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The 10 Essential Eleventh Doctor Stories!

Nick Kitchen is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

We’ve already said a very sad goodbye to Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor (can I just say how hard that was? After all, he is my Doctor…I digress). But in times like these, we get the rare opportunity to look back on the outgoing Doctor’s body of work. And without much further ado, we present the 10 Essential Eleventh Doctor stories, in chronological order.

The Eleventh Hour

As debut episodes for each incarnation of the Doctor go, it would be hard pressed to really choose one that was better than Smith’s.

It faced seemingly insurmountable odds; new, young, Doctor, new show runner, new companion. All of these things could have ended disastrously. Fortunately, dear reader, stripping the Time Lord to just a mad man in the box, with sparingly used connections to the previous episode, worked in a fantastic way. The episode not only brought us the first appearance of the Ponds, it also gave us plot beginnings that are still being resolved and were resolved in The Time of the Doctor.

The Beast Below

I’d almost be tempted to let it slip that I think, for a bevy of reasons, this may very well be one of the top 5 stories of Matt Smith’s reign. The Doctor is always at his best when he is placed in a situation where it is nearly impossible to “get it right.” This episode stood in stark contrast to The Eleventh Hour as, very early on in his run, we get a glimpse of the Eleventh Doctor’s wrath (“Nobody human has anything to say to me today!”).

It also reminded us that Doctor needs his companions, as Amy is the one who saves the day in the end.

The Pandorica Opens/ The Big Bang

“HELLO, STONEHENGE!”

Of all the characteristics that define the Eleventh Doctor, his incredible speeches probably rank right at the top of importance and this marks the first of them. This incredible two-part Series 5 finale saw the apparent endings of the “cracks in time and space” plot, and was an action-packed ride featuring a stone Dalek, a plastic Roranicus Pondicus, and the drunk giraffe.

Oh, and the end of the universe.

The Impossible Astronaut/ Day of the Moon

Any episode that begins with an opening where the Doctor apparently dies has to be mentioned. Furthermore, the episodes did so much to set up the major plot lines of the series (the Silents, Madam Kovarian, etc.) that it would be bordering a crime not to mention it.

The Doctor’s Wife

This is one of the more divisive episodes of Smith’s tenure; fans either love it or hate it. Neil Gaiman’s debut Who story finally gives a voice and a body to the Doctor’s most loyal companion, the TARDIS. More than a little hard not to feel a twinge of sadness at the end as Idris says goodbye.

A Good Man Goes To War

Strax, Vastra, Jenny, and Centurion Rory – what’s not to love?

Also, we finally learn who the mysterious River Song is: none other than the daughter of Amy and Rory Pond! As far as big episodes go, this had a little bit of everything. Some fans think that the River Song reveal came a bit too soon, but I would argue that this was the best spot narratively for the reveal.

Asylum of the Daleks

Easily the best of the Dalek stories during the Eleventh Doctor’s tenure. We get the Ponds having a rocky go of it with their marriage, insane Daleks, and the surprise introduction of current companion, Clara Oswald.

Also, this episode marked the beginning of the “blockbuster” motif that Moffat and company employed in each of Series 7’s episodes.

The Angels Take Manhattan

While this is not the strongest of Weeping Angel stories during Smith’s – or Tennant’s for that matter – run, it is probably the more important one to the overarching story of the Eleventh Doctor.

The Ponds grew to be Smith’s defining companions, so much to the point that he actually ended up as part of their family through marriage to River Song. Thus, the story that saw the Ponds’ swansong has to be included on any list of essential episodes for Matt Smith’s incarnation, even if the Statue of Liberty Angel was impossibly able to move through NYC without being seen (just saying).

The Snowmen

All of Smith’s Christmas specials have been wonderful, but I’d give the edge to this one in terms of being essential. As the bridge between Series 7.1 and 7.2, the episode gave us a mourning Doctor, having just lost his in-laws to the Weeping Angels. It also saw the return of the Paternoster Gang and the second coming of Clara Oswald.

Oh! And Sir Ian McKellan lending some excellent voice over to the Great Intelligence.

The Name of the Doctor

The Fields of Trenzalore, the Fall of the Eleventh, the question that must never be answered; all teased for three series and we were led to believe that this episode would potentially finally reveal the prophecy and most shockingly, the actual name of the Doctor! Well, we did visit Trenzalore. The Eleventh did sort of fall onto the planet, and the Great Intelligence did ask we what we were led to believe was the question, “Doctor who?” Instead of his name being revealed, we learned that the Doctor had another dark secret – a secret incarnation! One whose crimes were so grave that he lost the right to call himself the Doctor.

