The Doctor Who 50 Years’ Trailer was tonight broadcast in Australia on ABC1. The 60 second teaser was aired after Kakaduand just prior to the 8.30 p.m. start of Luther. In all respects the trailer is identical to the one shown on BBC One seven days earlier with the exception of the final sting. As Australia’s time is ahead of Britain’s the simultaneous broadcast of the 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor,on the evening of 23 November UK time will actually be early on the morning of 24 November 2013, Australian time. The sting on the Australian version of the trailer therefore states 24.11.13.
The Radio Times is a weekly radio and television programme guide which has been published in the UK since 1923. Owned and published in house by the BBC until 2011, the publication is now owned by Immediate Media Company. Prior to the deregulation of British television listings in 1991 the Radio Times only carried listings for BBC radio and television programmes. Since then the magazine has comprehensively listed programmes on all networks.
The first article published by the Radio Timeson Doctor Who on 21 November 1963 discussed the exciting new adventure series starring William Hartnell
Doctor Who has been represented in more Radio Times covers than any other programme, with 29 issues featuring Who on its cover. Today the Doctor Who Mind Robber will review the five best Doctor Who Radio Times covers of the Sixties.
The return of the Daleks was worth a Radio Times Cover story when the Second Doctor’s first serial, The Power of the Daleks, was broadcast in November 1966.
A rare colour cover for 1960s Radio Times with Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor in The Enemy of the Worldin January 1968.
As a comparison with the current era, here’s a September 2012 cover of the Radio Times featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory. The Daleks are still a major draw card.
A September 2012 Radio Times cover for the premier Series 7 episode, The Asylum of the Daleks
The success on iTunes of the recently recovered Troughton era serials, The Enemy of the Worldand The Web of Fear, has conclusively shown that 45 year old monochrome Doctor Who can successfully compete against the best current release TV shows. An article in the UK’s Mirrornewspaper states that in the first three days after the release of the two stories 10,000 series pass downloads were sold. Presumably this figure is for sales in the UK only. The article goes on to state that to date there have been 73,000 episode downloads.
The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear have only been released on iTunes in the UK, US, Canada and Australia. Enemy is due for release on DVD in late November and Web is due sometime in the New Year. Rumours continue to surface that Marco Polomay have been recovered and is soon to be released.
In the light of Doctor Who’s missing episodes hysteria the Doctor Who Mind Robber today looks at 5 Serials that you’d swap for missing episodes. Even the most rabid of fans acknowledge that the output of Doctor Who has never been consistent. Some stories are brilliant whilst others would have been best left unmade. As 97 episodesare still claimed by the BBC to be missing from their archives, which extant episodes would you willingly ditch for a recovered one?
The Sensorites is the most unloved serial of Season One Doctor Who. In a documentary included in the Special Features of the DVD release comedian Toby Hadoke described the serial in the following way:
The Sensorites. Poor, unloved, The Sensorites. Nestling, lost somewhere, down the back of the fans’ collective sofa. There it lies at number 7 in the first heady year of Doctor Who. It didn’t even have the decency to be wiped so we could all mourn its loss, and imagine how brilliant it must have been. It’s not a story anyone really talks about. We certainly don’t know that much about it …
Although beautifully directed The Ark has undoubtedly the worst monsters in Classic Series Who, the Monoids. In my review I described the Monoids like this:
Also travelling on the spaceship are an assortment of animals and the Monoids, a peculiar mute race whose most distinctive feature is their one eye. This single eye is in their mouths, or at least what would’ve been their mouths if they had human anatomy. These eyes are actually painted ping pong balls which the actors held in place with their mouths. Now that’s ingenious small budget special effects for you! On the top of their heads is a long Beatles style mop top wig, whilst the rest of their bodies are clothed in green ill fitting garb. They have webbed hands and feet and move slowly.
The Keys of Marinus is the second of two little regarded serials in Doctor Who’s first season. The six parter was among the more expensive stories to produce as each episode took place in a different location of Marinus. Season 16’s The Key to Time is not dissimilar. Unfortunately the variety of locations makes for a disjointed serial and the chief monsters, the Voord, are what young people today might best describe as “rubbish”. With wet suit clad bodies and swimming flipper feet their most redeeming features were their quite unusual heads.
In my review of The Space Museum I discussed the DVD extra, Defending the Museum. In it the writer Rob Shearman outlined his devotion to The Space Museum which rests solely upon the assumption that the storyis a parody of William Hartnell era Doctor Who episodes. The aggressors, the Moroks, are little more than morons who invade a planet only to turn it into a museum for their past achievements. The rebels are excruciatingly bad. Dressed in black polo neck jumpers, they look like students in a coffee bar. Vicki starts a revolution only because she’s bored and the native Xerons don’t need a great revolutionary, just a locksmith! That The Space Museum can only be appreciated if it’s considered a parody says much for the low esteem in which it’s generally held. The serial is unlikely to be missed.
The Doctor hiding inside the casing of a Dalek exhibit is one of the best parts of The Space Museum
I was so utterly bored by The Web Planet that I couldn’t even find the enthusiasm to review it. The best parts of the story are William Hartnell’s “Billy Fluffs” and when an extra ran slap bang into a camera and it wasn’t edited out. This fan made compilation clip, however, is brilliant.
The recently recovered missing serial The Enemy of the Worldis set for DVD release in Australia and New Zealand on 27 November 2013. Although both The Enemy of the Worldand The Web of Fearwere released on iTunes Australia on 11 October, neither of the serials are available on iTunes in New Zealand. Like Australia, New Zealand has purchased and aired Doctor Whosince the very first story, An Unearthly Child,almost 50 years ago. The BBC’s snub of New Zealand fans is deplorable. As The Web of Fearis not due for DVD release until sometime in the new year, New Zealanders still have a long wait to see the Brigadier’s debut.
Details on what, if any, special features are included in The Enemy of the Worldhave yet to be released. The latest issue of the Doctor Who Magazinestates that “Enemy is due to be released on DVD in November, along with special features yet to be confirmed”. The British Board of Film Classification appears not to have approved any special features to date. A basic release without special features has become known in fandom as a “vanilla” release.
The current edition of the Doctor Who Magazine with The Enemy of the World cover. This edition of DWM is also available with a special edition cover featuring The Web of Fear
Enemyis currently available for pre-order at both the BBC Doctor Who online store and the ABC Shop for $19.95. As both retailers ordinarily sell new release Doctor Whoclassic series DVDs for $29.95 one wonders if the discounted price reflects a “vanilla” release. Alternatively, the reduced price may be based upon the assumption that purchasers have previously bought the release for $14.99 on iTunes. Only time will tell!
A Radio Timesproduced retro poster for The Enemy of the World
The Doctor Who Mind Robber 