McGann TV movie gets North American home video release - 15 years later
Better late than never! 2 Entertain has announced that the North American/Region 1 DVD release of the Special Edition of Doctor Who: The Movie from 1996 starring Paul McGann will arrive in stores on Feb. 8, 2011.
According to the TV Guide-affiliated TV Shows on DVD, the release will contain the same bonus features as the UK release, which is coming out over there as part of the first Revisitations set, which features early releases in the DVD line that have been augmented with new special features. Of course for Canadian and American consumers the entire movie qualifies as a special feature, as complex licensing kept McGann’s only TV outing from ever being released to VHS over here, and until 2 Entertain’s surprise announcement in the summer that these arrangements had finally been worked out, the Doctor Who TV movie was one of a number of productions that many Canadian fans never expected to (legally) obtain on DVD (ironic considering the Fox TV movie was filmed in Vancouver - the only Doctor Who outing to date to be filmed in the homeland of its “father”, Sydney Newman).
All told, 2010 has ended up being a fantastic year for DVD releases that only months ago were deemed impossible. There was the Doctor Who story “The Chase”, of course, which had been held back for years (even though we had to make do without the sight of William Russell doing the funky chicken to “Ticket to Ride” to clear the way for its release). But there was also the 1987 Max Headroom series, and Oct. 19 saw the release of the first season of the original Bionic Woman that some of us had literally waited a generation to see released to home video (and in my opinion it’s aged surprisingly well)—soon to be followed on Nov. 23 with the equally-long-awaited release of the entire Six Million Dollar Man series by Time Life (alas, mail-order only for now; I’ve got my order in!). And now the Doctor Who movie. That pretty much leaves the original Batman TV series as the last real Holy Grail for classic TV fans - and this year has proven “never say never” truly does apply.
PS. The TV movie’s release-mate on Feb. 8 is the Pertwee classic The Mutants.
Posted by Alex on Monday, November 1 at 12:00 pm
12 Comments...
If anyone could confirm this, I had heard once that one of the things that was holding back the release of the TV Movie in North America was the footage from the movie Frankenstein, which is being watched on a television by a security guard in a scene that coincides with The Doctor’s regeneration.
Posted by Doug Grandy on 11/01 at 04:13 PM
I hadn’t heard anything about that. My understanding is the licensing had to do with the fact Universal (who of course own the 1931 Frankenstein) produced the film with the BBC, and then it aired on Fox. So there was a three-way split that caused problems. If it was just the movie clip causing the snag, I’m sure they would have just reedited the scene for North American release. There’s no indication such an edit has been done for the new release (unlike, say, The Chase where the snag appeared to have been removed once 2 Entertain agreed to cut out the Beatles footage.
Posted by Alex on 11/01 at 04:33 PM
You probably heard that from me as I often speculated about it but all information is that everything is intact.
Posted by Ryan on 11/02 at 07:05 PM
Actually most of my info comes from the TV Shows on DVD folks. Regardless, it is good to know as the Planet of Fire DVD proved that it’s not a 100% guarantee that everything the UK gets to see on 2 Entertain’s DVDs makes is over here.
Posted by Alex on 11/02 at 07:45 PM
The hangup with North American DVD was purely down to the ownership split on the TV Movie itself—it was a Universal/BBC Co-Pro and Universal had distribution rights to North America and chose not to exercise them (perhaps not surprising since Doctor Who itself was not their property). Similar splits kept the Six Million Dollar Man (another Universal co-owned property) off of DVD shelves for a long time as well, and continues to keep the 1966 Batman TV series from a DVD release.
As for Frankenstein, I haven’t heard of any cutting. Much of the problems that have happened have been down to licensing agreements (and use of music) just for Britain not being compatable with the rest of the world but I think it’s safe to presume the licensing of that clip on broadcast included home video formats in all countries, which I think is a reasonable assumption given it’s an American/British co-production and so all bases would have to be covered for the original VHS release. (Which, as I posted, was originally intended for North America as well as Britain though it never happened.)
Posted by Graeme Burk on 11/03 at 01:53 PM
Regarding the Batman series, aside from those issues you describe, there was apparently also something having to do with the dozens of celebrities who made cameos in the series which would require negotiations with all of them (or their estates). I can’t recall the exact details - the TV Shows on DVD site ran an essay on the situation a few years ago - but my understanding is the distribution/ownership issues could probably be worked out (indeed, a Blu-ray release of the series would be a cash cow for everyone involved), but the issues regarding the cameos, etc. is what’s considered insurmountable right now. Sort of like the “Chase” situation regarding the Beatles multiplied 100-fold, I guess.
Posted by Alex on 11/03 at 01:59 PM
The cameos are more speculation on their part (and like the Chase could be easily excised—it’s not like we haven’t seen such butchery already on DVD releases); the real sticking point is that 20th Century Fox and Warner can’t come to terms on the rights, plus there’s the Dozier estate and all that other baggage too.
I suspect, as you say, we have turned a corner generally with DVD rights negotiations, with a lot of the stickier ones—including Max Headroom, The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man getting worked out, it gives me hope several other shows will finally see release.
My own bit of idle speculation on the TV Movie release is how much the new series played into the BBC/2Entertain’s willingness to go through with the negotiations with Universal. It probably wasn’t a priority when Doctor Who was off the air and the classic DVD sales were a steady, unspectacular earner. Now it’s an active brand, and getting more popular in America, I wonder if that give 2Entertain the incentive to work out a deal.
(Or maybe the rights were only for 15 years and 2011 they revert back to the BBC! It’s fun to idly speculate without the possession of any facts)
Posted by Graeme on 11/03 at 04:37 PM
Isn’t it though?
As for Batman, the cameos can’t be cut out because they are the show. The “wall walks” are as much as part of Batman as, say, the TARDIS scenes are in DW. Plus it’s not just those scenes, but also the many celebs that appeared as villains, in bit parts, etc. It’s much more complicated than a 20-second sequence of the Beatles which was cuttable without harming the story. (Or, in a similar vein, replacing licensed music as we saw with Remembrance of the Daleks, although a similar move destroyed the North American DVD release of WKRP).
Posted by Alex on 11/03 at 05:02 PM
According to TV Shows the 6M$ Man it was in part because Universal let their rights to the original novel Cyborg lapse and someone else grabbed them!
The issues with Batman are so huge I don’t know if that is ever going to happen. The clauses which was in other contracts (like the Batman movie) allowing for screenings for other use which was interpreted as video releases wasn’t used in the TV series case so everything has to be renegotiated with all parties plus of course the FOX owned show with the WB owned character.
Posted by Ryan on 11/04 at 03:45 PM
BTW I got the R2 release and it’s an excellent package. I’d rather have have features on the 8th Doctor in books and audio as well as comics though instead of a more general Blue Peter feature but the commentary is a nice one with McCoyGann and Briggs.
Posted by Ryan on 11/04 at 03:47 PM
McCoyGann? Trying to get a Brangelina type of thing going? I like it!
Posted by Alex on 11/04 at 03:51 PM
They say so in the commentary.
They are one!
Posted by Ryan on 11/05 at 11:01 PM
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