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Having listened to the new Big Finish cd 'Destinantion Nerva', i have to say...The Doctor is back !! Tom Baker & Louise Jameson are brilliant, sounding just like they did in the 70's !! Anyone who loved Tom Baker HAS to buy these new audio cd's ! Hope to receive the Big Finish box set' The Lost Fourth Doctor Box Set' in the next few days as well.... excellent !!
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Posted: |
Feb 14, 2012 - 6:47 AM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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On 15th March the official novelisation of the 'incomplete' Fourth Doctor adventure Shada will finally be published, both as a hardback and as an audio recording. The new adaptation of the story is based on the original and shooting scripts by its author Douglas Adams, and has been written by long-term author (and Doctor Who screen-writer) Gareth Roberts. The novelisation was originally announced in March last year, with BBC Books' editorial director Albert De Petrillo saying: "Douglas Adams's serials for Doctor Who are considered by many to be some of the best the show has ever produced. Shada is a funny, scary, surprising and utterly terrific story, and we're thrilled to be publishing the first fully realised version of this Doctor Who adventure as Douglas originally conceived it." Literary agent Ed Victor (representing the Adams estate) said: "The BBC have been asking us for years, and the estate finally said: 'Why not?'" Commenting on Roberts undertaking the task, he added it was "like having a sketch on a canvas by Rubens, and now the studio of Rubens is completing it." The 416-page book is available for pre-order in hardback and Amazon Kindle form; the audio version is read by Lalla Ward, who played Romana in the original story. Gareth Roberts will also be signing copies of the book on 14th March at London's Forbidden Planet store in Shaftesbury Avenue between 6:00 and 7:00pm. The Doctor's old friend and fellow Time Lord Professor Chronotis has retired to Cambridge University - where nobody will notice if he lives for centuries. But now he needs help from the Doctor, Romana and K-9. When he left Gallifrey he took with him a few little souvenirs - most of them are harmless. But one of them is extremely dangerous. The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey isn't a book for Time Tots. It is one of the Artefacts, dating from the dark days of Rassilon. It must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. And the sinister Skagra most definitely has the wrong hands. He wants the book. He wants to discover the truth behind Shada. And he wants the Doctor's mind... Based on the scripts for the original television series by the legendary Douglas Adams, Shada retells an adventure that never made it to the screen. The story is expected to be made available on DVD as part of what is currently entitled The Legacy boxed set, along with the series documentary More Than 30 Years In The TARDIS. Although some special features have been recorded for the set, no other details on how the story itself will be presented or a release date for the DVD are known at present. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shada, which was not completed following industrial action at the BBC, has been the subject of other versions over the decades. In 1992 BBC Video released a version of the story with linking narration by Tom Baker, including new effects and a music score by Keff McCulloch. In 2003 it was also released by Big Finish as a new presentation starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, and a webcast of this version was presented on the BBC's Doctor Who website (at the time of writing the webcast will no longer play due to Flash incompatibilities). The Big Finish audio play was broadcast on BBC7 in 2005 and 2006. An unofficial project to recreate the story using animation to bridge the unfilmed segments was undertaken last year by producer Ian Levine, and featured a number of the original cast recording their lines based on the scripts. It has also been novelised by fans in the past, with a version in the UK by Jonathan Way (appearing in the DWAS fiction publication Cosmic Masque over issues 13-18) and in New Zealand by Paul Scoones (available to read via the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club). http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2012/02/dwn130212150008-shada.html
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Posted: |
Oct 18, 2012 - 6:53 AM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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Almost exactly a year ago we reported that Doctor Who - Story #109: Shada, the Douglas Adams-written story starring Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor, was being planned for a DVD release. In the article, we described how this 1979 production, originally set to be the 17th season finale, went unfinished due to a labor strike that affected Doctor Who and other BBC programs. Since the story never completed filming, a small part of it was used in a scene from Story #130: The Five Doctors, and then in 1992 a VHS release of Shada came out, with the BBC using the existing filmed scenes, and then with Tom Baker himself providing narration to link the missing portions of the story to all of the available scenes and sequences. Today, BBC Home Entertainment and distributor Warner Home Video have announced that Doctor Who - Story #109: Shada will come to DVD on January 8th, as a 2-disc set which is priced at $39.98 SRP. Running 109 minutes, it features digitally remastered picture and sound quality. The bonus material will feature the already-announced-as-included 1995 documentary "More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS." This highly-desirable item is described as having "dozens of classic excerpts featuring all