Plagued with Flawed Tapes by Kevin McCorry 7/8/98
Here is the sad chronicle of my past few months in collecting of CBS-FOX's Doctor Who videos. In April, I had a friend buy and send me Destiny of the Daleks. Through the second 50 minutes of the tape, there were repeated dropouts caused by dirty heads on the machine that recorded the tape, including one that obliterated the whole picture for some 4 frames. At some 5 dollars expense of postage, I had to return the tape for a replacement. Luckily, the replacement was perfect. But my fortunes went downhill fast. I ordered Earthshock from Columbia House. First tape: major tracking problems in Part 4. Replacement (after paying 5 dollars in postage to return the defective first tape): the dirty-heads-on-recorder dropout problem, including the ever-popular screen-spanning dropout. Second replacement: same picture problems, though in different places, as on first replacement. Conclusion: after spending 15 dollars on postage returning one inconsequential tape after another, I give up on Earthshock. I'm never going to get a decent copy.
A few weeks ago, a friend sent me The Armageddon Factor. Same problem: the dirty-head recorded screen-spanning spurts of video noise. Had to return it. No doubt replacement will be equally unsatisfactory. Trying a different source, I ordered Castrovalva from Amazon.com. When it arrived, I put the tape in my machine and found a pair of rainbow glitches at the start of the tape, indicating that the tape was reused and not properly blanked. Rainbow glitches are unacceptable on a prerecorded tape that costs more than 30 dollars in Canadian dollars (when I can buy theatrical movies for less than 15 dollars with more reliable quality. Had same problem with "Terror of the Autons" that I ordered from various sources. Every tape I ordered of this episode had rainbow glitch on it. Last year, on a double pack of The King's Demons/The Five Doctors, rainbow glitch on The King's Demons. Double tape packs are invariably flawed on one of the tapes.
Just what is going on here anyway? Am I just the unluckiest collector in the world, or does CBS-FOX not care about its Doctor Who videos and is using inferior, used tapes and unkempt equipment to record them? Has anyone else experienced these problems? Right now, I'm at the end of my rope. I just cannot order any more Who tapes. Until they're available locally with a money-back guarantee, I cannot risk any more of my hard-earned money on these shoddily manufactured videos.
Through the Past Darkly-- Enjoying the Lost Episodes of Doctor Who by Carl West 22/8/98
Being exceedingly curious about this Telesnap Reconstruction craze, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and request a copy of the much raved-about Fury from the Deep. With the deepest respect for the talented (and kind) gentlemen who create and distribute these reconstructions for free, I really have to say that I was a little disappointed with the video. I have heard that the actual telesnaps are really rather tiny in size, and I am afraid this becomes all too evident when they are scanned by a video camera: the resolution of the images is fuzzy. I understand that with some of the more recent reconstructions, the scanning of the telesnaps is much better, so I certainly do not wish to demean these people's more recent work (I have not even seen any of it).
Anyway, my point is that, for me, the Telesnap Reconstructions are scarcely better than the Target novelizations in terms of being an adequate means for bringing the lost episodes back to life. So where does the answer lie? If you ask me: the audios. Although I was not really impressed by the visuals of the Fury video, it was very exciting to get the chance to experience the existing audio of the story. Particularly since most of us are quite familiar with Patrick Troughton's Doctor from the stories that do still exist, his voice in the Fury audio is more than enough for us to imagine the tramp-like little man (this holds true for Jamie's and Victoria's presence on the audio, too).
I was quite delighted to hear that the audios for every single lost episode do in fact exist. Now, I for one would not recommend that anyone try to sit down and listen to a "raw," unnarrated Doctor Who audio and expect to be very pleased. The predominant question on your mind half of the time would be: "What the hell is going on?" The BBC has released several of the audios with narration by Tom Baker, Colin Baker, and Jon Pertwee, but for some exceedingly frustrating reason the BBC has allowed these tapes to go out of print. (Actually, there is a marvelous site called The Missing Scripts, which provides what could be a valuable and accurate readable companion to the audios.) Regarding the Target novelizations, Doctor Who for most of us is a sight and sound, television experience, and those rather unliterary TV tie-ins can be a little less than satisfying sometimes.
With the recent lawsuit in England concerning the illicit distribution of BBC material, the future of fan-distributed, rare Who seems quite uncertain. Personally, I would really like to see the BBC release more narrated audios of the lost stories. Marco Polo and The Abominable Snowmen are two that I would particularly love to see released.
My vision for the future by Jacob Cash 22/8/98
Doctor Who should be in a strong position for revival. There are many dedicated and sensible fans willing to support any sort revival that anyone might suggest. In fact, there are many more fans than one might first suspect.
I suspect that Star Trek had a similar following after its original series ended, but it had the advantage of having a shorter original series, allowing the perfect timing for it's original creator to make "the next generation". Doctor Who of course kept going with it's original series, making any "next generation" seem like a copy-cat manoeuvre.
As with any long running show, keeping originality and "freshness" of ideas becomes difficult, and Doctor Who has it's share of "re-hashes", but less than most due to its highly flexible nature. It's long running and established "tradition", makes any departure into a "next generation", I suspect, a risky move that would be confronted with much (unjustified?) negativity from the dedicated fans. New or casual fans might not be as concerned, but a group of vocal fans could make such a series unpopular. I think these factors keep possible sponsors of a new series away.
Perhaps some fans see the Doctor Who movie as a "next generation" departure, and hence this is why they don't like it. I will admit that it is definitely a different generation from the original series, but whether it is the next generation I think is up for debate.
Something to consider is an amalgamation of the movie and the original series, if we are to see Doctor Who move into the 21st Century with new adventures to its name. Of course many fans will tell me that the books, and in some way the telesnap reproductions are the new Doctor Who. In many ways they are right, but for the majority of the public (to which a new series has to be aimed), Doctor Who is a television series, nothing else.
What I prepose is a re-creation or re-production of the missing/destroyed episodes. Obviously you wouldn't "copy" to the extent that you would get a William Hartnell or Patrick Troughton impersonator, but instead use the scripts with the new characters. The stories could be re-created with a new doctor and companions, without having to drastically change the story. Of course some of the dialogue would change for a new doctor and companions, but the story, the most important factor in any Who, would still be there.
I know many fans would see this as sacrilege, but I think it would make the basis for a number of seasons and allow the public to see these great stories again. Some would say, "what happens if we find a warehouse with all the missing episodes"? Well firstly, I would say that this is extremely unlikely, and secondly, so what? The object wouldn't be trying to re-create exactly the older episodes, but make them as new adventures, with the plot or story the same as the older episodes.
Obviously some problems exist, such as stories with one or two episodes in existence, but I'm sure there are many inventive ways this could be overcome. You could even use these on purpose, under the pre-text that the doctor has to re-visit his past to save the fabric of time from some unknown evil or some more inventive scenario.
Predominantly what I'm trying to say is:
I would be most interested in people's comments.
The Future For Doctor Who by Tom May 24/8/98
Jacob's vision (in the essay above) is one which potentially is a winner. Personally, I would like to see newly scripted stories, by an array of good writers-- Parkin, Miles, Orman, Blum, Cornell etc, backed up by a reasonable budget, a stylistic direction for the series to take, and directors of Alan Wareing and Graeme Harper's class. The direction my series would take: As much as I'd like to do a more adult series, circa The NAs, I think new Doctor Who would have to have broad appeal, without the JNT Era continuity excesses.
I'd have to use monsters a lot, and bring back old enemies, but not very often. The cleverness and social depth of the McCoy era should be moulded with historicals from the Hartnell era, the horror of the Troughton era and the humour of the Williams era. Of course, to achieve such a lethally good combination would be distinctly tough.
Jacob's idea should work fine, but has this sort of thing been attempted before? A lot of people would have to be convinced, not least the fans. Nevertheless, I think it would be great to see big budget creations of such classics as Marco Polo, Web of Fear, Abominable Snowmen, Fury From The Deep, Daleks' Master Plan, Power & Evil of the Daleks, The Massacre, The Crusade.... The only problem would be how the Doctor's personality and actions in these stories would have to be changed. For instance, the actor chosen would find it hard portraying the same role in Marco Polo and Evil of the Daleks.
Also, the relevance of Power of the Daleks would be lost, unless the lead actor changed. The whole concept of re-doing stories, could also entail a little agitation for hardcore fans, who know exactly what's going to happen in the missing stories. The funny thing is though, that this approach to new Doctor Who could have large appeal to the general public, despite alienating fans who hate it, because it can't fit into the Doctor Who canon.
It would be worth giving it a try I think. All of the true lost classics could be made, and then, once this new series was popular, new stories could be made. The choice of Doctor/Companions would be vital, with Alan Davies, Martin Clunes and Brian Blessed all likely to do well. For the companions, I think that either famous, or up-and-coming actors (for the Ian/Ben/Jamie role), and actresses (Susan/Barbara/Polly/Victoria) should be cast.
All of this though is highly unlikely to happen, as the BBC harbour a ridiculous grudge against it's most iconic and entertaining programme.
The Meaning of Vortis by Dr. Terry Evil 24/4/99
...being an update of The Meaning of Liff, wherein the names of towns get their own definitions. Here, I've done the same thing with planets in the Whoniverse, wherein you get more exotic, if slightly more quarry-strewn, places.
Anea (n. medical)
The correct term for choking on a cup of tea, thereby spraying it both up
your nose and for a two metre radius.
Aneth (n.)
An Estonian holiday celebrating the one time when stuffed pork roll was
available on the black market.
Argolis (n.)
A type of cheap heater which Anne Robinson is always warning you about but
which has nevertheless been gassing selected members of the elderly
community for the past twenty years.
Betrushia (n.)
A Russian eyebrow comb.
Castrovalva (n.)
A type of motor oil that used to be manufactured in East European
communist countries. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, many gallons have
been imported to the west, where it's been hilariously ruining the cars of
penny-pinching capitalist running dog lackey drivers ever since.
Chloris (adj.)
Descriptive of the annoyance directed at a partner who feels that one
cannot have enough photosythesising going on in the house.
Draconia (n.)
The mysterious treatment which has been keeping the Queen Mother alive all
these years, despite the fact she drinks three bottles of gin and smokes
50 fags a day.
Dronid (pl. n.)
The excretia from very small insects which you apparently swallow three
tons of during your lifetime, according to a typically panic-inducing
article in the Sunday Times magazine.
Emindar (n.)
The panic caused by equating the amount of dairy products eaten in a
lifetime with a new report on the possibility of catching lysteria,
salmonella, e-koli etc.
Gallifrey (adj.)
A friendly punch-up in an Irish bar.
Kastopheria (vb.)
The apprehension one feels when Cliff Richard releases a new record.
Kursaal (vb.)
To chastise oneself for doing absolutely nothing when you at least should
have done something about that smell in your bedroom.
Mechanus (adj.)
An official BBC phrase describing the interior workings of devices created
by Matt Irvine.
Menda (vb.)
The act of walking incredibly fast. Usually only performed by sellers of
the Big Issue and people in shell suits.
Mictlan (n.)
The language spoken by actors in films when they're ordered to converse
in any foreign language. Usually consists of phrases like
'isken-lisken-bisken-twisken-noronov.'
Mondas (n. archaic)
The ancient Roman word for actors who come on occasionally, sincerely
agree with the lead character, and walk off again. The word is only used
today in reference to Noel's House Party.
Pakha (vb.)
An Indian term of amusement, mostly displayed on witnessing a westerner
arrogantly ordering the hottest curry on the menu and zealously eating his
way to dehydration, mouth ulcers and a full fortnight of horrific toilet
experiences.
Peladon (n.)
University professor specialising in a subject especially created by an
insane English monarch and which has been so buried in embarrassment that
he can claim a stipend for doing nothing.
Refusis (pl. n.)
Of arguing - Polite words that begin along the lines of "I agree with
you, but..." followed by a whole stream of baseless argument painstakingly
culled from various sources expressly for this purpose.
Reklon (n.)
What the bodies of Soviet cars were made out of.
Ribos (vb.) The antithesis of Tigella (qv.). To play a practical joke that is so vicious that the participants never speak to each other again, despite the many cries of 'it was only a joke'.
Segonax (n. archaic)
A medieval instrument of torture, the exact nature of which has been lost
to time. Usually displayed on stately home walls, it has made visitors
uncomfortable for many years, as they go through all their secret
psychotic fears trying to work it what it was used for.
Skonnos (n.)
Hell's Angels' tea cakes.
Solos (n.)
An ancient Egyptian god who once earned the honour of having thirty-five
dogs sacrificed to him, despite giving no indication that this is what he
wanted.
Spiridon (n.)
