Three-disc Region 1 Blu-ray release of An Adventure In Space And Time announced

Saturday, 8 March 2014 - Reported by John Bowman
A three-disc Blu-ray edition of the drama An Adventure In Space And Time is to be released for Region 1 territories on Tuesday 27th May.

The 90-minute special - which tells the story of Doctor Who's genesis - was made for BBC Two as part of the 50th-anniversary celebrations. Written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Terry McDonough, it stars David Bradley as William Hartnell, Jessica Raine as Verity Lambert, Brian Cox as Sydney Newman and Sacha Dhawan as Waris Hussein.

The first disc will be the Blu-ray of the drama, while the second disc will be a DVD containing the pilot episode of Doctor Who plus the four episodes comprising the first story, An Unearthly Child, and disc three will be a DVD of An Adventure In Space And Time.

The disc one contents have been listed by Blu-ray.com as follows:

Disc 1: An Adventure In Space And Time Blu-ray
  • Feature film presented in 1080p with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround
  • The Making of An Adventure in Space and Time
  • William Hartnell: The Original
  • Regeneration: Doctors 1, 2 and 3, Re-cast
  • Reconstruction: Four Sequences
  • Farewell: David Bradley
  • Christmas Greeting: David Bradley
  • Titles Sequence
  • Deleted Scene: Delia Derbyshire
It is not known as yet if a Region 2 Blu-ray release of the drama has been scheduled.

The Region 1 Blu-ray is available for pre-order.

The trailer for the drama and a behind-the-scenes video can be watched below:






FILTER: - Merchandise - Canada - USA - WHO50 - Blu-ray/DVD

Fannual published for Peter Cushing's Doctor

Sunday, 2 March 2014 - Reported by John Bowman
An annual devoted to the film version of the Doctor as played by Peter Cushing has been created by fans.

Designed to fit between the second and third annuals brought out by World Distributors in the 1960s and produced in a similar style, the unofficial FANNUAL: The Peter Cushing Dr. Who Annual has 172 pages of stories, features and artwork, all complying with the continuity of the two 1960s films Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.

Publisher Scott Burditt said:
It's rare to find new adventures of Peter Cushing's Dr. Who in print. There was a comic book adaption of Dr. Who and the Daleks by Dell Publishing in 1966 and that's about it. FANNUAL is all set to change this. For the first time ever, the unofficial Dr. Who is treated to his very own unofficial annual. Most appropriate!

This really has been a labour of love for all concerned, done out of genuine affection and fondness for the films' interpretation of the Doctor Who mythology, and I've had a great response from the people who already have a copy of it.
The publication is available in the following options:
    HARDBACK
  • Yellow or violet cover with colour pages
  • Blue or lime cover with black-and-white pages
    PAPERBACK
  • Red cover with colour pages
Plus, in a nod to one of the scenes in the first film, there is also an alternative paperback cover available with the title Time Travel For The Inquiring Mind. This version has black-and-white pages.

A teaser message from Dr. Who himself is given below:
Time travel. It's supposed to be impossible, isn't it? Well, actually, going forwards in time isn't really a problem at all is it? Just imagine if you could bend the rules . . . Well, I have managed to do just that! Moving freely forwards and backwards through time and space with my own invention is most exciting I can tell you!

1963 was the year it all began. I finally worked out how to make the machine work, and despite the fact that I am a grandfather and quite an old man now, I am still very sprightly because my adventures have given me a new lease of life! Which is just as well, as you will soon discover! Sadly, I can't turn back my own body clock and travel around the cosmos as a young man but I have shared all of the fun with my close friends and family and now I will share it with you . . .

So, let me take a rest from adventuring for a moment to regale some of the tales and the mysteries and challenges we've all faced across the galaxy from visiting our own and other strange worlds, with all of the many unusual and terrifying creatures we have encountered and the new lessons the universe has taught us in the process.

In this book you will find out about myself, my family and friends and the inner workings of my wonderful time machine with a friendly technical diagram highlighting all of the main features.

In my travels I have become caught in events surrounding the civil war of the 1600s, been to a distant alien world in a prelude to a mystery involving a couple I encountered on Barnes Common, and visited the planet Silicus, where I discovered men made of metal! Scary stuff indeed!

