While audiences are gearing up for The Day Of The Doctor, Doctor Who fans can also expect another great special coming from the BBC called An Adventure In Space And Time – telling the story of how Doctor Who came to be in real life, 50 years ago on November 23 – an valuable depiction of the beginning of what would become a cultural phenomenon and the longest-running sci-fi series in history.

Mark Gatiss, of Doctor Who and Sherlock fame, writes and produces the special, which features David Bradley (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones) as William Hartnell – the first Doctor – in a piece of casting that sees Bradley look just like Hartnell. The similarities are eerie.

An Adventure In Space And Time tells of how the television show came into being, the importance of first showrunner Verity Lambert (played by Jessica Raine), and the world-shattering approach in the impossible task of trying to tell stories on poor budgeting and how much of a phenomenon the series quickly became.

Doctor Who: Prisoners of Time #1
Written by Scott & David Tipton
Art by Simon Fraser
Colors by Gary Caldwell
IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 30, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Fantastic! Grab your bow ties, scarves, recorders, celery sticks, and sonic screwdrivers for some wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey lunacy: 2013 is going to be a squall of a year for Whovians. Being the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, aside from the broadcast plans from the BBC, there are bound to be a variety of other celebrations in a range of media for us all to sop up. And IDW are jumping on the celebratory TARDIS with their special series for the anniversary, entitled Prisoners of Time.

Ostensibly a limited series that will eventually include every single incarnation of the Doctor, Prisoners of Time #1 begins with the inevitable nemesis, shrouded in darkness and hidden from our view, drawing his/her designs against the Time Lord. Meanwhile or later or yesterday or after breakfast or whenever, the First Doctor arrives at the Royal College of Surgeons in London in 1868, with his three companions.

The Cast Of Doctor Who
Written by Paul J. Slamoff
Art by Jaime Martinez Rodriguez
Colors by Dario Reyes
Cover Art by Joe Phillips
Bluewater Comics
Release Date: March 14, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Bluewater’s unauthorized The Cast Of Doctor Who takes a glance into the backgrounds of a few of the actors who have taken on the role of The Doctor through the years. Without a standard comic storyline, the book serves more as an introduction to the series, specifically designed for newer fans that are interested about the Classic Doctor Who series.

The comic book oddly only looks at four official Doctors (plus a fifth outside canon which we will get to later). I’m guessing this limited examination was restricted based on space available for the publication of the comic. Overall, the comic examines William Hartnell as the First Doctor, Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, and Matt Smith as the current Eleventh Doctor.

For Doctor Who fans, the countdown to the fiftieth anniversary of the long-running television show is a road that goes ever on and on. Despite the fact we still have some time until November 23, 2013, some fans are already gearing up for the celebrations.

YouTube video maker, BabelColour, has released an updated tribute that is essentially all 224 adventures (which adds up to 784 episodes) of Doctor Who in ten minutes. You can view the video at the bottom of this post.

There’s been a cool little crafty fan movement online for some while now, especially from the folks over at Cubeecraft, for people to put together their own cuby geek goodies using paper craft. Now, thanks to some dedicated time and modifications by Chris aka ~CyberDrone over at Deviantart.com, you can now construct your own TARDIS from Doctor Who.

And it’s not just one TARDIS we’re talking here”¦ there are several variations including the Bad Wolf TARDIS from the David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston periods, a classic black and white TARDIS from the early William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton days, and even the rare pink TARDIS from one of Sylvester McCoy‘s episodes. Yes, you read that correctly: a PINK TARDIS!