University professor specialising in the practice of drawing intricate
patterns with plastic cogs.
Tigella (vb.) To play an ineffective practical joke on someone far too nice but who insists on 'joining in the fun'. Usually consists of hiding their stapler or deliberately getting their name wrong on the Christmas card list.
Traken (n.)
The specific word used by the emergency services for fell walkers who
have inadvertently died while climbing what they thought was a hill but
turned out to be a mountain.
Vandor Prime (n.)
A pre-Bill Gates computer, so outdated that it is only used nowadays for
kitsch, as a reference point for useless technology and for co-ordinating
air traffic control at Heathrow Airport.
Vortis (n.)
A make of battery only ever found in 50p shops that are guaranteed to run
out just after opening the packet.
Zamper (n.)
A new device which greatly improves the quality of tape players and which
will shortly become a standard on all new models, thereby forcing
audiophiles to bankrupt themselves once again.
Zolfa-Thura (n.)
Nuclear Man's arch-enemy (c. DC Comics 1960-61).
My Theory of the Doctor's Early Life by Robert McMullen 24/8/00
Because I am, and will forever be, a Whovian of the Prydonian order (as we all are, even if some of us aren't quite aware of this truth), I am fascinated by the Doctor's life, and am intrigued as to what makes the Doctor who he is (no pun intended). What made the Doctor such an independent spirit? What made him hold his own people, the Time Lords themselves, in such utter contempt? In all of his adventures, why was he so selfless? Why has the Doctor always been so willing to share his voyages with so many different people, even those who have stowed away on the TARDIS? I feel the only way I can dare to shed light on these questions is to look at his life while he grew up on his home world, Gallifrey.
The Doctor's early life prior to his arrival on earth with Susan in London in 1963 is veiled in mystery. Because the Doctor is a sentient being, he has grown, learned from, matured, and lives his life based off of his experiences and what he was able to gain and discard from those life moments, just as we all have done. Assume then, for the sake of open-ended argument, that the Doctor's childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, and the duration of his formal education were years of great misery, confusion, tumult, anger, that ultimately, led to understanding in his life that made him take drastic measures to ensure his freedom and to promote his goodwill towards others.
My theory is that, during the Doctor's youth, Morbius had to be the President of the High Council of Time Lords on Gallifrey. Because of Morbius' reign of terror, which incidentally involved the Elixir of Life that belonged to the Sisterhood of Karn, the Doctor knew early on just what immense harm evil can produce. This would be an explanation as to why he had such a horrific reaction when he saw Solon's sculpture of Morbius' face in the story, The Brain of Morbius.
As the Doctor grew into his adulthood and his years in the Prydonian Academy, normalcy came to the High Council. Successions in power often went very dully and without complication, and everything ran smoothly as far as Gallifreyan government went. This could not be said for the Doctor. Because he's always been a very gifted person, one who has vast intellect balanced with emotion, and strong convictions that are tempered by his overwhelming sensibility to others, sentimentality, and a romantic, almost quixotic outlook on life, the Doctor had a hard time identifying with many of his peers. Because of this difficulty in trying to accept his role in the strict society he lived in, he forged relationships with such wayward souls as the mischievous Drax (The Armageddon Factor), the shallow Runcible, the newscaster in The Deadly Assassin, The Master, and The Rani. He also sought enlightenment from older and more learned Time Lords such as Borusa, eventual President of the High Council (The Deadly Assassin, The Invasion of Time, Four to Doomsday, and The Five Doctors) and Kampo Rimpochet, AKA Cho-je, the wise monk who guided the Doctor through much of his tribulation during his adolescence, notably when the Doctor would visit him atop his lonely hill (as alluded to in Planet of the Spiders).
Finally, after years and years, it reached a point where our hero could no longer endure the conformity of Time Lord society. On Gallifrey emerged a system of social stratification, hence the different colored headdresses and attire of each group of Time Lords, pomp and circumstance that overshadowed the importance of his society's advancement and whole reason for its poignancy and omnipotence, and utter disregard and lack of respect for other beings in the universe, many of whom were treated by Time Lords as second-class beings (humans, and Rutans, The Horror of Fang Rock) or were races across galaxies who needed defense from threats too frightening to imagine at any point in time--Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen, Sutekh, Nestene Autons, Axos, and countless more--who were looked upon indifferently.
Quite frankly, the Doctor could have none of it any longer. As a show of protest and rebellion, the Doctor chose to act against all of the conventions of Gallifreyan culture. He spoke out against nonintervention, rebuked his formal learning and urged change. He encouraged people to speak out and to just live. And since this wasn't enough to make his fellow Gallifreyans open their eyes and realize that they could not suffice on their own for eternity, the Doctor made a fateful decision that would set into motion his future. He then came to a realization--why not steal one of the many symbols of Time Lord greatness and arrogance--The Hand of Omega (Remembrance of the Daleks) and flee Gallifrey for good? Could this be the one thing that would make the other Time Lords realize that they were so caught up in their own hyperbolic existence that they in turn, undermined the collective vision that Rassilon and Omega shared that brought about their world to begin with? The Doctor took the risk, and off he went. And thus, the rest is history in the making.
From the lessons he learned living on his world, the Doctor learned that in a universe so vast, so great, and so wondrous, there are two things that prevail and remain at a constant--a hand in need, and the ugliness of evil. Most importantly, he learned that an impact had to be made to ensure that balance and harmony could be maintained in the very universe that Gallifrey shares with so many other worlds. In his lifetime, up to that point, he himself was in need--many times. The Doctor was fortunate and thankful to have those in his life support him and aid him through his crises. He also saw how brutal and painful death and destruction can truly be. It is this premise that the Doctor bases his life's work upon, to fight endlessly in the pursuit of what's right.
Too Broad and too deep for the small screen by Yonatan Bryant 4/4/01
In my mind the books are where Doctor Who truly belongs. The TV show was trying hard but it was nigh impossible for the show to show us the big picture, there wasn't the money and there weren't the fans writing for it. But in the Novelizations and the books when have seen more than we could ever see on TV. We has seen a giant seal of Rassilon with people living on it surface. We have been in the cockpits and flying along side of great starship . We have seen a ship trapped in an infinite loop, We have Seen the Whole of London being transformed time and time again we have seen the Doctor dancing with death on the surface of the moon, we have being into the depths of the Doctors mind, we know more and less about the doctor than we ever had before. We have seen a planet blown abort. All of those would not have looked good at all on the TV show. The Stories are truly too broad and too deep for the small screen.
Also we have people writing the books these days who know the show, they love it they are all of us, they are the people where here amazed by the show when the first saw it 10 ,20, 30 years ago and fell in love with it. in the TV show you had 2 or 3 fans who ever wrote for the show. For the writers of the show, it was their day job, for us it is our lives. All of us yearn to be fighting the fight of the just alongside with the Doctor. And because of that any new show will ultimately disappoint, because what can be seen in the mind is not always transferable to TV. To be able to maybe achieve the scope of the books, you would need a movie sized budget for each story, in order to make the villains believable, the settings real and the story unconstrained by money.
And lastly we have the actors. In the TV show people stayed or 2-3 years generally and then went on. There is now way with a TV show we could have got 9 years of the Seventh Doctor or 6 out of Bernice also there is no way the Mel could have appeared in one story and the vanish for 2 years. In fact there was an interview with Sylvester McCoy where he said that he would have left the show after one more year.
When the TV show died, Doctor Who, which is now in Guinness World Records for the books, stopped becoming just a old TV show with a bad budget. It became a legend. A legend that freed from the pettiness of the Small screen like the 3rd Doctor From earth, was free to explore the entirety of Time and Space uninhibited by anything but the imagination.
Hype Space by Andrew Wixon 1/9/01
Living in the UK at the moment one rapidly comes to the conclusion that nostalgia ain't what it used to be. Nearly every Saturday night the TV listings are filled with 'I Love the Seventies' or 'Top Ten Folk Music' or 'The 100 Greatest Gardening Programmes Ever'. This sort of list-making is addictive and insidious but it certainly fills up the schedules. It's spreading, too; it seems you can't move without tripping over the Ten Best This or the All-Time Great That. And, inevitably, DW is not immune - it features in other lists (apparently the BFI membership thinks it's the third best TV series ever made which even I find hard to believe), and for a few years now there've been regular 'Best Story Ever' polls. The DWM one was won by Genesis of the Daleks, of course, and isn't it interesting that the most frequently-shown story should turn out to be the most popular? But elsewhere, for the most part outside the walls of Who-fandom, a consensus seems to be appearing on this topic. And the consensus is that the pinnacle of DW is City of Death.
SFX magazine recently covered the serial's genesis in its' Past Perfect column, saying DW in general was 'mostly charming, usually interesting, and habitually inventive, but rarely brilliant. And yet for four weeks in the fag end of the 1970s it touched excellence...' going on to cite the vast audience as proof of its superiority, apparently unaware of the special circumstances of its broadcast. The BBC Online section devoted to Douglas Adams is unequivocal when it describes CoD as 'Douglas' (and the shows') finest [story]'. Some of you probably agree. There seems to be a critical juggernaut building up here and I'm going to be brave and stand in the path of the beast.
I like CoD a lot. It is, obviously, brilliant: deliriously witty, fantastically original and inventive. Certainly a top ten contender. But is it the best story ever? If I was to pick one story to show DW at its' best and most representative, would this be it? I find myself shaking my head. This isn't a review of CoD per se, so I'll keep this brief, but... CoD is a marvellous souffle of a story, it leaves a wonderful taste in the mouth as it skips along powered by ingenious plot-twists and eminently quotable one-liners. But DW's strength is to be powerful and moving as well as fun and inventive, and powerful and moving are two words you can't use to describe CoD. It has a heart of purest candyfloss. It's great, but ultimately undone by this in any 'best ever' consideration.
And I think it's fair to say that it owes its' current favoured status largely to the name of the author. (It seems that most of the time Douglas Adams gets sole credit for what was a three-writer script.) Doctor Who very rarely attracted 'name' writers to it. Nigel Kneale turned the opportunity down, Christopher Priest was approached but ultimately fell out badly with the production team, Tanith Lee was reportedly interested but nothing came of it. Terry Nation did become relatively famous but this was on the back of his work for the show. Virtually the only well-known authors to work on DW were Douglas Adams and Steve Gallagher - and with all due respect to him, Gallagher has never approached Adams' degree of fame. That CoD is Adams' story must draw attention to it when people outside hard-core fandom survey the series. That it should be so good is a bonus.
From a certain perspective it is obvious, even logical that CoD is the best DW story. Adams was a brilliant writer of SF comedy, and as previously mentioned the most celebrated author ever to be credited for a DW script. To an outsider, how could an almost unknown hack like Robert Holmes or Malcolm Hulke write a better script than him? By awarding CoD, and Adams, the 'best DW ever' prize the SF community in general reassures itself that a feted author is a feted author no matter what the context (and as a corollary, proves to itself that it understands DW just as well as any hard-core fan may).
But I think the very idea of a 'best DW story ever' is mistaken. The series, famously, didn't have a format or an agenda. It could and did do different things, in different styles, from week to week, and exactly what the 'best' story is depends on what you're looking for. You want the wittiest dialogue and most inventive script? Sure, City of Death is the best example. You want moral debate and a dark, gripping narrative? Turn your attention to Genesis of the Daleks. Or literary pastiche, and a loving recreation of period? Then Talons of Weng-Chiang is where you should be looking. There is no single greatest DW story, any more than there is an archetypal DW formula. But the glory of this is that almost no matter what you're looking for, Doctor Who will have made a story, often a great story, that exactly meets your needs.
The Rad vs Trad Fallacy by Rob Matthews 6/12/01
I only became aware of it very recently, but I find this whole argument about 'rad' and 'trad' Doctor Who quite stultifying. One reviewer of City of the Dead recently assessed the novel not in terms of whether it was good or bad, but whether it was rad or trad. And as a 'rad' novel it was dismissed almost out of hand.
This almost reactionary attitude seems entirely against the spirit of the impetus of Doctor Who, which, whether on TV or in books, was never about ploughing familiar furrows or talking down to its audience. A quick rundown of the series' recognised classic stories reveals them all as in some way radical -
(well, to be fair, Warriors of the Deep doesn't entertain even briefly)
So I'm confused by why stories like, say, Alien
Bodies or Transit get these 'rad' labels stuck on
them. Alien Bodies is a Doctor Who story pure
and simple. That it introduces new concepts is par for the course. That's
sort of the point of an ongoing series. Transit,
meanwhile, is Doctor Who 'does' cyberpunk, just as Spearhead From Space is Doctor Who 'does'
Quatermass or One of the reviewers of another 'rad' novel, Verdigris, suggested he was uncomfortable with the
appearance of a gay character, because Doctor Who started life as a
children's programme. This - like criticisms of (what is after all very
occasional) swearing - disregards the fact that the novel range is not
written for children (kids don't even know what Doctor Who is
nowadays), and also implies with casual homophobia that the subject of
homosexuality must be kept from children at all costs.
