The Mind Robber on UKTV

Saturday, 16 February 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones
UKTV

Sunday 17th February sees the broadcast of the five-part 1968 Patrick Troughton story The Mind Robber in Australia and New Zealand. The story is the latest instalment in the the 50th Anniversary season of classic Doctor Who stories on the UKTV channel.

 It is scheduled in New Zealand at 3:50pm and in Australia at 4:00pm. New Zealand has a additional screening on Monday 18th February at 3:50am.

The Mind Robber was first broadcast in Australia in 1970. New Zealanders had to wait another 15 years to see the story (it was first screened in 1985 to launch an extensive series of Doctor Who screenings by TVNZ that continued with few interruptions until 1990).

UKTV is showing stories every week throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November. The Mind Robber is the third of four stories to be aired as part of the channel's celebration of the second Doctor this month. The next story is The Seeds of Death (24th February). Next month UKTV will move on to focus on the third Doctor.

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.






FILTER: - Classic Series - WHO50 - New Zealand - Australia

The Dominators on UKTV

Saturday, 9 February 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones

UKTV
The 50th Anniversary season of classic Doctor Who stories on UKTV in Australia and New Zealand continues.

Sunday 10th February sees the broadcast of the five-part 1968 Patrick Troughton story The Dominators. It screens in New Zealand at 3:40pm and in Australia at 4:00pm. New Zealand has a additional showing on Monday 4th February at 3:30am.

The Dominators was first broadcast in Australia in 1970. It was not screened in New Zealand until 2000, a full 32 years after the UK broadcast.

UKTV is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November. The Dominators is the second of four stories to be aired as part of the channel's celebration of the second Doctor this month. The next two stories are The Mind Robber (17th February), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.

Stack Magazine

The latest issue of the New Zealand edition of DVD retailer JB Hi-Fi's free in-store magazine Stack (issue 37, February 2013), features Doctor Who on the cover as well as a two-page article (also online) about the lasting appeal of the series.

To mark the anniversary screenings on UKTV, JB Hi-Fi in association with DVD distributor Roadshow is running a promotion of Doctor Who on DVD throughout 2013, showcasing a different Doctor's era each month.




FILTER: - Classic Series - WHO50 - Blu-ray/DVD - New Zealand - Australia

UK DVD schedule confirmed to September

Thursday, 7 February 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
BBC Worldwide have announced the Doctor Who stories that will be released on DVD in the United Kingdom up to September this year. As well as the titles known previously, the list confirms the inclusion of the colourised Third Doctor adventure The Mind of Evil, the incomplete Second Doctor tale The Ice Warriors, and also the animated 2003 story Scream of the Shalka - which starred Richard E Grant as the (very) short-lived online 'Ninth' Doctor.

The complete list of dates are as follows:

25th February The Ark in Space: Special Edition
11th March The Aztecs: Special Edition (plus Galaxy 4 reconstruction)
6th May The Visitation: Special Edition
27th May Inferno: Special Edition
3rd June The Mind of Evil
24th June Terror of the Zygons
15th July Spearhead from Space Blu-Ray
5th August The Green Death: Special Edition
26th August The Ice Warriors
16th September Scream of the Shalka

Unlike last month's release of The Reign of Terror, there has been no word on whether August's The Ice Warriors will also feature animated episodes, with only the condensed reconstruction of episodes two and three that accompanied its original VHS release in 1998 confirmed so far. No new information on features to accompany other releases in the list have been revealed since our previous updates.

As yet there has been no indication of how the final four existing episodes - The Tenth Planet(1-3) and The Underwater Menace(2) - are to be presented.

The Visitation

In addition to above, the BBFC have now classified the features that will be presented on the second disc of The Visitation Special Edition, due in May:
00:45:08:13 GRIM TALES   -  REVISITING THE VISITATION
00:27:29:06 DR. FOREVER! - THE APOCALYPSE ELEMENT
00:32:11:20 DOCTOR WHO - THE TELEVISION CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE
The main disc will contain the original features from the 2004 release, though has revised production notes compiled by Nicholas Pegg, and (of course) newly remastered episodes.





FILTER: - Third Doctor - Second Doctor - First Doctor - Classic Series - Fourth Doctor - Fifth Doctor

The Tomb of the Cybermen on UKTV

Saturday, 2 February 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones
UKTVThe 50th Anniversary season of classic Doctor Who stories on UKTV in Australia and New Zealand continues.

