Details for Doctor Who - The Night Witches

Out this month is the start of a new series of The Early Adventures with the Second Doctor era taking center stage.  This story focuses on the early part of his era with his original companions.  you can order this adventure from the Big Finish website.
https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-night-witches-1319

When the TARDIS materialises north of Stalingrad in 1942, the Doctor, Jamie, Ben and Polly are captured by the Night Witches, an all-female unit of flyers tasked with disrupting the German forces nearing Moscow.

They suspect that the travellers are spies - part of the Germans’ Operation Barbarossa. Despite their pleas they are locked up while it is decided what to do with them.

Polly, however, is receiving strange looks from the pilots and clearly unnerving them. When the TARDIS crew discover why this is, it becomes clear that they’re about to get far more involved in the war than they could possibly have imagined.

Written By: Roland Moore
Directed By: Helen Goldwyn

Cast
Anneke Wills (Polly Wright/Narrator), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon/The Doctor), Elliot Chapman (Ben Jackson), Anjella Mackintosh(Tatiana Kregki), Wanda Opalinska (Nadia Vasney), Kristina Buikaite (Lilya Grankin).

Producer David Richardson
Script Editor John Dorney
Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

Doctor Who - The Power of the Daleks Review

Doctor Who:
The Power of the Daleks
By David Whitaker

"I am your servant."

The TARDIS materializes on the planet Vulcan which is home to an Earth colony.  Inside the newly renewed Doctor is getting to grips with his regeneration into a younger and healthier man.  Ben is skeptical that this new person standing in front of him is indeed The Doctor but Polly is more trusting and believes that the stranger is in fact The Doctor.   The three travelers eventually exit the TARDIS and explore the planet when The Doctor stumbles upon a dead body of what was the examiner from Earth.  The Doctor takes the button that says examiner before he is knocked out from behind.  Ben and Polly are found by a group of the colonist who save them from Mercury poisoning.

While impersonating the examiner from Earth The Doctor is introduced to Lesterson who is really excited about a spaceship that has been discovered but more importantly what is inside the spaceship.  The Doctor doesn’t want Lesterson to open the door of the spaceship but he has an inkling that Lesterson already has.  The Doctor, Ben and Polly return to Lesterson’s lab and break into the spaceship.  Inside The Doctor sees a familiar sight that fills him with dread.  There are two dormant Daleks on the ship and what has The Doctor alarmed is that a third Dalek is missing.

Into the Time Vortex Interview with Anneke Wills - Polly from Doctor Who

Doctor Who - The Moonbase Review

Continuing Our Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Cybermen

DoctorWho:
The Moonbase
By Kit Peddler

“Funny. Funny. Go to all that trouble to make the men do the work. Why? Do it themselves, easy. They're using the men as tools. Why? Don't know. Yes, I do though. There must be something in here they don't like. Pressure? Electricity? Radiation? Maybe. Gravity! Now there's a thought. Gravity. Oh, yes. Gravity.”

After the events of The Underwater Menace The Doctor makes the attempt to get Ben, Polly and Jamie to Mars.  Where they ended up was not Mars but in fact the moon.  The travelers have fun experiencing the low gravity of the moon until Jamie gets hurt.  Luckily there is a base on the moon that is there to help control the weather on Earth.  But there is a problem in the base.  A mysterious plague has swept over the base only infecting a certain few.  The Doctor has no idea what is causing the crew of the moonbase to get infected but once The Cybermen have been seen sneaking around it becomes all the more obvious what is going on.

Doctor Who - The Tenth Planet Review

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the First Appearance of the Cybermen and the First Regeneration

Doctor Who:
The Tenth Planet
By Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis

“Emotions. Love, pride, hate, fear. Have you no emotions, sir?”

The Doctor, Ben and Polly arrive at the South Pole by the TARDIS in the year 1986.  There they quickly find the Snowcap Base which is a monitoring base for space rockets.  The crew of Snowcap Base is now in the process of supervising the mission of the Zeus 4 spaceship which is running a routine check of the Earth’s atmosphere.  But something unexpected happens.  Zeus 4 picks up a new planet heading toward Earth and suddenly Zeus 4 starts to experience power failures and the crew of Snowcap Base tries to help Zeus 4 back to Earth but to no avail as the ship is destroyed.

