Torchwood Image

The gallery for Army of Ghosts has a Torchwood Institute logo on it.

Obviously, the second series finale in the UK is picking up a lot of people searching for Torchwood or the Torchwood Institute. Of coutre, they don't exist. But you could learn about the place where they got the name.

More Marathons

The Sci Fi channel is having an all-day Doctor Who marathon on July 5th. This will be the first seven of the 2005 series, which also comes out on DVD in the US on the previous day.

Reanimator

I'm quite excited by the idea that for the upcoming Invasion DVD, they've animated the two episodes that only audio exists.

It's one of those things that you have occasionally seen the mad suggestion of it made over the years as people discuss how best to present the "missing" episodes. And perhaps with computer animation, it is more plausible than ever.

I hope that this proves cost-effective so we'll see it or future incomplete 1960s stories like The Ice Warriors or The Tenth Planet.

North of the Border

The CBC will be airing season two (28) in Canada starting October 9th.

My expectation is that Canada will have the North American premier of the series, as they're a co-producer and advertised it as the North American premier last year.

However, I would still hope for the second series to air on Sci Fi in October as well. I think that the extreme staggered arrival on this continent made it a bit more awkward -- especially with the DVD boxed set.

There was apparently another major Doctor Who story today as well, which was only surprising to me in its timing, not that it happened this year. However, it does reveal one of the differences between this series and almost any other -- it is never the same series for very long, and never has been. And that's why it is still being made after four decades.

Canadian Who

The CBC Doctor Who site now has an image from New Earth, so presumably they'll be airing the second series in the not too distant future.

Ratings and October?

Sci Fi had a news story about the ratings for Doctor Who. It was also on NBC Universal's website.

It says the following:

NEW YORK
June 13, 2006
SCI FI is benefiting from a dose of double-digit ratings growth this quarter on Fridays from 9pm to 10pm versus the time period last year, as the re-imagined version of 'Doctor Who' wrapped its premiere season on the Channel Friday night, June 9th.

'Doctor Who' averaged a 1.3 HH rating and 1.5 million total viewers (P2+), up +44% in HH ratings and +54% in viewers vs. the Friday 9pm-10pm time period average for the 2nd quarter last year (.9 HH rating, 983,000 P25-54s).

In the key demos 'Doctor Who' has averaged 778,000 P18-49s (+57% vs. 2005 time period) and 942,000 P25-54s (+56%).

Executive produced by Russell T. Davies (lead writer) and Julie Gardner, this new 13-part, 60-minute drama follows the adventures of a mysterious time-traveler known simply as "The Doctor" (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). The Doctor and Rose risk death and danger, battling aliens and monsters as they traverse the spectrum of time.

SCI FI Channel is a television network where "what if" is what's on. SCI FI fuels the imagination of viewers with original series and events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy programming, as well as a dynamic Web site (www.scifi.com ) and magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 85 million homes, SCI FI Channel is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies.

Obviously, this looks very positive for the series. There've been some debates as we look at the ratings over the last couple of months. We see it in a week-by-week context, and then also look at how Galactica and the Stargates did earlier this year -- but it looks like one of the plans behind airing the new Doctor Who is that having some sort of new programming on Sci Fi Friday almost every week of the year is better than having repeats. Doctor Who is part of a wider pattern in dramatic television where repeats of serial dramas aren't that important any more, as people who are fans of those series will get repeats through DVDs or iTunes or whatever.

And we may have our first report on when series two might air in the US. With a report like that, it seems probable that Sci Fi will continue with series two, and this article about book distribution in the US certainly makes it sound like Sci Fi will be airing the series in October.

I would be very, very happy to see Doctor Who paired with new episodes of Battlestar Galactica. I've wanted that long before Sci Fi purchased the first series of Doctor Who, and one of the panels that I'm on at CONvergence, our local SF convention is going to be all about how good the two series are. And one of the things that I know some friends have said about Galactica is that it can be such a grim series that it needs an upbeat antidote. And that antidote is Doctor Who.

And you know what might work really well in the Spring of 2006 if Sci Fi is waiting for the third series of Doctor Who? Torchwood.

Revelation of the Daleks

I watched my copy of Revelation of the Daleks, which just came out on DVD in the US. This story is the Sixth Doctor's encounter with Davros and the Daleks. And this story is one where the Daleks really do take a back seek to their creator.

After having had Nick Briggs' voice of the Daleks over the course of the 2005 series one of the most noticable pieces of Revelation of the Daleks was that some of the Daleks sounded a bit off.

The story has some stylish direction by Graeme Harper, but the story is a bit of a jumble. It takes the Doctor and Peri most of the first 45 minute episode to get into the plot of the story -- something that would be unthinkable with the new series, even following the same format.

One of the more enjoyable things about Doctor Who is putting old episodes in a new context. Besides the new TV series, you also have the Big Finish audio Davros, which fits naturally in its explanations about how Davros has learned a whole lot more about the Universe -- including the Sixth Doctor's appearance -- than you might expect given that he's been pretty well in hibernation or a prisoner on screen in the TV series since his first appearance in Genesis of the Daleks.

Revelation of the Daleks wouldn't be a piece of original Doctor Who I would go to if you had only seen the new series, but it's certainly one of the stories that you have to watch as you get deeper into the series.

Doctor Who Will Return...

I'll admit that I was disappointed to not see any sign on SciFi about when -- or if -- they will air the second series on Sci Fi. I'm not totally surprised, but it is frustrating.

Are they waiting for DVD sales results? Do the CBC in Canada have some sort of right to air it first on the North American continent as a co-producer instead of just purchasing it off the shelf like an American purchaser? Were the ratings a disappointment and Doctor Who will end up on a different channel? Will it be four months, six months, or nine months?

I don't have the answers. And that's probably the worst thing about it all.

Access Denied

If you're looking for the UK Torchwood Institute, you might discover that their site doesn't actually exist and you won't have access to it. Yet.

Tomorrow, Sci Fi shows Bad Wolf, which will be the first time the Torchwood Institute will be mentioned on American television.