September 15th, 2016
140 comments
We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.
Doctor Who The Movie Blu-ray
Available to order in the UK from www.amazon.co.uk
Also available to order in the UK from www.zavvi.com
Also available to order in the UK from www.forbiddenplanet.com
Available to order in France from www.amazon.fr
Whilst returning the Master’s remains to their home planet of Gallifrey, the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) crash lands the TARDIS on Earth in end-of-century San Francisco.
Gunned down by a street gang, the Doctor is rushed to hospital, where exploratory surgery by Doctor Grace Holloway triggers a regeneration.
The Master has meanwhile taken over the body of a paramedic and infiltrated the Doctor’s TARDIS, which he plans to use in his latest scheme to take over the Doctor’s new body and destroy the world.
Filmed as the pilot for a revived ‘Doctor Who’ series – tailored to the American market – which subsequently failed to materialise, this feature-length adventure introduces Paul McGann as the renegade Time Lord.
This Blu-ray is an ‘upscale’ version of the TV Movie.
Disc 1 Extras
- Commentary #1
From director Geoffrey Sax (recorded 2001) - Commentary #2
By Paul McGann and Sylvester McCoy, moderated by Nicolas Briggs (recorded 2009) - The Seven Year Hitch
Documenting the return Doctor Who to the screen. Narrated by Amanda Drew. - The Doctor’s Strange Love
Writers Joe Lidster and Simon Guerrier discuss The TV Movie with comedian Josie Long. - The Night of the Doctor
The Night of the Doctor was a mini-episode released in 2013 in the run-up to the show’s 50th anniversary special. This marks Paul McGann’s second on-screen appearance as the Eighth Doctor. - Photo Gallery
- Isolated Score
The option to view The TV Movie with the isolated music soundtrack. - Music Tracks
Four tracks from the production presented in full: In a Dream, All Dressed Up, Ride into the Moonlight and Auld Lang Syne. - Production Subtitles
Disc 2 Extras
- Paul McGann Audition
- Electric Press Kit
Used by Fox in 1996, this includes a short documentary and interview segments to allow other broadcasters to put together their own packages about the TV Movie. - Behind the Scenes
On set and on location in Vancouver, Canada during the filming of The TV Movie. - Philip Segal’s Tour of the TARDIS
- Alternate Takes
- BBC Trails
- Who Peter 1989-2009
The second part of this documentary, exploring the special relationship between Doctor Who and Blue Peter. Presented by Gethin Jones. - The Wilderness Years
In the years between the end of the classic series and the broadcast of The TV Movie, Doctor Who survived in print, video and audio, kept alive by fans who were determined not to let it die. - Stripped for Action – The Eighth Doctor
Looking at the Doctor’s adventures in comic-strip form. - Tomorrow’s Times – The Eight Doctor
A look back at the contemporary coverage of The TV Movie in newspapers and other publications. Presented by Nicholas Courtney. - VFX Tests June 1994
Early video effects tests by Amblin Imaging in 1994, featuring the ‘Spider Dalek’ design. - VFX March 1996
Video effects presented as mute time-coded ‘work in progress’ shots from the CGI department.
Doctor Who: The Movie is released on bluray on September 19, 2016
Categorised under: 
The Doctor Who Site
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Merchandise
Flickr
YouTube
Coolicle
October 4th, 2016 - 11:09pmHas anyone received theirs from Zavvi as mine has still not been dispatched!!
Neil
September 18th, 2016 - 9:43pmCan anyone who has received their copy confirm whether it has a reversible cover (or not) to match the rest of the Doctor Who classic era range ?? I have the Spearhead BluRay and it does, and as such my Classic Era collection ALL have matching spines. I cannot find this information on any sites. Thanks.
Gordon
September 18th, 2016 - 10:27pmI’ve been told it does
Tim M
September 19th, 2016 - 10:39pmYes indeed. It does come with a reversible cover to match with the DVDs. But I find it doesn’t look right anyway. The cases are the wrong height.
Last of the Summer Wine
September 19th, 2016 - 10:40pmIt does, however the McGann face on the spin has been changed.
Good little release IMO.
