Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time 4K UHD (2017)

[pottyaboutpotter1]

Originally Posted by openviews

Pre-order up at Zoom - 24th Sep

https://www.zoom.co.uk/product/docto...hd_blu_ray_uhd

£14.99 is a pretty damn good price. That's how much the Blu-Ray edition of the episode was at release. Hopefully this sort of pricing carries on with future Doctor Who 4K releases, it would make upgrading so much more temptng.

[nickelmouse]

Any confirmation on whether this will include a standard blu-ray version? The listing on this site seems to indicate it will, but nothing else is confirming that. I'm hoping it does, but at the current price point I'm kind of doubting it.

[pottyaboutpotter1]

Originally Posted by nickelmouse

Any confirmation on whether this will include a standard blu-ray version? The listing on this site seems to indicate it will, but nothing else is confirming that. I'm hoping it does, but at the current price point I'm kind of doubting it.

The UK Version comes with a Blu-Ray according to the Zoom listing and all of BBC's previous 4K releases (Planet Earth 2, Blue Planet 2) all included a Blu-Ray. I'd be very surprised if the US release didn't include a Blu-Ray.

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by pottyaboutpotter1

£14.99 is a pretty damn good price. That's how much the Blu-Ray edition of the episode was at release. Hopefully this sort of pricing carries on with future Doctor Who 4K releases, it would make upgrading so much more temptng.

£13.50 using the discount code

Seeing as I already have all of Series 5-10 on Blu-ray and its unlikely to be included in a Series 11 boxset I think this will be my first standalone disc purchase.

[jokercard]

Interesting that the US seems to get the new logo while the UK has kept the old.

[pottyaboutpotter1]

Originally Posted by jokercard

Interesting that the US seems to get the new logo while the UK has kept the old.

I'm not sold that the artwork on Zoom is the final artwork. I'm feeling it's temp artwork. BBC has been very strict on using the new logo on everything from DVDs, Blu-Rays, Books, Toys to even Big Finish's audio dramas. I have a feeling the final artwork will have the new logo.

[morphinapg]

It bugs the crap out of me that older content is being rereleased with the new logo. They should always use the logo that came with the episodes. The new logo shouldn't retcon the old ones. That being said, at least this episode isn't quite as bad of a place to start it with as others, but it's still annoying.

[jokercard]

Another thought I just had...

Will the special features that were on the UK blu-ray be available on the US release?
I can see them just throwing in the regular Blu-ray where all the special features reside which means it will have next to nothing.

[pottyaboutpotter1]

Originally Posted by morphinapg

It bugs the crap out of me that older content is being rereleased with the new logo. They should always use the logo that came with the episodes. The new logo shouldn't retcon the old ones. That being said, at least this episode isn't quite as bad of a place to start it with as others, but it's still annoying.

I think BBC is just trying to improve the branding of the show, and start treating everything as one huge series rather than different eras, productions etc. I don't think that's such a bad goal and they've certainly employed it in the past (the McGann logo being used for all the classic series and the Blu-Ray releases of Eccleston and Tennant's eras). This rebranding and the blu-ray releases of the classic series does come across as an attempt to treat Doctor Who as one big show that's been running since 1963, rather than two separate shows. The Blu-Ray releases in America of the Classic Series being called "Tom Baker Season One" and "Peter Davison Season One" rather than "Season 12" and "Season 19" does support that idea.

If this is eventually part of a longer ploy by BBC to make Doctor Who one big show and drop the "Season 1", "Series 1" labelling and instead opt for dividing series numbering by Doctor then I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, especially if it introduces more people to the classic series. It's already something they've tried to do in the past, as Series 5 was almost labelled as "Series 1", leading Moffat to joke that it was actually "Season Fnarg" due to the fan debates over what the series actually was; Series 5, Series 1 or Season 31.

Plus it'll allow everyone's collections to look more uniform which is no bad thing.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

This appears to be the very first Doctor Who episode that was released on the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format. Is the source material film at a 4K scan or is the source material 4K digital camera format? I wonder what the native frame rate is 24fps, 25fps, or 30fps. The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format can handle frame rates between 24fps to 60fps.

Interesting I have not watched any of the modern 21st Century Doctor Who's. Maybe I well pick this title up.

Shot 1080p, it's an upscale. Remains to be seen what colourspace it was shot in, or if the HDR is purely fake.

Regarding another poster saying it's a bad place to start, I sort of agree, but this has a lot going for it with classic series fans, particularly how this revisits and recreates some of the end of The Tenth Planet. Dramatically though, it's very much part of a trilogy of stories continuing on from series 10 (which also had the original Cybermen along with some other old enemy coming back).

Bradley is no Hartnell, but he's closer than Hurndall's version of the 1st Doctor IMO.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by oddbox83

Shot 1080p, it's an upscale. Remains to be seen what colourspace it was shot in, or if the HDR is purely fake.

