FANFICCER'S FRIEND - THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR & MARTHA

Whenever I offer up a Fanficcer’s Friend post – no matter what the series – I usually like to have a photograph as its inspiration.  (Besides, I have to keep your eyes happy.)

But I never use pictures from other TV shows for that inspiration.  That’s because those shows should be sharing the same TV dimension so the proposed picture would be of something which had already happened in the main Toobworld.

Here’s my favorite example – I would love to suggest a fan fiction story in which publishing magnate Glenn Howard (‘The Name Of The Game’) teamed up with New York attorney Daniel J. O’Brien (‘The Trials Of O’Brien’) for some reason.

But I would never use this picture:

That picture is of LAPD Lieutenant Frank Columbo with psychiatrist Dr. Ray Flemming as seen in the first pilot movie for ‘Columbo’.  I couldn’t even use it as a depiction of Columbo with his boss, Chief of Homicide Amos Burke.

But I will use pictures which are screen grabs from movies, advertising shots, publicity pictures, and even candid snaps by the paparazzi of celebrities whose characters might not normally be seen together in Toobworld.

So here’s an example – the Eleventh Incarnation of the Doctor with his former Companion Dr. Martha Jones.  It probably was taken when they had a still unseen reunion, perhaps at some point after she was married to Mickey Smith.  

That little scene with Mickey and Martha in the finale of “The End Of Time” might as well have been a mini-pilot for their own spin-off series – yet another iteration of “Smith and Jones”.

As for the storyline of this fanfic?  I’m hoping that’s up to you.  Run with it and if you do write it up, PLEASE send me a link so that I can read it.  And if possible, I’d love to give it a showcase in next year’s “Who’s On First?” blogathon.

Scribble on, my fanfic friends!

FANFICCERS' FRIEND - IT CAME FROM CLARA'S CLOSET

Hopefully to the delight of Whovian fanficcers everywhere, a new line of adventures has been available for the last few years – Clara and Me (I prefer “Mee”), both immortal and gallivanting through Time and Space in a stolen TARDIS.

It’s doubtful that they would ever show up again in the series, unless there’s another milestone landmark to observe with a TV special.  (I would have no O’Bjections to marking the 60th anniversary for example.)  So it’s probably a waste of blog-space to post this.  Still, I do need to fill these 24 hours….

I saw the picture of Jenna Coleman in the greatcoat on Facebook first.  And when I went searching for it later for it in Google images, I found the second image as well.  Both I think would make excellent outfits for Clara in her continuing adventures.  After all, she can’t be stuck in that waitress uniform forever.  At least her TARDIS has a working chameleon circuit, so she doesn’t even need to revisit that diner format ever again.

As I said, there isn’t much call for wardrobe beyond descriptions in fanfic.  But I think both pictures would make for interesting additions to your story should you choose to illustrate it…..

BCnU!

QUIBBLING REVELRIES

(A man in expensive clothes and wearing a gold chain of office enters. He is the official censor, from the Lord Chamberlain's office.) 

LYNLEY: 

Excuse me! Hold hard a moment. 

This is abominable behaviour. A new play with no warning? 

I demand to see a script, Mister Shakespeare. 

As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office 

and examined by me before it can be performed. 

SHAKESPEARE: 

Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll send it round. 

LYNLEY: 

I don't work to your schedule, you work to mine. 

The script, now! 

SHAKESPEARE: 

I can't. 

LYNLEY: 

Then tomorrow's performance is cancelled. 

MARTHA: 

It's all go around here, isn't it? 

LYNLEY: 

I'm returning to my office for a banning order. 

If it's the last thing I do, "Love's Labours Won" will never be played. 

(Lynley leaves and goes down the stairs.)

From the TARDIS Data Core Wiki:

Lynley was the Lord Chancellor when William Shakespeare wrote the play "Love's Labours Won" in 1599. When he said to William Shakespeare that "Love's Labours Won" would never be played because of short notice, a Carrionite called Lilith killed him by drowning him with her doll, filling his lungs full of water.

However......

From Wikipedia:

The Master of the Revels was the holder of a position within the English, and later the British, royal household, heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels". Originally he was responsible for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and he later also became responsible for stage censorship, until this function was transferred to the Lord Chamberlain in 1624. However, Henry Herbert, the deputy Master of the Revels and later the Master, continued to perform the function on behalf of the Lord Chamberlain until the English Civil War in 1642, when stage plays were prohibited. The office continued almost until the end of the 18th century, although with rather reduced status.

And in the list of the official Masters of the Revels, we find this name in the timeline:

SIR EDMUND TILNEY
(1579–1610)

Over four hundred years later and I don't think it caused any kind of a Zonk if Lynley replaced Tilney in the Toobworld timeline.  However, there's not much of a challenge for Ye Olde Televisiologist with that splainin.

