Ye Olde Doctor Who Thread.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:36 pm

Indeed. I'm quite shocked by the news. I had no idea. RIP Lis x

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:53 pm

Rip Elizabeth Sladen. Sarah Jane Smith was my favorite companion

Post by **Denyer** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 6:34 am

http://www.dorktower.com/images/comics/DorkTower942.gif
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1QgCx1C ... e=youtu.be

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:11 am

Cliffjumper wrote: Beeb confirmed, unless it's a particularly ridiculous promo stunt for SJA. 63? When you do the maths that makes all sorts of sense, but it just seems like she was never that old. RIP Lis.

Yeah, I know David Tennant was similarly surprised when he mentally added it up during filming with her as well, odd to think she was only four years younger than Sylvester McCoy. She'd certainly weathered better than her immediate predecessor, who now looks like a Auton duplicate of the Joker. I find it genuinely hard to get my head round the fact that Sophie Aldred is 48 as well.

The BBC Breakfast people seemed genuinely upset when they were reporting it earlier.

EDIT:
Probably one of her last interviews from the Summer, she's still as cheeky and fun as ever:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/457

It'll be interesting to see what they do with the SJA stuff for next year they've already filmed (a whole story or just some scenes with otherwise unavailable actors?). The cousin mentioned upthread is something of a fan of it now, so it'll be nice if they're able to give it a proper send off somehow. Or I suppose even continuing it with just the kids.

Lord Zarak · Post by **Lord Zarak** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:20 am

Apparently she was suffering with cancer, and thats what got her in the end.

No way did she look 63. Took good care of herself, and its always a shame when someone who does that goes too early.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 12:09 pm

Aye. Just dug out and watched 'School Reunion' this morning. A fine memorial

"the universe has to move forward. pain and loss define us as much as happiness or love. whether its a world or a relationship. everything has it's time and everything ends."

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:12 pm

It feels like a part of me just died......

Rest in Peace, Lis.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:17 pm

Tom Baker didn't know she was ill either, and had even just agreed to do some work with her for Big Finish. A very sweet tribute, with a couple of cool photos I've not seen before, from him here:

http://www.tom-baker.co.uk/pages/conten ... PageID=159

EDIT: They'll also be a short tribute program on the CBBC channel after the first episode of Who has finished this Saturday. Apparently Newsround has been contacted by over 2000 children upset over her death, one of the biggest responses they've ever had to any news story.

Post by **Denyer** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:38 pm

Impossible to not read in his voice for anyone who's heard him, isn't it?

I'm reading EDA books at the moment, and they keep making the adjectival point that Eight is extremely alive in comparison to the universe around him and Seven. Something that could be said about SJS as well, I think.

It also brings home how dull and ordinary Nine and Ten were.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:29 am

Denyer wrote:Impossible to not read in his voice for anyone who's heard him, isn't it?

I'm reading EDA books at the moment, and they keep making the adjectival point that Eight is extremely alive in comparison to the universe around him and Seven. Something that could be said about SJS as well, I think.

It also brings home how dull and ordinary Nine and Ten were.

Interestingly (or not), McGann himself has always been much more interested in the darker and lonelier side of the Doctor, and since the show came back has always held up Eccleston as how he'd have liked to have done it (and indeed, looked).

EDIT: By always I mean in the last six years of course. Though he's been talking about liker the less Tigger like Doctor since Vampire Science came out (which apparently he liked very much).

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 1:49 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:Interestingly (or not), McGann himself has always been much more interested in the darker and lonelier side of the Doctor, and since the show came back has always held up Eccleston as how he'd have liked to have done it (and indeed, looked).

They pretty much all say that, though, don't they? Especially in interviews with grownups, and especially when it's clear that it's not going to happen in something mainstream.

"Yeh, I always wanted to play the character darker, a lot more like William Hartnell *subject suppresses mental image of the Doctor's Dalek impression in Invasion of Earth/pissing about with the time telly/wishing viewers at home a Merry Christmas/appearing in the Web Planet etc, etc and so on* and I always wanted to have a black leather costume, though I never really mentioned that when I was in a six figure contract. I'm actually a proper actor, come and watch me stutter through Krapp's Last Tape at the Stenhousemuir Apollo on Tuesday night, tickets still on sale. I am also avaliable for any fan-orientated audio plays, interviews or bookings, as I never have any work. And if any members of the production team of the current popular Doctor Who are reading, I'm well up for playing a villain - wouldn't that be brilliant and post-modern? And have the coincidental side-effect of putting me back on prime time TV for the first time in a decade, possibly leading to a guest spot on Hotel Babylon or a semi-regular role as an unorthodox surgeon in Holby City."

Lord Zarak · Post by **Lord Zarak** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 2:43 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:Interestingly (or not), McGann himself has always been much more interested in the darker and lonelier side of the Doctor, and since the show came back has always held up Eccleston as how he'd have liked to have done it (and indeed, looked).

Is it true he said he'd come back as long as he didnt have to wear a wig?>

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:49 pm

Cliffjumper wrote:They pretty much all say that, though, don't they? Especially in interviews with grownups, and especially when it's clear that it's not going to happen in something mainstream.

