If You'd Had Your Shoes On My Boy You Could Have Lent Her Hers!

Transcript of the Back2theWhoture team livetweeting The Keys of Marinus for inclusion in TTZ9

The Sea of Death!

#DoctorWho of old seemed to enjoy making buildings out of tobelerone!

Why did the TARDIS land silently?

Haha nice line about the Doctor not having colour television!

Ohhh creepy acid fish thingies, almost proto-type Cybermats.

"Impossible at this temperature. And besides its too warm!" #billyfluffs

Why hasn't Ian changed out of his togs from Marco Polo but the rest of the TARDIS crew have?

RT @perfectchichi Ian kept his Marco Polo clothes on cause Barbara likes them XD #doctorwho

Scuber diver from hell!

Won't Ian's shoes be really stinking if they've been trekking through the Gobi desert for months?

That submarine looks pretty flimsy to travel through acid seas

Who said story arcs were a new invention? Barbara talking about architecture.in Central America forshadows The Aztecs in the next story

Haha all the TARDIS crew falling through revolving walls!

Voord attacks Susan. It's the Radio Times Front Cover!

Why was the Voord with a knife in his back just hanging around waiting to attack someone. Shouldnt he be trying to pull the knife out!

Arbitan looks like Mr Copper! #voyageofthedamned

RT @The_Arn Arbitan's the only actor to appear in Doctor Who and Citizen Kane by the way...

On the other hand isn't Yartek the hero? Everyone on Marinus was under mind control? Are the Voord bad just cuz they're slimey?

RT @m_robertson_UK Strong parallels with The Keeper of Traken. There might be no evil, but does anyone have free will?

Is Ian wearing eyeliner?!

The Velvet Web!

It's the psychedelic city of Morphoton

The incidental music is all very dreamlike...

The First Doctor loves his fruit doesn't he! nom nom nom

Nice little chat between Ian and Barbara about applying their humancentric standards to alien cultures,

Creepy old head - ancestor of the Face of Boe

Kudos for the POV shots between Barbara's perspective and the rest of the TARDIS crew.

The brains in the jar are Bug Eyed Monsters - very anti Sydney Newman

How blind are they not to see Barbara!?

No machine can ever replace the human body. So much for the Cybermen!

"I will explain all in good time" #doctorwho

Hmm they didn't really make it clear what the first key was

The Screaming Jungle!

I thought the Doctor was jumping ahead with Altos?

Creepy creepers!

Ohh Barbara got ass grabbed by the grotesque idol. Clever idol!

It's very Indiana Jones before there was Indiana Jones

PIVOT! #pointlessfriendsreference

Ian just want to be alone with Barbara, he luuuuurves her

Tiime for Ian's ass massage

Ohh very Warrior's Gate with the falling axes

"It's pretty solid" Ian says of a wobbly door

Why doesn't Ian go fetch the axe?

Eww Ian's sex face!

But Arbitan didn't warn them about all the traps. I think he really is the villain

It's like they're in a homicidal B&Q!

Oh no, they've gone from bad to worse! It's the Snows of Terror!

And... we're stopping there for a tea break. DVD paused. Thanks to everyone who's chipped in their comments so far

The Keys of Marinus is a completely new story to me. I'm really enjoying it so far. I'd always been under the impression that it'd be dull

That opinion based on "recieved fan wisdom" but also Philip Hinchcliffe's dire novelisation which I never finished. #doctorwho

Ok and we're back now with The Snows of Terror, episode 4 of The Keys of Marinus

Eeep Wolves!

No wonder Altos is freezing, he's got no pants on!

Yay! Ian kicks ass!

Well that rope bridge wouldn't meet my Health & Safety standards

Hmm Terry Nation is already recycling The Daleks, ravine to jump across? Check!

RT: @ParrotKnight ISTR the story was written in a hurry after Mac Hulke's Hidden Planet fell through - Verity etc. turned up at Terry's house and wouldn't leave until he accepted the commission.

Ice Sword Fighting! Cool! (If you'll excuse the pun)

It seems a bit out of character for Ian to grin as one of the Ice Warriors (No relation) plumments to their death!?

Oh no! Ian boffed on the head by assailant(s) unknown!

