Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 74

The Four Villains [WHO-50—2003]

Another anniversary, this time the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who – and despite the lack of television adventures, this one was rather better served than back in 1993 – at least, as far as audio fans were concerned!

In 2003, Big Finish had been making Doctor Who audio plays for four years, and were coming up on their 50th in the Main Range.

The previous year, they had left the second season of Eighth Doctor adventures on a cliffhanger in Neverland, with the Doctor possessed by a terrible creature from Gallifreyan folklore, uttering the words: “I… Am… Zagreus!”

This cliffhanger was then not followed up for another year and a half THIS IS THE KIND OF THING BIG FINISH DOES TO US!

Leading up to the 50th title which would of course be titled Zagreus, Big Finish put out three stand-alone plays in the main range which featured each of “their” other Doctors, paired with an iconic villain from the show’s past (and no companions).

All three of these plays, Omega, Davros and Master, featured marvellous performances, and dug deep into the mythology of the show, and particularly with the Doctor’s relationship with the men who could each be described as the dark half of himself. Each also had a teasing reference to Zagreus as a character of myth and nursery rhyme, building on the idea of that being a common mythos.

Oh and thanks to a recent price drop on the first 50 Big Finish Doctor Who plays in the Main Range, you can purchase each of these as downloads for a couple of dollars/pounds. Less than the price of a cup of coffee, anyway.

In Omega by Nev Fountain, the Fifth Doctor finds himself on a cruiser in space, peopled with eager history tourists, and a scornful tour guide who informs the Doctor that no one bothers to actually travel in time any more, because the history they can present to the public is far more interesting than just going back and looking at any old past.

Welcome to Jolly Chronolidays!

So we have holographic projections and live performances to convey the history of Omega, once the great hero of the Time Lords, whose reputation is now in the ditch thanks to the Doctor’s own handiwork, and all manner of commentary on how history actually works – from the point of view of different historians.

Omega himself is played by Ian Collier (who voiced the character in Arc of Infinity) and is definitely more of a sequel to that story than to The Three Doctors, though there are callbacks to both. There’s a devastating twist round about the third episode which reveals that the story you have been watching is actually a much scarier story, and Peter Davison rises beautifully to the occasion, showing that the Fifth Doctor is more than just an affable youngster in striped pajama pants.

Oh and if you’ve ever wondered why his name was Omega, that’s in here too.

In Davros by Lance Parkin, the Doctor becomes Davros’s companion in a deeply disturbing story which looks at who Davros was back before he was horribly damaged (still pretty evil, actually, but better at hiding it) as well as playing on the way that public relations and the way that history is presented can “redeem” even war criminals.

Dug up by corporate super-couple Arnold and Lorraine Baynes (played by Bernard Horsfall and Wendy Padbury!), Davros promises to be Good and to earn his keep by using his devastating scientist brain to feed the hungry, cure the sick, and that sort of thing.

The Doctor is in the right time and place to put a stop to that sort of thing right now! Um. As soon as Davros does something evil. So he volunteers to help Davros, becoming his glorified lab assistant (passing test tubes) in order to be convenient when Davros stops helping the universe and starts being gratuitously evil again.

Any day now.

Surely?

I know that none of you will be surprised that Davros adjusts to working for the public service more readily than the Doctor does.

In Master by Joseph Lidster, Geoffrey Beevers (who played the burnt/scarred Master in The Keeper of Traken) is John Smith, a doctor on the colony world of Perfugium who has made a good life for himself despite having arrived ten years ago with no memory.

His best friends, married couple Victor and Jacqueline Schaeffer, are respectively a police inspector weighed down by a horrific Ripper-style serial killer case, and a ‘Queen of Hearts’ patron of charities who helps fallen women (or at least all the fallen women in the city who haven’t been murdered yet).

John is content, despite being blatantly in love with Jacqueline (and vice versa), but an uninvited guest (the Seventh Doctor) sparks off a terrible unraveling of events. No one is what they say they are, and everyone has secrets: not only Victor and Jacqueline, the maid Jade, and John Smith himself, but the worst secrets of all are the ones that the Doctor is keeping under his hat.

This is a great play which goes a bit surrealist and ‘magical realism’ in the later parts, addressing quite literally the idea that if the Doctor is Time’s Champion then the Master is Death’s Champion, but also really digs into the origin of the friendship between the Master and the Doctor, and what sealed their fate as boys: the one to commit terrible evil and the other to save and fix the universe whenever possible.

As well as giving us a fantastic Master – Geoffrey Beevers uses his voice brilliantly to show different sides to the character, so that you never doubt when he is John Smith and when he is the Master – this story also looks at the manipulative nature of the Seventh Doctor, and why the two men are linked forever.

