We're Heading For The Biggest Bang in History!

As I'm sure you all know this year is Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary. And like many of you are probably doing I'm embarking on a rewatch marathon.

Although I've been a fan for 24 years I haven't seen every single story (Even if we discount the missing Hartnell and Troughton's). In The Wilderness Years when the show wasn't on air, I didn't mind so much because the way I saw it there was still New To Me Doctor Who to be had. Now the series has come back and they're all out on DVD I've done a lot of catching up but I still haven't seen all the stories. So this year I'm making it my mission to watch every single Doctor Who story in time for the anniversary. Whether I'll succeed or not I don't know, there are only so many hours in the day after all but I'm going to jolly well try.

My re-watch list isn't a straightforward An Unearthly Child through to The Snowmen and beyond. It is vaguely in order but what I decided to do was concentrate first on stories I hadn't seen or stories I hadn't seen in a long time and thought needed an evaluation and to do that in order from Hartnell to Tennant and then sweep back and pick up all the stories that didn't make it in the first run and then end with all of Matt Smith's episodes. I'm also going to watch the Peter Cushing movies, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures along the way. I'm probably not going to watch K9, although if I get through it all and November is still a way off then it could happen!

The list is below. Trust me, it makes sense to me and that's all that counts. I'll cross them off as I make progress. All those marked with a star are stories that I'd never seen prior before prior to 2013.

Death to the Daleks
Planet of Spiders
Dr Who and the Daleks
The Sensorites
Planet of Giants
* The Dalek Invasion of Earth
The Web Planet
The Space Museum
* The Chase
The Ark
The Gunfighters
The Dominators
The Invasion
The Krotons
The Seeds of Death
* The Ambassadors of Death
* The Mind of Evil
* Colony in Space
* Day of the Daleks
Carnival of Monsters
The Green Death
* Terror of the Zygons
* The Seeds of Doom
The Hand of Fear
The Deadly Assassin
* The Face of Evil
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
Horror of Fang Rock
The Invisible Enemy
* The Sun Makers
* Underworld
Invasion of Time
* Creature from the Pit
The Horns of Nimon
Shada
Full Circle
State of Decay
Warrior’s Gate
The Keeper of Traken
* K9 & Company
Four to Doomsday
Kinda
The Visitation
Black Orchid
Arc of Infinity
Snakedance
The Awakening
Frontios
Resurrection of the Daleks
* Planet of Fire
The Twin Dilemma
Vengeance on Varos
The Mark of the Rani
Revelation of the Daleks
Paradise Towers
Delta and the Bannermen
The Happiness Patrol
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
The Curse of Fenric
Doctor Who: The Movie
Aliens of London / World War Three
Dalek
The Long Game
Boom Town
New Earth
The Idiot’s Lantern
Love & Monsters
Everything Changes
Day One
Cyberwoman
Small Worlds
Countrycide
They Keep Killing Susie
The Runaway Bride
Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks
The Lazarus Experiment
42
The Infinite Quest
Invasion of the Bane
Voyage of the Damned
Meat
Something Borrowed
From Out of the Rain
The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky
The Doctor’s Daughter
Day of the Clown
Secret of the Stars
Mona Lisa’s Revenge
The Next Doctor
Planet of the Dead
Dreamland
The End of Time
Death of the Doctor
An Unearthly Child
The Daleks
Edge of Destruction
The Keys of Marinus
* The Reign of Terror
Dalek Invasion Earth 2150AD
The Rescue
The Romans
The Crusades
The Time Meddler
* Galaxy Four
* The Myth Makers
Mission to the Unknown / The Dalek Masterplan
The Celestial Toymaker
* The Savages
* The Smugglers
* The Tenth Planet
* Power of the Daleks
* The Highlanders
The Underwater Menace
The Moonbase
* The Macra Terror
The Faceless Ones
Evil of the Daleks
Tomb of the Cybermen
The Abominable Snowman
* The Ice Warriors
The Enemy of the World
The Web of Fear
* Fury from the Deep
* The Wheel in Space
The Mind Robber
The Space Pirates
Spearheads from Space
The Silurians
Inferno
Terror of the Autons
The Claws of Axos
The Daemons
The Curse of Peladon
The Sea Devils
* The Mutants
The Time Monster
Frontier in Space
Planet of the Daleks
The Time Warrior
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
The Monster of Peladon
Robot
Ark in Space
The Sontaran Experiment
Genesis of the Daleks
Revenge of the Cybermen
Planet of Evil
Pyramids of Mars
The Robots of Death
Image of the Fendahl
The Ribos Operation
The Pirate Planet
The Stones of Blood
The Androids of Tara
Power of Kroll
The Armageddon Factor
Destiny of the Daleks
City of Death
Nightmare of Eden
* Shada [McGann]
The Leisure Hive
Meglos
Logopolis
Castrovalva
Earthshock
Time Flight
Mawdryn Undead
Terminus
Enlightenment
The Kings Demons
The Five Doctors
Warriors of the Deep
The Caves of Androzani
Attack of the Cybermen
The Two Doctors
Timelash
The Trial of a Time Lord
Time and the Rani
Dragonfire
Silver Nemesis
Battlefield
Survival
The Curse of Fatal Death
* Scream of the Shalka
Rose
The End of the World
The Unquiet Dead
Father’s Day
The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances
Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways
Pudsey Cutaway
The Christmas Invasion
Tooth and Claw
School Reunion
The Girl in the Fireplace
Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel
The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit
Army of Ghosts / Doomsday
Ghost Machine
Greeks Bearing Gifts
Random Shoes
Out of Time
Combat
Captain Jack Harkness
Smith and Jones
The Shakespeare Code
Gridlock
Human Nature / The Family of Blood
Blink
End of Days
Utopia
The Sound of Drums / The Last of the Time Lords
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Sleeper
To The Last Man
Adam
Reset
Dead Man Walking
A Day in the Death
Adrift
Fragments
Exit Wounds
Revenge of the Slitheen
Eye of the Gorgon
Warriors of Kudlak
Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?
The Lost Boy
Time Crash
Partners in Crime
The Fires of Pompeii
Planet of the Ood
The Unicorn and the Wasp
Silence in the Library / The Forest of the Dead
Midnight
Turn Left
The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End
The Last Sontaran
The Mark of the Beserker
The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith
Enemy of the Bane
Prisoner of the Judoon
The Mad Old Women in the Attic
The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith
The Eternity Trap
The Gift
Children of Earth
The Waters of Mars
The Nightmare Man
The Secrets of the Vault
The Empty Planet
Lost in Time
Goodbye Sarah Jane
Sky
The Curse of Clyde Langer
Marco Polo
The Aztecs
* The Massacre
The War Games
The Three Doctors
The Android Invasion
The Brain of Morbius
The Masque of Mandragora
Remembrance of the Daleks
Ghost Light
Fear Her
Miracle Day: The New World
Miracle Day: Rendition
Miracle Day: Dead of Night
Miracle Day: Escape to LA
Miracle Day: The Categories of Life
Miracle Day: The Middle Men
Miracle Day: Immortal Sins
Miracle Day: End of the Road
Miracle Day: The Gathering
Miracle Day: The Blood Line
* The Man Who Never Was
The Eleventh Hour
The Beast Below
Victory of the Daleks
Time of the Angels / Flesh and Stone
Vampires of Venice
Amy’s Choice
The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood
Vincent and the Doctor
The Lodger
The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang
A Christmas Carol
Space / Time
The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon
Curse of the Black Spot
The Doctor’s Wife
The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People
A Good Man Goes to War
Let’s Kill Hitler!
Night Terrors
The Girl Who Waited
The God Complex
Closing Time
The Wedding of River Song
The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe
Pond Life
Asylum of the Daleks
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
A Town Caller Mercy
The Power of Three
Angels in Manhatten
The Snowmen

