The saga of the last DVD in the Library (unless the BBC is hiding more “lost episodes”) continues.
http://www.bbcshop.com/drama/doctor-who-the-underwater-menace/invt/bbcdvd3691
The official BBC Shop unexpectedly posted a new listing for The Underwater Menace on DVD, with a release date of October 26th 2015.
The day after my birthday and I have that day off… đ
After the second episode was found back in 2011, the serial became 50% complete, and with fragments of parts one and four in existence, it seemed likely that a DVD release would come. But it never did, and the release was eventually confirmed as cancelled in June. As yet, we donât know what prompted an apparent change of mind, although we understand that the BBC Shop has been given greater powers, so perhaps the answer lies thereâŚ
While we donât know whether or not the missing episodes will receive an animated or photographic reconstruction, The Underwater Menace starring Patrick Troughton is finally heading to DVD â rejoice!
I just ordered it from Amazon UK:
We’ll see if to comes to pass…
From the Syracuse University Who Class- Professor Anthony Rotolo :
First Regeneration, Second Doctor
Approaching the mid and late 1960s, “Doctor Who” rose swiftly in popularity. Change was in the air and the term “Dalekmania” was coined about the same time as “Beatlemania.” Daleks even graced the cover of “Radio Times” in the U.K.
With the show’s popularity came a parade of new producers with plenty of new ideas. Rumors swirled among both staffers and viewers that William Hartnell was too old and sick to keep playing the Doctor.
“It became clear the show would not progress with [Hartnell],” Rotolo said. “On set, he didn’t have lots of friends.”
Remarkably, the writers and producers killed off Hartnell’s Doctor, but the show wasn’t canceled. In 1966, there were no day-after recaps. There was no live-tweet analysis. There was no context for the Doctor’s death.
“They didn’t know what that moment would become to the series,” Rotolo said. “All they really did was recast the part. They needed a sci-fi way to deal with it.”
The producers’ “sci-fi” solution was to hire a new actor.
Patrick Troughton took over the lead role, and played the Doctor completely differently from 1966 to 1969. He’s a younger, recorder-playing Doctor who accessorizes with plaid pants, a bow tie and sometimes a cape.
“It’s not just a new Doctor, it’s a new show,” Rotolo said.
Hartnell played the Doctor like a stern, old man. He’s a grandfather, whisking away his young granddaughter on adventures. The relationship reflects that of “The Wizard of Oz” and Dorothy, or Prospero and Miranda in “The Tempest.”
Nicknamed the “Cosmic Hobo,” Troughton’s Doctor is impish, playful and funny. He teases and outwits his enemies. Traveling with this Doctor is fun…and voluntary. Companions join because they want to.
For the first time, the Doctor’s companions during the regeneration (Ben and Polly) serve as the continuity between Doctors. They help explain why the Doctor looks and acts differently.
In the “Tomb of the Cybermen,” there’s a moment when Troughton’s Doctor asks his young companion, Victoria, if she’s happy. A much warmer, caring relationship develops between the Doctor and his companion, like a father and daughter or student and mentor.
Contrastingly, when companions Ian and Barbara say they want to go home, Hartnell’s Doctor calls them idiots.
Troughton was heralded as brilliant. He’s been called the father of the modern Doctor, since all portrayals ever since have been influenced by him.
The BBC drops the ball
Sadly, much of Troughton’s “brilliant” work doesn’t exist for us to watch.
Lots of early “Doctor Who” episodes are lost because the BBC didn’t keep them. In the 1960s and 1970s, they destroyed or taped over original film or videotape copies to save space or money. As one classmate tweeted, “The BBC forgot back up to the Cloud.”
“There was no such concept of reruns or streaming at that time,” Rotolo said.
This was regular practice for companies to destroy programs after airing them. How could the BBC have known this little sci-fi series would develop such a rabid fan base in the next five decades?
Luckily, many copies were recovered from outside sources, like overseas broadcasts. Some shows have even been pieced together using parts of footage, audio (recorded by fans) and transmission photos called tele-snaps, which served to boost portfolios for actors and producers.
Remember, this all happened before VCR recording.
With those pieces, the BBC commissioned animators to fill in the blanks. We watched one of those animated episodes in class, called The Tenth Planet. It’s the introduction of a frightening new villain which went on to become nearly as iconic as the Daleks.
3. Cybermen
The Cybermen, a race of cyborg villains, first appear in The Tenth Planet serial. They’re responsible for the First Doctor’s “death” and regeneration.
