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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 24, 2024 4:18:48 GMT
Troughton 10th Review
Jungle of Doom - Comic
So we return to the TV comic, and it is much less fantastical than last time. The Doctor and Jamie get chased by some quarks inside a jungle, and not even a cool alien jungle, but a modern day one in Africa. That's it. It's not bad, but it's also a nothing of a story. The Doctor and Jamie run around a bit until they steal a bulldozer from a construction site nearby. It says a lot about the quarks that they're easily defeated by a bulldozer. The only notable thing about the comic is the insensitive 60s crap that you wouldn't find today, like the quarks employing stereotypical native tribes as their foot soldiers and the Doctor killing an innocent leopard that wasn't doing any harm.
I'm still not over that. No, the most interesting thing about the comic is the 6B meta stuff surrounding it but that's not really the focus here. I would recommend the TV comics as a whole but this one, in particular, isn't anything special.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 24, 2024 13:15:26 GMT
Troughton 11th Review
The Five Dimensional Man - Short Audio
This was cute.
A 1950s housewife who moonlights as a science fiction author for pulp magazines gets caught up in one of the Doctor's adventures when Zoe suddenly materializes inside her living room.
It's a very simple story, despite the set up. A mad scientist from the future wants to mutate humanity into insects and has a robot army. There's a plot MacGuffin that can stop him, and Betty the housewife/sci-fi writer is recruited to help out because she can sneak past the robots who wouldn't have her on file in their memory banks yet.
No what makes this story stand out is the change of view character. Rather than the Doctor or one of the companions, we're seeing the adventure from the view point of one of the normal people who get caught up in these things. Who has a life changing experience and then just moves on with their normal lives.
It's refreshing, and absolutely what the Short Trip range is for. Giving us a look at the wider universe of the series as a whole.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 25, 2024 17:31:28 GMT
Troughton 12th Review
The Ten Doctors - Fan Webcomic
What can I say about this comic that hasn’t already been said? Made with loving care by artist Rich Morris, The Ten Doctors is basically the most comprehensive Doctor Who anniversary special that was never made. It is of such high quality that many fans consider it to be the ‘unofficial’ 45th anniversary celebration. Taking place after the events of ‘The Runaway Bride’, and leading into ‘Smith and Jones’, the comic features nearly every doctor, companion, and recurring villain that existed at that time. It would take less space to list who is missing than it would be to point out everyone who shows up. In fact one could make the argument that the novel is a little too crowed at times, but no one feels left out or useless, which is a feat. It is fan-service to the max, but there’s a complex story to carry things along. Yeah it’s a multifaceted arc with a lot of moving parts, and twists, that can make you feel lost at times if your not already a huge fan, or even if you are a huge fan, but each divergence in the plot is there to give everyone something to do, so I don’t mind it. If you want to check out the story for yourselves you can download the PDF from Morris’s own site: comics.shipsinker.com/downloads/
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 26, 2024 16:19:43 GMT
Troughton 13th Review
Downtime - Spin-off
During Doctor Who’s hiatus in the 90s, an independent company called Reeltime Pictures created a bunch of made for home video spin-off movies and documentaries of the show. They received the license to make these films on the condition that The Doctor couldn’t make an appearance himself. Therefore the features focus on the The Doctor’s former companions instead.
While Sarah Jane makes an appearance, the film mainly focuses on The Brigadier and Victoria. Who, in an interesting turn of events, plays the antagonist. She’s not the main big bad, that’s the Great Intelligence, but it’s such an intriguing twist to see one of the Doctor’s companions go rogue without him around to guide them.
Especially Victoria, one of the series most innocent and naive characters. She’s now become this cold and distant figure, lost in a time that’s not her own. And tragically you see her younger self trying to get out. She still cares about people. She wants to help, but she inadvertently becomes just a pawn in the larger villain’s game as she slowly loses control.
This is the best Victoria has ever been written and Deborah Watling just sparkles on screen when finally given something meaty to play. I am so sad we never got more of this version of the character, especially since the film left her ending open.
That’s not to say that the other characters don’t get their share of development either. This story marks the first appearance of The Brigadier’s daughter, Kate Stewart. Kate herself will eventually go on to replace her dad as head of UNIT in the new series, but here they’re estranged and finally reconnecting after six years of not talking.
See the Brig never told his family what he did for a living, not fully. Most likely for their own safety and for legal reasons. However, it did put a strain on his relationships with them.
Downtime gives us a more personable look at The Brigadier and his life after UNIT. It’s a compelling bit of realism that helps to ground the film.
