QI C Series DVD - A Review

The third series of QI is now available on DVD. Here's a review of what you'll find on it.

• 2 Disks
• All episodes from the C series, as broadcast.
  Deleted scenes including questions cut from the show and bloopers.
• Commentary on all episodes. 
• A compilation of all of the buzzers from the series.
• Peter Cushing featurette including QI's remix with Alan Davies and the original version by the Jellybottys and a new remix by the band. Plus a short audio feature about the discovery of the band which Alan mentions in the show.

The first thing that presents itself as you start the DVD menu is a backdrop of cumulus clouds in a late evening sky. I was almost expecting some Monty Pythonesque animation to emerge onto the screen when floating into the foreground comes a cuckoo clock where the dial has been replaced with the backdrop to the QI set with 5 little puppets sat around a QI style desk infront. Meanwhile some fairly pleasant music performed by a brass band plays. The menu doesn't really present itself as a theme that I would associate with the show but it's all very safe and won't offend anyone like the A series menus did.

Now if you're buying this DVD or reading this blog there is little point in me insulting your intelligence by telling you what a great show QI is. Therefore I'll skip straight to discussing the extras. Most striking about these are the several hours of audio 'commentary'. Use of the word commentary here is quite loose since it does not accompany the programme as it does on many other DVDs. Instead the commentary is restricted to briefer discussions (approx 15 minutes) focussed around several topics discussed in each show. I am pleased to say that this really cuts down on the faff that people associate with DVD commentaries. You really mustn't be embarrassed to listen to all of them since you'll learn plenty from the experience.

A key topic for each show is a discussion of the "retractions" where the elves got something wrong in their research. If you are a member of the QI forums then you should be aware that there are several name checks associated with the retractions. Most of the other topics discussed are the questions that failed to make it past the cut into the shows. If you watch QI for the interestingness then these discussions should prove of great value to you. As is explained in the commentaries, not everything can illicit a comedic response and it ends up on the cutting room floor.

One of the key extras that most people buy DVDs for are the outtakes. You'll certainly find a good measure of them here on disk 2. It is slightly irritating that the bloopers have been intermixed with the additional material (usually whole questions that were cut from the show for time). However, you'll still find some very cheeky laughs (in more sense than one) in all of the additional scenes.

Perhaps the strangest aspect to the DVD is the Peter Cushing extra. The QI remix that is advertised on the front of the DVD (and which you can view online from the link in the last post) is a little bit of fun. Still, I'm not sure I can agree with the assessment that Alan's rendition of the song was the funniest moment in the series. However, I'm sure that plenty of people will have been curious about the band that performed the song from Whitstable and the inclusion of the original is rather entertaining.

The C series DVD is well worth buying if you haven't already. There are some classic moments in this series and the extras, especially the commentaries, are great. I hope you enjoy it as I have.

Some QI Things

Firstly, my sincerest apologies for leaving you all in the dark for so long. There hasn't really been that much for me to talk about recently but we're now entering the build up for the next series and also Christmas. All this means that there will soon be lots for you to spend your hard earned cash on so that you can squeeze every last ounce of enjoyment out of QI.

Here's a run down of what you can expect:

1. September 1st

It's probably the most anticipated release from QI of the lot amongst the fans of QI. The best thing is that it's already on the shelves. This one really can't wait for the Christmas list.

Check out this video to get an idea of some of the slightly more surreal contents of the DVD.

Order from Amazon.



2. October 1st/November 17th

Last year Stephen Fry jetted off to the USA for a tour of all of the 50 states to form a 6 part series that will air on the BBC this Autumn. The accompanying book goes on sale on October 1st and the series will be available on DVD from November 17th.

Pre-order the book on Amazon.

Pre-order the DVD on Amazon.



3. October 2nd

Justin Pollard - QI's resident historian releases the second of his quite interesting books this Autumn. I probably can't beet the blurb from amazon so here is what it's all about:

"It is a book about the smaller tragedies and triumphs of war - toilets that sink U-boats, unsporting attacks on Christmas day, armies that stop for tea, bombs on renegade balloons, drunk generals, blind kings, blind drunk generals, circular warships, and all the joy and misery that such things bring with them. "

Pre-order from Amazon

4. October 2nd

Have you ever been at that ever important dinner party or social gathering and embarrassed yourself when you just didn't have the right words to mind? Or perhaps you've committed a terrible faux pas when you were the only one that didn't know who originally said that amazingly funny line? Well if so then this book isn't just for you but a whole lot of other people too.

QI: Advanced Banter is more than 450 pages of funny and humorous quotes organised into an A to Z of 250 useful topics. You'll never be found wanting again when the moment is right for the witty one liner.
Pre-order from Amazon.

5. October 30th

Wonders of the Ancient World is Justin Pollard's second book to be published in the space of a month. Back in the days of the Romans and the great Greek poets, lists of the great wonders of the World were rather popular. Historical figures ranging from Antipater of Sidion to the Roman geographer Strabo created such lists but none of them had the luxury of travelling the world with the freedom that we have today. This book could quite easily be a travel guide for the time traveller who plans to visit all of the great wonders of the world in the past. But for the rest of us this book is a brilliant journey of the imagination to see the sights that would have adorned the ancient lists if only Boeing had decided to build the 747 a couple of millennia earlier.

Pre-order from Amazon.

6. November 6th

This one truly is primed for your Christmas list. If last year's annual is anything to go by then you really will have a whole year's worth of reading material here. As with the 2008 edition there will be lots of sections written by QI's many varied comedic guests and researchers, and potentially a few little snippets from the QI forum members.

