LI Who – Meglos Convention Report

Sorry I’ve neglected this blog for so long. I’d meant to update it a lot earlier, but real life just got in the way more often than I’d intended. But I’ve finally got a little time and have a really good reason to update. A friend and I attended the LI Who convention the weekend before last, November 19-20th.

My good friend Anna (@concetta at Tumblr and Concetta20 at AO3 – check out her awesome fanfic!) and I arrived at the con on Saturday just at the starting time. We saw Mr. PoppinTwist, the talented guy who makes balloon likenesses of DW characters, making one of the 5th Doctor. We chatted a bit with him and watched him work. When the balloon was all done, we had a picture taken with it.

We also saw Wendy Padbury arrive, and Frazer (who seemed to have already been there for some time) spotted her and gave her a hug (cue “awww). 😀 They were adorable together throughout the whole con.

The dealer’s room had a lot of great stuff. They were selling Doctor Who books and DVDs, some for charity. Kevin McNally was there selling and signing copies of his book, as well as autographs. There were also some really good sweets being offered, like cupcakes, blondies and a few other goodies. The vortex cupcake and pumpkin coffee cake were so good! Check out https://www.instagram.com/simplesweetsbymelissa/ , she really makes some great stuff.

We then got Wendy and Frazer’s autographs. I had Wendy sign the Jamie and Zoe pic from Mind Robber that Frazer had signed for me back at LI Who in 2019. I then asked Frazer to sign my copy of his book “Fifty Shades of Frazer.” He seemed tickled that I had the book and was skimming through it, stopping at various pages and commenting on some of the photos. There was a copy of a comic strip of his life that appeared in a magazine back in 1969 and there was a part talking about his girlfriend at the time. He said, “Oh she was my girlfriend, I’m going to meet up with her again and I’ll mention this.” “Oh, look, there’s Eric Clapton!” and then there was a pic of him on a horse during filming of Emmerdale where he’s nearly falling off and had his feet out of the stirrups, he told me how precarious that was. There was another pic of him in some charity car race with all this mud underneath him and he mentioned how muddy it was that day, that he’d dealt with a lot of mud while filming Emmerdale and now on his day off he was dealing with even more of it. He told me he’d nearly forgotten about this book and he’ll have to pick it up again one day. He signed one of the “Autographs” pages for me.

Anna and I had a photo op with the two of them. They were both so sweet and accommodating. I look a bit awkward and like I’m about to tip over, but we all kind of squished in together which I guess I wasn’t expecting at the time (though I wasn’t complaining at all ;)).

Before talking about the panels, I should mention that this con was very well-attended. It was hard at times to get a seat at some of the really popular panels. It would have been nice to attend the “5th Doctor Team at 40″ panel with Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding, but it had started during our photo op and by the time we got there it was totally packed to the gills so we waited outside, hoping to get some glimpses. Wendy and Frazer’s panel “The Astrophysicist and the Highlander” was after that one. The 5th Doctor team panel went a bit long and while we were waiting outside, Frazer and Wendy arrived. Wendy asked one of the con staff if it was going long. As they were opening the doors, Frazer did this little dance like he was going to just strut right inside. Someone cosplaying as a Time Lord with the costume they wore in “The Deadly Assassin” exited the room and Frazer joked something to the effect of, “did the people behind you get to see anything?”

We really enjoyed their panel. They talked a bit about doing the Big Finish audio adventures and how they’d come in together but would just go into separate booths during Covid. Frazer joked about Wendy coming in with a cigarette, stamping it out and then going into the booth and [imitates her higher-pitched voice as Zoe], “Oh, Doctor, what are you–” Wendy laughed, saying she didn’t think she did it like that.

They were joined by BH Barry, the stunt coordinator from “The Mind Robber”, who also shared about some of the work he had done.

They were asked about what they think about their time on the show compared to the show now. They both said they had chemistry and that they had time to bond, since they spent Monday-Thursday rehearsing whereas now you learn your lines and then walk straight onto the set. Wendy had also said that she’s probably alone but she doesn’t understand some of the stories now (I’ll probably get flak for this, but … *raises hand*… she’s definitely not alone). She said she finds them so complex. She said that she knows their particular stories are old, but she thinks they really stand up. Frazer also said that back then they had these proper sets and now it’s mainly green screen.

Someone had mentioned how they just kept working and working and didn’t have much time off. Frazer had said they would get a 6 week summer break and then 4 weeks off for Christmas. Wendy said that it took its toll on Patrick Troughton, having to work like that. Frazer said that they knocked a couple minutes off the running time for the first episode of The Mind Robber because they’d just come off a heavy shoot (The Dominators) and now it was just going to be the three of them in that episode.

