Doctor Who - The Twelfth Doctor - Peter Capaldi

The Twelfth Doctor - Peter Capaldi

So, now we know. Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor will regenerate at the end of the 2013 Christmas special, and Peter Capaldi will emerge as the Twelfth Doctor (unless the 50th Anniversary special really does result in a re-numbering). I could hardly not write something down following this, could I? Here's a few thoughts from the thousands that are buzzing around my head.

Peter Capaldi Himself
In terms of finding a quality actor, there can't be many better in British television. Whilst he's best known for the role of Malcolm Tucker in The Thick Of It (and he's mesmerising in it, if you haven't seen it before), his performance as John Frobisher, Permanent Secretary to the Home Office, in Torchwood: Children of Earth is nothing short of phenomenal. His angst at being the human race's spokesperson against the threat of the 456, and one of the most shocking implied suicides in television history, live long in the memory, and are one of the highlights of the incredibly powerful Children of Earth. There's no doubting that we're once again getting an actor of the highest calibre.

I can picture this new Doctor's angry side, but I can't imagine Capaldi playing his eccentric side, which leaves me excited for the surprise when we get to see it. There was a lot of debate before the announcement about whether or not a relatively unknown actor should get the role so that there were less expectations from the audience - personally, I favoured the idea of an unknown, simply because Eccleston, Tennant and Smith were all unknowns to me when they were cast, but I'm delighted with Capaldi nonetheless. Out of all the suggested castings of 'bigger' names, he was right at the top.

Age
It's going to be interesting having an older Doctor again. Eccleston was 41 when he played the role, Tennant 34 and Smith 27. Peter Capaldi is 55, the same age as William Hartnell when he first placed The Doctor, the oldest actor to do so, so the image of an old head on young shoulders, so obvious with Smith's portrayal, won't be there. This really does give a whole new opportunity for a different type of Doctor, one who relies on experience and thought rather than manic energy, although it would hardly be Doctor Who if there wasn't a load of running involved.

Pompeii
I suspect that it'll just be ignored, but there's a chance that something will be made of the fact that Peter Capaldi played the role of a Roman in the The Fires of Pompeii from Series 4. Maybe somehow The Doctor will get to choose his next face and picks Caecilius as someone he admired. Very, very doubtful, but I'm just fishing for ideas. As I say, I suspect they'll just ignore it.

Torchwood
The Doctor Who and Torchwood universes are one and the same of course, and so there's also the question of whether or not Capaldi's role as John Frobisher will be reference or ignored. There's a slightly better chance of this being part of the storyline, if they go along the lines of 'The Doctor used a pocket watch to hide his essence again, posed as Frobisher which would explain why he was absent for the Children of Earth story, and then was changed back when he shot himself and his family...' - yeah, bit of a bleak ending there. Maybe not. Still, it would explain why The Doctor wasn't there to help out with the problem.

Who else could it have been?
There were a few other actors who I thought would have made interesting choices, although I'm not saying 'better' choices. Benedict Cumberbatch, mentioned for years now as a possible Doctor, was probably still my first choice overall, and I can picture perfectly how I think he'd do the role. I'd still love to see him play The Doctor one day, but with his rising stock in Hollywood, and role in Sherlock, it becomes increasingly less likely.

Richard Ayoade would have been excellent as a very nerdy, socially awkward, but ultimately brilliant Doctor. I would love to see how he'd play the role, but I can't see him being taken seriously enough to get given the role, especially as he's so well known as a comedy actor.

Den of Geek were championing Jason Statham, and let's face it, that would have been incredible. Not the right choice at all, but incredible.

Idris Elba is an actor for whom the word 'cool' merely shows his picture in the dictionary, and he really is one of Britain's best, but I do think he might be a bit too sturdily built to play The Doctor. I always feel that one of the key things about the last of the Time Lords is that he has a fairly regular build and doesn't stand out too much (although Matt Smith did seem pretty alien), and having seen Elba play Striker Bell in The Wire and Luther in Luther, he paints a pretty imposing figure. He'd be fantastic playing a villain though, so I hope he turns up on the show at some point.

And now, we wait...
I really can't wait to see Peter Capaldi in the role. We've got the excitement of the 50th anniversary special to go, and then the fun of a regeneration in the Christmas special just over a month later. I'm intrigued to see how Capaldi plays The Doctor's eccentric side (for surely he must do), and if this is going to be a slightly darker Doctor, influenced by the universe at large discovering the revelations we're expecting in the 50th anniversary special, Capaldi is a perfect choice.

Distraught though I am to be losing Matt Smith, I feel re-assured now that we're in safe hands. Thank you, Steven Moffat, you've given me a hell of a treat to look forward to come Christmas!

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 9 - The Empty Child

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 9 - The Empty Child

A quick apology before you begin reading - the actual recap of the episode is longer than usual, because so much is happening during it that needs to be mentioned. Sorry for taking up so much time before you get to the analysis!

The TARDIS flies through space in ‘Mauve’ (universally recognised colour for danger) emergency mode, chasing a spaceship that appears to be out of control. As sparks fly from the console, The Doctor tells Rose that it’s travelling through time, trying to lose them, and it’s about 30 seconds from the centre of London.

Cue title sequence…

Stepping out of the TARDIS, The Doctor and Rose begin their search for the spaceship, which could have landed months ago due to the whole time travelling thing. We keep cutting to a shot from the point of view of some binocular or goggles or something lens-based, watching the two of them move around as they continue their search. Rose wants him to give her some Spock, which apparently is meant to be asking him to use some alien tech to solve the problem rather than just asking, although as she’s already talked about spanking in a previous episode, who knows. The Doctor wonders about Rose’s choice of a rather loud Union Jack t-shirt, as Rose hears a child calling for its mummy from a nearby roof – cue scary music and OMG THAT CHILD HAS A GAS MASK ON AND HAS BEEN CALLING FOR IT’S MUMMY AND THAT’S REALLY FREAKY chills. The Doctor, however, has made his way through a door into a nightclub, which has a 1940s theme. Rose climbs the roof to rescue the child, which you wouldn’t get me to do without a fireman as they’re trained for this sort of thing and have ladders and gas masks of their own, as The Doctor climbs on stage in the club to ask if anything has fallen from the sky recently. Cue hilarious laughter from the club (you’d almost think it really WAS the 1940s, and bombs had been falling). 

