This Week In Doctor Who - October 9th, 1998

Doctor to Do Digital! FOXTEL Pulls Who-Files Premeire! The column gets a new look and a competitor! And all the regular scheduling fun and franticness. Yes folks, it's time for This Week In Doctor Who - October 9th, 1998

Welcome one and all to the column dedicated to keeping Doctor Who fans appraised of all known broadcasts of the series around the world! I've decided to change the look of the column to make it more readable. The times and episode titles are now listed at the top of the entry, instead of in the description. So, if you've already seen The Sontaran Experiment and you're tired of my attempting to find new ways to describe it, you can just check the station and start time of the broadcast and move on. In return for this new customer convenience, I ask for very little. Just e- mail me if you learn of a schedule change, a new station airing the series, an error or omission in the column, etc. So go thou and read!

Breaking News:

At the Panoptican convention in England last weekend, news broke about a special Doctor Who night on the BBC. Sylvester McCoy is apparently filming something for it. It is currently scheduled to air on November 22, one day before the 35th Anniversary. The bad news: it's on the new digital channel, BBC Choice. If you want to see this Who night, you must install some kind of digital system in your home before that date or know a friend who has done this.

FOXTEL surprised its subscribers this week by replacing the special 30 Years In The TARDIS with The Edge of Destruction, a Hartnell story. No announcement was made about the sudden change. It appears the rest of the scheduled "Who-Files" will air like normal.

UK Gold had a very bad week last week. They were running shows behind schedule and all kinds of other things. On Sunday, 4 October, Doctor Who was affected by their woes. The colour version of The Dæmons was scheduled to air (a version they have aired before). Somehow, their movie broadcast began in Black and White. Late in the broadcast the version went to colour. As of press time, there was no known reason for the bizarre broadcast.

The Global Episode Opinion Survey (GEOS) has added Doctor Who to the list of series that it maintains a database and lists national schedules for. "This Week In Doctor Who" welcomes this new competition and plans to help them as much as possible. GEOS can be found at http://www.swd.net.au/geos/

Current News:

UK Gold fans, this is the weekend! The Tomb of the Cybermen has its first UK broadcast since 1967 Saturday morning! Get your chores done early! Bring over your friends! Set some viewing records! Even in movie (sorry, Omnibus) format, this story is one to remember!

This is the weekend where MPT gives up on episode format and returns to the movie editions of Doctor Who. However, in an interesting twist, they will now air the same story twice. Once on Friday night and once on Saturday night. So viewers can now choose: do they want to be exhausted Saturday morning while doing chores, or Sunday morning at Church.

T J Lubinski (Whosaver) has issued a reminder to people to remain calm about the potential US feed of Doctor Who episodes. The deal is presumably still being worked on, and an announcement will be made once there is any definite news. Lubinski's announcement did point out one new piece of information - the episodes would not be provided by PBS. "This Week In Doctor Who" is not in the loop regarding this situation, so please do not expect me to know what will happen. This column will, however, carry the information about this feed when the news comes out, and list all known stations carrying it and the broadcast times.

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The Schedules:

The UK:

UK Gold - Cable and Satellite network
Saturday morning from 10:05AM to 12:05PM - The Tomb of the Cybermen - movie format
Sunday morning from 9:55 to 11:50AM - Day of the Daleks - movie format.
The classic The Evil of the Daleks may be missing, but these two stories are essentially its sequels. "Tomb" was the story that followed directly after "Evil". The 2nd Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria land on Telos, where the Cybermen lie buried. But someone in a human expedition wants to reawaken them. .Day' is a 3rd Doctor and Jo story, where humans from an alternate 22nd Century come to the 20th to kill the man they believe is responsible for humanity being subjugated in the future. This was the first Dalek story after "Evil", and it almost included a reference to it, but that got cut. This network runs commercials in the stories.

Mainland Europe:

BBC Prime - Cable and Satellite network
Saturday morning at 1:05AM and 10AM - The Talons of Weng-Chiang - episode 5 of 6
Saturday evening at 6PM - The Talons of Weng-Chiang - episode 6 of 6
The 4th Doctor and Leela race against time to stop Weng-Chiang from distilling enough life essence from humans to attempt to return to his own time. BBC Prime has evidently switched to a fall schedule, hence the change in the PM broadcast time.

Australia:

FOXTEL - UKTV - Cable network
Saturday at 1PM, Sunday at 2 and 8AM - The Edge of Destruction - complete
Saturday at 1:50PM, Sunday at 2:50 and 8:50AM - .K9 and Company
Saturday at 2:40PM, Sunday at 3:40 and 9:40AM - Resistance Is Useless
Monday through Friday at 11:30PM - The War Games - episodes 1 - 5
UKTV is reviving its Doctor Who broadcasts with selected programmes it calls "The Who Files". The Edge of Destruction was the third story ever. K9 and Company was a 1981 pilot for a spinoff series that never occurred. Resistance Is Useless was a 1992 special giving highlights from the series, with particular emphasis on material from incomplete stories. The War Games was the final Patrick Troughton story, where much of the Doctor's past was first revealed.

