THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO - November 6th, 1998

Doctor Who moves 2 stations forward, one station back.
THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO - November 6, 1998

A Prairie Who Companion. North Dakota's Prairie Public Television (2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 13) Is picking up Doctor Who as of this week. One 25 minute episode will air each Friday at 10:30PM Central Time. Winnipeg, Canada area viewers can see this broadcast.

A promise kept. WXEL 42 from West Palm Beach has scheduled a Doctor Who marathon for Sunday November 29th from 2 to 7PM. This is presumably one or more of the recolored Pertwee stories that they ordered. A few months ago they indicated that they didn't plan to resume weekly showings of Doctor Who. But I'm sure that they'd really notice a strong pledge support for the Doctor.

Last week, the Doctor Who Alliance newsletter revealed that WTBU 69 planned to discontinue its Doctor Who broadcasts at the end of this month. WTBU erroneously believed that BBC America was trying to get exclusive rights to Doctor Who and would air all the stories.

KTEH in San Jose, California has released a new schedule for its November 8th broadcasts. It seems their auction may end early, and they have developed 3(!) plans to deal with it. This column has the scenarios for what you may get to see.

TJ Lubinski (aka Whosaver) has announced that he hopes to have an official announcement on the nature of a National Feed of Doctor Who for PBS stations (assuming one goes through) before the Visions Doctor Who Convention in Chicago begins. The convention occurs on Thanksgiving weekend, so I assume he'll try to have it ready for announcing on November 23rd, the series' 35th anniversary.

As I understand it now, there is enough of a demand that if people in the UK haven't already ordered their digital decoders, they won't have them in time to see the Doctor Who week in BBC Choice. The only thing you can do now is call one of your friends who has a decoder to arrange to see the week.

If you have any additions, corrections, or other feedback, send to my e-mail address. Now, on to the schedules.

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The UK:

UK Gold - satellite / cable
Saturday - no broadcast (moves to Friday night next week)
Sunday from 8:10 to 11AM - The Mutants - movie version (actually The Time Monster)
Sunday morning while you're at Church, the 3rd Doctor and Jo get sent by the Time Lords on a mission to deliver a package. An easy task, right? Wrong.

Mainland Europe:

BBC Prime - satellite / cable
Late Friday at 1AM, Saturday at 9:55AM - Horror of Fang Rock - episode 3 of 4
Saturday at 6PM CET - Horror of Fang Rock - episode 4 of 4
The 4th Doctor, Leela, and a rapidly shrinking guest cast take on the alien that's trying to get control of the lighthouse.

Australia:

FOXTEL's UK-TV - cable
Saturday at 1PM, Sunday at 2 and 8AM - The Deadly Assassin - all 4 episodes
Monday through Thursday at 11:30PM - The Invasion of Time - episodes 3 to 6 of 6
Friday at 11:30PM - Mawdryn Undead - episode 1 of 4
Weekend viewers can watch the classic 4th Doctor adventure that changed the face of Gallifrey. The story so shocked the audience and censors that the series wound up moving to a later time slot (after 5 weeks off the air). Most of the weekdays feature The Invasion of Time, where the 4thDoctor became President of Gallifrey, with tragic results. Friday sees the beginning of Mawdryn Undead, the reunion story between the 5th Doctor, the Brigadier, and the Brigadier?

Canada:

SPACE: The Imagination Station
Sunday at 8AM EST, early Monday at 3:30AM - The Romans: Inferno - episode 4 of 4
Monday through Thursday at 7:30AM EST - The Keys of Marinus - episodes 3 to 6 of 6 (The Screaming Jungle, The Snows Of Terror, The Sentence Of Death, The Keys Of Marinus)
Friday at 7:30AM - The Aztecs: The Temple of Evil - episode 1 of 4
As The Romans concludes, the Doctor and company must use their wits to survive as various plots begin to fall apart. Monday and Tuesday's episodes are unusual because the Doctor is not in them. Thankfully, he's back for the last two 'Marinus' episodes. Friday, of course, Barbara is declared a god. As you'd expect, her ego goes through the roof.

The USA:

Maine Public Broadcasting - channels 10, 10, 12, 13, 26, 39
Saturday at 9PM - Genesis of the Daleks - episodes 1 and 2 of 6.
The 4th Doctor is intercepted en route back to Space Station Nerva and gets asked to alter the development of the Daleks. Learn their weaknesses, change their nature, or keep them from existing!

New Hampshire Public Television - channels 11, 12, 15, 49, 52
WQED / WQEX Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - channels 13, 16
No Who broadcast this week on these stations. Doctor Who returns next week.

Maryland Public Television - channels 22, 28, 31, 36, 62, 67
Friday and Saturday nights at Midnight - Planet of Giants - movie version
A freak accident shrinks the 1st Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan to micro sizes. But they're still big enough to be seen by a cat. A hungry cat.

WUFT Gainesville, Florida - channel 5
Saturday at 4PM - The King's Demons - movie version
Saturday at 5PM - The Five Doctors
A special double feature of the 5th Doctor. And 5*7 is 35. So I guess this is some sort of early 35thAnniversary special for the series, if you use the right kind of math!

WUSF Tampa, Florida - channel 16
Saturday at 11:30PM - The Visitation - episode 3 of 4
The Terrileptils make plans to kill all life on Earth. An old friend of the Doctor's meets a tragic end.

