Classic Doctor Who is on KBTC, the PBS station out of Tacoma! So, here is the KBTC Doctor Who schedule (as best as we can guess it), featuring Tom Baker as the Doctor:
The CBC is currently showing season 4 of Doctor Who, which started on September 19. (The CBC, however, appears to have lost the Canadian rights to show Torchwood.) Here's the schedule:
The CBC's Doctor Who web page can be found at http://www.cbc.ca/doctorwho/. CBUT is available in the Puget Sound area on channel 99 on Comcast cable, and (I presume) other channels in areas served by other cable carriers. The CBC's website is also presenting a Doctor Who documentary, Planet of the Doctor, which can be seen at http://www.cbc.ca/planetofthedoctor/.
The Sci-Fi Channel bought the United States broadcast rights to the revived Doctor Who series. Here's the current schedule (dates in parentheses are the dates you would need to program into a VCR or other recording device):
Doctor Who is now playing on BBC America. Here's their schedule, adjusted for Pacific Time:
If you have a wide selection of on demand choices on your cable or satellite system, the new Illusion TV channel carries classic Doctor Who episodes. For more information, check out http://www.illusiontv.com/classic-doctor-who.php.
Those who get hi-def channels on your cable or satellite system may be able to get HDNet, an all-high definition channel, that includes Torchwood. Here's their schedule (all times are Pacific time):
Information about the show, including web editions of some out-of-print Doctor Who novels and new made-for-the-Internet stories, can be found at the BBC's Doctor Who website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/.
Want to see some of the websites shown or mentioned in the show, or that are otherwise part of the show?
The companion behind-the-scenes series, Doctor Who Confidential, broadcasts on BBC Three. The cut down abbreviated episodes are also being streamed on the web, so keep your eyes on the Doctor Who Confidential website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/confidential/.
The BBC's website has some made-for-internet stories. A new pre-Ecclesston ninth Doctor, played by Richard E. Grant, appears in the fortieth anniversary story, "Scream of the Shalka" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/webcasts/shalka/). The sixth Doctor meets up with the Cybermen in "Real Time" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/webcasts/realtime/). The made-for-Internet version of "Shada," featuring Paul McGann as the Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana, and John Leeson as K-9, is back, and can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/webcasts/shada/.
This year's Children in Need Doctor Who event was a sneak peek at the opening of "The Next Doctor," which looked something like this:
Big — and do I mean BIG! — news out of the National Television Awards. Yet again, Doctor Who won for Best Drama, and David Tennant won for Best Dramatic Performance — and then dropped a bomb: He's leaving the show after the current set of specials is over. That means a new Doctor to join the new showrunner (Steven Moffatt) in season five in 2010. So, why is he leaving? Tennant explains in this video interview:
This year's special Doctor Who event for the annual Children in Need charity fundraiser is the frist two minutes of "The Next Doctor." No, there's no truth to the rumor that it would be "The Seven Doctors," reuniting all of the currently living actors who have played the Doctor.
One of the hottest rumors going around right now is that Patrick Stewart will play a Time Lord in the not-too-distant future. This is being repoprted by a number of sources. However, since this comes from The Sun, which is the British tabloid that also claimed that Joan Collins would play the Rani and Sir Ben Kingley would portray Davros last season, I am taking this with an immense grain of salt.
This year's Christmas special now has a name: "The Next Doctor"!
Season 2 of The Sarah Jane Adventures started up on the BBC and CBBC September 29. Yes, we'll show as much as we can at meetings, possibly before they show up on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Steven Moffatt has done it for the third time: He's won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. His Doctor Who story, "Blink," came out on top in balloting at Denvention, the 2008 World Science Fiction Convention, in Denver. He previously won for the two-part story "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" in 2006, and "The Girl in the Fireplace" in 2007. His competition this year included another Doctor Who story, the two-part "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" by Paul Cornell; Torchwood episode "Captain Jack Harkness" by Catherine Tregenna; the televised (not DVD) version of the Battlestar Galactica movie Razor, written by Michael Taylor; and the Star Trek: The New Voyages episode, "World Enough and Time," written by Michael Reaves and Marc Scott Zicree and shown on the web.
The Proms, the famous British summer music series, included a Doctor Who-themed concert in the Royal Albert Hall this year. Freema Agyeman, Catherine Tate, and several monsters from the show made live appearances, but David Tennant was unable to attend, as he was busy rehearsing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. That doesn't mean, however, that the Doctor couldn't appear at all, as seen here:
Torchwood will be back for a third season, this time on BBC1, but it will be shorter than in the past. It will be only five episodes long, but they will make up one complete story entitled "Children of Earth." John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd, and Kai Owen are all returning, but no word yet on who else will be joining them. Freema Agyeman, however, joined them for a radio story set at CERN in Switzerland, during the opening of the supercollider, broadcast September 10. Yes, it will be released on CD. The Sarah Jane Adventures, at least, is still going strong, and will have a new season of twelve episodes (six two-part stories) this fall. A new neighbor is moving into Bannerman Road, a girl named Rani (no, not her!), who gets sucked into the fun. Also appearing this season: Clyde's parents, a Sontaran, and Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (Ret.)!
