a toast, dear readers, to the one alternate timeline i've genuinely wanted to live in a few timesPost 1000: The Cutting Room Floor
Well hello, dear readers.
We’ve reached the thousandth post on this here timeline, and although progress has been slow as of late, this is still cause for celebration. While we work on what comes next, I figured I’d give you all a little bonus in the form of some “What Could Have Been”s for this.
I started writing this timeline back in early 2019, and frankly, I figured I’d have it done and brought up to the modern day within a year. Here we are almost four years on, now, and we’re still in the 90s. While things have got in the way of a fair bit of progress in the past couple of years, work does continue behind the scenes, and with that, quite a few ideas have been left on the cutting room floor.
I even repurposed a few of these to make “The Doctor Will See You Now, a TLIAW” a while back, and I’ve always been tempted to have another go at something like that as a creative exercise.
It would be remiss of me to not mention at this occasion just how much I owe to @Plus-Sized Scribe , who has masterminded so much of the recent material, especially when it comes to Star Trek and Doctor Who, and who has pushed this timeline to become something far more ambitious and unique than what it originally was. I don’t think I ever expected that when you first messaged me that we would become such close friends. (And you think I did? I can’t imagine ever not being your friend! - Scribe)
My thanks also goes out to all of you who have submitted ideas or stories to the timeline, or even just left a message or reaction to let me know you enjoyed it. I really can’t put it into words how much that means to me. (Same here! You guys should pitch more stories; my creativity and drive only goes so far, and the more the merrier! - Scribe)
What Might Have Been
Occasionally, I like to slip in a little reference to something planned for the future when writing the quotes for each chapter. Unfortunately, given the fluctuating status of this timeline’s future, it can sometimes mean that a quote is now referencing something that isn’t going to happen. I’m aware of a couple particular cases that are in need of some minor retconning.
The Ryan Reynolds Companion
Timelordtoe:
As some of you figured, the “Ryan” that Nicole de Boer mentions joining the cast of Doctor Who in the next season was originally Ryan Reynolds. He had been present in my plans from the very start, even back in the first plans for this timeline (which was structured far more like a TLIAW).
I thought he’d be a good fit for the cast, and would work in-universe as a ploy to bring people over from Buffy. We ended up recasting as the character’s personality and personal arc changed to a point where Reynolds wasn’t as good a fit (and, to a lesser extent, as a move away from my original tendency to cast people who are very famous in OTL [see Tom Hanks as a companion for Seven]).
Plus-Sized Scribe:
Now, for my part, I knew nothing about these plans. I couldn’t help with the Buffy stuff anyway because I’ve only ever seen the series’ pilot, and that was years ago. I came up with a Ryan Reynolds companion independently as an original Big Finish companion for the Fourth Doctor. (I have been giving Big Finish some thought, but it hews more closely to the OTL Gary Russell era.) I suggested putting Reynolds in the main series instead since it seemed more believable that way. Timelordtoe agreed because she already had those plans. A happy little coincidence.
Then I saw the film Ginger Snaps and developed a big ol’ gay crush on Kris Lemche. Later, @Guajolote and I got close during plans for Subtractive Synthesis, our eventual crossover of the AH.com alternate Doctors (see below the fun pic he made and I touched up). Anyway, I think he was the one who noted that he finds it more than a little unbelievable that OTL celebrities are always cast in alt-media timelines with PODs occurring way back. Just look at his Doctor Who timeline “Phil Won’t Leave His Room,” where I hadn’t heard of his Seventh or Ninth Doctors at all, and every companion except Leah Remini was wholly unknown to me.
After some thought, I decided I wanted to show that in WAWGTT. As such, I swapped Lemche in and booted Reynolds out. With Timelordtoe’s permission, of course, given that she felt the same way!
The Phil-verse Seventh Doctor (Tony Haygarth) has
some thoughts on the WAWGTT Ninth Doctor (Avery Brooks).
The Chloë Grace Moretz Doctor
Timelordtoe:
A pretty far out change, as we wouldn’t have seen her for quite a while. But in the quote where Alexander Siddig is discussing being the youngest cast Doctor at the time, there is mention of the “current” Doctor being played by someone even younger. That person in question was going to be Chloë Grace Moretz.
