Class Comes to Comic Con

Thursday, 20 October 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The BBC have announced that the writer and cast of the new BBC series Class will attend the MCM London Comic Con later this month.

Patrick Ness and the show’s cast including Ram (Fady Elsayed), Charlie (Greg Austin), April (Sophie Hopkins), Tanya (Vivian Oparah) and producer Derek Ritchie, will talk about Coal Hill Academy's first term in the Whoniverse giving give con-goers an insight into the series as well as presenting an exclusive screening of episode three.

The event takes place at Excel London at 15:00 on the Saturday of Comic Con which runs from 28-30 October.




FILTER: - Class - Special Events

The Power of the Daleks to be shown in US cinemas

Wednesday, 12 October 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The Power of the Daleks (animated) - The Daleks (Credit: BBC Worldwide)BBC America and Fathom Events have announced that the new animated version of The Power of the Daleks will be shown in cinemas across the United States on 14th November 2016, a few days before it premieres on television at 8:25pm on the 19th November. The showings will also feature bonus content, including interviews with members of the original cast.

Kymberli Frueh, Fathom Events Vice President of Programming, said:
We’re pleased to continue our long-standing and successful partnership with BBC AMERICA to bring more fantastic Doctor Who content to the big screen The Whovians are always one of our biggest and most passionate groups of fans at the cinemas.
Soumya Sriraman, EVP, Franchise and Digital Enterprises, BBC Worldwide North America, said:
Ahead of the premiere on BBC AMERICA, it is a rare treat to be able to bring the lost episode, Power of the Daleks, to life using modern animation techniques. Doctor Who cinema events have been incredibly successful, and this is extraordinary opportunity to allow a new generation of fans the opportunity to experience this classic adventure for the first time.

Tickets go on sale for the showings via Fathom Events and at participating cinemas from 14th October.





FILTER: - Cinema - Special Events - USA

DWAS: Polarity Day update

Wednesday, 5 October 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The Doctor Who Appreciation Society have updated us with the following changes to their forthcoming event to celebrate former Doctor Jon Pertwee:

Polarity Day (Credit: DWAS)Following discussions with the venue we are moving to a larger auditorium at Wimbledon Theatre, meaning that there are now plenty more free tickets available for our event on 23rd October 2016. with the maximum number available per application going up from 2 tickets to 4. The increased venue size has also allowed us to add to the guest list with John Levene (Benton) and Bernard Holley (Axon leader) also joining us. The Society’s honorary president, Colin Baker will also be attending to talk about working with Jon and more.

This weekend we will be holding an eBay auction at our site to help raise money for our Heritage Plaque and for The Grand Order of Water Rats, which Jon was a big supporter of during his life.

More details on the event can be found in our previous news article and on the DWAS website.




FILTER: - Conventions - Jon Pertwee - Special Events

Titan at New York Comic-Con

Monday, 3 October 2016 - Reported by Marcus
Convention Special 2016 Cover A (Credit: Titan)Convention Special 2016 Cover B (Credit: Titan)Titan Comics have announced that Doctor Who comics – under license from BBC Worldwide North America – will be arriving in force at the New York Comic-Con taking place later this week.

On Friday, October 7, 2016, at the NYCC Live Stage at 11:15AM, Titan kicks off the celebrations with a Doctor Who live stream interview featuring creators from across all Titan’s Doctor Who comics line, including writers Nick Abadzis and Paul Cornell, artists Simon Fraser and Rachael Stott, and editor Andrew James.

Titan’s Doctor Who panel is one fans will not want to miss - packed with exclusive reveals, never-before-seen artwork previews, and comic guests! With writers Nick Abadzis, Paul Cornell, Simon Fraser, Rachael Stott, artist Chris Jones, and hosted by editor Andrew James, this panel will reveal upcoming plans for Titan’s Doctor Who comics, giving fans the first scoop on 2017 happenings. This panel will take place on Saturday, October 6, at 7:45PM in room 1A21. All attendees will receive a free goodie bag bundle of Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctor comics – each bag includes the 2015 convention one-shot.

