Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Not a damned thing, spoken as one WHO has never seen even one
episode of Dr. Who..am following along though, fascinated by y’all’s
insights and windows on the world of Dr. Who
  

    
You're a living Whotopia, <draml>! I wish Ian Marter had stayed
around for a little longer - The Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and
Harry Sullivan are my favourite TARDIS trifecta.
  

    
I have the benefit of greater age at least, but that's about it,
John!

Alex - I'm interested in what you did notic about Who in the past,
what's appealed and maybe what's out you off watching?

> Frazer Hines coming in as Scottish highlander Jamie

I snuck in a little Easter Egg there. The character (and the actor
playing him) was genuinely the direct inspiration for the main
character Jamie Fraser in the equally timely-wimey book and TV
series Outlander.
  

    
The couple of questions about police phone boxes and companions that
came up which might have been 'obvious' to longtime fans but
absolutely needed digging into for any newcomers to the show made me
realise there is one more elephant in the room that we really do
have to cover. We've actually implicitly taken it for granted
already with our mentions of "the First Doctor" and "when Tom Baker
was Doctor" etc. Yes, it's time to talk about regeneration. On the
face of it just a way of recasting the title role, it's perhaps more
than anything else the unique concept that's given the show its
unprecedented longevity.

It wasn't part of the show's original format in that 1963 pilot,
although the Doctor was clearly presented as an alien and therefore
could be presumed to have a few surprising non-human traits, like
having two hearts. It came up in 1966 when they needed to replace
the lead actor (somewhat against his will, it must be said). William
Hartnell had been the star from the start and played the part as an
elderly, gruff Edwardian eccentric. Hartnell had been a big name in
his day, appearing in many British crime films of the 30s and 40s
such as "Brighton Rock" and then as a harsh training officer in
long-running TV show "The Army Game" in the 50s. He was delighted to
get the part of the Doctor because it was finally something he could
sit down and watch with his young granddaughter.

But by 1966 his health was failing. He was having difficulty with
his lines and was increasingly difficult to work with on set, so the
producers decided they needed someone else. They could have looked
around for someone similar to Hartnell to simply recast the part
without much fuss (like Peter Cushing in the contemporary Dr Who
movies), but instead they wanted to re-energise the show with
someone totally different. They gave the part to the much younger
Patrick Troughton who played the part as a disorganised, dishevelled
'cosmic hobo' sporting a Beatles' mop top. There wasn't much of an
explanation for it in the show but it was implied that the old
Doctor had simply worn himself out and this process of renewal was a
natural part of his people's physiology - an elixir of eternal life
- and that Troughton was in effect a young version of Hartnell. Give
him a few hundred years and he would grow into himself again. 

So if you ask "When was the first regeneration in Doctor Who?" then
the answer is October 29 1966, when that episode was broadcast. But
it was not regeneration as we knew it and it wasn't known by that
name. Let's read on...
  

    
Inevitably there came a point when Troughton - a popular and
in-demand character actor - got bored and wanted to move on to new
challenges, so at the end of 1969 there was another vacancy at the
top. The BBC very nearly cancelled the show at this point because of
dwindling ratings but they decided to give it one more throw of the
dice, with a new lead and a revamped format which kept the Doctor on
Earth (for budget reasons) and made the stories more grown-up and
action-orientated with guns, helicopters and car chases. It was,
unexpectedly, a huge success. Doctor Who was suddenly part of the
national zeitgeist again. 

They explained the new casting by having the Doctor's people, the
Time Lords, catch up with him and place him into exile on Earth for
breaching their prime directive of interfering in other worlds. As
part of the sentence they put him into 'witness protection' by
forcing him to change his appearance, and Troughton became the suave
and debonair Jon Pertwee (think a serious Austin Powers). But again
there was no sense of this being anything other than a one-off
disguise forced upon him by the Time Lords. It's not like the show
was going to keep running long enough for this to happen again.

Then the show reached its 10th anniversary and someone suggested
that they do a reunion story with all three Doctors in it (although
Hartnell was so poorly by this point he only appeared in brief
filmed inserts), creatively titled  "The Three Doctors". But this
changed everything: before the impression had been that the Doctor
was the same man, just with a rejuvenating trip to a health spa, or
some plastic surgery to conceal his appearance. Now we saw the three
distinct characters, in the same place and physically interacting
with each other, and it changed how viewers perceived them. And that
meant when Pertwee moved on they needed a whole different approach
to recasting.

