Last November we
reported in a story labeled "What's With the Commentary Track on Season 3 Being Replaced?" that the final episode of the third season had gotten a different audio commentary track than the U.K. version of the DVD set had gotten...and also different than the enclosed booklet had described!
The original audio commentary featuring David Tennant, Freema Agyeman and John Barrowman wasn't found on the North American DVD release for the episode "The Last of the Time Lords". Instead there was a podcast, which had previously been released on the internet, recorded by show producers Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson. Fans felt upset, but the explanation from the BBC was that "
the original commentary track for Series 3, Episode 13 featuring David Tennant, Freema Agyeman and John Barrowman could not be cleared for the North American DVD".
Now BBC America has apparently cleared it - enough, anyway - to at least provide the cast's commentary track
for download from their website! Yes, you can retrieve it right now and sync it up with your DVD release. I'm listening to it right now!
Or, if you prefer, when the episode airs on BBC America this Saturday evening (April 19th, 7PM Eastern) you'll be able to run it alongside the broadcast (as they remind you at the download site, don't forget to pause the commentary playback during commercials).
Our thanks to reader "Chris" for e-mailing us yesterday with this info. It's not as perfect as having it on the DVD, of course, but we also thank to BBC for making the commentary track available to us at all...I'm enjoying it a lot even as I type!