Never Rush Your Pleasures My Dear Reynart.

So with Doctor Who on a break for the summer now's the perfect time for all you new series fans to dip in to the original series. So I've helpfully prepared a little guide. Ok so not all of them are entirely serious but it's up to you to decide to dive in or not! Of course if you do discover some original series classics this summer for the first time, TTZ would love to hear from you.

So without further ado.

If You Like....:

Rose then try Spearheads from Space or Terror of the Autons for more Nestene naughtiness.

The End of the World then try The Ark or Frontios for alternative takes on the future of humanity.

The Unquiet Dead then try The Talons of Weng-Chiang or Ghost Light for more ghostly Victoriana.

Aliens of London then try Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death for better fart jokes!

Dalek then try The Space Museum for erm a Dalek in a space museum.

The Long Game then try Dragonfire for more ice cold villains and space burgers.

Father's Day then try Day of the Daleks or Mawdryn Undead for more temporal paradoxes or The Time Monster for winged time eating vortex dwellers.

Bad Wolf then try Vengeance on Varos for more deadly reality TV.

Born Anew [Children in Need 2005] then try The Twin Dilemma for more erratic behaviour from a newly regenerated Doctor.

The Christmas Invasion then try The Ambassadors of Death for more British space missions to Mars

New Earth then try The Invisible Enemy for plague in a futuristic hospital or Survival for a race of alien felines.

School Reunion then try The Time Warrior or The Hand of Fear for more awesomeness from Sarah Jane.

The Girl in the Fireplace then try The Reign of Terror or The Massacre for more adventures in historical France.

The Idiot's Lantern then try Delta and the Bannermen for more of the Doctor gurning his way through a 1950s adventure!

The Satan Pit then try The Deamons or Pyramids of Mars for more devilishly good aliens.

Love & Monsters then try The Creature from the Pit for more blobby green monsters and veiled references to fellatio!

Torchwood then try Image of the Fendahl for more amoral and horny scientists based near a rift in time and space accidentally unleashing an ancient alien terror

Ghost Machine then try The Awakening for more overpowering nostalgia

The Runaway Bride then try Planet of the Spiders erm for more giant spiders

Smith and Jones then try The Android Invasion for more Rhino like aliens

Gridlock then try The Macra Terror for more giant crabs

Daleks in Manhatten then try The Chase for erm Daleks in Manhatten

The Lazarus Experiment then try Underworld for more monkeying around with the secrets of life

42 then try Planet of Evil for the exact same plot only spread out over 100 minutes.

The Family of Blood then try The War Games for the horros of World War I brought home to the TARDIS crew or Shada for an invisible spaceship.

The Sound of Drums then try The Sea Devils because the Clangers beat the Tellytubbies anyday!

The Lost Boy then try The Face of Evil for a schizophrenic computer gone mad with the voice of a trusted one.

Meat then try Nightmare of Eden for more poor innocent alien beasts exploited by greedy humans

Adam then try The Mind of Evil for more alien parasites feeding off human thoughts

From Out of the Rain then try The Greatest Show in the Galaxy for more morbidly creepy clowns

The Fire of Pompeii then try The Romans to see if that fire really was the Doctor's fault.

Planet of the Ood then try The Sensorites because they're cousins apparently

The Doctors Daughter then try State of Decay for more backwards societies who don't realise it's a spaceship all along!

The Unicorn and the Wasp then try Black Orchid for more 1920s murder mystery japes.

The Secret of the Stars then try The Masque of Mandragora for the sequal that never happened

Mona Lisa's Revenge then try City of Death for more screen time for the woman with no eyebrows.

The Waters of Mars then try The Seeds of Death for another Martian threat to Earth's ecology.

