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August 18th, 2021 139 comments

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Doctor Who – Web of Fear DVD New Edition

Available to order from www.amazon.co.uk, www.hive.co.uk, www.zavvi.com and other selected retailers.

A steelbook is also available to order from www.amazon.co.uk

Available to order in the USA from www.amazon.com

Available to order in the Australia from www.sanity.com

In order to escape an attack in space, the TARDIS makes an unscheduled landing and ends up deep inside the London Underground. Here the travellers soon find themselves engulfed in a thrilling battle with the Great Intelligence and the Yeti, a deadly enemy set to invade the Earth.

But as events take a turn for the worse, it becomes clear that the golden prize is not just the Earth, but the Doctor’s mind too…

As usual this has a reversible cover to match past DVDs…

This release includes all 5 surviving episodes, plus a brand new fully animated reconstruction of the missing third episode created from the surviving audio-only recordings.

The Web of Fear is the partly missing fifth serial of the fifth season of Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February to March 1968. Starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, the story concerns an abandoned London and the return of the fearsome Yeti, patrolling the London Underground. It also marks the first appearance of the popular character Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart (before his promotion to Brigadier).

The six episodes (available in black and white and the newly constructed animation in colour and black and white) will include the following exclusive special features:

  • Audio commentaries on all episodes (with two on episode 1)
  • An episode 3 Telesnap Reconstruction
  • Photo Gallery
  • A ‘Making Of’ documentary
  • A ‘Making the Animation’ documenatary
  • The Web of Fear Trailer
  • The Missing Years documentary
  • The Many Voices of Jack Woolgar documetary

You can watch a clip of the newly constructed animation below:


Categorised under: Doctor Who DVDs, DVD, Featured

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139 comments

  • Ian Cotterill

    August 25th, 2021 - 10:54pm

    I liked the telesnap version of episode 3, with its CGI Yeti. Looks much better than the one in the animated version.

    Reply
  • James T

    August 23rd, 2021 - 9:55am

    I totally enjoyed this story.
    The restoration on the surviving episodes is amazing, set designs look great too & I wish they had kept Evans as a UNIT regular as he was halarious & had me in stitches throughout!! I agree with most others on the animation, it’s not the best & a bit thunderbirds with the arms movements but it’s passable if you don’t concentrate on it too much & it completes as much as possible an otherwise fantastic story.
    I’m really looking forward to Evil of the Daleks next month as it’s one story I’ve always wanted to see.

    Reply
  • Callum Eales

    August 21st, 2021 - 9:56pm

    Very Playstation 2 animation, but if it means a chance at highlanders and all of the 2rd doctor i will be happy.

    Reply
  • K

    August 21st, 2021 - 4:25pm

    The backgrounds are great but the likenesses of the characters, jiggly arms and Yeti are awful.
    Glad it’s been done but it jars badly with the surviving episodes and rest of the range.

    Reply
    • Lee d

      August 21st, 2021 - 9:25pm

      I think episode three is OK and will look terrific, with just a couple of tweeks on the arms and necks and faces. I think it’s certainly the way forward and considering the budget and time gone into this, it won’t be long till the full potential is reached. It will be great.

    • Lee D

      August 23rd, 2021 - 7:54pm

      I meant to say on my previous message, the banding artifacts are minimal in the black and white episode three but the colour version has a lot of background banding again. Would be even better if they could use a good dithering and encode, to stop the colour banding. Only a small query.

  • me

    August 20th, 2021 - 5:12pm

    finished watching it ,the animation on ep 3 is wall er,, different the backgrounds are good the faces are not and all the characters arms are allover the place it is like they have a itch that they can not scratch
    but for me it it still better then the telesnaps reconstruction or at least a nice alternative

    Reply
  • Coleman

    August 20th, 2021 - 1:07pm

    Finally got round to watching Web this morning.
    Although I stand by my previous comment that if 3D animation is going to be the only way to watch some of the trickier episodes to produce, then so be it.
    BUT, wow what happend with this animation is all I can say really.

    Reply
    • Whorules

      August 20th, 2021 - 3:07pm

      Coleman I’ve just finished the full story for the second time. I’ve also watched (yesterday) the colour animation for the second time. So I’ve now seen episode 3 animation 4 times. Ok. It’s flawed. But on repeated watches I’ve just concentrated on the story and the animation is really for me just an aid to the the story. It works. It helps tell the story. Yeah, it’s weak in places but given more time and more money I see no real problems with future projects.

