Were is Who?

The BBC has announced that they will be releasing the first season of the new Doctor Who TV series on Region 1 DVD on February 14, 2006. The only problem is, that it won’t be released in the United States. Canada, which shares the same region code with the us and who actually airs the show, will get it.

When the BBC announced the shows return they also said that the new show would not be shopped to the PBS stations that have supported the show since it was imported in the late 1970's. Even the few stations that still aired the show were notified by the BBC that they will not be renewing their contracts. The British network were going to try and shop the show to a major cable network, but I think this is were they stumbled.

One of the conditions any network would have to make in purchasing the new show is they would also have to buy the Original series. The problem they apparently saw in that, was the first 6 seasons are in black & white, and, well, would savvy Americans, brought up on a diet of low budget sci fi shows with better visual effects, actually watch the older show?

While I can understand the BBC’s motives, they have been releasing various episodes of the shows first 26 seasons on DVD here in the states. Why make the conditions of the new show be you had to air the old ones? So, while other countries snatched up the rights, including the good folks north of the border, the US networks frowned. And as of this writing, no US network -cable or broadcast - are willing to air the show.

But all is not lost, as it’s a good chance most American Doctor Who fans who can figure out how to use the internet, will be able to get the Region 1 versions. Of course, for about $60 or $70 you can buy a region free DVD player and then purchase the PAL versions of Doctor Who right off the BBC Website or the British version of Amazon.