The WIDWWA Newsletter - Issue 4

How do we look? Yes, we’ve regenerated and has a slick new look and feel on both the front and inside of this very newsletter.

When I launched this newsletter in November, I hadn’t quite intended it to be to the scale it ended up being. Originally, it was just supposed to be an email, but then I decided to put it into a PDF, for formatting reasons, and then I decide I better give it a nice design and then and then and then etc etc, it just expanded. So, on 1 November, what you saw was 22 pages of basically, a magazine. Since then, we’ve moved closer to the 30-page mark, and I’ve had loads of brilliant feedback on the Discord server too about the content of the Newsletter. After three issues, I decided I’d do my best to incorporate some of this feedback to give the Newsletter a facelift.

While for a simple email newsletter, the original design was more than adequate, since the Newsletter has evolved past that, I decided I should lean more into its magazine inspiration and give it a slightly more professional look and feel. I hope you like it, and while it may see some tweaks here and there, this is the look and feel that will stay with the Newsletter for a while now.

Also, part of the things I have achieved this issue, and hope to continue is it’s community focused nature. We have a six-pages in this newsletter entirely written by people who aren’t me(!), giving some fans of the series the chance to write about it for the whole community to read. If you want to write a feature for the newsletter, get in contact with me, and we’ll see if we can make it happen!

Moving onto other matters, last month saw the

February Releases

7 February - 17:00

Doctor Who: Adventures - Series 3, Episode 4

14 February - 17:00

Doctor Who: Adventures - Series 3, Episode 5

21 February - 17:00

Doctor Who: Adventures - Series 3, Episode 6

28 February - 17:00

Doctor Who: Adventures - Series 3, Episode 7

Releases will appear on the WIDWWA Wordpress (widwwa.wordpress.com) at the time specified on the release schedule, on the day specified on the release schedule. All times are in UK time.

release of three episodes of ‘Doctor Who: Adventures’ on the WIDWWA blog. Strangely this series of ‘Adventures’ has had a bit less talk about it, and less views on the blog than normal WIDWWA releases, including previous series of ‘Adventures’, so here’s essentially a reminder to say that it exists and it’s available to read... now!

Finally, I’d like to remind everyone that the submission window for fan fiction is still open, and while there’s currently several pieces at work, none have been completed in time for publication in this issue. If you have a story you’d like to tell, with a WIDWWA TARDIS team, please contact me and we can see about getting you a spot in a future months’ newsletter. Full details on how to submit are on the final page of this issue.

Doctor Who’s New BBC Three Show!

13 January 2022

It has been announced that a new Doctor Who spin-off series, from the mind of former Franchise Executive, Ronald D. Moore, has been giving the greenlight at BBC Three. The show has been created by Ronald D. Moore, and the pilot will also be authored by the writer, however, another creative will be stepping into the showrunner role for the series.

Moore says: “Jane [Espenson] approached me with the idea of a setting up a new Doctor Who series when our work on The Daleks’ Master Plan was just beginning. BBC Three approached about a tentpole show for 18–34-year-olds, around October time, and luckily I had just the thing under my sleeve.”

Jane Espenson, the Executive Supervisor of Doctor Who’s television output, says: “I couldn’t leave this job without adding one more thing to my legacy, and that’s to help the launch of a show which I think will really facilitate the future of the franchise going through the 60th Anniversary year and beyond. BBC Three is an extraordinary channel where we can create a version of Doctor Who unseen up to this point.”

The yet untitled show is due to begin filming in June and will premiere on BBC Three and Paramount+ (internationally) sometime in 2023.

The casting process is underway for the programme, at the moment, with announcements on key individuals involved expected throughout the next few months.

The New Renegade Season Three Cast Announced!

26 January 2022

The cast of the third season of Doctor Who: The New Renegade has been announced, as things move into the public sphere, as the cast are set to begin location filming this week.

Alongside Anthony Head, the series will see T’Nia Miller star as Amanda Theodore, returning to the role for the first time since 2016. Additionally, Guy Henry will reprise his role from Doctor Who as Vajahnari, as well as Audra McDonald, who will be making a return to the show as Gali Lewis.

T’Nia Miller says, “What a joy to be back on Doctor Who! I’ve had a while away from the character of Amanda and it’ll be interesting to see what she’s up to, especially in the much more damaged universe that inhabits our show...”

Newcomers to the third season of the programme include Kate Siegel and Brandon P. Bell, who will be playing entirely new characters.

Jane Espenson says, “We have a wonderful cast of Season 3, and I can’t wait for you to see all the hard work Mike and the team have put in during the last few months and beyond. This really won’t be a season you’ll want to miss!”

The season is set to premiere this Autumn, with a British premiere on BBC One, and an international premiere on Paramount+.

All the important announcements from January from the WIDWWA universe!

FROM THE FANS

As part of the WIDWWA Newsletter’s regeneration, the Best of Discord section has been replaced with a new streamlined way of showcasing the fans’ thoughts. These were originally posted as seperate Discord messages but now compiled into a singular letter for you to read.

TimeLordMaster108 8 January 2022

Okay, so since Season 8 of Doctor Who: Remastered comes out today, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the remasters. So, let’s start by addressing why I won’t be talking about the 60s stories, I’m going to be honest, I have never seen the original black and white, uncut stories outside of a few small clips and learning that the versions that I have on DVD weren’t the original versions. I’ve also never felt the need to see the original versions as I’m perfectly happy with the remasters, which are the versions of the Seasons 1-6 stories I grew up on and always think of.

As for what I think of the remasters with the knowledge I now have, I honestly like them, they fix up some truly dodgy effects, cut down any padding that the original versions had, and the modernised, remixed soundtrack by Mark Ayres is a joy to listen to; modern while still being faithful to the originals.

As for the colourisation of Seasons 1-6, I don’t mind it for two reasons: 1. Again, I grew up with these versions, and 2. Some younger members of the Doctor Who fandom wouldn’t be drawn to a black and white TV show, because they automatically see it as old and bad; a similar thing applies to the cutdown. A lot of young kids have a short attention span, so would probably get board with some stories.

In regards to the animated segments for missing episodes, they’re mostly fine; rushed in a few areas, which is understandable as they didn’t have too much time, but overall pretty good.

My thoughts pretty much remain the same in regards to the remasters of the Pertwee era, but I was more amazed at the changes when first seeing them, due to the fact that I like many others have grown up with the original versions of the Pertwee era and now the first two Seasons and a bit of the Baker era.

Now, what do I think of the current logo being used for the Remasters and having the modern title cards? I honestly don’t mind, it’s a little change, it’s not the end of the world, though it REALLY sticks out like a sore thumb on the Tom Baker titles.

Robert Morrison 13 January 2022

I think if we were to use the ViacomCBS as a bible for what is going forward. I think it is safe to say that the spin off will focus on either a previous or a brand new Doctor. I do not think that audiences would rather see that than some people on a planet or a ship or a station or whatever...