Titan’s top talent will be signing Doctor Who comics over the weekend at Titan’s booth #2142; an opportunity to meet Nick Abadzis, Mariano Laclaustra, Rachael Stott, and Alice X. Zhang from 3:30PM on Friday. On Saturday, starting at 1PM, Paul Cornell, Simon Fraser, and Chris Jones will be signing Doctor Who comics at the booth.

Additionally, Titan is bringing back the Doctor Who 2016 Convention Special comic, featuring an all-new Doctor Who story, The Long Con, starring the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctors! With art by Leandro Casco, Simon Fraser, and Walter Geovanni, this convention special comic comes with two collectable covers by Simon Fraser and Alice X. Zhang. The special also includes all nine Supremacy of the Cybermen back-up strips (from the First Doctor to the War Doctor) by George Mann, Cavan Scott, and a cavalcade of creators, including Dan Boultwood, Mike Collins, Simon Myers, Andrew Pepoy, Blair Shedd, Lee Sullivan, and many more.

Doctor Who fans attending this year’s New York Comic-Con can purchase this special comic at the Titan booth #2142.




FILTER: - Comics - Special Events

DWAS: Polarity Day

Tuesday, 27 September 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Polarity Day (Credit: DWAS)The Doctor Who Appreciation Society have announced details of their forthcoming special event dedicated to the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee.

Taking place on the 23rd October 2016 between 1:00pm and 5:30pm, Polarity Day will celebrate his time as the Doctor, with guests including Katy Manning, Richard Franklin, Bob Baker and Terrance Dicks. The day will also feature a special showing of The Claws Of Axos. Tickets to the main event is free, and may be applied for via post - see the website for further details. There will also be opportunities for photos and autographs at an additional charge.

Members of the Society will also be able to apply for separate tickets to attend the unveiling of the new Heritage Plaque in honour of Pertwee by his widow Ingeborg and daughter Dariel, with an invited audience of his friends and colleagues.

It is still possible to purchase a set of TARDIS Roundel badges from the Society, the proceeds of which go towards raising funds for the plaque, and for Pertwee's favourite charity, the Water Rats. For full details see the DWAS website.





FILTER: - Conventions - Jon Pertwee - Special Events

Power of The Daleks at the BFI

Monday, 19 September 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The British Film Institute has now released details about its forthcoming special event based around the new, animated version of Patrick Troughton's premiere story, The Power of the Daleks:

The Power of the Daleks (animated) - The Doctor (Credit: BBC Worldwide)Preview: Doctor Who – The Power of the Daleks (animated)

We are delighted to preview the first three episodes of the new animated version of this classic story.

The TARDIS lands on the planet Vulcan where the crew discover a crashed space capsule containing some very dangerous visitors. This classic story containing the historic TV moment when the First Doctor regenerated into the Second is completely missing from the archives, but the audio recording still exists. We are delighted to preview the first three episodes of this specially commissioned, animated version of the story, painstakingly recreated for BBC Worldwide for release on DVD. The first episode was originally broadcast 50 years ago, on 5 November 1966.

The event also includes a Q&A with Troughton era actors Anneke Wills and Frazer Hines.

Tickets go on sale from the 4th October at 11:30am, and will be priced at £22.70, which includes a copy of the DVD which will posted once released. There is a maximum of two tickets per booker. More details can be found via the BFI website.





FILTER: - Classic Series - Second Doctor - Special Events

The Power of the Daleks: 50th Anniversary animation

Wednesday, 7 September 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster
BBC Worldwide and BBC America have officially announced the first full story featuring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, The Power of the Daleks is to be released as a new animated version on the 50th anniversary of its first broadcast.

The Power of the Daleks (animated) - The Daleks (Credit: BBC Worldwide)
The Power of the Daleks (animated) - The Doctor (Credit: BBC Worldwide)
It's one of the Doctor’s most celebrated adventures and yet no complete film recordings of The Power of the Daleks are known to have survived. The master negatives were destroyed in an archive purge in 1974.

BBC Worldwide and BBC America have announced that a brand new black and white animation based on audio recordings of the programme using the original cast, surviving photographs and film clips will be released via the BBC Store 50 years to the minute after its only UK broadcast on BBC One, with its television premiere on BBC America taking place a week later.

