Doctor Who - Journey into Time radio play (lost radio program pilot; 1966-1967): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 00:00, 21 March 2023

The show's current title card.

Status: Lost

Journey into Time was the pilot to a planned radio show based off of the British Sci-Fi TV series Doctor Who.

A pilot episode was made and a further 52 episodes were planned. However, the series did not receive further production and the pilot never aired.

Production

The show was to be a collaboration between Stanmark Productions and Watermill Productions. The only confirmed cast member is Peter Cushing, who was to play the titular main character. Many would think Cushing would play Dr. Who, the human inventor from the two non-canon 1960s Doctor Who movies: 1965's Dr. Who and the Daleks and 1966's Daleks-Invasion Earth 2150A.D. made by AARU Productions, however, this is unlikely as advertising made no mention of the movies, just the TV show. Also, Peter Cushing wasn't the original choice; the original choice was Boris Karloff, who turned down the role.

Plot

The pilot featured a character named Mike, who went to Secondary School with a girl named Susan, finding out that she and her grandfather, Dr. Who, were humans from the far future where time travel was possible and they had taken the TARDIS, Dr. Who's time machine, back to the 1960s and enrolled Susan in school after many of their adventures through time and space. They were ready to continue their adventures, but Susan wanted to take Mike along. Mike agrees to go and they go back to the American Revolution. In the end, Mike wants to go home but it's revealed that Dr. Who and Susan can't control when or where the TARDIS lands.

Availability

Although the pilot itself has never surfaced, the pilot's script, written by Malcolm Hulke, was found in the BBC archives in 2012 by Richard Bignell. Richard Bignell remains hopeful to find the pilot itself, claiming that at least two copies are known to have been made. The script is publicly available in the third issue of the fanzine Nothing At the End of the Lane. In 2012, after the script was found, Beermat Productions(formerly Bandril Productions) produced a fan adaptation. It is no longer available on YouTube, but can be found on the Beermat Productions website.

Source

doctorwhonews.net page on the missing pilot. Retrieved 02 Apr '18

The Beermat Productions reconstruction

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-{{NeedingWork|lack of clear writing}}
+{{InfoboxLost
-'''''Dr.Who''''' was to be a radio show based off of the British Sci-Fi TV show of the same name (although it is referred to as ''Doctor Who'', with no abbreviation).
+|title=<center>Dr. Who - Journey into Time</center>
+|image=doctorwhocard.png
+|imagecaption=The show's current title card.
+|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
+}}
+'''''Journey into Time''''' was the pilot to a planned radio show based off of the British Sci-Fi TV series ''Doctor Who''.
-A pilot episode was made and a further 52 episodes planned, however the series wasn't picked up and the pilot never aired. To this day, it is lost.
+A pilot episode was made and a further 52 episodes were planned. However, the series did not receive further production and the pilot never aired.
-The show was to be a collaboration between Stanmark Productions and Watermill Productions. The only confirmed cast member is Peter Cushing, who was to play the titular character. Many would think Cushing would play Dr.Who, the human inventor from the two non-canon 1960s Dr. Who movies: 1965's ''Dr.Who and the Daleks'' and 1966's ''Daleks-Invasion Earth 2150A.D.'' also made by Stanmark Productions, however this is unlikely as advertising made no mention of the movies, just the TV show. Also, Peter Cushing wasn't the original choice. The original choice was Boris Karloff, who turned down the role (Boris Karloff played Frankenstein's monster in one continuity of Frankenstein movies in the 1930s, and Peter Cushing playing Dr.Frankenstein held together the continuity of another series of Frankenstein movies from the 1950s and 1960s).
+==Production==
+The show was to be a collaboration between Stanmark Productions and Watermill Productions. The only confirmed cast member is Peter Cushing, who was to play the titular main character. Many would think Cushing would play Dr. Who, the human inventor from the two non-canon 1960s Doctor Who movies: 1965's ''Dr. Who and the Daleks'' and 1966's ''Daleks-Invasion Earth 2150A.D.'' made by AARU Productions, however, this is unlikely as advertising made no mention of the movies, just the TV show. Also, Peter Cushing wasn't the original choice; the original choice was Boris Karloff, who turned down the role.
-The pilot, called ''Journey into Time'', had Mike, who went to Secondary School with a girl named Susan, find out that she and her grandfather, Dr.Who, were humans from the far future where time travel was possible and they had taken the TARDIS, Dr.Who's time machine, back to the 1960s and enrolled Susan in school after many of their adventures through time and space. They were ready to go back to their adventures, but Susan wanted to take Mike along. Mike agrees to go and they go back to the American Revolution. In the end, Mike wants to go home but it's revealed that Dr.Who and Susan can't control when and where the TARDIS lands. The pilot's script, written by Malcolm Hulke, who would become a prominent writer for the TV show, was found in 2012 in the BBC archives by Richard Bignell. Below are some articles on the pilot and a reconstruction of the pilot created by fans using the script. There's still hope to find the pilot, as Bignell has claimed there were at least two copies made.
+==Plot==
+The pilot featured a character named Mike, who went to Secondary School with a girl named Susan, finding out that she and her grandfather, Dr. Who, were humans from the far future where time travel was possible and they had taken the TARDIS, Dr. Who's time machine, back to the 1960s and enrolled Susan in school after many of their adventures through time and space. They were ready to continue their adventures, but Susan wanted to take Mike along. Mike agrees to go and they go back to the American Revolution. In the end, Mike wants to go home but it's revealed that Dr. Who and Susan can't control when or where the TARDIS lands.
-'''Sources/Links'''
+==Availability==
-* [http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2012/01/dwn150112121012-missing-radio-script.html www.doctorwhonews.net]
+Although the pilot itself has never surfaced, the pilot's script, written by Malcolm Hulke, was found in the BBC archives in 2012 by Richard Bignell. Richard Bignell remains hopeful to find the pilot itself, claiming that at least two copies are known to have been made. The script is publicly available in the third issue of the fanzine Nothing At the End of the Lane. In 2012, after the script was found, Beermat Productions(formerly Bandril Productions) produced a fan adaptation. It is no longer available on YouTube, but can be found on the Beermat Productions website.
-* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxRB4rqgL8c&t=25s Pilot Reconstruction]
+==See Also==
+*[[Doctor Who: "The Parting of the Ways" (lost alternate ending of science-fiction TV series finale; 2005)]]
+*[[Planet of Giants "The Urge to Live" (lost unaired forth part episode of Doctor Who serial; 1964)]]
+*[[Doctor Who (lost pilot episodes of cancelled reboot of British sci-fi TV series; 1991)]]
+*[[The Doctor Who Years (found "Doctor Who" BBCi documentary series; 2005)]]
+*[[Doctor Who (partially lost episodes of British science-fiction TV series; 1963-1974)]]
+*[[Shada (found unfinished Doctor Who serial; 1979)]]
+==Source==
+*[http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2012/01/dwn150112121012-missing-radio-script.html doctorwhonews.net page on the missing pilot.] Retrieved 02 Apr '18
+[https://beermatproductions.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/doctor-who-journey-into-time/ The Beermat Productions reconstruction]
 [[Category:Lost audio]]
+[[Category:Completely lost media]]