Every Tuesday I take a look at obscure and/or classic television programs, specials, miniseries or made-for-TV movies being released on DVD. For the record I consider anything broadcast prior to 1980 to be classic or else there wouldn’t be much to discuss. The releases referred to in these posts are encoded for Region 1 use in the United States and Canada.
It’s the first Tuesday of March (there are four remaining) and the pickings are slim for fans of classic television. You can pick up Have Gun Will Travel: Season Four, Vol. 1 from Paramount Home Entertainment, with the first 19 episodes from the 1960-1961 season. Incredibly, it has been more than four years since Season Three was released; it came out in one set on January 3rd, 2006. If you’re a fan of the series and want to see the remaining seasons, be sure to pick this up. Split-season releases can be annoying and expensive but they seem to be the only way a lot of shows are being released. A review by Matt Hough can be found at the Home Theater Review.
Also out today are three Doctor Who stories from BBC Video. The first two, “Frontier in Space” (story #067) and “Planet of the Daleks” (story #068) are being released in one set titled Doctor Who Dalek War: Frontier in Space & Planet of the Daleks. You get twelve episodes on four discs with a whole bunch of bonus features. Apparently, this is the first time the third episode of “Planet of the Daleks” will be available in color in decades. The third story is Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks (Special Edition) (story #152). An earlier version was released in April of 2002 and this new version was originally supposed to come out two years ago but was pulled due to clearance issues, according to TVShowsOnDVD.com. The episodes themselves have reportedly been “remastered.” There was one clearance issue that could not be cleared up; a Beatles song had to be cut (see this TVShowsOnDVD.com article).
I’m not an expert on Doctor Who so if any of these details are wrong, please let me know.