Of course, we all know how that played out during the 50th, but that was one heck of a cliffhanger!

Plus, we’ve got to mention that fan-pleasing montage of Clara falling through the Doctor’s time stream.

Honorable Mention: the last 5-10 minutes of The Rings of Akhaten

So this episode was also rather loved or hated; and while I personally loved it, it was not without its flaws. However, the majestic speech given by Smith to the Sun God is enough to forgive any of the episodes sins… just not enough to make the list proper. Besides, how can you make a list for the Eleventh Doctor that ends at 10?

What do you think, fellow Whovians? Is there another episode that deserved to mentioned instead? Sound off below and share your own list with us!

The post The 10 Essential Eleventh Doctor Stories! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Win A Dalek With Doctor Who Adventures!

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Doctor Who Adventures, the biggest-selling UK pre-teen magazine, is giving away a free life-sized Dalek, worth more than £3,000!

Just imagine walking into your house to see a Dalek looming in the hallway, or exterminating dinner in the kitchen! Yes, I think we’ve all wanted a Dalek or two in our lifetimes. It take s a lot to make one yourself, of course – just look in the first issue of the Kasterborous Magazine for more on that! – but it’d be much easier just to win one, right?

All you have to do is collect three tokens and hope luck is on your side.

The first token is in the current issue (#336), a bumper magazine priced £3.99, which is on sale until 14th January. The second token follows in #337, on sale 15th January, and the final one is in newsagents from 29th January until 11th February.

Moray Laing, DWA editor, says:

Giving away one of the Doctor’s greatest enemies has got to be THE ultimate competition and I’m thrilled that Doctor Who Adventures magazine has got one to give away. We’ve been assured that the Dalek won’t exterminate the winner or the winner’s friends or family… So rest assured it’s completely safe to enter.

Unfortunately, if you’re as old as the Doctor (or even in your teens/twenties/thirties or older), you won’t be able to enter. I know, I know.

You’ll just have to build one.

Further boring terms and conditions can be found in Doctor Who Adventures #336.

The post Win A Dalek With Doctor Who Adventures! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Have Time Travellers Left Trails On The Internet?

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

As a Doctor Who fansite, we’re always curious as to whether there are any real-world occurrences of time travel.

Previously, we’ve looked at clips featuring an old woman apparently using a mobile phone in a Charlie Chaplin movie (odd time to use a compact ear horn, we think you’ll agree), photo of editor Christian Cawley seemingly photographed in the past and even the Eleventh Doctor seemingly hanging out with The Beatles.

While none of the above can be called conclusive, however, this short report about how researchers are looking for time traveller’s Internet trails is particularly interesting.

The post Have Time Travellers Left Trails On The Internet? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Top 10 Sixth Doctor Audio Adventures

Meredith Burdett is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Since 1999, Colin Baker has been proving time and time again that his turn as the Sixth Doctor was one that was fully unrealised during his television era. During his 14 years turning in his mellowed and adventurous version of “Old Sixy”, listeners have fallen in love with this very special incarnation of the Doctor and have repeatedly spoken of how highly they regard his audio adventures as a sort of rehabilitation for the character that was ashamedly cut short in 1986.

In the spirit of… well, last year, which has given us a closer look at some of the Doctor’s incarnations that we didn’t see enough of on television, we thought you might like to browse some of these Sixth Doctor Big Finish adventures to discover why exactly this regeneration should have been given more time to breathe…

The Apocalypse Element

According to Russell “The” Davies, this story is part of the escalation that caused the Time War to move into a more critical phase and you can see why.

This story couldn’t have more if it tried, the Sixth Doctor and Romana together for the first time, the Daleks attempting to invade Gallifrey and a plan by Skaro’s finest that is so dastardly it causes the Sixth Doctor to give one of his greatest speeches ever.

Bloodtide

Or alternatively titled “Charles Darwin meets the Silurians”. The Sixth Doctor takes his wonderful friend Evelyn Smythe (one of the best Big Finish characters created and one of the Doctor’s audio companions that makes you wish she had made it to the televised adventures – think Wilfred Mott but a little younger and sassier) to the Galapagos Islands where they encounter a group of Silurians fresh out of hibernation. This story proves that the Myrka is a very good idea indeed when used in the correct way… and when you don’t have to see it.

