Doctor Who Online - Release Guide - Archive

Welcome to the Release Guide Archive for April 2011, here at Doctor Who Online. This is the place where you can find information on items that have been released previously.

* Items can be purchased with generous discounts thanks to our Doctor Who Price Comparison Site, CompareTheDalek.com.

Dead of Winter

BBC Books

By James Goss

11th Doctor

RRP: £6.99 - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com
Released: 28th April 2011

‘The Dead are not alone. There is something in the mist and it talks to them.'

In Dr Bloom’s clinic at a remote spot on the Italian coast, at the end of the 18th century, nothing is ever quite what it seems. Maria is a lonely little girl with no one to play with. She writes letters to her mother from the isolated resort where she is staying. She tells of the pale English aristocrats and the mysterious Russian nobles and their attentive servants.

She tells of intrigue and secrets, and she tells of strange faceless figures that rise from the sea. She writes about the enigmatic Mrs Pond who arrives with her husband and her physician, and who will change everything. What she doesn’t tell her mother is the truth that everyone knows and no one says – that the only people who come here do so to die.

Featuring the Doctor, Amy and Rory, as played by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.

Hunter's Moon

BBC Books

By Paul Finch

11th Doctor

RRP: £6.99 - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com
Released: 28th April 2011

‘There's no end to the horror in this place - it's like Hell, and there are devils round every corner.’

Welcome to Leisure Platform 9 – a place where gamblers and villains rub shoulders with socialites and celebrities. Don’t cheat at the games tables, and be careful who you beat. The prize for winning the wrong game is to take part in another, as Rory is about to discover – and the next game could be the death of him.

When Rory is kidnapped by the brutal crime lord Xorg Krauzzen, the Doctor and Amy must go undercover to infiltrate the deadly contest being played out in the ruins of Gorgoror. But how long before Krauzzen realises the Doctor isn’t a vicious mercenary and discovers what Amy is up to? It’s only a matter of time. And time is the one thing Rory and the other fugitives on Gorgoror don’t have.

They are the hunted in a game that can only end in death, and time for everyone is running out...

Featuring the Doctor, Amy and Rory, as played by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.

The Way Through the Woods

BBC Books

By Una McCormack

11th Doctor

RRP: £6.99 - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com
Released: 28th April 2011

‘The motorway bends around the woods. So did the old road. So did the Roman road. As long as people have lived here, they've gone out of their way to avoid the woods...’

England, today. Between the housing estate and the motorway lies an ancient wood. The motorway bends to avoid it. Last week, teenager Laura Brown went missing. Tonight, Vicky Caine will miss her bus and take a shortcut through the wood. And she will disappear too. England, 1917. Between the village and the main road lies an ancient wood. The old Roman road bends to avoid it. Tonight Emily Bostock and a man called Rory Williams will go to the woods.

Investigating events in the present day and back in 1917, the Doctor and Amy are desperate to find out what’s happened to Rory. He was supposed to look after Emily – and now they’ve both vanished. Something is waiting in the woods. Something that’s been there for thousands of years. Something that is now waking up...

Featuring the Doctor, Amy and Rory, as played by Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.

Planet of the Spiders

BBC DVD / 2|Entertain

3rd Doctor

RRP: £20.42 - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com

Released: 18th April 2011

What begins as innocuous research into ESP turns into a deadly mind battle, with the terrifying spiders from the planet Metebelis Three pitted against The Doctor, his friends and Time Lord K'Anpo.

At a Tibetan-style spiritual retreat deep in rural England, a clandestine circle of chanting brethren unknowingly call upon the evil powers of the Metebelis Spiders, whose quest for the perfect blue crystal leads them straight to the Doctor. He must travel to the alien planet to meet the Great One, merciless ruler of her spiders and human slaves, who plans to take over Earth.

The future of the entire universe is in the Doctor's hands, but if he is to face the fear the Great One sees in his mind, then he must face the certainty of total destruction. Could this be the Time Lord's final death?

Special Features:

Disc 1:

• 6 x 25 mins approx colour episodes with mono audio.
• Commentary - stereo. With actors Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney and Richard Franklin, producer / director Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks.
• Coming Soon - a trailer for a forthcoming DVD release.
• Programme subtitles.
• Subtitle Production Notes.

Disc 2:

• The Final Curtain – five years after its re-invention in colour and its rise to massive popularity, it was time for Doctor Who’s charismatic lead actor Jon Pertwee to move on… and with him the production team that had guided the show throughout that period. This documentary looks at the background to the Third Doctor’s swansong. With actors Jon Pertwee and Richard Franklin, producer / director Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks, designer Rochelle Selwyn, visual effects assistant Mat Irvine and actor and author Mark Gatiss. Narrated by Glen Allen.
• John Kane Remembers… – actor John Kane memorably played the gentle, slow-witted Tommy, reborn through the power of the Metebelis crystal. An accomplished writer and series creator, Kane now lives in France, from where he looks back on his memories of the story.
• Directing Who with Barry Letts – Barry Letts is perhaps most famous as producer of Doctor Who, but he was also responsible for directing some of the show’s best-loved stories. Barry looks back on his career as a director in this documentary.
• Now & Then – the latest instalment in our ongoing series takes a trip back to some of the locations used during production of the story.
• ‘Planet of the Spiders’ Omnibus Edition – the full-length omnibus edit of the story, presented here totally unrestored.
• Omnibus Trailer
• Photo Gallery - production, design and publicity photos from the story.
• Radio Times Listings in Adobe pdf format.

