Fifty Years in Time and Space - the final act

And to end our fifty years in time and space series we acknowledge the fact that the Day of the Doctor rewrote Who history and so here are all twelve Doctors in the correct order. Peter Capaldi the forthcoming new Doctor will now be the 13th.

Fifty Years in Time and Space - THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR

And so the big event came and went and it certainly didn't dissapoint - The Day of the Doctor reinvented Doctor Who, remained faithful to the history of the show and yet left us with a show that is forever changed. For instance forthcoming Doctor Peter Capaldi will now be the 13th and not the 12th Doctor, and it seems we've been counting wrong ever since the 9th Doctor. WARNING IF YOU'VE NOT SEEN DAY OF THE DOCTOR then major spoilers follow.


All I can say after watching the lovingly crafted 50th anniversary special episode is - wow, pass me another jelly baby.

The story was close to perfect - we already knew it would deal with the Time War but it played out in a way that nobody expected, and the climax was punch your hand in the air exciting. Through clever editing every Doctor turned up to put the plan into action that would save Gallifrey and the Doctor's soul -


'Oh no,' a Time Lord quips. 'All twelve of them.'

And then all of a sudden Peter Capaldi, the next Doctor, turns up and says, 'all thirteen of them.'.

This episode may have started the biggest ever Wikipedia editing session in history.

Showrunner Steven Moffat gave us one of the best ever Doctor Who stories - this was an epic and truly moving story. The frantic action scenes, showing a full scale war, were as grand as anything we've seen in the cinema and we could even make out what was going on - Michael Bay should watch this episode several times before churning out his next SF yawnfest.

For a fifty year old show Doctor Who is incredibly full of life and youthful - this special 75 minutes episode to my mind tops both of the recent big screen Star Trek movies and for a fraction of the budget. In fact the 50th anniversary special may be one of the best SF productions in recent years, and proved beyond a doubt that Doctor Who is simply awesome. We even got to see John Hurt regenerate into the 9th, no 10th Doctor, which means that, including the recent mini episode Night of the Doctor, we've now seen every regeneration of every Doctor to date.

The episode left us with enough possibilities to fill another fifty years of the iconic show - the return of the Time Lords,  the black archive and UNIT's TARDIS proof room will all, no doubt, be explored in future episodes and for now we have just over a month to go before the next Doctor Who mega episode when the 2013 Christmas special is aired and Peter Capaldi finally takes over as the Doctor - I can't wait.

Doctor Who, fifty years young and still the best SF concept there ever was.

Fifty Years in Time and Space 33 - The Eighth Doctor to get spin off series

It is likely that this is just a wild rumour, but there is gossip that after the success of The Night of The Doctor mini-episode,that the BBC are in talks with Paul McGann about filming a series of eighth Doctor adventures as a spin-off from the regular series. Although this is an unsupported rumour at the moment its got enough notice to have been discussed on the Blue Box Podcast, and to be mentioned in several national newspapers.

Only time will tell.......

Fifty Years of Time and Space 31 - A new science fiction series

Fifty years ago this week the above cutting appeared in the Radio Times Magazine

Fifty Years in Time and Space 30 - The Guide

Available now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and anywhere else eBooks are sold.

The Archive's guide to the adventures of the first Doctor.

Every Doctor, every story in a series of concise guides stuffed full of trivia.

CLICK NOW

Fifty Years in Time and Space 29: The Yeti

Doctor who: The Abominable Snowman

Doctor Who has a fervent fanbase and the BBC obviously know this - what we have here is a DVD release of a six part Doctor Who story in which only the second episode exists. The other five are missing from the archives and believed to have been junked - Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings (kinescopes), are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses. The practice was prevalent during the 1960s and 1970s, although it is now less common since associated storage costs have decreased, and especially since the advent of domestic audiovisual playback technology (e.g. videocassette and DVD), with broadcasters and production houses realizing both the economic and cultural value of keeping archived material for both rebroadcast and potential profits through release on home video.

