The Collection

The Collection
Release date:	2 July 2018 - present

You may be looking for the short story.

The Collection is a series of Blu-ray box sets. Each set collects a season from Doctor Who.

Set description

UK releases

Sets were released in the UK as "Doctor Who: The Collection" followed by the season number.

For the initial Collector's Edition release, each set came in identical cardboard packaging, with artwork displaying the Doctor superimposed by villains from the season on the front and a notable moment from the season on the back. The spine of each box featured clean artwork of the Doctor's face from the cover (except season 23, where due to an oversight the villains were added by mistake, and season 8, where the Master is visible), the Blu-ray, BBC and Doctor Who logos, the words "The Collection", the season number and another BBC logo at the bottom.

Opening the box reveals the discs, which each have an image featuring characters from the specific story, and are stored in a flippable disc tray stuck to the right side of the interior. Behind the disc tray is an image of the face of the relevant Doctor, which can be seen by removing the last disc.

On the left side of the box interior, there is an openable card case, which is sealed with plastic Velcro and opens horizontally. The front of this case features artwork with the TARDIS, taken from a memorable or significant moment from the season. Behind this cover is another piece of artwork, with the type of artwork varying from season to season. Some seasons, such as 12 and 19, used a montage of the main characters from the season. Usually though, they featured another memorable or significant moment from the season. This artwork is on two flaps, which open out vertically. Stored underneath is a booklet, which featured the same artwork as the vertical flaps. This booklet contained an introduction to the season, lists of special features and a detailed article on each story, along with various images. This booklet is tucked in front of a small diorama of the TARDIS console room from the season.

The box has a cardboard wrap, called a J-card, which helps protect the box from wear and tear. The back of the J-card is the same height as the box, while the front and sides are about a quarter of the height. The back of the J-card features a description of the season, a list of new special features and technical specifications. The J-card can be removed and optionally discarded, revealing the cover unencumbered by branding, logos or text. The spine of the J-card features the season number, the BBFC age rating and the BBC logo.

Due to authoring errors, replacement discs were made available for seasons 12 and 18 to correct audio mixing issues. Reissues of these sets included the replacement discs.

In 2021, BBC Studios started releasing reissues of sets in standard Blu-ray packaging. These come in a standard 22mm-thick Bluray case designed to accommodate the number of discs in the set with a cover showing the clean artwork and cardboard slipcase showing the logos and text. These releases come with an abridged booklet.

Australian releases

In Australia, the logo and cover text were reduced in size to accommodate the Australian age rating on the front cover. The Season 12 and 19 releases matched that of the UK Collectors Edition releases, minus the J-card, which was slightly different. Subsequent releases, starting with season 18, were put out in a slipcase style, with a grey sleeve replacing the interior card case, resulting in a loss of several pieces of artwork.

US releases

In the US, sets typically release a few months after the UK release, with the exception of seasons 12, 19 and 18 which were released closer to, or in some cases before, the UK release.

Each set was numbered based on the actor playing the Doctor - for example, season 12 was released in the US as "Doctor Who: Tom Baker Complete Season One". These sets come in standard Blu-ray packaging, however varied widths are used depending on the number of discs when compared to the UK standard packaging reissues.

The discs were slightly different all simply showing the cover art instead of individualised art per disc, and with a small number of special features absent due to rights issues. Seasons 12, 19 and 18 were originally released with card slipcases, however no slipcase was included with the release of season 10 onward, and reissues of seasons 12, 19 and 18 also did not include slipcases. No booklets or additional physical materials were included with the US release, with the exception of a single double-sided paper listing the special features on each disc included in Seasons 12 and 18.

Similar to the classic series DVD range in the US, cover art for the US releases was not always consistent - the font size for the actor's name on the cover and spine has been shown at various sizes, becoming noticeably smaller following the release of season 26 (Sylvester McCoy's name being the longest of the classic series actors to play the Doctor, requiring a reduction in font size that was not changed back for later releases). The Doctor Who logo has been shown at differing sizes, and the back cover text is seldom uniform. While UK releases typically show the Doctor without the enemies that appear in the season, US sets simply crop the existing cover art.

For Season 10, Jon Pertwee's face was reversed on the US cover - when the set was initially announced in the UK and the cover art revealed, someone on Twitter asked cover artist Lee Binding if he'd noticed Pertwee's face was reversed. Binding had not, and corrected the issue for the UK and Australian sets. However, the US version of the set did not use the corrected artwork, resulting in Pertwee's face remaining flipped on the front cover.

For season 18, the disc for Logopolis erroneously contains the rehearsal scripts for Earthshock instead of the scripts for this story. This error is not present in the UK or Australian releases.

As with the UK releases, disc replacements were made available for seasons 12 and 18, and reissues included the replacement discs.

