• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Resolution: 1080i/60 (29.970Hz)
  
• Audio Codec: English DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
  
• Subtitles: English SDH
  
• Region: ABC (Region-Free)
  
• Rating: Not Rated
  
• Discs: 2 (2 x Blu-ray)
• Digital Copies: N/A
  
• Run Time: 222 Mins.
  
• Studio: BBC
  
• Blu-ray Release Date: November 13, 2012
• List Price: $29.98

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Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

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The Series

[Rating:4.5/5]

Matt Smith continues his fantastic run as the charismatic and enigmatic, universe-trotting, time traveling Doctor in this seventh season of the BBC’s Doctor Who. His companions the Ponds, Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill), are back along for the ride as well in these five, fantastic episodes included in Part One of the Seventh Series. But it’s a bittersweet return, for as probably every Who fan in the world already knows, this is the last hurrah for Amy and Rory. The recently married couple, whose life of domestic bliss seems to have fallen on hard times as the Doctor left them behind, are currently on the verge of divorce when the Doctor flashes back into their lives, 10-months later. As we begin with “Asylum of the Daleks,” the Doctor’s long-lasting nemeses return, demanding he and his companions save their race from destruction, along with a planet full of exiled Daleks deemed too dangerous for even the Daleks to handle. As the season progresses, the Doctor and the Ponds will face “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” alongside Queen Nefertiti, face off against a gunslinging cyborg in an Old West town called Mercy, deal with a slow alien invasion of little black cubes, before, finally, the Ponds make their dramatic exit as the Doctor’s companions when one of the most terrifying Who monsters of all time return, the Angels. The finale finds the Doctor in a race against time to save his beloved Amy and risk losing her and Rory forever. These five episodes are some of the best yet for this Doctor Who reboot (can the series still be called that at this point?), cementing Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill as one of the best Doctor Who casts the series has yet seen, while the exit of the Ponds is a real tearjerker sci-fi fans should not miss.

Episodes:

• Asylum of the Daleks
• Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
• A Town Called Mercy
• The Power of Three
• The Angels Take Manhattan

Video Quality

[Rating:4/5]

Series Seven of Doctor Who continues to be shot in high definition, like most BBC productions these days. It arrives on Blu-ray in the U.S. with an AVC/MPEG-4 1080i/60 encodement. It looks fairly strong, offering up nicely saturated colors and natural flesh tones with good textural information during close-ups. Contrast is average, especially during darker scenes where things tend to break down a bit, blacks show some slight crush, and detail and black levels become overwhelmed a bit by video noise.

Audio Quality

[Rating:3.5/5]

BBC continues to use lossy audio codecs on their releases, for whatever reason. Doctor Who is offered a DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) soundtrack that, though it does exceed that of a lossy Dolby Digital track, still doesn’t quite reach the quality of lossless DTS-HD Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD. Still, the mix is a good one, as Doctor Who usually is. It has lots of atmospheric buzzes and blips placed throughout the room, nice clean dialogue, and a good amount of low frequency extension to help support the various whooshes and explosions. The high end sounds just a bit too tweaked, however, and not quite as smooth and natural as we’d like it to be.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:3/5]

A nice offering of extras is included here that will please fans. The “Pond Life” mini-episodes are here, as is the Series Seven prequel and an extended look at the science of Doctor Who.

The supplements:

• The Science of Doctor Who (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:43:52) – Experts and actors, including Dr. Michio Kaku, discuss the real science and theory behind Doctor Who.
• Doctor Who at ComicCon (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:11:04) – A friendly and lively Q&A panel at the San Diego ComicCon featuring Steven Moffat, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill
• Pond Life (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:06:12) – The “Ponds” go about their daily routines as the Doctor drops in and gives them whimsical updates on his goings on in these shorts.
• Asylum of the Daleks Prequel (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:02:35) – This ominous prequel sets up Series Seven of Doctor Who.
• The Making of The Gunslinger (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:01:46) – A short look at the making of villain from “A Town Called Mercy.”

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:4/5]

Part One of Series Seven is a fantastic summation and conclusion to Amy Pond’s run as the Doctor’s companion. These five episodes also show off Matt Smith’s skills as both an easygoing charmer and someone with a bit of edge, as he exposes the coldness that lurks within the Doctor. Highly recommended.

Additional Screen Captures

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Purchase Doctor Who: Series Seven — Part One on Blu-ray at CD Universe

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[amazon-product]B009H3LNW0[/amazon-product]

Purchase Doctor Who: Series Seven — Part One on Blu-ray at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]

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