February is dedicated to a celebration of Patrick Troughton's Doctor, commencing with his earliest complete story, The Tomb of the Cybermen.

The four-part story is broadcast on Sunday 3rd February at 4:15pm (New Zealand) and 4:30pm (Australia). New Zealand has a second screening for The Tomb of the Cybermen on Monday 4th February at 4:00am.

The 1967 story was first broadcast in Australia in 1968. New Zealand viewers saw it in 1970.

UKTV is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to the anniversary in November.

The Tomb of the Cybermen is the first of four stories to be aired as part of the channel's celebration of the second Doctor this month, and is followed by The Dominators (10th February), The Mind Robber (17th), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

Up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.





FILTER: - Classic Series - WHO50 - New Zealand - Australia

The Aztecs Special Edition: Full DVD Details

Thursday, 31 January 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The cover and contents of the forthcoming two-disc special edition DVD release of The Aztecs in the UK have been finalised.

As well as representing a huge technical improvement on the original DVD release from 11 years ago, it also features a selection of new extras and the premiere of the recently recovered third episode of Galaxy 4. Missing for many years, the episode is presented in its entirety, within a shortened reconstruction of the rest of the adventure.

The Aztecs - Special Edition
Release date: 11th March 2013 (available for pre-order)

Starring William Hartnell as Doctor Who, with Carole Ann Ford as Susan, William Russell as Ian, and Jacqueline Hill as Barbara
Written by John Lucarotti
Directed by John Crockett

Broadcast: 23rd May - 13 June 1964

The TARDIS arrives in fifteenth century Mexico inside the tomb of Aztec High Priest Yetaxa. The travellers become cut off from the ship after the tomb door closes behind them and Barbara is proclaimed as Yetaxa's divine reincarnation. However, she incurs the enmity of the High Priest of Sacrifice, when - against the Doctor's advice - she attempts to use her new-found authority to put an end to the Aztec practice of human sacrifice.
 

Special Features - Disc One
  • Commentary - with actors William Russell and Carole Ann Ford, producer Verity Lambert OBE.
  • Arabic Soundtrack - optional soundtrack for episode four only.
  • Remembering The Aztecs - actors John Ringham, Ian Cullen and Walter Randall recall the production of the story and of television production in the sixties in general.
  • Designing The Aztecs - designer Barry Newbery talks about his work on the story, illustrated with many never-before-seen production drawings and photographs from his personal collection.
  • Cortez and Montezuma - an extract from a 1970 Blue Peter, introduced by Valerie Singleton on location in Mexico, giving historical background to the Aztec belief in human sacrifice.
  • Restoring The Aztecs - a short featurette demonstrating the restoration and videoisation effects used for the release. With subtitles.
  • Making Cocoa - an animated guide to making cocoa the Aztec way, voiced in character by John Ringham as Tlotoxl and Walter Randall as Tonila, with both characters animated and presented in South Park style.
  • TARDIS-Cam no.3 - the third of BBCi’s TARDIS-Cam shots.
  • Photo Gallery - production, design and publicity photos from the story
  • Easter Egg - an animated BBC Enterprises logo recovered from the end of one of the prints sold overseas.
  • Intro Sequences - the umbrella story title The Aztecs does not appear on any of the episodes, so for (outdated now) BBFC compliance a caption card with the title has been provided. To add interest, six versions have been provided, each with a different voiceover, in character, from three of the actors involved in the production. The intention is that the disc will randomly select one of these six sequences and play it out at the appropriate point.
  • PDF Material – Radio Times listings in Adobe PDF format for viewing on PC or Mac
  • Programme subtitles
Special Features - Disc Two
  • Galaxy 4 (dur. 64’ 43”) – a shortened reconstruction of the missing story Galaxy 4, using off-screen stills, audio recordings and animation plus the recently recovered complete episode three to tell the story.
  • Chronicle – The Realms of GoldJohn Julius Norwich’s superlative 1969 retelling of the story of the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the Aztecs, which also features music by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
  • Dr. Forever! – Celestial Toyroom – the first of a new five-part series introduced by Ayesha Antoine looks at Doctor Who toys. With original series producer Verity Lambert, new series creator Russell T Davies, writers Mark Gatiss, Rob Shearman, Paul Cornell and Joseph Lidster, BBC Worldwide product licensing executive Richard Hollis, product approval executive Dave Turbitt and ex- range editor Steve Cole, AudioGO commissioning editor Michael Stevens, Character Options’ Alasdair Dewar, DWM’s toy reviewer Jim Sangster and last, but by no means least, Doctor Who’s very own Winston Churchill, actor Ian McNiece.
  • It’s a Square World – the very first Doctor Who skit (as far as we can ascertain), with Clive Dunn in full First Doctor costume as a scientist demonstrating his new space rocket to Michael Bentine, resulting in Television Centre being launched into space! Features cameo appearances by Patrick Moore and Albert Steptoe.
  • A Whole Scene Going – an excerpt from a recently recovered edition of the sixties music and arts programme, featuring an interview with director Gordon Flemyng and a behind the scenes look at filming of his movie Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 AD.
  • Coming Soon - a trailer for a forthcoming DVD release.
  • Radio Times Listings - in Adobe PDF format.
  • Programme subtitles