I've become a hostage of alien stowaways in my time machine, and on the planet Samsara my granddaughter and I were caught up in a conflict between two sides of the Brethren of Infinity as they waited for their Great Deity to save them from its imminent apocalypse . . .

My friends have even been accidentally miniaturised with one of my other inventions! Oh, the fun they had sorting that out! I've upset a couple of alien traders, encountered familiar-looking robots and landed in one of the most terrible places in human history - No Man's Land during the First World War . . .

I've explored the far side of the galaxy and managed to salvage the cultural heritage of an alien race, and I visited the strange Museum of Space Science in the year 3000 . . .

Also, on a very beautiful planet, my granddaughter encountered an alien prince and the two became romantically involved, which was very sweet. I've defeated evil terrifying robots who enslaved the people of the Earth in the year 2150AD and met intergalactic traders on the War Moon of planet Skirm, and my granddaughter befriended a strange creature on yet another alien planet, unaware that it was actually plotting to kill her at the first opportunity!

I've upset The Knights of Chronos, who are the self-styled guardians of time, and they put me on trial for creating a temporal paradox by returning a policeman I had met to 1966 before he actually left with me on my travels! Most confusing!

Anyway, you can find out about it all for yourself in detail in this marvellous book. I had hoped to write more about my adventures but I am so very busy exploring as I just don't want to miss out on all of the wonders and secrets the universe has to offer before, one day, I have to retire.

I know this sounds like the witterings of a mad old man but I can promise you that these events did actually happen! Enjoy this volume compiled by my friends and travel with me into this fantasy world that I have made a reality!
Examples of the covers and pages are given below:


And in an exclusive for Doctor Who News, here is clean artwork by Tony Clark for the fannual story Day of the Automatons, reproduced by kind permission of the artist:


UPDATE - 3rd MARCH: The red-cover paperback with colour pages is now sold out.




FILTER: - Merchandise - Fan Productions - Peter Cushing - Books

Lego Doctor Who?

Wednesday, 26 February 2014 - Reported by Josiah Rowe
Many fans of Doctor Who and the Lego building toy sets have long wished for Doctor Who Lego toys. Now, a post on Lego's Cuusoo crowdsourcing design site suggests that Doctor Who Lego sets may be coming soon.

Lego Cuusoo is a crowdsourcing platform where people can submit and vote on designs for Lego toy sets. If a project receives 10,000 votes of support, it is considered by a Lego review board, which decides whether the project is suitable to be produced commercially. Previous sets which have made it through this process include sets based on the Mars Curiosity rover, Back to the Future, and Ghostbusters (available this summer).

In the past, Lego Cuusoo proposals based on Doctor Who have been rejected due to conflict with Character Building's license to produce Doctor Who toys. Character has produced Lego-compatible Doctor Who building toys since 2011. It is not known whether Character's license has changed or expired, but today Lego posted the following on the Lego Cuusoo website:
Sometimes we have to turn down project submissions that refer to specific brands or licensed properties. We do this to avoid getting your hopes up for something we know we aren't able to make. In these cases, we already know the LEGO Group can't secure licensing rights to produce construction toys based on a particular brand or property, due to a conflicting interest with a third party.

If such a conflict goes away, we'll then be able to accept projects based on a particular brand or license.

...

Resolved Past Licensing Conflicts

We now welcome projects based on the following licenses that used to have conflicts:
  • Doctor Who - February 2014
Last updated February 25, 2014

This does not mean that Lego is definitely going to license and produce Doctor Who toys, but it does mean that they no longer consider it impossible.

Image: a fan-created Eleventh Doctor minifigure. Source: Brickimedia. License: CC BY-SA 3.0
(with thanks to Andrew Barnick)




FILTER: - Merchandise - Character - Lego

Philip Hinchcliffe Presents ...

Tuesday, 11 February 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Big Finish have announced a new set of adventures featuring Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor with Louise Jameson as Leela, written by the pair's original producer Philip Hinchcliffe alongside Ghost Light writer Marc Platt.