Anna had asked them about what it was like when Wendy first arrived on set, was there instant chemistry and asked how they worked together because her character was so different from Jamie, and did they have fun creating that bit of friction type of dynamic. They both really liked her question. Wendy said it was pretty immediate and that she quite liked him, then got a bit coy and said “he was alright.” Frazer said he fancied her but she had this tall, strong boyfriend. Wendy looked at him and said “Did I?” Frazer: “Rex.” Wendy said to him, “You remember more than me,” and started to laugh.

She went on to say that it was pretty immediate but a bit daunting because before that it was Debbie (Watling) and Frazer and Pat, which was a great threesome, too. She said that although it was daunting, they made her feel very welcome. She then joked, “Well, Pat did.” Frazer said it was important to get to know your costars and be friendly with them because people could tell you “Oh, he’s a big star, don’t look him in the eye” and then you get all nervous. Wendy said that Pat told her that each week there was a new cast and new directors and you make those people feel as welcome as you possibly can. They brought up again about the differences between filming the show then and now, and about how you go and do your lines and everything is out of sequence and you can’t build relationships that way. They liked her comments on why their characters felt more alive than others.

They showed a clip from the scene in The Mind Robber where the Karkus appears and Zoe fights him, complete with her flipping him. They were both grinning and laughing and enjoying watching it. When it got to the part where Zoe was fighting him, Wendy leaned back and put her hand over her eyes.

Here are a few pics from their panel.

LI Who Frazer Wendy Panel Saturday Nov 19 2022

We saw about half of Kevin McNally’s panel. He talked about not just his stint on Doctor Who, but also his other roles such as in Pirates of the Caribbean, Supernatural and Turn. He was pretty cool.

That night we attended Frazer Con. I won’t say very much except that it was a lot of fun. Maybe a bit more fun than I originally expected, heh. 😀 Wendy made a guest appearance, as did Bhavnisha Parmar (Yaz’s sister in the new series).

LI Who FrazerCon Saturday Nov 19

On Sunday when we walked past their autograph tables, I had the cute dolls @puffins-studio at Tumblr had made for me and they got a kick out of them. Frazer took the Jamie doll and said “oh that’s brilliant!” He then took his sharpie and pretended to draw a smiley face on the doll, hahah.

(“They actually liked us, Jamie!” “Och, of course they did, Zoe.”)

First we stayed for Frazer’s panel. It was supposed to be about the Abominable Snowmen, which was newly animated, but that wasn’t going to be enough for an entire panel, so it basically became a look back on all the serials Frazer had done on the show. When he talked about The Moonbase, he said that all Jamie did was say, “the phantom piper!” and then he threw his head back and pretended he was sleeping, making snoring noises.

He also talked about the prop macra in The Macra Terror and how big it was and it was the price of a Mini but it was useless, and if you said “oh it’s got me by the leg” you’d have to stick your leg in between it because it couldn’t move. When they moved onto The Abominable Snowmen he talked about how they’d filmed it in Snowdonia. He said that he and Debbie were getting chased and then overtaken by a Yeti down the hill. They showed a behind-the-scenes photo from the filming of it that showed the TARDIS and a crew member. Frazer said that when they were filming the documentary for it (I guess for the animated episode DVD), and one point he went around the corner and there was the TARDIS in the same spot it had been in that photo and how great that was. They also showed the behind the scenes photo of Frazer sitting on top of one of the Yeti costumes. He mentioned his kilt and said he wished he’d kept it, that he didn’t know he’d be doing conventions so many years later and if he had known he would have kept it.

He mentioned The Web of Fear and how he and the Doctor had found something that Victoria had dropped. He said “Oh this is Victoria’s” and it was a pair of knickers, and Pat said “Oh yes they are” and Jack Watling said indignantly, “How do you two know??”

Wendy appeared about halfway through his panel and stayed for the rest of it until the start of her solo panel. Frazer had tried to tell a joke regarding the chameleons (a picture of one of them from The Faceless Ones was shown) and was grinning at Wendy. She deadpanned, “You know, I never should have come in.”

They talked about filming The Invasion and how they were filming at the Guinness factory. Wendy said she had some photos from it and there was one where Pat was running away from a cyberman who had only half his costume on. Frazer said that they had a liquid lunch there and they filmed a scene where he and Patrick had to look around a corner, and they kept falling over. He said the director said to them, “I know where you were for lunch, boys, but can we just do one take?” He said that’s why the two of them were hanging onto each other for dear life in one of the photos that’s in public domain.