The One Doctor

One of Big Finish’s funniest Doctor Who plays to date; written by Gareth Roberts and Clayton Hickman (so what do you expect), this version of a Christmas pantomime finds the Doctor and Mel up against an imposter Doctor as they attempt to find the three treasures of the Generios system. This also features a cameo by Rock Profile and Little Britain creator Matt Lucas.

Jubilee

You’ve all heard of this one surely?

Jubilee was the basis for the 2005 television story Dalek and asks some very important questions about the metal menaces’ mission statement, namely: once they conquer the universe, what next?

This is one of the essential Sixth Doctor stories and one of the most important stories to occur in the Doctor Who universe.

Doctor Who and the Pirates

A Doctor Who musical with the vocal talents of Colin Baker and Bill Oddie in this Pirate romp. Any Doctor Who story that features the lyric “I’m the very model of a Gallifreyan Buccaneer” is well worth your money.

Project: Lazarus

A dark and gritty vampire story featuring not one but two Doctors. Serving as a sequel to the equally excellent Project: Twilight, Lazarus manages to up the stakes in this story and gets extremely personal and very uncomfortable for the Sixth Doctor. This also has some great scenes between the Sixth and Seventh Doctors.

Davros

Quite simply, this is the best Big Finish story ever made.

After years of having the Daleks facing off against the Doctor on their own without the aid of their creator in order to restore their menace, Big Finish decided to create a story that shows just how deadly and ruthless Davros can be without his Daleks. Colin Baker and Terry Molloy sizzle with their back and forth and the script provides some excellent moral dilemmas for the Doctor to ponder.

The Reaping

Joe Lidster builds on Peri’s family life in this 1980s urban thriller set in America and also writes some of the most grotesque and adult scenes for a Doctor Who Big Finish play. Working on an era that had some of the most underdeveloped or forgettable family and personal backgrounds, Lidster sets in motion events that will change Peri forever.

Legend of the Cybermen

Set in a very different world to ours (and one that will be familiar to many Whovians) this Cyberman romp has is all. Well known characters, the Cyber Controller, Jamie McCrimmon confronting the Doctor as to why he never came back to find him after events in The War Games and a rare moment for the Sixth Doctor as he retrospectively looks back on his life, something that this incarnation is not one to do often.

The Maltese Penguin

Robert Shearman helps to bring the late ’80s Doctor Who comic strip to life in this story as he brings back the Sixth Doctor’s shape changing pal Frobisher as well as comic strip villain Dogbolter. Although this could be seen more as Frobisher’s story than the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker is hilarious in every scene that he manages to steal.

So that’s our Top Ten. What’s yours…?

The post Top 10 Sixth Doctor Audio Adventures appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Random House Picks Up AudioGO’s BBC Titles – HUZZAH!

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Here’s a wee snippet you might have missed before Christmas – BBC Worldwide has come to an agreement with Random House Audio to sell and distribute audiobooks that were previously available through the sadly-departed AudioGO.

The 3,500 title catalogue – which of course includes Doctor Who – has been available from Random House Audio since Monday (23rd December). The new arrangement gives Random House Audio sole responsibility for selling, managing stock and distributing BBC-branded CDs in the UK and the rest of the world (excluding North America, Australia and New Zealand), and the company said in a statement that it would “take global responsibility for download sales with leading digital retailers, including Audible”.

Nicholas Brett is BBC Worldwide UK’s director of publishing:

Our principal aim has been to ensure an uninterrupted flow of the BBC’s brilliant spoken word content both on high streets around the world and through downloads, and we’re delighted that this new partnership with Random House Audio will do that.

Meanwhile, Hannah Telfer, Random House director, digital marketing and new product development, enthused:

At Random House we have long admired the BBC’s audio programme, sharing their passion for publishing the highest quality content.

We’re very pleased to be working together to grow the BBC list and are committed to reaching the largest possible audience for their titles.

What do you think? Are Random House the best place for the BBC’s spoken word content? Would you have preferred a different outcome? Let us know.

(Via The Bookseller | With thanks to James)

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The 8th of Hearts Doctor Who T-shirt From TeeFury

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

This particularly ace Doctor Who t-shirt from TeeFury features the Eighth Doctor as played by Paul McGann, but in both of his TV guises from 1996 AND 2013!

Designed by WinterArtwork, the t-shirt is available for just $11 plus shipping, in a selection of tones for men, women and children. Better still, although there is just 10 hours left, you get am 8th of Hearts playing card to accompany your purchase!

Waste no time – click through to the TeeFury website forthwith to place your order.