FILTER: - First Doctor - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

DVD Update: The Ice Warriors / The Mind of Evil

Wednesday, 30 January 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Coming Soon: The Ice WarriorsBack in December the BBFC classified a trailer for Second Doctor story The Ice Warriors - this trailer has now been confirmed for the forthcoming The Aztecs - Special Edition DVD, though it should be noted that, as the name implies, the trailer illustrates a release that is "Coming Soon". Restoration Team member Steve Roberts clarified:
I think you'll find The Ice Warriors has moved further back in the schedule. These things happen. It's one of the reasons we no longer put "Coming Soon" on the trailers, now it's simply "Doctor Who on DVD".
Though the trailer indicates that the story is to be released, there is no indication as yet if the new DVD presentation will also feature animated recreations of the missing episodes two and three in the same way as this week's release of The Reign of Terror. Steve Roberts has reported previously, however, that the DVD would include the reconstruction of those episodes that appeared on the original VHS release back in 1998.

The official confirmation of story releases beyond The Aztecs will be announced later in the year.



Meanwhile, the colour restoration work undertaken on The Mind of Evil is almost complete, with the Restoration Team reporting on Monday: "At TV Centre, grading episode one of The Mind of Evil - back in colour and looking stunning!". Unlike episodes two to six, which contained the chromadot information enabling Richard Russell to restore their original colour, the first had no such detail and needed to be painstakingly coloured from scratch by Stuart Humphryes and Peter Crocker.

The fruits of everybody's efforts will be premiered at the BFI on 10th March. The DVD release of the story has yet to be announced.





FILTER: - Third Doctor - Second Doctor - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Bernard Horsfall 1930 - 2013

Tuesday, 29 January 2013 - Reported by Marcus
The actor Bernard Horsfall has died at the age of 82.

He appeared in 14 episodes of Doctor Who, alongside the second, third and fourth Doctors.

Born on 20th November 1930 in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, Horsfall had a long career in film and television in the UK, including roles in the feature films On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Gandhi and Braveheart.

He appeared in many classic television dramas including Casualty, Agatha Christie: Poirot, The Bill, The Jewel in the Crown, Juliet Bravo, Minder, When the Boat Comes In, Within These Walls, Jackanory, Elizabeth R, Doomwatch, Out of the Unknown, Softly Softly, Dr. Finlay's Casebook and Z Cars. He also played the respected doctor Philip Martel in the Channel Islands wartime drama Enemy at the Door, which ran for 26 episodes between 1978 and 1980.

Horsfall's first appearance in Doctor Who came in the 1968 story The Mind Robber, where he played Lemuel Gulliver, encountered by the second Doctor in the Land of Fiction.

After a small role as the First Time Lord in the final Troughton story The War Games, Horsfall returned to the series in 1973, playing the Thal Taron in the six-part story Planet of the Daleks, working with the third Doctor to defeat the Daleks on the planet Spiridon.

His final role in Doctor Who is arguably the one he is most famous for, playing Chancellor Goth in the 1976 story The Deadly Assassin. His most famous scene involved a battle with the fourth Doctor inside the Matrix with the climax of episode three showing the Doctor being held underwater by Goth. The sequence prompted complaints from the TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse and was edited from repeat showings.

Horsfall returned to the world of Doctor Who in 2003 when he played Arnold Baynes in the Big Finish audio play Davros.

The actor, who was due to attend the 2013 Gallifrey One convention next month, collapsed and died this morning.




FILTER: - Obituary - Classic Series

The Ark In Space Special Edition DVD

Wednesday, 23 January 2013 - Reported by John Bowman
The cover and contents of the forthcoming two-disc special edition DVD release of The Ark In Space in the UK have been finalised.

