Here's a collection of audio interviews to download. This series of interviews with David Banks includes the late Jon Pertwee, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and use the URL links to download the files.
Showing posts with label download. Show all posts
Showing posts with label download. Show all posts
Monday, 18 October 2010
3rd, 6th and 7th Doctor Interviews
Here's a collection of audio interviews to download. This series of interviews with David Banks includes the late Jon Pertwee, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and use the URL links to download the files.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Who Comic Blog to close
Big shame here - the Who Comic blog, run by James, is being forced to close down due to copyright problems, see here. It's a big shame that Who publishers and copyright holders see such blogs such as this a threat, but I guess it's to be expected. I wonder if it is what happened also to the Cuttings Archive, which had such a wealth of Who stuff and is now no more.
I accept that the availability of audio stories, such as those by Big Finish, or the new BBC audio range, online can a serious impact on sales - it's just too easy to download a story - but I don't think online pdfs of comics and graphic novel stories could affect sales in the same way - most Who fans who are really into this stuff will buy it all, religously, as soon as it comes out. Having pdfs is just a useful reference, allowing the originals to be packed away safely. However I do respect artists and photographers who want to protect the copyright on their images, and guess comics fall into this. But should blogs be regarded a breaking copyright? Where would we be if we couldn't use any Who images? New media is all about accessibility to information, sharing and not profiting, and at the same time surely the Who brand gets bigger as a result - including sales.
Most of my posts include images, either by artists or photographers. I work on the basis that their use comes within the 'fair use' principle, and try to acknowledge names and link back to original sources where possible.
But let's face it, the genie is out of the bottle already, and nearly every Who video, DVD, audio, comic or magazine is out there online to download, somewhere.
Anyway, big thanks to James for his blog, and helping me add to my pdf comic collection. Check out the posts here and here for info on the First and Second Doctor stories, with links to James's site for available stories - before they dissapear. I guess I need to do the Third doctor comics quickly!
I accept that the availability of audio stories, such as those by Big Finish, or the new BBC audio range, online can a serious impact on sales - it's just too easy to download a story - but I don't think online pdfs of comics and graphic novel stories could affect sales in the same way - most Who fans who are really into this stuff will buy it all, religously, as soon as it comes out. Having pdfs is just a useful reference, allowing the originals to be packed away safely. However I do respect artists and photographers who want to protect the copyright on their images, and guess comics fall into this. But should blogs be regarded a breaking copyright? Where would we be if we couldn't use any Who images? New media is all about accessibility to information, sharing and not profiting, and at the same time surely the Who brand gets bigger as a result - including sales.
Most of my posts include images, either by artists or photographers. I work on the basis that their use comes within the 'fair use' principle, and try to acknowledge names and link back to original sources where possible.
But let's face it, the genie is out of the bottle already, and nearly every Who video, DVD, audio, comic or magazine is out there online to download, somewhere.
Anyway, big thanks to James for his blog, and helping me add to my pdf comic collection. Check out the posts here and here for info on the First and Second Doctor stories, with links to James's site for available stories - before they dissapear. I guess I need to do the Third doctor comics quickly!
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
The Early Years
Here's a nice publication to download (even nicer to own) with lots of info on the early years of Who, obviously. Published in 1986 by W H Allen, and now long out of print I guess. Download it here.
Publishers blurb
On 23 November 1963 a British institution was born. After a ten minutes delay because of news of the assassination of President Kennedy, the BBC launched a new science-fiction series. Designed as a semi-educational programme, it told of the adventures in space and time of a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl and her mysterious grandfather. More than two decades later, DOCTOR WHO has become the longest-running science fiction TV series in the world.
DOCTOR WHO - THE EARLY YEARS is a detailed and informed account of the origin and the making of the television series. For the first time ever, the blueprints for the original Daleks are reproduced, together with stills from TV episodes that have long since been lost; cast lists and plot breakdowns from the early years are printed, together with interviews and photographs of all those involved in the making of DOCTOR WHO — from the Canadian-born Sydney Newman who instigated the series, to the designers, writers, actors and producers who made the show an unqualified success.