(With thanks to Jason)

The post The 8th of Hearts Doctor Who T-shirt From TeeFury appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Six Stories That Should Get Target Adaptations

Jonathan Appleton is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

For fans of a certain vintage, Target novelisations were pretty much as important as the programme itself. No videos, no DVD’s, no downloads; my goodness me no! If you missed Doctor Who in the Seventies – that was it. And even if you’d seen it, that was probably your one and only viewing with hardly any repeats in the days before BBC3. So the books were crucial if you wanted to relive your favourite adventures or, even better, discover ones you had never seen at all.

The news that the wonderful City of Death is to get the novelisation treatment in 2014 has set us thinking here at Kasterborous. What if Target were still publishing Doctor Who books? Which stories should get the adaptation treatment? And which writers should get the gig? Join us as we journey into a parallel universe where the Target empire never fell…

Aliens of London/World War Three

I bet Russell T Davies secretly wishes he could journey back in time and have another go at this. Make the Slitheen truly threatening and scary, not that horrid mix of clumsy costumes and dodgy CGI. Rein in the performances to stop the guest cast acting like they were on CBBC. Sort out that shot of the spaceship crashing into the back-to-front clock face.

Lord knows, he could even get someone to teach Andrew Marr how to deliver a line. Well, now he can do all of this, only on page in the first of our all new alternate reality Target novelisations… Come on Russell; over to you.

Dalek

Art by Kasterborous co-founder, Anthony Dry.

Arguably the moment when the revived series really took off – I remember being in the pub that night where a bloke in a top hat and long leather coat (yes, really) told me it was ‘the greatest 45 minutes of television’ he’d ever seen – and packed with potential for expansion into a novel. The scene where the Doctor faces off with the very last Dalek in the universe (ahem) is surely worthy of a book on its own. I, for one, would love to know more about the Doctor’s terrible torment - what must Rose have been thinking when she saw the spitting rage he displays? And Robert Shearman is a proper writer who’s done plays and books and everything…

Human Nature/ The Family of Blood

Okay, bear with me here. I know Human Nature was a novel long before it was adapted for the series. But there’s just so much good stuff in the television version which is, for me, probably the richest, most elegant story since the series returned in 2005. So many people in so much pain, unable to say who they really are or what they really feel. Joan, obliged by the social conventions of the time to hide her feelings. Martha, forced to endure casual prejudice from ghastly born-to-rule posh types. And that ending, with the Doctor, deeply damaged, inflicting all manner of cruel and unusual punishments on the Family of Blood… I’m welling up already at the thought of reading this.

The Vampires of Venice

Target books seemed to be published at such a rate in the 1970′s that a trip to WHSmith was pretty much bound to reveal a new title on the shelves. And many of the covers were so terrific they made the books worth buying for the artwork alone (yes, even the most slender, knocked-off-in-a-morning volume by Terrance Dicks, bless him). Have a look at Carnival of Monsters, with a striking black and white Pertwee about to get a sea monster munching on his bouffant hairdo. Or Jeff Cummins’s atmospheric Horror of Fang Rock with Tom Baker complete with bowler and seafarer’s rope (Tom’s favourite cover, Target trivia fans).

I reckon Chris Achilleos would be ideal for this overseas adventure from Matt Smith’s first season. Never would those beguiling sexy-fish-vampires and Venetian (okay, Croatian) canals have looked more alluring.

The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People

One of the great things about Target books was the way they could turn a so-so television story into a great one on the page. Think of Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon, where Malcolm Hulke managed to turn a plodding six-parter into a fascinatingly detailed exploration of his characters’ back-stories, complete with new introductions for the Master and Jo Grant (in the early days of the books there was no expectation that all the stories would be adapted, meaning writers could be wonderfully unconstrained in making up new stuff).

So maybe if Hulke were still around in our alternate dimension he could have a bash at this one, where some strong Doctor Who ideas somehow amounted to less than the sum of their parts. And shake up that all-too-convenient resolution, where somehow only one of each human/ganger pairing survives.

Cyberwoman

Despite a couple of valiant efforts, Target’s attempts to launch a spin-off range never really got off the ground, much like JN-T’s with K9 and Company. The modern day series had much more success, of course, with Captain Jack and Sarah-Jane enjoying lengthy runs of adventures away from the parent show. I think there’s room in our parallel universe for a Torchwood range, and where better to start than with surely the most vividly memorable episode of that wildly hit-and-miss show? But who could tackle this most full-on festival of high camp?

