New Doctor Who toys: Retro Dalek and Post-Regeneration 5th Doctor

Just announced for exclusive release from Forbidden Planet are these two amazing Doctor Who action figures.

(announcement via TardisNewsroom)

When I first learned of a line of 5 inch tall toys based on the long-running series, I was somewhat baffled. Incredibly detailed and articulated, they were impressive, but as the characters on screen did little else but talk and run down corridors, wasn’t an ‘action figure’ a bit of an odd thing to make of William Hartnell and the other actors who played the part of the time traveling man of mystery?

Of course now I own them all… so… yeah.

As testament to the enduring legacy of the TV program, these action figures by Character Options and Bif Bang Pow! are as much an important part of the Doctor Who mythos as the Target novelizations and the radio dramas. Not only are they replications of the characters as they appeared on screen, they capture iconic moments such as the regeneration of Tom Baker into Peter Davison in Logopolis and Castrovalva. A figure of Davison in the full coat has already been released, but this version is the new Doctor sans coat in shirt sleeves (a kit-bash of the recently released Keeper of Traken 4th Doctor with a retooled Davison head).

I do like that in addition to the Master’s TARDIS, they have included a shrunken Logopolitan.

This marks the seventh version of the 5th Doctor in toy form by Character Options… and yet we still do not have a decent figure of the Anthony Ainley Master (the released figure features a breathtakingly accurate sculpt of Ainley’s plugged onto a John Simm body).

Ah well… he’s surely on the way.

Doctor Who Action Figure Collectors Set: 5th Doctor Castrovalva

The newly regenerated Fifth Doctor escapes with his companions back to the TARDIS. Suffering from post-regeneration trauma, he only narrowly manages to save the ship from destruction as it plunges back to Event One, the hydrogen in-rush that preceded the creation of the universe.

He then seeks sanctuary in the peaceful domain of Castrovalva, only to discover that it is an illusory, dimensionally paradoxical trap set for him by the Master with the unwilling aid of a kidnapped Adric. The Doctor eventually wins the day by enlisting the help of the Castrovalvan people who, although also part of the Master’s creation, are nevertheless able to exercise free will.

The Master’s TARDIS
Whilst on the planet Traken the Fourth Doctor discovers that the Master, his long time nemesis, is trying to take control of a complex Traken bio-electronic power known as ‘The Source’. The Source would allow the Master unparalleled power, and the ability to regenerate his dying body. When the Master’s TARDIS is destroyed by the power feedback of The Source it is revealed he has another and thus he escapes to encounter the Doctor again. Their next encounter finds the Master’s TARDIS, with its fully functional Chameleon Circuit, disguised first as a Police Box and latterly on the planet Logopolis, as a sandstone Doric column. The Master’s TARDIS stayed in this favoured form during several encounters with the Fifth Doctor, before changing once again.

Contents:
1 x Post-regeneration Fifth Doctor action figure.
1 x Shrunken figure accessory.
1 x Master’s TARDIS as a Stone Column.

(click to pre-order in the UK)

I’m not a big fan of the Bif Bang Pow Master, Doctor and Sontaran figures, but this Dalek looks really great. The attention to detail is impressive and the larger scale is very attractive to me as well.

Doctor Who Retro Action Figures: Dalek

Daddy, where do Daleks come from?

Grounded in the “Genesis of the Daleks” serial of Doctor Who that marked the first appearance of Davros, the creator of these evil mutant cyborgs, this extraordinary Dalek Action Figure stands approximately 7″ tall. It features wheels and “neck” articulation, along with Bif Bang Pow!’s famed retro styling that takes one back to the bestselling figures from the 1970s and 1980s. Order yours now… or face extermination!

Produced by the BBC, Doctor Who is the longest-running sci-fi TV series in the world. The award-winning show presents the adventures of a time traveler known simply as “the Doctor.” Along with his companions, this mysterious Time Lord journeys through time and space using his TARDIS, which appears from the outside to be an ordinary police phone booth.

(click to pre-order in the UK)

Asylum of the Daleks opens 2012 Doctor Who series

For the ‘uninitiated,’  Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction program on TV. Developed by Sydney Newman, the program was intended for family viewing using science fiction and fantasy concepts to entertain and educate at the same time. Scripts ranged from historical adventures to gripping sci-fi drama, but were always approached from a perspective that considered the audience’s intelligence. Many of Newman’s early notes specify that they must respect the viewer. Despite Newman’s devoutly aggressive stance against Bug Eyed Monsters, it became a phenomena after the Daleks were introduced in a groundbreaking episode called the Dead Planet.

First Doctor Who William Hartnell plays with Marx Dalek toys

Over the program’s 26 years, the Daleks grabbed the attention of viewers and the media, drawing viewers in the millions each time they return to the screen. When Doctor Who was revived in 2005, the Daleks were not far behind. They have since become popular all over again, gaining a new following as Doctor Who has gained a strong popularity in the UK and now in the US as well.

The 2005 Daleks

The latest series of Doctor Who under head writer/producer Steven Moffat has garnered a massive following. It is strange to see Doctor Who products everywhere I turn and hear people talk excitedly about something that years ago was only shown on public TV stations late at night. I have mixed feelings about the ‘new Doctor Who’ as it shares so little with the project envisioned by Newman, but I’m in the minority on that one.

New Doctor Matt Smith is the youngest actor to date to play the part (though the actors keep getting younger it seems) and embodies a healthy mixture of the new ‘pop idol’ vision of the Doctor and the classic Doctor as played by the late Patrick Troughton. This will be his third year piloting the TARDIS and the 50th anniversary of the program, so expect to see his name and hear more about Doctor Who than ever before.

To get the landmark 50th series started, the big guns are being rolled out… literally.

The Peter McKinstry Daleks

Redesigned by Peter McKinstry, the latest iteration of the Dalek design has been divisive in fandom. The 7th series of Doctor Who will open with a story that boasts the appearance of ‘every Dalek ever’ which entails a lot.

Click to visit MindRobber.co.uk

I still prefer the other title I heard associated with this story,’ The Ruins of Skaro.’

Via TardisNewsroom:

The British Film Institute is to premiere the first episode of the 2012 series of Doctor Who, Asylum of the Daleks, on Tuesday 14th August 2012 at 6:00pm.

The episode, which has been described as including “every Dalek ever”, was named in the Institute’sadvance programme. The screening will include a Q&A session with writer and show runner Steven Moffat plus other members of the cast and crew yet to be confirmed.

Tickets go on sale to the public from 10th July (BFI members from 3rd).

As previously reported, the episode will also be shown at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, which runs from 23rd to 25th August.

The television premiere of the episode has yet to be announced; however, last year’s Let’s Kill Hitler received both a BFI and MGEITF premiere in August prior to its broadcast on the Bank Holiday weekend, which for this year would be Saturday 25th August.

Speaking on the BBC’s Doctor Who website, executive producer Caroline Skinner said:

This is an epic Dalek adventure that kicks off the new series in explosive style! If you think you know all there is to know about the Daleks, think again…