You mean some sort of mirror universe, like in that Star Trek episode when Spock had a beard?
In other New Who news, [spoilers but the BBC is splashing it literally everywhere]Jodie and Chris will be leaving the show as of autumn 2022. So similar to David's run we're getting three seasons and then a handful of specials.
I'm so tired of this three-and-done run trend. :( Very sad to see Jodie leaving, I love her to bits.
In true Whovian fashion, though, I'm very excited to see who comes next! Desperately hoping our next Doctor is a woman as well and that Jodie has set the trend. Hopefully a woman of color, there's so many great actresses out there. IDK, I'm sure whoever it is will be great.
I have literally no clue who the next showrunner will be. There doesn't seem to be an obvious successor this time, which is making me a little nervous.
WE'LL SEE.
Anyway, in classic Who news, I've finished two more Past Doctor Adventures!
Set during the events of The Curse of Peladon but mostly tied in to Inferno, this is a ~Doctor-lite~ (actually Doctor-absent) adventure starring Third Doctor-era UNIT featuring Ian, Barbara, and Harry Sullivan, and the Master wandering erratically between "ally" and "antagonist", as the Master does.
This book is pure fanwank and it excels at it. I mean. It's all there in the premise: Three-Era UNIT teaming up with Ian, Barbara, and Harry Sullivan. I had to dock it half a star for the treatment of Barbara -- she gets moments to shine but she's just as often shunted off to the side or treated as a damsel in distress, and there's one particular 'twist' that's absolutely awful -- but overall it's just...fun. Harry doesn't come into it until well over the halfway mark and at first is only mentioned as a 'naval surgeon'; I was completely unspoiled for his appearance (the summary I'd seen only mentioned UNIT, the Master, Ian, and Barbara), but the nature of the book meant I immediately went 'OMG Harry?!' and several pages later was proven correct.
The supporting characters are interesting but overall not particularly
The plot is convoluted in a manner that nods at both James Bond and the Third Doctor's era, with shout-outs to serials from all over Classic Who. It's also notable for the nods to fan-created characters John Chesterton and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the latter of whom would go on to be (accidentally, IIRC?) canonized by Chris Chibnall during the Moffat era of New Who.
A favorite moment:
Mike Yates had expected to find Ian in the Doctor's laboratory. He hadn't, however, expected to find the lecturer simply rooting through the oddments of technology on the benches with a wistful expression. Obviously some of these bits and pieces were things he'd seen before and reminded him of his travels.
As Mike watched, Ian picked up a tiny metal and crystal dumbbell, not much bigger than a household fuse. He looked at Mike and brandished the object.
'You've no idea how much trouble the Doctor got us into over one of these fluid links.'
Mike thought that Ian would be surprised at just how good an idea he had of how much trouble the Doctor could get someone into.
Like I said -- complete fanwank but does a great job at it.
The Fourth Doctor and Leela, separated from the TARDIS, on an expedition to Easter Island in the 1800s.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum...
I think I got about 80% of the plot here? That sounds right, a good 80%. It took me a while to get into this one, but once I did it got me good. The most experimental of the PDAs so far -- told in first person with a shifting narrator, it switches POV between Leela, various supporting characters, and the Doctor, and is told out of sequence. The Doctor and Leela join an expedition to Easter Island to return the sacred rongo-rongo stick that archaeologist Horace Stockwood stole many years ago, resulting in the death (sort of?) of his friend and partner Alexander Richards on a previous expedition. Aliens are, of course, involved. The supporting characters (especially Alex's sister Jennifer Richards) are more interesting than likeable -- that's not a criticism in any way.
The best part is Leela's narration and the insights into her way of thinking. There are frequent flashbacks to and reflections on her childhood and comments on her culture in contrast to England in the 1800s. She filters everything she sees into something that makes sense to her frame of reference and it's very effective. I'm not sure when this is meant to take place, relative to her travels with the Doctor, but I would suspect it's fairly early on.
"Hear me, Richards, sister of Alexander, who is dead. My name is Leela and I am a warrior of the Sevateem. Where I come from I am a hunter and a provider. I have saved the lives of many and taken the lives of many to do so. I have loved ones and I have left them. I came here to this land to understand myself and my ancestors. The Doctor tells me that by learning we change ourselves. He invokes the Prayer of Uncertainty by the Priest Heisenberg: "That which we study and learn from, we also change." This I do not understand. But I know this: all things can be understood by those with the will. All things. And I will keep my love for my father and mother and sister, though my father is dead and my sister was killed before I was born, and I will hold their faces and their love like holy metal within my head and I will still go open-eyed into the world - because if you do not learn then you are no better than an animal: just mindless meat waiting to become somebody's food. Hear me, Richards, and hear this: if the women in your land do not learn and travel and take control of the ties that bind them, then they are already dead. Rejoice, Richards. Offer thanks that the death of your brother has brought you life, as the death of my sister brought me life."