This is a different origin story to the Master than we get in the John Simm TV version, but I can think of many fans who would prefer this particular time track – and of course, being Doctor Who fans, we don’t have to choose between them. We can have both!

Apart from Zagreus itself, other 40th anniversary celebrations in November 2003 included: the BBC webcast Scream of the Shalka, a Weakest Link special Doctor Who Dead Ringers sketch, a Doctor Who marathon on UK TV, and from BBC Books: Deadly Reunion by Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks, a novel about the Brig’s early years as a Lieutenant battling Greek gods on Greek islands.

However, none of this quite lived up to the terrifying and wonderful announcement in September 2003 earlier that, you know. The show was coming back. For real.

ELSEWHERE IN 2003:

Jane Tranter tells the story behind bringing Doctor Who back to BBC in Doctor Who Magazine [Digital Journal]

Richard E Grant & Sophie Okonedo as Doctor & Companion in webcast Scream of the Shalka

How Michael Grade (via Mark Thompson) tried to prevent Doctor Who coming back in 2003 [Kasterborous]

Dear Mark Thompson [The Huffington Post]

Miranda, the Doctor’s Daughter [Doctor Her]



Deadly Reunion [Nicholas Whyte book reviews]

The coming out of Izzy [Doctor Her]

Confession 26: I wish we’d seen more of the Shalka Doctor [NeoWhovian]

Unbound: Exile [Doctor Her]

Review of Jubilee by Robert Shearman [Docohobigfinish]



PREVIOUSLY:

Galactic Suburbia Episode 87: Saga Spoilerific Book Club

For the first time in years, all three hosts of Galactic Suburbia have read the same thing at the same time! So buckle up, it’s time for another installment of the Spoilerific Book Club!

You can download or stream the episode direct from our site, or find us on iTunes.

We’re taking on the Eisner-award winning & Hugo-nominated comic Saga, written by Brian K Vaughan and drawn by Fiona Staples, published by Image Comics.

For this episode we look at the 12 issues which have been collected as the first two trade editions of Saga and we spoil EVERYTHING, so don’t listen unless you’ve a) read it or b) don’t care about spoilers.

We discuss tree rockets in space, breastfeeding, childbirth, violence, men with TV screens for head, gay sex, straight sex, parents-in-law, mutilated bodies, fatherhood, brothel planets, child prostitutes, romance novels, the sexual anatomy of giants, Lying Cat, and character deaths.

PLEASE NOTE THE EXPLICIT TAG.

AND WE REALLY MEAN IT ABOUT THE SPOILERS.

The issue that was (briefly) too racy for ComiXology, and why this was a double standard. Because it wasn’t the issue with the child prostitutes.

Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!

Friday Links Congratulates the World Fantasy Award Nominees

I was delighted to read the interesting lists of works and people nominated for the World Fantasy Awards this year – including an unprecedented four Australians!

I deeply regret not having noticed the submission guidelines for this book of superhero poetry, available now free from Smashwords. I now desperately want to write the ballad of Black Canary.

Bitch Magazine looks at the lack of queer-friendly comics from mainstream publishers, and how webcomics do a much better job at character diversity.

The Mary Sue follows up with a lengthy recommendation list of webcomics of various kinds.

What if the Disney Princesses had Instagram?

A great post about the problematic focus on ‘boys not reading’ at Momentum, with a really interesting point about the way the reading needs of girls are dismissed.

Vet and writer Thoraiya Dyer talks about animals in fantasy, and how distressed people get when you add specific (non-English) fauna to your secondary world.

Diana Pharoah Francis talks about writing “urban” fantasy set in rural Montana, and the little details that urban-based writers tend to get wrong when they write generic rather than specific ‘rural.’

The SF Signal MindMeld looks at Our Favourite Female Protagonists and Why They Rock.

CollegeHumor’s Favorite Funny Videos

Verity Extra! Lovely Louise

This Verity! Extra! feels like an extra-special one. We have the incredible pleasure of bringing you an interview with a true Doctor Who luminary, Louise Jameson! From Leela on screen to Leela in Big Finish to writing for Big Finish to the fab new short film Cleaning Up to her other amazing work, she’s been a wonderful and influential figure in the world of British television and theatre. Join Deb and Erika as they squee a bit about it and then hear Deb have a fabulous chat with the lovely lady herself!

