Whovember Part 16: 1993 to 1995

I’m going to do something a bit weird today, I’m actually going to talk about my Year 32 choice, then my year 31 choice.  Why?  Well, with Year 31, I’m picking one of my favourite New Adventures, but the problem with it as a story is that it’s really hard to talk about without having to reveal a bit of a spoiler, so by putting them the other way around, I can add in a bit SPOILER SPACE section for the book.  Right, after my usual case of making things too complicated for myself, let’s dig into my choices.

Year 32: 1994 to 1995 - Dalekmania

Here we are far into the realm of “stuff that fandom as a whole has completely forgotten about and only really matters to me”.  This was a documentary about the two Amicus Doctor Who films from the sixties; I got given this on my tenth birthday in the form of a very nice special box set, with posters, art cards etc..  Before I talk about the documentary itself, I am going to use this as a jumping off point to talk about the Peter Cushing films; I know that modern fandom has an awkward relationship with them, but they are a big part of my history with Who.  I was fascinated by them growing up, especially the sheer pop-art of Dr. Who and the Daleks; you can tell they were excited about being able to do Doctor Who in full colour, as it includes ALL the colour.  They are perfect kids matinee adventure fare, that whilst perhaps sanitising some of the darker aspects of the original serials, they do tell the stories in a far more pacey, exciting fashion.  They have certainly been influential, as the design of the new series Daleks have taken cues from the ones in the films, specifically the larger bumper and dome lights, and the way Daleks now measure time in Rels, that wasn’t on TV Who, that was in here.

But as for this documentary, the real reason I wanted to highlight this one, as well as it being just generally well done, with director Kevin Davies having fun doing some recreation sections, like he did with the BBC Documentary 30 Years in the TARDIS, is that it helped change the way I look at films.  Keep in mind, I just turned ten when I watched this, so film documentaries and such were relatively new to me, so I wasn’t used to really thinking of them in terms of who made them, the actors etc.  This proper discussion of the films, looking at how they were financed, the shooting, why they stopped with the two, it helped me to look at these in a different way.  The tape came with a booklet by Who historian extraordinaire Andrew Pixley, which mentioned the connections to other films by Amicus and featuring the same cast, it was there where I first properly got an idea what Quatermass was.  So in a few ways, that’s how I first developed a fascination beyond Doctor Who into film in general, you can pretty much draw a straight line from me getting that gift to me being the Cinematic Canary you see today.  Oh, if my parents only realised the journey that would take me on, they might have gotten me some new pyjamas instead.  You can find this documentary in the bonus features to all the home video releases of Dr. Who and the Daleks there have been over the years, it’s a fun look at them, and on that note, if you haven’t seen the films before, give them ago, they’re a good bit of cheesy sixties fun.

Year 31: 1993 to 1994 - Conundrum

So then, let’s see how long I can discuss this before I have to put up the spoiler space.  This is the first published Who work by Steve Lyons, a long time fan writer who’s done quite a few great stories over the years, including some excellent tales for Big Finish.  He’s a writer that does like having multiple layers to his stories, and this is no exception as the Doctor, Ace, and Bernice end up in the little English village of Arandale, where there are a lot of odd happenings… including the fact that there’s a retired superhero living in town.  The story goes full meta, with an unusual style of narration, lots of playing with the fourth wall, commentary on Doctor Who’s storytelling style, and a lot more.  It’s a wonderful read, a story that really can only work as a novel, and I highly recommend people track it down; it’s part of a larger plot arc in the New Adventures at the time, but you can follow what’s happening fine reading it on its own.  Now then, a few paragraphs worth of SPOILER SPACE, and we can discuss the real meat of the matter.

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Here, have something silly whilst you scroll.

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Right, still here and want to read on?  OK, so this story is actually a sequel to The Mind Robber, Arandale is in the Land of Fiction!  The novel does a great job of teasing out the reveal, doing it bit by bit; we know from the word go there’s something up with the narration, but it reveals the truth bit by bit, slowly.  It allows for all sorts of games with the format, as the story is effectively being written by the new controller of the Land as you read it, so the Doctor starts poking holes in the storytelling, such as at one point him pointing out that, so a cliche could work, something physically impossible just happened,  Or at another moment when the Doctor and companions realise they can’t remember what a particular character they met looked like as the writer didn’t actually describe them.  There’s even the touch that the old TV Comic version of the Doctor, where he’s actually called Doctor Who and has grandchildren called John and Gillian, exist in this world! (Lyons later wrote a sequel novel, Head Games where this Doctor Who escapes into the wider universe).  Yeah, it’s utterly bonkers storytelling, but so satisfying, making it a truly worthy follow up to the original serial.  Now of course one of the New Adventures novels, Human Nature, got adapted into an episode of the show; I reckon this one might benefit from the same treatment.  You would have to change a lot, a tonne of the plot only works on page, but I would love to see an episode of New Who use the same basic premise, go full mindf*** with it.  

Next time, as Paul McGann begins his TV run, we’ll be looking at a couple more novels, one a sequel to a Hinchcliffe classic, and the other the end of the Virgin New Adventures (kind of), which contains a bit of a hidden gag at the TV movies expense…