TV Movie coming to North America

Wednesday, 25 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: The TV Movie2|entertain has confirmed the 1996 TV Movie will be released on DVD in North America.

The news was given by the Commissioning editor of the Doctor Who range, Dan Hall, in an exclusive interview with Hoo on Who.

The TV Movie stars Paul McGann in his one television appearance as as the Eighth Doctor. It was made as a co-production between Universal Television, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide, and the Fox Network and as a result the DVD rights outside the UK were not, until now, available to 2|entertain. Following discussions between 2|entertain and Universal the situation has now changed giving North American fans a chance to own a Region 1 version of the story for the first time.

The DVD is expected to be released in North America within the next twelve months. It will also be released in Australia and New Zealand.




FILTER: - Canada - USA - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD - Paul McGann

Doctor Who Prom on BBC Three

Wednesday, 25 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: MeglosThe Radio Times is listing the 2010 Doctor Who Prom for transmission on BBC Three on Monday 6th September at 8.30pm.

The broadcast will follow a repeat of the most recent series finale The Big Bang.

The Prom is being broadcast in a one hour slot implying the programme will be edited, probably removing the non Doctor Who music. The Prom took place on Saturday 24th July when it was broacast on BBC Radio Three. It was hosted by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill.




FILTER: - Music - Special Events

One Show Christmas Promo

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
One ShowThe One Show played host to guests Matt Smith and Karen Gillan last Friday, during which the pair refused to give away any details of this year's Christmas Special.

However, a promotional photo for the episode was revealed (see below).

UK viewers can catch the show on the BBC iplayer until Friday (28th), and international viewers can see Matt and Karen involved with batter experiments via the BBC's YouTube channel.

Christmas Promotional Photo




FILTER: -

Doctor Who games for Nintendo

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Evacuation EarthEvacuation EarthBack in March there was a report that Nintendo had signed a £10m deal with BBC Worldwide to produce games based on Doctor Who. Various online shops have now listed two games to be released: on the DS platform comes Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth, whilst the Wii platform will see Doctor Who: Return to Earth; it is uncertain when these scheduled to be released (Amazon lists them for the 29th October, Play for the 19th November).

The game has also been classified by the Australian Government for release in the country.

No other details on the games are known at present.




FILTER: - Games

Meglos - Coming to DVD

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: MeglosThe BBFC has classified an trailer for the fourth Doctor story Meglos, indicating it is due for DVD release in the next few months.

Meglos was the second story of Season 18, and was first broadcast between 27 September and 18th October 1980. Alongside Tom Baker as the Doctor it stars Lalla Ward as Romana and John Leeson as the Voice of K9.

The story also saw the return of the actress who played Barbara Wright, one of the original companions in Doctor Who, Jacqueline Hill, who played Lexa in the story. Bill Fraser also appeared as General Grugger, Frederick Treves as Lieutenant Brotadac, Colette Gleeson as Caris, Crawford Logan as Deedrix and Christopher Owen as Earthling.

The story was written by John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch and directed by Terence Dudley.

Meglos was released on VHS in March 2003 and when released on DVD will see the completion of Season 18.




FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Seeds of Doom - Extras

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who: The Seeds of DoomThe BBFC has cleared extras for the October release of the 1976 fourth Doctor story The Seeds of Doom, which, as previously reported, will be released in the UK on 25th October 2010.

  • Pod Shock (The making of) 37'14"
  • Playing in the Green Cathedral (Featurette) 10'02"
  • So what do you do exactly? (Featurette) 15'35"
  • Stripped for Action - The Fourth Doctor in comic form 20'17"
  • Easter Egg 1'13"
  • Easter Egg 0'08"
  • Photo Gallery 4'45"
  • TV Continuity 1'23"

Some of the previously announced extras for the Revisitation Box have also been cleared. The documentaries accompanying the re-release of the 1996 TV Movie have a duration of 53'52" for The Seven year Hitch and 17'09 for The Doctor's Strange Love.