I originally cast her as an intentional “left field” cast, and she wouldn’t have stayed for long, no more than two seasons. As an actress, she never would have quite found her feet as the character, being passionate, but generally given material which did not fit her. Most likely, her Doctor would have found more of a home in the books, comics, and audio.
She stayed in the plans for quite a while. Eventually, though, it became clear that she was just a relic of the original iteration that felt out of place in the newer versions.
Plus-Sized Scribe:
Gonna be candid here… I never once bought her as the Doctor. But I kept her in because it’s ultimately Timelordtoe’s ATL. I just squat in this proverbial house, occasionally produce golden eggs, and once in a while offer a drop of my blood to enter the vault and maintain the huge Excel document with all our plans.
As it happens, the current very young Doctor eventually came from my own suggestions. I reckon he’s spectacular.Plus, at the current time of writing, he outlasts Tom Baker in the role.
Various Siskos and Janeways
Timelordtoe:
TNG was, at least in the earlier seasons, very close to OTL. As time went on and the project became more collaborative, the plans shifted from there being more direct parallels to OTL to making WAWGTT something much more unique. And I very much wanted to do this for both DS9 and VOY (now ODY). While the two retain a large resemblance to their OTL counterparts, this is much greater than they first did.
Sisko experienced the most changes in cast to begin with. Though I was initially reluctant to let Avery Brooks go, considering how incredible he is in the role, it wasn’t going to be feasible to have him as both Sisko and the Doctor. I decided to have either Pierce Brosnan or Peter Capaldi in the role, but I felt uncomfortable with the idea of a white person in the role. I toyed with the idea of introducing Sisko as the initial commander and later replacing him with a new commander, not dissimilar to Babylon 5, but this didn’t feel right either. Sisko staying was better for the story, and I ended up keeping both Capaldi and Brosnan around as recurring roles, the former as a character more or less lifted wholesale from B5.
Babylon 5 would provide me with the casting for Janeway, too. Originally I had considered a couple of different actresses, mainly Nicola Bryant or Nigel Havers (the latter of whom, again, I liked the idea of enough to keep them around). Still, neither felt quite right. On watching Babylon 5, I fell in love with the character of Ivanova, and realised how good a fit Claudia Christian would be for the role of Janeway.
Plus-Sized Scribe:
For my money, I liked the idea of Nicola Bryant as Janeway to give her increased profile ITTL. Nicola’s not given much credit as an actress, in my opinion, and I think she would’ve rocked Janeway. I’m also not that familiar with Claudia Christian. But the decision wasn’t mine, so I made Bryant the First Prelate in Innocence instead. I imagine she’s gotten a bit of a career in the US here as a B-list film star who eventually tires and becomes a household name in the UK doing minor parts on The Bill and other UK shows.
However, I’ve had far more influence on future Star Trek shows we have planned, such as the aforementioned Star Trek: The Monthly Audio Adventures. But I’ll elaborate more on what’s to come in a future post. Stay tuned, true believers!
Various Other Ideas
Timelordtoe:
So much has changed over time, and many ideas, characters, and castings have been left behind. I can’t go into all of them here, and frankly, for many of them I’ve either forgotten why we cut them or it’s as simple as “we had a better idea.”
Plus-Sized Scribe:
Yeah, remember when you wanted Jason Isaacs as the Eleventh Doctor? Then I pitched a counter-suggestion and you didn’t go for it. Well, imagine my surprise, dear reader, when she came back a day later like, “Dammit, I can’t stop thinking about it. Let’s do it!” Good thing, too. Isaacs (along with Ralph Fiennes) has stood staunchly by arch-TERF J.K. Rowling and that’s a huge no-no around here.
Also, side-note before this wraps up! We will be revamping the early Doctor Who and TNG seasons to bring them in line with the recent material. I have Season 22 mostly finished.
Timelordtoe:
As previously mentioned, the timeline has become more ambitious with time, and less prone to convergences. WAWGTT should end up as something very distinct from OTL, with a pop culture that would be very different to inhabit. I truly am proud of this timeline and how it has helped me grow as a writer, not to mention the friends it has brought me.
So here’s to the past thousand posts, and to a thousand more.
Thank you all for reading, from both of us!
here's to another thousand indeed
