1989 (releases)

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1989 in

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the DWU • production history • vital statistics • releases

In 1989, a number of things set in or relevant to the Doctor Who universe were released or published.

• 4 January - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part Four debuted on BBC1, concluding the twenty-fifth anniversary season.
• 19 January - PROSE: Doctor Who - Delta and the Bannermen was first published.
• 19 January - REF: The Doctor Who File was published in paperback.
• 16 February - PROSE: Doctor Who - The War Machines was first published.
• 16 March - PROSE: Doctor Who - Dragonfire was first published.
• 16 March - Two Doctor Who Classics reprint volumes were published: PROSE: The Dæmons / The Time Monster and PROSE: The Mind of Evil / The Claws of Axos.
• April - REF: Doctor Who: The Time-Travellers' Guide was published in paperback.
• 20 April - PROSE: Doctor Who - Attack of the Cybermen was first published.
• 18 May - PROSE: Doctor Who - The Nightmare Fair was first published. This was the first of a new spin-off line by Target Books dubbed "The Missing Episodes". These were novels based upon the cancelled Season 23, which was delayed a year due to the BBC-ordered hiatus and then replaced by what became The Trial of a Time Lord. Although based upon a teleplay, the fact it was never produced makes this, in effect, the first original-to-print Doctor Who novel in which the Doctor himself was the lead character.
• 18 May - Target Books published two final Doctor Who Classics reprint volumes before abandoning the venture: PROSE: The Face of Evil/The Sunmakers and PROSE: The Seeds of Doom/The Deadly Assassin.
• 26 May - Doctor Who: Voyager was published by Marvel Comics.
• 15 June - PROSE: Doctor Who - Mindwarp was first published.
• 20 July - PROSE: Doctor Who - The Chase was first published.
• 17 August - PROSE: Doctor Who - The Ultimate Evil was first published. It was the second release in the "Missing Episodes" line.
• 29 August - The second volume of Doctor Who: The Scripts was published: The Tomb of the Cybermen.
• 6 September - Battlefield Part One debuted on BBC1, launching Season 26.
• 13 September - Battlefield Part Two debuted on BBC1.
• 16 September - Sylvester McCoy appeared as the Seventh Doctor in a skit on The Noel Edmunds Saturday Roadshow. David Banks also appeared as the Cyber-Leader in what was his final television appearance to date as a Cyberman.
• 20 September - Battlefield Part Three debuted on BBC1. It was the first appearance of Bessie since The Five Doctors and since Robot in a regular episode.
• 21 September - PROSE: Doctor Who - Mission to the Unknown was first published. It was part one of a two-volume adaptation of The Daleks' Master Plan, the only two-part novelisation ever issued by Target.
• 27 September - Battlefield Part Four debuted on BBC1.
• The Ultimate Interview: Colin Baker talks with David Banks was first released on cassette by Silver Fist Productions.
• 4 October - Ghost Light Part One debuted on BBC1.
• 11 October - Ghost Light Part Two debuted on BBC1.
• 18 October - Ghost Light Part Three debuted on BBC1.
• 19 October - PROSE: Doctor Who - The Mutation of Time was first published, concluding the adaptation of The Daleks' Master Plan.
• 25 October - The Curse of Fenric Part One debuted on BBC1.
• 1 November - The Curse of Fenric Part Two debuted on BBC1.
• 8 November - The Curse of Fenric Part Three debuted on BBC1.
• 15 November - The Curse of Fenric Part Four debuted on BBC1.
• 16 November - PROSE: Doctor Who - Silver Nemesis was first published.
• 22 November - Survival Part One debuted on BBC1.
• 29 November - Survival Part Two debuted on BBC1.
• The Doctor Who: The Scripts release of The Talons of Weng-Chiang was first published.
• 6 December - Survival Part Three debuted on BBC1. The twenty-sixth season finale ultimately proved to be the final episode of the original series, and the last weekly episode to be broadcast until 2005.
• 21 December - Doctor Who - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy was first published. The title of this release ended up being ironic, as it became the first Target Books novelisation to be published after the de facto end of the original 1963-89 series.
• 23 December - COMIC: Nineveh! was released.
• 23 December - REF: The Doctor Who Programme Guide, first published in two volumes in 1981, was reissued in a single-volume, expanded and revised edition. Author Jean-Marc Lofficier followed this release with several more reference volumes over the next decade.
• Late December - The Doctor Who: The Scripts release of The Daleks was first published. The next release in this series did not occur until 1992.
• Unknown - The first edition of the four-track EP, Doctor Who - Variations on a Theme, was released in twelve-inch vinyl, standard CD, and as an unusual square-shaped CD. This release featured unique rearrangements of the Doctor Who theme by Mark Ayres, Dominic Glynn, and Keff McCulloch that had been created for various Doctor Who Appreciation Society conventions in the 1980s. One of these, the "Latin Version", was later adopted by BBC Video as the theme for its "Years" series of video retrospectives.