Back on the roof, the little boy is a level up from Rose, when a length of rope falls down, which she climbs onto. As The Doctor hears an air raid siren and notices a Hitler poster, he realises that it IS the 1940s. Rose, meanwhile, gets carried over London by the rope, which is attached to an airship. Bombs go off all around, and planes fly towards her, and she probably regrets investigating a creepy child wearing a gas mask on a dark rooftop all alone. Although he did want his mummy, so it might have been a bit harsh not to at least try, I suppose. Maybe in those circumstances, I would have tried even without the fireman helping me.

The Doctor realises that Rose isn’t with him, and tries to find her, lamenting to a nearby cat that he’s still yet to meet someone who gets the whole ‘don’t wander off thing’, when the TARDIS telephone rings. This isn’t meant to happen, but before he can answer, a girl appears and tell him not to. She says it’s not for him, and to trust her. He turns back to look at it, pointing out it’s not a real phone and isn’t connected, but she’s gone when he turns back. He answers anyway, to hear a small child asking ‘are you my mummy?’ Creeped out by this, he runs off to find Rose. Locals run to their air raid shelters, amusing The Doctor no end, and then he sees the girl from outside the TARDIS sneak into a nearby house, where she takes some food.

Rose is still strafing bombs and planes with her air balloon, and it doesn’t look like the comfiest ride she’s ever taken. We cut to a view of John Barrowman looking at her through binoculars on the balcony of a big house, and we rejoice because it’s Barrowman. A soldier calls him ‘Jack’, and hints that he’s in the RAF, but he’s more interested in zooming in to look at Billie Piper’s bottom, which is apparently excellent. I don’t know why Barrowman is going by the name of ‘Jack’, but it’s definitely him, confirmed when he tells the soldier that he too has a lovely bottom. He’s obviously undercover though, so I’ll call him Jack to protect his identity. He leaves, telling the solider that he’s off to meet a girl.

In the house, the girl is still sneaking around, and realising that the dinner table is set for a huge roast dinner she whistles outside , which summons some children, who call her ‘Miss’. They’re obviously very well trained. Up in the air, Rose slips off the rope, but gets caught in a tractor beam that has Barrowman’s Jack’s voice. He asks her to stay calm, keep her arms inside the tractor beam, and turn off her phone as it interferes with his instrument (well played, Jack, well played) as he is trying to program the beam for her descent. Inside his ship, Jack hears his computer tell him that Rose isn’t from this time period, and then he brings her into the ship, straight into his arms. Rose swoons as she regains her senses, but to be fair I think I’d do the same if I was caught by Barrowman, looking into those deep eyes, hearing his soft dulcet tones, imagining myself snuggled up on a cold winter’s day His flirting is so intense, it causes her to faint, and Jack puts her into his bunk bed to recover.

More children head towards the house with the feast, but we start to fear for them as we realise that the child with the gas mask is heading towards the house as well. At the dinner table, the girl scolds one of the boys for making jokes about the meal being bought on the black market. She’s in full on mothering mode, making sure the children all have a slice of meat and that she can see them chewing, and then suddenly The Doctor is thanking them all and helping himself. He questions them about why they’re all there, as they should all have been evacuated, but most of them tell him that they came back because they didn’t like the homes they were sent to. We learn that her name is Nancy, and he praises her for helping the homeless (I think he does anyway. He says it in a roundabout way). He tells her he wants to know how a phone that isn’t a phone can ring, and that he wants to find a blonde in a Union Jack. He’s in trouble though as he took two slices of meat, and Nancy tries to get rid of him, but he makes sure that he asks them about whether anything had fallen from the sky recently first. The camera zooms in slightly on Nancy, which is a pretty good indicator that she knows something, when we hear a knocking and ‘Mummy? Are you in there Mummy?’ from outside. The Doctor pulls back the curtain to see the child wearing the gas mask. Nancy runs to make sure the door is shut, and then tells all the children to flee, although The Doctor knows there is something else up, and tries to question the child. Nancy lobs a vase though to stop the child putting his hand through the letterbox, and says that the child is empty, and can make the telephone ring remotely, which it then does. The Doctor answers again, but Nancy hangs up, so it turns the radio on to talk again. He puts his hand through the letterbox, and we notice it has a huge scar on its hand. It tells The Doctor it is scared, and The Doctor agrees to open the door to let him in, but the child is gone when he does so.

Rose wakes up on Jack’s ship, and he introduces himself as Captain Jack Harkness of the Royal Air Force, American volunteer. Rose, however, recognises his ID as psychic paper, because The Doctor uses it, and what she actually reads off it is that Jack is single and works out (can’t let your mind wander when using psychic paper). He then reads her subconscious thoughts off it, and we fear a little bit more for Mickey’s future with her as it lists her as ‘available’. She also tells him that he’s very ‘Spock’, which is clearly a flirting term I’m going to have to employ with my wife, if only to see her reaction. As he heals the burns on her hands, Jack tells Rose that he knows she’s a Time Agent, as he’s been expecting them to catch up with him for a while. He takes her out for a drink on top of his invisible ship, which is parked directly outside the face of Big Ben, as you do.

Nancy is running around a railway line, returning to an abandoned carriage which appears to be her shelter. The Doctor, of course, has followed her. Although they joke around together for a short while initially, he then gets down to business, rhetorically asking her about whether the thing he is looking for fell about a month ago, the same time the child with the gas mask turned all creepy. She gives him a location, but doesn’t want to take him because of the soldiers and barbed wire guarding it. She tells him that he needs to see The Doctor first, which sounds strangely familiar.

