STORIES IN THE END

 

And so we have come to the end of another  "Who's On First?" blogAthon.

I hope you enjoyed it  

THE WHOBITUARIES 2021

 

At the end of every "Who's On First" marathon, we have paid tribute to those connected with 'Doctor Who' who passed away over the last year.

We lost some big names in 2021, including one of the Companions to the Doctor's first known Incarnation (Jackie Layne, who played Dodo.)

Here are the Whovian actors we lost this year:

• Mark Eden - “Marco Polo”
• Barbara Shelley - Sorasta in “Planet of Fire”
• James Greene - The Abbott in “The Bells Of St. John”
• Ken Sedd - The Crew Member in “The Wheel In Space” & Bi-Al Member in “The Invisible Enemy” (Not Pictured: “The Leisure Hive”, “Time-Flight”, “Enlightenment”)
• Harry Fielder - Guard in “Enemy Of The World” & Wheel Crew in “The Wheel In Space” & Guard in “The Armageddon actor” & Tigellan in “Meglos” & Second Assassin in “The Face Of Evil” & Security Guard in “Castrovalva” & Gallifreyan Guard in “The Deadly Assassin” & Guard in “The Seeds Of Doom” (Not pictured: “The Ribos Operation”, “The Invisible Enemy”, “Revenge Of The Cybermen, “Planet Of The Spiders”)
• David de Keyser - The Voice of The Atraxi in “The Eleventh Hour”
• Alan Curtis - Major Greene in “The War Machines”
• Ronald Pickup - Physician in “The Reign Of Terror”
• Myra Frances - Lady Adrasta in “The Creature From The Pit”
• Arthur Cox - Cully in “The Dominators” & Mr. Henderson in “The Eleventh Hour”
• David Baillie - Dask (Taren Kapel) in “The Robots Of Death”
• Helen McCrory - Rosanna Calvierri in “The Vampires Of Venice”
• Frank Cox - Director of “The Brink Of Disaster”, “Kidnap”, “A Desperate Venture”
• Jackie Lane - Dodo Chaplet, A companion of the First Doctor
• Damaris Hayman - Miss Hawthorne in “The Daemons 1-5”
• Una Stubbs - Flo in “The Horror of Glam Rock” (audio drama)
• Tony Selby - Sabalom Glitz
• John Challis - Scorby in “Seeds of Doom 1-6”
• Michael Ferguson - Director of “The War Machines”, “The Seeds of Death”, “The Ambassadors of Death”, “The Claws of Axos”
• Bob Baker - Writer of “The Claws of Axos”, “The Mutants”, “The Three Doctors”, “The Sontaran Experiment”, “The Hand Of Fear”, “The Invisible Enemy, “Underworld”, “The Armageddon Factor”, and “Nightmare of Eden”
• Clifford Rose - Rorvik in “Warrior’s Gate”
• Bernard Holley - Peter Haydon in “Tomb Of The Cybermen” & The Axon in “The Claws Of Axos”

EPITAPH

 

We have some goodbyes to make at the top of the hour.....

WHO ZONKS - TIMEY WIMEY FROOD LOOPS

 

It was a funny bit in the New Year's Day special, but it did point out an established Zonk for Toobworld Central.

For years, "Groundhog Day" has been a fixture in the Cineverse, and has been referenced in Earth Prime-Time shows.  Posters and video boxes can be seen in 'Married... With Children' and 'Mad About You'; lots of TV characters compare their current situations as being "Groundhog Day"; it even is a movie in alternate Toobworlds as seen in shows like 'Smallville', 'iZombie', 'Veep'; and even in the Tooniverse ('The Simpsons' and 'American Dad!')

And then Bill Murray, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Brian Doyle Murray (along with the groundhog) reunited for a 2020 Super Bowl blipvert.  So now "Groundhog Day" had a presence in Toobworld.  

It can be easily splained away - the actual event occurred in Toobworld at some point before the movie was made and then the televersion of the film was based on what actually happened.  

So why did the Toobworld "reality" of "Groundhog Day" even happen?  My guess is that every so often the arrival of the TARDIS affects the temporal stability of its location.  Because it wasn't an isolated event - we've seen the circumstances occur in episodes of 'The X-Files', 'The Librarians', 'Fringe', and the latest version of 'The Twilight Zone'.  It could be the TARDIS was in the vicinity....