    • Coleman

      August 20th, 2021 - 4:57pm

      Yes, Whorules, I’ve got high hopes for 3D Dr Who in future. It’s like most things in life it’s a learning curve and hopefully with more time and money I can’t see their being too many problems in future. (As Gordon’s mentioned before).
      It’s just the here and now I was commenting on. (they’ve along way to go still).

    • Whorules

      August 20th, 2021 - 5:27pm

      Oh, I quite agree. First time I watched it I was taken aback at how weak it was. But as I say now I don’t mind it. It helps web is my favourite troughton story as I’ll forgive a lot in order to be able to watch the full story. More time and money is the answer along with realistic expectations from fans. Toy story 4 had a budget of $200 million dollars for that you can expect perfection… a who budget… I’m happy just to have these animations.

  • Tommy Milne

    August 20th, 2021 - 9:52am

    I must admit I liked the animation, and it completes the story nicely. Yes needs improvements on the faces for future projects, but other than that I watched the story from start to finish twice. Second time I watched it in bed half asleep and with my eyes blurred slightly it could have been the real thing. I must admit I couldn’t sit through the colour version as I found that to like the simms and jarring.

    Reply
  • Whorules

    August 19th, 2021 - 8:00pm

    So I’ve just watched the colour version again. I’m planning on watching the full story again tomorrow but thought I’d do extras tonight. I have to say I’ve now seen the third episode animation 3 times, once on disc one twice in colour and watching it tonight I actually found myself drawn into the action more and soon forgot about the weaknesses. I still think the characters likenesses are poor etc but I did enjoy watching it again. I do feel I concentrated more on the story than the physical animation this time. It works as a way of telling the story. I now feel that I’d quickly get used to a full story in this style (with improved elements budget permitting) with ease. This web special edition is definitely a great addition to the collection. I just wish some fellow fans would give it a chance.

    Reply
  • RPG74

    August 19th, 2021 - 3:02pm

    All I can say, if Galaxy 4 pops up in a few months looking exactly like Web episode 3, then that’ll be a hard pass from me.

    Reply
    • Tim M

      August 19th, 2021 - 5:02pm

      To be fair, although I’m also not a great fan of ‘The Web of Fear’ part 3 animation. If it means through ‘Shapeshifters’ computer animation we can get stories like ‘Marco Polo’, ‘The Crusade’, ‘The Smugglers’ , ‘The Highlanders’ etc (which otherwise won’t be animated as cartoons like ‘Macra’ for example), then I fully support them. It could mean we may possibly then get a complete visual collection on DVD and Blu-ray, which previously had seemed impossibe. Plus, if you’re not won over by this style of animation, I’m sure on a second disc there would be a photo montage reconstruction with the original audio as a suitable alternative.

    • RPG74

      August 19th, 2021 - 8:44pm

      I see what you’re saying, but I’m not paying full price for a DVD I can only enjoy 50% of. If the animation is marketed as the big draw of a release-and I’m thinking more about previous and future full releases-then it ultimately will and should be assessed in terms of how effective or at least competent the animation is. Photo recons are all well and good (and I thought the Web recon was fine), but in terms of these releases they’re classed as supplementary material. I won’t buy a collection boxset for a series I don’t like simply because the extras are deemed adequate compensation (I couldn’t have season 24 in my house without having garlic and a crucifix close to hand), and I’m afraid I feel the same way about the animation releases. Web’s third episode is a failed experiment, and the Beeb should take note. If they don’t, and we see more animations of this catastrophic quality down the line then I, and I suspect many others, will be less inclined to part with our hard earned.

    • Gordon

      August 19th, 2021 - 11:53pm

      I wouldn’t worry too much. Their involvement on Galaxy 4 was listed on the shapeshifter website as edit, composite and visual effects which was their exact same involvement that they had on fury from the deep. The only story out of the 3 that mentioned animation was web of fear.

