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The Doctors: Who’s Who: The Story Behind Every Face of the Iconic Time Lord

Doctor Who Merchandise — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 00:08:35 +0000

Detailed biographies of the 11 actors who have played the Time Lord, including the latest, Matt Smith Doctor Who is the world's longest-running science fiction television series, and the role of the Time Lord has been a career landmark for all 11 actors who have played him. Few roles in television history are as iconic, demanding, or as anticipated by its legion of fans as that of the famous time traveler with two hearts. This compendium of facts about the men behind the role reveals to fans who was a bouncer for the Rolling Stones before taking control of the Tardis, who was nearly blown up in World War II aboard HMS Hood, who had a fondness for wooly hats and a grandson who would become Harry Potter's nemesis, and who played a transvestite barmaid before becoming a Who heart-throb. All these bizarre facts are expained, and many more, as the lives and careers of each Doctorâ��including the youngest and most recent incarnation, Matt Smithâ��are put under the spotlight and given the credit they so richly deserve. Including interviews with many of the stars, this is a must-have for any fan.

Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang (Special Edition) (Story 91)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 01:16:45 +0000

"The Talons of Weng-Chiang" is one of the very best Doctor Who stories, a six-part adventure set in a gothic Victorian London inspired by The Phantom of the Opera and Sax Rohmer's tales of Fu Manchu, with nods toward Jack the Ripper, Dracula, and Sherlock Holmes. The final story from the Golden Age of the show, Philip Hinchcliff's three-year tenure as producer, the tale boasts superior production values and a bizarre storyline involving a time-traveling war criminal, giant rats in the London sewers, and a malevolent ventriloquist's doll with the brain of a pig. Pitted against this flamboyant madness, largely centered on an East End music-hall run by the self-important Henry Gordon Jago (a memorable performance by Christopher Benjamin) are Tom Baker's fourth Doctor, in pre-self-parody top form, and Louise Jameson's Leela at her primal best. There's strong support from Trevor Baxter as the Watson-like Professor Lightfoot, and John Bennett as the villainous Li H'sen Chang. Really helping matters is the first-rate direction from David "Genesis of the Daleks" Maloney, evoking a creepy atmosphere in a fantasy London of shadows and fog. "Weng-Chiang" was the pinnacle of gothic Who and still remains highly enjoyable entertainment. --Gary S. Dalkin

Doctor Who: Colony in Space (Story 58)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:20:31 +0000

Doctor Who: The Sun Makers (Story 95)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Mon, 02 May 2011 02:44:32 +0000

Tom Baker's fourth season of Doctor Who marked a change from the exploration of Gothic horror. The unusually satirical "The Sun Makers" finds the Doctor, Leela (Louise Jameson), and robot dog K9 involved in a struggle against capitalism-gone-mad at the outer limits of the solar system. With Earth exhausted, mankind has colonized Pluto and lives in six vast "megropoli" lit by artificial suns. These colonies are run by the Company, with drugged human "work units" slaving simply to pay their funeral expenses. There are plenty of potshots at overzealous taxation and bureaucracy--Robert Holmes wrote the story as revenge after a frustrating audit--and splendidly theatrical performances from Richard Leech and Henry Woolf as the ultra-capitalist villains. With no monsters and little conventional horror, Baker is in fine form in a briskly directed four-part comedy-thriller distinguished by its political edge. --Gary S. Dalkin

Doctor Who: Terror of the Autons (Story 55)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:04:13 +0000

"I have come to destroy you Doctor, once and for all!" The Earth is in terrible danger! The Master is back with an evil scheme to destroy humanity and silence the Doctor forever. His plan: To awaken the awesome power of the Nestene-a ruthlessly aggressive alien life form. Once mixed with plastic, they will form into faceless automatons, a willing army of destruction easily controlled by the evil Time Lord himself. This is the terrible threat now facing the Earth-the terror of the Autons. Aided by the Brigadier and his enthusiastic new assistant, Jo Grant, only the Doctor can combat their evil power, but first he must defeat the Master... Originally transmitted in color January 2nd-23rd 1971, this four part adventure starring Jon Pertwee was lost in its original form. Only a black and white version and an edited color American NTSC standard version remained until now when technology worthy of the Doctor himself has reconciled the two, synchronising them into one full color version.

Doctor Who: Planet of the Spiders (Story 74)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:05:45 +0000


In the Third Doctor's last and most dangerous adventure, a misguided group of transcendental chanters forge an unnatural link with the evil spider rulers of Metebelis 3.

Doctor Who: Snakedance (Story 125)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:40:16 +0000

"The TARDIS makes an unplanned landing on Manussa, where preparations are underway to celebrate the defeat of the Sumaran Empire five centuries earlier. But the ancient evil of the Mara lives on, and Tegan, who has been haunted by disturbing dreams since her time under the Windchimes on Deva Loka, is now a pawn in its plan to re-enter the physical world and subjugate the Manussan people. Only the Doctor can stop the Mara â�� but first he must convince the authorities that he is not just a deluded fool who believes in childrenâ��s fairytales."

Doctor Who: The Seeds of Doom (Story 85)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:53:40 +0000

Doctor Who: Underworld (Story 96)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 02:47:31 +0000

The Doctor Who adventure "Underworld" finds Tom Baker's incarnation of the Doctor, accompanied by Leela (Louise Jameson) and faithful robot dog K9, materializing on a Minyan spaceship, one of two surviving vessels from a world destroyed 100,000 years before. The crew is on a quest to find the lost gene banks of their race, which were placed on a second ship around which a young planet has since formed. In a similar scenario to the previous season's "The Face of Evil," the descendants of the crew of this second ship have degenerated into superstitious primitivism ruled by a malfunctioning computer and, as in so many Doctor Who adventures, including the immediately proceeding "The Sun Makers" (1977), they are dominated by a brutal, self-serving elite. The story is one of revolution in a series of underground tunnels, which are achieved with less than convincing "blue screen" process work, while the costumes and action clearly influenced by both Logan's Run (1976) and Star Wars (1977). The latter was in the theaters as "Underworld" aired and its influence resulted in the introduction of post-production SFX work to produce the quite impressive ray-gun effects seen here. A fairly standard late-1970s addition to the show, "Underworld" is nevertheless an exciting and fast-moving action melodrama. --Gary S. Dalkin

Doctor Who: The Horns of Nimon (Story 108)

Doctor Who Merchandise — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:26:13 +0000

In "The Horns of Nimon," the declining Skonnon Empire's quest for the technology to launch a second galactic empire rests upon tributes from the people of the planet Aneth. The fourth doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Lalla Ward), encounter a starship full of such young people, including Janet (Blue Peter) Ellis, on their way to be sacrificed to the bull-like alien Nimon. While Romana becomes trapped in the Nimon's ever-changing labyrinth, the doctor struggles to repair the Tardis and finds that someone, or something, is engineering an artificial black hole. Doctor Who had previously explored the Cretan legend of the Minotaur in "The Time Monster" (1972), and here pays homage to the story without attempting to incorporate it into the Who mythos. Tom Baker is in good form and script editor Douglas Adams keeps the story tight without allowing the humor to take over. The best performance comes from Lalla Ward, fully at home as Romana and a commanding presence in her own right. The set and costume design are notable except for the Nimon itself, which is rather laughable. This story is an entertaining if ultimately unexceptional adventure for the good Doctor. --Gary S. Dalkin