MadHatter23.2b
October 6th, 2016 - 7:16pmAnyone interested in a cover that matches all thew rest of the classic era? I made a cover on photoshop using the artwork and relevant information from this release to make a cover the same size as the rest of the covers, if you had a normal dvd case the spine would match as mcgann is as pictured from the tv movie special edition…
Gordon
September 17th, 2016 - 11:55amHeard Disc 2 is just a DVD. So glad I didn’t bother
Jay Glover
September 18th, 2016 - 11:06amThere could be a trailer for power of the Daleks animation
Tim M
September 18th, 2016 - 11:23amThere isn’t a trailer for ‘Power of the Daleks’. Hopefully we get more clips from the upcoming animation soon though. Just to whet our appetite a bit more, if it’s not whetted enough already. 🙂
Gordon
September 18th, 2016 - 1:00pmTo clarify its the same disc 2 that appeared on the tv movie 2 disc DVD with a different label on it.
Tim M
September 18th, 2016 - 5:45pmYes Gordon, that is correct.
Gordon
September 16th, 2016 - 1:27pmIt’s in 1080i. In other words a waste. Such a shame it could have been a good release. Its a wait till it goes down to about 7 quid release
DasBjoern
September 19th, 2016 - 6:33pmI think it is a bit stupid, since 1080i is (usually) used with 50Hz and 1080p would be in p24, which is the original speed… but it wouldn’t look better in 1080p. Just slower. Just like it should
Spearhead is in 1080i50 and is deinterlaced to 1080p25 by your TV… looks great
Tim M
September 16th, 2016 - 12:42pmMy Blu-Ray of Doctor Who The Movie has already been despatched…and is due Saturday…two days before release date.
Tim M
September 17th, 2016 - 4:17pmGot my copy of Doctor Who The Movie on Blu-Ray in the post today. Yay!
Tim M
September 18th, 2016 - 11:38amI don’t regret buying Doctor Who The Movie on Blu-Ray. It is essentially the same as the special edition DVD release, but the audio is certainly better. So looks and sounds good, but doesn’t improve the script, which isn’t great. :-\
CybermanBill
September 16th, 2016 - 11:51amIs this only a region 2 blu ray?
booboo
September 16th, 2016 - 11:58amyes, no USA listing as of yet
Anonymous
September 16th, 2016 - 3:39pmI thought blu rays are region free
and I am still waiting on the abc to release the Dark Water/Death in Heaven blu ray 3D in the uk
CybermanBill
September 16th, 2016 - 6:14pmThanks Booboo. Hopefully, they will release it soon in the US
Phil
August 26th, 2016 - 9:37pmIt will be nice to have it on blu-ray simply to fit it in with all my Nu-Who Blu-rays. Now they will all match.
Anonymous
September 16th, 2016 - 9:16amThat’s a lot of money for a box, Phil.
Jay Glover
August 23rd, 2016 - 9:14pmSo well this be in 1080p then
Anonymous
August 23rd, 2016 - 10:14pmNo. It will be normal resolution, your Blu-ray player will artificially fill in the blanks to give the illusion of HD.
The audio will be at a higher quality, but the visuals will be no different from sticking a DVD in a Blu-ray device.
Jay Glover
August 26th, 2016 - 8:25amSo is it worth it
Anonymous
August 26th, 2016 - 11:24pmIt’s really down to you. Personally I wouldn’t bother unless you are really desperate for that extra audio quality.
Jay Glover
August 28th, 2016 - 8:56amWell I couldn’t help to buy it
The4thDoc
August 20th, 2016 - 7:14amThe annoying thing about this is that (over here in NZ anyway), new collectors have to buy the DVD and the bluray to have every story in the best possible quality with all the extras. The TV movie comes with the Revisitations One boxset over here, and while it can be bought seperate (the Special Edition DVD), the other two stories in the set cannot (Andrazoni and Talons, both Special Edition), so people that want the bluray and all the other episodes have to buy it twice.
It’s the same with the Spearhead bluray (the only way to get a region 4 copy of Terror of the Autons is the buy the Maniquin Mania boxset, which also contains Spearhead)
Don’t know how it is in other countries
Jay Glover
August 23rd, 2016 - 9:10pmSpearhead from Space Special edition
And Blu Ray contain diffrent special features
If you want terror of the autons separately then buy the master DVD
DasBjoern
September 14th, 2016 - 2:32pmI had the same thoughts, but on the other hand I like to arrange the episodes in the order of airing. And you can’t put the BD for Spearhead between War games and the Silurians, because it looks terrible… reversible cover doesn’t make it better. The other option is to put the BD at the end, but then it’s missing in the episode order 😀
I’m really grateful for my separate DVD for Spearhead 😀
the4thDoc
September 15th, 2016 - 9:45pmI am fine with spearhead (given that it should fit in with everything, and has diffrent special features) but having to buy the TV movie twice, with only one “new” special feature so you can have Talons and Caves in SE and the movie in the best format is a bit annoying
Ian
August 17th, 2016 - 2:48pmI can’t see the point on buying this. My blu ray player upscales automatically. Unless someone can convince me otherwise.
