Audio Annual

BBC Worldwide is to release The Doctor Who Audio Annual featuring audio versions of BBC Worldwide is to release The Doctor Who Audio Annual featuring audio versions of vintage tales first seen in the Doctor Who Annuals published in the 1960s through to the 1980s.

The Annual, out in December, features classic adventures, from the first six incarnations of The Doctor, read by stars of the show: Peter Purves (who played companion Steven), Anneke Wills (Polly), Geoffrey Beevers (The Master), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric) and Nicola Bryant (Peri).

For two decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, every fan of the Doctor hoped to find The Doctor Who Annual in their Christmas stocking. Larger than life and twice as colourful, the stories within were exuberant — and often charmingly naive — in their take on ‘the children’s own programme which adults adore’.

Stories include

• The Sons of Grekk, in which the First Doctor is held prisoner in a brutal, otherworldly society.
• The King of Golden Death where the Second Doctor, Polly and Ben have materialised inside an Ancient Egyptian pyramid.
• The Dalek Intruders, with The Third Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier confronting a familiar adversary
• Conundrum with the Fourth Doctor, Adric and K9 experiencing warped physics in the corridors of the TARDIS.
• The Penalty, where a delirious Fifth Doctor finds old friends and adversaries ganging up on him
• The Real Hereward, where the Sixth Doctor and Peri plunge into a dangerous period of British history.

Also included are two vintage essays on the character of the Doctor: Who is Doctor Who? from 1966 and The Phoenix in the TARDIS from 1968.

The Annual can be pre-ordered from Amazon

The Pandorica Opens

The “morally superior” PC SJWs are still going and and on about us “assholes”. They just can’t seem to get over it and  to stop insulting people and just get over the fact that not everyone is on their groupthink?

So I’m moving on.

The Pandorica Opens…

https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Pandorica/@41.5080371,-73.9757065,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xb2a30160fa05df41!8m2!3d41.5080371!4d-73.9757065

165 Main St, Beacon, NY 12508

thepandoricarestaurant.com

(845) 831-6287

We welcome Whovians and non-Whovians alike to enjoy this unique experience.
The only Doctor Who themed restaurant in the Hudson Valley with a decor that is not over the top, but filled with subtle references to our favorite show.
Here you can enjoy watching Doctor Who whilst indulging in an eclectic menu of intergalactic comfort foods starting with “spoilers” and ending with “sweeties”.
We also serve a select variety of wines and beers, and an extensive collection of teas.

Next on DWM

The next issue of Doctor Who Magazine takes a look back over the last several years of Doctor Who, as its outgoing head writer Steven Moffat leaves the show with this year’s Christmas Special.

With his first contribution to the show in 2004, The Empty Child, did he expect to still be writing for the series some thirteen years later?
No, God, no!. God, no! I also didn’t think I’d do the showrunning job for more than three years, and I’m here after six series. Yes, I’ve been writing Doctor Who stories since 2004. That’s a hell of a long time. When I wrote The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, I wondered if I’d ever write another Doctor Who story. I was very keen to, I really wanted to. I remember asking, ‘Would you have me back next year…?’
What’s next for the writer?
I’m looking forward to the idea of not having to automatically say no to everything else! Whether that’s writing jobs, or weekends away. I can write different things. I’m looking forward to that, hugely. But I am so glad it happened. I’d have been miserable if I’d never got to write Doctor Who! It’s been amazing. Of course it’s been amazing.

Also inside this issue:

PRODUCTION NOTES Steven Moffat writes his final column for DWM, and his last-ever Doctor Who words!
THE TOP 20! A look back at 20 amazing things about the Steven Moffat era of Doctor Who – plus tributes from Russell T Davies, Chris Chibnall, Mark Gatiss and many others…
THE EMPIRE OF MARK GATISS The concluding part of our all-encompassing interview with actor/writer Mark Gatiss!
THE PARLIAMENT OF FEAR There’s a brand-new adventure for the Doctor and Bill Potts in Part 1 of a new comic strip story, written by Scott Gray, with art by Staz Johnson.
RISE AND FALL Reviews of the 2017 series, and the season finale World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls.
TURNED UP TO ELEVEN The Fact of Fiction examines the Eleventh Doctor’s début adventure, 2010’s The Eleventh Hour!
REVIEWS The latest DVD and audio releases are put under the microscope.
COMING SOON Previews of all the latest Doctor Who CD and book releases.
PLUS! All the latest official news, the Watcher’s column, prize-winning competitions, the DWM crossword, the 2017 Season Survey – and much, much more!

