Christopher Barry

The Doctor Who Bar sadly reports that former Doctor Who director Christopher Barry has died at the age of 88.

He may be remembered best for being the 1st person to direct the Daleks but he directed many other Doctor Who stories in the 60's and 70's these stories were:

William Hartnell:  The Daleks (Not episodes 3 & 6), The Rescue, The Romans, The Savages.
Patrick Troughton:  The Power of the Daleks.
Jon Pertwee: The Dæmons, The Mutants.
Tom Baker:  Robot, The Brain of Morbius, The Creature from the Pit.

Christopher had previously stated of all these Stories his favourite was The Dæmons.

We would like to invite to you all to join us as we pay tribute to Christopher Barry with The Dæmons on Saturday 15th February.  The Doctor Who Bar opens at 9:15pm and we press play at 9:30pm.  Please join in by watching your VHS or DVD and use the #DWBar Hashtag.

We hope to see you then.

R.I.P. Christopher Barry.

Let's Get The Captain America Movie Sequel To Feature Doctor Who!

The latest Marvel movie blockbuster Captain America: The Winter Soldier could feature the hit TV series  Doctor Who and Sherlock when it arrives in the UK and Ireland screens in March this year.

After his sixty-year coma following the events seen in Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America (also known as Steve Rogers) will be adapting to life in the 21st century. A scene will occur, featuring Rogers' scrapbook, with notes filled with the news he has missed out on during his spell in a coma. Now comes the exciting bit for lovers of the hit television series Sherlock and more importantly Doctor Who!

Captain America will have missed plenty of amazing TV in his comatose absence - so the Radio Times Magazine have created a poll which will help him decide which great British & Irish TV could be featured in the very special scene. Hopefully the BBC's flagship sci-fi series Doctor Who (what else could it be!), Sherlock, and many other TV hits making the poll could be included.  This is a great opportunity for fans to help their favourite programme feature in a massive blockbuster motion picture!

For example, there could be a picture of the Eleventh Doctor (played by Matt Smith) & Clara (Jenna Coleman) on their travels in the TARDIS, or even Sherlock (actor Benedict Cumberbatch) & John Watson  (Martin Freeman) discovering a mystery - there are endless possibilities for extracts of either show to be incorporated into the scene. So where and how do we vote? The link below will take you to the original article and poll, for you to cast your votes (you may vote for up to three programmes, so please choose very carefully!)

Click here to cast your vote!

Captain America: The Winter Soldier will hit UK & Ireland screens on Wednesday 26th March, and US cinemas on Friday 4th April.

[Source : The Radio Times]

New Schedule

Happy New Year.

A new year and this post is to say that a new schedule has been posted.  It starts this Saturday (4th Jan) and runs until the end of April.

As always we are not going to please all of you all the time.  We hope to see you for some of our sessions.

Viewers Choice Night - The Choices

Hi again everyone.

The choices are in and sadly we didn't get as many as we had hoped.

So instead of the top 5 are only choices are:  Genesis of the Daleks, City of Death & The Curse of Fenric Special Edition.

To vote simply tweet your choice to #DWBarVC before 8:30pm GMT (UK Time) next Sat (28th Dec) and we will announce the winning story when we open our session at 8:45pm GMT that night and will press play all on our DVD's at 9pm GMT.  Remember the tweet has to have #DWBarVC in it to count.

Thank you once again for your support.

The Bar admins Voidy (aka @Via_The_Void) & myself (@SimonGa) once again wish you all a Happy Christmas (apologies if you don't celebrate it) and hope you all have a great 2014.

Viewers Choice Night

Here at The Doctor Who Bar we love our followers and those who join in with our sessions no matter how often you are able to.

As a small Christmas gift to you we give you Viewers Choice Night on Saturday 28th December.

How this works is tweet us your suggestion of a story (Christmas Specials excluded please) to #DWBarVC  for it to count you must tweet before 8:30pm GMT on Saturday 21st December and before our session that night we will announce the Top 5.

You then can vote again by tweeting again to #DWBarVC for 1 of those 5 before 8:30pm GMT on Saturday 28th December.  We will then watch the winning story at 9pm GMT that night.

Please remember only tweets with the tag #DWBarVC WILL count.

Finally Happy Christmas to you all.

The Time of the Doctor News & Speculation

The Time of the Doctor is to be broadcast on Christmas Day at 7.30pm GMT, and will star Matt Smith in his final outing as the Doctor.  Jenna Coleman stars again as Clara.