Find Louise here:

On the web: LouiseJameson.com

On twitter: @Lou_Jameson

Big Finish audios: Gallifrey, Fourth Doctor Adventures

Tenko

New short film: Cleaning Up

Download or listen now (runtime 36:46)

Download: veritylovelylouise.mp3

Perspectives of Art and War: History 101 by Mags L Halliday [WHO-50—2002]

The books I’ve reviewed so far for this blogging project have all been rereads, but given my extreme lack of knowledge of the BBC books after Sam left (with an exception for anything by Kate Orman or Paul Magrs) I thought it would be good to stretch myself a bit for 2002’s output – especially as I have the benefit of a State Library full of Eighth Doctor Adventures that I can borrow!

So the 2002 book that most appealed to me was History 101 – thanks to an intriguing blurb and premise, my curiosity about companion Anji Kapoor, and the fact that it was written by a female author whose work I hadn’t read before.

Hooray, right decision! I really enjoyed this book. In tone it reminded me most of the Big Finish plays The Settling, No Man’s Land and The Angel of Scutari, all of which feature the Doctor’s companions (well, Hex, mostly) being thoroughly traumatised by the gritty realities of history and war. And when I say ‘traumatised’ I mean ‘just this side of Torchwood: Miracle Day.’ I see you celebrity historical, New Who, and raise you: the grimdark historical.

Visiting Paris, the Doctor, Fitz and Anji discover that the painting of “Guernica” by Picasso has lost all emotional power. Rather than assuming they’re all just terribly shallow people who have lost the ability to appreciate art, they investigate further and discover that the print of the same painting on a paperback book from the TARDIS library is in fact far more gut-wrenching than the original painting on the wall. That’s weird, right?

Cue a jaunt back to the dark reality of the Spanish Civil War, as the three of them separate to investigate what is distorting humanity’s perspectives of this time period. Fitz is sent off on his own to observe the bombing of Guernica first-hand (YES REALLY) while the Doctor and Anji wait for him in Barcelona among the war journalists, anarchists and gathering troops. Thanks to a bit of erratic TARDIS behaviour, though, the Doctor and Anji arrive several months early and have to wait out wartime Spain until they can catch up with Fitz again… oh, yes, and the TARDIS shuts down and apparently dies, preventing the usual convenient escape.

While the Doctor sinks into an inconvenient depression about the loss of the TARDIS, Anji and Fitz are left very much to fend for themselves, making friends and allies who might not be what they seem. Behind it all is the mysterious Sabbath, the Doctor’s “nemesis,” pulling the strings.

I found History 101 very readable, doing some clever things with history, time travel and plot twistery. Both Fitz and Anji are very clearly realised characters, and their origins inform how they react at all times (he’s a chain-smoking guitar playing bohemian from the 60’s, she’s a slightly uptight stockbroker of Indian descent from the year 2000).

More to the point, they are both utterly wrecked by their experiences here: immersed in grim historical realism up to their eyebrows, including soldiers, interrogations, forged papers, dirt and blood.

The Doctor should possibly not have worn a velvet jacket to this one.

And now I have to go read more Fitz and Anji novels. Damn it.

ELSEWHERE ON 2002

The Crooked World – in which Eight, Fitz & Anji visit a cartoon planet [Doctor Who Book Club]



Real Time webcast review [Geekcrashcourse]

Chimes of Midnight review [Den of Geek]

PREVIOUSLY

Watching New Who: The Eleventh Hour

a present from Tehani

David is coming to New Who for the first time, having loved Classic Who as a kid. Tehani is a recent convert, and ploughed through Series 1 to 6 (so far) in just a few weeks after becoming addicted thanks to Matt Smith – she’s rewatching to keep up with David! Tansy is the expert in the “Doctor Who in Conversation” team, with a history in Doctor Who watching that goes WAY back.

We are working our way through New Who, using season openers and closers, and Hugo shortlisted episodes, and sometimes a couple of extra episodes we love as our blogging points.

DAVID:

After four seasons of reviews, I finally got to encounter Eleven! I’ve tried to stay clear of spoilers, but people really have talked up Matt Smith and to be honest I expected to be a bit disappointed after having my expectations set so high. Plus, I loved David Tennant, so it was always going to be tough for a new Doctor to measure up. And, this is really petty and irrational, but there is part of me that struggles with the idea of an actor who is younger than me playing the Doctor – it just doesn’t seem right! So, sitting down to watch this I didn’t have high hopes.

But, I am happy to have been comprehensively proved wrong. Not only is this a very strong episode in its own right (Which I am sure will discuss later in the review), it also serves as a wonderful introduction to a new Doctor and a new Companion. I was a bit dubious when I saw the new title sequence, but fortunately it was all uphill from there!

TANSY:

You’re not alone, David! I remember well the waves of fannish skepticism around Matt Smith’s casting, not least because of his age. They lasted until about ten seconds into “The Eleventh Hour,” I believe.