Thank you, Peter

Fear, My Dear

Is the Regeneration coming up in five months, “Planet of the Spiders” 2017?

True, we probably won’t have Giant Spiders themselves.

But consider:

1. Potentially, The Brigadier as “The Captain” or someone just like him played by Mark Gatiss.

2.The Doctor facing his fear of change and loss of self, BOTH of them.

And that’s especially relevant since he will not only lose his 12th persona but his sexual identity as well and become a Woman.

“Planet of the Spiders” was all about facing your fears and taking responsibility for your actions. The Twelfth Doctor does not want to regenerate. He’s tired of “being someone else”. And The First, well, he’s never done it before and really doesn’t know what will happen.

The Doctor Falls.

“The Clown” and The Woman await them both. Both are unknowns.

While, she is not a wise old Gallifreyan Teacher like K’anpo/Cho-Je is Puddle Bill (don’t know about Heather as of yet) there to shepherd the 12th Doctor into his/her good night. After all, we know she’s in the Special, but  neither Pearl or Moffat said HOW MUCH she was in it. 🙂

Maybe she is Cho-Je in the end, in that sense. There to give him the push. Though he never explained Regeneration to her before she became a Puddle. And he doesn’t even know she’s not a Cyberman to begin with.

Ah, Timey-Wimey Moffat.

A Tear, Bill Potts?

While there’s Life there’s Hope. Sound familiar? 🙂

And what’s more erratic and “shaken up” than being a Woman? 🙂  (that’s a joke, folks…sheesh)

But Modern Who started with a riff of “Terror of the Autons”, does the Male Era of Who end with a riff on the Doctor’s Greatest Fear…Fear, thus Spiders?

For a show all about change and 2000+ year old Time Lord who “will outlive” all his companions does it come down to just plain Fear of change?

We’ll find out in 5 months.

Well, HERE WE GO AGAIN….

 

 

Concerned for Fandom

Well, let’s get this out of the way once and for all, ok.

I exist. I am not a Logopolis Mathematical Construct.

I deserve respect.

 

Especially from the “enlightened” and “progressive” crowd that considers itself so  forward thinking.

I am not an “asshole” (Thanks Chris Harwick).

I exist, Mr. Moffat.

I am a babel fish.

“Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that something so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.”The argument goes something like this: ‘I refuse to prove that I exist,’ says God, ‘for proof denies faith, and without faith, I am nothing.’ ‘But, says Man, the Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn’t it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and, by your own arguments, you don’t. QED.’ ‘Oh dear,’ says God, ‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ and vanishes in a puff of logic. ‘Oh, that was easy,’ says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.”

And I am not a “sexist” despite whatever justification you wish to place on me to make yourself feel superior and thus care nothing for my feelings. My objection is not based on the silly notion that no Woman could play the part. That is patently silly. Though, in Shakespeare’s time it was true. 🙂

You get caught up in your own head too much.

But WHO am I? To quote The Eight Doctor.

I am a guy who has been a fan of this show for 35 years. It literally save my life when life was very dark and there seemed to be no hope.

I fulfilled a dream in 2013 at The 50th Anniversary Convention in London, I was on the set.

I have been to 25 of 28 Gallifrey Ones and many other Conventions, including 4 in the UK.

I exist. Whether you like it or not.

And I’m worried about fandom.

Back in the mid to late 1980s fandom felt so ‘entitled’ and so catered to by JNT that they were vicious about it.  THeir ownership of what was “right” was deafening sometimes. They claimed they knew how to do it better and that if JNT and The BBC didn’t want to do it that way they’d just shut it down because they could do it better.

Read most any fanzine like Doctor Who Bulletin of the period and they are slagging on the show because it’s not being done the way they want it done.

The ratings didn’t start improving until it was too late.

The biggest difference back then, The BBC, specifically Controller Michael Grade, wanted it dead. They got their wish and fandom went off into the Wilderness Years where the flame of hope and love was kept alive and those fanzines eventually died off.

