"Phil won't leave his room" - A Doctor Who Production History
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Right, so, @Guajolote asked me to post something - which I can confirm with evidence if mods have an issue with this. He didn't want to post himself since people might think there's a proper update, and he didn't want to be an accidental tease. Lovely man, our Guajolote.
Anyway, this was mentioned briefly over in @Timelordtoe's Where Are We Going This Time thread for post #1000, but Guajolote and I are planning a massive AH.com Doctor Who crossover, currently titled Subtractive Synthesis. Here's the cover, by yours truly, an image (also on that aforementioned post #1000) by Guajolote and myself, and a small snippet of our plans.
DOCTOR WHO
Subtractive Synthesis
Written by James P. Quick and Tilt Araiza
Plot Outline
Episode One
The Colin Baker Doctor is in his TARDIS, staring at the scanner in dire concern. He eulogizes reality briefly before the signal breaks up and a knock comes at the TARDIS doors. Confused, he crosses the console room and opens them. To his annoyance, he finds a Time Lord has materialized her TARDIS around his own.
Meanwhile, the Avery Brooks Doctor bids his companion Jennifer Marsh (Winona Ryder) safe travels to her hometown. She urges him to not just sit around and read – he should get out and interact with some people while she’s away. The Doctor initially dismisses her. However, she won’t budge on the matter, going so far as to wonder what Susan would think of her grandfather holed up in an office for an entire two weeks. Annoyed at the trump card, the Doctor acquiesces and shoos her out – though it’s clearly done fondly.
After she leaves, the Doctor pops into the TARDIS for something. Coming back empty-handed and pondering where the gadget could possibly be, he stumbles across the threshold of the TARDIS. Collapsing to the ground in agony, he initially calls out for Jennifer before remembering she’s gone. Uncertain of what’s happening, he lies on the ground in a panic, paralyzed by agonizing pain.
Several galaxies and three dozen centuries away, the Tony Haygarth Doctor and his companion Flip (Jennifer Calvert) are guests of the Magistrix of Garqhanzéla (Renée Zellweger), a minor country on an equatorial continent of Arcolim, a moon orbiting a gas giant. This is not a happy arrangement, and the term “guests” is tenuous. The Magistrix is suspicious that the Doctor and Flip are assassins, while the Doctor has blithely gotten himself and Flip into a counterplot to stop the assassins. The Magistrix begins to question them.
Happy holidays, all!
Anyway, this was mentioned briefly over in @Timelordtoe's Where Are We Going This Time thread for post #1000, but Guajolote and I are planning a massive AH.com Doctor Who crossover, currently titled Subtractive Synthesis. Here's the cover, by yours truly, an image (also on that aforementioned post #1000) by Guajolote and myself, and a small snippet of our plans.
DOCTOR WHO
Subtractive Synthesis
Written by James P. Quick and Tilt Araiza
Plot Outline
The Colin Baker Doctor is in his TARDIS, staring at the scanner in dire concern. He eulogizes reality briefly before the signal breaks up and a knock comes at the TARDIS doors. Confused, he crosses the console room and opens them. To his annoyance, he finds a Time Lord has materialized her TARDIS around his own.
Meanwhile, the Avery Brooks Doctor bids his companion Jennifer Marsh (Winona Ryder) safe travels to her hometown. She urges him to not just sit around and read – he should get out and interact with some people while she’s away. The Doctor initially dismisses her. However, she won’t budge on the matter, going so far as to wonder what Susan would think of her grandfather holed up in an office for an entire two weeks. Annoyed at the trump card, the Doctor acquiesces and shoos her out – though it’s clearly done fondly.
“Fine, fine. Don’t miss me too much, Professor!”
“Oh, Jen, at my age I only miss the ones I know are long gone. Now you’d better hurry or you’ll miss your bus. Safe travels!”
“Oh, Jen, at my age I only miss the ones I know are long gone. Now you’d better hurry or you’ll miss your bus. Safe travels!”
