Doctor Who-Series 2-Volume 2 (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	133:36
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (20:36)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	David Tennant Billie Piper
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Ron Grainer Murray Gold

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
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

Madame de Pompadour : 'Doctor Who?'

    Following on from Series 2 Volume 1 comes the unexpectedly titled Series 2 Volume 2. This time the disc features three episodes of the newest series of Doctor Who starring David Tennant. Once again Roadshow are releasing each disc of the new series separately, one per month from July until November. This series will be spread over 5 discs instead of 4 like last year, consisting of fourteen episodes including the Christmas Special on Volume 1.One assumes they plan to follow it up with a box set once again. The presentation is very similar to last year, right down to menu design.

    The more I see of this new series, the more I am appreciating the wonderful performance of David Tennant as the Doctor and also the high quality and inventive writing of this new series. These three episodes are all excellent and quite different. The first one is one of the best episodes (if not the best) of both this and the previous series. David Tennant is really working for me as the Doctor and showing many different sides of a multi-faceted personality including being grumpy with aliens, emotional, lonely, cheeky, funny and showing signs of a deep seated sadness underneath. Obviously, the writing of the characters plays a significant part in addition to Tennant's performance. I am sure long time fans of the series will really appreciate the cameo appearances of Sarah Jane Smith & K-9.

    The episodes included here are:

1. Tooth and Claw (44:36) - In 1879 Scotland, a group of strange martial arts monks take over the country home of a nobleman. They have taken over the house in order to kidnap Queen Victoria who is going to stay there. Luckily for the Queen, the Doctor ends up in 1879 trying to get to 1979. This is a great episode.
2. School Reunion (44:14) - Mickey calls The Doctor and Rose back to modern day London to investigate a strange high school where the students are extremely well behaved and have knowledge way beyond Earth. The new Headmaster has instituted some new rules such as school lunches being free and compulsory which seem to be related. Sarah Jane Smith turns up to investigate the story as a journalist and meets up with the Doctor again. K-9 is not far behind. Another excellent episode.
3. The Girl in the Fireplace (44:46) - In 18th century France, a young girl is visited at night by two strange men. One of them appears in her fireplace and the other under her bed. The one under the bed is a clockwork alien who has evil plans for her. Luckily for her, the one in the fireplace is The Doctor who has found a time hole from a 51st century space ship to her bedroom. The clockwork creatures are repair droids from the space ship who have decided they cannot repair their ship without the involvement of Madame De Pompadour, the famous mistress of King Louis. The little girl is Reinette who will later in life become Madame De Pompadour. This episode is more personal for The Doctor than the other ones as he finds himself very attracted to Reinette as she grows older.

    Highly Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is better than last year but still nothing special.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was reasonably clear and sharp throughout although you certainly could not refer to it as crisp. The sharpness was also affected by colour bleeding, especially from light colours. Strangely this was more of a problem in Episode 2 than the others, which I think could be the result of more natural lighting in that episode. There was no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was average with some areas being a little murky. There was a little light grain in some backgrounds, especially in Episode 3.

    The colour was fine from a vividness and richness perspective, however the aforementioned colour bleeding from light colours was annoying especially in outdoor scenes.

    The only noticeable artefact was minor aliasing which was occasionally present but not overly intrusive.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read, however were a little small in size.

    The layer change occurs at 20:36 in episode 2 but was not noticeable during playback.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is reasonable.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo encoded at 192 Kb/s. Overall it did not seem as dynamic as last year's soundtrack.

    Dialogue was fine except when there was music or sound effects playing when it sometimes became overwhelmed by the other sounds. This made it difficult to catch some words and sentences. I ended up watching the show with the subtitles on.

    The original theme song by Ron Grainer has been modernised and the other incidental music is provided by Murray Gold. The music is of good quality and adds to the production.

    The surround speakers added some music and atmosphere.

     The subwoofer was not used noticeably.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    None.

Menu

    The menu included an intro, music, and motion. Nicely done.

    This disc has been released in the same format in Region 2 and does not seem to have been released as yet in Region 1.

    The video quality is better than last year but still nothing special.

    The audio quality is reasonable but has a slightly difficult mix.

    The disc has no extras at all.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall