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Here are some British points of view (who also happen to be Who fans): Outpost Gallifrey Discussion

At least the news came from a reputable news source... wait, thats not right. The sun is possible the worst of tabloid news. I would wait and see if this is confirmed from a news source that is less obsessed with celebrity and made up bs.

Just reading the unofficial fan page, I noticed this: (about half way down)

"The BBC has given an official statement to FreemaAgyeman.com, calling the Sun's story "absolute rubbish"."
So, a bucket of salt needs to be taken with this.

According to Outpost Gallifrey, "The Fourth Doctor costume was discussed, where it was clarified that the costume wasn't used in the series itself, but was used by Tom Baker for public appearances like conventions."

Outpost Gallifrey is reporting that several original Dr. Who costumes were sold in the same auction, and Tom Baker's coat and scarf took in over 24000 GBP. Other Doctors' costumes took between 1000 and 8000 GBP each.

... before the dinosaurs decided to fight back

And here I though Mondas was the Tenth Planet. Those sneaky Cybermen.

And for those of you wondering exactly what the hell he is talking about: Inferno, a Doctor Who story, in the first season of the third Doctor. It's pretty decent Who story, where a similar experiment ends up blowing up the world (they drill completely through to the crust though). Which the Doctor witnesses in a parralel universe, so he can warn his own universe of the dangers of the experiment. Throw some weird green hairy zombies in, to make sure you do not forget it is Doctor Who. :P

After watching Doctor Who for the first time with the new series last year, I've actually started going through all the old Doctor Who stories I never saw in chronological order, and boy is there a lot of (26 seasons, to be precise). And I just happened to have watch Inferno yesterday, so it is fresh on my mind, and was actually the first thing I thought of when I saw this newsbit also. :)

[After doing some digging]

For reference, the 2nd series ("season" in the US idiom) will start to air in the UK in ("from") April... so it seems possible that they'll go right into it, though TFA specifies that SciFi only has an option on the 2nd series.

I do wonder how they'll handle the Christmas specials... historically they were distributed differently from the main Doctor Who series, but it's been a long time since that was an issue.

Try watching the new Doctor Who series. It's a breath of fresh air.... interesting tv with great characters and emotional issues, plus enough sci-fi to blow your mind off. It is amazing how RTD (the producer) managed to reinvigorate the show and combined old aspects with new ones, and came up with various gems of episodes.

Christopher Eccleston played the Doctor in the first year of the new show, now David Tennant is taking over the role (the Doctor has regenerated).

A third series has been announced too.

From GallifreyOne:
The BBC's audience research for the first series of "Doctor Who" has shown some major developments for the channel. The series average to date, in final numbers, has been 8.2 million viewers and a 40% share; episode one had the highest audience for a new Doctor (jointly held with Tom Baker's debut in 1974) and the second highest launch of a new series (behind season 17 in 1979). The show strongly skewed toward both children and 35-44 year old age brackets, with an average overnight AI (audience index) ranking of 83, higher than normal for BBC drama. 63% of viewers said their main reason for watching episode 1 was because of the trailer, while 22% said their main reason for watching episode 6 was to see the Daleks. However, 68% said it was because they were enjoying the series. Over 90% of viewers polled say the Doctor Who is "good family viewing" but 19% had concerns about children being scared by the series, highest amongst older women. Just 6% of parents who watched Doctor Who wouldn't allow their children to watch. 59% of the audience think Doctor Who is better than other drama,a nd a massive 82% of the audience are "Very likely" to watch the new series, with a further 14% are quite likely.

Who knows?

If you really want to spoil it, you can visit Outpost Gallifrey.
You'll need to sign up and then modify your user settings so you can get into the "spoiler" forum group.

The final episode was shown Wednesday night at some BAFTA shindig, where they also talked about the new series.

The entire synopsis is posted for those who can't wait.

You can find Scream of the Shalka at the BBC's Doctor Who site. However, The Scream of the Shalka is generally considered apocryphal because it has been repeatedly stated that the true Ninth Doctor is the Eccleston Doctor.

Russell T Davies appeared today at the Celtic Film Festival, in fact interviewed by his co-executive producer Julie Gardner, in the Balmoral Suite of the Holland House Hotel... A tabloid journalist asked if Chris eccleton's leaving the show had been a disappointed and both Russell and Julie stated unequivocally that it was always planned that he would do just one season and that the end of episode thriteen was supposed to be an enormous surprise for the audience - a surprise now blown.

If they start sprouting lots of hair, big teeth and don't like the cold then we've got an 'INFERNO' situation.

See Dr. Who episode -Inferno... :-)

http://www.gallifreyone.com/episode.php?id=3d

Oh and be on the look out for green slime, that's a dead giveaway.

To be safe, fire any professors called Eric.
Trust me. I've seen the future. ;-))

According to the usually very reliable Outpost Gallifrey, sadly for our US-based friends, Sci-Fi confirmed on the 2nd of March that they have closed negotiations with the BBC and will not be showing the new Doctor Who series. I've got plenty of US-based friends in Who fandom, and I'm gutted to hear it.

Also, is this series in continuity with the previous series?

