This Week In Doctor Who - October 26, 2001
(posted 26th Oct 2001, 11:02am - TWIDW post #0047)

THIS WEEK IN DOCTOR WHO - October 26, 2001
by Benjamin F. Elliott
Vol 4, No 43
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thisweekindoctorwho/

Welcome to the weekly guide to Doctor Who broadcasts around the world. For the first time in weeks, I don't have to find a way to say that it has been a quiet week. The Doctor Who TV world is beginning to bubble with developments again.

CANADA - Good news. An alert fan has found the schedule for the new BBC Kids channel in Canada. Use http://www.nationalpost.com/ to find ClickTV Canada online TV listings (or whatever website gets you to ClickTV Canada with the most ease), put in your zip code, and find a digital cable provider - if your provider has BBC Kids, you will find the schedule there. It looks like Doctor Who will air 4 times weeknights in episode format. It is unclear whether the same episode is airing all 4 times each night, or multiple episodes, as ClickTV Canada did not give episode descriptions. The BBC Kids website http://www.bbckids.ca/ is not currently active. If anyone knows which episodes will air - I would love to know.

(ClickTV does not appear to be updating all cable system lineups at the same rate. Evidently I got lucky in that Videotron Itee: Montreal, QC (digital) happened to be updated when I tried it. I inputed zip code H4P 1X4, if your zip code doesn't get you the BBC Kids schedule.)

The airing times:
1) 7:30PM Eastern (4:30PM Pacific)
2) 10:30PM Eastern (7:30PM Pacific)
3) 2:00AM Eastern (11:00PM Pacific)
4) 4:00AM Eastern (1:00AM Pacific)
Convert to your local time zone for Newfoundland, Atlantic, Central, and Mountain Time Zones.

USA - The Sci-Fi Channel (US) http://www.scifi.com/ has given fans a Christmas present - a repeat of the Paul McGann Doctor Who (1996) movie. They previously aired it in July. This time it will air Monday night, Christmas Eve, at 11PM Eastern/Pacific. It will be in competition with people attending midnight Christmas services, people going to sleep early, and those partying into Christmas morning. But it could be worse. It could be the 1AM movie that night. This is your 59 day warning to set your VCRs.

USA - IPTV Iowa http://www.iptv.org/ has aired its sci-fi programming (including Doctor Who) on Friday nights for many years. It has become an institution out there, with its own fan website http://www.sffn.com/ and fan clubs http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Unit-1/ . But it looks like the addition of the BBC World News may result in an end or change in the tradition. IPTV is strongly considering moving its sci-fi block of shows to Saturday to make room to air BBC World News 5 nights a week. BBC World News would have forced the Sci-Fi block to start later, and due to current budgets they would have to truncate the block to finish it before they go off the air at night. So, to maintain the block, they want to move the shows. The full story is at the http://www.sffn.com/ website.

A bit of useless trivia - the SFFN website (at a different web address) started its online life in July 1998, the same month This Week In Doctor Who column began.

USA - MPT Maryland did an oops when they aired The Ambassadors of Death last weekend. The Doctor, friends, and the astronauts are trying to get into the Space Centre to stop the broadcast that can start an interplanetary war - and MPT went to the next program, not airing the ending of the Doctor Who story. As MPT puts it:
"The show is recorded on two tapes. Normally this isn't a problem but the Master Control Director working Saturday night was unfamiliar with the process and didn't realize the second tape needed to be cued 3 minutes in to cover an overlap between the two tapes. Because of this the conclusion was cut. There is no immediate plan to rebroadcast the show. ... Our Operations department will now indicate on Master Logs that there is an overlap on Dr. Who tapes. This action should eliminate the problem from happening in the future."

MPT airs Doctor Who movies late Saturday nights at 12:15AM (sometimes 12AM), so it is not terribly surprising that mistakes would happen (on their previous run through the series, they chopped off the beginnings of Arc of Infinity and Battlefield).

