'Fringe' 1.4: "The Arrival"

Yes, I know it has been many months since I watched one of these... other stuff came ahead of it.

An odd episode right from the first scene, especially the guy with no eyebrows (The Observer) and a lot of questions asked but not answered - I suspect that we'll get some of them answered as we go along and others not at all.

The last bits of the episode were excellent and the cliffhanger in particular, but the rest of it dragged a bit.

7/10

Well, he's finally done it.

Andy Murray has become the first British player to win Wimbledon since 1977; his second Grand Slam. The straight sets victory belies how much of a wringer that match (on a pretty hot day) was - especially that final game. Novak Djokovic did not make it easy for him, although he was rather off.

I don't think anybody cares about how it happened; but it's happened. Congratulations, Andy.

Let's Play Persian Incursion: Turn 13

A Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (photo: US Department of Defense)

 

As the fifth day of this war opened for Iran, things were not going well – while their repair work was frantic, they still only had 104 aircraft available for operations, with only limited numbers of the powerful F-14s available, those units being particularly hard to repair. The Saudi air attacks were taking their toll… and international opinion was not on their side.

 

If Turkey or Saudi Arabia became Israeli allies, like Saudi currently is in-game, Israel gets a bonus on fighter suppression and SAM suppression rolls for its attacks.

 

A squadron of Hornets stood on the deck of their carrier ready for a strike against the Isfahan zirconium plant, but their mission was suddenly cancelled… in an attempt to lure the People’s Republic of China away from the Iranian orbit, Israel had offered them US weapons technology… and the CIA found out about it. The Israeli Ambassador was summoned for consultations to the State Department.

 

I finally got the Backfire rules sorted out… and Iran rolled for a successful backfire. However, Israel still got to roll on China’s track and that country is no longer an Iranian supporter.

 

Iran’s Supreme Leader made a speech aimed at Turkey that was fairly conciliatory; Israel would have to be careful that Ankara did not withdraw its support from the Israeli operations and close the airspace.

 

With no nuclear targets really available for the F-16s currently ready for operations, Israel tired a different tack – it might not have much long term effect, but it might do something, even if just bringing more Iranian fighters to battle. 119 Squadron was ordered to attack the Kharg Island oil terminal.

 

Speaking of oil, Iran offered China and some neutrals lower prices for their support, but neither bit. Israel was more successful in talking with Jordan; mostly to try to keep it from becoming an Iranian ally. Relations became somewhat cordial.

 

Finally, Iran approved a terror attack on an Israeli bank,.. due to take place in 24 hours’ time. The Israeli version of Jack Bauer would have some work to do – as would Iran’s mechanics as 41 of their aircraft went unserviceable.

 

I got a 6 on the breakdown roll; not the worst I could have got, but Iran does not need any more problems at the moment.

The colours of space-time ('Doctor Who', the comic strips)

More than one grandchild?

 

The rich and varied worlds that the Doctor has been to in the over thousand years that he’s lived haven’t always been brilliantly realised on a BBC budget. However, what you can’t do with a BBC budget you can do, if you fancy still frames, with paper, pencil and (sometimes) coloured ink, making the Time Lord while not the most popular choice for the graphic novel, certainly a prolific one.

 

In addition, the show has been ripe for cartoon parody, but we are generally not focussing on that here. The dates given are those that the Doctor Who strips appeared in the work; not their running dates. I will not be covering the annuals; although these have had many comics in.

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TV Comic (1964-71, 1973-79)

 

Originally owned by Lord Beaverbrook[1], then run by Polystyle Productions from 1960 onwards, TV Comic was a weekly production (aimed at young children initially) that ran from 1951 to 1984. It contained a great many comics based on TV shows airing in the UK, both domestic and foreign.

 

Doctor Who made its comic debut here in #674 on 14 November 1964, featuring the First Doctor and his grandchildren, John and Gillian… they eventually left to go to university on an alien world (although were referenced or homaged in some other EU works). The strip ran through to Tom Baker, although the last ones of his were reprints of stories from the former Doctors with the art changed – TV Comic was going downhill considerably at this point. In 1979, Polystyle lost its comic rights to Marvel UK.

 

The Dalek Chronicles, TV Century 21 (1965-7)

 

This was not the only Doctor Who-related comic at the time – TV Century 21 (1965-1971, when it merged with Valiant), a science-fiction focussed children’s magazine, especially on Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation shows[2] ran for 104 issues a strip covering the early history of the Daleks up to their discovery of Earth – a history rather at odds with later established TV canon, although it did pre-figure some later elements e.g. flying Daleks.

 

Credited as by Terry Nation, but mostly written by David Whittaker, this comic did not feature the Doctor due to right issues. It was reprinted (sometimes under the title The Dalek Tapes) in Doctor Who Magazine and in 1994 released in complete form as a paperback.

 

Countdown/TV Action (1971-3)

 

For two years, Polystyle’s Doctor Who strips went to another comic; which went under various names. This science-fiction focussed work took the rights for Anderson’s works when TV Century 21 closed; it reprinted a good many works from the latter, but also had some pretty technical non-fiction articles on the space programme in the Salyut 1 and Skylab era.

 

However, a batch of problems in production – printing on high quality paper made it the most expensive comic on the boys’ market – combined with a mistaken focus on puppet-based shows that were now off-air[3], led to the comic’s failure. After 58 issues, it launched on newsprint TV Action  and did strips based on the stuff that was actually on e.g. Mission Impossible and Hawaii Five-O, but that lasted another 74 issues before closing.

 

Doctor Who, as it was still popular (it featured in every issue), returned to TV Comic.

 

Radio Times (1996-7)

 

Britain’s most high-brow ratings magazine ran a Gary Russell-scripted Eighth Doctor comic strip in the 42 editions following the TV movie – but it was intended to run for 60. A change of management at the magazine led to the strip’s cancellation – the fifth 10-part story, “Deceptions” was abandoned and the comic finished abruptly with the two-part “Coda”.

 

This featured two original companions (Stacey Townsend and an Ice Warrior called Ssard), who later featured in Russell’s BBC novel Placebo Effect, an effective sequel to this.

 

Doctor Who Magazine/Monthly/Weekly (1979-present)

 

The Marvel universes are truly huge with a prolific number of characters… and the Doctor is counted as one of them. Doctor Who Magazine, beginning as Doctor Who Weekly in 1979 has been published continually since then; it is available in most larger newsagents in the UK and is the longest-running official TV series magazine in the world. Originally owned by Marvel UK, the magazine was sold to Panini in the late 1990s –and the Doctor crossed over with a number of lesser-known characters from other comics in non-DWM works[4] .