Then it was re-lit by fans in 2005. And it has never burned brighter.

But the ratings, as they always do, have begun to sag. So it’s time for a “shake-up”.

That is understandable. That’s TV for you. The program, as much as you love it, is merely the space between the commercials and can be replaced with something “new” at any time.

But fundamentally changing the core of the show for Political Correctness is not a great idea.

I know the ‘enlightened’, the “80%” that Mr. Moffat talks about think it’s fantastic. And in the end it very well could be. I still hope so.

But that doesn’t mean I agree with it. It also doesn’t mean I’m an “asshole”, a “sexist” or non-existent.

I deserve better than that. You deserve better than that. The ‘enlightened’ should be better than that.

Diversity is not Exclusion.

The disturbing trend I have seen this week as opposed to last worries me. The “well just go away” crowd. The ones who just want anyone who disagrees with them to just go away and let them enjoy it on their own. Just shut up already.

For people who don’t exist we seem to be rather bothersome. 🙂

This again reminds me of the 1980s. That didn’t end well.

I wish Jodi Whittaker nothing but the best. But the Politically Correct nature of this decision and the attendant backlash from ‘the enlightened’ and ‘progressive’ to aggressively deny that any opposition exist or scratch that, they just go the hell away and don’t express their unwelcomed opinion is troubling.

Diversity is not Exclusion.

Might “the fans” kill the golden goose again? But this time The BBC is on their side unlike in the 1980s? The BBC wants it to succeed. They just signed a big fat contract with China. There is money in them there hills!

Anything is possible. That’s what we like about the show, amongst many other things.

And until July 16th, I thought we were all unified in our love.

But since then, I have seen we are not.

We adapt. We Change.

But why is this so hard?

Why are so many so many so vicious and unkind??

Why do they not act like a Doctor??

As Rodney Dangerfield said, “I get no respect”.

Why is that?

Because you’re a sexist. No, I’m not. I am a traditionalist. Doctor Who is played by a White British Male Actor. The best we can find. That’s just the truth. I know the Politically Correct and Social Justice Warriors in their raging emotions to change everything and “make it better” don’t care who they trample to get what they want because its for the good of all mankind and anyone who gets in their way gets run over as a barbarian and that’s truly sad.

It was the ancient Romans, who by the original definition were barbarians themselves, who first transformed the use of the term. Late in the Roman Empire, the word “barbarian” came to refer to all foreigners who lacked Greek and Roman traditions, especially the various tribes and armies putting pressure on Rome’s borders. There was never a single united barbarian group, and many of the different tribes–including Goths, Vandals, Saxons, Huns, Picts and many more–shifted alliances over the years or fought alongside Roman forces against other barbarian armies. Later scholars would expand on this use of the word when writing about attacks on cultures considered “civilizations” (be it ancient China or ancient Rome) by external enemies who don’t share that civilization’s traditions or structure. 

So I am an uncivilized “barbarian”. And it’s not the first time I’ve been called that. I was working as a Reservations agent for a major hotel chain and a very proper Polish lady called me that when I informed her that she could not use her Polish passport to guarantee a hotel room at our hotel in New York City. So I have literally been there and been that.

And that’s the way I have been treated since the announcement. That is the way Peter Davison and other have been treated since the announcement and the growing disrespect worries me.

Sure, I will always consider the stink eye of Political Correctness on this Doctor, but that’s not her fault. I don’t hold that against her. I think she can do it. That’s not the problem.

But by the same token, I exist. I deserve some respect. I do not, nor does any fan or fandom deserve to say “well, if you don’t like just go away and leave us alone” your opinion is not welcome here. You are  a sexist. You are a bigot. You don’t exist. You are not worthy of our time or recognition.

Diversity is not Exclusion.

That’s just wrong. And does not speak to the wondrous and wonderful fandom of Doctor Who. It speaks to the nastiness of Politics. Of Us Vs Them. Of binary thinking. “I’m right and you’re wrong” and that’s it.

And if you can’t accept that f*uck off!

No.

I love this show too much. It means too much to me.

But you’re wrong. But, as I, have a right to be heard and respected. Fandom should be large enough for that. Tolerant enough for that. Diverse enough for that.