Someone brought up the scene in The Macra Terror where they were all getting freshened up and Jamie had his scene where the ladies were admiring him. Frazer said that Jamie was a great one for the girls. He then said “in particular he fell in love with Victoria”, and he kept going on when Wendy suddenly broke in with “…And Zoe.” He said something else, I couldn’t make it out, maybe he repeated about Jamie loving Victoria, and Wendy said again, “And Zoe.”

Wendy talked about how she got into acting. She wanted to get into ballet but she had rather flat feet and hadn’t grown past 5 foot, and apparently you had to be at least 5’3 to be some kind of ballerina.

One of the guys running the panel had pictures up on the screen that he rotated through, and one of them was a group pic including a very young Wendy wearing a sash down across her shoulder with her name, among a group of other young women with similar sashes. She was so surprised to see it and said, “Where did you get that photo?? I look about 4!”

She said that when she auditioned for Doctor Who, Frazer’s girlfriend was also auditioning and he wanted her to get the part. She talked about how daunting the process was, how you had to look at the camera and say these particular lines. Wendy said she was there for Deborah’s last day of recording. She said it could have been intimidating coming in and doing the show, but Pat and Frazer made it not intimidating.

They enjoyed talking about the fun they’d have on set, especially during the Producer’s runs with going through the scripts. At one point the behind the scenes picture taken during filming The Dominators was shown (the color one where they appear to be in a lounge of some sort). Wendy said they were in some little area of the Green Room.

They then showed a picture from The Invasion where Wendy was wearing the cat suit. She said that it was the most practical and comfortable costume. And the one that was the most impractical was her costume in The Krotons that was made of PVC paper. She said the skirt had torn everytime she moved, like climbed up a rock or something. She also mentioned the outfit she wore in Seeds of Death, the leather one and that she had to pay for it and she only wore it once after that, about a year or so after she and Frazer left the show and she’d worn it to some event they attended, she thought it was at Selfridge’s.

I’m guessing this is the event she was referring to (image credit: Tragical History Tour):

When The War Games was mentioned, they both said they didn’t want to leave (Frazer said his agent had talked him into leaving and doing films and Patrick’s wife or girlfriend at the time had talked him into leaving too… he said something about how if they hadn’t had the advice of those women they might have stayed, ha ha.. Wendy had told them that if they were leaving then she was going to leave too), and Wendy said that when they wrapped it up there was a party in some room upstairs and that they each had to pay 50 pounds towards it.

After the animation of The Abominable Snowmen was mentioned again, the interviewer said that BBC America had pulled funding for it. At one point Frazer mentioned there was a rumor that Disney was going to be funding them. If that’s true, I’ve got mixed feelings: happy because I don’t want to see the end of any lost stories being animated. But a bit ambivalent because I’d heard somewhere that Disney has made it a point not to offer any physical media of any of the stuff they produce and/or stream. So that could potentially mean no animated lost stories coming to DVD (let alone any of the new Doctor Who series that will air only on Disney+). I really hope that won’t happen. If anyone has heard anything about this, please do let me know.

At one point they were asked about the aliens that were the creepiest, and Frazer had mentioned the Cybermen and how emotionless their faces were and you just had the slits for the eyes and the mouth. They both said they liked the Ice Warriors with the hissing voice and about how tall they were (maybe the Cybermen too?). Frazer had said something about how tall these aliens were and how short they all were, and he’d said that he was 5’8, “though I’ve shrunk a bit…”

Frazer left about halfway through her solo panel and after he’d left she said, “Oh he’s gone, we can talk about him now!” During her solo panel she talked a lot about how she got into being an agent and what an involved job it was. She talked again about leaving the show and said that she didn’t want to stay on without Pat and Frazer, and whoever came in after that she didn’t think they could recreate what she had with them. She said it ended up being the best job she ever had.

Some pictures from their panels:

Frazer and Wendy Panels Sun Nov 20

Peter Davison was sweet. I got his autograph and he shook my hand, asking how I was doing. His panel was great as well. He was talking about the Doctor’s different personalities and how Patrick Troughton’s Doctor had that bit of vulnerability, and how the Doctor didn’t always know what he was doing or wasn’t always completely sure of himself, and so the companions would kind of rein him in (he mentioned this as he compared Patrick’s Doctor to Jon Pertwee’s, that Pertwee’s always seemed so assured of himself and he thought that was fine but that wasn’t how he wanted to play the Doctor). He said that when he played the Doctor he wasn’t given the whole script, just his part of it so he didn’t have much of an idea of what was going on.

