Tuesday, November 26, 2013

OP: The Eight Race - The Canon War for the 8th Doctor's Timeline



Having been in this fandom for seven years, I've learned a lot about the Wilderness Years; especially the last eight years before the show returned from life support. While Christopher Eccleston's my first Doctor, Paul McGann is THE Doctor to me not just because of one TV Movie but the audios, comics, and the novels. Those three areas rescued McGann from being christened the George Lazenby/Alan Arkin (Arkin played Inspector Clouseau forty-five years ago in the film of the same name while Peter Sellars and Blake Edwards made The Party) of Doctor Who. I have to laugh at those who keep denying the Eighth Doctor's existance just because of one little line they go insane over more than Sarah Jane saying she's from 1980 when her hairstyle screams 1975. So, he said he's half human on his mother's side. SO WHAT?! It's not that serious anymore than the so called "Morbius Doctors" (that's one topic for another time) or the nickname Theta Sigma. But the time after the broadcast of the TV Movie has, to me, be the most turbulent time in the program's fifty year history and for fandom. While we've been told or implied that this Doctor fought in the Last Great Time War (before Steven Moffat buggered that detail up this year), there was already one between three genres for the role of primary Doctor Who.


The Gillatt edited DWM's giant raspberry to its open minded audience

This "Time War" began with Gary Gillatt's tenure as Editor at Doctor Who Magazine. It's no secret that he had/still has a huge disdain for the Virgin New Adventures and everything about it (including the long since revered Bernice Summerfield) so figure what way to make what he thought was "real Doctor Who" known than to kill off Ace with the aid of writer Scott Gray in the Seventh Doctor strip Ground Zero. Looking back on it, it was a very daft decision. It's like cutting your own limb off thinking you'd be better off yet there's nothing wrong with it. But it was only the beginning of the War for Canon supremacy. The Eight Doctor strips began with the Doctor returning to Stockbridge and saving it from the Celestial Toymaker with the aid of the village's resident UFO nut Max Edison and his young friend Izzy Sinclair who automatically became his new companion. The Byronic traveler and his Sci-Fi loving chum hit the ground running in their first batch of stories in the first year. While drawn by Martin Geraghty others McGann's likeness remains intact while Izzy visualization has undergone three faces over the last 16 years: in the beginning she first bore a resemblance to singer Louise Wener of the band Sleeper, then later the actress Luisa Bradshaw-White of This Life fame and most recent (via Big Finish Productions) actress Jemima Rooper. While the DWM ushered in its first Renaissance since the Sixth Doctor strips, on the prose front, things began to get ugly.


One of the three poisoned chalices from Terrence Dicks and John Peel


In 1997 (a year after the TV movie), the BBC stripped Virgin Publishing Ltd of its Who license and took it in house. For many who enjoyed the New Adventures (though Bernice Summerfield continued by until decade's end), it was a bitter blow and a mistake; a mistake still felt in the eight years since the show returned. Gone were the too broad, too deepness the NAs were known for and in its place was the chaotic period of the BBC Books Editorship of Nualla Buffini and later Stephen Cole. To start off the newly born Eighth Doctor Adventures, Buffini chose former script editor Terrence Dicks to kick it off with the most offensive book ever to be published in both his name and Doctor Who's: The Eight Doctors. Dicks was very bemused by how the TV Movie represented Who so instead of writing what should've been a new story much like his previous NA efforts, he went the opposite direction by writing the most poorly written, continuity drenched, multi-Doctor story ever completed with creating the doomed companion, the much maligned Samantha Jones. The book not only served as a grand example of why the BBC should take everything in-house but a black spot Terrence Dicks's cred with fandom. However, the arrival of the next book Vampire Science and the other two made up for it but the fifth one would cause a mighty uproar. Another writer who's cred got deep sixed because of his disdain for what he thought Who did wrong was John Peel. His two Dalek novels War of the Daleks and Legacy of the Daleks were and still are the most awful piece of prose ever written. War not only went out it way to devoid Eight and Sam of any personality but did a gruesome hatchet job on Dalek stories from Destiny to Remembrance (especially Skaro's destruction). Sometimes I wonder if not only did Terry Nation hated Remembrance but whether or not if he had a grudge against Douglas Adams. 