The six half hour episodes feature the regeneration, or as it was then called ‘renewal’, of First Doctor William Hartnell into Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, as the Time Lord and his companions Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze) do battle with the Daleks on the planet Vulcan.

Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks was a joint commission by both BBC Worldwide and BBC America, and is produced by the team behind the highly successful animation of lost Dad’s Army episode A Stripe For Frazer - first released on the UK's BBC Store in February this year. The producer and director is Charles Norton, with character designs from acclaimed comic book artists Martin Geraghty and Adrian Salmon.

Charles Norton says:
The Power of the Daleks animation is the most ambitious Doctor Who archive restoration ever attempted and we’re all very honoured to be a part of such a an exciting project. Intelligent, suspenseful and magnificently staged, Power of the Daleks is one of the great lost classics of 1960s television and a superb example of the black and white era at its finest.

Paul Hembury, Executive Producer, BBC Worldwide says:
Charles and his team are remarkably talented and passionate about Doctor Who and we are thrilled that fans will soon be able to enjoy this rather sinister but wonderful, classic story.

Doctor Who: The Power Of The Daleks will initially be exclusively released on BBC Store, with episode one available from Saturday 5th November at 5:50pm, and the others released on consecutive days thereafter. It will then be shown on BBC America on the 12th November.

The story will become available to stream from BBC America's website and via their app from the 13rth November, and more widely in the United Kingdom from the 14th November, plus the story will be released on DVD in the United Kingdom on the 21st November (no other regions have been announced at present). UK readers can register their interest in the digital download at the BBC Store.



In addition to the story's release on the 5th November, there will be a special screening of the first three episodes at the BFI in London, which will include a Q&A with Anneke Wills, Charles Norton and Frazer Hines. Further information will be available from the BFI website from Monday 19th September.




FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Leading News - Online - Second Doctor - Special Events

DWAS raising funds for Heritage Plaque to honour Jon Pertwee

Wednesday, 31 August 2016 - Reported by Chuck Foster
TARDIS Pin (Credit: DWAS)Jon Pertwee was the first honorary president of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. In honour of the man who played the third Doctor, the Society is raising funds for a new Heritage Plaque, which is aimed to be installed at the New Wimbledon Theatre (the theatre played host to the premiere of the stage play The Ultimate Adventure in 1989).

As part of the fund-raising, DWAS are selling badges based on the TARDIS roundels, which can be purchased in sets of seven via their website.

The actor will also be celebrated at a special one-day event held by DWAS, Polarity Day, which will take place in London on the 23rd October.


In 2014 the Society unveiled a plaque in memory of Doctor Who's first producer, Verity Lambert at the then Riverside Studios in London. Pertwee himself was also remembered in 2002 when plaques commemorating the first three Doctors were unveiled at the former BBC Television Centre.





FILTER: - Merchandise - Special Events

Doctor Who Club of Australia to Celebrate 40 years

Sunday, 14 August 2016 - Reported by Marcus
Type 40
The founders of the Doctor Who Club of Australia (DWCA) have announced they will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the club, at an event in Sydney next month.

Antony Howe, Dallas Jones and Kerrie Dougherty, will be holding a dinner on the evening of Wednesday, September 21st, exactly 40 years since the club was founded.

This club was launched at a screening of the film Dr. Who and the Daleks held by the Sydney University Science Fiction Association (SUSFA). Fans attending the screening were given a leaflet announcing the formation of the DWCA, originally called The Australasian Doctor Who Fan Club, and were given a few copy of the first issue of the club’s magazine, called Zerinza.

The anniversary dinner will be held at the City of Sydney RSL Restaurant — Villaggio on George. The dinner will commence at 6.30 pm and run through to 10 pm.

The only cost to attend the dinner is for the food and drinks consumed. If you wish to attend you need to contact the team at dallasljones@hotmail.com. You cannot just turn up on the night.

More details on Facebook




FILTER: - Australia - Special Events

Doctor Who Comics Day - Details

Sunday, 3 July 2016 - Reported by Marcus
Next Saturday is being designated the third annual Doctor Who Comics Day by Comic publisher Titan.