TEHANI:

And here I am, back at what was, for me, the beginning. “The Eleventh Hour” was where I started – I wanted to watch the Neil Gaiman episode (season six) but thought it would be a bit silly trying to jump on there. So I decided to start with the beginning of Matt Smith’s era, and this episode. It sure worked its magic on me, because as you know, I’m now a massive fangirl! I’ve seen this ep a bunch of times now, and it’s still shiny and lovely – adore Matt Smith, adore Amelia, and Amy and Rory aren’t bad either!

TANSY:

Oh I didn’t know that, I thought you watched the Neil Gaiman episode first! I think this is one of the best jumping on points of the show, up there with “Spearhead From Space” and “Rose”.

TEHANI:

I can delay gratification, see! I agree, I think it’s a great starting point for people wanting to test the waters (very hookable indeed – I’m living proof!).

DAVID:

In the past, I’ve found that a lot of the attempts at humour have seem a bit forced, or gone too far towards slapstick and fat jokes, but there are some genuine laugh out loud moments in this episode. In fact, the whole thing is sparkling, lots of great dialogue and action. I missed the writer’s name at the start but I wasn’t surprised to discover it was Moffatt, it had him all over it.

I particularly enjoyed the sequence at the start. Caitlin Blackwood is the perfect foil for the madness of Matt Smith, and the way she doesn’t even blink an eye at his outrageous behaviour is a delight. The food scene is hilarious (though him not liking bacon nearly pushed the suspension of disbelief too hard!), but there is just the right mix of seriousness. His quote about how her being scared of the crack in the wall must mean it was something *really* scary was a perfect illustration of the perceptive mind beneath the clown and said volumes about both his character, and hers. Great writing.

TANSY:

“The Eleventh Hour” is one of my favourite stories of all time – I think one of the best opening stories for a Doctor and a companion ever. And after having to nudge and coax my kids for some of the later Tennant seasons, I didn’t have to nag them at all to put on this DVD. Little Jemima thinks the earth orbits around Amy Pond, and while Raeli is more of a Ten/Rose girl, she has a soft spot for any story with Young Amelia.

I agree with you David that the opening scene with Caitlin Blackwood (who by the way is the cousin of Karen Gillan, her older counterpart) is brilliant, setting up the Doctor as funny and serious and odd and all the good Doctor things. I adored Tennant before he got the part and so was easily won by him, and Christopher Eccleston had me at “Run,” but I love how much of this story and the first ten minutes in particular is about the Doctor as a person, how alien and how human he is.

TEHANI:

Had no idea she’s Karen’s cousin! That’s cool

TANSY:

My heart breaks for Amelia, every single time she sits on that suitcase.

TEHANI:

Every single time. Right there with ya.

It’s hard to judge how much of what makes this story work so well is Moffatt’s writing and how much is Matt Smith’s portrayal of the Doctor. He inhabits the role so instantly, it’s impossible not to immediately go along for the ride. Watching it this time, I was interested to see how many Tennant-esque tics he uses – of course, as far as I was concerned when I FIRST watched it, that was just Matt Smith’s Doctor, but now I can see how much he riffed off Tennant. But I think it’s a clever use of the style, just enough to remind long time viewers that yes, he IS the same character, and yes we WILL learn to adore him too!

TANSY:

I also feel like the look of the show has leaped ahead somehow – there is some gorgeous, arty direction in this story, particularly the use of reds and TARDIS-blue in the first few scenes, but somehow everything just looks shinier. It’s impressive that Murray Gold, now pretty much the only ‘name’ member of the production crew who has been there since “Rose” in 2005, manages to make the music sound completely different to anything we’ve had in the show so far. A whole new palette for a whole new Doctor…

DAVID:

The special effects are excellent throughout this episode, especially the sequence at the start with the TARDIS flying over the city and the Doctor hanging on for dear life. While the SFX at the start of the new run were a radical change from the Classic series, this is another leap again and just shows how times have changed and how accessible good effects now are.

TEHANI:

I loved the music in this episode! There have been episodes where the score jars or even overwhelms the story, but it’s perfect in this.

I’m pretty fond of the steampunkish aesthetic of the newly regenerated TARDIS – heavens, I’m turning into one of those fans who has OPINIONS on the TARDIS console!

TANSY:

This one is my favourite of the New Who TARDIS console rooms. I like the tactile nature of it, and the way Smith interacts with the bits. There’s a coziness to this one that I feel is more ‘classic’ than the more grand, austere 9-10 console. Also the orange just makes me think about Axons.

It looks pretty slick on the outside now too! The old girl has had a revamp inside and out.

DAVID:

While I quite like the look of the TARDIS in this episode, I have to admit that I still feel the occasional yearning for the classic white design!