Philip Hinchcliffe Presents (Credit: Big Finish)Philip Hinchcliffe Presents
Starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson
Written by Philip Hinchcliffe and Marc Platt
Released September 2014

Former Doctor Who producer Philip Hinchcliffe has been reunited with his stars, Tom Baker and Louise Jameson, for ten brand new episodes of Doctor Who made for audio at Big Finish.

Doctor Who: Philip Hinchcliffe Presents will consist of two epic full-cast stories, filled with all the drama and chills that marked Hinchcliffe’s era of the TV show.


The Ghosts of Gralstead is a six-part adventure, and it finds the Doctor and Leela returning to Victorian London, in the year 1860:
At St Clarence’s Hospital, respected surgeon Sir Edward Scrivener requires the bodies of the dead… At Doctor McDivett’s Exhibition of Living Wonders and Curiosities, miracles are afoot… And in Gralstead House, the ghost will walk again. Mordrega has come to Earth...
Carolyn Seymour – who is known for Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager and, notably, for playing Abby Grant in the original Survivors – plays Mordrega. Sir Edward is played by Gethin Anthony (Game of Thrones).


The second, four-part adventure is called The Devil’s Armada:
The TARDIS materialise in Sissenden Village in the sixteenth century. Catholic priests are hunted, so-called witches are drowned in the ducking stool, and in the shadows the Vituperon are watching… and waiting...

Doctor Who: Philip Hinchcliffe Presents also includes a special hour-long documentary featuring interviews with Tom, Louise, Philip and the cast, and is released in September.

The CD boxed set will be launched at Big Finish Day 5 in Slough on Saturday 13th September, which Tom, Philip and Carolyn are attending.




FILTER: - Merchandise - Audio - Tom Baker - Fourth Doctor - Big Finish

New Zealand Dalek Coin Released

Sunday, 9 February 2014 - Reported by Marcus
The New Zealand mint has released a new coin featuring a Dalek, the first in a five coin series featuring classic Doctor Who Monsters.

The Doctor Who Monsters series is a limited mintage of 5000 coins only per release, and is crafted from ½ Ounce of fine silver (0.999). Each coin is sold with an individual presentation case, along with an individually numbered certificate of authenticity. Like recent New Zealand releases, the coins will be issued under the licensing authority of Niue.

The coin, with a face value of $1, depicts a relief engraved Dalek, set against a colour background. This is surrounded by a finely engraved border design. The obverse features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

The remaining coins will be issued over the course of the next four months and will feature the Weeping Angels, the Cybermen, the Silurians and the Sontarans.

Customers who purchase from the New Zealand Mint website will recieve low certificate numbers in the series, numbers 50-999. In addition, everyone who purchases the Dalek coin will have the opportunity to receive identically numbered certificates for each further release in the series.




FILTER: - Merchandise - New Zealand

The Web of Fear: UK DVD Details

Thursday, 23 January 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
BBC Worldwide have released the details for the forthcoming DVD of The Web of Fear, which is due out in the United Kingdom from the 24th February 2014.

The Web of Fear
Release date: 24 February 2014 UK (available for pre-order)

The Web of Fear: R2 cover (Credit: BBC WorldwideStarring Patrick Troughton as Doctor Who, with Frazer Hines as Jamie, Deborah Watling as Victoria
Written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln
Directed by Douglas Camfield

Broadcast: 3 Feb 1968 - 9 Mar 1968

Previously unseen in the UK for 45 years and re-mastered from newly discovered tapes located in Nigeria, the formerly missing Doctor Who classic - Web of Fear - will soon be available to own on DVD. Starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, alongside Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Deborah Watling (Victoria) as companions, this iconic story sees the TARDIS narrowly avoid becoming engulfed in a mysterious cobweb-like substance in space before arriving in the London Underground railway system.

The Doctor soon discovers that something strange is afoot as the tunnels are being overrun by the web, an army or robotic yetis and The Great Intelligence. Before the original broadcast in 1967, this story was deemed so scary that the Doctor delivered the following message to television audiences:

Thank goodness… Oh, it’s you… I thought for one moment it was… I’ll just sit down for a minute. I’m glad I met you as a matter of fact; there’s something I want to tell you. When we start out on our next adventure – Jamie, Victoria and I – we meet some old friends. Yes, and we also meet some old enemies. Very old enemies. The Yeti as a matter of fact. Only this time, they’re just a little bit more frightening than the last time. So I’ll warn you that if your Mummy or Daddy are scared, you just get them to hold your hand. *Gunfire* Here we go again. I’ve got to go. See you soon – I hope!