What the BBC have done in order to put this DVD onto the market is provide the missing five episodes as soundtracks, with existing stills and an all new narration. The second episode is of course show in a remastered form. It makes for a strange viewing experience and to my mind the BBC are being brazen in releasing it as a full price release, however I suppose it has historical worth particularly to fans of the show and TV historians.

It's a pity that the only surviving episode is one of the less action packed ones, but at the same time it's always great to see Pat Troughton in action - Troughton was a little before my time - Jon Pertwee was the Doctor when I was a kid - but since discovering Troughton via old reruns he has become my favourite. Everything about his scruffy little man with a Beatle-haircut image was great. The yetis do appear in this episode - looking like drunken Wombles they amble about the mountains trying to appear deadly - still, they must have looked awesome to the pre CGI generation with their tiny black and white TV sets.

Fifty Years in Time and Space 28 : Fifty Shades of Doctor Who

In stuff that shouldn't be news there is now a Doctor Who themed dildo - I kid you not! Shaped like a penis-like time vortex, with a tiny TARDIS inside which flies around  when the device is in vibraion mode.

Apparently it feels bigger on the inside!

The original dildo was made by Kristen for her Toymaker Project blog, but a leading sex toy manufacturer have taken on the design for part of their new Autumn collection - as long as they don't use the words TARDIS or Doctor Who on the product there is little the BBC can do, since the police box design comes from actual vintage British Police boxes and is not copyrighted.

The Tardis Tickler will be on sale soon.

Fifty Years in Time and Space 27 : Third Soldier from the left

Third soldier from the left.
Gary M. Dobbs

This article was originally published in SF Memories


It’s a little after six on a freezing cold January morning and I’m driving, with the utmost care I add, through the Welsh countryside – my destination RAF St. Athens’ for a days work as a background artist on the new Doctor Who. There’s an unreal feeling in the bottom of my stomach. After all, I'd been a fan of the show ever since as a seven year old I watched Jon Pertwee fighting hordes of massive spiders and then falling to his death only to regenerate into the rather gormless Tom Baker. I’d collected all the figures cut from the back of a Weetabix box and staged my own adventures on my bedroom floor, I’d attended several Dr Who exhibitions and had once had posters of Sarah Jane Smith, The Doctor and assorted monsters covering my school books. In fact I once had a cane from the headmaster (Yeah, they actually did this a long time ago during the distant days of childhood when the world was black and white. Anthony Head’s sinister headmaster from School Reunion was nothing compared to our brutal teachers.) for passing a poster around the classroom of the lovely Katy Manning draped naked around a Dalek. Ahh, those were the days!

It was strange how I got the gig. A friend had casually mentioned a friend of theirs who was getting a lot of television extra work and I asked them to find out who his agents were. They returned with a couple of telephone numbers and I promptly set about getting myself on their books.

The result – a phone call in January asking me if I was available for a days filming starting at 7:30 the following morning. It was short notice and I had other work to do but as soon as I heard the show was Doctor Who I knew I’d move mountains, shift continents or at the very least arrange a day’s cover from my regular job. I’d be there. Details were given and I tried to contain my excitement and not appear too fannish. Act professional, I kept telling myself but my blood was racing through my body and I felt like this was all a dream and any moment the bubble would burst. I would be playing a soldier and so this meant I needed to get my shoulder length hair cut. Thankfully, another friend offered the use of his own shavers and he set about giving me something called a number one – apparently this was a style much favoured by World War II POW’s, and 1970’s football hooligans; I decided there and then that I had far too many friends.

And so, looking like a cross between an aged Leeds fan and a threadbare broom, freezing my butt off and avoiding the icy patches on the roads, I neared my destination with the LOCATION signs directing me the last mile or so towards destiny.

I was gonna’ be on Doctor Who!
My imagination was racing, what would I have to do? Which monsters would I see? Would the Doctor be there? Sod that, would Rose be there? I had delusions; that the delectable Ms. Piper would not be able to resist my smouldering charms.