TANSY:

We also get some interesting additions to TARDIS canon in this one – it’s the first time we ‘see’ and hear about the details of the internal decor being rearranged, and it’s fascinating the way that this is tied into the Doctor’s trauma and his regeneration. In the past, changes were mostly not mentioned at all, or in the case of say The Five Doctors, discreetly referred to after the fact.

The idea that the TARDIS can actually grow/make a sonic screwdriver is pretty fascinating, and gives a whole new perspective to that time the Doctor gave K9 away to Leela and then found himself a new ready made duplicate in the cupboard!

So, grown up Amy. What do you think of her in her first outing?

TEHANI:

I had no idea how to take Amy when I first watched this and it took me a while to warm up to her. This time around, I really really liked her from the word go. And interestingly, it’s not just because I now have a history with her. This time, I really noticed how hurt she had been by the Doctor’s absence, and how much that had affected her entire life. And even though she still jumped at each opportunity to go travelling with him, I think this time I saw her really thinking about what she was leaving behind when she eventually left. Although I think she was a bit blase about his assurances of being back by the next day – given his track record, it seemed fairly naive!

DAVID:

I liked her from the moment she hit him with the cricket bat! My first impressions are really positive, and I am looking forward to seeing exactly what sort of companion she becomes. I always find it interesting when the show explores the ramifications of the Doctor’s actions beyond the end of an episode, as in the “Face of Evil”. One of the strengths of New Who has been examining the impact an encounter with the Doctor has one people, and how ex Companions often struggle to go on with their life. We get the Reader’s Digest version here, in the space of fifteen minutes (or less!) it becomes pretty obvious how much that brief encounter with the Doctor has shaped Amelia’s whole life. Not just in the drawings, but in the way she seems unsettled and distrustful. The Doctor can be pretty cavalier about these things, but to his credit he seems to realise exactly how much he has hurt her.

The revelation that she is not a real police officer was played pretty well, I thought, and added an interesting layer to her character, without being too creepy. As we discover her job, it only adds to the sense of someone who is dissatisfied with her life and doesn’t quite know what she is meant to be. I say that not because of the nature of her job, but her obvious embarrassment about it.

Happily, she seems like she is going to be much more than a damsel in distress, and certainly holds her own in the witty banter stakes. It will be interesting to see what the dynamic is going to be like over the course of the season. I have to admit to being a little concerned about what is going to happen with her wedding, and poor Rory!

TEHANI:

Oh, you’re in for SUCH a ride…!

DAVID:

So, on to the rest of the episode! Another example of Moffat’s unerring ability to build tension, subtly and effortlessly. From the crack in the wall to the revelation of the prison, there is a sense of something not right about the house. Each oddity, like the unnoticeable door (“dim”, as Stephen King would put it) builds the unease. And, Moffat certainly has a knack for creating creepy monsters! It wasn’t so much the real form of Prisoner Zero that got to me, it was serviceable but not exceptional. It was the “human” form, or its disguise, that really disturbed me. The way the talking was out of sync with the mouths, and the juxtaposition of human features with alien was something that stayed with me long after the episode.

TEHANI:

Moffat’s got the whole “take something ordinary and make it super scary” thing down…

TANSY:

I like the way that the Prisoner Zero snake thing and the whole stressful countdown is used every step of the way to show us what kind of people Amy and the Doctor are, building their characters. We learn that Amy is bold and reckless and untrusting – and also that she stands up for herself. I adore the bit where she shuts his tie in the car door, and the poor old gentleman asks her so politely for his car back. You get the impression she has been terrorising this village since she was eight.

TEHANI:

I love love LOVED the Mrs Angelo and Jeff byplay – the way the Doctor just bursts into the house and expects them to believe everything he says, and do the impossible. And it’s gorgeous that they all recognise him as Amy’s “raggedy man” – he really did leave a mark on her!

TANSY:

I also like the fact that everyone around Amy has heard of the Doctor because she’s been banging on about him since she was a child – they’ve all seen the artwork and heard the stories. One of my favourite Rory lines of all time is when he says ‘you made me dress up as him!’ It does suggest that while Amy has this massive loss in her life – the empty hole left by her absent parents and so on – she has had a village community around her who cares and pays attention. It’s a nice balance against the idea that she spent her whole childhood biting psychiatrists and suffering her aunt.

DAVID:

Yes, I loved the real sense of exasperated affection that the village had for Amy. You could tell that they had adopted her as their own daughter, albeit a rather wayward one. And the way that they recognised the Doctor and didn’t even bat an eyelid, but just treated it as somehting that had only been a matter of time and was straightway filed under Amy shenanigans – brilliant!