      I do think people need to kind of calm down on the animation. Yes it has its problems but that doesn’t mean that the next 1 will still have the same problems. The main problem with pretty much all the animations so far is the lack of time and money. This unlike the other recent animations had no involvement from bbc America so had a lot less time and money to play with. This is early days with them using the motion capture tech and this is pretty much a test case to see if they can do a full story in this manor. Regardless of quality they finished the episode so in that respect they succeeded. If bbc America decides to fund more in this style they will have far more time and money to work and refine on the next animation in this style. That will hopefully help them iron out most of the problems that people had with this release. We had to get reign of terror and power of the daleks first before we ended up with macra terror and the moonbase. Who’s to say we aren’t going to get a myth makers or crusade in this style that is going to be fantastic in the future? It’s also worth noting on the ep3 commentary they started production on it in early 2020 but didn’t really start working on it till august of that year as they were getting the motion capture tech ready. Future productions won’t need to waste that time or money as the tech is ready to go

  • Crosby

    August 19th, 2021 - 11:37am

    I’m hoping Marco Polo gets the animation treatment soon so then we can get an Season one the collection on blu-ray boxset that would be amazing

    Reply
    • Auton

      August 19th, 2021 - 12:19pm

      Yea same, Hopefully it will be animated as soon as they can

    • Gordon

      August 19th, 2021 - 12:30pm

      I’d be happy if we got Marco or crusade. I love both of those stories and both each complete a season

    • Whorules

      August 19th, 2021 - 1:02pm

      If this type of animation is the way to get Marco or the crusade then bring it on. I may not think web is entirely successful but it’s certainly watchable. I do think many fans are being hypercritical and have unreasonable expectations for the budgets. Gordon seems fairly in the know, how does the animation budget for say a full 6 part 2d animation compare with a Pixar 90 min movie? And how does that compare with the 25 min web budget? Fury was great. Yes the arms were a little long but it’s just an animation not reality. I got to watch fury! How cool is that! The only animation I’m not happy with is macra and it’s not the animation itself but choices in how the story is presented. Fans are so ungrateful. The BBC has no obligation to animate the missing episodes. Yet all we get are endless comments about how terrible they are. My favourite comment is from someone who said why don’t the BBC stop wasting fans time and just find the missing episodes! Reality check. The space pirates is now 52 years old. It’s been over 40 years since the BBC halted the junking of old material in their archives. Fans have to accept that some episodes, some complete stories, are now lost forever. There will be episodes still out there. But not everything. Web is a great release. The extras are good, the clean up of the episodes superb and the animation weak but watchable. I’m very happy with it. I can watch all of web now.

    • Auton

      August 19th, 2021 - 1:07pm

      My wish list of animations are The Massacre, The Myth Makers, The Smugglers, The highlanders as well as the crusades and Marco Polo. The abominable snowmen and the Daleks masterplan are also on my wish list

    • Gordon

      August 19th, 2021 - 1:25pm

      Excluding the ones we pretty much know are coming (evil, abominable, galaxy 4) my list from most to least wanted is:

      1. Marco Polo
      2. The Crusades
      3. The massacre
      4. Mission to the unknown/the daleks masterplan
      5. The Myth makers
      6. The highlanders
      7. The savages
      8. The smugglers
      9. The celestial toymaker
      10. The space pirates
      11. the wheel in space
      12. Underwater menace

    • Gordon

      August 19th, 2021 - 1:56pm

      I don’t know the exact figures but I’m fairly confident these animations have nowhere near the budget that Pixar has. Toy story 4 in comparison had a 200 million dollar budget. The bbc America funded releases at a guess very possibly less than a million a story depending on what challenges each story has. Just looking at Web it had a fraction of what the bbc America part funded animations got. The quality between the screenshots of web and evil is vast and you can see that 1 had far more money and time thrown at it than the other

    • Coleman

      August 19th, 2021 - 3:06pm

      Gordon, I think the list you mentioned above covers just about every story still to be animated. Surprised the wheel is one of your least most wanted to be made.
      I have to admit that since the First 10 minutes of Wheel was animated quite a few years ago now that it’s very high on my most wanted list, probably only behind Masterplan and Toymaker.

