This Week In Doctor Who - August 3rd

Welcome to the latest international edition of This Week In Doctor Who. It seems that trouble loves to occur when I go off on vacation. The SPACE channel in Canada has not only opted not to purchase any additional episodes of Doctor Who beyond the ones they have shown, but to drop the 1:30PM and 3:30AM repeats of the series as of September 14th, due to the series' surprisingly low ratings. Apparently the show began its run with one of the lowest audience averages of any series on SPACE, and it has dropped off from there in spite of SPACE's advertising efforts, the first ever known showing of The Tomb of the Cybermen in Canada, the I Was A Doctor Who Monster! special, and a Tom Baker story (The Sontaran Experiment) being included in their package of shows. From September 14th, you'll have to be up at 7:30AM Eastern time (4:30AM Pacific, 9AM Newfoundland) to see Doctor Who on SPACE weekdays, for however long they choose to continue it. I don't know yet what will happen to the Sunday showings, and whether the episodes already purchased will get another run after they finish in mid-October. I hope to have that information by Friday. I have some thoughts about this turn of events at the end of today's edition.

Another cable network, FOXTEL's UK-TV in Australia, is ending its current run of Doctor Who. It will finish with an unusual flourish. The 1996 Telemovie will air as a 3 part story, and rerun in the omnibus time slot, with its final showing on August 16. Sapphire and Steel takes Doctor Who's weeknight time slot on August 17. Shannon Patrick Sullivan's news page reports that FOXTEL plans to air some Doctor Who specials, then go back to the start of the series in October. I am trying to contact FOXTEL to find out if that is still the case, and when the specials will air.

And for US fans, I have good news for MPT viewers in Maryland. In their desire to treat viewers with episodic William Hartnell episodes, they jumped out of Jon Pertwee's stories after Death to the Daleks, leaving The Monster of Peladon and Planet of the Spiders still unaired since 1992. Their August listings now report that the two will air as a special marathon broadcast late August 22. I'll have more details for the Friday edition.

Now, on to the regular scheduling information.

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The United Kingdom (UK):

UK Gold still doesn't have a system to get their listings out on time like everyone else, so I apologize if the start times are wrong. Saturday mornings they're running the William Hartnell 1st Doctor stories in Omnibus format. This week it's a 6 episode long story with the original TARDIS crew. The Doctor and company land in London in the 22nd Century, and find it deserted. What malevolent force has wiped out most of humanity and now runs the planet? One of the Doctor's companions will not leave when all is said and done. That's World's End, beginning at about 9:05AM Saturday. Sunday morning UK Gold has decided to go to Jon Pertwee's 3rd Doctor stories, beginning this weekend with Spearhead From Space, the first colour story. The Doctor's stuck on Earth with a useless TARDIS and yet another alien invasion going on. But the Doctor still has his priorities in order - he steals a car! A 4 episode long omnibus feature that'll begin around 10:05AM.

As long as I'm writing about UK Gold, does *anyone* know if they're running all of Pertwee's stories, or just the ones in full colour? I could really use a source with advance information on England, the country Doctor Who began in.

Europe in general:

BBC Prime services millions of Europeans with Cable or satellite. They run Doctor Who 3 times a Saturday, with single episodes at 1:05AM, 10AM, and 5:30PM Central European Time. This week the AM airings will be the conclusion to The Face of Evil, while the 5:30 broadcast will be episode one of The Robots of Death. Two stories about machines that go insane and cause a lot of death, both written by the same author for the same season. Thank goodness both stories are good.

Australia:

FOXTEL's UK-TV runs its next to last full week of Doctor Who in the current cycle (see note above). This week - more of Season 26. Monday thru Thursday night at 11:30PM fans can watch the original 4 episode version of The Curse of Fenric, the most universally popular story of that season. The first time I saw it was one month after the Soviet Union had ceased to exist, which gave it an odd feel somehow. Then, Friday night at 11:30PM, it's the first episode of the last story from the original series. Survival: Part One, aka The Tale Of The Twisted Tabbys. Hale and Pace (whoever they are) guest star. This Saturday on the Who weekend Omnibus viewers have three more chances to see The Curse of Fenric - this time as one movie. See it at 1PM Saturday, 2AM late Saturday / early Sunday, and 8AM Sunday morning. Are Australian viewers at the beginning of the end, or just the end of the beginning?

