News

Doctor Who fans have lost another light in the firmament, as Michael Gough, the actor perhaps best known for his role as Alfred the butler in Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) has passed. Gough may be more familiar to Who viewers as The Celestial Toymaker, from the William Hartnell serial of the same name, (which sadly, is one of many stories for which only fragments exist).

He would return to Doctor Who as Time Lord councilor Hedin in the Peter Davidson story, “Arc Of Infinity” (which coincidentally features future Doctor Colin Baker). Gough screen credits include the television shows The Saint and The Avengers, and movies Out Of Africa, Sleepy Hollow, and many of the Hammer Horror films. He most recently did voice work in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland.

Gough was 94. He will be missed.

In honor of Red Nose Day in the UK the BBC has put Doctor Who: Curse of Fatal Death on their website. Red Nose Day is March 18th and helps to raise money for those in need in the UK and Africa. To participate or contribute to the cause, you can go here: Red Nose Day

Entertainment Weekly has the scoop on the U.S. release date for Doctor Who Series Six.

The news has been verified by BBC America and the launch is set for Saturday, April 23 at 9 p.m ET (8 p.m. CT).

From EW:

Doctor Who fans, your wait is almost over. EW has learned the premiere date of the new season of the international cult hit, plus some plot details and we have a first look at the show’s marketing art.

BBC America will launch Doctor Who on Saturday, April 23 at 9 p.m ET. That’s Part One of a two-part opener penned by showrunner Steven Moffat (who also did the BBC’s Sherlock reboot — rent it if you’re a Holmes & Watson fan and haven’t seen it yet). This season also includes guest star Mark Sheppard (Supernatural, Battlestar Galactica). Alex Kingston (ER, Flash Forward) is returning for this round too.

Read more here!

Gallifrey One’s Catch 22: Islands of Mystery the Doctor Who convention going on right now in L.A. is getting some love from the media.

NBC Los Angeles posted on it’s website, a story about this weekend’s event. Evidence that Doctor Who is experiencing an surge in popularity among those in the U.S.

From NBC Los Angeles:

It’s a long way from Los Angeles to London, which may have some California-based Gallifreyans in a bit of a funk this mid-February. After all, the brand-new, much-ballyhooed Doctor Who Experience is debuting, way far from here, across the Atlantic. And, for some, pressing a TARDIS into service might be the only way to check it out.

But, take heart, time-and-space travelers: Gallifrey 2011 is taking over the dimension known as the Los Angeles Airport Marriott from Friday, Feb. 18 through Sunday, Feb. 20. (Full name of the convention, we’ll note: Gallifrey One’s Catch 22 Islands of Mystery; it is the 22nd annual “Doctor Who” con in North America.)

From its name you might guess that it is a Doctor Who convention, and you’d be correct. It isn’t just any Who Con, though; it is billed as the “North American Doctor Who Celebration!”

For more of the story, click here.

For more on Gallifrey One’s Catch 22: Islands of Mystery, click here.

I’m about a day behind, but several internet sites reported yesterday that Wayne Knight (of Seinfeld, 3rd Rock from the Sun, and Jurassic Park fame) has joined the cast of Torchwood: Miracle Day.

From Den of Geek

We can confirm that Knight is definitely on board the new series, as has been hinted by a couple of Twitter feeds relating to the show. As Doctor Who News reported, the BBC Torchwood account sent out a Tweet saying, “We’ve got Alexa Havins here with us today with a special guest, here’s a clue ‘Uh uh uh didn’t say the magic word.'”

An interesting casting choice. While Knight’s résumé spans a variety of genre of T.V. and films, he is most known for his roll on NBC’s Seinfeld as Jerry’s quasi-adversary, Newman.

Knight first gained notoriety as Dennis, in Stephen Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, as the man who sets off the films chaotic events.

I guess we’ll find out more about Knight’s character on Torchwood in the coming months.

The day has finally come. The one I have been waiting for since the movie aired way back in May of 1996.

North American fans can now get a (legal or region 1) copy of Doctor Who: The Movie on DVD. I for one am excited to revisit this classic story and finally have access to all of the extras included on the discs.

The story has always held a special place in my heart. It was the first time I had hope that Doctor Who would make its way back to television after the wilderness years began in 1989.

