The Joy of Sets
Let’s talk about sets, baby… or more importantly one particular boxset that graced our shores last month. New Beginnings is quite quite brilliant, not only because of the arc of the stories contained within, but also because of the wealth of extras contained within.
Tom! You’re being candid! Like… proper candid! We’ve been waiting for that for ages! Thank you! Matthew! You could have shaved, but how nice that you were asked back! Sarah! Must seem like a long time since talking to Noel Edmonds on Swap Shop! Peter! Please be on every commentary! Even for stories you weren’t in! Janet! Well, it would have been lovely to have seen rather than just hear you but wow – the team back together! It’s superb! Simply superb! Even if Keeper of Traken is a pile of tosh.
But this is more than just a gushy review. It’s a general bravo to the fact that we are now in the fantastic position of finally having extremely well produced quality boxsets like every other TV show. I’ve always been a bit dubious about the single releases, especially for some of the more vanilla titles (both in terms of the extras and the story itself – yes Claws of Axos… I’m looking at you), and as such to have the added value of some of the ‘lesser’ stories coupled with classics makes me a very happy consumer. I’d buy a Season 24 boxset over any of the individual titles, and the idea of the upcoming Timeflight / Arc of Infinity set is much more appealing that having either of the stories by itself on the shelf.
The only negative thing I would say is that in some ways it’s a shame that the classic series was never released in seasons as the current series is. Yes, I see the illogical side of this (Season 5 would be, what, one disc if that?, and no one in their right minds would buy Season 11), but to have each story surrounded by its peers with perhaps an extra disc of special features covering the making of each season would be rather nice. Probably cheaper too.
But I’m happy with the status quo. Well done BBC – you’ve hooked in one happy consumer.
JP
June 12th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Re: Season boxed sets – aren’t there rumblings that the BBC are going to try and release stories to complete seasons and perhaps test the water by releasing complete seasons? This may not appeal to the fans who already have the indivdual stories, but to other general Sci-Fi collectors these could be great. With the forthcoming (re)release of entire season of The Key to Time (not just in the US this time) the BBC are likely testing the waters. I wonder if sales would be lower for this release then if they had done them individually?