New series experience at South Africa Comic-Con

Thursday, 30 August 2018 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Comic Con Africa (Credit: Comic Con)BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide) have announced that it will be hosting a special Doctor Who experience at South Africa's first Comic Con to tie in with the next series due to air in the country later this year.

The event is taking place in Johannesburg between 14th and 16th September, and will feature VR experiences, video games, trivia and fan giveaways, plus a special showing of Peter Capaldi's finale and the arrival of a new Doctor!

The series itself will be shown in South Africa as a Showmax exclusive, and has been described as:
Bigger and bolder than ever, Series 11 marks the arrival of the Thirteenth Doctor – a super-smart explorer of the universe, alongside a team of new friends and delightful characters. The new series heralds a brand-new era for Doctor Who with a world-class team at the helm. The show will be full of action and adventure, humour and heart – an unmissable high-end drama everyone will enjoy.

BBC Studios can be found at Stand B113 in the Exhibition Hall.




FILTER: - Doctor Who - South Africa - Special Events

Titan Reveals Thirteenth Doctor Comic Launch Details

Tuesday, 28 August 2018 - Reported by Marcus
Thirteenth Doctor #1 - Cover A - Babs Tarr (Credit: Titan )Titan Comics and BBC Studios have revealed launch details for Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #1

The new comic featuring the Thirteenth Doctor will feature variants from leading artists including Babs Tarr (Batgirl, Motor Crush), Sarah Graley (Rick and Morty), Katie Cook (Adventure Time), Ariela Kristantina (Mata Hari), and Paulina Ganucheau (Zodiac Starforce).

This Autumn, join the Thirteenth Doctor in a fresh new series of comic adventures, featuring an array of new faces - including the Doctor herself. Taking control of the TARDIS for this regeneration is an amazing new team: Eisner-nominated writer Jody Houser (Stranger Things, Mother Panic, Faith, Spider-Man), illustrator Rachael Stott (Doctor Who, Motherlands), and colorist Enrica Angiolini (Warhammer 40,000).

The new comic series sees the Doctor return in her most thrilling incarnation yet – played by Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch) - and travels the cosmos with three brand new friends: Graham (played by Bradley Walsh), Yasmin (Mandip Gill), and Ryan (Tosin Cole). Readers can look forward to experiencing mind-blowing challenges and dynamic stories through space and time in the pages of the upcoming new comic series.
Writer Jody Houser said
I love the hope of Doctor Who. Anyone can have an adventure. No matter how old you are, there are still amazing things to discover in the universe. Exploring what makes our new Doctor tick, and what makes this regeneration unique as compared to the previous incarnations, is what I’m really looking forward to doing in the new series.
Titan’s is celebrating this debut issue by launching thirteen variant covers, including art covers by Doctor Who fan-favorite artist Alice X. Zhang, series artist Rachael Stott, Babs Tarr (Batgirl, Motor Crush), Sanya Anwar (Assassin’s Creed), Paulina Ganucheau (Zodiac Starforce), Sarah Graley (Rick and Morty), Ariela Kristantina (Mata Hari) and Katie Cook (Adventure Time).

Plus, a photo cover, a cosplay variant and a Doctor Puppet variant by Alisa Stern – creator of the Doctor Puppet Youtube series.

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #2 will feature covers by Paulina Ganucheau and Rachael Stott, as well as a photo cover.

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #1 is part of Titan Comics' larger plans for the Thirteenth Doctor in 2018, including; Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Vol. 0 – which sees the Doctor relive memories from her many incarnations, showcasing unseen adventures from EVERY version of the Doctor; and Doctor Who Comics Day on November 24 – where fans and stores unite to celebrate everything Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #1 is released this Autumn.

Thirteenth Doctor #1 - Cover B (Credit: Titan )Thirteenth Doctor #1 - Cover C - Alice X Zhang (Credit: Titan )Thirteenth Doctor #1 - Cover D - Rachael Stott (Credit: Titan )Thirteenth Doctor #1 - Cover E - Sanya Anwar (Credit: Titan )Thirteenth Doctor #1 - Cover I _ Katie Cook (Credit: Titan )Thirteenth Doctor #1 - Cover J - Doctor Puppet (Credit: Titan )Thirteenth Doctor #1 - Cover K - Cosplay (Credit: Titan )





FILTER: - Comics - Thirteenth Doctor

Black Archive #23: The Curse of Fenric

Saturday, 25 August 2018 - Reported by Marcus
Curse of Fenric (Credit: Obverse Books)
The latest in the series of Black Archive books, detailing the seventh Doctor story, The Curse of Fenric will be released on 3 September 2018.

The Curse of Fenric is one of the last stories of Doctor Who’s original 26-year run and the first to make use of a Second World War setting.

