Watching Doctor Who

Catherine Tate at the Woman’s Own Children of Courage Awards
Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage

I have the worst cold! I just wanted to complain to folks I couldn’t cough on, sorry. Now, on to the news.

The BBC is reporting that David Tennant is having surgery on Thursday for a slipped disc. He will not be back on stage as Hamlet until after Christmas, apparently. Get well soon, David!

For those of you in the U.S. who missed series one of The Sarah Jane Adventures the last time around, you can catch a marathon of the show on 16 December on the SciFi Channel. If you don’t get the SciFi Channel, don’t despair. Series one of The Sarah Jane Adventures is out on DVD.

Speaking of DVDs, have you finished your Chrismahanukwanzikah shopping yet? Currently you can purchase Torchwood series two, Doctor Who series four, and The Infinite Quest. I need to invest in some new bookcases for my DVDs.

Have you been keeping an eye on the Official Doctor Who Website? They’re up to their usual Advent Calendar shenanigans again this year. So far there have been videos, desktop backgrounds, a game, and a story. They’ve also been in the process of adding the information from series 1-3 and the specials to the site. If you haven’t been by in a while, it’s worth a look.

And at least we’ll have a full series of The Sarah Jane Adventures to look forward to next year to go along with the truncated series three of Torchwood and the Doctor Who specials. That’s right, series three will appear in the UK in Autumn of 2009. I still have no official start date for series two in the U.S., but now that it is over in the UK it shouldn’t bee too long hence.

David Tennant, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood, Doctor Who

Hello, and welcome to your DVD update! All sorts of things are heading for those shelves, so let’s get started.

Torchwood series one is due in the US on 8 January 2008, which isn’t soon enough for me, but at least it is going to appear. Sci Fi Wire has the extras listed as follows:

“The bonus features include the featurettes “Welcome to Torchwood”; “Torchwood on the Scene”; “Torchwood Out of This World”; “Torchwood Sex, Violence, Blood and Gore”; “Torchwood on the Road”; “The Team and Their Troubles”; “Torchwood: Moments in the Making”; “The Captain’s Log”; “Torchwood on Time”; and “Torchwood Declassified.” The DVD will also feature deleted scenes, audio commentary on all 13 first-season episodes and outtakes. ”

By the way, the word is that Torchwood brought in just under 500,000 viewers for its premiere, making it BBCAmerica’s best premiere ever. I hope that the numbers stay up high for the rest of the series.

6 November 2007 will be a big day in the USA. A big day in Doctor Who, that is. This day will see not only the release of two classic 5th Doctor episodes - Time Flight and Arc of Infinity, but also the Third Series of the current show.

Amazon.com lists the extras for Time Flight as:

Audio Commentary: Audio Commentary by actors Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and script editor Eric Saward
DVD ROM Features: 1983 Doctor Who Annual and Radio Times listings
Featurette: Jurassic Larks Behind-the-scenes featurette (19 mins)
Interviews: Mouth on Legs Actress Janet Fielding talks about her time on the programme, playing the role of Australian air-hostess Tegan Jovanka (13 mins) Peter Grimwade Interview Screenwriter (4 mins)
Deleted Scenes, Outtakes, Photo gallery, and Production Notes

And Arc of Infinity will contain:

Audio Commentary: Audio Commentary by actors Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Colin Baker
DVD ROM Features: 1983 Doctor Who Annual and Radio Times listings
Documentary: Anti-Matter in Amsterdam - A new making-of documentary (34 mins)
Featurette: Under Arc Lights - Behind-the-scenes featurette (11 mins) The Omega Factor - Writers and actors look at the character and motivation of the renegade Time Lord, Omega (14 mins)
Other: Continuities (3 mins) CGI Effects Option
Deleted Scenes, Music Only Track, Photo gallery, and Production Notes

Sci Fi Wire tells us that the Doctor Who series three extras are:

“The six-disc set will include the featurettes “Freema Agyeman Tour of the Studio” and “David Tennant’s Video Diaries,” outtakes, deleted scenes, video of the first rehearsal of the season’s finale and audio commentaries. The DVD set will also include an easter egg of the Doctor’s message from the episode “Blink.”

All I can say is…it’s a good thing that my birthday and Christmas are coming up.

Sadly, there is still no word on and DVDs or showings of the Sarah Jane Adventures in the US. The UK, on the other hand, can expect the pilot episode to be available on DVD on 29 October 2007, and the show to begin its first run later this month.

According to the official Doctor Who site, the UK can also expect a couple of Doctor Who DVDs to appear soon. The classic 4th Doctor story - Planet of Evil will be available 15 October 2007, complete with commentary by Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen, and a host of other extras. The Infinite Quest will appear on DVD 5 November 2007, just in time for Christmas. (Still no word on a US-related anything with this one.) The DVD will contain the entire series and “exclusive cast interviews, David Tennant’s animation test, animation and voiceover behind the scenes features, animatics of episodes and deleted scenes, character profiles, and a photo gallery.”

So, there you are. Better start saving your money now.

