Classic Doctor Who story ‘The War Games’ starring Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor is to receive a spectacular new colourisation. The new version will air on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer on 23rd December 2024…just in time for Christmas.
Second Doctor
BBC to release more Doctor Who ‘lost’ stories animations for 60th anniversary
The Daily Mirror reported today (2nd January) that the BBC plans to release more ‘lost’ Doctor Who episodes in animated form. The BBC have not confirmed this at time of writing.
Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen cover art and special features revealed
The cover art and special features of the animated version of the missing Doctor Who adventure, releasing on DVD, Blu-Ray and Steelbook on 5th September 2022, have been revealed.
Review: Doctor Who – Beyond War Games
Written by Cavan Gilbey
Season 6B is something of a controversial subject amongst fans; many like the use of the Doctor as a Gallifreyian agent being part of his punishment prior to regeneration while others see it as undermining the very effective and emotional ending of The War Games (a personal favourite of the regeneration stories, narrowly beaten by Logopolis). Personally I’m relatively indifferent to Season 6B since, or at least until this boxset, it was something that just seemed slightly lame. But now I must admit I am fully sold on telling stories during this sub-season since Beyond War Games is shockingly compelling and some of the best Second Doctor material Big Finish have published in a long long time; not since The Black Hole have I been this enthusiastic about dedicated releases from one of my favourite Doctors.
Review: The Companion Chronicles – The Second Doctor (Vol 3)
Review by Jacob Licklider
The Companion Chronicles have the distinction of being the second longest and consistently running Doctor Who range at Big Finish Productions. They began in 2007 and released several single releases to 2014 before switching to yearly boxsets between 2015 and 2019. A box set was announced for release in June 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Second Doctor: Volume Three was plagued with production delays, finally having production finish in late 2021 for release in 2022. Among this rumours spread that the Companion Chronicles would be ending with this volume which have not yet been confirmed, though there is some contradictory evidence of actors mentioning recording a release which hasn’t been announced while higher ups mentioning that this would be the final installment in the range.
If this truly is to be the final release of the range (and I truly hope it isn’t) it is a stellar release for the range to go out on, finding creative ways to explore the entirety of the Second Doctor’s era and not limit itself to the Companion Chronicles’ two-hander format as it’s rumoured Big Finish will be taking the range towards a more full cast approach if it is to continue.
Review: Doctor Who Third Doctor Adventures – The Annihilators
Review by Jacob Licklider
2022 is a year of change for Big Finish. We are already a month into the year and the switch to box sets has meant that there is a new format for every range, with a majority of the previous box sets decreasing to three CDs instead of four. To bring the Third Doctor into the new box set era, Nicholas Briggs pens and directs ‘The Annihilators’, Big Finish’s first seven-part story and Briggs’ tribute to Season 7. This is how it was initially announced complete with dummy cover, until it was revealed that Michael Troughton, son of Patrick Troughton, would appear as the Second Doctor with Frazer Hines reprising his role as Jamie McCrimmon. This, while understandable as to why it is integrated into the story, does mean that the second half of the story where Briggs admirably pulls off a story style switch which makes it feel like a completely different story instead of just a different direction. Jamie and the Doctor end up on a mission although it’s not quite clear if it’s for the Time Lords, but considering how Doctor Who expanded universe material likes to make it for the Time Lords that’s probably what’s being done here. There wasn’t an intention to cross the timelines, and it is explicit that the Third Doctor has had his memories altered in some way, and the story ends in a way that we are dealing with timelines in flux, but the sheer different nature makes this more akin to The Daleks where the second half could be a completely different story.
BBC America to stop funding of Doctor Who ‘lost’ stories animations
The Daily Mirror reported today (12th January) that the BBC plans to no longer animate anymore ‘lost’ Doctor Who episodes due to funding issues.
Koch Media announces new classic Doctor Who ‘behind-the-scenes’ releases
The latest Doctor Who ‘behind-the-scenes’ release from Koch Media has been announced, focusing on the second and third Doctors.
These sets offer the definitive interviews with the production team who brought Doctor Who to life and sent you “behind the sofa”!
Missing Doctor Who adventure to be animated in 2022
Lost Doctor Who adventure The Abominable Snowmen starring Patrick Troughton as the second doctor will be released in 2022 on DVD, Blu-ray and as an exclusive Steelbook next year, filling another gap in missing Doctor Who episodes.
Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen is a six-part story based on audio recordings of the original episodes. Most of the six-part adventure story was lost soon after the programme’s original transmission in 1967 and only the audio recordings of the episodes survived.
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