A group of fans have started a new project based on the social networking and microblogging website, Twitter.

The Doctor Who Bar, which is not a physical bar, is the name of an online group that meets every Saturday at 7pm GMT to watch an episode of Doctor Who and discuss it live on Twitter using #DoctorWhoBar to tag their tweets.

The third meeting takes place this evening from 7pm GMT and the group will be watching fifth Doctor story, Earthshock, having voted for it in an online poll. The winner was announced at 6pm GMT. To join in you need press play on your DVD,VCR or computer at exactly 7.30pm GMT so you can all stay in synchronisation with the other viewers.

You can email the bar at doctorwhobar@gmail.com for your full episode reviews and any other points of view you may wish to send. The best tweets, emails and comments will be displayed on the Doctor Who Bar website at the end of each week.

Candy Jar Books are currently having a spring sale, with the price of Kangazang! now reduced. The audio version of the sci-fi tale stars former Doctor Colin Baker, who narrates and performs a number of characters within the story - see our previous article for more details.

Shaun Russell, director of the company, says:

You can find full details about the story and how to buy from the Kangazang! website.

The BBC Doctor Who website have revealed an "iconic" image for the new series featuring the Doctor, Amy and Rory in the reflection of a US space helmet.


The prequel to the first episode of the new series, The Impossible Astronaut, was released earlier today and can be viewed here.

Details of the forthcoming classic Doctor Who DVD releases due out over the next couple of months in the United Kingdom have now been made available by 2|Entertain. April sees the final Pertwee tale Planet of the Spiders released as a two disc edition, whilst May goes back to the beginning of his era as the Doctor with a new edition of Spearhead from Space, coupled with sequel tale Terror of the Autons as part of the Mannequin Mania boxed set; also in May comes the penultimate Davison story to be released on DVD, Frontios (the final release of this era, The Awakening, is due later in the year). See our separate article on next week's Revisitations 2 release.

The company has also been keeping readers appraised via their twitter feed, which has included the following tidbits:

12 14:16 Frontios test disc in! http://t.co/Px8HoJU
14 08:58 Frontios looks & sounds beautiful on test disc. Well done Peter Crocker and Mark Ayres
15 16:04 Watching Ed Stradling rough-cut of Android Invasion doc. http://t.co/CbqFw92
16 23:29 Frontios test discs all signed off.
         Also updated production subtitles delivered for Robots of Death.
17 18:44 Watching Ed Stradling rough cuts I'd forgotten "Nightmare of Eden" was so edgy in parts.
19 08:33 Watching test disc for Mannequin Mania. Restoration beautiful.
         Well done Peter Crocker and Mark Ayres! http://t.co/hmxo6Ox
24 03:31 Viewed Clayton Hickman rough box artwork for EarthStory. Lovely!

The BBC have made a special video available to introduce the opening two-part story of the new series of Doctor Who, premiering at Easter. Written by Steven Moffat, this short segment (which they have termed a prequel) stars Stuart Milligan (best known as illusionist Adam Klaus in Jonathan Creek), and sets the scene for what the Doctor can expect to encounter during the adventure ...


You can also watch a teaser for the video on the BBC website.

The Doctor Who website reports that they will be "revealing the latest iconic image for the new series at approximately one minute past midnight on Saturday morning", which will be available to download as a wallpaper. They also report that several exclusive videos featuring the cast and crew discussing the new adventures of the TARDIS crew will be appearing on-site in the lead-up to Easter's broadcast of The Impossible Astronaut.

John Barrowman and Bill Pullman will be promoting the new series of Torchwood at the MIPTV Media Market in Cannes. The two stars will be joined by executive producer Julie Gardner to launch Torchwood: Miracle Day to buyers on Monday 4th April.

Steve Macallister, Managing Director of BBC Worldwide Sales & Distribution, commented:

Players of the Facebook game application Farmville were in for a surprise this week as the TARDIS materialised on the Farm! Developers for the game have just launched a new expansion entitled English Countryside, and one of the gifts players can receive for qualifying for this level is a Police Box to place somewhere on their farm. To be able to receive the Police Box, you need to get 35 neighbours to travel with you. Alternatively you can spend 60 Farm Cash, which you need to buy with real money.

Since the announcement by BBC America that Doctor Who would premier in the USA on the 23rd April, speculation has been rife within UK fandom as to when The Impossible Astronaut would premier on BBC1. This is widely expected to be broadcast on the same date as the States, based upon the 'traditional' Saturday evening series start to Doctor Who seen to date.