The Web of Fear is also famed for introducing one of Doctor Who folklore’s most beloved characters; Nicholas Courtney as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart who later became the Brigadier. The Brigadier’s legacy lives on in contemporary Doctor Who, with Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (his daughter) starring in the show’s 50th anniversary episode The Day of the Doctor.

Features:
  • Episode Three reconstruction, presented using the original soundtrack alongside surviving images from the episode
  • Programme subtitles
  • Also Available: The Enemy of the World






FILTER: - Merchandise - Second Doctor - Blu-ray/DVD

New Doctor Who comic-book adventures announced

Tuesday, 21 January 2014 - Reported by John Bowman
Titan Comics and BBC Worldwide Americas have signed a deal to publish all-new Doctor Who comic-book adventures, it was announced today. It comes following the end of the licensing agreement that IDW Publishing had had with the BBC since 2007.

The adventures will feature the Doctors as portrayed by David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi. A press statement datelined New York said:
In the universe of Doctor Who, regenerations bring not only a new Doctor but often a fresh look and feel to the series, and BBC Worldwide is bringing that same approach to Doctor Who comics as it signs a new deal with Titan Comics.

The deal will open up the world of Doctor Who and provide fans with new stand-alone adventures featuring the Tenth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor and, after the new series launch, the Twelfth Doctor. Creative and production teams will be announced in the coming weeks and the first comic books will be released in 2014.
Today's statement was purely to announce the partnership agreement. A more precise date for when the first issue will be published is yet to be given, as is confirmation of the publication frequency. Although ostensibly an American production, the comic books will be available to buy worldwide.

Titan Comics is the comics and graphic-novel division of publisher Titan, whose magazine subsidiary previously published Torchwood - The Official Magazine.




FILTER: - Merchandise - USA - Comics - Magazines - BBC Worldwide

Verity Lambert biography to be published

Tuesday, 21 January 2014 - Reported by John Bowman
A biography of Doctor Who's first producer is to be published next January. Drama and Delight: The Life and Legacy of Verity Lambert is being written by Richard Marson and will be brought out by Miwk Publishing Ltd.

Not only was Lambert the show's first producer, it was also her first TV programme as a producer, having been poached from commercial rival ABC by drama boss Sydney Newman. At the time, she was also the youngest and only female drama producer at the BBC.

Lambert went on to have a hugely successful and influential career in TV production, becoming a head of drama herself - at Thames Television - and later setting up her own production company. She received an OBE in the 2002 New Year Honours for services to film and television production, and that same year also saw her presented with BAFTA's Alan Clarke Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television. She died of cancer in 2007 at the age of 71.

For five decades, the name Verity Lambert appeared on the end credits of many of Britain's most celebrated and talked-about television dramas, among them Adam Adamant Lives!, Budgie, The Naked Civil Servant, Minder, Edward and Mrs Simpson, Eldorado, G.B.H. and Jonathan Creek. She was the very first producer of Doctor Who, which she nurtured through its formative years at a time when there were few women in positions of power in the television industry. Later, she worked within the troubled British film business and became a pioneering independent producer, founding her own highly successful company, Cinema Verity.

Within her profession, she was hugely respected as an intensely driven, sometimes formidable but always stylish exponent of her craft, with the stamina and ability to combine quantity with quality.

Many of her productions have had a lasting cultural and emotional impact on their audiences and continue to be enjoyed to this day. But who was the woman behind all these television triumphs and what was the price she paid to achieve them?

Combining months of painstaking research and interviews with many of Lambert's closest friends and colleagues, Drama and Delight will capture the energy and spirit of this remarkable woman and explore her phenomenal and lasting legacy.
Marson wrote for Doctor Who Monthly/Magazine between 1983 and 1988, and after graduating from the University of Durham in 1987 joined the BBC, progressing from floor assistant to producer/director. Along the way, he worked on many iconic programmes including Top of the Pops, That's Life!, Going Live!, and Wogan. He went freelance in 1994, with stints at companies such as Planet 24, Chatsworth, and LWT. A return to the BBC in 1997 to direct series of Record Breakers and Tomorrow's World led to his appointment as a producer on Blue Peter in 1998, where he remained for almost a decade. He spent four years as the programme's editor.

