Fury From The Deep - Artwork and Features

Monday, 3 August 2020 - Reported by Marcus


Fury From The Deep - Artwork Fury From The Deep (Credit: BBC Studios)BBC Studios have revealed the artwork and extras for Doctor Who: Fury From The Deep

 

Starring Patrick Troughton as The Doctor, the new animated release will be available on DVD, Blu-ray and Steelbook from 14th September 2020.

Pre-orders are available now from Amazon.

Following the success of existing animations The Power of the DaleksThe Faceless Ones, Shada and The Macra TerrorFury From The Deep fills another gap in missing Doctor Who content lost in the purge of the BBC’s archive in 1975.   

The three-disc release gives fans the opportunity to enjoy Fury From The Deep in high definition, either in full colour or in black & white. The release will include the surviving clips from the original 1968 production as well.

Fury From The Deep is told across six episodes and stars Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling. The storyline concerns a colony of sentient, parasitic seaweed, last seen in the eighteenth century, returning to attack a number of gas instillations in the North Sea in an attempt to take over humanity.

Animated episodes from Big Finish Creative Limited in association with Digitoonz Media & Entertainment and Thaumaturgy are joined by a wealth of extras.

A making-of featurette ‘The Cruel Sea - Surviving Fury From The Deep’ sees original cast members Frazer Hines, June Murphy and Brian Cullingford revisit filming locations with production assistant Michael Briant, assistant floor manager Margot Hayhoe and helicopter pilot Mike Smith. 

Other contributors to this segment include writer Victor Pemberton and actress Deborah Watling. There’s also an archive audio interview with director Hugh David.

 

Additional material includes: 

·         Audio commentaries

·         The Cruel Sea – Surviving Fury From The Deep

·         Original surviving footage

·         Behind The Scenes 8mm footage

·         Animating Fury From The Deep

·         Archive interviews with Peter Day and Victor Pemberton

·         Teaser Trailer

·         Photo Gallery

·         The Slide Audio Drama

·         PDF scripts

RRP:

DVD – £20.42 / Blu-Ray - £25.52 / Blu-Ray Steelbook - £40.84

 

Fury From The Deep - Artwork Fury From The Deep (Credit: BBC Studios)





FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Season 5 - Second Doctor

Peter Davison Spending Time Apart

Sunday, 2 August 2020 - Reported by Marcus

Time Apart (Credit: Big Finish)Big Finish have released the audio adventure Doctor Who: Time Apart starring Fifth Doctor Peter Davison

 

The Doctor puts some social distance between himself and his companions in this brand-new four-part full-cast audio drama from Big Finish. But can he survive without them?  

 

Although the Fifth Doctor is going it alone, without his regular TARDIS team, there’s no shortage of guest stars to join in the excitement. Peter Davison is joined by Kate Harbour (Bob the Builder, Shaun the Sheep), Laura Aikman (Gavin & Stacey, Casualty) and Wayne Forester (Captain Scarlet, Space Precinct) and Tim Blore in four separate adventures.  

 

Doctor Who: Time Apart is now available to own as a collector's edition boxset (on CD at £14.99) and as a digital download (at £12.99) exclusively from www.bigfinish.com

 

Separated from his companions, the Doctor attempts to find solace in the history of his favourite planet – Earth – but instead discovers new threats lying in wait. 

Travelling from twentieth-century East Berlin to sixteenth-century Strasbourg, the Doctor encounters creatures from other realities: monsters beneath the waves, and human beings determined to exploit their fellow man. 

But how long can he survive without a friend? 

 

Actor Peter Davison said

 

These are four different takes on the Doctor in the four different stories of this collection. In one I'm quite jaunty and jolly and in another one I'm slightly more baffled.  

But I've enjoyed all the four stories. They're very different. I've always been rather fond of the stories in which the Doctor fiddles in history. But of course it's also nice to meet the odd alien.