Being this is the first time the series is to commence with a two-part story, the second episode Day of the Moon has also been subject to intense speculation as to whether it too would be shown over the Easter period. An intriguing piece of information has emerged via the CV of actor Jeff Mash; as well as being cited as playing a character called Grant in the episode, the CV also includes an entry that states that episode two will be broadcast on 24th April.


This entry certainly lends credence to the suggestions that both parts would be shown over Easter!

However, at this time the BBC have only confirmed via the end of the Red Nose Day special that The Impossible Astronaut will see its premier on BBC1(HD) over Easter 2011.

Schedules are generally not 'locked' until around a fortnight before broadcast, so any information published via the Internet prior to then may not accurately reflect how the show will eventually be broadcast.

A roundup of recent fan productions includes new issues of fanzines and a request for submissions to a new book!

Whotopia - Issue 20

In this issue:

• The Tennant Legacy - Ian Wheeler considers what Doctor number ten has given to the series
• Ten Again Thomas - Willam Spychalski take us on an overview of the Doctor's tenth persona
• Tennant's Ladies - Emily Jones reflects upon the Tenth Doctor's female companions
• Martha Jones: Is She The Worst Companion Ever? - A fresh critique of the Tenth Doctor's lovelorn companion by Steve Tomporowski
• The Perfect Tennant - Kenny Smith investigates whether the Tenth Doctor was the perfect Doctor
• Romance In Doctor Who - Grant Bull tackles one of the series' more contentious aspects
• How The Mighty Fall - A look at the apparent end of the Time Lords by Matthew Kresal
• The Stephen Wyatt Interview - Jez Strickley keeps an eye out for lethal cleaners and sinister circuses as he chats with the writer behind Paradise Towers and Greatest Show In The Galaxy.
• Target Trawl - A mammoth installment in Nick Mellish's reading marathon.
• Screwdrivers, Scaries and Scarves: Regeneration - Jez Strickley offers some thoughts on this unique sci-fi creation.
• The Better The Devil You Know - Richard Farrell looks back the Tenth Doctor's face-off with an ancient evil as he reassess The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit.
• Dalek's Advocate: Love and Monsters - Jez Strickley takes up the Skarosians case for this much debated adventure.
• The Memory of Darkness: Part Four - The concluding installment of our original fiction story by Julio Angel Ortiz.

Plus all our regular columns: Screwdrivers, Scaries & Scarves/ Target Trawl/ Parallel Lines, features and more!

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The Third Zone - Issue 2

In this issue:

• Merchandise reviewed From Big Finish we have The Feast of Axos, The Perpetual Bond and Andy has tackled both The Mutants and The Ark on DVD. Note – we were going to include the latest eighth Doctor audio Lucie Miller but we have decided to review the two-part storyline as a whole.
• Matter of Perspective - Steve Lyons' popular New Adventure, Conundrum come under the limelight. Reversing our roles from last month, Andy has been reading away and has a good grilling by yours truly.
• The Evelyn Escapades seems to have been one of the most popular elements on the site with the most hits (the reviews excepted) and this month we have completed The Spectre of Lanyon Moor.
• Charlotte and Simon, our non-fan cohorts have been watching the William Hartnell classic, Planet of Giants.
• Amy Pond, heavenly or floozy? Andy stands in defence of the Doctor’s latest companion whilst I try and convince you that she doesn’t quite work.
• Interviews with two of Big Finish’s most exciting writers, Jacqueline Rayner (Wolfsbane, Dr Who & the Pirates) and Simon Guerrier (The Perpetual Bond). They share their thoughts on their latest work.
• Who Online this month praises the Big Finish review and voting site, The Time Scales.
• I look back at Nicholas Courtney's contributions to Doctor Who and include my top five favourite Brigadier stories.

All this plus part two of our exciting three part fiction piece, The Shadows Makers written by Joe Ford and an essay looking at the delightful Big Finish spin off The Companion Chronicles Seasons 1-3

Issue three will be released April 15th.

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The Hub - Issue One

One of the first of its kind The Hub promises to bring content from all era’s of Torchwood- from Season One to the upcoming fourth season Miracle Day. Each issue is packed with nearly thirty pages of content, offering opportunities to any article and fan fiction writers.

In the debut Issue, we bring you...

