Blu-ray Alert: New Releases and Best Buys

On the eve of Prime TV screening the last Doctor Who adventure to star David Tennant, The End of Time (February 7, 7.30pm), Roadshow Entertainment is releasing on Blu-ray for the first time, The Waters of Mars ($49.99).

It sets up Tennant’s grand finale and was dedicated to former Doctor Who writer and producer Barry Letts, who died in October last year, a month before the special screened here and in Britain.

The Guardian dubbed it “a belter, a watery nightmare — scary, moving, relevant, believable, sometimes even funny” and said it shows “a side to the Doctor … that we haven’t really seen before – indecisive, confused, at times simply plain wrong”.

It praised Tennant for imbuing the role with “humanity and humour” and while The Daily Telegraph appreciated being able “to watch Tennant wrestle with his conscience and curiosity … [as] his desire to save lives outweighed his instinct to obey the rules [in what] was a logical progression for the character”, it carped about the “glaring inconsistencies” with previous Time Lord timelines.

The Waters of Mars goes on sale on February 3, when Roadshow also offers the chance to acquire the benchmark Blu-ray of Planet Earth in separate volumes, starting with the first three episodes, From Pole to Pole, Mountains and Fresh Water ($29.95).

Back catalogue titles in HD from Roadshow, for $39.99 each, include The Devil Wears Prada, Dodgeball, Little Miss Sunshine, Me, Myself & Irene, There’s Something About Mary and the 1969 movie, M*A*S*H.

But even better buys — under $25 each — can be had in two Universal Pictures promotions that run from February 3-March 17: Blu-ray Award Winners (Milk, Changeling, The Deer Hunter, The Graduate, Leaving Las Vegas); and, to celebrate the February 11 theatrical release of The Wolf Man, Horror Favourites (Land of the Dead, The Thing, King Kong, Evil Dead II, An American Werewolf in London).