 

This anthology contains four half-hour adventures, as follows:  

 

  • Ghost Station by Steve Lyons  
  • Deep beneath the streets of East Berlin, Peter Meier patrols the border in an old underground station. But when the TARDIS materialises nearby, Peter realises he is far from alone. 
  • The Bridge Master by Jacqueline Rayner 
  • When the Doctor’s shadow is sacrificed by villagers, he brushes it off as medieval superstition —until he begins to grow weak. Can he uncover the truth behind the bridge master’s curse before it’s too late? 
  • What Lurks Down Under by Tommy Donbavand
  • On the waves of the Indian Ocean, all the prisoners aboard the Lady Juliana have fallen into a trance... except a single girl. Mary Wade desperately needs a doctor –and only one will help her. 
  • The Dancing Plague by Kate Thorman
  • Arriving in Strasbourg at the height of the Dancing Plague, the Doctor finds himself thrust into a world of paranoia. Can he bring peace to a city at odds with its own people? 

 

Doctor Who: Time Apart is now available to own as a collector's edition boxset (on CD at £14.99) and as a digital download (at £12.99) exclusively from www.bigfinish.com





FILTER: - Big Finish - Audio - Fifth Doctor

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 553

Thursday, 25 June 2020 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who Magazine - Issue 553 (Credit: Panini)
This month's Doctor Who Magazine features a special visit to the set of 1970's Doctor Who in the company of Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen.

Highlights of the new issue include:
  • Newly discovered interviews conducted at the heart of production on Death to the Daleks and Planet of the Spiders.
  • The Doctor Who directing masterclass, featuring exclusive interviews with directors Joe Ahearne, Richard Clark, Graeme Harper, Douglas Mackinnon, Saul Metzstein, Jamie Magnus Stone and Rachel Talalay.
  • An exclusive preview of the Power of the Daleks Special Edition, including a selection of rare colour photos from the original 1966 production.
  • The previously untold story of three young Doctor Who enthusiasts at the dawn of fandom in the early 1970s. One would go on to play the Doctor
  • Carole Ann Ford and Sophie Aldred compare their Doctor Who experiences.
  • The results of DWM’s annual season survey.
  • The Fact of Fiction explores the 2013 episode Cold War.
  • The final instalment of DWM’s lockdown viewing, with a guide to stories available on DVD and streaming services.
  • A look at The Night Walkers, the landmark 1969 comic strip that depicted the Second Doctor’s regeneration.
  • Big Finish previews and reviews, news, prize-winning competitions, Time and Space Visualiser, The Blogs of Doom and much more.
Doctor Who Magazine Issue 553 is on sale from Thursday 25 June £5.99 (UK)




FILTER: - Third Doctor

Three Doctors Talking

Wednesday, 24 June 2020 - Reported by Marcus
Three Doctors – Jodie Whittaker, David Tennant and Matt Smith - have come together in a historic interview with IGN to celebrate the launch of  Doctor Who on HBO MAX. 

The interview went live at 5pm today, and can be found on the Doctor Who YouTube channel. 

 In the interview Jodie, Matt and David talk about companions they’d like to travel with, the effect of Doctor Who on their careers, and even tease about the upcoming festive special!




FILTER: - Eleventh Doctor

Black Archive #44 - The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

Saturday, 20 June 2020 - Reported by Marcus
Black Archive #44 - The Pandorica Opens (Credit: Obverse Books)The latest release from Obverse Books Black Archive series, deals with the final two episodes of Matt Smith's first series as The Doctor The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang

Who takes the Pandorica takes the universe.

The TARDIS explodes. The universe is cracked. Space-time is collapsing.

The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang typifies Steven Moffat’s ‘timey-wimey’ take on Doctor Who. It draws on the legend of Pandora’s Box and exhorts the power of memories. 

This Black Archive explores how time operates in the Series 5 finale, in Doctor Who as a wider narrative, and in real life. How do anomalies and paradoxes work in the show? What might the end and beginning of the universe actually look like? And what caused the TARDIS to blow up anyway?

Asked why he chose The Pandorica Opens for his first Black Archive, author Philip Bates said:
10 years since it was first broadcast, I still get goosepimples when the "hello Stonehenge" speech begins; I still get emotional when "The Life and Death of Amy Pond" kicks in; and I still feel a burst of excitement as the Doctor, Amy, and Rory disappear into time and space, ready for more adventures.