Written with the full co-operation of prominent designers and producers, and packed with behind-the-scenes interviews and rare photographs, THE EARLY YEARS is an indispensible reference work, and is destined to become a classic work on the early years of British TV science fiction.
The Incredible Hulk Presents...
The Incredible Hulk Presents was a short-lived weekly comic produced by Marvel UK in 1989. Amongst other material it contained black and white original Doctor Who strips featuring the Seventh Doctor.
The Incredible Hulk Presents was launched on the 30th September 1989, with issue #1 bearing a cover date of 7th October 1989, and lasted twelve issues, costing 40p for the entirety of its run. The original intention was for the new comic strips to also be reprinted in Doctor Who Magazine, as Marvel UK did not believe the two audiences would overlap, with The Incredible Hulk Presents probably having an audience of younger readers. Doctor Who Magazine editor John Freeman was opposed as he believed this would interfere with his own attempts to give the DWM strip direction. In the event, only one story was printed in both titles, Hunger from the Ends of Time. One unpublished strip, Doctor Conkeror was produced for the unprinted issue #13. It later saw print in Doctor Who Magazine number 162.
Strips
IHP01 Once in a Lifetime
IHP02 Hunger from the Ends of Time
IHP03 War World
IHP04 Technical Hitch
IHP05 A Switch in Time
IHP06 The Sentinel
IHP07 Who's That Girl
IHP08 The Enlightenment of Ly-Chee the Wise
IHP09 Slimmer
IHP10 Nineveh
You can download the strips here.
[Info from Doctor Who wiki.]
Top Trumps (1978)
Here's something we haven't looked at before, the Jotastar 1978 Top Trumps set.
You can download the set here. The artwork's a bit rough, and the game itself is a bit dodgy, half made up of historical earth characters that have never appeared in Who. And the scores of the cards is a bit bonkers. In fact, you're probably better off making your own game, but anyway!
Download the Cadet Dalek cards
Back here I did a post introducing the Cadet Dalek cards from the early days of Dalekmania, 1964.
You can download scans of the cards, and a nice little introduction bit, here.
You'll notice I'm posting a lot of links to Mediafire and Rapidshare file sharing downloads. They are not my sites, but ones set up by other dedicated Who fans, often unknown, who we thank for their efforts!
These sites are very popular at the moment, and there's loads of Who stuff out there to download. However, there are concerns that there will be a clampdown on copyright infringement, so grab what you can whilst you can is my advice.
Most of the downloads come in the .cbr format - 'Comic Book Reader'. If you dont use this software, you can easily get the files still just by changing the file name extension from .cbr to .rar and opening and extracting the files using Winrar.
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Amazing World of Doctor Who (1976)
Second Doctor Comics - TV Comic
OK, so following the first Doctor comic strips (here), we have the second Doctor comic strips, again from TV Comic (all nice and easy so far hey?). I've linked the ones you can find online...
2.01 The Extortioner 784 – 787 24 December 1966 - 14 January 1967
2.02 The Trodos Ambush 788 – 791 21 January 1967 - 11 February 1967
2.03 The Doctor Strikes Back 792 – 795 18 February 1967 - 11 March 1967
2.04 The Zombies 796 – 798 18 March 1967 - 1 April 1967
2.05 Master of Spiders 799 – 802 8 April 1967 - 29 April 1967
2.06 The Exterminators 803 – 806 6 May 1967 - 27 May 1967
2.07 The Monsters from the Past 807 – 811 3 June 1967 - 1 July 1967
2.08 The Tardis Worshippers 812 – 815 8 July 1967 - 29 July 1967
2.09 Space War II 816 – 819 5 August 1967 - 26 August 1967
2.10 Egyptian Escapade 820 – 823 2 September 1967 - 23 September 1967
2.11 The Coming of the Cybermen 824 – 827 30 September 1967 - 21 October 1967
2.12 The Faithful Rocket Pack 828 – 831 28 October 1967 - 18 November 1967
2.13 Flower Power 832 – 836 25 November 1967 - 23 December 1967