And boy does it need grounding! The plot makes more sense then say, Ghostlight, but only just. There’s a lot of strange editing choices and it feels like there are scenes missing from the final cut. The borderline mystic technobabble used in place of exposition doesn’t help matters. But most confusing of all is how the frick did Victoria get to Tibet?
Like, apparently she’s rich because her dad left her money invested in the bank, that quadrupled over the centuries. I get that she has the means to go there... but I don’t understand why. Last we saw her she was being adopted by a loving family, so why is she going through all this expense to find her dead dad.... who she knows is long gone.
Basically we’re missing some backstory. What happened to her foster parents? Why didn’t she keep in contact with Travers and Ann? Why didn’t she look for the Brigadier and get in touch with him before going to Tibet?
The film wants to isolate her as a means of motivating her to the dark side, but that requires explaining where her previous support group went. Which it never does.
Plot holes aside, I did find myself enjoying this outing of Doctor Who (minus the Doctor). Oh sure, it has a very cheap, fresh out of film school aesthetic, and less then stellar editing/plotting. But I went into this not expecting much and came away pleasantly surprised by the character work and strong acting.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 26, 2024 21:00:07 GMT
Troughton Ranking
Favorite Story: The Invasion - Top Tier Who. Easily a contender for Troughton's best story, and with in my personal top five Troughton Episodes
Least Favorite Story: Missing in Action - It's not bad for what it is, but it is outdated now and there are better resources covering the topic
1. The Invasion (tv story)
2. Power of the Daleks TV Soundtrack (miscellaneous)
3. The Ten Doctors (fan work) 4. The Wheel of Ice (novel)
5. The Five Dimensional Man (short audio)
6. Doctor's Assemble (minisode) 7. Downtime (spin-off) 8. The Black Hole (full audio) 9. On a Pedestal (short story) 10. Destiny of the Doctors (video game) 11. The Dominators (novelization) 12. Jungle of Doom (comic) 13. Missing in Action (behind the scenes)
Another strong round of stories. I might personally prefer the Hartnell era overall but there's no denying the quality of Troughton's episodes.
Next on the list is Martin's "era".
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Post by mark687 on Feb 26, 2024 21:08:49 GMT
Troughton Ranking
Favorite Story: The Invasion - Top Tier Who. Easily a contender for Troughton's best story, and with in my personal top five Troughton Episodes
Least Favorite Story: Missing in Action - It's not bad for what it is, but it is outdated now and there are better resources covering the topic
1. The Invasion (tv story)
2. Power of the Daleks TV Soundtrack (miscellaneous)
3. The Ten Doctors (fan work) 4. The Wheel of Ice (novel)
5. The Five Dimensional Man (short audio)
6. Doctor's Assemble (minisode) 7. Downtime (spin-off) 8. The Black Hole (full audio) 9. On a Pedestal (short story) 10. Destiny of the Doctors (video game) 11. The Dominators (novelization) 12. Jungle of Doom (comic) 13. Missing in Action (behind the scenes)
Another strong strong round of stories. I might personally prefer the Hartnell era overall but there's no denying the quality of Troughton's episodes.
Next on the list is Martin's "era". Good Ranking and agree The Fugitive should've been next in Doc Order. Regards mark687
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 26, 2024 21:32:14 GMT
Troughton Ranking
Favorite Story: The Invasion - Top Tier Who. Easily a contender for Troughton's best story, and with in my personal top five Troughton Episodes
Least Favorite Story: Missing in Action - It's not bad for what it is, but it is outdated now and there are better resources covering the topic
1. The Invasion (tv story)
2. Power of the Daleks TV Soundtrack (miscellaneous)
3. The Ten Doctors (fan work) 4. The Wheel of Ice (novel)
5. The Five Dimensional Man (short audio)
6. Doctor's Assemble (minisode) 7. Downtime (spin-off) 8. The Black Hole (full audio) 9. On a Pedestal (short story) 10. Destiny of the Doctors (video game) 11. The Dominators (novelization) 12. Jungle of Doom (comic) 13. Missing in Action (behind the scenes)
Another strong strong round of stories. I might personally prefer the Hartnell era overall but there's no denying the quality of Troughton's episodes.
Next on the list is Martin's "era". Good Ranking and agree The Fugitive should've been next in Doc Order. Regards mark687 Oh finally, a place where I don't have to get sidetracked debating useless lore. You shouldn't need to defend headcanons, because their headcanons. Martin being a 6B Doctor just makes way more sense then a pre-Hartnell incarnation to my mind, if someone wants to headcanon otherwise be my guest. There's quite literally no wrong answer here cause it's Doctor Who, there is no canon. Heck, there's barely any continuity half the time. But people get so pointlessly defensive if you dare to have a different option to them in some corners of the internet, and it's not only exhausting as a fan, it's also a disservice to Martin and her Doctor to constantly live in the shadow of other Doctors and pedantic fan debates.
