Watching Doctor Who

(Erik, my Evil Twin, Convention partner, and frequent commenter here, was kind enough to write a review of the two Doctor Who Comic Books that are out there now. I haven’t had a chance to read them yet, you see. All hail Erik! Enjoy.)

Our good Doctor has made his long awaited return to the world of comics in not one but two forms. Let’s take a look, shall we?

First, we have the original stories based upon the adventures of the 10th Doctor and Martha. These are written by Gary Russell who has written so much regarding the Doctor and his chums that if you don’t know who he is, look on your Who related bookshelf or Big Finish CDs. The first issue is a stand alone story with a foe familiar to fans of the new series popping in. It begins with a brief recap of the Time Lords for the uninitiated but quickly drops you into a story that is already in progress. This is a technique that I enjoy as it lets you know these characters have been living before you turn the first page, although it does sometimes create a little confusion on the first read (which could be the case here). He has a good grasp of the voices of the Doctor and Martha and I could easily hear them saying all their dialogue in my head. He is also able to fit the stories into a single issue without making them feel rushed or like you’re skipping over bits. The art by Nick Roche is also very good. It is caricaturist and unique, but also very sharp and you have no problem recognizing who is who and the panels are never boring to look at.

The second issue is also a stand alone story, but is also the beginning of a longer serial with a mysterious “Big Bad�? causing havoc. Both of the issues have scattered about nice little winks for us relating to the Doctor’s past, actors and even pop culture, but in a good way (as in fleeting references to “A Clockwork Orange�? and “Monty Python,�? not Paris Hilton and American Idol). This is also something I always enjoy, as if they are little Easter eggs left for those who will love them, but not getting in the way of those who won’t get them. Still, including the Bay City Rollers among the Best of British Pop, not so sure about that one…

The physical comics themselves are of superior quality. These are not the tissue paper covers and newsprint pages you remember as a kid. The covers are of good, stiff stock and the pages themselves are high quality, glossy paper. Another nice thing is, being as they are being released by an independent press (as in not DC or Marvel), there are no ads breaking up the story, they are all at the end of that issue’s adventures. This is something that makes me very happy. Sadly, they are a bit on the pricey side at $3.99 each. This may come as a shock to those of you who last remember buying a comic when they were $.25 and issue, but I must say, you do get quality for the price you are paying.

All in all, I highly recommend these to the seasoned Whovian as well as the newcomer or simply a fan of good comics. I do wish they had begun these earlier, though, so we could have had Rose involved. No offense, Martha, I love you to bits but…well…its Rose.

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Doctor Who, Comics

(Hello again. Here is a tale of Doctor Who fandom from the fabulous Gillian of Food History. Thank you, Gillian. Watching Doctor Who should be back on track next week.)

Once Upon a Time in Canada

Once I lived in Canada. It was only for a year, but those twelve months left a great mark on my memories. I’m Australian, after all, and it was my first opportunity to walk in blizzards, make snow angels, make whiskey snowcones from wild forest snow … and to introduce Canadian undergraduates to the joys of Dr Who.

It was 1983. Or maybe 1984. The Canadian school year is really strange and doesn’t follow the calendar. Here in the not-very-snowy continent, we have our Christmas holidays at the end of the year. Well, most people do. I’m Jewish. My Jewishness doesn’t change our calendar, and we take Christmas holidays at the end of the school year. This means I have no idea when Dr Who was shown on cable in Toronto, except that it might have been cold outside, which makes it June or July, which makes it 1984. Except that Canada has summer round then, doesn’t it? So it was just before the 1983 Christmas break or just after it, in 1984.

If you think I’m confused, you should have seen my friends. I told them all about Dr Who with such excitement and with such gesticulation that they all decided to stay up at midnight to watch it with me. We made popcorn.

We all lay in front of the college TV looking up at the screen in vast anticipation.

“It’s Tom Baker!�? I screamed. “My favourite doctor.�? Then I tried to explain that sometimes the earlier doctors were just as good but that I really didn’t like the doctors after Tom Baker nearly as much. My friends were entirely confused. About as much as I am, tonight. I might not remember what year it was, but I surely remember their confusion.

“Regenerations,�? I explained. “And different actors.�?

“Oh.�? They weren’t de-confused. They were just very polite.

Anyhow, we watched and for every degree my happiness rose, my friends become more glum. I didn’t notice at first, because I was entirely enthralled. I had been as homesick as can be, and though it wasn’t the Pyramids of Mars or the Masque of Madragora, the episodes shown that night were still pretty cool. I don’t remember the name, but it’s the section where the Doctor and Romana make snide remarks at every moment possible while stranded inside a vampire spaceship. Lots of lovely purple eye makeup, big shoulder pads and quite a bit of overacting.

I started explaining that the overacting was on purpose. That wasn’t the problem. Well, it was, but only part of it.

“This is British SF?�?

“I don’t like it.�?

“I don’t understand it.�?

“Gillian, we’ve watched it for you. Are you happy?�?

Doctor Who, Food History

(Hi all. Thank you so much for your well wishes. I’m using a flakey dial-up connection on the one phone line here at slightly after midnight to bring you this guest post written by the wonderful JM of Fiction Scribe and The Book Stacks. I hate to leave this blog stagnant, so I bow to you, JM. I hope to get back to normal posting soon, but the way things are going up here it might be a couple more days still. Enjoy!)

Finding Doctor Who

I watched my first episode of Dr. Who when I came here to Australia last October. Admittedly, I watched the first episode where the Doctor meets Rose…and then didn’t watch any more.

My husband told me about the new season coming, though, and he and I began a tradition of sitting down in front of the television every Saturday night with our Chinese food to enjoy the latest episode.

