American Torchwood

I can see how Torchwood could possibly get American treatment, especially with Julie Gardner, Russell T Davies and Jane Tranter all based in California now.

And honestly, I'd so much rather have an American Torchwood than an American Doctor Who remake. Which is something that really does scare me, after all. Especially if it is one not also trying to serve the UK market, which the 1996 TV movie did.

I really don't have a massive opinion about it. After all, it's a genre show on FOX -- it will get canceled after at most a dozen episodes anyways.

Doctor Who success on BBC America

According to the Doctor Who News page The End of Time Part 2 set another record for BBC America, with about 1.47 million viewers across the three showings.

We've also seen The End of Time do well on iTunes, with both parts being in the top ten for the last day or two.

Even more promising than all of this is seeing that they're promoting the future of Doctor Who as well -- with the new series trailer prominently displayed promising new Doctor Who for us this spring, with the pages already getting updated with the new look.

I'll miss David Tennant as the Doctor -- but, well, Geronimo!

David Tennant in Review

Here we have a new clip from BBC America about David Tennant -- one thing that is especially clear after seeing something like this is how much Tennant has made this role his own over the last four years and has been quite an achievement. This might very well be the sort of ephemera that I would send back to the teenage David Tennant to see as a clip where it says that he'll be Doctor Who and Hamlet and work with Derek Jacobi would almost certainly be the sort of thing that would mess with young David McDonald

Inside the TARDIS

One of the things that I find interesting about this clip is that it's an introduction to the TARDIS for a "new" audience. One thing that the new series hasn't had a lot of is very good *specific* American marketing or materials in the past -- it has always been aired, but there hasn't been any solid attempt to expand the audience of the series besides the natural expansion that it would normally have.

The End of Time - on BBC America December 26th!

And we have a special, new sneak preview of it for you here:

The final two specials, Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One and The End of Time, Part Two, will premiere over the holiday season starting December 26 on BBC AMERICA. Guest stars John Simm, Timothy Dalton, Catherine Tate and Bernard Cribbins join Tennant on his final journey.

Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One premieres Saturday December 26, 9:00pm ET/PT on BBC AMERICA. The End of Time, Part Two premiere date will be announced very soon.
The finale to the era of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, is one of the most eagerly anticipated adventures in the history of Doctor Who. As previously announced, the next special, Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars premieres Saturday December 19, 9:00pm ET/PT on BBC AMERICA.

More on BBC America's December Doctor Who Airing

I've heard a bit more about what BBC America plans to do when Waters of Mars and The End of Time air in the upcoming month or two.

Television’s longest-running science fiction series, shot in HD, has just three episodes to go before a new Doctor arrives on screen next year!

The next special, Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars airs on BBC AMERICA, Saturday December 19th at 9pm/8c. All will be revealed as the Doctor and his companion Adelaide face terror on the Red Planet in one of the scariest adventures yet. It stars David Tennant and British stage and screen actress Lindsay Duncan (Rome, Langford) as Adelaide, his cleverest and most strong-minded companion.

An extended inside-look and other bonus content will air immediately after Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars. Immediately preceding the special, BBC AMERICA will be airing Inside The Tardis (8/7c), a catch-up special on the series through the eyes of the Doctor’s companions.

Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part 1 and The End of Time, Part 2 will air on BBC AMERICA during the holiday season.

And here are some trailers:

Doctor Who on iTunes [US]

Doctor Who has shown up on iTunes -- the first three series are all available. And at $1.99 an episode, it is perhaps your cheapest way to get new Doctor Who if you haven't gotten it on DVD yet.

Torchwood has been on iTunes for a while now, but it's good to see Doctor Who show up there..

Shocking - Merlin on NBC!

It's probably because of the recent writers strike, but it is highly unusual that something like Merlin would get a first run on one of the major american networks like NBC. Obviously, NBC and the BBC have an existing relationship, in fact, that's probably one of the reasons why Doctor Who ended up on NBC's Sci Fi channel.