Anyways mini rant over.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 27, 2024 22:23:07 GMT
Before kicking off the Martin Era I just want to establish a few things.
There's simply not enough material with her Doctor yet to cover all of the categories, so I've expanded this era to also included "The Other"/Timeless Child stuff and AU Doctors.
Whenever possible I will slot in an actual story featuring Martin before considering the other two categories. However this does mean that this portion of the marathon is a little less random than the last two.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 28, 2024 4:14:37 GMT
Martin 1st Review
Timewyrm: Revelation - Novel
This was slow going. As our fourth multi-doctor story this marathon (and technically our third Christmas story), I’m starting to feel the marathon fatigue somewhat. But there’s only more to come with the other/timeless child/fugitive Doctor. The Other only appears for two paragraphs towards the last few chapters and the reference is so vague that it could mean anything or nothing. Which is my preference honestly. I strongly believe that the Doctor's past should forever remain a mystery. I mean, it's called Doctor Who after all.
That said, vague allusions and metaphors seem to be all that this book has going for it.
The plot is actually very simple, the Doctor and Ace become trapped inside a dreamscape; inception style. Which should be right up my alley. I love surrealism and character studies, and I'll admit that there are some cool ideas featured here, but it takes so long just to get to the bloody point!
In the beginning we're treated to some neat visuals and set ups, ideas that could have been their own adventures in their own right, but these are swept aside almost as soon as they are introduced and then we're off to the next new thing. It's not until the the Doctor enters the dreamscape himself does the story pick up and that's nearly halfway through the book.
All this is to say that the first half of the story is very disjointed and as a whole the book doesn't really gel together. There's also just the general problem with tone that I tend to take issue with most New Adventures. Unpleasantness for the sake of seeming more mature than it really is, that leaves me cold. In the author's defense it's better handled here than in other books and most of it is reversed by the end, but I still don't like it.
Also did we, the audience, really need know that Ace has a foot fetish?
What rescues the book is the character development. Both Ace and the Doctor receive tons of it and it's a refreshing change of pace, that sadly only emerges during the last quarter of the novel. But if you have the patience to wade through the gobbledygook to get there, you'll be rewarded with a pretty satisfying ending..... so long as you ignore the fact that the New Adventures will go on to undermine this new found development later, but oh well.
Finally, Saul the sentient church is such a lovely character that I would adore seeing in the show proper.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 29, 2024 4:44:59 GMT
Martin 2nd Review
Cold Fusion - Full Audio
Now this was a pleasant surprise.
I was initially dreading this audio as I disliked the novel that it's based off of. But the audio adaptation managed to fix some of the biggest issues that I had with the original.
Spoilers below for a 30 year old book and 5 year old audio ahead.
So one of the things that angered me so much about the original novel was the ending where the doctor's wife was killed for seemingly no story reason other than to give the main character more man pain that he didn't need. It was a classic case of fridging; introducing a female character just to be a love interest and then killing her off for the sake of the male character's development.
Oh I still hate it to this day!
The audio changes this up somewhat. It's not a perfect solution, but instead of getting murdered by the bad guy, the character of Patience disappears in a time vortex.
It's still removes her from the narrative abruptly without closure and is confusingly presented on audio, but at least it doesn't kill her off. Her fate from that point is left ambiguous and she can be brought back later if anyone wants to.
And as I like the character, I do hope she comes back.
Patience is given so much more personality in the audio that was missing from the book, and I enjoy the idea of the doctor running into a person from his past that he can't quite remember, but knows he has a connection to. At least conceptually I like it, poor execution can drag this idea down hard. (glares daggers as River Song and Moffat)
But on to other things I liked, I liked how the Tardis crews were presented and how they all had things to do. Adric was my personal favorite and it was good to hear him back. I liked his chemistry with everyone, especially with the Seventh Doctor.
Speaking of the Seventh Doctor, I have never really cared for the New Adventures take on the character, and there are still things here that annoy me slightly, but McCoy breathes so much life into his performance that I can manage to swallow some of the more dodgy aspects of the character.
It's not a major improvement, but it is an improvement.
I also didn't even mind the Other or the Looms this go around. For one, it's left ambiguous as who's memories we're really seeing, and it's hinted that Patience may be from another dimension entirely. One where Gallifrey was destroyed by the aliens that are invading reality/time.
If taken to that conclusion, couldn't the Other be a Doctor from another universe? One who has a different history to our own? Our even a connected one, if you prefer?
