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The TV Movie Revisited
If you haven’t seen it, you should pick up the latest Doctor Who Magazine, which has some new articles on the 1996 TV Movie.
Yes, I have given it some grief in the past. Most fans have.
But the article by Jonathan Morris is particularly good.
It points out several very important points about the TV Movie that would eventually lead to another series 9 years later.
The most salient of the points is that the Movie itself is not the now fashionable “Reboot” or “re-imagining” where they throw out most of what you liked about the show just to borrow the name or the basic concept.
Xena reboot? Charmed Reboot? etc etc etc….
The TV Movie, is a CONTINUATION of the series. By having Sylvester McCoy in the first 20 minutes to pass the baton Paul McGann you have a continuation of the old show into the “new” show. Something that would happen, albeit more slowly when Russell T Davies continues the show FROM the the TV Movie in 2005. And then the TV Movie gets a roll in the 50th Anniversary, with Night of the Doctor!
So you have a nearly seamless transition from Classic Series (1963-1989) to TV Movie (1996) to NuWho (2005- ) and they are all THE SAME SERIES. So you can have a series that effectively has been on since 1963 with just some years when it wasn’t on.
In these days of Reboot Mania this is actually an extraordinary feat.
So one of the weaknesses of the TV Movie (not being very new viewer friendly because it picks up with the 7th Doctor for 20 minutes, then has the 8th Doctor come in and be all “Who am I?” for the next 20 minutes so that the movie is half over before it really gets going) and turns it into a significant historical precedent.
Classic Who is connected to the TV Movie and The TV Movie is Connected to NuWho.
There is a reboot in sight. They are not separate canon.
And should the show go off the air again for years and come back, the template has already been laid for it just to pick up where it left off.
I found this to be a revelation that I had not thought about beforea bout the TV Movie.
So it makes the TV Movie that much better overall. The plot still sucks. But for what he had to work with and the fact that it was Writer Matthew Jacobs idea that it should be a continuation makes it better in hindsight than it was in the moment.
Yes, I did say it was THE WRITER’s IDEA! Not Fox. Not Universal. Not The BBC.
The Writer is the one you have to thank for the continuity between Classic Who and NuWho.
Not such a bad guy after all. 🙂
A River Runs Through it
River Song will meet some other incarnations of the Doctor in a new Doctor Who spin off
Big Finish have announced the second audio series of The Diary Of River Song, set for release next year.
River Song met the Doctor in the middle of his pretty boy phase, but now here’s the real test: will she still love the Time Lord when he’s wearing THIS?
Big Finish have revealed that series two of their Diary of River Song audio adventures will feature Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy bouncing off Alex Kingston’s cosmic archaeologist.
Producer David Richardson said: ‘We’re thrilled to have both Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy appearing alongside Alex in this box set. I can promise that River and the Doctor might not necessarily be working to the same agenda. In fact, the two Doctors might not be working to the same agenda either…’
Yup, the faces may change, but that sounds like River and the Doctor all right.
The four hour-long episodes are called The Unknown, Five Twenty Nine, World Enough and Time and Eye Of The Storm.
Guest starts include Anna Maxwell Martin, Jessie Buckly, Robert Pugh and Dan Starkey.
Alex is also back as River Song for Doctor Who: Doom Coalition 2 on March 3, alongside another former Doctor, Paul, McGann.
Review: Hell Bent…
Naturally, there are spoilers ahead…
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Before I get into my more reasoned reaction to the Season Finale, lets talk visceral.
This is what I wrote right after watching the episode yesterday:
AARGHH!
Clara Lives…Moffat’s is the one who’s cruel and cowardly.
He ruined “Face The Raven”. Made it cheap, taudry and manipulative.
Series 9. A magnificent marathon destined to win the Triple Crown of Season Arc Storied Horse racing only to come up lame in the last 10 yards. Such a pity.
I am very angry with you Steven. Very angry indeed!
Another fake Clara Death.
F*ck The Raven….
I have calmed down quite a bit since then (about 12 hours later) and I have a much better opinion of this episode in the end once the emotions have calmed down.
It is actually a good episode. Series 9/35 is one of the best seasons in many years. It is a classic of its own.
But,it was a bit like watch the “Planet of The Apes” Tim Burton remake and you get to that idiotic last 5 minutes that ruined the movie. That was the visceral reaction I had to Time-Locked Undead Clara and Ashildr/Me running off into the universe together.
Fortunately, upon reflection I have a better consideration for this episode, and the last 5 minutes of “Planet of The Apes” STILL sucks. 🙂
The Doctor Clara and her companion, the immortal Me. Off to see the universe.
Is this what the Doctor and The Master would have been like if things had turned out differently? Hmmm…
That’s where the rumors of Me being a companion in The TARDIS obviously come from.
Doctor Clara gets the Hartnell TARDIS.
The visceral reaction is gone. I went too far… 🙂
But do the Time Lords REALLY want to risk having the Hybrid, aka Clara & The Doctor rekindle at some point in the future?
And what happens when Clara and Me meet Jenny?
The mind boggeleth.
Overall, the episode is very good. The Doctor literally broke all the rules and went literally to the end of time to save Clara.
