'Doctor Who: The Complete Specials'
(David Tennant, David Morrissey, Michelle Ryan, Lindsay Duncan, Bernard Cribbins, et al / 5-Disc DVD / NR / 2010 / BBC Video)
Overview: This stunning collection of Doctor Who specials--The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars and The End of Time, Part One & Two--is a must own for all Doctor Who fans. The four imaginative, action-packed specials are the farewell to star David Tennant, and Russell T Davies, the mastermind behind the rebirth of the modern Doctor Who.
DVD Verdict: Let me just say from the off, I just love(d) David Tennant as Dr. Who. His sense of humor keeps things on the light side so the series doesn't get as dark as Torchwood. He comes across as intelligent and funny at the same time, which is hard when a person is really intelligent (mostly they just come across as puffed-up or boring, depending). I'll be sad to see him go, but I'm glad that he did this last set of episodes for the delight of (us) Dr. Who watchers.
The final goodbye vignettes with the Doctor and all of his recent companions before the final regeneration marked a touching end to a great chapter in this show's very long history, and was a great finale for the writer/producers' long journey resurrecting this show from the clutches of Fox and getting it rightfully back into the hands of the BBC.
In "The Next Doctor" (2008), the Tenth Doctor (Tennant) finds himself in London circa 1851 on Christmas Eve. Within moments of landing the TARDIS, he's confronted with a man who presents himself as "The Doctor" (David Morrissey). Now, the series has always been willing to play around with the concept of The Doctor encountering past versions of himself, but on this occasion something isn't quite right. The would-be Doctor of 1851 seems to have a bad case of amnesia and just can't seem to recall pivotal facts.
In "The Waters of Mars" (2009), something has gone horribly wrong in 2059 at the first human colony on Mars (named Bowie Base One). It turns out that an old nemesis-race of the Doctor, the Ice Warriors, left a little present behind for anyone who might dare venture to Mars in their absence: a virus. Two members of the Mars colony, headed by Adelaide Brooke (Lindsay Duncan), contract an illness causing their bodies to overflow with water; in response, the Doctor sets out to find the cause and cure for what ails them.
In "Planet of the Dead" (2009), after a daring burglary of an ancient golden goblet, Christina de Souza (Michelle Ryan) hops a bus to escape the scene, only to find an amusing seatmate in The Doctor, who's been tracking an anomaly. Unfortunately for everyone on board that bus, they drive right into an invisible portal (a.k.a. the anomaly) and end up on a desert planet with seemingly no hope of passing back through until they can repair the bus from its collision.
In "The End of Time: Parts 1 & 2" (2009/2010), David Tennant makes his final curtain call as the legendary traveler of time and space in this spectacular two-part special to once again face off against The Master, a fellow Time Lord bent on controlling everything. This special is almost a reunion of sorts for the show, as many faces who've come and gone return for cameo bits here and there; it really is the "event" of the set. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Movie titles of:
Disc 1: The Next Doctor
Disc 2: Planet of the Dead
Disc 3: The Waters of Mars
Discs 4-5: The End of Time, Parts One and Two
Doctor Who Confidential
Doctor Who at the Proms
Deleted scenes with introduction from Russell T. Davies
David Tennant Video Diaries: The Final Days
Doctor Who BBC Christmas idents
Audio commentaries
Doctor Who at Comic-Con
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