FILTER: - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

Doctor Who - The Adventure Games - TARDIS

Friday, 20 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
The Adventure GamesThe third instalment of Doctor Who: The Adventure Games will be available from 27th August.

The game will be based around the TARDIS with players exploring the famous blue box and visiting rooms created specially for the game, such as the Doctor's drawing room, full of treasures from his many adventures.

Lead Writer and Executive Producer, Steven Moffat, told the official Doctor Who website
Since 1963, kids have wondered what it would be like to control the TARDIS. Now we're handing complete control of the most powerful ship in all of space and time to a generation of children. Everybody duck. TARDIS is a brilliant, brilliant adventure. It's funny, touching, terrifying, amazing - everything a Doctor Who episode should be.

The game features the voices of Matt Smith and Karen Gillan and is executive produced by Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger, Beth Willis and Anwen Aspden from BBC Wales Interactive, alongside Charles Cecil. Music is by Murray Gold and TARDIS is written by James Moran, who wrote the Tenth Doctor story The Fires of Pompeii.

UK players will be able to download the game free of charge from the BBC official site. Users outside the UK will be able to purchase and download the game from Direct2Drive.




FILTER: - Online - Games

SFX200 Poll Results

Thursday, 19 August 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
The results of the sci-fi poll undertaken for the SFX magazine's 200th issue have been announced, and Doctor Who continues to prove its popularity in the genre.

The Doctor took top place in the Favourite Hero category; runners up included Ianto Jones in fourth place, and his former boss and partner Captain Jack Harkness trailing in the number eleven slot! In the Favourite Heroine category, Donna Noble was fourth, Rose Tyler in eighth place, and Sarah Jane Smith was tenth.

For Favourite Villains, The Master topped the poll, with Dalek creator Davros fourth. Unsurprisingly his creations The Daleks claimed the title for Favourite Monsters, Supernatural Beings & Fantasy Creatures, with other favourite The Cybermen stomping into thirteeth place.

In other categories, the Favourite Robots & Androids category featured K9 in fifth place, whilst Favourite Anti-Heroes, Accidental Good Guys And Dodgy Do-Gooders included Captain John Hart (James Marsters in Torchwood) in third place.

You can view the full results at the SFX website, and the 200th issue of SFX hits stores next week.




FILTER: - Magazines - Awards/Nominations

The Doctor to the rescue!

Thursday, 19 August 2010 - Reported by Chuck Foster
One ShowMatt Smith and Karen Gillan are to appear on The One Show, it has been reported today. The two will be joining new presenter Chris Evans on his first show tomorrow (Friday).

The Sun reports that the pair came to the rescue of the show, which was having difficulty in booking a guest for the DJ's first outing on the revamped BBC1 magazine programme.

Update: The One Show's official site information on the Friday programme:
Chris Evans makes his debut on The One Show sofa with Alex Jones.

The stars of Doctor Who, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, join them to chat about fish and chips, action heroes and bird-watching. In homage to the great British fish and chip supper, they'll be seeing if they can run across 1000 litres of batter at the end of the show!




FILTER: - Karen Gillan - Matt Smith

Torchwood: The New World

Wednesday, 18 August 2010 - Reported by Marcus
TorchwoodStarz have published more details of the upcoming Torchwood co-production with BBC Worldwide. The series is due for transmission in the summer of 2011.

SERIES SYNOPSIS
When C.I.A. agent Rex Matheson investigates a global conspiracy, he finds himself unearthing a threat which challenges the entire human race. The answers seem to lie within an old, secret British institute, known only as Torchwood. But Torchwood was destroyed, years ago, and the keys to the institute are held by its only two survivors - former Police Officer Gwen Cooper, who has long since disappeared along with her husband and child, and the mysterious Captain Jack Harkness, a man whose history seems to stretch back centuries.

With Rex under attack from all sides, in both the US and the UK, he soon discovers there are forces at work within every level of society, determined to stop Torchwood's return. As a chain of events across the world links together the most disparate and unlikely individuals - including a surgeon, a killer, senators and CEOs - a new Torchwood team takes shape. But this time, the threat is much closer to home, as they realize that their greatest enemy is mankind itself...
CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS (John Barrowman)
Jack looks like a hero. But he's so much more than that...