WCET Cincinnati, Ohio - channel 48
Saturday at 11PM - The Five Doctors - original 1983 version
WCET says that this is the original version. It looks like WCET is planning a best-of run of stories for the moment.

WFWA Fort Wayne, Indiana - channel 39
Saturday night at Midnight - The Keeper of Traken - movie format
The 4th Doctor and Adric are asked by Traken's dying Keeper to investigate the evil that has infiltrated Traken's usually peaceful society. Anthony Ainley plays Tremas. Around 90 minutes.

WTBU Indianapolis, Indiana - channel 69
Sunday at 6PM - Four To Doomsday - movie format
The 5th Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan land on a spaceship headed for Earth and run by a mysterious reptillian type creature. Also features the "peeping tom" security cameras. 90 minutes. There is an e-mail address to let WTBU know that you support the good Doctor and want him to continue on their station.

Louisiana Public Broadcasting - channels 13, 18, 24, 24, 25, 27
Saturday at 10PM - The Three Doctors - episodes 1 and 2 of 4
A beam from an anti-matter realm disables Time Lord society. They decide to call on the Doctor, the man they exiled, to help. But it seems the mysterious realm is after him too, and he needs help. If the Time Lords want to help the Doctor, they must violate their cardinal law! If they don't help, they're doomed.

Iowa Public Broadcasting - channels 11, 12, 27, 32
Friday at 11:05PM - The Ambassadors of Death - episode 7 of 7
Friday at 11:30PM - Inferno - episode 1 of 7
First the 3rd Doctor races to stop a worldwide broadcast that could start an interplanetary war. In the second half of the hour, the 3rd Doctor is advising at a power plant that's about to drill into the core of the Earth. When he tries to use the power to fix the TARDIS, an accident occurs. Ambassadors is in Black and White. Inferno is in color.

Prairie Public Television of North Dakota - channel 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 13
Friday at 10:30PM - Robot - episode 1 of 4
The newly regenerated 4th Doctor tries to decide whether to help UNIT deal with yet another international incident, or take off for planets unknown. This marks Prairie Public Television's first broadcast of Doctor Who. Be gentle with them - they're clearly rookies at Doctor Who broadcasting. The person answering e-mail requests was uncertain which episode they were airing, and the tape seemingly did not have a title! (I determined that it was Robot based on the code - 12001.)

KBDI Denver, Colorado - channel 12
Friday at 11PM - Carnival Of Monsters - episodes 3 and 4 of 4
Saturday at 10PM - Frontier In Space - episodes 1 and 2 of 6
The 3rd Doctor's quite busy these days, isn't he? First he has to fix a damaged mini-scope before all the specimens inside (including Jo) die. Then he gets caught in the crossfire of an attempt by Ogrons to create a war between the Humans and the Draconians. Can't he ever go anywhere nice?

KSPS Spokane, Washington - channel 7
Saturday at 10:30PM - The Robots of Death - movie format
The 4th Doctor's efforts to teach Leela the concept of the TARDIS being bigger on the inside then out are interrupted by their landing on a sandminer where people are being strangled. Perhaps the only piece of science fiction ever where "please do not throw hands at me" is a straight line. About 90 minutes.

KBTC Tacoma, Washington - channel 28
Saturday at 7PM and 12:30AM - Delta and the Bannermen - episodes 1 and 2 of 3
Monday at 7:30PM and 12:30AM - Delta and the Bannermen - episodes 1 and 2 of 3
The 7th Doctor story that Peter Haining believed would become a classic. The 7th Doctor and Mel win a prize - a trip to 1959 Disneyland. As proof that the Doctor's not the only being in the universe to go off course, the people on the trip land in Wales instead. And a killer is stalking one of them.

KRCB Rhonert Park, Washington - channel 22
Saturday at 11PM - The Caves of Androzani - episode 4 of 4
The famous final 5th Doctor episode. The Doctor and Peri are dying, as are the dreams of both Morgus and Saraz Jek. In a battle where everyone's losing, who can win? Well, of course the mud bursts are having a good time, but that's not quite what I meant ...

KTEH San Jose, California - channel 54

(NOTE: KTEH has 3 scenarios for this weekends Whocasting. They are uncertain what time the art auction will end.)

Scenario 1:
Sunday at 11PM - A Mythmakers Interview With Jon Pertwee

Scenario 2:
Sunday at 11:15PM - KTEH interviews with Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton

Scenario 3:
KTEH interviews Terry Nation

And after that, regardless of the scenario ...
Sunday at Midnight - Revelation of the Daleks - 4 episode version
All times are approximate. In the event that they follow scenario 2, Revelation Of The Daleks will begin 2 and a half minutes late.

BBC America - cable / satellite
Saturday at 5PM EST, Sunday at 2PM - Revenge of the Cybermen - movie verison, part 2 of 2
The Cybermen have taken over Nerva Beacon, and want to use it to destroy Voga, the planet of gold. Features the line "Harry Sullivan is an imbecile!" This version has commercials and is awkwardly edited. Runs for 1 hour.

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Thanks for reading. Until next week, take care.

Benjamin F. Elliott

THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO is written by Benjamin F. Elliott (Alliance Edition edited by Shaun Lyon)

Copyright 1998.