2.14 The Witches 837 – 841 30 December 1967 - 27 January 1968
2.15 Cyber-Mole 842 – 845 3 February 1968 - 24 February 1968
2.16 The Sabre-Toothed Gorillas 846 – 849 2 March 1968 - 23 March 1968
2.17 The Cyber Empire 850 – 853 30 March 1968 - 20 April 1968
2.18 The Dyrons 854 – 858 27 April 1968 - 25 May 1968
2.19 Dr Who and the Space Pirates 859 – 863 1 June 1968 - 29 June 1968
2.20 Car of the Century 864 – 867 6 July 1968 - 27 July 1968
2.21 The Jokers 868 – 871 3 August 1968 - 24 August 1968
2.22 Invasion of the Quarks 872 – 876 30 August 1968 - 28 September 1968
2.23 The Killer Wasps 877 – 880 5 October 1968 - 26 October 1968
2.24 Ice Cap Terror 881 – 884 2 November 1968 - 23 November 1968
2.25 Jungle of Doom 885 – 889 30 November 1968 - 28 December 1968
2.26 Father Time 890 – 893 4 January 1969 - 25 January 1969
2.27 Martha the Mechanical Housemaid 894 – 898 1 February 1969 - 1 March 1969
2.28 The Duellists 899 – 902 8 March 1969 - 29 March 1969
2.29 Eskimo Joe 903 – 906 5 April 1969 - 26 April 1969
2.30 Peril at 60 Fathoms 907 – 910 3 May 1969 - 24 May 1969
2.31 Operation Wurlitzer 911 – 915 31 May 1969 - 28 June 1969
2.32 Action in Exile 916 - 920 5 July 1969 - 2 August 1969
2.33 The Mark of Terror 921 – 924 9 August 1969 - 30 August 1969
2.34 The Brotherhood 925 – 928 6 September 1969 - 27 September 1969
2.35 U.F.O. 929 – 933 4 October 1969 - 1 November 1969
2.36 The Night Walkers 934 – 936 8 November 1969 - 22 November 1969
Strips 2.11 to 2.13 are available to download here.
Strips 2.14 to 2.16 are available to download here.
Strips 2.17 to 2.18 are available to download here.
Strips 2.22 to 2.23 are available to download here.
Strips 2.24 to 2.27 are available to download here.
Strips 2.28 to 2.31 are available to download here.
Strips 2.32 to 2.36 are available to download here.
[That just leaves strips 2.08-2.10, which I know are out there somewhere, as I found them the other day, but I just can't find the links at the moment! I'll update as soon as I remember, or please, if you find them first post as a link in the comments. Thanks!]
I'll do all the extra first and second Doctor stories from the TV Comic Annuals and Holiday Specials, soon...
With thanks to the original scanners of these comics, and their uploaders...
Links
Altered Vistas
And thanks again to Doctor Who Comic Fun.
Fury of the Daleks
I don't normally post links to download audios and things which still have a ongoing commercial value, as I don't like to promote the illegal copying of copywrited material - for example the Big Finish audios. Now don't get me wrong - I hate this commercial consumeristic society as much as the next manic mad man, and obviously a meglomanic like myself delights in breaking the law. But I don't want to help you undermine the business of Big Finish and perhaps risk them going belly up, and so bringing to an end their productions.
So you won't find me linking to Big Finish audios, or the Target novelisation audios, or the BBC narrated soundtracks, all of which are highly recommended, but ongoing commercial concerns. It's all out there, somewhere, if you know where to look. Alternatively get a job and buy them!
However with older BBC stuff it's a bit different - firstly, I paid my license fee, so I sort of think I've paid for Who already! Then, after you have bought loads of stuff, you sort of think well, hey, I deserve some freebies. Well, these audio stories have long been deleted, and as such represent a little piece of history which should be preserved for the future, before the plastic tape they were released on crumbles into dust.
In the early 1990's, as part of the Who 30th anniversary, the Beeb released several Troughton adventures in a new test format under the title of 'The Missing Stories'. The original television soundtrack of 'lost' stories (with episodes missing from the BBC archive) were released with linking narration provided by living Doctors (number 3, 4 and 6). These were only released on cassette (vynal was dead and CD's unborn), and as such could easily go the way of the original episodes and be lost to the world forever.