Torchwood, Doctor Who, 5th Doctor, Time Flight, Arc of Infinity, Sarah Jane Adventures, The Infinite Quest

Hi all. I’ve got some fabulous news. It looks like the DVDs for the first series of Torchwood should appear in the US on 8 January 2008. (This date is, of course, subject to change.) The cast photo that TVShowsOnDVD.com got from BBC America seems to be missing a cast member. Now who could that be? (Maybe Captain Jack is out hunting Weevils?) Now, if that news wasn’t happy-making enough, how about this: A monthly Torchwood Magazine! Apparently it shall appear beginning early next year. Hopefully this magazine will prove to be a bit easier to find than Doctor Who Magazine.

Speaking of Doctor Who, the word on the street is that DVD set of Doctor Who Series Three will be available in the US on 6 November 2007. (Date again subject to change.) This is good to know. I hope that there will be tons of extras on this set.

On the Classic Doctor Who front, the fully-loaded-with-extras version of The Key to Time episode set from the Fourth Doctor era is set for release on 24 September 2007 in the UK. Hopefully it won’t take too long for this release to appear in the US. (please? Oh, Auntie Beeb…*hopeful smile*)

You may all now join me in the upcoming DVD happy dance.

Image Source: The Official Doctor Who Site

Torchwood, Captain Jack, Torchwood Magazine, Doctor Who Magazine, Doctor Who

This week, I’ve been working my way through my Christmas present DVDs: Doctor Who: The Beginning collection. I’ve watched An Unearthly Child alone and with the commentary track. I even managed a good five minutes of the commentary track and the information track at the same time (ouch! my brain.) There are several extras on the DVD of this first ever Doctor Who story. Alongside the photo gallery and the unaired Pilot episode, there are also four very funny skits. Three of them feature Mark Gatiss, author of “The Unquiet Dead” and “Idiot’s Lantern.” These three seem to have been shown on television sometime in 1999. Sadly, I was not able to locate them on YouTube for you. All I could find was someone’s re-enactment of one of them. Sigh. You’re stuck buying/borrowing a copy of the DVD from someone. In any case, the first skit is called: The Pitch of Fear, and it is the theoretical first “pitch” of the Doctor Who show to a BBC bigwig. They manage to fit so much Doctor Who stuff into such a short sketch. I loved it. The Corridor Sketch is the only non-Gatiss one, and it features Nicholas Briggs (voice of all Daleks) as an interviewer trying to cover the first day of filming on An Unearthly Child. Keep your eyes open for a surprise appearance from an old friend at the end of this one. Skit number three is my favorite of the lot. The Web of Caves features Mark Gatiss as The Doctor, who must contend with a couple of wanna be baddies. They are so pleased when he finally agrees to try and stop them. Terribly silly. The final skit is The Kidnappers, which is pretty much what it says on the tin. A famous Doctor Who actor guest stars in this one.

So, there you are. Four more reasons why you might want to take a look at Doctor Who: The Beginning. These DVDs are definitely feature-rich.

Doctor Who: The Beginning, An Unearthly Child, Doctor Who, Mark Gatiss, The Pitch of Fear, The Corridor Sketch, The Web of Caves, The Kidnappers

This is just a reminder to let y’all know that the second season DVDs for Doctor Who are available in the US as of today. I pre-ordered mine from Amazon, so they won’t be arriving until Thursday. Le sigh. I can’t wait for all of the extras on this set. Reportedly, there are all sorts of commentaries, video diaries, and the cut down version of Doctor Who: Confidential. Yes, I am the sort that watches all of the extras. (I spent a great deal of time with the LOTR DVDs for just this reason.) So, if you haven’t already, get out there and buy those DVDs.

DVD, Doctor Who, Doctor Who: Confidential

The official Doctor Who website announced an upcoming epic DVD release today. Due in January 2007 (in the UK), the “New Beginnings” set will include the episodes The Keeper of Traken, Logopolis, and Castrovalva, as well as a huge helping of extras. We will see the end of the fourth Doctor and the beginning of the Fifth. Oh, and a whole bunch of The Doctor’s nemesis: The Master. As always, this DVD release would not be possible without the efforts of the Doctor Who Restoration Team. Thanks!

This set is not yet listed for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk. The next DVDs due in the US are The Invasion and The Sontaran Experiment. They are due March 2007, according to Amazon.com. So…since those two titles became available in the UK November and October 2006, respectively, we should be seeing this new set sometime in the vicinity of May 2007 in the USA. Unless things speed up, that is. In the meantime, I’ll be watching the second series DVDs that are coming out in January, and hoping that Torchwood will be picked up by The Sci Fi Channel.

Doctor Who, The Keeper of Traken, Logopolis, Castrovalva, The Master, The Invasion, The Sontaran Experiment

I was pre-ordering Doctor Who season two last night and it occured to me that others may not know of its impending arrival. It arrives in the UK on 20 November (you lucky folks), and it arrives in the US on January 16, 2007. I am very glad that there aren’t more months between the release dates. (I bought season one from Canada months before it was available in the US.) The Official BBC Doctor Who website says that this box set will contain all thirteen episodes, the Christmas special (The Christmas Invasion), The Children In Need special (which links the final episode of season 1 to the Christmas special), all thirteen of the Doctor Who Confidentials (the edited versions), and all sorts of extras.

So, what are you waiting for?

Is it January yet?

Doctor Who, season two, The Christmas Invasion