UK DVD Update

The Doctor Who Restoration Team has posted feature articles on the forthcoming DVD releases of Earthshock and The Curse of Fenric, as we reported from the BBC's press release late last week. Earthshock features commentary by the four regulars in the series -- Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse (pictured at right), as well as the extras noted in our May 23 article (the 30-minute documentary, by Ed Stradling, is entitled "Putting the Shock into Earthshock"). The article on "Earthshock" also features before-and-after video captures for some of the film clean-up work, as well as details about the work done on the film sequences, the music restoration and the new effects work on the freighter and gunfire effects. The feature onCurse of Fenric discusses the two versions being released -- the original four-part transmission and a special "brand-new, movie-format extended edit with a full Dolby Digital 5.1 sound remix... [that] had always been director Nick Mallett's vision for an extended version of the story." Twelve additional minutes have been added (five more than the 'extended' VHS release), and the movie version features a slightly new score by Mark Ayres, the original composer. "It's the same basic score," says Ayres, "with new bits added for the new scenes. It also means that I can properly assimilate the bits I wrote for the old video version so that it's not such a patchwork quilt. I'm updating the arrangement and orchestration as I go - tastes change in 24 years!" Extras have not been announced but there are slight modifications being done on effects work on several segments. Very little information about The Two Doctors, this year's other release, has been released, though work on remastering it is underway. You can visit the RT's website to read the full articles; click on the "DVD releases" menu item at left, then the individual title. (Thanks to the Restoration Team)