Customer Reviews

Doctor Who Mega Collection

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just labored through putting every episode/disc that is in this set into my shopping cart and came up with a grand total of $553.95. So if you want to save $36 more for these episodes, go for it. Maybe someone at Amazon ought to check this out and revise the mega set price if I've done my work correctly here, which I'm pretty sure I have.

I know that there has been talk of the releases of Dr Who being too expensive and not in season boxed sets, but one has to look at the nature of the series and of the DVDs. Unlike most series out there a typical Dr. Who story was made up of several episodes, and not just a single self contained hour of TV. In that respect you are getting 4-6 episodes per DVD making up on adventure. The care and extras on these disks make them the Rolls Royce of the TV on DVD genera. What other series gives you commentary by multiple actors, writers and directors for EVERY episode? No other series out there has gone through the cleaning processes, or has the running trivia tracks for every episode like Dr. Who. We are talking about some shows now over forty years old that look crisp and sharp like it was shot last year. Completely new documentaries are made for each storyline with new interviews and footage that actually goes in-depth of the story as apposed to a bunch of press video quotes of the actors saying that this was such a dream series, or that they have such brilliant writers. Look at the Star Trek: TNG sets, you get a whole whopping 30 min of features FOR A WHOLE SEASON , NO commentaries, NO actual information on how the series was made, or any stories on difficultly on it. Most people buying a series knows of it, or has seen it before. The BBC knows that Dr. Who is an important brand for them, and they are giving the fans the best DVDs out on the market *period*. I happily pick up each disk as it comes out and always have to watch them a few times because of all the features on them. Could they go down to maybe $19.99...yea, but if it meant not getting all the features and extras that are so great, then keep the higher price.

Like the guy on here who spent the time calculating whether it was cheaper to buy the whole set versus each one individually, I spent half an hour calculating whether the price for the used set is cheaper than buying each used title individually.

Guess what? It's virtually the same at this moment in time (fluctuating used prices must be accounted for): $429.96 to buy used from one single seller, or $429.31 to buy all 35 titles from that many sellers. It is however notably cheaper enough to buy the Lost In Time Collection and Key to Time discs individually rather than as sets if you're going that route.

Face it -- Doctor Who fans come in all different shapes and sizes and very few of us can stomach spending $600+ bucks for episodes we probably won't want to watch.

My suggestion would be to box (parse) the series according to the Doctor's resurrection. Perhaps include the last episode of the previous doctor and the first of the next -- if it makes sense to do so.

Afterall, most of us are fans of a particular doctor -- for me, I'd buy the "Tom Baker" and "Peter Davidson" years but probably not the others. (No offense to the other doctors.)

In the long run, BBC would sell a lot more DVDs.

Also, I really don't like the fact that all the collections don't contain ALL of the episodes of a given season.

Now that the new Doctor Whos are on air in the US again, I think it would be worth the BBC's effort to get the historical ones correct. My kids LOVE the new Doctor (as do I) and now they have an interest in the previous doctors as well.

I used to watch DW in Germany as a little girl, and loved it then. I was so happy that I am able to continue watching it here, and having my 9 year old grandson, being a fan of it as well.

I would love to have all the dvd's, but yes $600 is a bit steep. I think if they would sell them, starting with the first ten episodes, for about $80-90, (the ones from the sixties) and so on, or even grouped by doctors, just not all jumbled up like it is now, and in small doses, we could all buy them eventually. My grandson wants all the DW's dvd's. I can't see buying a $600 present for a 9 year old, but I would buy a $90 present, and see how he is with that before getting him some others. Just a thought.

I was a late bloomer when it came to Doctor Who. Sure I had heard of him but my best friend had watched him for years before I sat down and watched one with him. Even then although I found it slightly interesting, I wasn't a fan yet. Two wifes later I was. Yes it was the women in my life that truly helped me develop an appreciation for Doctor Who. It became evident that I missed his true benefit, relaxation. The Doctor more than anything is a great relaxer. He may even put you to sleep. I don't mean this in an insulting way at all. It's just that even if it doesn't have the best acting, effects, sets, et cetera, it still will be interesting and relaxing. The Doctor is something you can do something else and run in the background and listen and appreciate. I say this because we have watched the episodes so many times we pretty much know them by heart. Although I love Tom Baker and Peter Davison, and I enjoy Jon Pertwee and Sylvester McCoy, I can only take Colin Baker in small doses, and I don't have much interest in Hartnell and Troughton in the Black and White episodes. If they sell the whole set at a far better price I might be interested, but at this kind of cost no way. I have gradually bought the ones we truly enjoy and am now getting all the episodes of the doctors we like until then. The individual episodes I have purchased are only mediocre picture and sound quality and they do not contain extras. If they are priced above $20 be sure it is more than one episode. Otherwise it is overpriced. If you enjoy these catch "Red Dwarf" and the new "Doctor Who" TV series.

CA Luster

If you are a Whovian you'll be happy about all of it. Sure, I'd like to control which and when the episodes get released but I don't. what's more I'll buy every single one of them that comes out. While there are certainly episodes I would have chosen this is essentially a discount price for ALL the episodes released at the time of this collections creation. A+ to Amazon for coming up with the idea.

While the idea of collections in general is a good one, this one misses
the mark on a number of levels. As others have mentioned, many people have
their own favorites in terms of the Doctor. This bundle doesn't really
add anything. The BBC should really start doing as other old shows have
done and release entire seasons. Alternately, they could just start filling
in holes in the current releases. Basic things are missing like Cybermen
stories. First the BBC needs to release enough material such that fans
could start piecing together entire seasons (or Doctors) on their own
and then release that (as a mega collection).

The Key to Time or Trial of a Timelord are good examples of this.

I suppose this is the place to gripe over the state of "classic Doctor Who" on DVD? I'm fortunate in that I have VHS tapes of nearly all these episodes from 15-20 years ago when both of my (then local) PBS stations carried it. (One still does.) I wouldn't mind trading my tapes for DVD's higher quality, ease of use, the extras, and the reduced shelf space...but I'm resigned to buy boxed sets only.

I currently own the three available "new Doctor Who" sets, the Key to Time set, and really need to pick up the "Lost in Time" rarities collection and a couple other specials. But that's where I draw the line. Troughton, C. Baker, and McCoy have so little material, there's no reason these can't be recompiled into single boxed sets. Even if the DVD's themselves remain as-is, sold in reduced packaging at a reduced price, I believe this would breathe new interest in the original run...which while I still enjoy very much, isn't getting any fresher. The more popular Doctors, T. Baker and Davison, could be sold by season. And speaking of packaging, the Key To Time DVD set actually occupies *more* room than my home-recorded tapes. Something wrong about that.

I take another poster's point that a large number of classic episodes still wait to be released -- must make my own checklist one day to see exactly where things stand. My note to the BBC: I will wait for real boxed sets.

Has been a fan of the new series on Sci-Fi and has seen little of the original. This item does sound good but the price is a bit hard to swallow. I sorta think they are going in a good direction with the release of the beginnings boxed set. They should just concentrate on releasing boxed sets like that for each individual Doctor Who having all the episode they were in. I would gladly pay over time for sets like that no matter how long it takes for them to be released instead of all these jumbled realease that try to get your money now when they will come up with something better down the line if they can.