Orbiting the quiet backwater planet Trenzalore, the massed forces of the universe’s deadliest species gather.  They are inexplicably drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out through the stars. Amongst them is the Doctor himself. Rescuing his companion Clara from a traditional family Christmas dinner, the Time Lord and his best friend must learn what this enigmatic signal means for his own destiny and that of the entire universe.

So what do we know about this particular episode!?  Well it's Matt Smith's final episode before he hangs up his Fez for good.  We know that the Doctor ages through this final episode and also loses one of his limbs.

But what of the plot arcs which have been left hanging from his other series.  What exactly are the Cracks in Time, and who or what are controlling them? 

We also know that despite him being the Eleventh Doctor, we will discover that he's really the Thirteenth and final incarnation of the Doctor.  So at the end of this story Doctor Who as a series will be finished, the Doctor has reached the end of his regeneration limit, time to draw the show to a close?

Of course, Doctor Who is not about to cease production, we already know that Peter Capaldi has been cast as the next Doctor and the show resumes production on it's next series after Christmas in January.  So how can the Doctor circumvent the established regeneration limit?

There is a precedent established in the Twentieth Anniversary special The Five Doctors where Lord President Borusa offers the Master "Regeneration, a complete new life cycle!" but surely we won't see the Time Lords so soon after The Day of the Doctor?  Not unless the Time Lords themselves have been attempting to contact the Doctor by some method?  Could they be responsible for his regeneration?

All we can do is wait patiently for Christmas Day, and the final performance of Matt Smith as the Doctor before he hands the role on to Peter Capaldi. So stay tuned everyone.

Article written by Via_The_Void

The Day of the Doctor

 

The BBC have at last revealed the transmission time for the Anniversary Special.  The Day of the Doctor will premiere on BBC One at 7.50pm GMT on the 23rd November, 2013.

The Doctors embark on their greatest adventure yet in this Fiftieth Anniversary special. In 2013, something sinister and terrible is awakening in London’s National Gallery; back in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in deep space an ancient battle reaches its final devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor’s own dangerous past comes back to haunt him, and the only way to fix it is for him to get help from himself!

Starring Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman, David Tennant with John Hurt and Billie Piper. The Special features appearances from the Zygons and the Daleks.  

Not much else is known about the Anniversary Special as it's been very carefully kept under wraps until transmission, but we do know that the ancient battle mentioned in the synopsis is likely to be the Time War!

So will we get to see any of the Doctor's from the shows original television run? Will the dastardly Daleks triumph over the Doctor by destroying his home planet Gallifrey?  Or will the Doctor himself cause Gallifrey's destruction?

Not long to go now as we countdown the Days to the Anniversary. 

List of Missing Episodes Recovered

Fans of the original run of Doctor Who know that many stories were wiped by the BBC.  Some of these were returned to the BBC and luckily the entire Jon Pertwee run has been in the archive for quite some time albeit some of it in Black and White only.  Those episodes have been painstakingly restored to colour as best as possible by The Restoration Team.

108 episodes were missing until the BBC announced the recovery of The Underwater Menace episode 2 and Galaxy 4 episode 3.

After whispers before and after that find, we have had months of speculation and rumour about possible discoveries, on Tuesday the BBC website stated that a number of episodes had been returned to the BBC.  The official announcement has just been made about which episodes have been returned.

The Enemy of the World episodes 1-2,4-6.  Episode 3 was already in the BBC archive.  The Web of Fear episodes 2, 4-6  This just leaves episode 3 missing as episode 1 is already in the archives.

The BBC have released these Patrick Troughton episodes via iTunes as downloads.

A DVD will be released on the 22nd November of The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear follows in early 2014.

There is speculation that this is not all the episodes that have been returned and there will be a further announcement at some point.

We at The Doctor Who Bar are very glad these episodes have been returned and we give grateful thanks to all those involved in returning these to the archives.

We also look forward to watching them in the Bar soon.

Weekend Matinees With Watch

Join us for some weekend matinees with Watch as they screen Classic Doctor Who omnibuses on Saturday's and Sunday's starting the 12th October.

They will also be screening The Doctors Revisited specials already seen in America, Australia and New Zealand.

The Bar will open at 1:45pm (UK) and we will tweet along with these specials at 2pm (UK) followed by the omnibuses after at 2:30pm (UK).

