A Doctor Who Frame of Mind

I have been having a hard time loving Doctor Who recently, which for those of you that know me is something of a shock. Not the current era, but the whole damn Doctor Who thing and I was trying to work out why. This is a blog I have written to try and work it out myself. 

I think it is because I've lost sight of the programme itself amongst the fog of fandom. Fandom is a complex thing. A portion of it is irredeemably toxic: racist, sexist, homophobic and, basically, appears to have learned nothing from watching Doctor Who itself. I wouldn't like these people if I met them. I despise everything they stand for and they probably wouldn't like me very much. Which is fine. Saves us all a lot of disappointment. 

The rest of fandom is made up of too many different types of people to pin down but I don't find it as much fun as I used to. Doctor Who, for me, was a point of joy in the world. Yes, I like picking it apart afterwards and coming up with my own head canon, but that was all alongside actually watching, listening and reading Doctor Who. Recently I have been doing less of that. A lot less of that. 

And I blame myself.

I came to fandom late. I was always a Doctor Who fan. My first memories of life include little bits of watching Tom Baker as Doctor Who in stories I was far too young to watch without being terrified. I was though mostly a solo fan. I knew one Doctor Who fan before I was 18. I knew about five before I was 40. I read fanzines and DWM. That was about it. A lot of 1989 to 2005 was me defending Doctor Who from a less impressed group of people. And myself for being a Doctor Who fan. I think that has impacted on my observations and interactions with fandom. I am quite defensive about Doctor Who. I try to be amusingly so, particularly about the more obvious things: "it's a kids series; it's rubbish; it's cheap; it's silly...etc etc." 

I can criticise Doctor Who though. It's not always perfect. I've never found myself disliking an entire Doctor's run. Or an era. As far as I'm concerned every Doctor, every era has its ups and downs and, for me, the ups always outnumber the downs. There are some eras/seasons I love. Tom Baker will always be my favourite Doctor and Season 17 will always be my favourite season of Doctor Who.* So, I find the broad hostility to a whole era, the cynicism about motives and decisions, the desire by one group of fans to stomp all over the joy of other fans all a bit...depressing. 

The reason I love Doctor Who - and I've thought about this a lot - is that it is overwhelming an optimistic and hopeful series. A light in the darkness. Doctor Who says there are monsters out there but there are people out there to fight them and that darkness can and will be defeated. And it will be done with wit and charm. 

Seeing people get so angry about the Chibnall era to the point of monomania has just knocked the positivity out of me. I'm not saying by the way that the Chibnall era is great. I don't think I will ever love it, but I've enjoyed most of it and loved some of it. There are things there to be criticised. But I've found it difficult not to get a bit depressed by the whole thing, which has had a knock on effect on my love of Doctor Who as a whole.

Which is weird. I'm getting old so maybe I am too set in my ways. I know I'm taking it all too seriously. It is, after all, only a television programme. But it is a television programme that has been at the centre - well, centre-ish - of my life for...45 years. It is one of the things my friends know me for, even - especially - the ones who aren't Doctor Who fans. So, the weird feeling that of distance I have from the whole thing at the moment is...strange. 

It doesn't seem to be as much fun as it used to be. 

Perhaps I just need to watch a bunch of my favourite stories and talk about them to friends. It seems weird writing this because this is just a download of my personal feelings. I don't expect anyone to feel the same. 

Anyway there you have it. Writing this might have helped.

Or not.

*Not necessarily the best but my favourite.

*Yes, I still think The Master was playing a game to keep the Third Doctor from getting too bored whilst he was in exile on Earth.

Happy Birthday Colin Baker

 

It's Colin Baker's birthday today. 

I thought I might take the opportunity to say a little bit about why I like Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor. Poor Colin gets a hard time. His Doctor is constantly near the bottom of favourite Doctor polls, much to Colin's own annoyance. His era is often seen as a low point in Doctor Who. 

However, Colin Baker is the reason this blog exists. Colin Baker is the reason I'm a Doctor Who fan. I'd been watching Doctor Who since Season 15 but as Peter Davison's era crept towards its end I was 12/13 and other things were beginning to get my attention. I still watched Doctor Who but I was falling out of love with it a bit, which wasn't Peter Davison's fault. It was just life. 