“As is turned out she was there and was more than capable of resistance. “


I pulled up and went to the checkpoint and gave my name to the security man. He checked his list, me peering over his shoulder and noticing the names of both David Tennant and Billy Piper. He then informed me I wasn’t listed. I would not be allowed entry to the set. Panic followed but a quick telephone call to my agent soon sorted things out. The location manager had forgotten to supply a list of the required background artists and I was allowed through and onto the set of a real live Doctor Who shoot.

There were a dozen or so other extras and we were all led to costume where we were each given a military uniform bearing the Torchwood insignia. As I was slipping into my fatigues I glanced out of the window and happened to catch sight of an actor wearing the bottom half of a Cyberman costume and my heart skipped a beat. Not only was I going to work on an episode of Doctor Who but it would contain one of the most iconic monsters in the show’s history. Damn, the Cybermen were second only to the Daleks.
It couldn’t get much better than this.

It was about to get a whole lot better.

We were then served a wonderful breakfast – all of us extras, cast, crew all crammed into a double decked bus that had been decked out with the type of tables you see in caravans. I was seated directly facing the stars of the show and I tried to appear casual as I tackled my bacon and listened to David Tennent and Billy Piper discuss Rula Lenska’s antics on Celebrity Big Brother which was currently airing on ITV1.
This was all absurd. A long time fan of the show, only a couple of years earlier I, like most other fans, had been watching the old episodes on DVD and wondering if the show would ever return and then after hearing the wonderful news that Russel Davies was finally bringing it back and sitting through thirteen wonderful episodes and one Christmas special, I was now becoming a part of this national institution. A small part granted but a part nonetheless.

Breakfast over and it was time to go to work.
It was almost like a real military parade as all us extras were led across the tarmac towards the aircraft hanger that housed the set. Once inside we were each given a futuristic looking machine gun, a side arm and a badge, which identified us as members of the Torchwood force. How cool was this!
With all the props and the uniform I was starting to feel my character and there before me stood a familiar looking blue police box. Funny I’d managed breakfast with Billy and David, taking it in my stride but I was completely star struck by the sight of the TARDIS. And I knew that as soon as it was possible I was going to sneak a look inside. Would it be bigger on the inside? Was it really only a small box? Course I knew it must have been- it was television magic that made it bigger on the inside. All the same the child inside me thought that maybe, just maybe…

We were then given directions by the stage manager. We were to be involved in a huge fight between the humans, Cybermen and Daleks.

‘Excuse me,’ I lifted a hand. ‘Did you just say Daleks?’ I asked the bemused looking stage manager.
‘I did.’ Came the stoic reply.

Oh my God – not only was I in Doctor Who, not only was I in an episode with the Cybermen but also with the Daleks. It would be the first time the two species had ever appeared on screen together. I was to be a part of something truly historic and the relevance was not lost on me. In fact, I’m sure this scenario had once been acted out on my bedroom floor with the Weetabix figures.

Moments later and we find ourselves standing before a green screen, surrounded by Daleks and Cybermen. We’re directed through events by Graham Harper, a man who seemed to be coping with carrying all this upon his shoulders, and then the action begins.

For the first take I find myself running through a laboratory shooting every which way as the Daleks and Cybermen also fire in all directions. It’s like Die Hard on steroids as SCI-FI bullets whiz above our heads. A few of the extras fall down dead but I make it to a point of cover behind a large table and once again start shooting.

CUT.

We’re all keeping in position, waiting for the director to be ready for the next shot when the Dalek next to me loses control of his eyestalk and whips me on the side of the face.
‘Sorry mate.’ Comes a voice from within the pepper pot.

‘No problem.’ I said, unaware of the absurdity of the situation, and turned my attention back to the director who was talking us through the next shot. Though I think this particular Dalek must have been carrying a grudge since he would exterminate me later in the scene.

We went through this countless times and I became aware of the sheer amount of work everyone from the crew, to the actors, to the extras, to the make up department put into bringing the spectacle to the screen. Everything had to be perfect and if it wasn’t it would be repeated again and again until it was.

