How would you have handled Season 24?

I didn't actually know that, thanks.

It's supposed to be that the Doctor is trying to reach a ledge, but couldn't quite get there (why he was hanging by the umbrella). This obviously wasn't very well realised on screen. It becomes a bit clearer later in episode two, when Ace and Mel use Ace's rope ladder to descend.

Well, exactly, it's poorly executed.
add an element of incipient danger (and, you know, have the dragon in EP 1) and you explain it, the pay off (Glitz just ambling up and pulling him down) still works.

Get rid of Delta and the Bannerman. Wipe the scripts off the face of the Earth. Everything else can stay, no matter how bad they were.

Let's see... It's 1987, the budget is tiny and the roster of writers has been sizeably diminished. However, the era is now a clean slate with only a newly furnished companion introduced into the role nary five episodes ago. Hmm...

I think I'd keep Sylvester in the role and play to his desire to emulate William Hartnell by giving a greyer, albeit more compassionate side to his incarnation of the Doctor. I'd have liked to keep on with the umbrella season format that Trial of a Time Lord attempted with the framing story removed. That way, the ongoing arc will be a reward for fans, but not a necessity for casual viewers. The tone of the series would also have placed a greater emphasis on adult themes and concepts in an effort to drag the series from its present position as a show that supposedly talks down to its audience. The "question mark" motif would also have been junked in favour of a costume that the Seventh Doctor would have slowly over the course of the story constructed out of muted clothing to form his current attire. His panama hat would have been sitting somewhat inexplicably on the time rotor in the console room at the end of 'Part Four', a gift from the TARDIS and a subtle symbol to the audience that this new incarnation is fully formed and raring for adventure.

Time and Change

Starting from the first production slot, I'd have probably junked Time and the Rani from the get-go though and gone with a previously rejected script. The Space Whale would seem appropriate given that it was a dispute between Saward and Mills that prevented it from being produced. Pat Mills's comics seem to have a very high reputation in fandom and the problems appear to be largely cosmetic, so the script is touched up by Andrew Cartmel to incorporate a Seventh Doctor that while not amnesiac was still in the cooldown period of his regeneration and therefore prone to certain physiological eccentricities. For instance, he is able through intense concentration to "tear" a static charge through the air using his fingertips and loose bodily cohesion when distracted, allowing him to phase through walls. He will loose these abilities as his body returns to normal, but it's an interesting twist on the post-regenerative trauma and something perhaps a bit more palatable following The Twin Dilemma. Melanie Bush would have also been given the opportunity to shine by reprogramming the Orkas's organ treatment systems to cannibalise itself while the Doctor was fed into the processing unit. I'd have tried to pounce on Graeme Harper before he transferred to Star Cops, so he would direct both this opening story and the following tale.

Four episodes of Song of a Space Whale.

Build High for Happiness

There's nothing too wrong with Paradise Towers as is except perhaps that it didn't have enough story to work with. I'm tempted to say truncate it down to a two parter with the darker atmosphere and you're pretty much set, but actually I'd probably ask P.J. Hammond to collaborate by introducing his Paradise Five script into the mix. Have Mel working at Paradise Towers when it's full of people, while the Doctor has been thrown into an Escape from New York style nightmare like we'd have seen in the original story; separated from her by a temporal storm that has split the TARDIS in twain. The damage is so severe that the emergency systems we saw in Terminus kick in and the timeship becomes amalgamated into the architecture and it's up to him to find where the two points merge and how Paradise Towers became so ruinous. I've always loved the idea of the Doctor walking into Paradise Towers and completely taking over the gang culture as some kind of benevolent crime lord, so that happens here. Unlike the season's opener, this story ends on a bittersweet note -- in order for Kroagnon to be destroyed everyone from Mel's time must die, but with his defeat in the ruined aftermath there is hope that some form of cohesive society can emerge from the ashes. The Doctor and Mel decide to stay for a while, both mournful and hopeful of a better tomorrow.

Four episodes of Paradise Towers.

Fight or Flight

I'd have enjoyed seeing Claws of the Klathi from the comic strip adapted for the screen, so that goes here with the addition of Mel. The TARDIS materialises in the smoggy streets of Victorian London, near the home of gentleman scientist Nathaniel Derridge. Someone has been breaking into scientists' homes and stealing invaluable equipment, and when the Doctor learns that scorched bodies have been found near the docks, he decides to investigate with Derridge's help. They find an alien spaceship lying in the riverbed; it and its robot guardian are hidden from view by the smog. When they return to Derridge's home, they are greeted by a policeman with a strange story; Caval, the reptile boy from a nearby freak show, was caught stealing from a street vendor, and when he was knocked unconscious in the ensuing struggle his body began to glow. The Doctor realises that Caval is an alien in a healing coma, and when Caval recovers, he explains that his friends the Klathi have had him stealing equipment so they can repair their ship and escape from the Earth. But when Caval describes the ship's crystalline power source, the Doctor realises that it will kill thousands of people when the Klathi re-energise it. He, Caval and Derridge rush to the Great Exhibition, where the ruthless Klathi intend to use Osler's crystal fountain to energise the power unit; the Doctor stops them and saves the visitors to the Exhibition, but the Klathi escape, still intending to take off even though the launch of the ship will destroy London. The Doctor, Caval and Derridge pursue them back to the ship, where Caval finally acknowledges the Klathi's evil, and orders his robot Batella to stop them. Batella, confused by the conflicting instructions he has been given, stumbles into the ship and explodes, killing the Klathi. Caval returns to the freak show, which is now the only home he knows. The story is directed by Andrew Morgan.

Two episodes of Claws of the Klathi.

Absolute Zero

At this stage in the game, I think Svartos deserves a better aesthetic than the Krypton cave look it ultimately got, so we get Fiona Cumming in to direct with a lighting set-up closer to Enlightenment. Given the extra episode, I would have put Glitz up against another party seeking the dragon's treasure -- the space pirate Razorback whom he replaced from the original scripts. That way we get a bit of tension to this Indiana Jones-style tale with the Doctor and Glitz threatened at knife point in the frozen hinterlands outside of Iceworld by the brigand. They continue on with their quest braving a series of natural and unnatural hazards (including a minefield, a murderous sentry robot, deadly flora, ancient booby traps, an avalanche, a cracked lake) while Mel and the Doctor's new companion Ace get to know each other better. Iceworld itself is less like an overlit shopping centre and more akin to a smuggler's cove where hustlers, entrepreneurs and wanderers gather to procure items that are otherwise unattainable on the open market. Unlike the original story, the Dragon is not destroyed but instead hijacks the TARDIS while the Doctor, Mel and Ace are still inside leading to an open-ended season ending cliffhanger as the machine (still fixed to the console) shuts down, scrambling the navigation systems to the point where it becomes impossible to tell where they've landed. The credits cut in just as the Doctor opens the TARDIS scanner window to whatever lies outside.

Four episodes of Dragonfire.

Problem is, Time And The Rani was 100%. By the time Cartmel came in it was the only thing on the table even thugh he hated it so you'd still need to use it...with that in mine, I'd drop the regeneration and just start with the new Doctor. Be bold - the public knew Colin was sacked, they don't need a man in a wig.

Of the people that auditioned, yeah, Sylv was probably the right choice though I would have been bold and gone for Ken Campbell.

Love that idea & yes i think that would've worked extremely well.

Hello again... Season 24? Well now. Firstly, I was so pleased that the interminable Trial was over. I felt really sorry for Colin Baker and surprised that Dr. Who actually got a season 24.
Secondly, my version of 24 was in black & white. Having now seen most of it in colour, I can see what all fuss was about! That poor green baby in Delta, there's probably a pale-green twenty-something out there somewhere.

I'm going to wrestle with the stories as broadcast. I agree that a regeneration without Colin made no sense. So start with Sylvester in the TARDIS in costume with dark brown jacket minus question mark jumper. He wants to investigate the reason the Rani was stealing brain fluid from Earth...

So our first story is Sleep No More. (Just kidding!) Nightmare of the Rani... Sorry must finish fencing before nightfall more later, if you can bear it!

©¢™|™