In a way, I can only imagine that it's because of the success of Doctor Who on Sci Fi that something like this would even be possible. It's obvious that Merlin is being done "for the Doctor Who slot" on the BBC -- all the more important with the year off for the series -- but I suspect that it also helped make it easier for NBC to take the risk of airing a first run UK program like this. (Though it's probably less of a risk than repeats due to the lack of development.)

Very, very interesting.

Primeval bought by BBC America

It has been called the ITV answer to Doctor Who, and I've heard good things about it, so I'm happy to see that it has been bought by BBC America.

There's one episode by Paul Cornell in the bunch, and I've heard some positive reviews -- so I'm happy to see it cross over as well.

The Sarah Jane Adventures on SCIFI

The Sci Fi channel has a web page up with the press release about the The Sarah Jane Adventures starting on Sci Fi in April. Apparently they've also purchased some little known program called Doctor Who to air in April as well.

From what I understand Sarah Jane starts on April 11th and the new series of Doctor Who starts on April 18th.

The American Success of Doctor Who

Considering how long it took the first season to cross over -- Doctor Who fans have long memories, after all -- it's very nice to see an article about the success of the Doctor Who franchise in the US.

It's interesting that the success of Torchwood on BBC America is what led The Sarah Jane Adventures to Sci Fi. When it first was in production, we were led to believe that Sarah Jane wouldn't be exported at all, and certainly a children's show is going to be an interesting sell on Sci Fi.

My favorite quote from the article is that Doctor Who has "a loyal viewership so fanatical that most of the show's entry on Wikipedia actually appears to be correct".

The other big part is that like Torchwood series two, the window between the UK and US airings of the next year of Doctor Who has shrunk a great deal. This is certainly a good thing -- for example, the window means that the cover of Doctor Who magazine won't be a spoiler, as it takes DWM a couple of weeks to get on the shelves over here.

James Marsters on Torchwood

James Marsters makes his first appearance when Torchwood premiers on BBC America tomorrow. Good, interesting interview about his experiences.

Torchwood Series Two In US --- Tommorow!

In the shortest difference in the Doctor Who television franchise since the new series started up, new episodes of Torchwood start tomorrow on BBC America. The first episode is the James Marsters episode, to make the episode especially appealing to Buffy, Angel, and slash fiction fans.

My impression is that this series of Torchwood will be an improvement on last years -- so if you were one of those people that found the first series a disappointment, it might be worth trying again. And if you liked the first series, you'll probably continue to do so...

Torchwood sets record for BBC America

Apparently Torchwood sets record for BBC America - this doesn't actually surprise me, since I think it's also been one of the most heavily promoted BBC America shows in quite a while. But it's still a good thing -- not just for Torchwood, but the Doctor Who "family" in the US generally.

Jekyll on DVD

One thing that is pretty obvious is that they like to make sure that the DVD sets come out as quickly after their first American airing as possible for a lot of shows -- Doctor Who has appeared on DVD as soon after it completes its airing on Sci Fi as possible. So I really shouldn't be surprised that Stephen Mofatt's Jekyll is going to be out on DVD as early as the middle of next month, only a couple of weeks after it finishes its BBC America run.

And of course, we're already aware that the first Torchwood set will come out in the first month or two of 2008, after it wraps up its own BBC America run. The biggest issue on much of this is the turnaround time -- Jekyll is on BBC America pretty quickly, but it's taken a year for Torchwood to cross over.

The Doctor Who Channel

It is really amazing -- with BBC America now airing Stephen Moffat's excellent Jekyll, and also giving heavy promotion to Doctor Who and Torchwood's upcoming runs starting in September, BBC America's Saturday night has been taken over by the Doctor Who family.

I finally watched the first two episodes of Jekyll, and it goes without saying that it is excellent. Moffat's episodes of Doctor Who have been some of the best, and so to see him take on this sort of material is excellent, and is a part of the resurgence of the UK's telefantasy tradition.