He's American, handsome, with a killer smile and a classic coat. But you don't expect heroes to be this much fun. He's witty, fast, subversive and there's a reason for that glint in his eye - he'll sleep with women, he'll sleep with men; if aliens invade, he'll sleep with them too. Got a problem with that? Tough! His dashing style hides a secret. There are mysteries about Jack - a man going under his name seems to have a history stretching back to World War 2, or even earlier, to the Nineteenth century, the Eighteenth...

Truth is, Jack Harkness is immortal. A fixed point in time and space. The only one of his kind. For thousands of years, he has never been able to die. When killed, he comes back to life - seconds later. Though his tragedy is, he feels every death. It hurts - and so does the passage of time. He can never love anyone for too long, because he will always lose them. As a result, he's lived many lives. He's been a conman, a thief, an adventurer - though more a rogue than a villain, because his perspective on human life makes him appreciate this world all the more.

Jack once ran the Torchwood Institute, a British organization dedicated to fighting the strange and bizarre. He was king of his own little world for a while, the happiest he'd ever been. But Torchwood fell. His friends were killed. The Institute closed down, and Jack disappeared, to start yet another of his many new lives. And yet... The only thing that could call Jack Harkness back is his unstated love for Gwen Cooper. And when a new, epic danger affects the whole planet, Jack finds himself back at the center of events, fighting not just for his own life, but for everyone on Earth. But this time, are the stakes too high?
GWEN COOPER (Eve Myles)
All Gwen wants is a quiet life. Honest.

She's Welsh, lives in seclusion, far away from the city, on a cliff top in the wilds of South Wales with her devoted husband, and baby Anwen - it's a rural idyll. And it's a lie. Gwen is in hiding, because she once lived the most extraordinary life. She was the heart and soul of an organization called Torchwood, a freelance band of fighters who fought the strange and unexplained. She was a defender of the human race.
But no more. Torchwood was destroyed. Her colleagues died, or fled. And Gwen hid herself away, for the rest of her life, to protect her loved ones. But knowing, just knowing, that one day trouble would come calling again.

She lives the ultimate double life: the funny, salty, earthy woman who loves home and family, combined with the tough, ruthless warrior, who loves the thrill of the fight. She's both selfish and selfless. And never doubt it - when Gwen's in a crisis, she is magnificent. Gun in both hands, baby strapped to her chest, she'll run and fight and never give up.

It's passion, in the end: Gwen's all about passion. She loves her man, she loves her child, she loves this mad old world, and maybe she loves Captain Jack Harkness just a little too much. But when the events of this story push Gwen to the limit, she'll need to call on resources she never knew she had, to take action and make the most terrible decisions, on behalf of all mankind.
REX MATHESON (Actor TBD)
He’s 28, the golden boy.

Has been, all his life. Harvard education, fast-tracker in the C.I.A., destined for success. Though he’s never taken it easy – Rex hustles, seduces and campaigns to get where he is today. He can talk his way into anything, then charm his way out, fast. He’s made a lot of enemies, but his friends and lovers would defend him to death. His choice of career is significant. Someone like Rex could make a fortune in Wall Street, or Hollywood. But choosing the C.I.A. says a lot about him: that for all his swagger, he does believe in justice. And will fight for it.

Slowly but surely, we see him make friends. He’s thrown together a bunch of people known as Torchwood, the only people who might have the answer to a global mystery. To Rex, at first, they’re a bunch of freaks. Welsh women and World War 2 Captains, what’s that about?! But as they race from one crisis to another, dodging assassins, blackmail, corruption and conspiracy, from Washington to Wales and the slums of Shanghai, Rex forges friendships in the heat of fire. He learns to trust his new colleagues. And they realize that this dangerous, dazzling, reckless man is the best friend they could ever have, in a world going to hell.
They frighten us, men like Rex. We wish we were him; we never will be.




FILTER: - Torchwood - Miracle Day (Series 4)