During a heist?

Now - The Sentence.... of DEATH!

Probity check. Sounds painful

A character called Tarron. How very Nationesque

Ian's been charged with murder! This episode takes an interesting turn

It's the Doctor! Yay! (Billy's back from holiday then)

Murder Most Rare! would be a good title

#linesthatneverhappened Ian - "What can I do?" Doctor - "Don't go murdering anybody else hmmm?"

"I can't improve..." #billyfluffs

He's a rubbish murderer!

RT @crassuswild is it the first Who instance of the false accusation of murder?

@crassuswild Of a TARDIS crew member? I think yes. In general? No, Za was falsely accused of killing Old Mother in the 1st story!

#Cherchezlafemme So it was her all along!

She's going to brain Susan with a hairdryer?!

I bet the key is inside the mace!

Isn't it mighty convenient that every time they need to use the travel bracelets there's a black curtain to stand in front of?

Ah the old wear a hood over my head and pretend you can't come near cuz I have a deadly disease trick!

If you mean the machine is going to blow up then just say that!!!

What's up with the gyrating Voord in the back ground?!

And that's the end of that! #DoctorWho The Keys of Mariunus

Fiona Walker?! Karla was Lady Peinfort!!! #doctorwho

Give Them a Hygiene Chamber And They Store Fossil Fuel In It

Credit where credit is due. I forgot to say that the wonderful Drashig Hear Be Spoilers banner (which several people have already commented they'd love to see on a t-shirt) was designed for Issue 8 of The Terrible Zodin by Steve Sautter, stalwart writer of the zine since issue 2. He has his own infrequently updated Doctor Who blog called Blog High For Happiness which incidentally is the name of his roving column which has appeared both in TTZ and FF&C.

Despite the potential for it to have gotten awkward on account of Steve being best friends with my ex girlfriend, we've remained friends for more than 5 years now on account of shared appreciation for all things Doctor Who.

So credit where credit's due. When TTZ Confidential gets round to that bit (Honestly it will happen, it's a planned series!) I'll talk about why I commissioned this piece for TTZ8 and my opinion of spoilers and their application in general.

Until then... revel!

All Things Will Soon Be Mine!*

That Was The Who That Was!

A round up of the Doctor Who that I have been watching, reading, listening to etc etc!

The Rescue

Omitted this one from the the last TW3. Leslie expressed the opinion that Vicki was one of her favourite companions. I have to say this is a view not shared by me or by fandom at large but I am always in favour of watching stories with a fresh eye and it's been years and years since I saw Vicki's debut. As Leslie had never seen it before it was something of a no brainer.

William Hartnell is at his eccentric best in this one and comes across as a much more cuddly Doctor than his earlier performances. That opening scene where Barbara tells him "the trembling's stopped" and he beams "I'm so glad you're feeling better my dear" is a gem.

Design wise Koquillion is a triumph but his backstory is a little unexplained. There was a great review of this in DWM upon the DVD release of The Rescue which ruminated that for Who fans we've become jaded and spoilt by decades of programme guides etc and we KNOW that Koquillion is Bennett so we feel bored because there is no mystery or intruige for us. It was a very telling review and a very salient point. The first time I saw this story (mid 90s when my Aunty used to tape them off UK Gold for me), it's true that thanks to Jean-Marc Lofficier I already knew the twist. Thus I concur that it's hard for me to try and view this story impartially but when we eventually get round to doing this story on Back2theWhoture I will be interested to see what Big Al or Sebby make of it.

Vicki still didn't win me over and I don't think Maureen O'Brien did a terribly great job... BUT I liked her a lot better than I thought I would and I'm open to a reappraisal. I am actually quite keen to hear the Companion Chronicle Frost Fire and meanwhile The Romans is coming up on the next B2TW which we're probably gonna watch on my birthday. Huzzah!

Head Games

Conundrum has always been one of my favourite NAs but it seems odd that I've never read the sequal. Spurred on by recently rereading it and by Lori's review in TTZ8 I was ready to give Head Games a chance.