The turbulent period saw the return of "Mad Larry" himself Lawrence Miles with his fantastic Faction Paradox. His first three books in the range were the most spellbinding and above all revolutionary. These days, whenever you think of the Matt Smith's Doctor dying at Lake Silencio, it lifts from Alien Bodies. Its no secret some think Steven Moffat's ripping off the book and The Adventuress of Henrietta Street for his flimsy ideas and poor resolutions (I'm looking at you, River Song and The Name Of The Doctor!) and my god its showing! While, Eight and Sam dealt with the Faction and other baddies, they were joined by a male companion who is the most revered and loved after Benny: Fitz Kreiner. Another Miles book that turned Doctor Who inside out was the mammoth Interference that not only saw the exit of Sam and the arrival of Compassion but the retcon of the Third Doctor's regeneration (later restored) Before the recent John Hurt hoopla there was Three dying on Dust instead of at UNIT HQ. Of course continuity still reared its ugly head as if it became a burden to the audience, When the year 2000 rolled in, a drastic change was made: the destruction of Gallifrey. For those new to Who the fandom of old have huge yet bizarre bone of contention towards the Time Lords and have a defeatist logic that they're better off dead (including Romana!) and there's nothing interesting to be done with them. Big Finish begged to differ there but even that's fallen on deaf populist ears. Though the line got better with the Caught on Earth arc, Anji, Trix, and Sabbath.


This is where the lines were drawn....


Speaking of Big Finish, the company gained the license to make Doctor Who audios after the success of the first six Bernice Summerfield audio adaptations. In 2001, Paul McGann returned to the role for brand new audio adventures that have been ongoing for now thirteen years. For the first five to seven years, the Doctor was joined by self professed "Edwardian Adventuress Charley Pollard (India Fisher) and later the criminally maligned and underrated Eutermisan woobie C'rizz (Conrad Westmaas). The first two seasons centered around Charley and how the Doctor saving her from the R101 caused ripples to the Web of Time leading up the controversial 2003 audio Zagreus. For those who hate it, there's no love lost between jilted customers who were expecting a traditional multi-Doctor story and its co-author and former Big Finish Svengali Gary Russell deciding to segregate the 8th Doctor's timeline into three alternate timelines: separating the audios, the novels, and the DWM comic strips. For those who follow Russell's works over the years its no secret that he enjoys his alternate timeline ideas. Pity Jason Haigh-Ellery never pulled him to the side to tell him to leave it out.The so-called alternate timeline idea has been well abandoned in the years since Russell left his duties to Nicholas Briggs. From 2007 to now, Big Finish catapulted listeners to a later period of the Eighth Doctor's life which included the Blackpool native Lucie Miller (Sheridan Smith), struggling actress Tamsin Drew (Niky Wardley), WW1 Voluntary Aid Detachment Molly O'Sullivan (Ruth Bradley) and soon joining the list next year Kaldor City native Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker) from the Seventh Doctor audio Robophobia. The period also saw the return of his Grand-daughter Susan Campbell (nee' Foreman) and albeit brief, her son Alex (played by McGann's own son Jake). In the wake of the Briggs era ,The Bodysnatchers was referenced in Paul Magrs' 2008 audio The Zygon Who Fell to Earth and the following year 2009's The Company Of Friends (featuring Benny, Fitz, Izzy and Mary Shelley) officially put the last nail in the coffin for a long bitter war for what was Canon. Further, in 2012, Eight abandoned his Wild Bill Hycock attire for a dark blue naval leather jacket, denim jeans, brown boots, satchel, and a new steampunk Sonic Screwdriver for the finacially and critically successful Dark Eyes box set.




The return to TV came with a price.....

Of course the war actually ended with the return of the TV series in March 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the then new Ninth Doctor with Billie Piper in tow as Rose Tyler. The return saw a bad patch for all three spin-off medias: For BBC Books, they ceased publication of the EDAs and the PDAs in favor of tie-in novels to the New Series. However, there have been four new books since the Matt Smith/Steven Moffat era that were right up EDA/PDA-ers' alley and a new eBook series in the works. Big Finish sales dipped briefly during the Russell-Briggs transition period in 2006-2007. The media most hit was Doctor Who Magazine who had plans to make a Ninth Doctor Year One arc with then Eighth Doctor Companion, the Oblivioner Destrii. Due to the BBC, RTD and Julie Gardener wanting Nine to only be seen with Rose, the Year One plan and the regeneration panel was scraped; the strips suffered for a time with mediocre stories only to gain its mojo again by the time David Tennant's tenure started and at rapid speed once Rose Tyler was gone.