The stories are:
Power of the Daleks (narrated by Tom Baker)
Macra Terror (narrated by Colin Baker)
Evil of the Daleks (narrated by Tom Baker)
Tomb of the Cybermen (narrated by Jon Pertwee)
Fury from the Deep (narrated by Tom Baker)
It's interesting to note that about the same time, Tomb of the Cybermen was rediscovered, and quickly released on video. Good old Tom gives a typically bonkers performance, reading the stories in the first person, which does take a bit to get used to.
Later the format would be developed into the BBC audio stories, released on CD, and with cleaner and better quality audio. All of the above stories were re-done and re-released, except, strangely, the Macra Terror, which was released with Colin Baker's narration.
Anyway, as the format is largely defunct, and the titles long deleted, here's a link to a page where some wonderfully techy type person has transferred them from audio to MP3 and posted for us all to enjoy. (Here's where we say thank you wonderful techy type person!) There's only two stories up there ready at the moment, Power of the Daleks and Fury from the Deep, but as both are total classics, it's well worth trying these out. The others will hopefully appear on the same link in due course.
Alternatively you can pick the stories up second hand on ebay and the like. The used to be mega rare and highly collectable, with a price tag to match, but since the CD releases, their value has dropped to a couple of quid per story. All you need then is a cassette player...
If you've not listened to the audio recordings of the missing stories, then give these a go. They get better with the second wave of releases, which are availbale on CD and cover many first and second doctor stories.
So you won't find me linking to Big Finish audios, or the Target novelisation audios, or the BBC narrated soundtracks, all of which are highly recommended, but ongoing commercial concerns. It's all out there, somewhere, if you know where to look. Alternatively get a job and buy them!
However with older BBC stuff it's a bit different - firstly, I paid my license fee, so I sort of think I've paid for Who already! Then, after you have bought loads of stuff, you sort of think well, hey, I deserve some freebies. Well, these audio stories have long been deleted, and as such represent a little piece of history which should be preserved for the future, before the plastic tape they were released on crumbles into dust.
In the early 1990's, as part of the Who 30th anniversary, the Beeb released several Troughton adventures in a new test format under the title of 'The Missing Stories'. The original television soundtrack of 'lost' stories (with episodes missing from the BBC archive) were released with linking narration provided by living Doctors (number 3, 4 and 6). These were only released on cassette (vynal was dead and CD's unborn), and as such could easily go the way of the original episodes and be lost to the world forever.
The stories are:
Power of the Daleks (narrated by Tom Baker)
Macra Terror (narrated by Colin Baker)
Evil of the Daleks (narrated by Tom Baker)
Tomb of the Cybermen (narrated by Jon Pertwee)
Fury from the Deep (narrated by Tom Baker)
It's interesting to note that about the same time, Tomb of the Cybermen was rediscovered, and quickly released on video. Good old Tom gives a typically bonkers performance, reading the stories in the first person, which does take a bit to get used to.
Later the format would be developed into the BBC audio stories, released on CD, and with cleaner and better quality audio. All of the above stories were re-done and re-released, except, strangely, the Macra Terror, which was released with Colin Baker's narration.
Anyway, as the format is largely defunct, and the titles long deleted, here's a link to a page where some wonderfully techy type person has transferred them from audio to MP3 and posted for us all to enjoy. (Here's where we say thank you wonderful techy type person!) There's only two stories up there ready at the moment, Power of the Daleks and Fury from the Deep, but as both are total classics, it's well worth trying these out. The others will hopefully appear on the same link in due course.
Alternatively you can pick the stories up second hand on ebay and the like. The used to be mega rare and highly collectable, with a price tag to match, but since the CD releases, their value has dropped to a couple of quid per story. All you need then is a cassette player...
If you've not listened to the audio recordings of the missing stories, then give these a go. They get better with the second wave of releases, which are availbale on CD and cover many first and second doctor stories.
Monday, 20 September 2010
Golden Wonder Comic Strips
Here's something I recently found which I hadn't seen before - scans of the complete series of promotional strips produced by Golden Wonder in 1986.