seven [classic program] Doctors, clips from the widescreen trailers of the two Dalek movies starring Peter Cushing," and more "archive gems" and "treasures from the cutting room floor." Sweet! You'll ADDITIONALLY get these special features as well: Shada - Flash version Taken Out of Time Now and Then Strike! Strike! Strike! Being a Girl Women in Doctor Who Remembering Nicholas Courtney Doctor Who Stories - Peter Purves The Lambert Tapes - Part 1 (about founding producer Verity Lambert) Those Deadly Divas Photo Galleries Easter Egg PDF materials: Radio Times Listings Production Note Subtitles Note that out of all the stories featuring Tom Baker's 4th Doctor, there's only one left that's unreleased-on-DVD besides Shada, and that's Story #080: Terror of the Zygons (which is already said to be in-the-works for release sometime in 2013). Getting Shada first is a thrill for many fans, including me! Package art isn't available yet, but here's a quote of the studio's description about this item, with all the remaining information currently available to us through BBC/Warner sources: New to DVD! Digitally remastered Doctor Who classic Shada! Written by Douglas Adams as his final contribution to Doctor Who, Shada was envisaged as a Time Lord story without a Gallifreyan setting. It sees the Doctor bringing Romana to present-day Earth to visit Professor Chronotis, an elderly Time Lord who absconded from Gallifrey and now lives a quiet academic life at St Cedd's College in Cambridge. Also seeking Chronotis is a scientist called Skagra who has a device, in the form of a floating sphere, with which he intends to steal the Professor's mind and thereby learn the location of a book entitled The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey. Skagra eventually succeeds in obtaining the book, which has been borrowed from the Professor's study by a student named Chris Parsons. He then kidnaps Romana and hijacks the TARDIS. http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Doctor-Shada/17623
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Posted: |
Oct 23, 2012 - 12:41 PM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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Earlier this week BBC Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video announced that January 8th will see the DVD release of the 4th Doctor story Shada, which never finished in front of the cameras due to a labor strike at the time. It came to VHS in 1992 thanks to the help of the star, Tom Baker, as explained by the BBC here: Shada was formally dropped from the seventeenth season in December 1979, it having become apparent that due to the backlog of Christmas specials waiting to be recorded there was no prospect of studio time being found for its completion. A number of attempts were subsequently made to remount it but these ultimately came to nothing, and in June 1980 it was officially cancelled. A version of the story was eventually released on video in 1992 with Tom Baker providing a narration to cover the missing scenes. After we posted our original news story, many fans have asked us if the same technique will be used for the new DVD to bridge existing scenes together with the missing portions of the story. All we can do is say that the studio has offered no other explanation yet for how it would be handled with the upcoming release. Oh, there are other things they COULD do...notably animation sequences, like they've already done in the 2nd Doctor DVD release of The Invasion, for example (and which they are reportedly in the process of being done for next year's releases of The Tenth Planet and The Ice Warriors). But nothing like that's been said for Shada...at this time I personally am expecting the Tom Baker narration, at least until and unless the BBC informs us otherwise. But the exciting thing we have for you before the weekend officially starts is that package art is now available from this title, taken directly from BBC America's public website! This artwork is shown below, and offers an official (and long title) of "Doctor Who - Story #109: Shada with More Than 30 Years in the TARDIS"; the latter refers of course to the 1995 documentary which is being included as part of this release. And perhaps that's getting a disc all its own, then, because the front of the box also tells us that this will be a 3-DVD collection, and not two discs as previously said by Warner. Price is still $39.98 SRP. http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Doctor-Shada/17636
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Though no formal details have been given for the UK DVD release of the Legacy Box (Region One details were released last month), the British Board of Film Classification have now passed the additional material that features in the set, plus their running times. SHADA: 00:04:46:06 SHADA - PHOTO GALLERY 00:25:35:09 TAKEN OUT OF TIME - THE MAKING AND BREAKING OF SHADA 00:12:41:20 SHADA - NOW AND THEN 00:27:46:01 STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! 00:30:08:15 BEING A GIRL MORE THAN 30 YEARS IN THE TARDIS: 00:25:57:14 REMEMBERING NICHOLAS COURTNEY 00:13:29:06 DOCTOR WHO STORIES - PETER PURVES 00:10:33:21 THE LAMBERT TAPES - SUCCESS STORY 00:01:47:21 RICHARD MARTIN'S MEMORIES OF VERITY 00:22:35:23 THOSE DEADLY DIVAS 00:06:04:02 MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS IN THE TARDIS - PHOTO GALLERY In addition, the six episodes comprising the 2003 animated version of the story, featuring Paul McGann as the Doctor, has also been passed (the final item most likely refers to the introductory 'episode' to the story that places it in context): 00:18:26:04 DOCTOR WHO - SHADA - EPISODE ONE 00:22:43:03 DOCTOR WHO - SHADA - EPISODE TWO 00:20:49:13 DOCTOR WHO - SHADA - EPISODE THREE 00:27:22:00 DOCTOR WHO - SHADA - EPISODE FOUR 00:24:18:21 DOCTOR WHO - SHADA - EPISODE FIVE 00:23:41:16 DOCTOR WHO - SHADA - EPISODE SIX 00:07:31:09 DOCTOR