When the Cybermen first debut, they’re terrifying. Rotolo puts them on par with the Weeping Angels, a notoriously frightening “Who” monster introduced in 2007.
The Cybermen are humanoid, but alter themselves until they have few, if any, remaining organic parts. They retain human brains, but become horrifying shells of what they once were, devoid of all human emotion and values.
They capitalized on the threat of mixing man and machine at a time when prostheses or “spare-part” surgery was developing rapidly.
In class we watched the episode “Tomb of the Cybermen.” It was thought to be lost, then recovered in 1990s. Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith noted Troughton’s performance in this episode as a direct influence for his own interpretation of character.
I’m a sucker for Pat Troughton…
Guest contributor Ryan Oâ Connor examines some of the firsts to come from Troughtonâs era.
Itâs always a difficult thing, when a much-beloved actor passes away. Today marks the anniversary of such a most unfortunate occasion: the death of Patrick Troughton on the 28th of March, 1987. The man who would one day go on to play the very first successor to William Hartnell in the increasingly-notable role of the Doctor had already performed in a multitude of roles in cinema and television, including his stint as Robin Hood (the first man to play him on television, to boot). However, it would be his performance as the Doctor (naturally) that made him a true icon, bringing the delightfully buffoonish Second Doctor to our screens and indeed our hearts; a true legend of the series that has become a worldwide phenomenon.
Note the above phrase, however. The very first successor to Hartnell. With the somewhat-tumultuous history of Doctor Who being what it is, itâs often an interesting exercise for fans that began watching in a later era to go back and, quite literally, observe the mythology and rules (so to speak) of the show being constructed as it goes along. The era of the Second Doctor is quite notable for that, originating quite a few of the many elements that would later become defining points of Doctor Who itself.
So, to remember and celebrate Patrick Troughton (my favourite of the classic Doctors, incidentally, as will likely become apparent) on this day, I thought it would be most appropriate to go back and take a look at some of those most notable firsts, to see just how much of what we now take for granted was brought to the table by this man and his Doctor. Without further ado, letâs get right to it.
I seem to recall that thereâs a moment in The Tenth Planet, swansong of the First Doctor, where his companion Ben Jackson alludes to the utter absurdity of trying to deal with the deadly Cybermen by using basic tools like a screwdriver.
Oh Ben. How wrong you were!
The tool that has become more akin to a hyper-tech magic wand than anything else over the course of Doctor Whoâs long lifespan would come into play for the first time in the Second Doctorâs run. Debuting in the serial Fury of the Deep and appearing only sporadically over the course of the Troughton era, the screwdriver (at this stage little more than a simple penlight in terms of appearance) was used for very simple tasks such as opening panels, a spot of impromptu welding and even (to the shock of many) as an actual screwdriver. That, of course, had to wait until Troughtonâs finale, but itâs rather amusing to look at in hindsight. One of many ways in which the Second Doctor set the tone of the series to come, all merely by using such a minor gadget, little more than a curio.
The importance of this one, of course, really canât be overstated. While a member of the Doctorâs still-unnamed species had appeared during Hartnellâs run in the form of the Monk, the race themselves remained mysterious, nebulous. Suddenly, the finale for Patrick Troughtonâs Doctor, the epic titled The War Games, came around and delivered what I believe to be one of the finest moments in the showâs history. The Doctor and his companions are trapped, utterly without hope, by the War Lords and their forces, stranded with massive numbers of time-displaced beings and unable to bring them home. With all options tried and failed, the Doctor is forced to enact his final resort: summoning the Time Lords. They make their impact in grandiose fashion, utterly eradicating the serialâs villains from history, dispatching Jamie and Zoe back to their own times with no memories intact, and subsequently forcing the regeneration of the Doctor, all in one episode.
Wow.
To see the dread on the Doctorâs face (which really couldnât have been portrayed any better than by Troughtonâs famously expressive performances) as he realises he must bring his people forth makes the debut of the Time Lords (and, somewhat less notably, a still-unnamed Gallifrey) an incredibly potent reveal, and as said above, easily one of the most important in Doctor Who history. This one didnât so much go down in the history books as it did write them.
Of course, the Time Lords donât get all the fun. Whilst the Daleks and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the Cybermen had of course debuted over the course of the First Doctor era, Troughtonâs run saw quite a few notable species make their first appearance on the Doctor Who landscape. His own people, of course, have been mentioned already, but there was certainly something of a whoâs who (if youâll pardon the expression) list to go with them.
