Doctor Who

Given that we’re talking about a series with as much depth and history as Doctor Who, I should probably make a brief disclaimer here at the start: I am not well versed in the Doctor Who universe at all. I have friends who love this long-running sci-fi show. Sadly, I’m not in that number. At least not yet. I might have time at some point to properly delve into the Who mythology, but until then, fans of the series with a greater knowledge base than I should take my opinion of this 5-disc set with a grain of salt.

This box set collects the final five specials featuring David Tennant’s run as the Doctor. They’re basically five one-hour long episodes. I’m guessing that, depending on your overall opinion of this show, you’ll either love these or hate ‘em. There’s a certain cheese factor that seems to be present in most of these, save for The Waters of Mars. That one in particular has quite a dark tone (and higher production values). Speaking of which, the special effects vary from quite solid (especially for TV) to quite awful. Some of the creature effects are on the laughable side (man in suit!!).

Overall, these specials aren’t really enough to sell me on the Doctor Who series. Perhaps I need to start all the way at the beginning, but existing fans will probably love this.

QUALITY:
For the most part, the quality of this set quite good. Some of the darker tones (deep blues and blacks) bleed into the background from time to time in darker shots. But for the most part, it’s a crisp, vibrant image across the board.

BONUS FEATURES:
Special features (over 7 hours worth!) include:
•    Doctor Who Confidential
•    Doctor Who at the Proms
•    Deleted scenes with intro from Russell T. Davies
•    David Tennant Video Diaries – The Final Days
•    Doctor Who BBC Christmas Idents
•    Audio Commentaries
•    Doctor Who at Comic-Con

About half of those are high def (Confidentials, deleted scenes, Comic-Con), while the rest are in standard def. All in all, this is a great package for Doctor Who fans, especially those who love Tennant’s take on the character.