Anyways, I like the headcannon and I'm keeping it.
Now on to what I didn't like. Even at six episodes, the story was rushed. The one advantage the novel has over the audio is that things can breath more.
The ending suffers the most as the weight of things, (Patience's 'death', the villain reveal and his comeuppance, the Seventh Doctor's betrayal, ect.) doesn't have time to really be felt by the audience or the characters before we're off to the next thing.
Furthermore the wrap up is, well, a bit fanw*nky and fails to provide a conclusion to the Doctor's new found animosity towards himself. And it all ends rather abruptly without any real closure. Meh...
Still this doesn't hamper the lead up to the final episode which is still loads of fun, and that's what good Doctor Who should be, fun.
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Post by number13 on Feb 29, 2024 9:18:04 GMT
Good Ranking and agree The Fugitive should've been next in Doc Order. Regards mark687 Oh finally, a place where I don't have to get sidetracked debating useless lore. You shouldn't need to defend headcanons, because their headcanons. Martin being a 6B Doctor just makes way more sense then a pre-Hartnell incarnation to my mind, if someone wants to headcanon otherwise be my guest. There's quite literally no wrong answer here cause it's Doctor Who, there is no canon. Heck, there's barely any continuity half the time. But people get so pointlessly defensive if you dare to have a different option to them in some corners of the internet, and it's not only exhausting as a fan, it's also a disservice to Martin and her Doctor to constantly live in the shadow of other Doctors and pedantic fan debates.
Anyways mini rant over.
I couldn't agree more! The Fugitive Doctor was amazing from her first scenes and I'm looking forward to her BF adventures, but I think the whole Timeless Child fandango is complete, convoluted, nonsensical 'who created the creator' rubbish which pushes the ultimate origin of the Time Lords back to a person from some other universe (or somewhere), ignores everything we've ever heard (even though it was a bit contradictory!) about Rassilon and Omega and finally, makes the Doctor too important as the template for the Time Lord species.
For me the Doctor is amazing because of how they are and what they do, not because they are supposedly innately special in some way. I much prefer the original idea of the rebel with a moral cause who ran off to see the Universe because life at home was stuffy and boring! I hope the Timeless Child goes the way of 'ooh look the Doctor is half-human'; an embarrassing 'revelation' which the future tries to forget.
On the subject of 'forgetting', for the First Doctor to not really be the First Doctor, everyone, literally everyone on Gallifrey would either have to have been mind-wiped too, or 'all in it together'. Borusa who taught him as a young Time Lord at the Academy, K'anpo (whatever his true name was) who was his guru - and his boyhood friend (or maybe brother but I won't go there ), the Master! All those clever, devious, telepathic minds who knew an unusual young Time Lord and not a single one of them ever suspected he was even more unusual than in his ideas? All those layers of competing, scheming Time Lord agencies and hierachies - and not one single 'leak', ever? No way!
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 29, 2024 13:01:15 GMT
Oh finally, a place where I don't have to get sidetracked debating useless lore. You shouldn't need to defend headcanons, because their headcanons. Martin being a 6B Doctor just makes way more sense then a pre-Hartnell incarnation to my mind, if someone wants to headcanon otherwise be my guest. There's quite literally no wrong answer here cause it's Doctor Who, there is no canon. Heck, there's barely any continuity half the time. But people get so pointlessly defensive if you dare to have a different option to them in some corners of the internet, and it's not only exhausting as a fan, it's also a disservice to Martin and her Doctor to constantly live in the shadow of other Doctors and pedantic fan debates.
Anyways mini rant over.
I couldn't agree more! The Fugitive Doctor was amazing from her first scenes and I'm looking forward to her BF adventures, but I think the whole Timeless Child fandango is complete, convoluted, nonsensical 'who created the creator' rubbish which pushes the ultimate origin of the Time Lords back to a person from some other universe (or somewhere), ignores everything we've ever heard (even though it was a bit contradictory!) about Rassilon and Omega and finally, makes the Doctor too important as the template for the Time Lord species.
For me the Doctor is amazing because of how they are and what they do, not because they are supposedly innately special in some way. I much prefer the original idea of the rebel with a moral cause who ran off to see the Universe because life at home was stuffy and boring! I hope the Timeless Child goes the way of 'ooh look the Doctor is half-human'; an embarrassing 'revelation' which the future tries to forget.
