Missing episodes might be found?

So... I go away from the world of Sci-Fi for a few days and come back to find lost episodes might be found. According to the site Bleeding Cool, not one not even two, but a mass stock of missing episodes from the 60s have been discovered in Africa in a stash kept by an engineer from the time. At the moment this is all speculation from Bleeding Cool but they do say they have two good sources. From reading articles it would seem that one of the recovered stories is the remaining episodes of  Evil of the Daleks.  In my mind the best Dalek story out there. I can only hope that this does come to something rather than shattering all our dreams. As soon as anything comes out to either deny or confirm these stories I will let you guys know.

Breaking News: Matt Smith to leave Doctor Who

The BBC has announced that actor Matt Smith is to leave Doctor Who at Christmas.  He has just recently completed filming the Doctor Who Fiftieth Anniversary Special, where he stars alongside David Tennant and John Hurt.   He will make one more episode, the 2013 Christmas Special before he bows out by regenerating into the Twelfth Doctor.

Matt Smith said: "Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew and fans of the show. I'm incredibly grateful to all the cast and crew who work tirelessly every day, to realise all the elements of the show and deliver Doctor Who to the audience. Many of them have become good friends and I'm incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last four years. 

Having Steven Moffat as show runner write such varied, funny, mind bending and brilliant scripts has been one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges of my career. It's been a privilege and a treat to work with Steven, he's a good friend and will continue to shape a brilliant world for the Doctor.

The fans of Doctor Who around the world are unlike any other; they dress up, shout louder, know more about the history of the show (and speculate more about the future of the show) in a way that I've never seen before, your dedication is truly remarkable. Thank you so very much for supporting my incarnation of the Time Lord, number Eleven, who I might add is not done yet, I'm back for the 50th anniversary and the Christmas special!

It's been an honour to play this part, to follow the legacy of brilliant actors, and helm the TARDIS for a spell with 'the ginger, the nose and the impossible one'. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go and Trenzalore calls. Thank you guys. Matt."

Matt Smith arrived in Doctor Who in the second part of The End of Time broadcast on New Years Day 2010.  He has stayed with the show for three years, which ironically is the duration many of the lead actors of the original Doctor Who series remained with the programme.

Everyone here at the Doctor Who Bar wishes Matt Smith all the best for the future.

However as to the future of Doctor Who itself, just who will be taking over when Matt leaves?  Ben Daniels has been mentioned.  We won't find out until Christmas. :-)

Happy Birthday River

Today the 31^st May 2013 is in WHO fandom the birthday of a character that for some splits us as a collective down the middle. Yes of course I’m talking of Professor River Song. Love her or hate her you cannot deny that the Moff man has well and truly made a mark by introducing a, for some, brilliant and new loved character to thicken the plot or at least back in 2008 it did. And for others introduce a character who really does your Swede in with all her smarmy flirty nonsense. But I digress. River is an example of several companions (if you class her as a companion) who has a love or hate relationship with the fans. In this blog entry I have chosen 3 fans that personally I love and another 3 that personally I hate. Before I begin well and true I apologize now if I offend anyone with my choices. But as some might say “thems the breaks.” Firstly I think I’ll get my least favorites out the way. 

Dorothea Dodo Chaplet - Dodo for me is an incredibly horrid creation of a character created for the first Doctors time. Her original use was as an every day girl to be whisked off to fantastical adventures in time and space. Introduced at the end of The Massacre when she mistook the TARDIS for an actual police box she ran in looking to call the police because she’d witnessed something iffy going on. In this first scene and the first episode or so of The Ark she used a regional accent. But funny enough the prim and proper BBC of the day didn’t like this and made her speak with the normal for those days RP accent. I was willing to let the accent issue go for a while but theres only so many times that you can stand hearing her wine “but Doctor?” “how Doctor?” and of course “Steven looooook”. If I’m gonna be honest I was thrilled when she was booted out of the show without even a proper goodbye scene in The War Machines. I’m sure if the writing staff had considered even a smidgen of character development I may have liked her some what more but nope nothing about her past or anything important to make us as fans like her. But anyways that's Dodo, lets jaunt on to my next least liked companion.

Adric - ah poor Adric of course joined the TARDIS during State of Decay and left in quite frankly the brilliant Earthshock. He was really a bit of a wet blanket wasn’t he? All he seemed to do was moan, trip and hurt his ankle, moan a bit more and then storm off for a jolly good sulk. However he did have one redeeming feature. That of his death. In TV history he was only the 3^rd companion to die after Katarina The Daleks Masterplan and Sara Kingdom also Masterplan. His way of death causing the destruction of the Cybermen on the space freighter and then crashing into the Earth is a pretty epic way to go if you ask me. When he joined he was meant to be a bit of a maths wiz kid but he couldn’t stand up on his own when on the TARDIS you had the Doctor himself an all round genius, Nyssa, again a bit of a clever clogs who also was a bit of a looker :) and Tegan, not really that clever yes but by heck she could definitely give the most frightening of space monsters a good yelling and telling off.

