Doctor Who's new classic series animation features an amazing series 12 Easter egg
There's a Masterful nod to the new series hidden within The Faceless Ones
The large gaps in Doctor Who's classic series are gradually being filled, with 1960s episodes once junked by the BBC being restored using the surviving soundtracks and new animated visuals.
The latest story to get the treatment is 1967's The Faceless Ones, which sees the second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his companions uncover a sinister alien plot at Gatwick Airport.
Released on DVD, Blu-Ray and SteelBook on 16th March, all six episodes have been recreated in animated form – with fans able to enjoy the story either in full colour or in black-and-white to mimic the original lost visuals.
But while the team behind the animation have strived to be as authentic as possible, they've also had a little fun adding incongruous but enormously entertaining Easter eggs for Doctor Who fans to discover...
**WARNING – we'll be giving away some of those Easter eggs from hereon out!**
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When the Doctor and friends arrive at Gatwick, a WANTED poster can briefly be glimpsed – and it features an image of none other than the Master as played by Roger Delgado, a character who wouldn't actually be introduced to Doctor Who on television until 1971, four years after The Faceless Ones aired.
Fans were quick to spot the Delgado Easter egg when a teaser of the scene in question – see above – appeared on YouTube in October 2019, but RadioTimes.com can reveal that there have been some tweaks made to the finished product and the final scene features not one but two Masters...
Below Delgado's image is a second WANTED poster featuring another Master – the latest incarnation of the villain as played by Sacha Dhawan in Doctor Who's 12th series!
Dhawan's cameo is but one of a number of new series Easter eggs buried in this classic release – keep your eyes peeled for a reference to the Bad Wolf story arc from the show's 2005 series.
The animation also contains another hidden treasure, one with an especially poignant backstory, with the label "Condon Ltd." visible at several points on Gatwick's flight tracking system.
This is in tribute to the late Paul Condon, a Doctor Who fan who passed away in 2019.
Doctor Who Magazine previously paid tribute to Condon in an issue published last year, while an episode of series 12 - Fugitive of the Judoon - saw a Judoon named Pol-Kon-Don in what is thought to be another nod to Paul.
The Faceless Ones is available to pre-order now from Amazon and is available from 16th March.
The home media release will also include the two surviving live-action episodes of the story, along with audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes documentaries and a trailer for the next animated Doctor Who reconstruction Fury from the Deep.