Content

Each set contains every serial from the season in question, along with all previous bonus content produced for the DVD range - these specials, like the show itself, are upscaled. Additionally, new features such as Behind the Sofa are produced in HD, and where possible previously unreleased versions of serials, such as the omnibus edition of Genesis of the Daleks, are included as well.

In some cases, visual effects have been improved - improved exterior shots of the Pharos Project were used to replace models in some instances, including brand-new location shots filmed using drones. As with such improvements on the DVD range these changes are optional, and can be enabled or disabled at will. Serials have also been remixed in 5.1 surround where possible.

Occasionally, relevant additional material is included. For instance, season 18 also included K9 and Company, having aired in the gap between seasons 18 and 19, and season 19 included Time Crash.

A promotional DVD was released in DWM 544 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the magazine. It featured shortened cuts of selected bonus material from previous boxsets, as well as an exclusive bonus feature, "Doctor Who: Messages From Space".

Marketing

Starting with season 19, the second set released in the collection, BBC Video began producing short videos promoting the upcoming release. This initially began with a tongue-in-cheek airline safety video presented by Tegan Jovanka, and eventually evolved into videos such as Jo Grant Returns and Ace Returns, which depict present-day adventures with the characters that hark back to the adventures contained in the sets they were produced to market.

In the US, the release of Tom Baker - Complete Season One was marked with a screening of the aforementioned omnibus edition of Genesis of the Daleks in theatres across the country. The release of Tom Baker - Complete Season Seven was similarly promoted with an omnibus screening of Logopolis, demonstrating the revised visual effects. Both screenings featured exclusive bonus content after the showing, and were organised by Fathom Events in partnership with BBC Studios.

Release & reception

In the UK, the initial Collector's Edition releases of each Collection set would sell out almost immediately, resulting in a high resale value. Season 12 was reissued, with near identical packaging and contents (the only changes being that the set was marked as a second edition on the bottom of the J-card and slightly altered artwork on the spine), in 2020. This too sold out incredibly quickly.

Sets would also sell out quickly in Australia, where, beginning with season 18, standard slipcase-packaged versions were released alongside the specially-packaged versions. As sets were more readily available in the US and were often more affordable, collectors who missed the chance to buy in the UK and Australia often resorted to importing their sets from the US. After the UK sets had sold out, both Amazon UK and Amazon Australia listed the US sets more readily.

In 2021, the BBC announced reissues of simpler packaging with a standard slipcase, starting with seasons 12 and 19. These reissues included a "condensed" booklet and the same disc content (although a typo in the end credits of Meglos was corrected on the Season 18 set), and were released on 31 May. They later announced similar reissues for seasons 10 and 18, scheduled for release slightly over a month later on 5 July. According to the BBC, the plan was to continue to release the specially-packaged editions, but to rebrand them as "Doctor Who: The Collection Limited Edition Packaging". This branding became the standard as of the release of Season 8.

Published titles

Season	Limited Edition UK release date	Slimpack UK release date	US release date	AUS release date	Webcast promo
Season 12	2 July 2018	31 May 2021	19 June 2018	1 August 2018	N/A
Season 19	10 December 2018		4 December 2018	23 January 2019	The Season 19 Safety Video with Tegan Jovanka
Season 18	18 March 2019	5 July 2021	19 March 2019	17 April 2019	Season 18 Announcement Trailer
Season 10	8 July 2019		15 October 2019	13 November 2019	Jo Grant Returns
Season 23	7 October 2019	4 October 2021	3 December 2019	4 December 2019	The Sixth Doctor is on trial AGAIN!
Season 26	27 January 2020	TBA	24 March 2020	11 March 2020	Ace Returns!
Season 14	4 May 2020	TBA	4 August 2020	15 July 2020	The Home Assistants of Death?!
Season 08	8 March 2021	TBA	1 June 2021	26 May 2021	Jo Grant vs the Autons... Again?!
Season 24	28 June 2021	TBA	21 September 2021	25 August 2021	24 Carat
Season 17	13 December 2021	TBA	TBA	TBA	Risen

An additional promotional DVD was released in DWM 544 on 17 October 2019 as part of the magazine's 40th anniversary, though it is not part of the official 'The Collection' boxset run.

Cover gallery

UK Limited Edition releases

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  Season 12

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  Season 19

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  Season 18

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  Season 10

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  Season 23

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  Promotional 40th Anniversary Disc

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  Season 26

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  Season 14

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  Season 8

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  Season 24

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  Season 17

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  Season 8

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  Season 10

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  Season 12

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  Season 14

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  Season 17

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  Season 18

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  Season 19

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  Season 23

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  Season 24

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  Season 26

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  Promotional 40th Anniversary Disc

US releases

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  Season 12

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  Season 19

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  Season 18

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  Season 10

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  Season 23

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  Season 26

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  Season 14

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  Season 8

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  Season 24

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  Season 17