Amy Pond - yes I know she’s really only just left but I really cannot stand her. All she seemed to do was yell a bit and try and get off with the Doctor. If I were Rory I’d have shown her the door years ago. Yes she was head strong and had some brains I guess, when it came down to it was a bit of a tart who really didn’t care much for her own husband and kept trying to get some action from her 1100 year old son in law. What the Moff man was thinking when she was created I’ll never know.

Right after those 3 lets get on to the companions that I did like. Starting with:

Romana - introduced in The Ribos Operation played by the late great Mary Tamm and then after her frankly bonkers regeneration by the wonderful Lalla Ward.  Romana was what a companion should be. Not just a screaming shouty girl with no brains and a big buzzom. No, no Romana was brains, looks and a general brilliant assistant for the Doctor. She played off his eccentricity and  wasn’t afraid to correct him when he was wrong about something. I’m glad with Romana that when Big Finish started their audio plays, she was and is featured in some of them. Also its nice to see how the Doctor copes with a fellow Time Lord on board.

Wilfred Mott - you're probably thinking “waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh?” but yes I think Wilf was a brilliant character and I always thought that yes even though he is an old man he had a boyish air about him when the 10^th Doctor was about. They played off each other so well and it was truly brilliant to see how pained the Doctor was when he realized that it was Wilf’s fault he would have to regenerate. I always think that a meeting of Wilf and the 11^th Doctor would be fun to see.

Jamie McCrimmon - Jamie joined in the 2^nd Doctor’s 2^nd story The Highlanders and stayed with him right up until the end of The War Games. I always thought Jamie was great, his and the 2^nd Doctors chemistry was and is such a great thing to watch. A fine example of this is at the start of Tomb of the Cybermen. Jamie taken from the 18^th century came round to things quickly and always had something to say. I think that a primary male companion needs to be re-introduced, because when it was done in the 60s it worked, and I think it could work again today.

So there you have it, 6 companions half of which I don’t care for and 3 of which I do. Its been a nice little thing to write and has been a nice way to break my blogging mad head :). Its been nice to write for you all and I hope you enjoy this blog entry. I’ve been Legeon and I hope to write more blog entries in the future and also host some sessions for the Bar. But for now take care all.

News: Series Finale in Distribution Error

Doctor Who fans in the United States are being urged to keep the plot of this Saturday's finale The Name of the Doctor secret after DVD boxsets of the current series were distributed early in error. BBC Worldwide has said that a small number of fans had been sent pre-ordered DVD boxsets three weeks early. BBC Worldwide has asked those with the DVD Series Seven Part Two boxset not to reveal plot details of the shows finale ahead of it's terrestrial showing.

Steven Moffat, Doctor Who's head writer and Executive Producer promised footage of current Doctor, actor Matt Smith with his predecessor David Tennant if everyone keeps tight lipped about the finales secrets.

"A small number of US Doctor Who fans have received their Series Seven Part Two DVD three weeks early," BBC Worldwide said in an issued statement.

"We are asking fans who may have the discs not to divulge plot details so that fellow fans who have yet to see the episodes do not have their viewing pleasure ruined."

BBC Worldwide is currently investigating how the boxsets were distributed so early.

This Saturday's episode of the hit BBC One show, The Name of the Doctor which is written by Steven Moffat, comes ahead of a Fiftieth Anniversary 3D special, due to air on 23 November 2013.

David Tennant and Billie Piper, who played Rose Tyler, are among those who will guest star.

Tennant starred in Doctor Who from 2005 to 2010, while Billie Piper first appeared in 2005 in the very first New Series episode opposite Christopher Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor.

Spoilers: Series Finale News

The episode title of the current series finale has been released from the BBC and it's an epic one everyone.

The episode is called The Name of the Doctor and his most endearing secret will finally be revealed in this exciting episode when it airs in a few weeks time on Saturday 18th May!

The episode is written by Steven Moffat and directed by Saul Metzstein, and as you can see from the officially sanctioned poster, will see the return of Alex Kingston as River Song.  It is also rumoured that the events of this particular episode which will feature the fields of Trensalore, will lead into the Fiftieth Anniversary special which is currently being shot.

So hang on to your hat's everyone as Doctor Who continues on BBC One!

UPDATE: Many fans have had a negative reaction to the title of the last episode. Other fans are speculating this will finish the River Song arc and the audience will not find out the name of the Doctor.

DWBarOZ

Hi all,
To those who have been taking part in #DWBarOZ broadcasts recently, we are sorry that the Bar tonight did not go ahead. There were technical problems with the account beyond my control. Hopefully we will be back next week with the 8:30pm (adelaide time) episode Hide.

Spoilers: Fiftieth Anniversary Special News

The BBC has announced one of the villains taking part in the Anniversary Special, which is currently being filmed.  As you can see Tom Baker's most iconic villain the Zygons are to return since their last appearance in Terror of the Zygons.

In addition both David Tennant and Billie Piper are to reprise their starring roles as the Doctor and Rose.  The picture below is of David and Matt at the read through of the Anniversary Special.

So just Who else is coming back!  As a former Doctor Who Producer once said, Stay Tuned! 

