‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’ vs. ‘Doctor Who: The Key to Time’
I was going through my ever-growing piles of Doctor Who DVDs the other day -- the classsic series, that is -- because I’m like a kid on Christmas morning with them, trying to decide which ones to watch first and which ones to write about first. And also because I accidentally bought a second copy of one I already had, because I forgot I’d already bought it. So I figured I better get organized about this or I’d end up spending even more money than I should be on this silly obsession of mine.
And I came across another duplicate, too, though this one was intentional. Recently there was released a Special Edition of the “Key to Time” sequence, one entire season in the Tom Baker era (1978-9) given over to six interconnected stories, about the Doctor’s search for pieces of an artifact vital to keeping the universe running smoothly -- but I’ll talk about the stories themselves when I get around to blogging those.
But I wanted to point out -- particularly because a while back I promised I would! -- what the differences are between the new Special Edition set and the previous box set. Content wise, there is no difference: all the many extras in the Special Edition were already there in the original set. The important difference is the picture quality: it’s noticeably better in the Special Edition. The image has been cleaned up, it’s brighter and crisper and the colors richer, and it shows off a lot more detail than the unenhanced images of the older set.
It’s not an enormous enough difference that I would recommend upgrading if you have the original set, unless you’re a superfinicky DVDphile who absolutely must have the very best version of everything. And if you’re buying the set new today, it’s a no-brainer to go for the Special Edition, because, bizarrely, it’s cheaper than the old set, which is also still available new: $67.99 at the moment at Amazon U.S. for the Region 1 version of the Special Edition, and $86.99 at Amazon U.S. for the Region 1 version of the original set. (Neither is yet available in Region 2.)
Here’s a key difference, though: The Special Edition discs are not available individually. You have to buy the whole set (which comes in a slimline package, unlike the old one) even if you just want, say, “The Androids of Tara.” If you want to buy the stories individually -- if you want only “The Androids of Tara” -- they are available... but those are the unenhanced versions that you’ll find in the older set.
)
)
comments
posted by jakob1978 (Sat Jun 13 09, 12:54PM)
aren't there some additional commentary tracks on the newer version?
I know the version released in the UK in 2007, had extra commentaries, with Tom Baker, on the 3 stories he hadn't appeared on in the version that was released in the US in 2002.
posted by eric-jon rössel waugh (Sat Jun 13 09, 6:07PM)
Yeah, there are actually a bunch of new extras on the new release. If you were to flip that statement the other way around, though, it would be right. There's nothing on the old set that ain't on the new one.
The original set, you see, was a Region 1 exclusive. There are logistical reasons for that, but it was rush job because this territory isn't the BBC's priority. More recently, the Restoration Team got the time to tackle the season properly for its R2 release.
Thus you get an effuse collection of newly created special features and a bunch of new commentaries, to complement the enhanced picture and sound. Much as you do for any other priority Doctor Who DVD.
More information at the RT's website, here.