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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Doctor Who-Series 2-Volume 4 (2005)

Doctor Who-Series 2-Volume 4 (2005)

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Released 5-Oct-2006

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Science Fiction Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 2005
Running Time 137:51 (Case: 135)
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (21:06) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By James Strong
Dan Steff
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
16x9 Enhanced
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

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    

    As the current season of Doctor Who continues, it just gets better and better. This fourth disc features three excellent episodes, including a double episode. The cover features a fascinating creature from the first episode, The Ood. Once again Roadshow are releasing each disc of the second series separately, one per month from July until November. This series will be spread over 5 discs, unlike last season's 4, and consists of fourteen episodes, including the Christmas Special on Volume 1. The individual releases will be followed by a boxset. The presentation is very similar to last season right down to menu design.

    In my review of the previous disc in this series I called for a little more variety in the episodes and my wish has been granted. The first two episodes here are a double episode which is excellent and quite different. It is followed by a real change of pace episode for this series, focusing on characters other than The Doctor and Rose. These episodes also see a deepening of the relationship between The Doctor and Rose, a relationship that seems to be becoming more serious. Whilst this relationship may not have worked with Christopher Eccleston's characterisation, it works just fine with the Doctor being portrayed by David Tennant.

    The episodes included are:

  1. The Impossible Planet (45:23) - First half of a two part episode. The TARDIS lands on a deep space exploration & mining base which is right near a black hole. Due to the nature of the planet, the base is not being sucked into the black hole. The planet has a mysterious power source located somewhere beneath its surface and the mining crew is there to find and harness it. Unfortunately, the power source does not prove easy to control.
  2. The Satan Pit (47:17) - Second half of an excellent two part episode. Rose begins to think she has lost the Doctor forever...
  3. Love & Monsters (45:11) - A real change of pace. This episode focuses on a small group trying to track down The Doctor. One of them saw The Doctor as a four year old and has been trying to understand him ever since. A creepy new member joins the group and begins to tell them what to do. Members of the group then start disappearing. This is a more light hearted episode than some of the recent ones and makes for an enjoyable change of pace.

    Highly Recommended.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video quality is quite good.

    The feature is presented in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

    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. The colour bleeding issue was less noticeable in these episodes as compared to previous releases, but certainly still present. There was no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was reasonable. There was a little light grain in some backgrounds.

    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.

    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 21:56 in episode 2 and caused a minor pause.
    

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

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround audio track encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was decent in these episodes, more discernible than the first two discs of this series.

    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

Extras

    None.

Menu

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

 

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

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

Summary

    The best disc so far of this second series of the new Doctor Who. And considering the high quality of the series overall, this is really saying something.

    The video quality is quite good.

    The audio quality is good.

    The disc has no extras at all.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output
DisplaySony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC).
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationPioneer VSX-511
SpeakersMonitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Yamaha YST SW90 subwoofer

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