AUSTRALIA - The Varos Doctor Who site http://www.varos.com/drwho/uktv/ has come across an odd discrepency in the UKTV Doctor Who schedule. UKTV's printed listings have them skipping from The Twin Dilemma to Vengeance on Varos in late November, with no sign of Attack of the Cybermen. UKTV has had inaccurate printed listing in the past, and they have made goofs in the past (The Tenth Planet and Shada have both been scheduled to air at points in the past, when they didn't have the rights to air the material - certainly not The Tenth Planet episode 4, which as I write this anyway is still lost). Hopefully the lack of Attack of the Cybermen is just a clerical oversight.

Additions and corrections are welcome at bfelliott@... , bfelliott@... , bfelliott3 on AOL IM , or thebfe on Yahoo! Messenger. And now, the listings:

Most Northern Hemisphere locations are switching from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time early Sunday morning. Most Southern Hemisphere locations are switching from Standard Time to Daylight Savings Time. Some places don't have Daylight Savings Time, and won't change at all. Convert the listings info as appropriate for where you live.

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UK:

UK Gold http://sceneone.co.uk/s1/tv/listings
Sat 9:05-11AM BST The Five Doctors episode 1 of 1
The original 1983 version. The 5th Doctor finds himself withering away when a mysterious force yanks his previous 4 incarnations out of their respective timestreams. Trapped in the Death Zone on Gallifrey, the various Doctors search for the reason behind this predicament. Special guest starring the Time Lords of Gallifrey, a distraught Dalek, two Cybermen squads, a Yeti, and lots of other folks in this 20th anniversary story.
Sun 9:05-11AM GMT Warriors From The Deep movie
Written by Eric Saward. The Silurians and the Sea Devils, still sore about being wiped out when each species tried to take over the Earth and eliminate humanity in the 20th Century, invade an undersea nuclear base which could launch a war and eliminate humanity in the 21st Century. Can the Doctor prevent history from repeating itself, again?

EUROPE/AFRICA/ASIA:

BBC Prime http://www.bbcprime.com/
Late Fri 12:35AM, Sat 4PM CET (daylight time) The Twin Dilemma ep 1 of 4
Sat 4:30PM CET (daylight time), Late Sun 12:30AM CET (standard time) The Twin Dilemma ep 2 of 4
Wed Noon CET (standard time) The Twin Dilemma ep 3 of 4
Thu Noon CET (standard time) The Twin Dilemma ep 4 of 4
The 6th Doctor's first story is a case of deception, lunatic schemes, and desperation. And that is just within the Doctor's scrambled brain. Guest starring Romulus and Remus.

AUSTRALIA:

UKTV http://www.varos.com/drwho/uktv/ http://www.uktv.com.au/
Sun 7AM, Late Sun 1AM AEDT Four To Doomsday all 4 eps
The 5th Doctor, Adric, Tegan, and Nyssa arrive on a spaceship heading for Earth, on a mission of peace.
Mon-Thu 11:30PM AEDT Warriors From The Deep eps 1 - 4 of 4
See UK Gold for story details.
Fri 11:30PM AEDT The Awakening ep 1 of 2
The Doctor brings Tegan back to Earth to visit her Grandfather in the English village he lives in. Grand-daddy is gone, and the villagers seem none too interested in finding out what happened to him. They're too busy preparing for their war games.

USA:

NHPTV New Hampshire 11,49,52 http://www.nhptv.org/
Late Sat Mid EDT State of Decay eps 1+2 of 4
Late Thu Mid EST State of Decay eps 3+4 of 4
The Doctor and Romana arrive on a world ruled by vampires, where civilization seems to be in a terminal decline.

WQED/WQEX 13,16 Pittsburgh, PA http:///www.wqed.org/
Pre-empted this week. Returns November 3.

WYBE 35 Philadelphia, PA http://www.wybe.org/
Sat 4AM EDT The Greatest Show in the Galaxy eps 3+4 of 4
No 5:30PM airing this week due to cooking specials. The 7th Doctor and Ace race to bring an end to the evil Circus that kills anyone who visits it. The circus is not terribly different from your regular circus (people eating popcorn, the acts being killed), but the Doctor decides to shut this one down.
11PM EDT Battlefield eps 1+2 of 4
Lethbridge-Stewart is called out of retirement one last time when Arthurian knights from another dimension come to England to do battle. He finds himself dealing with the new Brigadier (Bambera) and yet another incarnation of his old Scientific Advisor.