I liked the concept (It's an evil doppelganger set up only the twist is our Doctor is the evil one!) but I wasn't overly keen on the execution. I'm not sure I can put my finger on it exactly. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Steve Lyons prose but I found the alien planet Detrios really quite dull and it's only once the plot moves on a bit and we get involved with Dr Who trying to polish off past companions like Mel and Ace that it gets moving.

In many ways this novel is both a critique and a defense of the Seventh Doctor; the master chess player who will sacrifice pawns and play for big stakes and it makes it interesting by having both Mel and Chris turn against him but it never quite satisfactorily addresses the central point - Is the Doctor an anti-hero making cold hard choices for the greater good or actually have we also been duped into thinking the Doctor is great when actually he's pretty crap. The short story Continuity Errors (by Steve Moffatt and set in a planet sized library...) does it better but then it plays it for laughs.

This was obviously written in the mid 90s when Mel's character was still quite loathed amongst fandom and before her Big Finish rehibilitation. Head Games along with the Missing Adventure Millennial Rites were the first to make steps towards this. Unfortunately although it was written years later I read The Quantum Archangel first and that also features Mel horrified with the Sixth Doctor for destroying a whole planet due to miscalculation so it sits oddly that if she could forgive him them (as she obviously must have done because she carried on travelling with him in to his next persona) she ends up hating him here.

Not a bad book and maybe better if read in context but I wouldn't recommend it as a standalone and would point new comers to the next release The Also People instead.

Fish Fingers and Custard #2

I wonder if there's Cyberman fever about? TTZ, DWM and Rassilon's Rod all seemed to have Cybermen on the cover in close proximity whilst FF&C2 has a Cyberman on the back cover! Fantastic Cyberman it is too!

The cover for #2 is brilliant, clearly one of a kind (How on Earth did you bag such a photo?) but also highlights the whole ethos of the zine; it's cheeky, it's quirky, it's naughty and all a little bit sexy. People buying second hand copies of #2 in 2026 won't get the topical humour of Ace putting a cat in the bin but it made me howl with laughter!

The season 5 reviews were great as eskewing a story by story look it allowed the band of writers to focus on the themes and imagery of the season as a whole and there were many fresh takes. My favourite was Martin Marshall's take on the Daleks second guessing the Doctor and devising the perfect trap and boy did it work. That's the kind of fan thinking that makes fanzines worth reading.

The Endgame of Rassilon was a fascinating what if article. Whilst I don't necessarily agree with all the points it was a joy to read and really engaged the brain and gave fresh insights to The Five Doctors. I admit that I used to love it as a kid, think its a bit crap as an adult but after reading this I'm quite inclined to give it another watch. At the very least I can watch it to cheer when The Terrible Zodin gets mentioned!

TV Pizz and the slash scenarios were funny. I thought the prom review was too long actually and I'm afraid I still hate the new theme tune!

All in all I highly recommend this zine. I'm glad I got the paper copies as although I already skim read it on PDF, having a copy on the tube after a hard days work was just perfect.

Can't wait for #3!

For more details on Fish Fingers and Custard visit their website here

Silver Nemesis

I promised I'd treat myself if I ever got TTZ8 done and whilst it came out late I think I can be proud of the 104 page beast! Because of all the Cyber artwork I decided therefore to get the Revenge of the Cybermen / Silver Nemesis box set.

Again it's been a long while since I've seen this one as despite being a big fan of the Seventh Doctor I do think some of his stories are less enjoyable; this one in particular. I remember it as being pretty much codswallop. So has my opinion changed?

Well no... BUT it was nonetheless enjoyable. Positive things the Cybermen have never looked better, The Doctor and Ace are great together, Lady Peinfort and Richard are an absolute hoot and surely contenders for their own spin-off series and the concept of dazzling Cyber transmissions with jazz is great. There's also some great SFX with the space ship landing and the Nemesis statue.

Unfortunately in to the mix we have to acknowledge that the Cybermen are pretty crap villains and are usually used terribly in Doctor Who stories with the exception of Tomb of the Cybermen. We've a bunch of cliched Nazis who add nothing to the plot, a non cameo by the Queen and the terrible skinheads who think Peinfort and Richard are social workers. WTF?!

