big finish update

Wednesday, 28 April 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Big Finish have announced details of their upcoming releases through next March 2005 in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine. As noted in a news item earlier today, the final 'season' of stories featuring Paul McGann as the 'current' Doctor begins in September, with India Fisher as Charley, Conrad Westmaas as C'Rizz, and Stephen Perring as the Kro'ka. The four-story arc begins with September's Faith Stealer by Graham Duff, then continues with October's The Last by Gary Hopkins, November's Caerdroia by popular BBC Books author Lloyd Rose ("City of the Dead," "Camera Obscura") and concludes with a three-CD story by Alan Barnes tentatively entitled Rassilon. January 2005 will see Game Time by Darin Henry, a Fifth Doctor serial with companions unknown, followed in February 2005 by The Juggernauts by Scott Alan Woodard, featuring the Sixth Doctor and Mel with Terry Molloy reprising the role of Davros, plus the Daleks and the Mechanoids; and March 2005 sees the release of Dead Man's Hand by John Ostrander, featuring the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Hex, in a story previously announced for release this coming September but delayed due to the McGann stories.

Additionally, Big Finish has announced their next mini-series, a four disc UNIT series that runs from December to next March, produced by Ian Farrington; the writers and casting is currently unconfirmed (although we're sure you're likely to see Nicholas Courtney in there somewhere!) The Unbounds will continue with a special one-shot two-CD Unbound release this November produced by John Ainsworth; as previously reported, it'll be a sequel to one of the original Unbound audios with the return of that Unbound star. And DWM will also run a single-disc Seventh Doctor story as they've done in the past, possibly next January; the author and story are as yet unconfirmed. Producer Gary Russell also wants Christopher Eccleston to hopefully do one someday (who wouldn't?) but says it's time to let him get settled into the role first! For all these and other details pick up the new issue of DWM on sale this week.

FILTER: - Audio - DWM

daleks not so scary

Monday, 26 April 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

The UK paper The Sun says that the Daleks have been voted "the LEAST scary screen aliens of all time." Says the article: "Doctor Who’s sworn enemy beat baddies like Ming the Merciless from the Flash Gordon films and Star Trek’s Klingons to top the poll. The killer creature from the Alien movie was scariest of all time in the survey to launch a new Space Invaders scratchcard. Bizarrely, the Daleks came second in the same poll." (Thanks to Andrew Harvey)

FILTER: - Press

the sands of time

Saturday, 24 April 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

BBCi has begun serializing Justin Richards' Doctor Who novel The Sands of Time, a sequel to "Pyramids of Mars" from the television series, as an e-book on BBCi. "The Sands of Time" was originally part of Virgin Publishing's "Doctor Who: The Missing Adventures" series, as the Fifth Doctor "mingles with the mummies and Nyssa gets wrapped up in a whole lot of trouble." Richards provides notes and a new conclusion to the novel; this version also features the ability to download to a handheld device. Visit the BBCi site for more details or to read the ebook.

FILTER: - Online

howe on daemos

Saturday, 24 April 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Writer David Howe tells the Alien Online site about the recent release in the UK of "Daemos Rising," the direct-to-video sequel to the Doctor Who serial "The Daemons" which stars Miles Richardson and Beverley Cressman. "I wanted to play with the characters a little," says Howe, "and to see what made them tick. I always loved The Daemons - it's simply so full of great themes and potential that just one television outing never seemed enough. The decision on the two main characters was given to me by the Producer/Director Keith Barnfather. He had worked with both actors previously, and wanted to continue with their characters from the Downtime video. The character of the 'Ghost' (played by Andrew Wisher) and the background to the story came from Telos Publishing's Time Hunter range of books, another spin off from Doctor Who. So it's all very Who influenced and referenced and certainly takes place in the same 'universe' as Who, but with more of a Sapphire and Steel spin on it perhaps. Keith and I both wanted to see how far we could go in both entertaining and unnerving the viewer ... and I hope we succeed on both counts."