The interviewer asked what it was like doing The Five Doctors since he was the Doctor at the time. He said that JNT thought there would be too many of them on screen if they had a lot of scenes together. Peter himself didn’t have any problem with it but JNT went out of his way to avoid that and the Doctors each had their separate strands. He was talking about the other actors’ involvement and about how Tom Baker wouldn’t come back — he didn’t really understand why, but thought that Tom figured it was too close to his time and he wanted to keep away from it. They showed the behind the scenes pic of all the Doctors together and Peter confirmed that wasn’t Tom in the pic, it was a wax figure from Madame Tussaud’s, and he said “You can’t really tell, right?” He also said Patrick Troughton gave him some good advice —only do 3 years.

He also told a funny story about a horseshoe-shaped car park at the BBC, and that it was only for the stars to park in, and how he was able to park there when he was playing the Doctor, but one day Patrick Troughton was there and was told he wasn’t allowed to park there since he was no longer the Doctor.

He talked quite a bit about his time on All Creatures Great and Small, and said that they’d brought animals to them that were ill and had to be cured, and they’d done so for each of them and the BBC paid for all of it (ha!!). Anna asked him about what it was like to act alongside Robert Hardy in All Creatures Great and Small and he said that it was great, and that Robert Hardy would get frustrated with himself because he was a perfectionist, and that’s why no one take was the same.

He’d also mentioned how he’d write songs and one in particular he’d sung, and Dave Clark from the Dave Clark Five had recorded it. He didn’t sing it for us there, but one of the guys who ran the panel had found an old clip of him singing it and playing it on the guitar (“Officer McKirk”).

Here is a picture of my autographed photo, plus a small gallery of pics from his panel:

Peter Davison Panel, LI Who Sunday Nov 20

Sorry about the quality on some of my pictures. Like I said, the panels were quite packed and sometimes it was hard to find a seat. But I did the best I could from where we were sitting. I actually took a lot of videos. I don’t think I can link to them all here, but if anyone is interested, leave me a comment or message and I’ll hook you up with a link.

All in all, we had a really good time. Everyone we met and saw was super nice. Thanks so much to all the folks at LI Who for making this such a memorable and fun event!

Doctor Who: Dreams of Empire

I had received this book for Christmas and only got around to finishing it recently, so I wanted to share some thoughts on it while it was still fresh in my mind.

In summary, the plot involves the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria landing on an asteroid where the remnants of the Haddron Empire are located. Certain factions are pitted against each other, and one has robots employed to do a lot of destruction in order to retrieve a certain figure who is being held there. There is a lot of political intrigue that the Doctor and his companions end up being embroiled in and it’s interesting to see how they figure into it. If I had to guess, it seems the story is set after The Ice Warriors; the Doctor makes some comment about them having been “froze out”, which I took to be a reference to that serial. If that’s not the case then it is definitely set after The Tomb of the Cybermen, as mention is made of Victoria’s new shorter dress, and Toberman from that serial is brought up by Jamie.

In the foreword the author describes his inspiration for the novel (something about having watched a documentary or miniseries – can’t remember which – on the Roman Empire), as well as his affection for the Second Doctor. He mentions how it might be hard to get his persona through the written word because he’s so expressive with his facial expressions and gestures. Despite that, I thought he did a very good portrayal of the Doctor. Jamie and Victoria were also very well-written.

The Doctor and his companions don’t show up right away; first there is some background on the Empire/Republic and its major players to set the stage for what our heroes are about to face. The characters are all quite interesting and although the politics is lightly touched upon, it makes for some interesting background information as well.

Not long after the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria show up, they come across the body of a dead man and, natch, are accused of having killed him. They eventually earn the trust of Trayx, the man who for all intents and purposes is in charge here.

There is also a chess metaphor set up in the story, which features heavily. Two men, Kesar (whose face is hidden behind a bronze mask after having been badly injured/burned beyond recognition in a battle) and Kruger, are seen at various times engaged in a chess game.

After a while they figure out all is not what it seems in more ways than one and have to unravel this mystery. There is a lot of action with battles taking place between robots and humans. There is also a pretty neat twist regarding Kesar not being the man he was thought to be all along.

As I mentioned earlier, the Doctor and his friends were very well written; although they don’t feature very heavily, the author seems to have gotten their personalities down quite well. There’s a funny moment where the Doctor is explaining to Jamie something related to the chess match, and bringing up some trivia regarding Leo Tolstoy and chess games. Jamie’s response is something to the effect of: “Doctor, I don’t care.” LOL.

It was a very engaging story that kept me wanting more with every turn of the page. I wasn’t sure how interested I’d be in it given all the political intrigue, but it really held my interest.

How I got into Doctor Who

Wow, I can’t believe it has been this long since I updated this blog! I’m so sorry about that. I’d been away for part of the summer, then work got really busy, the holidays were upon us, and finally my 74-year-old mom was having health issues for which she had surgery. I had meant to update a lot earlier but could never find the time.