'The Stones of Blood' Preview

‘The Stones of Blood’ was the third story from Doctor Who’s 16^th season – commonly known as the ‘Key to Time’ season due to it’s plot arc which involved the Doctor (Tom Baker) and companion Romana (Mary Tamm) searching the universe for fragments of an all powerful key.

It also happened to be Doctor Who’s 100^th story, and was intended to feature a scene in which K9 sung ‘Happy Birthday’ to the Doctor. However this scene was vetoed by producer Graham Williams who regarded the idea as to self indulgent. However, Baker did order a cake, which was eaten by the cast and crew.   

The story has been described as “Hammeresque” – indeed it features a variety of horror movie style scenes. One scene was cut from the VHS release of the story due to concerns about its presentation of adults consumed by terror. However this scene was reinstated for the DVD release of the story. Another memorable scene features two campers being killed by the Ogri – huge sentient slabs of stone.

We will be watching ‘The Stones of Blood’ on Wednesday. Hope to see you there. 

New Series Session's in the Doctor Who Bar!

Join the Doctor Who Bar for the New Series of Doctor Who!

We believe in letting the fans watch the original showing of the show on Saturday in peace.  However the Bar is introducing a new session, as from Friday the 5th of April when BBC3 shows the repeat showing of the first episode, The Bell's of Saint John you can now join in with our new session and tweet against the repeat transmission.  Air your views and tell us what you liked or didn't like about the story!

So join my good friend @Whoooligan who will be returning to host the first of our New Series session's as Doctor Who also returns to television in the lead up to the shows memorable Fiftieth Anniversary.  The session will open at 7pm and BBC3 will air the episode at 7.15pm BST.  So please join us in the Doctor Who Bar everyone.  

The Key To Time/The Ribos Operation Preview

When Graham Williams applied to be the producer of Doctor Who in 1976 as part of his application he proposed the Key To Time story arc, which would encompass an entire season of Doctor Who.

A story arc in itself would be nothing new for Doctor Who as Season 8 was a Master storyline arc ending in his capture at the end of The Dæmons.  Also some of Tom Baker's 1st season (Season 12) involved the ongoing plot of the space station Nerva.

The Key to Time was aired from September 1978 - February 1979.

The season is set up at the beginning of The Ribos Operation where The White Guardian summons The Doctor who has just finished building K9 MK II, we (the viewers) having seen The Doctor dragging a box saying K9 MK II on it into the console room at the conclusion of The Invasion of Time, having left the original K9 on Gallifrey with Leela when she chose to stay there, again at the conclusion of that story.

The White Guardian explains that a powerful artefact called The Key To Time has been split in to 6 pieces as it is far to powerful for any one being to possess and has been dispersed throughout time and space.  However a time is approaching rapidly where The White Guardian needs to restore the equilibrium of the universe and he needs The Doctor to recover it.

The task will be made all the more difficult as the pieces are disguised and could be anything.  The Doctor will have a tracer device to help locate the pieces.  He has also been given a new assistant to help him on his task a Time Lady called Romanadvoratrelundar.

The Bar will be watching the entire Key to Time season on Wednesdays starting this Wednesday (13th March).  The Bar will open at 7:30pm GMT and we will press play at 8pm GMT.

I do hope you can join me.

'The Invasion of Time' Preview

‘The Invasion of Time’ was the final story of Doctor Who’s 15^th season. It starred Tom Baker as the Doctor, and marked the final appearance of Louise Jameson as Leela.

The initial setup of the story is an intriguing one. The Doctor appears to be working against Leela and spends much of the early story concealing his motives from her. This Doctor is willing to sell out to an unseen voice in return for “complete control over the Timelords”. It’s a bold move that immediately draws the viewer into the plot.

The story features a return to Gallifrey, the planet of bickering old men. This time it’s under attack from the Vardans, but are they merely a figurehead for a much more dangerous enemy?

With the alien invasion suppressed after a lot of running around, the Doctor is ready to leave. However, to everyone’s surprise, Leela has suddenly fallen madly in love with Commander Andred. Precisely why is anyone’s guess. I reckon it’s the flashy cape. I can't imagine it lasts very long between them.

We will be watching ‘The Invasion of Time’ on Wednesday. The bar opens at 7.30pm and we press play at 8.00pm. Hope to see you there. 

The Mutants - Preview

The Mutants was the penultimate story of Season 9.  It starred Jon Pertwee as the The Doctor alongside Katy Manning as Jo Grant.  

Whilst working on a super drive for Bessie in his laboratory at UNIT HQ, The Doctor and Jo witness a strange object appear in front of them.  The Doctor explains to Jo that this is a top priority assignment from the Time Lords and he cannot ignore it.  So for the 3rd time since his exile began The Doctor along with the TARDIS is allowed by the Time Lords to leave earth. 

The destination for the TARDIS is the 30th century, the planet Solos where the Earth Empire is contracting and plans are being made to decolonise the planet.

The intention of writers Bob Martin and Dave Baker along with Producer Barry Letts was for this story to have an anti-racist message to it.

We will be watching this story on Wednesday.  The bar opens 7:30pm GMT and we press play at 8:00pm GMT.  I hope to see you there.