TV

Doctor Who
33x15 The Day of the Doctor [3D; 3rd watch]

Resuming my Doctor Who 60th celebration marathon now, although with somewhat less urgency — I'd been pacing it under the assumption the 60th anniversary specials would begin on 11th November, but (as recently announced) they're actually starting on the 25th. So my new goal is to be done by the anniversary itself, 23rd November, which gives me more wriggle room. I might even throw in a few extra bits and bobs.

For now, it's back to progressing through the Doctors in order... which, in this case, means a sidestep from the common/real-world numbering so as to place the War Doctor in his in-universe context. And, as with The Five Doctors the other week, this one’s a bit of a fudge: of course I’ve seen it before, and there’s other War Doctor content I could’ve chosen, including a novel (though I don't own it) and multiple Big Finish box sets (which I do own). However, I’ve covered both those forms of media elsewhere, and (as I believe I’ve mentioned) I was loathe to include too many novels for fear they’d take me too long to read and delay the whole project. That’s also why I didn’t plump for the novelisation of this story as some kind of happy medium (it’s meant to be great, mind, so I really do want to read it. Seriously considering reading it during those two weeks I've gained).

So, the only way I can justify this as unseen is because I’ve never watched it in (true) 3D before, despite owning the Blu-ray and a 3D TV for a number of years. But (also like The Five Doctors) it just also feels right to make space for such a big, brilliant, 50th anniversary episode in my 60th celebrations. (And this is the last time I’ve so egregiously cheated, I promise.) Also, it's just really bloody good.

I also watched all of the special features on the 3D Blu-ray, which include an "Early Trailer" (90 seconds of clips, with text referring to "This Fall", so I guess it originated at ComicCon or something), the specially-created "Save the Day" trailer (still awesome), a short making-of called Behind the Lens (it's only 13 minutes and makes you long for the full hour-long Confidential we'll never have for this), plus the following programmes (in the order I watched them)...

Doctor Who Explained
A 45-minute special created for US TV in the style of the Doctors Revisited series (presumably made at the same time by the same team). Not bad as a primer for neophytes.

The Last Day
[2nd watch]
A short prequel to Day. I never much cared for this short — it always felt like something they made because they had the money to do so, not because there was an extra bit of story worth telling or universe worth expanding on. Oh well. (You can still watch this on YouTube, if you want.)

The Night of the Doctor
[2nd watch]
This, on the other hand, is fantastic. The 8th Doctor's last hurrah! What a surprise this was when it was released, but so welcome. That it didn’t lead to a full 8th Doctor spin-off series is possibly my biggest disappointment in Who history. McGann is brilliant in the role and he and we deserved so much more. At least there’s the audios. (You can also watch this on YouTube, or — befitting its important status — on iPlayer.)

Sadly, the cinema intros and whatnot weren't included on this release. I think they're on the box set copy? Maybe I'll get that out and give it a spin someday. Though why I'd choose to watch the special in 2D when I have it in 3D... Well, there is one argument in 2D's favour: for compatibility, the 3D versions runs at 24fps (i.e. it's slightly longer), whereas the 2D version runs at the original 25fps.

A final observation, relevant to my 60th marathon: no one knew about the War Doctor when the 11 Doctors, 11 Stories series began, so he doesn’t have an instalment in that series, meaning today will be my only encounter with the fella. As I said, there’s other War Doctor content I could have chosen instead that would have taken longer — as well as being more truly original, and truly War Doctor focused — so maybe I should have... but I didn’t, so it is what it is. (Maybe I’ll take some of that in post-60th — like I’m planning to do with the rest of Timewyrm — as some kind of recompense.)

Games

The Dragon Staff of Maladoria
18–20 June 2021

Articles

Hollywood Can Reap the Rewards of Physical Media Again, But Only If…
by Bill Hunt (from The Digital Bits)

An excellent piece on the current state and potential future of film & TV physical media (i.e. DVD and Blu-ray).