Between takes Dalek head pieces would open up and the human operators would appear, all wearing dark woollen hats, Cybermen would remove their masks and dance about and the director and his crew would frantically brainstorm. And while all this was going on there was another shoot taking place at the other side of the massive hanger with Billy Piper, Shaun Digwell and David Tennent shooting scenes involving crane work for episode six. I and a couple of other extras would wander over from time to time and watch and I found myself again feeling like a fan, captivated by the display of talent as the professionals went about their work. This scene would eventually appear on the screen with the Doctor, Rose and her alternative father climbing the rope ladder towards a Zeppelin with the Cyberleader in hot pursuit. It gave me a kick while watching it, later on screen, to think that while all this was going on I was standing underneath, staring up at childhood icons reinvented for the modern age.

The day ended all too soon. We finished by shooting a final scene in our regular clothes – walking through a corridor, wearing flashing earpieces as cyber controlled people being led to our doom in that shredding machine.

And so we were thanked for our hard work, reminded to sign out and hand over our props and led away as the set was wrapped up. I hung behind for a moment though and took a furtive look around. I had to look in the TARDIS and, feeling like the eleventh Doctor, I walked towards it and experienced a tiny tingle of anticipation as I reached for the door.
I pulled it open and……

Fifty Years in Time and Space 26 - Today is the Day of the Doctor

Tonight the long awaited 50th anniversary Doctor Who special will be broadcast in more than 90 countries around the world at the same time, as well as being screened in 3D in selected cinemas. A lot is expected from this episode which, we believe, deals with the time war and its aftermath.

"It's got a big emotional wallop at the end, I think fans'll be cheering." Steven Moffat


Expect a review on the Archive sometime after the showing.

Fifty Years in Time and Space 25 - Those bloody spiders

Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders was the story that stopped me watching Doctor Who for many years - that's not a great way to start off a review but let me explain. It's not that this is a particularly bad episode, nor do I suffer from arachnophobia - well, no more than anybody. I can get a spider out of the bath and everything. Mind you those ones with big furry legs do creep me out a little.

Planet of the Spiders, a six part story, was originally broadcast between May and June 1974 - I was eight years old at the time and had only discovered the show the year before. I had no knowledge that any actor other than Jon Pertwee had ever played the Doctor, I don't think I'd ever heard of that regeneration thingie the producers use when they need to replace the lead actor. To me Jon Pertwee was the one and only Doctor Who, and yet at the end of this story the dashing Jon Pertwee changed into the rather goofy looking Tom Baker. I must have been puzzled, couldn't figure out what was happening but I do remember being horrified - Jon Pertwee was the Doctor not the bulging eyed intruder named Tom Baker. It was Jon Pertwee I'd watched battling the DALEKS, Autons and Dinosaurs and yet I was supposed to believe that this newcomer who looked kinda scary was now the Doctor. I wasn't swallowing it and as a result I turned away from the show and didn't return until Peter Davidson replaced Tom Baker. I think I must have been a particularly stubborn eight year old and couldn't forgive this gurning new face for replacing the real Doctor - I also remember not being amused when the real Doctor Who later turned up on the other channel (there were only two in those days - well ignoring BB2 which was beyond me at that age ) as a scarecrow. I couldn't understand why Pertwee would prefer wearing the rags of Worzel Gummidge to the frilly shirts of Doctor Who. It made no sense and I switched my allegiance to Star Trek - after all, I reasoned, it wasn't as if anyone other than William Shatner would ever play Captain Kirk, nor would he ever jump ship and turn up as some sort of uniformed cop. No, I must have figured, I was safe with Star Trek.

Of course years later, watching the Tom Baker episodes on video tape I realised that Tom's era contained some of the best ever episodes. But the fact remains that Jon Pertwee's Doctor was the first time I'd ever experienced the show and even now, Pertwee remains my favourite Doctor with Pat Troughton whom I never saw on his original run coming a close second. Mind you I have revised my opinion on Tom Baker and think he did some great stuff in the show, but deep down, where I'm still that eight year old, that old grudge is still burning strong. 

And so onto the new DVD release.

The thing with the BBC's classic Doctor Who DVD releases is that even if the story is not one of the better ones, the added extras are always superb. And this time it's a double whammy because, corny lines and dated effects aside, Planet of the Spiders is a damn good story. Or at least it is, to my mind. More fervent Who fans may have a different opinion.