Complex and thoughtful, the story and its various extended editions draw on a range of sources and responds to a variety of social and cultural contexts. It explores themes of history, maturation, progress and collective action

The story is detailed by Dr. Una McCormack, a New York Times bestselling author of novels based on Star Trek and Doctor Who and who teaches creative writing at the Angela Ruskin University.

The Dark Archive is available from Obverse Books.




FILTER: - Books - season 26 - Seventh Doctor

Update for Season 12 Collection replacement disc process

Thursday, 23 August 2018 - Reported by Chuck Foster
BBC Worldwide have provided clarification on how to get replacements for the faulty discs within the recently released Season Twelve Collection can be requested.

Doctor Who Collection - Season 12 - cover (Credit: BBC Worldwide)We will be offering replacements for the errors on Disc 3 (The Sontaran Experiment) and Disc 5 (Revenge of the Cybermen) in the Doctor Who The Collection Season 12 Blu-ray release.

In order to obtain a replacement, please email your name and address and proof of purchase to the appropriate DVD Support line in the form of a receipt from the retailer. If you do not have a receipt from the retailer, then please email a picture of the product with your full name and postal address in view in the picture. This is for fraud prevention reasons.
The estimated time frame for the replacement to be available is 2-3 weeks.
Please allow some time for the replacement disc to reach you.
We have a high volume of emails and customers to deal with, please bear with us.

Replacement requests and proof of purchase emails should only be sent to these email addresses and not the DVD Enquiry line.

If you have sent your proof of purchase already we will not respond to your email unless there is an issue with your proof. Please await the replacements as outlined above.

Please be assured that we have logged every proof and will get around to replacing all customers discs.

Owing to an administrative issue, some customers erroneously did not receive the correct replacement of Revenge of the Cybermen; DVD Support have apologised for the error, and advise:
If you have received the incorrect Disc 5, we will re-send it when available please re-email the DVD Support line only once with your postal address only. You do not need to resend your proof of purchase.




FILTER: - Australia - BBC Worldwide - Blu-ray/DVD - Doctor Who - Season 12 - UK - USA

Big Finish Celebrates Twenty Years of Audio Adventures

Monday, 13 August 2018 - Reported by Marcus
The Seventh Doctor - The New Adventures (Credit: Big Finish)Big Finish Productions has announced its first wave of special releases to celebrate 20 years of Doctor Who audio adventures

As part of the anniversary celebrations, Big Finish is releasing a number of special titles in 2019 and 2020, each focused on an incarnation of the Time Lord. And today they unveil the first two titles.

Coming out this November, Sylvester McCoy’s calculating and comic Doctor returns with two companions from the Virgin Books’ New Adventures of Doctor Who: Yasmin Bannerman plays Roz Forrester and Travis Oliver plays Chris Cwej in Doctor Who – The New New Adventures.

The Virgin Books’ New Adventures of Doctor Who took the reigns of Doctor Who after the television series finished after its 26th season back in 1989. The novels took a darker, deeper approach to Doctor Who, using longer storylines and ideas that wouldn’t have made it to the television screen.

This new box set includes four stories:
  1. The Trial of a Time Machine by Andy Lane
  2. Vanguard by Steve Jordan
  3. The Jabari Countdown by Alan Flanagan
  4. The Dread of Night by Tim Foley
Producer and director Scott Handcock explains
Yasmin Bannerman, Sylvester McCoy, Travis Oliver (Credit: Big Finish)As a fan who grew up in the era of the New Adventures novels, I was thrilled when David Richardson offered me the opportunity to tackle a new box set featuring the Seventh Doctor, Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej. The feedback to the novel adaptations was fantastic, and getting the chance to tell completely new stories with this TARDIS team has been a joy!

We’ve tried to make the most of the box set format, so we have four original hour-long stories reuniting the Doctor, Roz and Chris – and, of course, Sylvester, Yasmin and Travis, who struck up such a brilliant rapport on the adaptations. The four new tales tackle very different genres, in very different settings and times, with Chris and Roz creator Andy Lane kicking off the box set with his story, The Trial of a Time Machine. There really is something for everyone!
The New New Adventures will be released in November 2018, available as a CD box set for £23 or on download at £20 from www.bigfinish.com

Tom Baker, Nicholas Briggs (Credit: Big Finish)Two new adventures are also being released for the bohemian Fourth Doctor adapted from the comic strip by Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons that featured in Doctor Who Magazine (when it was Doctor Who Weekly).

Doctor Who: The Comic Strip Adaptations will be released in March 2019 comprising of:
  1. Doctor Who and the Iron Legion adapted by Alan Barnes
  2. Doctor Who and the Star Beast adapted by Alan Barnes
In these two adventures, we find the Fourth Doctor travelling with his famed elongated technicolour scarf for company. He’ll encounter the Iron Legion, an army of robotic Roman legionnaires, and in Doctor Who and the Star Beast, the Fourth Doctor encounters one of the deadliest and most adorable villains ever – Beep the Meep!