 

The magazine, while maintaining editorial independence, has a strong link with the BBC – the show runner has a column in it and it breaks exclusives like episode titles. It has run a comic strip since day one that has featured all eleven TV Doctors (it has now started its first Eleven and Clara story); it was offered the chance to regenerate McGann into Eccleston but declined as the restrictions imposed on it (e.g. Nine could only travel with Rose) were too great. It generally runs multi-part stories with strong arcs in them; the strip has been all-colour for a long time with high quality art work.

 

The strip also featured the first companion ‘of colour’, Sharon Davies[5] – who pre-dated Mickey Smith, the first such one from the TV series, by over a quarter of a century. In addition, it featured other original companions, such as Frobisher, a shape-shifting penguin.

 

A large number of book compilations are available for purchase. In addition, DWM currently runs a one-panel gag comic in each edition called Doctor Whoah! with comedic alternative scenes and characters with no pupils. When Nick Courtney died, all eleven Doctors (with no pupils) were shown saluting him.

 

Doctor Who Adventures (2006-present)

 

A BBC Magazines publication aimed at young children, published fortnightly and with a comic in each issue. This also comes with a free gift, which is probably the reason it is only available in the UK and Ireland.

 

IDW productions (2007-present)

 

Idea and Design Works have published a number of DWM reprints and original works since 2007 in the US (they have to be imported by UK readers – I picked up my copy of the book version of The Forgotten in Toronto); including the monthly release unofficially called Doctor Who Ongoing. They have also done mini-series, including:

·         The Forgotten (2008-9); a six-part tale featuring all then Ten Doctors, related as the Tenth Doctor, who is with Martha here, having to remember past incarnations to recover his memories.

·         Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation²  (2012): The first official crossover between the two franchises, this tale sees Eleven and the Ponds enter the TNG verse to team up with Picard against the Cybermen and the Borg[6].

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From still frames, we return to the original live-action… the stage appearances of the Doctor, where if you accidentally say “sexual air supply”, the reaction will be immediate.

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[1]A highly influential British press baron, William Maxwell “Max” Aitken, 1^st Baron Beaverbrook (1879-1964) served as a minister in both World Wars, including as Minister of Information and turned the Daily Express from a failing paper into the most popular in the UK – with a strong focus on gossip, publishing many a lurid detail of the affair between Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, which led to the former’s abdication as King to marry the latter. That paper later left the Beaverbrook Empire and is now owned by porn baron Richard “Dirty” Desmond, gaining a reputation for being vehemently anti-EU, combined with an obsession over the death of Princess Diana.

[2]Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Fireball XL5 etc. – these are still well known due to repeats in the 1990s.

[3]Viewers with access to full colour TV (although there were still a good number of B&W sets out there) didn’t want puppets anymore – Joe 90 lasted one season and 1969’s The Secret Service got canned by ATV head Lew Grade when he saw the pilot; it was allowed to complete and air the 13 in production or complete. Grade felt the latter was unsuitable US sale due to its lead character’s use of gobbledygook; it got a negative reception in the UK and only aired in three of the ITV regions. Anderson then moved to live-action, but his days of greatness were pretty much done.

[4]Marvel Wikia puts him in his own universe, Earth-5556.

[5]Her surname was not given in the strip – that comes from a Marvel comic book.

[6]Although no Captain has appeared in Doctor Who and no Doctor in Star Trek, Sir Patrick Stewart did play Claudius to David Tennant’s Hamlet in 2009.

Egypt - Take 2

The popularly-backed military coup in Egypt has removed a man who has heading in the same direction as Mubarak and proving that Islamism is not an effective ideology to run a country; however, it would have been preferable had he been removed through the ballot box.

I now hope that Egypt returns swiftly to peace and the all too brief democracy it gained in 2011.

Voting Rights Act and DOMA

The US Supreme Court has made two key decisions on legal cases that will have big implications for the US.

Firstly, it has struck down Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act as unconstitutional on the grounds that the criteria used for deciding which voting rules need federal clearance is out-of-date. A legally correct decision, but the state of US politics at the moment means it will be a while before new criteria can be made law - and discriminatory legislation could still be put into place.

In better news, the Defense of Marriage Act, that barred same-sex couples from getting federal benefits, has been struck down - the Obama administration wasn't defending it either. Now it is a case of ensuring that people can marry freely across the Union.

Bubbly without the Fizz (Review: 'Castle' 5.14, "Reality Star Struck")

(This post contains major spoilers for those watching on Channel 5)

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Castle has managed to successfully navigate a step that a number of shows have fallen over entirely at – the moment when two lead characters have to go from sparky banter because they clearly need to get a room to engaging in sparky banter because they actually have got a room.

 

At the end of Season 4, Kate Beckett, after a supremely bad day (although not quite as bad as the one where she got shot and almost killed at a funeral), decided that she loved Castle and turned up at his apartment with the clear intention of doing something about it. Richard Castle, who had been up for this sort of thing since the day he first met the NYPD detective, wasted no time in doing what a lot of artists do with their muse.

 

Anyway, Beckett and Castle are now investigating murders by day and each other by night, something that most of their colleagues now know about.

(You done playing euphemism, Silent? – Ed.)

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It’s approaching Valentine’s Day. Castle and Beckett are getting gifts for each other, while one of their married colleagues, Ryan, is currently trying for a baby and departing at short notice to well, do the deed, at favourable times for his missus. In the meantime, they have to solve the murder of a reality TV star found stabbed in the back on a bench.

 

The investigation itself is one of the weakest parts of the episode, although admittedly not what most people watch this show for. Much of the investigation revolves around an uncommon substance found on the victim’s fingernails… a hugely overused trope in crime fiction in the CSI age; where nobody ever gets stabbed by a common-as-muck kitchen knife from Target or IKEA – and a rare knife is the murder weapon.

This is as much an ensemble show – while it’s called Castle, it could equally be called Beckett… or even Gates (hey, it worked for Taggart). Since my review of “Nikki Heat” back in Season 3, Captain Montgomery has left the show in a  body bag (yep, the black guy died first), to be replaced by Captain Victoria “Iron” Gates, played by Penny Johnson Jerald – who I’d previously known for her Lady Macbeth-ish role as Sherry Palmer in 24. A stern strict figure who prefers to be called “Sir”, she is the only regular not to know of our leads’ new relationship status – for fear that if she were to find out, they couldn’t work together any longer. In this episode, she reveals a lighter side – she’s a fan of the reality show and her knowledge of it provides a key break.