The event, on Saturday, July 9th, 2016, is promised to be bigger and better than ever, with the launch of a new crossover event comic - Doctor Who: Supremacy of the Cybermen that includes special variant covers. Events planned include signings, contests, and fun activities.

The five-part, bi-weekly adventure, Doctor Who: Supremacy of the Cybermen, stars the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors, and is penned by best-selling comic authors George Mann (Eighth Doctor, Dark Souls) and Cavan Scott (Ninth Doctor), with art by Alessandro Vitti (Secret Warriors) Ivan Rodriguez (The Spider) and Nicola Righi (Eleventh Doctor).The story features one of the Doctor’s most iconic foes, the Cybermen, who celebrate their 50th anniversary this year! The series also features beloved companions including Rose (Billie Piper) and Captain Jack (John Barrowman). Leading up to the release of Supremacy of the Cybermen, Titan will be releasing nine exclusive one-page teasers - featuring Doctors from up and down the timeline - in each of Titan's four ongoing Doctor Who stories.

Doctor Who signings are taking place across the globe on Doctor Who Comics Day including: Cavan Scott, George Mann, & Rachael Stott at Forbidden Planet London (UK); Rob Williams at Forbidden Planet Bristol (UK); Simon Myers at Forbidden Planet Birmingham (UK); Rachael Smith at Travelling Man, Manchester (UK): Paul Cornell at Gosh Comics, London (UK); Neil Edwards at Forbidden Planet Liverpool (UK); Gordon Rennie and Emma Beeby at Forbidden Planet International Edinburgh (UK); Boo Cook at Scorch Comics, Eastbourne (UK); Blair Shedd at Newbury Comics (USA); Andrew Pepoy & Jason Millet at Graham Crackers (USA); Mark Wheatley at Beyond Comics (USA); Todd Nauck at Big Red Comics (USA); Kelly Yates & Tony Shasteen at Borderlands (USA); Richard Starkings at Pulp Fiction (USA); and Question No. 6 At 3331 Arts Chiyoda (Japan).

Titan’s Doctor Who story, from this year’s Free Comic Book Day event will be available for FREE on digital devices. This Free Comic Book Day edition features four all-new short tales of the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctors written and drawn by the creative teams from Titan’s four ongoing Doctor Who titles,.

Titan continues the celebration by offering Doctor Who Comics Day t-shirts and mugs featuring art by Supremacy of the Cybermen artist Alessandro Vitti, and a limited edition Doctor Who Titans: “Army Of Ghosts” Cyberman 3-inch vinyl figure - only available at comic book stores nationwide.

OTHER EVENTS:

Titan will release multiple variant covers to collect, including Supremacy of the Cybermen variants by Alessandro Vitti, photo variant by Will Brooks, a Cyberman cover by Fabio Listrani, a blank sketch variant, a fun coloring variant, and exclusive retailer variants at Forbidden Planet and Books-A-Million. There will be special variant covers across Titan’s comics line throughout July, including Fourth Doctor #4 variant by Andrew Pepoy and Jason Millet, Ninth Doctor #3 variant by Dan Boultwood, Tenth Doctor Year Two #12 variant by Blair Shedd, Eleventh Doctor Year Two #11 variant by Rod Reis, and Twelfth Doctor Year Two #7 variant by Todd Nauck & Hi-Fi.

For the first time this year Titan is supplying Doctor Who fans with kits to host their own reading group events on the same day. Over 300 parties are planned across the globe to read and celebrate Doctor Who comics.

A Doctor Who Twitter marathon contest is planned for the day via Titan Comics’ Twitter page @ComicsTitan. Doctor Who comic creators Cavan Scott and George Mann will be answering fan questions at 11:00am EST that day via Titan Comics’ Twitter page. Fans can ask question using the hashtag #DWCD.

Titan is encouraging all fans to get creative and visit their local participating store on Doctor Who Comics Day in cosplay, then tweet pictures to @ComicsTitan.

For more information about Doctor Who Comics Day visit: DoctorWhoComicsDay.com




FILTER: - Comics - Special Events