Rewatching though did give me pause to wonder if Steve Moffat has a sneaky liking for this story? Not only does it have copious uses of time travel, with implied wibbly wobbliness (Future Ace in 1788, whoever is moving the chess pieces on the board, unless it's meant to be Fenric) but also with a curly haired woman who knows the Doctor's secrets and a scene where the Doctor dons a fez and carries a mop!

Cryptically Nemesis tells the Doctor he'll need her again in his future. Now I don't actually believe for a moment the following is true because I don't believe Moffat is bereft of ideas and I'm sure the identity of River Song is something so brilliantly bonkers that we've not thought of it before... but go with me here. What if she is a descendant of Peinfort who has been passed the secret of the Doctor (including that he is more than just a Time Lord?). Alternatively what if she is the Nemesis statue herself?

If it turns out to be true then you heard it here first! (I think I'll expand upon this for TTZ10!)

The Five Doctors (Special Edition)

I've seen The Five Doctors hundred and hundreds of times. My VHS copy is all but worn out. I've never though seen the special edition with rejigged scenes and SFX and never really saw the point. It's not that I think I'm a purist because I'm really not, it's just, whilst I freely admit the plot doesn't stand up to scrutiny and it's all a load of twaddle it is tremendous fun and I'm not sure what changes would do to it.

I'll start with the special effects then. Hated them. I know the black triangle is feeble looking but actually it was a darn sight better than swirly translucent cone. The thunder bolts are improved in the sense that they seem to actually hit the spot where a physical explosion happens but other than that I didn't like them. The Dalek's extermination effect was lame, trying to emulate Remembrance of the Dalrks but failing. Rassilon is made all but unintelligable. About the only decent tarted up effect was the chess board of death, again, mainly because the bolts of energy now matched the explosions.

Some of the rejigged scene work. There is more of an air of mystery by starting with omnious shot of the Tower of Rassilon before going on to the Eye of Harmony and even then letting that set the mood before going in to the way to bright TARDIS. Other bits dropped in to the piece don't necessarily detract but don't seem to overally add much either. I can't say my experience was greatly enriched by an extra three seconds of Patrick Troughton clambering over rocks, or of President Borusa striding through the Capitol.

I guess I'm probably too attached to the original but it's certainly the one I'm going to watch in the future. Give me black triangle, less Cybermen and the bonkers music any day.

It's getting late so I'm gonna cut this short (!). Tomorrow hopefully I'll finish off with a review of Issue 2 of dinky little fanzine Panic Moon, plus The Shakespeare Code, Gridlock and the season 4 premier of The Sarah Jane Adventures - The Nightmare Man

* They surely will honey, they surely will!

I Will Teach You The Folly Of Your Ways!

Thirty Days of Doctor Who Meme*

Q: What is your favourite classic Doctor Who story?

That's a difficult question there are so many to chose from!

Even the crap ones usually have some redeeming features. Take The Time Monster for example, even that has the charming scene where the Doctor and Jo are locked up facing impeding doom and the Doctor trying to cheer Jo up gives her his "daisiest daisy" speech.



Many stories are perennially popular and frequently top the polls. City of Death and The Caves of Androzani are usually safe bets and they are amongst my favourites too, but I also have a sneaky love for the less well thought of stories. Nightmare of Eden and The Claws of Axos spring to mind. Indeed I think those two serve in many ways to be simultaneously show casing the best and worst of Doctor Who. Both have well written scripts with ambitious ideas and bundles of imagination, well drawn characters and some excellently cast actors in the roles. Unfortunately it also has some very crap actors in the other roles, the budget limitations are evident with wobbly sets and duff special effects and you feel slightly cheesy for enjoying them.

If forced to pick just one story, I think I'd have to plump for my very first Who. After all it's what got me hooked in the first place.

Remembrance of the Daleks, first broadcast in 1988 and featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace. It is a wonderfully written tale, full of zinging lines, brilliant set pieces and a guest cast to dream for. Set in 1963 the Daleks are a metaphor for racism and never has this been more explicit than when their stooges on Earth really are Nazi sympathisers. It has that magic scene in the cafe and the mystery of the engimatic Doctor and the cute and feisty Ace is the reason all these years later I'm still in love with the show.