And they would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids (Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner)

There's a lot to be learned from this and there's a damn good reason why the BBC will never pull a Gene Roddenberry and decide what's canon and what isn't (The Adventure Games notwithstanding) though the recent minisode may have successfully tore down the proverbial iron curtain between TV only and everything else. Its up to you, the viewer, the listener, the reader to decided what you consider what happened and what didn't without treating your opinion as "facts". Otherwise, history would repeat itself. And no matter the direction, the Eighth Doctor is still the romantic, byronic traveler with a love for all life and did many impossible things for the greater good.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Dovie's Day: Doctor Who - The Light At The End Review




Why are we here?...Why are all the Doctors here?



October 2013 appeared to be the momentous month for Doctor Who fandom: the recovery and iTunes release of  two 2nd Doctor serials (The Enemy of the World and 4/6 of The Web of Fear with part three still missing), and (the disappointing) Day of the Doctor, and the most surprising of all was the early release of Big Finish Productions highly anticipated 50th anniversary release The Light at the End.




For those who are quite disenchanted by The Day of the Doctor, The Light at the End is right up your alley. Its a milestone in many ways than one. It's the first major anniversary story from Big Finish since the critically derided Zagreus from the decade before. Unlike 2010's The Four Doctors and the previous TV multi-Doctor stories of old, this release has not only the surviving five Doctors (with Tom Baker finally taking part in a multi-Doctor adventure with his predecessors) but also the partcipation of 1-3 via the voices of William Russell (Ian), Frazer Hines (Jamie) and recurring guest voice Tim Treloar (Destination: Nerva, The Return of the Rocket Men).




The story takes place at No. 59 Barnsfield Crescent, Northampshire on November 23rd, 1963 where the life of Bob Dovie (Big Finish's top tier writer John Dorney) has turn upside down with the arrival of a police box on his chimney...and it all ties to the Master and a red light flashing at the end of TARDIS console signaling a greater danger that threaten's the Doctor's very existence. Unlike this past season's finale, only the Doctors have to rally together to thwart the Master once and for all before its too late.




On to the cast!: All five Doctors: Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann are at the top of their games here; particulary in key scenes like 4th and 8th and their perspective companions Leela (Louise Jameson) and much missed Charley (India Fisher), 5th and Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) at the Dovie home investigating, and most of all 6th and 7th at their finest and less disagreeing. I did chuckle out loud when Ace (Sophie Aldred) called ol' Sixy "Joseph" and felt maudlin when 7th sees Peri (Nicola Bryant). John Dorney pulls off his performance as Bob Dovie with the greatest of ease ranging from scared, confused, to outright ticked off. Geoffrey Beevers gives another slam dunk performance as the Master showing his crispy incarnation is just as ruthless as ever imagined. Distorted voices aside, William Russell and Frazer Hines honor their late co-stars with their voices as the 1st and 2nd Doctors and Tim Treloar's 3rd sounds more or less akin to Jon Pertwee circa the early 90s BBC audios.



Gotta give around of applause to Jamie Robertson for pulling all the stops with the score and the rocking theme tune that gives Murray Gold's recent arrangement some tough competition. Further his sound designs is top tier work raking along side the efforts of previous sound designers of old. Last of all, Nicholas Briggs, who both write and directed it, has certainly given us what some can call this release the 40th anniversary present we should've had instead.




All in all, The Light At The End gives Classic Who fans (old and new) something to cheer about as this reviewer certain views it, the recovered Troughton episodes and the recent docudrama An Adventure In Space and Time as the real gems of the program's 50th anniversary and a damn good jump-on point for brand new listeners.


Highly recommended!



Sunday, November 24, 2013

Timeline 12 (of 12): The Twelfth Doctor


Peter Capaldi (2013-20??)



2014 Season:

Deep Breath
Into the Dalek
Robots of Sherwood
Listen
Time Heist
Silhouette (BBC Books)
Lights Out (Puffin Books)
The Caretaker
Kill The Moon
Mummy on the Orient Express
Flatline
The Blood Cell (BBC Books)
In the Forest of the Night
Dark Water
Death in Heaven
The Crawling Terror (BBC Books)
Episode 13/Christmas Special

I'm Hurt(ing)...: The Day of the Doctor Review


I know what you're thinking... Something's wrong with this picture. Looks fine to me!



I never thought I'd see the day I'd rate a Moffat penned episode as my very least favorite, but the day officially came... 

