This Week in Doctor Who, July 23 1998 - Volume 1.1

THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO!!

While everyone is enjoying the punch and cookies, here's the goal of this column. I am trying to create a database of stations airing Doctor Who around the world, which episodes they are airing, and how they are airing them. From this will come a twice weekly column for rec.arts.drwho readers and anyone who wants it, with the most up to date information I have on Doctor Who's TV life. On Mondays, the schedules for stations in the UK, Europe in general, Canada, and Australia. On Fridays, I'll tackle as best I can the confusing web of stations airing Doctor Who in the United States. When I find out news on schedule changes, special programming, or anything else of particular interest, I'll include it in the next edition regardless of the day of the week it is.

First up this week is updates on 3 PBS stations: WQED Pittsburgh, WXEL West Palm Beach, and KTEH San Jose.

Whosaver informed rec.arts.drwho of some more details regarding the relaunch of Doctor Who in Pittsburgh. The money raised in May purchased 2 runs of the first 7 Tom Baker stories - Robot thru Planet of Evil. For the first run, there will be a mini-pledge drive going on before and after the episodes, and the ending credits will be squeezed. The merchandise will be special material not available in regular pledge drives. Whosaver is trying to get the best possible prints of each episode and old DeSilva and BBC promos for episodes. The second run of these episodes will have the closing credits run unimpeded. Whosaver hopes to raise enough money for Who in Pittsburgh to increase the number of episodes per week from one to two. WQED is currently paying $200 an episode. Interestingly, counting up all the complete stories from An Unearthly Child to Survival and assuming one episode = about 25 minutes, the cost of purchasing the whole series for Pittsburgh}} is $112,000. $112,400 if you want to include K9 and Company. Who currently airs on WQED Saturday nights at 10:30PM. There will be a viewers' choice story on August 15. Find out this week's episode in the Friday edition of This Week In Doctor Who.

Whosaver's news on WXEL West Palm Beach is a bit less exciting. That station has taken Doctor Who off its regular schedule. Apparently, they like the show as a feature for pledge periods, but don't want to air it the rest of the time. Whosaver reports that they have ordered the recolorized Pertwee's (Silurians, Terror of the Autons, and The Dæmons) for December.

Ken Patterson has details on Doctor Who on KTEH in San Jose, California. KTEH seems to be pulling out all the stops for the fans this August. August 2nd is a triple bill with The King's Demons, I Was A Doctor Who Monster!, and a movie with Carole Ann Ford (Susan) in it. August 9th will have an episodic version of The Five Doctors. (I don't want to know how they did that.) August 16th will have a prime time Who broadcast of The Curse of Fenric Extended, in addition to the regular episodes. If only your station aired Who at an earlier hour ...

And now, our regular listings:

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England (actually the whole UK and anywhere else where someone can pick it up off of Sky's satellite)

UK Gold has Will and Syl omnibuses next weekend, with stories from the 1st and 7th Doctors. Saturday morning at 10:05AM the 1st Doctor encounters The Sensorites, an otherwise intelligent race of aliens who seem unusually scared of dark. (the next issue confirmed this was actually broadcast at 9:05am)

Sunday morning at 10:10AM the 7th Doctor and Ace travel to 1883 Perivale in Ghost Light to find out why the otherwise intelligent race of aliens in an old house seem unsusually scared of light. (this was also confirmed as 9:05am, and was also followed by The Curse of Fenric at 10:30am!

Most of Europe:

BBC Prime is available in most of Europe (with the notable exception of my hotel room in Florence, Italy). Saturday this week Whovians can enjoy more of The Face of Evil. Part 2 airs at 10AM Central European Time and Part 3 airs at 5:30PM. Goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let the Horta bite!

Canada:

Space: The Imagination Station is the only source in your nation for Who recreation. As you no doubt know, Space airs the same weekday episode 3 times - 7:30AM, 1:30PM, and 3:30AM the next morning Eastern Daylight Time. Monday thru Wednesday features episodes 2-4 of The Ark while Thursday and Friday cover parts 1 and 2 of The Gunfighters. Both stories feature William Hartnell as The Doctor with companions Steven and Dodo at his side. The Sunday episode airs at 8AM with a 3:30AM rerun the next morning, and it will be The Sensorites part 6, another William Hartnell adventure

Australia:

Foxtel's UKTV approaches the end of the Seventh Doctor's run. The series runs here in episode format weeknights at 11:30PM with omnibus encores during the weekend. This week: Monday thru Wednesday will feature parts 2 thru 4 of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, with Thursday and Friday having parts 1 and 2 of Battlefield. The weekend encore (1PM Saturday, 2AM Sunday, 8AM Sunday) should be the omnibus of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

Remember, the US stations get their turn on Friday morning. And if you can receive any of the following stations, please help me out on the status of Who where you live: KBDI Denver Colorado, KRCB Sonoma California, WFWA Fort Wayne Indiana, KPTS Witchita Kansas, KBTC Tacoma Washington, and KSPS Spokane Washington.

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Until next time and relative dimensions in space ...

This Week In Doctor Who was written and developed by Benjamin F. Elliott in 1998. Doctor Who is copyright the BBC. Special thanks to Siobahn Morgan, Shaun Lyon, Whosaver, Ken Patterson, Marcus Durham, and any others I omitted.

Benjamin F. Elliott