On the subject of 'forgetting', for the First Doctor to not really be the First Doctor, everyone, literally everyone on Gallifrey would either have to have been mind-wiped too, or 'all in it together'. Borusa who taught him as a young Time Lord at the Academy, K'anpo (whatever his true name was) who was his guru - and his boyhood friend (or maybe brother but I won't go there ), the Master! All those clever, devious, telepathic minds who knew an unusual young Time Lord and not a single one of them ever suspected he was even more unusual than in his ideas? All those layers of competing, scheming Time Lord agencies and hierachies - and not one single 'leak', ever? No way! That's a good point. There's no way to have kept that secret for that long. Like the concept of the Timelords stealing their tech and culture from an alien child I can see, but why does it have to be the Doctor specifically? What does that add, other then yet another mid-life crisis 'woe is me' nonsense that we all know has to end in the Doctor deciding that he doesn't really care where he's from or who he really is, because anything else would 1. Destroy the main mystery of the show, and 2. Be insulting to real people who are adopted. Like it's just such a pointless plot point.
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Post by timleschild on Feb 29, 2024 13:34:08 GMT
I couldn't agree more! The Fugitive Doctor was amazing from her first scenes and I'm looking forward to her BF adventures, but I think the whole Timeless Child fandango is complete, convoluted, nonsensical 'who created the creator' rubbish which pushes the ultimate origin of the Time Lords back to a person from some other universe (or somewhere), ignores everything we've ever heard (even though it was a bit contradictory!) about Rassilon and Omega and finally, makes the Doctor too important as the template for the Time Lord species.
For me the Doctor is amazing because of how they are and what they do, not because they are supposedly innately special in some way. I much prefer the original idea of the rebel with a moral cause who ran off to see the Universe because life at home was stuffy and boring! I hope the Timeless Child goes the way of 'ooh look the Doctor is half-human'; an embarrassing 'revelation' which the future tries to forget.
On the subject of 'forgetting', for the First Doctor to not really be the First Doctor, everyone, literally everyone on Gallifrey would either have to have been mind-wiped too, or 'all in it together'. Borusa who taught him as a young Time Lord at the Academy, K'anpo (whatever his true name was) who was his guru - and his boyhood friend (or maybe brother but I won't go there ), the Master! All those clever, devious, telepathic minds who knew an unusual young Time Lord and not a single one of them ever suspected he was even more unusual than in his ideas? All those layers of competing, scheming Time Lord agencies and hierachies - and not one single 'leak', ever? No way! That's a good point. There's no way to have kept that secret for that long. Like the concept of the Timelords stealing their tech and culture from an alien child I can see, but why does it have to be the Doctor specifically? What does that add, other then yet another mid-life crisis 'woe is me' nonsense that we all know has to end in the Doctor deciding that he doesn't really care where he's from or who he really is, because anything else would 1. Destroy the main mystery of the show, and 2. Be insulting to real people who are adopted. Like it's just such a pointless plot point. It puts the Who back into Doctor Who & opens things up for more stories with pre-Hartnell Doctors in tv, comics, audio etc. But it was done in such a way that the show can carry on without referencing it if it wants. But RTD did. so it is canon. I know some people don't like that & can choose to ignore it, but...here we are.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 29, 2024 17:54:23 GMT
That's a good point. There's no way to have kept that secret for that long. Like the concept of the Timelords stealing their tech and culture from an alien child I can see, but why does it have to be the Doctor specifically? What does that add, other then yet another mid-life crisis 'woe is me' nonsense that we all know has to end in the Doctor deciding that he doesn't really care where he's from or who he really is, because anything else would 1. Destroy the main mystery of the show, and 2. Be insulting to real people who are adopted. Like it's just such a pointless plot point. It puts the Who back into Doctor Who & opens things up for more stories with pre-Hartnell Doctors in tv, comics, audio etc. But it was done in such a way that the show can carry on without referencing it if it wants. But RTD did. so it is canon. I know some people don't like that & can choose to ignore it, but...here we are. You can like the arc if you want, but I would very much disagree that it adds mystery back to the show. In fact I would argue that it does the opposite of that. You don't add mystery by answering the question no one wanted the answer to in the first place.
Also, who cares about about pre-Hartnell incarnations? So what if they exist or don't exit? If they're just earlier incarnations then they don't effect the ongoing story anyways, and to cliam that any of them were "the Doctor", the hero, before Hartnell is to undermine over 60 years of character development.
No thank you.
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Post by bethhigdon on Feb 29, 2024 21:49:00 GMT
Martin 3rd Review
Origins - Comic
I got the graphic novel version of this one, and it includes all four main issues and the bonus Free Comic Book Day story.
The Free Comic Book Day issue acts as a prologue of sorts, but doesn’t really add much as it originally was intended to be a separate standalone story. So I’m going to talk about it as such.
I hope you enjoy today's special: two reviews for the price of one!