After she leaves, the Doctor pops into the TARDIS for something. Coming back empty-handed and pondering where the gadget could possibly be, he stumbles across the threshold of the TARDIS. Collapsing to the ground in agony, he initially calls out for Jennifer before remembering she’s gone. Uncertain of what’s happening, he lies on the ground in a panic, paralyzed by agonizing pain.
Several galaxies and three dozen centuries away, the Tony Haygarth Doctor and his companion Flip (Jennifer Calvert) are guests of the Magistrix of Garqhanzéla (Renée Zellweger), a minor country on an equatorial continent of Arcolim, a moon orbiting a gas giant. This is not a happy arrangement, and the term “guests” is tenuous. The Magistrix is suspicious that the Doctor and Flip are assassins, while the Doctor has blithely gotten himself and Flip into a counterplot to stop the assassins. The Magistrix begins to question them.
“How long have you been leading the rebellion?”
“Leading? I don’t lead the rebellion, nor do I fund the rebellion. I didn’t know there was a rebellion until I landed here about an hour ago. It’s not as simple as you think.”
“You were found advising the rebels.”
“My advice is not exclusively for the rebels. You can have it, too. Someone’s trying to kill you; I don’t want to let them do that. I’m sure you don’t, either.”
---
That's all for now. Guajolote and I have been discussing the future of the timeline, too. Also, I'm not going to be a frequent contributor to this like some other timelines. I cannot have a monopoly on Doctor Who on AH. “Leading? I don’t lead the rebellion, nor do I fund the rebellion. I didn’t know there was a rebellion until I landed here about an hour ago. It’s not as simple as you think.”
“You were found advising the rebels.”
“My advice is not exclusively for the rebels. You can have it, too. Someone’s trying to kill you; I don’t want to let them do that. I’m sure you don’t, either.”
---
Happy holidays, all!This is genuinely brilliant and I am amazed by how many of those I recognizeRight, so, @Guajolote asked me to post something - which I can confirm with evidence if mods have an issue with this. He didn't want to post himself since people might think there's a proper update, and he didn't want to be an accidental tease. Lovely man, our Guajolote.
Anyway, this was mentioned briefly over in @Timelordtoe's Where Are We Going This Time thread for post #1000, but Guajolote and I are planning a massive AH.com Doctor Who crossover, currently titled Subtractive Synthesis. Here's the cover, by yours truly, an image (also on that aforementioned post #1000) by Guajolote and myself, and a small snippet of our plans.
DOCTOR WHO
Subtractive Synthesis
Written by James P. Quick and Tilt Araiza
Plot Outline
Love the concept of AH doctors meeting other AH doctors, I believe the idea has been tossed around for a while and I'm glad it finally came to fruition.Right, so, @Guajolote asked me to post something - which I can confirm with evidence if mods have an issue with this. He didn't want to post himself since people might think there's a proper update, and he didn't want to be an accidental tease. Lovely man, our Guajolote.
Anyway, this was mentioned briefly over in @Timelordtoe's Where Are We Going This Time thread for post #1000, but Guajolote and I are planning a massive AH.com Doctor Who crossover, currently titled Subtractive Synthesis. Here's the cover, by yours truly, an image (also on that aforementioned post #1000) by Guajolote and myself, and a small snippet of our plans.
Episode One
DOCTOR WHO
Subtractive Synthesis
Written by James P. Quick and Tilt Araiza
Plot Outline
The Colin Baker Doctor is in his TARDIS, staring at the scanner in dire concern. He eulogizes reality briefly before the signal breaks up and a knock comes at the TARDIS doors. Confused, he crosses the console room and opens them. To his annoyance, he finds a Time Lord has materialized her TARDIS around his own.
Meanwhile, the Avery Brooks Doctor bids his companion Jennifer Marsh (Winona Ryder) safe travels to her hometown. She urges him to not just sit around and read – he should get out and interact with some people while she’s away. The Doctor initially dismisses her. However, she won’t budge on the matter, going so far as to wonder what Susan would think of her grandfather holed up in an office for an entire two weeks. Annoyed at the trump card, the Doctor acquiesces and shoos her out – though it’s clearly done fondly.
“Fine, fine. Don’t miss me too much, Professor!”
