Doctor Who-Series 9 (Blu-ray) (2015) |
|
Doctor Who-Series 9 (Blu-ray) (2015) |
|
|
| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Science Fiction |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Making Of-All epsiodes Audio Commentary-5 eps Featurette-Various |
|
| Rating |
|
||
| Year Of Production | 2015 | ||
| Running Time | 645 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (6) |
Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By |
Graeme Harper Euros Lyn James Strong James Hawes |
|
Studio
Distributor |
 Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Peter Capaldi Jenna-Louise Coleman Maisie Williams |
| Case | Slip Case | ||
| RPI | $69.95 | Music | Murray Gold |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 |
|
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
||
| Video Format | 1080i | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
It is hard to believe that any television show could run for 50 years, let alone one that started as a little sci-fi series designed for kids on the BBC. This series has enthralled, excited and inspired generations of children and adults alike. There have been spin-off series, movies and more over the years. The new incarnation of the series has now completed its ninth season. This is the second season with Peter Capaldi as The Doctor, accompanied by current companion Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald, the impossible girl.
This season contains 12 episodes and the set includes both the preceding and subsequent Christmas Specials (i.e., 2014 and 2015). Both are good but the 2015 one is a definite highlight with the return of the marvellous River Song (Alex Kingston). Many of the episodes in this season are double episodes and there is a recurring character, Ashildr/Me (played by Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams). This season is a little patchy in the first half but the episodes in the second half are excellent. These include an excellent episode Sleep No More, based around the idea of people sleeping less to get ahead in their careers, the touching and clever Face The Raven, the diabolical trap of Heaven Sent and the big showdown in Hell Bent. This is topped off by the hilarious Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song. This season allows Peter Capaldi to really extend his characterisation of The Doctor, showing his anger, humour, crankiness, steely determination and much more. Jenna Coleman is also marvellous as Clara in her final season as the full-time companion. Maisie Williams was a good addition, however, her character is quite challenging to like at times. As usual with the new incarnation of the Doctor, the creative team led by Stephen Moffatt is wonderful with great writing and direction making for high quality television. The music really stands out in this season possibly due to its featuring on the menus but also sounding great on the show itself. The score (not just the famous theme) really jump out in this season.
The set is spread across 6 Blu-ray discs with all featuring episodes and extras. The discs are housed in a hard case with a cardboard slipcover. It would seem that a new season will not be seen until next year in 2017.
A quality season which although a little slow to start really fires in the second half. Recommended.
The video quality is very good, at a similar quality to last season.
The episodes are presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. They are in 1080i rather than full 1080p.
The picture was reasonably sharp and clear throughout, without even looking spectacular. Shadow detail was very good.
The colour is excellent, really showing off the new sets and locations for this series.
There was some minor motion blur during fast movement and some little bits of aliasing.
There are subtitles available in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read.
| Sharpness |  |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour |  |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
The audio quality is very good without being at feature film quality.
The discs contain an English soundtrack in DTS HD-MA 5.1, plus an Audio Descriptive track in Dolby Digital 2.0 and some commentaries also in Dolby Digital 2.0.
Dialogue was quite clear however sometimes it got lost in the mix of effects and music, meaning the subtitles were useful at times.
The music by Murray Gold is excellent as usual adding significantly to the show.
The surround speakers were well used for lots of directional effects such as lasers, screams and action scenes plus significant atmosphere and music and the subwoofer supported the TARDIS sounds, music and action scenes.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
| Subwoofer | |
| Overall | |
A big and quality collection of extras. Most of them have HD-MA 2.0 sound.
The menu features various locations from the series and music from the show. Audio Navigation is available as an option.
Five episodes feature audio commentaries as follows. They can be found on the audio menu rather than the extras menu.
Standard episode making of which discusses script, cast, characters and includes behind the scenes footage and interviews with cast and crew. Quite good.
For those who haven’t seen it for a while, a recap of Season 8 can kickoff your watching experience.
Short teaser for Season 9.
Funny mini episode featuring a character called Bors and The Doctor preparing for a major battle and making fun of the locals in the middle ages.
Trailer for complete season.
Standard episode trailer.
Standard episode making of for first two episodes. Features Missy.
Standard episode making of for next two episodes.
Featurette on the daleks with comments from Moffatt and Capaldi and a history of Davros.
Standard episode trailers.
Standard episode making of for next two episodes, hosted by comedic actor Rufus Stone. Discusses Maisie Williams role and character.
Highlights from the fan TV show including footage of various events and an interview with Peter Capaldi. Bit silly at times but fans will lap it up.
Standard episode trailers
Standard episode making of for next two episodes focusing on the return of the Zygons and how the story was set up in The Day of The Doctor.
Standard episode making of for the episode about sleep, hosted by the actor who led the episode and featuring discussion with Mark Gatiss.
Standard episode making of for Face The Raven, featuring the return of Riggsy and the concept for the episode, plus the tragic conclusion.
Featurette about the brand new writer to Doctor Who who got the job of writing this excellent episode. She is Australian writer Sarah Dollard who pitched the idea of trap streets and then got to write the momentous episode.
Standard episode trailers.
Standard episode making of for next two episodes focusing on writing an episode with only one voiced character and how they used the atmosphere of horror films to enhance the story.
A featurette about Jenna Coleman's time on the show featuring highlights, interviews and her thoughts and memories.
Interview by Wil Wheaten, Star Trek actor with Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi, after a showing of some Season 8 episodes but before anything had been seen in Season 9 except the prologue (which is really a bit of a red herring). They discuss monsters, their characters, their relationship and romance, the prequel, the story, writing and more. Interesting but Wil is a little too fan boy.
Standard episode trailers.
Featurette on the various River Song stories and episodes over the last few seasons.
An extended episode of DW Extra hosted by Matt Lucas. As usual it features behind the scenes footage, scenes and cast and crew interviews.
Small interviews and snippets which were provided to online fans.
Interviews panel from Comic Con with all major cast and Stephen Moffat. Mixture of audience and moderator questions. Quite good.
Standard trailer for the Christmas Special.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This season is available globally seemingly in the same format.
The video quality is very good.
The audio quality is very good.
Great selection of interesting extras.| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Panasonic DMR-PWT500, using HDMI output |
| Display | Sharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | Built into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
| Amplification | Marantz SR5005 |
| Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer |