Sci-Fi Storm

For the first time, classic episodes from the Tom Baker years of Doctor Who will be released on Blu-ray in the U.S.!

Tom Baker’s entire first season, Season 12 of the classic series, will be released as a single unit as [asin=1652]Tom Baker Season 1[/asin], consisting of 6 discs. All the episodes, plus all the extras that were on the individual DVDs will be included. In addition, all new extras will be added, including an all new candid interview with Tom Baker; “Behind the Sofa”, watching various clips with Tom Baker, Philip Hinchcliffe, Louise Jameson, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Sadie Miller; new “making of” for “The Sontaran Experiment” and “Revenge of the Cybermen”, and more!

If this sells well, we can expect more such releases of the classic series!

No surprise either – the upcoming series of Doctor Who with Jodie Whitaker taking over the title role will also see a new stylized title logo and a new opening. See it below!

New Doctor, new season, new logo. #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/hZT7gBnz3W

— Doctor Who BBCA (@DoctorWho_BBCA) February 20, 2018

Yesterday we bid adieu to another Doctor, on the annual Christmas special episode, “Twice Upon A Time”, Peter Capaldi’s final appearance is the title role of Doctor Who, 4 years to the day of his official debut. In the episode the 12th Doctor crosses paths the “THE” Doctor, the original (played by David Bradley, who played the original actor, William Hartnell, in the dramatization of the original production of Doctor Who, “An Adventure in Space and Time”), when both contemplate fighting against regenerating and allowing themselves to die. They both soul search over their decisions while at the same time struggle over the life of a World War I soldier (played by writer/actor Mark Gatiss) who was taken away from certain death on the battlefield by an unknown force that could stop time. Incidentally, another cameo that you have have missed – the German soldier in the crater with him was played by Toby Whitehouse, who has also written a number of episodes and is also the creator of Being Human.

Now, it wouldn’t be an episode of Doctor Who if some liberties in continuity, established canon, etc. aren’t taken. If you are a sticker for those things, you probably have given up on Doctor Who in the 60s aren’t aren’t reading this anyways. But the important points were the emotional ones, between the characters and with themselves. And when it is revealed who the soldier is, it hits you right in the feels for fans of the classic run of the series.

Especially compelling is the advice that the 12th Doctor gives to himself – well, his future self. While I don’t have the same feeling of loss as with after Ten and Eleven left, I will still miss the old fool – but I am excited to see what new directions we are going in…

The Doctor Who episode “Shada” is legendary…unlike other incomplete episodes, which were due to the BBC purging the film archives of some of the original masters, Shada was never completed. The final episode of the 17th season, starring Tom Baker and written by Douglas Adams, had production canceled part way through due to a strike at the BBC. When the strike ended, the schedule had slipped too far into the holiday programming production time and ultimately it was never resumed. Douglas Adams was reportedly fine with the episode remaining in the annals of legend, unhappy with the script in the end.

Since then, the episode was released in its incomplete form with some narration to fill in the missing parts, and also retooled as an audio drama for the Eighth Doctor.

Now the original is getting the BBC’s latest method of filling in lost episodes – by animating them! Last year, they restored Patrick Troughton’s debut episode, [sfs=1582]”The Power Of The Daleks”[/sfs], by reconstructing the missing parts with animation. As an added bonus, not only does Tom Baker lend his voice to the animated segments, but also filmed a new segment with an appearance by K-9!

The episode follows the Doctor and Romana as they are called to Cambridge by Dr. Chronotis, a “retired” Time Lord who holds the key to the location of Shada, the prison planet of the Time Lords. A alien genius, Skagra, wants the location to be able to harness the collective intellect of the most notorious criminals in the universe so that he may take over, well, everything.

The new release is available today on iTunes (at least in the UK – I don’t see it in the iTunes store in the US), and a DVD release in the UK on December 4th and the [sfs=1622]US on January 8th[/sfs].

Jodie Whittaker will not be flying in the TARDIS alone this coming season, of course, and now we know who will be on board with her.

Bradley Walsh (Coronation Street, Law & Order: UK), Tosin Cole (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Hollyoaks), and Mandip Gill (Hollyoaks, Doctors) will all be joining the Doctor when Whittaker takes over the role. No backgrounds were given to the characters except their names: Graham, Ryan and Yasmin, respectively.

Also joining the cast but not pictured is Sharon D. Clarke (Holby City), in an unnamed role.

Yes, Pearl Mackie will return for the Christmas special…as does David Bradley, who played William Hartnell in the 50th anniversary docudrama An Adventure In Space And Time – except now he’s playing the first Doctor!

Another passing in the Doctor Who family…actress Deborah Watling, who played Victoria Waterfield at the end of the fourth season and most of the fifth season of Doctor Who as a companion to the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, passed away yesterday at the age of 69.

Watling, remembered for her frequent screaming when confronted with aliens, first appeared in the second episode of “The Evil Of The Daleks”, and through “Fury from the Deep”, the second-to-last serial of the fifth season. Most of her appearances, however, have been lost due to the wiping of tapes at the BBC. Her first appearance is the only part of that serial that currently survives, and only “The Tomb of the Cybermen” and “The Enemy of the World” exist in their entirely today, the latter of which only had one part until 2013 when several episodes were recovered at a Nigerian TV relay station.

Watling reprised the role in the 1993 Children In Need special Doctor Who: Dimensions In Time among many former Doctors and companions, and also appeared in the 50th Anniversary spoof The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.

She was also known for roles in the 1958-1959 series The Invisible Man and Take Me High.

BBC announced moments ago the BBC announced live after the Wimbledon men’s final the new Doctor will be Jodie Whittaker, who played Beth Latimer on Broadchurch…and we finally have our first female Doctor!

“I’m beyond excited to begin this epic journey – with Chris [Chibnall] and with every Whovian on this planet,” she said. “It’s more than an honour to play the Doctor. It means remembering everyone I used to be, while stepping forward to embrace everything the Doctor stands for: hope. I can’t wait.”

This reunites her with Chris Chibnall, who was the writer and executive producer on Broadchurch and is taking over the showrunner duties on Doctor Who from Steven Moffat.

The successor to Peter Capaldi as the Doctor in Doctor Who (officially the 13th, not counting the War Doctor or the semi-10th duplicate) will be announced by the BBC and BBC America after the conclusion of the men’s final at Wimbledon on Sunday. As the time it takes for the final is indeterminate, for U.S. viewers it starts at 9am Eastern, and is expected to run 2-3 hours.

How BBC America will handle the announcement is uncertain – they will certainly post on their Facebook page, but they might cut in to the live BBC feed when it happens as well. When we know, we’ll post as well.

It’s been a light holiday week (a working one for me…) unless you are in the political news arena, but I thought I’d just do a quick roundup of the most interesting stories…

Comic Con International is coming up, and I won’t be there again (yes, we know Doc, every year…hey, it’s pretty far away!) and so there ls lots of news swirling around about who will be there…but just recently announced is a reunion of the Syfy version of Battlestar Galactica. So far confirmed are Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff, Mary McDonnell and Grace Park, with many more expected. It will take places at 2:30 PM on Thursday, July 20, in Ballroom 20. Word is that Peter Capaldi will appear one last time as well for Doctor Who on the final day (July 23rd) in the massive Hall H.

Comic Con International also re-upped with the city of San Diego to stay put for four more years.

Remember that lawsuit by the Tolkien estate against Warner Bros over the license for gambling devices and games? Well, it’s finally over. The parties agreed to a settlement in the case, and in a joint statement said, “The parties are pleased that they have amicably resolved this matter and look forward to working together in the future.” Hmm…could they be considering more productions?

Oh…Sony Pictures posted an interesting YouTube video:

A lot of people seem to think this may mean an sequel to Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, but we would put money on this just being viral hype for a 40th Anniversary release of the original.

Supergirl fans will see the return of a character this upcoming season, but with a slightly different face. Laura Benanti, who played Alura Zor-El and Astra in the first season (and an appearance in one episode in the second season), is apparently not available due to commitments in New York. Erica Durance, who played Lois Lane on Smallville and most recently was starring in Saving Hope which finishes it’s final season this summer, will take over the role of Alura.

And lastly, it is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Stan Lee’s wonderful wife Joan yesterday at the age of 93. She’s widely considered to have helped convince her husband to come up with a new kind of superhero – flawed and human – that propelled Stan Lee into comic royalty. They had been married for 69 years. Our thoughts are with Stan.