THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO - February 2, 2001

by Benjamin F. Elliott
Vol 4, No 5
Doctor Who is a BBC Trademark. Copyright 2001.
Email: bfelliott@gallifreyone.com

Welcome to the weekly guide to Doctor Who broadcasts around the world.

Fans of the BCB Cable Radio show The Who Review will be pleased to know that Tim Moon, the host, is looking into making the show available for people who can't hear it live. The location to put the show has not been decided yet, but fans will be able to listen to the most recent episode in real audio any time during the month. Once I know that the archive is online, I'll let you all know. It may or may not be this month. BCB Cable Radio 104FM in Bradford, UK airs The Who Review monthly on the 1st Thursday of the month during the Magazine program (7-8PM GMT). The exact start and end time of the show varies each month inside the magazine, length is 30 to 40 minutes. Next episode airs on 1 March.

Remember that BBC Prime (Europe/Africa/Asia) skipped over Earthshock recently in their Doctor Who airings? Viewer queries got the response that BBC Prime was unable to get the rights to that story, although they had tried. Apparently BBC Prime has no rights troubles with any other stories, and hopes to go all the way through McCoy, 1 episode a week, four airings per episode. I wonder what could have caused them trouble with Earthshock
...

A quick reminder to fans in New Zealand. Prime TV began airing 2 episodes per day on 31 January, with a 6PM start time instead of 6:30PM. If you've just been tuning in at 6:30PM and wondering why they're skipping episodes - well, they're not skipping episodes.

Fans in MPT Maryland's viewing area will no doubt be pleased to hear that MPT is actually going to pledge Doctor Who this March, the first time I can recall that they've made any active effort to raise money for the show (not including Who Night) since 1998. They're trying to get a large number of volunteers to answer phones on March 10 from 9PM to 1AM, the last section for Doctor Who pledging. I assume the contact information for this was already forwarded to the Doctor Who Alliance Newsletter. If not, I'll get it there next week.

Attention WYBE Dr. Who fans, Visitation parts 3 and 4 will air this Saturday February 3rd. Mawdryn, will air the following weekend. Sorry for the mix up."

KTEH 54 in San Jose, CA upgraded their transmitter from 10 kw to 35 kw on January 19. If you've skipped Doctor Who on KTEH due to their signal being poor or not quite reaching you, try it now. They also have their permit to build KTEH-DT on channel 50. Hopefully they'll actually offer their existing schedule (including Doctor Who) on the digital station when it's finished. As far as I can tell, all the US Doctor Who airing stations with digital signals are still airing special programming only on the digital stations and not the regular lineups.

Additions and corrections are welcome at bfelliott@earthlink.net , bfelliott@gallifreyone.com , or bfelliott3 on AOL IM . And now, the listings:

---

RADIO:

---

WPBR AM1340 West Palm Beach, FL
http://hometown.aol.com/scifiradioguy/
Realplayer and Archives
http://live365.com/
Sun 11:05PM EST Interstellar Transmissions ep 8 (The Future Of Doctor Who)
An all Doctor Who episode, and I gather one for peoples' archives. Five years ago, the Paul McGann movie premiered. Hopes were heightened for a new TV series, which has not happened. Why? Is Doctor Who a thing of the past? Esoteric, ludicrous, and over? Is there room for Doctor Who in the modern world? Joey Reynolds & co. debate the future of Doctor Who on television. Catch the show live on the radio, on the live365.com website, or archived through the link on Joey's website.

---

TV:

---

UK:

UK Gold
http://www.sceneone.co.uk/s1/tv/listings
Sun 9:10-11AM GMT Robot movie
UK Gold enters the Tom Baker era. Benton gets a promotion, Bessie gets a final appearance as a regular, Harry Sullivan is introduced, and Sarah uses her journalistic skills one last time as an enormous Robot steals the plans for a disintegrator gun and the codes for the world's nuclear weapons.

**
UK Gold 2
http://www.sceneone.co.uk/s1/tv/listings
At this point, I must assume that UK Gold 2 is discontinuing its Doctor Who reruns altogether. Until they air the show again, they leave the column. Prepare to dematerialize UK Gold 2. It will be as if they never existed ...
**

EUROPE/AFRICA/ASIA:

BBC Prime
http://www.bbcprime.com/
Late Fri 1AM*, Sat 3:30PM, Sun 11:30AM CET Time-Flight ep 2 of 4
Late Thu 12:35AM CET Time-Flight ep 3 of 4
*Not seen in all regions. The Doctor and company find themselves millions of years in the past, where a swami creature is manipulating humans to unearth a power source of enormous ... er, power.

AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND:

UKTV Australia
http://www.varos.com/drwho/uktv/
Sun 7AM, Late Sun 1AM AEDT Planet of Evil all 4 eps
The Doctor and Sarah stumble across the remains of a scientific expedition on the world of anti- matter. So does a rescue ship. What happened to the people? And what's the secret of the sole survivor?
Mon-Wed 11:30PM AEDT The Brain of Morbius eps 2 - 4 of 4
The Doctor is trapped between two enemies. Professor Solon wants to chop off the Doctor's head for use in a vicious experiment, while a Sisterhood wants to burn the Doctor alive for being a Time Lord.
Thu-Fri 11:30PM AEDT The Seeds of Doom eps 1 - 2 of 6
In Antarctica, two alien seed pods are discovered. The Doctor wants to examine them to ensure they are not hostile. Two thugs also want to examine the pods, but for different reasons.

Prime TV New Zealand
http://www.tetrap.com/drwho/nzdwfc/
http://www.primetv.co.nz/
Sun-Fri 6PM - 2 episodes daily
Sun-Mon The Monster of Peladon eps 3 - 6 of 6
Last rerun in 1986. Ice Warrior peacekeepers are called in to quell the chaos on Peladon. But the cure may be worse than the disease. Final appearance (to date) of the Ice Warriors in the series, although the writers tried to slip them in several times.
Tue-Thu Planet of the Spiders eps 1 - 6 of 6
Last rerun in 1986. In The Green Death, the 3rd Doctor gave Jo Grant a blue crystal from Metebelis III as a wedding gift. Now, the residents of that planet want the crystal back, and they'll kill anyone who gets in their way. Even the Doctor.
Fri Robot eps 1+2 of 4
Last rerun in 1986. See UK Gold for details.

USA:

BBC America
http://www.bbcamerica.com/
Mon-Thu 8AM EST (5AM PST); reruns following weekday 5AM EST (2AM PST) - 2 episodes daily in movie format
Mon/Tue The Robots of Death movie, pt 2 of 2
The Doctor stops the Sandminer from destroying itself due to sabotage. But the killer robots are still at loose on board, and the crew will not face the danger.
Tue-Wed/Wed-Thu Terror of the Zygons movie, both pts
The Doctor and the Brigadier battle off an alien race who can assume human form. And the Loch Ness Monster, too.
Thu/Fri Planet of Evil movie, pt 1 of 2
See UKTV Australia for details.

NHPTV New Hampshire 11,49,52
http://www.nhptv.org/
Late Thu 12:30AM EST Underworld eps 3+4 of 4
The race banks are guarded by an evil-stepmother style computer that would rather kill everyone then let the mission be carried out.

WQED/WQEX 13,16 Pittsburgh, PA
http://www.wqed.org/
Sat 11:30PM EST The Androids of Tara eps 3+4 of 4
To protect the kingdom, the android duplicate of Prince Reynart is crowned in his place. Cyril Shaps guest stars as the Archimandrite, the man in charge of the upcoming wedding, and the only one of Cyril's characters in the series to survive the story it appeared in.

WYBE 35 Philadelphia, PA
http://www.wybe.org/
Sat 11PM EST Mawdryn Undead eps 3+4 of 4
The Doctor and the Black Guardian share a rare moment of agreement about a catastrophe - 2 versions of the Brigadier are at loose on the same space ship at the same time. If they meet, the Blinovitch Limitation Effect will kick in - aka "Boom".
’ this was actually The Visitation parts 3+4 as noted earlier.

MPT Maryland 22,28,31,36,62,67
http://www.mpt.org/
Sat 11:30PM EST Delta and the Bannermen movie
Alert to viewers - the movie version of Delta is 68 minutes, not 60 as indicated by this week's issue of TV Guide. Expect the show to either begin 8 minutes early or run 8 minutes late, and set your VCR for both eventualities. The last survivor of the Chimeron hides on a pleasure trip to Earth in 1959. Not a good job of hiding - the Bannermen track her down. Thankfully, a funny little man in a white suit with an umbrella is there to save the day.