(I didn’t mention Gates in my review of “The Blue Butterfly” – for one thing, she’s not in that episode)

 

I’ve recently come up with a new nickname for Det. Beckett – in addition to being “Detective Heels”, she is now “Top-Button Beckett”, on account that she wears the highest necklines of pretty much any female character on television that I’m aware of. We rarely get to see her and Castle in bed together; for one thing, this isn’t HBO – and it’s to the show’s credit that Stana Katic lets her acting do the talking and not her legs.

 

The primary guest star in this episode aired during the February sweeps is Gina Torres – Zoe in Firefly and now appearing as Jessica Pearson in Suits. Unfortunately (as her presence, she only gets a few scenes, only one of them with Fillion. The rest of the guest cast are rather unspectacular; the murderer in particular – the hammy confession has been overused for many years.

 

Castle is a dramedy and we get some good comedy here; Castle decides to try to surprise Beckett with her gift (a pair of earrings) by slipping the box into her blazer pocket – only to discover that he’s accidently put it in Gates’ blazer instead! In addition, Beckett, whose usual interrogation technique is quiet steel combined with New Yorker sass, is allowed to flip over a table and get shouty – an unconventional technique that works.

 

One final note – the “British” billionaire wasn’t needed at all.

 

Conclusion

 

While the character stuff is good, this is a poor mystery with the best component of its guest cast highly underused.

 

6/10

A novelist has an unlimited budget ('Doctor Who', the novels)

 

Yes, this was genuinely released

 

When the new series started, Russell T Davies decided he was going to collect one each of all the items of merchandise released in connection with the show. He quickly realised that this was an impossible task.

 

Hundreds of books, both fact and fiction, have been released looking at and expanding upon the adventures of the twelve (so far)[1] incarnations of the Time Lord known as “The Doctor” among many other titles. Some of these are blessed by the BBC, others just accepted.

 

In this section, we will be looking at some of the former – the officially authorised novelizations, single-narrator audiobooks and original works of prose fiction set in the Whoniverse.

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The Frederick Muller novelizations (3 novels, 1964-1965)

 

The first tie-in fiction for the show came from three novelizations of First Doctor stories:

·         Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (“The Daleks”) – which completely ignores “An Unearthly Child” and has the first meeting of the Doctor with Ian and Barbara occur at the beginning of this one, with them arriving at the junkyard after witnessing a fatal traffic accident. In addition, it is in first person from Ian’s Perspective.

·         Doctor Who and the Zarbi (“The Web Planet”)

·         Doctor Who and the Crusaders (“The Crusade”) – which renames Susan’s husband as David Cameron!

 

A big hit at the time (the first printing of the first novel quickly ran out), they were republished in 1973 by Target Books, an imprint of a number of publishing houses, becoming the de facto first novelizations in that series. Their success led to Target doing some more of their own. A lot more of their own.

 

Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space (novella, 1966)

 

A 46-page novella featuring the First Doctor, this is the first time that the Time Lord turned up at the Great Fire of London.

 

Target Books novelizations (156 novels, 1973-1994)

 

Adaptations of nearly all the TV stories, a few radio works and three of the unmade original Season 23 stories, these short affairs (about 144 pages) were aimed at children. In many cases, the TV writers themselves adapted their tales, but when they couldn’t or wouldn’t, other authors, most notably the prolific former script editor Terrance Dicks (but also Ian Marter aka Harry Sullivan) did the work.

 

The Target novels  were by no means slavish adaptations of the TV scripts. Writers frequently expanded plots and back stories of minor characters, improved the special effects and in some cases upped the horror level[2]. In some cases, continuity went for a trip to Trenzalore; Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon, the adaptation of “Colony in Space”, has Jo meeting the Doctor for the first time there.

 

Their significance to fandom cannot be underestimated – in a time when there were very few repeats and no video releases, they were the only way to relive older tales. Many of the core, now clichéd, descriptions of the Whoniverse in fan fiction come from here – the “young old face” of the Fifth Doctor, the first use of “chameleon circuit” and possibly “the grinding of ancient engines” (the last of which I’ve used).  They also played a key role in helping many Brits learn to read; they’re punchy enjoyable affairs that you can get through quickly. Recently a skip collection firm in Essex found 11,000 Targets in one of their skips – instead of pulping them, they put the lot on eBay and Doctor Who fans are now giving them away free to schools.

 

Only five serials were missed out – all of Douglas Adams’ stories (including the unaired “Shada”) and both of Eric Saward’s Dalek stories, as agreements could not be reached with the authors. These got fan novelizations and “Shada” later got an official one by the BBC.

 

New editions followed in the 1990s and since 2011, further new editions have followed with new forewords and afterwords, being also available in e-reader format. Audiobook versions have been released on an on-going basis since 2007.

 

Daleks: The Secret Invasion (1979)

 

A short story by Terry Nation included in the Target published non-fiction work Terry Nation’s Dalek Special, a look back at the Daleks up to that point. This was Nation’s only contribution to anything Target related.

 

The Adventures of K9 (4 novels, 1980)

 

Four illustrated paperback novels featuring the first version of robot dog, published by Sparrow Books and aimed at children. These were aimed to coincide with an animated series, but that wasn’t made.

 

The Companions of Doctor Who (3 novels, 1986-7)

 

Target also published two original novels in 1986 starring companions from the show:

·         Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma by Tony Attwood – featuring Turlough after he returns home to Trion and a villain called Rehctaht. Read that last one backwards…

·         Harry Sullivan’s War by Ian Marter – set ten years after Harry leaves UNIT, this also features Sarah Jane and the Brigadier, as Harry investigates a terrorist plot. Entirely from Harry’s POV, this was Marter’s final prose contribution before his death in October that year – this was published in the same month as his passing.

 

The third book in this was a novelisation of K9 and Company.

 

Make Your Own Adventure with Doctor Who (6 gamebooks, 1986)

 

Readers are probably familiar with Choose Your Own Adventure and books of that ilk, second-person adventures where a reader chooses what action to take, goes to a designated page and sees what the result will be – frequently painful death. It will therefore be of no surprise that Doctor Who has produced these sorts of books, although not under that specific title – that is currently trademarked by Chooseco – with added dice-rolling features.

 

These six books featured the Sixth Doctor and ‘you’, sometimes joined by Peri and (bizarrely) Turlough; they are considered non-canon by the TARDIS Data Core. The title above is the UK title for the range – they were called Find Your Fate in the United States.

 

Virgin New Adventures (61 novels, 1991-97)

 

After the show’s cancellation in 1989, Virgin Books was granted a licence to publish original Doctor Who novels, all but one of which featured the Seventh Doctor – the last one featuring the Eighth[3]. They held this licence until 1997, when the BBC took it back after the TVM. A number since then have been released on the official website as e-books.