An Intendant spinoff would make Adrian Hodges’ blood boil... They should do that. I did like some of Adrian Hodges’ individual stories... But, some of the story-arcs of the season or how they were resolved rubbed me the wrong way and while they may have been put in by Espenson... It was still apart of the Adrian Hodges era and besides... Adrian Hodges wrote the finale of Season 55. Part One was good, but Part Two... canon w*nking.

In my opinion, Season 55 should have focused on a story about The Intendant (who really should have no connection to The Doctor) and Sam trying to do an evil plot messing with time and stopping the Gaians doing something like prevent their own home worlds from being invaded by the Gaians.

Season 55 was supposed to help rebuild the show in the casual audience’s eyes. And was suppose to tell a self-contained story within the season... And it did not really do that but also did at the same time... But it lead more into the former than the latter.

It brings The Other out of basically nowhere and the only thing he really does is explain who The Intendant is and get rid of Bertie and Chrissie so that Sara Kingdom can be Sixteen’s companion...

TBH, If you remove the finale, Season 55’s only real dud is The Diaries of Time. Rebirth and Terror of the Daleks are good episodes and The Highland Beast and To Win Them All are personal highlights for me in the season... The finale really does drag down Season 55 for me if I am being honest.

Part one of the finale is good... But, part two really lets it down in my opinion...

The 6/2 episode ratio is a great good/bad story ratio... But, the finale which was suppose to wrap everything up really upsets that ratio.

Episode Previews

Series Three - Episode Four

Since we’ve been away from the 70s for a few episodes, we’re back there for Episode 4! However, there’s a twist... Danielle and Roger are gone! The Doctor, Erin and Kyle return home and Erin’s parents aren’t there. They’ve vanished! We meet Kyle’s dad again, in their absence, but most of the story is about their absence... Will we actually see Danielle and Roger in this episode? Well, let’s just hope the Doctor, Erin and Kyle can save the day!

From 1930, we move to the far future and into a very typical science-fiction concept, that hasn’t really been touched on Doctor Who, before. This one leans much more into teaching kids science, but also does manage to squeeze a bit of history in their too – how, well you’ll see. Perhaps some might see this one as the weakest of the season, not because it’s necessarily bad, but because it’s perhaps the least interesting. We’ll just have to see what you guys make of it.

Anyone familiar with pop hits of the 1970s might have a feeling where this episode is going based on the title. Erin knows the song well, much to Kyle’s musical distaste, as the TARDIS trio realise where they are. They, of course, arrive in Salford during the 1930s, where they find themselves meeting L.S. Lowry, perhaps Britain’s greatest painter of the 20th Century, and as Erin demonstrates, throughout the episode, with her constant recital of the Brian & Michael hit about Lowry, he’s one of the most culturally impactful painters... but, this is Doctor Who, and something evil is at work!

I’ve spoken about this episode before, in the previous issue, and this one is a very special episode which saw collaboration with the National Autistic Society during it’s making. It’s a very powerful episode, especially for kids, teaching them about something which, at that young age, they might not understand. It’s also very much a Doctor Who episode, and is a lot of fun and really shows the power of a hero.

Naturally, Phil Ford elected to write this episode himself, understanding it’s importance for the show, and for the show’s audience.

Series Three - Episode Five Series Three - Episode Seven

Series Three - Episode Six

What Lies Ahead?

Maggy Chan said that in order for ‘Doctor Who: Through Time and Space’ to continue bilingually, the Christmas Special would need to achieve more than 2 million viewers. Despite the first episode of the show achieving 1.7m, the rest of Season 1 achieved between 800k-1.2m viewers, which was only slightly higher than the viewers the other foreign adaptations were achieving on BBC Four... and this was BBC Two. What Chan had gathered is that the general public, as a whole, weren’t particularly interested in watching foreign adaptations. To be fair, the foreign adaptations were made for their home market, and not for the Brits, it they were just dubbed and aired on BBC Four as a curtesy to the fans, so they could at least watch them, if they wanted. With ‘Doctor Who: Through Time and Space’, the BBC wanted to test an experimental scheme to shoot each shot twice, one in English and one in Polish, however, this wouldn’t be finically viable if the viewing figures didn’t hold up... and they didn’t.

What ensued was an online hate campaign for Chan, as she made the decision to move the show for a dub in Season 2, and as a result, she decided to give the show one last chance, with its already commissioned Christmas Special, given a budget increase, by the BBC, to be made bilingually, and then depending on how it did in the ratings, Chan would make a final decision.

‘Eve’, broadcast at 7pm on BBC Two on Christmas Day, achieved 1.6m viewers. Now granted, Christmas Day 2022 was pretty much the

lowest viewed television Christmas ever, but the special still didn’t meet the threshold needed. Not only this, but the special wasn’t overly critically praised, outside of Poland, with many complaining about the somewhat “impenetrable” nature of many of the cultural references. Critics argued that if the producers needed to make one episode especially assessable to non-Polish audiences, it needed to be this one... and that didn’t seem to happen.

So, sadly, Maggy Chan, in the middle of January, decided that she’d have to reinforce her unfortunate decision and that Season 3 of ‘Doctor Who: Through Time and Space’ would be produced entirely in Polish, and then dubbed into English and aired on BBC Four for British audiences. Internationally, as usual, the show would be available on Paramount+, the morning after it’s British airing, with not only an English dub, but also dubs in several other languages where Paramount+ is available.

Some fans did argue that the 2m figure was always “pie in the sky” and impossible to achieve, but others argue that since the first episode of the programme achieved 1.7m, with the viewing audience of Christmas Day, reaching 2m wouldn’t be impossible. Some thought it was a stitch up by Chan from the start, noting that the episode was against the likes of ‘The Wheel’, ‘Blankety Blank’ and ‘Emmerdale’, and had no chance of reaching a high viewing figure. So, despite, the improvement here, it wasn’t to be... WIDWWA

As the future of Doctor Who’s Polish incarnation hangs in the balance, we finally get an update...

VIEWING FIGURES

BY

The season’s marketing strategy benefited the opening episode, ‘Rebirth, Part One’, which pulled in overnights of 6.17 million viewers. This was consolidated in the 7-day figures to 7.53 million, an increase of 1.36 million, and 8.19 million for the 28-day figures, up by 0.66 million. It ranked 4th for both 7-day and 28-day ratings. These ratings were, in fact, the highest since part one of ‘The Doomsday Cannon’, the opening episode of Season 53, which received 7.51m and 8.05m in the 7-day and 28-day ratings respectively.

The following week, ‘Rebirth, Part Two’ was watched by an overnight audience of 5.54m, down by 0.63m. The 7-day figures consolidated to 6.74m, down by 0.79m, and the 28-day figures 7.48m, down 0.71m. Despite this drop, it didn’t affect the rankings, with both still placed 4th in the 7-day and 28-day charts.