The second disc is where the real interest comes in - rammed full of bonus material - among other goodies there's a commentary by Elizabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney, Richard Franklin, Barry Letts and Terrance dicks, an interesting documentary looking at Jon Pertwee's era as the Doctor, The Planet of the Spiders omnibus edition, material from the radio times and a coming soon trailer.

.

Fifty Years in Time and Space 24 - Time Traveller's Companion

Available now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and anywhere else eBooks are sold.

The Archive's guide to the adventures of the first Doctor.

Every Doctor, every story in a series of concise guides stuffed full of trivia.

CLICK NOW

Fifty Years in Time and Space 23: And the best Doctor is...

Tom Baker has been voted the World’s favourite Doctor in a global poll undertaken by the Doctor Who Appreciation Society (DWAS) to mark the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. 

Happy Birthday Doctor Who

Fifty Years in Time and Space 22 -Time Lord Literature

The first Doctor Who novel was published in 1964 - titled Dr Who in an exciting adventure with the Daleks, author David Whitaker wrote an alternative history of Doctor Who. In the novel Ian and Barbara actually come across the TARDIS on Barnes Common and their first adventure is not, as in the TV show, in prehistoric Britain but on Skaro, the home planet of the Daleks. Whitaker would also pen the novelisation of his own Who story, The Crusaders. Alongside Bill Strutton's novelisation of the TV story, The Web Planet, these were the only Who novels published during the Sixties. Strutton's story was retitled Doctor Who and the Zarbi for the novel.

Although there were various Doctor Who annuals and reference books published following the first spate of novels it wouldn't be until 1972 that Doctor Who novels proper returned. Target Books retitled Whitaker's first novel to Doctor Who and the Daleks and it flew off the shelves, despite the fact that on TV Jon Pertwee was now the Doctor but the book had William Hartnell on the cover. Realising they were onto a good thing Target books contacted the BBC with a view to novelising other Doctor Who stories. The BBC liked the idea and scriptwriter Terence Dicks contributed to the series by novelising many of his stories.

When the Auton Invasion by Terence Dicks sold upwards of 70,000 copies and set the blueprint for the Target series - the straightforward retelling  of recent TV adventures. And then in 1974 the series was expanded to include adventures of the past Doctors - through the years Target would issue 156 Doctor Who novels.

In 1989 with the TV series now out of production Virgin Books won the contract to continue the series in a range of all original Doctor Who adventures. Initially the books would tell the continuing adventures of the seventh Doctor and his companion, Ace. The new series of Who books were far more adult version of Doctor Who and many of the writers would go onto pen episodes for the revived Doctor Who series. The books went under the collective of The New Adventures were so successful that they spawned a series titled, The Missing Adventures  which featured previous Doctors.

In 1994 the BBC brought the book series back in house because it was hoped the Paul McGann TV-movie would lead to a new series/. The new series never came about but the book series came back in 1997 with Terence Dicks writing  story entitled, The Eight Doctors. This led to another past Doctors series of books which ran to 76 titles.

Fast forward to 2005 and Doctor Who is back on TV screens and more popular than ever - BBC Books found that not only was the new TV series bigger than ever but so were the books and many of them made the top ten bestseller lists. And in recent years the BBC have published Doctor Who novels by respected SF giants such as Michael Moorcock and Stephen Baxter.

The Doctor Who books continue to this day - for not only is Doctor Who a TV phenomena but a publishing one too.

Fifty Years in Time and Space 21 - Cool Wallpapers

Fifty Years in Time and Space 20: An Adventure in Time and Space

David Bradley plays William Hartnell playing Doctor Who in this dramatisation of not only the origin of the show but the full Hartnell era. I'd been looking forward to this show which was penned by Who enthusiast Mark Gatiss ever since it was announced and thankfully it didn't disappoint. In fact it delievered more than I'd imagined and actually induced tears in the way it sensitively depicted William Hartnell's decline and his exit from the show he loved.