FILTER: - Special Events - Blu-ray/DVD

new dreamwatch

Saturday, 24 April 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Issue #117 of Dreamwatch magazine is published this Thursday, April 29. The issue "takes a look at the new Doctor Who and asks what can we really expect from the new series. A panel of SF figures - ranging from Doctor Who stars Colin Baker and Sophie Aldred to Farscape's Rockne S. O'Bannon and Gerry Anderson - also outline their hopes and fears for the show. Plus, we've got exclusive new interviews with Mal Young and Stephen Moffat; and an exclusive column by Barry Letts on his hopes for the new series and what the producers can learn from his time on the show." The cover is seen at right. (Thanks to David Bassom)

FILTER: - Magazines

evenings with levene & baker

Saturday, 24 April 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Enigma Productions will be presenting two upcoming events: An Evening with Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor) on Sunday, September 19, and An Evening With John Levene (Benton) on Sunday October 10, both at Alexander's Jazz Theatre, Rufus Court, Chester. The evening events include "a bar til midnight, and the promise of Daleks prowling the venue, this is an event to miss at your peril!!" More details are available via telephone on 07732 706368 or emailenigmaproductions2004@yahoo.co.uk. (Thanks to Carolyn Ibis and Erica at Enigma)

FILTER: - People - Colin Baker

united fan con needs help

Saturday, 24 April 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

One of North America's few annual conventions, United Fan Con in Massachusetts has put out a call to arms to fans across America for aid. "New England's premier non-profit fan run science fiction convention has fallen on hard times. The last two conventions created a large deficit which now threatens future conventions. We are asking fans to assist us in one or more of the following ways: make a donation, purchase items via our eBay store (http://stores.ebay.com/United-Fan-Con), or attend one of our upcoming fundraising events. All of these fundraising activities will help assure the future of the convention." In addition to raising funds to cover their losses from the previous two events, they are looking to build funds for their next event in November, which has so far confirmed a rare appearance by actress Gates McFadden ("Star Trek: The Next Generation"). Outpost Gallifrey encourages all our readers to help a great convention keep alive for the foreseeable future!

FILTER: - Press

philip locke

Saturday, 24 April 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Actor Philip Locke, who portrayed Bigon in 1982's Peter Davison serial "Four to Doomsday," died on April 19. Among his many roles was in the Bond film "Thunderball" (as silent assassin Vargas), as Sir Roderick Glossop in "Jeeves and Wooster" and on stage as Professor Moriarty in a production of "Sherlock Holmes" in 1974 that won him a Tony award nomination. He was 76. (Thanks to Matthew Kilburn)

FILTER: - Obituary - Classic Series

sladen returns for bbc audio

Saturday, 24 April 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Elisabeth Sladen will be returning to the studio to record links for the second volume of the BBC Radio Collection's Doctor Who at the BBC audio release, a documentary CD series featuring rare audio clips from BBC Radio's long history of coverage of the program. According to an interview conducted with the American Who radio program, recording of the material will take place in early May in Bath. Sladen's interview will be broadcast on the American Who website in late May or early June; we'll keep you posted. (Thanks to Joey Reynolds)

FILTER: - People - Audio

north america dvd update

Saturday, 24 April 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon

Outpost Gallifrey has learned, from BBC America's online shop, that the next two DVD releases -- after the forthcoming June releases of "The Curse of Fenric" and "The Two Doctors -- will be the Peter Davison serial Earthshock and the Tom Baker serial Pyramids of Mars, both due out the first Tuesday of September. Official confirmation of these is expected shortly. Meanwhile, BBC America Shop has also reported that they have tentatively slated two special releases in for late in the year:The Missing Adventures: The William Hartnell Years and The Missing Adventures: The Patrick Troughton Years, two DVD releases that we expect have some sort of connection to the rumored DVD box set likely being released late in the year in the UK by BBC Video. We'll keep you posted with more details, and cover illustrations for "Pyramids" and "Earthshock," when we receive them.

FILTER: - USA - Classic Series - Blu-ray/DVD

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