I suppose what 'trad' readers want, then, are slightly patronising and
conservative children's stories. I suggest they only buy the books with
the words 'Terrance Dicks ' on the cover.
The Paradox of Set's by Andrew Wixon
28/1/02
For a programme which for the majority of its run was fundamentally
concerned with time travel, Doctor Who never really explored the
whole knotty and cerebral area of time paradoxes and the effects of
changing history (and all the better for it - I wish someone would tell
the Big Finish crew as much!). There's the grandfather paradox in Day of the Daleks, the whole messy finale to the McGann telemovie with the Pertwee logo, and, um,
that's about it... except for Pyramids of Mars.
As every true fan knows midway through episode two of this marvellous
story the TARDIS visits 1980... the 1980 that will occur if the Doctor
does not oppose Sutekh's schemes. It's a barren, devastated wasteland, of
course. So history is not predetermined and Sutekh must be fought. It's a
nice twisty tangent for the story, and doesn't seem to be a paradox at
all. Until you think about it a bit more.
Time for the jargony bit: for convenience's sake I will henceforth be
referring to the main, standard universe that DW occurs in as
Earth-P (for Prime; yes, I read too many DC comics as a child). The
'wasteland Earth' version of history where Sutekh escapes is Earth-S. The
version of history where Britain became a fascist dictatorship and an
apocalypse was triggered by Stahlmann's project is Earth-I. The version
where the destruction of Auderley house led to World War Three and a Dalek
invasion in the 21st century is Earth-D. The version of history where
Thinktank cause a nuclear war (averted by the Doctor on TV) is Earth-R.
It seems pretty much a given in Doctor Who that History as such
can only be changed by time-travellers, or aliens with a time-travel
capacity (such as Linx in The Time Warrior). The
Master's attempts to reroute History in, for example, The
King's Demons are described as perverting the course of History,
whereas the Zygon attempt to conquer the Earth isn't. It also seems
reasonable to suppose that without the Doctor's intervention the History
of Earth-P would be vastly different; Earth-P would have been conquered
many times over in the 1970s alone. So the Earth-P that Sarah is native to
owes its existence to the Doctor's efforts to enforce his view of History.
Sutekh is not a time traveller, nor does he appear to actually employ
time travel technology (the 'time tunnel' just seems like an
interdimensional short cut). So he is a native of the main Earth-P
timestream in the same way as the Axons and the Zygons, and left unopposed
his actions would be a part of the natural flow of History. The Doctor is
the one who interferes in order to stop him.
All this would be fine were it not for the sidestep to Earth-S. The
suggestion is that a given future (in this case, the 'artificial' Earth-P
Sarah comes from) cannot come into existence until the actions that create
it have occurred. Earth-S is the 'default' future until the moment
Sutekh's defeat becomes inevitable, at which point it is replaced by
Earth-P. In other words, Sarah's Earth can't exist until Sutekh is
defeated.
But this is nonsense. The Doctor visited Earth many, many times in his
personal timeline. Most of these were post-1911 and Sutekh's death, but
prior to Sutekh's defeat in terms of the Doctor's own personal history.
The first, second and third Doctors all visited Earth-P, not Earth-S,
despite the fact that Sutekh's defeat was not yet certain.
Why was it not yet certain? Sarah says 'We know the world didn't end in
1911', basically making the same point. This is the whole reason they
visit Earth-S. There are two possibilities here:
a) That Sutekh's defeat is uncertain, which means that all the Doctor's
previous (to him) post-1911 visits should have been to Earth-S and not
Earth-P, that Sarah should never have been born, and that the Doctor's own
life-history would have taken a vastly different path.
b) That Sutekh's defeat is certain, in which case Earth-S will never
come into existence (and so can't be visited).
Consider this analogy: suppose the Doctor leaves Earth midway through
Robot and visits the future of the planet. According
to Pyramids of Mars' view of temporal mechanics he
should visit a future where Thinktank either won, or caused a nuclear
holocaust (Earth-R). Now suppose he made that trip a few months earlier -
just after Monster of Peladon. Thinktank's plan still
hasn't been stopped yet, so he should still wind up on Earth-R. When you
think about it all his visits to the future should be to Earth-R until the
events of Robot when he defeats Thinktank, at which point Earth-P will
reappear. This isn't the case. Therefore Earth-S is a weird anomaly of
some kind.
Other possible solutions that have been suggested to me: One idea was
that the Doctor can visit all possible alternative futures at will, it's
simply a case of steering the TARDIS down the correct trouser-leg of the
time vortex. This seems dubious to me for several reasons: the Doctor is
genuinely staggered to arrive on Earth-I in Inferno,
suggesting that alternative worlds are unknown to the Time Lords. It also
makes a nonsense of any idea of 'the web of time' or 'changing history' if
all possible histories are equally valid from the Time Lords' viewpoint.
(You also wonder why he hangs around on Earth-P at all, given that there
has to be a alternative version somewhere where the Daleks were never
created, the Silurians not blown up by the Brigadier, etc, etc.)
It's not the same as Earth-D (the home of Day of the
Daleks' guerillas), either. That was another anomaly, but a
self-negating one given the Doctor's influence (sadly we don't see what
happens to the future Earth ruled by the Daleks when the events causing it
are prevented from happening).
I suppose we could just put this down to another bit of illogical
grandstanding by Bob Holmes (that's not meant as harshly as it probably
sounds), but I feel obliged to offer a solution: Sutekh would not have
been freed even had the Doctor not been around to stop him. There was a
faulty component in the rocket's antigrav drive; it blew up on takeoff
setting fire to the Priory and destroying Scarman and the mummies. Sutekh
stayed trapped until his death c. 12000AD, and so no Earth-S in the usual
flow of events.
When the Doctor and Sarah arrive they interfere, as is their wont.
Unfortunately (and unbeknownst to them) one of their bits of interference
is to inadvertently fix the damaged component in the rocket (picking it up
and shaking it; this happens just before the side trip). Thus for the
first time there's the potential for the rocket to work, for Sutekh to
actually escape and create Earth-S. This narrow window of possibility only
exists until the end of the story, but it's within this timeframe that we
see Earth-S. A brief glimpse into alternative time, which - subjectively -
only existed for a few hours. It's not much of a solution, and I'm open to
a better one.
(I leave it to the interested fellow-student to explain why Sarah is
able to visit a version of history her very existence is incompatible
with, and why the Doctor doesn't recognise Earth-S as the blatant anomaly
it clearly is.)
The McCoy flamewars on RADW by Terrence Keenan
27/8/02
It's common knowledge that Doctor Who fandom is fragmented. Put
ten different Who fans in a room and you're guaranteed ten
different opinions as to what makes great Who and what makes bad
Who. Overall, this is a good, and expected thing for a television
show/book series/audio adventure format that's lasted nearly 40 years.
Taking that into account, where one's favorite era of Who might
lie depends on numerous factors -- ex: first Doc watched, first author
read, etc. --, so it inevitable that certain eras ring true for certain
fans, while others drive them crazy. For me, Tom Baker is the standard
bearer, Peter Davison is my new second favorite, Colin Baker has dwindled
in favor, and unfortunately Sylvester McCoy does nothing but irritate.
Which is a good time to bring up a certain battleground that has raged
over at rec.arts.drwho. A lengthy,
pedantic, mean-spirited and downright crass flamewar has been going on at
RADW over the relative merits, or lack thereof of a total of 12 stories
that starred McCoy as the Doctor. Between diatribes, insults, smart-aleck
FAQs, poetic attacks and other methods, the Pro-McCoys and the Anti-McCoys
have waged war over each other to the point where the mere mention of
McCoy mobilizes both armies into action.
I've been a lurker at RADW for the past nine months, ever since hearing
about it at the Ratings guide, and am now an occasional poster. I will
admit to posting a couple of comments as to why I don't like the era. What
I don't understand is how things got so poisonous over one era? Not that I
can't imagine things like this occurring in a place where words are the
only weapons, it begs to wonder who fired the first salvo and why?
But, it's not just whether McCoy was good or bad that's part of this
fight. Another aspect is a counterattack against the Pertwee Era. For some
reason, the pro-McCoys seems to have nothing nice to say about Pertwee and
in their defence, point out the numerous faults of the Pertwee era. (Note:
I wonder if this is part of the Pertwee backlash that happened in fandom
during the early and mid 90's). A second offshoot is a Liberal v.
Conservative battle that rages along. Anti-McCoys seem to generally
loathe the PC leftist views that were hinted at in the McCoy stories and
expanded upon in the Virgin books by certain authors. (Note: The PC
politics bug me, not because I'm a conservative -- far from it -- but
because of how the message has been presented by the messengers). Author
Jonathan Blum, husband of Kate Orman, seems to be at the center of this
storm, because of his political views. A main counterattack in this
sub-war is the calling of Anti-McCoys anti-PC, anti-gay & against common
decency because they're right wing gits.
So, what would a newcomer make of seeing people's taste, ancestry and
intelligence questioned by taking side either way in this battle.
Honestly, I think it turns people off. Anyone who checks out the newsgroup
hoping to see interesting discussions of Who has to wade through
numerous posts which state, more or less, "you're a moron if you like
McCoy," or "you're a moron because you don't like McCoy," would be bored.
I know I am.
And it's a shame, because, from what I heard, RADW used to be a place where authors would
hang out and chat with fans, debates would develop over fun nitpicking
details, new stories would be over analyzed, old stories reviewed for new
takes/ideas. Regular RADW posters would
get namechecked in books and whatnot. Now RADW is dragged down by whether or not its
okay to like 42 25 minute episodes of a children's/family television show.
It's a shame. And it needs to stop. If you don't like an era, fine.
State your case once and be done. Refrain from posting a story by story
episode guide where stories are rated according to their level of
"shittiness." Refrain from posting odes that declare all McCoy fans stupid
and gay. Refrain from counterposting attacks on Pertwee being a right
winger. Refrain from calling anyone not pro-McCoy anti-gay,
anti-diversity, anti-PC.
"Can't we all just get along?"
A postscript -- for now, it seems that the Anti-McCoys are "winning"
the flamewars, if only because their side is more obnoxious and
confrontational. It's hard to be Pro-McCoy when you'll be blindsided
anytime you post something positive about that era.
A second postscript -- As much as I dislike the McCoy era and the
Virgin New Adventures that followed, this flamewar has prodded me into
doing a reevaluation of the era just to see if opinions made long ago
still hold up. I'll let everyone know about that in the near future.
A Life in the Year of Doctor Who by Andrew Wixon
30/8/02
It's July 15th 2002 as I sit down to write this. Yesterday I watched the McGann TV movie. The day before that it was Survival episode 3, the day before that Survival episode 2. And so on, and so on, missing only
two days (once for a convention and once for the Star Wars premiere) all
the way back to the beginning of August 2001, when I'd popped An Unearthly Child into the VCR. Obviously I don't have
a complete run of episodes, and there have been times when I've watched
more than one at a time, but even so I didn't expect it to take very
nearly a year (and, I should add, I've got a good two months worth of
stories to catch up on that didn't fit into the chronology of the run).
What possessed me to do this? Well, it seems to be fashionable in
certain circles of Who-dom. DWM have their Time Team, someone on
the BBC board was commending it, and I understand Paul Cornell is in the
middle of a similar, rather more leisurely undertaking (last I heard he
was mired in the Key to Time season). And, well, having spent the last two
summers religiously watching an episode of either This Life or Big Brother
every day it did seem to me that DW was far more worthy of this
kind of attnetion.
So, was it worth it? And what insights, if any, did I gain?
Well - yes, it was entirely worth it, for several reasons. Some of
these were thoroughly practical: for one thing it made me aware of some of
the shameful gaps in my collection, and inspired me to fill them (though
the absence of the two Pertwee/Baker regeneration stories still rankles as
do the yawning gaps in seasons 16 and 20). And for another, it made me
watch stories I hadn't actually sat down and viewed in years and years: The Mind Robber. Ambassadors of
Death. Snakedance. Most of the Colin Baker era.
If we're honest, I'd got trapped in cycle of watching the same few tales
over and over again, mainly from the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era and season 7.