All four episodes have been newly remastered, using advances in technology and technique, and are supported by an expanded collection of bonus features.

The Ark In Space - Special Edition
Release date: 25th February 2013 (Available for pre-order)

Starring Tom Baker as the Doctor, with Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith and Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan
Written by Robert Holmes
Directed by Rodney Bennett

Broadcast: 25th January - 15th February 1975

The TARDIS arrives on the apparently deserted and deactivated space station Nerva, otherwise known as the Ark, orbiting Earth in the far future. There, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry discover the last survivors of the human race held in suspended animation, Earth having been evacuated thousands of years earlier when solar flares threatened to destroy all life. However, the Ark's occupants face a new threat in the form of the Wirrn - an invading insect life form.

Special Features
  • Commentary: With actors Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen plus producer Philip Hinchcliffe
  • A New Frontier: Making The Ark In Space
  • TV movie version: The 70-minute repeat compilation of the story that was broadcast on 20th August 1975
  • Dr Forever! – Love And War: A new documentary examining the Virgin/BBC Books range of novels produced during the show's hiatus. Interviewees include Russell T Davies and Mark Gatiss
  • Scene Around Six: 1978 news footage of Tom Baker's public appearances in Northern Ireland
  • 8mm location footage: Amateur film shot during Tom Baker's first story
  • Interview: With designer Roger Murray-Leach
  • Alternative title sequence and model footage
  • Optional CGI effects
  • Original BBC trailer
  • 3D technical schematics
  • Photo gallery
  • TARDIS Cam
  • Coming Soon trailer
  • Production information subtitles
  • Radio Times listings, Doctor Who Technical Manual, plus Crosse & Blackwell and Nestlé promotional material (Adobe PDF format)
  • Digitally remastered picture and sound quality

UPDATE: 11th FEBRUARY: The release date - originally set for 18th February - has been pushed back a week to 25th February.




FILTER: - Merchandise - UK - Tom Baker - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD - Elisabeth Sladen

The Dalek Invasion of Earth on UKTV

Saturday, 19 January 2013 - Reported by Paul Scoones
UKTVUKTV continues its season of classic Doctor Who stories today (20 January) with the broadcast of The Dalek Invasion of Earth at 3:30pm (Australia) and 3:15pm (New Zealand). The six-part adventure is the third of four stories to be screened as part of the channel's celebration of the First Doctor this month.

It follows earlier screenings of An Unearthly Child and The Aztecs and continues with The War Machines next week, on 27 January (AU:4:30pm, NZ:4:15pm).

For New Zealand this is the fourth screening of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, and the second time that it has been broadcast to mark a milestone anniversary. It was first broadcast in November 1988 as part of the Doctor Who 'Silver Jubilee' celebration. New Zealand viewers missed out on seeing the story in the 1960s as it was judged by the NZBC censor to be unsuitable for children. It did however screen on Australian television in 1965-66.

UKTV is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary in November, focusing on a Doctor a month. February is dedicated to the Second Doctor, featuring The Tomb of the Cybermen (3rd), The Dominators (10th), The Mind Robber (17th), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

All up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.





FILTER: - Classic Series - WHO50 - New Zealand - Australia

UKTV 50th Anniversary broadcasts continue

Sunday, 13 January 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster
UKTVUKTV continues its season of classic Doctor Who stories today (13th) with the broadcast of The Aztecs at 4:30pm (Australia) and 4:20pm (New Zealand).The four-part adventure forms part of the channel's celebration of the First Doctor this month, which kicked off last weekend with An Unearthly Child and continues with The Dalek Invasion of Earth next week (AU:3:30pm, NZ:3:15pm), rounding off with The War Machines on the 27th (AU:4:30pm, NZ:4:20pm).

The channel is showing stories every Sunday throughout the year in the lead-up to Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary in November, focussing on a Doctor a month. February is, as one might then expect, dedicated to the Second Doctor, featuring The Tomb of the Cybermen (3rd), The Dominators (10th), The Mind Robber (17th), and The Seeds of Death (24th).

All up-and-coming broadcasts from both 20th and 21st Century series of Doctor Who can be found via UKTV's Doctor Who sections for Australia and New Zealand.

(with thanks to Paul Scoones, Martin Schultz)




FILTER: - Classic Series - WHO50 - New Zealand - Australia