The Hungry Earth then try The Silurians for more homo reptilia shennanigans

Death to the Doctor then try The Curse of Peladon or The Monster of Peladon to see what's so great about the adventures Sarah Jane and Jo are banging on about!

The Curse of the Black Spot then try The Smugglers more pirate thrills

The Next Doctor?

Note: I first wrote this on 8th December 2008. I had just seen the clip for The Next Doctor on YouTube (I was in the States at the time of Children in Need) plus in the debut issue of The Terrible Zodin the editor Leslie (So formal! But hey we didn't start dating until between issues 2 and 3!) asked all contributors to the issue to supply two names: Who their fantasy Doctor is and who they really thought would be cast as the Eleventh Doctor. This musing came out of that and is long before anyone had heard of Matt Smith! I probably was not very imaginative in my speculation but hey see what you think. Names not on my original list and which I thought about long after the fact are Eammon Walker and Robert Pugh

With rumours abound that Steve Moffat has already cast the next Doctor, I imagine the news will be announced around the time of the Christmas special so here's my last chance to throw in my two pennies worth of suggestions as for who it could be.

Ok so my list below is a combination of people I think would be good for the role, those suggested in the brand new TTZ and in the tabloids, the infamous 'bookies favourites'. Let it be clear from the start however that I never hold any stock with the old 'maybe next time the Doctor will regenerate into a woman' schtick that the tabloids fall for every time so you won't see Judi Dench or Catherine Tate on this list.

Please note any use of photos is simply to illustrate who they are for people not in the no and no copyright infringement is intended.



Julian Barratt

I suppose the prerequisite for casting the role of the Doctor is somebody who seems quirky or eccentric already which is why the tabloids tend to go for quite obvious names when they're filling pages. I don't really like The Mighty Boosh but he was pretty good in Nathan Barley. He's not my favourite choice but yeah I think he could bring something to the role.



Bill Bailey

Again with the obvious choice, the man once described by Ian Hislop as looking like a Klingon. I think he's a funny guy from all his appearances on shows like Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News For You and QI but I've not really seen him *act* in anything, other than Spaced (Oh and I suppose Hot Fuzz) so I've not really got any big yardstick to measure with.



Peter Capaldi

Well he's already been in the show (He was Caecillius in The Fires of Pompeii) and is playing a character in the next season of Torchwood which makes him an unlikely choice but as we know from Colin Baker, having been in the show isn't necessarily an impediment to playing the Doctor. I think he's fantastic in The Thick of It and he was Professor 'Netball' in Peep Show, I think he'd bring a mixture of steely commanding presence and offbeat humour to the role, definitely one of my favourite choices for the role.



Robert Carlyle

He's very keen on the role allegedly but says he's not been approached so unless it's a double bluff he's unlikely to be the next Doctor. It'd be an interesting choice, it's not obvious much like Christopher Eccleston wasn't obvious and with a large and varied body of work behind him, yeah I'd be pretty interested to see the show with him in the role.





Richard Coyle

He played Jeff in Coupling which was created and produced by Steve Moffat, hence his name coming up. The trick with casting each new Doctor is that you want them different enough from the previous one and yet at the same time match the character so you can believe this person is the same man as the previous 10 and whilst I think he has that eccentricity I suspect he might be slightly too much like David Tennant with the whole rapid speech and squirmy energy. Coyle's Coupling co-star Jack Davenport is also a name that crops up, again I think not only acting wise but physically he might be too similar to Tennant to be in with a shot.



Alan Davies

Even before the show came back Alan Davies was a name being associated with its return. Like Bill Bailey and Eddie Izzard its kind of the obvious eccentric choice. I think it'd be too much like "Jonathan Creek in Space" but he recently had a recurring role as the Head Chef in Hotel Babylon and surprised me as he went against the type of roles he's played before. But again, I really know him more from turning up on panel shows than acting.





Stephen Fry

Fry was supposed to write an episode for Season 2 but had to drop out due to other commitments. It's still hoped he might be involved with the show for he is invariably brilliant in everything he does. I could definitely see him in the lead role but I'm not sure whether he would take it, I get the impression that committing to a few seasons is not something he's looking for at the moment. Someone else I could see in the role is his regular comedic sparring partner Hugh Laurie but I think he's quite busy being another sort of doctor at the moment.



Hugh Grant

Well actually he's already played the Doctor in the Steve Moffat penned spoof Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death for Comic Relief a few years ago (Alongside Rowen Atkinson, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent and Joanna Lumley as other incarnations) and he has said he'd like to be in the show, though preferably as a villain. I think he's one of those obvious names that pops up but is unlikely to be cast. Then again I doubted the Kylie rumour at first.



Richard Griffiths

Griffiths is one of those names that floated around as a replacement for Sylvester McCoy had the original series not been cancelled in 1989, though how concrete that was is very unlikely, McCoy wanted to stay on for at least one more season. Moffat has said that he likes the idea of an older Doctor but I think he was thinking more along the Eccleston/Tom Baker lines rather than Hartnell/Pertwee. I think a cranky old Doctor would be good though!



Anthony Stewart Head

He's another actor who's already been in the show (He was Mr Finch in School Reunion). He's one of those names that always crops up when casting sci-fi/fantasy shows what with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more recently Merlin. I don't think it will be him but I think he'd be quite good at the role.



Mark Heap

He played Brian in Spaced and I think he'd be great in the role, I think he'd bring a darker edge to it, he's got that sort of shifty thing going on like Patrick Troughton where he could convince you he's a fool but deep in his eyes you can see he's several chess steps ahead of you already.



Eddie Izzard

I love his standup comedy but unless you count his cameo as Mr Kite in Across the Universe I don't think I've seen him act inanything. He is already, like Tom Baker, a real life eccentric so I think that's why his name always pops up. It's be an interesting choice but I'm not sure it'd be the right choice.