Kinda

Region 1 (USA / Canada)
BBC DVD / 2|Entertain

5th Doctor

RRP: $24.98 (USA) / RRP: $26.98 (Canada) - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com

Released: 12th April 2011

The Doctor arrives on the paradise planet of Deva Loka to find a colonial mission on the verge of collapse. Several of its members have vanished into the jungle without a trace, leaving the survivors suspicious and paranoid.

The mystery deepens as it becomes clear that the planet's native inhabitants, the Kinda, possess hitherto unsuspected powers that challenge human understanding.

Meanwhile the Doctor's companion Tegan becomes possessed by the Mara, a force of pure evil that lives in dreams and preys on fear.

Special Features:

• Audio Commentary
• Dream Time
• Peter Grimwade - Directing with Attitude
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• CGI Effects Comparison
• Trails & Continuity
• Photo Gallery
• Optional CGI
• Isolated Music Track
• PDF materials: Radio Times Listings
• Production Notes Subtitle Option

Snakedance

Region 1 (USA / Canada)
BBC DVD / 2|Entertain

5th Doctor

RRP: $24.98 (USA) / RRP: $26.98 (Canada) - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com

Released: 5th April 2011

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 - but first he must convince the authorities that he is not just a deluded fool who believes in children's fairytales.

Special Features:

• Audio Commentary
• Snake Charmer
• Deleted Scenes
• In Studio
• Saturday Superstore
• Photo Gallery
• Easter egg
• Isolated music score
• PDF materials: Radio Times Listings
• Production Notes Subtitle Option

Inferno

BBC Audio / AudioGO

3rd Doctor

RRP: £13.25 - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com
Released: 7th April 2011

The Doctor is trapped in a parallel world, unable to act as the Earth is threatened by a poisonous liquid leaking from top-secret drilling project Inferno.

This title is read by Caroline John.

Doctor Who: The BBC Radio Episodes

BBC Audio / AudioGO

3rd, 4th & 6th Doctors

RRP: £59.99 - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com
Released: 7th April 2011

A special slipcase containing each of the Doctor's full-cast BBC radio adventures: "The Paradise of Death"; "The Ghosts of N-Space"; "Exploration Earth - The Time Machine" & "Slipback".

Also included is the 1975 made-for-LP audio adventure 'Doctor Who and the Pescatons' and the 1994 spoof 'Whatever Happened To...Susan?'.

Jon Pertwee, Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney, Tom Baker, Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Jane Asher are amongst the cast.

146 - Heroes of Sontar

Big Finish Productions

5th Doctor

RRP: £14.99 - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com
Released: 30th April 2011

Planet Samur was once a peaceful haven. Pilgrims journeyed across the seven galaxies to meditate in the courtyards of the vast Citadel that spanned its equator. It was Samur’s misfortune, however, to find itself situated on the furthermost frontier in the eternal war between the amoeboid Rutan Host and the belligerent, troll-like Sontarans…

Twenty years after detonating a bacteriological weapon over Samur, rendering it uninhabitable, the Sontarans are back: a select platoon of seven has landed here on a secret mission, carrying sealed orders given to them by Fleet Marshal Stabb.

The TARDIS has landed here, too, bringing the Doctor, Tegan, Turlough and Nyssa into the second great Battle of Samur. Fighting not only the Sontarans, but mystical mercenaries… and a deadly, decades-old curse.

5.10 - The Companion Chronicles - The Sentinels of the New Dawn

Big Finish Productions

Liz Shaw
RRP: £8.99 - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com
Released: 30th April 2011

Some time after leaving UNIT, Liz Shaw calls the Doctor to Cambridge University, where scientists are experimenting with time dilation. The device hurls them to the year 2014, and a meeting with Richard Beauregard, heir to the Beauregard estate.

But there’s something rotten at the core of this family… The seeds of a political movement that believes in a new world order.

The Sentinels of the New Dawn are stirring. And its malign influence will be felt for centuries to come...

2.03 - The Lost Stories - Thin Ice

Big Finish Productions

7th Doctor

RRP: £14.99 - Compare Prices at CompareTheDalek.com
Released: 30th April 2011

Moscow 1967. The Doctor and Ace have arrived behind the Iron Curtain, and the Soviet Union is seeking a new weapon that will give it mastery in the Cold War.

What is the secret of the Martian relics? As the legendary War Lord Sezhyr returns to life, the Doctor is faced with some of his oldest and deadliest enemies.

The fate of Earth – and the future of Ace – are now intertwined...