Misc

While speculation has run rampant for weeks now, BBC Worldwide has just announced the official word on the project. All six parts of the Patrick Troughton story “The Power Of The Daleks” will be animated and released for the episode’s 50th Anniversary.

It’s a move that surprises no one after a clip surfaced (and was immediately removed by BBC) on line, but delights everyone. Power of the Daleks is reported to be one of the more iconic, and powerful stories in the show’s history. It’s Troughton’s first episode, and features the first regeneration, (here called renewal) by William Hartnell into Troughton. While that clip is technically the very end of the preceding story, The Tenth Planet, this episode deals with the ramifications. The story features the second Doctor, Polly and Ben fighting Daleks on the planet Vulcan. It aired only once, and unfortunately was junked as part of the BBCs then standard practice.

The animation is being produced by the same team that did a highly successful animation for a missing episode of Dad’s Army “A Stripe For Frazer”, which was first released on 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.”

Previous animations commissioned by the BBC were usually only two segments to complete a serial that was missing individual pieces, such as “The Reign Of Terror”, “The Tenth Planet”, “The Underwater Menace”, “The Moonrise”, “The Ice Warriors” and “The Invasion”.

“The Power Of The Daleks” will initially be exclusively released on BBC Store, with episode one available on the 50th anniversary of it’s original air date, Saturday, November 5th at 5:50pm.  The others will be released on consecutive days thereafter. Readers can register their interest in the download at the BBC Store. The story will become available online more widely on the 14th of November, and will also be released on DVD in the United Kingdom on the 21st of November.

No other regions have been announced at present.

In addition to the story’s release, 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 September 19th.

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.”

There is no other information on what this announcement means for other missing episodes.

Update:

In the U.S. BBC America announced “The Power of the Daleks” will air Sunday, Nov. 12th and will be available online to stream the next day.