Even if it was shot in 8-bit the digital cameras used likely still had much more dynamic range than standard SDR Blu-ray, so the HDR would not be entirely "fake." How much of an improvement it is though remains to be seen. Now that it's $13 I think I'll get it just to support Who on UHD, so we'll see how it goes.

[Network23]

Originally Posted by morphinapg

It bugs the crap out of me that older content is being rereleased with the new logo. They should always use the logo that came with the episodes. The new logo shouldn't retcon the old ones. That being said, at least this episode isn't quite as bad of a place to start it with as others, but it's still annoying.

Yeah I wish they would keep the logo and lettering for each Doctor. Just got the Tom Baker Season 1(Season 12) and it uses what i assume is the new upcoming logo on the box and animated in the bluray menus. Instead of 4th Doctor iconic Classic Diamond Logo. Its more confusing to newer viewers when they see the upcoming season with the new logo and font, and then see The Tom Baker Box on the shelves with the same logo, and if the preview of the Peter Davison box is also the name newer logo and font instead of the classic neon Piping Logo as well.

[morphinapg]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Even if it was shot in 8-bit the digital cameras used likely still had much more dynamic range than standard SDR Blu-ray, so the HDR would not be entirely "fake." How much of an improvement it is though remains to be seen. Now that it's $13 I think I'll get it just to support Who on UHD, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm not sure if any non-amateur productions have ever been filmed in 8bit. Even some of the earliest digital movies such as episode 2 and 3 of Star Wars I believe were shot in 10bit.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by morphinapg

I'm not sure if any non-amateur productions have ever been filmed in 8bit. Even some of the earliest digital movies such as episode 2 and 3 of Star Wars I believe were shot in 10bit.

Well they stuck with SD video until 2010 and are still shooting in 1080p, so I wouldn't put anything past them.

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by jokercard

Another thought I just had...

Will the special features that were on the UK blu-ray be available on the US release?
I can see them just throwing in the regular Blu-ray where all the special features reside which means it will have next to nothing.

I think that will likely be the outcome, the UHD will be just the special and an included Blu-ray will be the already available disc.

[finkyjd]

Originally Posted by Network23

Yeah I wish they would keep the logo and lettering for each Doctor. Just got the Tom Baker Season 1(Season 12) and it uses what i assume is the new upcoming logo on the box and animated in the bluray menus. Instead of 4th Doctor iconic Classic Diamond Logo. Its more confusing to newer viewers when they see the upcoming season with the new logo and font, and then see The Tom Baker Box on the shelves with the same logo, and if the preview of the Peter Davison box is also the name newer logo and font instead of the classic neon Piping Logo as well.

But the show has a history of using the current logo on all merchandise regardless as to what was broadcast on the episode. Hence McCoys logo on the novel of Planet of Giants & MaGann’s on the VHS of Green Death. This is not new. This changed in 2005 when they decided to brand modern & classic era products separately using the MaGann/Pertwee logo. While id be the first inline for an option with the logo that was on the episodes (even as a reversable cover) its not going to happen with BluRays, BBC worldwide cant even get to releases to line up with the spine on two consecutive releases so getting that right is certaily beyond them. I think the S12 & S19 packaging looks amazing with the new logo.

On the UHD, id ordered it from Amazon US store, but have cancelled it for the UK release now. I would dearly love to see an alternative edit with the newly shot 10th Planet recreations (the original B&W stuff is likely to look really poor though)

[BDougherty]

For someone who's never watched Doctor Who, is this a good place to start?

[Member-167298]

Originally Posted by BDougherty

For someone who's never watched Doctor Who, is this a good place to start?

No. This is the last episode of Capaldi's time as The Doctor.

I am a recent addition to the New Who fanbase (I am just exploring the vast universe of old Who now). Since it is basically a soft reboot, I started with season 5 (Matt Smith's first season) and watched all of that era and then Capaldi's run before backtracking to watch season 1 (Eccleston) and season 2-4 and the specials (Tennant).

Who fans all have their opinions and gripes with various eras, but I think starting with Smith is the only way I would have gotten into the series. That first episode is so whimsical and intriguing (and Amy Pond so easy on the eyes) that I was hooked. IMO, had I started with Eccleston, I probably wouldn't have made it past the first episode.

[HarrySullivan]

Originally Posted by BDougherty

For someone who's never watched Doctor Who, is this a good place to start?

No, terrible start point.

Series 5 (Matt Smith) is a good in-point. If you watch Series 5 start to finish and really don't like it, then modern era Doctor Who probably has nothing for you anywhere else either.

[zarquon]

Originally Posted by HarrySullivan

No, terrible start point.

Series 5 (Matt Smith) is a good in-point. If you watch Series 5 start to finish and really don't like it, then modern era Doctor Who probably has nothing for you anywhere else either.

Is this even possible!?