Classic Doctors, New Adventures

Rich Thomas of Onyx Path discusses Alastair Reynolds’ Third Doctor novel Harvest Of Time and how it reproduces the style and tone of the original stories but not their budgetary restrictions. This relates to Doctor Who, licensed products like games, and indeed to something I am working on...

I was fondant surprised!

New from Dark Bunny Tees: T-shirts for Ace and the Kandy Man.

Yes, you read that correctly. A T-shirt for the Kandy Man.

Someone who has read this IS The Doctor! (probably)

The audition scripts, via Doctor Who Magazine, via Bleeding Cool.

Naturally, they all have me envisioning scenes. The first is a classic regeneration reaction sequence, but the other two are bits of stories...

Stories that might never be told - one is a bit close to Night Terrors - but they’re out there now, waiting to be picked up, maybe by my game, or yours...

The Very Slightly Darker Doctor

Steven Moffat at Comic Con promises answers to at least some dangling questions like who blew up the TARDIS and what the Silence were up to. Maybe not those particular ones, though.

He also mentions his reference to the Valeyard, and questions just how dark the Doctor could really go.

“But you know, he’ll only ever get so dark, let’s be honest. He’s the Doctor. I think a man who worries about going bad is never really going to go bad... Maybe not.”

Of course, the Valeyard first appeared at the end of the Sixth Doctor era, which sometimes went None More Dark in a “is this really appropriate for kids?” kind of way. If the Valeyard turned up during the Moffat era he’d probably be rather whimsical, and almost certainly less scary than Six was himself in Revenge Of The Cybermen or Vengeance On Varos...

Not that the Doctor can’t be a bit off-putting at times, but we’re not talking Sapphire And Steel here, you know? Even his most berserk alien-atomising rampages are relatable.

We stand united

Doctor Who anniversary special to broadcast everywhere that shows Doctor Who at the same time.

Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this...

Faster than light is easy if you stop light.

For reals.

So... physics! Physics, eh? Physics. Phyyyyysics.

Rosalind Franklin

New Google Doodle, for the 93rd birthday of Rosalind Franklin, often-dropped third of the group with Watson And Crick.

History League team shirts

Legions of Rome versus Carthage War Elephants!

The creators of the SCIENCE! T-shirts bring us sporting rivalries from 5.02 PM, which I could see a casual-Friday Doctor wearing in several cases. The Bletchley Park Colossus shirt is rather tempting.

It's Wild

Happy 100th anniversary to Edinburgh Zoo! Home to lookalikes for the Judoon, Catkind, Garm, Pig Slaves, those guys from Warrior’s Gate, and the fierce red-haired Highland Nimon.

Seriously, great zoo. Has pandas as well.

Not really relevant to Doctor Who, I admit, but a visit to its opening would be a nice diversion, and there’s always the classic “aliens collecting animal specimens” story where a zoo would be a handy stop.

The World's End

“Well, if you’ve ever watched Doctor Who and thought it would be funnier if the Doctor was really hammered, then this is the movie for you.”
Edgar Wright on The World’s End.

It’s a fair assessment, I think, as I note here. Ordinary people stumbling into a John Wyndham style Secret Invasion is very Who, although their solutions definitely aren’t. The Doctor might have dealt with it rather better, of course...

Paul Cornell writes for the Eleventh Doctor, via IDW!

IDW’s last Doctor Who comic is a special written by Paul Cornell and illustrated by Jimmy Broxton, a take on the classic “visit the real world and find you’re a fictional character” story. Did I mention Paul Cornell?

The Land Of Happy Endings

Mightygodking’s I Should Write Dr. Strange has returned, and with a plot hook where you could substitute Strange with Who again.

Discussion of the theme in general over on The General Gaming Blog...

So what would the Doctor do if he met a future Doctor who had settled down to keep bees and help look after a line of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren? 

On one level he’d be delighted... but I don’t think he’d accept it. Of course the Doctor has plenty of time to go on holiday - technically he has all of time to go on holiday, and then some - but resting isn’t the same as stopping. The only time he really tried that was in The Curse Of Fatal Death...

Of course, being weirded out by one’s future self is an occupational hazard for the Doctor more than most characters. “So these are my replacements? A dandy and a clown?” Imagine the adventurous early Eighth Doctor meeting shellshocked Nine, or indeed Nine meeting Eleven.

Wars that almost were

Five world wars we just avoided on Cracked.com - another of their series of flashpoints in history that could have gone very differently. Britain probably would have stopped fighting the USA at some point after allying with the CSA, for example, but how long would it take?

Song For Fifty

A new song for the Fiftieth Anniversary, with lyrics and everything. As posted here.

“... it’s humbling to watch you reconcile divergent creeds without succumbing to the lure of weapons, force or greed, you only use intelligence and jokes and charm...”