And this is where regeneration comes in. The producer of the show at
the time was Barry Letts who was deeply passionate about Buddism,
especially the teaching of how one had to strive to overcome one's
flaws (like arrogance and hubris) and accept one's mortality to
achieve catharsis and become a new person. Letts took that last part
literally: the Doctor had to confront his mistakes and failings to
survive a lethal burst of radiation and achieve regeneration to
become Tom Baker. That's been the template for regeneration ever
since - it's practically followed step-by-step in the build-up to
David Tennant's departure from the role in 2010. From now on, it
became a Time Lord emergency measure when faced with imminent death:
from poisoning, or Dalek death ray, being gunned down by hoodlems in
a San Francisco back alley on the eve of the Millennium, or bumping
his head really hard on the Tardis console. 

So for me, if you ask "when did the first regeneration as we know it
today happen in Doctor Who?" it would be June 8 1974. It's a hill
I'm prepared to die on - unless someone has a better idea they want
to propose? Believe it or not this is a *short* version of an
argument I first presented 10 years ago, which you can still find
online if you're really unfortunate!

<https://takingtheshortview.wordpress.com/2014/01/25/doctor-who-the-regeneratio
n-game/>
  

    
Well done, Andrew..I grokked the whole thang about the early Drs..
Andrew, I just never ran across (in my stumbling way) an episode of
Dr. Who but now I am forewarned and forearmed so I am primed for it
if ever do and thank you both..
  

    
I do hope we've piqued your interest to take a peak at the new
series, so to speak, and maybe seek out some of the older ones while
you're at it!

I never quite know what "fandom" means in modern times, but for me
being a fan of Who or anything else for that matter is wanting to
pass on the love, excitement and enthusiasm you have for something,
and hopefully make us all fellow travellers in the adventure.
  

    
Yass, Andrew!
  

    
So great to have that history - I vaguely understood the "Time Lord"
and regeneration concepts, but now it's clear! 
  

    


A bit off topic, but: John, what work did you do with Christopher
Lee at BBC Radio 4?
  

    
Hello, <emilyg>! I worked as a studio assistant for a director
friend and Sir Christopher Lee, or Chris as he insisted we all
called him, was the star! 

The BBC Radio 4 drama was The Gemini Apes. I got to heckle Chris,
which was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. I should
say, he was a gentleman and took time to talk to everyone.  
  

    
I'm so pleased you said that, every story I've ever heard about Fir
Chris agrees that he was a true gentleman and a consummate
professional. I think it would break my heart if that were ever not
to be true.

I'm sure you made a fine heckler, John!
  

    
I heckled ‘Dracula’ and survived to tell the tale! But seriously,
Chris was absolutely amazing. What a privilege it was to work with
him. 
  

    
I'm really pleased that introducing the show with a look back at how
it started and evolved has been interesting and entertaining and not
proved too self-indulgent. But perhaps it's the right time for a
change in direction...

Having spent the first few days looking back at the past, it's time
to do a 180 degree pivot and turn to the future with a look at the
first new episodes of the 2024 season. And for the possibly the
first time in the history of Inkwell it means we have to consider
the minefield that is ... Spoilers!

We're going to be talking about the new episodes here but we'll
endeavour to keep it high level and not give deep details, or if we
do then to be sure to give plenty of spoiler space and warnings and
even hide particularly spoilery spoilers (where the post doesn't
appear unless you deliberately click on it).

We do have full spoiler discussions in the members-only <whovians.>
conference and you're welcome to join us there if you wish. To take
part, you can either get an introductory full membership at
<https://www.well.com/join/> or drop a line to inkwell[@well.com] or
to myself draml[@well.com] to see if we have any free three-month
gift subscriptions available. 

Hope to see you there and that you enjoy the episodes, and have
plenty to talk about over the weekend.
  

    
The Disney era has arrived with a bedazzling flourish! 
  

    
I see John has already fallen under the spell!

I've just finished watching the first episode, "Space Babies". And
there are babies in it. Space babies. In prams. Can't say they
didn't warn you.

It's been a long time since we saw Russell T Davies write a Doctor
Who script. He's sone a lot of serious, adult evening dramas since
then such as "Years and Years" and the award-winning "It's a Sin".
Which incidentally if you haven't seen the latter is a masterpiece
about the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s as seen in the UK. It stars
Olly Alexander, who is a pop star who is also an actor, and tonight
is coincidentally singing the UK's entry in the Eurovision Song
Contest. Connections everywhere.

But all this drama means that RTD hasn't had much outlet for his
silly, childish side - the side that brought us farting Slitheen in
the first series of the NuWho reboot in 2005 with Christopher
Eccleston. This episode has a lot of that feeling to it: some really
silly bits for children, including one of the regulars getting
'gunked' by a gloopy load of slime and then realising what it
actually consists of. 