* I make no guarentee I'll do one a day!

What A Predictable Response

Thirty Days of Doctor Who Meme*

Q: What is your favourite Doctor Who quote?

Difficult one. After all there is more than 40 years to chose from.

I doubt I'm alone in this but I find myself quoting Doctor Who a lot in every day life. Usually though it's lines which by themselves aren't necessarily the funniest, cleverest or wittiest but they seem to fit the situation. I'm also a good mimic/impressionist so I usually put on the right voice for it.

Luckily my girlfriend is a big Doctor Who fan as well so luckily she gets most of my quotes and why and sometimes she'll even do them back to me.

It's hard to describe exactly but an example of the things I'll say to her at random junctions include:

"Abase yourself you grovelling insect!"

"Light burning bright in the heart of the interior!"

"I heard a cry."

"The reading is free if you have red hair."

"Surely it's Susan."

"This was OUR world first!"

"FERMENTED CURDS!"

It's not surprising of course, I'm on a group on Facebook called Oi! 'Arry! Customer! which is dedicated simply to quoting lines from Remembrance of the Daleks. And rightly so because it's full of choice lines. It's a rare a day goes by that something doesn't trigger me quoting from there, whether "It is not good!", "Nothing so mundane" or "Davros... I should have known."

Though it may be hard to believe these quotes are usually triggered by a context.

Take earlier for example. Leslie and I were discussing groceries as we placed our order for Tesco online and it gave me cause to squeal "PICKLED ONIONS! YEAH!" in an impression of Jackie Tyler in the episode World War Three.

Speaking of the Tylers, I frequently put on a comedy old ladies voice and pretend to be Ma Tyler from Image of the Fendahl, though usually I have her say obscene and explicit things because I love to see the shocked look on Leslie's face when I do. If I can make an innuendo out of it I will ("Ted Moss has trimmed my verges") but most of the time I'll just say a rude word which always sounds funnier in a mummerset bumpkin accent.

I also like doing the sound effects. Wendy Padbury noted this on one of the DVD extras for The War Games - "Boys like making noises", as Fraser Hines on retelling an anecdote put in lots of sound effects. The one I do most often is from The Five Doctors, the silly sting that occurs when the Master walks down the musical staircase (If you're a true hardcore Doctor Who nut, you'll know what I mean!

But anyway? My favourite quote. There are so so many to chose from like I said and so many gems. But for sheer bloody poetry and because for a very long time it did seem like it was the final word, I was always very fond of the Doctor's monologue as he and Ace walked off in to the sunset at the end of Survival.

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea is asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace; we've got work to do."

* I make no guarentee I'll do one a day!

New Teeth. That's Weird.

Happy David Tennant Day!

(Coz it's 10/10/10 I assume).

To celebrate here's a pic of me as the good Doctor himself and yes the reason I look so young is it was taken the day after my 25th birthday party (November 2006) and my friend Sebby had bought me a sonic screwdriver!

I Can Decide What Happens to Spike & Lynda!

That Was The Who That Was!

A round up of the Doctor Who that I have been watching, reading, listening to etc etc!

The King's Dragon

This was my first Eleventh Doctor novel. I will freely admit that chosing it as the first was determined by the fact that Leslie has secured an interview with author Una McCormack for TTZ9 but I do also own one of her Deep Space Nine novels (My second fave show after Who) which I've not finished yet but have enjoyed what I read.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the Eleventh Doctor in print. Like the Second Doctor so much of his performance is the physical; the shifting eyebrows, the baby giraffe gait, the hands all over the place. However McCormack captures it perfectly as there is the constant sense that not only does her Doctor sound right he moved right, an impressive feat given we're talking about prose. Also well captured are companions Amy Pond (With insight in to her insecurities and abandonment issues from childhood) and Rory (who is also quite a physical character).

The story is simple but not simplistic and echoes the fairytale feel of the Moffat season as we have a storybook town with a castle made of gold and natives in the sort of timeless psuedo medieval garb that they seem to have in such stories. Oh and there's a dragon of course!