Master Lynley was probably an assistant to Sir Edmund Tilney.  However, when going about London's theatres in carrying out the duties of the office, he often would pass himself off as the Head Master of Revels.  And with the threat of a shut-down for their productions, what would be gained by challenging him?

Not that it mattered after that encounter with Lilith in 1599.....

Exeunt.

(Followed by a bear)

FANFICCER'S FRIEND - ANOTHER LOOK AT DOCTOR #1B

The Toobworld Dynamic is fluidic, just as Television itself is.  Since TV shows can be revised, I also revise my theories about the Television Universe occasionally.

This is my latest one - about the 1-B Incarnation of the Doctor.

This Doctor only made one appearance in Toobworld, during the 25th anniversary special "The Five Doctors".  He was played by Richard Hurndall, who was the recastaway for William Hartnell who had passed away years before.  

No mention was made of the fact that he did not look much like the First Incarnation and was in fact probably even taller.  But the other incarnations of the Doctor apparently accepted him as their progenitor - the original, you might say.  And his granddaughter Susan wasn't disturbed by the difference in his appearance.  

The first time I tackled the subject, I thought he might be a younger version of the First Incarnation.  Then I figured he was actually an incarnation of the Doctor scooped up from a relative dimension in space rather than from the main Toobworld.  Genetically slightly off but still nothing which alarmed Susan.

But now I'm thinking it's a good possibility for fan fiction.  I've gone back to him being a younger version of himself, but here's the crux of the facfic - this was how he was looking throughout most of his later years.  But then somehow he triggered a partial regeneration (just as the Tenth Incarnation would later do).  It's a regeneration which he doesn't figure into his personal tally, but which looks to have aged him even more and made him even more snappish to others.

This is part of his personal history which Susan already knew and so she was not surpised to see him looking different.

(They were not scooped up together.  She was grabbed from later in her timeline, at least two decades later.  And I have this feeling that she was a widow, that her husband David Campbell had somehow died in building that new world after the defeat of the Daleks.  I'm also thinking she might have made the Doctor a great-grandfather, but tis a story for another time.....)
And as for the Doctor's portrayal by David Bradley in the Christmas 2018 special "Twice Upon A Time"?  That's how he looked from the perspective of the 12th Incarnation.

What caused that partial regeneration of theFirst Incarnation?  Well, that'll be up to you if you want to write up this fanfic.  And if you do, as always I ask you to send me a copy.  I'd love to read it.

Allonsy, Dear Boy!

MIX ''N' MATCH

By Sarah Sloat:

Fifty-thousand years ago, humans' romantic horizons extended far beyond other boring Homo sapiens. That's according to a July 2019 study that describes how our ancestors often mated with other species of the the Homo genus: Neanderthals, Denisovans, and two other unnamed hominids.

The discovery was made after scientists used previous studies to create "mixing maps" -- aka when and where mating between humans and other hominid species happened. Turns out that these cross-species liaisons happened at times in Europe, and at other times in Asia.

The most-frequent "mixing events" were those between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Modern humans met and interbred with Neanderthals in western Eurasia around 50,000 to 55,000 years ago. But Neanderthals also mated with our species in East Asia. The results are still evident in genetics -- most Europeans and Asians have approximately two percent Neanderthal DNA.

A combination of archaeological and genetic data also indicates that modern humans mated with Denisovans -- another ancient hominid -- in eastern Eurasia, maritime South Asia, and later towards Australia. And because East Asians have a second set of Denisovan genomes not found in the DNA of South Asians or people of Papuan descent, scientists believe interbreeding between Denisovans Homo sapiens happened during at least two independent episodes.

Humans also mated with two currently unknown species of ancient hominid, the results suggest. In this study, they are labeled: "EH1" and "EH2." There's a theory the EH1 group might have actually been Denisovans, but this study argues that EH1 is "so genetically divergent that it is equidistant to both Neanderthals and Denisovans, and probably represents an an entirely new hominid group." EH1 genes have found in the DNA of some modern Asian and Australo-Papuan populations.

And that won’t be the last time.  We’ll be picking up on that form of “Dancing” once we get back to exploring space….

The Doctor:
Imagine it, Adelaide. If you began a journey that takes the human race all the way out to the stars. It begins with you. And then your granddaughter, you inspire her. So that in 30 years Susie Fontana Brooke is the pilot of the first lightspeed ship to Proxima Centauri. And then everywhere. With her children, and her children's children forging the way, to the Dragon Star, the Celestial Belt of the Winter Queen, the Map of the Water Snake Wormholes One day a Brooke will fall in love with a Tandonian prince, that's the start of a whole new species. But everything starts with you, Adelaide.
From “The Waters of Mars”

SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE - SUPER TEAM FAMILY (THE LOST ISSUES)

“SUPER TEAM FAMILY; THE LOST ISSUES”

A NEW COVER POSTED EVERY DAY!

