::: Area #112 (Doctor Who Echo)
Message: #14946 (Read 2 times, has 0 replies, 14832 bytes)
Date   : Fri Jun 26 04:41:00 1998
From   : ARTIMUS BROWN of fidonet#1:3603/140
To     : ALL
Subject: Who News 1/2

			 [The Doctor Who News Page]

Updated: June 14th, 1998

The Doctor Who News Page is a compendium of the latest news about every
aspect of Doctor Who, constantly updated. Because the News Page relies
largely on its readers for news and updates, errors or omissions may creep
in from time to time. If you are aware of any of these, by all means mail
me.

Contents

   * Doctor Who On Screen: Repeats, the series' broadcast future, and the
     Doctor on the big screen
   * Doctor Who In Books: The BBC Books and Virgin novels
   * Doctor Who In General: Other merchandise, the radio plays, obituaries,
     and everything else
   * Administrivia: The rules of this page, advice on usage, and behind-
     the-scenes updates; please read!

Doctor Who On Television

	       More Doctor Who Movie News: Segal Not Involved?

 (June 8th, 1998) Confusion and disagreement continue to swirl around a
proposed new Doctor Who feature film. Not only is the existence of
negotiations for said movie in question; now doubt has been cast as to
exactly who is involved in those discussions, if they do indeed exist.

 On February 5th, Phil Segal, executive producer and prime mover behind
the 1996 FOX TV movie, confirmed to the Outpost Gallifrey news site that
he would soon be meeting with the BBC, and that the film rights to Doctor
Who were amongst the topics he intended to bring up. In an interview with
Doctor Who Magazine published in April, Segal confirmed that discussions
with the BBC were "ongoing", but pointed to both the ongoing Daltenreys
lawsuit against the BBC (see related article below) and political and
business conflicts which could hold matters up. He described the current
situation as "a great big wait and see".

 Then, at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18th, David Thompson, Head of
Film and Single Drama, announced that the BBC are in early negotiations
for a "lavish" new Doctor Who feature film. A BBC spokesperson later added
that, due to the control Terry Nation's estate still holds on the Daleks,
it was unlikely they would appear in the film. The story was also picked
up by Ceefax and various press services, the latter also reporting that
Thompson once again brought up the idea of casting a female actor as the
next Doctor. Now trade paper Variety is reporting that the film
negotiations to which Thompson was referring are not with Phil Segal but
with HAL Films, a neophyte London-based production company backed by the
powerful American company Miramax. Variety quotes Thompson as saying that
the idea of doing a Doctor Who film arose only a week ago, reflecting a
desire to mine the BBC archives in conjunction with BBC Films' renewed
desire to make its presence known in theatres.

 However, despite the rampant press speculation concerning the idea of
doing a Doctor Who film -- including a mention in the BBC's own Radio
Times magazine -- there are also indications that no such project is being
mooted at all. DWM editor Gary Gillatt -- citing unspecified "high-level"
BBC sources -- announced the same day that there are currently no plans to
produce a Doctor Who film, and that "Thompson was making off-the-cuff
comments about how such a film might be budgeted -- prompted by an
audience member". Meanwhile, Steve Cole, editor of the BBC Books range of
Who novels and the person in charge of Who merchandise in general,
confirmed Gillatt's assessment of the situation to the Outpost Gallifrey
web site. He also added, "I can confirm there are absolutely no plans for
a Doctor Who movie at present, it remains only an intriguing possibility
that may be pursured some time in the (far?) future. However, I personally
take it as a positive sign that a key BBC exec is prepared to mention
Doctor Who at all..." And, perhaps most significantly, the July issue of
SFX (http://www.futurenet.com/sfnet/sfx/mission.html) quotes BBC Drama
spokesperson Alan Ayres as saying, "It's a piece of wild speculation as
ever. It was never a statement -- it was just an aside in a conversation
blown into something it isn't. Anything you may read about casting or
budget is total bollocks... It's simply a gleam in the eye. I wouldn't put
it any stronger than that. We have had preliminary discussions with a
distributor, but I can't reveal who that is at the moment."

 The BBC News web site has now established a posting forum where readers
can add their own votes as to who should play the Doctor. This site has
also repeated the rumors of a female Doctor, promoting former script
editor Christopher H Bidmead's view that singer kd lang would make a good
Doctor. By all indications, however, this page is simply repeating the
same rumors and hyperbole reported by other newsservices, and does not
have any "official" merit.