Also I didn't really know any other Doctor Who fans. We moved from Cornwall to Buckinghamshire around this time and I started a new school. There I met Rick, who it turned out was also a Doctor Who fan. It was Rick that told me there was a new Doctor coming and it was Rick that introduced me to fandom. 

So, when the Colin Baker era started it was make or break really. If this wasn't good I suspect I would have faded away from Doctor Who. But I loved Colin Baker from the off. I didn't feel then some of the concerns I was to feel when I revisited the era later on. The Doctor's less likeable side was fine by me. I didn't even dislike the costume. It should be noted that I was probably still in that phase when all Doctor Who is good. It would take me a couple more years of reading DWB etc to discover that you weren't supposed to like Doctor Who if you were a Doctor Who fan. You were supposed to complain about it and compare it dismissively to previous eras when everything was great. I also learned from DWB etc that you could be really, really angry about Doctor Who not living up to you expectations. But thankfully fandom isn't like that any more. (Cough.)

Colin Baker was a great Doctor Who. He was and is a great ambassador for Doctor Who. He talks intelligently about the part and the series. He's also incredibly welcoming to fans, despite everything he's had to endure in terms of polls. I've met him several times. I've met him at official signings. I met him twice after seeing Doctor Who: The Ultimate Adventure stage plays where he was happy to sign autographs and chat, which was a bit of a contrast to Jon Pertwee. And then there was the time I met him in High Wycombe W H Smith's whilst buying a copy of DWM. I wanted to get his autograph but I didn't have a pen. The lady on the till wouldn't let me have a pen, but when I mentioned this to Colin he just said, "I'll get you a pen" and did. One signed copy of DWM later. My friend Rick also had a similar encounter with Colin in High Wycombe W H Smith's, although Rick had a pen. 

The Colin Baker era is short, although you can enjoy much more of Colin Baker's Doctor on Big Finish. Indeed, I recommend that if you've not listened to any Big Finish before a good place to start would be The Spectre of Lanyon Moor which gives us the chance to see the Sixth Doctor meet the Brigadier. And if you've never watched a Sixth Doctor story then give Vengeance on Varos a go. It's a good taste of what he's capable of and it feels surprisingly relevant in 2022. 

I still enjoy the Colin Baker era, although I struggle a bit with Mindwarp. But the cast seemed to have struggled with it too so that's my excuse. Even Timelash has its joyful moments. 

I have often complained about the Sixth Doctor's costume, but over time I have grown to like it. It is the Sixth Doctor and whilst I've seen lovely alternative designs there's something missing from Colin's Doctor when he's not in his garish finery. 

So, I just wanted to take a few moments to thank Colin Baker for being the Sixth Doctor. Yes, I know his acting career is broader than that but this is a Doctor Who blog so I'm concentrating on that. And thank him - blame him? - for turning me into the sort of person that writes 300,000-ish words of Doctor Who in a blog almost no one reads. 

Happy Birthday Colin.

PS I'm currently crowd funding a Doctor Who book. You can find more about it here

Classic Doctor Who: Where To Start

 

I originally wrote this for a friend of mine, Katie, and I've edited here to help as a guide to getting into Classic Doctor Who if you've never dipped in before. I have put them in order of Doctor and broadcast. You do not have to watch them in that order. 

As you almost certainly know Classic Doctor Who stories usually consist of multiple 25-minute episodes. There is a bit of a blip during the Colin Baker era when they go to 45-minutes for a season. * They vary from 2-12** episodes in length.

I have focused mainly on four part stories. These are meant to be testers so that you can decide what you like. Television is a very different beast during the Classic era than now, particularly the 60s, so there will be that to get used to, although I sometimes think I worry about this too much.

I should also include a note on Missing Episodes. The BBC junked a lot of its film content in the 1970s to re-use the film. That means there are a number of 60s Doctor Who stories that are entirely or partially missing from the archive. Some of these have been animated. Others have not. All of them are available in audio. If, after you've watched the suggested examples here, you decide to watch all the Patrick Troughton era you'll find a lot of missing episodes. How you navigate those is up to you. I'd pick animations if they are available, then audio and then, if you can find them, reconstructions. Reconstructions are fan made versions of the episodes pulled together from surviving footage, photos and audio. But detail on both missing episodes and reconstructions are for another time and another blog.