Rose and Jack are still wandering around on top of the ship, and Jack tells her that he has something that the Time Agency wants that he’s willing to trade. Rose, playing along, says she’ll need to speak to her companion, and Jack tries to speed things up my flirting more heavily than normal – we’re talking hands on hips and kisses on hands and everything. She doesn’t cave, so he tries dancing his way to what we wants, explaining that he has a fully functioning Chula war ship hidden in London, and he knows where it is, which he’ll sell to the Time Agency for the right price. In two hours, he says, a German bomb will land on it and destroy it forever. He has to repeat himself, because Rose has been staring into his eyes the whole time and ignoring his voice, and seems to love the fact that he might be a criminal. To find her ‘companion’, Jack does a search for alien tech, which is apparently ‘Spock’ enough for her to exclaim ‘finally, a professional!’.

The Doctor uses some fancy binoculars to survey the bomb site which the soldiers are guarding. The ‘Doctor’ is situated in a hospital just behind, which Nancy assures him he should go to first, as he might not want to find out what the bomb is afterwards. Before she heads back to look after the kids, The Doctor tells her he knows she lost someone, which is why she helps the other children, and she tells him it was her brother Jamie, who died the night the bomb fell when she left the house to find food. He inspires a bit of British pride by talking about the UK standing up to Germany, and then sends Nancy on her way as he heads for the hospital. The child in the gas mask appears suddenly, following Nancy up the stairs. The Doctor sonic screwdrivers’ the hospital gate, and enters. Inside, which is one child-in-a-gas-mask short of being the creepiest horror movie location ever, he enters a ward filled with bodies asleep in beds. Searching elsewhere, he discovers more of these wards, and we see that the bodies have gas masks on too. The ‘Doctor’ appears behind him (I don’t believe it! It’s Richard Wilson!), introducing himself as Doctor Constantine, and The Doctor tells him that Nancy sent him. Constantine tells him that none of them were caught in the blast, and that The Doctor should examine them, but not to touch the flesh. The Sonic Screwdriver reveals that one of the patients has head trauma, chest trauma, a scar on the back of the hand (like the child), and the gas mask is fused to the skin but that he can’t find the edge. Examining more, they’re all the same, which should be impossible. Constantine reveals that when the bomb first dropped there was just one victim, who was dead (at first), from horrific injuries. The following morning, every doctor and nurse who had touched him had the same injuries, as did the patients within a week, as if the physical injuries were a plague. The cause of death was none of these injuries, as they aren't in fact dead. He wakes them all with a bang to prove it, but says that they’re harmless, and have no life signs. The Doctor asks why no-one has done anything, and Constantine says he tries to make them comfortable, and has stopped the army blowing up the hospital and blaming it on a German bomb, which The Doctor says would be too late anyway. Isolated cases are breaking out over London, and as it looks as if Constantine is about to fall victim himself, he tells The Doctor to go to the top floor where the first victim was taken, and to find Nancy who knows more than she has let on. Constantine does indeed develop a gas mask face, asking if The Doctor is his mummy as he does so.

Just after this, Jack and Rose show up in the hospital. The Rose tells The Doctor that Jack knows all about them being Time Agents, and that his name is Mr Spock. They head back into the ward, as we switch to see Nancy back in the house, scared as the child's voice appears on the wireless, before he steps foot into the actual house. I realise that this was mistake to be watching at half-midnight and downstairs on my own, and The Doctor manages to extract from Jack that it was actually a Chula ambulance that crash-landed, not a warship. Jack hoped to convince it was a warship and then sell it, only to blow it up, and admits that he is a con man. When he says he doesn't know what's going on, and Rose asks The Doctor if he has any answers yet, The Doctor replies that human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot. Why though? What's the point?

Nancy hides under the table as the child enters the room, trying to flee when his back is turned, but he hears her and uses telekenesis to shut the door and trap her. In the hospital, all the the patients on the ward suddenly wake up, and begin walking slowly towards the trio. The child, Jamie, does the same towards Nancy and the camera, and HOLY CRAP THAT IS SO CREEPY AND WHY DID I WANT TO FINISH WATCHING THIS BEFORE BED?!

Until next time...i

You'll often hear people say that they used to hide behind the sofa when something like the Daleks appeared in Doctor Who when they were younger. Now, I'm not a massive pre-Russell T Davies Doctor Who fan, but I'm certain that there was never anything this scary before now. The combination of a gas mask (why are gas masks so scary?) and a child calling for it's mummy in a dark setting is genuinely creepy. I jest slightlly when I make out that I'm honestly scared (I'm really quite manly, you must understand) but if it was dark and someone started to ask if I was their mummy in the same style, I'd be bricking it. There is no way you’ll ever again hear anything to do with ‘mummy’ without hearing the child's voice.

It might be a dark episode in general, both in terms of plot and setting, but there's some great humour in there. The opening joke about mauve being the universal colour of danger, and how confusing it makes things for other species, is great, showcasing how different (or alien) mankind really would be to the rest of the universe.Christopher Eccleston is also on fine form throughout, lamenting the companion's tendency to ignore his warnings to stay put 'I might finally meet someone who gets the whole "don't wander off" thing,' and perfectly straight-faced 'what am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?', which might be one of his best lines of the entire series. 

John Barrowman, of course, threatens to steal the episode in every scene as Captain Jack Harkness. He'll become more muted (to a degree) when he stars in Torchwood, but our first meeting with Jack is brilliant, seeing his thoughts wander to produce a very appraising view of Rose on the psychic paper, and causing Rose to go all gooey-eyed over champagne on top of his spaceship. Billie Piper is wonderful too as Rose falls victim to Jack's charms. 

I don't often notice things like the actual quality of writing in the script (I really don't have a clue how they pick the nominees for the Oscars), but I think this is a wonderfully written script - it's incredibly snappy in places, such as when Nancy and The Doctor talk about the size of his nose and ears.

It all adds up to a superb episode of Doctor Who. There's a fantastic mystery, a genuinely creepy bad guy (it seems wrong calling a child that's lost its mummy a 'bad guy', but that's exactly what it is), and the introduction of John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness. 