Firstly, of course, it was Troughtonâs era in which the Cybermen truly began to become their own entity. Clashing with them multiple times, they could almost be seen as the Second Doctorâs signature foe. Stories like The Invasion and Tomb of the Cybermen, aside from being good contenders for top stories in the showâs history, made an enormous impact by showing the scope of their âcivilisationâ, with ancient plots, a great necropolis, small and scurrying Cybermats, and a new, eerier-than-ever aesthetic. These Cybermen stories still provide inspiration for writers even today, Nightmare in Silver and the Dark Water/Death in Heaven two-parter being particularly-notable and recent cases.
Also debuting were foes and ideas for foes that would later recur such as the Ice Warriors, the Macra, the first âgoodâ Daleks, and even the Great Intelligence in a story arc that seemed like so little at the time, but would later be expanded on quite heavily in Matt Smithâs run.
This is the big one on this list, and arguably the reason why Patrick Troughton could be seen as the most important Doctor. The First Doctor was a grumpy, occasionally bitter grandfather figure. He was amusing, certainly, and had a notable charm about him that made him easy to watch thanks to Hartnellâs portrayal, but he was irascible and arrogant about his intelligence.
The Second Doctor changed that. Troughtonâs portrayal brought a light-heartedness, a willingness to joke and mess about as the Doctor that we hadnât seen up to that point. He was still brilliant and intelligent, thatâs undeniable, but he began the trend of playing the fool (and doing it wonderfully) to throw others off. This Doctor, rather than keeping most of his companions at armâs length, very much enjoyed their company and showed clearly that they were no mere companions; they were friends.
He had many an idle trait to display his clownish nature, from his classic âcosmic-hoboâ clothing to the recorder he would play when he decided he didnât have anything he wanted to say at that moment. It was Troughtonâs portrayal that made the Doctor a most unconventional genius indeed, and that is something that every Doctor since has drawn upon in a huge way. Some Doctors (the Fourth, the early-years Seventh, the early-years Eighth) have done this quite obviously, some (the Third, the Sixth, the Ninth, the TwelfthâŚodd, that) less so, and occasionally (the Eleventh) theyâre a straight-up homage to this most venerable of Doctors. Patrick Troughton shaped the idea of what the Doctor is just as much as William Hartnell did, and thatâs something that continues to this very day.
So, there we have it! Iâm sure there are some firsts Iâve left out (I chose not to talk about the concept of regeneration given its still-shaky nature at the time, but itâs an equally-fascinating one), so please do discuss away in the comments! Ultimately, this is all about celebrating, remembering and indeed honouring one of the men who was utterly instrumental in the formation of sci-fiâs greatest juggernaut, and about looking back over the career of a man who had nothing but enthusiasm for the show we all adore so much and brought that enthusiasm to the screen every single moment he was on it.
Gone but never forgotten, Patrick Troughton lit up and changed the show that brought our bizarre community together and, by extension, changed the lives of so many Whovians, myself very much included. As a great man once said, âthatâs the exciting thing, that nobody in the universe can do what weâre doing,â and thatâs down in no small part to Troughton and the lovable buffoon he played.
Nicholas Courtney, the legendary Brigadier Allistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, passed away 4 years ago today. He would have been 85.
One of the most beloved characters (and actors) in all of the Whoniverse.
His character carries on even to this day, with his last “appearance” in the season finale of Series 8 in portrait form, and effectively Cyber-Brig.
With Jemma Redgrave set to return as the Brig’s daughter Kate he’ll probably get a mention or two.
He was and is a legend in Doctor Who and should never be forgotten.
Now that’s Legendary. đ
The eagerly awaited first novel in the Lethbridge-Stewart series, The Forbidden Son, is available to pre-order now from Amazon!
Follow the Brigadier as he awakes to a whole new world after the events of 1968 serial The Web of Fear in this, the first in a series of Lethbridge-Stewart novels planned for release every quarter during 2015 â all of which are fully licensed by the Executor of the Haisman Literary Estate, Mervyn Haismanâs granddaughter Hannah Haisman, and endorsed by Henry Lincoln.
The first series consists of The Forgotten Son by Andy Frankham-Allen, Horror of Det-Sen by Lance Parkin, The Schizoid Earth by David A McIntee and Mutually Assured Domination by Nick Walters.