TEHANI:

On this rewatch, Rory was just brilliant from the first. On my original viewing, I didn’t realise he would be important – with the backward looking perspective, I love how much of his character is revealed in this episode. He’s introverted and shy, but clearly devoted to Amy, actually rather good at his job, and funny as all get out.

TANSY:

All true but at the same time – he plays Rory so YOUNG which is lovely because it gives him lots of space to grow into.

DAVID:

I can already see that Rory is going to be one of the characters you root for and hope has a happy ending. He seemed so devoted to Amy and willing to put up with anything to be close to her, even if it means playing second fiddle to what he must have deep down thought was an imaginary friend. I do worry though that it won’t be an easy road for him; it’s a bit of trope, the steady dependable guy who is around all the time competing with the flashy, worldly guy who ducks in and out of someone’s life and you can see that someone can easily get hurt here.

While that is a little Bridget Jones’ Diary, Rory reminded me more than anything of Tim in the British version of the Office (more so than Jim in the US version), with the whole hangdog resignation about him.

TEHANI:

The shooing off the aliens scene is awesome. For me, coming new to the series with this episode, I reckon this is what really hooked me. I had no idea what had gone before, in either Classic or New Who, but that speech by Eleven, couple with the lovely flash through of all the Doctors, well, I was in.

TANSY:

Well I have all that baggage going for me! But it’s SUCH a powerful scene, with the music and the images, and him choosing his costume all at once. Matt Smith is going to (spoilers, sorry David) give a LOT of great speeches during his tenure, with appropriate pomp and ceremony, but it’s hard to go past the significance of this one.

DAVID:

The rooftop scene is amazing, and was the perfect contrast to the hyperactive, funny Doctor of earlier in the episode. It is vitally important that we get to see both sides of his character, and he reminds me of Seven in particular in the way he can be an amicable clown, but can turn on the big bad Doctor who the monsters are afraid of when the situation calls for it. Quite often throughout the show we see the Doctor through the viewpoint of humans, and he is taken just a very clever, but otherwise human, character. I do enjoy the moments we see that he is, in fact, a player on a cosmic scale and that the Earth is very lucky indeed that he has a peculiar fondness for it.

TANSY:

Comparing him to previous Doctors – Christopher Eccleston quite literally hit the ground running, while David Tennant spent half his first episode asleep, building up to a reveal of what kind of Doctor he would be in the last moments of The Christmas Invasion (and, it could be argued, that reveal wasn’t entirely accurate). I think Matt Smith splits the difference here, giving us a Doctor who is very active even before he properly finds his feet.

I can’t criticise this story. It’s honestly one of my most beloved pieces of Doctor Who of all time. And oh, if you spend any amount of time around kid Doctor Who fans, the whole fish fingers and custard thing has become so RIDICULOUSLY iconic that it’s giving Tom Baker’s scarf and jelly babies a run for their money.

TEHANI:

There’s ain’t nothing to criticise. It was my gateway drug and I’m still hooked!

DAVID:

Like some of Moffat’s other work, this would be the perfect episode to show someone with no familiarity with Doctor Who whatsoever. It’s clever, it’s funny, it’s creepy – and had some beautiful emotional moments. It’s hard to believe that the season can get any better, but if it maintains this level of quality then I can’t wait!

TANSY:

For me, this season isn’t just about the new shiny direction that the show had taken (in all senses of the word) but also it marks the time that I started becoming aware of trock (Time Lord Rock!) and the Ood Cast, a brilliant podcast (that started their proper song and dance, comedy skits version of themselves with this season) which means that nearly every episode from now on has multiple musical accompaniments in my head.

So here’s a musical number for The Eleventh Hour: Chameleon Circuit’s Still Not Ginger and a link to one of the most-played Ood Cast episodes from our house: Pond Life.

Friday Links is Four Today

That’s a lie, of course. It’s not Friday Links that is four, but my littlest daughter! Her birthday loot included a Wonder Woman with invisible plane, two metric tonnes of Lego, and a set of Disney Princess walkie talkies (that last one chosen by her sister). Things got a little touchy when Jem realised Raeli was going off to school like it was a normal day, and that it’s not in fact her PARTY today (so sad) but she’s pretty happy so far.

Also, did I mention? She’s FOUR.