MPT Maryland 22,28,31,36,62,67 http://www.mpt.org/
Late Sat 12:15AM EDT Inferno movie
MPT has advertised this broadcast as airing just 1 hour (till 1:15AM), though the movie is supposed to be just over 2 1/2 hours long. I suspect they will either air the whole movie (running much later at night), or cut off the movie by accident and gets a lot of complaints. Whatever they do, the story is about the Doctor's adventures when his efforts to restart the TARDIS console kick him onto an alternate version of Earth.
» there was also an unscheduled broadcast of the preceeding The Ambassadors of Death, shown complete this time.

WCET 48 Cincinnati, OH http://www.wcet.org/
Sat 11PM EDT Nightmare of Eden eps 2+3 of 4
The mission to separate the two ships grows more complicated when the illicit drug Vraxoin is found on the ships, and people start to suffer the ill effects of taking it.

WYIN 56 Gary, IN (Chicago, IL) http://www.wyin.org/
Sat 10PM CDT Warriors' Gate eps 3+4 of 4
The Gateway is collapsing, and soon disaster will strike. The Dwarf Star Alloy in the human spaceship is accelerating the collapse.

WILL 12 Urbana, IL http://www.will.uiuc.edu/
Sat 11:35PM CDT The Masque of Mandragora ep 4 of 4
Mandragora Swallows the Moon.

TPT St. Paul, MN http://www.tpt.org/
analog KTCA 2, digital KTCI-DT 16-5 (2-5)
Sat 11:30PM CDT, Sun 5:30AM CST City of Death ep 2 of 4
The Doctor and Romana find their Paris vacation rudely interrupted by time experiments. With the "help" of an American detective, they search for the person responsible.

IPTV Iowa http://www.sffn.com/ http://www.iptv.org/
analog 11,12,21,24,27,32,32,36 digital KDIN-DT 50 Des Moines
Fri 11:05PM CDT Snakedance eps 3+4 of 4
The Mara prepares to use the 500th anniversary of its banishment as an excellent day to return to its homeworld.

PPTV North Dakota 2,3,4,6,9,13,19 http://www.pptv.org/
Fri 10:30PM CDT (9:30PM MDT) The Horns of Nimon ep 3 of 4
Romana learns the secrets of the Nimon.

KERA Dallas, TX http://www.kera.org/
analog 13, digital 14
Fri 11:50PM CDT Colony In Space eps 2+3 of 6
A Mining company and a farming colony discover to their horror that they were both sold the rights to the same planet. A planet where life seems to die unexpectedly.

KBDI/K32EO 12,32 Denver/Colorado Springs, CO http://www.kbdi.org/
Pre-empted by pledge specials. Returns late Friday November 2.

KUED/KUES Salt Lake City/Richfield, UT http://www.kued.org/
analog 7/39 digital KUED-DT 42 Salt Lake City
Sat 11PM, Late Sat 12:30AM MDT Underworld ep 2 of 4
The Minyan spaceship crashes into a planet. Good news - they ship they're looking for is at the core. But what would a spaceship be doing in the core of a planet, anyway?

KBTC/KCKA/K65BU 28,15,65 Tacoma/Centralia/Gray's River, WA
http://www.kbtc.org/
Sat 7PM, Late Sat 12:30AM PDT Full Circle eps 1+2 of 4
A troubled teen named Adric receives a cryptic message from one of his peoples' leaders: "We have come full circle".

KTEH 54 San Jose, CA http://www.kteh.org/
Sun 11PM PST The Mind of Evil eps 4+5 of 6
Black & White. The Master wants the Doctor to assist in his efforts to control the pesky Mind of Evil.

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Thanks for reading. Until next week, take care.

Doctor Who is a BBC Trademark. Copyright 2001.