‘The Highland Beast’ saw ratings drop again; overnights of 5.02m, down 0.52m, 7-day figures of 6.21m, down 0.53m, and 28-day figures of 6.90m, down 0.58m. Despite this, it again saw no difference in the chart rankings, remaining in 4th place for both rankings.

has always had a rocky road

it comes to viewing figures, and in WIDWWA, it’s certainly no different. In the

looking at context.

it’s easy to misjudge

The drop continued into ‘The Diaries of Time’, with overnights of 4.49m, down 0.53m. With 7-day figures: 5.66m, a drop of 0.55m and for 28-day figures, 6.32m, down by 0.58m. This time, there was a change in rankings. It dropped one place to 5th in the 7-day charts, and two places to 6th in the 28-day charts.

that they don’t look good.

out,

look at them

figures

that bad nowadays?

going to

28-day

a

the

picture of the

At this point, from ‘Rebirth, Part One’, 1.68m

1.87m for both 7-day and 28-day

The marketing strategy

a mid-season boost would

outcome of episode five...

The second half of the season kicked off with ‘Terror

the Daleks’,

it was good news for the

increase on all accounts. Overnights

of 5.05m were recorded, up 0.56m, 7-day wise, up 0.64m and for 28-day up 0.71m. Better still, it went up by one place on both 7 and 28-day charts.

The drop returned for ‘To Win Them All’: overnights were down by 0.52m, the same for 7-day, with a 0.63m drop from 7.03m with 28-day. Ranking wise, it dropped to 7th for the 7-day charts but remained 5th for the 28-day charts.

Another marketing push was done ahead of the finale, ‘Journey into the Unknown’. Part One saw an extra 0.3m tune in for the overnights, consolidated to 6.02m for 7-day and 6.69m for 28-day. The rankings saw it go up to 4th for 7-day but remained 5th for 28-day. With part two, it received a tiny increase in audience, with only an extra 0.03m tuning in for the overnights and 7-day, with 0.02m extra for 28-day and going down a place on both rankings. The factor behind this, we’ll get to in a moment.

Overall, Season 55 averaged 6.29m in the 7-day figures, a 0.09m decrease from Season 54; averaging 6.97m for 28-day, also down by just 0.09m. However, in terms of 7-day rankings, Season 55 averaged 5th place; up from Season 54’s 9th place. The chart average for 28-day also came 5th, up one place from before.

In terms of competition, all episodes had a higher audience share than ITV. Episode 1 comfortably beat crime drama ‘Midsomer Murders’, whereas episodes 2-7 went up against comedy-drama ‘The Larkins’. While it started off well, with figures not far

off from Who, ratings declined over the course of the series, finishing with 7-day ratings of just over 4 million. The finale faced some tough competition against ‘An Audience with Adele’, and Doctor Who narrowly claimed victory, which is perhaps why the finale didn’t quite get higher figures than expected.

As for the charts, ahead of Who, Strictly Come Dancing consistently won the ratings throughout this time once again, usually with Saturday’s live show topping the week, followed by Sunday’s results show which precedes Doctor Who, with The Great British Bake Off not far behind.

In retrospect, Doctor Who is currently in a healthy state, perhaps the best it’s been for a few years. Furthermore, this is the first season since Season 50 where the show has remained within the top 10 of both the 7 and 28-day charts throughout the season. Whilst the average is a tiny dip from last season, the fact that Doctor Who stayed within the top 10 in 2021 with these figures throughout are a testament to the effort made to keep the show in the public consciousness going forward towards the 60th anniversary. It also shows how different television is viewed nowadays with all programmes receiving similar drops.

Next season, Season 56, is a special one: a different, yet familiar, broadcast format with three stories airing at different points in the space of a year. How will the ratings cope throughout next season? Time will tell...

From this chart, an interesting story is told about the evolution of Doctor Who’s viewing figures, at least since it moved away from it’s original 25-minute serial format in 1998.

The highest average for any season was Season 48 with a whopping 10.50m viewers, and it also saw the highest average ranking on the weekly BARB chart, being (on-average) the 2nd most watched programme of the week. The lowest figure, sadly falls to Season 53 with 6.14m, but chart wise Season 35 & 36 loose out the most, coming 29th, making Season 53’s 11th look very strong in comparison.

The Companion Factor Kyle Harrison

As we covered Erin last month, and we’re knee-deep into the third series of ‘Doctor Who: Adventures’ now, we naturally could only cover Kyle Harrison this month. Kyle is one of the rare occasions in ‘Doctor Who’ history where a, previously recurring, character has made the promotion to a companion. Kyle originally appeared during Season 49 as simply Erin’s boyfriend, who kept cropping up throughout, before, for the first half of Season 50, Kyle joined Erin and travelled with her and the Doctor in the TARDIS.

Kyle actually had very little time as a companion, with only EIGHT episodes in a row. He previously appeared in two as a guest star, and later appeared in two, for the Season 50 finale, as a companion, giving Kyle a total of TEN. However, when we just look at those initial eight, four of them are in a four-episode arc, equalling just one adventure, and two of them are in a two-parter, ‘The Poisoned Sea’, equally one adventure two. Overall, Kyle was only a regular companion for just FOUR adventures in the TARDIS.

Luckily for Kyle, a companion, who it seems really had a raw deal, at least when it came to screen time, he came back to our screens in ‘Doctor Who: Adventures’ in 2020, as one third of the animated TARDIS trio for a whole new generation of kids.

As of the end of Series 3, this now leaves Kyle with a staggering count of 40 episodes as a companion, which is expected to rise.

Let’s go back to the beginning of Kyle’s journey then – ‘God Save the Queen’, now I talked a lot about this episode in last months’ feature, when describing Erin’s origins, but to summarise Kyle’s conception during the writing process of said episode... after I had decided that Erin wouldn’t stay as a “punk”, and would instead slowly find “herself” throughout the season, I realised that it would be fundamentally important that this wouldn’t look like the show was undercutting or being disrespectful to the punk movement, so therefore another character would need to exist who could actually represent this. Creating Kyle helped other matters too, as it allowed a reason for Erin to be so particularly into

File

punk – because she wants to share something with her boyfriend – but then also gives her a reason to slowly decide against it. Like Ronald D. Moore, I didn’t design Kyle to be a companion, only a recurring character, but after he reappeared in ‘Flatline’, I felt he could potentially work for the next season.

Between Kyle’s first and second story, and evolution, albeit a reluctant one for Kyle, also came.

Originally he was much more outrageous with his appearance, as in ‘God Save the Queen’, him and Erin were head to toe in make-up and studs and badges (of questionable allegiances) and hair extensions and the lot. By the time we meet Kyle again in ‘Flatline’, we see he’s had to scale this back, mainly because he has found himself sentenced to community service and has to fit a certain “dress code”. This pretty much limited Kyle’s appearance to what you see opposite, but with a high-visibility

jacket, over his leather jacket. This look remained throughout Kyle’s appearances, until ‘The Battle of Fisher’s Hill’ where he took up, alongside Erin, period clothing of the time.

