There is an animated DVD of The Faceless Ones, which was recently released.  I am waiting for my copy of it, and I look forward to watching it.  It is a lost story of Dr. Who which used to only be available on audio.  I have been quite pleased with the animation since it looks much like the 1960’s, which was the  time that the serials were made.  It would be great if The Wheel in Space were also released since I preordered that DVD a couple of years ago.  I love the Patrick Troughton stories and would like to watch more of them.  It’s so sad that many of them are lost on video with only the audio surviving.  If they are animated they are still enjoyable.  I love Dr. Who audiobooks, but it is better to watch the TV episodes instead of just listening to them.

I just received my copy of Dr. Who: The Vault and what an interesting book it is! The book covers Doctors one through eleven (William Hartnell through Matt Smith).  It was published in 2013, which is the fiftieth anniversary of the series. I am somewhat late in becoming a Whovian (or Dr. Who fan).   I don’t think that Dr. Who was broadcast in my area of Michigan before the 1980’s, when it was shown on PBS since I have no memory of seeing it on my local station. I used to not care much for it, but when I began buying the DVD’s I really began to love it. Perhaps this was because I could watch a complete story in one sitting.  The first story I saw in its entirety was The Sontaran Experiment with Tom Baker. I took a chance and bought the DVD (it cost only six dollars) without having seen any of the episodes before.   I liked the old fashioned look of the old series even though they didn’t have much money in making it. Even though I wish that they had more technology and a higher budget the series is still very enjoyable for its fine acting and many fine stories. 🙂

I always wondered how the idea of the TARDIS originated. The word stands for “time and relative dimensions in space”.  A fan of the series told me that the police call box was a leftover prop from a movie or TV series, but I am not sure if that it is where it came from.  It’s kind of a mystery from 1963, which was so long ago. It would be interesting to know more of the details of the beginning of the series. 🙂

Posted by: @narnian78

I always wondered how the idea of the TARDIS originated. The word stands for “time and relative dimensions in space”.  A fan of the series told me that the police call box was a leftover prop from a movie or TV series, but I am not sure if that it is where it came from.  It’s kind of a mystery from 1963, which was so long ago. It would be interesting to know more of the details of the beginning of the series.

I'd also heard the story that the original TARDIS was a leftover prop from the popular BBC series Dixon of Dock Green (about the day-to-day life of a traditional British "bobby" in London). But according to Wikipedia's article on the TARDIS, that's not correct — it seems it was created specifically for the show by one of the original production designers.

I have seen the second episode of the first-ever series, in which we're told that the TARDIS's "chameleon circuit" has jammed and left it in the shape of a London police box, when it's supposed to change to blend in with its surroundings in any time and place. A convenient excuse, of course, for keeping the same prop for all future episodes instead of having to spend time and money redesigning it each time... these days, especially with CGI, that'd be no problem. But if they'd had the technology back then to change the TARDIS's appearance in every episode, we wouldn't have an instantly recognisable British icon, now would we??  

@courtenay 

Thanks for the information. I don’t think police call boxes were widely used here in the U. S., although there were many telephone booths here in the 1950’s and ‘60’s. Today they are mostly gone, having become obsolete with modern technology.  I liked seeing them in even the downtown areas of small towns like the one I grew up in.  Somehow people here were able to contact the police from their homes or through CB radios. The dark blue color of the TARDIS is about the same as the color of our Michigan State Police cars.  It appears black in the early black and white episodes of Dr. Who.  🙂

For anyone interested, the free app Pluto TV, had a classic Doctor Who channel. They stream a bunch of the classic episodes for free 24/7. I haven't had a chance to watch more than occasionally, but I know it at least airs episodes with Sarah Jane Smith and her doctors.

I have been watching the animated Dr. Who story The Evil of the Daleks on DVD. It is remarkable how they can bring back the lost episodes as a cartoon using the surviving audio of the story. Galaxy 4 will also be released soon, and it will be animated in the same way. The artists did a very good job in making the programs look like they were made in the 1960’s.  I believe the episodes were originally made in 1966 and 1967.  Watching them is like traveling back in time, although I never got to see them as a child since our local stations did not air Dr. Who until public television showed later episodes of the series in the 1980’s.  It’s better seeing the classics late than never, but I still wish I had viewed the series as a child.  🙁

I am always amazed at how well the Big Finish audiobooks recapture the classic Dr. Who adventures. In fact I often think they could have been made into TV episodes if they had been done many years ago when the old series was in production.  The actors recreate their roles almost as if they had never stopped performing them. With some of the actors it’s been over thirty years since they have been on television, but that doesn’t seem to make much difference in creating new stories. The actors’ voices still seem quite young and they haven’t aged very much. 🙂

@narnian78 I watched the animated one at the cinema several years ago. It seemed a but tedious, but I still enjoyed it. 

I've not accessed any of the audio ones, although Big Finish updates ysed to appear on my news feed on FB.  

Can they be streamed online, do you know?  Us there a cost?

@coracle 

BigFinish.com offers both the CD versions and the downloads of their audiobooks, which includes Dr. Who and other series.  I think there is an extra charge to mail the CD’s from the UK to the US. I think Amazon also offers both the streaming and CD’s, but the discs are often under $20 without the shipping. The streaming can cost less, but of course the CD usually has better audio quality. Book Depository has free worldwide shipping on their website and the prices often are about the same or less than Amazon here in the U.S.. However, I think they only have the CD versions. The prices on other websites  (especially the shipping cost) may depend on the country you are ordering from.

Streaming will be much easier because I'm in New Zealand and overseas deliveries are much reduced. 

Thank you.

Posted by: @narnian78

@stargazer Tom Baker is often regarded as the best Doctor. .

 

He's definitely my Doctor.  When I was a young teenager PBS was showing Dr. Who on Sunday evenings.   That was how I discovered it.  He was the Doctor in those shows.  Now it's hard to visualize anyone else.  Recently, I discovered that Brit Box has all the early Dr. Who shows.  It's been great watching them slowly over time.  

@cyberlucy 

I have often wondered why I didn’t like Dr. Who so much when it was on public TV so many years ago. It was the DVD of “The Sontaran Experiment “ with Tom Baker that got me to love the series a few years ago.  I remember that my local station showed only one episode of the series at a time. Perhaps it was better to watch a whole story in one sitting as was provided on the DVD which held my interest.  It may have been episodes of another Doctor that were shown on television.  I don’t remember which one it was. I think most people are hooked on the classic Dr. Who when they see Tom Baker’s wonderful acting. 🙂

@narnian78 

He was awesome.  Some of the other Dr. Whos I thought over did it.  He had just the right touch.  

I listened to the audiobook of The Masters of Luxor and was impressed at how good the story was. It was the second Dr. Who script written, but the story was not used on the TV series.  An episode called The Daleks was made to follow An Unearthly Child, the first Dr. Who adventure. I guess they thought that the Daleks would be more popular than the robots in Luxor. The unmade story is quite good on audio, and it was great that the actors William Russell and Carole Anne Ford could reprise their roles after so many years.  As with many of the audiobooks, one wonders what the story would have been like as a TV adventure. 🙂

I am now listening to the Dr. Who audio book The Legacy of Time. This audio collection has six stories featuring Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann. If you like stories with several of the Doctors this is the collection for you. This is about six hours of listening which I found very enjoyable.  The shows never made it to television, but they are great adventures. As with all of the Dr. Who audio adventures I wonder what they would have been like as television episodes. I guess we will never know, but it’s interesting to think about.