“Oh, Jen, at my age I only miss the ones I know are long gone. Now you’d better hurry or you’ll miss your bus. Safe travels!”
After she leaves, the Doctor pops into the TARDIS for something. Coming back empty-handed and pondering where the gadget could possibly be, he stumbles across the threshold of the TARDIS. Collapsing to the ground in agony, he initially calls out for Jennifer before remembering she’s gone. Uncertain of what’s happening, he lies on the ground in a panic, paralyzed by agonizing pain.
Several galaxies and three dozen centuries away, the Tony Haygarth Doctor and his companion Flip (Jennifer Calvert) are guests of the Magistrix of Garqhanzéla (Renée Zellweger), a minor country on an equatorial continent of Arcolim, a moon orbiting a gas giant. This is not a happy arrangement, and the term “guests” is tenuous. The Magistrix is suspicious that the Doctor and Flip are assassins, while the Doctor has blithely gotten himself and Flip into a counterplot to stop the assassins. The Magistrix begins to question them.
“How long have you been leading the rebellion?”That's all for now. Guajolote and I have been discussing the future of the timeline, too. Also, I'm not going to be a frequent contributor to this like some other timelines. I cannot have a monopoly on Doctor Who on AH.
“Leading? I don’t lead the rebellion, nor do I fund the rebellion. I didn’t know there was a rebellion until I landed here about an hour ago. It’s not as simple as you think.”
“You were found advising the rebels.”
“My advice is not exclusively for the rebels. You can have it, too. Someone’s trying to kill you; I don’t want to let them do that. I’m sure you don’t, either.”
---
I'm excited for future updates of this TL too, it is a bit sad that you're reducing your contribute towards the TL, but as you said, you can't have a monopoly on DW AH timelines
Part 43 - Goodbye, Cinema Verity
This story not mentioned in this chapter but, hey, what are gonna do?
Graham: Wassup?
Andrew: I'm looking into the end of the Cinema Verity series and there are a ton of rumours about why it was cancelled. Any chance you can tell me the truth?
Graham: You can't handle the truth!
Andrew: Why do you say that?
Graham: It's a quote. Jeffrey Hunter in A Few Good Men. You've never seen it?
Andrew: I don't see many modern movies.
Graham: It's not all that modern, but let's not fall out over that. For a start "cancelled" is the most dramatic way of putting it. The commission was not renewed. Anyway, I think there are good reasons why people don't talk about the end of the Cadell series. A lot of people who worked on it went to work for the BBC.
Andrew: OK. If I know what went on, it doesn't mean I'm going to spill the beans on my blog. It'd be good to know so I don't accidentally say something that looks like I know.
Graham: Fair enough. It was because of Enterprises.
Andrew: Enterprises?
Graham: Yes. Despite what you might have heard, BBC1 was happy with the arrangement as it was. Enterprises had two issues. First was that the show wasn't doing as well in the US and a few other markets, second was that half the home-video sales money was going to an independent. They framed it as "this is one of the flagship BBC shows, it should be made in-house". No-one who disagreed saw it as a hill worth dying on.
Andrew: So, nothing to do with Monsters In The Dark then?
Graham: Hell, no!
- Instant message conversation between Andrew Barbicane and Graham Ardwyne
__________________
"Sorry, I didn't hear that. Ahhh, Monsters In The Dark. There's a lot of discussion about that. So, what was the question? Did the controversy over the story cause the end of the Cinema Verity series. I know the answer and it's going to disappoint you.
"There was no controversy over the story. There was 'a concern'. Yes, the story outline and first draft had the story set in a domestic violence shelter. The BBC questioned the wisdom of that setting and everybody involved, including Lesley who wrote it agreed that there could be problems arising from the setting and it was changed. We ended up in a block of flats that inexplicably only had women residents."
- Kelvin Maugham, convention appearance
__________________
Shout Out: Jenny is a big fan of Dan Dare expy Val Valiant and wears a homemade Astral Fleet uniform when she and The Doctor fight off the monsters.