But I still think it cheapened “Face The Raven” and gave us YET ANOTHER Fake Clara Death. I’m so sick of that. That visceral reaction hasn’t gone away. 🙂
The Doctor did break every rule he ever believed in. He was cruel. He was cowardly and he wasn’t The Doctor.
And Moffat got another Gender Change thrown in for sledgehammer effect. Sigh…Unnecessary.
The opening in the diner made me want to scream “MOFFAT!” but I kept it together because the story was actually very good- I just hated that one part- viscerally. 🙂
The Doctor drawing a line in the sand (Wish our President had that much resolution) at his childhood home, Lungbarrow.
The escalation of fear from Time Lords where you get one Chancellery Guard, to the Head of the Guard and several, to The High Council and finally Rassilon himself was very interesting to watch as the fear of the unknown was ratcheted up.
Too bad Rassilon forgot to take his own advice about “immortality is a curse not a blessing” and has gone mad himself and lead Gallifrey and The Universe to the brink of extinction in The Time War.
A Time Lord Victorious.
Now, he wants The Doctor. He “was a good man once” also but fear and death have overtaken him as well.
“Get off his Planet”. So does this mean The Doctor’s The President yet again, and he ran off in a TARDIS instead?
The Doctor is a “War Hero” He won the Time War. Yeah, he committed genocide of both sides and then undid it. 🙂
Rassilon fought it. The Doctor Won it.
Maybe they aren’t so dissimilar.
The Doctor was the one that beat The Death Zone, a playground for the Time Lords to torture other beings in.
They just tortured him for 4.5 billion years because they feared his incite into The Hybrid that would destroy Gallifrey, which the Time Lords naturally consider it to be a melding of the two great races of the universe- The Time Lords and The Daleks because they are the most powerful and most feared.
But it’s the deadly combo of a Time Lord, and a lowly Human who wants to be a Time Lord.
The Doctor & Clara, brought together by that ultimate lover of all things chaos, The Master/Missy. Also, he’s best friend. The Light and Dark in all of us.
Clara and Ashildr.
What does this say about the Cartmel MasterPlan that never finished because of the shows cancellation? The one where Ace was going to become a Time Lord on Gallifrey? 🙂
What does that say about the potentially deadly cocktail of Doctor and Companion for the future?
Peter Capaldi, over these last few episodes, has shown why he is magnificent actor and deserves to be one of the greatest. He oozes resolute menace like no Doctor ever has.
The episode itself is full of visceral reactions and elicits them also.
He “goes too far” and there is Clara, and Ashildr to stomp him back into being a Doctor.
The Time Lord Victorious, indeed. A wounded animal, acting on raw emotions and grief more like.
He’s willing to do literally anything to save her. He literally risks the fabric of time & space itself.
And The Time Lords let him because they are giving into their own fears.What could Clara actually tell them about the Hybrid? I mean really, what could she?
“Why would you even do that?” she asks him, crying, when she learns just how long it’s been since they last met, a heartbeat ago. “I was dead and gone. Why would you even do that to yourself?”
“I had a duty of care,” he says, repeating a phrase he’s uttered before.
It’s sweet and alarming. How far and how bad can things get if you “care” too much? Actually, given his knowledge of time, fixed points and the fallout of violations, it’s mostly alarming how far he’s gone and seems willing to go.
He has literally risked the Universe for her.
But she can talk him off his Time Lord Victorious Ledge and tell him to “Be a Doctor” before he effectively wipes his own memory.
It’s the reverse Donna. He forgets her, instead of her forgetting him OR DYING for real.
When did we become immune to seeing people die, for real?
But I did a fangasm when He steals a TARDIS and runs! Only this time, he takes Clara with him. And it’s an overlit (as it was back in the day) mockup of the First Doctor’s TARDIS with the original Hartnell console from An Adventure in Space & Time standing in for the original.
The Doctor has come full circle.
He’s running away from Gallifrey, afraid and scared, in a TARDIS but it’s not his grand daughter this time.
And via the Mind Clara in the Diner he become the Doctor Reborn with a new Sonic Screwdriver.
And the adventure continues. A new Companion. A New Direction.
Run you Clever Girl, and Remember.
She is now more Impossible that ever. She was born to save The Doctor, after all, even from himself.
Run you clever Doctor, and forget.
He doesn’t like endings, after all.
“stories are where memories go when they’re forgotten.”
A Man is the sum of his memories, you know, a Time Lord Even more so…:)
TEGAN: It’ll soon be goodbye, then.
DOCTOR 5: Will it?
TURLOUGH: Well, you’re off to Gallifrey to be President. I suppose your Time Lord subjects will find a Tardis that really works and get us both home?
DOCTOR 5: Who said anything about Gallifrey?
TURLOUGH: You told Chancellor Flavia
DOCTOR 5: I told her she had full deputy powers until I returned.
TEGAN: You’re not going back?
DOCTOR 5: You know, sometimes, Tegan, you take my breath away.
TURLOUGH: Er, won’t the Time Lords be very angry?
DOCTOR 5: Furious.
TEGAN: You mean you’re deliberately choosing to go on the run from your own people in a rackety old Tardis?
DOCTOR 5: Why not? After all, that’s how it all started.
