Deletion

Saturday 6 October 2018

Cyberman

Only one day to go until Jodie Whittaker is properly introduced as the new Doctor.  I have been so busy lately that I haven't really had time to get excited yet, but I'm definitely working up to it now.

I recently blogged about the feminisation of the audience for Doctor Who.  There was another good example of that at work this week.  It was at the start of a meeting of a university committee that approves new degree programmes, and someone mentioned that an obsolete programme was going to be deleted.  'That sounds like something the Cybermen would do' said the chair (another lady of a certain age like myself, who looks absolutely nothing like the traditional image of a Who fan.)  She then went on to mention that an old friend of hers had been in a Cybermen episode. From the description of the character I immediately identified  Mrs Moore from Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel played by Helen Griffin. By this time one or two of our (male) colleagues on the other side of the table were looking bemused, but that did not stop the chair from adding that another friend used to run a shop where they did occasional Who-related signings and once arranged for Tom Baker to phone her at work.

I didn't have the heart to ask whether she was sure it wasn't Jon Culshaw.

The Ribos Operation

4 January 2015

One of my husband's birthday presents was a DVD boxset of The Key to Time.   I missed the first part of this season on first broadcast.  I'm not sure what was on ITV at the time, Buck Rogers maybe? but whatever it was, we preferred it in my house.  My Mum never really took to Tom Baker, as she didn't like his eyes.  (She didn't like Marty Feldman's eyes, either, which prevented me from ever being allowed to see Monty Python - the fact that he wasn't in it didn't matter).  I therefore came in part-way through The Stones of Blood, and have no memories of seeing  the first two stories on first broadcast. Until we eventually got hold of a VHS tape, my only knowledge of them was through my husband's Target novelisations.

Our VHS machine is no longer operational, so when we settled down last night to watch The Ribos Operation, I was in the situation of having seen it only once before, and that quite a long time ago. The first surprise on viewing was the discovery that it is actually pronounced 'REEbos' and not 'RIbos' as I had assumed all these years. The second surprise was just how annoying Romana (or 'Fred') was in her debut story. Though that is no excuse for dressing her up like a reject from Boney M. I kept expecting her to break into a chorus of 'Mary's Boy Child' any minute.

The story is entertaining in a very silly sort of way. The intergalactic con artist Garron, is rather similar to Glitz, who turned up in a couple of stories in the 1980s. He is attempting to sell the planet to the Graf Vynda-K, a rather unpleasant military type who is trying to win back his own planet, by conning him into believing that Ribos is a source of a valuable mineral. All this takes place surreptitiously, as the locals still believe that  the seasons are caused by warring gods and have no concept of interplanetary travel. The exception is Binro, who was ostracised as a heretic for his novel belief that the planet is a sphere that rotates around the sun, and that the lights in the sky are other worlds. It is a touching moment when Garron's accomplice Unstoffe tells Binro that he was right all along.

Ribos being such a primitive planet, when the local authorities need to search for criminals they employ a Seer to track them down. The Seer, whose predictions prove strikingly accurate, is a delightfully over the top role, though towards the end of the story she gives up on the blood-curdling shriek at the end of a prophecy.  Sadly, she, the Graf Vynda-K and his men and poor old Binro all end up being killed in the catacombs under the city. Garron and Unstoffe survive, but may be forced to go straight, as the mineral they were using as part of their con turns out to be a segment of the Key to Time and Garron is adroitly relieved of it by the Doctor's sleight of hand.

All in all a good opener to the season. 

Happy Birthday, Doctor!

Today is the 51st anniversary of Doctor Who.

A year ago, I was at the ExCel Centre for the Fiftieth celebrations.

Not surprisingly, for an event with several thousand attendees, a certain amount of queuing was involved. Initially, we joined the other ‘Weeping Angels’ in a holding area. After a while we were allowed to proceed to the registration hall. En route we passed a number of cafés, but decided not to stop for breakfast until after we had registered. This proved to be something of a mistake, as although registration was swift – our tickets were scanned and we were handed our badges and lanyards, we were then held in a huge queue in the hall for half an hour.

 Once we got moving again we grabbed a drink and a pastry and made our way to the ‘Classic Lounge’ for a panel with Frazer Hines and Debbie Watling. The Classic Lounge area was at some distance from the main hall and exhibition area and felt like an old-style convention. Frazer and Debbie were good value, as ever. The recent recovery of tapes of Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear provided a talking point. Debbie Watling revealed her nervousness about the helicopter scene in Enemy of the World. She got Frazer to promise he would let her sit in the middle, but on the take he outran her, leaving her with the precarious outside seat. It was so cold on the location for the supposed Australian beach that Frazer’s knees turned blue. His then girlfriend, Susan George, who was visiting, had to massage them back to life (or at least that was his excuse).

