Doctor Who: The Collection Season 12 • Tom Baker Season 1 - Limited Edition

[thecooldud]

Originally Posted by jimdigriz.

The BBC is a public service that caters for everyone.

This has never been less true than today.

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by jimdigriz.

It won't. Not in your lifetime anyway.
Even if you view via Sky you still need a tv licence.

A tv landscape driven by subscriptions and ratings. What a horrible thought

This countries poorest and most vulnerable being "forced" to pay a touch under £3 a week under fear of prison and a criminal record to fund Gary Lineker's wages and Graham Norten's production company. What a horrible reality.

Imprisonment would of course be for non-payment of their fine rather than non-payment of TV licence while TV licence evasion is a non-recordable offence so if you get found guilty you don't get a criminal record, that's just more BBC lies.

Makes me glad to be no part of their system. Except of course my families watching of Doctor Who (though probably not for much longer) on the iPlayer making us, all for the sake of a couple of minutes adverts, petty criminals. Screw the BBC.

EDIT: Thinking about it whatever government finally scraps the TV licence will probably replace it with a media tax meaning we all suffer. Just privatise the damned corporation.

[jimdigriz.]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Broadcast television is dying. Top rated shows get a fraction of the viewers hit shows got in the Seventies.

That's a pretty silly comment to make.
Top rated shows get less , not because less people are watching tv but because in the seventies there were only 3 channels to watch, not 300

[jimdigriz.]

Originally Posted by thecooldud

This has never been less true than today.

The list of programme types that the BBC provide and nobody else does is long.

I'm not sure why people complain about the licence fee. It ain't going anywhere so there's little use in moaning about it .
So while some people would prefer broadcasters to pander to ratings and give us endless soaps and other shite that advertisers love fortunately those in charge have more sense

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by jimdigriz.

That's a pretty silly comment to make.
Top rated shows get less , not because less people are watching tv but because in the seventies there were only 3 channels to watch, not 300

They’re not watching the tax-funded BBC like they did, that’s for sure.

But add all the viewing figures togetherband it’s still not as high as it was.

[RossyG]

Originally Posted by jimdigriz.

I'm not sure why people complain about the licence fee. It ain't going anywhere so there's little use in moaning about it .

Not the most persuasive argument, is it?

[wabrit]

As someone with a full DVD collection of classic Who, I was on the fence about embarking on one more physical media upgrade; I have to say the quality control issues, apparenly shambolic nature of the replacement program and the fact that the first box release is OOP and goes for silly prices has put me right off dipping my toe in these waters.

Am I missing out on something precious?

[cherbert]

Can we stick to the discussion topic.

[Paul Tilburgs]

Originally Posted by wabrit

As someone with a full DVD collection of classic Who, I was on the fence about embarking on one more physical media upgrade; I have to say the quality control issues, apparenly shambolic nature of the replacement program and the fact that the first box release is OOP and goes for silly prices has put me right off dipping my toe in these waters.

Am I missing out on something precious?

yes, you are.

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by wabrit

As someone with a full DVD collection of classic Who, I was on the fence about embarking on one more physical media upgrade; I have to say the quality control issues, apparenly shambolic nature of the replacement program and the fact that the first box release is OOP and goes for silly prices has put me right off dipping my toe in these waters.

Am I missing out on something precious?

The blu-ray set of Tom Baker is pretty fantastic, for a price that is reasonable for all that it includes, and amazing compared to what the DVDs cost. The image is undoubtedly as good as it could ever look, and packed full of an insane amount of extras. There were some unfortunate hiccups with 2 of the discs, and the replacement program itself sadly, but in the end it will be taken care of, and hopefully they will be more careful with future sets to make sure this doesn't happen again.

[oddbox83]

Originally Posted by wabrit

Am I missing out on something precious?

Sort of irrelevant now anyway unless they reissue it or you import the US set.

Season 19 on the other hand you can still order.

[jimdigriz.]

Originally Posted by RossyG

They’re not watching the tax-funded BBC like they did, that’s for sure.