I believe it also paved the way and in fact some of the inspiration for the new series that would ultimately rescue the show from the darkness in 2005.

In less than an hour I will be watching the film in all of it’s Who goodness… blemishes, continuity problems, and all.

And don’t forget we will be reviewing the story on the next episode of Traveling the Vortex, so be sure to check it out.

From Radio Free Skaro:

June 14 sees the next two North American releases of Classic Doctor Who stories, and this time around we get the Peter Davison story Frontios along with Sylvester McCoy’s first outing in Time and the Rani.
Frontios tells the story of a human colony in the far future, and as yet no release date is known for other parts of the world.

Time and the Rani introduces the world to Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor as he takes on the dastardly Rani in a DVD released last year in the UK.

Proper package art isn’t yet available for the titles but of course we’ll update this post once we have it.

SRP will be $24.98 each, and in the mean time check out more details at TVShowsOnDVD.com.

We want one! Or maybe two! I’ll let the video below speak for itself.

From ActiveDad.co.uk

Doctor Who is now (unofficially) LEGO Compatible! The Character Building range of Doctor Who toys has nothing to do with LEGO but the bricks and characters work together. We had a play at Toy Fair 2011.

£1.99 buys you one of a series of 10 characters and you don’t know which one you’ve bought until you open the packet. We announced the launch of these toys last week and now we’ve got our hands on them we’re even more excited.

You’ll have a few months to buy the characters and swap them with your friends. Daleks, Amy, the Doctor and all the rest of the alien hordes are collectible. The theory behind these toys is to perfect the figurines with a world of Doctor Who scenes to build and save for. The Inside of the Tardis is the most expensive item for £49.99.

Click here to read more of the article.

According to a tweet from @classicdw on Twitter earlier today, the DVD release of the Third Doctor story “The Ambassadors of Death” has been delayed due to ongoing restoration issues.

In the tweet 2|Entertain says “Due to ongoing restoration issues, Ambassadors of Death will now not be released in 2011. #doctorwho”.

The company had hoped to get the story out later this year and it was due to be released along with the 1977 story The Sun Makers as part of it’s “The Solar System” box set.

Only one episode currently exists in it’s original color format, with the others kept as 16mm black and white film.

An off air recording of “Ambassadors” from WNED Channel 17 in Buffalo was used to restore episodes five and six to color for it’s 2002 VHS release.

2|Entertain has said it is working to restore the story through colorization techniques.

I love it when popular culture and Doctor Who collide!

From The Doctor Who News Page: Torchwood: Week Two Filming

The Doctor Who News Page reported recently that the folks over at 2entertain have confirmed the classic Doctor Who stories currently being worked on for release this year.

“Planet Of The Spiders” – Jon Pertwee
The third Doctor’s swan song story as he faces off against the Giant Spiders.
Extras include: Commentary, 90 minute compilation edition, Jon Pertwee on Wogan, John Kane remembers, The Final Curtain – Documentary, Directing Doctor Who: Barry Letts, Now and Then: Locations

“Spearhead From Space” / “Terror Of The Autons” – Jon Petwee
A double release of the third Doctor’s introduciton story re-issue, along with the debut of The Master.
Spearhead Extras include: Regenerations: Documentary, UNIT Recruitment film, Down to Earth: Documentary, New Commentary
Autons Extras include: Extra Footage, Commentary, Plastic Fantastic: Documentary, The Doctor’s Moriarty, Life on Earth: Documentary

“Frontios” – Peter Davison
The fifth Doctor’s TARDIS is apparently destroyed druing a meteorite bombardment on Frontios.
Extras include: Commentary, Isolated Score, Driven to Distraction

Earthstory Box Set – “The Awakening” / “The Gunfighters” – Peter Davison / William Hartnell
The fifth Doctor watches a Civil War re-enactment turns real from the affecting influence of an alien war machine, and the 1st Doctor lands in Tombstone.
Awakening Extras include: Commentary, Outakes, On the Cutting Room Floor, Kamelion deleted scene, Barry Newbury – Designer: Documentary, Location Footage, Now and Then
Gunfighters extras include: Commentary, End of the Line: Documentary, Tomorrow’s Times, The First Doctor

“Paradise Towers” – Sylvester McCoy
The seventh Doctor battles the inhabitants of a run-down apartment tower.
Extras include: Commentary, Girls Girls Girls: 1980’s, Horror of the High-Rise: Documentary
Rejected Score, Jigsaw