Paterson Joseph

The current "bookies favourite", with several sources saying he's already been cast. His name seems to be linked as he was in Moffat's recent adaptation of Jekyll which to be honest I didn't think he was very good in. I have liked him in other things, most notably as Johnson in Peep Show but I'm unsure how he'd portray the Doctor. We'll wait and see, the BBC interviewed him about the rumours which was strange as they didn't interview anyone else as far as I know but it could be an elaborate double bluff I suppose. If he is cast, he'll be the second actor after Colin Baker to have previously been in the show in a guest role (He was Rodrick in Bad Wolf)



Harry Lloyd

A while back I think I read somewhere an interview with Moffat before he became Executive Producer, when asked to name hypothetically who he'd cast as the Doctor if he took over the show, he didn't give a definitive answer but said someone like Harry Lloyd but slightly older. Lloyd has been in the show as the creepy Son-of-Mine in The Family of Blood and yeah I can see what Moffat is aiming for there, he may not be the next Doctor but I think he's an actor to watch out for in anything upcoming.



David Morrissey

I tend to avoid spoilers as a rule so other than the trailer above I know nothing about the forthcoming Christmas special. It's certainly intriguing and as far as I can see there are two possibilities. Either Morrissey IS the next Doctor and has been right under our noses all the time, or he's some sort of impostor, maybe a rouge time agent cashing in on the Doctors reputation (A similar plot to the novel Head Games or the audio play The One Doctor). If he is the future Doctor it will certainly be a very interesting way to introduce him to the series.



Jimmy Nesbitt

I think his name mainly cropped up because of his lead role in Jekyll. He's stated he's not interested, Moffat's stated it won't be him, personally I don't rate him much as an actor so I really hope they're both telling the truth!



Bill Nighy

The Daily Mail famously got Eccleston's casting spectacularly wrong, and announced that Bill Nighy had been cast in the role. It's a name that's been following the show before its come back and again when Eccleston left so perhaps its another one of these actors who people just want to cast in everything. Like I said above I like the idea of a return to an older Doctor and I think he'd be pretty good.



Ben Roberts

This was the name I put forward to TTZ as my fantasy Doctor. He is perhaps most well known for playing Chief Insp. Derek Conway on The Bill for several years but he was also a storm trooper in the original series of Doctor Who in Resurrection of the Daleks! This is a complete shot in the dark and I imagine I'm the only person who's ever suggested his name but I think he'd do a pretty good job, a sort of Hartnell-esque grumpiness with a Eccleston surliness but still with a touch of eccentricity and adventure. Physically he also has heterochromia so he has one brown eye and one blue eye which makes for an interesting look.



Colin Salmon

Another hot favourite of the tabloids, some of which quote the infamous "BBC Insider" who say he has been in talks with the producers. He was in the show recently as Dr. Moon in Silence in the Library (And he got to have sex with Billie Piper in The Secret Diary of a Call Girl!). I think that would be a pretty cool choice.



Andy Serkis

My Dad pointed out that when each of the most recent Doctors were announced, they had just appeared in quite prominent roles on shows at the time (Eccleston in The Second Coming, Tennant in Casanova, though that might have something to do with them both being written by Russell T. Davies!) so if we put that theory to the test and turn our eye toward Little Dorrit.... Interestingly enough according to IMDb he's playing Captain Haddock in the forthcoming Tintin movie. Hmm I wonder who's writing that...?



Michael Sheen

A while back the tabloids ran with his name on the basis that they saw Julie Gardner speaking with him backstage during his run of Frost/Nixon but it turned out they're old school friends. He played Tony Blair in both The Deal and The Queen and seems to be doing more stage and film than TV but yeah I think he'd be a good choice in the role.



John Simm

Inexplicably his name keeps cropping up. Now I know I said that having been in the show before shouldn't be a draw back to playing the Doctor but that goes for guest roles, Simm however played The Master. Unless they went with some weird plot development like in Xena: Warrior Princess when Hudson Leick temporarily took the title role because Callisto and Xena did some sort of freaky Friday body swap (My understanding was Lucy Lawless had injured herself during filming or something) I really don't know how they'd explain it away. I'd be happy to see Simm return as the Master (and he's certainly happy to as well) but I just couldn't suspend my belief to have him play the Doctor.



Timothy Spall

Stalwart of British film and TV he has a fondness for playing these oddball grotesque characters, Sweeney Todd and Harry Potter the most recent examples. Yeah I think he's a good actor and I think he'd bring a lot to the role, but I don't know whether he'd be able to clear that sex appeal hurdle to keep the girls watching.



Jason Statham

Sometimes I wonder if those tabloid hacks actually watch the show! Now I like Snatch as much as the next man... Bygones. Ahem, anyway, he's good at that hard man cockney gangster hardnut role and fair play to him. But the last time I checked the Doctor was none of those things and no, frankly Statham would be even more of a worse choice than Jimmy Nesbitt.





David Thewlis

It was somebody on TTZ who suggested him and I sat up and thought "Ohh yes, he'd be perfect!" He's also got that sort of oddball with a dark core quality about him, but hey if he can get Thandie Newton to play the companion that's all I need to know!



Russell Tovey

On his way out RTD nonetheless offered his own two pence worth as to the next Doctor and suggested Russell Tovey, who was in last years Christmas special as Midshipman Frame. I think he's an actor worth looking out for and I remember thinking that years ago in one of his earliest TV roles in The Bill when he played a teen carjacker turned police informant, but I think he looks too young for the role (He's only a few days younger than me but he looks like he's 15!)