But add all the viewing figures togetherband it’s still not as high as it was.

Whether people actually watch the BBC is as irrelevant now as in the 70's. You pay the fee and it pays for everyone to enjoy it. If there was no licence fee the radio channels would almost certainly close.

Comparisons to the 70's remain irrelevant.
In the 70's you all watched tv when it was on. You didn't record it. You didn't have On Demand or any other kind of home viewing - not even video.
Add to that the numerous other non broadcast options and it's easy to see why shows will rave about figures today that would have got them canned in the 70's.

This is a Dr Who thread so lets not derail it with pointless whinging about the licence fee - without which there would likely be no Dr Who at all let alone 26 years of old and 13 years of new.

I can see why some people don't like the fee but as I said before its unlikely any Government would dare to try and scrap it.
Some say about the BBC not making shows as much as before. That was also forced upon them by regulations but someone still has to manage these productions that the BBC still pays for.
I think its fair to say that without the draconian punishments given out for non payment that too many people would think it worth the risk in not paying. Similar punishments should be given out for other crimes too but that's another argument

[jimdigriz.]

Originally Posted by RossyG

Not the most persuasive argument, is it?

It's persuasive enough.
Anyone with common sense knows no Government will scrap it for the forseeable future despite trying to appease the whingers by freezing the fee so whining about it is as pointless as whinging about NHS queues

[jimdigriz.]

Originally Posted by wabrit

As someone with a full DVD collection of classic Who, I was on the fence about embarking on one more physical media upgrade; I have to say the quality control issues, apparenly shambolic nature of the replacement program and the fact that the first box release is OOP and goes for silly prices has put me right off dipping my toe in these waters.

Am I missing out on something precious?

No.
If you have the stories on dvd then the only thing you might be interested in are the bonus features which are admittedly interesting.
The upgrade in picture quality isn't really that huge. Its still standard def when all said and done.

Just as Michael Grade finally managed to get original Who killed off by scheduling it against Corrie and then saying nobody was watching it , we seem to have a similar situation where the BBC is trying to kill off the Bluray releases by denying collectors access to the start of the range.

[Bobbyjoe766]

Originally Posted by wabrit

As someone with a full DVD collection of classic Who, I was on the fence about embarking on one more physical media upgrade; I have to say the quality control issues, apparenly shambolic nature of the replacement program and the fact that the first box release is OOP and goes for silly prices has put me right off dipping my toe in these waters.

Am I missing out on something precious?

Yes. Additional bonus features and the serials looking and sounding their best yet.

I don’t believe the season 12 set is gone for good. It’ll be reissued sooner or later.

[professorwho]

There is an upgrade in PQ due to increased bitrate and MPEG-4 AVC codec vs MPEG-2, and the new special features are great, but most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two in terms of PQ. That's the average consumer. If you're a videophile, then it might be worth the upgrade.

Season 19 on the other hand... that should be a big improvement. The footage shot on 16mm film still exists in 16mm, so those are native HD, and with a few stories having quite a lot of on-location footage (Orchid and Visitation come to mind), the jump should be worth it. Plus, the Season 19 PAL videotape footage was in better shape to begin with, so it'll be a nice upgrade.

[simon_r_harding]

It's gone a bit quiet here. Are there people still waiting for replacement discs to arrive?

[The_DoctorInTARDIS]

Originally Posted by simon_r_harding

It's gone a bit quiet here. Are there people still waiting for replacement discs to arrive?

I am still currently waiting on replacements discs. I'm in the US though, so it's probably not very surprising.

[openviews]

Originally Posted by simon_r_harding

It's gone a bit quiet here. Are there people still waiting for replacement discs to arrive?

In UK, still waiting.

[jimdigriz.]

Originally Posted by simon_r_harding

It's gone a bit quiet here. Are there people still waiting for replacement discs to arrive?

Yes me too. It's getting tiresome now. I'll give it to the end of the week and then I'm emailing them again whether they want them or not