Torchwood America

Outpost Gallifrey Newspage reports that BBC America is running trailers for Torchwood, saying that it will start airing on Saturday, September 8th.

This actually makes a fair amount of sense -- I thought it was strange for a while that we wouldn't see Torchwood on American television until after Series Three of Doctor Who aired on the Sci Fi channel -- but I presume it'll be between when series two and series three air on BBC America.

Doctor Who on the Sci Fi Channel

Sci Fi has said that the third series of Doctor Who will start on July 6th.

It's the same weekend as CONvergence in Minneapolis, and I know that there's going to be at least one Doctor Who-themed party there, and several Doctor Who related panels.

SCI FI Gets Who 3 in July

SCI FI confirmed that they'll be airing the third series of Doctor Who starting in July. That was roughly the time that we had thought since Series Two finished last year.

I'm a bit disappointed that they don't list Doctor Who amongst the rockingest fan communities in their poll. Because it is, obviously. (Ok, the whole thing is silly enough...)

Torchwood comes to America

Anglophenia confirms that Torchwood will be coming to America by way of BBC America as part of their Supernatural Saturday. It is also going to be the home for more Doctor Who repeats, and Jekyll by Steven "Hugo" Moffat and Life on Mars starring Doctor Who's mysterious Mr. Saxon John Simm.

This is not too far off of what I expected, especially given what we already knew about the canadian airdates.


And just as important for those of you that don't get BBC America, this clears the way for Torchwood to get an inevitable DVD release in this region as well. I'm also hopeful that we'll see a DVD release of both series of Life on Mars as soon as that finishes an airing on BBC America.

(first spotted by torchwood.tv)

Canadian Airdates

I saw a message on the DWIN mailing list that the third series of Doctor Who will air in Canada starting in June. That's the same timeframe as it is airing on the Sci Fi channel -- and I suspect that will also mean that we get a near simultaneous release of the inevitable series three DVD boxedset as the UK.

Perhaps more interesting is that the CBC have given a fall airdate for the first series of Torchwood. It is typical for new UK tv series to take about a year to cross over, and that looks to be similar with Torchwood even with its relationship to Doctor Who. My suspicion is that's going to end up to be the same timeframe as any American distribution deal, because the Region 1 DVDs are unlikely to be one country only.

SCI FI Weekly Interviews David Tennant

I haven't seen a lot of interviews of David Tennant from the American side, so this SCI FI Weekly Interview is interesting from that point of view. It's pumping up the next series of Doctor Who, which is scheduled to start in the UK at the end of the month and on Sci Fi in June.

Doctor Who Returns to PBS Stations

Outpost Gallifrey has a list of 40 Public Television Stations that will be airing the Christopher Eccleston Doctor Who. I know for many long-time fans of the series public television is a nostalgic home for Doctor Who, and for many people that don't have cable, this may be their first chance to see it without getting the DVDs first.

I'm sad that as yet Twin Cities Public Television isn't on the list!

New Doctor Who to Public Television

Iowa Public Television -- just south of where I am here in Minneapolis -- is going to be airing the Christopher Eccleston Doctor Who episodes.

It's nice to see that Doctor Who is being made available to Public Television Stations, especially those that have been airing Doctor Who for decades like IPTV. I'm also hopeful that some of the other stations that used to air the classic series will pick up the new series as well now that there is a Doctor Who with a more modern look and feel.

I'm very nostalgic about Doctor Who on public television -- it's one chance for it to be aired without commercial interruptions, and it was a part of a time when public television was a lot more dominant in the television landscape than it is today with the multitude of stations available on cable and satellite.

The Horror of Max Headroom

In one of the stranger footnotes in North American Doctor Who history, during a Chicago broadcast of The Horror of Fang Rock in 1987 a bunch of people broke in with a strange Max Headroom-inspired sequence. This was one of those stories that of course spread around like crazy Back In The Day, but this is perhaps the first chance for many people to see what happened. I'm not sure how long this will stay around -- but really, I wouldn't see any reason for it to go away.