How It Fits Into The Series As A Whole

We meet Captain Jack Harkness, who would go on to run Torchwood 3 in Torchwood, for the first time. We also have the first instance of The Doctor using the alias 'John Smith'. 

Bad Wolf Sightings

I missed this, but it's quite obvious when you're told - Nancy, pointing out The Doctor's big ears and nose, is a reference to the Big Bad World.

Overall

The introduction of Captain Jack Harkness, the creepiest enemy on children's television (until the Weeping Angels arrive), and some great dialogue combine with a wonderful mystery to make this essential viewing. Can't wait to re-watch the second one.

10/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 8 - Father's Day

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 8 - Father's Day

As we open the story with a strangely eerie zooming in shot of Rose's Dad's eyes, Rose asks The Doctor whether they can go and visit him while he was still alive, as she was only a baby when he died. The Doctor agrees, telling her to be careful what she wishes for.

Cue music...

Rose and The Doctor are watching her parent's wedding, her father fluffing Jackie's name as only a bit of a dimwit could do. We see flashbacks of Jackie telling young Rose how no-one was around when he died, and modern Rose tells The Doctor she wants to be the person who is there for him as he dies. They travel back to the day he died in 1987, which we know because there are posters protesting Margaret Thatcher, which never happened recently at all, ever. As her father gets out of his car, another car rounds the corner and ploughs into him, knowing him over and leaving him fatally wounded. The Doctor tells Rose to go to him, but she's too devastated to do anything about it. She asks if she can try again. We then see the two of them from behind, as we realise that we're looking at the two of them from two minutes ago, and the 'real' Rose and Doctor are hidden behind a wall, watching it all, waiting for the two of them from two minutes ago to leave to go back in time by two minutes and that's all irrelevant because the 'real' Rose goes crazy and runs out to save her father from getting run over. She succeeds, and Rose and The Doctor from two minutes disappear. Her father (I'll start calling him Pete now) grumbles about the speed of the other driver, before thanking Rose for saving him, and they both agree Rose is a great name. The Doctor is glaring at them though, and as we last saw that look when he refused to let Adam travel with them again in the last episode, I don't think he's best pleased with Rose. We cut to an aerial view of the council estate, with a red filter and a strained noise, and it doesn't exactly seem like a friendly image.

The three of them head back to Pete, Jackie and Rose's flat, but The Doctor is still being stern with his eyes. This is less 'grumpy Northern', and more 'really annoyed Time Lord'. Rose enjoys looking at Pete's things in the flat, before she finally acknowledges that The Doctor isn't best happy. He calls her a 'stupid ape', waves away her protests that he does this sort of thing all the time by saying that he knows what he's doing, and that he never went back to save his entire race when they died in The Time War. I think he's deliberately skipping the fact that it was time-locked, so he couldn't do it even if he wanted to, but let's ignore that bit. Rose and The Doctor seemingly break up at this point, she accusing him of being jealous at not being the most important man in her life at that second, and he demanding the key to the TARDIS back, storming out. 

As The Doctor heads towards the TARDIS, the red filter and screeching noises come into play again, and this time they attack several people out doing ordinary things like trimming a hedge, hanging out the washing and drinking cider against a wall. Pete tries to console Rose and her 'boyfriend' troubles, although she has to stop him when he starts mildly flirting, before it turns a bit Back To The Future on us. Rose and Pete leave the flat, heading for the wedding Pete and Jackie (and baby Rose) are attending. There's quite a few missing people in the church though, and my money's on the red filter flying things. The Doctor reaches the TARDIS, sensing something up in the sky, but the real horror awaits him when he opens the blue box to discover that it's now just an ordinary sized blue box. He panics, running back for Rose.

In the car, Pete and Rose bond talking about Jackie, although there's obviously something wrong with time when music from the future begins to play on the radio. Her phone is acting strange as well, repeating a message of 'Watson, come here, I need you' (which, of course, was the very first telephone message), but the car that hit Pete appearing behind them and disappearing in a flash shortly afterwards is the strangest bit of all. It then reappears in front of the church, causing them to swerve, and Rose to shout out 'Dad!'. He's interrupted from questioning her too much on this though by 1987 Jackie calling him a plonker. It's all a bit much for Rose, seeing her mother's hair, herself as a baby, and learning that her father may have cheated with a cloakroom attendant (they just fell over under some duffel coats, apparently). Worst of all, her parents clearly argue and are fed up of each other, ruining the image she had in her head of a wonderful marriage. 

The red filter has moved onto taking children from playgrounds now. Jackie and Pete sort of make up, but then the lone escapee from the playground appears shouting about monsters, and when The Doctor rounds the corner shouting for her to get into the church, the monster itself makes an appearance. Imaging a Pterodactyl crossed with a Gargoyle, and you're sort of there. All the guests run into the church in a panic, but not before a few of them are eaten. The Doctor shuts the door once they're all inside, explaining that there's been an accident in time, and that the monsters are here to sterilise the wound, and that Jackie should really shut up for once. Rose asks if it's all her fault, and The Doctor can't bring himself to answer, but at least he seems to have partially forgiven her because it's a pitying look he gives her, rather than the grumpy eyes. He watches the car outside appear and disappear, but doesn't do anything about it at the moment.

Rose looks mournful, thinking over how it’s all her fault, when Pete comes in to ask her why. She won’t give him a reason, but Pete says he trusted her from the moment that he met her, and that’s all a bit weird, considering there’s a wound in time and she called him Dad, and has his eyes, and Jackie’s attitude, and then he strokes her face, and realises it’s his daughter, which is probably a good thing otherwise he’d have got a slap.

Meanwhile, the bride and groom are asking The Doctor if he can save them. After learning how they got together, and assuring them that they’re as important as anyone else, he tells them he’ll try to save them.