Canada:

SPACE's listings for August are not up yet, but whatever you think of that network right now, they are very methodical in their scheduling. The weekday showings are still at 7:30AM, 1:30PM, and 3:30AM the next day, and will be for the next 6 weeks. This week - Monday's episode is The War Machines: Episode 4. This episode concludes the complete William Hartnell stories. Then, Tuesday thru Friday, SPACE encores the earliest complete Patrick Troughton story, The Tomb of the Cybermen. This famous Cyberman story was lost for about 2 decades before being discovered in late 1991. SPACE is the only Canadian station to have aired this story. This could be your last chance to see that story in Canada, so let's watch and swell those ratings numbers. On weekends they currently offer one episode aired twice, at 8AM Sunday and 3:30AM the next day. This week - Planet of Giants: Dangerous Journey. The original TARDIS crew must thwart the advances of a cat and solve a murder to get back to the ship. If only they were taller then ants, this might be easier. All times Eastern Daylight.

» the next edition reported that TombOfTheCybermen/4 did not get broadcast in the end!

Some Canadian viewers can also watch Doctor Who on PBS stations. Some Alberta viewers can watch KSPS 7 out of Spokane, Washington. They'll be getting the movie version of The Sontaran Experiment at the special time of 10:45PM Pacific (11:45PM Mountain) Saturday night. It's a 45 minute story in a 75 minute time slot, so I'd definitely expect pledge breaks. Also, KBDI 12 in Denver, Colorado can be seen by some Ontarians. Friday night at 11PM Mountain (1AM Eastern) KBDI will air episodes 3 and 4 of The Mutants. Their Saturday night broadcast is being pre-empted for pledge specials.

After some serious thinking, I wish to make a proposal regarding SPACE's announcement about Doctor Who. Here's a simple 5 step plan for Who fans to react intelligently:

1. Thank them for having shown Doctor Who. How many times when a station has dropped the show have the fans howled in aggrivation, threatened the station manager's cat, and made real idiots out of themselves. The folks at SPACE already claim to have been attacked by various factions for showing episodic instead of movie, Hartnell instead of McCoy, etc. Let them know that you appreciate their making it available on a Canadian station at all for the first time in years. Let them know that you really liked getting a chance to see those early shows, particularly the never before seen in Canada Tomb Of The Cybermen. If you had access to SPACE, let them know what time slot you liked watching Doctor Who in, and the efforts you're going to make to see it in the 7:30AM slot from September 14 on. Tell them how much better SPACE's treatment was then the Sci-Fi Channel which would cut up Who episodes in the Doctor Who hour to give more time to the filler. SPACE tried to support Doctor Who, whereas Sci-Fi tried to bury it, and SPACE should get credit for the effort. Thank them for allowing the current order to play out to its conclusion, when it would be so easy to pull the series immediately without notice considering the apparently missing audience. Tell them who you've gotten to start watching Doctor Who via SPACE or SPACE via Doctor Who. It seems only fair after their efforts.
2. Could someone find out what the exact rating numbers were for the SPACE broadcasts, specifically how each time slot performed? Nearly all programs on SPACE got 3 daily showings this past year, something most stations don't do (and it looks like SPACE won't do anymore either). If any serious effort is to be made in the future to get a Canadian network to pick up the show, it would be useful to know how many total people out of that specialty Cable universe actually saw the program, and what time of day people actually watched.
3. Canadian fans have taken SPACE for granted. If you have access to SPACE, start watching the episodes more regularly, even if you have the episodes on tape! This week is a great week to start, with Tomb Of The Cybermen beginning Tuesday. Get your friends to start watching. Beginning September 14th, if we can get all the fans who were choosing between the time slots to catch the 7:30AM showing, and maybe get some new people to start watching, I think there'll be a noticeable spike in the ratings that might pique SPACE's interest. In the unlikely event that SPACE goes through Hartnell another time instead of discontinuing the series in October, thank them again!
4. Canadians who can see KSPS and KBDI from the States should support those stations if they can, so that at least some Doctor Who will still be available in Canada.
5. According to PBS' online listings, WTVS 56 in Detroit is available to Canadians in every province and territory, probably via Cable. Does anyone know this station's Doctor Who history? When did they air the show, how did they air the show, and why did they stop? I can't help thinking that WTVS might be the last, best hope for Doctor Who in Canada. Maybe a campaign ala WQED's can be planned. Let's collect the information before sending them e-mails begging for the return of the series.

That's about all I have today. If I can get updates on SPACE and UK-TV, I'll include them in Friday's edition. Thanks for reading, and take care!

This Week In Doctor Who and This Week In Doctor Who USA were written and created by Benjamin F. Elliott. Doctor Who is copyright the BBC. Siobahn Morgan and Shaun Lyon have given this column web space. News sources include Shannon Patrick Sullivan's News Page, rec.arts.drwho, TV Guide's online TV schedules, the stations' online schedules, and the sources I've found the most useful so far, the readers. Copyright 1998.