All The Doctors!
Over the weekend the BBC celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who with the latest special, The Day Of The Doctor. There was a lot to like about it, and I thought this bit from the closing credits, listing all of the actors that have played The Doctor, was an especially nice touch. It prompted me to do the quick math and decide on my own personal ranking of the various Doctors. It looks like this.
9 – 2 – 10 – 4 – 0 – 5 – 11 – 3 – 7 – 1 – 6 – 8
I would also add that the fact that The Moment chose Rose for its interface is irrefutable proof that Rose is, in fact, the best companion ever. But if you get me headed down that particular rabbit hole, the ranting may never end. As a final note, along with the new special there was a new TV movie called An Adventure In Space And Time. It tells the story of the creation of the show and it is fantastic. Be sure to check the BBC Doctor Who site for lots of fun background bits to the whole thing.
Which New Doctor Who Companion Are You?
We are now just days away from the BBC’s big international simulcast of “The Day Of The Doctor“. In case you don’t count yourself a Whovian, and haven’t had that on your calendar for months, that is a special event episode of Doctor Who to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the show. It’s such a big deal that it will be shown all over the world at the same time. So, with that in mind, here’s a little bit of internet shenanigans to start your Wednesday. BuzzFeed has an online quiz that will reveal which of the new Doctor Who companions you are most like. As you can see above, I got Rose.
Lost episodes of Doctor Who found in Nigeria
More Doctor Who is always a good thing. But that’s getting the cart ahead of the horse. The really interesting bit of this story is that it shows the crazy march of technology and entertainment. Can you imagine, for example, MGM just tossing out the old copies of Stargate SG-1, losing them forever? With today’s DVD, Blu-ray, Streaming, and Syndication of old television shows, that is just unthinkable. But that’s exactly what happened with Doctor Who at the BBC.
In the late 60s and early 70s a large amount of archived recordings were destroyed or wiped at the BBC tape and film libraries. Among those were over 100 episodes of Doctor Who. Slowly but surely, those missing episodes are being recovered as copies are found tucked away at remote stations in all parts of the world. Most recently, 11 episodes were recovered at a television relay station in Nigeria, bringing the total of missing episodes down to 97.
The latest discovery has allowed them to release two six episode stories, The Enemy Of The World and The Web of Fear, from the second Doctor’s run. Both are now available on iTunes. It’s great timing as the series is just over a month away from the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast. Here’s the trailer for The Enemy Of The World.
It’s Bigger On The Inside!
A fun treat from the Google maps, thanks to Jalopnik. As you see, in the screenshot from street view of Earl’s Court Road in London, the Doctor has left the TARDIS hidden in plain sight. But it gets even better. You can go inside and poke around. Click this link to go to Earl’s Court Road. Once there, look for the double navigation arrows. Clicking those will take you inside the TARDIS, where you can roam around. Here’s a shot from the balcony overlooking the controls.
