This Week In Doctor Who - November 26, 1999

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to American readers of the column. Happy Those Americans Are Off On Vacation Leaving Us In Peace ... Yahoo!' Weekend to Canadian and Mexican readers. To the readers outside North America - the turkeys in your area would like to send you a very deep .hank You' for not having a reason to eat them this weekend.

THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO - November 26, 1999

Come to think of it, it's probably just as well that there has never been any Doctor Who stories set at US Thanksgiving time (unless there's a book I missed). The minute anyone would claim that the first Thanksgiving was between the Pilgrims and the Indians in 1621, the Doctor would have to chime in and point out that the actual first US Thanksgiving took place in Jamestown in 1607, and then all the other characters in the story would beat him senseless using cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. But back to coverage of Doctor Who.

There has been concern about the fact that I took Maine Public Broadcasting out of the column. Doctor Who was off the November schedule of the station, replaced by Red Dwarf specials. It is still off the schedule for December, replaced by double runs of Red Dwarf. It is my belief that the Maine PBS network has dropped the series permanently. The series was on the air in Maine for exactly 1 year. It was downgraded from 2 episodes at 9PM to 1 episode at 11:30PM a few months back. The last episode aired was Horror of Fang Rock episode 1, on October 30. In the event that Doctor Who reappears in Maine, I will put the station back in the column ASAP.

I also forgot to include BBC America in the listings last week. That was a mistake. It is back in, and hopefully won't disappear again. Thank you to everyone who noticed.

If there is anyone out there who can see TG4 in Ireland, could you please contact me and let me know which episode or episodes actually air this week? I don't think Sceneone.co.uk is particularly certain, and I'd like to start getting it right.

Final ratings for the Doctor Who night came out, but I was only able to get information on BBC2's 30 most popular shows in that week in time for today's column. I hope to learn what the final ratings for the entire night and for the Spearhead 1+2 broadcast were in time for next week's column. Overnight ratings for Spearhead 3 have not been reported yet either, and will be in next week's column if they are announced.

From the BBC2's Top 30 (Week of 8-14 November):
22 - Dr. Who: Adventures In Time And Space (9:03PM) - 2.47 million
24 - Carnival Of Monsters (documentary) (9:51PM) - 2.37 million

UKTV Australia's Top 10 Doctor Who Stories (Complete List):
10 - The Robots of Death
9 - City of Death
8 - Planet of the Spiders
7 - Earthshock
6 - The Talons of Weng-Chiang
5 - Remembrance of the Daleks
4 - Pyramids of Mars
3 - The Tomb of the Cybermen
2 - Genesis of the Daleks
1 - The Five Doctors (4 episode version)

WQED has produced a surprise Doctor Who anniversary special for Pittsburgh viewers, airing at 11:30PM Saturday. Well, no longer a surprise now, I guess.

MPT Maryland is shaking up its science fiction lineup on December 18, and Doctor Who is the beneficiary, however slightly. Doctor Who will move from 12:30AM to Midnight. Instead of having Space Island One (which is being dropped) as its lead-in, it will now follow the ever popular Red Dwarf. Blake's 7, which was dropped to make room for Space Island One, is going back on the air as filler after Doctor Who in the middle of the night, with reruns of the first and only season that MPT aired in the Summer. This is MPT, so they will probably flip the schedule around again sometime before March.

Additions and corrections are welcome at org...@logopolis.com . And now, the listings:

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Cable Radio / Real Audio:

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BCB http://www.bcb.yorks.com/
Tue ~1:03PM GMT (8:03AM EST, 5:03AM PST) The Who Review - the December edition
Technically, the show is airing in November (except for East Australia and New Zealand). Christmas programming caused the change.

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TV:

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UK/Ireland:

BBC2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Tue 6PM GMT Spearhead From Space ep 4 of 4
The Doctor and Liz try to reach the heart of the Nestene Intelligence while the Brigadier and UNIT battle the Auton mannequins. First time on broadcast TV in the UK since 1971, with recently cleaned up prints.

UK Gold http://www.sceneone.co.uk/s1/tv/listings
Late Fri 12:55-2:55AM GMT The Dominators movie
The writers somehow decided that the Dominators were more dangerous villains than the Quarks, and put the Dominators in charge. What were they thinking? Quarks, shall we destroy?
Sun 9:20-11:15AM GMT Earthshock movie
An old enemy of the Doctor makes two attempts to destroy Earth before a critical conference between many worlds can take place. Naturally, the Doctor saves the day, but he will pay a heavier price than normal.