 Meanwhile, yet another party has apparently entered into the fray. At the
Frontier in Mann Who convention in late May, actor Michael Sheard (who
played Rhos in The Ark, Summers in The Mind Of Evil, Laurence Scarman in
Pyramids Of Mars, Lowe in The Invisible Enemy, Mergrave in Castrovalva and
the Headmaster in Remembrance Of The Daleks) announced that he has been
asked to play Doctor Who in a proposed Who film -- one having its roots
thirty years in the past. In 1965 and 1966, two films about a human Doctor
Who (played by Peter Cushing) battling the Daleks were made by producer
Milton Subotsky. These were both modified versions of original TV stories:
Doctor Who And The Daleks was a remade The Daleks while Daleks: Invasion
Earth 2150 AD paralleled The Dalek Invasion Of Earth. A third film (based
on The Chase) was planned but never made, though in the Eighties Subotsky
did try unsuccessfully to have it produced using an entirely new script,
Doctor Who's Greatest Adventure, in which two Doctors battle giant
monsters. Now interest has arisen in obtaining the rights to this third
film, with Sheard taking on the mantle of the Doctor (or perhaps Cushing's
Doctor Who). This was confirmed by a notice in the New Producers Alliance
newsletter placed by Mitchell Henderson of Chaos Films Plc. This notice
sought an established producer or business partner to aid in presenting a
proposal for the rights to the BBC, for use either as a feature film or as
a pilot for a "spin-off series" with an eye to the US market. Note that
this notice suggests that Chaos Films has not even approached the BBC with
their plans at this point, and so little can be anticipated as to the
likelihood of this project moving forward at this point.

 The Doctor Who News Page will keep a close eye on the situation and add
further details as they become available. As always in these situations,
fans are encouraged not to read too much into things and to keep their
hopes firmly in check -- as we all know, new Who has seemed to be on the
horizon numerous times in the past, and all too often has failed to
materialise.

		    Efforts Continue To Revive Doctor Who

 (Apr. 26th, 1998) The options on Doctor Who of both American interests in
the 1996 TV movie have now expired, FOX's at the end of 1996 and
Universal's at the end of 1997, leaving the BBC essentially free to do
what they wish with the property once again. Some reports suggest that BBC
Worldwide is looking to countries where the film was a success for a new
co-producer. Other sources claim BBC Worldwide may be interested in making
a new series themselves. BBC Engineer Steve Roberts suggested on the
CompuServe SF/Fantasy Media Forum in late March 1997 that BBC Worldwide
"can't wait for the Universal option to expire so they can do something
with it" in 1998 -- (ie, find a new co-production partner for Doctor Who).
Philip Segal and others have pointed out in the past that BBC Worldwide
likely lacks the resources to make Doctor Who itself, and would still
require a co-production deal. Furthermore, it appears that BBC television
is becoming increasingly less enthusiastic about Doctor Who, though the
return of former BBC-1 Controller (and known Who supporter) Alan Yentob as
head of BBC Television (and official deputy of Will Wyatt, chief executive
of BBC Broadcast) could potentially mean a change in this attitude.

 At the Gallifrey '98 convention in February 1998, BBC Books editor
Stephen Cole confirmed that many companies had expressed interest in
Doctor Who to the BBC in recent years, but nothing could be done about
this until Universal's option expired at the start of 1998. Cole also
refuted ideas that Doctor Who may return on a lower-budget scale than was
forecast for the ill-fated FOX/Universal/BBC series, since it is "too
important" to BBC Worldwide as a potential money-maker. Said Cole about
the potenital return of the show, "It may well be a totally different
format... but it won't be cheap." Cole also suggested a new series would
likely be more family-oriented than the recent book versions of Doctor Who
(and, presumably, the TV movie).

		McGann Gives Mixed Signals On Return To Role

 (Apr. 27th, 1998) With the total demise of the potential for a
FOX/Universal/BBC series of Doctor Who, the five-year contract Paul McGann
signed to play the Eighth Doctor in the event of such a series is no
longer binding. However, there is ostensibly no barrier to a similar
contract being negotiated in the future should the series' fortunes
change, and the actor has offered conflicting views on whether he would be
interested in taking on the role of the Doctor again. According to
Sylvester McCoy in 1997, McGann suggested to him that he would indeed be
interested in playing the Doctor again, and even suggested the possibility
of attending a convention were McCoy there "to hold his hand". Later in
1997, discredited would-be producer Karen McCoy told fans McGann had a
poor view of the role due to negative experiences suffered during the
making of the TV movie and the "intensity of fan attention, particular
female, he has received as a result of this project".