His actual time as companion, saw very little development, until the four-episode American Civil War-arc, as, well he didn’t have much time to develop throughout the course of those first fourepisodes proceeding that. He just remains in his same character as he stands in ‘Flatline’. However, the American Civil War-arc, focuses a lot of time on Kyle. From the beginning, Kyle is plunged into situations he is unsure how and unequipped to deal with. Firstly, Kyle is forced to fight in the Battle of Fisher’s Hill and it’s here he essentially understood what fighting actually was like, and he began to question his own revolutionary ideas from the punk movement. Then, he has to traverse mid-1800s America, without a penny in his hand, with Erin, to find their only way out of the period, which sees them robbed along the journey... and then when they do get there, they find out the Doctor is dead (or so they think). This fundamentally shakes Kyle, as he begins to realise the actual priorities in his life – Erin, his wife to be. So, he has to settle down, both of them are trapped in this time period, without a way out, with the Doctor dead, and he prioritises their happiness. Although he the perfect opportunity to express his violent energy, which he was just aching to let out, during Season 49, here he decides just to settle down, to actually marry Erin, and to plan spending the rest of his life in the time period.

This is why, despite 1865 being nowhere near as cosy as 1978, or as fun as travelling in the TARDIS, that Erin and Kyle decide to stay there, once the Doctor returns and the day is saved, because both of them have decided to face up to responsibility and make themselves a life. By this point, they had been in the time periods for months, and were settled, and had a baby on the way. This was an ending to Erin’s character arc, and to Kyle’s too. He hadn’t rejected punk rock by settling into married life in 1865, but he had begun to grow up and question its ideals, and put other, more important things before it.

However, all of this, happened to Kyle after what we’re seeing in ‘Doctor Who: Adventures’ at the moment, as he’s still yet to develop to this conclusion. During the first two series, he pretty much remained in the ‘Flatline’ mould, but as the show continues on, will we perhaps see Kyle begin to develop in a different way – before he even took a step in Civil-War era America?

WIDWWA

SEASON SURVEY

In the second issue of this newsletter, I asked you all to vote in the 2022 Season Survey, which is a stand-in for the in-universe Doctor Who Magazine Awards. The categories you were voting for were based upon Doctor Who Franchise content that would’ve been released in 2021. So without further ado, this is how you voted!

Doctor Who

For the main show, specifically it’s run of episodes in Season 55, we asked you to decide the ‘best episode’, ‘best monster/villain’, both the ‘best male’ and ‘female guest star’, ‘best writer’, ‘best director’ and ‘best cliffhanger’. The winner of the best episode award was ‘The Highland Beast’ written by Sarah Dollard. It was very closely followed by the final episode of the season ‘Journey into the Unknown, Part Two’. Sadly, Chris Chibnall’s ‘The Diaries of Time’ ended up in last place, but surprisingly the season’s “tentpole” Dalek story, ‘Terror of the Daleks’ wasn’t far behind.

Episode

a tad confusing, fans seemed to like it, voting him as the best. Coming in the lowest was, sadly, C.J. Hemming, the main villain of Episode 7. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Hemming was slightly overshadowed by the Intendant’s appearance in Episode 7 too – who knows? – but you guys didn’t like him.

it’s usual in Doctor Who polls such as this for one of the “Big Three” villains to top the ‘best monster/villain’ vote, this didn’t happen here. While the Daleks were the only one of the “Big Three” present in this season, they are certainly the most powerful, but only came in second. However, this can be seen as an

you consider their actual episode came 2nd to last in the previous poll – so maybe this is a good showing for the Daleks, considering? The villain who did top the poll was the Intendant, the season’s main villain, and mysterious future looming of the Other and the Doctor. While his origins are

next category was ‘Best Male Guest Star’, and although the Intendant won the previous poll, the Rogue’s power held him off the top-spot here, having been disqualified from the previous category for a lack of “villain” storylines in this season. So, congratulations to David Thewlis... but apologies to comedian turned actor, Bobby Davro, who once again came last with his character, C.J. Hemming.

For the female version of the category, Anjli Mohindra stormed the vote, with her portrayal of Admiral Moraes in ‘Rebirth’, the season’s first villain. Sadly Doreen, played by Alison Lintott, placed last. I expect this may have been due to a bit of confusion, by some, about who Doreen actually was a prominent member of the think tank in ‘The Diaries of Time’ and returned in ‘To Win Them All’. One might expect ‘Best Writer’ to follow a similar trend to ‘Best Episode’ but that wasn’t the case here.

the bottom place reflects the first poll, that’s about it. The

winner is

Hodges, the showrunner, despite one of his episodes coming second to last, and the other two holding the 2nd and 3rd spots. Sarah Dollard,

wrote the ‘Best Episode’ winner, ‘The Highland Beast’,

found herself at Number 3 in the ‘Best Writer’ poll, curiously. Jane Espenson, the writer of ‘Rebirth’ which came 4th and 6th, found herself comfortably in the 2nd place to add about confusion.

‘Best Writer’ vote has been judged

their work this season, and moreso

their time on Doctor Who,

fans think of them as a writer,

of ‘Best Director’ gives James

the director

‘Rebirth’ and

Diaries of Time’.

Lee Haven Jones

suppose

their

to third and last place, but considering there’s only three directors across the season’s 8 episodes, I’m going to assume it wasn’t an “anti-Lee Haven Jones” vote, and he just found himself last, by chance.

Best Cliffhanger

1. The universe ends and the TARDIS blows up (Journey into the Unknown, Part One)

2. The Doctor is replaced (The Diaries of Time)

3. The Doctor, Bertie and Chrissie trapped on the battlefields forever (Rebirth, Part One)

4. The Intendant meets with Sam Reynolds (Rebirth, Part Two)

5. The Doctor vows to stop the Paradox Project (To Win Them All)

Finally, for the ‘Doctor Who’ categories, we come to ‘Best Cliffhanger’. Unsurprisingly, you guys chose the absolute craziest cliff-hanger, where the universe ends and the TARDIS is blown up, from ‘Journey into the Unknown, Part One’ as you’re favourite. ‘The Diaries of Time’, an episode which has received a lot of dislike during this poll, gets some redemption, alongside it’s ‘Best Director’ award for James Strong, with a 2nd place for its cliffhanger where the Doctor gets replaced by a duplicate. Sadly, the cliffhanger from ‘To Win Them All’ showing the vowing to stop the Paradox Project, finds itself last.

Doctor Who: Adventures

You guys voted and ‘The Infinite Quest’ came out on top as the best episode of ‘Doctor Who: Adventures’ Series 2! Sadly, ‘The Stone Age’, somewhat predictably, came dead last. Both, the 1920s Kroaketsode, ‘Public Enemy One’, and the politically prevalent ‘Earth Defense Force’ were rivals for the top spot, but didn’t quite make it.