Canada:

SPACE: The Imagination Station - Cable and Satellite Network
Sunday at 8AM Eastern (3:30AM rerun) - The Rescue: Desperate Measures - episode 2 of 2
Monday through Wednesday at 7:30AM Eastern - The Ambassadors of Death - episodes 5, 6, and 7 of 7
Thursday through Friday at 7:30AM Eastern - The Sontaran Experiment - episodes 1 and 2 of 2
[Some Canadians can also see the following PBS stations which carry Doctor Who - Maine Public Broadcasting, KBDI Denver, and KSPS Spokane.]

As The Rescue concludes, the 1st Doctor learns that one of the human survivors has a dark secret which threatens anyone who uncovers it. In "Ambassadors", the 3rd Doctor negotiates for the return of the human astronauts from the aliens and tries to rescue the alien ambassadors from corrupt humans. And in "Sontaran Experiment", the 4th Doctor tries to stop a Sontaran trying to learn humanities weaknesses through torture. Note: While The Ambassadors of Death was filmed in color, several of the episodes do not have color prints of good enough quality to broadcast, so it will air in Black and White.

The USA:

Maine Public Broadcasting - channels 10, 10, 12, 13, 26, 39
Saturday night at 9PM Eastern - Robot - episodes 3 and 4 of 4
Maine viewers get the conclusion to Robot, Tom Baker's first story. The Doctor tries to unravel the mystery of Think Tank before a nuclear war begins. And the Robot finds itself drawn to Sarah, the only person to ever be nice to him. This broadcast can also be seen in parts of New Brunswick, Canada, and New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Public Television - channels 11, 15, 18, 49, 52
Friday night at 10PM - The War Games - episodes 1 and 2 of 10
The 2nd Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe land in 1917 Europe during World War I, where they are accused of being spies. But something is just not right about the situation. This broadcast can also be seen in several other New England states.

WQED / WQEX Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - channels 13, 16
Saturday night at 10:30PM - Genesis of the Daleks - episode 1 of 6
The 4th Doctor's efforts to return to the TARDIS are interrupted by the Time Lords, who want him to stop the Daleks from ever existing. WQED / WQEX often airs other special material with the episodes, like Howard DeSilva's 1978 introductions for US audiences.

Maryland Public Television - channels 22, 28, 31, 36, 62, 67
Friday and Saturday night at Midnight - The Edge of Destruction - movie format
An explosion gives the 1st Doctor and company partial amnesia and sends the TARDIS hurtling into the past. Can they piece together what happened before catastrophe strikes? About 45 - 50 minutes. MPT goes back to movie format broadcasts with this story, and airs Doctor Who on Friday night for the first time in its history.

WUFT Gainesville, Florida - channel 5
Saturday afternoon at 5PM - Snakedance - movie format
The 5th Doctor and Tegan thought they had defeated the Mara. They were WRONG! Now they must stop the Mara from returning to its homeworld and attacking the civilization there. Once again, it intends to use Tegan to take power. About 90 minutes.

WUSF Tampa, Florida - channel 16
Saturday night at 11:55PM - Kinda - episode 3 of 4
The Mara tries to take control of the Kinda people, and the Doctor searches out their leader to learn the Mara's secrets. A pledge drive originally scheduled for September 26 was called off due to Hurricane Georges, so it's being held now. The episode is tentatively scheduled to end at 12:30AM.

[update 10 Oct] Charles Martin (who'll be on WUSF during the pledge drive asking for support for the series) has reported on a schedule change tonight. At 12:30AM, after episode 3 airs, they're going to air episode 4, instead of whatever non-Doctor Who program was planned before. Please add the extra time on your VCR or set aside the extra half-hour.

[update 11 Oct] Charles Martin wrote me again this morning. WUSF had the pledge drive last night. As I wrote yesterday, they had decided to add a bonus episode of Doctor Who to the night, which would have resulted in both episodes 3 and 4 of Kinda airing. However, hours before the broadcast, they pulled episode 4 of Kinda from the schedule and put back in an installment of "One Step Beyond", which was originally scheduled. Even though only episode 3 wound up airing, the pledge drive did raise $2000 for the station (a bit less then the Red Dwarf episode earlier that night).