But first, he has to meet his wife again…
19 Days Until Christmas. Then we are in for a long winters nap.
Revisiting
There was a TARDIS meeting at my house last night. TARDIS is The Arizona Regional Doctor Who Interest Society, a fan club.
We watched “Dragonfire”, the last episode of Season 24. I was a bit hesitant because there is one scene with the umbrella hanging over a cliff that just bugs me so I was resistant, though I love Sylvester.
This is the last Mel, and the First Ace. So it is a transition point in many ways for Classic Who because with ACE and this Doctor we get a very progressively 21st Century feel going for Sylvester’s last 2 season where the Companion and her backstory are explored and sometime even the center of the story.
Mel Screams and is inane. Ace blows things up, calls The Doctor “Professor” and has more back story in this episode alone than most Classic WHO companions get, period.
It’s a very different style than WHO had had before. It is the style adopted by NuWho.
So watching the episode, its way better than I remembered. That scene still bugs me, but overall it’s a solid story.
So I think we should all revisit those Doctor Who episodes we half-remember and just see if they really aren’t better than we thought. “The Gunfighters”, “Fear Her” excluded. 🙂
So to all you naysayers and followers of the meme that “Sylvester’s Doctor killed WHO”, maybe you shouldn’t judge a book by its memory.
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Doctor’s Finest on BBC America:
And here’s the remaining schedule, so set your calendar appointments accordingly!
Saturday, August 22
8/7c – The End of Time
Saturday, August 29
8/7c – Vincent and the Doctor
9:15/8:15c – The Doctor’s Wife
Saturday, September 5
8/7c – The Day of the Doctor
Saturday, September 12
8/7c – The Time of the Doctor
Friday, September 18
8/7c – Deep Breath
Female Doctor– Can of Worms
Anyone who has read my blog know how I feel about this topic. Fair warning.. **POLITICS ALERT**
Doctor Who star Sylvester McCoy says the Time Lord should never regenerate as a woman.
The actor, 71, has dismissed suggestions the time traveller could be played by a female.
He said: “I’m a feminist and recognise there are still glass ceilings in place for many women, but where would we draw the line? A Mr Marple instead of Miss Marple? A Tarzanette?”
Sylvester, the seventh doctor between 1987 and 1989, added: “I’m sorry, but no – Doctor Who is a male character, just like James Bond. If they changed it to be politically correct then it would ruin the dynamics between the doctor and the assistant, which is a popular part of the show.
I agree completely. What’s next, remake Aliens with a Male Ripley? Mary Poppins with Denzel Washington? (or even better Caitlyn Jenner??)
I know, Terminator VI, Sarah Connor is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger!!
Catwoman played by Chris Rock!
Princess Leia played by James Corden!
Scarlett O’Hara played by Will Ferrell. And Rhett Buttler played by Whoopi Goldberg (to be really “progressive” where the plantation owner is black woman!!)
“Rhett, Rhett… Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do? “
Rhett Butler: Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.
Have I made my absurdist point yet?
“I support feminism, but I’m not convinced by the cultural need of a female Doctor Who.”
The show’s writer Steven Moffat ignited the debate last year when he said the doctor could be a woman. He added: “We’ve been laying in the possibility for an awfully long time, but you don’t cast that way. I know I’m going to get in trouble for saying that – you cast a person, you don’t cast the gender.”
Unless you’re Politically Correct and want to make “a statement” then you do for the sake of doing it, regardless of the consequences. Your sanctimony is in tact.
“The first female….” is the only selling point and the only reason. Really?
- The goal is more important than the damage attempting to achieve it causes along the way.
- Never focusing on the possible consequences, but only focusing on the goal. Unfortunately, for Wile E. Coyote, a Mac truck, a train, an explosive rocket, etc. bring the reality of the lack of ability to see all possible consequences into the picture. For liberals, the realities of human nature and economics seem to elude them, as they seem to think that this ACME product will work this time, and that their “super genius” will exert control over what is uncontrollable.
Fifth doctor Peter Davison said in 2013: “If you make the Doctor a woman you’ve effectively just said, ‘Well let’s give you a sex change.’ I don’t think that works.”
Michelle Gomez as The Master works because
a) The Master is not The Doctor, that character is the “arch nemesis” so they are allowed to do just about anything.
b) She’s a fantastic actress.
But it’s still not the Doctor.
Think of it this way, Sherlock Holmes.
Do you want to replace Bernard Cumberbatch with, say Karen Gillan?
Carol Burnett as Capt. Kirk, for more than just one comedy sketch. (there was a comic book series last year I know, I didn’t read it, but that’s a comic book not the TV show or Movie.)
Has Sherlock Holmes ever worked as a Female?
Watson being female was “controversial” when Elementary cast Lucy Liu.
But Ms. Liu is a fantastic actress. They had a reason for it that had nothing to do with PC.
And she’s THE SIDEKICK! She isn’t Sherlock!!!
I’m still unhappy with Starbuck being cast as a Woman in the re-booted Battlestar Galactica. I watched that show for 2 1/2 years and I never saw the reasoning behind Starbuck being a woman. Katee Sackhoff is a good actress but still, it seemed to be done just be done.
Same with Boomer.
But again, NOT the main character, again it’s the Sidekick.
Adama, as a Woman? Apollo as a Woman??
Don’t think so.