 

The William Hartnell Era

The Romans (4)

The Time Meddler (4)

The War Machines (4)

I have picked these three because they are only 4 episodes long and they are all fun. The War Machines in the nearest Hartnell gets to doing a New Doctor Who story.

If you enjoy those then go back to the first thirteen episodes, which if The Daleks had not been such a success might have been all the Doctor Who that was ever made. They are:

An Unearthly Child (4)

The Daleks (7)

The Edge of Destruction (2)

The first episode of An Unearthly Child is magical. The Daleks is long at 7 episodes but essential Doctor Who mythology and genuinely rather good. There is also a film version of this with Peter Cushing as Doctor Who. That is fun to watch when you get a moment but is totally different.

If you still like Hartnell after that everything else is your oyster, but I’d hold off The Web Planet for a while because, although I love it there is a lot of weird shit to overlook.

The Patrick Troughton Era

The Troughton era has two problems for the newbie. There are not many 4-part stories and a lot of it is missing because the BBC wiped the films to re-use it and they have not been recovered so only 7 out of 21 Troughton stories exist in full. There are animated versions of some of them.

The Tomb of the Cybermen (4)

The Enemy of the World (6)

The Mind Robber (5)

If you like those then for a bigger challenge

The Invasion (8)

The War Games (10)

Both of which are long, but great.

If you then want to dip into an animation

The Macra Terror (4)

 

The Jon Pertwee Era

Doctor Who in colour for the first time.

Spearhead from Space (4) ***

The Curse of Peladon (4)

The Three Doctors (4)

Carnival of Monsters (4)

If you like those then pretty much any other story will be enjoyable. 

 

The Tom Baker Era

I am slightly biased here so I could pick loads. I would almost recommend starting Classic Doctor Who here.

The Ark in Space (4)

Genesis of the Daleks (6)

Terror of the Zygons (4)

The Robots of Death (4)

Horror of Fang Rock (4)

If you like all those then Season 16, The Key to Time, is worth watching from the beginning. It is unusual in Classic Doctor Who terms for having a season long arc. But pretty much any Tom Baker is fun to watch.

The Peter Davison Era

Kinda (4)

Snakedance (4) ****

The Five Doctors (1 x 90 Special)

The Caves of Androzani (4)

If you like those then the whole Davison era is pretty good.

 

The Colin Baker Era

Poor Colin does not have a long era and one whole season is The Trial of a Time Lord, which is four separate stories within a courtroom element.

Mark of the Rani (2 x 45mins)

Vengeance on Varos (2 x 45mins)

Revelation of the Daleks (2 x 45mins)

If you like those then Trial of a Time Lord is yours to enjoy. By that point you would have watched a huge chunk of Colin’s era so you should watch the rest. 

 

The Sylvester McCoy Era

Again, Sylvester’s era is a short one, which is a shame as after an initial blip the series started to get its act together again. If you like these then go back to Time and The Rani and watch the whole McCoy era. It is over

                                                        Remembrance of the Daleks (4)

The Happiness Patrol (3)

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy (4)

The Curse of Fenric (4)

Paul McGann

You have got the TV Movie and that is it. You could listen to Big Finish, where he is fab, but that is a whole other kettle of worms.

There you go. There are my suggestions.

PS I'm currently crowd funding a Doctor Who book. You can find more about it here

 

  

*The Peter Davison story Resurrection of the Daleks was a blip as it was broadcast as two 45-minute episodes because of The Olympics.

** There is a single episode story called Mission to the Unknown, which is a prequal episode to the epic 12-part story, The Dalek’s Master Plan. It features none of the main cast or the TARDIS. It feels like a pilot episode for a spin-off, which it was in a way.

***Spearhead from Space will remind you a lot of Rose. It is basically the same story doing the same thing, but with less focus on the companion.

****Kinda/Snakedance are linked so you want to watch them in that order.

It's A-Comin' : Season 22 The Special Edition Box Set

 

We finally have a release date for the Season 22 Special Edition Box Set. It's June 25th (or at least it is on Amazon.) 