Meanwhile, something relevant to Jem’s interests: Barbie are releasing a Nasa Explorer version of the popular fashion doll. It’s always cool when she gets sciencey careers! There are two other astronaut Barbies (Jem actually has the ‘realistic’ grey one with brown boots from the 1960′s – I bought a reprint or whatever you call modern versions of old dolls on sale last year. She doesn’t have the pink one from the 80′s with high heel boots. The new one has lots of pink but flat boots, plus she goes to MARS)

Speaking of pink, look at the merchandise which entirely failed to get the point of Super Best Friends Forever! I mean, it’s cool and all that they are merchandising costumes of Wonder Girl, Supergirl and Batgirl, because female superheroes are IMPORTANT and not nearly emphasised enough in the toy aisles, but such a shame they didn’t reflect the awesome attitude of the actual show.

I’ve been appearing on a few corners of the internet this week – my article on Fantasy Art, Fishnets and Red Sonja’s Bikini – basically on the complicated thought process whereby you can analyse the sexist/feminist implications of women’s costume in fantasy and comic art and still be cross when Black Canary doesn’t wear fishnets because COME ON.

I also participated in Zena Shapter’s collection of writer workplaces. My work station is the end of the dining table. It’s not normally as tidy as it looks in this picture, but we have a convenient birthday party coming up, or as I like to call it The Excuse To Spring Clean.

Great article on the Invisible women of Science Fiction. Because, yes.

Also a great piece at the New Statesman about what the Fake Geek Girl Accusations actually mean – misogyny or self-loathing?.

OK that’s it, I’m done, we’ve got an invisible plane to play with. Friday Links Out!

Paul McGann is the Doctor… Again [WHO-50—2001]

After the TV Movie (1996) disappeared without spinning off into the series that so many had hoped for, the Eighth Doctor as portrayed as Paul McGann continued in various tie-in media, featuring in 74 novels (73 of which were published by BBC Books) and nearly a decade of comic strips in Doctor Who Magazine.

But in 2001 (when only 40 or so of those novels had been published), the Eighth Doctor got another new lease of life, this time actually involving the original actor.

Big Finish had first acquired the license to make original Doctor Who plays back in 2000 and kicked off their Main Range of adventures with The Sirens of Time, which featured the 5th, 6th and 7th Doctors as played by Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. Tom Baker had thus far declined to take part, and so the Main Range alternated between the three “Big Finish Doctors”, accompanied by original companions Peri, Mel, Nyssa, Turlough, Ace, Romana, Frobisher and Benny (the latter two characters coming from the comic strips and books respectively), as well as original companion Evelyn Smythe.

Filling in the gaps was fun for creators and listeners alike, and allowed Big Finish to use contemporary story techniques to make very satisfying Doctor Who that filled in the ‘gaps’ between TV stories. Still, the plan had always been to do as the books had done, and tell a ‘moving forward’ story with a new Doctor if they possibly could. To their delight, Paul McGann agreed to reprise his previous role and 2001 brought the first ‘season’ of 4 original Eighth Doctor Adventures, starting at No. 16 of the Main Range.

In Storm Warning, we were re-introduced to McGann’s Doctor as he flew through the Time Vortex, talking to himself and fiddling with signed first editions of famous novels in his TARDIS library. This was a far more confident and experienced version of the Eighth Doctor than we had seen the TV movie, which allowed you to imagine that he might well have been in this body for decades already (possibly having had all his adventures with BBC Books companions Sam, Fitz, etc.). Indeed we were later to be treated to a variety of Big Finish plays which themselves were set before Storm Warning.

This Doctor continued the TV Movie tradition of excessive namedropping of historical characters from Earth, including a throwaway line about Mary Shelley which was later developed into a whole new series. This habit was even commented upon by his new friend Charlotte “Charley” Pollard, played by India Fisher, who was to prove a smash hit as his first ongoing audio companion.

Charley self-identified as an Edwardian Adventuress – and to that end, had escaped her boarding school and dressed herself as a boy in order to sneak aboard the British airship R101 on its maiden voyage. Unfortunately for her, it was going to crash. Luckily for her, things would get rather interesting before that crash came.

The plummy, enthusiastic tones of India Fisher make Charley very likeable and her jolly hockey sticks mentality just goes to show that those blokes back in 1966 who thought historical companions (AKA Katarina) were a stupid idea had rocks in their head. Charley’s partnership with the Eighth Doctor clicks swiftly, to the point that she feels like his best friend almost immediately. They’re terribly good for each other.

Of course, he also went and saved her life, despite her having been destined to die in the air crash, which was to have all kinds of knock on effects upon the web of time…

Was Charley the first of the true modern companions? I think that while that argument could be made for Ace and Grace as well as the book companions and Izzy in the comics, there is definitely something about Charley that feels like a bridge between the companions of New and Classic Who. Like Grace Holloway, Sam Jones and even (to some extent) Benny Summerfield before her, she developed something of a crush on the Eighth Doctor. Yes, this happened to him a lot.