Remember how bad, Mrs. Columbo was? I do. Even if it starred Kate Mulgrew.
Doing it for the sake of proclaiming you did it heedless of any consequences is a stupid thing to do. Period.
But it sends a thrill up the leg of the PC Crowd.
The rest of us just have to deal with the damage.
This isn’t a “War Doctor” that effectively messes with arithmetic (1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…War…9…10…11…12…).
So what if Actress X is “perfect”, should you do it?
NO.
Some things should just be left alone.
Especially, kept away from the PC crowd.
That’s just my opinion.
Doctor Who Fests
Join us at the official Doctor Who Festival on 13, 14 and 15 November 2015. Tickets on sale from 5 June 2015, 10am BST!
(which means NOW!)
I know I can’t go because I spend my wad on The Symphonic Spectacular.
But closer to home…
http://www.tardisconventions.com/#!phoenixguests/ce4q
Phoenix, AZ
July 10, 11, 12
Sylvester, Colin, Nicola, Ian McNeice and Terry Molloy.
That’s more doable. 🙂
Caught My Eye
I love Big Finish and the work they do. But due to money and time resources I just don’t have enough of either to keep up with them but this one caught my eye.
198. The Defectors
Synopsis
‘…it possesses a wonderful nostalgic quality, aided no doubt by the incredible chemistry between, and performances from Sylvester McCoy and Katy Manning… It’s absolutely marvellous. In fact it’s marvellous with an extra dollop of brilliant on top. More please!’ Tim Mass Movement
‘… well handled concepts and twists alongside strong performances… an entertaining adventure… most effective in the way it blends the action and military intrigue of the Pertwee era with the darker, more ambiguous edge of McCoy’s Doctor.’ SFX
Jo Grant is shocked to find most of her colleagues are missing. Then she discovers that the Doctor has inexplicably changed.
But there’s no time to worry about it, as she and her misplaced Time Lord friend are whisked to the mysterious Delphin Isle on a matter of national security. There, they encounter a disturbingly odd form of local hospitality and learn of a highly classified incident that took place during the Cold War.
Why exactly have they been brought here? And what is the truth concerning the bodies in the harbour and the vast project being undertaken beneath a cloak of secrecy?
Written By: Nicholas Briggs
The idea of bringing the manipulative and dark 7th Doctor together with the light and frothy emo chanracter of Jo Grant was a fascinating concept I might just have to bit on.
I like odd combinations and intriguing possibilities. It’s one of the things that drew me to Doctor Who in the first place.
The limitless possibilities.
I’ll let you know how it turns out… 🙂
Nicholas Courtney
Nicholas Courtney, the legendary Brigadier Allistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, passed away 4 years ago today. He would have been 85.
One of the most beloved characters (and actors) in all of the Whoniverse.
His character carries on even to this day, with his last “appearance” in the season finale of Series 8 in portrait form, and effectively Cyber-Brig.
With Jemma Redgrave set to return as the Brig’s daughter Kate he’ll probably get a mention or two.
He was and is a legend in Doctor Who and should never be forgotten.
Now that’s Legendary. 🙂
The eagerly awaited first novel in the Lethbridge-Stewart series, The Forbidden Son, is available to pre-order now from Amazon!
Follow the Brigadier as he awakes to a whole new world after the events of 1968 serial The Web of Fear in this, the first in a series of Lethbridge-Stewart novels planned for release every quarter during 2015 – all of which are fully licensed by the Executor of the Haisman Literary Estate, Mervyn Haisman’s granddaughter Hannah Haisman, and endorsed by Henry Lincoln.
The first series consists of The Forgotten Son by Andy Frankham-Allen, Horror of Det-Sen by Lance Parkin, The Schizoid Earth by David A McIntee and Mutually Assured Domination by Nick Walters.
ACE!
I have said this for a long time.
In 1987, Doctor Who broke the companion mould with Dorothy Gale McShane – better known of course as Ace – the streetwise, working class kid who blew up the school art room, and became the only cautioned arsonist to ever board the TARDIS.
With a fondness for homemade explosives, and hailing from a very different background to those she succeeded, Ace became the first Doctor Who companion to truly develop before our very eyes as she journeyed through adolescence and into adulthood. Laying the foundations for future companions to build upon, she is perhaps not only a pivotal character in Doctor Who history, but genre TV in general.
“From the beginning all we knew about Ace was that she would be a fighter and not a screamer – the antithesis of some of the earlier companions (Mel was a screamer). So that was our starting point.” Andrew Cartmel (Doctor Who script editor 1986 – 1987) told me recently, “I also had made a conscious decision not to use the companion as a weary routine story device. Not just to ask questions; although some of that is necessary. More importantly, I wanted to avoid the standard cliché where you separate the Doctor and companion early in the story. But the fact that Ace began to blossom as a strong three-dimensional character is down to the fact that she was written by superb writers.”
Taking over as script editor in 1986, Andrew set about his task of assembling a team of writers capable of reinvigorating the ailing sci-fi giant, with Ace gradually evolving into an integral part of this plan.
“Ian Briggs’ contribution cannot be overstated.” Andrew says, “But other writers who particularly responded to her and fleshed her out were Ben Aaronovitch, Marc Platt and Rona Munro. The evolution of the character, through their contributions, was an organic process.”