I read the book almost in one sitting on a Saturday where very unusually I was working. The reason for that was to do with the beaurocracy of my job so I couldn't help but raise a wry smile at the scenes towards the end of the book where the Doctor leaves the fairytale world below and has to deal with space beaurocrats. Amy makes sure to steal a space pen for Rory.

All in all a great start for my experience of the Eleventh Doctor in print. Whilst I was a bit concerned that the size of the books have grown but the amount of pages seems to have shrunk, implying they're being aimed at an even younger audience still, as with the best children's novels they don't patronise and are thus rewarding for us tie wearing accountants who also wish for a space pen.

State of Decay

Wibbly Stoopid Timey Saywhatnow?!

Phantasmagoria

Leslie and I are very very very slowly working our way through Big Finish's back catalogue. This is only the second release so you can see how slowly!

The Fifth Doctor and Turlough are an interesting combination, they work so much better when the squabblesome Tegan isn't around. I also think that Turlough is a very interesting character who could have been used to greater effect in the series.

This seemed to me very influenced by Blackadder the Third, especially the episode Amy and Amiability. The setting was interesting though and the late Jacobean period isn't one that's been too often visited in Doctor Who.

I personally don't rate David Walliams much as an actor so his voice irritated me throughout as he played a cowardly gentleman but the rest of supporting cast were interesting enough to hold the interest. Peter Davison does sound a lot older than his onscreen incarnation but that's fine, his presence is greater and more Doctorish. I certainly imaged him as the Fifth Doctor from Time Crash rather than from Resurrection of the Daleks.

Conundrum

When the first of the recent tube strike occured I had to plan a route to work that took me southwesterly to Balham and then back north to Shepherd's Bush via national rail, rather than my usual route of north to Canada Wate and then west to White City on the underground. I rather naively thought I'd have time to read and so asked the Twittersphere to recommend two good Who novels for me to take on the commute. Jon Arnold of Shooty Dog Thing was first in with Conundrum and Managra.

Conundrum was always one of my favourite NAs. I first read it on holiday in Portugal six months after it first came out. Although I wasn't planning to I enjoyed rereading it so much that I ended up writing about it for TTZ8 in the New Adventures recommendation article in addition to The Highest Science and The Also People.

The colourful cast of characters is deliberate of course; the local white witch, the kid adventurers, the private dick, the comic book superhero... This is a Doctor Who story that can only work in print and is a worthy successor to The Mind Robber. See my review in TTZ8 for more on that but there's so much else from the scene where Ace gets attacked by flying copies of New Adventure novels to the Doctor playing scrabble in impossible ways, this is just a great book and despite being part of an arc, I think you can read it as a standalone.

Managra

I've not read this book since it first came out and I don't think I was the right age at the time (14) to fully appreciate it. Early this year I read Decalog 5 and enjoyed the two Stephen Marley short stories so was looking forward to rereading this and seeing whether I was not better able to get it, my 14 year old self having labelled the story boring.

Well yes is the short answer, I did enjoy this. The sheer imagination and attention to detail in creating 33rd Century Europa was amazing. I also have a better understanding of history and so could appreciate more the various historical "reprises" like Byron and Casanova, though I'm sure that there are many many more references that went over my head.

My only criticisms of the book are the rushed seeming ending but more importantly the character of the Doctor. He just doesn't sound like Tom Baker, even allowing that in his earlier years like Season 13 (This novel is set between Planet of Evil and Pyramids of Mars) he is a lot more moody and alien, the Doctor in Managra has the odd flash of humour but on the whole is very secretive and overly verbose. The rhythm just seems wrong and I couldn't hear Baker's fruity voice at all.

Given that criticism I would still nonetheless recommend this book, Europa ia a world I'd like to revisit.

As an aside, was it ever mentioned in the TV series that Sarah Jane's parents died or was that an invention of the novels? If the latter is the case then it's been canonised by The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Black Orchid

This was my first time seeing this and I always love watching a "new" Classic Who. This story is short and sweet but more importantly, it's fun! What comes across very strongly is how much potential this TARDIS crew had, which was squandered by endless scenes of them arguing all the live long day. Here they're all relaxed and all getting on with each other and having a whale of a time travelling. Tegan actually laughs and smiles throughout this! Sure Adric does whine but not in an annoying way and Sarah Sutton clearly relished the chance to get out of the confines of the straightlaced Nyssa and has a ball as Ann Talbot.

