THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO - 21 August 21 1998

CANADA:

SPACE: The Imagination Station, for once, does not have any new news surrounding Doctor Who scheduling. The pruning back of broadcasts begins next month, so for now you can still enjoy the show in its customary time slots. Sunday SPACE will show World's End, episode 1 of a 6 episode William Hartnell story. I'm not giving the story title so that those who want to can be surprised by the ending. This episode airs at 8AM Sunday with a 3:30AM rerun early the next morning. The weekday episodes currently run at 7:30AM, 1:30PM, and 3:30AM. The Friday / Early Saturday broadcast will air at the regular 3:30AM time this week after several weeks of pre-emptions and delays. Monday through Thursday viewers can watch The Krotons, the first story ever written by famed Who scribe Robert Holmes. The 2nd Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe land on a planet where the inhabitants live in fear and reverence to the Krotons. But should they? Then on Friday, Canadians can see episode 1 of The Seeds of Death. Aliens shut down the T.Mat system on the Moon just as the Doctor decides to pop up. Guess who finds himself in trouble again?

Some Canadians can also receive KSPS 7 Spokane, Washington or KBDI 12 Denver, Colorado, PBS stations that have been longtime Who broadcasters. As you read above, KBDI is not airing Who this week, but Canadian KSPS viewers will find its listings with the other US stations.

USA:

MPT in Maryland is offering its fans a chance to decide what format they will air the series in. During last weekend's broadcast, they mentioned that they decided to go to episode format after getting surprisingly large support for the change. However, they are now getting many requests to revert to the movie versions that air a full story in one night. So they are offering 3 choices to viewers.

1. they continue the new format of airing one episode a week.
2. they return to movie format as soon as they get through the limited number of episode format installments previously ordered.
3. they continue airing in episode format, but air multiple episodes a night ("a Doctor Who Hour or something" someone mentioned on.air).

Viewers who wish to make their opinion known should give them feedback from their website http://www.mpt.org/ . I personally would want option 3, especially if fans could convince them to air a full story each week like KTEH. But they claim it's up to the viewers. They also mentioned that numerous stations across the country (PBS and commercial) notice the extremely high level of support that Doctor Who has on MPT.

Also, MPT ran what seemed to be a slightly altered version of the song "Doctorin' The Tardis" during a pledge drive. There were added sound clips throughout the piece, and a number of random Pertwee / Baker scenes were shown overtop with people answering the phones intercut. I don't know if this was a MPT exclusive variation or a nationally offered version.

TV Guide readers, the information is wrong. MPT Maryland will air the complete movie format versions of both The Monster of Peladon and Planet of the Spiders, the final 3rd Doctor stories, beginning Saturday night at 11:30PMish. There will be pledge drives, but MPT plans to finish their broadcast at 4:30AM. That's 5 hours for 4 ½ hours of programming, leaving only a half hour for pledge drives. We'll see. You may want to use a complete tape. MPT will return to the Hartnell episodes next week (see note regarding MPT at beginning of column).

P.S. - MPT, could you please check the power of WMPT 22 from Annapolis. It fluctuated between crystal clear and unreceivable throughout the broadcast in Manassas, where MPT can normally come in.

The following PBS stations are pre-empting Doctor Who for various pledge programs this week. Doctor Who should return to them next week:

NHPTV New Hampshire
WQED / WQEX 13/16 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
WUFT 5 Gainesville, Florida
WFWA 39 Fort Wayne, Indiana
LPTV Baton Rouge, Louisiana
KBDI 12 Denver, Colorado (also reaches some viewers in Canada)

WUSF 16 in Tampa Bay, Florida offers viewers episode 1 of Four To Doomsday Saturday night at 11:30PM, presumably without pledge drives. The 5th Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan land on a spaceship approaching Earth. They are greeted with welcome arms, but something's not quite right. I mean, who ever heard of designing security cameras like eyeballs?