The next category of ‘Best Monster/Villain’ went easily to the only member of “the Big Three” present in this season, which was the Master, in his Murray Melvin guise. Al Capone, came second, while the Slitheen found themselves in third position. Unfortunately, Gaugmils, the evil slave

trader from ‘The Sale of the Century’ found himself in last position. The Firmoun wasn’t far behind, in 9th position.

The ‘Best Regular/ Recurring Character’ was obviously won by the Fourteenth Doctor, as it’d probably be slightly embarrassing if she didn’t win. Erin and Kyle follow shortly behind at 2nd and 3rd place. Lavender Stevenson, Erin’s grandmother, sadly found herself in last place.

Finally, ‘Best Writer’ once again goes to the showrunner, this time, to Phil Ford. Alan Barnes & Sarah Dollard weren’t far behind, proving tough competition for Ford. Sasha Hails, sadly fell to last place, with Ed Hime just behind. Interestingly, once again, this doesn’t much represent the ‘Best Episode’ ranking.

For ‘The New Renegade’, the trend seemed to be, on the whole, in broadcast order, with the show starting out strong, and you granting the first three episodes your Top Three (albeit with ‘The Gateway’ and ‘Faithless’ switched), and then ‘The Godful Universe’, the finale of the season, finished at the bottom. The only exception here is ‘Vex’, which was the fourth episode, coming in second to last. Everything else, pretty much runs in season order, showing the common distinction that the season slowly got worse.

Unsurprisingly, as this was pretty much guaranteed, Christopher Eccleston came first in the ‘Best Male Guest Star’ category, for his reprise of his role from ‘Panopticon’, although under the character’s real time, Alban. Brian Blessed, returning as Ale, came in 2nd, and Don Warrington returning as the Keeper came in 3rd, although this is a joint-position with his ‘The New Renegade’ original character, Shaun Etueria. Tyler Perry, sadly, just missed out on the Top 3. Nick Boraine, unfortunately, came last, for his portrayal of Rennek.

Even more predictable than Christopher Eccleston’s win, is now Sigourney Weaver’s win for ‘Best Female Guest Star’, reprising her role as the Hal from Panopticon, under the disguise of Helena Valentine. Unlike with the men, a ‘The New Renegade’ original actor and character did manage to come 2nd, as Audra McDonald, who plays Gali, proved popular with you guys. Two returnees from ‘Panopticon’, Ceila Imrie and Francis Fisher fell to the very bottom, which is a shame, as both are very good actresses... but not good enough, it seems.

Subverting the norm, Jane Espenson topped the

‘Best Writer’ category here, unlike the other two show’s where the showrunner came first. Chris Carter, only managed 2nd. John Shiban sadly came last, which is quite surprisingly as his episode, ‘The Ascension Begins’ came 5th, unlike some of the other writers’ episodes below his.

Once again, the ‘Best Director’ category doesn’t tell us much, due to the limited amount of directors within the season. However, the honour of topping the vote went to Marta Cunningham, who directed Episode 2 and 6, while the indignity of last place fell to Douglas Aarniokoski, who was responsible for Episode 3, 4 and 5.

Despite the episode ‘Vex’ coming, in itself, second to last, it’s cliffhanger, whereby the Doctor was ascended by the Vex, topped the vote for ‘Best Cliffhanger’. The Doctor’s death, from another low scorer from ‘Best Episode’, ‘From Helena With Love’, found itself at 2nd place, on the list. Interestingly the bottom two cliffhangers are from ‘The Godless Universe’, which came 1st on the whole, and ‘The Gateway’, which came 3rd overall. So, despite a quality amongst those episodes that is considered to

do think that the

better the cliffhangers get. I must admit, this is slightly puzzling, but very interesting...

season gets,

And that’s the 2022 Season Survey for the

a

What if... we took the cover and made an official poster?

LOGO-POLIS

Continuing our look at the WIDWWA logos

The second WIDWWA logo (well third, if you count the 1987 logo) arrives on the scene in 1998, following the departure of the previous creative team, the move to BBC Wales, and the negotiation of the Paramount Deal. This logo really did mark a new era, despite the fact it arrived with a Doctor who had been on our screens for two years, already. David Renwick commissioned a new logo almost immediately after taking up the position of Executive Producer in mid-1997. He wanted one which could be much more versatile than the 1991 logo, whereby extensive animation would be possible, and where reconfiguration into different forms would also be possible, while retaining the identifiable brand. To achieve this, Renwick approach veteran graphic designer, Bernard Lodge, who had previously designed the first four logos for the show, used between 1963 and 1980. With the brief, Lodge designed several logos, and from that Renwick handpicked the version you all know and love. The logo was inspired by many older style American logos, taking primary inspiration from the 1986 film ‘Top Gun’. Lodge justified it as along the lines of “great artists steal”, which amused Renwick.

The logo originally was designed with a red and white colour to it, however, when this was passed over to Mike Tucker, who designed the new title sequence for the show, it was decided a black and silver metallic look would work better, and thus the logo took on an entirely new look and feel.

The logo was officially revealed to the public on 22 August 1998, three months before the premiere of Season 35. It was done so through bbc.co.uk/ doctorwho, which had just launched a month prior, as part of BBC Cult. It was next seen on the September edition of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’, which had transformed itself into a new look and feel to match the logo. Additionally, inside the magazine, the new logo design was covered in a feature, with an interview by Bernard Lodge.

Fan reaction, like with most things, was mixed. The 1991 logo was well loved, and while it had been around for a long time, many fans didn’t see the point in redesigning it again, with some calling for Doctor Who to just chose one logo and stick with it. Other fans began to really embrace the logo, with a much more positive reaction, finding it a welcome change from the “badge” logo, although this soon became known as the “wings” logo.

Slowly, throughout the Autumn of 1998, merchandise began to transition to the new logo, however, BBC Worldwide opted for a slightly modified and recoloured version of the logo. ‘Doctor Who Magazine’ was the first to move to the new logo, while the Target novelisations were the last,

1998-2003

waiting until February 1999 and the publication of ‘Doctor Who: The Hail Mary’ by Lance Parkin, to move over to the new logo. The proceeding title still maintained the 1991 logo. On the target books the logo, conversely, lasted the longest out of the merchandise line, with it remaining in use until May 2004, with the publication of ‘Doctor Who: Spare Parts’ by ‘Marc Platt’.

When Richard E. Grant took over the role as the Doctor in 2001, a new title sequence was ordered by Renwick, and with it, the decision was made to change the logo, as seen in the titles, to the colour scheme as used in the merchandising variation of the logo. This is much like how in the real world, the “orange, fiery” version of the 2005 logo was in use as the merchandising logo for Doctor Who but it wasn’t until Series 3 that it became used in the title sequence. A similar situation occurred here.