There is so much I want to blog about. Since then I have read some more Doctor Who novels and I’d like to share my thoughts about them. I also got The Faceless Ones animated episodes on DVD and just now got Fury From the Deep, so I will write about them too.

But first I’d like to share how I got into Doctor Who in the first place. It was around 1981. Here in America, Doctor Who had been airing on PBS stations. Both of my parents were into science fiction (my dad being a big fan of Star Trek already). I was about 3 years old when I was watching TV with them one day. I saw a funny man with googly eyes, a mop of brown curls, and a long colorful scarf. I asked what this show was and was told “Doctor Who.” Even though I was so young and probably didn’t understand half of what was going on, there was something about it I liked. I even thought the opening theme song was kind of creepy and cool. Don’t ask me what the episode was about. I just vaguely remember Tom Baker’s Doctor on some planet or other. Not sure who the companion was (though I think it might have been Sarah Jane) or who the baddies were in it.

I’m not sure how long we watched on PBS but probably not more than a few years. Fast forward to 1996. I was graduating high school and heard there was to be a Doctor Who movie on network TV here. I immediately felt nostalgic and when I saw the pictures of Paul McGann in the role it piqued my interest. I did watch it and it seemed different but still interesting. Around the same time I remember reading articles in various magazines and books I had on TV shows in general regarding the earlier Doctors. I remember someone saying that Patrick Troughton’s Doctor was a lot like a hippie (don’t ask who wrote this or where I saw it). I started picturing him looking like Wavy Gravy with a bushy beard, headband, granny glasses and a tie-dyed shirt. I kid you not. A blurb about William Hartnell’s Doctor just mentioned him as a grumpy old man, and one about Jon Pertwee’s being a Bond-like character. The only Doctor I was familiar with at that point really was Tom Baker so I found it fascinating to read about these earlier Doctors.

That was about the extent of my exposure to Doctor Who until around 2005 when SciFi (now known as SyFy) started airing the “New Who” with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. There was that feeling of nostalgia all over again and I started watching faithfully his episodes followed by David Tennant’s. I didn’t watch much of Matt Smith’s because I hadn’t really warmed up to him much, although he grew on me later on. I watched most of Peter Capaldi’s and then watched a few of Jodie Whittaker’s… although I admit I wasn’t crazy about the writing by that point so I sort of fell away from it.

Going back to 2013-2014, I started searching for old clips on YouTube, and finally got a glimpse of the 1st through 3rd Doctors. Imagine my shock to see the 2nd Doctor was not the “hippie” I’d envisioned him as, lol. Once I found these old clips I got more and more interested in the classic episodes. For Christmas the following year I got the “Lost In Time” DVD set with the 1st and 2nd Doctor “orphan” episodes from the missing (or mostly missing) stories. Their companions grew on me, especially Barbara and Ian, Vickie, Steven, Ben and Polly, and I took an instant liking to Jamie, Victoria and Zoe. I had to seek out more and from there I expanded my DVD collection to include stories from the 1st and 2nd Doctor’s times (as well as a few from the 3rd’s).

I then ventured out into the Classic Who fandom some, and have found other fans to be nothing but welcoming. Its a nice little fandom that is a pleasure to be a part of and extremely tame compared to some of the others I have belonged to (Stargate SG-1, Supernatural). I began writing fanfiction, started my own Classic Who blog on Tumblr, and have even attended a convention, meeting a few of the cast and fellow fans.

It’s been a great experience which I hope will continue for quite some time. I want to thank the fans and cast I’ve met for being so pleasant and accommodating.

(And again, I promise I will update this more regularly :))

The Faceless Ones Animation

The animated treatment of the (mostly) missing Second Doctor serial The Faceless Ones now has a release date!

According to this article, it will be released on plain DVD, Blu-Ray and SteelBook on the 16th of March. That’s the Region 2 version, of course. No word on Region 1, and Amazon.com hasn’t updated their listing of it so I assume it’ll be delayed until at least November or December like The Macra Terror was.

Nevertheless, the article mentions the serial is being presented in color (not sure if they’ll offer an alternate black-and-white version as they did with Macra) and will include extras such as a telesnap recon of the missing episodes along with the surviving two, audio commentaries, etc.

There’s also a link in the article to preorder the DVD on Amazon.co.uk.

EDIT: According to the listing on Amazon.co.uk, it seems there will also be a black-and-white version of the story in addition to the color one.

Fanfiction Master Post

I know I’d mentioned before that I write fanfiction, but I thought I’d include a master list of it in case anyone was interested in reading it.