The dates and stories are as follows:

Saturday 12th The Aztecs
Sunday 13th Tomb of the Cybermen
Saturday 19th Spearhead from Space
Sunday 20th Pyramids of Mars
Saturday 26th Earthshock
Sunday 27th Vengeance on Varos

I would imagine we will get the Seventh and Eighth Doctors on the 2nd and 3rd of November.  We will probably also get Ninth and Tenth Doctors on the 9th and 10th and Eleventh Doctor on the 16th.

We will confirm that when listings are avaliable.

Please join us if you can.

Classic Doctor Who on Watch

I haven't seen this news anywhere else yet and I have just posted this information on Twitter.

As has been previously announced the UK channel Watch will be showing The Doctors Revisited specials.  Watch is part of the UKTV Network of channels and BBC Worldwide have a 50% stake in UKTV.

Looking at future listings I have seen that they are also going to be showing serials from the original series as Omnibus editions.

These are all October dates and will start at 2:30pm:

Saturday 12th The Aztecs
Sunday 13th Tomb of the Cybermen
Saturday 19th Spearhead from Space
Sunday 20th Pyramids of Mars
Saturday 26th Earthshock
Sunday 27th Vengeance on Varos

I would presume they will show a Seventh Doctor story on Saturday 2nd November and possibly the Eighth  Doctor TV Movie on Sunday 3rd November however no listings are available for these dates.

Watch is available in the UK on Sky 109 & Virgin 124.

Whilst I personally own all these serials on DVD I will watch them on TV to support the broadcasts and hopefully gain more in the future.

Views on 50th Coverage in UK

Disclaimer: This post is my own opinion and does not reflect the views of The Doctor Who Bar.  Despite being the 2nd in command of the bar I am writing this as purely a columnist.

The BBC have announced what wonders we can expect for the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who.

I am completely underwhelmed and unsurprised by the poor output they are providing.

Here is a list of it courtesy of the BBC One Facebook page.

ON BBCTWO:
- In a special one-off programme, Professor Brian Cox will try to answer the classic questions raised by the Doctor – can you really travel in time? Does extra-terrestrial life exist in our galaxy? And how do you build something as fantastical as the TARDIS?

-The Culture Show will present ‘Me, You and Doctor Who’ with lifelong fan Matthew Sweet exploring the cultural significance of the BBC’s longest running TV drama, arguing that it’s one of the most important cultural artefacts of modern Britain.

- BBC Two will then wrap up its coverage with the previously announced ‘An Adventure in Space and Time’ written by Mark Gatiss

ON BBC Three:
-'Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains Weekend’ will countdown to the top Doctor Who monster as voted for by you.

- 'Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide’ will introduce those less familiar to the show to a wealth of archive material and act as a guide to all things Who.

- We also have one further exciting commission to be announced later this year which will see the celebrations finish with a bang.

ON #BBCFOUR:
- Audiences will be introduce audiences to the first Doctor, William Hartnell, with a special re-run of the first ever story, which marked the start of 50 years of history. The four episodes are being shown in a restored format, not previously broadcast in the UK.

There will also be programmes across #CBBC including two live #BluePeter specials.

ON BBC Radio 1:
- A documentary will look at 'Time Lord Rock (TROCK)' as a genre of music inspired by the Doctor and his journeys through space and time.

ON BBC Radio 2
- 'Who is the Doctor' will look at the lasting appeal of Doctor Who and ask how much of its continued success can be attributed to its basic formula.

- In ‘The Blagger’s Guide to Doctor Who’, David Quantick will give the iconic Doctor the Blagger’s treatment. He’ll be finding out the answers to questions such as why do Americans think Tom Baker is still Doctor Who? How many Doctors have there really been? Were the Daleks really named after an encyclopaedia?

- Finally, Graham Norton will be broadcasting his weekly Radio 2 show live (Saturday 23 November, 10am) from the Doctor Who Celebration in London.

I think the Graham Norton bit will annoy a few fans in the UK who remember his voice being heard during Rose and also his animated image popping up on screen in other episodes to advertise what was on next.

Some of those things appeal to me more than others but I am not posting this to slate what the BBC are saying they are showing.  Merely I am saying is that all?  Some may say what more do you want surely that is a lot.  Perhaps it is but let me explain about other countries 50th celebration of the show.