In 2007, he was the executive producer of BBC Four's Children's TV On Trial, while more recently he produced and directed the 90-minute documentary Tales of Television Centre for the same channel. He is currently with TwoFour, producing a major 15-part "fixed-rig" documentary (where the cameras are stationary) for CBBC called Our School.

Marson is the author of several books, including Inside Updown: The Story of Upstairs, Downstairs, Blue Peter 50th Anniversary, and JN-T: The Life and Scandalous Times of John Nathan-Turner, which caused a media stir when it was published last year.




FILTER: - People - Merchandise - Books - Classic Series

Tales of Trenzalore

Wednesday, 15 January 2014 - Reported by Josiah Rowe
On 27 February 2014, BBC Digital will release the ebook Tales of Trenzalore, a collection of four novellas set during the Eleventh Doctor's centuries defending the planet Trenzalore, as seen in the Christmas adventure The Time of the Doctor.
Tales of Trenzalore (Credit: Mark Morris)Tales of Trenzalore

As it had been foretold, the armies of the Universe gathered at Trenzalore. Only one thing stood between the planet and destruction — the Doctor. For nine hundred years, he defended the planet, and the tiny town of Christmas, against the forces that would destroy it.

He never knew how long he could keep the peace. He never knew what creatures would emerge from the snowy night to threaten him next. He knew only that at the end he would die on Trenzalore.

Some of what happened during those terrible years is well documented. But most of it remains shrouded in mystery and darkness.

Until now.

This is a glimpse of just some of the terrors the people faced, the monstrous threats the Doctor defeated. These are the tales of the monsters who found themselves afraid - and of the one man who was not.


(Tales of Trenzalore documents four of the Doctor's adventures from different periods during the Siege of Trenzalore and the ensuing battle:

Let it Snow - by Justin Richards

An Apple a Day - by George Mann

Strangers in the Outland - by Paul Finch

The Dreaming - by Mark Morris)
Each novella features a classic Doctor Who monster. Justin Richards' story features the Ice Warriors (first seen in the 1967 serial The Ice Warriors, and most recently seen in Cold War), George Mann's story features the Krynoid (from the 1976 serial The Seeds of Doom), Paul Finch's features the Autons (first seen in 1970's Spearhead from Space), and Mark Morris's features the Mara (from the 1982 serial Kinda and its 1983 sequel Snakedance).
With Thanks To Mark Morris, George Mann and Paul Finch




FILTER: - Merchandise - Books - Eleventh Doctor - BBC

Doctor Who Magazine 469

Tuesday, 7 January 2014 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Doctor Who Magazine 469 (Credit: Doctor Who Magazine)The next issue of Doctor Who Magazine is due out this Thursday, and talks exclusively to the Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi.

I was five when the show started. I don’t remember Doctor Who not being part of my life, and it became a part of growing up, along with The Beatles, National Health spectacles, and fog. And it runs deep. It’s in my DNA...

Also in this issue:
  • Doctor Who's executive producer Steven Moffat talks candidly to DWM in an in-depth interview.
  • A look at 60s monster-makers Shawcraft, with never-before-seen colour photos.
  • A preview of The Moonbase DVD with exclusive images.
  • The Curse of Fenric – an in-depth guide to the classic Seventh Doctor adventure.
  • Steven Moffat answers readers' questions on The Day of the Doctor.
  • Pay the Piper – the Doctor and Clara in Part 2 of the latest comic strip.
  • Author Jacqueline Rayner writes about a world inspired by Doctor Who.
  • The Time Team watch Series Two of Torchwood.
  • The opportunity to vote in the Ultimate Doctor Who survey – with a huge prize at stake!
  • Reviews of all the latest DVDs and Cds.
  • Competitions, puzzles, and much more!




FILTER: - Merchandise - Magazines - DWM