JOIN THE FACEBOOK FAN PAGE 

For several years now, “Super Team Family: The Lost Issues” has been bringing daily covers for crossover comics that never were – but should be!  We’ve featured a few of them in the past, ones that were ideally suited for TV adaptations.

And now Ross Pearsall has come up with a great cover for a proposed crossover between Batman and the Fourth Incarnation of the Doctor:

From Ross Pearsall:
After school and before dinner was the time that I would catch Batman and Doctor Who reruns when I was growing up.  I can only imagine how excited I would have been to see that the two shows were crossing over for an episode!  I'm actually pretty surprised with myself that I am only now getting around to having these two meet on the blog, not sure what took me so long.

If you were looking at this from the perspective of TV at the time both shows were on the air, reader Neil Robertson pointed out the restrictions of reality:

Neil Robertson
April 4, 2019

Properly, Batman (Adam West) should have teamed up with second Doctor Patrick Troughton in the late '60s. I know the Doctor time travels, so any iteration of [the] Doctor, or any era of Bats, is possible, but that would have been the most likely one during that period. But Tom Baker is the favorite Doctor of most older comics fans, so sure, why not?

Troughton's Doctor was my favorite incarnation.  So yeah, I would have loved to have read that issue.  And among the Bat-Baddies who could have been involved along with the Daleks, maybe the Bookworm, Egghead, and the Penguin.

The Daleks needed no reason to invade the Earth, and they keep trying time and again.  But from that same time period, which one of Batman’s foes might have either lured them back here, or tried to muscle in on their action for their own gain?  You should be thinking in terms of the villains who appeared on the 1966 series, but at least keep it within the time frame.  And if you do go outside the box, who would you cast from that time period to play the villain you chose?  (A popular What-If? has been Clint Eastwood as Two-Face.)

I hope to hear from you with your ideas…..

Holy Allon-sy! 

   

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE DOCTOR

From Wikipedia:
Opportunity, also known as MER-B (Mars Exploration Rover – B) or MER-1, and nicknamed "Oppy", is a robotic rover that was active on Mars from 2004 to late 2018.  Launched on July 7, 2003, as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover program, it landed in Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004, three weeks after its twin Spirit (MER-A) touched down on the other side of the planet.  With a planned 90-sol duration of activity (slightly more than 90 Earth days), Spirit functioned until it got stuck in 2009 and ceased communications in 2010, while Opportunity was able to stay operational for 5111 sols after landing, maintaining its power and key systems through continual recharging of its batteries using solar power, and hibernating during events such as dust storms to save power. This careful operation allowed Opportunity to exceed its operating plan by 14 years, 46 days (in Earth time), 55 times its designed lifespan. By June 10, 2018, when it last contacted NASA, the rover had traveled a distance of 45.16 kilometers (28.06 miles).

Mission highlights included the initial 90-sol mission, finding extra-martian meteorites such as Heat Shield Rock (Meridiani Planum meteorite), and over two years of exploring and studying Victoria crater. The rover survived moderate dust storms and in 2011 reached Endeavour crater, which has been described as a "second landing site". The Opportunity mission is considered one of NASA's most successful ventures.

Due to the planetary 2018 dust storm on Mars, Opportunity ceased communications on June 10 and entered hibernation on June 12, 2018. It was hoped it would reboot once the weather cleared, but it did not, suggesting either a catastrophic failure or that a layer of dust had covered its solar panels. NASA hoped to re-establish contact with the rover, citing a windy period that could potentially clean off its solar panels.  On February 13, 2019, NASA officials declared that the Opportunity mission was complete, after the spacecraft had failed to respond to over 1,000 signals sent since August 2018.

After it fell silent during a planet-encircling dust storm on Mars in June, denial was easy. The rover had weathered dust storms before and even outlived its twin, Spirit, which became mired in Martian soil and ended its mission in 2011.

From CNN:
After 15 years, the Mars Opportunity rover's mission has ended

The rover's last message to its team before the storm hit in full force, as has been widely shared this week, was akin to "My battery is low and it's getting dark." Nobody wanted Oppy, as the team called her, to be stranded in the storm.

Oppy's engineers sent over 800 commands to wake her up or help her out. They were convinced she could recover after she outlasted her original 90-day mission that began in 2004.

The windy season came and went on Mars, ending in January. And after sending a final command this week that went unanswered, NASA bid Opportunity farewell by officially concluding her mission and sending her off with both poignant and celebratory remembrance.