Much like Rose Tyler in 2005, and long before Buffy, Xena and the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica were lauded for capable female characters, progressive story arcs, and sexual subtext – Ace became the emotional core of Doctor Who. While more adult connotations were initially vetoed by producer John Nathan-Turner, who rejected discussions about the character’s virginity in early scripts, in companion terms Doctor Who was poised to step closer to the real world. Far from distracting from the character of the Doctor, this actually allowed the Time Lord to be viewed more as an enigma – removed from humanity but forever its champion. While we may never truly identify with the Doctor, here we had arguably the first companion, we all either knew, could be, or could spot on the street. Disproving the theory that a companion’s main role is to provide exposition, themes of teenage angst, racism, and eventually sexual awakening all presented themselves in young McShane – a notable first for not only Doctor Who, but all genre TV of that age. Unaware of the significance of their actions, Andrew and his colleagues were formulating and plotting decades ahead of their time, “I only realised how different it was from the standard template years later. At the time, I just knew I liked it.”
Introduced in the final story of Doctor Who’s twenty fourth season, Dragonfire, Dorothy (Ace) McShane is the polar opposite of the then current TARDIS incumbent, Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford). Ace was portrayed with great gusto by Sophie Aldred, who proved her acting chops in the very first scene she recorded – one in which she resisted the temptation of enlisting for the villainous Kane. Here we had an unruly, tempestuous tearaway who would be more likely to instruct an alien to “bog off” – than scream on the spot for minutes without pausing for breath. Although very little of her evolution had been formulated at this point, the first seeds of parental issues were sown, and from just the briefest of moments alone in the TARDIS, the potential for the dynamite combination of the 7th Doctor and Ace is clearly evident.
As Ace developed, so did the production team’s processes, Cartmel’s memoir of the era, Script Doctor, gives a fascinating insight into the changes he instigated, as lead actors and writers were invited to impromptu get-togethers to discuss their characters. With the trappings of the previous era well and truly discarded, and in just her first full adventure as the Time Lord’s companion – Ace quickly became immortalised in the show’s history.
Remembrance Of The Daleks kicked off the programme’s 25th anniversary season in spectacular, action-packed style. Feisty yet vulnerable, charming yet uncouth, Ace would tackle racism, face betrayal and – her crowning moment – batter a Dalek with a baseball bat – all within those 4×25 minute episodes. While it would take another year for Ace to truly share top billing with the Doctor, the template for the modern companion had been forged. Without a moment’s hesitation, and eager to go into battle for the Time Lord, Ace does not need to think twice as she holds off a patrol of Cybermen carrying nothing more than a catapult and an ancient bag of gold coins. Foreshadowing the devotion of post-2005 companions, the young McShane is beginning to realise her full potential in life and own self-worth, one which had previously been denied by birth and circumstance.
Season 26 began with the divisive, yet eventful romp, Battlefield, which in hindsight gave us our final glimpse of the teenage tearaway just as adulthood beckoned. Arguably, the remaining stories of the season were crafted around Ace. Described as a trilogy by some, the first of these, Ghost Light, begins as Ace has at some point causally mentioned her greatest fear to the Time Lord, and as this is the 7th Doctor he promptly drops her right in it. Arriving at Gabriel Chase in 1883, Ace must confront the Doctor over his trickery, and face the origins of a terror which her young self will act rashly upon in a hundred years’ time. With her future self sensing the impression of evil left behind by the villainous Light, the young McShane will burn the Gabriel Chase of 1983 to the ground. Lashing out after the racially motivated murder of her school friend Manisha, Ace finally reveals her guilt to the Time Lord in the stories’ final, memorable dinner scene. The Doctor may have a grand plan for Ace, but is he truly acting in her best interests, or is there an ulterior motive behind the Time Lord’s interest…
In The Curse Of Fenric, several momentous events befall Ace that alter the youngster from Perivale forever. The character’s background is explored in ways never previously afforded to a companion, but which were to become commonplace in the 2005 revival. The Doctor and Ace materialise at a secret British naval base in 1941, just as a team of Russian commandos prepare to attack, and vampiric creatures lurk beneath the waters of the nearby Northumberland coast. Revealed to be one of the ‘Wolves of Fenric’ – descendants of Viking settlers cursed by the ancient evil, who in turn engineered the teenager’s first meeting with the Time Lord. Had the youngster really been nothing more than a pawn, in a centuries-old game between Fenric and the Time Lord? A paradox of her own making, Ace must face revelations that shape her own future and make peace with her conflicting emotions towards her mother. A pivotal scene in her story arc, and in hindsight the programme’s history – sees the young woman offer to distract a guard to aid the Russian Captain’s escape. “How?” enquires the Doctor. “Professor… I’m not a little girl.” The scene perfectly highlights the potential of an emotionally charged Doctor Who, and unbeknown at the time, in this moment perhaps – the show’s glorious future is assured. The young girl from Perivale, destined to bleed into the minds of future Doctor Who writers, as they settle on the role of Rose, Jack, and their like 16 years later.
