Ever since I got into Doctor Who back in 2006, I've been spending my money on just about every Doctor Who DVD I can get my hands on, so I decided to review the Series 3 Vol. 3 DVD menu as I recently had to re-buy it due to my original disc snapping. Just to clarify before I begin: this is a review of the DVD itself! Not the featured content, so if you came here to read someone's opinion on the included episodes then you've come to the wrong place; I will be evaluating the DVD menus presentation and representation of what it's a menu for, as well as how easy it is to use and how much content is included. With this in mind, let's begin.The Main Menu
After getting past the obligatory 2entertain and BBC watermarks when you first put the DVD in, the menu you are presented with is very welcoming. We see a main menu banner resting just above the bottom of the screen which features links to the discs content and other menus, as well as the 'Doctor Who' logo and pieces of 'gallifreyan text'; behind the banner we are greeted with the 'Doctor Who' intro sequence from the TV show along with its legendary theme song playing too. The controls are a simple case of pressing LEFT, RIGHT and SELECT on your DVD remote, it's very easy to use and very easy to navigate too. The menu banner is green which helps it to stand out from the background visuals effectively, the text on the banner is very easy to read due to it being in block capitals in the 'Doctor Who' font in white with a black outline which makes it stand out from everything else on screen and help keep your attention; although these are all well and good I really think that the way the discs name is displayed on the banner and the way the text is highlighted isn't very good as it is in yellow which blends in with the green and makes it difficult to read, the highlighting of the text is also very blurry compared to the other text on screen which makes you want to look away from it. The background video, logo, music and 'gallifreyan text' work very well in creating a welcoming feel that will delight both hardcore and casual fans alike, it gives the menu a very unique science fiction charm without going too over the top; for the most part it doesn't distract you from the banner, the exception to this is when the music and video loop as it has a very sudden 2 second gap between ending and starting again which is distracting and annoying to say the least.
As the DVD features 3 episodes of 'Doctor Who' this menu had to be here, it features links to the episodes and main menu on the left, a screenshot of each episode on the right, green 'gallifreyan text' in the background and the noise of the 'TARDIS' playing too. The menu as a whole is very well structured, the text is in the same style it was previously and is easy to read and distinguish from the background, the images are all appropriate, in order and are very subtly faded into the background so as to not draw your attention away from the text too much; the controls are simple and easy to use too with UP, DOWN and SELECT being the only DVD buttons you'll need to press. Although the screen is very welcoming it does suffer from a few problems: the way the text is highlighted still makes the text go blurry and difficult to read although it doesn't fade into the background as bad as it previously did, the biggest problem is the soundtrack, although the 'TARDIS' noise is a brilliant 6 second sound effect when used in the show, the full 20 second version being awkwardly looped is very annoying, although you won't be spending a lot of time on this menu it is still very obnoxious and you really wish they had used a different audio track.
The scene selection menus aren't much different from the episode selection one, the main difference is how the links are both screenshot and text to help the audience visualise which scene is the one they need to watch, the screenshot relevant to the image is on the left of the screen with the links on the right and the episodes title is in yellow text above the links (which thanks to its size is actually readable); the music, background, text and 'gallifreyan text' is all the same as it was previously and shares the same pros and cons. Navigating these menus isn't as easy as it was in the other menus, and I'm not just referring to how you'll have to use UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT and SELECT to move around; if you want to view the scenes for a certain episode then you'll have to scroll through the scenes from each episode before it, you can't just jump to the episode you want to view the scenes of, which is rather annoying seeing as it'll take a minimum of 4 seconds to get through each screen on a DVD player. The issue of the text being highlighted is non-existent on these menus, instead of text being awkwardly highlighted in a blurry way, the image above the text gets a translucent yellow mask over it which make up the parts of a 'gallifreyan character' (refer to the gif); this method of telling the user where they are on screen is much more stylish and clean than the blurry highlighting, it makes you focus on the scene you are choosing as well as keeping to the 'Doctor Who' science fiction theme of the other menus.
The subtitles feature on the DVD is quite lacklustre, only providing English subtitles for the hearing impaired, although it's important to include this it builds cultural walls as most DVDs feature at the very least other European languages such as French, German and Swedish; the subtitles themselves appear very clearly in a simple white font with a black outline to make it readable during bright scenes, it stays relatively small just above the bottom of the screen so as not to block the feature presentation but still be easy to read. For a dual layered disc you'd expect there to be various pieces of bonus features, however there is none to be found; this is a big disappointment as 15 minuet 'Doctor Who Confidentials' were broadcasted along with each respective episode which show the audience how said episode was made, the fact that these or any other form of additional content were not included leaves you disappointed. There is a hidden Easter egg on the DVD which can be found in the scene selection menu, if you go to the second page of scenes for the episode 'Blink', highlight scene 9: 'Keep Looking', press UP on your remote and press SELECT, you should be shown a clip seen in the episode in high quality; this is a very nice piece of fan service and a genius idea as the clip itself is an Easter egg on a DVD in the episode itself!
For a DVD that has only 3 episodes of a beloved TV show to offer, the menus are for the most part very well done. It's very easy to read and navigate, there is imagery and sound that relates to the main feature to provide a welcoming, fan-friendly yet simplistic experience; although the video and music loops awkwardly, the majority of the highlighting is rubbish and the scene selection menus are a drag to go through, it's a good menu overall.
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