WCET Cincinnati, Ohio - channel 48
Saturday night at 11PM - Ghost Light - movie format
The final produced story in the series (3rd to last broadcast) sees the 7th Doctor investigating a house that Ace burned down. He discovers a mystery as old as the human race (and characters who apparently forgot to turn on their microphones :-). About 70 minutes.

WFWA Fort Wayne, Indiana - channel 39
Saturday night at Midnight - Meglos - movie format
The 4th Doctor and Romana are intercepted by a cactus with the ability to impersonate others. Having trapped them in a chronic hysteresis, Meglos assumes the Doctor's identity for his own purposes. About 80 minutes.

WTBU Indianapolis, Indiana - channel 69
Sunday evening at 6PM - Warriors' Gate - movie format
In the conclusion of the "E-Space Trilogy", the 4th Doctor, Romana, K9, and Adric find a gateway out. They also find the remnants of a time-sensitive civilization and humans bent on exploiting them. When the gateway begins to collapse, chaos breaks out. And K9 develops a condition that could leave him trapped in E-Space forever. About 90 minutes. [As of press time, some listings indicated that WTBU might air The Time Warrior instead.]

Louisiana Public Television - channels 13, 18, 24, 24, 25, 27
Saturday night at 10PM - The Mutants - episodes 5 and 6 of 6
The 3rd Doctor fights the Marshal's attempts to make Solos uninhabitable for the natives of the planet. He gets new ammunition when he discovers the secret behind the mutations.

Iowa Public Television - channels 11, 12, 27, 32
Friday night at 11:05PM - The Silurians - episodes 6 and 7 of 7
The 3rd Doctor and Liz search for a cure to the plague the new Silurian leader unleashed on the Earth. But are they already too late? This IS the colour version, and not the Black and White version Iowa Public Television originally indicated would air.

KBDI Denver, Colorado - channel 12
Friday night at 11PM Mountain - The Three Doctors - episodes 1 and 2 of 4
Saturday night at 10PM Mountain - The Three Doctors - episodes 3 and 4 of 4
People who catch both broadcasts can enjoy the whole story of what happened when the Time Lords broke their laws to send the 3rd Doctor his previous selves for help. Are 3 (well, more like 2 1/3) Doctors enough to stop the master of a dimension of anti-matter? Some Ontario, Canada viewers can see these broadcasts.

KTEH San Jose, California - channel 54
Sunday night at 11PM - Vengeance on Varos - 4 episode version
Sunday night at 12:40AM - "Evening With Peter Davison" - lecture tour type thing
The 6th Doctor and Peri go to Varos in search of a precious item needed to power the TARDIS. They wind up on Television. After the Vengeance, watch Peter Davison in a hard to categorize special. It seems that in KTEH's commendable zeal to give viewers the episodic format stories, they wound up with the 23 minute episode versions of the 22nd season instead of the original 45 minute broadcasts. My source at the station is trying to make sure they get the original versions the next time they cycle through the 6th Doctor.

KRCB Rhonert Park, California - channel 22
Saturday night at 11PM - Planet of Fire - episode 4 of 4
Turlough contacts his home planet to try to save an almost forgotten colony on a planet that's falling apart. Meanwhile, the Master prepares to use a special property of the planet to restore what he's lost. And Kamelion makes a decision.

KSPS Spokane, Washington - channel 7
Saturday night at 10:30PM Pacific - The Masque of Mandragora - movie format
The 4th Doctor introduces Sarah to the TARDIS' other console room. Then, a dangerous energy source uses the TARDIS to attack Earth during the Renaissance. About 90 - 95 minutes.

KBTC / KCKA Tacoma, Washington - channels 28, 15
Saturday night at 7PM and 12:30AM - Time and the Rani - episodes 1 and 2 of 4
Monday night at 7:30PM and 12:30AM - Time and the Rani - episodes 1 and 2 of 4
A crash landing forces the Doctor's 6th regeneration. The new 7th Doctor is promptly drugged by the Rani and tricked into helping her.

BBC America - nationwide Cable channel mostly on TCI digital platforms
Saturday afternoon at 5PM Eastern - Genesis of the Daleks - movie version, part 1 of 3
Sunday afternoon at 2PM Eastern - Genesis of the Daleks - movie version, part 1 of 3
Contains the episode already described for WQED fans and the following episode, where the Doctor encounters the original Daleks. BBC America does air commercials and has been known to trim episodes to get more commercials in. With commercials, this broadcast will last 1 hour.

Thanks for reading the reformatted "This Week In Doctor Who". Please come back next week for the latest changes and wackiness in the world of Doctor Who programming.

Benjamin F. Elliott

This Week In Doctor Who is written by Benjamin F. Elliott. Alliance Newsletter edition edited by Shaun Lyon. Doctor Who is a registered trademark of the BBC. Copyright 1998.