In the real world, the logo was actually designed by Bernard Lodge, and came from a logo he designed in 2016 for ‘Doctor Who Magazine’, where he was put into the mindset of designing a logo for ‘Doctor

Who’ in the late 90s/early 2000s. The version of this logo seen in ‘DWM’ was slightly different to the recreation I made and then used for WIDWWA. For example, I altered the “Doctor” text on the logo, so it would be the same height as the wings, whereas the ‘DWM’ version saw “Doctor” larger and taller than the wings. I also made the wings wider, to give the logo a better fit to a 16:9 screen.

The font used in the logo is a manually modified version of ‘Gill Sans’, which was an extremely popular font during the late 90s, especially throughout the BBC, appearing on pretty much everything they produced... it’s even the font used on the old BBC logo! So, Bernard really was on the right lines of what a late 90s/early 2000s Doctor Who logo would look like!

The logo, simply because of its duration and because of the era it presided over, became one of the more fondly remembered logos in Doctor Who history. It’s versatility was especially noted, with it still maintaining its core brand strength, no matter the alternate configuration or colour. It would have been the first logo that Americans were widely familiar with, and, up until this point, was used on more merchandise than any other Doctor Who logo.

Next time, we won’t be looking at the 2003 logo because there’s something we need to cover first... In March’s issue we’ll be taking a look at the ‘Leftover’ logo!

WIDWWA

For merchandise, a variation of the new logo was introduced in Autumn 1998, which, as well as shorterning and removing the ‘wings’, also recoloured the logo to a more eye-catching version which would ‘pop out’ on supermarket shelves and newstands...

Time Capsule

FALLOUT

Lou’s first trip in the TARDIS, took her to the final days of the Third World War... imagine what that would do to someone. Fallout certainly packs a punch. Unlike many other World War Three-esque stories, we don’t arrive on the brink of nuclear war, we arrive after 99% of it is done, and all that’s left is one final nuclear bomb to be launched, and then that’s it... and the Doctor knows that this is what happens, in history. He explains that humanity does rebuild, and the very small amount of irradiated survivors over the best part of a millennium return humanity to its former status, but where they are in 2052 sees an important historical event.

A rundown of the stories events: TARDIS trio arrive in 2052; they are separated from the TARDIS; Lou and Sammy are captured by the enemy and taken to the Middle East; in the Middle East mutated creatures (think the Dregs from Orphan 55, but more 90s and cheap) rummage through the land, and attack Sammy and Lou; the Doctor argues with the leader of the Western Alliance etc etc; Lou is basically horrified about everything and finds it all really hard; a big action scene with the creatures attacking and Lou and Sammy escaping happens, trying to get back to Britain; the Doctor meets some normal people; more big political stuff happens; Lou and Sammy reunite with the Doctor; Lou becomes

the one to persuade the Doctor to keep history on track; just as the bomb is detonated, they escape to the TARDIS. Obviously a lot more stuff happens, but that’s a basic outline of the story.

Being only a single 45-minute episode, this story drops us right in the action in the most spectacular way possible. It’s mostly framed from Lou’s point of view, as well, and with it being her second story, it importantly prioritises her emotions and she is the one to decide what to do, because even the Doctor is tempted here to interfere.

The genesis of this story (in-universe) came from writer, Joe Ahearne, who had been in meetings with Steven Moffat ever since Moffat had enjoyed his work on the BBC Two show ‘This Life’, and also had an interest in Doctor Who and science-fiction as a whole. Ahearne had submitted story ideas for both Season 35 and 36, but it was when he submitted the idea for ‘Fallout’ for Season 37, that Moffat decided to commission him. As Ahearne liked to direct his work, being an accomplished director, as well as writer, Sue Vertue allowed him to also step into the director’s chair.

The story outline originally was quite similar to what made it to screen, except Ahearne hadn’t envisioned it with Lou, who eventually became the heart of the story, and something that Ahearne really

Starring Michael French, Laurie Holden & Gillian Kearney

Written and Directed by Joe Ahearne First Broadcast on 21 October 2000

felt the script ended up being benefited from.

Being in both the writer’s and director’s chair for this episode allowed Ahearne to make sure what ended up on screen was exactly what he wanted in a cohesive way, and that is certainly evident on screen. The episode plays as an action-led war movie, centred around complex political drama, in a uniquely dystopian setting. At this point, it was unlike anything ‘Doctor Who’ had ever done before, certainly with such a grounded directorial polish. Ahearne opted to shoot much of this episode with a handheld camera, and also entirely on location, and although the ‘Doctor Who’ trend of filming in quarries came here, Ahearne’s method of shooting inside it, made it feel entirely new.

The episode sticks to the usual “you can’t change history” message, but puts it into the setting of future history, something, that at this point, was also rarely done on the show. However, it also deals with messages around nuclear weapons and pacifism, which some might argue get a bit muddled in when “you can’t change history” is applied, as we do see the Doctor, for whatever his reasons, allow millions of people to get nuked. Additionally, as this is in the final days of the Third World War, and we find out this is the last nuke ever used... on Earth (apparently?), this seems even more heartless, as it’s not like the Doctor stepping in would stop the Third World War, because 99% of it has already happened, that historical event remains, so the Doctor would just be saving a few more million lives. The episode does try to raise this point, but not necessary in the clearest way. Lou being the one to decide for them to go is an easy way to get the Doctor out of this predicament, but it only means those deaths are on Lou instead.

Additionally, due to the episode’s position as Episode 4 and the second story of the season, it does kind of suffer the issue of being forgotten, especially amongst Season 37, one full of lots of strong and very memorable stories. That’s partly the reason I decided to cover the story here, because basically no-one talks about it.

The genesis of ‘Fallout’ in real-life came about when I was busy writing the “retcon-athon” during late 2019, a decision I made to clean up the very

Robert’s Thoughts

a WIDWWA fan’s view on this story...

What I like about ‘Fallout’ is that this story is honestly perfect for Michael French’s Doctor. Fallout would be a beautiful story for a Doctor that is just nice and on top of this, this story is the first trip for Lou on the TARDIS, Lou did not get a fancy holiday, she got a nuclear wasteland with monsters, political leaders and the final nuclear bomb of the war hanging over her head. The concept of this story is amazing while

also being very 90’s and also very David Renwick. Fallout is just a fantastic story in a home run season.

I love that this story takes a very open and friendly Doctor, a veteran companion and a fresh faced companion going off to explore the universe and drop them in their first story together in the TARDIS straight into the middle of a radioactive wasteland with action and politics being at the heart of the conflict of the story.

earliest years of WIDWWA to improve its realism and get rid of a load of stories I’d just basically randomly generated to fill slots, when I initially started the series in 2016, and had no proper realistic reason to be there. ‘Fallout’ was one of the new stories and was officially announced as part of the “retcon-athon” in January 2020.