And yet at the same time there are genuinely terrifying bits, and
other parts that convey some really powerful messages (some might
say it goes a bit too far into woke correctness, and it's true that
this is where RTD's heart lies, but it's sincere and well throughout
out and I admire him for doing what he does. Including the most
important message that we are all unique, all irreplaceable, and all
just as important. I think that's worth raising a glass of Ribena
to.

Also: Ncuti Gatwa is the most extraordinary physical presence. He
bounces so much (even when just standing) that he must be able to
supply the entire national power grid.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else thought of it. In the
UK it's being broadcast on BBC One in about five minutes form the
time of posting. Don't worry about not knowing the show and worrying
about getting into it, the first 5-10 minutes are a tailor made
primer to the past of the show to bring you up to speed with
teverything you need to know (and some extra bits that will grab the
attention of even long time fans).

(But please do avoid specific spoilers unless clearly flagged, or
else join us in the Space Babies topic in the <whovians.> conference
where no such restrictions apply.)
  

    

Gatwa clearly was told to bring joy to the role, and he's nailing
it!

While I didn't find the space babies plot very strong, the scary was
very scary - almost "hide behind the couch" scary, as that's called
in the Whoniverse. The gross parts hopefully made children around
the world laugh.

With the messaging - maybe it comes across heavy handed for some,
but it's quintessential Doctor Who, right? "The triumph of innocence
and romance over brute force and cynicism," tm Craig Ferguson.
  

    
Space Babies could almost been viewed as a pastiche of Red Dwarf
does Alien! 
  

    
I was going to make a similar point: the episode is bound to be
remembered for the cutesy saccharine scenes with the Space Babies
but the sequences with the monster down below were really dark,
Alien-levels of horror. The look and feel of the monster was clearly
influenced by the xenomorph and the sequence in the air lock was
straight out of the original movie. It's a real contrast of tone in
the show between the upstairs and downstairs scenes.

I did get constant fun out of listening to what Jocelyn was actually
saying and the filtered version others heard as they cut back and
forth.
  

    
So far, our discussion of the new series has been limited to the
first episode, Space Babies. But a second (The Devil's Chord)
dropped at the same time.

I've watched it but to be honest I'm reticent to voice an opinion on
it. It's so different from Space Babies that I got a touch of
whiplash and found it hard to keep up after a busy day, and need to
watch it again when I have more time.

I'm not a fan of back-to-back episodes or boxset bingeing in
general. I think it detracts from one's appreciation of a show as a
whole. Is that just me, or does anyone else feel the same? Did
anyone watch both stories in one sitting without a second thought?
  

    
I watched both back-to-back on BBC iPlayer as Space Babies was fun,
but relatively undemanding viewing! 

I loved the callback in The Devil's Chord to Pyramids of Mars (one
of my all-time favourite serials) when the Fourth Doctor took Sarah
Jane Smith to a desolated future 1980 should Sutekh escape...
  

    
I watched 'em back to back. "Space Babies": snot bad! Especially
cool to see Golda Rosheuvel, who was so great in "Bridgerton." Very
impressed with the handling of the babies - I assume via CGI. 

I thought "The Devil's Chord" was a blast! I suspect some thought
Jinkx Monsoon's performance as Maestro was over the top, but I saw
it as operatic, fitting for the context. 
  

    
I've consolidated my initial impressions on the double bill premiere
for anyone interested!
<https://johnhood.substack.com/p/doctor-doctor>
  

    
> "Space Babies": snot bad!

Hah. I see what you did there!

I have seen both episodes, but there was such a handbrake turn
between them that I don't think I picked up on everything in "The
Devil's Chord" and plan to watch it again tonight. Probably both of
them, actually. 

When we started this little Whovian adventure on The WELL there was
a discussion about what the tone of the show is. I think anyone
watching these first two episodes back to back will be convinced
there is no such thing as tone, other than "Anything Goes". The
first episode was ful of fun, silly, childish hijinks while the
second was actually high concept and chilling in its way, and also
warm and nostalgic and a total blast. And it had a song and dance
finale, a first for the show. Totally different approaches but I
loved them both. Only Russell T Davies could have come up with the
idea of it, let alone pulled it off.

I thought Jinkx Monsoon's performance as Maestro was brilliant, BTW. 
  

    
IJWTS that in the look back to the older series no one mentioned K9.
Especially in response to the Q: were all the companions young
women? Would you skip R2D@ and C3PO in discussing Star Wars?