Take That: The whole story is this to the tendency of some fans (and some of the writers in the novel range) to want Doctor Who to tackle Serious Business, especially those who attempted Deconstruction takes that found the Doctor to be useless in the face of Adult Fear. In this story, the Doctor's job is to help a child who is afraid of the titular monsters who have based themselves in the cellar. By extension it's a statement of the show's basic principles; the Doctor being suitable to confront fantastical problems is not a weakness in the format or the character.
- TV Tropes page for Monsters In The Dark
__________________
The Cinema Verity series has become a little bit overlooked these days. It's that bit between the (first) American reinvention of the series and the show's return as a BBC series that it is recognizably Doctor Who. This might seem controversial, but the return to the BBC saw the series looking backward and inward. It's made by people who want to remind the audience of classic Doctor Who. The Cinema Verity series was rooted in its present and looking to its future. Possibly the most notable example of this approach was the decision to cast a woman as The Doctor and that woman's decision to play the part as "more or less a man". Selina Cadell captured the hearts of a generation of little girls, but the old fans, some of whom were disturbed at this gender-switch, were soon brought around and hailed Cadell as "the second coming of Troughton" (forgetting they'd said the same thing about Tony Haygarth).
When the series returned it was truly excellent, don't get me wrong, but there was that air of "yes, it's back, jump behind the sofa". Doctor Who returned as pop-cultural touchstone. Its presence in the BBC1 Saturday night schedules, alongside Dale Winton's Generation Game and The Cannon And Ball Show, was a sign that all was right with the world. It returned to the Radiophonic Workshop theme. The opening titles were a computerized recreation of the "slit-scan" 70s opening. Doctor Who wasn't just nostalgic, it knew it was nostalgic.
Another tradition it upheld was that its genesis and development were an absolute s**tshow. But that's a story for another book.
- Doctor Who, The Compact Guide: The 90s (and a bit more), Rayne Norvell
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So excited for two of my favourite threads to crossover!!Right, so, @Guajolote asked me to post something - which I can confirm with evidence if mods have an issue with this. He didn't want to post himself since people might think there's a proper update, and he didn't want to be an accidental tease. Lovely man, our Guajolote.
Anyway, this was mentioned briefly over in @Timelordtoe's Where Are We Going This Time thread for post #1000, but Guajolote and I are planning a massive AH.com Doctor Who crossover, currently titled Subtractive Synthesis. Here's the cover, by yours truly, an image (also on that aforementioned post #1000) by Guajolote and myself, and a small snippet of our plans.
Episode One
DOCTOR WHO
Subtractive Synthesis
Written by James P. Quick and Tilt Araiza
Plot Outline
The Colin Baker Doctor is in his TARDIS, staring at the scanner in dire concern. He eulogizes reality briefly before the signal breaks up and a knock comes at the TARDIS doors. Confused, he crosses the console room and opens them. To his annoyance, he finds a Time Lord has materialized her TARDIS around his own.
Meanwhile, the Avery Brooks Doctor bids his companion Jennifer Marsh (Winona Ryder) safe travels to her hometown. She urges him to not just sit around and read – he should get out and interact with some people while she’s away. The Doctor initially dismisses her. However, she won’t budge on the matter, going so far as to wonder what Susan would think of her grandfather holed up in an office for an entire two weeks. Annoyed at the trump card, the Doctor acquiesces and shoos her out – though it’s clearly done fondly.
“Fine, fine. Don’t miss me too much, Professor!”
“Oh, Jen, at my age I only miss the ones I know are long gone. Now you’d better hurry or you’ll miss your bus. Safe travels!”
After she leaves, the Doctor pops into the TARDIS for something. Coming back empty-handed and pondering where the gadget could possibly be, he stumbles across the threshold of the TARDIS. Collapsing to the ground in agony, he initially calls out for Jennifer before remembering she’s gone. Uncertain of what’s happening, he lies on the ground in a panic, paralyzed by agonizing pain.
