All posts by Dan Collins

Dan loves science fiction and fantasy in just about any format. He has so many shelves full of dvds and books that there's no where for him to sleep. One day he hopes to add his own novels to those shelves. You can contact him at dcollins@troughtonismydoctor.com

Underwater Menace Dead In The Water

Pass out the black armbands… The dvd range is, sob, dead! At least, that’s if you believe Steve Roberts, Restoration Team member and omnirumour ripperupper.

A couple of days ago the news hit the net, Underwater Menace was up for pre-order on amazon! Awesome, right? There was nothing listed as far as episodes one and four that are currently missing from the BBC archive. Would they be animated like we all thought and hoped? Or were they to be cheap reconstructions that would do nothing but anger fans who are sure there are more missing episodes to come? Certainly the original episodes 1 and 4 weren’t to be included. At least, they wouldn’t tell us yet even if that were to be the case. So the debate started back up on the forums, facebook groups and the amazon comments. It was an exciting step forward, progress that could be tangibly seen at last.

And then Steve Roberts had to rain on the happy parade with this comment on facebook

Well], we’re the team that remasters the episodes for DVD release and even we don’t have a clue what’s going on with TUM now. From where we’re standing, it’s looking like the range is dead.”

Taken from: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Doctor-The-Underwater-Menace/19865#ixzz33alI6L00

So what are we to believe? If the BBC has cancelled the release of The Underwater Menace, and are not even attempting to do something with The Crusade then we as fans are being severely mistreated. I don’t think it’s entitlement to want something that you were told you were going to get. I don’t think it’s entitlement to be bitter and angry and incredibly disappointed if the BBC couldn’t get those last two dvd’s out for us and instead just arbitrarily declare the range dead.

But if we have learned anything from the ongoing omnirumour saga, it’s to take nothing at face value. I won’t be writing my eulogy on the dvd range just yet. Instead I am living in hope that maybe more episodes have been discovered and that we will see them someday.

Phil’s Journey Part 2

A while ago we got an intriguing photo tweeted by the man himself, Phillip Morris. It showed him standing in front of a broadcaster in Sierra Leone. Well, I guess that wasn’t the only photo that he took while he was there. He tweeted this earlier today:

Another photographic revelation from Morris. The more active he is an twitter and facebook the more excited we get that there may be more missing episodes coming!

Monday Morning News Round Up June 2

What made the news last week? Check out our twitter account @troughtonsmydoc to get twitter updates as they happen!

Five

Five-Ish Doctors Reboot To Be Released on DVD

Colin Baker spilled the beans at Myth Makers, regarding the future of this release.

pertwee2

American Home for Classic Doctor Who

Not too long after the Horror Channel started showing the classics in the UK, a network in the US makes a similar deal!

Tennant

Tennant The Last Of The Time Lords?

Moffat told a crowd at a convention that the BBC was thinking about cancelling the show when Tennant left.

Fan Made Series 8 Trailer

Have you checked this out yet? It’s pretty amazing!

And finally, I got a nice email from amazon that gave me some hope about the R1 discontinued stories!

That’s what made the news last week!

 

Five-ish Doctors Reboot Coming To DVD!

Colin Baker was speaking at the Myth Makers convention today and told the crowd that Peter Davison’s awesome The Five-sh Doctors Reboot, in which Davison, Baker and Sylvester McCoy try to get a part in Day Of The Doctor, will be released on DVD (and most likely bluray) as a part of an upcoming Matt Smith release! This is exciting news and something to look forward since the Classic Doctor Who range will be over once Underwater Menace is released later this year.

Finish Your Collection

A few months ago I made a big purchase on amazon.ca. They had a sale and classic Doctor Who was going ridiculously cheap. I bought a whole bunch of Tom Baker’s and got everything that I was missing to complete my Classic Doctor Who collection. From 1963 to 1989, I have everything I can get (at least until more of the missing episodes turn up) except for three. Three of the last four stories in the series had been discontinued in North America, Ghost Light, Battlefield and Curse of Fenric.