 

These books were aimed at an adult audience and as such contain more violence, sex etc. than the original show. The Seventh Doctor has a particularly rough time of it…

 

The most notable books in the series are:

·         The four-parter Timewyrm series that opened the run.

·         Love and War (1992) by Paul Cornell, introducing the highly popular Bernice Summerfield.

·         Blood Harvest (1994) by Terrance Dicks, a sequel to “State of Decay” that ultimately returns Romana to Gallifrey.

·         Human Nature (1995) also by Paul Cornell, in which the Doctor takes on the guise of a human teacher in 1914. Best known of the lot – Cornell adapted it for the Tenth Doctor story “Human Nature/The Family of Blood” in 2007, which got a Hugo nomination – losing to Steven Moffat’s “Blink”.

·         Damaged Goods (1996) by Russell T Davies, his first professional contribution to the Whoniverse. It features a family called Tyler and a council estate; things that turn up a lot in his work.

·         Lungbarrow (1997) by Marc Platt, the ‘final’ Seventh Doctor story that sets him up to collect the Master’s remains from Skaro and thus go into the TV Movie – although due to a delay with So Vile a Sin, the novel due to come before it, this tale actually was published 59^th and that 60^th – resulting in the latter being spoilt by this one. Set on Gallifrey, this tale reveals a great deal about the Doctor’s background and his home world (although not his true name) – but also has Time Lords being born fully grown in ‘Looms’, meaning Susan is not the Doctor’s granddaughter in the biological sense. That last bit has been rejected by the BBC Wales production team pretty comprehensively – we have seen the Master as a child.

 

As you can see, a number of Virgin writers later wrote for the new run of the TV series.

 

Virgin Missing Adventures (33 novels, 1994-97)

 

Virgin’s version of the New Adventures for One through Six (Seven turned up in one novel), covering ‘missing’ adventures from the older show and with the same adult orientation. Notable novels include:

 

·          Goth Opera (1994) by Paul Cornell, the first in the run. A sequel-prequel (that is a sequel from the non-time traveller POV, but a prequel from that of the Doctor’s) featuring the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa[4], the cover features a vampire Nyssa. There was a lot more blood on her shirt in the original version, but WH Smith (the UK’s largest book retailer) refused to stock it and the cover was toned down.

·         The Ghosts of N-Space (1995) by Barry Letts, an adaptation of the BBC radio play.

·         Downtime (1996) by Marc Platt, which did the same for the independent film of that name – and is the only work in this series not to feature the Doctor.

 

This run also gave the Sixth Doctor a new companion, Grant Markham – who never got written out.

 

Virgin Decalogs (5 compilations, 1994-7)

 

A series of short story collections. The first three feature the then seven Doctors, but Virgin had lost its licence by the time Decalog 4: Re:Generations came out and that run looks at the backstory of original companion Roz Forester. Number 5, Wonders, has one Bernice Summerfield story, but the rest of the ten stories have no real Whoniverse connections.

 

Who Killed Kennedy (1996)

 

Considered a Missing Adventures novel as it was published by Virgin at the same time, but actually a stand-alone work, this faux-journalistic “investigation” of the Doctor and UNIT contains the highly controversial rape and murder of Dodo.

 

Virgin Bernice Summerfield New Adventures (23 novels, 1997-1999)

 

After losing their licence, Virgin continued using their own character Bernice Summerfield for a series of spin-off novels, further cementing her popularity in the fandom.

 

BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures (73 novels, 1997-2005)

 

After the 1996 TV movie (which was novelised, but not in this range, in a Gary Russell book only released in the UK) failed to lead to a hoped-for series, BBC Books instead continued the adventures of the Eighth Doctor in a series of adult-aimed novels. Arc-heavy with one revolving around a time war (although not the Time War), they also added a batch of companions, including one humanoid who was actually a TARDIS and the first Asian companion.

 

Notable books include:

·         The Eight Doctors (1997) by Terrance Dicks, which opened the run.

·         Legacy of the Daleks (1998) by John Peel, a sequel-prequel that features the Roger Delgado version of the Master.

·         The Ancestor Cell (2000) in which Gallifrey gets destroyed for the first time.

·         Mad Dogs and Englishmen (2002) by Paul Magrs, an utterly bizarre affair featuring a race of poodles, who at one point force the Doctor and his two companions to strip naked and crawl around wearing dog collars[5].

 

BBC Past Doctor Adventures (75 novels and a novelisation of “Scream of the Shalka”, 1997-2005)

 

BBC Books also published original, again adult-oriented, prose works featuring Doctors 1 to 7, but the last one featured the Eighth Doctor, as it was released after the show returned to TV. Both this and the Eighth Doctor Adventures were brought to an end shortly after that – as the BBC wanted to focus on tie-ins to their big hit.

 

Both runs are notable for Black Sheep’s covers – criticised for a lack of attention to detail and quality.

 

Some of these have recently been re-released for the 50^th anniversary with new forewords etc.

 

Books of interest include:

·         The Infinity Doctors (1998) by Lance Parkin, which notably does not specifically which Doctor it features

·         Festival of Death (2000) by Jonathan Morris – reviewed on this blog, this is a seriously timey-wimey tale.

·         Synthespians™ (2004) by Craig Hinton, perhaps best known for the fiasco with the cover. Featuring Autons, Hinton did a mock cover with the cast of the ABC soap opera Dynasty as said automatons… only for Black Sheep to take him literally and use copyrighted images from that show, changed to make them look like Autons – resulting in the pulping of the first run before it hit shelves. Attempt two saw the cover art mirrored and more pulping before things were got ‘right’ with the fourth cover.

 

BBC New Series Adventures (2005-present)

 

Featuring Nine, Ten, Eleven and almost certainly Twelve, these paperback size hardcover novels are aimed at a young audience and have some links to the TV continuity – with references to them in the show if you know where to look. These get released in batches of three at a time, usually featuring the incumbent Time Lord and his companions. The range also includes The Story of Martha, a collection of short stories with a linking plot of what Martha got up to during the Year That Never Was i.e. the time between “The Sound of Drums” and “The Last of the Time Lords” when the Master ruled the Earth (subsequently wiped from history at the end of the latter).

 

Some of these have been audio-only releases, while most of the print novels have been given audio releases, narrated by a variety of actors from the TV show, including Tennant[6] and Smith.

 

The Darksmith Legacy (10 novellas, 2009)

 

Released during the ‘specials’ year, this series of ten short books starring the Tenth Doctor was linked together in one plot with a tie-in website.

 

Quick Reads (2006-present, 7 so far)

 

These novellas featuring the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors are part of a wider series of releases aimed at boosting literacy and reading in the UK, especially among adults, but the range is aimed at a broad audience. Due to this initiative, they are on prominent display in local libraries.

