THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO - Fri, 21 May 1999

By Benjamin F. Elliott

May 21st, 1999 - The Phantom Column

Many years ago, before BBC Skywalker joined the Dark Side as Darth Ratings, he was just a little boy with enormous powers. He developed Doctor Who, Black Adder, Clangers, Blake's Seven, Z Cars, and many more famous programs. His greatest battle, of course, occurred when ... [Message incomplete - the movie lines were too long.]

Fans of Doctor Who on MPT Maryland, the show is getting a partial demotion. The Late Saturday rerun is moving from Midnight to 12:30AM, effective June 5th. This is to accommodate Blake's 7, which replaces Red Dwarf Saturdays at 11:30PM. Why they think that viewers would rather have Doctor Who later instead of earlier is beyond me.

Due to my vacation, the column will be written by guests for the next two weeks. It was unclear exactly who would write which week when I finished this column (Tuesday night). If additions, corrections, and updates are sent to jefferys1@erols.com and kwolff@gmu.edu , then whoever writes the column will get the news. Here are the schedules:

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Europe:

UK Gold
Late Friday from 12:25 to 2:10AM BST The War Games movie version, part 1 of 2
Sunday from 9 to 10:50AM BST Horror of Fang Rock movie version
Late Friday, the 2nd Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe arrive in the middle of World War I, one of Earth's bloodiest wars. Of course, if this is really World War I, how do people explain the Roman legion down the street? Sunday morning, the 4th Doctor and Leela visit a turn of the century lighthouse, where people are beginning to die. A green sea monster takes the blame.

UK Gold Classics
Sunday at 6PM BST Horror of Fang Rock movie version
Same as UK Gold, but at a more convenient hour for people with this station.

BBC Prime
http://www.bbcprime.com/
Late Friday at 1AM CET The Pirate Planet episode 1 of 4
Saturday at 9:40AM and 6PM CET The Pirate Planet episode 2 of 4
The 4th Doctor and Romana arrive in exactly the right place, at exactly the right time - but on the wrong planet.

Australia:

FOXTEL's UK-TV
http://www.foxtel.com/ and
http://varos.simplenet.com/drwho/uktv/
Saturday at 1PM, Sunday at 2 and 8AM The Visitation all 4 episodes
Monday to Tuesday at 11:30PM The Curse of Fenric episodes 3 through 4 of 4
Wednesday through Friday at 11:30PM An Unearthly Child episodes 1 through 3 of 4 (An Unearthly Child, The Cave of Skulls, The Forest of Fear) {Tentative} (actually The Green Death 1-3)
The Who files come to an end. The 5th Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan encounter aliens in 1666 England in 'Visitation'. In the first part of the weekday episodes, the 7th Doctor manipulates Ace to defeat Fenric once and for all. Once the Who-Files conclude, FOXTEL has said they will return to the beginning of the series and run through the stories again. If that is still correct, then An Unearthly Child is the most likely story.

Canada and the United States:

SPACE: The Imagination Station
http://www.spacecast.com/ and
http://www.hwcn.org/~an933/spacedw.htm
Saturday through Tuesday at 7:30AM EDT The Seeds of Death episodes 3 through 6 of 6
Wednesday through Friday at 7:30AM EDT The War Games episodes 1 through 3 of 10
The 2nd Doctor continues on SPACE. First, the Ice Warriors attempt to conquer Earth using T- MAT and deadly foam. Then, the Doctor and company discover that something is odd about World War I in 1917. Specifically, there's a Roman legion down the street.

MPBC Maine 10, 10, 12, 13, 26
http://www.mpbc.org/
Saturday at 9PM EDT The Masque of Mandragora episodes 3 and 4 of 4
Mandragora prepares to swallow the moon. The astrologer becomes more insane then before. Count Frederico tries to kill his nephew, again. If Mandragora is not stopped, the future as Earth knows it will be over.

NHPTV New Hampshire 11, 49, 52
http://nhptv.org/
Sunday at 3PM EDT The Curse of Peladon episodes 2 and 3 of 4
See MPT's listing.

WQED / WQEX 13, 16 Pittsburgh, PA
http://www.wqed.org/
Saturday at 11PM EDT The Android Invasion episode 4 of 4
Immediately afterwards - The Tomb of the Cybermen episode 2 of 4
The 4th Doctor returns to Earth, only to find that the duplicates have already arrived. Final appearance of Harry Sullivan and RSM Benton. Later, the 2nd Doctor tries to keep a team of archaeologists from discovering how to open the tombs of the Cybermen. What if the Cybermen were not as dead as people believed?

WYBE 35 Philadelphia, PA
http://www.wybe.org/
Saturday at 11PM EDT The Pyramids Of Mars episodes 1 and 2 of 4
WYBE continues airing Who in production order, so you haven't missed Planet of Evil. Millenia ago, a mythological evil was sealed away in a tomb, never to return. Assuming, of course, that no well-meaning idiots unlock a particular pyramid.

MPT Maryland 22, 28, 31, 36, 62, 67
http://www.mpt.org/
Late Friday and Saturday at Midnight EDT The Curse of Peladon movie version
The Time Lords hijack the 3rd Doctor and Jo, sending them to the planet Peladon, which is now preparing to join the Galactic Federation. They seem to think that something bad is about to happen. They're right, of course, but there's no way they could have known that.