The Doctor quickly realizes what the planet is.  It is the Earth’s twin planet Mondas and he predicts its inhabitants will be visiting Earth soon.  While the crew of Snowcap Base are distracted with what happened to Zeus 4 no one noticed the three visitors that have entered the base wearing parkas that they acquired from the search party they killed earlier.  Once General Cutler realizes that something is wrong the Cybermen made their presence known and successfully takes over the base.  The Cybermen plan for the destruction of Earth has begun and it’s up to The Doctor, who isn’t quite his old self, with the aid of Ben and Polly to stop The Cybermen from siphoning the power from Earth causing Earth’s own destruction.

Long Lost Doctor Who Story Power of the Daleks To Be Released As An Animation

Power of the Daleks the long lost Patrick Troughton debut story will finally get a DVD release but not in the way most fans have expected.  All six episodes will be released as an animation release exclusively on the BBC Store on Saturday the 5th of November which is the 50th anniversary of Power of the Daleks and Patrick Troughton's first episode.


Power of the Daleks does not have any surviving episodes in the BBC Archives as it was junked back in the 70's during the time most of the classic BBC shows were destroyed.  But the soundtrack and lots of telesnaps do survive and that is what helped the animators create this special release.  With this special animated release it is probably a certain that Power of the Daleks will not be found but at least the BBC did give us this special release.  The special release will be availble exclusively from the BBC store from November 5th to November 14th and then will see a DVD release on the 21st of November. Below is the official press release from the BBC and BBC Worldwide.

It's one of the Doctor’s most celebrated adventures and yet no complete film recordings of The Power of the Daleks are known to have survived. The master negatives were destroyed in an archive purge in 1974. 

BBC Worldwide has announced that a brand new black and white animation based on audio recordings of the programme using the original cast, surviving photographs and film clips will be released 50 years to the minute after its only UK broadcast on BBC One.

The six half hour episodes feature the regeneration, or as it was then called ‘renewal’, of First Doctor William Hartnell into Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, as the Time Lord and his companions Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze) do battle with the Daleks on the planet Vulcan.

Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks is being produced by the team behind the highly successful animation of lost Dad’s Army episode A Stripe For Frazer, first released on BBC Store in February this year. The producer and director is Charles Norton, with character designs from acclaimed comic book artists Martin Geraghty and Adrian Salmon.

Charles Norton says:
The Power of the Daleks animation is the most ambitious Doctor Who archive restoration ever attempted and we’re all very honoured to be a part of such a an exciting project. Intelligent, suspenseful and magnificently staged, Power of the Daleks is one of the great lost classics of 1960s television and a superb example of the black and white era at its finest.

Paul Hembury, Executive Producer, BBC Worldwide says:
Charles and his team are remarkably talented and passionate about Doctor Who and we are thrilled that fans will soon be able to enjoy this rather sinister but wonderful, classic story.

Doctor Who - Details on the Second Doctor Box Set

Out this month is the Second Doctor Volume One.  It is a box set of four stories taking place during the Patrick Troughton era.  This is similar to the First Doctor box set that cam out last year.  You can order it from the Big Finish website.
https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-second-doctor-volume-01-1329

A new four-disc release featuring four tales from figures associated with the Second Doctor era, and a second actor.

10.1 The Mouthless Dead by John Pritchard
The TARDIS arrives in 1920s England, the Doctor, Jamie, Ben and Polly finding themselves in a wintry dusk beside a railway line. The station nearby appears deserted, but there are figures watching from the shadows, all of them waiting for a dead man’s train...

10.2 The Story of Extinction by Ian Atkins
Civilisations rise and fall – and few planets have seen this happen more often than Amyrndaa. The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria join a survey team to find out why on the planet where everything is suited to creating life, nothing lives for long...