Several galaxies and three dozen centuries away, the Tony Haygarth Doctor and his companion Flip (Jennifer Calvert) are guests of the Magistrix of Garqhanzéla (Renée Zellweger), a minor country on an equatorial continent of Arcolim, a moon orbiting a gas giant. This is not a happy arrangement, and the term “guests” is tenuous. The Magistrix is suspicious that the Doctor and Flip are assassins, while the Doctor has blithely gotten himself and Flip into a counterplot to stop the assassins. The Magistrix begins to question them.
“How long have you been leading the rebellion?”That's all for now. Guajolote and I have been discussing the future of the timeline, too. Also, I'm not going to be a frequent contributor to this like some other timelines. I cannot have a monopoly on Doctor Who on AH.
“Leading? I don’t lead the rebellion, nor do I fund the rebellion. I didn’t know there was a rebellion until I landed here about an hour ago. It’s not as simple as you think.”
“You were found advising the rebels.”
“My advice is not exclusively for the rebels. You can have it, too. Someone’s trying to kill you; I don’t want to let them do that. I’m sure you don’t, either.”
---
I haven't abandoned this TL, but over the last few months, my life has been doing its best to completely fall apart. I'm currently in a nursing facility having some chronic health issues taken care of and Part 44 has sat unfinished as a result. I looked at what I had, realized that if I snipped off the last sentence, I'd have a small cliffhanger and it would make a nice mini-chapter. That's it for the reasons why, Part 44 will follow imminently.
Part 44 - The Confusion Begins
WHAT IS GOING ON?
- cover of Jewel fanzine, Summer 2002
The confusion around the 40th anniversary special and the 2004 series has been used as a stick with which to beat the BBC, but that really isn't fair. The BBC was working the same way as pretty much every British institution at that time.
Compared to the two main cultures Britain found itself between, Europe and the US, the UK changed at a slower pace in the 80s and 90s. Britain just couldn't bring itself to seek greater economic and political union with Europe. Labour was suspicious of the mercantilist bent of the otherwise Social Democratic nature of nascent European Union (don't worry, I'll be getting to Doctor Who before long). Equally, Britain didn't adopt the free market policies embraced by the US in the 80s and the broadly centre-right "Republicrat" era as Presidents Gore and then Kemp governed so similarly in the 90s.
Britain, and by extension the BBC, seemed to muddle on as an example of what one European bureaucrat described as "the fundamental effectiveness of inefficiency". Even the much trumpeted "Programme for Change" had been rolled out carefully, backed by a prudent fiscal methodology. The breathtakingly rapid expansion of Britain's technological infrastructure seemed to be mostly handled by sensible men with beards and a taste for real ale and folk music [1]. What other countries admired about Britain was its stability and that kept the foreign money flowing through the nation.
The BBC was overmanned, somewhat baroque in its internal workings and holding on to traditions that no-one could remember the origins of. But the output of the BBC still carried a certain cache. Overseeing it all as Director-General, from 1996 to 2002, was David Dimbleby. Son of legendary BBC presenter Richard Dimbleby, former presenter of Panorama like his father before him, former controller of BBC1 and all-round corporation man. The BBC under Dimbleby would continue to be thoroughly BBC-ish. A model of "the fundamental effectiveness of inefficiency."
The thing about inefficiency is that sometimes, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. So it was with Doctor Who's return as an in-house production.
BBC Enterprises [2] wasted no time in letting it be known they wanted something suitable to be released for the 40th anniversary. If it was something that was going to be televised, then Enterprises would want an extended version exclusive to home video. This desire was driven by the fact that the 30th anniversary special The Wrong Doctors was a strong seller and a feeling that the home video version would have benefitted from the deleted scenes being edited back into the show rather than included as a bonus item.
The perfect item would, of course, be a new episode of Doctor Who. However, Enterprises were open to something like a feature-length documentary or, if it came to it, some sort of special presentation of clips of Doctor Who. Michael Leggo, the Managing Director of Television (MD Tel in BBC-speak) was approached about plans for a 40th anniversary episode and the possibility of Enterprises having some involvement so as to maximize the home video version. Leggo readily agreed to the production of a special episode of Doctor Who. David Liddement, the Head of BBC1 was similarly amenable and things were set in motion. Simple.