Pete and Rose bond a bit more, although he gets the hint that he’s no longer around in the future. It’s all a little bit weird for Rose when 5-year old Mickey runs in and grasps her leg. Jackie comes in and scowls accusingly at the two of them a bit more, before leading Mickey away. The Doctor tries to bond with baby Rose, who looks a bit confused at the strange Northern man, but he has to be firm when modern Rose tries to hold herself. The Doctor apologises for being Northern and grumpy, and admits he doesn’t have a plan for what to do. He tells her that the Time Lords had laws against this happening, and would have stopped it, but that obviously isn’t likely to happen by the end of the episode. All it takes is an apology from Rose, and the two of them are back on friendly terms.When they hug, thinks heat up, but only because the TARDIS key is glowing golden. He borrows a battery from the groom, which is part of the TARDIS-locating plan, but the creatures outside seem to be getting louder.

A bit more bonding between Rose and Pete leads to a few lies, as Rose can’t bring herself to admit he’s died, instead telling the story of who she hoped her father would have been, had he still been alive. In the main church, the TARDIS starts to appear, and The Doctor warns them not to touch the key. Outside, the car appears and vanishes again, reminding us that the plot point isn’t forgotten. The Doctor reassures Rose that everyone will forget what’s happened, and that her father will still be alive. Pete, however, has figured out the truth, and blames himself for the problem, as he is her Dad. He loudly declares that he knows she is his daughter, just as Jackie, Queen of Brilliant Timing, walks in at this point, asking if he was 12 at the time she was fathered, leading to one of the all-time great disbelieving-Doctor head-shakes, and then Jackie finally learns the truth. However, Pete hands Baby Rose to Modern Rose to show Jackie that they’re the same person, which causes the paradox that allows one of the creatures to enter the church. The creature then eats The Doctor, which surely isn’t how the plan was meant to work, and the TARDIS disappears along with the creature, leaving the key on the floor. All because Rose did a little bit of saving-her-father-from-death. Who’d have thought it could cause this much trouble to change the past?

As the creatures try to tear down the walls from outside, Pete notices the appearing and re-appearing car. He decides to make something of his life, by dying. He tells Rose his plan, and that The Doctor knew that was how to heal time, and that he had tried to protect Pete by not forcing him to die. Rose begs him not to, but she knows really that he must. Even Jackie realises that it’s really her Rose, and looks helpless as she realises that he’s going to die. He promises that this way he can be a real Dad to her, as a hero with a supreme sacrifice, rather than stay around and be a failure. He runs outside, and gets hit by the car, just before he becomes one of the creatures’ dinner. The Doctor appears again, allowing her to run and be with him during his last minutes. He dies with her holding him, as the people in the church come out to see what’s happened. We cut back to young Rose, who explains the new version of what happened, of how he ran out in front of a car, and a girl held his hand as he died, and Jackie never found out who he was.

Rose narrates a small eulogy about her Dad, as she and The Doctor walk hand in hand back to the TARDIS.

We’re always warned in science-fiction that messing with the past can seriously screw things up (Doc Brown was very clear in Back To The Future II that a paradox could destroy the entire universe, or if they were very lucky just their own galaxy), and boy, does it mess up in a big way here. I doubt evil creatures were what many people imagine when they think of a paradox, but here it’s a very effective way of showing danger approaching and becoming more dangerous with every passing minute. It's also a pretty important piece of character development between Rose and The Doctor. She betrays his trust, putting the entire world in danger for one selfish reason (although it's a perfectly understandable one), and for a time it looks as if their adventure together could be over, but in the end her sorrow is entirely heartfelt, and the way he smiles at her after her apology tells you all you need to know. That slightly-manic smile is so iconic of Eccleston's Doctor, it's the first thing I think of to do with the character. 

If you wanted to showcase to someone just how good Billie Piper has been as Rose, you need only to show them the scene where Pete explains that he needs to die to reset the timeline. Her distraught ‘[you’re] my Dad,’ packs such an emotional punch. She’s right when she cries ‘it’s unfair’, and it’s not exactly an easy scene to watch if you get emotional at moments like this (which I do, of course). To me, this is one of the stand-out scenes of Rose's entire character, with an emotional resonance close to that of when she is trapped in the parallel world in the Series 2 finale. 

It's also an important moment when Pete tells Rose that The Doctor knew he would have to die right from the beginning in order to reset the timeline, and that he wanted to exhaust every avenue to try and bring Pete back into Rose's life before the ultimate sacrifice had to be made. It's another reason why we love The Doctor, and why people will follow him anywhere. In the Series 4 finale, Davros taunts The Doctor with how he has made his own private army and put them in danger - with actions like this, it's no wonder his companions will do anything for him.

I suspect that, in all honestly, Jackie Tyler isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I love the character. Her overbearing and dominant personality is hilarious, particularly the way she comes in at the wrong moment when Pete discovers Rose is really his Rose, and deep down you know she has a heart of gold. It allows The Doctor to have some great moments opposite her as well, his frustration at her not doing as she's told a highlight of his interactions outside of Rose throughout the season.

There's also Pete mistaking Rose and The Doctor for a couple, again leading to Rose declaring 'Why does everyone think we're a couple?!', one of my favourite running-Who gags. It's great when something like this can span multiple companions. In Rose's case, of course, we know that deep down (or fairly obviously in reality) she IS in love with him, but she still tries to hide it. All this build up makes their split in the Series 2 finale all the more heartbreaking.

How It Fits Into The Series As A Whole

Beyond some character development for Rose, it's fairy stand-alone.

Bad Wolf Sightings

'Bad Wolf' appears on an 'Energise' poster.

Overall

A very important episode for Rose, and a tragic story. Billie Piper really comes into her own, and we see an interesting twist on the idea of what would happen with a time travel paradox. Great stuff.

9/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 7 - The Long Game

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 7 - The Long Game

Solar Flare warnings are playing on a television set, as The Doctor, Rose and Adam step out of the TARDIS in the year 200,000AD, onto Floor 193 of Satellite 5. Rose shows Adam her recently acquired space travelling awareness skills (engines = space ship), and both she and The Doctor enjoy showing Adam the view of the Earth from space, which is now the capital of the 4th Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Rose and The Doctor look on in awe, and Adam faints behind them. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.

