it jut skips it and goes to the default main menu which is 2D, and there is no way to engage 3D at that point. I think this should be added to the first post. I put it in my Oppo which can convert to 60 fps and was able to select 3D.

As I said before I have no seen Doctor Who prior to this. At first I felt like I was getting lost but after like 30 minutes things started to click in and I felt I was ok even though I obviously did not understand a lot. The Doctor Who explained special, which I watched like half of, also helped. The movie was ok. I was intrigued knowing it involve time travel and that the 3D was good. But I was not a fan of

[Show spoiler]the mix of using a fixed at timeline model and changing the past, like pick one, but I guess the show just doesn't take itself very seriously.

But yeah it's not my thing and I definitely wouldn't be up for watching more of the show based on this, even if I had time.

The 3D was very very good, like a consistent medium strong. There were also some popouts I think. I would recommend it for the 3D if not the movie. And I agree you can go into it blind and not be too lost.

[cdx47]

Originally Posted by emailking

As I said before I have no seen Doctor Who prior to this. ...But yeah it's not my thing and I definitely wouldn't be up for watching more of the show based on this, even if I had time.

Interesting to hear from someone who doesn't follow the show

Originally Posted by emailking

The 3D was very very good, like a consistent medium strong. There were also some popouts I think. I would recommend it for the 3D if not the movie. And I agree you can go into it blind and not be too lost.

I ended up buying the other Dr Who 3D special from the US which is the 2 episode finale for series 8. The 3D is nowhere near as good but still nice to have. I figured I might as well buy series 8 and I now also have series 6 lol Series 7 will come soon enough . I'm not a huge DW fan but I remember really liking Steven Mofat's writing in this stretch of shows.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

Originally Posted by cdx47

Interesting to hear from someone who doesn't follow the show


I ended up buying the other Dr Who 3D special from the US which is the 2 episode finale for series 8. The 3D is nowhere near as good but still nice to have. I figured I might as well buy series 8 and I now also have series 6 lol Series 7 will come soon enough . I'm not a huge DW fan but I remember really liking Steven Mofat's writing in this stretch of shows.

Doctor Who is something of a hipster/cult following in the USA. Makes sense, a sonic screwdriver that is even more magically adept at solving every problem than even Adam West's Bat Utility Belt lends itself to being appreciated ironically

How is the 3D in Dimensions in Time? Whovians have told me that it's a terrible episode, but I don't know what that means, and they only saw it flat. However, I saw clips of it on YT and it seemed interesting.

[cdx47]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D;20645149
How is the 3D in [I

Dimensions in Time[/I]? Whovians have told me that it's a terrible episode, but I don't know what that means, and they only saw it flat. However, I saw clips of it on YT and it seemed interesting.

No idea. Nostalgia wise I have some love for old Dr Who but I wouldn't watch most of it now. Dimensions in Time seems to be a crossover between Dr Who and a UK TV soap called Eastenders? The US equivalent would be similar to a crossover between Star Trek and General Hospital. Both sound hideous.

[TMOSteel]

Originally Posted by emailking

As promised I am here to tell you what I think. First of all, even though this is region free, it does NOT play in 3D on a North American PS3 (or PS4). This is because the screen where you choose 2D or 3D is encoded at 50 fps. A USA PS3 can't handle 50fps so it jut skips it and goes to the default main menu which is 2D, and there is no way to engage 3D at that point. I think this should be added to the first post. I put it in my Oppo which can convert to 60 fps and was able to select 3D.

This is the US release? Never heard of issues with it before.

[TMOSteel]

Originally Posted by cdx47

No idea. Nostalgia wise I have some love for old Dr Who but I wouldn't watch most of it now. Dimensions in Time seems to be a crossover between Dr Who and a UK TV soap called Eastenders? The US equivalent would be similar to a crossover between Star Trek and General Hospital. Both sound hideous.

Yeah, its a charity special for "Children in Need" which they have done other events for over the years, its not an actual episode of Doctor Who...

[cdx47]

Originally Posted by TMOSteel

Yeah, its a charity special for "Children in Need" which they have done other events for over the years, its not an actual episode of Doctor Who...

Thanks, I should have made that clear. Still sounds ludicrous but maybe that's the point

[larrythefatcat]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D

How is the 3D in Dimensions in Time? Whovians have told me that it's a terrible episode, but I don't know what that means, and they only saw it flat. However, I saw clips of it on YT and it seemed interesting.

The episode is a very slapdash-feeling affair and, as has been mentioned, it is an odd crossover with a soap opera called EastEnders.

The 3D is *extra* gimmicky as it uses a technique quite popular on late-'80s and early-'90s TV (it was also used for things such as a Diet Coke Superbowl ad in 1989, the two-part 3rd Rock From the Sun episode "Nightmare on Dick Street" and a French animated show called "The Bots Master") called the Pulfrich effect: the technique relies on differences in movement between the background and the foreground along with the viewer wearing a pair of glasses containing one clear lens and one tinted lens (a pair of sunglasses missing the left lens would work). The combination of movement and the slight delay of light through the tinted lens is what creates the feeling of depth.

I uploaded my take on "converting" the Pulfrich effect to side-by-side 3D (just by delaying the video by a few frames) a while back on YouTube under the name "3DTARDis" (embarrassing name... yikes!) as an experiment.

Ignoring the questionable writing and production value (even for Doctor Who) of the two-part special, the 3D effect is hit-or-miss as the technique's requirement for the background to be moving consistently one direction and the actors (or other foreground elements) moving consistently in the opposite direction rarely occurs... but, on the other hand, it would be dizzying if they had done it "properly" throughout.

It's quite the curio and I say it's worth watching exactly twice: once in "3D" and once with the joke "DVD Production Notes" as uploaded to YouTube by Andrew Orton.

[emailking]

Originally Posted by TMOSteel

This is the US release? Never heard of issues with it before.

This was the UK release. That's what I found on Ebay. But it is nonetheless the case that this movie is effectively not region free (at least for 3D), regardless of US or UK release, for PS3s or PS4s. It's only region free for players that do a Hz conversion.

[emailking]

I also forgot to mention when I was watching that I had to turn on the subtitles because accents and they are annoyingly not in 3D but flush with the screen. I finally just witched to my headphones because the subtitles were too distracting to me.

[Oboler]

Just noticed that a huge limited edition Boxset was released recently and includes the 3D blu rays. Not my kind of thing, but great to see them include the 3D content at a time when most would skip them, or release them flat.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Docto...342007/#Review

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by emailking

This was the UK release. That's what I found on Ebay. But it is nonetheless the case that this movie is effectively not region free (at least for 3D), regardless of US or UK release, for PS3s or PS4s. It's only region free for players that do a Hz conversion.

This might apply to the other 50Hz countries releases too ( )

But this shouldn't apply to the ones?


Could anybody confirm?