 Were the debunking of many of Karen McCoy's other claims not cause enough
to cast doubt on this assertion, however, on February 28th 1998 McGann met
with thirteen members of the Paul McGann Estrogen Brigade (PMEB), an
online fan club made up largely of women, and demonstrated no discomfort.
Indeed, McGann told the members he had visited, and enjoyed, the PMEB web
site, though he made no comment on any potential return to the role. In an
interview for the UK newspaper the Independent, published March 7th 1998,
McGann said about his role as the Doctor, "I gave it my best shot. Now I'm
going to move over, and someone else will take it on. Lucky them." On the
other hand, the Ain't It Cool Coaxial News Page reports that Scottish
newspaper The Daily Record quoted Paul McGann as saying that "There is
still an enthusiasum for [Doctor Who] at the BBC. So I could be back;
stranger things have been known to happen."

	      Doctor Who Reruns Back In Force In North America

 (June 11th, 1998) BBC America, the BBC's new US cable channel, has
included episodes of Doctor Who amongst its initial programming, usually
airing them on Sunday nights. Currently, BBC America has the rights to
only Robot and The Ark In Space, but a spokesman stated they were in the
process of negotiating for more.

 Meanwhile, Canada's new cable channel Space: The Imagination Station has
started their Doctor Who run over again with 100,000 BC: 1 being broadcast
again on April 20th. The primary reason for this is that, due to financial
considerations, Space was only able to buy a limited number of episodes
(130, to be precise) from the BBC. While they do intend to buy the rest
eventually, this will probably not occur until the autumn, a move also
motivated by the fact that many regions of the country did not start
receiving Space until well into the series' run, hence missing the early
episodes. Space airs Doctor Who twice every weekday; they also have a
separate run of episodes (midway through Season 1 as of early May) which
airs twice every Sunday. In a related story, Space continued to show their
support of Doctor Who by airing the made-for-video special I Was A Doctor
Who Monster on April 21st. If ratings for this broadcast warrant it, Space
hopes to purchase other specials, such as the Mythmakers video interview
series.

 Other nationwide services also continue to air Doctor Who. In Great
Britain, UK Gold will begin screening the series from the beginning in
movie format on Saturdays beginning June 20th (not June 15th as previously
announced). In the rest of Europe, BBC Prime airs it on Saturdays
evenings, with repeats the following Friday night/Saturday morning and
again later Saturday morning. As of late May, BBC Prime was airing Season
14 episodes. Australia receives the programme episodically on weeknights
(with omnibus reshowings on Saturday and Sunday; currently circa that
start of Season 22 as of early May) on Foxtel. When the current run ends,
a Foxtel spokesperson said that they "intend to show some specials and
then revert to the start of the Doctor Who series in October.

 Meanwhile, FOX still has the right to repeat the 1996 TV movie one more
time. Contrary to the long-held belief that this option expired in 1998,
it now appears certain that FOX actually has until 2000 to rebroadcast the
movie, and a spokesperson recently indicated that this would not happen
until "nearer to the year 2000 (when the movie takes place)."
Unfortunately, a North American video release of the telefilm cannot take
place until this rebroadcast has occurred.

			Plans Stall For K-9 TV Series

 (Apr. 26th, 1998) The loss of a financial backer has put a potential new
programme starring K-9 indefinitely on hiatus. The planned four-episode
series, produced by Paul Tams and K-9 co-creator Bob Baker, would have
seen a new version of the metallic mutt redesigned and updated from his
original appearance by Steve Mansbridge, who worked on several late
Eighties Who episodes. It is intended for a family audience -- featuring a
variety of child sidekicks for K-9 -- and demonstrates no obvious links to
Doctor Who. According to Baker and Tams, while the show has not yet been
picked up by a network, the BBC has shown interest.

 The new K-9 episodes were due to begin filming in late 1997, allegedly
with a seven-figure budget, but this was aborted when a key investor
pulled out. Baker and Tams are now recruiting new backers, whose
involvement is subject to final

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