 

Decide Your Destiny (16 gamebooks, 2007-2010)

 

Make Your Own Adventure With Doctor Who for the modern show, sometimes with returning monsters like the Macra and also featuring additional Internet material. Considered non-canon by the TARDIS Data Core.

 

Post 2005 classic novels and novellas

 

For understandable reasons, the BBC has not released a good deal of ‘classic’-related work since 2005. The count stands at:

·         The Wheel of Ice (2012) by Stephen Baxter, featuring the Second Doctor, Zoe and Jamie – the first ‘classic Doctor’ tale by the BBC in almost seven years[7].

·         An official novelisation of “Shada” by Gareth Roberts

·         An audiobook series for the 50^th, being released monthly.

·         One series of ‘novellas’, one for each Doctor, for the 50^th, aimed at children and being released monthly.

 

The Annuals (1965-85, 1992-96 as Yearbooks), 2005-present)

 

There have been a large array of annuals published over the years, including some spinoff Dalek ones, one with K9 in 1983 (in anticipation of K9 and Company getting a series order) and a mail order only book from Ty·phoo Tea that reprinted much of the 1976 annual, although did have two original Four and SJS stories. Most of these have the year after their release on the cover, intended as Christmas purchases.

 

These annuals have contained quizzes, comics and short stories aplenty, along with filler that is little to with the show. However, by far the most influential was the 2006 edition’s Steven Moffat-penned What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow, the only bit of Ninth Doctor work without Rose… and later adapted by him as part of “Blink”, although he did age the character up for the TV episode.

 

Short Trips (29 compilations, 1999-2009)

 

BBC Books carried on the Decalog tradition with a series of short story anthologies covering the then eight Doctors. The licence passed to Big Finish in 2002 and in total covered hundreds of original tales until they lost their rights to print Doctor Who fiction, although the name was reused for audio. There were 28 original volumes – the last release, Re:Collections, was a “best of” with one tale from each previous book,

Telos Publishing Novellas (2001-7)

 

Telos Publishing published a series of 16 classic era novellas from 2001-4 when they lost their licence due to the new run and also a 11-book spinoff series called Time Hunter (2003-7), which featured characters from The Cabinet of Light. The former features all eight classic Doctors, although two novels don’t specify the incarnation.

 

The Cabinet of Light and eight of the latter got audiobook versions.

 

Spinoff novels and novelizations

 

·         Torchwood has seen 15 novels and 10 audiobook releases, three of the former acting as a prequel to season 4 (Miracle Day). One of these, 2012’s Exodus Code, was written by John Barrowman and his sister Carole.

·         The Sarah Jane Adventures had a number of novelizations of TV stories, but no original works.

 

Other post-2005 releases

 

The BBC website has a large number of short stories, typically released during Advent each year. In addition, BBC Books also released in e-book format three tie-in novels connected with or even featured in a TV episode:

·          The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery (2012), a prequel to “The Angels Take Manhattan” written by Justin Richards.

·         Devil in the Smoke (2012), a prequel to “The Snowmen” also by Richards.

·         Summer Falls (2013), the book supposedly written by Amelia Williams (nee Pond) in “The Bells of Saint John”, actual author James Goss[8]

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Now I’ve done the novels, things get a bit more graphic, as in our next three posts, we enter the world of the comics, the stage shows and later the games…

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[1]I am counting the John Hurt ‘Doctor’ in this, but not the Twelfth Doctor who will be arriving at Christmas.

[2]Most notably in Frontios, where we get this description of what was a metal machine on TV:

"It was a repellent sight - a huge and hideous assembly of parts of human bodies, shaped something in the form of a giant Tractator. White bones tipped with metal cutters scraped against the rock, while rotting hands polished the surface smooth. Through illuminated windows in the body Tegan glimpsed more mechanically gesticulating human arms and legs in an advanced state of decay. It was a machine built from the dead."

That disturbs full-grown adults!

[3]Being unable to use the TVM logo and not wanting to use the Seventh Doctor one, the DW  logo is omitted entirely from The Dying Days.

[4]A popular combo for Fifth Doctor works; the gap between “Time-Flight” and “Arc of Infinity” allows it, while Davison has stated that Nyssa was his favourite companion.

[5]And only one of the three, Anji, is at all put out by it!

[6]Tennant is particularly interesting here. His Tenth Doctor used an Estuary English accent (i.e. one found in the Thames Estuary area, an unused line being that it was an ‘imprint’ from Rose), while David Tennant’s natural accent is a light Scottish one – the line “Judoon platoon on the Moon” was put into “Smith and Jones” as a joke against him, because he’d have trouble saying it. For the audiobooks, Tennant read the stories in his Scottish accent, but the Tenth Doctor’s dialogue in that accent.

[7]Although not the first tale featuring a ‘past Doctor’, as a number of Tenth Doctor works came out between “The End of Time” and “The Eleventh Hour”.

[8]Few other shows do this sort of thing at all. A notable current example is Castle, the ABC dramedy starring Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic (yes, that one), which has so far released the four Nikki Heat novels, a Derrick Storm graphic novel and one other thing IIRC. For those of you not familiar with the show, Nikki Heat is the fictionalised expy of Detective Kate Beckett (the research is the ostensible reason that Richard Castle hangs round with her in the first place) and there are other expies of the show’s regulars.

Iran and Syria

Hassan Rouhani's election, on the first ballot, as the new President of Iran, is a small sign of hope in the firecracker environment of the Middle East. He appears to be welcome to proper negotiations with the West and reforming the system - one only hopes the clerics actually allow him to improve that country.

Syria is a situation where none of the options available are particularly palatable. Certainly the status quo, with over 93,000 dead, likely use of chemical weapons and refugees in the hundreds of thousands, cannot be allowed to continue. They are our fellow human beings and we have a duty to help end suffering whether it may be.

Arming the rebels runs the risk of weapons getting into the hands of al-Qaeda supporting groups, whereas a limited no-fly zone must entail the destruction of Syrian bases; this is not Libya's antiqued air defence system by any means. F-22s and B-2s will have a big part to play in this; the West may lose aircraft.

If we are going to go into Syria - and we need to decide if that is the best solution to stop this war - we need a proper plan with clear objectives.

Assad's use of WMDs voids him of any support in my view, but I am not sure if we should back the rebels. All I know is I want this to stop and the land where St Paul met The Risen Christ to be peaceful again.

Let's Play Persian Incursion: Turn 12

Some uranium

 

My Persian Incursion continues as Iran in the real world elects a new President.