Gareth Roberts is having a ball these days adapting Douglas Adams’s witty, sophisticated scripts, but when he’s done with that how about a tyre-shredding change of direction to attempt a prose version of this slice of jaw dropping, what-the-hell-were-they-thinking magnificence? How about it Gareth?

Okay, so that’s what we think. What do you think, fair reader…?

The post Six Stories That Should Get Target Adaptations appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Lass O’Gowrie Doctor Who & Arts Pub Venue To Close

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

It’s completely accurate to say that we report this with a heavy heart and a tearful eye. Manchester’s superb and award-winning pub the Lass O’Gowrie is closing this weekend.

Home to countless Doctor Who events over the years – as well as a monthly meetup for fan – The Lass is jointly a victim of the closure of the old Oxford Road studios of BBC Manchester and a brewery that seems completely unaware of the wider implications of its decision (the reaction to the new on Twitter today has caused an avalanche of tweets and retweets).

Now, let’s be honest a moment: we’re big fans of Lass chieftan Gareth Kavanagh, his Vworp events and the Vworp Vworp! magazines he produces with Colin Brockhurst. Gareth has appeared on the podKast several times, helped with the formative development of Kasterborous Magazine and contributed several articles and interviews to this very site.

On a personal note, I’d call him a top bloke and a friend.

So we report this with both disappointment and bias. In fact, it might be better if you get your facts from The Publican’s Morning Advertiser, with whom Gareth recently spoke, and find out just why Greene King brewery is hardly covering itself in glory by ending relations with the Great British Pub Award 2012 Pub of the Year winner.

It’s a sad time for Doctor Who and arts fans in Manchester, as The Lass has been home to many productions over the years, and even by chance appeared in The Scream of the Shalka!

We’re assured, however, that Gareth will continue to produce events and plays. So if you want more like Midnight, Robots of Death or An Unearthly Child live on stage, all is not lost…

The post Lass O’Gowrie Doctor Who & Arts Pub Venue To Close appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

10 Missing Stories We’d Most Like To See Recovered

James Lomond is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

THIS is The List. Kasterborous brings you the Top 10 missing Doctor Who stories we’d like to see returned and why. Get your space-time visualisers tuned in and imaginations fired up as we dream about what may be out there gathering dust in the dark…

Note: I’m avoiding stories where we’re only missing a single episode. So while some of us would consider trading a kidney to see Tenth Planet Episode Four, I’ve not included it as a missing “story” per se. Enjoy!

10. The Highlanders

The last historical until Black Orchid, this Caledonian tale introduced one of the most popular companions the show has known – Frazer Hines’ performance reportedly convinced the crew to keep him on as a regular, giving one of the strongest on-screen pairings between a Doctor and companion. The stakes are high with incarceration, and attempted slavery in the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising. And who could resist Patrick Troughton, finding his way into the part he’d transform into a television franchise, doing turns disguised as both a German Doctor-von-Wer (as you do) and a kitchen maid. A bonkers romp.

9. Galaxy Four

The recovery of episode 3 has merely whetted the appetite. Bouffant space-vixens versus peaceful inter-galactic walruses (and both with flawless RP) and Bill Hartnell thoroughly enjoying himself – this is the traditional parable on not judging a book by its cover as only ‘60s Who can tell it. And there are Chumblies. Chumblies!

8. The Wheel in Space

Cybermen looking more vacant and menacing, and sounding more evil than ever before; this story also introduced Zoe as brainy space-totty to baffle our highlander hero. Wheel in Space is eerie, claustrophobic and very much of its era. Dashing space crew, retro-future fasion sense and cybermats populate this mostly missing slice of cyber-Who. Want!

I know it’s a re-imagining but just take a look at the tribute Alien-style trailer for Wheel above (ending with a highly chortlesome adapted tag line)…

7. The Celestial Toymaker

Horror legend, Michael Gough’s Celestial villain is a tragic loss to surviving Who. One of the most inventive premises for a story and unique production designs. Sinister clowns and Avengers-style kookiness and the fabulous Carmen Silvera, more familiar as Renee’s tone-deaf wife from ‘Ello ‘Ello, starring among the Toymaker’s play things. We want it back!

6. Fury from the Deep

Menacing heart beats and a monster realised from foam and thrashing rubber. This story bid farewell to Victoria, introduced the sonic screwdriver and took the base-under-siege format to the seas. Notable for the ambitious location filming (like the recently recovered Enemy of the World) and a rather self-referential solution to the threat – spoilers! – using the companion’s screams to destroy the monster.