    • Whorules

      August 19th, 2021 - 3:43pm

      Thought they’d have a fraction of the budget Gordon. I just think some fans expectations of what can be achieved on the budgets are unrealistic. Web had a small budget. I think it’s weak but I certainly don’t think its terrible. It was easier to follow the story with the animation despite the problems with it. I’m planning on watching it again tomorrow. And I’m looking forward to doing so. The problems are nothing a bigger budget for future stories wouldn’t cure. I see comments about the BBC being money grabbing by releasing the web of fear again. It’s been seven years since it was first released. Hardly an immediate re-release. And this is a release that improves both picture and extras.
      In terms of releases of the stories I don’t really have a wish list. Frankly I’ll be happy with any releases. I’d love the entire set of missing episodes to be animated so I’m not really bothered which get done as long as stories are getting done. Evil, abominable and galaxy 4 are ones I’m excited about. Galaxy is hugely underrated and there are others that will greatly benefit from being animated. The smugglers for instance works well as an audio until the final episode which is essentially a 25 action sequence. So no, no wishlist just a hope we’ll get more and more releases. 2d or 3d. I’ll take whichever is best suited to getting the story out.

    • Tim M

      August 19th, 2021 - 5:13pm

      My choices from most to least wanted animated are…

      1) The Wheel in Space (loved the 10 minute teaser. Want to see more)
      2) Mission/The Daleks Master Plan
      3) The Celestial Toymaker
      4) The Abominable Snowmen
      5) The Crusade
      6) The Underwater Menace (special edition)
      7) Marco Polo
      8) The Highlanders
      9) The Savages
      10) The Space Pirates
      11) The Massacre
      12) The Smugglers
      13) The Myth Makers

    • Gordon

      August 20th, 2021 - 12:25am

      I’m sure it will look good and be a fantastic release but My issue with wheel in space getting animation is most of the best bits either already exists or has already been animated. I love the doctor and Jamie stuff in episode 1 but the rest isn’t that interesting. Episode 2 just feels like filler with pat on holiday and the only really interesting thing being Zoe’s interaction with Jamie. Episodes 2 and 3 and episodes 4 and 5 could really have been 2 episodes. It’s a 6 parter that really needed to be 4 parter. Cybermen don’t really do much and as for the plan it’s one of the most ridiculously unnecessary overly complex plan in who history. Obviously I will still buy it when it comes out but I can’t say it’s a story I’m excited for.

    • Auton

      August 20th, 2021 - 8:18am

      Wheel in space certainly isn’t the best story but it would certainly have a selling point as it has Cybermen in them and is the first Zoe story. But other than that it is a bit boring

    • Whorules

      August 20th, 2021 - 9:35am

      You are right Gordon, wheel is the most ridiculously convoluted “plan” in who. And yes it’s not the most exciting story. But I still enjoy it when I listen/watch it so when it’s released (and hopefully it will be) I’ll but it instantly. For me it’s Marco polo I’m not excited about. I know that will be controversial but the every time I listen to it I just find it a bit dull. Mind if it was found tomorrow or animated, again, I’d buy it instantly! Not to bothered whether I like a story or not I’m still going to buy it!

    • Coleman

      August 24th, 2021 - 11:40am

      Tim M, that lists very, very similar to my list. With the pure Science Fiction Stories at the top, which I can’t wait for them to be finished, but the more Historical stories lagging far behind.

  • Keith T Andrews

    August 18th, 2021 - 9:09pm

    I thought the animation was terrible. It looked flat, none of the movement looked good, the characters looked terrible and the Yeti were just laughable. A waster of money.

    Reply
    • Dalek Eye Stalk

      August 18th, 2021 - 10:45pm

      When I want to watch ‘The Web of Fear’, I will probably just watch the original 2014 DVD release in future. Not happy that they decided to put the photo recon on disc 2, and not on disc 1, so that it could have been selected instead of the animation on the same disc/screen. I’m not going to swap discs back and forward.

  • The Doctor

    August 18th, 2021 - 8:50pm

    When Will DOCTOR WHO THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS DvD Be Released In U.S.A?

    Reply
  • The Doctor

    August 18th, 2021 - 8:49pm

    When Will DOCTOR WHO THE WEB OF FEAR SPECIAL EDITION And DOCTOR WHO THE EVIL OF THE DALEKS DvDs Be Released In U.S.A?

    Reply
  • Ian Cotterill

    August 18th, 2021 - 8:46pm

    I’m afraid I did not much like the animation for this one. I could see that the animation team were trying to make the episode look realistic and thus fit the surviving episodes, but the character movement was all over the place and the likenesses for each actor/actress were not wonderful. I think I’d prefer it if BBC worldwide would stick to 2D animation for their reconstructions in future.

