With Doctor Who splitting its run for the sixth series, many fans may be wondered just how and when the BBC will released the second season with Matt Smith as the Doctor onto DVD and Blu-Ray. For the past several years, British fans have been able to buy single disc releases with several episodes on them but no extras a few weeks after their BBC broadcast. After the season concluded a more extensive box-set hit store shelves.
For series six, fans will have several options to collect and enjoy series six. Following the model of several other currently running shows who take a long hiatus between halves of a season, the BBC has announced that there will be two box sets for both halves of series six. The first set will hit shelves soon after the the mid-season finale in June with a second set hitting shelves after the second half of the season airs. The BBC has also confirmed that there will be a full box set of all series six released at the same time as the second half of series six comes out. No word yet on if the half season sets will be vanilla releases with few or no extras or not.
And it looks like American fans will get to choose which set they want as well. Initial reports indicate that the U.S. and U.K. box sets will hit stores on or around the same date.
Meanwhile, American fans can look forward to catching up with the U.K. on some of the older and current releases for the classic series. Before the end of the year, the entire fifth Doctor’s run will be complete on DVD, starting this Tuesday with the release of “Kinda” and “Snakedance.” We’ll get “Frontios” in June and then the final release for Peter Davison as the Doctor in July with “The Awakening.”
Also hitting the shelves this year in America are a double feature of Jon Pertwee in May and two stories featuring the seventh Doctor this summer.
And if you’re curious as to when we might see individual releases of the remastered, re-released and updated versions of the “Revisitations” sets from the UK, as well as the enhanced “Spearhead from Space,” it appears those will be coming in the second half of the year and early 2012.
I would just wait on the complete season box set. I’m glad they’re giving us the option.
I’ll wait for the entire Series 6, too. And it’s nice to hear that the Revisitations sets are coming out. David Tennant does a mini-doc on the 5th Doctor on the second set.
The extra that Tammy refers to will be on the re-release of “Revelation of the Daleks”
The set will also include the story both in the two-part 45 minute version shown in the UK originally and the four-part 25-minute episodes version shown in syndication and has released on VHS and the original DVD.