The animated reconstruction of the incomplete 1967 live-action Doctor Who serial “The Evil of the Daleks” will screen on cable’s BBC America network Oct. 30.
“The Evil of the Daleks” was released on Blu-ray/DVD this fall. BBC America’s lineup for Oct. 30 shows it airing at 6-9:30 a.m. MDT — but check your local listings …
The screening comes amid a Doctor Who marathon leading up to the Oct. 31 season premiere of Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor Who, taking the form of a six-part serial called “Flux” this year. A series of specials will follow in 2022 leading up to her Thirteenth Doctor’s regeneration and her departure from the role, along with showrunner Chris Chibnall who is giving way to former showrunner Russell T Davies’ return in 2023 for the iconic British sci-fi program’s 60th anniversary and beyond.
“The Evil of the Daleks” was the ninth and final serial of the fourth season of the classic series, originally airing in seven weekly parts from May 20 to July 1, 1967, and once considered the evil Daleks’ swansong from Doctor Who in their creator Terry Nation’s hopes to sell the baddies to American TV executives instead (ambitious plans that didn’t materialize, and they continue to plague the Doctor to this day).
The announcement of the animated “Evil of the Daleks” re-creation came on July 1, 2021 — the 53rd anniversary of the date the final episode of the original version aired. Only the second episode, in which Deborah Watling first appears as companion character Victoria Waterfield, is complete in the BBC’s archives.
The original Doctor Who TV series ran from 1963-89. Due to the BBC’s shameful early practice of throwing out their precious content, many early episodes are now missing or incomplete, mostly from the Second and First Doctor eras of Troughton and William Hartnell. Recently restorations have progressed from telesnaps — still images over surviving soundtracks — to full, if imperfect, animation.
All of time and space …
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