In contrast to ‘in-universe’, I came up with this story because I wanted something that would really challenge the character of Lou, so I essentially wrote up an outline for the story which would put Lou through the wringer the most... and the result was ‘Fallout’. I also knew I only wanted the story to be a single-45-minute episode, as I wanted it to put Lou into the deep-end but not for too long, and the fact it was coming after a 3-part Master story, meant it was best to have a quick action-packed, but heavy episode, and not to drag it out for too long.

If you want my personal opinion of ‘Fallout’, I think it stands as a good piece of television, if just a little heavy handed. I think the episode would probably work without the nuclearmutated monsters a little bit better, as it’s not exactly core to the point of the episode. The episode is also just a bit unnecessarily bleak, and makes a prediction which is so precise, that in 2052 people would just be laughing at it. I still think it has merits, and it’s overall good, but it doesn’t quite live up to the rest of Season 37’s standard. The best part of the episode is definitely Lou and she works well as an emotional core of the episode.

WIDWWA

Reviews

The following are reviews for episodes in the ‘What if Doctor Who Wasn’t Axed?’ universe from January 2022. If you have not read any of these episodes, you can do so on the WIDWWA blog which is at www.widwwa.wordpress.com

Reviews by Tadeusz Cisłak

Surprise!

Welcome back to TBWHTK Minority Reviews! It was decided that this newsletter needs more entertainment for the whole family, and I was happy to provide. These ones probably won’t be as long as these classics I did years ago (though I promise nothing!), but hope the level of jokes and analysis will be just as high. And if this is the first time you read one of these – hello! I’m that guy who provided #ronstepdown campaign with the book-long rant about Cordale/Gregori storyline in Panopticon Series 4 back in 2011. People enjoyed it for some reason, so I’m writing more stuff like this. I hope you’ll have fun. So, let’s see what part of Whoniverse is in the spotlight right no- oh. Oh dear.

Doctor Who: Adventures

THE INVADERS

So, this is a story about invasion of Earth. Which is a great moment to remind you that Phil Ford in this season is experimenting with new format and exploring new grounds. Then again, it’s a welcome change from that variation of Earth Aid we got in last season... At least we have some favourites here – Benton, The Master, Fourteen, Erin, I’m gonna ignore that teenage barbarian over there. Anyway it’s exactly as generic as you’d expect, but here’s a twist – we’re not attacked by aliens, it’s the Cover! No, really, these guys’ name is Cover – backwards. Wonder what that’s teasing. So, the Covers evolved from the same common ancestor... like Rhaighrs? Well, no, they’re humanoid. Basically some Great Force took the bunch of protopithecs millions of years ago, brought to another planet (insert Battlestar: Galactica reference) and then they evolved into these darlings. Could have been worse, imagine what would happen if they evolved into Kyle. This of course poses the question – what was that Great Force?

I call Skrulls. No, Celestials. No, wait, it was definitely Kree. Ok, I should probably cut some slack. Yes, sci-fi has seen some similar concepts over the years – Inhumans, Eternals, definitely some Star Trek stuff, but it’s still fairly unique take, and I wouldn’t say the idea has been fully exploited so

far. Nothing is fully original, what matters is the way cliches are used; how well the story is told. Unfortunately, the story of Revoc so far isn’t told very well. Their planet got overpopulated (no, Phil, Earth is NOT overpopulated! There’s enough resources for all of us, we just have an accessibility issue! Go blame it on capitalism if you want, but don’t teach children myths!) and they need news pace to inhabit; then The Master showed up, told them their true story (here’s a question the episode doesn’t spell out to the viewer – where did he learn that? Was he behind it? Was he around to see it? Deduced it? Maybe someone spills the beans about this in some cosmic tavern?) and suggested they force themselves onto Earth... #notagreatplan. If all Revoc do could have been done by generic aliens, then there’s not much reason to see them as anything more than generic aliens... Hopefully we get more from them in future episodes. So they get beaten, no one gives a flying thought to establishing diplomatic relations with them, TARDIS disappears and END OF STORY!

Revoc are a promising concept, but this episode just sets it up without any further exploration and thus by itself it still ends up rather meh. Hopefully Ford will keep his promise in future ones, because so far all we got is standard, weak Adventures.

PATRIOT

This cannot be further from standard, weak Adventures. It probably won’t come as any surprise that I, a Pole, had never heard of Edith Cavell. That made this episode as much of an educational experience for me as it is for younger viewers. A story of a nurse heroically helping out everyone in need during dark times, who suffers unjust fate, but this doesn’t take away from importance nor greatness of her actions and only cements her moral victory that, eventually, gets wide recognition – this is absolutely a story worth telling, and it’s wonderful that it was in the end. I was impressed and endeared..

BUT I have one grievance. Why is The Doctor in this story? This show’s name is Doctor Who: Adventures. A it suggests, it’s about The Doctor and her companions having adventures. You wanna involve them into a story about Edith Cavell? Awesome. But really involve them. Here, they spent the whole episode on trying and failing to have Edith pardoned And they barely even interact with Edith herself while doing it! There’s nothing for them to accomplish here, barely anything to learn (By this point even kids know that you can’t change history, not one line...) , it doesn’t push their arcs forward, doesn’t (seem to) affect the main plot, it doesn’t even affect Edith – so why are they here? We all love to have pure historicals, but pure historical is still a Doctor Who episode and needs to tell a story about their main characters. The Aztecs managed that, Black Orchid managed that, the Darnley Conspiracy managed that. It’s not beyond your ability, writers.

This story makes for interesting comparison with another struggling historical, The March of Evil. In that story, Doctor Who elements clashed with the story being told and both sides came damaged in result of it. This hasn’t repeated here – instead, the Who part surrendered and we got Edith Cavell biopic, which turned out great, but Tardis crew ended up as intruders in their own show. Are we going to have Who and history working hand in hand next time? ⇝

Doctor Who: Adventures

WONDERLAND

I have to disappoint everyone who hoped for some adaptation of Lewis Caroll’s work. To these people I recommend watching The Librarians and The Trial of Triangle instead.

So the TARDIS lands on utopian planet OH NO, NOT AGAIN!!! Come on, people, this format was done to death more than Base Under Siege and Doctor Helps The Rebels combined! What is it this time? They turn people into donkeys? Brainwash them into perpetually happy zombie? Eat them? Replace them with biomechanoids? Maybe they wanna build a perfect orchestra and exterminate anyone not skilled enough? Or so their guests spend the rest of their lives in their company? Spin the wheel!

What corpse do we have in the wardrobe this time?! You know, it would have cool if it turned out that this actually is a perfect planet – though that would raise the question why its system isn’t implemented elsewhere.