Continuity was never Doctor Who's strong point to begin with. But according to the FAQ it's not going to be a reboot of the series. Though judging by the first episode, they're referencing the show's roots only in superficial ways.

I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about your post.

As an example, lets say Megacorp holds hundreds of software patents. Including a silly one - they've patented adding one to a number with a single machine code instruction - plenty enough prior art on that! Soneone launches an attack on that patent.

Megacorp is an American company, and refuses to lose. Spends many millions in court and comes out on top. They have decided to win first and understand the consequences later.

How is this not a benefit to Megacorp?

I'm not a Doctor Who fan, but I did look up the episode synopsis and read that. You're suggesting that Megacorp could be winning a poisioned gift, if I follow you.

Only problem is, I fail to see how the win could be disastrous for Megacorp. And I'd like to. Any ideas how to extend my example into a bad result for Megacorp, or am I missing the point completely?

The Master took a new body in the tv movie (Doctor Who: The Movie) with McGann as the 8th Doctor Who. At the end of the movie, the Master is sucked into the Eye of Harmony (the TARDIS' power source). We don't know if he is still alive, or dead, so that's the state of the Master. Of course, the Master appeared very much alive in the BBC Novels with the 8th Doctor, but I don't whether the new tv show producers will take the books as canon. I'd rather they wouldn't, since Gallifrey was destroyed by the Doctor himself in the books (and he doesn't remember it to make it worse!).

There were some rumors a while back that the Autons were going to return. Hopefully, the Auton rubber octopus that Jon Pertwee fought won't be returning with them :)

Remember, this isn't a Movie, this is a TV series - there has in fact been a 'Doctor Who' cinematic release project stranded in 'production limbo' for at least a decade, and it's still there now... This one's very, very real. As 'some random bloke on the Internet', obviously it's hard for me to get across just how rock-solid this return to TV is, but suffice it to say that with the amount of press coverage it's had so far in the UK, it would be mind-bogglingly embarrassing for the BBC if anything stopped it now. Even the appointment of Michael Grade, who cancelled the original show, as BBC Chairman isn't a factor - he's said 'as long as I don't have to watch it, it's nothing to do with me now'. It's been front page news in all the national newspapers, repeatedly, speculation about the casting of the Companion is rife at the moment, the Times had an editorial about it just yesterday.

It is pretty clear that this series is *not* being made for fans, but for the mainstream UK Saturday night audience, so distracting nods to the past, like Tom Baker flashbacks or gratuitous appearances by Paul McGann are fairly unlikely - this show will be expected to build on the public's affection for the original 26-year run, but will survive or not on its own merits as a piece of 2005 TV. And with Russell T Davies, the finest writer in British TV, at the helm, it stands a very good choice. He always worked for the commercial channels before, and every time the BBC said 'what would it take to get you to work here?', he's said 'Give me Doctor Who and I'll be there tomorrow.' He's been an active part of fandom for well over a decade now.

I would hope the one thing they'd bring back from the WHO telemovie was the hint of a romantic interest. Traveling 900 years in a Tardis would make the Doctor just a tad bit interested in acquiring "some."

Well, it's unlikely that the Doctor will be snogging the girl again - in the UK this was widely seen as a very weird change in the character put there, like so many things in the 1996 TV Movie, against the wishes of the writer and director at the insiste3nce of the FOX network, and as an experiment that backfired. On the other hand, as Christopher Eccleston said in his lates interview "The Doctor's got two hearts - does that mean they can both be broken?", and he and Russell Davies have both said they want and need a lot more emotional depth to capture a modern audience.

I will also drink to SciFi picking up the US rights to the relaunch.

It's unlikely to be Sci-Fi. There's no word as yet as to US distribution specifics, but they're looking at the major cable networks first before they even consider the specialists.

Here is the BBC's website for the new series, such as it is so far. Probably the best site for trustworthy news about the series is Outpost Gallifrey, a site even the BBC recommends for breaking Doctor Who news. Shaun Lyon, the editor, has very, very good contacts and has for years had a very strong editorial policy of only posting news once it's been shown to have at least reasonable provenance.

Coverage in the US is pretty patchy these days, but the This Week guide at the excellent Outpost Gallifrey site is a good place to look for TV listings. For any other background information about the show, the Outpost's Guides section is as good as you'll find anywhere.

Coverage in the US is pretty patchy these days, but the This Week guide at the excellent Outpost Gallifrey site is a good place to look for TV listings. For any other background information about the show, the Outpost's Guides section is as good as you'll find anywhere.

Coverage in the US is pretty patchy these days, but the This Week guide at the excellent Outpost Gallifrey site is a good place to look for TV listings. For any other background information about the show, the Outpost's Guides section is as good as you'll find anywhere.

My money's on the Ice Warriors, or Sutekh and the Osirans.

At least a couple of extras got turned into poorly made-up plant things and died horrible deaths. There were some goofy special effects and pithy lines from the Doctor. NASA better hope that's all that happens this time too.

The episode was probably Snakedance from the Peter Davison era, and the woman in question was probably Tegan. See Outpost Gallifrey's episode guide.