Which is a shame, because it was reassuring to see that throughout its
history Doctor Who was rarely less than watchable. Sure, every now
and then a story like The Rescue or Seeds of Death swims into view, but there's always
quality close at hand. It just isn't always the same kind of quality. Once
again, I'd always associated great DW with the idea of a totally
dominant Doctor, a commanding, Holmesian, investigator-crusader. But the
stories of season 1 are nothing like this, and that season contains at
least one all-time classic and several outstanding episodes in other
stories. Season 1's Doctor is shadowy and erratic and self-interested, but
still entirely the Doctor. As is the 'polite' Doctor of the Davison years,
the enigmatic gamesman of the final seasons, and - irksomely - the
pain-in-the-neck Doctor played by Jon Pertwee.
The series has this chameleonic quality too: as I rather clumsily
allude to in my review of Spearhead from Space
(for which I sincerely apologise, by the way), it's more like several
different series with different formats and styles, all of which happen to
share the same title and a few recurring characters. But there must be
some golden thread linking them all up, and noticeably lacking from the TV movie.
I can't claim to know the secret of Doctor Who. It's something
to do with the series' magpie appropriation of bits and pieces from other
genres and series, its concentration on plot and ideas rather than
character and emotion, its philosophy of the power of the individual even
in a hostile and corrupt universe. Whatever it is, it's unique, and
rightly celebrated.
The other great benefit of the run can be summed up in one word:
context. Time and again I would watch stories that had never really
clicked with me before, like The Aztecs, Ark in Space and of course Caves of
Androzani, and it would be like watching them for the first time,
they're so much greater than the stories that precede or surround them.
Not to say that they wouldn't be equally great watched individually, I
suppose, but being sandwiched between Planet of Fire
and The Twin Dilemma really does make Caves shine.
The benefit was in terms of more than just single stories, though.
Watching one story in isolation gives you almost no sense of how it fits
into the series' style of the time or how representative it is,
quality-wise. Similarly, viewing five or six Jo Grant-era stories in a row
was almost enough to put me off the third Doctor for life. Nearly every
era of the show produced at least one great story (yes, even the dark ages
of Baker/Saward), but there were a few times when the show hit a run of
startling sustained quality: Season 7, Tom Baker's first three seasons
(rather more often than not, anyway), the run from Full
Circle to Earthshock, and of course Seasons 25
and 26.
Had the series ended in late 1986 I would be inclined to put my hands
up and say 'Yup, fair cop, it got what was coming to it,' so tired and
flat was it beginning to look (Robert Holmes' final pyrotechnic plot
twists excluded). But to axe it after season 26 verged on the criminal -
this was a series that seemed as fresh as ever, it was going to new
places, it was rapidly growing in maturity (something it had struggled to
do throughout the 1980s), it was politically aware and astute. Had stories
like Greatest Show and Ghost
Light been made on film rather than VT and promoted better by the BBC,
I'm sure the popular and critical success they might have achieved would
have put them within spitting distance of prestige projects like The
Singing Detective and Edge of Darkness (which they resemble far more than,
say, Blake's 7 or Star Cops).
Wasn't to be, of course. Proper TV DW went away, never to
return, and while I enjoyed many of the books and the TV
movie was a nice idea in principle, nothing has ever really filled
that hole it left in my heart. Right now I'm fighting the strangest urge
to stick the pilot episode in the VCR and start all over again. Do the
chronological run yourself and you may see what I mean.
But for now, I tell myself, fight the urge... fight the urge... fight
the urge... (Where's that complete set of Babylon 5 tapes gone, anyway?)
In defence of BBC by Joe Ford
6/9/02
It's not like me to want to write an ultra long review on a particular
subject but in this circumstance I feel I should. You see I feel the BBC
eigth Doctor books get too much flak when compared to the Virgin output
and I can't for the life of me see why. So I thought I would go back and
have a look at both series and see if I can see how this opinion came
about.
The Virgin books had something of an opaque start with the convoluted
Timewyrm and Cat's Cradle
series. Neither were particularly good but they proved one vital point,
this series was going to be bold and wasn't going to play by the rules.
One book of these first seven stood out however (Exodus) and it was hardly a suprise to learn it was the
work of Who expert Terrance Dicks. However many of them were just a
mess with dull secondary characters (Apocalypse) and
amateurish prose (Time's Crucible, Genesys). They weren't exactly satisfactory as arcs
either being quite plodding and failing to continue the plot threads in a
exciting or easy to follow way. It was quite a worrying start, especially
Timewyrm: Revelation which I feel epitomises
everything this series did wrong. It was horribly violent, pushed the
television characters into situations I really didn't want to see them in
and was full of boring dream imagery (Kinda style!).
No thanks Paul.
However suddenly we were treated to two excellent books out of the
blue. The wonderfully frightening and nostalgic Nightshade which is still one of my all time favourite
Doctor Who books ever. And Love and War, which
introduced Professor Bernice Summerfield who in this one book proved more
interesting than anything we had seen with Ace to this point with the
books. Her instant appeal and the books dramatic and emotional ending
proved fortuitous for the range which now promised things that were much
more interesting. And we left the now stale Ace far behind. Cheers Paul.
Then it was a steady period of hot and cold for at least eleven books
(Transit to The Dimension
Riders) where a number of new authors were experimented, sometimes
surprisingly successful (the gripping Birthright and
the bizzarre but brilliant The Highest Science)
but more often producing stale and unreadable books (The
Pit is famously awful but Transit, Deceit and The Dimension Riders
are all similarly bad). It didn't help matters that Ace returned, older,
tougher and more angst ridden than ever. Her disgust at the Doctor and his
manipulative ways got tired very quickly so thank the godess we had
Bernice to remind us how companions SHOULD be done. There were some
awkward science fiction ideas during this period and the 'curse of the
first time novelist' seemed to affect Ben Aaronavitch, Neil Penswick,
Peter Darvill-Evans, David A. McIntee and more...
Once again though the range had a sudden upswing of quality. And it
couldn't have come a second sooner. The Left Handed
Hummingbird, Conundrum, Theatre
of War, Blood Harvest, Falls
the Shadow, Sanctuary, Human
Nature... these were all fantastic reads. Virgin had finally hit its
stride. It knew what its fans wanted and it gave it to them. Relationships
between the regulars was kept fresh and interesting and for her last
stretch Ace actually WORKED along side Bernice and The Doctor. She had a
grand exit in Set Piece when it was well truly time
to say goodbye. Bernice was just so wonderful she had a number of books
solo and they, not surprisingly turned out out to be some of the most
popular books the range offered up (Sanctuary and Human Nature). The writing too seemed to improve with
earlier writers offering up some meaty characterisation and solid plots
(Andrew Cartmel and David A.McIntee improved in spades!). The introduction
of the exceptional novelist Kate Orman, the first female voice to the
range was a stroke of genius and she went to write some of the best the
range had to offer. Steve Lyons too was a fine addition to the cast of
writers. of course there were still clunkers (who can forget St Anthony's Fire and Strange
England, I know I can't!) but they seemed less offensive surrounded by
these towering classics.
The third quarter of the books (say Original Sin
to Happy Endings) was solid, sometimes exceptional
but more often just solid. The books were okay... Zamper, Head Games, Shakedown, Death and Diplomacy
were all fine, perfectly readable but they all lacked a certain sparkle
that the earlier classics maintained. Three books stand out as excellent,
only three which is a a pity but they were SO good it eased this average
period a little. Just War was the first book by
newcomer Lance Parkin and proved an instant winner. He tortured Bernice in
inexplicable ways and put The Doctor through hell... this was rivetting
drama the likes of which we had never seen before. The
Also People was Ben Aaronavitch's salvation after his apalling Transit, a light, frothy read featuring a world everyone
who's read the book wants to live in. It was so unexpectedly different it
just worked. And Warchild which again provided some
emotional fireworks and was unputdownable all the way to the excellent
finale. We had the introduction of Chris and Roz in this period and in
some respects they were perfect (their banter was great and Roz had some
seminal scenes with the Doctor being, as she was, Ace done right) and in
others they disapointed (with three companions in the TARDIS it seemed the
writers wanted to bed them all in so many varied ways... I have nothing
against rumpy-pumpy within the ranks but for god's sakes it seemed Chris
was bedding someone every week and Roz and Bernice made some stupid
mistakes on this score too, a shame). However the ensemble did feel fresh
once again which was a nice feeling. They got on too, which was a godsend.
Happy Endings was a whole lot of fun. Bernice
leaves the TARDIS to marry Jason Kane and everyone from the Virgin books
turns up for the celebrations. Paul Cornell writes comedy superbly and
this had many memorable scenes. However, it totally epitomises the biggest
problem with the range. Its self contained nature. Although they were
telling seperate stories the Virgin range insisted on heavy continuity
from one book to another and this made it difficult for casual readers
(and me) to follow the psi powers arc and other inter-related
relationships. And this book must have been a real nightmare for someone
just joining the range. The Virgin range reminds me strongly of the TV
series Babylon 5 in this respect... having created this universe they want
to explore it to the fullest... leaving casual viewers behind but
rewarding regular readers no end. It is both a curse and a blessing, after
all the Virgin range had created a mighty fine universe to play with but I
will admit I left certain books behind unfinished for this reason.
The last stretch of books shows a significant improvement with some
great work being done with the soon to be regenerated Doctor and the death
of Roz which sets the series up for a dramatic exit. Two books, Damaged Goods and Bad Therapy were
just superb and I ripped through them like no others in the range but So Vile a Sin, Return of the Living
Dad and Lungbarrow were also quite excellent. The
books went on the high the deserved to. There was a bit to much emphasis
on 'events' (Roz's death, Bernice's Dad) than telling original stories but
then they had a whole lot to wrap up and you can't complain about that.
The Virgin range was a good series of books and often fantastic. They
brought some wonderful characters to life and visited many wonderful
planets. They were never short of surprises and many authors made their
names here. I just don't feel it was consistently GOOD enough to be as
popular as it is. The first chunk of books was almost consistently poor
and the bad novels were B-A-D. Inexcusably bad. I guess I would have to
quote that old nusery rhyme to sum up my feelings on this set of books...
"When they were good they were very, very good but when they were bad they
were awful!" I would say mixed, but good.
The BBC books on the other hand are another kettle of fish
entirely.....
The BBC books had a horrible, horrible start. Almost so poor you had
to wonder how ANYBODY stuck with them. The first ten books produced three
good books. THREE. Vampire Science, Kursaal and Option Lock... the only
three I managed to finish. Even the revered Alien
Bodies rubbed me up the wrong way in the last third and I put it down,
never to return to it. And the biggest insult is that Terrance Dicks, who
wrote the best book of the Virgin range's begining, wrote the laughably,
horribly lame The Eight Doctors which kick starts the
range on such a bad foot you wonder how they recovered (oh yeah, Kate
Orman and Jon Blum). The ultimate atrocity was the inclusion of Sam, the
new female companion who seemed to be a mix of both older Ace and Chris'
worst characteristics and a pacifist, greenpeace, vegetarian at that. Oh
please. Spouting out liberal crap every five minutes it is just impossible
to like this girl!
Things improved but only slightly, still a number of desperately
atrocious books (Beltempest, The
Taint, Placebo Effect) but a number of okay to
good books (let's say readable) in the form of Dreamstone
Moon, The Janus Conjunction, Demontage. Seeing I and The Scarlet Empress rise so far out of this dreck it is
impossible to think they are edited by the same guy. Seeing I in particular seemed like a Virgin book at the
height of their powers, compelling, thought provoking and in places
devasting. Whats more they managed to do something with the nigh
unapproachable Doc 8/Sam partnership which bordered on outstanding (they
even made that "Ooh Sam let's do plan 11 today" look good which is a
miracle!). These two books were like a breath of fresh air.
And then Fitz came along. Now please don't think I'm saying Fitz
solved all of the BBC books problem because that would be simplifying
things but lets just say he started them on the right track warp factor
nine! He was just so wonderful, easily as good as Bernice upon her
introduction. He drinks. He smokes. He swears. He wants sex, sex, sex!
He's from the sixties! And he's got a heart of gold. And the fact that he
proves the complete reverse of Sam in being writer-proof instead of unable
to write for was a stroke of luck indeed. He was just so damn human you
couldn't help but love him no matter how many mistakes he made.
Fitz's arrival seemed to coincide with a dramatic upswing in quality.
From Demontage to The Ancestor
Cell things ran a whole lot smoother. I have a few theories as to why.