Just as The Doctor is waxing lyrical about how awesomely polite and awesome the period is, lots of un-awesome and un-polite people appear in a market. This confuses The Doctor, who wonders where all the non-humans are and why his watch must be wrong, although this doesn't stop him from sonic-screwdrivering a cash point for free cash, which he gives to Adam. He ushers Rose off to follow Adam, wishing them luck on their first date, although Rose seems more fussed about promising to spank The Doctor when she gets back, although I might be reading too much into that. The Doctor collars two local workers to find out where they are, one of whom is very happy to flirt her way to Floor 500, where the walls are apparently made of gold. It turns out that Satellite 5 is full of journalists who make the news, and Simon Pegg is apparently in charge, with several slightly chilly looking workers next to him.

In a futuristic McDonalds, Rose and Adam share a beef slush puppie, before Adam says he misses home. Rose lends him her phone, which he pockets whilst looking very sinister when The Doctor calls them over. Simon Pegg continues to observe them. The Doctor, Rose and Adam follow the two workers from earlier, to observe the generating of a news report. One of them, the innocent looking one, is called Suki. The other, we shall call 'GET ME TO FLOOR 500!',, because I missed her actual name. What we don't miss, is how when she clicks her fingers, a strange silver device bulges out of her forehead, and a stream of compressed information is fired into it from an overhead machine. Her brain therefore becomes a computer, although she'll forget it all when it's finished - all the workers surrounding her have small chips inside themselves which they use to transfer information up to the big machine that's firing it into her brain. Simon Pegg manages to track his disturbance in the force to that room, just as The Doctor declares, quite happily, that the technology is wrong and that it all means trouble. However, we discover that Simon Pegg hasn't noticed our heroes, but Suki as the problem - she has a second biography hidden within her data stream (or something), and when he explains this to something on the ceiling that growls, the growling thing isn't very happy. To lure her upstairs, they give her a promotion. GET ME TO FLOOR 500! is unhappy, but there's nothing she can do.

As Suki celebrates back in the main market place, Adam looks very sneaky when he says he wants to go to the observation deck and that he think Rose is really in love with The Doctor and not him so she should stay put, but Rose doesn't notice because that wouldn't make good television. Rose gives him the TARDIS key 'in case it all gets a bit too much', and he gives an evil grin as he walks away. Seriously, have none of them picked up any hints that he's a bit of a bad egg? Suki quickly says her goodbyes and gets in the lift, and GET ME TO FLOOR 500! (I've just looked up her name - it's Cathica) says that no-one ever comes back from Floor 500. Those who get chosen only get up there with a special key given upon promotion. As Suki arrives on Floor 500, it's a bit less glamourous, and a bit more snowy than she expected. As she searches around with a torch, she discovers a set of rather decayed people in a chamber similar to the one that Cathica received information in before. A door opens revealing a bright light, which she naturally investigates, to find Simon Pegg waving rather camply. He reveals that he is The Editor, and that Suki's biography is all lies. She willingly agrees when she pulls a gun on him, revealing herself to be a bit of an anarchist for 'The Freedom Foundation', who have discovered that Satellite 5 are lying to the people. The growling ceiling creature then makes itself known, called the Editor-in-Chief by Simon Pegg, and appears to eat Suki.

Meanwhile, Adam is sneaking around being a prat. He learns the history of the microprocessor, presumably so that he can go back to the past and make his fortune. Cathica leads The Doctor and Rose back into the information chamber, who deduces that they aren't management, and says there are lots of little reasons that add up to why she had missed the fact that there are no aliens on board. The Doctor says that they whole attitude of the 4th Great and Bountiful Human Empire is behind by about 90 years, and Cathica reveals that Satellite 5 began broadcasting about 91 years ago.

Adam rings home to leave himself a message about the microprocessor, but is instructed to make his way to Floor 16. It's the floor for Medical non-emergencies. He blags his way to getting a chip by saying he is a student from Mars, although he takes some persuading to go through with it when he thinks about the whole brain surgery part of it.

The Doctor breaks into the mainframe, observed by Simon Pegg, and we see that Suki has been made into a chilly worker. The Editor-in-Chief gets grouchy and demands The Doctor is looked into. Cathica panics about them investigating, but The Doctor says she should be more like Rose, who is asking the right questions, like 'why is it so hot?'. Simon Pegg learns that The Doctor and Rose have no identification at all, which earns them a promotion to Floor 500. The Doctor, Rose and Cathica learn that Floor 500 is generating tons and tons of heat, and has all the cooling systems directed upwards to counter this and send the heat downwards, hence why it's so hot. There can be only one solution - GET ME TO FLOOR 500! Which is possible thanks to Simon Pegg sending it down to them.

Adam's surgery is complete, and by clicking his fingers it will appear and disappear. He also has his vomit frozen by nano-termites as a bonus offer. The Doctor and Rose meanwhile step into the lift, but Cathica refuses and leaves. They find the same snowy setting that Suki did when they arrive, and they make their way to meet Simon Pegg. It's revealed that Suki did indeed die, and that all the chilly workers are too, their brain chips continuing despite this. As they try to leave, chilly people restrain them. Simon Pegg explains that it isn't really the 4th Great & Bountiful Human Empire at all, but a place where humans are allowed to leave by the Editor-in-Chief, who is revealed to be a slimy thing with lots of teeth, who's real name is The Might Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. It has controlled the broadcast of news for the last 91 years, and shaped humanity by doing so. His nickname is Max.

Back down on Floor 139, Cathica decides she would like to visit Floor 500 after all. The Doctor and Rose are shackled, learning that humanity is effectively enslaved. Simon Pegg loves this part particularly well, and he notes that he can see the doubt in anyone and put a stop to it easily. He doesn't notice Cathica sneaking up behind. Rose notes that he isn't a Jagrabelly Jagrafess so why is he doing this to humanity, but he says that he represents a consortium of banks who pay very well.