What if Doctor Who actually had a fifth anniversary special in 1968, featuring original stars William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton… plus the War Doctor, played by movie Doctor Peter Cushing? That’s the premise of this amazing art project by Colin Brockhurst.
Brockhurst is selling some “memorabilia” from this story, “The Day of Doctor Who” on eBay â including the above Radio Times cover. Plus a signed “BBC” photo of Cushing, an official-looking button with Cushing’s face, and some TV listings. Here’s how he describes it:
Finally available again, a selection of ephemera relating to the forgotten Fifth Anniversary Doctor Who adventure, The Day of Doctor Who, transmitted on Saturday November 23rd, 1968, and starring William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and the mysterious ‘War Doctor’, Peter Cushing. Unlikely as it may sound, not a single copy is known to survive, not even a soundtrack…
But the best part is the photoshopped “telesnaps” from the story, which show how Hartnell’s Doctor meets Queen Elizabeth, and then gets drawn into an adventure with the shape-shifting Chameleons, alongside Troughton and the forgotten War Doctor:
More details over at Brockhurst’s site. [via SFSignal and NWhyte]
For those who can remember December 7, 1989 I want you to cast your minds back to that date.
In Britain it would have been quite a morning (maybe not in the full realization) for a particular group of fans of a TV show, the day after cancellation.
We’ve suffered through this on many, many occasions in our lives and many more are to come.
But today, December 7th, 1989 was the day after “Doctor Who” was cancelled by the BBC.
25 Years ago. My how time really does fly…:)
“Survival” Part 4 had just aired the night before and there would be no more Doctor Who.
Ever.
Accordingly, Andrew Cartmel wrote a short, melancholic closing monologue for Sylvester McCoy, which McCoy recorded on 23 November 1989 â by coincidence, the show’s twenty-sixth anniversary. This was dubbed over the closing scene as the Doctor and his companion Ace walked off into the distance, apparently to further adventures.
You just didn’t know it quite yet.
But you would.
It was over.
After 26 years, it was just over. Like that. You may not have known it immediately, but Dec 7th, 1989 was the end, and it wasn’t prepared for!
Like a death in the family.
But we are Doctor Who fans. We believe in Regeneration!
Something new was brewing…slowly…
When Doctor Who was cancelled in 1989 it temporarily ceased life as a televised experience through its weekly episodic format transmitted by the BBC. However, its ongoing legacy and history was maintained through other forms of storytelling, through other types of broadcast media. The development of these channels significantly involved the transmission of the franchise across traditional and new media platforms officially by the BBC and its license holders and unofficially by fan communities. There was also a convergence with technological developments such as digital video and audio and publication via internet. The fan audience, redefining what it is to be a ‘fan’, has invested its ownership into the Doctor Who franchise and created a further convergence in the way fan consumers become their own producers, sharers and distributors. Finally, the BBC itself has recognised the impact of these convergences in the way it has presented and marketed the new television version of Doctor Who in the 21st Century and employed fans, turned professional producers and writers, to shape the new series.
By the time the BBC announced the return of the television series, those responsible for its continuation had already overseen the brand’s initial transmedia development and, in effect, had laid the groundwork for much of what the BBC would then explore and expand upon.
Doctor Who hadn’t gone away but the way it was produced and consumed had changed and it was now a multi-platform accessible narrative in good shape to enter the era of ‘television 2.0’ where the BBC itself was keen to encourage economic, technological and cultural convergences to create an environment for transmedia stories to thrive. In 2005, the BBC saw Doctor Who as the perfect vehicle to offer multiple points of entry into a franchise, to develop new modes of engagement, and increase fan involvement. (Television Heaven)
But on Dec 7th, 1989, 25 years ago today, it was definitely the darkest before the dawn of the new Regeneration.
So let us reflect on our good fortune, for some day, this regeneration will come to an end as well, for change is spice of life and change is the spice of Doctor Who as well.
So in the immortal words of the First Doctor (and it should be the motto of any Doctor Who fan IMHO):
One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.
My copy of The Series 8 Blu-Ray arrived last night. There was only 1 thing I saw that was new and that was the Deep Breath Q&A that was held for the Theatre showings in Britain (we in the US got that crappy Prequel).
But it’s all nice and pristine. đ
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Christmas with the Moff…
With more enthusiasm, he also discussed the episode itself:Â “scary, tense and claustrophobic… It’s The Thing meets Miracle on 34th Street. It’s certainly the strangest bloody thing I’ve ever written.” Quite a statement there.