Anonymous
August 15th, 2016 - 9:31amIs this an upscale like the Spearhead From Space blu-Ray? And will this have the dreaded PAL Speed-up?
Alan
August 15th, 2016 - 12:30pmSpearhead was not an upscale as it was transferred from the 16mm film it was shot on. The Movieis, however, an upscale.
Anonymous
August 15th, 2016 - 1:24pmwill it have the speed-up though??
Nicholas
August 15th, 2016 - 4:46pmMost probably as it is listed as 85 minutes instead of 89.
DasBjoern
September 9th, 2016 - 11:59amI really doubt, the movie will have the PAL speedup on BluRay. The movie was shot an film with 24 frames and converted to 480i60. When it was sent to the UK, a DEFT conversion was made which results in a video with 48 fields (each original film frame is stored across two video fields) and sped up to 50 fields for European TV and DVD.
This would result in 1080i50 when upscaled, but since several US system don’t support this, it would be slowed back to its original speed and be stored at 1080p24
Maybe the UK-BD will have PAL speedup, but the US one wont.. unless they are really stupid
Anonymous
August 14th, 2016 - 9:15pmOnly £15 on Zavvi ordered mine as love the cover
Gordon
August 14th, 2016 - 10:16pmFor what it has and the fact it’s only an upscale and has hardly anything new extras wise I’d only say it’s worth about a tenner max brand new. About 7 quid second hand. I just bought the new directors cut of Star Trek 2 which is actually in hd and has new extras and that was only 8 quid. 15 quid for an upscale with more or less the same extras. Nowhere near worth it’s price
Bicky
August 15th, 2016 - 7:08pmAmazon have reduced it to £13.50!!
dalek wow
August 20th, 2016 - 9:09pmhave you guys seen the power of the daleks footage
Kelvin Tsang
August 14th, 2016 - 1:32amUnfortunately as its only upscaled from a videotape source we won’t get the highest quality picture that we would have gotten if they used the original 35mm film reel that Universal Studios/20th Century Fox has. I will wait until they decide to use the original source material as it would make little difference in picture quality to the DVD version.
Gordon
August 14th, 2016 - 2:02amFat chance of that. The don’t even know if the original film reels exist or even where it is. A lot of the failed pilots of the 90s were binned or reused on other shows once it was transferred to tape. It could cost 10s of thousands of dollars just to track the film reels down if and its a massive IF it exists and that is before the very expensive restoration work even starts or the even more expensive replication of cgi effects. Far too expensive for just a blu Ray release
ahunter8056
August 15th, 2016 - 6:45pmI’m sure they do still have the original film reels. The problem is that they’d have to edit it all as it was from start to finish. Which is obviously a time consuming job. And as mentioned, they would have to redo all of the CGI. Just far too expensive to ever produce and still make a profit.
Matthew
August 13th, 2016 - 3:43pmWhy the change in branding from “The TV Movie” to just “The Movie”?
Nicholas
August 13th, 2016 - 8:11pmIt was ‘The Movie’ on DVD. Technically it should just be ‘Doctor Who’
Anonymous
August 14th, 2016 - 9:21amI cant remember where i read this but i think it had another title which was called “The Enemy Within”
Ryan
August 14th, 2016 - 11:11amThat’s right anonymous, I would much prefer that title 😀
GallifreyanKnight
August 13th, 2016 - 9:30amAm I right in assuming that all the bonus features from the previous DVD releases of the TV movie have been ported over to this?
Gordon
August 13th, 2016 - 2:06pmYeah.
GallifreyanKnight
August 13th, 2016 - 3:55pmThanks.
Who
August 13th, 2016 - 4:30amI do want to get this, but I just wish two things…that we got a DVD of all of this material together, but most importantly that the BBCi Shada was included properly this time with some additional animation added…after all, it was a big deal back in 2003, it’s Douglas Adams, features a very impressive cast list and provides at least one further, official, onscreen appearance for the Eighth Doctor that sits nicely between viewing the TV movie and NOTD…just my 2 cents worth…
Phil
August 13th, 2016 - 1:44amThis makes me want a Paul McGann spin-off called the 8th Doctor and it consist of 3 seasons, only since it should be made in the U.S. it would have like 23 episodes a season and because McGann is Freakin Awsome and the Ratings would be so high they would renew it for like 5 more seasons…
Anonymous
August 13th, 2016 - 2:47amExcept McGann has no interest in taking part in such a filming schedule, he has no interest in spending months on end filming it. He’s happy to work for smaller projects such as the minisode, maybe even a multi-Doctor story, but not a “spin-off” of that sort.