If you take a peek at the writer's names you will notice that the first
chunk of books in the BBC range are all written by Virgin writers. Writers
who had exhausted their talent with the other range. The only 'old'
authors still providing any enjoyment were those that are justifiably
renowned... Kate Orman, Justin Richards. Suddenly Stephen Cole started to
introduce new talent to the range and their opus was such an
improvement... Nick Walters (Dominion is a cracking
little thriller), Peter Anghelides (Frontier Worlds
proves alien planets can be fun!), Paul Margs (whose Blue Angel was almost as great as The
Scarlet Empress!). With the introduction of Compassion, the selfish,
nasty, back stabbing bitch of a companion to the range the books started
to gain some momentum from NO-WHERE! After Compassion gets the
overwhelming twist of turning into a TARDIS, the Stephen Cole is on easy
turf to its conclusion with only a few duds to spoil all the fun (The Space Age was especially bad). However The Banquo Legacy, his penultimate book proves an
intelligent surprise success and matches anything done in the Virgin range
in terms of sophistication, prose and cleverness.
Justin Richards takes over and all nervous readers can relax. He has
the BRILLIANT idea of wiping out Gallifrey and the Doctor's memory (and
thus all continuity) and we start his reign with the feel of a genuine new
era. The Doctor is stuck on Earth for 100 years over six books, it was an
arc but unlike much of the Virgin output these six stories were VERY
induvidual with only the Doctor providing that vital link. The quality of
this arc was phenomenal with only the finale, Escape
Velocity letting it down. But who cares when you have such gems as The Burning and Father Time,
easily two of the best Doctor Who books ever published. I remember
feeling so excited about the range at this point, more than I had since I
heard Virgin were going to start a range themselves!
To the surprise of everybody things didn't return to normal once the
Doctor got the TARDIS back. No old monsters or planets, just a fresh new
TARDIS team (what with the new less idealistic, more violent Doctor and
the wonderfully dry Anji Kapoor on board... and of course Fitz things were
looking great!) and zero continuity. This was probably the most refreshing
change Who had been through in many, many years.
But Mr Richards didn't finish there. There has been a constant stream
of fresh new writers (Steve Emmerson, Jac Rayner, Llyod Rose, Kelly Hale,
Jonny Morris, Paul Ebbs, Mags L Halliday) providing some wonderful books.
The stories are loosely connected by the terrifying idea of 'With the Time
Lords gone who will look after all time?' but the current output is
completely standalone and easy for a casual reader to follow whilst still
being well written and enjoyable.
Justin, an acclaimed novelist himself has been driving solid, exciting
works from people who were seriously disapointing earlier in this range
(stand up Trevor Baxendale, Stephen Cole, Lawrence Miles, Steve Lyons and
Mark Clapham). There have been a number of utterly flawless books that
have just blown any comparison with Virgin out the window (The Year of Intelligent Tigers, City
of the Dead, Adventuress of Henrietta
Street, The Crooked World, History 101). The biggest difference is that these
books have succeeded on their own with no back up from past characters or
mentions of earlier books, they have been totally original works from
authors who are working their butts off to impress. And with the emergence
of Sabbath, the mysterious character in shadows directing events in the
timeline it appears another arc is sprining unexpectadly from the range,
just compelling enough to be exciting and not intrusive enough to be
annoying.
The Doctor, Fitz and Anji make a highly engaging but it looks like
things are set to change in a big way soon. i for one cannot wait.
The BBC books have done some really surprising things. I wouldn't even
consider comparing them to the Virgin range during their first third, it
would have been an insult to the older range. But by golly wow things have
improved tenfold and im currently more optimistic about the series than
ever. Such a dramatic upswing in quality is unheard of usually but we
should be thankful, Doctor Who is exciting and unpredictable again.
Long may it continue!
I think you have figured which range I prefer but at the end of the day
they both produced some brilliant books and some seriously disturbing
duds. They are very different in their own way but are both
quintessentially Doctor Who.
And as such should both be reverred.
DWM Comic Strips (Additional Doctorless Strips, DW Related) - A Guide by Richard Radcliffe
30/10/02
Doctor Who Weekly began in October 1979. Included between its pages was
a mix of new stories (in comic strip format), old Sci-Fi classics and
information about the series. We were treated to information about the
Daleks, the Story so far. The information has long since been superseded
by books and magazines, but at the time it was a godsend - it was all we
had. Now the articles seem basic in the extreme, and all rather quaint. It
is therefore to the Comic Strip that much of the magic still lies. DWW
Number 1 had no less than 3 Comic Strips, and the Weekly was to continue
in this vein for the bulk of its 43 issue run. I had dissected (literally)
my magazines years ago, but a friend had more sense. Thus a great big box
of old DW magazines found its way to my house. I eagerly lapped up
the main strip featuring the Doctor (reviews elsewhere).
The Main Strip was always the Current Doctor - the 4th in this case.
The Iron Legion saw the 4th Doctor battling against
aliens who controlled an earth, where Rome never fell. The secondary strip
plundered the Sci-Fi archives. War of the Worlds was the first of these
classics, closely followed by The Time Machine and First Men on the Moon.
These turned slowly into more general Time Tales, and all manner of
classic Adventure stories were told. By the time the Monthly (issue 44)
was upon us Time Tales were no more. There was also another Strip. These
featured monsters, villains, characters from DW - but with no sign
of the Doctor. These strips lasted well into the Monthly. It is those
strips that promoted this project - because a lot of them are actually
very good indeed.
DWW and DWM printed at regular intervals the Dalek Tapes - written by
David Whittaker, an alternative history of the Daleks. That is for reviews
elsewhere, as is the impressive attempt to copy this - the Cybermen (DWM
213-238). In this article I will focus on the run of stories that took up
the last few pages of Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly - the forgotten DW
strips - Doctorless Doctor Who stories, if you like.
And so over the course of this article the names of Steve Moore, Alan
Moore (yes really, the one whose recognized as the Best Comic Strip writer
ever), Paul Neary, John Peel, David Lloyd, Steve Dillon, John Stokes will
be prominent. They deserve their place in the sun. Let's begin:-
Return of the Daleks (1-4) - DWW began with the obvious monster
- the Daleks. The Planet Anhaut had been invaded by the Daleks 800 years
previous. Glax, a film-maker, wants to make a real life movie about the
Daleks. He signs great actor Hok Nepo to play the lead role - Nor Din, the
man who defeated the Daleks. A Spaceship arrives at Anhaut, the beautiful
and mysterious Kuay has a suspicious cargo. The Daleks are let loose on
Anhaut, and the film becomes reality.
What's impressive about the opening strip is not just the
straightforward story by Steve Moore (the writer of all the secondary
strips up to issue 34). The art by Paul Neary and David Lloyd is extremely
good too. All would contribute to the success of this secondary strip
during its run. Anhaut is given alien, but highly humanoid inhabitants.
The Archive Library beckons you in, urging you to explore the past - you
want to know what the History of this place is all about, despite having
only just heard about it! The people of Anhaut travel round on the back of
Pterodyctal-like birds. There's a wasteland that's mysterious and
frightening.
The Daleks are their usual selves, exterminating all and sundry in the
name of progress. But it is the Anhaut characters that emerge best from
this 4 part, 16 page strip. Glax is highly likeable and seems involved in
everything, Kuay is wonderfully mysterious - just why is she working with
the Daleks?
The first additional strip is a very enjoyable story. A good start.
7/10
Throwback (The Soul of a Cyberman) (5-7) - So this was where Kroton
the Cyberman first appeared! I had read all the DW main strips,
including the Cybermen Barnes/Salmon saga. In the 8th Doctor's time Kroton
joined the TARDIS crew as a Companion. It seems the authors of those
stories went to the past of their magazine for inspiration.
You usually get with groups of villains or monsters 1 good one - it's a
common plot device of Sci-Fi - the one that will help the good guys in
their battle against evil. Kroton is one of the best of this type I have
come across, and his repeated appearances show many others think so too.
The planet Mondaran (bit close in name to another Cyber Planet that!) has
been invaded by the Cybermen. Small pockets of resistance amongst the
humans survive. Two such freedom fighters are Pendar and his partner
Marilka - our 2 heroes. Kroton, junior Cyber-leader, begins to doubt his
races actions against the populace. Slowly and surely he becomes Pendar's
ally, and enables them to escape to freedom.
Throwback describes Kroton's inner turmoil. How he changes
sides, his human originality coming to the surface over the machine.
Pendar is the heroic fighter, just wanting freedom for his partner,
Marilka. Kroton feels for them, and this exploration of the Cyber race was
never really emphasized as much until much, much later in DW. All
credit to Steve Moore (writer) and Steve Dillon (artwork) for giving us
this excellent character, and great story over just 12 pages.
I really like the character of Kroton. He seems to be dead at the end
of the story, but such a good character survives. I look forward to seeing
him again. 8/10
The Final Quest (8) - We've had Daleks and Cybermen. Time for
another monster now - the Sontarans.
Katsu is a ferocious Sontaran Warrior. He lives for battle, and has won
them all except one. He wants to find the ultimate weapon that will defeat
this enemy - Levanaxus. Thus he arrives on Aleph 777, a planet of peace.
There he violently acquires the weapon, but 1 resident outwits him,
turning the biological weapon on Katsu.
This one off story isn't the strongest additional strip, but it has a
good moral at the end. When the Doctor appears (as a narrator, common
policy amongst these strips) saying the smallest foe can outwit the
biggest, so there's a knowing nod from the audience.
Steve Moore brings something new to a pretty 1-Dimesional race - the
Sontarans. Paul Neary draws the 4 pages pretty well. 6/10
The Stolen TARDIS (9-11) - We move away from the monsters of
DW now, to the Time Lords. Plutar wants to become a Time Lord, but
those in the know say he is better suited to TARDIS Maintenance. Thus he's
busy working away under some console, when an alien Circus arrives on
Gallifrey. Sillarc the Sage wants a TARDIS of his own, and only Plutar
knows about his clever scheme to pinch one.
There then follows 3 parts of shifting through Time. Back to
Prehistoric Gallifrey, where they meet some dinosaurs. All the time Plutar
is trying to stop the dastardly lizard-like Sillarc, from acquiring his
own TARDIS.
This isn't a bad story at all by Steve Moore. There's clever use made
of a Time Machine, and the fact it can only travel in Time not Space.
Steve Dillon provides excellent artwork again - I believe he just shades
Neary and Lloyd for these strips. It's nice to meet a bit of a rebel on
Gallifrey, which the Doctor himself must have been like. Plutar is the
hero here, and we always support the small people, don't we. Gallifrey is
an interesting place after all it seems! 7/10
K9's Finest Hour (DWW 12) - This 4 page "K9 is still around"
vehicle is quite funny. It's not the most profound of strips because of
its size and the main character. It's pretty unique as it's the only time
the Doctor appears the the secondary strip (apart from his usual
narration).
Rolgof wants the Doctor. The Sontarans have expressed an interest in
the Time Lord and Rolgof, with the aid of Firandel thinks he can acquire
the prize. Unfortunately instead of beaming over the Doctor, Rolgof beams
over K9. K9 saves the day by outwitting a stupid robot, and zapping the 2
baddies.
That's it really. Steve Moore has written better, Steve Dillon draws
just fine. The 4th Doctor and K9 have a good laugh about it at the end. If
this is K9's Finest Hour then it was time for it to be written out, which
indeed it was in the next TV season of Who. Not the secondary
strip's Finest Hour. 5/10
Warlord of the Ogrons (DWW 13-14) - Another old monster returns -
the Ogrons. A few writers have tried to make the Ogrons more interesting
than they are. The key to this, they believe, is intelligence - and thus
we have a brainy Ogron story, which does the strip no favours at all. In
an attempt to do something different Steve Moore writes a pretty standard
spin-off story.
The best pilot in the galaxy, Rostow, allies with the best surgeon Dr
Leofrix. Leofrix wants to augment an Ogron. Make him brainy, then he will
form an army of Ogrons, thus giving Leofrix and Rostow a chance to conquer
the galaxy. Of course scientists with such high ideas who pervert the
course of science never win - and it is Ogron Gnork who goes off to
conquer the galaxy.
Steve Dillon's art is excellent as usual, but it's the story that fails
to ignite any flames. Standard at best. 6/10
Deathworld (DWW15-16) - I often used to wonder what would happen
if 2 of Doctor Who's enemies battled each other. This strip has
just that - the Ice Warriors and the Cybermen fighting each other for the
control of Yama-10.
The Ice Warriors want the Trisilicate. The Cybermen just want the
Planet. This battle of honour vs logic is a good one. Each are determined
in their efforts, they want this planet.
It is the Ice Warriors that ultimately win. The logical Cybermen forget
that water turns to ice, and this is not fatal for the Ice Warriors. The 2
contrasting Monster races make this strip work - Steve Moore again
providing the script. New boy David Lloyd appears with the art, and he
starts well - he was to provide much that was excellent in the coming
strips.