If Fenric closed the door on one chapter of Ace’s life then Survival, the final story of Doctor Who’s twenty-six year run, gave a glimpse of where she could be headed. Now a mature young woman, Ace takes charge of her former gang members when found trapped on an alien planet and hunted by its feline inhabitants. Laced with a subtext which would have done Xena: Warrior Princess proud, Ace becomes emotionally linked to Karra, one of the female felines. As writer Rona Munro stated in a 2007 interview, “I think the actors that were cast, from what I was told, were doing all this wonderful expressive facial work, and then these ‘Puss In Boots’ things were dropped on them – and so then you can’t see what they’re doing under there. Particularly Karra and Ace, there were whole amazing scenes between them and for me, that was supposed to be my lesbian subtext – and you can’t see it!”. Themes and undercurrents, which were to be praised to the hilt in a variety of TV shows in the years to come, were already bubbling away within Ace and an unloved twenty-six-year-old – yet still most innovative – programme on British TV.
By the end of the 1989 season, the immature and emotionally scarred teenager had blossomed into a confident young woman. Having vanquished her inner pain, the brash exterior Ace had developed to mask it now fell away. Although a sad loss to those of us thrilled by the good work in 1989, we can at least look back and revaluate that final walk into the sunset for the Doctor and Ace. No longer a painful goodbye, it should be viewed as a job well done – and one which lay the foundations for the greatest television comeback of all time.
Whatever happened to Dorothy McShane? That sounds very much like a spin-off just waiting to happen. And fittingly, unlike most companions, Ace’s final fate has never truly been realised. While we were denied the opportunity to see the Doctor enrol her into the Time Lord Academy as mooted, the Target novelisation of The Curse Of Fenric has Ace settle down with an ancestor of Captain Sorin in Paris, 1887. Doctor Who Magazine comic strip, Ground Zero, had Ace killed off, while a more favourable ending is suggested in Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, which made mention of a Dorothy who became the head of a charitable trust which raised billions.
Who knows, future show runners may just pick up on Russell T. Davies’ idea that had The Sarah Jane Adventures continued, Ace would have made an appearance – and it could yet bear fruit in some form or another. Perhaps, that baseball bat really will live to swing another day.
Survival
Guest contributor Levi Cohen-Kreshin looks at how fans survived after Doctor Who’s cancellation. (DoctoWhoTV)
Introduction: The End of ‘89
The twenty-third of November, 1989 – Doctor Who’s twenty-sixth anniversary: Sylvester McCoy records a melancholy monologue to be played at the end of an episode. The sixth of December, 1989: the third and final part of Survival, Doctor Who’s last “classic” serial, is broadcast. Sophie Aldred as Ace – and Anthony Ainley as the Master – will never be seen on screen again in those roles. August, 1990: the Doctor Who production office at the BBC closes down for the first time, having been in operation since 1963. As the last of the Target novelizations were made, many fans thought that that was the end of Doctor Who, even as the BBC attempted to maintain that it would only be another hiatus. Ace and the Doctor had walked off into the sunset with “work to do”– the story, and the magic, was over. The so-called Wilderness Years had begun…
The New Adventures
June, 1991: John Peel’s Timewyrm: Genesys was published. It was the news no one expected and everyone rejoiced over: Virgin Publishing had been given a license to continue the Doctor’s adventures offscreen. Soon enough, the Virgin New Adventures (often called New Adventures, or NAs) were popular enough to be monthly publications. Writers familiar to “New Who” had their Doctor Who beginnings in this 61-book long line of novels: Russell T Davies wrote Damaged Goods, Paul Cornell wrote 5 (including his later adapted Human Nature), Mark Gatiss’s first piece of professional writing was Nightshade, and Gareth Roberts penned, among others, The Highest Science.
A parade of companions followed the manipulative and brooding Seventh Doctor, the principal players being Ace, the everpopular Bernice “Benny” Summerfield, Chris Cwej, and Roz Forrester. The books were occasionally criticized (and in some places rightly so) for being too mature. Some authors went overboard on the sex, drugs, and violence (including our own Russell T Davies), but overall the consensus was clear: Rassilon thank Virgin for keeping Doctor Who alive.
But all good things must come to an end. In March of 1997, Lungbarrow by Marc Platt was published, featuring Chris, Ace, Leela, Romana, K9, and a resolution to the “Cartmel Masterplan” surrounding the Doctor’s origin begun in the 80s. It was the last Seventh Doctor novel written for the NA line. One more book was published by Virgin starring the Doctor: The Dying Days, written by Lance Parkin, featuring Bernice Summerfield… and the eighth incarnation of our favourite Time Lord.
Pilots, McGann, and Licensing Issues, Oh My!
Let’s backtrack a little bit. Philip Segal, an Essex-born expatriate working for Columbia Pictures’ television branch in the US, acted on behalf of the BBC in looking for an independent production company to relaunch the show with. Although he began in July 1989 (while the final season was still being produced), Segal’s search dragged on, nearly enticing Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment to commission the series but having no such luck. Eventually, Trevor Walton of the Fox Network at Universal Studios was interested, being an Englishman familiar with the series himself. Unable to get a full series commissioned, Walton managed to get a one-time television movie produced that theoretically would act as a backdoor pilot (acting as a piece of material on its own that showed the concept of a series).
