Doctor Who Season 34 (Peter Capaldi, 2014)

U.S.


NEW for
Dec. 9, 2014.
Canada


NEW for
Dec. 9, 2014.
U.K.


NEW for
Nov. 17, 2014.
Blu-ray U.S.


NEW for
Dec. 9, 2014.
Blu-ray Canada


NEW for
Dec. 9, 2014.
Blu-ray U.K.


NEW for
Nov. 17, 2014.

This 5-disc DVD box set includes the double-length season opener "Deep Breath" plus the subsequent 11 regular episodes, and loads of bonus features such as audio commentaries, documentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and special TV broadcast presentations.


DVD / Blu-ray Extras include:

  • Audio commentaries for four of the twelve individual episodes, featuring writer Phil Ford, directors Ben Wheatley, Paul Murphy, and
    Paul Wilmshurst, first assistant director Scott Bates, prosthetics effects producer Kate Walsh, and engineer Pete Hawkins.
  • 12 Behind the Scenes featurettes (1 for each episode, approx. 11 min. each)
  • 4 "Doctor Who Exclusive" featurettes (9 min. total) interviewing Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald), and
    executive writer Steven Moffat, discussing casting and the direction of the new season.
  • "Tour of the TARDIS" (2 min.) with designer Michael Pickwoad.
  • "Deep Breath Q & A" live show with Capaldi, Coleman, & Moffat (30 min.)
  • "The Ultimate Time Lord" documentary by Peter Davison (45 min.) with Doctors Peter Capaldi, David Tennant, Paul McGann,
    Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker, and Peter Davison, plus Moffat, Coleman, Nicholas Briggs (Dalek Voice), casting director Andy Pryor,
    costume designer Howard Burden, composer Murray Gold, script editor Derek Ritchie, and psychologist Dr. Mike Aitken.
  • "The Ultimate Companion" documentary by Peter Davison (47 min.) with Capaldi, Tennant, Davison, Moffat, Coleman, Pryor, Gold,
    Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Noel Clarke (Mickey), and John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness).
  • "Earth Conquest - The World Tour" (48 min.) - Capaldi, Coleman, & Moffat encounter fandom across five continents....
  • "Don't Stop Me Now" music video by "Foxes" (3 min.) containing spoilers for the whole season.
  • Region A/1 only: BBC America's "Deep Breath" broadcast bonuses:
    • "Live Pre-show" (11 min.) with Chris Hardwick, Wil Wheaton, and clips of Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi.
    • "After Who Live" (43 min.) with Hardwick, Wheaton, Natalie Morales, Alton Brown, writer Mark Gatiss, and Dan Starkey (Strax).
  • Region B/2 only: Trailers

Buyers' Guide Season Review

by Martin Izsak

(In-depth analyses, containing "SPOILERS" and intended for those who have already seen the 2014 season, begins with "Deep Breath" (story no. 247).


Is the grand wave of popularity for the resurrected Doctor Who of the New Millennium about to crash on the rocks? Season 34 here, also known as
"Series 8" for those marketers who want you to start with this Cardiff-produced version, has turned out to be the dullest season we've seen in a long, long time.


The biggest part of the focus of this season is obviously the new Doctor now played by Peter Capaldi. Despite the fact that the role seems to be changing way too often, not getting the full mileage out of each lead actor that the show deserves, Capaldi seems to be doing alright in the role. But is "alright" going to be enough, considering how popular his two predecessors were?

Where the season seems to have let Capaldi down is in the writing. Yes, there were a lot of decent stories this season, and some mediocre, but nothing actually stood out as being really, really good. I saw a LOT of recycled ideas this year that didn't properly fit into the slight twists layered on top to try to keep them fresh. What was missing most was a sense of drive from these stories, a sense of really wanting to know what would happen next, or what answers might lay behind the mysteries. It seems the writers are (likely from Moffat's guidance) focusing on fairy-tale fears, while in terms of science-fiction adventure, the stories are neither very believable, nor very interesting.


In publicity stills, Capaldi struck me as headed towards an interpretation like the third Doctor Jon Pertwee, but in action and temperament, I think he's much more like the first Doctor William Hartnell with all the guilty-conscience baggage of New Millennium Doctors layered on top. I think he's got a good grasp of the meta-character, the unchangeable aspects that all Doctors have. In terms of his own peculiar characteristics, it feels like he's still trying things out, and I'm not sure he's settled in yet. Interestingly, it was only after I finished the season and began to scratch the surface of the DVD extras that I saw Capaldi in his interviews, smiling, gracious, and humbled to have a role he'd dreamed of all his life. Suddenly, Capaldi was completely charming, and I thought that was something that had been missing from his portrayal of his Doctor pretty much all season long. Adding extra charm was one of the numerous reasons why the original pilot "An Unearthly Child" was re-shot in 1963. Every Doctor needs it. I hope they layer more in next year, because I'm sure it will do Capaldi's Doctor a world of good.