UK Gold Classics http://www.sceneone.co.uk/s1/tv/listings
Sun 6-7:50PM GMT Earthshock movie
Replay of the Sunday morning airing.

TG4/TnaG http://www.tnag.ie/ http://www.sceneone.co.uk/s1/tv/listings
Fri 6:31PM GMT The Ambassadors of Death eps 1+2? of 7 (actually episodes 6+7)
Next Fri 6:31PM GMT The Ambassadors of Death ep 3+4?of 7
Whatever happened to the astronauts of Mars Probe 7?

EUROPE/AFRICA:

BBC Prime http://www.bbcprime.com/
Sat 5PM, Sun 11:30AM, Mon 11:35AM CET/CAT City of Death ep 3 of 4
(No Friday night rerun - Children In Need special.)
The Doctor and Duggan have discovered the stolen Mona Lisa - well, 7 of them.

AUSTRALIA:

UKTV http://www.varos.com/drwho/uktv/ http://www.uktv.com.au/
Sat 1PM, Sun 2+8AM AEDT The Five Doctors 4 part version (#1 Doctor Who story)
This was a puzzling choice. Why didn't UKTV get the original 90 minute version of the story? Certainly during the Who-Files they often ran the 45 minute C. Baker episodes and the uncut Telemovie. But for some reason they decided to spread The Five Doctors out over 4 nights, and the version they air on the weeknights is the version they air on the weekends. This is the last Doctor Who broadcast on UKTV for the year. Look for it again when Sapphire and Steel finishes its run in a couple of months.

CANADA/USA:

SPACE: The Imagination Station http://www.hwcn.org/~an933/spacedw.htm
http://www.spacecast.com/
Sat-Tue 7:30AM EST The Sensorites eps 3 - 6 of 6 (Hidden Danger, A Race Against Death, Kidnap, A Desperate Venture)
On the Sensorite planet, the 1st Doctor tries to learn why the Sensorites are so hostile towards humans. As he begins to understand their culture, Ian falls prey to an illness sweeping through the Sensorite people ...

Wed-Fri 7:30AM EST Planet of Giants eps 1 - 3 of 3 (Planet Of Giants, Dangerous Journey, Crisis)
Barbara and Ian are finally back in the 1960s, but they aren't likely to enjoy their stay. The TARDIS malfunctioned at a critical moment.They were supposed to travel through Time and *Space*, not Time and *Size*!

BBC America http://www.bbcamerica.com/
Sat 7AM+5PM, Sun 8AM EST The Hand Of Fear movie, pt 1 of 2
(Oops. Forgot to include this station last week.)
Sarah is buried in a quarry explosion. When she is found, she is clutching a crystalline hand that appears to be millions of years old, but is very much alive.

NHPTV New Hampshire 11, 49, 52 http://nhptv.org/
Sun 2PM EST Invasion of the Dinosaurs all 6 eps
The 3rd Doctor and Sarah return to London to find it evacuated, populated just by soldiers and dinosaurs. The final story with all the famous UNIT regulars in it as UNIT regulars (Lethbridge- Stewart, Benton, and Yates). This version includes the Black & White episode 1, titled "Invasion". The episodes wasn't supposed to just exist in Black & White, but when you're careless with your property, things get lost. Next episodes air on December 19.

WQED/WQEX 13, 16 Pittsburgh, PA http://www.wqed.org/
Sat 11:30PM EST "WQED Doctor Who 36th Anniversary Update"
WQED throws Doctor Who a surprise party (carefully disguised in all other TV listings as The Deadly Assassin episode 1). News, Reviews, and Clips from Doctor Who's past, present, and future. Doctor Who on the global and Pittsburgh scale in a 30 minute package. If you are a regular reader of this column and know anyone in WQED's broadcast range, you may want to get this broadcast taped. Regular suspect T J Lubinski (Whosaver) is responsible for the event.

WYBE 35 Philadelphia, PA http://www.wybe.org/
http://www.tvquest.com/ zip 19129
Sat 11PM EST Image of the Fendahl eps 1+2 of 4
The Doctor and Leela make an emergency landing on Earth to try to find out who is running a certain kind of scanner that implodes and takes the planet it is on with it. The initial evidence is that the machine is being run by a group of cows. First someone points out that cows do more to harm the ozone layer then cars, and now this.