Gordon
August 13th, 2016 - 9:37amConsidering it would have to get the OK from bbc first that will NEVER happen. Just be happy he does about about 9-10 hours worth of big finish output a year
Nicholas
August 13th, 2016 - 8:15pmYou cant have a 23 episode a year series of Doctor Who if you want it to have the production values and quality of scripts or acting that it currently has. You may notice that a lot of American shows do have 20+ episodes in a series but those are normally shows like House M.D. which has a large ensemble cast plus new guests in every episode and is set in maybe 1 or 2 places. With something as large scale as Doctor Who is just isn’t possible – look at Game of Thrones for example, that only has 10! Peter Capaldi once said that the crew couldn’t possibly do any more episodes in a year than they already do without there being casualties.
Cyberman Bill
August 13th, 2016 - 10:51pmIt is possible. Look at Star Trek. They had 20+ episodes a season. It is possible, if people were willing to do it and were willing to finance it.
Nicholas
August 14th, 2016 - 2:11pmIt just doesn’t happen any more. Look at the new Star Trek series; 13 episodes. The only way I could see it being possible for the show now is to air the series across the whole year whilst filming that series.
Matthew
August 15th, 2016 - 8:16pmCyberman Bill – Star Trek is more of an ensemble show which has more cast to share screen time. I think it would be more difficult with the smaller cast that Doctor Who has.
100,000BC
August 15th, 2016 - 10:16pmAn actor and a crew can only be in one place at one time.
As Doctor Who uses different sets and locations every episode and given how long it takes to film, a 23-episode-a-year series would need at least two crews filming at any one time – which means either the Doctor gets half his usual screen time or you have two doctors taking part.
Jay Glover
August 16th, 2016 - 4:44pmMainly if you give it 24 episodes
The Plot would be dragged out to much
A lot of US Shows have that and spilt it in two half and a plot for each one
We would get a long storyline dragged for 23 episodes and all an hour long, so yes I prefer the big finish box sets
Phil
August 17th, 2016 - 3:33amLook at Fringe with 3 main cast members, Castle with 4 main cast members, Stargate SG1 had 4 main cast members, It would be a nice change of pace and if you had the right crew it would work. Think: 8th Doctor, Susan Foreman ( who can regenerate after season one), And 2 Human companions along with a group of 2 or 3 people who guest star each episode as they jump from world to world, 2 and 3 part stories, maybe a 7 part story as the biggest in a season. All 45-55 min long would give McGann 25-30 minutes of screentime. IT can be done and as it is now we are only guaranteed 12ish episodes and not even a year…most doctors follow the 3 year rule and things are getting stale. We need a McGann Spinoff in America. If it was American or Canadian made then we can certainly pump out 20 plus episodes a year. Heck I would be satisfied with 20 dead even.
The real master
August 12th, 2016 - 10:59pmWouldn’t mind if they changed the closing credits, just the non main character cast names on a black background, kind of boring
EndlessTimelord
August 12th, 2016 - 9:06pmThis is practically the complete 8th Doctor set for On screen appearance. I’m very tempted lol. 🙂
Gordon
August 12th, 2016 - 8:01pmThink I will wait till it goes on sale for under a tenner. Just doesn’t seem worth it full price for the only benefits being a the movie being up scaled and b the movie and night of the Doctor being on the same disc
Peter
August 12th, 2016 - 7:38pmI’ll wait for the steelbook. 😉
This is very much a comfort movie for me. Not the greatest example of Who but very enjoyable. Plus, we got the McGann audios out of it.
When The Doctor Was Me
August 12th, 2016 - 7:29pmPreordered!!! I’m one of the few who really enoy the story.
booboo
August 12th, 2016 - 7:32pmto be honest I can watch this over and over, the story wasn’t great but Paul Mcgann was, and night of the Doctor for me was the beast 10 mins of “Who” for a very long time
KORSAIR
August 13th, 2016 - 12:06amYeah I agree there Booboo.
DannyTheNerd
September 16th, 2016 - 11:06amI agree.
Owsi07
August 12th, 2016 - 7:23pmI’m not a big fan of the story but Paul McGann continues to be a great Doctor as seen in ‘The Night of the Doctor’ and Big Finish adventures! Also the cover art looks fantastic.