Plus the surviving censor clips from Australia demonstrate some surprisingly sinister possessed lackeys gassing a victim to death – a potential classic we may never see.

5. Marco Polo

Polo is the earliest missing story and one where we’ve been taunted with the sumptuous colour photos of the costumes and set that survive. The TARDIS lashed to a horse-drawn cart, Bill with his original beloved ensemble and seven episodes of the most gorgeous gal on ‘60s tea-time telly – you can’t say no to more Babs! And if this is (as rumoured) recovered we will, of course, begin a campaign to have it colourised…

4. The Daleks’ Master Plan

This needs no explanation, but we’ll give you one regardless: Epic, vast and the show’s boldest venture into Space-opera.

It represents the Daleks at their most politically underhanded and re-introduced Peter Butterworth’s Meddling Monk, alongside the magnetic Jean Marsh’s only outing as a companion in three Who roles spanning the classic series. Space ships, aliens, other-worldly jungles and bumper twelve episodes of it. Sorely missed.

(And if we never have it returned, at least we can indulge in our very own comic adaptation, by Rick Lundeen!)



3. Power of the Daleks

A key story in the show’s history, introducing a new Doctor for the first time – no one knew whether Doctor Who could continue with a new actor in the role or what the audience would make of Troughton replacing their Saturday TV hero. But he made it work and solidified the 50-year-old format we have today.

Not only is this Troughton’s first story but it’s a classic Dalek caper we may never see – deviously claiming “I am your servant” to gullible humans and covertly manufacturing an army. Power leaves a huge gap in the show’s history.

2. The Abominable Snowmen

Now that we have almost the whole of Web of Fear, our eyes have greedily looked back to The Abominable Snowmen and the Doctor’s first scrape with the Great Intelligence. A megalomaniacal alien entity (apparently originating in a Victorian garden with a young Dr Simeon) has possessed the head of a Tibetan monastery deep in the Himalayas and constructed an army of remote control robots disguised as legendary local monsters to terrorise the monks. Pure genius, and the most atmospheric use of the toilet flushing sound since – um -toilets.

1. Evil of the Daleks

We only have episode 2 of 7 from this Season 5 stunner, and what a tease it is. Ben and Polly have just left, as the great buddy-movie pairing of the Second Doctor and Jamie hits its stride. All the stops were pulled out for Pat’s first season finale and from the surviving behind-the-scenes footage, the epic civil war on Skaro didn’t disappoint (unless, like the moon landings, it was faked). The first and arguably most impressive appearance of the Dalek Emperor, the brilliant contrast of futuristic alien war machines patrolling a wood-panelled Victorian home and the utterly adorable humanised Daleks Alpha, Beta and Omega who *dare* to question. From Gatwick, to an antiques store, to a 19th Century mansion to the planet of the Daleks, this is as ambitious as it is bonkers and we would love to see it returned.

Keep those fingers crossed that some of the above gems are lying patiently in the basement of some unassuming overseas relay station and that they will live up to the images conjured by novelisations and audio recordings.

But what about you, Kasterborite? Have we got it wrong? What’s in your list, and which stories do you MOST want to see returned to the archive and why?

The post 10 Missing Stories We’d Most Like To See Recovered appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Jenkins, Parsons and Bellingham in 2014 Honours List

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

A Christmas Carol star, Katherine Jenkins, is among the 2014 Honours List.

The singer, whose first acting job was as Abigail in the 2010 Doctor Who special opposite Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor and Michael Gambon as Kazran Sardick, will be awarded an OBE for her services to music and for her charity work. She said:

“I share this award with the charitable bodies I am so privileged to work with, especially to those brave servicemen and women who risk so much for us all on a daily basis.”

Other Who-related names in the Honours List include Trial of a Time Lord‘s Lynda Bellingham (who will receive an OBE for charity work), and Nicholas Parsons, known to Whovians as the vicar who loses his faith in The Curse of Fenric. He said:

“I received the letter two months ago and was told to keep quiet about it or it might be taken away, so my wife and I kept quiet about it. We won’t be celebrating until the day we go to the palace – I’ve done so much celebrating for my 90th birthday this year!”

Further Honours will be handed to: Gavin & Stacy writer, Ruth Jones; Murder, She Wrote‘s Angela Lansbury; the brilliant Michael Crawford, best known for Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em; and Alex Rider and Foyle’s War writer, Anthony Horowitz.

The Good Life‘s Penelope Keith will also be named a Dame, and Michael Codron, film and theatre producer, will receive a Knighthood.

(Via Digital Spy.)

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