10.3 The Integral by David Bartlett
When tempers fray in the TARDIS, the Doctor struggles to help Jamie and Zoe resolve their differences. Arriving at Aspen Base proves a welcome distraction; but the isolated facility is under siege. Can Jamie’s belief in right and wrong withstand the perspective changing power of the Integral?

10.4 The Edge by Rob Nisbet
The Edge is the galaxy’s scientific hub of experimentation, theoretical breakthroughs and invention – just the sort of place to interest the Doctor and Zoe. However, a secret lies hidden in The Edge laboratories. Jamie instinctively knows that something is wrong, and it doesn’t take long for him to be proved right....

Written By: John Pritchard, Ian Atkins, David Bartlett, Rob Nisbet
Directed By: Lisa Bowerman

Cast
Frazer Hines (Jamie), Anneke Wills (Polly), Deborah Watling (Victoria), Wendy Padbury (Zoe), Elliot Chapman (Ben), Robert Whitelock (Curtis)

Producer Ian Atkins
Script Editor Jacqueline Rayner
Executive Producers Jason Haigh-Ellery and Nicholas Briggs

Doctor Who - 50 Years of Ben and Polly: The War Machines Review

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the first appearance of Ben and Polly.

Doctor Who:
The War Machines
By Ian Stuart Black

“DOCTOR….WHO…. Is …. REQUIRED”

It’s the swinging Sixties and London is a buzz.  The hottest club in town is The Inferno and that is where The Doctor meets two new friends.   The lovely and swinging girl of the 60’s scenes Polly and her soon to be boyfriend the grumpy sailor Ben soon to be travelers in the TARDIS.  Well soon and unexpected and quite soon as the pair gets entangled with The Doctor and WOTAN.

WOTAN is a super computer who thinks humans are inferior and should be ruled by machines.  Thus WOTAN uses hypnotic influence to get humans to assemble The War Machine to use in taking over the world. What is funny about WOTAN is that he calls The Doctor Doctor Who.  One of his instructions is Doctor Who is required. For such an intelligent computer you would have thought it would know The Doctors name.

Doctor Who - Anneke Wills Added To LI Who 4 Guest List

LI Who has added another Classic Who companion and one of the first for the Second Doctor. Anneke Wills will be joining the guest list this year in what is a rare New York City appearance. Anneke Wills played Polly who was a companion to the 1st and 2nd Doctor and was present for the first regeneration.  You can order tickets to this years show at the LI Who website.
http://longislanddoctorwho.com/index.html

Doctor Who - The Underwater Menace DVD Review

Doctor Who:

The Underwater Menace

By Geoffrey Orme

“Nothing in the world can stop me now!”

The Doctor, Polly, Ben and new companion Jamie McCrimmon find themselves on a beach near a cave that looks somewhat mysterious and begs to be explored.  Upon investigation they group ends up getting captured and finds themselves far underground in what is the missing city of Atlantis. There The Doctor finds himself in the crazy graces of Professor Zaroff.  Zaroff’s dream is to destroy the world and plans on doing it with the Atlantian technology and their unwitting help.  The Doctor is horrified that a man of science would want to blow the world up just for the sake of doing it and has devised a plan to try and stop him.  But first he must get Ben and Jamie freed from the mine and prevents Polly from being turned into a fish person.  It will be tough as Zaroff is just that type of crazy that will not be stopped from his destiny.

Doctor Who - The Yes Men Review (Some Spoilers)

Doctor Who:
The Yes Men
By Simon Gurrier
Starring Frazer Hines, Anneke Wills and
Elliot Chapman

The Doctor, Jamie, Polly and Ben have arrived in New Houston which is an Earth colony in the 4th sector. The Doctor has been there before in a previous incarnation as he tells his fellow travelers that he save this colony from an alien invasion.  The Doctor has a friend at this colony named Meg Carvossa who he finds out has passed away.  Upon learning this The Doctor wants to ay his last respects but finds out that he is not able to.  This gets The Doctor thinking and he begins to investigate what is going on.  Polly also notices that there is hardly any people walking around but there is quite a large number of robots instead.  Things do not appear to be what they seem and The Doctor is worried that New Houston is in a lot of trouble.