There are a total of six mini 'comics' that were released: 1 "Revelation", 2 "Fun House", 3 "War Game", 4 "Once Upon a Time Lord", 5 "The Shape Shifter" and 6 "Voyager-Dreams of Eternity". The comics themselves were colourised reprints of Doctor Who Magazine's comic strips from the time, featuring the Sixth Doctor and his shape shifting companion Frobisher (and minus Peri).
You can download the full set of strips here.
Dr Who Space Adventure Advert
Here's an advert for the 1967 Walls 'Space Adventure' promotion, featured in an earlier post (here).
Thanks to 'Doctor Who Comic Fun' blog for the pic. He also shows another advert:
And he has page by page scans of the accompanying book - click here.
You can download the album here. Somewhere I've got scans of all the cards... which I will post when I get organised!
Thanks to 'Doctor Who Comic Fun' blog for the pic. He also shows another advert:
And he has page by page scans of the accompanying book - click here.
You can download the album here. Somewhere I've got scans of all the cards... which I will post when I get organised!
The First Doctor Comic Stories - TV Comic
Here's a list of the First Doctor comic strip stories from TV Comic. Many of these stories are available online, so I've added links. If anyone can supply the missing stories please let me know!
The First Doctor - TV Comic
1.01 The Klepton Parasites 674 – 683 14 November 1964 - 16 January 1965
1.02 The Therovian Quest (Part 1, Parts 2-6) 684 – 689 23 January 1965 - 27 February 1965
1.03 The Hijackers Of Thrax 690 – 692 6 March 1965 - 20 March 1965
1.04 On The Web Planet 693 – 698 27 March 1965 - 1 May 1965
1.05 The Gyros Injustice 699 – 704 8 May 1965 - 12 June 1965
1.06 Challenge Of The Piper 705 – 709 19 June 1965 - 17 July 1965
1.07 Moon Landing 710 – 712 24 July 1965 - 7 August 1965
1.08 Time In Reverse 713 – 715 14 August 1965 - 28 August 1965
1.09 Lizard World 716 – 719 4 September 1965 - 25 September 1965
1.10 The Ordeals of Dementer 720 – 723 2 October 1965 - 23 October 1965
1.11 Enter: The Go-Ray 724 – 727 30 October 1965 - 20 November 1965
1.12 Shark Bait 728 – 731 27 November 1965 - 18 December 1965
1.13 A Christmas Story 732 – 735 25 December 1965 - 15 January 1966
1.14 The Didus Expedition 736 – 739 22 January 1966 - 12 February 1966
1.15 Space Station Z-7 740 – 743 19 February 1966 - 12 March 1966
1.16 Plague of the Black Scorpi 744 – 747 19 March 1966 - 9 April 1966
1.17 The Trodos Tyranny 748 – 752 16 April 1966 - 14 May 1966
1.18 The Secrets of Gemino 753 – 757 21 May 1966 - 18 June 1966
1.19 The Haunted Planet 758 – 762 25 June 1966 - 23 July 1966
1.20 TheHunters of Zerox 763 – 767 30 July 1966 - 27 August 1966
1.21 The Underwater Robot 768 – 771 3 September 1966 - 24 September 1966
1.22 Return of the Trods 772 – 775 1 October 1966 - 22 October 1966
1.23 The Galaxy Games 776 – 779 29 October 1966 - 19 November 1966
1.24 The Experimenters 780 – 783 26 November 1966 - 17 December 1966
Strips 1.15-1.17 are available to download from here [the file is called 'part 1', so maybe part 2, with stories 18-20 will be available soon].
Strips 1.21-1.24 are available to download from here.
[1.09-1.14 missing. I've found the Didus Experiement (1.14) somewhere, maybe as a bit-torrent, but I can't remember the source at the moment. If I can't find it I'll repost it here.]