Australia and NZ have shown the following serials from the shows original run:

An Unearthly Child, The Aztecs, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The War Machines,  The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Dominators , The Mind Robber  The Seeds of Death Spearhead from Space, The Daemons, The Three Doctors, Death to the Daleks, The Ark in Space, Genesis of the Daleks, Pyramids of Mars, The Hand of Fear, The Robots of Death, City of Death, Kinda, Earthshock, Snakedance, Frontios, Resurrection of the Daleks, The Caves of Androzani, Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos, The Mark of the Rani, The Two Doctors, Revelation of the Daleks, Paradise Towers, Remembrance of the Daleks, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, The Curse of Fenric, Survival and the Eighth Doctor TV Movie

America has seen:

The Aztecs, The The Tomb of the Cybermen, Spearhead from Space, Pyramids of Mars, Earthshock, Vengeance on Varos, Remembrance of the Daleks and the Eighth Doctor TV Movie.

These markets have also seen a series of specials entitled The Doctors Revisited.  These specials as the name suggests have been looking back at each Doctor and are set to continue with 3 more specials for the Ninth to Eleventh Doctors.   The 1st 4 have also been released on DVD in America and 5-8 are scheduled for release at the start of October, with the final 3 being released in December.  I should also add these countries have aired the specials and repeats on BBC owned channels.

The UK has had none of this.  I have to ask why?  When we have a) probably paid for these specials to be made with our licence fee and b) when we pay for the show in itself to be made with our licence fee.  Yet we are getting treated like we do not count or matter.  I applaud the BBC for making the programmes for the UK mentioned above which may or may not get shown in other countries but why not show the revisited specials and why not make BBC Four a home for more repeats from the original run.  I run a Facebook page here which was originally set up after The Hand of Fear was repeated as a tribute to Elisabeth Sladen but now in the shows 50th year it really is something they should be doing.

Animate The Crusade for DVD release

The Crusade, like many stories from the 1960s, is incomplete in the BBC's archives. This four-episode adventure, first broadcast in 1965, is a victim of the BBC's junking of many Doctor Who episodes in the 60s and 70s - which has left 106 still missing.

Luckily, audio recordings were made by a handful of fans at the time of transmission, so while the original moving pictures of episodes two and four of The Crusade are gone, the soundtracks survive.

If you're a collector of the BBC's classic Who DVDs, you will have noticed a few stories with animated episodes springing up. The latest is The Ice Warriors, which has been released in the UK this week.

Some fans have launched a social media campaign to support a DVD of The Crusade, with its two missing episodes completed with the same technique. But why single out this story? Ian Redman, one of the fans behind these efforts, explained to The Doctor Who Bar:

Over recent months, we've heard that the budget for a classic Doctor Who DVD release can accommodate two animated episodes to fill the gaps of an incomplete story. (It would be great if that one day becomes three, but time will tell!) We're at the point now where almost all of the stories with one or two episodes missing have either been released, or announced for release, with animation used to complete them.

The only two stories which have not yet had such an announcement made are The Underwater Menace and The Crusade - both of these are four-part stories with two episodes missing. We know that The Underwater Menace will be receiving its own DVD release, but there has been no official word on plans for the two missing instalments. My gut feeling is that they will be animated, though - it seems very likely.

The Crusade, on the other hand, is looking like it might be running out of luck. The Doctor Who Restoration Team have said that they have not been commissioned to do any work for that story. This doesn't necessarily make it impossible for animation plans to be getting into motion in other quarters, but it's really not looking good. This is sad, because we are facing the very real possibility that The Crusade might end up being the one and only story with two episodes missing, that does not receive a DVD release with animation.

That brings us to the campaign. I'm really hesitant to call it a 'petition', and I would probably reject that description if anyone tried to apply it! What we are doing is attempting to politely demonstrate that there is support for the idea of animating The Crusade's two missing episodes. The Restoration Team themselves have recently encouraged people to write to BBC Worldwide to express support of further classic DVD releases.

But at the end of the day, I think this is one of those things that might just do some good, but it can't really do any harm. (Or a DVD might come out, but with this campaign having had nothing to do with it... but we wouldn't complain!) We're not standing outside the BBC's headquarters with pitchforks (not a petition, remember!), but if it gets thoughts ticking over in the mind of someone in the commissioning loop (and Worldwide do know about the campaign), then you never know! Of course, in the event that all this has no effect (and I'm not going to sugarcoat it - that's the most likely outcome!), we have done nobody any harm. We shall see!

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/animatecrusade

Twitter:

#AnimateCrusade