This is where it gets complicated.
- Doctor Who: A New Century by Gordon Weythe and Rayne Norvell
[1] This is an image that struck me on watching cult BBC gameshow The Adventure Game and is somewhat reflected in output of acts like Belbury Poly and other stablemates on Ghost Box Records.
[2] They're going to stay as Enterprises, never changing to Worldwide
- cover of Jewel fanzine, Summer 2002
The confusion around the 40th anniversary special and the 2004 series has been used as a stick with which to beat the BBC, but that really isn't fair. The BBC was working the same way as pretty much every British institution at that time.
Compared to the two main cultures Britain found itself between, Europe and the US, the UK changed at a slower pace in the 80s and 90s. Britain just couldn't bring itself to seek greater economic and political union with Europe. Labour was suspicious of the mercantilist bent of the otherwise Social Democratic nature of nascent European Union (don't worry, I'll be getting to Doctor Who before long). Equally, Britain didn't adopt the free market policies embraced by the US in the 80s and the broadly centre-right "Republicrat" era as Presidents Gore and then Kemp governed so similarly in the 90s.
Britain, and by extension the BBC, seemed to muddle on as an example of what one European bureaucrat described as "the fundamental effectiveness of inefficiency". Even the much trumpeted "Programme for Change" had been rolled out carefully, backed by a prudent fiscal methodology. The breathtakingly rapid expansion of Britain's technological infrastructure seemed to be mostly handled by sensible men with beards and a taste for real ale and folk music [1]. What other countries admired about Britain was its stability and that kept the foreign money flowing through the nation.
The BBC was overmanned, somewhat baroque in its internal workings and holding on to traditions that no-one could remember the origins of. But the output of the BBC still carried a certain cache. Overseeing it all as Director-General, from 1996 to 2002, was David Dimbleby. Son of legendary BBC presenter Richard Dimbleby, former presenter of Panorama like his father before him, former controller of BBC1 and all-round corporation man. The BBC under Dimbleby would continue to be thoroughly BBC-ish. A model of "the fundamental effectiveness of inefficiency."
The thing about inefficiency is that sometimes, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. So it was with Doctor Who's return as an in-house production.
BBC Enterprises [2] wasted no time in letting it be known they wanted something suitable to be released for the 40th anniversary. If it was something that was going to be televised, then Enterprises would want an extended version exclusive to home video. This desire was driven by the fact that the 30th anniversary special The Wrong Doctors was a strong seller and a feeling that the home video version would have benefitted from the deleted scenes being edited back into the show rather than included as a bonus item.
The perfect item would, of course, be a new episode of Doctor Who. However, Enterprises were open to something like a feature-length documentary or, if it came to it, some sort of special presentation of clips of Doctor Who. Michael Leggo, the Managing Director of Television (MD Tel in BBC-speak) was approached about plans for a 40th anniversary episode and the possibility of Enterprises having some involvement so as to maximize the home video version. Leggo readily agreed to the production of a special episode of Doctor Who. David Liddement, the Head of BBC1 was similarly amenable and things were set in motion. Simple.
This is where it gets complicated.
- Doctor Who: A New Century by Gordon Weythe and Rayne Norvell
[1] This is an image that struck me on watching cult BBC gameshow The Adventure Game and is somewhat reflected in output of acts like Belbury Poly and other stablemates on Ghost Box Records.
[2] They're going to stay as Enterprises, never changing to Worldwide
IIRC, Rio Fanning was an actor. He appeared in The Horror of Fang Rock, as well as the Blake’s 7 episode Children of Auron.
He also wrote a load of Emmerdale Farm and Eastenders. Curiously and perhaps more indicative of what he'd do for Who, he wrote an episode of Relic Hunter
Glad to see this brief return. Take all the time you need to recover, mate. Your health is paramount.
Hey, is there any website or page for all the alternate doctor who stories featured here in this thread?
There's an episode guide in progress but I've had a really, really, really rough year and this TL keeps sliding down the to-do list. I do intend to continue with this at some point.
I have a Deviant Art with some extra images.
I have a Deviant Art with some extra images.
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