MPT Maryland 22, 28, 31, 36, 62, 67 http://www.mpt.org/
Late Sat 12:30AM EST The Deadly Assassin movie
The first Doctor Who story I ever taped, in the same format that I taped it in. Notable for having a scrolling introduction (before Star Wars came out) which the Doctor read. Only story without a regular companion for the Doctor. A dark, sinister tale, brimming with humor. Hard to beat, if you're enough of an insomniac to stick with this broadcast until 2AM.

WUSF 16 Tampa, FL http://www.wusftv.usf.edu/gateway.htm
Sat 11:30PM EST Planet of Fire ep 4 of 4
A companion leaves. A companion joins. A companion dies. A planet dies. A villain wishes he'd died. The poor writer had to do a lot in a short amount of time, didn't he?

WCET 48 Cincinnati, OH http://www.wcet.org/
Sat 11:30PM EST The Green Death eps 4+5 of 6
BOSS goes insane - ly comical. Mike Yates is back. Jo falls in love. The maggots break loose. I've never really been a big fan of this story, but I hear some people like it.

WYIN 56 Gary, IN http://www.wyin.org/
http://www.tvquest.com/ zip 46410
Sat 10PM CST The Android Invasion ep 4 of 4
The Doctor and Sarah decide to take advantage of the Kraal's craft to get to Earth and warn UNIT. Farewell, Benton and Harry.

Next week - Doctor Who's Who's Who - a 1985 documentary.

KTCA 2 St. Paul, MN http://www.ktca.org/
Sat 11:45PM CST Pyramids of Mars ep 4 of 4
Sutekh takes over the Doctor's mind and pilots the TARDIS to Mars.
Next episode December 18.

IPTV Iowa 11, 12, 21, 24, 27, 32, 32, 36 http://www.sffn.com/
http://www.iptv.org/
Fri 11:05PM CST Invasion of the Dinosaurs eps 4+5 of 6
Sarah awakes on board a ship that left Earth months ago.

PPTV North Dakota 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 13, 19 http://www.pptv.org/
Fri 10:30PM CST (9:30PM MST) The Deadly Assassin ep 1 of 4
Having received a telepathic prediction of doom, the Doctor races back to Gallifrey, where he is immediately assumed to be a criminal. Can the Doctor stop the assassination, or will he cause it? No episode next week.

KBDI/K32EO 12, 32 Denver/Colorado Springs, CO http://www.kbdi.org/
http://www.tvquest.com/ zip 80205
Pledge specials this week. No episodes. No episodes next week either.

KNME 5 Albuquerque, NM http://www.knmetv.org/
Sat 10:30PM MST The Sontaran Experiment movie
Not only has KNME gone into reruns without finishing Tom Baker, but they appear to be running in production order again. The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry beam down from a space station to find out if Earth is inhabitable again.

KRWG 22 Las Cruces, NM (El Paso, TX) http://www.nmsu.edu/~krwgtv/
Sat 10:30PM MST The Pirate Planet movie
The 2nd segment of the Key To Time is somewhere on a planet that has been eaten by another planet. If only the Doctor had arrived a little sooner.

KSPS 7 Spokane, WA http://www.ksps.org/
http://www.tvquest.com/ zip 99223
Sat 10:30PM PST (11:30PM MST) Mark Of The Rani movie
Incredible. A PBS story that knows that Mark Of The Rani is the story before The Two Doctors, not the story after The Two Doctors. Well, at least one or two others know by now, but I think this is the first station to demonstrate it. The Master faces his biggest challenge yet - a Time Lady more ruthless than he is.

KBTC/KCKA 28, 15 Tampa/Centralia, WA http://www.kbtc.org/
Sat 7PM+~3AM PST The Three Doctors eps 3+4 of 4
The Brigadier finally travels in the TARDIS - sort of. The Three Doctors may finally get to meet.

KTEH 54 San Jose, CA http://www.kteh.org/
Sun 11PM PST State of Decay all 4 eps
(It was unknown at publication time whether this story would be restored to full length ala Horns Of Nimon in time for broadcast, or whether the edited episodic version would have to be used. It could come down to the final few hours before the broadcast.) The Doctor and Romana explore a planet stuck in the Middle Ages. K9 discovers a stowaway.

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That's it for this week. Until next week, take care.

Benjamin F. Elliott

Doctor Who is a BBC trademark. Copyright 1999.