The movie, simply called Doctor Who by Universal (later known as either “The TV Movie” or The Enemy Within), was unique for continuing the British television show in America, as opposed to starting from scratch. The idea of scriptwriter Matthew Jacobs, his method was fairly simple: roll out Sylvester McCoy, kill him off, and have him regenerate. The new Doctor was cast as Paul McGann, Segal’s first choice for the role, although the Fox Network – and McGann himself – were not originally interested. Fun fact for trivia hunters: Jo Wright (no relation to Barbara, of course), an Executive Producer of the BBC, wanted Tom Baker to be the regenerating Doctor, as Tom Baker’s era was much more popular amongst the British public. Segal, luckily, managed to convince her of the timeywimey error of her ways.
14 May, 1996: the Fox Network broadcasts Doctor Who, with BBC One following suit thirteen days later. In the US, it drew in a paltry 5.5 million viewers, as compared to a very solid 9 million in the UK. Although the television movie itself received mixed reviews, Paul McGann’s joyously effervescent Doctor received great acclaim. One fantastic performance, however, wasn’t enough strong evidence against the low US figures for Fox, and no series was ever commissioned.
Back to Virgin Publishing. The BBC decided to revoke Virgin’s license to produce Doctor Who novels after the TV Movie. 61 New Adventures were produced by Virgin (all but the last featuring the Seventh Doctor), as well as 33 Missing Adventures (starring previous Doctors). Virgin’s line of New Adventures continued with the Paul Cornell created character of Bernice Summerfield, who was not owned by the BBC and thus was allowed to star in her own, Doctor-free series. Much like their last novel’s name, this was the NA line’s dying days. Of course, the Wilderness Years weren’t over; far from it, really. The Eighth Doctor was about to take the reigns.
In With the New
Virgin’s license wasn’t renewed due to BBC Books taking back the rights to publish original Doctor Who fiction. In June of ‘97 (merely one month after the last Virgin book was published), the BBC began two novel lines: the Past Doctor Adventures with the Third Doctor’s The Devil Goblins from Neptune, and the Eighth Doctor Adventures with the (admittedly lacklustre) The Eight Doctors. The “PDAs”, as they’re known, continued until December of 2005, a good six months after the New Series returned; they ended with the Seventh Doctor in Atom Bomb Blues.
The EDAs ceased in June of ‘05 in Lance Parkin’s The Gallifrey Chronicles, with January’s To the Slaughter being the last novel in which the Eighth Doctor was the “current” Doctor (Rose aired in March). 73 novels were produced, featuring McGann’s incarnation with companions Sam, Fitz Kreiner (technically one of the longestserving companions), Compassion (who has a very interesting story arc), Anji Kapoor, and Trix MacMillan.
Although the NAs had their fair share of long plotlines, arcs like those in New Who are easily identifiable in the EDAs, including (but not limited to) a long-running amnesia storyline, an arc concerning a mysterious character named Sabbath, the organization known as Faction Paradox, and a certain plot occurrence that all New Who fans should find very familiar indeed. The EDAs also introduced Paul Magrs’s brilliant Iris Wildthyme, a troublesome character that would later be voiced by Katy Manning (yes, Jo Grant herself) for several Big Finish audios of her own.
The EDAs were never quite as popular as the NAs, although my love and respect for them has only multiplied with each novel I read. Many detractors call them boring or badly written; on the contrary, this is some of the best Doctor Who writing in the expanded Whoniverse (more on that in the recommendations section below). Another factor in the unfortunate lack of interest may be the introduction of another medium for the Eighth Doctor to shine.
Big Finish, Small Beginnings
If you haven’t heard of Big Finish… shame on you!
Just kidding. There have been several articles on this website about Big Finish, and I’d definitely recommend you go check them out. As for its history, the company began with a group of people who had collaborated together on the unlicensed fan series of Doctor Who Audio Visuals. Twenty-six of these were produced, with Nicholas Briggs (better known to 21st century audiences as the voice of the Daleks) starring as the Doctor. The BBC chose to look away from the copyright violation, thankfully, and the group formed during this period stuck together in forming a serious science fiction audio company.
Big Finish’s beginnings were with a series of fullcast audio plays adapted from Virgin books. Because a license hadn’t been given to the new company to create new Doctor Who, any stories with the Doctor in them were rewritten sans Time Lord, and starred Bernice Summerfield instead. Five of the six adaptations were done by the marvelous Jacqueline Rayner, and Benny Summerfield was given a voice at last by Lisa Bowerman, who had played the cheetah person Karra in Survival.
On the 19th of July, 1999, Big Finish Productions released The Sirens of Time, a four-part story starring Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy. Yes, Big Finish had received a license from the BBC for producing Doctor Who, and decided to begin it with a multi-Doctor story written and directed by Nicholas Briggs. While I wouldn’t recommend the story (and neither would many others), it was a landmark for Doctor Who in the Wilderness Years. Davison, Baker, and McCoy sounded virtually the same, and the audio plays that followed showed that stories often more engaging than those produced by the television show could be made without visuals.
January, 2001: Storm Warning, the sixteenth in Big Finish’s monthly Doctor Who range, is released. It was the first audio to star Paul McGann as the Doctor, and introduced a new companion, Charlotte Pollard, for him to journey around the stars with. Paul remained the incumbent Doctor up until 2004’s The Next Life, which ended a long arc taking place in a different universe. His next audio was released after Rose had aired, as well as after Christopher Eccleston had regenerated into David Tennant.