Before you all go screaming "if I could unread your post, I would!" or "Haterz gonna hate", let me be perfectly blunt and clear. I've been a Whovian for the last seven years since I was 17. I've watched every episode classic and new (and the many comics, novels and those magnificent audios from Big Finish that followed) and experience fandom's good side and its bad side (i.e. bashing Adric, some still viewing the TV Movie as "the American Abomination",and fans bashing others for not liking the current showrunner and the one before him). Not one time has any of Who make me second guess myself as a viewer (or do I really want to continue being apart of this fandom) the way the Day of the Doctor did yesterday evening.


In the many months since the announcement that none of the Classic Doctors nor Christopher Eccleston were returning (for the latter, we'll lay the blame on Marvel/Disney's doorstep) my excitement for the 50th TV Special went from a "Hell yes!" to a certified "Hell NO!". For the many complaints about Day of the Doctor being more of a tribute to the last eight years than pre-2005. Well, after what I've sat through, those criticisms were and are well justified and severly accurate many ways than one. Adding insult to injury that Day turned out to be the lastest of times Steven Moffat's been feeling himself too much in his writing; the worst case since 2011's Let's Kill Hitler. Plus his agenda to resolve the regeneration limit but shoehorning a unnecessary forgotten incarnation as the one who ended the Time War instead of what the majority of fandom assumed (and backed up by Big Finish and IDW's The Forgotten) to be the 8th Doctor. Bare in mind regarding 8th, while such an act would go against his Big Finish characterization, the 8th Doctor of the EDA novels would given the first time he blew up Gallifrey (and the violatile actions done during the Caught on Earth arc). It's a tragedy that Moffat used the 50th to muck with the limit so he can be the only one to deal with it and no one after him would ever get the chance.




I'll just come right out with the bad:

  • I just can't accept John Hurt's War Doctor at all. I'm sorry....no, I'm not sorry! I believe the idea of a hidden incarnation between the two Doctors I love (Christopher Eccleston's my first Doctor and Paul McGann's MY Doctor) is a terrible one; my least favorite idea from Moffat after the existance of River Song. Don't get me wrong, I think Hurt's a lovely dude and I don't question his acting abilities, but I feel his presence designated him in my eyes as the New Who generation's equivalent of Richard Hurndall in terms of his role being made bigger to accommodate Eccleston's non-participation (and frankly, I won't hold it against Eccleston unlike some in this fandom). Plus he agreed to take part in a honored role he didn't deserve nor did he earn. Had he'd been cast as, say, 5 or 6 years ago, then it'd be fine but not so much as an hidden incarnation. I feel the wrong man was there. If it were Richard E. Grant, I'd most likely would've been cool with it seeing as I liked Scream of the Shalka and he was, until that faithful TV announcement, the real 9th Doctor (well the 2nd of the now 4 9's). Regardless of the ending scene and the closing titles, the numbering as far as marketing and merchandise are concerned, will remain the same. Eccleston's still 9, Tennant 10, Smith 11, and Capaldi 12. No point in stomping your feet demanding Hurt be included in future products anymore than Handy (Meta-Crisis 10) nor am I changing my Matrix Databanks and Timelines for a mere one-off. Further, he didn't come off as the bad man Moffat attempted to sell us with in The Name of the Doctor; he was no different from the other before Eccleston through Smith. An idea that went up in smoke and a true waste of a regeneration.
  • The Queen Elizabeth thing. I wasn't keen on the whole thing when it started out as a poorly thought out joke from RTD and still not keen on fulfilling it here. It was embarassing along side the Zygon-UNIT plot which was too random for its own good.
  • Spoiler: The Time War.... For a once renegade Time Lord who once store all of Gallifrey via Matrix into his mind just as he blew it up the first time around (via the novels), he really didn't making the effort to figure out a way to save his home and have the War Council and Spits-a-lon overthrown to send it to a pocket universe instead of waiting three regenerations later to finally come up with the plan. Makes the Doctor look slack and a bit of a defeatist.
  • The Moment - Didn't see the point in the Moment taking the form of Rose when the War Doctor had no companions. It's only proves that the War Doctor role could've easily be either Paul McGann or Christopher Ecceston. Had the Moment took the form or Susan or Romana, there'd be more impact and more familar in terms of the program's mythology that's not limited to only 2005 to now.