If you like battles, Cybermen and Ice Warriors then this is your story.
I liked it pretty well. 7/10
Abslom Daak - Dalek Killer (DWW 17-20) - There must be a great deal
of affection out there for these early comic strips. We've already met
Kroton the Cyberman, who returns later. Now we meet probably the most
famous DW comic creation of them all - Abslom Daak, convicted
Murderer - he kills Daleks you know. Daak is a great character. You can
see why he was used again. He totally overshadows the Daleks to be honest.
Daak is a murderer. He is sentenced to death or DK Duty. He chooses DK,
chances of survival very slim. DK Duty involves entering a Stargate (least
it looks like one), travelling light years to a Dalek occupied planet,
killing as many Daleks as he can, before he is killed. Daak manages to
kill lots of Daleks on Mazam, he falls in love with a princess (Taiyin)
and survives.
As befits such a character Daak is wonderfully savagely drawn by Steve
Dillon. Even more impressive, in a rather different way, is Taiyin - the
depiction of people in these strips is very good indeed. This is
ultimately a tragic tale by Steve Moore. Daak starts with no wish to live,
he finishes wanting to live - but only for revenge. The legend of Abslom
Daak is born - and having read his return stories they have yet to beat
his best - the original. 9/10
Twilight of the Silurians (DWW 21-22) - The Silurian culture was
one of the most interesting of the entire DW series. They were
monsters, but you could see their point of view. It's great, therefore, to
go back in time with this strip - and see their society as it was before
they hit the shelters.
This is a story about Nagara - a Silurian scientist, who keeps apes to
study. He separates them, treating them like the animals he thinks they
are. The other Scientists meanwhile discuss the imminent destruction of
their world - the Moon is about to arrive - and the long sleep awaits.
Meanwhile the Apes are not as stupid as they look - particularly lead ape,
Kin. The moral of the story is clear as Kin gets revenge on Nagara - the
apes are beginning to get smarter.
The artwork is excellent once more by David Lloyd, and Steve Moore
produces one of his better smaller stories (it's only 8 pages long). This
is a superb depiction of one of the better presented monster races of
DW. 8/10
Ship of Fools (DWW 23-24) - Steve Moore after this story had now
done 24 Weeklys. At 4 pages per issue this was homing in on the 100 page
mark quite quickly. The experience of the medium was building, and he
decides to bring back one of this best creations (as he was to do with
Daak later) - Kroton the emotional Cyberman.
Kroton is left floating in space in Throwback. Here he is picked
up by a pleasure liner. The ship is stuck in a time warp though. These
people are living out their existence aimlessly - not one of them doing
very much about getting them out of it - hence the Ship of Fools. There's
a great deal of boredom for some, cocktails for others - these people
really are stupid. Kroton can't get his head around this. The love of life
exhibited by Pendar and Marilka are miles away from this bunch. Kroton
decides to do something, the Robot Pilot is accessed, and the ship is
freed.
Kroton continues his voyage of humanity in this strange 2 parter. It's
good that he sees the worst of humanity, along with the best - that he
acts to save them, only to destroy them - is rather profound for such a
little story. It looks like Kroton has a good few many stories in him yet
- and for that I'm glad. 7/10
The Outsider (DWW 25-26) - The S Moore/D Lloyd team are back
together again for another story featuring the Sontarans. Again, like
Final Quest, this is about a lone Sontaran.
He has been called to set up base on Brahtilis. Demimon, an astrologer
of this world, welcomes Sontaran Skrant with open arms. It is only when
things start to go very wrong - and his daughter is involved, that Demimon
realizes prophecies are open to interpretation - and he has interpreted
this one very wrong.
I wasn't quite as interested in this story as most others of these
secondary strips. The Sontarans I never really liked too much, and Demimon
- the big new character, seems pretty naieve. It's not bad, just not
stand-out good like many of the others. 6/10
Star Tigers (DWW 27-30) - Again we come across a character who
reappears later. The Star Tigers, founded by Abslom Daak, become a duo -
thanks to introduction of Salander the Draconian.
Star Tigers has extremely good points about it (Daak, Salander,
the story) - but is spoilt by some terrible things. The Space battles
between Daak and the Daleks are pathetic. You just can't see whats going
in those little panels. The Daleks are marginalized too (quite a feat in
that it contains a man whose sole mission is to be a Dalek Killer!).
Draconian politics are also terrible. It's one of the main reasons I don't
like the Draconians - but I'm willing to give Salander a chance, a lone
ranger is better than the collective.
This strip also shows Steve Dillon to be a superior artist than David
Lloyd for this type of story. It's always a tough job coming in to do the
very last issue of an ongoing story, when someone else has done the rest -
but that's what Lloyd has to do here. It shows him up a bit, which is a
shame as Lloyd is a good artist. Dillon wasn't to appear again, Lloyd
would vastly improve over the next few issues.
Draconia succeeds in being even more boring than ever, but Daak and
Salander should provide good things in the future. 6/10
Yonder... The Yeti (DWW 31-34) - Steve Moore has given us some
pretty good strips. It was time for him to step up to the main strip. He
would write a few more of these additional strips - but this is the last
of his initial run. David Lloyd has stepped up to become the main artist
of this strip - and the way he evokes Tibet is really excellent. The
additional strip has also been shortened to just 2 pages an issue. Lasting
4 mags this is actually only 8 pages long. But they do pack the action in
to these things, so I'm not complaining.
Bruce and Angela Healy are taking a break. They're searching for the
Yeti. Local guide Shiro joins them, and they are initially put off by Lama
Gampo - lead monk in the area. Gampo however turns out to be one of a long
line of protectors. They are ready for the Great Intelligence to return -
and will fight to rid the world of it at all cost.
Borrowing prolifically from Abominable Snowman
this actually becomes hugely interesting just as it is finishing. The
Great Intelligence stuff is nothing new, but real Yetis fighting against
Robot Yetis - now that's interesting! It brings back fond memories of the
original DW story, and is quite a good ride by itself. 7/10
Black Legacy (DWW 35-38) - It is with a sense of pride that
DW fans cite Douglas Adams as a former script editor of the TV
show. I'm a big fan of the DW Comics - and I can cite (with some
pride) that Alan Moore, the greatest comic book writer of them all, graced
DWW with his talent way back in 1980 - long before he became famous. His
first strip is excellent, there's enough characterization and atmosphere
to satiate my moods.
The Cybermen arrive on Goth. They've heard of a super weapon that lies
there. The world is dead, cities are crumbling, the residents long since
gone. But in the wilderness outside the city lies a darkness that is about
to overpower them. The Apocalypse Device roams free, and the Cybermen are
in big trouble.
The Apocalypse Device Humanoid is straight from Dr Death - a
frightening apparition. The Cybermen waste away, and emotions run rampant
- not bad for an inhuman species. The Cybermen are the anomaly in this.
You can understand their fear developing over the course of the story, but
the emotions run rife right from the beginning (I'm not at all sure about
the Cyberman Medic either!) - and this is the only problem with an
otherwise excellent story.
Overall probably the best additional strip there has been. This is 8
pages of great story, terrific artwork by David Lloyd. This really is a
voyage into the imagination - even if the Cybermen weren't quite right!
9/10
Business As Usual (DWW 40-43) - The team of Alan Moore and David
Lloyd continue with another excellent story. The length is the usual 8
pages (4 issues), and the inspiration is showing more this time. We're in
Spearhead From Space country. Lots of this is taken
straight from that story - but I expect the Autons work in more or less
the same way in all their invasions anyway!
The excellence comes from that art this time. David Lloyd produces some
really dark, scary artwork for this. There's much use made of shadows, and
the eerie plastics factory is the perfect place for shocks. Alan Moore's
story is a little too similar to Spearhead for me to
applaud him totally - but he seems to know what the fans want. This is
another masterpiece.
In 1989 Winston Blunt, a plumber, discovers some strange balls in a
field. He is possessed by them, and builds an Auton. They discover a new
form of plastic and make millions. The Auton, Mr Dolman, lives on whilst
Blunt commits suicide. Meanwhile Max Fischer, a business spy, wants to see
what's going on at the new plastics factory.
There are lots of impressive scenes in this story, but the one with
Fischer trying to escape from the toy soldiers is particularly excellent.
Toy Story never was this scary! 8/10
And so the Weekly finished. Every issue, bar 1 had a main strip, and 2
supplement strips. The spin-off DW strips was arguably the most
consistent of the lot. But this isn't the end. It wasn't about to keel
over and die just yet. The monthly would dismiss the Classic Sci-Fi strip,
but this additional strip would continue for a year or so yet.
Star Tigers Part Two (DWM 44-46) - Steve Moore returns to the
secondary strip here, David Lloyd again providing the art. Daak and
Salander return in a strip imaginatively named exactly the same as their
previous story! So let's call this Star Tigers Part Two.
It's time for Daak and Salander to swell their Tiger Team. Thus their
Killwagon (their spaceship) seeks out Harma (Ice Warrior) and Vol
Mercurius (Daaks old partner, Earthman). Harma is running some kind of
strange torture chamber. Mercurius lives in a tower in the middle of a
vast waste with a Robot. The 4 then go off to their 1st adventure, and
promise the reader thrills and spills, but not a lot of camaraderie.
It's made clear here that Daak has been in this space for a long time.
This must therefore be considerably after his initial exploits with
Taiyin. Taiyin remains frozen in her capsule though - a story that would
be picked up much later in the Main DWM Strip. There's a few Daleks,
disguised as Meteorites, in the final part - but this apart the artwork
isn't too great. Daak doesn't dominate as before, Salander does nothing.
The 2 new kids on the block have some potential though.
Star Tigers isn't something that really sets my pulse racing to
be honest. Macho exploits with lots of battles, dysfunctional teams who
really don't want to be together - not really my thing. 6/10
Star Death (DWM 47) - DWM had now decided to keep their
additional strip to just 1 issue. The page count varied between 4 and 8,
but it seems the standard suffered the most initially. The opening
1-parter was by Alan Moore, and it fooled us into thinking the strip was
still pretty good. The art continues nicely, new boy John Stokes joins the
show here.
Star Death takes us back to Gallifrey, in the early ages of
Rassilon. Qqaba is just about to become a Black Hole, the means by which
the Time Lords come into being. A Time Traveller from the future, Fenris,
wants to put a spanner in the works of all this. He actually becomes the
means by which Rassilon puts the whole jigsaw of Time Travel together -
thanks to his Directional Control Device Belt.
Star Death isn't that bad, it's just average. It's one of those
Time Stories that DW didn't do enough of. There's also a bit of
mystery surrounding Gallifrey, which is always welcome. But it's not in
the same league as his previous efforts. 6/10
The Touchdown on Deneb 7 (DWM 48) - This is where the strip really
started to get pretty terrible. Paul Neary returns to the fold, this time
as the writer (he helped draw the first few stories in this series). David
Lloyd provides the art (which is actually pretty good).
K9 disobeys the Doctors orders when the TARDIS lands on Deneb 7. He
goes out of the TARDIS, meeting some robots. They are seeking the Pennant
Bearer. The robots are there to figure out whether the planet should be
settled.
To be honest I just couldn't get my head round this one. I read the
thing, re-read it in an attempt to understand it. Then I just flung the
magazine down in exasperation - I wasn't going to waste any more time on
such drivel. By far the worst strip of these additional stories thus far -
but it was the shape of things to come. 3/10
Voyage to the Edge of the Universe (DWM 49) - Paul Neary and
David Lloyd combine again. After the atrocious Touchdown story I
was expecting an improvement. It is better, but not by much.
This story brings back the Daemons. They are on a trip to find the Edge
of the Universe. Azal is aboard. They travel for a very long time, not
arriving at the very edge. Then they get caught up in a strange nether
world - blank space. Here Azal meets himself, and strange things occur.
That's really it for this one. The Daemons are well drawn, but surely a
better new story could have been invented for these excellent monsters
from the 3rd Doctors era. It just meanders along, not really igniting much
interest at all. The additional comic strip was falling behind.
5/10
Crisis on Kaldor (DWM 50) - Steve Moore returns to the strip,
hopefully to give it a much needed injection of life after the last 2
clunkers. John Stokes showed skill with Star Death, and he is very
good again with this Kaldor City story.
Sylvos Orikon and Tran Korkolo are Kaldorians. They are a bit
suspicious of the Robots - so many are in Kaldor City it seems. The Super
Vocs are now considered the ideal captains of the Sandminers - and Orikon
is determined to show they are not. He thus goes undercover as a Super Voc
Robot - SV23 - to prove his theory. His plans go horribly wrong.
