Doctor Who - An Alternate Season 13
Concept art and introduction for the series I will never write
Premise: 1974-5 was a time of transition for Doctor Who, with the departure of Jon Perwee's Third Doctor and the phasing out of UNIT. As part of this process, the Fourth Doctor's companion Harry Sullivan was written out of the show after just one season, despite the popularity of the character. Producer Philip Hinchcliffe later admitted that this had been a mistake, and I've always wondered what season 13 might have been like if script editor Robert Holmes had instead carried the argument for keeping Harry around he made such a good foil for the Doctor and sparring partner for Sarah, I longed to see more of him. No doubt Season 13 would not have played out in quite the same way if Harry had remained aboard the TARDIS instead of staying on Earth at the end of Terror of the Zygons, with an extra character around to alter the group dynamic, acting and reacting to ongoing events and thus changing the way the various plots unfolded it is tremendous fun to imagine how those storylines might have played out with Harry taking part in the action. I will never have the time, energy or creativity to actually write those stories, so this page is merely an introduction to the series that will never be written, with accompanying artwork.
Introduction: A re-working of the final scene of Terror of the Zygons, written by Robert Banks Stewart. All characters herein belong to the BBC. I have borrowed them for this story and am making no profit from this.
It was a beautiful day.
Strolling through the Scottish countryside, Sarah couldn't help thinking how strange it was that less than 24 hours ago yet another intricate and deadly alien plot for world domination had come so very close to fruition. It was a peculiar concept to reconcile with the stillness and beauty of the woodland she was now wandering through with the Doctor, Harry and the Brigadier, accompanied by the Duke of Forgill the real Duke, that was, rather than the alien duplicate they'd first met as they made their way back to the TARDIS, which they'd left around here somewhere. Shafts of sunlight filtered through the trees and birds were singing overhead aliens and invasions seemed a world away from this peaceful place. Yet it had been real, only too real.
She only had to look at the livid scar above Harry's eye to remind her of that, and couldn't help thinking how ironic it was that after battling monsters like Cybermen, Daleks and Sontarans all through space and time with barely a scratch to show for it, he'd ended up being shot and nearly killed almost as soon as he arrived back home on Earth.
"Ah, here it is," the Doctor called from somewhere up ahead and Sarah quickened her pace to catch up with the others, only now realising how far she'd fallen behind, lost as she'd been in her own thoughts.
"That's the TARDIS?" the Duke was bemusedly asking as she reached the rest of the group.
"Yes, that's the TARDIS," the Doctor cheerfully confirmed. "And I'm going to pilot it all the way to London. I can be there five minutes ago."
"Just a minute, Doctor," Sarah protested, remembering what he'd previously told her about the TARDIS, time travel and time streams. "I thought you couldn't do that."
"Of course I can," he loftily insisted. "Coming?"
The question stopped her dead in her tracks. They'd travelled all the way back here to Loch Ness from London specifically to retrieve the TARDIS, and yet somehow it had never occurred to her to ask herself what she would do once they reached it. Despite the return train ticket in her coat pocket, at the back of her mind she'd assumed the Doctor would simply take them all straight back to London in the TARDIS but now that it came to it, she wasn't so sure that was such a good idea, because no quick hop in the TARDIS was ever quite as straightforward as it should be. She hadn't been home, not properly home, since that business with the giant robot, weeks and weeks ago. Weeks and weeks of running for their lives and fighting for freedom, cold and hungry and scared, tossed around from pillar to post through both time and space, and she was tired. She needed a break.
She should be sensible, she told herself, and catch the train as planned go home, take a bath and have a good night's sleep. She needed to do laundry, sort through the mail and pay some bills. And she should get some work done; there were at least two unfinished articles lying neglected on her desk and those were just the ones she could remember, not counting the one she'd started and then abandoned during this recent business with the Zygons. She could take care of all that and then meet up with the Doctor again later, back at UNIT, refreshed and ready for the next adventure which was bound to happen, because there was always another adventure just around the corner, with the Doctor.
"No?" He was still looking at her, waiting for her answer, his eyes big and beguiling and just like that, her good intentions dissolved.
"All right," she agreed, "Providing we go straight back to London."
The Doctor beamed his delight. "Oh yes, we will, I promise," he assured her, and she didn't believe a word of it. Then he turned to the Brigadier. "Alistair?"
"No, thank you," the Brigadier crisply retorted.
"Harry?"
Harry hesitated, and Sarah could see in his eyes the same inner struggle she'd just been through, complicated further by the fact that he was a military officer rather than a free agent like herself, which meant that his time wasn't really his own. He'd only just made it back to UNIT after inadvertently going AWOL as a result of setting foot inside the TARDIS the first time, when he hadn't known what to expect but he couldn't claim ignorance any longer and he had his commanding officer standing right alongside him this time. So which way would he jump?
"I suppose you'd better go with him, Lieutenant," the Brigadier surprised them all by saying, taking the decision out of Harry's hands. "Make sure he gets back to London in one piece."
And that appeared to be that. Sarah couldn't help but smile at the way the Doctor grinned as Harry rolled his eyes a little but replied, "Aye-aye, sir," cheerfully enough that it was clear he didn't really mind the order at all.
"Right then, I'll see you all back in London this afternoon," said the Brigadier, absolutely deadpan, and Sarah laughed to herself as she followed the Doctor and Harry into the TARDIS, knowing that he didn't believe it any more than she did
I have so many other what ifs and could have beens. Just imagine, for example, what Season 8 might have been like if Liz had remained at UNIT but Jo was still hired - I can just picture the two of them together: acerbic scientist Liz and fluffy little Jo...next project, perhaps!