Now for the good:

  • GALLIFREY FALLS NO MORE!!! After eight gruelling years of watch the Doctor being molded into a Superman-esque character, the aftertaste of the RTD era has finally cleansed the show back to its roots. The first 50 years was about him running away from it, now the next 50 will be him running towards it. I know some folks are against this but like the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians of Oa, the Time Lords aren't exempted from being brought back (save for Rassilon who can stay in his tomb for all I care)
  • The performances from all involved were fine. I was rather glad Billie Piper was only the Moment's manifestation of Rose and not the real deal. While a relief for her, a disappointment to fans of the Russell T. Davies era who wanted to see her and 10th interact instead of 
  • Spoiler: The Capaldi cameo and the special appearance of Tom Baker was lovely

But that even the good bits can't save it from being the turkey it was destined to be: a souless 8th anniversary that thumbed its nose to viewers (casual or long-time) and insulted their intelligence outright with not a single (Rhymes with Buck) given. Fans deserve better. Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann deserve better. Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman deserve better than this giant contunuty albatross that Moffat foisted upon the general public. Day of the Doctor is one anniversary gift he and the BBC should've kept to themselves.

Don't take it as a anti-Moffat post as I enjoyed most of his tenure up until this month and this past June's finale; I'm not amused by the radical changes like renumbering the Doctors. Especially to confuse those who'll might get on board in future once Peter Capaldi gets the key to the TARDIS in the next 8 months. Time will tell...

The Day of the Doctor has taken the No. 1 spot after Terrence Dicks' The Eight Doctors and John Peels Dalek novels (as you can see I refuse to include those two in my 8th timeline) as Doctor Who stories I pretend never happened. Criticize/insult me all you like, but that's the way it is.. Nice to know some folks enjoyed it, but don't expect me to change my posts and timelines to accommodate Hurt. 


Roll on Christmas and August 2014.


You know this above makes more sense.


Friends and Companions: A Guide to the 8th Doctor's Companions (Part 1 of 3)




"Charley. C'rizz. Lucie. Tamsin. Molly. Friends and companions I've know, I salute you..."

What? Were you expecting him to mention Grace Holloway? As heard in the min-episode The Night of the Doctor, the names the 8th Doctor uttered were the five of the many companions that traveled with him in the long time since San Francisco New Year's Eve 1999 up to the events of the minisode. This three part series offers new 8th Doctor fans to learn more about each companion from all three genres that make up the good Doctor's mammoth life. Part one of the series takes a look at the companions from Big Finish Productions that have been along for the audio ride since 2001 and beyond.



Charley (India Fisher)


Charley Pollard
First appearance: with 8th - Storm Warning (January 2001); with 6th - The Condemned (February 2008)
Last appearance: with 8th - The Girl Who Never Was (December 2007); with 6th - Blue Forgotten Planet (September 2009)

Charlotte Elspeth Pollard- Charley to her friends, Lottie to her mother. Born the day the Titanic sank and later stowaway on board the airship R101 on October 1930. It was there that she met the Doctor while encountering the Triskeli. With this adventure and beyond, Charley accompanied the Doctor in his travels. Throughout their adventures lingered the aftermath of her being saved from the R101 disaster which caused hard to the Web of Time. Over time, her feelings for the Doctor grew even when confronting the Time Lords and the Anti-Time creatures. She stowaway in the TARDIS once the Doctor was exiled to the Divergent Universe where they endured many an adventure well out of their depth. Occasionally she'd see a dream or hallucination of her mother at one point. She left the Doctor's company after her bemusement of his reaction to the death of C'rizz only to end up seperated from him during an encounter with the Cybermen. However her story was far from over when the 6th Doctor answered her S.O.S.....(That's for another time)


C'rizz (Conrad Westmaas)


C'rizz
First appearance: The Creed of the Kromon (January 2004)
Last appearance: Absolution (October 2007)


C'rizz was a Eutermisan of the Divergent Universe and a monk from the Church of the Foundation. For most of his life he was taught killing was saving people. He was almost freed from that life when L'da, his lover, paid for his freedom before the Kromon invaded their world. He met the Doctor and Charley when he was found stranded and disoriented. Whilst helping his new friends, he made a awful discovery that his L'da was turning into an insect queen; with no alternative, he ended her suffering. Upon defeating the Kromon, C'rizz accompanied the Doctor and Charley in their quest to retrieve the TARDIS in their new surroundings. He later joined them back to their universe where he was just as out of depth here as they were in his. He remained with them for many adventures until he sacrificed himself saving his friends from the Absolver on the planet Utebbadon-Tarria.