Do they? Davison's always saying he wanted to make it funnier. Colin got to do the "Darker and edgier" thing on TV but now admits that (at least in execution) it was a mistake and has spent the last decade of audios on a mission to reinvent 6 as a more likeable character. Sylvester can't really have any complaints on that score, and all I've ever seen him moan about is the show ending just as he feels he was getting it right. And Tom pretty much just want to do his Tom Baker thing.

And they've always admitted to hating their 80's costumes in various degrees (Sylv gets off best, he just doesn't like the jumper), Colin's been saying he'd have liked black a leather coat for years before Eccles.

And considering at the time Paul was very much keeping Who at arms length he didn't really have any motive to talk about what he liked in one of the spin off books in a mainstream interview (though it was realising he'd read at least one of them- presumably just to check his face wasn't been plastered on any old crap- that made Big Finish realise that despite what his then Agent Janet Fielding was telling them he wasn't as completely anti-Who as all that).

Colin at least, is firmly convinced he'll never be in the TV show again however much he might like to do it (I think he exact words were "My only chance will be if I'm Moffet's favourite Doctor"). Wasn't Tom the only one to say he'd like to play the villain as well? That's just him being Tom really. IIRC he's also said he'd like to be seen standing stuffed in a corner of the Tardis. He'd probably insist on the talking cabbage as well.

Lord Zarak wrote:Is it true he said he'd come back as long as he didnt have to wear a wig?>

Oh yes. he hates hates hates it. Thinking about it, the costume probably didn't help the film in America. We're all used to the Doctor dressing roughly like that, but from the POV of an entirely new viewer, this guy is walking about in a cowboy fancy dress costume without anyone seeming to notice. How odd would that seem?

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:54 pm

Yeh, spot-on analysis, as I was being 100% serious and literal in everything I said, just as I always am.

I mean, Christ, has Nevermore hacked your account or something?

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:59 pm

Harsh.

Post by **Denyer** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:43 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:since Vampire Science came out (which apparently he liked very much).

Does Kate Orman get any better, by the way? Read The Eight Doctors to see if it was as bad as claimed, read Vampire Science on the strength of recommendations and thought it was pap, and have decided to hit up the rest of the well-regarded Lawrence Miles books since Alien Bodies was ace.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:42 pm

Always thought Orman was terrible, though I stopped reading when the BBC sterilised the range.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 6:56 am

Lord Zarak wrote:Is it true he said he'd come back as long as he didnt have to wear a wig?>

I remember reading an interview in SFX with Paul McGann around 2003 ish where he was asked if he would return to the role should it ever come back on TV and he replied at the time that it would probably be best to let someone else have a crack at it, given the amount of time that had passed since the TVM.

But yes, he hated the wig. Philip Segal had seen him in 'The Hanging Gale' (now forgotten drama about the Irish Potato famine that was quite good but undermined by some wag thinking it'd be great to cast ALL the McGann brothers bar Renault in it) where he had naturally long flowing hair. They were taken aback when he turned up to audition and had cut it all off. Hence that wig.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 1:40 pm

Denyer wrote:Does Kate Orman get any better, by the way? Read The Eight Doctors to see if it was as bad as claimed, read Vampire Science on the strength of recommendations and thought it was pap, and have decided to hit up the rest of the well-regarded Lawrence Miles books since Alien Bodies was ace.

As far as I recall the only stuff of hers I've read is that (which I enjoyed and is generally well liked, so if you didn't get much out of it I doubt you will from the rest) and Unnatural History, which I just couldn't get into. Never read any of her solo stuff at all though, so she might be a different beast without the husband in tow.

Never read Alien Bodies, but I did enjoy the other Mad Larry books I did read. Though they basically suffer in the context of the overall range from the fact he's the only one who really cares about any of the story arcs he creates. Which is more the fault of the editor/s than anything else.

My very first ever internet review was of Interference, a whole ten years ago: http://www.pagefillers.com/dwrg/inte.htm#10 [Spoilers, natch]

Note the pretention of using my full (real, pre-Inflatable Dalek days) name. I still think the covers awesome.

I never read enough of the NA's to know how well they compare (though from what I have read I suspect that overall they're probably at least a little overrated, there's good stuff but also there's more crap and stupid ideas than some will have you think. Space Bitch Ace is just impossible for me to take seriously). But with the EDA's I tended to drift in and out, there's periods of brilliance and fresh direction and periods of desperate water treading.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:54 am

Yep Planet of the Spiders really is terrible isn't it? Respect to Pertwee actually for at least doing his best with the material he's given, once UNIT is left behind (no wonder Nick Courntey started turning down return showings for other work not long after this, his role here is pretty much entirely thankless) he's pretty much the best thing about the whole last three episodes. His "This is getting monotonous" lines sums up everything perfectly.

The really daft thing, and possibly something that sums up why Letts didn't really get Doctor Who (potentially a bonkers statement to make considering its success under him but...). The moral of the story is that the search for knowledge is a bad thing, even greedy, and the Doctor has to pay for his curiosity with his life.

Now, I've no idea how Buddhist that is (though Letts' himself admits in the documentary there's little in the story from the Tibetan version of the religion but rather from the Zen variation he practised), but is there any show it's less appropriate to apply too than Who? The show about the guy exploring time and space? Suddenly that's wrong and evil? It's no wonder the program almost immediately ignored this and got back into space pretty much straight away.