Mark Williams

"You ain't seen me, right?". One time part of The Fast Show but more recently well known as Arthur Weasely in the Harry Potter movies, he has that weird physicality and eccentric nature to carry off the role, I think he sort of looks like a younger William Hartnell and has that wide eyed exploring the universe quality to him. And if we're to take any stock in the current Doctor's disappointment that he was "Rude and not ginger" perhaps we will finally see a carrot topped Doctor.

So there we go, now time will tell and see if I was on the mark with any of these. My personal top five choices would be Ben Roberts, Peter Capaldi, Mark Williams, Mark Heap or Michael Sheen

WHORSOR (Part 2)

I guess there's a character limit as it wouldn't let me post the whole thing all in one go.

March 2011

1: Leslie and I went to the Fitzroy Tavern on the first Thursday of the month when Doctor Who fans meet regularly. We have been to the Tav before but only for the Flashing Blade Winter Warmer. We couldn't stay for long but we met Glenn who has contributed to a past issue of TTZ and become friends on Facebook plus Ollie, the editor of fellow fanzine Panic Moon (highly recommended) and Lea who does the Tav zine Venusian Spearmint

2: Also this month we had Tea with Nyder! Read TTZ10 for the full interview with actor Peter Miles who very graciously gave his time to Leslie and I. I still intend to write up in more detail the madness of that day but for now I'll highlight the most surreal moment which was watching DVDs of Colditz (The TV series not the Big Finish play!) whilst Sturmbannfuhrer Schmelling himself sat next to us grinning!

3: More Doctor Who memes on Twitter, this time #doctorwhotvmashups or which I've contributed

* Holby City of Death

* Terrynation Street

* The Greatest Peep Show in the Galaxy

* Sec's in the City

* Love in the Time of the Rani #oktechnicallyitsabookslashfilm

* The Pandorica Opens All Hours

* Primeval of the Daleks #thesewordsareblasphemy

* Bok the Week

* Spitting Image of the Fendahl

* That Mitchell and Webb of Fear

* Rising Damp of the Cybermen

* The True Naked Civil Servant of Sutekh the Destroyer

* Button Moonbase

* Brass Eye of Harmony #wherenextformanraisedbymacra

4: Actual conversation between me and Leslie

Me: "...Suhtek's bum hand aka Scratchy"
Leslie: "Why Scratchy?"
Me: "Cuz he was for scratching Suhteks bum!"
Leslie: "Nooo, he was there to prop him up!"

5: Leslie and I went to Swansea for the book launch of Another Country, a collection of Welsh haiku in which she's published (Get your copy here).

Whilst there we went to Swansea Uni library which doubles as the Royal Hope hospital in Smith and Jones and the Kardomah cafe where they filmed the 10th Doctor and Wilf's conversation in The End of Time.

In the evening we ate in Pizza Express and were amazed to find a quote from Russell T. Davies emblazed in big letters across the wall!

We were in Swansea the same night as comic relief and I pledged £11 which was a quid per Doctor. I also promised to pledge a further quid for every retweet of my message and by the end of the night we'd raised £69.

There you go, I think that more than made up for not writing in so long. I leave you with some links to other cool folk and Doctor Who goodness!

Den of the Rothwoman

The Doctor Who Book Podcast

Gallifreyan Pancakes

The Patient Centurion

The Search for the Truth

Staying In Watching 'Doggie Who'

Who Mix

What Happens on Raxacoracofallapatorious Stays on Raxacoracofallapatorious

As usual folks I begin with an apology that I suck at updating this blog. So to compensate here's a bumper update. In keeping with being TTZ's Sales & Marketing Manager lets justify that impressive made up title by producing 2011's first quarter Doctor Who report! I've had to pretty much rely on the zines Twitter to remember everything I've rabbited on about in that time, some of which I'd even intended to turn in to blog entries. I still might. (Yeah right!)

So here goes:

January 2011

1: I started out the year in Florida and the evidence that Doctor Who has gone global is the fact I was able to watch A Christmas Carol on 25th December on BBC America. The ad breaks were annoying sure but that's the way TV is over there. (More here)

The show is also starting to be referenced in popular culture. My cousin Felipe and I were watching an NCIS marathon and in one episode (Power Down) out of the blue McGee suddenly makes reference to it.



My fanboy gene went squee purely because here's my favourite show being referenced in a mainstream US show. Ok so it's an odd reference, for those who haven't seen Doctor Who they probably don't get that McGee thinks the storage unit is bigger on the inside and so they may be left with the impression that the TARDIS is full of guns but oh well, it's something!

2: As Leslie and I were both away for Christmas we exchanged presents when were back in London on 3rd January. Who-wise I got her Peter Purves autobiography Here's One I Wrote Earlier and the Companions Chronicle audio The Mahogany Murders. For me Who-wise she got my Andrew Cartmel's diary Script Doctor of his time as script editor on the show, the piano score for the Doctor Who theme tune and she also got me The Mahogany Murders! The pitfalls of being lovers who're both Doctor Who fans haha. In the end we exchanged one copy for another Companion Chronicle Find and Replace because we had really enjoyed Ringpullworld. She also brought her copies of The Dark Path and Burning Heart from home with her.

3: Doctor Who so invades our thoughts that sometimes you'll be talking about something that has absolutely nothing to do with the show but it will nonetheless trigger something to link it back. I had also bought Leslie the DVD of the Victoria & Albert miniseries when it just popped in to my head that I felt Victoria Hamilton would have been a better casting choice to play Maria Jackson's Mum in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Random!

4: I was annoyed at the announcement that Terror of the Autons would finally be released on DVD but only in a boxset with a reissue of Spearheads from Space. Whilst it makes sense, I already have Spearheads so why didn't they just do that in the first place. The whole Revisitations series has given me cause to wonder do fans buy the DVDs for the stories or for the extras? I fall in to the first category and whilst the extras are nice, they're precisely that - extra. Sometimes it seems that The Powers That Be do like to squeeze every last penny out of us.