FCBD 2022
The Fugitive Doctor lands on Earth in the year 1962 and saves a bunch of children from a group of alien invaders... or rather the little kids save themselves and she just captures the bad guys afterward. She’s then deemed ‘cool’ and invited to ‘hang’, but she can’t stick around. Though she does reflect how Earth is starting to grow on her just a bit.
Then we cut to the First Doctor and Susan first arriving on Earth in 1963. The End.
I understand what they were trying to go for here; that the Doctor chose Earth as his first adventure with Susan, because he subconsciously remembers being Martin, but it doesn’t really work. Mainly because Martin’s Doctor doesn’t work as a pre-Hartnell incarnation. Even if you buy The Other/Timeless Child/Morbius Incarnations ect., she still doesn’t fit.
Look, for the sake of augment, let’s pretend that the Master and the Matrix wasn’t lying (even though they always lie); any pre-Hartnell incarnations wouldn’t call themselves the Doctor, they wouldn’t have a Tardis that looks like a Police Box, and they wouldn’t have the same moral code that we associate with the Doctor.
Hartnell is called the ‘First Doctor’ because he’s the person who grew into the Doctor. Both in the meta sense and within the canon of the series itself.
He wasn’t called the Doctor until Barbra and Ian gave him that name. He didn’t form his moral code until he met them and learned form them. And the Tardis didn’t become a blue Police Box until it landed in that junkyard in 1963.
To suggest otherwise is to shit all over 60 years of character development, and that is where I draw the line.
Mess with continuity and the lore all you want. Reset the retcon button each era. I don’t care. But do not erase the development of the main character!
Fortunately, it’s all so incompetently done that it’s easy to ignore.
The connection between Martin’s Doctor and Hartnell’s Doctor is so vague and disconnected that you can just assume whatever you want.
Look, I like Martin, I like her Doctor. I’m happy to have her. But give me any other explanation for her other than Pre-Hartnell, or worst, mealy mouthed allusions with no resolution. Please, I’m begging you show.
Origins
Thankfully the main story is far better.
The Doctor is tasked by the Division to ‘eliminate’ a terrorist cult that threatens Gallifrey.... Only to find out that said ‘cult’ are really just Gallifreyans themselves, looking to leave their home planet and start life anew.
This deception, of course, is what inspires her to break ties with the Division and is supposed to lead into The Fugitive of the Judoon.
Well not quite. Lee is absent, so we’re meant assume that other stories exist between this one and Fugitive of the Judoon.
Instead we get Taslo as the Doctor’s companion.
I really like Taslo.
She has a lot of layers to her and a nice arc.
Similar to Romana, she’s a Time Lord fresh out of the academy and assigned by the High Council to assist the Doctor in her mission.
And that’s where the similarities end. They have two completely different personalities, skill sets, and character developments.
Taslo is primarily a solider, an undercover agent. Like all Time Lords she is smart, but not smarter than any other Gallifreyan. You get the feeling that she’s decidedly average by Gallifreyan standards, but was chosen for the job because she’s inexperienced and young, and therefore easier to manipulate by the Division.
That’s interesting.
Like, that’s really, really interesting. A Time Lord that isn’t amazingly special at first glance; who’s neither a renegade nor a person of political power. She’s just normal... or at least normal to a Gallifreyan.
And that’s fascinating because it gives us more of a glimpse into Gallifreyan culture than perhaps any story ever has before. How the machinations of those in power are viewed by the everyday citizens, and how someone who isn’t intended to be a female Doctor clone (sorry Romana fans, but it’s true) would behave.
The dynamic between her and the Doctor is also great. It’s another mentor/student relationship, but its handled really well.
Over all I’m sadden that she’ll most likely wind up as a one off character.
Anything else? Oh I do like the idea of Time Lords being able to reintegrate to match their environment. That’s cool.
All in all I highly recommend this comic. Especially fans of Martin’s Doctor. Also, the graphic novel version is probably easier to get a hold of. I went for the digital copy myself.
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Post by bethhigdon on Mar 4, 2024 18:23:02 GMT
Martin 4th Review
Fugitive of the Judoon - Mini-Novelization
So this isn’t a full novelization... in fact it’s more of an abridged recap.
See Jodie only has one target novelization out at the moment and only one other on the way. Neither of which feature the Fugitive Doctor, so I had to make do.
The Doctor Who Annuals are yearly special magazines, turned hardback children’s books, that have been running fairly consistently since the 1960s.
Typically the annuals were anthologies with original comics, short stories, and games. Along with maybe the odd news article, ratings and reviews, or a behind the scene feature. With Jodie’s run the annuals have taken on a new approach.
