Downtime (home video): Difference between revisions

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== References ==
== References ==
== Kate Lethbridge-Stewart ==
* [[Beth (Downtime)|Beth]] was a good friend of Kate. She looked after Gordon when Kate wasn't around.
* [[Jonathan (Downtime)|Jonathan]] was the father of Gordon.


=== Victoria Waterfield ===
=== Victoria Waterfield ===
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=== Colleges and universities ===
=== Colleges and universities ===
* Victoria sets up the [[New World University]].
* Victoria sets up the [[New World University]].
* [[New World FM]] was the radio station of the university.


=== Organisations ===
=== Organisations ===
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=== Religion ===
=== Religion ===
* Victoria Waterfield visited the [[Det-Sen Monastery]] in the [[1970s]].
* Victoria Waterfield visited the [[Det-Sen Monastery]] in the [[1970s]].
* Daniel Hinton first meets [[Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart]] in the [[astral plane]].


=== Vehicles ===
=== Vehicles ===
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* Before he passes out after being saved by Harrods, the Brigadier asks "Is it you? Have you changed again?" — a reference to the times he had seen the Doctor regenerate. ([[TV]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'', ''[[Planet of the Spiders (TV story)|Planet of the Spiders]]'')
* Before he passes out after being saved by Harrods, the Brigadier asks "Is it you? Have you changed again?" — a reference to the times he had seen the Doctor regenerate. ([[TV]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'', ''[[Planet of the Spiders (TV story)|Planet of the Spiders]]'')
* When Sarah Jane states that Victoria must have been very young to have been involved in the [[The Web of Fear (TV story)|London Incident]], Victoria asks if she looks good for a woman of 140, referring to her birth in [[Victorian]] [[England]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Evil of the Daleks]]'')
* When Sarah Jane states that Victoria must have been very young to have been involved in the [[The Web of Fear (TV story)|London Incident]], Victoria asks if she looks good for a woman of 140, referring to her birth in [[Victorian]] [[England]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Evil of the Daleks]]'')
* Sarah Jane was still working for the [[Metropolitan]] as an investigative journalist. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Time Warrior]]'', ''[[Planet of the Spiders]]'')


== DVD, Video and VOD releases ==
== DVD, Video and VOD releases ==
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[[Category:Reeltime Pictures video dramas]]
[[Category:Reeltime Pictures video dramas]]
[[Category:Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart stories]]
[[Category:Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart stories]]

Revision as of 17:00, 19 February 2016

RealWorld.png

Downtime is a 1995 direct-to-video production featuring elements from the Doctor Who universe, but not the Doctor. Reeltime Pictures did not have a licence from the British Broadcasting Corporation to use the character — and were not even allowed to refer to him directly. The video was directed by long-time Doctor Who director Christopher Barry.

Synopsis

The Brigadier and Sarah Jane Smith investigate New World University, a sinister school run by none other than Victoria Waterfield and a gateway to Earth by the Great Intelligence which has taken her over.

Plot

Some time after Victoria parted company with the Doctor on Earth in the 20th century (at the end of Fury from the Deep), she was lured back to the Det-Sen Monastery in Tibet (from The Abominable Snowmen) by a dream telling her she would be reunited with her late father there. Instead, she found she had been contacted by the Great Intelligence, which still possessed the mind of Professor Travers (last seen in The Web of Fear).

Nearly fifteen years later, in the present day, Victoria is now the vice chancellor of New World University. New World is an institution that claims to offer spiritual guidance to distraught youth. In reality New World is the centre of operations for the Intelligence's plan to conquer the Earth by infecting the global network of computers. Both the administration and students await the coming of a "new world" that will be heralded by the arrival of the chancellor, the Intelligence-possessed Travers.

Victoria's motives are well-meaning but misguided, having been manipulated with a promise of the "light of truth". The students themselves have been brainwashed through their computer courses and are slaves of the Intelligence. Outsiders refer to them as "Chillys".

FIND THE LOCUS appears repeatedly on a computer monitor at New World University.

The Intelligence needs a final missing Locus to attain its goal. It believes it is in the possession of the Brigadier, but it is actually with his daughter Kate and grandson Gordon on their narrowboat.

New World attempts to gather information on the Brigadier by requesting an investigation by Sarah Jane Smith. Sarah lies about her knowledge of the Brigadier and later warns both him and UNIT. The Intelligence then arranges a meeting between the Brigadier and a corrupt UNIT captain named Cavendish.

Throughout the story the Brigadier is aided by a New World student named Daniel Hinton, a former student of his from Brendon Public School. The Intelligence's conditioning failed on Hinton, though at times he is still under its influence and at one point becomes a Yeti. He can communicate with the Brigadier through the bardo or astral plane.

Cast

Uncredited cast

Production crew

References

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart

  • Beth was a good friend of Kate. She looked after Gordon when Kate wasn't around.
  • Jonathan was the father of Gordon.

Victoria Waterfield

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

Colleges and universities

Organisations

  • The Brigadier still maintains contact with UNIT. He mentions to Cavendish that he was never promoted to General due to "internal politics".

Religion

Vehicles

  • Sarah Jane Smith drives an MG car.
  • A UNIT Land Rover is seen to arrive at New World University.

Story notes

Myths

  • K9 was supposed to appear. (Although K9 appears in the novelisation, he was never planned to appear in the video.)

Filming Locations

  • University of East Anglia, Norwich

Continuity

DVD, Video and VOD releases

Video release

  • This story was released on video on 2 September 1995.
Original video publisher's summary from rear of video tape box
"Find the Locus"
It is twenty-five years since The Great Intelligence last attempted an invasion of Earth, today its evil web is again reaching out towards us!
Using The New World University as its cover and the zombie-like Chilly students as its pawns, the Intelligence now seeks to control the minds of every human being.
Tangled in this new struggle are its old enemies Victoria Waterfield and Professor Travers - but whose side are they on?
Fighting alone this time, without their famous scientific advisor, The Brigadier and Sarah Jane Smith of UNIT are hard pressed to decide who is friend or foe as they search for the missing Locus which still binds the Intelligence's power.
Battle is joined as the Brigadier's own family is threatened and UNIT faces a monstrous new breed of Yeti!
  • UK VHS release

    UK VHS release

DVD release

  • After being out of print for 20 years, One Media iP, a division of Koch Media, released it on DVD on 16 November 2015, with digitally restored video and alongside a new making of documentary using on-set footage and a post production featurette. It is the only Reeltime Pictures release to lack a digital version.
  • UK DVD release

    UK DVD release

VOD release

  • Concurrent to the DVD release, Koch Media released the story for streaming on YouTube, alongside the making of documentary, for £4.99.

References

  1. ↑ Starburst interview with Gary Russell

External links

Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=Downtime_(home_video)&oldid=2017557"