Gerry Anderson's Doctor Who - a thought exercise

As a result of seeing an ad for the official Gerry Anderson channel on YT and Fireball XL5 already featuring on Telefantasy Time Jump, and looking for connections of which there are a few, got to thinking what Gerry Anderson getting to produce Doctor Who would have looked like.

Probably his live-action era, UFO and Space: 1999 and others (so we know what his Star Trek would look like) or later in the Wilderness Years.

I’d imagine lots of monsters, spaceships and miniature sets that get destroyed in great detail.

Maybe something like the UNIT era but with more futuristic and merchandisable vehicles.

But maybe with some of the Thunderbirds focus on rescue fiction in amongst alien invasions like Captain Scarlet and more?

You work with what you get

No Doctor Who special this year!

At least we get A Ghost Story For Christmas.

And also, er, Gladiators.

Okay, what are the Gladiators involved called? Maybe something will spark an idea.

Apollo and Athena

The travellers are tested by Greek gods, because if Star Trek can do it...

Susan Twist

I had not clocked that the same extra has been showing up for a line or two since Wild Blue Yonder before playing the ambulance algorithm in Boom, but now actress Susan Twist has been pointed out...

Susan Twist.

My theory: RTD had an idea for a recurring extra who might be arc-relevant or just to mess with viewers, saw the name Susan Twist and thought “get her, that’ll be hilarious!”

The Devil's Chord

Establishing the Toymaker’s style in The Giggle is a recurring threat, The Devil’s Chord (7.05) did end up a bit too like it as a result.

Favourite bit: The Doctor and Ruby’s WTF expressions.

Next week, after an episode trailed for a year, I don’t know and that’s kind of exciting!

Space Babies

Space Babies (6.20 p.m. on BBC One)

Doctor Who is an odd little show that got big, and sometimes it’s good to be reminded of that.

And that Davies enjoying making a fart joke a vital plot point.

Ruby being good with kids and the Doctor needing to work on that.

But telling Captain Poppy a vital truth.

Also, did he just tell Ruby his name out of earshot?

Favourite bit:

The Giggle

One more special and we could have been weekly!

Still, there’s quite a lot to unpack here.

Bear in mind that this is the casual viewer friendly version of Doctor Who. Doctor Who is a weird show.

(Extra behind the scenes featurette where the end about what come next repeats the Unleashed episode)

The Toymaker!

Creepy puppets!

The Toymaker having a creepy puppet copy of the Doctor, as seen in the first Eighth Doctor comics!

Mel!

Doctor In Theatre

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe once again has an improvised Doctor Who show (as well as an improvised Jane Austen show, an improvised Shakespare show...) but as distinct from the people playing D&D for an audience shows it does not use RPG rules.

Hugh Grant is too obvious

And not the Paddington cast member I most want as the Doctor. Which is Paddington.

I’m disappointed that no lazy journalists have picked up my list of over 30 semi-viable Doctor Who casting ideas.

(Still all in for Jessie Buckley personally.)

Sesame Of The Daleks

In a month, Elmo has escalated froma rguing with a rock over a cookie to forging an alliance with the Daleks. Big Bird, clearly an incarnation of the Doctor, needs to step in.

EVE Online x Doctor Who

Daleks and time travellers in EVE Online x Doctor Who, a crossover happening in the online game. Given that EVE is about cutthroat space fighting and grasping capitalism, this seems like an odd fit.

(English Civil) War Of The Daleks

A thread on Lead Adventure planning to make fanart floating Dalek miniatures... and set them against each other with Puritan and Royalist factions.

Sunday adventure hook: Those Old Familiar Faces

Inspired by Freaky, Doctor Who has done some body-swapping episodes now and then, but never, as far as I know...

Those Old Familiar Faces

Investigating an alien artefact, the Stranger is struck by a flash of artron energy and wakes to find herself in a previous incarnation.

On the day they die.

“Oh, this can’t be good. How did I die this time? It’s on the tip of my tongue...”

Sunday adventure hook: Black Friday

Black Friday

How do you deal with an outbreak of rage in the middle of a flash sale? How do you even tell who has it?

“Everything. Must. Go.”

Sunday adventure hook: Son Of Kitten Kong

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Goodies...

Son Of Kitten Kong

1970, and the Stranger is called in to help some good friends with an episode of their new TV series, which deals with their attempts to thwart an alien invasion. They need help sorting out a likeness rights issue with the aliens, who they drove off a couple of years ago and don’t want to offend with their portrayal.

Sunday adventure hook: Please Look After This Time Lord

Inspired by the return of The Mandalorian: 

Please Look After This Time Lord

The travellers have to get into a fortress held by alien invaders, to find the thing they came to take.

It’s a baby.

It’s a Time Lord.

“Do they normally burp regeneration energy?”

Hallowe'en induced mad notion

Happy Hallowe’en!

And having just watched Scare Me, which I thought was great fun, an update on the American Doctor alternate timeline:

Aya Cash as Thirteen.

Sunday adventure hook: Takers

Takers

Taking the above in a more horrible direction...

A group of young people are informed that members of their ancestors’ families plan to steal and live on in their bodies.

“What, like Being John Malkovich?”

“Yes! That’s a very helpful analogy that I wasn’t expecting any of you to get.”

Sunday adventure hook: Some Assembly Required

Following the launch of Marvel’s Avengers video game:

Some Assembly Required

The Stranger and companions are called in to team up with a number of other series protagonist types against a larger threat. Expect personality clashes, snark contests and armies of robots.

“You’re travellers in all of time and space, right?”
“Right.”
“This is from outside that.”
“Okay, let me have a look...”

Carry On Doctor... Who

Discovering the potential existence of Carry On To Moscow got me wondering, since they did Spying (spy-fi) and Screaming (horror, aimed at the Hammer house style of lurid colours) and had quite a few actors in common including William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee, why Carry On never had a go at time travel...

Imagining Sid James as the Locum and Barbara Windsor as his bosom companion, with Kenneth Williams as the Supervisor...

Cold, Minty Extermination

Via SFX: Dalek’s Death Ray from Wall’s ice cream in 1975. I always figured the death ray would be hot.