SAINT WHO 5 - "DOCTOR WHO" ACTORS WHO APPEARED IN "THE SAINT"

My favorite of the Doctor’s Incarnations was played by Patrick Troughton, for reasons both on camera and behind the scenes.  He appeared in two episodes of ‘The Saint’ – “The Romantic Matron” and “Interlude In Venice”.  While the former took place in Buenos Aires and the latter, naturally, in Venice, Troughton played police inspectors in both.

SAINT WHO 4 - "DOCTOR WHO" ACTORS WHO APPEARED IN "THE SAINT"

One of the greatest participants in creating the legend of ‘Doctor Who’ was Roger Delgado, who played the Master in his last incarnation of the original cycle of regenerations.  He was the epitome of sophisticated, venomous evil, and was an excellent fencing partner – both physically as well as verbally - to match Jon Pertwee as the third incarnation of the Doctor.

In 1962, Delgado played a hotel manager in ‘The Saint’ episode “The Golden Journey” and had a more involved role as Captain Rodriguez in 1966’s episode “Locate and Destroy”.

According to the IMDb: “He was the first actor to play the Master, the Doctor's greatest individual enemy, in ‘Doctor Who’ (1963). He played the role from the 1971 serial "Terror of the Autons" to the 1973 serial "Frontier in Space". He was succeeded in the role by Peter Pratt, Geoffrey Beevers, Anthony Ainley, Gordon Tipple, Eric Roberts, Derek Jacobi, John Simm, Michelle Gomez and Sacha Dhawan.

The character of the Master in ‘Doctor Who’ (1963) was specifically created for him by producer Barry Letts, who had worked with him when he had been an actor himself. No other actor had even been considered for it.”

Sadly, he died in a road accident near Nevashir, Turkey, in 1973.

FANFICCERS' FRIEND - THE ROMAN SLAB OF ENGLAND

Updated 5th January 2021
Written by Rob Picheta, CNN London

An ancient Roman marble slab, used for nearly a decade as a horse mounting block before its origins were revealed, is at the center of a mystery as experts scramble to find out how it ended up in the garden of a bungalow in England.

The intricate slab features a Greek inscription that gives a clue to its origins, and has been dated back to the second century AD.

The slab was stumbled upon 20 years ago by the owner of a house in Whiteparish, a village in southern England, who found it in the rockery of her garden.

She used it as a mounting block in her stable for almost 10 years before finally noticing a laurel wreath carved into its surface, according to a press release from auction house Woolley and Wallis, which is selling the rock.

Will Hobbs, an antiquities specialist at Woolley and Wallis, said artifacts such as the rock often arrived in England in the 18th and 19th centuries when wealthy aristocrats would tour Europe learning about classical art and culture.

"We assume that is how it entered the UK, but what is a complete mystery is how it ended up in a domestic garden, and that's where we'd like the public's help," Hobbs said in a statement.

After noticing the detail on the slab, the home's more recent owner took it to an archaeologist, who dated it to the second century with likely origins in Greece or Anatolia.

Its inscription reads: "The people (and) the Young Men (honor) Demetrios (son) of Metrodoros (the son) of Leukios."

Since they don’t know for sure how it got there, here’s a great opportunity for some ‘Doctor Who’ fanfic.

Here’s an idea to get you started:

Visiting Greece back in the 2nd Century, the Doctor has a chance encounter with Demetrios and they are soon swept up in some kind of cosmic adventure which threatens the Earth.  The Doctor lets Demetrios take all the credit, preferring not to let his presence be overlooked.  As such, the young Greek hero is presented with the slab as a testament of the people he saved.

He and the Doctor leave in the TARDIS, but once in the time-stream, they realize that Demetrios was hurt far worse than he let on. 

The Doctor makes an emergency landing, finding himself in that garden so that he can try to help the young man.  But it’s too late; Demetrios dies of his wound.

The Doctor buries him in that garden with the slab to serve as his tombstone.

Here are some suggestions for embellishing that premise:

• The Doctor gets a lot of delight out of calling the Greek “Demmie”.

• Demetrios probably suffered from massive internal hemorrhage.  He fends off concerns and acts stoic and the Doctor has no clue anything is wrong.

