3rd Doctor

By now I will assume you have seen the latest episode of Doctor Who, The Angels Take Manhattan. If you have not, you may want to stop reading this until you have because this piece may spoil the episode for you. So consider this a spoiler alert (insert cloister bells here). 

In this next to last episode of the year 2012 we see the Ponds for the last time. Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) are doomed to live the rest of their lives in Earth's past without any further visits from the Doctor… Or we are led to believe at least. Though never say "never" in Doctor Who as it has been proven time and time again.

What did you think of their farewell? 

Doctor Who: Podshock - Episode 265
Running Time: 1:55:13

Classic Jon Pertwee story, 'Doctor Who and the Silurians' DVD is reviewed, parts 3 and 4 of the Frazer Hines interview series (concludes), news, and more. Hosted by Louis Trapani, Ken Deep, and Dave Cooper.

This is just a quick heads up to let you know that a new episode of DW Podshock and Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi have been recorded and are both currently in post production now. They should be arriving in your feeds later in the week.

Included in the upcoming Podshock episode is a review of the classic Jon Pertwee DVD Doctor Who and the Silurians and the conclusion of the Frazer Hines interview.

We review series 5 of The Sarah Jane Adventures in the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi.

Traditionally at this time of the year, it is common to look back at the past year before leaping forward into the new year. We'll do one better… actually forty seven better by looking back at the past 48 years of Doctor Who in this timeline infographic. So before you ring in the new year, look back at the past years of your favourite Time Lord in this in-depth overview of the Doctor's adventures through the years on television along with his companions and iconic foes.

Special thanks to James of cabletv.com for allowing us to share this with you.

Doctor Who by the numbers… Track the Doctors through time and see how they each fared with viewers. Which Doctors do fans favour? Which episodes were the most viewed? Which episodes are the fans' favourite? How many on-screen adventures did we see for each Doctor? These questions and more are answered and visualized in the inforgraphic below.

(Special thanks to James at cabletv.com for offering us to share this with you).

This video has been in the making for some time now as I have seen various earlier incomplete versions of it over the last few years now I believe. Originally created as a mock trailer by OtaKing77077 (on YouTube) has expanded into a mini-episode. Because it was originally meant only as mock trailer, it lacks some narrative. It is done in the style of 1980's anime featuring 1970's Doctor Who mostly (it is a 3rd Doctor Jon Pertwee story). It features many original voice clips of various characters from the series as well as some original vocal work. Almost every iconic aspect of 1970s and some 1980s Doctor Who is depicted here except K9 perhaps.

For some reason the video had been pulled from YouTube, someone else had posted it again in the above.

It is with great sadness and a very heavy heart, that I report the passing of Nicholas Courtney,  best known for his role as the Brigadier. 

He was first seen in Doctor Who as Bret Vyon a security agent in the 12 part "The Daleks Master Plan" Later taking up the Role of Colonel Lethbridge Stewart in "The Web of Fear" and then comming back one year later as Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart in the Invasion. 

As reported in Wired magazine the restoration of Ambassadors of Death has gotten a boost due to a new editing computer. 

"Their method is a refined version of that trialled on the 2009 Planet of the Daleks re-release; it is now being deployed on a seven-part 1970 Jon Pertwee adventure, The Ambassadors of Death. "It seemed almost recordings, they didn't filter off the colour carrier [encoded as a 'chroma dot' pattern in each frame], which for the last few decades has been nothing more than an annoyance." Team member Richard Russell used the signal to reverse-engineer raw colour pictures that could be retouched frame by frame. "It's very, very labour intensive -- several hundred man hours' work every episode," says Steve Roberts. Luckily, a new "quadrant editor" is helping them to produce better source material upfront, so they hope to deliver the Ambassadors episodes to the BBC within weeks."

As we previously announced, the Doctor Who 1996 Movie will finally be released as a region 1 DVD in North America. It has long been available on region 2 (I had my copy for some time now), it has been tied up in release rights issues between the studios involved (BBC, Fox, Universal) for a region 1 DVD release since the movie first aired.

We were pleased to report that it would finally be coming to region 1 with the recent revisiting of the DVD (a new re-release edition). Up until now, we didn't have a release date other than 2011 for this 8th Doctor adventure starring Paul McGann and Daphne Ashbrook. Now according to tvshowsondvd.com, BBC and Warner Home Video have announced that it will be released on February 8th as a 2-disc set titled, 'Doctor Who - The Movie: Special Edition.'

It coincides with the release of another 2-disc set 3rd Doctor story, 'The Mutants' starring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant on DVD.

According to various (unconfirmed) reports on the net, the new 4th series of The Sarah Jane Adventures will be returning to the BBC and CBBC on Monday, 11 October 2010 (with part 1 of The Nightmare Man by Joseph Lidster).

It is unclear whether the new series is back to one episode a week or will it be similar to last year which transmitted two episodes a week. Remember, each story takes two half-hour episodes to tell in The Sarah Jane Adventures. The BBC had commissioned two new series (24 x 30-minutes episodes), this is the first of the two (12 episodes telling six stories). No details as of yet pertaining to this series outside of the UK.

Exiled to Earth and now working for UNIT as their scientific advisor, the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) is summoned to an underground research center at Wenley Moor to investigate a series of inexplicable power losses. Available in color for the first time!

It was a quarter of century ago today, as hard as it is for me believe, is when the Gallifreyan Embassy began. Unbeknownst at the time, it was the day after the Discovery Channel was launched. It was also the day after the launch of the space shuttle Discovery (STS-51-G) which marked the first Arab and Muslim in space (payload specialist Sultan bin Salman bin Adulaziz Al Saud). Yes, it was 1985. Ronald Reagan was in the White House, Commodore launches the Amiga personal computer while NeXT is founded by Steve Jobs after leaving Apple Computer.

Just two weeks before we went Back to the Future in the theaters, the Gallifreyan Embassy of Long Island officially began.

A screenshot taken from the video of the Gallifreyan Embassy working the 5th pledge drive break during WLIW's marathon of Doctor Who: The War Games in August 1987. It contained pre-recorded interviews with Jon Pertwee, Sylvester McCoy, and John Nathan-Turner.

See the video interview here: Jon Pertwee, Sylvester McCoy, John Nathan-Turner, and Gallifreyan Embassy on 1987 WLIW Pledge Drive

"One day I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back…"

Doctor Who: Podshock - Episode 172 EXTRA Edition
Running Time: 1:44:51

We review all 10 Doctor's eras of Doctor Who in this Deca-Doctor Special of Doctor Who: Podshock. As we approach the new 11th Doctor era, we review where we came from with the previous 10. Included are interviews we conducted over the years with various actors to play the Doctor (including Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann), some of which have never been featured on Doctor Who: Podshock before.

"A tear, Sarah Jane? No, don't cry. While there's life, there's..."

Doctor Who: Podshock - Episode 163
Running Time: 1:23:14

News, Planet of the Spiders Review, Whooverville 2009 Report

Hosted by Louis Trapani, Ken Deep, and James Naughton with Dave "AC" Cooper.

Cover art for Doctor Who: Podshock - Episode 163 (reviewing Planet of the Spiders and reporting on Whooverville 2009)

"On this planet there is a saying, that it is never too late."

Doctor Who: Podshock - Episode 160
Running Time: 1:29:03

Composers Dominic Glynn and Danny Stewart interviewed, Spearhead from Space reviewed, news, and more.

Hosted by Louis Trapani, James Naughton and Ken Deep.

Forbidden Planet (UK) has announced the availability of two versions of the 3rd Doctor (as played by Jon Pertwee) collectable action figure expected to arrive in their warehouse on the 30th of October 2009. It is going to be available in two sets.

The Daily Mirror is reporting that all eleven Doctors will be coming together for a special one-off special for Children in Need this November. It reports that the 15 minute episode will be included in BBC1 annual Children In Need appeal in November and shooting of it will begin in September.

This is not the first time a rumour of this nature appeared in the tabloids. The same thing was said to be happening last year for Children in Need except with 10 Doctors which did not happen.

The article states that "images from their original shows, stretching from 1966 to 1974" will be used for the actors William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee who have since passed away. They will make cameo appearances through footage from these previous episodes.