5: Not that I'm planning too but I sometimes think if I ever did my own fanzine what would I call it? Possible titles so far are: Behind the Sofa, The Pandorica Opens, Anti-Radiation Gloves, Blackpool (With the cover art obscuring everything but the 'b' in the title!), The 'zine of Marinus, Giddy Aunt, Harry Sullivan Stepped In A Clam

6: Whilst my Dad was over here from Colombia we bought some high quality paper and printed out the Logopoly game we did as a free giveaway with TTZ9 (which is also free!). We played a round with my sister and mum doubling up, plus Leslie and my friend Sebby. Sebby won when I landed on Planet of the Cheetah People with a hotel and was bankrupted!

February 2011

1: In the first weekend of February we held a Back2theWhoture viewing. It was the first time the original B2TW had been reunited since my Dad had moved to Colombia. However at the last minute Big Al had to drop out which was a shame as he was also intending to come with his sister Frankie who played Amy's therapist on The Big Bang. However we were joined for the first time by Aya who seemed to have a really great time. We always have so much fun at B2TW, I'm really looking forward to the next one!

Transcript of live tweets of B2TW: The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang

2: Barnaby Edwards who runs the Doctor Who group in New York was over in the UK for one day only. Although Leslie and I were both feeling a bit sick we went out to meet him because he's such a nice guy and he's been a keen supporter of TTZ. Alas we weren't able to see how an issue looks on his ipad but we had a fun time chatting and he pitched us even MORE article ideas! Some are scheduled for the next issue. We didn't stay long which was a shame but hopefully we'll get to Gallifrey one day. (The convention obviously, not the planet!)

3: For Valentine's Day I managed to source a copy of L'abominable homme des neiges for Leslie, combining her love of Doctor Who, French and cryptozoology. I keep joking that we should do a TTZ cover with Igor & Grichka Bogdanoff! Even better maybe we should track them down for an interview!

4: Leslie, as well as my friend Paul, were published in academic essay book The Unsilent Library which focused on the RTD era. Click here to order your copy today.

I submitted an essay when the call went out but I was rejected. To be fair though I only came up with the idea an hour before the deadline so it wasn't very polished. It was about the anthropmorphism of human animals to represent alien species in the revised series. It's still on the do to list as an essay for TTZ one day!

5: In February Doctor Who fandom was dealt a blow with the sad news that Nicholas Courtney aka Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, or more affectionately The Brig, had passed away. I think it was a tribute to how well loved he was that #RIPBrig trended worldwide on Twitter and that on Facebook when recieving the message "X number of friends have changed their profile photos" I was greeted with a sea of Brigadiers.

As I've never been to a convention I've never met the man, and don't have a story to share but from those who were lucky enough to, the message that came across was that he was a true gentleman and loved the shows fans and was always kind and courteous towards them.

Gary Gillatt posted a very moving tribute in DWM with a plea to let the Brigadier continue to have adventures offscreen somewhere in deepest darkest Peru, representing UNIT and I whole heartedly agree.

6: Occasionally fun Doctor Who memes appear on Twitter. Below are some of my contributions to the #mundanewho meme.

* The Safety Handrail of Destruction

* Powercut of the Daleks

* The Ambassadors of Man Flu

* Thursday of the Daleks

* Cheese Sandwich Before Bed Time on Eden

* The Three and a Half Doctors Plus Some Bloke Who Looks a Bit Like William Hartnell

* The Blow-Holes of Androzani Minor #technicallyaccurate

* An Impartial Inquiry In To Conduct Unbecoming Of a Time Lord

* Tin Nemesis

* Battlemeadow

* Aliens of Doncaster

*My Cousin Vinny and the Doctor

7: I love the madness of the fringes of Doctor Who where all the naff or insane stuff is like Tom Baker underpants, TARDIS roundal wallpaper etc etc.

Spoofing that (Though no where near as well as Planet of the Ming Mongs) here's a couple of additions to the canon

* Black and White Box Girl: The Autobiography of Jackie Lane

* Totally K9 & Company Confidential (Uncensored!)

* Dimensions in Time: The Stage Play (Adapted for Audio by Big Finish)

* Keff McCulloch Live at the Proms!

* New Companion Chronicle starring YOU from Crisis in Space

* Character Options to release new Cedric toy

* Disney to make Doctor Who spin-off starring CGI rendered version of popular robot cat companion Splinx from The Mines of Terror

* Rare telesnaps of Dr Loo and the Filthy F**king Phalleks found on a laptop in Soho

* IDW buy rights to reprint Masterplan Q

I Never Report Myself Anywhere; Particularly Not Forthwith

Following on from my earlier post, here's my Third Doctor collection.

VHS

Inferno
The Claws of Axos
The Time Warrior
Death to the Daleks
Planet of Spiders

DVD

Spearheads from Space
Beneath the Surface Box Set (The Silurians / The Sea Devils / Warriors of the Deep)
Inferno
The Claws of Axos
Peladon Tales Box Set (The Curse of Peladon / The Monster of Peladon)
Myths and Legends Box Set (The Time Monster / Underworld / The Horns of Nimon)
The Three Doctors
Carnival of Monsters
Dalek War Box Set (Frontier in Space / Planet of the Daleks)
The Green Death
The Time Warrior

Audio

BBC Radio Plays

Paradise of Death by Barry Letts
The Ghosts of N-Space by Barry Letts

Big Finish

Find and Replace by Paul Magrs

Novels

Novelisations

Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters by Malcolm Hulke
The Ambassadors of Death by Terrance Dicks
Inferno by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Doomsday Weapon by Malcolm Hulke
Doctor Who and the Deamons by Barry Letts
Doctor Who and the Deamons by Barry Letts / The Time Monster by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Day of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon by Brian Hayles
Doctor Who and the Sea-Devils by Malcolm Hulke
Dr Who and the Mutants by Terrance Dicks
The Three Doctors by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Space War by Malcolm Hulke
Doctor Who and the Planet of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Green Death by Malcolm Hulke
Doctor Who and the Time Warrior by Terrance Dicks
The Paradise of Death by Barry Letts
Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion by Malcolm Hulke x 2 copies
Death to the Daleks by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Monster of Peladon by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Planet of the Spiders by Terrance Dicks