I would say it was hard to believe I could get so emotional over the "death" of a vehicle, but I've been verklempt over the loss of TV characters who didn't even exist in this world, unlike Opportunity.

And in case you can't read the Doctor's caption even if you expanded it, here it is:

That's why this cartoon warms my hearts.  It may have only happened with the Doctor of the Comic Strip Universe, but Who knows?  Maybe it did happen to the Time Lord of Toobworld... only we in the Trueniverse audience didn't get the chance to see it play out.

Yet.  

'Doctor Who' will be around for a long time and the plot lines have interfered with real life historical events in the past - the London fire, the first moon landing, and the disappearance of Agatha Christie.  So maybe this touching moment could be visualized one day on the TV series.

Allonsy!

DUKE-TER WHO

Back in March, this conversation started up in the 'Doctor Who' Facebook page:


Rich DeBlock
So I'm re watching new-who from the beginning. Now explain this one. I just watched the episode with the gelth and here's the thing. If the current Gwen from torchwood is a decendant of the Gwen from the gelth episode. How is that possible if that Gwen sacrifices herself and blows herself up to stop the gelth b4 ever having any children to carry on the line???

Chelsea Starland
Could've been a cousin or a sibling that carried on the line Gwen came from. I'm more concerned about how Martha's cousin looked exactly like her that seems far less likely.

Saturnia Bocast
The two Amys (the actresses) are cousins and they look nearly identical at the same age so I think it's plausible.

Chelsea Starland
They don't look the exact same though - you can see ear differences. Wasn't saying cousin's can't look similar; I'm saying it's less likely having cousins look identical. Never said impossible, just less likely.

This is where I stepped in....

From Toobworld....

And a fellow Whovian stepped up to carry the idea home (but not the long way round):

Paul Hoover
Toby O'Brien:
 
“Adi gets grabbed by Cybermen; 
converted and then, never seen again; 
But Martha gets to see the sights 
a girl can see from TARDIS heights; 
What a crazy pair! 
‘Cuz they’re cousins! Identical cousins, 
and you’ll find: 
They walk alike, 
they talk alike, 
by aliens they’re stalked alike - 
you can lose your mind! 
When cousins are two of a kind!”

Good one, Mr. Whoover!  

Allons-y!

RIVER SONG'S PENALTY GAME

‘THE SAINT’
“JUDITH”

From the IMDb:
In the introduction set at a hockey game, Simon Templar explains the rules of the sport. The stock footage varies from a 1930s game to a 1950s game. These were not shot at the Montreal Forum, as normally it would be showing a game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, which Simon Templar roots for.

So those are poorly recorded off the TV screen frame grabs of the hockey game in the opening of this episode of ‘The Saint’.  So here we see a combination of screenshots from the 1930s and the 1950s (at least according to that IMDb entry.)

If so, why didn’t Simon Templar, the Montreal police chief, and the Northwades notice the changes, including that of the players?

I think one possibility could be that all of Time was happening at once because River Song violated a fixed point in Time. (“The Wedding Of River Song”)

Like I said, it’s just a possibility….

But... if it did happen outside of the episode, then that would explain how my televersion could have been at that October, 1963 hockey game in Montreal as a 21 year old college student - even if I was only eight years and had never been outside of the Nutmeg State.

Coulda been.....

Geronimo!

O'Bservation:
That picture is from the TV movie "The Deadliest Season".  I've got nine good shots in the film and the movie serves as my degree of separation with Kevin Bacon entry.  Meryl Streep co-starred as Michael Moriarty's wife and she starred with Bacon in "The River Wild." 

IF I WAS THE DOCTOR? SHOW TUNES!

In one of the many Facebook groups named "Doctor Who", Andrew Pollack posted an interesting premise back in March of this year:

You had the chance to play the Doctor.  Now its your final episode.  You're about to regenerate to someone else, and your "goodbye speech" is...

So this is the idea that I had:

The personality quirk for my incarnation of the Doctor was to break out in show tunes at inopportune moments, but which have a kernel of truth in them for that particular situation.  As I feel regeneration about to overwhelm me, I let loose with the rousing chorus from “This Is Me.”

“I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me!”

And.... regenerate!

(Fellow group member Sabreen Reza recognized that Oscar-nominated song to be from the movie "The Greatest Showman".)

I've been thinking of other show tunes my Doctor might quote at opportune moments in his adventures.
Here are a few of the ones I came up with:

• "Always look on the bright side of life."
• "Something's coming.  I don't know what it is, but it is going to be great!"
• "Now my arm is complete!" (Think back to what happened during "The Christmas Invasion".)

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, goodbye!

O'Bservation:
The graphic at the top is from a book by my late friend Brad Williams, puppeteer extraordinaire.  The book was entitled "The Complete Time Traveler: A Tourist's Guide To The Fourth Dimension".