One-shots:

Something I Said : Zoe unintentionally offends Jamie and tries to make amends. (2nd Doctor, Jamie and Zoe)

Up to Snow Good : The TARDIS lands in a snowy wonderland. A snowball fight ensues and Jamie learns another thing or two about dressing for the weather. (2nd Doctor, Jamie and Zoe)

Home for Christmas : It’s Zoe’s first Christmas on the TARDIS and she’s not all that happy about it. The Doctor and Jamie try to make her feel more “at home.” (2nd Doctor, Jamie and Zoe)

Starting Over : Not long after she’s first come aboard the TARDIS, Zoe has become frustrated by Jamie’s treatment of her. After a confrontation that turns a bit more emotional than either of them expected, they manage to find common ground. Takes place between The Wheel in Space and The Dominators. (2nd Doctor, Jamie and Zoe)

Father’s Day : On Father’s Day, the Doctor thinks about the meaning of the holiday, remembering times spent with his former companions and cherishing those with his current ones. Takes place sometime before The War Games. (2nd Doctor, Jamie and Zoe)

Easier With Time : Shortly after her father’s death, Victoria prepares for another bad, sleepless night on the TARDIS. Things end up not as badly as she was expecting. Takes place between The Evil of the Daleks and The Tomb of the Cybermen. (2nd Doctor, Jamie and Victoria)

Multi-Chapter:

You Can’t Go Home Again (Or Can You?) : After losing Clara, the Doctor is crushed and the TARDIS wants to help. He is reunited with some old friends, but as the saying goes, “You can’t go home again.” … Right? Prequel to the Time With A Twist of Tartan series. (12th Doctor, Jamie and Zoe)

Series:

Time With A Twist of Tartan : Jamie had been inadvertently dropped off in late twentieth-century London by the 12th Doctor. This series follows his adventures with some familiar faces as well as some new ones. Directly follows “You Can’t Go Home Again (Or Can You?)” (Jamie, Ben, Polly, Victoria, Zoe, 3rd Doctor, UNIT, 4th Doctor, Sarah Jane, Harry, 5th Doctor, Adric, Tegan, Nyssa, Original Female Characters, Original Male Characters)

Waylaid In London : With the 12th Doctor’s help, Jamie inadvertently ended up in 1970s London instead of reuniting with his family in 1700s Paris. While there, he stumbles upon some familiar faces as well as meets some new ones … And manages to find trouble while he’s at it.
Of Castles and Hairy Beasties : Much to UNIT’s relief, things have been relatively quiet lately. That is, until the Doctor reads about strange goings-on at a castle in Scotland. While touring this castle, Jamie comes face-to-face with an old foe and things get very personal as someone close to him becomes threatened.
Just Like Old Times : A disaster perpetrated by a renegade Time Lord finds the Doctor being forced to work with his past selves to resolve it. This Time Lord has not only placed his very existence in jeopardy, but also Time itself. The Doctors may be a bit in over their heads with this one, but the help of a certain companion surely can’t hurt. Takes place during (and is a slight reworking of) The Three Doctors.
The Lair of Grom : Not only has Jamie had to adjust to the Doctor’s new face, but his honeymoon has been interrupted and he’s left with a discontented bride … who, along with Sarah Jane, has now gone missing. Set not long after The Ark in Space story arc.
Reunion : In the years since the Grom situation, Jamie has settled down with a family of his own and has been working with UNIT on a barely occasional basis. However, he soon finds himself thrown back into the world of the Doctor, thanks to a surprise visit from an old friend who brings a dire warning. Takes place soon after Castrovalva.

Review: The Macra Terror (DVD)

I recently got my copy of The Macra Terror on DVD and sat down to watch it. I decided to write up a little review. Note that I just have the plain old DVD set, not the Blu-Ray one. I don’t think there’s too much of a difference in extras, though.

I’m not going to do a review of the actual story as lots of fans before me have already posted their thoughts. The animation itself was very well done. The likenesses of the Doctor and his companions are quite good and their movements (as well as that of the other people) seem very natural. I know fans have complained that their movements looked quite stiff and unnatural in previous animations, especially in The Power of the Daleks and The Ice Warriors. I’ve noticed that myself and I think they’ve improved it quite a bit in this one.

The intro starts off at the end of The Moonbase, and this is in black and white on both the black-and-white and color versions of the animation (more on that later). Interestingly, they’ve got Polly with her cropped haircut here instead of where it shows up the first time after her “shampoo” early in Episode 1. I assume they did it for simplicity’s sake though, and to save a bit of time. Such was the case for the omission of the scene where the Doctor gets his “makeover” and then gets his old look back, as well as Ben and Jamie getting their “treatments.” Fortunately, we can still see this scene in the original episode reconstructions that are provided as an Extra on the set. I also noticed that Jamie is wearing his light-colored turtleneck shirt which he started with in the beginning of the episode instead of changing into that odd uniform like Ben. Again I assume it was done to save time and for simplicity, and perhaps for emphasis on Ben being brainwashed by the Macra.

