As we approach the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who, revisit the story of Doctor Who, the occasional series written for the 50th Anniversary, explaining the origins of the programme.
Episode 31 - An Unearthly Series - The Origins of a TV Legend: First published 23 Nov 2013
Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace animated on DVD and Blu-Ray
BBC Studios has announced that the second Doctor story, The Underwater Menace will be released this autumn on DVD and Blu-Ray.
The two-disc box set contains the fourth season story, first broadcast in 1967, as well as special features.
This classic series stars the second Doctor Patrick Troughton and co-stars Anneke Wills as Polly, Michael Craze as Ben and Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon.
The original 1967 master recordings of The Underwater Menace were wiped soon after the programme's original transmission. Film recordings of Episodes Two and Three survive as well as audio-only recordings of episodes One and Four. These recordings have been used to create a brand-new fully animated presentation of this lost story.
This story sees these characters navigate through their adventures in the underwater city of Atlantis where they meet with Professor Zaroff, who plots to destroy the Earth by draining the oceans. All episodes have been animated in colour and black and white whilst including original film elements.
DISC ONE (Main Feature)
DISC TWO (Special Features)
Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace will be available for fans to buy from November 2023. It is available for pre-order on Amazon
Doctor Who: Chronicles – 1967 is the fifth issue in a lavish series of bookazines from the makers of Doctor Who Magazine.
Having recently made his debut as the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton really made the role his own in 1967. However, Doctor Who’s newfound stability was soon threatened by behind-the-scenes changes.
As Dalek creator Terry Nation withdrew the rights to use the programme’s most notorious villains, the search began to find new monsters that could fill the gap. This prompted an unforgettable run of stories, including The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Abominable Snowmen and The Ice Warriors.
In this 116-page bookazine, all-new features and rarely seen images tell the story of a year that produced some of Doctor Who’s best-loved episodes.
Contents include articles on:
The year’s most significant events in the Doctor Who universe (both on and off screen)
Doctor Who in the popular press
The Dr Who Annual
Special effects and production techniques
Wall’s Dr Who Sky Ray cards and album
The Highlanders, The Underwater Menace, The Moonbase, The Macra Terror, The Faceless Ones, The Evil of the Daleks, The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Abominable Snowmen and The Ice Warriors
… and much more!
Doctor Who: Chronicles – 1967 is on sale from Thursday 16 June, RRP just £9.99 from panini.co.uk and selected branches of WH Smith while stocks last.
It’s also available digitally from pocketmags.com priced £8.99.
The BBC has announced that an animated version of the 1967 story The Abominable Snowmen will be released next year.
The story stars Patrick Troughton, Jack Watling, Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling. Originally shown between 30th September 1967 - Saturday 4th November 1967. it was the second story of Season 5 and features the Doctor's first encounter with the Yeti and the Great Intelligence.
Most of the six-part story is missing from the BBC Archives, with only episode two still existing.
The release gives fans the opportunity to enjoy the six new fully animated presentations of this lost story, which will be released alongside the one surviving segment episode two.
Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen follows the Doctor as he returns to the Himalayas 300 years after his first visit to the Holy Ganta, an ancient relic he was given many centuries ago by the grateful monks at Det-Sen Monastery. On arriving, the Doctor is blamed for a series of brutal murders in the area, however companions Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield discover the true culprits – the previously peaceful Yeti that live in seclusion on the mountainside have apparently turned violent.
The Doctor must convince the monks that not only is he not their enemy, but the real foe is living amongst them. Their ancient Master, Padmasambhava, is being controlled by an alien entity known only as the Great Intelligence.
Russell Minton, Executive Producer of The Abominable Snowmen, said:
Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen is available to order from Amazon,
BBC Studios have announced that the second Doctor story, The Evil of the Daleks is to be released as an animated special edition on 27th September 2021.
Today's announcement comes on the 54th anniversary of the broadcast of the last episode of the original version which brought an end to the 4th season of Doctor Who.
The Evil of the Daleks is the mostly-missing ninth and final serial of the fourth season of Doctor Who, which originally aired in seven weekly parts from 20th May to 1st July 1967.