Series Three on Sci Fi

It is perhaps no surprise that Sci Fi is picking up the third series of Doctor Who -- but this is the first time we've had confirmation of a rough timeline before the episodes have aired in the UK. And it looks like the delay between UK and US airings will be even less this time.

The American Christmas Invasion

Christmas in the US is not the television holiday as it is in the UK -- so it would never make sense for a new episode of Doctor Who to premier on that day, even with the series lower profile. But I was a bit surprised to discover while watching Army of Ghosts and Doomsday that Sci Fi will be repeating The Christmas Invasion right in the middle of Christmas Day. It'll be at 2:00 PM Central.

Torchwood in US update

As part of Julie Gardner's interview on Radio Wales she was asked a question about Torchwood in America. While she didn't confirm any sale, she did say that she hoped that it would cross over in the new year. That matches up more or less with my expectations.

When will Torchwood air in the US?

With articles like this appearing in some of the American press, I don't think the question is whether or not we'll see Torchwood distributed in the US -- just a matter of when.

I think the interesting observation is that the CBC in Canada hasn't made any announcements with regards to when they're airing Torchwood either, to my knowledge. I wouldn't be surprised if there is some desire to have them on roughly the same schedule in both countries; after all, the release date of the DVD will presumably be the same region wide. And I suspect the DVD release is the bigger concern as far as BBC Worldwide goes -- I know that the DVD releases have been very important to their Doctor Who plans.

My instinct and hope is that we'll see it sometime in the spring -- roughly at the same time of year as the Christopher Eccleston Doctor Who series aired this year.

Of course, what I really wonder is if there's going to be any way for the Sarah Jane Adventures to cross over. My thought might be that it will be DVD only... (I am confident that it'll make it on DVD, as there are enough Doctor Who fans that will want to buy it.)

Correction

I was wrong -- as was pointed out in one of the comments on an old post, the Cybus Industries website that was produced for the BBC during series two is still up.

So I was completely, and totally wrong about my last post... they're all still up.

---

I think John Lumic is the most over-the-top antagonist to appear in the new version of Doctor Who. There's something amusing about the really, really, over the top ones.

Fall of the Cybermen

It's sort of sad that all of the various sites that were nicely produced for Series Two in the UK like the one for Cybus Corporation are now promotional sites for the new Torchwood promotional site -- meaning that everything that would now make sense for people watching the series for the first time in the US and Canada have now been converted to promotional material for a series that we're months away from getting on television on this continent.

The End of Gallifrey

It's very sad to hear about Outpost Gallifrey ending their news coverage. For a very long time, it has been the key site for Doctor Who fans.

It's an end of era. It was also a great site for international Doctor Who, where many other sites focus on one particular country.

While the forums -- and the Gallifrey One convention -- will continue, the news site will be missed. Thanks and congratulations to Shaun and everyone else who has done great work over the years.

Region 1 Series 1 Box Art

Both TV Shows on DVD and Outpost Gallifrey have the cover of the region 1 set for the Christopher Eccleston series of Doctor Who. It's very similar as far as the Region 2 release, just much, much thinner.

I'm intrigued, actually, that fundementally the UK and the US packaging are as close as they are. With the classic series, the covers and packaging style are very, very different between the two markets; they don't have the same artwork or pictures, fonts choices, and even the logo is different. (Part of me was wondering if they'd label the R1 boxed set as "The Christopher Eccleston Year", as all of the R1 classic series titles are labeled as being part of "The Tom Baker Years", or "The Peter Davision Years" or whatever.

But then, it's got to be a bit frustrating for the BBC in their attempts to sell this -- all of the UK genre press that has been covering Doctor Who will have completely moved on to David Tennant. I'm not sure how they market it. Though really, I assume that the plan is basically just to make sure that all of us that are already buying Doctor Who DVDs get it, and most of us don't need much additional marketing to... it's just a matter of getting it out to those of us that already want to buy it. I'm hopeful that it'll pick up some new converts via something like NetFlix, but who can say...