WUSF 16 Tampa, FL
http://www.wusftv.usf.edu/
Sat 11:30PM EST Delta and the Bannermen ep 3 of 3
See MPT for details.

WCET 48 Cincinnati, OH
http://www.wcet.org/
Sat 11:30PM EST Image of the Fendahl eps 2+3 of 4
The secrets of the skull lead the Doctor to an asteroid belt.

WYIN 56 Gary, IN (Chicago, IL)
http://www.wyin.org/
Sat 10PM CST Image of the Fendahl ep 1 of 4
Bertha's Log, Supplemental: "The grass is still a tad on the dry side. We need some rain to make it more palatable. Also, the humans may have begun to realize that we can speak to each other. A tall guy with curly hair asked us something about a 'time scanner'. A nut, but he knew we could understand him. And that woman with him, with the disturbingly sharp knife. Oh dear."
» reported as actually The Pirate Planet: Part One

WILL 12 Urbana, IL
http://www.will.uiuc.edu/
Sat 11:20PM CST Genesis of the Daleks ep 1 of 6
For 1000 years, the Kaleds and the Thals have waged a devastating war against each other. The two sides seem deadlocked, wearing themselves down towards eventual extinction. But then a tall man with a scarf appears with a suspicious level of knowledge about the future. Things may be about to change on Skaro.

TPT 2 St. Paul, MN
http://www.tpt.org/
Sat 11:30PM, Sun 5:30AM CST The Invasion of Time ep 4 of 6
The revolution against the Vardans begins. Can Gallifrey be freed of its invaders?

IPTV Iowa 11,12,21,24,27,32,32,36
http://www.sffn.com/
http://www.iptv.org/
Late Fri 12:05AM CST Nightmare of Eden eps 3+4 of 4
Late start due to college wrestling. The Doctor is framed for peddling in Vraxoin, the most addictive drug in the galaxy. But whether or not the Doctor is guilty, the investigators face a tiny problem - there is no Vraxoin available anywhere these days. Where did it come from? And who are those hideous monsters with the claws?

PPTV North Dakota 2,3,4,6,9,13,19
http://www.pptv.org/
Fri 10:30PM CST (9:30PM MST) The Stones of Blood ep 4 of 4
The Doctor defends his life in front of "justice machines" that consider themselves to be judge, jury, and executioner.

KBDI/K32EO 12,32 Denver/Colorado Springs, CO
http://www.kbdi.org/
Late Fri 12:30AM MST The Creature from the Pit eps 3+4 of 4
What is the secret of Erato, the big green monster languishing in Lady Adrasta's pit?
Sat 10PM MST Nightmare of Eden all 4 eps
See IPTV for details.

KUED 7 Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.kued.org/
Sat 11PM, Late Sat 12:30AM MST The Hand Of Fear ep 4 of 4
Elisabeth Sladen departs the series in this episode, as the Doctor returns Eldrad to the planet Kastria. Eldrad is rather surprised by the changes that have occurred since he was banished.

KBTC/KCKA/K65BU 28,15,65 Tacoma/Centralia/Gray's River, WA
http://www.kbtc.org/
Sat 7PM, Late Sat 12:30AM PST The Invisible Enemy eps 1+2 of 4
Viruses are a big pain. You mind your own business, going to and fro. You try to set up preventative measures to ensure that no viruses can get at you. But eventually, you loosen your guard. The virus slips in. It worms its way into you, looking for precisely the right place to cause damage. You suffer, and your presence begins to endanger others while the virus is in you. Viruses are a big pain.

KTEH 54 San Jose, CA
http://www.kteh.org/
Sun 11PM PST The Aztecs movie (The Temple Of Evil, The Warriors Of Death, The Bride Of Sacrifice, The Day Of Darkness)
The Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Susan find themselves in Tenochtitlan, the capitol city of the Aztecs. When Barbara is mistaken for a god, she begins to wonder if she can dabble with history just a bit to ensure their permanent survival. The Doctor tries to warn her that "you can't unwrite history, not one line!", but Barbara refuses to listen, with dire consequences.

---

Thanks for reading. Until next week, take care.