That's why I love The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang. It's a summation of everything good about Series 5, and about Doctor Who.
Philip Bates is a writer and critic and the co-founder of the Doctor Who Companion website.




FILTER: - Eleventh Doctor

Two Doctors on the Late Late Show

Friday, 19 June 2020 - Reported by Marcus
Jodie Whittaker and David Tennant both featured on the Late Late Show with James Corden a few hours ago.

The Doctor's surprised viewers by appearing in their Thirteenth and Tenth Doctor costumes and judged fans taking part in a hilarious cosplay challenge.

This appearance was in aid of Doctor Who series 1-11 launching on HBO MAX, a brand new streaming service available in the US.





FILTER: - Tenth Doctor

The Thirteenth Doctor on Turkish television

Saturday, 23 May 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The Doctor, as played by Jodie Whittaker (Credit: BBC)BBC Studios have announced the launch of their high definition channel BBC Prime in Turkey via Türk Telekom’s Tivibu platform from 27th May, with Doctor Who featuring prominently on the new service:

BBC First will be the exclusive home of all-new series of Doctor Who in Turkey, launching with the 11th and 12th seasons starring Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor and premiering future series closer to UK TX than ever before. This will be especially appreciated by Turkish Whovians who are among world’s most loyal fans ranking #6 in the world on the Doctor Who Facebook page and #9 for YouTube views on Doctor Who official channel, with 1.7m video views in the last 12 months.

Natasha Hussain, Senior Vice President for MENA at BBC Studios, said:
As the World’s spotlight shines bright on British drama, I’m thrilled to be expanding our offering in Turkey with the truly unmissable BBC First channel. The BBC has a strong reputation for its original storytelling and high production values in this genre, and I can’t wait for audiences in Turkey to be introduced to the raft of unique stories and unforgettable characters on BBC First.
Türk Telekom TV/OTT Content and Product Director, Ziyad Varol, stated:
We are very much happy with our years of cooperation with BBC, a household name for broadcast and media worldwide. Five years ago, Tivibu was the first platform to launch BBC’s documentary channel BBC Earth in Turkey, introducing one of the most important documentary producers of the world to Turkish audiences. And now, with BBC First, we are again excited to provide Tivibu audience with the newest and most popular series content of BBC. We hope to add new firsts into our list with BBC and to provide further value to Tivibu viewers by presenting them premium contents before everyone else in Turkey.

Doctor Who kicks off on the channel with a complete run of Peter Capaldi's last series during the afternoon/evening, leading up to the premiere of The Woman Who Fell To Earth. The channel then continues to show Series 11 alongside the rest of the Doctor's high definition adventures over the following weeks (which includes the upscaled special The Next Doctor). You can catch up on the BBC First schedule via This Week in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who has been available in Turkey in standard definition for a number of years via BBC Entertainment Europe (currently broadcasting Series 10).





FILTER: - Broadcasting - Doctor Who - International Broadcasting - Jodie Whittaker - series 11/37 - Turkey

Doctor Who: Shadow of the Sun - Release Date May

Wednesday, 29 April 2020 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: Shadow of the Sun - Tom Baker (Credit: Big Finish)The first full-cast, full-length Doctor Who audio drama to have been recorded entirely during lockdown will be released on 12 May.

Tom Baker, Louise Jameson and John Leeson star in Doctor Who: Shadow of the Sun, a Fourth Doctor mystery adventure written by Rob Valentine.

This is the first full-cast Doctor Who audio drama to have been produced using Big Finish’s remote recording techniques, and it boasts among its guest cast Fenella Woolgar (Inside Number 9, Call the Midwife) as a terminally bored socialite, Lady Malina Rigel-Smythe. She is one of many passengers onboard a luxury liner with a difference.

Doctor Who: Shadow of the Sun is now available to pre-order exclusively at the Big Finish website, from just £8.99.

After an accident, the TARDIS lands on a luxury star-liner. Leaving their ship to repair itself, the Doctor, Leela and K9 find themselves facing a great terror: mingling at a cocktail party.