• We look at Torchwood Through Time
• Brand new action packed fiction The Five Jacks begins
• The Fandom Zone features a review of popular online spoof show Doothcrow.
  
• The Torchwood Debate discusses which is the better season format.
• We see if Gwen Cooper is either a “Hore” or “Heroin”.
• All the latest from the set of Miracle Day.
• All the Latest News in the Torchwood Universe.
• A preview of forthcoming Torchwood anthology: Time for Change.
• And two free posters!

All this is free to download this now!

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The Best Doctor Who Poems in the Universe

It’s June 2011 and Series 6 is in its mid-season break and a unique new Doctor Who book has been published - but it needs your contributions NOW otherwise it will never happen and could cause no end of wibbly wobbly timey wimey problems!

Just like the Tenth Doctor and Shakespeare used the power of words to defeat the Carrionites, this book needs you to use the power of words to create poems about Doctor Who. They can be about the Doctor, his companions, his enemies or even what Doctor Who means to you and is open to everyone.

For example:

Daleks, Daleks, everywhere
On the ground, and in the air.
You hear their voice and you know your fate
Because they are only here to exterminate!

But I’m sure you can do a lot better than that!! There will also be a special mention to anyone who can rhyme Raxacoricofallapatorius!


Deadline for entries: 14th May 2011

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The Tides of Time archive

The eighth Doctor can be dismissed merely an embodiment of lost hopes and promises unfulfilled or broken. However, he was salvaged by the fans of Doctor Who and has enjoyed innumerable adventures across a fractured multiverse of print, audio and comic strip. Coverage of the books and audios will feature in later releases, but for now here are some responses to his one television appearance, in the 1996 TV Movie, as well as some original fiction with different takes on the eighth Doctor’s fate. These articles were published in The Tides of Time between 1996 and 2002, except for one which though dealing with the Oxford Doctor Who Society’s viewing of the TV Movie in 1996 was published in the last (to date) issue of Skaro in 1997. All the PDFs bar Independence Day (which has been reset for this release) are scans from the original photocopies or printouts of Tides, and reflect the technology used to make the originals.

Reportage

• West Coast Story. An optimistic outlook on Doctor Who‘s prospects written shortly before the broadcast of the TV Movie, misreading some of the auguries, by Matthew Kilburn. Published in Tides 19 (1996)
• Independence Day. An account of the society’s reception of the TV Movie’s broadcast, by Matthew Kilburn. Published in Skaro [vol. 5 no.] 13 (1997)

Fiction

• An End to Things by David Bickley. A new psychologist at the Institute is drawn to patient number eight. Published in Tides 25 (2000)
• Have We No Workhouses? by Derek Haywood. The eighth Doctor enjoys a post-TVM career as a media executive in the age of Cool Britannia, while his previous selves suffer. Published in Tides 27 (2001)
• Reliquary Man, part one by Alexandra Cameron. The Doctor and his goddaughter Chandra meet Alexis de Tocqueville – but what are Polaroids and automatic weapons doing in mid-nineteenth century France? Published in Tides 28 (2002)
• Reliquary Man, part two by Alexandra Cameron. An old foe waits for the Doctor. Published in Tides 28 (2002)

Retrospective

• I can’t make your dream come true forever… The strengths of the TV Movie, by Saraquazel. Published in Tides 28 (2002)
• …but I can make it come true tonight. The TV Movie as missed opportunity and catalogue of errors, by John Amos. Published in Tides 28 (2002)

Eighth Doctor fiction by Alex Cameron can also be found in Tides 30 (2005), Tides 31 (2005) and Tides 32 (2006), all of which can be downloaded in full as PDFs.

Nerdist has announced that Neil Gaiman, Mark Sheppard, and Toby Haynes will be on the Doctor Who panel at WonderCon 2011.

The panel will be moderated by fan of the show Chris Hardwick, who appeared on Craig Ferguson's The Late Late Show along with Matt Smith last year. Smith was then a guest on Hardwick's Nerdist Podcast 46. Neil Gaiman has written episode four of the new series, which also has Michael Sheen provide a voice-over for an as yet unnamed character. Mark Sheppard plays Canton Everett Delaware III in The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon. These two opening episodes of the 2011 series have been directed by Toby Haynes with the first due to be broadcast by BBC America on April 23rd at 9pm ET/PT.

The panel will take place on Sunday April 3rd from 11:30-12:15 in the Esplanade Ballroom. More information can be found on the WonderCon website.