Happy New Year to you too, Theophile. Your checklists have been invaluable to me over the past year or so!

Thank you very much!

By the way, we will soon (in three weeks) be hitting the first release of the new year with The Moonbase in the UK. I am hoping that the delay in other releases for the US means that they will have some nice extras. Anyways, here is the current list:


The Moonbase: UK: January 20th, 2014, US: February 11th, 2014
The Web of Fear: UK: February 24th, US ?
The Underwater Menace: UK: ?, US: ?
The Enemy of the World: US: ?
An Adventure in Space and Time: US: ?

Regarding the Web of Fear release, I see a couple of days ago it has been added to one of my online shops I use: http://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/D...Fear/21956756/

This retailer I find is quicker than the other ones I use here in NZ in terms of adding upcoming releases.

What is interesting (& disappointing) is that it is cheaper than other new releases, and the same price as Enemy of the World. This says to me there's going to be no extras on this release either. Um, why?? I'd be quite happy to wait another couple of months & pay extra for these, and I'm sure Frazer Hines & Deborah Watling would have agreed to do the commentary. I'm also pretty sure many other fans would agree with me here too.

There are no extras on the web of fear dvd. Just an also available trailer and a reconstruction of episode 3.

sucks that is will be a recon of episode 3 and not animated

Well at least its due soon. If it was to get animated it would not be released 2014. The animation for menace according to dwa has only not long begun. That would be because of being busy with moonbase (which was already contracted upon before menace recovery). Also in a recent interview dan hall mentioned that each animation takes about a year so it would be second half of the year before menace is done and about 6 months so it will be round about mid 2015 before we would actually get it. So would you rather get it now or wait an extra year for it on dvd?

That's partly down to dan hall and pupltd not having any involvement in the web and enemy releases. That was entirely handled by bbcww themselves. Also needing about 6 months in advance for producing extras was also a factor in a non inclusion. Dan hall officially didn't know till about 4 weeks prior to the anouncement. He was also told by his bosses that he couldnt produce extras as it would involve people who have blabbed in the past about recording commentaries etc in the past as they wanted to keep it under wraps until the anouncement for maximum impact.

Personally I'd have preferred minimum impact and maximum extras

Still wouldn't have made a difference as the dvd extras wouldn't have ready for release in time for November and February. About 6 months would be required. It's all about how to get a return on the eps and if that means cutting extras to get a faster return so be it.

As long as they reissue them with extras later. Otherwise they are a serious anomaly amongst an otherwise extra-filled series.

It realy does depend on if DVDs are still profitable when enough time has passed to be a financial worthwhile venture. Going by a very recent interview Dan hall believes if they decide and that's an if it will be at least a year tp 18 months minimum. Dan believes by the way the current trend on DVDs and how sales are vastlydropping DVDs will be unpopular at that time and if extra content is produced it will be digital download

Dan has also said he considers classic Who to be a special case on DVD, with an established community of collectors that will continue to by physical media. There's a market for special editions of the recovered stories so I'd be very surprised if it isn't exploited before too long.

if i am being honest id rather wait

Do you think that they might re-release it as a "Special Edition" with the animated episode sometime next year?

Well what first has to happen enemy and web have to be on the market for long enough. Going by dan hall that won't be till 12 to 18 months after the American release. By the time extras are produced we are looking at probably 2016 before we see it. And that's if they decide to release on dvd. By that time bbcww will be more into digital downloads (look at how web and enemy was released first on digital download and dvd was an after thought). DVDs might be totally out of favour with bbcww at that time.

This is factually incorrect. DVD most certainly was not an after thought for Enemy and Web, it was always planned to release them in this format.

It was released on iTunes etc before it was released on dvd and in webs case 4 months after. Priority was given to digital downloads over DVDs therefore an afterthought

An afterthought is something which isn't considered in the original planning. If it was always planned to appear afterwards (even if 10 years afterwards) it is not an afterthought.

Ok maybe afterthought should not have been the word used but with the digital download released being given priority over the dvd its obvious bbcww see digital download as a priority and dvd being a secondary thought.

Enemy and Web are the first time I was even aware that Classic Who was available on iTunes so I couldn't say much about the priority. I would have thought that it's much easier to release stuff digitally than to get a run of DVD's packaged and printed so it doesn't surprise me that they would be released first on digital whether they are higher priority or not.

It seems to me that releasing digital first and physical second is also a good way to get people to pay for it twice. Certainly that's how I went. I want a hardcopy to satisfy the collector in me but I didn't want to wait when the new stuff was already available on iTunes.

If they'd released it the other way around I'd have got the DVD and had no need to purchase it digitally.

So, really, I just see the order of the latest releases as simply a question of commercialism and practicality and nothing to do with a lack of faith in DVD as a medium.

The review disc for moonbase reveals that the trailer is for underwater menace as I predicted way back when it was first cleared by the bbfc.As for the rumour of the animation being indefinitely suspended 3 and a half weeks ago. I can see it being about 4 different reasons if its true.

1. Missing eps have been found
2. Bbc ww have realised its more profitable releasing missing eps as a recon instead of animation
3. Sales of animated stories haven't been as expected so bbcww have cut their losses
4. They are following a lead

As for animation versus recons, I always thought I preferred the former. However, having watched both as Episode 4 of The Tenth Planet I actually preferred the latter! (And it was done a good few years ago.) I now think that if they added some decent CGI to recons that should be the way to go (where there are sufficient photos to use of course).

i hope it is either number 1 or 4

the animation for the missing episodes of The Moonbase looks really good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUdZd...ature=youtu.be

When I paused the video at 25 seconds why do the cybermen have massive erections?