I also have to say, I have loved every title sequence this show had produced over 50 years. Last year's title was possibly the best ever. This year's is... Oh my God! ...the WORST I have ever seen, and the only one that I hate. Instead of various permutations of outer space or temporal vortices, the TARDIS now flies around some surreal painting of European clocks, complete with gears and Roman numerals. Universal scope is obscured by European culture, producing more of a virtual concept instead of an actual environment. This suggests that the show is disappearing into a parody of itself, which may sadly be true in many other respects as well. It also looks exceedingly flat most of the time, and doesn't have a proper sense of motion like most other titles do. The real kicker is the music. I don't know what got into Murray Gold, who had created many successful variations on Ron Grainer's theme music before. It's hard to imagine a worse choice for the lead instrument sound on the main melody. All that unnecessary wavering of pitch and tremolo makes it sound like someone's bad imitation of a witch at Hallowe'en, when they try too hard to be frightening and just come off as silly. Again, perhaps an indication of how the show itself is going off course. At any rate, I usually find myself fast-forwarding past the title sequences and end credits before the melody kicks in each time, which is something I never did during previous seasons. Even the infamous Delaware title music from 1972 was less objectionable, and the producer had the good sense to yank it off the episodes and use the perfectly good previous version instead. Too bad no one was quick enough to pull this version. Let's hope they replace these awful titles A.S.A.P.!!


A lot of the unexpected positive points of last year were not repeated here. There weren't the high-profile guest artists drawing our attention. The visuals were not as spectacular. We didn't have the same sense of exploring galactic possibilities; instead the stories had a very Earthy feel, almost to the point of declaring the Doctor as a resident and his TARDIS one of our own terrestrial fixtures. Indeed, a lot of the stories took their cue not just from Clara, but from circumstances in her Earthly life. In some sense, Jenna Coleman carried much of the series this year, and did a fairly good job of it. But somehow, it seemed a little too unlike the show I grew up loving, or even the show I got excited about last year.

What this show desperately needs (and used to have in the classic series) would be alien worlds with believable cultures existing on them. Worlds worth saving. Worlds where the outcome isn't obvious. And the stories need to be well populated with guest characters, whose relationships with each other are fascinating and unpredictable enough that the Doctor and his crew and audience feel driven to figure them out. Let's put the drama back into this show. If that requires stories be twice as long, yes good idea. In with science and out with fairy-tale. The series did slow down some, which is good because it had become a bit too superficial. But it needs to make sure it still has drive within each story, propelling the narrative from one beat to the next.

Moral messages are a bit of a sore spot this season. A few are attempted here and there, but they usually come off a bit trite. I suppose they represent the writers' perspectives, but I don't think they're often all that accurate or useful when presented as absolute truths as they often are here.

One good thing to watch out for in this season is writer Jamie Mathieson, who seems to be the latest rising star in the writers' room. I found his two stories to be consistently amongst the best and most interesting of the year's offerings. Going down the rest of the credits list, one can get the impression that Steven Moffat is somewhat hogging the writing position, unable or unwilling to let even the more experienced New Millennium Who writers pen a script solo. In fact, Moffat's best new creative ideas for this season seem to have gone to those shows that others have co-written with him, while his solo efforts are not quite up to scratch. Yet in the end, I still wonder if the other writers would do better with free reign to do any sort of story they pleased, without needing approval or filtering from "The Moff". And would Moffat be more focused on his better ideas if he had to have them all approved and filtered by the other writers? (This may indeed already be happening to an extent if they are fleshing out his ideas into full scripts.)



On the plus side, this is the first DVD box set in a long time to make me feel like the bonus feature packages have stopped shrinking and started expanding. We don't have any more audio commentaries than last year, but neither do we have any less. Thankfully the behind-the-scenes featurettes that focus on each individual episode have expanded back to a length comparable to the old Confidential cut-downs of the Eccleston/Tennant years, which is highly satisfying.

We also continue to enjoy a host of longer documentaries focused on more general aspects of the long-running show itself. Amongst the best of these are two "ultimate" documentaries by Peter Davison which interview a multitude of people who worked on the show from past and present. "The World Tour" is also an eye-opening look at how Doctor Who fandom has mushroomed from obscurity to a massive phenomenon. Add to that a host of shorter interviews with the lead contributors to this season, and we've got a very good package indeed.

Much of the material focuses on the new Doctor Peter Capaldi, the changes his arrival brings to the relationship he has with Clara, and running arcs projected for whole season. But it seems only North American packages contain one of the more outrageous and entertaining looks at the opening story and what it may indicate about the season to come - segments aired on BBC America before and after the premiere "Deep Breath" featuring Wil Wheaton and assorted guests watching the story for the first time, giving their impressions, and trying to guess what may be coming next, while writer Mark Gatiss and actor Dan Starkey join them on the sofa in New York and try not to give too much away. I confess I'm not quite as excited about this Doctor or the new season as much as most of these participants are.



In the end, this isn't too bad a season, but I think the show will have to find more interesting, exciting ideas, and greater care and polish in its scripting if it wants to maintain or strengthen its grip on our imaginations.



This season has become available on DVD and Blu-ray.


Season 34 Box Set
11 stories in 12 episodes
U.S.


NEW for
Dec. 9, 2014.
Canada


NEW for
Dec. 9, 2014.
U.K.


NEW for
Nov. 17, 2014.
Blu-ray U.S.


NEW for
Dec. 9, 2014.
Blu-ray Canada


NEW for
Dec. 9, 2014.
Blu-ray U.K.


NEW for
Nov. 17, 2014.



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Read the Buyers' Guide Review for
the next DVD / Blu-ray box set: "Season 35" (aka Series 9, 2015)



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