Should it not?

 

Or has politics corrupted fandom to the point where binary thinking is all that we have left?

That is truly a place of no hope.

And a place where we need a Doctor.

 

So can’t we all just get along?

“Sure. As long as you do and think like us and don’t cause a disruption…”

 

The Panel

The Panel and The Christmas Trailer at San Diego Comic Con yesterday.

I have somethings to say in reaction, but I will hold my fire until tomorrow.

Though Moffat at the plan gave the 1st convincing the 12th to regenerate and so forth I’m not sure how they get there from here. Will have to wait 5 months to find out.

So without any more adieu, the Panel. I picked this video because it was the most complete, not the best video.

SDCC Interviews

Leather Lungs

Yesterday was sad for Doctor Who fans. A great lady and an absolutely great Doctor Who companion passed away.

Deborah Watling  (aka Victoria Waterfield)

With great sadness I have to announce that
Deborah passed away at 12:40pm today,
Friday 21st July 2017.
We send our condolences to her husband Steve
and the rest of the family.

Deborah will be greatly missed by family and fans alike

DEBORAH PATRICIA WATLING
2nd January 1948 – 21st July 2017

R.I.P

Nicknamed “Leather Lungs” because of ability to scream like no companion before or since. Saw her at Conventions. I miss seeing her again.

Deborah was invited into the Doctor Who offices by the then-producer Innes Lloyd. He had seen her in the “Play for Today” series and thought she might be a good choice for a new companion in the series.

After a discussion between the two, it was agreed that Deborah would gain some more experience in the industry as she was only eighteen at the time. After this Deborah worked on stage and some TV, and in 1966 agreed to take the role of Victoria Waterfield, opposite Patrick Troughton as ‘The Doctor’ and Frazer Hines as ‘Jamie’.

And was frequently the target of many a practical joke by both Troughton and Hines.

Deborah stayed with the show for a year, and that period of the shows history is now fondly remembered as The Monster Era. During the time she saw battle with Cybermen, Yeti, Ice Warriors and, in her very first story, the dreaded Daleks.

Sadly, many of Deborah’s episodes have since been wiped by the BBC. Only Tomb Of The Cybermen exists in it’s entirety, after being discovered in Hong Kong in 1992. It has recently been issued on DVD and is one of the top-selling stories in the Doctor Who range. Other singular episodes do exist from Enemy Of The World, Abominable Snowmen, Web Of Fear and four of the six episodes still survive from The Ice Warriors.

Her father, Jack Watling appeared in 2 episodes with her also.

She appeared in the 20th Anniversary The Five Doctors. Did the fan film DownTime. And in 1993 she reprised her companion role for a Children in Need short called Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time.

Numerous Big Finish Audios also.

 

 

Bought and Paid For

The BBC couldn’t do much else. They can’t have the PC SJW’s they are courting turning on them…

The first female Doctor will have to continue the fight to preserve hope and light in the universe, but there is one thing she won’t have to struggle for: pay parity with her male predecessor.

BBC director-general Tony Hall told the Evening Standard that new star Jodie Whittaker will receive pay parity with Peter Capaldi when she takes on the role starting with 2017’s Christmas special.

The news comes on the heels of the recent firestorm faced by the BBC after its top stars’ salaries were released and it was revealed that the highest-paid female celebrity, Claudia Winkleman, makes less than a quarter of the highest-paid male star, “Top Gear’s” Chris Evans, each year. In addition, only one-third of stars making over $194,000 (£150,000) per year are female.

Hall added that he was very pleased with the appointment of a female Time Lord.

“And I do think it is time for [the] 13th Time Lord to be a woman,” he said. “I watched my first ‘Doctor Who’ in the ’60s, hiding behind the sofa. As a devoted Whovian, I’m incredibly excited.”

Capaldi earned between $260,000 and $325,000 in 2016-17 year, according to the BBC’s salary report, so it’s likely she’ll earn a similar figure.

Some fans were less than thrilled by the news of the first female Doctor; to those, the BBC had a rather terse response. “The Doctor is an alien from the planet Gallifrey and it has been established in the show that Time Lords can switch gender,” it said in a statement. (Variety)

So they are chained at the hip to the fickle, emo-driven, PC SJWs. Good luck with that…