For whatever reason, the 2021 annual is just recaps of all the stories from the past season. The gimmick being that they’re diary entries by the doctor herself. There’s still trivia and games for the kiddos, but like hardly any original stories or art.
Honestly, in the days of streaming and Wikipedia, I don’t understand the marketing decision behind this. What’s is the point of it all? Outside of what few games are in it, there’s nothing new here. You can just watch the story themselves or read this same trivia online.
They don’t even bother to tell us anything definitive about the Fugitive Doctor. Her blurb on here is even more vague than the show itself.
(”You’ll find out one day....” Haha, yeah right.)
But enough dithering, how is the actual story?
Meh... I mean it’s a summary of the episode. What else is there to say? Like I guess having the tale told in first person from the Doctor’s perspective is a novel approach, but it’s so dang short that it kind of wastes the premise.
For example, I love more insight into how the Doctor feels about things as the character tends to bottle things up, and a diary is good way to do that. But the way it is told here is so toothless and concise that I still don’t know what the Doctor feels, outside of confusion. A state of being that we knew about by the end of the original episode anyways.
Having skimmed through the rest of the annual, I can’t really recommend it for anyone. Unless you just find it on the cheap or in the public library and your grade schooler is a big fan of the show; then the games at least might keep them quiet for about a quarter of an hour.
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Post by bethhigdon on Mar 5, 2024 22:09:06 GMT
Martin 5th Review
The Tourist - Short Story
Today’s short story comes from the charity anthology Adventures In Lockdown.
I’ve already discussed the Doctor Who: Lockdown campaign during the second doctor’s era, but in case you missed it, Lockdown was a multi-media experiment used to keep the show going during the covid quarantine, and occasionally provide public messaging and charity outreach during the height of the plague.
Adventures In Lockdown is a collection of short stories and art that was originally published on the Lockdown website, along with a few new bonus stories. This was done to both preserve the content when the site eventually went down, and to raise funds for Children In Need.
As for the story itself, it’s one my favorite themes in Doctor Who analogies, and within sic-fi/fantasy in general. Normal people not involved in the main adventures just dealing with the fallout.
We follow George, an elderly gentleman who has just moved to Gloucester right after the events of Fugitive of the Judoon. We see the city trying to get back to normal as George seemingly lucks into finding a new job, a new home, and a new friend.
I really liked this one. It’s a strong contender for the top spot on my ranking for the Martin ‘era’.
I won’t give the ending twist away, but do like how the Doctor was handled here. A behind the scenes figure who’s helping folks in small ways. It’s just a nice take on a version of the character who is wrapped up in grand mythology event stories all the time.
In fact this is the first story in the Martin era to not be a multi-doctor story.
But more than the Doctor, I really liked the character of George. He’s so relatable. Truly a gem of a character.
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Post by bethhigdon on Mar 8, 2024 0:47:54 GMT
Martin 6th Review
A Sit Down with Jo Martin - Behind the Scenes
So I went with an actor interview for the Behind the Scenes entry, just so we could get some more actual Martin in our Martin era jaunt.
I’m not one typically for behind the scenes interviews as I have little interest in the private lives of actors or the nuts and blots of making a show, as I’m already familiar with the process of media production. But this was something that I actually liked. Just chilling with the actor and asking some non-offensive questions and about what they enjoy about the show and working on it.
What’s more interesting however is what the interview is promoting.
This was the first official interview with Martin I found. There may be more, but this is the one that the Doctor Who youtube recommended in searches for her.
Why this was made, was less about promoting the actual show and more about promoting a special event that the BBC hosted last year.
Described as an ‘interactive stage play’ it’s more like a Disney dark ride that you walk through. You and the group go with are characters in a story that you get to participate in, in a limited capacity that is. There are live actors playing bit roles to guide you though while the main series characters appear in per-recorded footage.
It sounds pretty hyped honestly, and while its now over with I hope more videos are released online the same way Disney dark rides are.
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Post by bethhigdon on Mar 8, 2024 16:08:31 GMT
Martin 7th Review
Time Fracture - Miscellaneous
Well Martin's first Big Finish audio still isn't out yet so I had to come up with something else for this slot.
In truth Time Fracture isn't out yet either. Like the scenes with Martin haven't been publicly released yet, but there is some official material that fans who didn't get the opportunity to see it live can watch online.
But first what is Time Fracture?
Billed as an interactive stage show, the performance is something like a cross between a theme park attraction, a 'who done it' mystery play, and an escape room game.
In addition to trailers there are also a series of minisodes leading up to the event, preview recordings, behind the scenes look-ins, and a re-staging/performance of the musical number section available. The minisodes and musical numbers are things I highly recommend checking out.