The Planet Of Glass

Via Rose Bailey: Hubble telescope spots azure blue planet where it rains glass.

“It’s the kind of thing the ninth or tenth Doctor would have waxed poetic about.”

Matt Smith's haircut is now canon! Or something.

The Doctor and Clara gatecrach the Proms, and conductor Ben Foster receives a sonic baton.

WE MUST FEED!... you, if you are hungry.

Doctor Who cake decorations and cookie cutters and chocolate moulds and such. The card Dalek straw toppers might be good for those using paper standup miniatures...

Mindlash

John Seavey creates a Ninth Doctor episode about a decadent future colony using elements from Vengeance On Varos... in his sleep.

See also his new Whoblog, A Mad Man With A Box (Without A Box).

Steven Moffat at Comic-Con

Steven Moffat on Matt Smith’s departure, the search for the Twelfth Doctor, the length of the anniversary special, Zygons and Ryan Gosling.

What's wrong with this picture?

From a multi-era re-enactment event, apparently. Or that’s what Torchwood want us to think...

Live in ten...

RTD considered a live episode during his run. As noted, something with a limited location and guest cast like Midnight would work - indeed, Midnight has been performed as a play. It could also have worked well with the plans for Century House - an episode happening in and around a live broadcast.

The Box Of Delights

Turns out that The Fourth teaser is for high-end tat for a limited edition of Terror Of The Zygons. Not because Terror Of The Zygons is the classic Fourth Doctor story to end all Fourth Doctor stories, just because it’s new to disc and related to the anniversary special. I’d have put City Of Death in there myself - on Blu-Ray, since they’re launching that line now. Still, that is some nice tat. What would you put in similar boxes for the other Doctors?

Fran Kranz IS the Doctor! (Again, no...)

Happy Fourth of July weekend to US-connected readers!

One of the results of a broken arm is I’ve been watching a lot of repeats of Frasier. And that poll got me thinking about the old “an American playing the Doctor” bit again, especially a suggestion about a separate US reboot. So I thought “Kelsey Grammer as the Doctor...” and then I thought... “the Sixth Doctor!” And the results followed... Some of these are complicated meta-references to real-world roles, some are just “kinda looks the part”...

DWW

Dez Skinn on the origins of Doctor Who Weekly, Doctor Who Magazine as it is now. Includes great big scans of pages from some of the not-reprinted backup strips.

Danny Dyer Is NOT The Doctor! (I bloody hope)

An SFX poll for nightmare suggestions for the Twelfth Doctor. Dyer isn’t even the most horrific, although the Go Compare opera singer seems a bit of a stretch.

And some ain’t so bad at all.

Although chillingly, Russell Kane has just said he wants it in an interview.

And yes, one of the options is AN AMERICAN.

Captain Jack is off the market!

Congratulations to John Barrowman and his partner, now husband, Scott Gill.

Alone with the Silence

Mention of the royal visit on the official Doctor Who Twitter account also inadvertently gave me a plot hook:

“HRH Prince Charles has just met the monsters! There was everything from Daleks to Angels, but will he remember having met the Silence...?”

What would it be like to be immune to the power of the Silent? Never forgetting the monsters hiding in plain sight? You might be essential to stopping them... if it doesn’t drive you mad...

It could also be treated more casually, like Spike’s immunity to Glory’s concealment spell in Buffy season five played for laughs. But consider the horror possibilities as the Silent hunt you through streets filled with people... people who could help you, but never for more than a few moments before they forget why you need their help at all... who won’t even remember seeing someone blasted to dust...

Prince Charles IS the Doctor! (Again, not really!)

From a royal visit to the set, with video too. And Matt Smith agrees...

The Ripple Effect

The children’s authors’ Doctor series reaches the seventh month and the Seventh Doctor, with Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman OBE writing The Ripple Effect, in which the Daleks are acting out of character again...

Canada Days Gone By

In honour of Canada Day, what would be a good event in the country’s history for time travellers to visit?

The Franklin Expedition is kind of a downer...

Alternatively, go to the future for a Margaret Atwood homage episode?

There isn’t much in the TARDIS Index. Apart from Sydney Newman, of course!

Enemy Within was shot there, although set in the US.

One could-have-been is that the Canadian animation company Nelvana planned a Doctor Who cartoon in the late 80s. So maybe use their tank-like Daleks or IG-88 style Cybermen, or the numberless Harold Ramis lookalike Doctor, apparently unnamed companion and doctor’s bag that folds out to become K-9?

Of course you already have your own Time Lord from Being Erica...

Cybermen In Colour, Part Two

Re previous discussion, I saw this Kroton costume today. Ironically even more black and white than usual, but still a pointer towards how the Cybermen look with a lick of paint.