 

Another American airstrike of 14 jets headed in, but this time, it had company in the form of electronic warfare. A highly successful Suter attack, aided by the Growlers, took down the entire air defence sector, with no engagement by the strategic SAMs or fighters possible either in or out. Well, the F-7Ms could have responded on the way out, but on those odds…

 

With only 16 aircraft available anyway, Iran could not have done much even with a fully working system though.

 

Their target was the Uranium Conversion Facility at Isfahan, the second such attack on the facility after the previous one failed to destroy two primary targets because of the Iranian local SAM defence. Thus the two Growlers were tasked to destroy the Pantsyr but merely succeeded in distracting them with their HARM missiles, as all the vehicles survived. This still left the Tor-M1s able to fire and they took out all but three of the guided bombs.

 

Local SAMs have a strong chance of shooting down HARMs, with a total of 14 systems currently parked at Isfahan, six of which are the SA-22s.

 

Those three were enough however to destroy site A1 and A3, giving Israel a welcome boost for destroying their second nuclear site. The extra political boost allowed them leverage in flyover negotiations with Turkey… not that they didn’t already have flyover rights, they just wanted to make sure that they didn’t lose them.

 

Israel scored a Tactical Victory and took two Political Points off Iran as a result of the roll. Knocking out more sights gives a bonus to the roll that could still win them the game.

 

Iran could not really respond and now faced 169 aircraft out of 176 being unavailable at day’s end… hopefully a lot of them would be repaired soon as more Israeli strikes were coming.

'Revenge' Season 2 - Baby Grand Review

This isn't a full review, but I will be doing some quick points on this:

• So much for digging two graves... Amanda Clarke's filling a mausoleum in her quest for revenge.
• Nolan Ross' fashion sense may be questionable, but his ability to bring the snark is superb.
• While one death was tragic, at least I've stopped having to find a way to refer to two main characters who swapped names...
• Madeline Stowe is superbly slimy - I see why she is billed above Emily VanCamp.
• Conrad Grayson is now more powerful than he started off as... a change of strategy I think.

This was an enjoyable set of hokum, but perhaps they ought to call this a day after the next run. You can only twist for so long.

Let's Play Persian Incursion: Turn 11

Pantsir-S1 (image: Vitaly V. Kuzmin)

 

 

Surprised that it’s been less than two months since my last post in this series – while there was little political activity, there was a good deal of the military sort.

 

Iran only had 30 operational fighters at this point as two airstrikes headed their way. The first was a carrier-launched strike of 12 Super Hornets and two EA-18G Growlers, target Isfahan – specifically the Uranium Conversion Facility.

 

Four of those fighters broke off for fighter suppression, but with three squadrons in Sector II on patrol and one more on alert, they couldn’t hope to eliminate an Iranian response entirely – and they got a response. The first of these was a pair of F-14 Tomcats, their long-range AIM-54s forcing one of the Hornets to land in Qatar. The F-14s themselves were eliminated by Hornets – one damaged, one destroyed.

 

The second interception mission decided not to launch an attack.

 

I rolled for two and forgot about the second – it was a flight of four as well!

 

The SAM suppression mission by the Growlers against the two I-Hawks guarding the site failed, with one of the sites still active – however, both the attacks from it missed cleanly. A loss to an antiquated SAM system like that would have been embarrassing.

 

SAMs would play a big role in the two raids – as the site was guarded by two Tor-M1 batteries and one Pantsyr system. Together, these weapons could engage all the LGBs from this strike – and they were able to shoot down 21 of the 32 weapons released by the Hornets.

 

And that’s a below par result!

 

While all four of the primary targets were hit, only two were destroyed and another raid was going to be needed to destroy the site’s main targets.

 

The Hornets now faced a going away part – two Tigers and 3 F-14s coming to intercept them. Two F-14s were lost, complete with their crews, while the other aircraft went home with damage. None of the Sector III units were able to intercept as most of them had been stood down.

 

F-14s can only patrol singly.

 

After the mission, it was discovered that one of the bombs had hit a civilian bus… however, the GCC governments knew that was just a tragedy of war.

 

A second attack was now launched by Israel, with F-15s and F-16s, going for the zirconium plant. The inbound strike was spotted and eight Iranian fighters headed to intercept, in two groups of four. The bad state of the Tiger force in Sector II meant that seven of the eight attackers were F-7Ms, Chinese copies of the MiG-21. Six of the defenders were swatted out of the sky by AIM-120s and two more limped home to fight another day.

 

I thought the F-7Ms would do better than they did – but they are limited to IR AAMs.

 

The sheer weight of weapons load couldn’t be stopped by the modern point defence SAM systems, but they did well and only three of the six plants were destroyed – one escaping damage entirely. Again, another strike would be needed, but at the moment, Israel was not able to launch any further.

 

The SAMs focussed on the first 28 bombs for facilities A1-A4; being able to only really defend the first three. Israel did not have enough Intelligence Points for another attack, which I was aiming at the Shiraz oil terminal.

 

The Israelis went home, Iran deciding not to commit any aircraft to attack them, noting how badly they’d been hit the previous time.

 

Iran now attempted again to close the Straits, but the move backfired, as the IRGC speedboats shot up a cruise liner and hardened international opinion against Iran, whose air force was now in dire for – only 16 of their aircraft were available for operations across the entire country, despite few further breakdowns.

 

Iran’s Hormuz rolls were bad and Israel then played Overzealous Pasdaran. Iran now has to face another US airstrike with not enough aircraft in the key sector for a flight of four. However, the public opinion game is one that Israel is not doing well enough in as we pass the halfway point.

 

Sound doesn't wobble ('Doctor Who' audio)

For our next journey into the expanded universe, we cover the many audio dramas produced for Doctor Who over the years. Radio plays are still popular in the UK; the BBC’s soap opera The Archers has been running on Radio 4 since 1950, when that station was called the Light Programme, and still gets about six million listeners[1]!

There have been a lot of sound-only tales, so I will be going by the ‘series’ we have had.

Please note that this list excludes single-person audiobooks – many are merely dramatic readings of print works. I may well have missed some of the works – please let me know if I have.

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We’ll start with the audios produced by the BBC and various independent companies; there are not as many of these.

Glorious Goodwood (1974)

A ten-minute, ultimately not broadcast, tale featuring the Third Doctor and Sarah Jane, apparently intended to be broadcast in conjunction with an appearance at Goodwood racecourse. It was released on CD in 2005.

Doctor Who and the Pescatons (1976)

The first licenced Doctor Who audio (produced by Argo for LP release), narrated by Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor and featuring Lis Sladen, along with Bill Mitchell, a well-known voiceover artist. My review is here. It was clearly not a great success as Argo did not do another one.