I loved that for once the Doctor having to prove his innocence for being accused of murder does so by showing the police officers the inside of the TARDIS. I actually really wanted Sgt Markham and PC Cummings to come aboard permanantly as companions. The latter in particular already had a catchphrase which could be used throughout his travels - "Strike me pink!"

The Waters of Mars

I rewatched this as research for my Adric article in TTZ8. The article has been brewing for almost a year because the seeds were born the first time I watched this. The fantastic scene where the Doctor talks about fixed points in time to Adelaide I immedietely wondered if the Doctor had always known that Adric would die.

Opinion on this episode is split here at TTZ Towers. I love it, Leslie hates it. Then again I also love The Fires of Pompeii and she doesn't and I think the two stories have a lot of thematic similarities. I like episodes that are future historicals and that the Doctor can't just save the day because a future fact is every bit as significant as the Great Fire of London.

I was a bit wary of The Time Lord Victorious as the end and you can't help but wonder that if the Doctor was inclined to take this route he'd surely have done it sooner (not letting Rose slip through his fingers for example) but on the whole I think it made sense.

Earthshock

It's been years since I rewatched this and again it's down to the memory of it being quite boring. The memory cheats as it did end up being quite watchable but it was far from a fantastic story.

I think because I had rewatched every Adric story prior to this as background to my article I was really looking for stuff to back up my theory and so a lot of scenes took on greater significance for me, like the argument the Doctor and Adric have in the TARDIS followed by the Doctor seemingly desperate to keep Adric close by at all times.

As ever the Cybermen are pretty rubbish and the crew of the freighter were all pretty poorly acted. I also didn't get why if the Cybermen had already been to Earth and planted a bomb that they didn't therefore plant several bombs in case one failed? I also had cause to wonder just how much uncharted caves there will be left for archeologists to explore in the 26th century...?

I've never been a fan of Adric and think that his only great performance is in Full Circle, though he's not bad in Black Orchid. His death in Earthshock just doesn't have that much of an impact upon me but maybe I'm as cold hearted as the Cybermen.

The Lodger

I don't usually watch the repeats on BBC3 so soon after a series has aired but I was home alone one evening and this was a pretty funny so I sat down for it. I do enjoy Gareth Roberts work (Will he be the next producer after Moffat?) and this was a fun little episode and the perfect calm before the storm of the finale.

I've never seen Gavin and Stacey so only know James Corden as the fat kid from Teachers. I therefore didn't have any preconceptions about him as an actor and thought he nailed the part of Craig perfectly. Matt Smith was at his comedic best with the air kisses and the various faux pas, and yet the Doctor is not so blind that he can't see Craig and Sophie are in love with each other.

When the episode first aired I did have cause to wonder whether the Doctor really would be so clueless about day to day life as a human, even ignoring that it's his favourite planet and he has a preference for travelling with humans, he was exiled to Earth for quite some time in the 1980s (Yes, that's where I sit on the UNIT dating debate). Did the Third Doctor never socialise with his colleagues? Did he never sup a pint with Benton or have a curry with Jo? Surely he didn't lock himself away in his laboratory the whole time?

Of course that's overthinking things and I do think the Doctor works better as an alien than when he seems like just a very smart human.

I can't wait for Meglos to come out on DVD, that's another classic Who I've not seen.

Made of Steel

I know it's fashionable these days for Who fans to bash Terrance Dicks but I have really enjoyed most of the original novels he's written like Timewyrm: Exodus, Blood Harvest, Shakedown and Players. I can see from my rereadings of the novelisations (they're easier to carry on the tube) that they can at times be formulaic but they served their purpose at the time.

However Revenge of the Judoon was one of the worst Who novels I've read and I was thus wary of Made of Steel. I finished it very quickly and whilst it's not terrible, it is very boring.

The plot, such as it is, sees a few surviving Cybermen trying to lure the Doctor in to a trap so he'll reopen the Void and restore the Cyber army. Snooze!