Doctor Who - Synopsis For The Forsaken

This months Early Adventures continues with the Second Doctor and this time they are on an island in Singapore during World War 2.  You can order this audio adventure from the Big Finish website.
http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-forsaken-1077

The TARDIS lands on an island off Singapore during the Japanese invasion of 1942. The travellers are found by some British soldiers - among them a certain Private James Jackson, who just happens to be Ben’s father. But they're not the only visitors to the island...

Written By: Justin Richards
Directed By: Lisa Bowerman

Cast
Anneke Wills (Polly Wright/Narrator), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon/The Doctor), Elliot Chapman (Ben Jackson/Private Lawson/Andrews), Ben Nealon (Captain Freeman), Michael Jibson (Corporal Gibbs), Oliver Jackson (Private James Jackson), Gabrielle Glaister (Mrs Maggie Bishop)

Doctor Who - The Underwater Menace DVD Details

BBCWW have released the details for The Underwater Menace which is to be the last classic Doctor Who story on DVD to be released.  It also looks like the missing episode one and four will be telesnaps as the animation was cancelled last year.  Fans will be able to see the recovered episode two which was returned back in 2011.  Finally this DVD and the extras will finally be seen and hopefully someday we will get the missing parts found.

The Underwater Menace
Release date: 26 Oct 2015 UK 

Starring Patrick Troughton as Doctor Who, with Michael Craze as Ben Jackson, Anneke Wills as Polly, and Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon
Written by Geoffrey Orme
Directed by Julia Smith

Broadcast: 14 Jan - 4 Feb 1967

The TARDIS lands in the lost city of Atlantis, where the crazed Professor Zaroff has convinced the Atlanteans that he can raise their city from beneath the sea. But the Doctor discovers the terrible truth behind Zaroff’s plan – he intends to destroy the entire planet. With the doomsday clock ticking, the Doctor and his companions must battle to prevent the apocalypse...

The Underwater Menace is the fifth serial of the fourth season, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 14 January 1967 to 4 February 1967. The story introduces Jamie McCrimmon's (Frazer Hines) on his first journey with the Doctor as a travelling companion. This special release will contain the two re-mastered existing episodes, with the two missing episodes represented with restored audio and surviving stills, as well as over an hour of extras.

Special Features:
Commentary - For episode 1, Interview with actor Michael Troughton Part 2 (from The Ice Warriors). For episodes 2 and 3, a commentary with actors Anneke Wills, Frazer Hines and Catherine Howe, special sounds supervisor Brian Hodgson and floor assistant Quentin Mann. For episode 4, archive material featuring Patrick Troughton, directors Julia Smith and Hugh David, and producer Innes Lloyd. Moderated and linked by Toby Hadoke.

A Fishy Tale (Feature, dur. 28’ 30”) – cast and crew look back on the making of the story. With actors Anneke Wills, Frazer Hines and Catherine Howe, AFM Gareth Gwenlan, production assistant Berry Butler and new series writer Robert Shearman. Narrated by Peter Davison.

The Television Centre of the Universe – Part Two (dur. 32’ 10” ) – Yvette Fielding continues her tour of BBC Television Centre in the company of actors Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson, with contributions from former colleagues along the way. With senior camera supervisor Alec Wheal, AFM Sue Hedden, former BBC producer and writer Richard Marson, exhibitions assistant Bob Richardson, production assistant Jane Ashford and videotape engineer Simon Anthony.

Doctor Who - Synopsis For The Yes Men

The Early Adventures return this month and it also brings us the return of the Second Doctor.  This story is set in the early days of the Second Doctor as he is with Polly, Jamie and Ben who has been recast by Elliot Chapman.  You can get this release from the Big Finish website.
http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-yes-men-1076

The Doctor, Jamie, Polly and Ben arrive on New Houston, an Earth colony in the Fourth Sector, which the Doctor previously saved from an alien invasion. He wishes to pay his respects to his late friend Meg Carvossa, but something is not quite right with New Houston’s subservient robots...