As an aside, one thing I hate about the story being missing is that we didn’t get to see Jamie doing his “Highland Fling.” They did recreate this for the animation, though, and part of me wonders how close it is to the original. 😉

As for the extras, there is a good selection of them on this set. First, I like the fact that you can choose to watch in color or the original black and white. The audio commentary is quite good, too, featuring Frazer Hines (Jamie), Terrence Lodge (Medok), Maureen Lane (one of the majorettes in the dance scenes), Anthony Gardner (Alvis) and the director John Davies. Frazer reveals that his and Michael Craze’s uniforms were actually orange and not blueish (as they were here), with tight Bermuda shorts. He also did a quite funny impersonation of Patrick Troughton during a scene or two featuring the Doctor and Polly. Terrence Lodge shared some interesting info on the motivation for his portrayal of Medok, namely that he’d done some pretty high-brow theater earlier on and so made Medok overly dramatic at times.

There are two photo galleries: One with set photos and photos of the guest cast taken during production of the serial; and the other an animation gallery showing character sketches and pictures of various scenes from start to finish. There’s a little film called Animatics, basically showing how the animation came together. The “behind the scenes” film is a little “Follow that Dalek” type silent production made circa 1967 that’s basically a tour of various props from different Doctor Who stories, including the Macra, with some more recent narration. The surviving footage which had been previously included on the “Lost in Time” DVD set is included here as well, featuring cuts that had been made for Australian TV broadcasts from Episodes 2 and 3 (of note, Ben and Polly grappling with the Macra, and Jamie encountering the Macra down in the mines).

Finally, there’s the “mini episode” from The Wheel in Space. It’s basically about 11 minute’s worth of Episode 1 of this story, featuring the Doctor and Jamie. I thought this was very well done, although the animation (especially the look of the characters) is a bit rough and rudimentary compared with that of The Macra Terror. I’m assuming they fine-tuned it a bit for the latter. If something similar were to come of this if they ever decide to animate the missing episodes of The Wheel in Space, I’m all for it.

All in all, it’s a good set. I found it very interesting how they tried to recreate this missing story from just the soundtrack, production photos, short deleted scenes and the telesnaps. I think they did a very good job. Now we’ve got The Faceless Ones and Fury from the Deep to look forward to. Hopefully the treatment they receive will be just as good as this one.

Doctor Who Audio Recording – Volunteers Needed!

A friend of mine has written a superb novel called “Forgotten Suns”, starring the 2nd Doctor, Jamie and Zoe. He is planning to record an audio version and is looking for a person (or persons) to voice Jamie and Zoe.

If you think you may be interested, please see this page for more information. Even if you have no interest, please give a heads up to anyone who might be.

Thanks in advance!

The Wheel of Ice – A Doctor Who Novel

This was yet another book I’d received for Christmas, but due to the backlog of books I had yet to read, I didn’t get to finish it until recently.

I’d decided to read this one because not only are the Second Doctor and his companions among my favorites (as I’ve mentioned countless times before, lol), but from the little blurbs and various reviews I’d seen, it sounded interesting.

In a nutshell, the TARDIS ends up taking the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe to the rings of Saturn. There are big chunks of debris flying at them and they’re saved by a teenage girl named Phee Laws, who happens to be the daughter of Jo (who is the mayor of a settlement on the Wheel). A moon called Mnemosyne is being mined for a mineral called bernalium, directed by a female tyrant head of a corporation known as Bootstrap. People get attacked by these creepy “blue doll” monsters and repeated trips to this moon are made in order to put a stop to it all. The Doctor of course is at the heart of this, trying to understand and influence the “blue dolls”, as well as Arkive, the failing ancient artificial intelligence that is controlling them.

It doesn’t specify when exactly in the Who universe this story takes place, but given the references to the Cybermen invasion of London having occurred in the past, plus the references to T-Mat, it’s definitely post-The Seeds Of Death (actually, in the beginning of the book it’s mentioned that Jamie is wearing the same black lace-up Jacobite shirt he wore in that serial, plus the physical description of the Doctor – ragged sideburns, for one – seems to be a callback to the way he looked then as well). Other reviewers have suggested it takes place directly before The War Games. Whatever the case, it’s definitely in the late Series 6 time frame.