    Reply
  • Auton

    August 17th, 2021 - 6:12pm

    What a great release! The surviving episodes look amazing and after watching the new animation in black and white and in colour I have gotten more use to it. It isn’t perfect but it does it’s job well and I’m sure it will improve over time and allow the highlanders, the crusades , Marco Polo and the daleks’ master plan possible and easier to make. I don’t understand people’s problem with the animated characters movement as it adds much more and makes it more accurate to the original episode as that was obviously 3d and had movement. The making of is amazing and the same with the commentary. All that’s missing is the production subtitles and archival news reports about the 2013 returns but I’m sure they will be include on the season 5 Blu-ray boxset. So overall another great release and an animation that opens doors to more animations but it needs to be improved for stories that are completely or mostly missing.

    Reply
    • philip shaw

      August 18th, 2021 - 8:56am

      I agree with Auton, the animation does it’s job, but a bit of a shock after watching Power, Macra, and faceless ones, which is the animation style I prefer. First time I watched part 3 in colour I must admit I hated it, the characters were flailing around much too much, the characters moved jerkily and the faces were bland. After watching the first 2 parts of web, and then the B&W version you do sort of get used to it and it does fill the gap needed to move the story along when a telesnap can be a bit static. Strangely though I found the CGI Yeti in the telesnap better than the animation version!

    • Coleman

      August 18th, 2021 - 11:06am

      I also agree with Auton, that if 3D animation is the only way they’ll ever be able to afford to make Daleks Masterplan, Marco Polo, The Crusades and the Highlanders then so be it.
      I can understand alot of people are not too keen on Who being done in 3D but it’s a small price to pay to finally have a full set of Classic Dr Who on our shelf’s.

    • Whorules

      August 18th, 2021 - 11:42am

      Agree Coleman, this animation isn’t great, but it does the job and whenever I watch web in the future it will be the black and white animated version. Have to say I found it easier to watch on the second watching with the colour version. It’s flawed, the likenesses, some of the body proportions and such but it is watchable enough and it is the first one. Further animations will be better and yes, if this is the only way to get certain stories then I’ll buy them. I do think this first one has a “newness” factor than some fans are just dead set against. I may not think it works perfectly but I’m happy enough with it as it means I get to watch the episode rather than just a reconstruction. The reconstruction is good, but I’d rather have animations.

    • Prof Horner

      August 18th, 2021 - 2:48pm

      Well I can see them doing The Space Pirates in this style some how

    • Gordon

      August 18th, 2021 - 10:37pm

      Completely agree with auton as well. It has its problems but there is so much potential there with it especially when it comes to the trickier s I think pretty much all of the problems I have with it is possible to overcome with more time and money. I just feel they ran out on this 1. When it was announced I suspected that bbc America wasn’t involved in this release and having seen the release I still stand by that theory. I would love to see a bbc America funded release in this style as it would hopefully give more time and money than this release and hopefully iron out some of the issues.

  • Anonymous

    August 17th, 2021 - 5:06pm

    Watched four episodes, will crack on with it tonight. Have to say I’ve mixed feelings about the animation. It’s ok, the backgrounds are excellent but the likenesses are terrible, and the movement is poor. The body shapes for several actors are massively out of proportion as well. Now I know that’s all very negative however I did enjoy being able to watch the episode rather than it just being a reconstruction. This is the first one and as with the 2d animation time and experience adds huge improvements so I think future projects could be improved (and they do need to be improved) I don’t think this is a great animation but it does the job. Not sure how I’d feel about a full story in this format. I don’t think the animation is hugely successful but neither do I think it’s terrible. As a first time animation it is what it is… a learning curve. Looking forward to the extras.

    Reply
    • Whorules

      August 17th, 2021 - 9:49pm

      Watched most of it now. The animation in colour was interesting, and I was more used to it on a second watch. Still not overly keen on the style but if this is the way forward for the more difficult stories then absolutely fine. The making of is very good and overall it’s an excellent release. Just got the reconstruction left which will have to wait until tomorrow now.

    • Alan Silvester

      August 18th, 2021 - 12:47pm

      Yes, I have mixed feelings about the animation too – not the best, but not the worst either. I haven’t watched the colour version yet, so maybe I’ll be more use to the seemingly “continuous movement” on a second watch-through. Only other small niggle is the lack of production subtitles. Felt a little lost without these, especially at the start.

