Big Finish has announced some new projects coming up later this year and early 2005, both on their website and in the new issue of DWM. The tenth Short Trips volume, called Short Trips: 2040 edited by John Binns features short fiction including "Nuclear Option" by Richard Salter, "Separation" by Tara Samms, "Thinking Warrior" by Huw Wilkins, "Cateogorical Imperative" by Simon Guerrier, "Observer Effect" by Lance Parkin, "The Baron Wastes" by Alexander Leithes, "Daisy Chain" by Xanna Eve Chown, "Sustainable Energy" by Matthew Griffits, "Culture War" by Kate Orman, "Artificial Intelligence" by Andy Campbell, "/Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet" by Gareth Wigmore, "Outsourcing" by Marc Platt, "Anteus" by Rebecca Levene, "The Last Emperor" by Jacqueline Rayner and "The Ethereal" by John Binns. The cover and cover blurb are below. Due out at the end of the year, in December, is Her Final Flight by Julian Shortman, a Seventh Doctor story that will be sent exclusively to Big Finish subscribers (much in the same way "The Maltese Penguin" was done two years ago). We also have cover illustrations and back cover blurbs for Caerdroia, the third Paul McGann serial of the new batch; and The Scripts Volume 4 featuring scripts from "Omega," "Davros," "Master" and "Zagreus".

The eleventh Short Trips volume, Short Trips: A Christmas Treasury edited by Paul Cornell, features short stories by Peter Adamson, Peter Anghelides, Paul Beardsley, Vanessa Bishop, Andy Campbell, Stephen Cole, Paul Condon, Martin Day, Terrance Dicks, Val Douglas, Karen Dunn, Stephen Fewell, Matthew Griffiths, Simon Guerrier, Shaun Lyon, Juliet McKenna, Jackie Marshall, Mark Michalowski, Lawrence Miles, Jonathan Morris, Neil Perryman, Marc Platt, Ian Potter, Cavan Scott, Darren Sellars, Dave Stone, Nick Wallace and Mark Wright. Editor Cornell told Outpost Gallifrey, "It's going to be quite a hefty collection, perhaps not quite as big as some of BF's recent 100,000 word anthologies, but large nevertheless, and packed full of Christmassy goodness! There's stuff that's bouncy and merry, stuff that's bittersweet, a bit of stuff that's actually pretty bleak, and some stuff that explores that M.R.James 'Ghost Story at Christmas' kind of feel. I won't pick more than one favourite here, but Steve Cole's story is like something out of Brecht, and it just blew me away. I'm trying for that comfortable, warm feeling that Who fans of a certain age associate with autumn, and it's not all fiction: it really is a treasury. There's a 'suitable for all ages' tag on it, too, because I think something with 'Christmas' on the cover should only run the risk of boring children (through prose that's too adult) rather than exposing them to stuff that's too mature for them. And there's a pattern to it that should reveal itself gradually if you dip in, or as a shape if you read it right through."

Meanwhile, a new batch of audios has been announced for 2005. April sees the release of Three's A Crowd by Colin Brake ("Escape Velocity"), a Fifth Doctor story; May features Catch-1782, a Sixth Doctor story; and John Ostrander's delayed Seventh Doctor tale Dead Man's Hand with Ace and Hex is due in June. July features two Eighth Doctor serials, entitled Terror Firma and Clockwerks; and August sees the release of Caroline Symcox's The Council of Nicea, a Fifth Doctor story. According to the new DWM, a story called The Time Sprite by Alison Lawson is on the schedule in May; it's likely that "Catch-1782" is the same story with a new title. The Gallifrey serials, previously mentioned here, also now have a release date: April through August 2005. Mary Tamm is, as rumored, reprising the role of Romana I alongside Lalla Ward (Romana II), John Leeson (K9) and Louise Jameson (Leela); you can visit the Big Finish website for more details. (Thanks to Big Finish, DWM, Steve Tribe)

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, issue #347 now on sale, notes that the director for the second "block" of episodes -- episodes 2 and 3, to be exact -- is Euros Lyn. His previous directing credits include "Cutting It," "Belonging III," "Casualty," "Pam Fi Duw?" and "Sunday Stories". Meanwhile, the director of photography will be Ernest Vincze, whose work incldues "Sea of Souls," "Holby City" and "Linda Green". The issue also notes that the visual effects supervisor will be David Houghton of MillTV, who also worked on the Doctor Who charity special "The Curse of Fatal Death". The magazine features an interview with Houghton and more detail about Lyn and Vincze.

As we previously reported, the forthcoming DVD release Lost in Time will feature 90 seconds of film from the long-lost Doctor Who serial The Space Pirates starring Patrick Troughton, film that was located, we have learned, in some old canisters of film from the series "Dad's Army". The film footage featuers model spacecraft shots and some live action "space walk" footage from the first episode. Through a coincidence, one of the people looking through the canisters was Ralph Montagu of the Doctor Who Restoration Team... who promptly returned the material to the archives so that it could be used on the DVD release. The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine has a bit more detail on this and a couple of photographs; meanwhile, Outpost Gallifrey has been sent two photographs unused by DWM which features the Beta Dart undocking from the Alpha 1 beacon, and Alpha 1's compartments drifting apart. Click on each below for a larger version. (Thanks to Steve Roberts and the Restoration Team)

Issue #347 of Doctor Who Magazine will be out on August 19. The following is the press release for the new issue; click on the thumbnail image for a larger version of the cover. (Thanks to Clayton Hickman/DWM)

BBC Four is reshowing its documentary on the 1960s, Fantasy TV, including Doctor Who clips, this Saturday night at 8pm. Still no news of a non-digital showing, though! (Thanks to Steve Tribe)

Roadshow New Zealand have announced in their monthly e-Newsletter that The Green Death won't be out on DVD until September, a full month after its release on DVD in Australia. (Thanks to David French)

The official Doctor Who website features an interview with Gary Russell of Big Finish, where Russell notes that Mary Tamm will be returning for the second series of Gallifrey audios due out next year (see our earlier story, July 22). Tamm will reprise the role of Romana for at least one chapter, where she will feature together with Lalla Ward... if we can have the Five Doctors, surely the Two Romanas is possible too!

The new series is mentioned in WM, the weekly womens' section of the "Western Mail". On page 13, in a column that lists what the editors think is
currently cool and not so cool, the new series currently heads the "Tomorrow's World" cool section with the following item: "Dr. Who: Midnight filming all over Cardiff, snatched sightings of Billie Piper and Christopher Ecclestone ... ooh, the excitement of the new BBC Wales series. We can't wait for the first episode..." (Thanks to John Campbell Rees)

The Western Morning News on August 9 ran an article, "Popular Daleks escape Dr Who extermination" which focuses more on reactions to the reports of Daleks appearing. It quotes fan John Swithinbank from Seaton, a Dalek model owner: "I'm over the moon, really. I have missed them in a way - for years they have been part of my life. I have been interested in them since I was eight years old." But, he says, "They can't just give us a taste of the Daleks and that be that. It's got to be interesting to see what sort of form they will take - whether they will be made to look like the ones in the old series or whether they will be more high-tech. It's a good opportunity really to bring the Daleks into the modern age, by making them able to fly or something. Anything to step them up from rolling along on casters!"

An edition of this weekend's Daily Sport featured a full page color cover photo of Billie Piper in the buff, or nearly... apparently recycling older paparazzi photos. The story mentions that she and husband Chris Evans "are currently on holiday in the Seychelles," which is either noting a brief break in her filming, or a trip they took in January (according to the Daily Record.) And lest we think Doctor Who isn't back in the public eye, the title of the story is "Dr. Who Babe Sunbathes Topless".

Mad Norwegian Press has announced that its next Faction Paradox book Warlords of Utopia and the re-release of Lawrence Miles' Dead Romance have both been delayed one month; they'll each be out in October. (Thanks to Lars Pearson)

BBC News featured an article yesterday about veteran Doctor Who actor John Scott Martin, one of the troupe of four actors who played Daleks throughout the run of the original series... who has offered to step into the costume again for the 2005 Doctor Who series. The article says Martin would be happy to reprise the role if asked. "I really enjoyed doing it before," he told BBC News Online. "I would happily run around as a Dalek again." Martin and his fellow actors were required to "squeeze into a wooden or metal costume, then scuttle around to simulate the Dalek gliding on three caster wheels," and the heat of the costume meant that inside the Dalek's terrifying shell "you would find the actor dressed in only a T-shirt and swimming trunks." "It could be difficult at times and I'm not as fit as I used to be, but I'm sure I could do it again," Scott Martin told BBC News. According to a BBC spokeswoman, there has been no decision made on whether the Daleks would be automated or operated by actors in the forthcoming new series. The Registerand the Telegraph also have the story.

Meanwhile, Outpost Gallifrey has learned that John Scott Martin will appear on Wednesday morning's GMTV program at 6:50am and "some time after 8am". (Thanks to Gavin Collinson, Paul Engelberg, Steve Tribe)