Lucie (Sheridan Smith)

Lucie Miller
First apperance: Blood of the Daleks Pt.1 (Originally broadcast December 31, 2006/CD release January 2007)
Last appearance: To the Death (CD release March 2011/Later broadcasted January 18, 2013)

Lucie bleedin' Miller! Much like a certain redhead from Chiswick after her, the brash Blackpool native appeared out of nowhere in the TARDIS. It was during the event of the Daleks on the desolated planet of Red Rocket Rising, the Doctor learned she was placed under his care via the Celestial Intervention Agency's witness protection regarding a company who hired her that was in involved in conflict with the Cybermen. Throughout their time, Lucie and the Doctor dealt with every mad man and monster under the stars and even encountered her aunt Patricia Ryder on a few occasions. The second occasion led to Auntie Pat's demise at the wrath of the Zygons (Pat's Zygon lover took her form to conceal the truth from Lucie). The final meeting saw the truth of Pat's fate revealed while Lucie fought for her life dealing with a vengeful Zynog; as a result she left the Doctor's company. She reunited with him on Deimos during an excursion with the Ice Warriors. Later, she sacrificed her life saving the world from the Daleks and their Time Controller.



Tamsin (Niky Wardley)

First appearance: Situation Vacent (CD release July 2010; broadcast January 8, 2013)
Last appearance: To the Death (CD release March 2011; broadcast January 18, 2013)


Tamsin Drew. Struggling out of work actress who was seeking a new gig when she stumbled upon an advert seeking new time traveling companions. She answered the ad under the persona Juliet Walsh though she almost didn't make the cut until the other applicants weren't what they seemed. She traveled with the Doctor for a time before she left him in the wake of their moral differences during the Ice Warrior attack on Deimos. She ended up travelling with another Time Lord known as the Monk. She was exterminated by the Daleks during their invasion of Earth; she was one of three deaths that impact the Doctor to take direct action.



Molly (Ruth Bradley)

Molly O'Sullivan
First appearance: Dark Eyes: The Great War (November 2012)
Last appearance: Unknown

Molly O'Sullivan was a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse during World War I; she was stationed in France along side her charge and almost sister Kitty. She met the Doctor after he was found unconscious via mustard gas. He noticed her eyes were darker than normal human eyes; that warrant not only his attention but the Daleks. From there, Dunkirk, Hallalka, and Strangor, Molly and the Doctor were on the run from them. It was these events that Molly learned that a mysterious Time Lord known as Kotris abducted her as a child, implanted her with retro-generated particles in order to use her for a space-time projector to erase the Time Lords from reality plus having the skills of operating a TARDIS without the sheer knowledge of how. After she was saved and Kotris (and his past life) were exterminated by the Daleks, her eyes were returned to normal and she returned back to her time zone to remain by her charge's side. Her story, however, is only the beginning....


Also Companions:


Samson and Gemma Griffin (voiced by Lee Inglby and Lizzie Hopley) - a brother-sister duo from Folkstone who traveled with the Doctor prior to Charley and C'rizz. The trio had several fun adventures together ranging from the ice caves of Shabadabadon to Studio 54. Their time with the Doctor came to a volatile end when the siblings when to investigate only to end up in the cluches of Davros. As the madman entered the TARDIS, Samson restrained the Doctor as Gemma, under Davros' orders, altered the Doctor's memories; forcing him to drop Davros off on Earth, 200,000s. Upon his return to our universe, the Doctor, Charley, and C'rizz encountered them (albeit seperately) as Davros was suffering from the effects of Emperor reprogramming. Gemma served as his virus to spread all over Earth (she later died at C'rizz's hands) while Samson was struggling with the aftermath. 


Mary Shelley (voiced by Julie Cox) - The legendary Frankenstein author first met the Doctor at the Vila Diodati in 1816 Switzerland when he answered a distress call sent out by himself near the end of his life. The Time Lord and Mary's adventures including the "Silver Turk", a witch from the well, axons, the Bone Lord and King Herald and the battle of Hastings. Upon Mary's request, the Doctor returned her to the Vila Diodati and went to retrieve Samson and Gemma.





NEXT TIME: The Comic Strip Companions

Thursday, November 14, 2013

UPDATE: 11/14/13

The Eighth Doctor entry of the Matrix Databank series has been updated to include today's minisode The Night of the Doctor featuring the well deserved return of Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.




As for Parts 10 and 11, I'm currently working on it as I type. Part 10 will be made available late Thursday and Part 11 will be published on here immediately on Christmas Day shortly after the premiere of the Christmas Special.