On his decision to include Santa, the Grand Moff said that “Santa is written in properly, in a science-fiction way, into Doctor Who. Nick is ideal. He’s what Santa should be in Doctor Who land.”
And finally, hinting beyond this Christmas, he said that “I’ve already asked [Michelle Gomez] to come back. The Master is never dead, no matter what happens to him or her. She’s entirely unzappable!”
In other people-saying-things news, Mr Nick Frost has also been chatting Santa…Â
“My Santa is cross, mean and curt as well as cheery and funny. He’s got a little bit of Robert de Niro in Mean Streets. And he has a history with the Doctor, it’s not talked about explicitly but they have a beef with each other from way back.”
The Thing, Miracle On 34th Street, Mean Streets…Â now that’s a melting pot. It might just be best to lay off the mulled wine until after the episode airs. Which is, by the way, 7.15pm on Christmas day. (9pm Eastern in the US)
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BBC Worldwide have given an update on the status of the last classic story expected to be released on DVD, The Underwater Menace:
The highly anticipated DVD will include the only known existing episode that has yet to be made officially available to own, episode two (rediscovered in 2011).
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The Doctor Who Appreciation Society are currently auctioning two prints from artist Stuart Manning, the proceeds of which are to be donated to Breast Cancer Research in memory of Doctor Who‘s first producer, Verity Lambert.
Manning is known for his series of downloadable posters from the Radio Times website, most recently for the current series. Prior to this he produced posters for The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear, and he has kindly donated a signed print of each to DWAS for the auction at their eBay site.
For more details and to view the auction please visit the Society’s website.
<John> Barrowman shared some thoughts on Capaldi and moved to silence any critics: âI know Peter as an actor because he was on Torchwood: Children of Earth and I think he will be an awesome Doctor. Heâs a wonderful actor, heâs also Scottish so it holds in the line of David Tennant, myself and other Scots who have been involved in the Whovian world.
âAnd for those critics who sit behind their keyboards and say âCapaldiâs not going to be goodâŚâ Shut up! Because youâll watch the show anyway. You go on the journey the Doctor takes you on no matter who is playing him.â
What fascinates me, as a long time Doctor Who fan is h0ow EVERY SINGLE DOCTOR has to go through this “he won’t be any good” crap.
No one understands pessimism better than me, trust me. But is it that or are people just naturally going to beat it down so they don’t have to have high expectations crushed?
But they fact is, this has been happening since Patrick Troughton for god’s sake. Remember the “Matt’s too young”. They said the same thing about Peter Davison, and then they went to point out he was big star to boot.
Capaldi’s a big star and “too old”. đ
What is it in the psyche?
From the American Perspective, I remember this about Star Trek: The Next Generation months before it premiered.
Maybe it’s because some re-makes are crap and now one wants the next regeneration to be “the one” that kills the show.
BUT YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT FIRST!
I mean, that is still the tag on Colin’s Doctor. Admitted his first episode is one of the worst episodes ever (and voted as such in virtually every fan poll in recent memory) but then look at Vengeance on Varos!
Don’t judge Sylvester by Time & The Rani.
So take a Deep Breath đ and hold your fire until you’ve the whites of his credits.
Watch The Musketeers;. Watch Fires of Pompeii, Torchwood Children of Earth, The Thick of it.
It will be alright.
At least he’s not Ginger! đ
CNET: “Doctor Who” has featured some of the most beloved, terrifying, and hilarious characters in science fiction history. Whether it’s the horrifying Weeping Angel statues that creep closer if you blink, or the endearing moment when robot dog companion K-9 first utters the words “Affirmative, Master,” every fan has a moment that holds special sentimental value.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Doctor Who,” British entertainment blog CultBox asked fans to reenact their favorite moments from the popular sci-fi franchise. Hundreds of fans from more than 30 countries sent in their videos, and the winners were compiled into a video of competition highlights.
Fans dressed as various incarnations of the Doctor to quote memorable lines from the hit British show into the camera. Of course, fans dressed as the Doctor’s beloved companions are also represented, along with some of the show’s most terrifying monsters and villains including the Weeping Angel, Daleks, the Master, and more.
The submissions run from extremely low quality (think toilet plunger as a Dalek weapon) to sophisticated with special effects (including a CGI T-Rex) and a life-size Tardis prop. No matter how professional or amateur the video submissions look, it’s clear from the fans featured all over the world that the Doctor and his friends are truly universally loved.