Exploration Earth (1976)

The first broadcast drama, aired as part of a BBC Schools Radio series of the same name; this also featured the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane.

Audio Visuals (1984-1991)

A series of 26 cassette-based stories with original Doctors, this one was definitely unlicensed[2] – if the BBC hadn’t chosen to turn a blind eye to it (it wasn’t that widely distributed), a copyright suit would have been a slam dunk for them. In fact, they didn’t just let it slide, they would later hire two of the key people involved for the revival; Nicholas Briggs to do monster voices and Gary Russell as a script editor.

While the originals are not available, Big Finish remade five of them for their own official range, such as Cuddlesome, which was released as a free CD with Doctor Who Magazine 393 and starred Peter Davison – and made a sequel to another.

Slipback (1985)

Aired during the 18-month gap between Seasons 22 and 23, this six part drama was aired on Pirate Radio Four, a Radio 4 children’s magazine show. Starring the Sixth Doctor and Peri, my review can be found here.

Paradise of Death (1993)

Another Radio 4 drama; this one with the Third Doctor, Sarah Jane, the Brigadier and original companion Jeremy Fitzoliver investigating a strange death at a theme park.

It is available on CD and iTunes; as well as that, it became the final Target Books novelisation.

The Ghosts of N-Space (1996)

The four characters mentioned above made a repeat appearance in what would be the final official appearance of Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, in a tale set in Italy; I review it here.

Audio Adventures in Time & Space (1998-2004)

As well as videos, BBV Productions also produced a number of audios; the first being “The Time Travellers”, which featured Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, initially playing characters that were the Seventh Doctor and Ace in all but name… to the point that between season 1 and 2, the BBC had a stern word with them. The characters were duly changed considerably.

Most of the works are excluded from coverage by the Tardis Data Core, such as Lawrence Miles’ Faction Paradox series, loosely based on a group in the Eighth Doctor novels, but with a lot of references altered to avoid infringement.

A number of classic monsters turned up, such as the Zygons and the Krynoids (“Seeds of Doom”) – K9 also turned up in two audio adventures, with Lalla Ward playing “The Mistress” as they could not get the rights to Romana, a BBC property. In general, there was a lot of careful manoeuvring to avoid getting sued.

BBV stopped making these in 2004 and these are increasingly only available second hand.

AudioGo Fourth Doctor stories (2009-2011)

After a long break from the role, Tom Baker finally reprised his role as the Fourth Doctor in three series of audio adventures from the audiobook company AudioGo – titled Hornet’s Nest, Demon Quest and Serpent Crest. These featured Mike Yates and new companion Fennella Wibbsey, the latter the Doctor’s housekeeper in his Sussex country home, played by very well-known actor Susan Jameson.

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Then we move onto Big Finish Productions, by far the largest producer of licenced Doctor Who audio[3] since 1999. Their recently extended licence covers only the first eight Doctors; they cannot cover the Time War or the new era (those rights belong to the BBC), but this has not stopped the occasional cheeky reference[4] – they also have to stay away from anything too close to planned episodes. More than one of their team has gone on to work for the show proper – and some of these audios have been broadcast on BBC7 (now BBC Radio 4 Extra).

Big Finish has featured nearly all the living classic regulars reprising their roles, with the exception of Matthew Waterhouse as Adric and Grace from the TV movie (the latter due to rights issues with FOX). In addition, they have created a number of new companions for their series, the most notable being:

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Evelyn Smythe, a retired professor

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Erimem, a princess  from ancient Egypt

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Lucie Miller, played by Sheridan Smith – now a well-known TV and stage actor in the UK[5].

BF has a general ‘no-recast’ policy when it comes to those characters whose actors have passed away, although they have made some exceptions.

This list covers most of them, but excludes subscriber-only releases and ones given away with Doctor Who Magazine. Some of these releases were box sets containing multiple releases or shorter bonus stories.

Main Range (1999-present, 180 released or announced to November 2013)

Featuring the 5^th to 8^th Doctors – indeed the first story featured three Doctors – this ‘main range’ is a series of full cast adventures, as most of these are, released one a month. A number of stories here have provided strong influence on later episodes of the TV series:

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Colditz (2001): Which featured David Tennant playing a Nazi. Tennant featured in a number of audios before becoming the Tenth Doctor.

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>The One Doctor (2001): A comedy Christmas tale guest starring Christopher Biggins, this is the clear inspiration for “The Next Doctor”.

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Spare Parts (2002): A Cyberman origin story, which clearly impacted on “Rise of the Cyberman/The  Age of Steel”.

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Jubilee (2002): A Dalek story that is the strong basis for “Dalek” – boxes from ‘Jubilee Pizza’ feature there and in Torchwood.

Fourth Doctor Stories (2012-present, 22 CDs released or announced to August 2014)

Adventures featuring Tom Baker’s Doctor (natch) with Leela, although the second season featured Romana I – Mary Tamm recording seven plays before her death. There are none with Romana II – it is generally believed not to be a good idea to put Baker and Lalla Ward in the same room.

The New Eighth Doctor stories (33 releases, 2007-2012)

Featuring, for most them, Sheridan Smith’s Lucie Miller, these ones see a progressively darker Eighth Doctor, who notably changes his costume and hairstyle towards the end of the run. The first season of these was broadcast on BBC7.

Bernice Summerfield (71 stories released or announced to September 2013, 1998-present)

Lara Crofting before Tomb Raider, Bernice “Benny” Summerfield (voiced by Lisa Bowerman, who is also her ‘model’ for CD covers) made her debut in the Virgin New Adventures novel Love and War in 1992 (that novel has since got a BF adaptation)[6] and was so popular she got her own spinoff novel series after Virgin lost the rights to the main show. This was an audio spinoff of that – this was the first lot of audios that Big Finish did, before they got the IP proper.

The Companion Chronicles (2007-present, 85 released or announced to September 2014)

A series of two-hander audiobooks/mini-adventures, recounted by a companion with another actor playing a key role in the story, this series mainly covers the first four Doctors, all of whom were unavailable at the time of first commissioning (although others have featured), three by the good reason of death.

Counter-Measures (2012-present 8 stories in two box sets announced or released to July 2013)

A series focussing on a proto-UNIT, the Intrusion Countermeasures Group (ICMG) featured in “Remembrance of the Daleks”, as they investigate alien phenomena in 1964 Britain.

Cyberman (8 stories, 2005-9)

A two season set and the follow-up to the next entry, focussing on the Orion War in the 26^th century, implied to be part of the Cyber Wars.