In case you don't know Season 22 is Colin Baker's first full season as The Doctor, having appeared in The Twin Dilemma at the end of Season 21 (which I still think wasn't the wisest decision JNT ever made.) It contains six stories - Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos, The Mark of the Rani, The Two Doctors, Timelash and Revelation of the Daleks. 

As well as a relatively new Doctor we also get a change of format. Instead of the traditional 4-6 part 25 minute episodes we get 2 45 minute episodes for each story, except The Two Doctors, which gets 3. It's an interesting change, although I'm not entirely convinced it works. 

Season 22 is important to me because it marks the moment I went from a person who watched Doctor Who to a Doctor Who fan. I'd been watching since the Tom Baker era but I really loved Colin Baker's take on the Doctor and I had a friend at school I could talk about Doctor Who with and he was more in the fandom loop. It was threw him that I took my first tentative steps into Doctor Who fandom: DWM, DWB and other fanzines. I got a taste of the gossip. And it was through DWB that I discovered that there were Doctor Who fans that didn't like Doctor Who very much, which is still an ongoing thing. 

The series got a lot of flak for being too grim and too violent and Eric Saward, the script editor certainly seemed less interested in telling traditional Doctor Who stories. You always got the impression that Eric Saward didn't like the character of the Doctor (and/or Colin Baker.) Interviews after his departure suggest Eric didn't think Colin was up to snuff, which Colin didn't know. We are about to enter one of the uglier periods in Doctor Who behind the scenes history. 

I didn't really notice at the time. I enjoyed all these stories to one degree or another. I loved The Two Doctors, where we got to see Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines in all their glory and to start a whole Season 6B theory. 

I haven't re-watched a lot of these stories for a while but the last time I did they were a mixed bag. I'm afraid Timelash isn't a favourite and could probably have been cut down to 45 minutes. It features some of the oddest line readings in any Doctor Who story. I find the ending of Attack of the Cyberman needlessly bleak for a Doctor Who story. But I like Vengeance on Varos - which seems to have become more satirical over time rather than less - The Mark of the Rani, The Two Doctors and Revelation of the Daleks. The latter is one of my favourite Doctor Who stories, although it isn't perfect. 

The Box Set has another superb Lee Binding (@LeeBinding) cover. It might be my second favourite after the Season 17 one. These Special Edition sets are wonderful. They always come with shedloads of extras, including extended versions of episodes*, new special effects - in this case on Timelash - and Matthew Sweet's interviews with key figures. In this case Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant and Michael Grade. The latter should be fascinating considering Grade's role in bringing Doctor Who to an end. 

I'm looking forward to a re-re-re-re-re-re-re-watch of these stories and finding out more about what went on behind the scenes. It is also a chance to see that whatever the problems were with the Sixth's Doctors era of Doctor Who none of those problems were Colin Baker. I am always slightly defensive of Colin Baker's behalf. He gets a lot of flak, including from people who should know better, and his era is often unloved. But I enjoy it and Colin himself is a lovely man. 

So, it'll be well-worth buying imo. 

PS I am currently crowdfunding a Doctor Who book. You can find more about here.

*Vengeance on Varos (1 & 2), The Two Doctors (1) and Revelation of the Daleks (1) on this Boxed Set.

Something Old, Something New

 

We've seen a few key announcements in the last couple of weeks as the RTD2 era begins filming. David Tennant and Catherine Tate are returning for the 60th Anniversary special. This was announced, it became clear, because they were going to be filming in Camden and everyone was going to know what was going on. 

Looking at pictures from the set raises some interesting questions. The Tennant Doctor is in a new variation of his costume, but seems to have the 13th Doctor's TARDIS. There are rumours that this isn't the 10th Doctor but a 14th Doctor who has regenerated into David Tennant. Again. There are always rumours. 

I suspect, unless RTD has decided - for reasons that passeth all understanding - that the 60th Anniversary should focus only on his period of Doctor Who, that there are more casting revelations to come. 