There are some other interesting characters, especially Sam, the 19-year-old son of Jo Laws. He ends up developing a bit of a rapport with Jamie. There’s a scene where the Doctor and companions are taking up residence at Jo’s house, with Zoe sharing a room with Phee and Jamie with Sam. At first, Sam scoffs at Jamie, calling him “Granddad” (which insults Jamie, who insists he’s not much older than him), but he soon offers Jamie to come along with him and his friends, riding scooters in space and “skiing” on another moon, Titan.

Jo also has a daughter named Casey, who is about 2 or 3 years old. It’s basically through her that the blue dolls are discovered. There is a nice scene towards the end of the book where she and Zoe are taking cover in an old ship. Little Casey is frightened the way the ship is being jostled about due to flying debris from an explosion and Zoe, who’s obviously not had much experience with children, does her best to comfort the toddler.

Another interesting character is MMAC, a large mechanic of a robot programmed to believe he is a Scotsman from Glasgow (in fact, upon first meeting them, he and Jamie have an interesting exchange … Jamie takes issue with the fact he’s a “Jessie” from Glasgow who most likely would have fought with the English during the Jacobite Uprising, LOL). Even though his memories are artificial – and it’s a bit sad when he discovers this – he’s very kind and helpful, coming through to save our protagonists in quite a few ways.

The characters that really didn’t do anything for me were Jo Laws’ ex-husband, whose interaction with Sam in particular seemed a bit forced (although I will give him credit for helping them save the day in the end); and Florian Hart, the head of the corporation in charge of mining the moon for bernalium. She starts as a relatively tame antagonist but as the story wears on – and especially near the end – she turns into a power-hungry tyrant. In doing so, she actually becomes a bit cartoonish and one-dimensional, and I was rooting for her defeat so we wouldn’t have to hear anymore about her.

Things do get resolved in the end and I won’t go into detail on that. I’ll just mention there’s a celebratory parade on the Wheel in which Jamie takes part, proudly playing the bagpipes. As you’d expect, the Doctor has them all quietly slip away while speeches and the like are being given, and they’re off in the TARDIS for their next adventure.

The characterizations of Team TARDIS were very well done, in my opinion. The Doctor’s portrayal seemed to start off a bit shaky, but got much better after the first chapter or two, and later on when he’s confronting the blue dolls/blue army men and Arkive, I could just hear Troughton as the Second Doctor delivering the words on the pages. Zoe and Jamie were very well done, too, although I’ve mentioned before that it’s an occasional pet peeve of mine when authors make him sound more Scots Highlander than he sounded in the TV show. Baxter does this here and there, with the occasional “yon” or “ken” but it wasn’t very distracting and apart from that, he got Jamie’s characterization very well.

That’s about all I wanted to say about this one. If you haven’t read it before, I would recommend it. The storyline was interesting and I liked the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe’s involvement in it.

A Bit of a Pet Peeve

I’ll write up my thoughts on “The Wheel of Ice” soon, but there’s one thing I noticed in the book that I wanted to address in general.

I’ve noticed that in some of the Doctor Who novels and fanfiction during the Second Doctor’s time, writers tend to make Jamie sound a bit more Scots than he did in the show. They’ll have him saying words like “yon” or “ken” (as in “Doctor, there’s a noise coming from yon shrubbery!” and “Look, Doctor, she’s not joking, ye ken.”).

It doesn’t bother me a lot, but we’ve never actually heard him use these words in the show, even in his very first stories “The Highlanders” and “The Underwater Menace” (if I’m wrong, please let me know … I do remember him saying “dinna fash” and “whist” several times, but no “yon” or “ken”). When I write any fanfics involving Jamie, I like to make him sound as closely to the way he talked in the show as possible. I know not everyone does that, and there are writers who don’t employ any of the “Scots-speak” at all.

Maybe it’s just me but I’ve found it a bit of a pet peeve. It is quaint but to me not overly realistic of the way he talked in the show.

Second Doctor Serial “The Faceless Ones” to be animated!

First, apologies for having gone so long without updating this blog. Work has had me insanely busy, plus the fact that the Tumblr folks haven’t been giving me grief and marking my posts as adult content has given me less motivation for importing more of my posts here. Finally, I was waiting until I finished “The Wheel of Ice”, the book I’m currently reading before writing a review … I’m almost at that point, so it should be forthcoming.

Now to get to the main point of this post: There is news of another Doctor Who serial to be animated! The Second Doctor story “The Faceless Ones,” of which only two episodes out of six exist, is going to be animated and released on DVD next year. Go here for more news and a video teaser.

From what I’ve seen it seems that it’s going to be similar to “The Macra Terror” which was just recently released. I still don’t have my copy as it’s not going to be released in Region 1 until October (*sigh*), but I have seen it and would like to write a little “review” of what I’ve seen. I’ll try to do that as soon as possible.