After the Daemons returning in the previous story, its good to see one
of the best designed foes in this one. Kaldor City is a place rich for
story potential (as the continuing Audio series of 2001 onwards shows).
This is only a toe dip into such a world. It's pretty good overall, and
further proof that Steve Moore is a very good writer. 7/10
4-D War (DWM 51) - A shift of Moores takes us back to Alan now!
This isn't his best offering though. It's basically a continuation of his
previous strip - Star Death, but this time with David Lloyd in the
artist chair.
The Time Lords want to rescue Fenris from the Time Vortex. They're
intrigued to find out who sent him, and for what purpose. Thus the
eminently disposable Wardog is sent in. The 4-D war of the title is a War
that concerns Time. The Order of the Black Sun are involved. There's a
battle in the Vortex, Wardog loses his arm.
This tale is rather forgettable overall. Everything seems very rushed,
and Alan Moore seems to have lost his initial magic. He was to write one
more, but it was clearly time for him to move to his own thing. 4-D War is
hardly his greatest 5 minutes! 5/10
The Greatest Gamble (DWM 56) - After a 5 month gap, where we
thought we'd lost this additional strip, it suddenly returned opposite a
Photo-File on Celestial Toymaker. Bit of a giveaway
that as to who the villain would be! There's a new writer and artist too.
John Peel, the author of those controversial Dalek Books, takes us back to
the Old American West. Mike MacMahon, artist of the controversial Junkyard
Demon, provides the images.
We're on the Mississippi, Old West. Gaylord Lefevre likes a game of
cards. He wants to win at all costs, and the Toymaker calls him into his
Games Parlour. Lefevre gets more than he bargained for when he accuses the
Toymaker of cheating.
It's interesting to see the Toymaker moving easily through Time. Q-Like
he seems to appear as and when he wants, appearing in Ancient Rome towards
the end. The artwork is unusual, that's for sure, but I happen to like it
as a one-off (which is turned out to be). It's an imaginative little
story, making greater a very good character from TV DW. 7/10
lack Sun Rising (DWM 57) - Alan Moore returns with his 3rd part
of his Time Lord Trilogy. David Lloyd is employed again for the art, and
the same rushed style that brought down the previous 2 stories, afflicts
this.
Lady Remadu arrives for a business conference. She is accompanied by
the Parahumans - X-Men style people (with wonderful names like Millenium
and Cobweb) - who can help her in her dealings. One of these is Wardog.
There's also a Sontaran on board, and the Order of the Black Sun are up to
their old tricks. The Sontaran proves the nasty bloke, brainwiping one of
the Parahumans. Wardog deals with him.
Reading this I was constantly looking back through Stardeath and
4-D
War.
It does form a pretty definite trilogy, but it's not a very clear one.
This proved to be the last of such jaunts for Alan Moore, and you have to
say it's pretty lame. The arts okay though. The strip has certainly not
shied away from representing the Doctors Home race, but it hasn't been
particularly successful. 6/10
Skywatch 7 (DWM 58 & WS81) - Steve Parkhouse lends his
considerable talent to this additional strip, drawn by Mick Austin (whose
Lunar Lagoon main strip was excellent). Featured monster - the Zygons -
well one of them anyway.
UNIT are manning a remote Radar Post. Captain Hawks is in command when
an unidentified meteor enters the Earth's atmosphere. Campbell is sent out
to investigate, and on his return smashes up the Radar equipment. The
Zygon has taken on his form. Hawks takes matters into his own hands,
accidentally shooting the real Campbell, and giving the Zygon invader an
icy grave.
I have been most surprised that these additional strips have not
featured UNIT more. But this makes up for that, because its excellent. The
classic base under siege scenario is played to its full. There's also THE
most memorable image of the additional strip in these 8 pages - The Zygon
in the cupboard. You had to buy the 1981 Winter Special to read the 2nd
part, but it was well worth it. One of my favourites. 9/10
MINATORIUS (WS 81) - Accompanying the 2nd part of Skywatch 7 was
this stand alone Time Lord story. Written by editor Alan MacKenzie, with
the great Dave Gibbons providing the artwork this promised to be special.
Time Lord new boy Cargan is on one of this first trips in his TARDIS.
He's accompanied by ORB, a small flying robot, who likes to chip in with
daft comments. Cargan arrives on Minatorius, where the populace have a
rich energy supply that makes their lives very easy. Turns out this energy
supply is dangerous. Cargan takes matters into his own hands, disobeying
the Time Lord rule of non-interference. The feedback from his electronic
dabblings destroys his own TARDIS and himself.
Now this is a cheery little tale! The hero of the story dies, and the
irritating little ball survives! It's all wonderfully drawn, and you have
to applaud MacKenzie for doing something dark. It's a better, and easier
to understand, Time Lord story than Alan Moore's efforts too. Not bad at
all really. 7/10
The Gods Walk Among Us (DWM 59) - John Peel will provide the
next 3 additional strips, all of them delving into the rich mythology that
DW provided. They do so extremely well, and thus Mr Peel joins the
best contributors to this medium. David Lloyd provides the art - his
talent is evident. The old monster on show here is the Sontarans - used
quite a bit in these additional strips.
We're in Egypt, and an archeological dig is about to open the Tomb of
Sontar. Back in time we go to Ancient Egypt. Turns out a lone Sontaran
landed there, slaved the populace. Only Tothmes was wise to his invasive
plans, and while the Sontaran slept he was walled up. And so Styx has
remained in the Tomb all that time. He escapes, naturally, when the dig
opens the Tomb, only to be caught by another Trap, where he is buried in
tons of Sand.
Ancient Egypt provides an effective backdrop to this 4 page story.
Tothmes emerges with great credit from this story, and I got really
engulfed in it all. It's clear, it's concise. It's exactly what these
strips should be. 9/10
Devil of the Deep (DWM 61) - The same team as before - Peel and
Lloyd. But a totally different tale, tinged with sadness, laced with an
unusual friendship - enter the Sea Devils and Pirates.
Early 17th Century South America. Diego De Columba of Cordoba is
captured by Pirates and made to walk the Plank. He ends up as a Castaway
on a Desert Island, thanks to a friendly Sea Devil, who just happens to be
passing as Columba is about to drown. They strike up a friendship. One day
the Pirates return, the Sea Devil is captured. Then Columba remembers a
device that the Sea Devil told him not to ever press. He does, and a Sea
monster rises up destroying Pirate Ship and his friend. Columba is rescued
by a Spanish ship.
It's a terrific little story this one. The Desert Island is wonderfully
drawn, and its good to see a DW Monster that isn't really that bad.
The device that the Sea Devil possesses provides a rather convenient story
plot, but the whole idea was well put together generally. Another hit for
this strip. 8/10
The Fires Down Below (DWM 64) - John Peel finishes DWM's
additional comic strip run (the next 2 are in the Summer Special), with
John Stokes returning with the graphics. The privilege of the last Monster
is given to the Dominators - Hmmm!
UNIT under the command of Major Whitaker are sent to a extinct Volcano
in Rejkavik. Tremors under the surface need investigating, and so UNIT
metamorphosizes into a Geology team. Seems a lone Dominator, with his
Quark entourage wants the Planet Core. UNIT sabotage the machinery and the
plan is foiled!
The Dominators suffer because of comparison with the TV story. For me
that was one of the worst DW stories ever - so I never was going to
be that struck on their return. It's a pity such a villain is presented as
the last. Nonetheless the story is adequate and the art pretty good. An
average end though, which is disappointing. 6/10
The Fabulous Idiot (SS 82) - The end of the additional strip was
given to us by Steve Parkhouse. This, and the next, were part of a Summer
Special that boasted interviews with Peter Davison and Anthony Ainley. In
both strips Parkhouse uses existing creations of his, actually both from
the DWM Main Strip The Free-Fall Warriors. Here the focus is Dr
Ivan Asimoff.
Asimoff is a Science Fiction writer. He creates Commander Conquest,
which is himself, who battles enemies and conquers all. He re-enacts the
main scenes in his bedroom - much to the annoyance of his Auntie who he
lives with. She wants him to write quieter stories! Meanwhile his
illustrator is working on the new cover. This startling image knocks the
poor Doctor over in shock!
Parkhouse give us a marvelous one-off strip, better than any featuring
this character. Asimoff's daily routine is the cause of most of the humour
here, and the story cleverly leads us down one line, only for our
preconceptions to be shattered at the end. It's a supremely likeable
strip, much in keeping with Parkhouses previous efforts. Parkhouse also
helps draw this one (with Geoff Senior), and it's not bad at all on that
front. Very good. 8/10
A Ship Called Sudden Death (SS 82) - Steve Parkhouse brings back
another creation of his own in another terrific one-off strip in the
Summer Special of 1982. This time it is the Free-Fall Warriors themselves.
Dave Gibbons is recruited on the art front, and this really is excellent.
There's a race about to be taking place, starting on the planet
Ariadne. The 2 competitors (small race this one) goes round the planet
Persephone, getting rather close to an asteroid belt. Against the
Free-Fall Warriors, in their ship Tigerfire, is Khan, with his ship Sudden
Death. Our favourite pilots outwit Khan, emerging triumphant, with Khan
apparently dead.
It's a very simple story about a race. But the introduction of Khan is
impressive (a skull like baddie, with a ship straight from hell), and the
Free-Fall Warriors are better here than elsewhere. Parkhouse thus finishes
off the additional strip run in fine form. 8/10
SUMMARY And so the additional strip was no more. Lasting a very short 3
years it had given us much of DW mythology, presented without our
hero at the fore. Some stories were great, others very poor indeed. The
additional strip was actually the same with consistency as many other
medium - books, audios, TV stories, main comic strip - whatever.
New characters like Abslom Daak and Kroton the Cybermen proved popular
enough to return elsewhere. Characters like Lama Gampo and Plutar-TARDIS
man, were to disappear forever - and that was a shame. The monsters and
villains we knew would return.
But overall the additional comic strip that graced DWM for those 3
years
was a good ride. I thoroughly enjoyed reading, and reviewing, this
neglected part of DW History. Access to these 30 Stories will be
limited,
I expect. But hopefully it will encourage those fans who have an extensive
DWM collection to go up to their attic and recover these lost treasures.
There's a lot to enjoy. Try it, you might like it! Overall rating for the
additional strips 7/10
Here's the best Ten:-
Skywatch 7, Black Legacy, Abslom Daak - Dalek
Killer, The Gods Walk Among Us, Business as Usual,
Throwback, The Fabulous Idiot, Devil of the Deep,
Twilight of the Silurians, Minatorius
So just what is Canon anyway? by Paul Deuis
28/1/03
We Whovians are a passionate bunch, and it doesn’t take much to
realise that we all have differing opinions on many subjects related to
our favourite Time Lord. What is your favourite story? Who is your
favourite Doctor? Which companion did you hate the most? So many of
these types of question are asked, time and time again, particularly when
introductions are being made. It gives you a nice cosy starting point to
the conversation. For the most part, people will have their say, listen
to the other person/people have their turn, and little more is said.
They end up respecting the other opinions presented, agree to disagree if
the viewpoints are extreme opposites, and get on with their lives.
This, however, is not true if we are talking about canon. Trust me, if
you want to start an argument in any Doctor Who club, forum or
discussion, online or real life, just mention the word
“canon”. I can almost guarantee you fireworks will follow
shortly afterwards. What is it about mentioning that one little word that
makes so many Whovians climb on to their proverbial soap boxes? Why do
they start telling anyone who wants to listen that they are an authority
on the subject and anything they say goes? Of course, if you don’t
agree with them, you’re wrong and that’s all there is to it.
The judge’s decision is final, no correspondence will be entered
into.
The biggest headache is caused by the fact that so many viewpoints can
be, and frequently are, taken on the subject. The worst people to
encounter on the topic are the extremists, a statement which won’t
surprise anyone greatly I’m sure. On one side, there are people who
argue “If it wasn’t televised between 1963 and 1989 by the BBC
then it doesn’t count”, leaving even Shada and the TV Movie out in the
cold. On the other side, there are those who say “I don’t
care if it was a badly drawn one frame comic on the back of a cereal box,
it was called Doctor Who and it looked a bit like Tom Baker with
that hat and scarf and that makes it canon”. Thankfully, the good
majority of Whovians fall somewhere in the middle of these two arguments,
but that doesn’t necessarily make discussion on the topic any less
animated.