I appreciate and applaude the Quick Reads initiative and love that Doctor Who is a part of that but I don't see that as excuse to just rattle off something quickly. The only other Who quickie that I've read was The Sontaran Games and that was a lot more interesting and whilst not Earth shattering at least felt like a decent if short read. This just seemed rushed, as though Uncle Terry wasn't even trying.

Ace! The Inside Story of the End of an Era

This is a fantastic full colour hardback book by Sophie Aldred with Mike Tucker that forms something of a memoir to the final two and a bit years of the original series of Doctor Who. Aldred covers the anecdotal side of things in a friendly and enthusiastic manner with everything from rehersals to filming and all her co-stars. I remember she used to write semi regularly for DWM with her remanicess of the show and I do remember Ghost Light being a particular favourite (No, not because of the topless bit!). It comes across that she was a young actress who'd finally made her big break and who whilst excited remained very humbled by it and tried not to take it for granted.

Tucker comes from a different angle and is all about the special effects. This is technically interesting and you have to admire his skill in coming up with all these things on Who's microbudget but it can read a little dry in comparison with Aldred.

The main draw of the book though will be the gorgeous photos, many published here and nowhere else, coming as they do from Aldred's personal collection. There's also a few done especially for the book from the great Rememrance-esque cover to Ace in her space bitch gear as seen in the New Adventure novels. Although Aldred looks dang hot, you can appreciate that had the NA's ever been filmed, she would have ended up looking pretty silly in the long run.

Thanks for reading. The next TW3 should be shorter as I'll aim to do these once a week. Next time we'll definitely have a review of Head Games, Silver Nemesis and issue 2 of Fish Fingers & Custard fanzine. I hope to also watch Revenge of the Cybermen and The Five Doctors this weekend and there's been talk of Underworld and Planet of Giants. Oh! I recently watched The Rescue, how could I forget! Ok that'll go in next time, plus I just bought my second Eleventh Doctor novel Night of the Humans.

Street Corner. Two in the Morning. Getting a Taxi Home

Well hopefully if you read this blog then you'll know already that my issue of The Terrible Zodin is now up and running and ready for free download.

If you didn't know then get ye too it quick! HERE

As promised in the issue I will begin a series of posts describing how the issue was put together and perhaps it may inspire some of you out there to do your own fanzine!

A word of warning first though, it has to be a labour of love. Because there comes a point where you think it may drive you insane or crazy but you push through because you love it.

I had a blast putting the issue together don't get me wrong but right at the very end everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The formatting went weird if you made changes to fonts in one section it would change fonts completely unrelated in another section. Ad nauseum! Paragraphs went askew for no discernable reason. Word kept crashing. The file got corrupted. It wouldn't convert to a PDF. Internet connection went down. When we finally converted it that was corrupt too. Readers couldn't download a copy.

I took Annual Leave from work to ensure it would go out on time but then something happened at work (can't really talk about it) which meant a huge chunk of my time off was nontheless spent on my day job because I had to check in with my staff and get updates on the situation etc.

It was a very frustrateing 48 hours, the zine came out late, I felt demoralised and like I'd let Leslie down and the readers down. I wanted to tear my hair out and/or throw myself out a window. The version that is uploaded has only been spell checked up to Page 73, I keep cringing at all the typos after that but everytime I go to the original on Word it crashed if I try to make changes after that page.

Now that it's out there and the feedback has slowly been trickling in and it's generally positive. I guess people need time to read it all and absorb it but I did get guilty of sitting there hitting refresh dying for someone to leave a comment.

I will do another one one day but I better appreciate now just how much work Leslie put in to it in the past and how much graft it is putting it all together. The positive comments and the willingness of people to contribute to the zine and to keep contributing (We've already had several people contact us about being in #9) really does help. I really was blue on Saturday morning and feeling like I'd wrecked the zine and no one would ever read it again.

Don't let any of that put you off! That was just the final 48 hours and was due to stuff outside my control. The rest of the time spent putting it together, contacting people, reading the submissions and generally being emmersed in the zine was fab and allowed me 19 years after I first thought of doing so, to put together a Doctor Who fanzine.

I'm very thankful to Leslie for entrusting me with The Terrible Zodin. I hope you all enjoy the issue.