It's intense.
Both excellent reads, for very different reasons. Both highly recommended.
I'm so tired of this three-and-done run trend. :( Very sad to see Jodie leaving, I love her to bits.
In true Whovian fashion, though, I'm very excited to see who comes next! Desperately hoping our next Doctor is a woman as well and that Jodie has set the trend. Hopefully a woman of color, there's so many great actresses out there. IDK, I'm sure whoever it is will be great.
I have literally no clue who the next showrunner will be. There doesn't seem to be an obvious successor this time, which is making me a little nervous.
WE'LL SEE.
Anyway, in classic Who news, I've finished two more Past Doctor Adventures!
Set during the events of The Curse of Peladon but mostly tied in to Inferno, this is a ~Doctor-lite~ (actually Doctor-absent) adventure starring Third Doctor-era UNIT featuring Ian, Barbara, and Harry Sullivan, and the Master wandering erratically between "ally" and "antagonist", as the Master does.
This book is pure fanwank and it excels at it. I mean. It's all there in the premise: Three-Era UNIT teaming up with Ian, Barbara, and Harry Sullivan. I had to dock it half a star for the treatment of Barbara -- she gets moments to shine but she's just as often shunted off to the side or treated as a damsel in distress, and there's one particular 'twist' that's absolutely awful -- but overall it's just...fun. Harry doesn't come into it until well over the halfway mark and at first is only mentioned as a 'naval surgeon'; I was completely unspoiled for his appearance (the summary I'd seen only mentioned UNIT, the Master, Ian, and Barbara), but the nature of the book meant I immediately went 'OMG Harry?!' and several pages later was proven correct.
The supporting characters are interesting but overall not particularly
The plot is convoluted in a manner that nods at both James Bond and the Third Doctor's era, with shout-outs to serials from all over Classic Who. It's also notable for the nods to fan-created characters John Chesterton and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the latter of whom would go on to be (accidentally, IIRC?) canonized by Chris Chibnall during the Moffat era of New Who.
A favorite moment:
Mike Yates had expected to find Ian in the Doctor's laboratory. He hadn't, however, expected to find the lecturer simply rooting through the oddments of technology on the benches with a wistful expression. Obviously some of these bits and pieces were things he'd seen before and reminded him of his travels.
As Mike watched, Ian picked up a tiny metal and crystal dumbbell, not much bigger than a household fuse. He looked at Mike and brandished the object.
'You've no idea how much trouble the Doctor got us into over one of these fluid links.'
Mike thought that Ian would be surprised at just how good an idea he had of how much trouble the Doctor could get someone into.
Like I said -- complete fanwank but does a great job at it.
The Fourth Doctor and Leela, separated from the TARDIS, on an expedition to Easter Island in the 1800s.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum...
I think I got about 80% of the plot here? That sounds right, a good 80%. It took me a while to get into this one, but once I did it got me good. The most experimental of the PDAs so far -- told in first person with a shifting narrator, it switches POV between Leela, various supporting characters, and the Doctor, and is told out of sequence. The Doctor and Leela join an expedition to Easter Island to return the sacred rongo-rongo stick that archaeologist Horace Stockwood stole many years ago, resulting in the death (sort of?) of his friend and partner Alexander Richards on a previous expedition. Aliens are, of course, involved. The supporting characters (especially Alex's sister Jennifer Richards) are more interesting than likeable -- that's not a criticism in any way.
The best part is Leela's narration and the insights into her way of thinking. There are frequent flashbacks to and reflections on her childhood and comments on her culture in contrast to England in the 1800s. She filters everything she sees into something that makes sense to her frame of reference and it's very effective. I'm not sure when this is meant to take place, relative to her travels with the Doctor, but I would suspect it's fairly early on.
"Hear me, Richards, sister of Alexander, who is dead. My name is Leela and I am a warrior of the Sevateem. Where I come from I am a hunter and a provider. I have saved the lives of many and taken the lives of many to do so. I have loved ones and I have left them. I came here to this land to understand myself and my ancestors. The Doctor tells me that by learning we change ourselves. He invokes the Prayer of Uncertainty by the Priest Heisenberg: "That which we study and learn from, we also change." This I do not understand. But I know this: all things can be understood by those with the will. All things. And I will keep my love for my father and mother and sister, though my father is dead and my sister was killed before I was born, and I will hold their faces and their love like holy metal within my head and I will still go open-eyed into the world - because if you do not learn then you are no better than an animal: just mindless meat waiting to become somebody's food. Hear me, Richards, and hear this: if the women in your land do not learn and travel and take control of the ties that bind them, then they are already dead. Rejoice, Richards. Offer thanks that the death of your brother has brought you life, as the death of my sister brought me life."
It's intense.
Both excellent reads, for very different reasons. Both highly recommended.