I got to know the characters and, like Martha, slowly learned who Rose was. I got to know the Tardis and the Doctor, and before I realized it, I was completely addicted. Every Saturday afternoon I would grin at my husband and say, “Dr. Who is on tonight!�? Then, at 7.30, we’d turn up the surround sound and enjoy another instalment.

As I watched the final episode and sat with my mouth gaping open about the Face of Bo reveal, I truly appreciated what it must be like to be a writer for Dr. Who. The pure and absolute genius behind all the plot connections, twists, turns, meanings… I was left asking a million questions not about the show, but about the writer.

Did s/he start with an ending, a middle, or a beginning? Was there a rough plot outline first and all the little details then later thrown in, or was it like a gigantic knitting process in which you have a bunch of yarn, two needles, and a lot of hope that it will turn out something similar to the picture you have in your mind?

I can honestly say seeing the most recent season of Dr. Who renewed a part of my passion for writing that I didn’t know had gone to sleep.

As a viewer, I love the show. As a writer, I admire the genius.

(My friend Erik, with whom I attended Gallifrey One this year, spent last weekend at the San Diego Comic-Con. Because he is incredibly cool, he took some pictures for me while he was there, and even wrote up a wee con report. So, take it away Erik - our reporter in the field!)

A Brief Report on Comic Con by Erik

There won’t be much in the way of gossip or brand spanking new details of the upcoming series here, but more of a general feel at the convention.

This was the 4th Comic Con I’ve been lucky enough to attend. They are complete madness…but in a good way. It has everything a geek could want (apparently a lot of geeks as it has become almost unbearably crowded lately). However, one thing that was for the most part missing from the con was signs of Doctor Who. Sure, you could sometimes find some back issues of the Marvel comic from the ’80s stuffed in random long boxes or the occasional plastic K-9 but no real sense that he was there.

That all changed this year. Among other things, there was the Doctor Who booth that was larger than twice the size of the average booth (not counting the huge ones from the studios and such) and there was always a large crowd around it. Besides the life-sized Dalek threatening us, it was filled with all the new toys, including the new line based on the third series. There was even a Face of Boe that made me happy. And what was most significant to me were the two Convention Exclusives, a Dalek
and Cyberman variant that were only available there. There was also a large amount of bootlegs of the episodes yet to be shown in the States, including Torchwood, the Fox movie from a few years back and the Sarah Jane Adventures.

The other thing that caught my attention was the number of people dressed as the Doctor. I saw five 10th Doctors alone! This compared to zero the previous three years. Heck, there was even a woman dressed as a character from Torchwood! There were more Doctors than Batman’s or Spider-Man’s. Granted, there were still more Stormtroopers and Anime characters walking among us, but this showed me that he has made his way into the community at large in a big way over the last couple of years.

Sadly, I missed the Torchwood panel (was working on Thursday), but again, that was something very exciting to see included in the main programming, among the Kevin Smith & Kate Beckinsale appearances and “Heroes” panels.

All in all, it did this long time Whovian’s heart good to see the strong showing our old friend had this year. There wasn’t even that “true fan” feeling of “Oh, sure, NOW you jump on the bandwagon!” I was just happy that so many people are discovering and enjoying him. Now next year, I’m thinking Mr. Tennant needs to make an appearance…

San Diego Comic-Con, Doctor Who, Dalek, Face of Boe, Torchwood

(I’m away on vacation, so DaveP of Pop Buzz UK was kind enough to write a guest post for me. Enjoy!)

Dr Who Up Close Exhibition
by DaveP of http://www.popbuzzuk.com

I recently holidayed in Cornwall, right down in the southwest corner of the UK. As everyone who goes to Cornwall does, we took a trip to Land’s End one day, the most Westerly point in Britain. To be honest, there’s not much there, just an end to the land and that’s about it. But no, not this time. We walked in to the visitors centre and the first thing to catch my eye was a huge tardis shaped building. My mouth gaped open and I was excited already. About 3 months ago, your local Dr Who junkie and expert Elisa had mentioned the Dr Who exhibition that had opened in Manchester, and I tried to get tickets but there’s a waiting list. Now I find out, I’ve travelled halfway across the UK, and there’s a similar (although admittedly smaller) version in Cornwall. So I paid my money and had a look around.

On the way up the stairs, they have all the doctors in order from William Hartnell on, just to get you in the mood. The actual exhibition is like a maze, with a new creature or gadget from the series around every corner. There are aliens, or rather full-scale models and costumes used on the show, video screens playing classic clips, and stage models and props. The exhibition is obviously a year or two old as it was mainly focussed on the first season of this new incarnation, with the Eccleston episodes prominent. The creatures seemed to improve as I moved through the exhibition with no sign of the big, notorious aliens until right at the end. I saw Cassandra, the face of Boe, and a member of the Ood, which was impressively big and scary. I knew we were reaching the end when I turned a corner to be faced with a cyberman. They have always been the creatures from the Dr Who universe that have frightened me the most. Whether it’s the fact they are almost human but without the personality (think Matt Damon) or that their only aim in life is to make more cybermen, a bit like the Borg from Star Trek. Coming face to face with one is something I’ll never forget, even if it wasn’t real. So there was only really one place to go from there, no not the exit, but to the Daleks. Sure enough, I clicked a button, and a door slowly opened to reveal a full-scale dalek. The sounds of “Exterminate, exterminate” played loudly through the speakers, and I admit, I was more frightened than the 6 year old girl who was behind me.

Overall, it was a great exhibition and I’d recommend it to any Who fans. It’s a fraction of the size of the Manchester exhibition and I’m now even more determined to get tickets for that.

Pop Buzz UK, Dr Who, Up Close Exhibition