WHO - SHADA (EPISODE LISTING) Steve Roberts recently explained how the animated version is to be presented: Just to clarify the reason that the McGann Shada is represented as a Flash animation rather than as DVD Video. Two reasons: Firstly, the animation was judged by all (including those who made it) to be not of sufficient quality for video. Secondly, it would have required a separate disc as there wasn't room on either of the others to include it - and that was an option that was outside of budget. I thought it should be included however, as it's part of the official BBC canon by virtue of being broadcast (which is ironic, as the BBC Video version itself isn't!), so I worked closely with James Goss to package it into a form that could be viewed easily on an PC or Mac via a simple web interface. The Legacy Box is due to be released on the 7th January in the UK(R2), and on the 8th January for North America(R1). http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2012/11/legacy-shada-081112154508.html
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Posted: |
Dec 12, 2012 - 4:29 PM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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Big Finish producer Nicholas Briggs talks about working with the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker: "Tom's an interesting one, really. All the stories you've heard about him being aggressive about scripts - he's mellowed a lot in his old age, but you do occasionally get a little flash of the old Tom Baker. He can be quite savage to a Director! ...He was suggesting something, you know, to the nth time, and it was quite a crazy suggestion. I said, 'OK Tom, I'm gonna go with that,' and he just said, 'Oh, Nick! I can't tell how happy it makes me when you accept one of my suggestions!" He sounded very moved... he said, 'I was rewriting my will this weekend, and I put something in it for you!' http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2012/12/people-121212181008.html
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Posted: |
Dec 18, 2012 - 4:51 PM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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A week ago we brought you the BBC's announcement for a March 12th North American release of both Doctor Who - Story #006: The Aztecs: Special Edition and Doctor Who - Story #076: The Ark In Space: Special Edition on DVD. At the time we only had thumbnail package art for Ark in Space, but now we've gotten ahold of full-sized finalized 3D artwork for that title; see it at the bottom (along with Aztecs again). We also didn't have the finalized list of bonus material for these releases, but now the BBC has provided a full list of the extras for these digitally remastered (both picture and sound quality) versions of the stories. Here these are, which are a copy-and-paste of the studio information (excepting a note I composed to explain one of these special features in more detail): Doctor Who - Story #006: The Aztecs: Special Edition Audio Commentary Doctor Who - Story #018: Galaxy 4 [NOTE: this first story of the original show's third season, starring William Harnell as the 1st Doctor, was among those productions "wiped/junked" by the BBC in the 60s & 70s. In 2011 a 16mm reel of the 3rd episode, "Airlock," was located and has been restored. It will be included on this DVD release, reportedly along with narration and surviving clips/stills of the 1st, 2nd and 4th episodes "Four Hundred Dawns," "Trap of Steel" and "The Exploding Planet"] Chronicle - The Realms of Gold Doctor Forever! - Celestial Toyroom It's a Square World A Whole Scene Going Remembering The Aztecs Designing The Aztecs: Cortez and Montezuma Restoring The Aztecs Making Cocoa Easter Egg TARDIS-Cam no.3 Photo Gallery Intro sequences PDF materials: Radio Times Listings Production Note Subtitles Doctor Who - Story #076: The Ark In Space: Special Edition Audio Commentary A New Frontier Roger Murray-Leach Interview Model Effects Roll CGI Effects Roll 3D Technical Schematics Trailer Alternative Titles Alternative CGI Sequences TARDIS-Cam no.1 The Ark in Space - Movie Version Doctor Forever! Love & War Scene Around Six Robot 8mm Location Film Easter eggs (3) Photo Gallery PDF materials: Radio Times Listings; the Doctor Who Technical Manual; tie-in promotional materials for Crosse & Blackwell, and for Nestlé Production Note Subtitles Taken from: http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Doctor-AztecsSE-and-ArkInSpaceSE/17883#ixzz2FRdygmNB
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Having cut back drastically on buying soundtracks, I've begun collecting Doctor Who on DVD. I'm concentrating initially on Tom Baker, because he's the one I first took any real notice of, though I've picked up a few Davison and Pertwee titles when they've all been in a box set. The plan is to branch out backwards and forwards as I go, finishing on the Hartnells and the McCoys. One of the pleasures of collecting the DVDs has been seeing stories that I don't ever recall seeing at the time, whether drab ones like The Sun Makers or completely bonkers ones like The Invasion Of Time, the final Leela story and one of the last I have significant memories of (apart from City Of Death which I watched as a rental a few years back). I have the Key To Time box but I'm waiting for a chance to marathon the whole series in a day. I can still remember the sock full of wet mud to the back of the head that was seeing the new title sequence for Tom Baker's last year - what the hell was this? Where was the Time Tunnel? What have they done? Reading up on the stories of that final series, I find I don't actually recall any of them; maybe I've blanked them for some reason, in which case it'll be even more interesting to finally revisit them. As for subsequent Doctors, I have next to no memories of any of them.
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