Links
Altered Vistas
Doctor Who Comic Fun
The First Doctor - TV Comic
1.01 The Klepton Parasites 674 – 683 14 November 1964 - 16 January 1965
1.02 The Therovian Quest (Part 1, Parts 2-6) 684 – 689 23 January 1965 - 27 February 1965
1.03 The Hijackers Of Thrax 690 – 692 6 March 1965 - 20 March 1965
1.04 On The Web Planet 693 – 698 27 March 1965 - 1 May 1965
1.05 The Gyros Injustice 699 – 704 8 May 1965 - 12 June 1965
1.06 Challenge Of The Piper 705 – 709 19 June 1965 - 17 July 1965
1.07 Moon Landing 710 – 712 24 July 1965 - 7 August 1965
1.08 Time In Reverse 713 – 715 14 August 1965 - 28 August 1965
1.09 Lizard World 716 – 719 4 September 1965 - 25 September 1965
1.10 The Ordeals of Dementer 720 – 723 2 October 1965 - 23 October 1965
1.11 Enter: The Go-Ray 724 – 727 30 October 1965 - 20 November 1965
1.12 Shark Bait 728 – 731 27 November 1965 - 18 December 1965
1.13 A Christmas Story 732 – 735 25 December 1965 - 15 January 1966
1.14 The Didus Expedition 736 – 739 22 January 1966 - 12 February 1966
1.15 Space Station Z-7 740 – 743 19 February 1966 - 12 March 1966
1.16 Plague of the Black Scorpi 744 – 747 19 March 1966 - 9 April 1966
1.17 The Trodos Tyranny 748 – 752 16 April 1966 - 14 May 1966
1.18 The Secrets of Gemino 753 – 757 21 May 1966 - 18 June 1966
1.19 The Haunted Planet 758 – 762 25 June 1966 - 23 July 1966
1.20 TheHunters of Zerox 763 – 767 30 July 1966 - 27 August 1966
1.21 The Underwater Robot 768 – 771 3 September 1966 - 24 September 1966
1.22 Return of the Trods 772 – 775 1 October 1966 - 22 October 1966
1.23 The Galaxy Games 776 – 779 29 October 1966 - 19 November 1966
1.24 The Experimenters 780 – 783 26 November 1966 - 17 December 1966
Strips 1.15-1.17 are available to download from here [the file is called 'part 1', so maybe part 2, with stories 18-20 will be available soon].
Strips 1.21-1.24 are available to download from here.
[1.09-1.14 missing. I've found the Didus Experiement (1.14) somewhere, maybe as a bit-torrent, but I can't remember the source at the moment. If I can't find it I'll repost it here.]
Links
Altered Vistas
Doctor Who Comic Fun
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Slippery Slopes and Fine Lines
In my last post I admitted to downloading stuff using bit-torrents. It´s not something which I feel proud of - I would, of course, much rather buy the DVDs or original material, and keep the wheels of Doctor Who merchandising oiled with my money. But I guess I´m not the only one who is outside of the UK and just can´t wait to see my favourite TV show.
I sort of justify all this to myself in the following ways. I began downloading just music... I´d just started on my travels (several years ago!) when my hard-drive crashed, wiping out my CD collection which I had patently stored onto my notebook. It wasn´t just my music collection, but also my Doctor Who Audio Adventures (the narrated soundtracks of early 1st and 2nd Doctor stories) which I really enjoy listening to, again and again, especially when travelling. I´d bought all these, and as I own the original CDs, I see no harm in downloading copies to listen to whilst I am away and can´t access my collection.
In a similar vein, I own a lot of music albums on vynal and cassette... and having bought these and paid my royalties to the artists and companies involved, I again feel its fair play to download a digital version. I know it´s not really how the whole thing works, but hey, do I really have to buy all my favourite Pink Floyd albums again and again? I´m sure they won´t mind. There´s some I´ve already bought on vynal, cassette AND CD...
And then I started missing my Who video collection... so now and then I download the occassional DVD rip to watch on my notebook. I have every intention of buying the damn DVDs one day, for me, owning the proper thing, with the artwork and all, is part of the magic of being a collector. And I don´t have the spare disk space to store these, so I delete them after I´ve watched.
Books are another area... I love my Target novel collection, to the point where I would buy the new releases religously and dare not even read them in case I damaged the spines (my local library helped me out there). The one occassion I cracked was when I got the Five Doctors, a day or two before it was screened on TV, and I just had to read it. I ended up buying two copies. So again, I feel its fine to download PDF versions of these for personal reference.