Big Finish has created many companions for the 80s Doctors, often bridging gaps between stories with several (or quite a lot of) audio adventures. Among them are Erimem for the Fifth Doctor, the wonderful Evelyn Smythe for the Sixth, Hex Schofield for the Seventh, and Charley Pollard, Lucie Miller, and Molly O’Sullivan for the Eighth. Big Finish is not a company to be missed, and we have the luck of having both its Wilderness Years output – much of which is deliriously imaginative – and its current offerings. Hey, they’ve gotten Tom Baker on board to do his own audio series, and that’s nothing short of a minor miracle.
In Conclusion
People often mourn the Wilderness Years. They speak of the never-produced Season 27; of the uncompleted Cartmel Masterplan; of the possible companions the Seventh could have had; of the feeling of disjunction the Whovian community had. I respond to these points with ease. Big Finish created adaptations of Season 27, Virgin finished the Cartmel Masterplan, and the Seventh’s had more companions than even the First (who’s been known to hoard TARDIS teams).
As for that feeling of falling apart, the Wilderness Years actually brought the community closer together. Only those truly dedicated to Doctor Who remained, and they managed to overcome the roadblock of the show not being made in a variety of ways. Novels, unlike the show, could be taken everywhere, as could audios; in a portion which I have not covered, the comic strips, Doctor Who Magazine morphed from being a kid’s insider to another method of holding the fandom together.
What I’m trying to say is that the Wilderness Years let Doctor Who breathe. They released it from budgetary constraints, from vehement protestors like Mary Whitehouse, and from BBC controllers who had a grudge against the show. They allowed it to try entirely new ideas and allowed a wealth of new talent to come to the fore. And, most of all, they showed that Doctor Who is a show – a universe, even – unlike any other. I’m having trouble coming up with any other show that dealt with cancellation by providing even more content than what was being produced before.
So take a moment before you jump from 1989 to 1996 to 2005. Don’t think of it as the gap, the divide between Classic and New Who. Think of it as an era all of its own, one that deserves to be lauded and discussed just as much as any of the others. It’s the era of the fans that would not give up, of the companies who saw too much value in Doctor Who to just let it die.
Let yourself find the Lost Years.
Recommendations
Now, this is tough, because I’ve discussed many different lines of work to sample. So, to simplify things for myself (and you all), I’m going to select three-five books from each range and a nice grab bag of audios from Big Finish. However, as with any part of Doctor Who, I’d seriously recommend going in order for the NAs and EDAs. The pay-off is great. And if money’s tight, the books especially can be found in second-hand stores and in used copies on Amazon (that’s how I get all of mine).
Virgin New Adventures (NAs)
- Love and War, by Paul Cornell
- The Left-Handed Hummingbird, by Kate Orman
- Human Nature, by Paul Cornell
(Note: I’d recommend Lungbarrow, but finding it at a cheap price is rather difficult these days. Just look at Amazon’s prices!)
Virgin Missing Adventures (VMAs)
- The Romance of Crime, by Gareth Roberts (4th Doctor)
- Managra, by Stephen Marley (4th Doctor)
- Cold Fusion, by Lance Parkin (5th and 7th Doctors)
Eighth Doctor Adventures (EDAs)
- Seeing I, by Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum
- The Year of Intelligent Tigers, by Kate Orman
- The City of the Dead, by Lloyd Rose
- The Tomorrow Windows, by Jonathan Morris
Past Doctor Adventures (PDAs)
- The Witch Hunters, by Steve Lyons (1st Doctor)
- The Shadow in the Glass, by Justin Richards and Stephen Cole (6th Doctor)
- The Algebra of Ice, by Lloyd Rose (7th Doctor)
- Fear Itself, by Nick Wallace (8th Doctor)
- The Time Travellers, by Simon Guerrier (1st Doctor)
Big Finish Productions
Monthly Range:
- Doctor Who and the Pirates (6th Doctor)
- Jubilee (6th Doctor)
- Storm Warning (8th Doctor)
- The Chimes of Midnight (8th Doctor)
- The Kingmaker (5th Doctor)
Companion Chronicles:
- Solitaire (8th Doctor)
- Home Truths/The Drowned World/The Guardian of the Solar System (1st Doctor)
- Find and Replace (3rd Doctor)
- Peri and the Piscon Paradox (5th and 6th Doctors)
Eighth Doctor Adventures:
- Blood of the Daleks (Parts 1 and 2)
- Max Warp
- The Scapegoat The Cannibalists
Fourth Doctors Adventures:
- The Wrath of the Iceni
- The Justice of Jalxar
- Phantoms of the Deep
Extras:
- Love and War (an audio adaptation!)
- Bernice Summerfield: Oh No It Isn’t! (another book adaptation, but a great one)
I’d also seriously recommend Big Finish’s Jago & Litefoot spinoff series, starring the legendary duo from The Talons of Weng Chiang. Seriously, all of the stuff you can get from these lines of books and audios is great. I hope I’ve been able to shed some light on all things Expanded Whoniverse, and provide a sort of entryway into the Wilderness Years.