Beyond Vision Dalek Serials

Way back in the 'Before Times', there was a VHS label called 'Beyond Vision'. It was actually an encompassing brand name for Warner Home Video's Sci-fi titles. There was a trailer on each video extolling the virtues of the line. Titles included 'Blade Runner', 'Highlander', some of the Doug Mclure fantasy films of the 70s and a rather nice widescreen transfer of 'Forbidden Planet' with a stereo soundtrack. They also lumped in their episodic releases of 'Babylon 5' which actually ran longer that the label itself. 

In amongst these titles were the two Aaru 'Doctor Who' movies from the 60s. Both were nicely remastered in widescreen - unlike the previous VHS releases. 

I was quite taken at the time with the design of the artwork - grey metallic background, formal lettering and a typically 90s sci-fi logo of a glowy bald guy staring at a framework globe. It had a formal look but seemed to suggest it was taking the product range seriously for a change. 

I've recreated that branding for two new video covers that juxtapose the original movie design with ones for the original TV episodes. There's a few gags in there but I'm quite pleased with the authenticity of the designs. I even made an authentic 'Dalek Invasion of Earth' saucer in Photoshop. 

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The Complete Doctor Who Series One on VHS... as well!

Well, the Doctor Who season nineteen video covers seem to go down well...

So here's series one... using a variant of the 'Black Sheep' template. 

(Apologies for not using smoke and vortexes as often as they did back then, but I did get a little bored and wanted to give them a bit more distinctiveness.)

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Doctor Who - Power of the Daleks: Multi-platform release... sort of...

The release of the missing Doctor Who adventure Power of the Daleks in a fully animated form has been largely met with rounds of applause from Who fans everywhere. 

Initially it will be released by the BBC Store as daily downloads followed by a more traditional DVD version a fortnight or so later. But what about other formats for this classic story. I'm sure the BBC would want to make as much money from the production as possible. 

Then there's the older fans who prefer their Doctor Who in more vintage formats. And with covers that would fit more uniformly into existing collections.

I've spent the last few days put together a portfolio of covers for such releases. 

None of these will be available to buy because the BBC is an up-to-date, with-it content provider and has little time for ancient methods of communication and storage.

Doctor Who VHSs are back! Live the dream..!!!

Back in the 80s, there was something wonderfully hi-tec and modern about having row upon row of chunky plastic videotape boxes weighing down shelves that were really meant for the odd china ornament or decorative ashtray. You could read their spines from your armchair without having to get up and put put your reading glasses on.

Now you can do it all over again with the purely decorative Doctor Who video boxes based on the current series. 

All you need is an extra room to house the complete collection! 

Every episode from Rose to Hell Bent. Complete and nostalgically bulky...

Doctor Who Series One - Soon To Be Available On BBC Video

This is an old chestnut. New Doctor Who on VHS. 

One of my earliest posts suggested that the BBC forgot to disband their BBCVideo department in the early 2000s and that it was still bubbling away, waiting for something to release. That came with the new series of Doctor Who in 2005 - after all, it was one of their highest earning series. 

I only did a handful of front covers but recently I was sorting through an old box of VHSs when I came across the video of "Daleks - The Early Years". Inside the inlay was a gaudy pastel coloured ad for other titles in the range. 

I couldn't really resist going back to the new series VHS range and producing this...



The following are full size versions of the artwork which you can right-click on to save. If you print them out back-to-back and cut the sheet down to size, it can be inserted into a clear amaray VHS case. You can then place it on your bookshelf or coffee table to amuse friends, if you're that way inclined...

Doctor Who - The Familiar Magician's Apprentice Witches - now on VHS!

The BBC have decided to release a special VHS compilation of the Doctor Who series nine opening episodes - The Magician's Apprentice and The Witch's Familiar. 

This is a special hour long spoiler-free edit - as demanded by fans of the series in countries other than the UK. Hopefully this will prevent key plot elements being discussed and spoilered on the world wide interweb. 

I was asked to produce the cover for this bold new piece of official merchandise and put my skills to heavily researching and sourcing images and information from the aforementioned cyberspace community. 

I hope it captures the intense drama of the final product! 

Happy viewering! 

Come Back Mrs Noah on BBC DVD (and VHS!)

There are some TV shows that are still crying out for a DVD release. One of these is the sadly maligned 70s sitcom 'Come Back Mrs Noah'.

From the writers of 'Are You being Served?' - Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft - the show was a starring vehicle for Mollie Sugden. She played an ordinary British housewife who - after winning a national cookery competition - finds herself trapped on a British space station as it blasts off into Earth orbit. It also featured Donald Hewlett and Michael Knowles from 'It Ain't 'Alf Hot Mum' and Ian Lavender from 'Dad's Army'. There was also early roles for 'Allo Allo's Gordon Kaye (as a newsreader) and Vicki Michelle. 

It's never been released commercially or, indeed, been repeated. This is probably because it was a huge flop at the time of its original broadcast - garnering poor ratings and reviews. Clips appear with alarming regularity on TV shows about the worst TV ever - often out of context so the viewer is given little opportunity to make their own mind up. 

During the halcyon days of the BBC releasing everything and its aunty on VHS and DVD, I had hoped it might slip through - on the heels of its illustrious predecessors like 'Are You Being Served?' and 'Dad's Army'. Sadly this was not the case. 

So this little DVD sleeve here is a little taste of what could've been...





(As a footnote, here's a rare VHS sleeve from the programme's US release back in the 1980s. As was the case with many 'foreign' films and TV shows, 'Come Back Mrs Noah' was heavily re-edited, re-formatted and re-titled into something the producers thought would be more palatable to the American market - a hard hitting sci-fi thriller...)

BBC Worldwide's Plans for Doctor Who on DVD in 2015

If you want to own the complete series of Classic Doctor Who on DVD then you're pretty much living in cloud cuckoo land. At least, that's the opinion of BBC Worldwide. They have confirmed that the DVD of The Underwater Menace has been officially cancelled. Citing the reasons for this, they stated that it was due to the fact that the company producing the animated versions of the two missing episodes has ceased trading and they do not want to release orphan episodes on their own. 

However, a recent tweet from BBC Worldwide suggested that they still planned to release more Classic Doctor Who in the future. 

???

What is happening? Has the work experience guy who handles their Twitter account noticed that there are still many Hartnell and Troughton stories that remain unreleased little realising that a quick check of the archives will confirm they are currently missing (or at least in the hands of a madman with a box of magnets)?

Anyhow, closer examination suggests that the new 'Classic' Doctor Who DVDs may be a little desperate to say the least. 

More Doctor Who VHS Branding - full covers!

Prompted by the recent articles in TV's Doctor Who Magazine which chronicle the history of the series on VHS, I've returned to some old favourites and done some 'scans' of the full covers in all of their BBC Video branding glory...