Dark Sublime

17 July 2019

This year’s birthday theatre trip was  perfect for a Doctor Who fan of a certain age: Dark Sublime - a play in which Marina Sirtis of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame stars as Marianne, an ageing actress known for her role in a cult British sci-fi series (and also Emmerdale) who strikes up a friendship with a young fan, Oli, played by Kwaku Mills.

The eponymous series occupies a space somewhere between Doctor Who and Blakes Seven.  Sirtis’ character Marianne played Ragana, a scenery-chewing villainess in the mould of Servalan. Her best friend in real life, Kate, is played by Jacqueline King, aka Sylvia Noble.  Their friendship is tested when Kate begins a new relationship with Suzanne, played by Sophie Ward¸ and Marianne seeks companionship from the star-struck Oli (and an assortment of snacks -frazzle or foam banana, anyone?) The plot involves Ragana's search for a 'shadow ruby' whilst being pursued by a motley crew of misfits in a malfunctioning time machine.

Studio 2 at the Trafalgar Studios is a very intimate performance space - from my seat in the front row I felt that I was in Marianne’s living room.  I also had a clear view of the rest of the audience, some members of which could identify with the subject matter even more closely than I could. After the interval, when we became the audience at ‘RubyCon’, a convention organised by Oli, it was strange to see Louise (Leela) Jameson, Katy (Jo Grant) Manning and Annette (Margaret Slitheen) Badland in the audience hooting with laugher.  Writer Michael Dennis portrayed the convention perfectly.  I swear that Oli’s speech about the computer console prop being for selfies only, and not to break things off as it was only a fan-made replica was almost word-for-word one which I heard Andrew Beech give at Panopticon 2003. 

The action is interspersed by flashbacks to scenes from the series, with another Doctor Who connection provided by Mark Gatiss, who somehow found time between his many other commitments to record the Voice of Kosley, the ship’s computer.

All in all it was an affectionate reflection on fame and fandom, with a feel-good happy ending.  What better way to spend a birthday?

My TARDIS has a screw loose...

Saturday 29 October 2016

We have a storage problem: not enough room for our DVDs.   Husband has a brilliant idea: if he throws out all his remaining old Doctor Who VHS tapes we can no longer watch (he has slowly been replacing them with DVDs), then the Doctor Who DVDs can go in the TARDIS video cabinet, making space in our other storage units.

Problem 1: Find the autograph.  I distinctly remember Colin Baker signing a VHS cassette at the Who shop that briefly appeared in Little Chalfont, whilst avoiding falling Silurian masks.  Obviously we don't want to throw that one out. But none of the VHS tapes in the TARDIS are of Sixth Doctor stories. The later VHS tapes are downstairs, but the only Sixth Doctor story we have left is Trial of a Time Lord, and that hasn't been signed.  Have we already ditched the autograph by mistake? 

Problem solved: Husband finds the autographed cassette.  It turns out to be the 1994 Bill Baggs Video The Zero Imperative, starring Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, John Pertwee, Caroline John, Louise Jameson, Sophie Aldred and Linda Lusardi. (Spot the odd one out...) There is also an appearance by the writer, a young man called Mark Gatiss.  I wonder what happened to him?

Problem 2: DVDs are slightly deeper than VHS tapes.  The doors of the TARDIS no longer close properly, and one of them comes off completely.  Husband has another (not so) brilliant idea: we take the other door off to match.

I have a better idea: we put the Virgin New Adventures and Missing Adventures in the TARDIS, and the DVDs on the bookshelf.

The books fit, and I wield my (totally un-sonic) screwdriver to fix the doors.

Just one problem left.  Where shall we keep The Zero Imperative?