    • Book collector

      August 18th, 2021 - 12:53pm

      Alan can I ask what you mean about being lost without the production subtitles? I’m not being funny, I’m genuinely curious.

    • Alan Silvester

      August 18th, 2021 - 3:07pm

      Yeah, Book collector – I meant lost as in I’m used to reading them whilst watching the episodes, and find they add to my enjoyment. For example, the start of this story carries straight on from the previous story, and the production subtitles would have recapped this. Also the Doctor is absent from episode 2, again the production subtitles would have explained why. Not a criticism – I just missed the added info. Just my personal preference!

    • philip shaw

      August 18th, 2021 - 3:32pm

      Usually because the season’s were a lot longer with a higher episode count any cast holiday’s had to be inserted into the story, such as Troughton’s disappearance in ‘Web of fear’ and Hartnell being unconscious in the ‘Dalek invasion of Earth’. Troughton was also unconscious in ‘The Seeds of Death’ if I remember correctly, and Barbara had a week off in ‘The Sensorites’. There are a few more instances but can’t remember them all.

    • Whorules

      August 18th, 2021 - 7:21pm

      It was a regular occurrence with various main cast getting a week or two off. The nature of the way sixties who was recorded meant it was a necessity to give the actors a break.

  • thewhoviewfilms

    August 17th, 2021 - 3:09pm

    Am I the only person who thinks that having episode 3 a animated reconstruction in colour is pointless since all the surviving episodes are in B&W.

    Reply
    • Gordon

      August 17th, 2021 - 3:36pm

      The animation was made in colour as it’s easier to do than animate black and white. Seeing as it’s not going to cost any extra to include both I don’t see the problem with them including it. You don’t have to watch it

    • Anonymous

      August 17th, 2021 - 4:59pm

      Exactly Gordon, I’ll probably watch it in colour once.

  • Anonymous

    August 17th, 2021 - 11:46am

    How do you access the PDF Features? I slapped the Disc 2 into the computer but nothing came up?

    Reply
    • philip shaw

      August 17th, 2021 - 12:55pm

      Is it a blu ray disc reader?

    • RPG74

      August 17th, 2021 - 6:11pm

      At the risk of teaching my grandmother to suck eggs-

      If you mean the DVD then you go to File Explorer, click This PC and then right click and Open on the DVD RW drive icon. You’ll find the video content listed, and the PDFs will be there too.
      If you’re talking about the Blu ray, then you’ll need a Blu Ray disc drive in/connected to your PC/laptop, and it’s exactly the same; right-click Open on the BD-ROM icon.

    • Ron

      August 18th, 2021 - 12:13am

      As an old duffer thanks for the egg sucking I’ll give it a go

  • Dalekz

    August 17th, 2021 - 11:42am

    I will wait for the 2nd Doctor Blu-Ray set for this I think, I wonder how many years that will be?
    Took me years to remove the stink of VHS, now trying to remove the stink of DVD.

    Reply
    • the ergon

      August 17th, 2021 - 3:15pm

      And when 4K eventually comes through in a 8-16K world you will then want to rid yourself of the stench of Blu-ray.( Ha!, Ha!)

    • Dalekz

      August 17th, 2021 - 3:50pm

      Tell me about it, Then I will need to junk the 16K and get the latest 3D Holographic (totally real like you are there) download version directly into my head in 50 years time.

    • The ergon

      August 17th, 2021 - 4:41pm

      I don,t believe for one second that bluray is to be the last physical to own format. No matter what people said at the announcement of the bluray limited collection.

  • RPG74

    August 17th, 2021 - 10:51am

    Since I don’t own the previous version and could get this for a few pounds off in a promotion, I thought what the hell. Though I’m extremely impressed with the restoration so far- nice filmic grain on the filmed inserts, crystal clear sound- I’ve decided not to bother watching the animated episode, and will instead jump to the telesnap recon. I don’t see the point in winding myself up, and since I’ve never seen the recon anyway, and given we have five brilliantly restored episodes out of six in the set, I don’t think i’m missing out.
    Hopefully in a couple of years the Beeb will commission a new, superior 2d version of episode 3, and perhaps this new ‘more special’ edition will be made available on digital where we can purchase the episode individually.
    But for now, I’m happy I bought this.