Virgin Missing Adventures

Eye of the Giant by Christopher Bulis
The Scales of Injustice by Gary Russell
Dancing the Code by Paul Leonard
Speed of Flight by Paul Leonard
The Ghosts of N-Space by Barry Letts

BBC Past Doctor Adventures

The Devil Goblins from Neptune by Martin Day & Keith Topping
The Wages of Sin by David A. McIntee
Verdigris by Paul Magrs
Catastrophea by Terrance Dicks
Last of the Gaderene by Mark Gatiss
Amorality Tale by David Bishop

Annuals

Doctor Who Annual 1973

People Spend All Their Time Making Nice Things And Then Other People Come Along And Break Them

Following on from my earlier post, here's my Second Doctor collection.

VHS

The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Troughton Years
Daleks – The Early Years
Downtime

DVD

The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Mind Robber
The Invasion Special Edition
The Seeds of Death
The War Games
Lost in Time Box Set

Audio

The Glorious Revolution by Jonathan Morris

Novels

Novelisations

The Power of the Daleks by John Peel
The Highlanders by Gerry Davies
Doctor Who and the Cybermen by Gerry Davies
The Faceless Ones by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Tomb of the Cybermen by Gerry Davies
Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowman by Terrance Dicks (+ Docteur Who L'Abominable Homme Des Neiges!)
Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors by Brian Hayles
Doctor Who and the Enemy of the World by Ian Marter
Doctor Who and the Web of Fear by Terrance Dicks
Fury from the Deep by Victor Pemberton
The Dominators by Ian Marter
The Mind Robber by Peter Ling
The Invasion by Ian Marter
The Krotons by Terrance Dicks
The Seeds of Death by Terrance Dicks
The Space Pirates by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the War Games by Malcolm Hulke [H/B]

Virgin Missing Adventures

Invasion of the Cat-People by Gary Russell
Twilight of the Gods by Christopher Bulis
The Dark Path by David A. McIntee
The Menagerie by Martin Day
Downtime by Marc Platt

BBC Past Doctor Adventures

The Roundheads by Mark Gatiss
Dreams of Empire by Justin Richards
World Game by Terrance Dicks
Players by Terrance Dicks

A Meeting on the Common

Following on from my earlier post I said I'd be (for the first time bizarely, given that Who fans have list making hard wired in to their DNA) attempting to catalogue my Doctor Who collection as I went about reorganising my room.

I'll do it as I go along so I'll split it by Doctor. Here therefore is my First Doctor collection.

VHS

The Aztecs
The Hartnell Years
Daleks – The Early Years

DVD

The Beginning Box Set (An Unearthly Child/The Daleks/Edge of Destruction)
The Keys of Marinus
The Aztecs
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
The Rescue / The Romans Box Set
The Web Planet
The Space Museum / The Chase Box Set
The Time Meddler
The War Machines
Lost in Time Box Set

Audio

Talking Books

The Myth Makers by Donald Cotton, read by Stephen Thorne

Big Finish

The Transit of Venus by Jacqueline Raynor

Books

Novelisations [Unless otherwise stated they're all paperbacks]

Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks by David Whitaker
Marco Polo by John Lucarotti
Doctor Who and the Keys of Marinus by Philip Hinchcliffe
The Aztecs by John Lucarotti
The Sensorites by Nigel Robinson
The Reign of Terror by Ian Marter
Planet of Giants by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Dalek Invasion of Earth by Terrance Dicks / Doctor Who and the Crusaders by David Whitaker
The Rescue by Ian Marter
Doctor Who and the Zarbi by Bill Strutton x 2 copies
The Chase by John Peel
The Time Meddler by Nigel Robinson
Galaxy Four by William Emms
The Myth Makers by Donald Cotton x 2 copies
The Daleks Master Plan Part 1: Mission to the Unknown by John Peel
The Daleks Master Plan Part 2: The Mutation of Time by John Peel
The Massacre by John Lucarotti
The Ark by Paul Erickson
The Celestial Toymaker by Gerry Davies & Alison Bingeman [H/B]
The Gunfighters by Donald Cotton x 2 copies
The War Machines by Ian Stuart Black
The Smugglers by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet by Gerry Davies

Virgin Missing Adventures

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Christopher Bulis
Venusian Lullaby by Paul Leonard
The Plotters by Gareth Roberts
The Empire of Glass by Andy Lane
The Man in the Velvet Mask by Daniel O’Mahoney

BBC Past Doctor Adventures

The Witch Hunters by Steve Lyons
The Time Travellers by Simon Guerrier
Byzantium! by Keith Topping
Salvation by Steve Lyons
Bunker Soldiers by Martin Day

Misc.

The Masters of Luxor script book by Anthony Coburn

Who Wants Everything? I'll Settle For 90 Percent!

Most Doctor Who fans (as opposed to Doctor Who viewers) probably have some sort of collection of merchandise related to the show. I don't think that's an unfair comment.

The degrees to which one has a collection will of course vary from person to person as will the motivations. Some people like the idea of a collection full stop and will buy any and all merchandise related to the show, take great pains to store and preserve it. Others buy the spin-off merchandise because they hunger for more Who adventures and with Big Finish issuing a new CD seemingly every single day there's certainly an appetite there for it!