Adam carries on trying to send messages home meanwhile, which has the unwanted side effect of telling Simon Pegg that The Doctor is a Time Lord. As Adam has the key, Simon Pegg also now has the key. That's a bit of a blow really. The Doctor tries to get a message to Cathica to tell her to upload a message to the rest of humanity, and she has to throw a few decomposed people aside to accomplish it, so she's made up for being a bit moody earlier on to me. She reverses all the air conditioning, melting the icy Floor 500, sending Satellite 5 into a bit of a meltdown (if you'll excuse the pun), killing the Jagrafess. The Doctor and Rose escape using the Sonic Screwdriver, but Simon Pegg doesn't make it. They take Cathica back down with them.

The rest of the station has calmed down a bit, and The Doctor and Rose leave Cathica to clear up - in a good way. The Doctor marches in a very grumpy and Northern way towards Adam, dumping him back home, and erasing the answerphone message that Adam left. Adam wants The Doctor to help remove the chip, but The Doctor refuses. He'll have to live a very average life as punishment, so no-one notices the chip. The Doctor only takes the best, and he has Rose. As we wipe our eyes, Rose laughs at the predicament Adam is in now, before the TARDIS leaves with her and The Doctor in it. Adam's mother arrives home and clicks her fingers...

After last week's excellence-fest, it's not quite such a high level this time. It's not to say this doesn't have a good mystery and excellent sci-fi look and feel to it (the market place on Floor 139 is very Blade Runner-esque), but it's not got the same impact as seeing the Daleks (or Dalek) for the first time this series, or The Doctor threatening to become everything he despises.

One of the disappointments is Adam. I just don't find myself caring at all about him until the very end, when I'm glad he gets punished, and I understand why he's there - it's to show what happens if you abuse the privilege of travelling with The Doctor. The Doctor refusing to allow Adam to continue as a companion is one of the stand out parts of the episode, showcasing how he gives everyone a chance, friend or foe. I just remain very ambivalent to Adam all the way through.

There are some excellent moments showing how Rose and The Doctor's relationship is growing, with moments like The Doctor declaring he only takes the best, and has Rose. There are even stronger hints as well that Rose is falling in love with The Doctor, and although Adam uses it as a way of getting time along on Satellite 5, it's clear that the adoration is there for all to see. No wonder Mickey gets jealous!

Simon Pegg is fantastic as The Editor, and it's a pity that he only has a one episode role, because I could happily see him play a slightly camp evil person any day of the week. The chilly people are sufficiently creepy, especially when you realise that they're dead, although the Jagrafress is a relatively standard evil alien trying to enslave humanity.

I really did love the sci-fi setting this time. Compared to the space station in The End of the World, the sci-fi cheese has gone to a large extent, and it's all the better for it. I could happily spend a bit more time on Satellite 5 (keep quiet, those of you who've seen the rest of the series...).

How It Fits Into The Series As A Whole

Satellite 5 will come back in to play in the two-part series finale.

Bad Wolf Sightings

One of the TV stations is Bad WolfTV.

Overall

It's not up to last week's standard, but it's a great piece of sci-fi TV, and has some great moments of growth in the relationship between The Doctor and Rose, and showcases The Ninth Doctor's sense of morality in giving everyone a chance to prove themselves. Well worth watching still, just don't tell me Adam is an interesting character.

8/10

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 6 - Dalek

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 6 - Dalek

I wonder what's coming in this episode?

The Doctor and Rose step out of The Tardis into a museum in Utah, 2012 , having located a signal drawing them to it. This ain't no ordinary museum though - it's an ALIEN museum, full of alien items like Cyberman heads and the speedometer from the Roswell spacecraft. Alarms start to ring as soldiers spring into action, training their weapons on our two heroes. The Doctor is an alien after all. He'd blend in well here.

The owner of the museum (and a sleazy moustache), a gentleman who apparently has the ability to have the President of the USA replaced, makes his way to see them, making some HILARIOUS jokes along the way. We also see from the viewpoint of something being tortured with a drill, and making some very Dalek-like noises as it screams. I wonder what it could be? No time to debate for too long though - The Doctor and Rose are brought in front of the museum's owner, who is busy examining some new alien artefacts. The Doctor schools him on the proper use of one of the artefacts, before he is introduced by an English aide as Mr Henry van Statten, owner of the Internet. They have a bit of a manly stand off (very Northern stuff from The Doctor), where The Doctor learns that van Statten is keeping one living specimen close to where the signal that drew them there is located. Rose heads off with the English chap, whilst The Doctor heads down to visit the 'Metaltron'. 

The Doctor ventures with 'the cage', and discovers the last Dalek in the universe, who's a bit narky at discovering his race's greatest enemy in front of him. However, this Dalek is impotent unable to fire his weapon, and after the initial panic at nearly getting deathed by a death ray, The Doctor lets out some of his Northern anger left over from The Time War, taunting it for being the last of its race and the fact that he made it all happen, before calming down a bit when the Dalek uses reverse psychology and makes him realise that was a bit of a mean thing to say, especially when he's in the same boat. One Dalek taunt too far leads The Doctor to torture him with electricity, and the Dalek to beg for mercy, and it's only stopped when van Statten sends soldiers in to drag The Doctor away.

Meanwhile, Rose and the English chap bond over some alien technology. They flirt over talk of aliens and World War III (that's some sexy talk alright), and Rose reassures him that she and The Doctor aren't an item. She gets disturbed however when she sees the Dalek being tortured on screen. Back in the lift, The Doctor learns that the Dalek fell to Earth at the end of The Time War, and immediately regrets admitting that he too is the last of his race when van Statten has him tied up and his shirt ripped off. Luckily he gets to keep his trousers. Van Statten tells The Doctor of how he uses the alien technology he finds to further mankind's technology, making him very rich and influential in the process. The Doctor tries to warn him about the Dalek, but van Statten's ego and moustache ignore him. 

Rose manages to gain entry to see the Dalek, who's acting a bit pathetic - it's only his entire race that's been destroyed, after all - but she makes the rather silly mistake of laying her hand on his metal casing, which has the unfortunate side-effect of allowing him to activate his cellular reconstruction programme, and burst of his chains. Whoops! Nice one, Rose...