Written By: Simon Guerrier
Directed By: Lisa Bowerman

Cast
Anneke Wills (Polly Wright/Narrator), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon/The Doctor), Elliot Chapman (Ben Jackson), Lizzie McInnerny (Harriet Quilp), Stephen Critchlow (The Yes Men), Timothy Speyer (Nesca Bangate), Jane Slavin (The President)

Doctor Who - Big Finish Announces Early Adventures Series 2 and Beyond

The second series of The Early Adventures will feature all the companions from the second Doctor era including a new actor to play Ben who was originally played by the late Michael Craze.  Frazer Hines will be in all four stories of series two as he will be playing both Jamie and the Second Doctor. Reprising their roles will be Anneke Wills as Polly, Deborah Watling as Victoria and Wendy Padbury as Zoe.  Elliot Chapman will be joining the TARDIS crew as the new voice of Ben.

Big Finish has announced that Series Three,Four and Five have gone on sale for pre order along with Series Two. The First Doctor Companions will be back in 2016 in Series 3.  That is good news for fans of the 60's era of Doctor Who as we will be getting 16 Adventures from the black and white era.
Below is a synopsis for the upcoming Series 2 which comes out in September.

The Yes Men 
By Simon Guerrier

The Underwater Menace - Doctor Who DVD Petition

As you might be aware, there was one more classic Doctor Who DVD set for release but for some reason it keeps being postponed and now canceled.  Not sure what the reason is.  One is that the range of Doctor Who does not make enough money - this is totally false due to the money that the previous releases made.  Could it be that the BBC are giving up on DVD and going for a digital release, or that they are waiting to see if Phil Morris has more episodes to return or there is a plan to release other stories that are missing a couple of episodes?  Whatever the reason, The Underwater Menace is being held up and it is making a very people upset.

One of those persons is Anneke Wills, who played the companion Polly during the First and Second Doctors.  This is one of her episodes and recently she tweeted that she has recorded a commentary and extras and wanted to sign a petition to get the release going.  Well, here it is folks.  Let's go ahead and get this released and perhaps others will follow.

https://www.change.org/p/bbc-worldwide-please-release-doctor-who-the-underwater-menace-on-dvd

Doctor Who - The Moonbase DVD Review By @Paul_Bowler

Doctor Who:
The Moonbase DVD Review
By Paul Bowler

The TARDIS is thrown off course and makes a bumpy landing on the Moon in 2070 where the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and companions Jamie (Frazer Hines), Ben (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills) discover a weather control station where a mysterious plague has broken out. Jamie has been injured exploring the lunar surface, while he recovers the Doctor offers to help Hobson (Patrick Barr) deal with the epidemic. The Doctor discovers the illness was caused by an alien poison the Cybermen have used to contaminate the food stores after secretly entering the base.

After taking over the Moonbase and seizing control of the Gravaton with crewmembers they’ve converted into slaves, the Cybermen prepare to use the weather controlling gravity beam to destroy all life on Earth. Polly and her friends manage to destroy the Cybermen in the base using a cocktail of chemicals sprayed from the fire extinguishers, which dissolves their plastic chest units. As more Cybermen begin advancing across the lunar surface, the Doctor gets Hobson to use the Gravaton against them, blasting them and their ships into space with the gravity beam. The Doctor and his companions return to the TARDIS where the Doctor activates the Time Scanner - a device that can show a glimpse of the future - and the image of a giant claw suddenly fills the screen…

Synopsis For Big Finish's Doctor Who - House of Cards

This month companion range takes to the early Patrick Troughton era.  This audio adventure is performed by 2nd Doctor companions Frazer Hines and Anneke Wills who played Jamie and Polly.  You can order this from the Big Finish website at the link below.
http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/house-of-cards-747


The TARDIS has landed in a futuristic space casino, where the Doctor, Ben, Polly and Jamie find fun, games… and monsters everywhere. There are vicious robot dogs, snake-headed gangsters from the Sidewinder Syndicate and a mysterious masked woman called Hope.

In this place, time travellers are to be tracked down and arrested. Yet, as events spiral out of control, time may be Polly's only ally…

Written By: Steve Lyons
Directed By: Lisa Bowerman

Cast

Anneke Wills (Polly Wright), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon)