You hear it all the time. The
frustrated call of the fan boy/girl.
"I have to wait HOW LONG for
new episodes of Doctor Who?"
"They're splitting the season?
I'll have to wait for months for the story to finish!"
"Why isn't Doctor Who on ALL
THE TIME???"
Well, actually, it is.
A History Lesson
By all rights, I shouldn't be a Doctor
Who fan. Or at least, one of the supremely obsessed variety that
leads me to work on editing books on the subject, hosting a podcast,
or talking for hours on panels at conventions. You see, I wasn't one
of those fans that happened across a random episode of Doctor Who and
was granted an epiphany to become an immediate convert. I grew up in
the 80's, in a family that had a predilection for watching Sci-Fi.
Most things Sci-Fi ended up on my television at some point, from Star
Wars and Star Trek to Knight Rider and Transformers. Not to mention
such total classics such as Automan and The Powers of Matthew Star!
So you'll have to forgive me for not being immediately converted; I
was inundated with a lot of Sci-Fi shows, and when Doctor Who did
show up on the family TV, my pre adolescent self would have dismissed
it like so many other shows, because it didn't have the glitz of my
childhood obsession, Star Wars.
Ah yes, Star Wars. That seductive
franchise that snaps us up as children with its lightsabers,
spaceships, and casual incest. Now, I mention Star Wars because it
directly leads to me to Doctor Who fandom, in a round about way. Tie
in novels for successful franchises have been published for years,
dating back to the original Star Trek. Most of these books were
easily forgotten however, as they were presented as nothing more than
subpar episodes of the shows, with no progression in any overall plot
or characterization. Everything had to reset to how it was at the
start of the book, letting whoever else was to follow in any medium
to pick up anew. This led to many fans to dismiss such media, because
if nothing could change, it obviously didn't "count". This
all changed in 1991, with the release of the new Star Wars novel,
"Heir to the Empire". For the first time, a franchise was
charting further adventures of its characters past the visual medium,
with a full backing of the production crew, and an implied
acknowledgement that it "counted". It was an enormous
success, and changed the landscape of spin off media. Tie in novels
had always been a good source of income, but suddenly these books
were becoming national best sellers, and everyone wanted in. Doctor
Who would be no different.
The Wilderness Years
In 1992, Doctor Who had been off the
air for 3 years, and the hope of its return seemed bleak. Following
the success of the Star Wars novels, Virgin Publishing started their
New Adventures line, picking up with the 7th Doctor having adventures
taking place after the show had gone off the air. I had entered high
school by this point, and had a more refined taste. At least, I liked
to think I did. So when a friend, knowing my fascination with time
travel, properly introduced me to Doctor Who, I was more willing to
give it a far shake. He loaned me a few videos, Tom Baker of course,
and I liked it well enough. The 5 Doctors followed closely after
that, and concept of regeneration perked my interest even further. So
when I walked into a Waldenbooks one day and saw several books on the
shelf with the Doctor Who logo on them, I decided to give one a try.
The covers of these early books weren't the greatest. In fact, they
can be downright embarrassing. But there was one book with an AWESOME
cover, and I just had to get it. That book was "Cat's Cradle:
Witch Mark". It featured a cover with the TARDIS parked outside
of what looked like Stonehenge, with a unicorn coming out of some
portal. It is a beautiful piece of art, probably one of the best ever
to grace a Doctor Who book. I excitedly read it and... it was not
very good. My burgeoning fandom might have ended there, except two
things happened. I actually got to see Sylvester McCoy in a televised
story, and I read Timewyrm: Revelation.
"Timewrym: Revelation" is an
inward look at Doctor Who, a deconstruction of the Doctor himself in
an internal mindscape of the sort that could never be justifiably put
to film. We get to see just how complex of a character the Doctor is,
the conflicts within himself literally personified as his former
incarnations. This was heavy stuff, and I loved every page. Armed
with this new knowledge, I dived in, ready to take in all the Doctor
Who I could. At this point I finally learned the terrible news;
Doctor Who had been canceled years ago. Once I made my way through
the available stories on video and PBS, that would be that...
Except it wasn't. Those books that I
had read weren't just your average tie in books. They were the
continuing adventures of the Doctor. Each month, I would be granted
another New Adventure, a story too broad and too deep for the small
screen. Unburdened by the miniscule budgets and children's teatime
scheduling, Doctor Who was allowed to blossom into a more mature and
compelling story. Actions had consequences, and things weren't always
tied up neatly. The Doctor had to make hard choices in an expanding
universe of threats. He assumed the mantle of Time's Champion, the
one shining beacon of hope for a universe swathed in enemies out to
conquer and destroy. This was Doctor Who on an epic scale. And I ate
it up.
The New Adventures are certainly a
product of its time. Don't buy into the dismissive idea that haters
push that these books were only about sex and violence. While these
are present from time to time, it's no more than you'd find in a high
school literature course. This is a more mature era of Doctor Who,
but it’s the advanced concepts and themes explored that make it so.
I even argue that this is a direct line of descendance from these
stories to what you get on the new series. Writers such as Paul
Cornell, Mark Gatiss, Gareth Roberts, and a little known writer by
the name of Russell T. Davies all had books published in the New
Adventures. I wonder if we'll ever hear from those chaps again?
An All Too Brief Respite, Then
Business as Usual
1996 saw Doctor Who return for an all
too brief time in the Television Movie. Again, fans were downtrodden
to learn that nothing more would come from this event. For myself, as
happy as I would have been to see Doctor Who return to our screens, I
was perfectly content with the Doctor's continuing adventures in my
books. The BBC, seeing how successful Virgin had been with it's book
lines, brought Doctor Who back in house and continued publishing the
ongoing adventures of the Doctor, this time featuring the newly
regenerated 8th Doctor. BBC Books also continued to use much of the
same writers from the Virgin era, creating an ongoing timeline of
stories, reaching back to 1991. Doctor Who continued to evolve, with
several arcs of stories running from book to book, forming seasons
for all intents and purposes. The arc styling of Babylon 5 and Buffy
the Vampire Slayer were being put to great use in the Eighth Doctor
Adventures. New blood of the likes of Lawrence Miles, writer of the
aforementioned "Alien Bodies", brought in ideas like the
War in Heaven, a great war between the Timelords of the future and an
unknown, time active enemy that the Doctor inadvertently stumbles
into, the destruction of Gallifrey (Hmm that seems familiar), or the
multi book story arc where an amnesic Doctor is stranded on Earth in
the 19th century and has to live there for the next 100 years with no
idea of who or what he is. The BBC would publish the Eighth Doctor
Adventures and its accompanying line the Past Doctor Adventures for 8
years, up to 2005. The line was cancelled because, yep you guessed
it, Doctor Who had returned to television, and the BBC somehow
figured having these imprints out there would confuse its audience.
It is a offense I have not yet forgiven the BBC for.
No, There is Another
Even with the cease of production of
the Eighth Doctor and Past Doctor Adventures in 2005, fans would
still have a source of original stories each month... ones that were
even more valid in a lot of fan's eyes! In the late 1980s, a group of
fans bonded together to make their own Doctor Who stories. Not
satisfied with just the written word, they turned to that time
honored British tradition; the audio drama. The likes of Nicolas
Briggs, Bill Baggs and Gary Russell produced several stories in their
Audio Visuals line and made a name for themselves because of it. With
some financial backing from Jason Haigh-Ellory, they created the
company Big Finish, who quickly nabbed the license to produce stores
featuring Bernice Summerfield, a (brilliant) companion who was
created for the New Adventures range. Based on the success of these
productions, Big Finish acquired what they had been created for: The
official license to produce Doctor Who.
Beginning in 1999, Big Finish brought
back Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy to portray their
incarnations of the Doctor in a series of monthly releases. It didn't
take long before they were also able to convince Paul McGann to come
back as the Eighth Doctor. Like the BBC, Big Finish took advantage of
the already experienced group of writers that had guided the book
ranges to write for Big Finish. Only this time, they got to hear the
actors say the words they were writing! The joy experienced at
hearing the Doctor's voice in our ears again was too good to be true.
Big Finish would go on to develop its own style and continue to shape
the characters of each of the Doctors, many of whom never got the
proper development they deserved. Colin Baker in particular has been
a marvel on audio, as he and Big Finish have worked to redeem the
character of the Sixth Doctor in many a fan's eyes. And even though
it took awhile, they even managed to bring back Tom Baker! Who would
ever have believed we would have the ability to hear new words from
the Fourth Doctor? Enough cannot be said about the good work Big
Finish has done over the last 14 years. They gave voice to the Doctor
again, shepherded him up to the new series, continuing to work with
the current production offices to make sure everything fits together
cohesively. Big Finish have maintained the classic Doctors, giving
fresh outlooks and perspectives to them, and continue to cultivate
new talent in writers like Rob Sherman and Jonathan Morris. They
constantly put out quality material. I'd be lying if I didn't say
that I was looking forward to their anniversary story, "The
Light at the End" featuring the Fourth thru Eighth Doctors, more
than the TV anniversary special! Nothing beats getting to listen to a
new Big Finish story, closing your eyes and seeing in your mind a
classic Doctor, unchanged from his days on television, having an
adventure with an unlimited budget. If you've never tried a Big
Finish play, you're missing out.
And That's Not All!
I could go on (but won't because
there's a man in a luchador mask giving me the stink eye to wrap this
up). Doctor Who Magazine has published original Doctor Who comics for
34 years! That's a lot of material to catch up on. What to make your
own Doctor Who Adventures? There are no less than 3 different Doctor
Who role-playing systems that have been published. There's even an
online solitaire role-playing game, putting you in the shows of
multiple different Doctors! There's short story collections, board
games, cook books, action figures... you name it! Basically, if you
never want Doctor Who to stop, it doesn't have to! There's more than
enough out there to get you through those cold, lonely months between
seasons.
If you want a suggestion on where to
start in Doctor Who Spinoff Media, Big Finish is probably your first
stop. It has the connection with the original actors, and all of its
material is readily available. Just pick your favorite Doctor and
jump in! A few recommendations are "Spare Parts", "The
One Doctor", and "The Fires of Vulcan". They are cheap
entries if you wish to have just a taste, and all are quite
excellent. The books can be a little harder to track down since they
are out of print, but most are readily available through online used
book sellers. And if you're of the sort who knows how to 'get' things
online, electronic versions of the books are floating around. If you
read just one, check out "Alien Bodies" by Lawrence Miles,
or if you'd like to try a New Adventure, you'd probably do best
starting with "Love and War" by Paul Cornell, as it gives
you a good idea of what you're in for in the New Adventures, and is
great to boot!
I hope that my trip down memory lane
has been informative, and maybe even a little enticing to those who
have never tried any of these works. Don't get hung up on what does
and doesn't count. The Doctor can go anywhere and anywhen, so why
shouldn't he be having these adventures alongside those on TV?
Nothing is there that is going to outright contradict what you see on
television. Well, no more than what the television show does to
itself anyway! The Doctor is still the Doctor, never cruel or
cowardly, traveling the universe in the big blue box. I guarantee
that even if you don't find out that your favorite ever Doctor Who
story comes from a book like I did, you still won't walk away feeling
that these works are a waste of time. I suppose it is a little odd to
have a related work be someone's favorite bit of Doctor Who,
especially when what we see on television in both classic and new
series is so fantastic! But I look at it this way, why not when it's
all from the same universal source? I mean, who would want to turn
away more of the best thing in the world?!? Especially when it's
good!
Maybe it's just that I'm constantly searching to fill a need,
looking for more of my favorite thing in a finite world. But that's
okay, because reading and listening to this stuff reminds me of why I
fell in love with the world Doctor Who, on a daily basis. Nothing
quite pleases me as much as opening up a Doctor Who book to read. And
why not? After all, that how's it all started.
-Josh
Josh Wilson is an editor for Mad
Norwegian Press and host of The Oncoming Storm: A Doctor Who Spin Off
Media Podcast. You can listen to him wax poetically about a different
Doctor Who book or audio each week at
http://theoncomingstorm.libsyn.com/.
This week here on Needless Things will be dedicated to Doctor
Who. I have Guest Posts, Toy Reviews, and more on the way. The site
will be jam-packed – relatively – with content. Please share
these links wherever you can and spread the word. And if you’re so
inclined, throw a few dollars at the Needless Things family. I have
to send you to the podcast homepage because Blogger doesn't want this
sort of thing. Just check out the widget on the bottom right
here.This
is all out of pocket for me, so anything I receive during this time
will got to site costs, hosting, and possibly new merchandise if I
get really ambitious.
Also,
you can buy the Limited Edition NeedlessThingsSite.com Luchador vs.
Owlbear t-shirts here.
I can’t say they’re selling fast, but once this style is gone,
they’re gone forever.
And I do intend on being famous one day, so wouldn’t it be cool to
have the first shirt I ever designed?
Remember
to check in every weekday between now and the 23rd for
new, original content.
Finally,
be sure and come out to the HUGE 50th Anniversary Party
that TimeGate, Earth Station Who, the folks behind The Forgotten
Doctor, and (others) are throwing at the Holiday Inn Select; the
same location where TimeGate is held each and every year. There will
be panels, games, Whovian carousing, and a LIVE recording of Earth
Station Who immediately after “The Day of the Doctor” airs. You
will literally never have another opportunity to attend a party like
this!
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