Revisitations 3 – “Tomb of the Cybermen” / “The Three Doctors” / “Robots Of Death” – Patrick Troughton / Jon Pertwee / Tom Baker
Three stories released near the start of the DVD range now get revisited with additional restoration work and special features. Tomb of the Cybermen – In this once thought to be lost forever second Doctor story, an Earth archaeological expedition attempts to uncover the lost tombs of the Cybermen. It’s the earliest surviving complete story with the Second Doctor, and has now been through the VidFire process designed to restore the look of the print to its original condition. In the 10th anniversary episode The Three Doctors must unify against renegade time lord Omega. The fourth Doctor must find a murderer on board a giant sandminer, who may not be human in Robots Of Death.
Cybermen Extras include: New Commentary, Tomb and the magic of VidFIRE: Documentary
Sky Ray promo, Lost Giants Documentary, Curse of the Cybermen: Documentary, Cybermen: Documentary
The Three Doctors extras include: Making of Documentary, When Doctor Who was Uncool: Documentary
Robots of Death extras include: Sandmine Murders: Documentary, Robophobia Documentary
Girls Girls Girls 1970’s

The Solar System Box – “Ambassadors of Death” / “The Sun Makers” – Jon Pertwee / Tom Baker
The third Doctor has been restored to full color as UNIT investigates Mars Probe 7, while the Fourth Doctor and Leela join forces with rebels on Pluto, where there are now six suns.
Ambassadors extras include: Battle for Mars Probe 7: Documentary, Tomorrow’s Times, The Third Doctor.
Sun Makers extras include: TX Trail, Running from the Tax Man: Documentary, Doctor’s Composer: Dudley Simpson

Day of the Daleks (Special Edition) – Jon Pertwee
No details available at this time.

Commissioning Editor Dan Hall revealed the sixth Doctor story Vengeance on Varos with Colin Baker was considered for re-visiting, but was dropped after review. He indicated he would be willing to reconsider this decision should there be increased demand favoring the re-release.

Time to get those emails and Twitters going!

According to Spinoff Online

Six Feet Under star Lauren Ambrose has signed on for the highly anticipated fourth season of Torchwood, newly retitled as Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Entertainment Weekly reports that she’ll appear in seven of the 10 episodes as Jilly Kitzinger, “a sweet-talking PR genius with a heart of stone who’s just cornered the most important client of her career … and maybe of all time.” Ambrose joins returning stars John Barrowman and Eva Myles, recent additions Bill Pullman, Mekhi Phifer (Lie to Me, ER) and the just-cast Alexa Havins (All My Children) and Dichen Lachman (Dollhouse).

Previously called Torchwood: The New World, the co-production of Starz and BBC Worldwide tried on its new title last week as creator Russell T. Davies revealed the first plot details during the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

“The premise is a miracle happens in the world,” Davies said. “One day, on Earth, no one dies. The next day, no one dies. The day after that, no one dies. The [people who are] dying, keep dying … but don’t actually die. The possibility of death ceases to exist. Which is great for some people. But it’s an instant overnight population boom. The earth relies on people dying … What is society going to do now? Some of the answers are beautiful and brave. Some of the reactions are terrifying.”

Torchwood: Miracle Day began production this week, and will debut on Starz and BBC One on July 1.

It was just confirmed that Sir Ian McKellan and will be returning to the role of Gandalf in director Peter Jackson’s two part upcoming Hobbit film. He joins returning alumni of Andy Serkis (Gollum), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel), Christopher Lee (Saruman) and Elija Wood (Frodo).

Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy has also been cast as the wizard Radagast the Brown. While the character mainly appears in The Lord of the Rings (he’s the one who, unwittingly, lures Gandalf into Saruman’s trap in Fellowship of the Ring) it appears Peter Jackson may be taking some liberties with the book’s material to expand on several themes.

Linked to the production by muliple sources is the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, who may be up for the role of Thranduil the Elvenking, who Bilbo (Martin Freeman) will meet on his journey to destroy Smaug, the dragon.

Two Doctors in one film? Pinch me. Filming starts next month, with The Hobbit: Part 1 hitting theaters on December 19th, 2012. Part 2 comes out in December 2013.