The climatic scene where Hartnell stands on the TARDIS bridge and looks up and then sees current day Doctor, Matt Smith was inspired and will reduce even the most cynical viewer into a blubbering wreck. It was a beautiful moment in a truly beautiful production.

Thankfully the BBC are rush releasing the DVD of this remarkable drama - it will be available from 2nd December 2013

Well done to all concerned.

Fifty Years in Time and Space 19: William Hartnell rare pics

Fifty Years in Time and Space 18 - Sex and the Doctor

When Doctor Who companion Katy Manning appeared naked draped across a Dalek I was a spotty faced youth just experiencing my first stirrings down below. I can remember these pictures vividly, and reckon I must have developed a fair amount of upper body strength while squinting  at them.

The pictures were taken in 1977 for Glamour Illustrated magazine and caused uproar when they were first published. Although Kate had left the show - alongside Jon Pertwee's third Doctor she played  companion Jo Grant from 1971 to 1973 - the tabloids were outraged that a former star of a children's TV show would appear nude and not only that but seductively straddling a Dalek.

Jon Pertwee upon hearing about the pics commented - 'Typical Katy!'

'I did it for a laugh. The magazine wanted a nude shoot and adding the Dalek was my idea.' Katy Manning.

Haha. Katy played Jo unashamedly as the archetypal Doctor Who companion – sexy, brave, selfless and thoroughly terrified of the monsters!" 
Tom Spilsbury Doctor Who Magazine editor


“As a lad, Jo Grant was the first girl I ever wished I knew, wished I could call my friend and wished I could have mad adventures with. As an adult, I met Katy Manning, she is my friend and we have had a lot of mad adventures. What more could a Doctor Who fan ask for?” 
Gary Russell former Doctor Who/The Sarah Jane Adventures script editor


“Be still the ice-canos of my heart! Katy Manning as Jo Grant practically is my childhood and I still can’t watch the end of the wonderful Green Death without dissolving into tears.” 
Mark Gatiss writer and actor

Fifty Years in Time and Space 17 - Through the years

Fifty Years in Time and Space 16 - Magazine Watch: Radio Times Anniversary Special

If you thought the TV Times publishing their special Doctor Who issue with three different covers was a cynical money making scheme to fleece the most anal of Doctor Who fans, then the Radio Times is something else.The current issue, dated 23-29 November 2013, comes with twelve different covers, one for each Doctor, including John Hurt's War Doctor.

Inside the issue though there is a great 25 page feature on the history of the iconic show - each Doctor get his own page or two with some interesting features. I found the section on Christopher Eccleston very interesting in that it gives some information on why he quite the show.

'I didn't enjoy the environment and culture that we had to work in.' Christopher Eccleston.

There's also a section written by Doctor Who's greatest enemy - no not The Master, nor the Daleks but a being far more insidious - yep, Michael Grade, the man who famously cancelled the show back in 1985.

'I killed the bastard!' Grade boasts and goes on to explain that he felt the show had run its course, that it was a cult show and that you couldn't build a mass audience on a cult show.

'To cancel the show was absolutely the correct move. It was ghastly, it was pathetic. It was horrible to watch. It had lost its way.' Michael Grade.

Many would debate Grade's opinion but ultimately the decision to cancel the show would work for the best. After all without the show in limbo Russel T. Davies wouldn't have been able to reinvent it, and create the powerhouse it is today.

The issue is interactive using the Blippar app on your Android or Apple device in which certain pages contain links to online video and audio which can be accessed by scanning the page. I tried this myself though on my iPhone and couldn't get it to work. I kept getting the message: This page contains no information.

Each page contains a sidebar which is stuffed with trivia about the series - for instance the scarf Tom Baker wore was designed by James Acheson, a costume designer who later became a triple Oscar winner. And the 1979 story, City of Death still holds the record for the show's highest ever viewing figures - 16.9 million. Mind you that magazine fails to mention that independent television was on strike at the time and the BBC was the only network broadcasting. So even Dusty Bin's fans had no option other than to tune in.


This issue of the Radio Times then is something that most Who fans will want to add to their collection.

 Though I wonder if anyone will buy all twelve covers?