• “The Young Men” could be a local garrison who rejected Demetrios when he tried to join, but he ends up saving them. He turns down their offer to re-apply, preferring to travel with the Doctor.

• It could be any incarnation of the Time Lord and the same holds true for any Companion you choose – either one already associated with your choice of Doctor, or one that you create. 

• This is just my opinion, but I hope you create your own nemesis rather bring in the Master or the Rani or depend on the Daleks and the Cybermen.  But a return of the Pyroviles, a century after their last appearance (in the Toobworld timeline) in "The Fires Of Pompeii..." that might be nice.

If you do write up such a fanfic story, let me know where I can read it!

WHO WHAT?

 

Here's another opportunity where you might feel inclined to contact me.  Help this poor old duffer to understand what the frak is going on here!  I don't get it.

SAINT WHO 3 - 'DOCTOR WHO' ACTORS AS SEEN IN "THE SAINT"

 

If I'm not mistaken (and I often am), this is Michael Wolf, who played the hotel clerk in that 'Saint' episode "The Helpful Pirate".  He was Nils in the 'Doctor Who' serial "The Moonbase".

If I am wrong, feel free to send me a correction.  (It gets lonely here at Toobworld Central....)

A CROSSOVER THWARTED

 

RTD ANTICIPATION

 

We shall see what we shall view....

BLIPVERTS? OH YEAHHHHH!

 And now a word from some sponsor....

LUNCH BREAK - FEELING THE BERN

 
I won’t say he broke the internet, but by the day after the inauguration of President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders exploded all over the Web when a picture of him on the dais was photoshopped into all sorts of scenarios, from band publicity pictures to album covers, movie scenes, TV shows & commercials, and historical events.  (The technology has evolved so that he even replaced Patrick Swayze in the pottery clip from “Ghost”.)

Well, as this is the “Who’s On First?” blogAthon, then you know he ended up in a few ‘Doctor Who’ shots (and one from ‘Torchwood’.)

Plus I’ve added one of Bernie in another pose with the TARDIS.

I'm writing this up on January 22, 2021, so if more memes like this show up over the year, I'll add them in.

 

SPACE DOGS

It’s a shame they wiped out the entire race of Lupari in the “Flux” mini-series (save for Karvanista), although it probably serves to keep explanations about how those sentient canine protectors operated to a minimum.  Still, I would have liked to have seen if they all looked like Karvanista, or if they had a wide variety of genetic differences, as if they were at the Westminster Dog Show.

If so, could their home planet have also been known as Parenthia?  Then we may have seen two Lupari in the past… on an episode of ‘Bewitched’….

THE LUPARI

One of the few good things to come out of this last season of ‘Doctor Who’ (“Flux”) was the introduction of the Lupari, a sentient canine race who, for some ancient reason, was responsible for Mankind.  Each individual Lupar(?) served as a guardian for a specific human on Earth; sort of like doggie guardian angels.

From the Tardis Data Core Wiki:
The Lupari, singular Lupar, were a humanoid race that resembled Earth dogs. They were warriors with a great sense of honour.

They were species-bonded with humanity, meaning each human had a Lupar tasked to protect them. On Halloween 2021, seven billion Lupari ships approached Earth to protect it from the Flux, (TV: The Halloween Apocalypse) creating an event the humans dubbed the "Three Minute Eclipse."

However, they unknowingly allowed the Sontarans, who came to Earth before the shield took effect, to take over the Earth and blamed fellow Lupar Karvanista for proposing the idea, however he blowed all Sontaran ships and solved the problem (TV: War of the Sontarans), they continued to protect humanity from the Flux and its consequences until the Sontarans attacked Earth again and attacked and threw all the Lupari into space, appropriating the shield for themselves and leaving Karvanista as the last surviving member of the Lupari. (TV: The Vanquishers)

I don’t know how they accomplished this from the distance of space, and why haven’t they ever stepped in to prevent murders or casualties during war or traffic accidents?  Where were they during the Holocaust? The collapse of the World Trade Center?  That recent tornado event which swept through six states?

What happens when their human charges do die?  Do they get reassigned to a new human?

At any rate, I was curious about their species’ name, and if – behind the scenes – there was a reason why it was chosen.