Unlike the Doctors that were to follow him, and despite his demonstrated kissing skills back in the TV Movie, the Eighth Doctor remained (apparently) asexual, with a strong implication that he simply wasn’t able to requite romantic feelings, though he was capable of deep platonic love for his friends.

As well as being seriously hot for her Doctor RTD style, Charley also represented the Moffat school of companions in that there was a significant mystery about her which unfolded over the first two seasons of her stories: the paradox created when the Doctor saved her in that first adventure together was to rear its head over and over again before finally being resolved once and for all in Neverland and Zagreus.

More importantly, like Amy Pond, Charley was able to resolve her romantic feelings for the Doctor and move past them so as to preserve the friendship.

The Eighth Doctor travelled with Charley for 7 years, Big Finish time (featuring in 2-7 plays per year), and she went on to have another two years travelling with the Sixth Doctor (it’s a long story). While Eight had many other audio companions including the deeply troubled chameleonic alien C’rizz, the sarcastic and wonderful Lucie Miller, the solemn and troubled novelist-to-be Mary Shelley, and more recently the pragmatic World War I nurse Molly O’Sullivan (as well as adventures with Samson and Gemma, Fitz, Izzy, Susan, Alex, Tamsin and Bernice), there’s something iconic about his relationship with Charley Pollard.

I’m delighted beyond all words that they are paired together again in the upcoming The Light At The End, the 50th anniversary audio which will bring all manner of classic Doctors and companions back together (available for pre-order now in Standard and Limited Collectors edition). More Eight and Charley is indeed something to celebrate.

ELSEWHERE ON 2001:

Charley Pollard tea

The City of the Dead, by Lloyd Rose [The Doctor Who Book Club Podcast]

Escape Velocity, by Colin Brake [Nicholas Whyte]

PREVIOUSLY:

Choose Your Own Adventure: Hobart Edition

So this is something that I am doing! I’m taking part in a collaborative writing project which will involve writing choose your own adventures set in real cities (in my case a Livia Day mystery set in Hobart of course), which enable the readers/players to visit the locations of each part of the story in real life via an interactive map. It’s very exciting to be part of this, especially looking at some of the other writers involved.

The project is to be crowd-funded, and our inspirational leader Emily Craven explains more about how the Choose Your Own Map Adventure City project will work over on the Pozible page. (Not Kickstarter, cos based in Australia, though several of the participating authors & cities are from the US or Europe), Check out the video, the project details and of course the tiers of rewards if you are moved to donate. Every dollar is appreciated, not least because a large portion of the budget goes towards paying the writers…

Do you remember the old Choose Your Own Adventure books? How would you like to do one in real life?

For those of you who don’t know, I’m taking part in a new collaborative writing project where myself and some other fantastic genre writers are writing Choose Your Own Adventures that you can do in real life! Not only will you actually get to stand where the story is happening but you can dictate what happens next, while you explore the weird and wonderful features of a new (or old!) city.

But we need your help to get this project off the ground. To do this we have set up a crowdfunding page for our project http://pozible.com/chooseadventure. If you don’t know what crowdfunding is, it’s all explained on the page. But one thing to keep in mind is it involves rewards and they are amazing, including everything from signed books to Skype conversations with the authors. If you could pledge to this project I would be greatly appreciative. Even if the only thing you can afford is to pass the word onto your friends, family, and colleges or just pledge $5, every bit counts!

We launch today, the 5th of August, hopefully if we can raise a large portion of our goal on the first day we should be able to get some media attention.

Before signing off I thought I’d let you know some of the stellar writers who will also be writing a choose your own adventure for this project:

Isobelle Carmody, Marianne De Pierres, Sean Williams, Mindy Klasky, Mark Leslie, Sophie Masson, Michael Pryor, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Kim Wilkins, Angela Slatter, Lee Battersby, David B. Coe & Jennifer St George plus a host of emerging writers!

Galactic Suburbia 86

New episode ready to be downloaded NOW.

In which we feed the feedback, unpack the Hugo packet, and put Jane Austen on a bank note.

What Caught Our Eye:

Twitter… the abuse of Caroline Criado-Perez

Chief Commissioner – Have a look at yourself

Mary Beard Will Tell Your Mum How You Behave on Twitter

Feedback!

We appreciate every email sent to us, even if we very rarely do this thing we are doing, and read them out. But this time we did that thing!

Culture Consumed:

Alex: Eternal Flame, Greg Egan; the rest of the Alanna books, Tamora Pierce; Pacific Rim

Tansy: Hugo packet reading – short story, novelette, novella, also Splendid Chaps Seven/Religion, & new social justice pop culture Aussie blog No Award.

Alisa: Hugo Packet including novels

Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!