Nicholas Briggs, director of the Fourth Doctor audio adventures, explains
These Fourth Doctor comic strip adaptations have a whole different feel to them. It’s like they’re from a parallel universe vision of Doctor Who. Tom Baker spotted it straight away, emailing me the moment he’d read The Iron Legion, commenting that this was ‘a bit DIFFERENT’ – actually typing ‘different’ in capitals! But he rose manfully to the challenge and entered into the spirit of it all wonderfully. And that spirit is that they are, essentially, wackier.

There’s a feeling of ‘we could do anything because there are no budget restrictions’ in the original comic strips, and our adaptor, Alan Barnes, has captured this perfectly. Crazy characters, extravagant action sequences. And Alistair Lock has done a superb job with his sound design and music.

The Star Beast has a slightly different feel. The alien monster craziness is contrasted sharply with a dash of kitchen sink drama and a touch of Grange Hill, which predated the TV series exploring more domestic settings. It’s interesting how the brilliant comics writer of these strips, Pat Mills, kind of anticipated this. Alan has a great love for Pat’s work, and he was absolutely the right fit to adapt these beautiful, bonkers adventures of an extra-eccentric Fourth Doctor.
These two epic stories will be released in March 2019 as a 5-disc CD box set for £23 or on download at £20 from www.bigfinish.com. Or you can get both sets together as a pre-order bundle, at £46 on CD or £40 on download.




FILTER: - Big Finish - Fourth Doctor - Seventh Doctor

New Fourth Doctor Audio Adventures

Monday, 6 August 2018 - Reported by Marcus
John Leeson, Lalla Ward, Matthew Waterhouse Tom Baker (Credit: Big Finish)Big Finish have confirmed that the Fourth Doctor, as played by Tom Baker, will be continuing his audio adventures until at least 2021.

Two new audio series featuring the enigmatic time-traveling bohemian have been confirmed, out for release in 2020 and 2021 with the Fourth Doctor being joined by some old friends.

In series nine of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, Tom Baker’s Doctor is reunited with Time-Lady Romanadvoratrelundar II, played by Lalla Ward. And joining them will be Adric, played by Matthew Waterhouse, in his first adventures back with Tom since his regeneration in 1981. John Leeson also reprises K9, the Doctor’s faithful robo-canine companion.

These stories are set in the beginning of Tom Baker’s last television series as the Doctor, season 18, in between the stories State of Decay and Warrior’s Gate. Trapped in E-Space, a pocket universe next to our own (N-Space), the Doctor acquires a new companion Adric, a 15 year old mathematical genius, who begins to travel with the Doctor and Romana.

Volume 1 of Series 9 of The Fourth Doctor Adventures is out for release in January 2020:
  • 9.1 Purgatory 12 by Marc Platt
  • 9.2 Chase the Night by Jonathan Morris
And Volume 2 of Series 9 follows in February 2020:
  • 9.3 The Planet of Witches by Alan Barnes
  • 9.4 The Quest of the Engineer by Andrew Smith
Matthew Waterhouse talked about travelling with the Fourth Doctor again
I’ve always found that when recording a Doctor Who on audio, it felt like coming home. I absolutely loved it, and this (new series) is another development of that. I love the idea of E-Space with the Fourth Doctor, Romana, Adric and K9 travelling together.
David Richardson, producer of The Fourth Doctor Adventures on audio, explains what mystical escapades this TARDIS team will encounter in a universe very different to our own
We’re returning to another much-loved era in Season 9, as the E-Space trilogy gets a massive extension on audio and we explore strange and wonderful worlds in another universe with the genius team of the Doctor, Romana, Adric and K-9.

It’s been such fun recreating the tone and high-concept style of that era, as the travellers begin the search for a CVE (Charged Vacuum Emboitment) which can take them (or at least most of them) home.
In Series 10 the Fourth Doctor will be reunited with Leela (played by Louise Jameson) in four new double-length adventures. David Richardson explains more:
For Series 10 it’s a joy to welcome back our friends Louise Jameson and John Leeson to reprise Leela and K9. The stories include a prequel to The Sun Makers, a visit to a doomed world, and a group of time-travelling tourists who make a terrible mistake.
Series 10 will be released in January and February 2021.




FILTER: - Big Finish - Fourth Doctor

Doctors Meet at London Comic Con

Monday, 30 July 2018 - Reported by Marcus

Multi-Doctor stories featuring the Ninth Doctor may be the stuff of comics and fan fiction, but but attendees at this year's London Film and Comic Con got the next best thing when the timelines of the actors crossed as they were attending the convention.

The 3-day event saw apperances by all past living Doctors bar the seventh, with Christopher Eccleston undertaking his first signing commitments at a convention event.