There are some things I just won´t download... for example the Big Finish Who Audio Adventures. Big Finish need the sales in order to make more... and we dont want to undermine their efforts do we? Besides, they offer their stories to download on their website online (although I dont do this as I want to own the actual physical product). So much as I am tempted, I try to avoid these, and save them for a future day when I can buy the whole damn series. Ditto for the BBC New Series Audios.
But then there are things which I feel are fair game. As a collector, I´m interested in the history of Who, and there are many, many interesting things out there, which are no longer available commercially, and which I feel its fair game to download, and to keep seeding for others to share. Out of print books, such as the Virgin New Adventures, fall into this category. Many old collectables are also available, and for some of us, its probably the only way we will ever get to see the fine artwork and read the stories in the 1960s Dalek Annuals. There´s also archive production documents, costume design drawings and scripts to be found if you look hard enough.
So, after justifying my decent down the slippery slope of bit-torrent downloading and the ever decreasing fine line which I personally draw between what´s fair and what´s not, I´m going to let you into a little secret. There is an increadible site which offers UK TV shows and associated stuff, especially (but not exclusively) Doctor Who... it´s called TheBox and is well worth signing up for. They operate a download/upload ratio system to try and keep torrents alive, which I think is great, and it´s a really organised site. I just hope that one day this dodgy side of the internet gets legitimised somehow and I get to download guilt free. Besides, I have bigger things to worry about!
I sort of justify all this to myself in the following ways. I began downloading just music... I´d just started on my travels (several years ago!) when my hard-drive crashed, wiping out my CD collection which I had patently stored onto my notebook. It wasn´t just my music collection, but also my Doctor Who Audio Adventures (the narrated soundtracks of early 1st and 2nd Doctor stories) which I really enjoy listening to, again and again, especially when travelling. I´d bought all these, and as I own the original CDs, I see no harm in downloading copies to listen to whilst I am away and can´t access my collection.
In a similar vein, I own a lot of music albums on vynal and cassette... and having bought these and paid my royalties to the artists and companies involved, I again feel its fair play to download a digital version. I know it´s not really how the whole thing works, but hey, do I really have to buy all my favourite Pink Floyd albums again and again? I´m sure they won´t mind. There´s some I´ve already bought on vynal, cassette AND CD...
And then I started missing my Who video collection... so now and then I download the occassional DVD rip to watch on my notebook. I have every intention of buying the damn DVDs one day, for me, owning the proper thing, with the artwork and all, is part of the magic of being a collector. And I don´t have the spare disk space to store these, so I delete them after I´ve watched.
Books are another area... I love my Target novel collection, to the point where I would buy the new releases religously and dare not even read them in case I damaged the spines (my local library helped me out there). The one occassion I cracked was when I got the Five Doctors, a day or two before it was screened on TV, and I just had to read it. I ended up buying two copies. So again, I feel its fine to download PDF versions of these for personal reference.
There are some things I just won´t download... for example the Big Finish Who Audio Adventures. Big Finish need the sales in order to make more... and we dont want to undermine their efforts do we? Besides, they offer their stories to download on their website online (although I dont do this as I want to own the actual physical product). So much as I am tempted, I try to avoid these, and save them for a future day when I can buy the whole damn series. Ditto for the BBC New Series Audios.
But then there are things which I feel are fair game. As a collector, I´m interested in the history of Who, and there are many, many interesting things out there, which are no longer available commercially, and which I feel its fair game to download, and to keep seeding for others to share. Out of print books, such as the Virgin New Adventures, fall into this category. Many old collectables are also available, and for some of us, its probably the only way we will ever get to see the fine artwork and read the stories in the 1960s Dalek Annuals. There´s also archive production documents, costume design drawings and scripts to be found if you look hard enough.
So, after justifying my decent down the slippery slope of bit-torrent downloading and the ever decreasing fine line which I personally draw between what´s fair and what´s not, I´m going to let you into a little secret. There is an increadible site which offers UK TV shows and associated stuff, especially (but not exclusively) Doctor Who... it´s called TheBox and is well worth signing up for. They operate a download/upload ratio system to try and keep torrents alive, which I think is great, and it´s a really organised site. I just hope that one day this dodgy side of the internet gets legitimised somehow and I get to download guilt free. Besides, I have bigger things to worry about!
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