It was also announced that Yasmin Finney will be part of that 60th Anniversary story as Rose. Like Tennant's costume the fact that she is called Rose has set cats amongst pigeons. Is she an alt-universe Rose Tyler? There are other theories but I want to avoid spoiling what might be coming for other people here. Yasmin Finney is the second trans actor to appear in Doctor Who, after Bethany Black, and the first to play a companion. If companion is the right word. She is currently in Heartstopper, which is a Netflix TV series based on Alice Osman's comic. I haven't watched Heartstopper* yet but it is a series with a global following and is a casting choice that will, I suspect bring new people to Doctor Who. 

Which brings me to perhaps the most important piece of news. We have a new Doctor and his name is Ncuti Gatwa. Gatwa was born in Rwanda and bought up in Scotland. He is the first black actor to play the Doctor.** He too is currently in a popular Netflix series, Sex Education, which is another series I was intending to watch mainly - I must confess - because Gillian Anderson is in it. He seems, from the interviews I've seen, to be a lovely man full of enthusiasm for the part. I saw him as Demetrius in a fantastic production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Globe and he was pretty darn good in that so I'm pretty confident he'll be a good Doctor Who. 

I've noticed that both these castings take actors from Netflix series that have a younger, global demographic. Both actors have huge followings on social media - Ncuti has c2.7m followers on Instagram and Yasmin has c.1.4m - which again I suspect gives Doctor Who access to a potentially new audience. There were some complaints about this being a deliberate attempt to ignore the "traditional" Doctor Who fan base but I think any Doctor Who showrunner who just wants to make Doctor Who for fans like me - 51 year-old men who think Tom Baker is still the best Doctor Who - then the series will die. It always needs to be changing and it always needs to be finding a new audience. 

This also brings me on to another bunch of naysayers. The various bits of casting have annoyed the usual suspects who seem happy to accept a character can entirely change their appearance and personality in an instant but can't cope with the Doctor being a woman or black. I said, back when Jodie was cast, that there is no canon/continuity reason that the Doctor can't be any race or gender. (And at this point we can thank the Lord that Troughton didn't get his way when he suggested playing the Doctor blacked up and wearing a turban. A clear bonkers suggestion that probably would have helped make Doctor Who a programme that died a long time ago. Of embarrassment I suspect.) 

Some time ago I wrote a blog - Telling Different Stories - that talked about how casting a women or a person of colour creates questions about the way The Doctor operates and how that might change what kind of stories it tells. One of my - several - disappointments with the Chibnall era is that it almost never really challenged how women are treated. I suspect, having listened to RTD, there will be a different approach. I'm quite excited to see what happens. 

The one great thing about RTD is that he sells Doctor Who better than almost anyone. As someone who has worked in sales for decades RTD is a joy to listen to. He manages to convert his own love and enthusiasm for Doctor Who into a kind of enthusiasm vortex that sucks other people in. He also comes across as incredibly positive in general. I recommend listening to any decent interview with him to see that but if I was to pick one then I'd go for his appearance on Desert Island Discs

And we've still got Jodie Whittaker's final episode to come. The story that will be part of the BBC 100th Anniversary celebrations. The Chibnall/Whittaker era has been a divisive one. I'm excluding the NMD misogynists on principle. They have there own issues to deal with. But a lot of people whose opinions I respect have disliked it a lot. I have enjoyed a lot of it but I suspect it might end up being my least favourite era of new Doctor Who. There isn't space here to analyse all these reasons, but there will be a blog coming. Spoilers: it has nothing to do with either Jodie Whittaker or The Timeless Child. 

So, this is a little catch-up blog for you all covering the news.

I'm excited for what is coming. I was initially a bit meh about the David Tennant announcement but then after it had settled I found myself genuinely interested to see where RTD is going to take Doctor Who in its 60th Anniversary Year.

Oh, and I'm re-watching all of Doctor Who (and spin-offs) with a view to having everything re-watched by the 60th Anniversary. Keep an eye out for updates etc. 

*I've read the comics though and loved it. I was planning to watch the series at some point. Yasmin Finney's casting might speed that up. 

**I've seen people state he'll be the first gay man to play the Doctor too but I haven't seen that explicitly confirmed anywhere. The character he plays in Sex Education is gay.