It was while Eccleston was being moved around the arena he passed Doctor number Eleven Matt Smith resulting in a heartfelt meeting between the two actors, captured for posterity by surrounding fans.

The Ninth Doctor also met Doctor number Twelve Peter Capaldi coming out of a lift, resulting in a hug between the two men.

Christopher Eccleston was asked to feature in the 50th anniversary story The Day of the Doctor, but the actor decided not to appear, resulting in the show runner Steven Moffat creating the character of the War Doctor.

Fans still have hopes that one day the actor will return to the series — maybe for the sixtieth anniversary?

 




FILTER: - Eleventh Doctor - Ninth Doctor - Twelfth Doctor

Comic-Con Panel With Jodie Whittaker

Tuesday, 24 July 2018 - Reported by Marcus
The BBC has released a recording of the full Doctor Who panel at this year's Comic-Con International at San Diego.

The panel featured new Doctor Jodie Whittaker alongside two of her Doctor Who co-stars Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill as well as showrunner Chris Chibnall and Executive Producer Matt Strevens.

FULL Comic-Con Panel | Doctor Who




FILTER: - Jodie Whittaker - Thirteenth Doctor

The Women Who Lived

Tuesday, 24 July 2018 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived (Credit: BBC Books)This September, BBC Books will publish Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived, an illustrated collection of inspiring tales of the women of Doctor Who. It will be the first official book published to accompany the new series, celebrating Jodie Whittaker’s debut as the Thirteenth Doctor.

Written by Christel Dee, former presenter of Doctor Who: The Fan Show, and Simon Guerrier, the book will feature more than 75 inspiring tales of remarkable women of the Whoniverse, both real and imagined. From historical figures such as Agatha Christie and Queen Victoria to fan favourites like Bill Potts and River Song, each woman has made a unique contribution to the world of Doctor Who. Whether they’re facing down Daleks or thwarting a Nestene invasion, these women don’t hang around waiting to be rescued – they roll their sleeves up and get stuck in. Scientists and soldiers, queens and canteen workers, women from outlandish science-fiction and those steeped in real history, they don’t let anything hold them back.

Illustrated throughout with specially-commissioned artwork by a team of female artists – including Gwen Burns, Valentina Mozzo, Sonia Leong, and more – the book also features new companion Yasmin, and an extended entry on the Doctor herself.

Albert DePetrillo, BBC Books Publishing Director, says
We thought long and hard about which book would start our publishing programme for Jodie Whittaker’s first series of Doctor Who – and Christel and Simon’s book is the perfect choice. It’s bold and fresh in its approach, it makes a strong statement, it’s beautifully written, and stunning in its design. It represents everything we love about Doctor Who, and we couldn’t be happier to be publishing The Women Who Lived on the BBC Books list.
Christel Dee says
With Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor arriving this autumn, we thought this would be the perfect time to reflect upon the wealth of incredible female characters from Doctor Who’s 55 year history – because there are so many! We hope the stories in this book will inspire a whole new generation of fans and existing fans too.
Simon Guerrier says
We hope this offers a fresh perspective on the history of Doctor Who, a chance to celebrate the richness of past episodes as well as looking forward to the series’ exciting future. I thought I knew Doctor Who backwards, but we discovered loads of new things in our research for the book.
Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived: Amazing Tales for Future Time Lords will be published on 27th September in hardback, priced £16.99.

Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived (Credit: BBC Books)Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived (Credit: BBC Books)Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived (Credit: BBC Books)




FILTER: - Books - Thirteenth Doctor

The Thirteenth Doctor's sonic screwdriver revealed

Thursday, 19 July 2018 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The BBC have released a new promotional image for the forthcoming series of Doctor Who:

Series 11 - Promotional Image (19 Jul 2018) (Credit: BBC/Elliot Wilcox)

Eleventh Doctor Sonic Screwdriver (Credit: BBC Worldwide/Seven20/Character Options)As can be seen in the above image the Doctor is sporting a new sonic screwdriver - designer Arwel Wyn Jones said:
It’s a privilege to have been asked to redesign the iconic sonic screwdriver for the Thirteenth Doctor and a new generation of audiences. I can’t wait for people to see how the Doctor acquires it!

It was revealed at today's San Diego Comic Con that it will be available to purchase in August - the can be pre-ordered shortly in the UK from Forbidden Planet/Character Options and in the USA from the BBC Shop.

The US and UK toy versions of the Sonic Screwdriver have been created by Seven20 and Character Options, respectively. The new, electronic 8” collectible is a perfect replica of the Doctor’s device, features a light crystal and haa two buttons which control the light and sound elements of the Sonic.


Eleventh Doctor Sonic Screwdriver (Credit: BBC Worldwide/Seven20/Character Options)




FILTER: - Doctor Who - Press - series 11/37