Dalek Empire (18 stories, 2001-2008)

A spin-off from four stories in the main run, this focussed on the Dalek invasion and conquest of the Milky Way in the 42^nd century – along with another war 2,500 years later. This was BF’s first spinoff not focussing on a pre-existing character.

Doctor Who Unbound (8 stories, 2003-8)

A series of ‘what-if’ tales, looking at alternative universes and ‘unbound’ incarnations, such as the Doctor never leaving Gallifrey or a Doctor that believed the ends justified the means.

The Early Adventures (announced for 2014)

Featuring the early Doctors, few details are currently available.

Gallifrey  (2004-2013, 24 released or announced)

Set on the Time Lord home world, this series of political thrillers features Leela and the second Romana, the latter having become Lady President, as they deal with enemies alien and domestic.

Graceless (2010-present, 9 stories released or announced to June 2013)

A spinoff from the Key 2 Time arc in the main run (another hunt for the Key to Time), featuring two characters, Abby and Zara[7] from that.

Iris Wildthyme (2005-12, 10 audios)

Starring Katy Manning (who played Jo) as Iris Wildthyme, who claimed to be a Time Lady but was in fact something else – although she certainly liked the gin and tonic. First featuring in Paul Magrs’ non-Who novels, she made her way into the Whoniverse.

Jago and Litefoot (2010-present, 32 released or announced to December 2014)

Set in 1890s London, this spinoff featuring one of Robert Holmes’ most popular double acts (from “The Talons of Weng-Chiang”) is also one of BF’s most popular ranges, featuring the two characters solving mysteries.

The Lost Stories (2009-present, 23 released or announced to December 2013)

Stories intended for TV airing that were never made for various reasons i.e. other things were picked instead or external events intervened, such as the hiatus. This includes many of the planned tales for the original Season 23, but also other tales like “Farewell Great Macedon” (for the first Doctor) and the bizarre “Prison in Space”, intended for Season 6, that would have seen Jamie in drag and the Doctor have to smack Zoe’s bottom to deprogram her after brainwashing[8].

Sarah Jane Smith (2002-2006, 9 stories)

Featuring the companion in a modern day setting on Earth, after she left the Doctor in “The Hand of Fear”, this series was ended early when The Sarah Jane Adventures was announced and Lis Sladen became contracted for that. The final story, “Dreamland”, was ended on a cliffhanger (as a third season had been planned) and any plans to finish it off were permanently ended by Sladen’s death in 2011.

UNIT (2004-2005, 5 audios – UNIT: Dominion is not part of this range)

A modern day series featuring UNIT and with the Brig popping up – the last of these was David Tennant’s final audio role, released the same month he first appeared as the Doctor.

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It’s clear from this that there has been a great deal of EU media – in fact, it’s been claimed, with much justification, that more works of fiction have been published about the Doctor than any other fictional character.

In our next edition, we look at one of the oldest mediums of fiction of them all… the printed word.

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[1]The show is the longest-running soap opera still going since CBS’ Guiding Light was cancelled after 72 years in 2009. It was also the source of the BBC’s first shot in the ratings war with ITV – when Associated Rediffusion launched as the first franchise (for the London weekday slot) on 22 September 1955, The Archers killed off a character in a fire.

[2]This would make it fan fiction… but the significance of it is such as that it has to be included.

[3]They don’t just do Doctor Who. Their other ranges include Stargate SG-1, Blake’s 7, Highlander and 2000 AD… that’s just for starters. Original works include the Mervyn Stone mysteries, where a former sci-fi script editor loosely based on Terrance Dicks investigates sci-fi related murders. I’ve bought the first novel and review it here.

[4]BF are producing audios for Nine to Eleven this year, but details on these and who they will feature are unclear.

[5]One of Sheridan’s stage roles was in the West End production of Legally Blonde, where she got to slap and kiss Peter Davison.

[6]Paul Cornell’s best known novel. He’s written two TV stories, both Hugo-nominated (and both losing to Steven Moffat) – “Father’s Day” and “Human Nature”, the latter an adaptation of his own 1995 novel.

[7]Both human ‘Tracers’ (who could find segments of the Key… stop me if you’re not following this), Abby was called Amy initially, but her name was changed in the story, probably to avoid confusion with Amy Pond.

[8]The story was abandoned at a late stage; Robert Holmes had to write “The Space Pirates” as a replacement, while his other tale “The Krotons” was moved up the running order to take its slot.

Murder most geeky (Book Review: 'Geek Tragedy' by Nev Fountain, 2010)

My blogging seems to have slipped a fair bit recently – it’s no longer a certainty I will complete either the Bond or Doctor Who series by their deadlines as RL gets in the way. However, I’m still going and in the meantime, I’ve read a novel that I felt worth reviewing.

 

That novel is Nev Fountain’s Geek Tragedy, the first of three (so far) novels featuring amateur detective and TV science fiction writer Mervyn Stone.

 

Where we’re at

 

Mervyn Stone is an ageing former script editor on a (fictional) 1980s BBC science fiction soap opera called Vixens from the Void, a trashy affair with big shoulder pads and dodgy special effects. With little work since then, he finds himself unable to escape the show he worked on and does conventions for the money. Unfortunately for him, wherever he goes, murder follows.

 

The plot

 

Stone is attending ConVix 15, a convention being held in a tacky hotel near the M25 motorway, when one of the organisers apparently gases himself to death in one of the show’s original props, a ‘sentient’ car. Teaming up with a Special Constable, he investigates the murders (for there is more than one), while having to deal with crazy fans and crazier women, including Vanity Mycroft, one of the show’s former divas.

 

What works

·         While I’ve never been to a convention myself, the world of them seems convincingly portrayed; I suspect that Fountain has drawn on a good number of RL experiences, including those of Nicola Bryant (who he credits in the book).

·         The supporting characters are strongly done – especially some of Stone’s former colleagues.

·         There are a lot of great laughs in this book, especially at some of the awkward situations that our hero ends up in. There are also some little nuggets of humour that come out if you know your British works.

·         The mystery is genuinely well done and you don’t see the identity of the murderer coming – then again, I am generally rubbish at these things unless it’s an American show and one of the actors is particularly well known.

·         The book is aware of the conventions of the genre and plays with them well – the well done prologue (in the style of an episode guide) talking about a death in a fire makes it obvious something is up with that. It also just about gets away with a genre fundamentally hard to justify in a modern setting.

 

What doesn’t

·         This isn’t a book for kids – there are some very adult moments in this and on occasion, Fountain overdoes it.

·         The story takes a little while to get going.

 

Conclusion

 

An enjoyable, but not perfect novel; certainly worth looking at if you’re a Doctor Who or British sci-fi fan.

 

8/10