Premise: 1974-5 was a time of transition for Doctor Who, with the departure of Jon Perwee's Third Doctor and the phasing out of UNIT. As part of this process, the Fourth Doctor's companion Harry Sullivan was written out of the show after just one season, despite the popularity of the character. Producer Philip Hinchcliffe later admitted that this had been a mistake, and I've always wondered what season 13 might have been like if script editor Robert Holmes had instead carried the argument for keeping Harry around he made such a good foil for the Doctor and sparring partner for Sarah, I longed to see more of him. No doubt Season 13 would not have played out in quite the same way if Harry had remained aboard the TARDIS instead of staying on Earth at the end of Terror of the Zygons, with an extra character around to alter the group dynamic, acting and reacting to ongoing events and thus changing the way the various plots unfolded it is tremendous fun to imagine how those storylines might have played out with Harry taking part in the action. I will never have the time, energy or creativity to actually write those stories, so this page is merely an introduction to the series that will never be written, with accompanying artwork.
Introduction: A re-working of the final scene of Terror of the Zygons, written by Robert Banks Stewart. All characters herein belong to the BBC. I have borrowed them for this story and am making no profit from this.
It was a beautiful day.
Strolling through the Scottish countryside, Sarah couldn't help thinking how strange it was that less than 24 hours ago yet another intricate and deadly alien plot for world domination had come so very close to fruition. It was a peculiar concept to reconcile with the stillness and beauty of the woodland she was now wandering through with the Doctor, Harry and the Brigadier, accompanied by the Duke of Forgill the real Duke, that was, rather than the alien duplicate they'd first met as they made their way back to the TARDIS, which they'd left around here somewhere. Shafts of sunlight filtered through the trees and birds were singing overhead aliens and invasions seemed a world away from this peaceful place. Yet it had been real, only too real.
She only had to look at the livid scar above Harry's eye to remind her of that, and couldn't help thinking how ironic it was that after battling monsters like Cybermen, Daleks and Sontarans all through space and time with barely a scratch to show for it, he'd ended up being shot and nearly killed almost as soon as he arrived back home on Earth.
"Ah, here it is," the Doctor called from somewhere up ahead and Sarah quickened her pace to catch up with the others, only now realising how far she'd fallen behind, lost as she'd been in her own thoughts.
"That's the TARDIS?" the Duke was bemusedly asking as she reached the rest of the group.
"Yes, that's the TARDIS," the Doctor cheerfully confirmed. "And I'm going to pilot it all the way to London. I can be there five minutes ago."
"Just a minute, Doctor," Sarah protested, remembering what he'd previously told her about the TARDIS, time travel and time streams. "I thought you couldn't do that."
"Of course I can," he loftily insisted. "Coming?"
The question stopped her dead in her tracks. They'd travelled all the way back here to Loch Ness from London specifically to retrieve the TARDIS, and yet somehow it had never occurred to her to ask herself what she would do once they reached it. Despite the return train ticket in her coat pocket, at the back of her mind she'd assumed the Doctor would simply take them all straight back to London in the TARDIS but now that it came to it, she wasn't so sure that was such a good idea, because no quick hop in the TARDIS was ever quite as straightforward as it should be. She hadn't been home, not properly home, since that business with the giant robot, weeks and weeks ago. Weeks and weeks of running for their lives and fighting for freedom, cold and hungry and scared, tossed around from pillar to post through both time and space, and she was tired. She needed a break.
She should be sensible, she told herself, and catch the train as planned go home, take a bath and have a good night's sleep. She needed to do laundry, sort through the mail and pay some bills. And she should get some work done; there were at least two unfinished articles lying neglected on her desk and those were just the ones she could remember, not counting the one she'd started and then abandoned during this recent business with the Zygons. She could take care of all that and then meet up with the Doctor again later, back at UNIT, refreshed and ready for the next adventure which was bound to happen, because there was always another adventure just around the corner, with the Doctor.
"No?" He was still looking at her, waiting for her answer, his eyes big and beguiling and just like that, her good intentions dissolved.
"All right," she agreed, "Providing we go straight back to London."
The Doctor beamed his delight. "Oh yes, we will, I promise," he assured her, and she didn't believe a word of it. Then he turned to the Brigadier. "Alistair?"
"No, thank you," the Brigadier crisply retorted.
"Harry?"
Harry hesitated, and Sarah could see in his eyes the same inner struggle she'd just been through, complicated further by the fact that he was a military officer rather than a free agent like herself, which meant that his time wasn't really his own. He'd only just made it back to UNIT after inadvertently going AWOL as a result of setting foot inside the TARDIS the first time, when he hadn't known what to expect but he couldn't claim ignorance any longer and he had his commanding officer standing right alongside him this time. So which way would he jump?
"I suppose you'd better go with him, Lieutenant," the Brigadier surprised them all by saying, taking the decision out of Harry's hands. "Make sure he gets back to London in one piece."
And that appeared to be that. Sarah couldn't help but smile at the way the Doctor grinned as Harry rolled his eyes a little but replied, "Aye-aye, sir," cheerfully enough that it was clear he didn't really mind the order at all.
"Right then, I'll see you all back in London this afternoon," said the Brigadier, absolutely deadpan, and Sarah laughed to herself as she followed the Doctor and Harry into the TARDIS, knowing that he didn't believe it any more than she did
I have so many other what ifs and could have beens. Just imagine, for example, what Season 8 might have been like if Liz had remained at UNIT but Jo was still hired - I can just picture the two of them together: acerbic scientist Liz and fluffy little Jo...next project, perhaps!