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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2019 19:38:16 GMT
At the age of 84 he has passed away. A big contributor to seasons 2 and 3, one of the most fun Hartnell eras script editing from The Time Meddler to The Massacre (which he re-wrote uncredited). A sad loss but a solid legacy. He was also one of the people who helped create Coronation Street.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2019 1:27:15 GMT
Sadly, also with the passing of Donald Tosh, passes the final living writer of the William Hartnell era. It feels resonant to talk about epics in relation to Tosh's contributions. The Daleks Master Plan was the show's most cunningly inventive and dangerous idea in its first three years. A twelve-part saga, held over two months, as an increasingly desperate Doctor and his companions fought off the pursuit of the Daleks for their ultimate weapon. It is one of the most important serials of monochrome era Who, I feel. Douglas Camfield's directorial skill never wavers, nor does William Hartnell's breathtakingly steely resolve against the Doctor's arch-foes. His performance maps every confrontation against the Daleks that would follow. After all, this was the story where the Skarosian mutants became what we know them as today. Scheming, ruthless, callous, efficient. It's the serial that brought us the first major companion deaths in Katarina and Sara. Both of whom would gain a long legacy at Big Finish. And who can forget the expertly scripted machinations of Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System? An articulate human foil to the inhumanity of the Dalek menace. We have been gifted with some frankly amazing writers over the show's first three years. David Whitaker's deftly-written character studies in the court of the Lionheart, Dennis Spooner's romping adventures in Rome, Bill Strutton's truly alien conflict between giant ants and light-faith butterflies on an airless plain, Terry Nation's wartime reflections in petrified forests and stilled cities, John Lucarotti's long quest down the Silk Road with Marco Polo, the sibilent quiet of Peter R. Newman's complex Sensorites, Louis Marks's world in miniature, Brian Hayles's story of piratical smugglers, Paul Erickson and Leslie Scott's plague-ridden ark, Donald Cotton's duel at the OK Coral, William Emms's tale of intellect and savagery being more than skin deep, Ian Stewart Black's takeover of the modern world from Post Office Tower, Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis's snowswept cyborgs, and finally... Anthony Coburn's mild curiosity in a junkyard. These were the people who forged my childhood. The best parts of my childhood. A little phrase, a little magic, brought to life by astonishing actors in just as astonishing ways. They may be gone, but the spirit of their writing lives on in so many fantastic authors still among us. May their spark forever live on .  |
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on Dec 19, 2019 9:39:40 GMT
Tosh is someone who made an important contribution but because so many of his episodes are lost, the one story that he effectively wrote, The Massacre, was credited to John Lucoratti and rewritten extensively for the Target novelisation, and he was never very active on the convention circuit, his contribution is often overlooked.
I think Henry Lincoln is now the only surviving writer from the black and white era of the show
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2019 18:00:56 GMT
I read of this last night via Matthew Sweet & Toby Hadoke posting on Twitter the news - held over from 6th December upon family wishes. As the key players of the classic series are gradually moving on, it is perhaps a reminder how the series they all helped shape, is outliving its creators. Like Sherlock Holmes, the Doctor appears assured of an afterlife in popular culture long after the time and fashions of their genesis. Think i'll give The Massacre a listen this weekend.
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Post by doctorkernow on Dec 21, 2019 19:35:36 GMT
Hello again, A script editors's job is mostly unsung, polishing the stories delivered by writers. His input to seasons 2 and 3 was very necessary. The epic Dalek Masterplan, the more humourous historicals such as The Time Meddler and The Myth Makers. As others have said it is such a shame that a lot of season 3 is missing, but Doctor Who afficiandos of the Hartnell era will always appreciate his work. The Massacre was the first story I heard out of the CD Missing Story releases and I really appreciated the detail in which this little known historical event was told.
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