Doctor Who Unbound: Full Fathom Five

Doctor Who UnboundBig Finish Productions releases the third Doctor Who Unbound audio drama, a limited series of unconnected audios that are also unconnected to the larger continuity of the Doctor Who universe. David Collings and Ed Bishop (UFO) star. Read more

And then there was Blake’s One

Paul DarrowBBC News reports that, together with B7 Media’s Andrew Mark Sewell and Simon Moorhead, actor Paul Darrow has bought the rights to Blake’s 7 from the estate of its late creator, Terry Nation. Darrow and the others in the consortium announce plans to relaunch the show as a miniseries, picking up the story 25 years after the 1981 series finale, with a budget of £3,000,000 and Darrow as the only returning cast member, surrounded by new characters. If the miniseries is a success, it is hoped that a full series revival, or future TV movies or miniseries, will result. The project is targeted for an early 2005 airdate, but – perhaps unaware that still-secret plans for the BBC to revive Doctor Who will steal the thunder of the Blake’s 7 announcement – the consortium will fall into disarray over creative and logistical issues, and Blake’s 7 will not be revived on television.

Doctor Who Unbound: He Jests At Scars…

Doctor Who UnboundBig Finish Productions releases the fourth Doctor Who Unbound audio drama, a limited series of unconnected audios that are also unconnected to the larger continuity of the Doctor Who universe. Michael Jayston stars as the Valeyard. Read more

Doctor Who: Devils’ Planets (soundtrack)

album coverCelebrating 40 years of Doctor Who, Doctor Who: Devils’ Planets – The Music Of Tristram Cary is released, including the complete underscores from The Daleks (1963/64), The Daleks’ Masterplan (1965/66) and The Mutants (1972); the marks the release of the earliest episodes of Doctor Who for which the complete music score still exists. The album quickly sells out and becomes a coveted collectors’ item; this is also the final Doctor Who archive music release from the BBC’s in-house label, and the last Doctor Who television soundtrack music to be released prior to the new series soundtracks. Read more

Star Trek: Enterprise: The Xindi

EnterpriseThe 52nd episode of the prequel spinoff Star Trek: Enterprise airs on UPN, adding “Star Trek” back to the title (after the network’s previous reluctance to obviously identify Enterprise as a Star Trek spinoff). Steven Culp and Daniel Dae Kim (Crusade, Lost) guest star. Read more

Doctor Who returns

Doctor WhoWith its hand forced by a scoop in the London Daily Telegraph, the BBC confirms that plans are afoot to relaunch Doctor Who as a full television series for the first time since 1989. As the series has only just been commissioned, no casting decisions have been made yet, but the series is to be overseen by writer and producer Russell T. Davies, whose most high-profile project at the time is the gay-themed drama series Queer As Folk (though Davies also contributed a novel to the Doctor Who New Adventures book series in the late ’90s, and has been approached several times by Big Finish Productions to write a script for a Doctor Who audio story). Production won’t begin until sometime in 2004, with the series set to premiere in 2005. The BBC had planned to sit on the news until November 23rd, 2003 – the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who’s first broadcast.

Star Wars: Clone Wars: Chapter 1

Clone WarsBridging the gap between Star Wars Episode II and Episode III, Cartoon Network premieres the first three-minute mini-episode of The Clone Wars, with character design and direction by animator Genndy Tartakovsky. Executed in a cel-animation style (rather than the full CGI of the later Clone Wars series), the shorts chronicle the battles between the Republic Clone Army and the Jedi vs. the Droid forces of the Separatists. Read more