Our next event was a Panel in the main auditorium. After queuing for a while, we finally took our seats for what proved to be a Panel with the surviving Doctors from the ‘classic’ series: Messrs Baker, Tom; Davison; Baker, Colin; McCoy and McGann. This Panel was hosted by Nicholas (‘Get lost Nick, you Bald Git’ – you see, I can’t stop myself) Briggs. There was also a sign language interpreter on stage, and the Doctors, having discovered the previous day that the sign for ‘Nicola Bryant’s cleavage’ (Peter Davison’s last sight before regeneration) was rather entertaining, took mischievous delight in mentioning it as often as possible. Unfortunately, this Panel, which had started late, ended at the scheduled time, leaving us feeling slightly short changed.

We remained in our seats for another Panel, this time with the current team: producer Marcus Wilson, Steven Moffat, Jenna Coleman and Matt Smith. Steven Moffat once again exhibited his talent for giving nothing whatsoever away, though he did joke about Matt leaving ‘to pursue a career in musical theatre.’ (Matt appeared in ‘American Psycho’ the musical.)

After a quick lunch (the organisers had made sure there were plenty of catering outlets, with one hall devoted to food stalls supplementing the ExCeL’s in-house facilities), we ventured into the main exhibition area. (We had avoided the area earlier, as Graham Norton was doing a live broadcast of his Saturday morning Radio Two Show. That man’s ability to gatecrash Doctor Who is remarkable.) Once inside the exhibition hall we found a costume and prop exhibition, which included both classic and new series, as well as The Sarah Jane Adventures and An Adventure in Time and Space. There was also an opportunity to play with a ring modulator in order to talk like a Dalek. My companion took the opportunity to recite a risqué limerick. There were also demonstrations of make-up and workshops on how to walk like a monster, as well as some smaller panels. I caught the end of one panel with Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton. The merchandising area offered anything you could possibly want, from books, audios and DVDs, to expensive limited edition sonic screwdriver sets and replica Doctor coats. 

Our next event was another Classic Lounge panel, this time with William Russell and Carole Ann Ford. This was interesting, but slightly marred by a problem with William Russell’s microphone. After that, there was a special effects demonstration with Danny Hargreaves in the main auditorium. However, as we had already seen a similar demonstration in Cardiff, I was persuaded instead to go to a screening of the final episode of The Three Doctors, with live commentary by Terrance Dicks. This was very entertaining, although the reminiscences in the commentary bore little relation to what was actually on the screen. After a final look round the exhibition, we left the event. It had been fascinating, though not quite as enjoyable as the previous year’s Cardiff event, which had had the added attraction of taking place in a Doctor Who location – the Millennium Centre - and had also provided the once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the TARDIS set at the Upper Boat studio and play with the console.

In the evening we returned to the ExCeL Centre for a live screening of Day of the Doctor. This naturally enough involved another long queue. In front of us in the queue was someone dressed as a Time Lord, and I was a bit worried that we would end up sitting behind him, but in the event we had a good view. The screening was introduced by a short panel, which included Dalek operators Barnaby Edwards and Nicholas Pegg. Most of the other ‘celebrity’ guests had decamped to the BFI -we had earlier passed Colin Baker on an escalator as he was leaving the event to go to the screening there. Nevertheless, The Day of the Doctor was the highlight of the day – a truly wonderful episode.

Queuing for the 'Day of the Doctor' screening

See you at the Sixtieth Anniversary!

What happened next

Reader, I married him.

(The Doctor Who fan, not Sylvester).  On a snowy day in 1991, we moved into our first house, along with a bookcase full of Target novelisations.

We didn't have much money at the time, as all our savings had gone into the house, and mortgage rates were high, but by the end of the year we were able to afford a VCR of our own. Doctor Who was no longer being made, but our Saturday night treat was watching an old episode and if we were lucky, eating a Wispa bar (3 for 60p from Tesco).  This may sound a bit like the four Yorkshiremen sketch, but I swear it's true.

After watching Terror of the Zygons, Genesis of the Daleks, City of Death and The Talons of Weng Chiang I soon realised that I had been mistaken and that Tom Baker, despite his Mum-frightening eyes, was in fact the best Doctor.  (I had previously believed this to be Jon Pertwee, on the same basis that everyone thinks their first Doctor is the best.)

After two years of indoctrination by video and novelisation, I was ready for my first convention.