Massively ambitious, and with good reviews online, the show was hampered by poor timing, lack of forethought, and just plain bad luck.
For starters the show premiered during the tail end of the pandemic, which wasn't the wisest of moves. Secondly it was a tie in to the Time Lord Victorious multimedia stunt that only about half the audience attending was aware of. Then the stage was hit by flooding and the production had to end early. And finally there seemed to be no thought put in by the marketing team on how to capitalize on the event outside of the live performance itself.
There were no follow up tours, no merch beyond the Time Lord Victorious, and there was no online or physical media release after the show was over. That's a massive waste of opportunity and resources. Even if investors made the argument that there wasn't enough of a market overseas for touring, they still could have recorded the event and made it an interactive flash game online for extra clicks/revenue for very little upfront cost.
And now that the series has a completely new production team and new contract with Disney, I can't see them going back to revive this or release it online, meaning it may be lost to time forever just like the missing episodes of the past, unless someone is brave enough to post a bootleg recording of it online.
It's a such a shame.
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Post by bethhigdon on Mar 9, 2024 16:03:08 GMT
Martin 8th Review
Power of the Doctor - TV Story
Dang this was so good.
I had to play catch up with Chibnall’s era to get to this episode, hence the delay, but damn what a story to end on!
This was the best anniversary special ever aired, the best episode of the Chibnall era, and perhaps my new favorite story of all time.
But is it a Fugitive Doctor’s story?
Eh.... It’s more a multi-doctor story that the Fugitive Doctor cameos in along with a bunch of other Doctors, but it’s not a superfluous appearance by any means. Granted, we still get no real answers to her existence, and we never will, but she does arguably save the day in what is indeed a badass scene. Arguably the best on screen appearance for Jo Martin.
So what is the story?
The Master sets up an elaborate trap to finally steal the Doctor’s body/regenerations, and for once, actually succeeds.
And what I love about this plot twist, is that it’s made evidentially clear that it’s no longer about survival. He no longer needs those regenerations since the Time War... and the fact that he’s basically immortal anyways (the master is really the timeless child, prove me wrong) but rather his motivations are something far deeper, something hinted at since the beginning.
The Master hates himself. He hates being the Master. He wants to be the Doctor, because he wants what the Doctor has... fame, attention, adoration, love... but he doesn’t understand how those things work; how the Doctor acquired such loyal friends and a universe wide reputation as a hero.
He thinks it’s something innately special about the Doctor’s being, something that he can require by inhabiting the Doctor’s body... but really, it’s just because the Doctor has chosen to be kind. They’re not perfect, by any means, but they try.... They try to help when needed, and they learned that through their companions. The Doctor is the hero, because the Doctor has friends.
The Master, drives away anyone that may have given him a chance. They may have been his friends, he may have been the hero even, if not for his self destructive behavior and lashing out at everyone and everything. Hence his tragedy.
And this is further backed up by the First’s Doctor run. He became the Doctor, the Hero, by learning how to be a better person from his first companions; Barbara and Ian.
And yes, I loved all of the companion cameos! btw
It’s stuff like this, that reinforces the fundamental themes of the entire series, are the things that make the whole Timeless Child/Other/Morbius Incarnations, stuff so baffling. Martin’s Doctor can’t be a pre-Hartnell Doctor because the Doctor didn’t learn to be the Doctor until he met Barbara and Ian. Insisting that she is one undermines the story.
That’s why the 6B theory makes so much more sense, and why I’m deeply disappointed that Chibnall didn’t have the guts to confirm it. To give us that final twist that would have fixed so much shit, but oh well.... I guess it’s up to us fans.
But enough should of, would of, could ofs... Lets get to the Fugitive Doctor’s part of the story... spoiler warning below.
Apparently the Doctor has built an interactive hologram of themselves that can take the form of any known previous incarnation. Including Martin’s version.
We’ve seen similar holograms created by the Tardis before, but this is the most advanced version to date as the Doctor has apparently been working on it since well... forever basically. Since they’ve been in possession of the Tardis itself anyway.
The Martin hologram appears before the Master pretending to be the genuine article. Just long enough to distract him so that the companions can defeat him. This is helped by the fact that The Master doesn’t recognize this incarnation, but she apparently remembers him... make of that what you will.
So in essence the Martin Doctor gets to save the day. Which is honestly more dignity than the character has been shown thus far in the series and is a nice send off to them.
Honestly , I could talk about this story for ages, but we’re here for Martin’s doctor this go around so I’m keeping the review just to that... but seriously if you haven’t seen this episode yet, and are a fan of the series, you need to.
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