    Reply
    • Mark Belsom

      August 17th, 2021 - 12:49pm

      Good idea skipping episode 3,i was not impressed with the animation style. Really don’t like it.

  • Tommy

    August 16th, 2021 - 10:25pm

    I usually love the missing stories animation but in all honesty if I’d known how bad this special edition was going to be I’d have ignored buying it.
    There is no great facial animation the characters of the doctor, Jamie and Victoria look terrible.
    Everyone’s arms are thrown about like Magnus Pike on overdrive.
    As for the 3d animation its rubbish.
    They could have tested a longer animation piece on the whoniverse first before wasting money producing this sad excuse.
    The 2d worked fine with other releases can’t understand why they would waste what should have been a great episode with this type of animation.
    I can only hope in six weeks time that the Evil of the Daleks doesn’t suffer in the same way upon release.
    Leave classic Who in 2d as if something isn’t broken why fix it

    Reply
    • Auton

      August 17th, 2021 - 7:59am

      The next animation is going to be in 2d so you don’t need to worry about Evil being a different animation style

    • Gordon

      August 17th, 2021 - 8:04am

      But not every story is going to be affordable in 2d animation. The likes of masterplan crusade Marco Polo and highlanders are unlikely to be ever affordable in 2d animation. If they are using this style of animation to do those stories it makes sense to do it on this 1 before going on to the bigger and longer projects. They mentioned in doctor who magazine that they didn’t want to do a 6-7 episode story untested so this story was the perfect 1 to test it on. Going by the ep 3 commentary I suspect most of the budget for this release went on setting up the motion capture. With that set up I am hopeful that future uses of this style of animation will have more time and money to focus on improving the animation and ironing out the problems

    • Anonymous

      August 17th, 2021 - 3:54pm

      “Leave Classic Who in 2D”

      You do realise the existing episodes are 3D, right? That’s the problem with the 2D animations, you’re always jumping from 3D to 2D and it’s so jarring.

  • Gordon

    August 16th, 2021 - 9:12pm

    Loved the restoration of the surviving episodes. Looking forward to seeing other surviving black and white episodes on blu ray. As for the animation my lasting impression is that it does the job of filling the gap and has potential but it needs a bit of work before they try a full blown story. Love the backgrounds and the lighting. However the character faces don’t seem very accurate and the constant hand and body movements are a bit distracting plus some of the characters don’t quite move like the live action counterparts. With more time and money I feel it could have ironed out some of these issues. I definitely see the potential of doing full blown stories in this style but i would like them to iron out all the kinks before having a go at a full blown story.

    Reply
    • Nick Rich

      August 17th, 2021 - 1:18am

      They have done 3 1. Fury from the dèp 2 the macra terror,3 the power of the daleks .

    • The ergon

      August 17th, 2021 - 1:33am

      Agreed. Not a fan of this kind of animation. The body movements reminded me of those characters from early playstation games but the background shots did compensate .Were still getting those blurry scenes when characters move hurredly though. You dont get that so much on the original.

    • The ergon

      August 17th, 2021 - 1:44am

      Cosgrove hall had the right style. Its my favourite of them all by far and that was 15 years ago.

    • Gordon

      August 17th, 2021 - 2:17am

      @nick reich

      1. None of which are in this 3d motion capture style animation. This is the first release in this style

      2. Shapeshifter studios who handled this animation weren’t involved with power of the daleks or the macra terror animation

      @the ergon they were great. Shame they were too expensive too do any more on a dvd budget after invasion. We lucked out With that animation as the budget for that 1 was originally supposed to be for the scream of the shalka sequel

  • bryan

    August 16th, 2021 - 9:04pm

    The Animation is Glorious.I usually always watch Colour, but as it’s on Disc Two. Pumped for B/W. Looks very good and the movement makes everything come alive.

    Huge shoutout for the Making of…. Probably one of the best ones the team have ever made. Covers everything inc, the recovery , and Snowmen . Jack Woolgars son is superb and has some lovely Art he painted of his Dad, and an unused version of SFX they didn’t use.

    Marvellous Release. And a tiny glimpse of Sara Kingdom , Hartnell, and how much cheaper and easier it will be to make the “ harder” stories to animate .

    Reply

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