* If you're hunting for it on the book shelves later in the year, do note that this is not necessarily the final version of the cover.

Pre-order from Amazon

7. January 8th 2009

The CD of the first series of The Museum of Curiosities, starring QI's John Lloyd and Bill Bailey will be available early next year. No album cover as yet, but that would give away who won the competition to design it.

*This post was edited on 01/09/08

QI Series C DVD - Release Date

QI's C series will be available on DVD from the 1st September. It is already available to pre-order on amazon here. There is however still a space on your shelf for the D and E series, but if you want the opportunity to get your hands on them then the commercial success of these DVDs is crucial, make sure that you encourage your friends to buy the DVDs as well.

QI Series B DVD

The long-awaited series B DVD will go on sale on March 17th. It is now available to pre-order on amazon. Click here to do so. Hopefully the wait for series C won't be so long.

Petitions, Reviews and Things

The petition to get QI shown in the USA by BBC America is now approaching its second big milestone; 2000 signatures. It has already surpassed the number of signatures that succeeded in getting the first DVD released but many more will be needed to convince a network in the USA. Please do keep encouraging your friends and fellow fans of the show to put their names forward in support.

Once again, the important links:

The QI Petition
The Petition Homepage
The QI Website Petition Homepage (new)
The Facebook QI Petition Group

Also, if you have yet to buy it, the QI Annual 2008 went on sale yesterday. There's a review on the way from MinervaMoon next week (QI Fanatic receives a name-check in the book so it wouldn't be proper to have an even more biased review than normal). Click Here to order your copy from Amazon.co.uk for just £7.79!

There will be more reviews on the way soon. QI Fanatic is currently digesting Justin Pollard's The Interesting Bits: The History you Might have Missed with a review sure to follow. Click Here to buy your own copy. Don't forget that the Interactive DVD will be released on the 26th November so the Quite Interesting Blog will soon be buried in reviews. Pre-Order Here (make sure you watch Stephen's little advert if nothing else). If you think you're missing any QI goodies, go to this new list on amazon.

Facebook users will be pleased to know that QI's Rolling News widget (which you can view in this blog's side bar) is now available as a facebook application. It's already received nearly 450 subscriptions so it is well worth adding. Click Here.

Finally, blogger has a nice new feature which will allow you to receive email notification when posts are commented on after you have made a comment - a particularly useful feature if you have a question to ask. There should be a small box you can tick when you open the comments page.

QI Interactive DVD Release Date

The (second) QI Interactive DVD to be called "QI Strictly Come Duncing" will be released on November 19th. You can now pre-order the DVD on amazon.co.uk here. Also check out this post about the research for the DVD.

QI Series B on DVD

It's been a long time coming and some thought it might not happen at all due to the poor sales of Series A. However, it looks like the Series B DVD will finally get made. A deal should be signed in the next few weeks. There's even a chance that both series B and C will be released at the same time.

However, you could also provide your assistance by telling QI what you would like on the DVD. Go to the forum here to read more.

Don't forget that the second QI iDVD will also be released this Autumn.

The second interactive QI DVD

Hi everyone. Those of you who read the QI forums (and if you don’t, why ever not?) will know who I am, so I sha’n’t elaborate.

QI Fanatic asked me here to say a little about the forthcoming interactive DVD game. I’ve been somewhat preoccupied with the joys of exam marking for the last couple of weeks, so it’s taken me a bit longer than I wanted to get around to it, but that’s Real Life for you.

Now then, that DVD. Well, it’s out later in the year, and of course everyone who reads this blog will want to have one.

I don’t want to give too much away about just exactly what’s going to be on there, but I can give you a few clues. There will be an option to play against someone else – but don’t panic if you prefer testing your knowledge or lack thereof to be a solitary pursuit, that will be possible too. And of course there are plenty of klaxons lurking. As for what the questions are about, that would be telling – but when we came up with them we tried fairly hard to make sure that all the subject areas you’d expect in a quiz were covered. Therefore, there may or may not be questions about quetzals, qvints, Qatar, quoits, and just perhaps even some things that don’t start with the letter Q.

The fully accredited elves – that’s people like eggshaped, who had something to say right here a few weeks back – are rather busy in the spring preparing for the recordings of the TV series (they start today, as you probably hadn’t failed to notice). As a result QI took on a bit of extra help to come up with the material for the DVD, and roped in three of the more established contributors to the forums as Peredhil (some prefer the title proto-elves). That was really a very exciting moment – receiving a message from Close To The Top asking me if I’d be up for supplying some multiple choice questions. It’s not as easy as it looks, specially since every answer has to be supported by reference to reputable sources – the last thing we want is for someone playing the game to know that we’ve got it wrong, so verification of everything included is essential. But it was fun, and I’m sure you’ll all have fun too when you get to play the game in a few months time!

A Quite Interactive DVD Returns

A new QI interactive DVD will be released this autumn. The DVD will be the successor to the QI's first interactive DVD game released in 2005.

It is planned that the DVD will take a different format compared to the first DVD. It is likely that it will include "rounds" of questions and the most exciting new planned feature will be a multiplayer option. Of course at this early stage changes to the format are possible before the interactive DVD's release.

Work is currently underway to write approximately 400 questions for the DVD.

A name and release date for the DVD is yet to be announced.

Keep an eye on this blog for the latest news about future QI releases.