Obviously you understand NOTHING about Dr. Who. [...] the fans will abandon the effort in droves.

Wolfrider my friend...

I am 36 years old, and have been a fan of Doctor Who since the age of five. The sort of fan who gives obsessive fans a bad name. The sort of fan who did presentations on the history of the Daleks at school and took the consequences. The sort of fan who buys *all* the stuff, BBC books, Big finish audios, Unbounds, Telos Novellas, I've got every Target since Doctor Who And The Zarbi in first editions, most of the NAs and PDAs, there are three Rollamatic Daleks clustered around the Police Box model on top of my TV, I go to Panopticon every year.

There *is* no official canon and there ahave been wars over 'what is canon' since even before Jan-Vincent Rudski's DWAS tirade against The Deadly Assassin, and the debates continue to this day on rec.arts.drwho and at Outpost Gallifrey. And the original series is remembered with a mixture of fondness, and contempt by the general public. Who invented the Daleks, Yarvelling the chief scientist of the Dals, or Davros, chief scientist of the Kaleds? Take your pick, Terry Nation wrote both versions of the history. Atlantis was destroyed in three different ways across the 26-year run. There's no single coherent canon and there hasn't been since the middle of Season One. Doctor Who went into its final deathspin then John Nathan-Turner started to turn it into a nostalgia-based wankfest after Season 19, and not even The Cartmel Materplan could rescue it once that happened. It became self-indulgent twaddle, and it died.

All you need is a mysterious stranger in an unexplained vehicle, getting into scrapes and righting wrongs. It's probably best if the stranger is called 'The Doctor' and the vehicle looks like a Police Box and is bigger inside than out, and you may as well call it a TARDIS because the general public knows the name. But what you *can't* do is get back to a point where nothing makes sense if you don't know about the different roles of the Rod Of Rassilon, the Sash Of Rassilon and the Toilet Brush Of Rassilon in the exile of the Pythia from Gallifrey after the loss of Omega in the Dark Times. Puhleeeaze...

Remember that Doctor Who *was not* a cult niche programme for fans, it was compulsory viewing for around 10 million viewers every saturday afternoon after the football results and before the gameshow, from 1963 to 1969.

If new doctor Who is to survive, it is *critical* that it does NOT pander to anal fans like me, but rather aims at building a new mass audience, and I am eager to welcome these new fans without treating them like shit cecause they can't tell me Jamie McCrimmon's middle name or the Graf Vynda-K's inside leg measurement.

tV

I've always relied on Outpost Gallifrey for confirmation on Doctor Who news. If it doesn't appear there then it's just another rumor. But now that site has a banner confirming this news. Hurrah!!!

Welcome back, Doctor! Don't mess it up, BBC!

"However, he was the script editor for almost all of the Tom Baker years."

No, he was script editor for the 17th season only. Outpost Gallifrey has a list of all his contributions to Doctor Who.

"The rumors are flying... but as usual, media reports have gotten ahead of the truth. Following the interview in the recent Dreamwatch Magazine with David Fury ("Buffy, The Vampire Slayer"), as we reported a few days ago, several online news sources (such as the usually wildly inaccurate Ananova, plus Peoplenews and other sources) are now reporting that Anthony Stewart Head (Giles in "Buffy" and recently a guest star in the Big Finish Doctor Who "Excelis" trilogy) will be a new Doctor in a new series produced next year. Even the Daily Express paper has picked it up (as an 'exclusive')... But it's not true. Producer Dan Freedman ("Death Comes to Time") did visit the Buffy producers, and there was a bit of talk about procedure... but nothing came of it and Freedman has moved to other projects. A quote by Tony Head in the Dreamwatch interview was taken out of context by these news 'sources'. Meanwhile, we continue to get tons of email this morning about it (it's not true, folks) and the official BBC website BBCi even issued a statement about it this morning: "Whilst the Cult team quite like the idea of Tony Head as the Doctor in a show guided by members of America's finest fantasy production team, the BBC aren't currently making any such plans."

As noted, the BBC web site confirms this is a rumor. Anthony Stewart Head has done some fine work in the Excelis series of Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas though.

-fh

Just to clarify some facts, Big Finish had NOTHING to do with this pilot. It was completely produced by BBC Radio 4, and the reason for it not being brocast was that the head of Radio 4 doesn't like sci-fi.

For more information on Who news go to Outpost Gallifrey Zach "Rassilon" Crisman

There have been many Dr Who audio adventures made by Big Finish Audio Productions since 1999, sold on cassette and CD. "Death Comes to Time" was comissioned by the BBC speach network Radio 4 from Big Finish as a pilot episode for a proposed new radio series.

This pilot episode was rejected and never broadcast.

This pilot episode is now being webcast. There are still no plans to broadcast the episode on radio.

There are no official plans for a new Dr Who series on TV nor radio, nor another film, although as always with Dr Who there is plenty of speculation.

If you have digital terrestrial TV (OnDigital), cable or satellite you can catch old episodes of Doctor Who on UK Gold at 8am on Sundays (last Sunday's episode was Invisible Enemy which featured Tom Baker, leather-clad Leela and the first appearance from K9).

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