At the time of writing this, it has been over thirty nine years since
that unmistakable theme music played at the start of An
Unearthly Child for the first time, and Doctor Who has surfaced
in many shapes and forms, many not on the television, and one of the many
arguments for accepting something as canon, is the stamp of approval from
the BBC. This on its own means a lot of hard work trying to piece it
together. The Virgin line of New and Missing Adventures was endorsed by
the BBC. The new books ARE from the BBC. The Big Finish audios are also
authorised and licensed by the BBC. The
Pescatons is believed by many to be canon, as are the three stories
that were to be part of season 23 before being dumped, since all have seen
the light of day as Target novelisations. Even Dimensions in Time, though it is a short story
shot only for charity, was produced by the BBC and I seem to remember
being told it had its own production code, although I could well be
mistaken about this.
Even companion spin-off stories can be included. Harry and Turlough
both appeared in Target novels without the Doctor. Benny Summerfield has
proven to be very popular since leaving the Doctor in both book and audio
forms, and who can forget almost everyone’s favourite companion,
Sarah Jane Smith, who was in the (in)famous K9 and
Company and now has her own Big Finish audios as well.
There are, of course, plenty of good arguments for almost any stand
taken on the subject. The problem lies in drawing the line somewhere.
Just where do you make your stand? What makes people say “enough is
enough” and decide what is canon and what is not? Is it enough that
there are the words “Doctor Who” attached? The Doctor may not
be in it, but he wasn’t in Mission to the
Unknown either but that isn’t questioned as being canon. The
BBC originally endorsed the Virgin line, but on finishing that up and
starting their own series with The Eight Doctors,
told writers to disregard anything written in Virgin books for continuity
purposes. Does that mean they aren’t canon? Well apart from the
fact that many writers have ignored that directive, and at the very least
not contradicted anything written in the Virgin books, continuity as we
all know too well was often thrown right out the window during the
televised series. Many times, this was in stories which are regarded in
many circles as out and out classics, Genesis of the
Daleks being the most obvious example I can think of at this moment.
Anyone want to say Genesis isn’t canon? I
wouldn’t think so.
Confused? Most are, and that is probably the reason most Whovians
avoid the subject like the plague. We’re happy watching and
re-watching the series over and over again on our VCRs and/or DVD players,
and in a lot of cases, reading the books and listening to the audios, but
even if your life depends on it, just don’t upset your little world
(or anyone else’s) by asking that question “So just what is
accepted canon anyway?”
Get off that soap box. Like beauty, canon is most definitely in the
eye of the beholder, and while opinions will probably always differ on the
subject, the most important thing to remember was said by our good Doctor
to Duke Giuliano: “Keep an open mind. That’s the
secret.”
Baker Bashers Beware! A review of violence in Doctor Who
during Season 22 by Ronald Mallett
3/3/03
If there is one word that captures the essence of the character of The
6th Doctor it is controversial. Take note of how many reviews there are of
Colin Baker's interpretation as opposed to the others and how much they
vary! Like all The Doctors he made the journey from an extreme caricature
of himself to that of a more settled, mellow version over the course of
his tenure. He was proud, verbose, abrupt, eccentric and at times callous
but he was also heroic, noble and a born iconoclast.
The Doctor we meet at the beginning of The Twin
Dilemma is not the same Doctor we know by the end of the story. It has
long been recognised that it was a mistake to introduce The 6th Doctor as
a deranged maniac as many were unable to let go of the image of him
attempting to strangle his companion. While he remained at times
unpleasant, The Doctor's morality could not be questioned. His
chastisement of The Rani in The Mark of The Rani
attests to this as he debunks her grim philosophy of being. His speech to
Drathro in The Mysterious Planet, explaining why
organic life is important indicates the consistency of this morality. As
he explains to Peri in the same story, he can't allow innocent people to
die if he can save them.
If The 6th Doctor has a central failing (aside from his rather
lacklustre interpersonal skills and dress sense) it is his callous (i.e.
alien) reaction to the death of his adversaries. As Colin Baker insists in
the audio commentary of Vengeance on Varos, that was
a conscious production decision in keeping with his more alien persona. He
turns to the dissolving guards in the acid bath and declares: "Forgive me
if I don't join you". In The Two Doctors after
killing Shockeye with cyanide (not ignoring the fact he had recently
killed and eaten an old woman, had just been in the process of dissecting
Jamie alive and at the very least intended to kill The Doctor with his
sword) The Doctor remarks: "Your just desserts!" However in the same story
he openly mourns Oscar's death - quoting Shakespeare in a very sensitive
way. It's just clear he doesn't have a lot of pity for murders and
psychopaths. After Orcini blasts Davros' hand off, The Doctor playfully
offers his own in a fake gesture and comments: "No arm done!" This aspect
had all but vanished by The Trial of a Time Lord and
after being forced to wipe out the Vervoids in order to save humanity, the
Doctor looks remorseful. But perhaps it is because he knows that the
Vervoids have just been following their instincts and are not truly evil
in the pure sense of the word, although their actions appear that way to
us. There is certainly no admission such as The 5th Doctor made at the end
of Warriors of the Deep: "There should have been
another way!" The 6th Doctor just isn't the type to openly wear his heart
on his admittedly gaudy sleeve!
Many voices raised against the character of The 6th Doctor point to
differences between him and the other Doctors. How fair is that? It seems
clear to me that he was continually acting by virtue of a strong moral
impulse [rather than continuously playing god with time or forcing his
companion to face her darkest fears (ie. Ghost Light)
like The 7th Doctor]. It has been suggested that in Vengeance on Varos during the scene where Peri is being
converted into a bird, The Doctor displays a fascination with the process
and at first does not attempt to stop it (The Handbook: The Sixth Doctor,
Howe-Stammers-Walker, 1993, pp. 496-497). In reality his first reaction is
to shout "What!" His voice betrays his concern. He prevents Jondar from
throwing away his life in a useless gesture of resistance. Quillam
declares the experiment has gone too far. When he is viewing the
experiment it is with deep concentration as he is trying to think of a way
to save Peri and Etta. He demands the machine be turned off. Then he
provides the distraction needed for Jondar to seize a weapon. The Doctor
then uncomfortably attempts to force Quillam to cooperate at gunpoint (no
worse than The 5th Doctor holding a gun to protect himself and his friends
from a loose Kaled mutant in Resurrection of the
Daleks - and unlike the Doctor in that story who had finally decided
that Davros needed to be 'put down', the 6th Doctor had no real intention
of using the weapon to kill). He doesn't shoot him but the machine
instead. Shortly later he prevents Jondor from killing a guard, saving yet
another life. In fact he's continuously saving lives throughout the entire
adventure just like any other Doctor. The Doctor actually refuses to even
take a gun in The Mark of The Rani joking he has
given them up as they can seriously damage your health! So much for Doctor
Wholigan!
Let's look back at the behaviour of one of the earlier Doctors then and
place him on trial for a moment. Paul Shaw (Data Extract 162 July/August
2002, p. 8) clearly lists some of his more questionable behaviour: he
calmly causes the death of Styre in The Sontaran
Experiment, blows up the Zygons in their ship in Terror of the Zygons, uses cyanide on Solon in The Brain of Morbius, snaps a neck in The Seeds of Doom, brings about the molecular
disintegration of Greel in The Talons of Weng-Chiang,
deliberately masterminds the death of Taren Capel by altering his voice in
The Robots of Death. All were acts of premeditated
murder but given the circumstances and the nature of the victims,
perfectly understandable. The Doctor Wholigan tag often applied to the 6th
Doctor and coined I believe by Antony Howe, seems a mite unfair when
placed in proper context. Of the early 4th Doctor, Paul Shaw concludes:
"...he snaps and snarls, beats up people in The Seeds
of Doom, lays into Goth with a big stick (The Deadly
Assassin), coldly flicks a flesh eating Horda onto someone's shoulder
(The Face of Evil) etc. etc. ... Tom is praised for
this, Colin is damned. I've never understood why..." As the 6th Doctor
himself professes during his trial he resorts to violence only in
self-defence. That can probably be qualified as all the Doctors at times
also acted violently in the defence of the defenceless. The 4th Doctor
shoots down a Rutan ship at the end of The Horror of Fang
Rock and declares: "That'll teach them!" He also claims the universe
won't miss the Jagaroth and engineers their final extinction in City of Death. At least The 6th Doctor didn't send off
the hand of Omega to obliterate Skaro (i.e.. Remembrance
of the Daleks). One would hope that the 7th Doctor knew that is was
clear of Thals. But then again, didn't even the 4th Doctor think that
Dalek life counted as well in Genesis of the Daleks
when given the opportunity to abort their evolution?
Probably the most misunderstood of all Colin Baker's stories was Vengeance on Varos. It seems to epitomise the degree to
which the use of violence in the program at that time has been distorted.
Antony Howe (A Voyage Through 25 Years of Doctor Who, December 1988)
claimed that while it was an attempt at social criticism of video nasties,
its over-exploitation of violence turned it into one. Paul Corrigan (Data
Extract 161, May/June 2002, pp. 10-11) has more recently maintained that
it was the lunatic behaviour of The 6th Doctor that resulted in two deaths
in the notorious acid-bath scene and that he deliberately engineers the
deaths of four Varosians in a way that equates with premeditated murder.
Closer inspection of the story on DVD reveals that both opinions are
flawed. There is no gore in Vengeance on Varos, only
the suggestion of it and the traditional fantastical violence involving
fictional death rays etc. For example when Jason Connery's character
Jondar is being tortured, it is simply a ray of light shinning or
super-imposed onto his torso. I don't see how that even compares with the
infamous drowning scene in The Deadly Assassin, which
is actual physical violence and easily imitated by the impressionable.
The acid-bath scene is less than a storm in a tea cup and more a sort
of black-out in a police box! What actually happens is that the Doctor
recovers and then in an inoffensive manner, taps one of the guards on the
shoulder. They believed he was dead and perhaps surprise causes one to
fall into the pool (into which they were about to tip the body of the
Doctor). The remaining guard then tries to force the Doctor into the pool
alive and is eventually pulled in by his dying comrade.
Like all Doctors, when pressed and given no other choice, the 6th
Doctor would act to protect innocent and even not-so- innocent lives.
People forget that when the Doctor saves the lives of Peri, Jondar, Etta
and himself by causing the death of Quillam and his henchmen, Quillam has
just told them what he has planned: "I want to hear their screams till I'm
deaf with pleasure. See their limbs twist in excruciating agony.
Ultimately their blood will gush and flow along the gutters of Varos. The
whole planet will delight in their torture and death." By utilising the
vines, the Doctor is merely defending himself and his charges against the
worst kind of psychopathic scum.
The other stories from season 22 - which has come to be known as the
video nasty season in some circles - have not been devoid of
criticism. The most distorted scene in Attack of the
Cybermen is the
moment the 6th Doctor shoots the Cyber Controller. He was actually trying
to rescue Lytton and when discovered, he was attacked.
The Cyber Controller isn't wandering over to give him a
warm bear hug! I've actually read very little about the scene which I
believe did cross the line that is where Lytton has his hands crushed to
a bloody pulp by the Cybermen. It was actually even included in Timeframe
by David J. Howe as one of the selected magic moments of the series!
I feel that blood has no place in Doctor Who and all injuries
should be internal and caused by fantastical weapons that children will
imitate with sounds. Ooze running out of corpses and the like was a
trademark of the 5th Doctor's era and was actually a very good substitute
and retained for the death of Mestor in The Twin
Dilemma. Having said this, it must be noted that the 6th Doctor was
not present in the aforementioned scene and I feel the scene was an
attempt to reinforce the ruthlessness of the Cybermen as a race.
The Mark of The Rani features people being
transformed into trees which is more laughable than graphic. It is all
done in puffs of smoke of course and there isn't even time for the
traditional scream. Despite popular belief, The Two
Doctors does not feature any cannibalism at all. Shockeye is an alien.
I think some people need to look up the definition of cannibalism in the
dictionary, you definitely have to belong to the same species as your meal
for it to qualify as such. In Timelash the Doctor
merely reflects the Borad's beam back onto him, causing his clone as it
turned out, to age to death. At the end of the story the Doctor felt his
exile to 12th Century Scotland was a just punishment - not death!
Cannibalism on a mass scale is referred to in Revelation
of the Daleks, much to the disgust of the Doctor and Orcini. Davros
has in fact been financing his experiments into producing Dalek/human
hybrids by selling the remains of those interred on Necros in the form of
a concentrated protein to starving human colonies. It's a disgusting
thought but it's meant to be: Davros is evil. He had his own people wiped
out in Genesis of the Daleks because it suited his
purposes. It's remarkable the difference a large alien in a kilt licking
his lips over humanity can make isn't it!
In conclusion I must say that the degree of violence during Colin
Baker's tenure has been exaggerated. In fact compared to some other
seasons, I have found season 22 it to be rather mild. I think there have
always been a number of people who have disliked Colin's portrayal and
have used a few little production misjudments to slander his
inter