The final ratings are in for the season on the BBC, and the last two episodes did a spectacular job. "The Stolen Earth" tied the show's all-time highest rank for the week at #2 (the other #2 was "Voyage of the Damned"). But that record was broken a week later when "Journey's End" did what no episode of Doctor Who has ever done before: It ended up at #1, as it was the most watched show for the week in all of Great Britain. Yes, that includes every one of that week's episodes of Coronation Street and EastEnders.
We can now make this announcement official: Your Head Chef and his lovely Sous Chef are moving, as he's gotten a job in the Yakima area. This will make hosting Androgum events much more challenging for them, as they doubt many members want to drive three hours just to watch some silly old British television show. So we're going to try rotating hosts, starting with the Sous Chef's family in October. With no regular new Who until 2010, we'll go back to bimonthly meetings for the foreseeable future, and see how things work.
If you saw the very end of "Journey's End," you know who's coming up in this year's Christmas special: The Cybermen!
The June 21 Doctor Who pledge drive at KBTC raised a lot of money, but may have still fallen short of the station's goal. The night wrapped up with $11,600, short of the $15,000 needed to keep Doctor Who on the air for another six months. It's possible that online pledges, matching gifts, and just delayed pledges will make up the difference, however.
David Brierley, the actor who filled John Leeson's shoes and provided the voice of K-9 during season 17, passed away in June. Born in 1935, he appeared in such British television shows such as Z-Cars, Arthur of the Britons, Coronation Street, Juliet Bravo, Threads, The Tripods, and Howard's Way. For Doctor Who, he provided the voice of K-9 in "The Creature from the Pit," "Nightmare of Eden," "The Horns of Nimon," and the aborted "Shada." He also gave voice to K-9 on an edition of Blue Peter, and returned to the part in 1992 to complete "Shada" for its video release that year.
The honorees on the Queen's birthday list this year include Russell T. Davies, who was made a member of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to drama. So now he's Russell T. Davies, OBE.
In case you haven't already heard the news as it was plastered across just about any news site or blog across the internet: Russell T. Davies is stepping down as executive producer and chief writer of Doctor Who. His successor will be Steven Moffatt, the BAFTA- and Hugo-winning writer of "The Empty Child," "The Doctor Dances," "The Girl in the Fireplace," "Blink," and this year's two parter "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead." He also created the children's show Press Gang, the original British version of Coupling, and the acclaimed miniseries Jekyll, so he's no stranger to running a show. Also, Piers Wenger will be taking over from Julie Gardner as an Executive Producer. Both Moffatt and Wenger officially start their new jobs with the fifth season of the new show in 2010, but they're already working together to get off to a running start.
It's been confirmed: A fifth season! But (you knew there had to be a catch, didn't you?) it won't be shown until 2010, a year later than expected. The show is taking a year's break so that David Tennant can do other things, notably playing the lead in Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company (with Patrick Stewart playing Claudius!). However, that doesn't mean there won't be any new Doctor Who in 2009: the BBC is going to make three specials during the year, in addition to the traditional Christmas specials.
We have our own domain! So now androgums.org will be the place to come for all the latest on our little enclave of Seattle-area Doctor Who fandom. But the domain does cost us a little bit of money, so if you can help out with a donation, just click here:
The latest news about the new show can be found at Outpost Gallifrey's news page.
The Emerald City Androgums are a fan club devoted to Doctor Who, and to having as much fun as unhumanly possible at our meetings. We meet every other month for an Androgum potluck. Members are encouraged to eat, drink, and be merry, and we watch whatever shows tickle our fancy. We try to include at least one selection of the good Doctor himself.
In addition to semi-regular parties, we also had a newsletter that tried to keep the more isolated-from-fandom members up-to-date on the latest Who happenings and rumors. It also served as a creative forum for any Androgum who felt like writing a story or drawing a picture.
The newsletter is no more, however, and all newsletter activities will soon move on-line. So if you want to contribute something, here's the place to do it!
We can scan art, so if you'd like to help us create an on-line Androgum gallery, please feel free to send the art to us!
And coming soon: Club T-shirts and aprons!
Looking for that perfect Doctor Who item? Want to relive some of the Doctor's greatest adventures or experience some of his new ones? Try these links for new Doctor Who books, videos and DVDs, audio stories, and other merchandise.
Send e-mail comments about the Androgum club via this e-mail link.