Following the success of the existing animations, The Evil of the Daleks fills another gap in the missing Doctor Who content lost in the purge of the BBC archive soon after the programme’s original transmission. However, audio-only recordings of all seven episodes have survived and have been used here to create a brand new fully animated presentation of this lost classic, featuring the original surviving second episode.
The Doctor (Patrick Troughton) stars alongside his travel companion Jamie (Frazer Hines). The story unfolds as the Doctor and Jamie set out to find the missing time machine, bringing them face to face with a very old enemy - the Daleks, who have a new masterplan to conquer the universe. The Daleks force the Doctor to help them on their quest to ‘humanise’ themselves into deadlier living weapons.
This particular story is notable for introducing the Doctor’s new companion Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling), first seen in the surviving second episode, and also for presenting the Dalek Emperor.
The three-disc release gives fans the opportunity to enjoy The Evil of the Daleks, available in either colour or black and white. The release will include:
Anne Marie Walsh, Director of the 2021 production said
The BBC is to release the Soundtrack from the Second Doctor Story The Ice Warriors as a vinyl disc
Demon Records is releasing the narrated TV soundtrack of the partially ‘lost’ six-part adventure set in a future Ice Age, starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor.
Presented across a trio of 140g Molten Ice vinyl discs, this 1967 TV soundtrack – only four episodes of which survive as film recordings - is narrated by Frazer Hines, who co-stars as the Doctor’s companion Jamie, with Deborah Watling as Victoria.
The guest cast includes Bernard Bresslaw as the Ice Warrior Varga, Peter Barkworth as Leader Clent, and Peter Sallis as Penley. Incidental music is by Dudley Simpson, and the familiar strains of the Doctor Who theme are courtesy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
The coloured LPs are presented in fully illustrated sleeves which, when assembled together, form the cover image. Original episode billings, and full cast and credits, are included.
The discs will be released on the 4th June.
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BBC Studios have revealed the artwork and extras for Doctor Who: Fury From The Deep
Starring Patrick Troughton as The Doctor, the new animated release will be available on DVD, Blu-ray and Steelbook from 14th September 2020.
Pre-orders are available now from Amazon.
Following the success of existing animations The Power of the Daleks, The Faceless Ones, Shada and The Macra Terror, Fury From The Deep fills another gap in missing Doctor Who content lost in the purge of the BBC’s archive in 1975.
The three-disc release gives fans the opportunity to enjoy Fury From The Deep in high definition, either in full colour or in black & white. The release will include the surviving clips from the original 1968 production as well.
Fury From The Deep is told across six episodes and stars Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling. The storyline concerns a colony of sentient, parasitic seaweed, last seen in the eighteenth century, returning to attack a number of gas instillations in the North Sea in an attempt to take over humanity.
Animated episodes from Big Finish Creative Limited in association with Digitoonz Media & Entertainment and Thaumaturgy are joined by a wealth of extras.
A making-of featurette ‘The Cruel Sea - Surviving Fury From The Deep’ sees original cast members Frazer Hines, June Murphy and Brian Cullingford revisit filming locations with production assistant Michael Briant, assistant floor manager Margot Hayhoe and helicopter pilot Mike Smith.
Other contributors to this segment include writer Victor Pemberton and actress Deborah Watling. There’s also an archive audio interview with director Hugh David.
Additional material includes:
· Audio commentaries
· The Cruel Sea – Surviving Fury From The Deep
· Original surviving footage
· Behind The Scenes 8mm footage
· Animating Fury From The Deep
· Archive interviews with Peter Day and Victor Pemberton
· Teaser Trailer
· Photo Gallery
· The Slide Audio Drama
· PDF scripts
RRP:
DVD – £20.42 / Blu-Ray - £25.52 / Blu-Ray Steelbook - £40.84
BBC Studios have announced a Special Edition of the animated story The Power of the Daleks will be released on 6th July 2020.
The BBC has released more details about the March release of the Doctor Who missing serial The Faceless Ones.
BBC Studios have announced that the next missing Patrick Troughton story to receive the animated treatment will be Fury From The Deep, the penultimate adventure from the fifth season which features the departure of travelling companion Victoria.
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