The planet’s name is Gressus. Fortunately, the characters are as sick of this trope as I am and expect something horrible to surface... Except for Kyle, who’s an idiot as always and decides to go alone to prove that the planet is good, actually. Hey Kyle, since this planet is rich, shouldn’t you eat it or something? Whatever, we’ll talk once they turn you into a Cyberman. Doctor and Erin investigate, conclude that the planet is curated by some Outer Power, which might also be responsible for displacing the Revoc- sorry, what? Can I get the thought process behind thesis? Sure, it could have been whoever did the Revoc stuff – it also could have been entity from Delayed Indefinitely, a figment of Valeyard’s consciousness catapulted through spacetime by the exploding Eye of Harmony or The Tapping Eastern Wind of Rushta Krushta With A Flavour of Barbell. You’re gajillions of parsecs and several ages away from present day and planet of Revoc – on what basis do you assume that those two events are connected at all?! The universe is not that small, especially since you, The Master and Irene destroyed approximately 80% of time travel technology! I guess fighting the same blokes over and over really warps the perception.

It’s about time to find a creepy lab (duh), inside Kyle entangled into some suspicious machine (duh)

and for it all to turn out not to be an evil plan after all (du- wait, what?).

Huh. I got my wish – this episode is subversion, which I would appreciate if not for the fact that I’m really tired of seeing this trope at all. But this isn’t a perfect planet – just a high-level customer service. Gressusians are space therapist who use basically The Matrix to allow patients to... confront their demons? We’ll talk about this “brilliant idea” in a moment, but first let me say that as funny as it is seeing the Doctor bamboozled, he let his guard down too easily – everything Kyle said might still be the result of brainwashing, and the Gressusian growing right behind the Doctor’s back is not particularly trustworthy behaviour. Then again, as we’ll learn in a minute. Gressusians know nothing about sociology.

Following this passive-aggressive encouragement, The Doctor plugs herself into the machine and... oh boy, there’s a lot to unpack here. First, positives –OH MY WORD THIS ANIMATION IS GREAT!

Smooth connection of 3D and 2D, a lot of characters quickly passing through the screen, all the trippy effects – this is outstanding work. Best animation I’ve seen since... Mirai? Into The SpiderVerse? My point is, this scene better gets an Annie or Emmy.

That being said, not only kids have just watched a chain of death scenes, some of them (Bernice) quite gruesome, but also they were given an unhealthy dose of Doctor Who continuity that they won’t make head nor tail of. Are we sure Adventures is the right show for something like that? It’s not just some quick showcase “oh, here are some past Doctors and monsters they fought”, these major events, often from season finales, taken out of context that shaped them and turned into unclear death toll. It kinda serves its function of saying “The Doctor’s been through a lot”, but there were better ways to say that. And acknowledgement of one’s dramatic past is not the same as understanding it – this demographic simply hasn’t spend enough time with The Doctor to understand her yet. There’s no shortcut to become a Whovian, and this scene is for Whovians, not for casual audience, which is primary target of Adventures. It doesn’t make a difference for them whether you show Sara Kingdom’s death once or

Doctor Who: Adventures

twice, cause they don’t know these people!

This scene also calls into question the whole “Gressusians are good, actually” message. Maybe they are, but they’re also terribly incompetent. Their method of therapy is DROWNING THE PERSON IN THEIR TRAUMA?! WHAT THE ----? And what if the patient couldn’t handle that? Do you have treatment for heart attacks and suicide attempts? Most people don’t have trouble remembering their demons, they just don’t know how to cope with them. Gressusian response? “Ok, I cut you from the escape route, now go face your problems while I’m gonna watch from my comfy armchair eating popcorn.” I understand the logic behind “patient, heal thyself”; without patient’s will no therapy can successfully proceed. But that’s not the same as leaving him on his own! If he could do this on their own, he wouldn’t come here, do you understand the meaning of a term HELP?

“You can’t run from your guilt, you must face it.” Yeah, thanks for nothing, captain obvious Incompetent psychologists – how many more people will they harm? The Doctor has the right idea, let’s get outta here. Hey, writer – your “don’t judge the book by its cover” moral has FAILED MISERABLY!

But have no fear – Kyle Harrison is here! The episode ends with him hearing out The Doctor’s worries. Great idea – let’s make a guy that can barely handle his own psyche a therapist for a Time Lady.

“So my planet is poisoned, my friends are or will be dead, I got killed by myself, resurrected via stealing lives of two good people and now my former BFF continuously tries to take over the

universe. What should I do?”

“Blame it on capitalism.”

“Reasonable, thank you.”

The Master suddenly seems like efficient and trustworthy professional by comparison. On a serious note though – if you have actual good friend that you can rely upon, then even if he’s not very bright, totally confess what you struggle with to him, it’ll make you feel better. Just don’t expect or take any advice from him.

This episode had its moments, but I’m ultimately not too thrilled with it. Most of it is generic and dumb story building up to subversion that throws us into completely different and... completely mishandled stuff. I applaud trying to do something more socially important, but it’s worrying how writers keep falling on their face as a result.

Important topics require caution. Perhaps twenty episodes a year is too large of an assignment and writers’ room needs more time to polish individual scripts? Sometimes less is more.

Also I can’t help but wonder what this episode being originally penultimate one Season 4 implies. If this episode was meant to show how to deal with evils you experienced – then what evils we’re about to experience in Season 4? How much intrigue and treachery? Can a kids show handle that?

And was the Revoc remark added after it was moved or was it always there, which would mean that sixteen episodes ahead this plot will remain largely unresolved? So many questions...

WIDWWA

Star Community Review

Review of Patriot

by TimeLordMaster108

This episode did an amazing job of both educating the audience about Edith Cavell, who I honestly had no idea about. No, seriously, when they covered WWI in History, we only learned about the cause of the war, the battles, watched a cartoon that showed the brief peace between the Brits and Germans on Christmas, 1914, and had a really depressing

end, plus playing an educational online game. We never learned anything from outside the battlefield. So, I really appreciate this episode for teaching me and the target audience something we didn’t know.

Also enjoyed the ending, showing that even a kids show can have powerful moments.

are their

I

their

issue...

Dokter Wie Returns

Join the Communuity!

The WIDWWA community has been based on Discord since May 2021, and is currently a thriving community with over 45 members. But we don’t want to stop there... as long as your a WIDWWA fan and want to contribute a positive non-toxic discussion, and follow all the rules of the server - please come along and join.

Details on how to join the Discord server can be found on the twitter account @ WIDWWA. Additionally, there is some information on the YouTube community tab. If you still can’t get on, don’t be afraid to email DDWF at widwwa1989@gmail.com

WIDWWA has a wiki covering all inuniverse content at widwwa.miraheze.org

The blog with new releases can be found at widwwa.wordpress.com

Submit Fan Fiction

Your fan fiction could be here next month and in future months! All you need to do, to be in with a chance of being featured, is to come up with a title, synopsis and the first 200 words of your story and then send it to widwwa1989@gmail.com, whereby if I like it, I will ask you to write a full 2500-3000 word story, which will be featured in a future issue.

If you do not receive a response, then I will have chosen not to go ahead with your story, at this present time.

Please can all stories be original, feature a WIDWWA TARDIS team and not feature any returning monsters, unless I ask you to during the writing process.

To submit a story, please email widwwa1989@gmail.com