Even though this is really a #FirstWorldProblem, the plight of those stories has gone undocumented for the most part. They were discontinued around January 1st, 2013, with zero notice or fanfare. If you weren’t paying attention (like me at the time) you wouldn’t have even known that 30 to 40 stories suddenly dropped off of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment’s active catalogue. The range of discontinued stories starts with some Hartnell’s and Troughton’s and goes all the way to the aforementioned McCoys. I think  Tom Baker is the Doctor least affected, probably because he’s freaking Tom Baker and who would dare discontinue any of his stories?

Not everybody had their head in the sand like I did. Those who noticed were quick to start making a buck on it. Take a look for Ghost Light. It’ll set you back $200 for the North American version compared to $10 for R2 version.

Anyway, when I first became aware that there were Doctor Who stories I needed among those no longer available, I went straight to amazon hoping to find them and for a reasonable price. In January I ordered Curse of Fenric and Battlefield from the website. Even though I was told that they were out of stock, I was still allowed to order them and my order has stayed active for the past 5 months. Toward the end of every month I get an email which states amazon is still trying to source my order.

Until today.

Today I got an email with an estimated delivery date of July 7th for Curse Of Fenric. That’s right, just over a month from now my wait might be over and my Still Need list could be down to two!

So if you were in the same boat as me, if there’s a discontinued Classic Doctor Who dvd you still need to purchase, wander over to amazon. Maybe, just maybe, you might get lucky like I have. Or like I hope to be. Until that dvd is actually in my hands I will remain skeptical.

American Home For Classic Who

It’s not always easy finding classic Doctor Who on tv. Just a few months ago the Horror Channel started showing some of the classics in the UK and there was an announcement Wednesday of a similar deal for the US.

Retro TV has signed an agreement with BBC WW NA (that’s BBC World Wide North America, in case you didn’t know) for the broadcast rights to Doctor Who covering  “just under 500” episodes from 1963- 1989 featuring Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, Baker, Davison, Baker and McCoy. No word yet on whether Enemy Of The World and Web Of Fear will be included.

Matthew Golden, Luken’s Vice President of Production, said,

“We couldn’t be more excited to make legendary classic episodes of Doctor Who available nationwide. The series is an institution, and we’re proud to give fans new and old the opportunity to experience this groundbreaking series from the very beginning.”

The show will make its Retro TV debut this summer.

Doctor Who Almost Cancelled When Tennant Left?

There’s an article on the Metro website where Steven Moffat dropped a bombshell! At the Hay Literary Festival, he claimed the BBC thought Doctor Who ‘wouldn’t succeed at all’ without David Tennant. According to Moffat, it was Russell T. Davies who once again came to the shows rescue! ‘I think there were plans maybe to consider ending it. It was Russell T. Davies saying, “you are not allowed to end it”‘. So RTD not only brought the show back from the Wilderness, but may have also staved off cancellation. I find it unlikely that they seriously considered axing the show for a second time, but you never know…

Monday Morning News Round Up May 26

So, what did you miss this past week? Not a whole heck of a lot, but you can stay on top of the news by following @troughtonsmydoc

It may not have been a big week last week, but stay tuned over the coming weeks as we have a couple more interviews lined up!

The New Doctor Lands In August

Yes, the biggest news coming last week was the release of the new teaser trailer!

New Spoilery Photos!

Staying on the topic of Series 8, there were some new photos that leaked to facebook last week!

 

pertwee1

In Praise Of Pertwee

It was 18 years ago that Jon Pertwee passed away and Andrew Boland takes a look at the third doctor, remembering why he was so awesome!

So there you go. Not a whole lot happened last week, but now we have something to look forward to… August!

The New Doctor Lands This August

What a pleasant surprise it was to get home today and see that there was a teaser trailer for Series 8 on YouTube! Have you seen it yet? No, yes? Either way, here it is for you !

Alright, let’s microanalyze the who trailer… Um, Capaldi was in it, maybe and there were sparks from the console… Okay, so there wasn’t too much there to really get you excited, except maybe the date. The new Doctor lands this August. Start counting down the days!