WCET 48 out of Cincinnati, Ohio returns to its run of Sylvester McCoy stories after last week's special. Saturday night at about 11PM, they will show the movie format 70 minute version of Dragonfire, probably with pledge drives. Sabalom Glitz is back, and this time he's been a real slimeball. But he's the least of the Doctor's problems as they search for a mysterious treasure on Iceworld and try to avoid the clutches of the erm, dangerous owner of the planet. Along the way, a girl named Ace takes an interest in the Doctor's quest, and noses her way in. Is this the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or yet another guest star doomed to die? And what will happen to Mel? This story was the beginning of a then unannounced plot arc that covered virtually the rest of the series. I bet you won't be able to guess what it is.

WTBU 69 in Indianapolis, Indiana is a non.PBS Public TV station that airs many overseas shows, including Doctor Who. This Sunday at 6PM, relive The Creature from the Pit in movie format. Special marks in this story to the Astrologer and the wolf weeds for their scene stealing. This story also marks the first appearance of K9's new voice, provided by David Brierly (John Leeson wanted to move on, but he would be back). 90 minutes of heavily under.rated Who adventure.

IPTV Iowa offers late night audiences a steady diet of sci.fi most Friday nights. Doctor Who gets 2 episodes beginning at 11:05PM. This week, they'll be showing episodes 1 and 2 of part 2 of The War Games, the final Patrick Troughton story. These episodes begin with Jamie and most of the Resistance having just been presumably killed, and end with the man behind the scenes showing up to take control of the games. The Doctor knows the man giving the aliens their technology, and fears that it may be beyond his power to deal with. Viewers may have noticed that IPTV seems to changed the end time for Who from 12:05AM to 11:55PM. Since the episodes are 25 minutes long, it's not a problem, but if you're taping the show that follows (Blakes' 7 most weeks), it's useful to know.

KTEH 54 in San Jose, California will present the 2 episodes of The Awakening Sunday night at 11PM. The 5th Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough try to visit Tegan's grandfather in the village of Little Hobcome. But he's disappeared, and the town has been sealed up. Also, War Games in the town seem to be getting out of control. What has happened to Little Hobcome? The Doctor doesn't like the answer. The show will air in episode format. I don't know if there will be pledge breads, but set extra time on the VCR just in case.

KRCB 22 in Sonoma County, California, somewhat north of KTEH, airs 1 episode a week of Doctor Who Saturday night at 11PM. This week, they offer episode 2 of a 4 part version of Resurrection of the Daleks. I don't know if the start time will be adjusted for pledge drives. The story originally aired in 2 double length episodes to make room for the Olympics. Could anyone tell me what the cliffhanger is at the end of this episode? When I taped the movie version, they bungled the copy so faded from the middle of one scene into the middle of another scene, making it look rather incoherent.

KSPS 7 in Spokane, Washington customarily airs movie format Who Saturday nights at 10:30PM Pacific Time (11:30PM Mountain for the Alberta, Canada viewers). This week they'll be airing Revenge of the Cybermen, the conclusion to the Nerva Chronicles. This 90 minute story will end at Midnight (1AM Mountain) according to the TV listings, but this is pledge season, so you may want to set 30.40 minutes extra on the VCR just in case.

KBTC /KCKA 28/15 in Tacoma Park, Washington is airing Doctor Who pledge free, but only with half the broadcasts. The Monday installments are being shelved for pledge drives. Saturday, viewers get the same 2 episodes at 7PM and 12:30AM. This week, they offer the first 2 episodes of Trial Of A Timelord: The Mysterious Planet, a 6th Doctor story. The Doctor has been taken out of time and placed on trial for meddling by a Gallifreyan court. The Valeyard replays a recent adventure of the Doctor to prove his case. In the court footage, the Doctor and Peri (mysteriously absent from the courtroom) land on a planet in the far future eerily similar to Earth.

BBC America, the Cable channel that isn't in many peoples' homes yet, offers viewers the conclusion of Robot this weekend. It will air Saturday night at 11:20PM Eastern (8:20AM Pacific), with a repeat early Sunday morning at 5:20AM Eastern (2:20AM Pacific). The Robot suffers a nervous breakdown after (spoiler protected). He then kidnaps Sarah, the only person to show him kindness. Then, the Brigadier gets a bright idea, with disasterous consequences. Can the 4th Doctor save the world from a well.meaning but confused ROBOT? Bessie makes her final regular appearance as the Doctor's car in this episode.