This is what I found:

lupārī
present active infinitive of lupor

lupārī
(in earlier Latin) genitive singular of lupārius

vocative singular of lupārius

lupārius m (genitive lupāriī or lupārī); second declension

(Classical Latin) a wolf-hunter
(Medieval Latin) a wolfhound

Lupor
From lupa (“she-wolf”), in the sense of prostitute.
lupor (present infinitive lupārī, perfect active lupātus sum); first conjugation, deponent
I associate with prostitutes

Lupa
The feminine version of lupus. The sense “prostitute” is either a comparison of the prostitutes' predation on men to the wolf's rapacity, as also in Isidore's (often fanciful) opinion, or a reference to the she-wolf's uncleanliness and promiscuity (often culturally conflated), paralleled in English bitch.

I guess that serves as a philological in-joke.

AGREED

 

FROM LIPS TO EYEBROWS

 

O'BSERVATIONS ON FUTURE CASTING

 

I would like a spate of older actors as the Doctor before reverting to that youth movement again.  But when he gets older, I would like to see Tom take a swing at it.

But not Benedict.  I want to see him as the Master!

THE JOKER GOES FOURTH

 

I can see the artist finding inspiration in the visage of Tom Baker.  As a "writer" myself, I find inspiration everywhere, even in this old lady who rides my bus.

SHOW US YOUR PSYCHIC PAPERS, OLD MAN!

 

THE DOCTOR SAVES THE DAY

 

SAINT WHO 2 - "DOCTOR WHO" ACTORS AS SEEN IN "THE SAINT"

 

Here's another actor from 'The Saint' who showed up in 'Doctor Who'....

George Pravda played three roles in 'Doctor Who':

• Denes in "Enemy of the World"
• Jaeger in "The Mutants"
• Castellan Spandrell in "The Deadly Assassin"

(That last one is my personal favorite of the three.)

Meanwhile, Pravda matched that tally with his appearances in 'The Saint':

• Clinton Uckrose in "The Effete Angler"
• Inspector Glessen in "The Rhine Maiden"
• Uhrmeister in "The Helpful Pirate" (which also featured Anneke Wills)

From the IMDb:
George Pravda was born on June 19, 1918 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Prague, Czech Republic] as Jirí Pravda.  He acted on stage with the Prague Realistic Theatre Company under the name Jiri Pravda.  

By using false papers, he managed to escape from the Soviet bloc after World War II. Made his way to Australia, via France, acting on stage. Through Dame Sybil Thorndike obtained a letter of introduction to Hugh Beaumont and John Gielgud, enabling his move to England in 1956. Appeared in London at the West End and had a successful television career playing assorted Eastern and Central Europeans, with a strong line in spies, sneaks and scientists.

He was an actor, known for Thunderball (1965), Firefox (1982) and The Man in the Mirror (1966). He was married to Hana Maria Pravda. He died on April 30, 1985 in London, England.

SAINT WHO 1 - ACTORS FROM "DOCTOR WHO" & "THE SAINT"

 
A great TV series for seeing actors who also appeared in the classic run of 'Doctor Who' was 'The Saint'.  I'll be sharing a few of those through this blog-a-thon.

First up: Anneke Willis, who played Polly, one of the Companions of the Doctor....

She is seen here in the episode "The Helpful Pirate" as Fran Roeding.

A MARVEL-OUS CROSSOVER

 
If you have ever fantasized about comic book characters from different companies teaming up – more often than we got decades ago – you should check out Ross Piersall’s blog SUPER TEAM FAMILY.

Here’s an example from back in January.  And of course it’s Who-related!

Ross:

My guess is that a phone booth was first used as the exterior for Doctor Who's Tardis partly because of budgetary reasons, as those original shows were produced inexpensively.  Whatever the reason, It's always been an interesting look for the Doctor's travelling headquarters.  Now that phone booths have all but become a thing of the past, it seems even cooler that a time traveler would use such a retro design.  Doctor Who may alter his appearance every few years, but I hope the Tardis never does.

Here's another with the very popular Fourth Incarnation:

The Doctor is not the only character from the long-running series who has graced the covers of Ross' fantasy comic books.  He also put together a team called Robo-Force which often faces off against "Rival Robo-Force"....

And finally, with the introduction of Kang into the MCU via the 'Loki' series....