Something seems awry behind the pleasantries however. Guests are going missing, and equipment is breaking down. When the Doctor investigates further he discovers that the star-liner is literally on course for disaster.

But no-one seems surprised by this information, still less troubled. What’s going on? And can the Doctor and his friends save everyone... when nobody wants to be saved?
Doctor Who: Shadow of the Sun  (Credit: Big Finish)Director Nicholas Briggs said
In Shadow of the Sun, we have a great, well-made script by Rob Valentine. A lovely slice of science fantasy. It has a great central idea and a cast of superb characters. At its core, there’s a fanatical belief in something that is patent nonsense, but the Doctor, Leela and K9 find themselves to be the only people who know the truth. That’s a great set-up!

And it also has a flavour of the often talked about ‘base under siege’ setting, which adds appealing claustrophobia to the storytelling. It makes the situation more extreme and therefore more of an exciting ride for the audience.
Writer Robert Valentine added
This is a story inspired by the modern trend of giving the same value to opinion as fact – including everything from climate change denial to the anti-vaccination movement – but specifically the recent (and ultimately fatal) rocket launch experiments intended to prove that the Earth is flat. The Doctor is about to find himself in a situation where the true enemy is pseudo-scientific hubris, and for once it might be an enemy he hasn't the tools to overcome.
Doctor Who: Shadow of the Sun is now available to pre-order exclusively at the Big Finish website, as a collector’s edition CD (priced at £10.99) or digital download (price at £8.99).

Please note that Big Finish is currently operating a digital-first release schedule. The mailout of collector’s edition CDs will be delayed, but all purchases of this release unlock a digital copy that can be immediately downloaded or played on the Big Finish app from the release date.




FILTER: - Big Finish - Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker

Doctor Who: The Power Of The Daleks – Special Edition

Tuesday, 28 April 2020 - Reported by Marcus
The Power Of The Daleks - Special Edition (Credit: BBC Studios) The Power Of The Daleks - Special Edition (Credit: BBC Studios) BBC Studios have announced a Special Edition of the animated story The Power of the Daleks will be released on 6th July 2020.

An updated version of Patrick Troughton’s first story as the Second Doctor will be available on both DVD and Blu-ray

While no complete film recordings of The Power of the Daleks are known to have survived the purge of the BBC’s archive in 1975, fresh animation in high definition breathes new life into this much-loved story.

The six animated episodes replace the 2016 physical and digital release, with new and improved animation and authentic black and white visuals. The latest release also showcases a vast array of exciting new special features, in addition to all of the VAM on the 2016 release.

New additional material includes:
  • Two new documentaries about Power of the Daleks
  • 1993 BBC audio version of The Power of the Daleks narrated by Tom Baker
  • Raw incidental music
  • Photogrammetry Featurette
  • Whicker's World - I Don't Like My Monsters to Have Oedipus Complexes
  • Daleks - The Early Years: A 1992 documentary presented by Peter Davison
  • Robin Hood - 1953 Episode: Patrick Troughton’s earliest surviving TV appearance
  • BBC archive footage from BBC regional news, BBC Breakfast, Blue Peter and Newsnight
  • Previously unreleased animation trailers and animatics
  • Easter Eggs
And old favourites including:
  • Audio commentaries by Anneke Wills on each episode
  • Animation test footage
  • Photo Gallery, including previously unreleased and rediscovered full colour on-set photos from 1966.
  • Servants & Masters - The Making of The Power of the Daleks
You can pre-order the release from Amazon UK on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Update: the press release erroneously listed The Highlanders as an extra, but it has now been confirmed that this was originally planned as an audio track but couldn't included owing to space limitations.




FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Second Doctor

From the Doctors... to all doctors

Thursday, 23 April 2020 - Reported by Marcus
From the Doctors... to all doctors. A thank you to the NHS and all frontline workers.

As seen on the BBC One programme The Big Night In

The Doctors Say Thank You | #TheBigNightIn




FILTER: - Eighth Doctor - Eleventh Doctor - Fifth Doctor - Fourth Doctor - Seventh Doctor - Sixth Doctor - Tenth Doctor - Thirteenth Doctor - Twelfth Doctor