WUFT 5 Gainesville, FL
http://www.wuft.org/
Saturday at 5PM EDT Ghost Light movie version
The last story produced in the 1989 season, and therefore the last official TV story made before the Telemovie. The 7th Doctor brings Ace back to 1883 Perivale to face a long-buried secret.

WUSF 16 Tampa, FL
http://wusftv.usf.edu/
Saturday at 11:30PM EDT Enlightenment episode 1 of 4
The TARDIS arrives on a ship involved in the ultimate race for wisdom. Tegan receives a cryptic message from the White Guardian. The Black Guardian plays mind games on Turlough.

WCET 48 Cincinnati, OH
http://www.wcet.org/
Saturday at 11:30PM EDT Colony In Space episode 6 of 6
Immediately afterwards - The Dæmons episode 1 of 5
The 3rd Doctor's battles with the Master continue. First, the Master tries to take control of the Doomsday weapon, which can destroy planets. Ironic, considering "Remembrance Of The Daleks". Later, the Master manipulates events at Devil's End hump to ensure that the hump is opened, regardless of the danger to Earth.

WYIN 56 Gary, IN (Chicago, IL)
http://www.wyin.org/
Saturday at 10PM CDT TBA / The Ark In Space episode 4 of 4
Noah leads the Wirrn in an assault on the Ark crew. The Doctor accesses the mind of the Wirrn, hoping to learn why they came to the Ark in the first place.

*****REMOVED FROM SCHEDULE*****

LPB Louisiana 13, 18, 24, 24, 25, 27 http://www.lpb.org/

*****REMOVED FROM SCHEDULE*****

IPTV Iowa 11, 12, 27, 32
http://www.iptv.org/ and http://www.sffn.com/
Friday at 11:05PM CDT Day of the Daleks episodes 2 and 3 of 4
The Daleks want to find out who is operating a time corridor to 20th Century Earth. If left unchecked, these rebels could find a way to restore the timeline and erase the Daleks' successful invasion.

PPTV North Dakota 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 13, 19
http://www.pptv.org/
Friday at 10:30PM CDT The Pyramids Of Mars episode 2 of 4
See WYBE for listings information.

KBDI 12 Denver, CO
http://www.kbdi.org/
No broadcast this week. Pledge programming.

KNME 5 Albequerque, NM
http://www.knmetv.org/
Saturday at 11PM MDT Revenge of the Cybermen movie version
[Episodes are airing in production order, not the original broadcast order. Genesis of the Daleks airs next week.] After a harrowing experience with the Daleks, the Doctor and company return to Nerva to catch up with the TARDIS. They find a station where nearly all the inhabitants have been killed. The survivors think it is a plague, but the Doctor notices a disturbing similarity to the methods of an enemy he thought was long gone.

KSPS 7 Spokane, WA
http://www.ksps.org/
Saturday at 10:30PM PDT The Keeper of Traken movie version
For millenia, the Traken Union has been one of the most peaceful places in space. One Trakenite sacrifices his own existence to be the keeper of a machine that keeps evil away. The current Keeper knows his life is ending, and has discovered a surprise threat growing on Traken. So, he has found a character with a brilliant ability to smell out and deal with evil. This character travels in a Police Telephone Box and wears a very long scarf.

KBTC / KCKA 28, 15 Tacoma, WA (Seattle)
Saturday at 7PM and 2:30AM PDT Inferno episodes 3 and 4 of 7
The 3rd Doctor enters a parallel universe where the Inferno project is further along. Everyone from his universe are there, albeit with more sinister personalities. As they prepare to break through the crust of the Earth, the Doctor fears that a catastrophe is about to happen.

KTEH 54 San Jose, CA
http://www.kteh.org/
Sunday at 11PM PDT The Masque of Mandragora all 4 episodes
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Had he been in Italy at the time, he might have seen a mysterious blue box, a man wearing an unlikely large scarf, a long dead cult more active then ever, and a red ball of death destroying everything in its path. Of course, had he been in Italy instead of searching for a faster route to Asia, life as we know it would be almost completely different anyway, and the humans who would be here instead of us probably wouldn't be speculating about it.

BBC America
http://www.bbcamerica.com/
Saturday at 5PM EDT, Sunday at 8AM EDT The Brain of Morbius movie version, part 1 of 2
First time broadcast on BBC America. The 4th Doctor and Sarah land on Karn, a desolate planet where Professor Solon is keeping alive one of the most hated beings in the cosmos.

Central / South America:

HBO-OLE 2
http://www.hbo-ole.com/hbo2.htm
Friday at 10PM Argentina Time (8PM Mexico City Time), Monday at 6:45PM Argentina (4:45PM Mexico) DOCTOR WHO the 1996 movie
This is the English language version with Spanish subtitles that the main HBO-OLE aired a few months ago. The 7th Doctor attempts to return the Master's remains to Gallifrey. But a mysterious substance resembling Flubber forces the TARDIS to land in San Francisco on December 30, 1999. The Doctor tries to investigate and winds up in the hospital, clinging to life, while his oldest enemy plots to destroy Earth and regain all he has lost.

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Enjoy the guest writers. I'll be back soon. Take care.