Of course building a collection can be expensive. I recently joined eBay ironically because I wanted to thin out my collection (mostly duplicates of things). A month later I've sold nothing and spent over £300 plugging the holes in my Target Novelisation and New/Missing Adventures collections as well as buying up old fanzines that I missed out on first time (See my editorial in TTZ8).

My collection means a lot to me and I fall in to the category of "It's because I love Doctor Who and want more adventures!" My collection is predominantly books because I read with a voracious appetite and have done since I was a child and whilst I do try to not let Who predominate quite it often does. Ok so we're only in February but I've only read two non-Who book (Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson, a really great read about a lost WWII U-Boat; and Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Brigg, simply beautiful), the rest is all Doctor Who. For the last few weeks I've been carting around the revised edition of The Writer's Tale which has simultaneously revitalised my desire to pursue a career as a screen writer (Which after all is what I set out to do when I went to uni, I certainly didn't dream of being an accountant, which alas for now I am!) but also reminded me what a dreadful procrastinator I am.

It's true even in this entry, I sat down to write rather than actually tidy up my collection!!

I owned toys when I was a kid and I actually played with them for hours on end so for those who like mint memorabilia they'd dissaprove of my one armed Mel, one legged Tetrap, no tailed K9 and totally emasculated Dalek. Some adults collect the toys now and fair play to then, it's not really my cup of tea but I will confess I do have a Tenth Doctor, a sonic screwdriver and a fob watch which doesn't work (In that it doesn't turn me in to a Time Lord!)

I wish I could pinpoint exactly which was the first Target book that kick started the collection. Technically the 1965 edition of Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks by David Whitaker was my Dad's, brought at the time and thus by the time I laid eyes on it in the early 90s already yellow and fragile. I think the first I could call my own was either Doctot Who and the Terror of the Autons or The Faceless Ones given to me as a birthday present from one of my Mum's co-workers but I could be wrong.

Presently I am 12 books away from a complete Target collection (13 if we count Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma!), and 8 away from a complete Virgin NA/MA collection. I'm 5 billion away from a complete Big Finish collection!!!

Ok enough procrastinating. I'm on leave from work for a week and sorting out the Who collection (as well as the rest of my room) was top of my to do list. I may try and catalogue it and take photos along the way so stay tuned.

OK Kid, This Is Where It Get's Complicated

Transcript of the Back2theWhoture team livetweeting The Big Bang for inclusion in TTZ10

Flashing black to The Eleventh Hour throws everything left field. What's gonna happen?

Much kudos to the young girl who plays little Amy. Isn't she fantastic?

It's a shame Big Al had to pull out of tonights B2TW. Frances Ashman who plays Amy's therapist is his sister.

This episode is taking a very interesting turn, you never know what's going to happen next and it really drags you along

It's quite Ghost Light with the museum coming to life in Amelia's mind

The Pandorica is Opening again!

Seb wants to know why it opened so quickly this time compared to last episode

RT @SueDavies7of9 @TerribleZodin WD40 I expect.

So who expected THAT?!

Seb notes this is the bit on original broadcast where he just thought all bets are off, anything can happen!

RT @The_Arn @TerribleZodin And you know what's brilliant? It's a diversion from the main arc story. The universe being destroyed is only a side effect

BANG! Go Rory, excellent punch

Rory, the most human human

Is that Nick Briggs as the voice of museum guide?

And then Stone Daleks come to life! This story just twists and turns!

The internal logic of all the time shifts is hanging together well

A DEAD DOCTOR from 12 mins in the future!

Seb speculates future Doc said... "David Tennant wants his job back!"

Future Doc collapsing dead is very Time Travelers Wife (film version) down to the shot of him falling down stairs

Leslie squees for the Guidhall in Swansea!

That is some fearsome technology is a piece of git despite exploding can enact protocols to save people inside it

Swappable head. Now I'm getting images of River bonking Pertwee!

RT @Cloister_Belle @TerribleZodin On the Brigs desk in UNIT

@Cloister_Belle Big Bang 3?

BANG! Doctor exterminated! This is a really exciting story!

Rule One - The Doctor Lies!

TARDIS explodes, destroys universe. TARDIS explodes, saves universe. Moffat! *shakes fist* #barrowman!

We've all been sitting in stunned silence! What's gonna happen next?!

I wanna go to Space Florida!

Ok so hands up all the clever clogs who spotted it was a "future Doctor" in Flesh and Stone?

Ok now we're picking apart the narrative. How can the Doctor be there the night Amelia waited? Hard to condense argument in to 140 chars.

Gist - Doctor didn't return so how can he on the rewind?

All brides are sexy. Discuss.

RT @Sue_Stokes @TerribleZodin Dot Cotton on her wedding day to Jim??

I forgot to mention Aya is wearing a bow tie! #bowtiesarecool

Something Old. Something New. Something Borrowed. Something Blue. GENIUS!

Is that the Doctor dancing or Matt Smith dancing?

YAY! So what did we all think of The Big Bang?

So if the Doctor has been brought back as a figment of Amy's imagination, has he got 13 new lives? *cough* Brain of Morbius *cough*

Dammit, conversations about time travel get very confusing!

Ok we're taking a brief break for nibbles and then we're rewinding back to the Hartnell era for The Time Meddler

The great thing is Time Meddler is BRAND NEW to both Seb and Aya. Imagine!

Unfortunately we've checked TFL for last tube and we're gonna have to defer Time Meddler otherwise Aya won't be able to get home

Dissapointing but it means we've got Time Meddler to look forward to!

Thanks to all who joined us for the livetweeting tonight and hope you enjoyed.

RT @AyaVandenbussch Tonight I realised that Back2TheWhoture is what was missing in my life! I also now want to adapt @TerribleZodin as my Who family.

RT @bromley001 @TerribleZodin I know who River Song is. It's Alex Kingston.