The guard who was torturing it earlier enters, shouts at Rose, and then taunts the Dalek, asking if it's going to use it's sink plunger to 'sucker him to death'. The Dalek immediately suckers him to death, and then suckers the keypad of the door to let it escape. Van Statten frees The Doctor after letting him put his shirt and jacket back on, before watching the Dalek download the entire Internet. It ignores the adult material and cat videos, and goes around death raying everyone, it's mini-shields stopping all their bullets. The Doctor, van Statten and his assistant lady, Goddard, plan to get to the weapons cache as their only chance of stopping it, but the Dalek is standing between them and their goal. Rose, the English chap and a soldier lady flee up the stairs, reasoning that a giant pepper-pot won't be able to climb stairs, but they never reckoned on this one having thrusters. Soldier lady commits the worlds most stupid sacrifice instead of running away, as Rose and the English chap flee.

The Doctor tells all the soldiers to aim for the eye-piece and concentrate all their fire at once, but they're about as useful as Imperial Stormtroopers. Rose notices that it looks directly at her, as if singling her out for something, before it sets off the sprinkler system so it can electrocute them all to death in one go. Now, I know it's been tortured in much the same fashion, but forgive and forget guy - this is why the Daleks have a bad reputation.

The Doctor, van Statten and Goddard plan another escape, before the Dalek remotely activates the monitor near them and shouts a bit, telling the three of them it's going to just kill everyone because it hasn't got anything better to do. The Doctor suggests it kill itself and die a bit, to which the Dalek responds by telling him he would make a good Dalek if he ever thought about switching careers. Rose and the English chap sprint up the stairs away from the Dalek, but The Doctor has to close the bulkhead doors to stop it getting through, and Rose is trapped on the wrong side. We hear the Dalek shout 'exterminate' and then the line goes dead. The Doctor flips out at van Statten as he realises he has lost his companion, but then we learn that the Dalek didn't actually fire, and Rose is still alive. It tells her that it feels her fear, and it has been contaminated due to her DNA when it touched her. It re-contacts The Doctor, using guilt and emotion to force him to re-open the bulkhead doors.

The Doctor and the English chap search for uncatalogued weapons, as the Dalek's already rather shaky sanity seems to deteriorate even further when it questions why it didn't kill Rose. She stops it killing van Statten by questioning what it wants, to which it declares 'freedom'. It breaks a hole in the ceiling, ready to fly off and begin its own adventures, possibly with a spin off series on CBBC, opening up its casing to show Rose what it really looks like whilst feeling the sun on its skin. The Doctor, however, has other plans, determined to shoot it. Rose pleads with him, telling him that by not killing her and van Statten it must be changing, and that if he is willing to kill it that he must be changing too. The Doctor realises it's true, and tells it that is has mutated thanks to Rose's DNA, but also says that it is not good for a Dalek, and when the Dalek itself pleads for Rose to order it's own destruction, she realises she has to do it. It learns that she is frightened, and tells her that it is too, before exterminating itself. 

Van Statten finds himself taken away for his memory to be erased as punishment for the deaths he caused, whilst The Doctor and Rose prepare to leave. The Doctor mournfully declares himself the winner of The Time War, telling Rose that he knows no other Time Lords are alive as he can't find them. The English chap, who I've just found out is called Adam, arrives to tell them all they have to leave, but The Doctor allows him to come along with them when Rose argues that he should come along because she fancies him he's always wanted to see the stars. They leave, ready to go and confront Simon Pegg on next week's episode. 

And so, to the first confrontation of the modern series with Doctor Who's greatest villains. There's only one of them, but you only need one to cause mayhem. It's an excellent twist when we learn it's mutating due to Rose's DNA, as it gives us the episode's excellent ethical dilemma - is The Doctor any better than the Daleks? Of course, we know he is really, but needs to make these discussions if it want's to be as intelligent as this, and it does it superbly. Whilst the other villain of the week, van Statten is your fairly typical evil collector, the character works very well for the story, and it's a bit of a surprise that he doesn't end up dead, although he does of course end up with his memory erased. I'm less enthusiastic about English Adam coming along for the ride next week, as he's one of the most forgettable parts of the episode, but maybe he'll be better in the next episode.

Watching Eccleston vent The Doctor's fury at the Dalek when they first meet, asking it how does it feel and what is it going to do to him, is a pretty intense scene. We see the anger and emotion that the Ninth Doctor carries from The Time War spill out, and although Eccleston's Doctor has always been a grumpier than Tennant or Smith's, it still feels a shock to see - it's completely understandable of course, and is one of the key moments of the series in realising just how heavily The Time War affected The Doctor. When the Dalek asks, 'you made it happen?', the sudden shift to vulnerable and sorrowful is superb, and highlights the burden he carries, and how much he knows that though he rid the universe of it's greatest threat, he killed all of his people by doing so. He's a murderer of an entire race, just like the Daleks want to be (and have been in the past), and that's pretty hard to take. Even so, it's disturbing watching him torture the Dalek with electricity and hear it scream for mercy, only to watch The Doctor ask 'why should I?'. As you'd expect, Eccleston is fantastic at going from one end of the scale to the other, and it's another stand out seen from the first series to go along with The Doctor telling Rose he doesn't want to put her in danger in the previous episode's cabinet room scene.

The final talk between The Doctor, Rose and the Dalek is also pretty powerful. Thanks to Rose's DNA, the Dalek has mutated to have traces of mercy and other emotions, which causes great turmoil within The Doctor - he knows he should kill any Dalek as it's the biggest threat to the universe, but this isn't an ordinary Dalek. When Rose tells him that she doesn't like what he is changing into, you can see the reason why he has a companion with him - it keeps him level-headed when he needs it most. It's also strangely heart-breaking to watch the Dalek want to die as it is longer what it thinks a Dalek should be, and to proclaim that it is scared is almost enough to prompt a few tears. 

It's also very crowd-pleasing to hear the Dalek described as a 'giant pepper-pot'. 

It's hard to give this episode enough plaudits. There are some incredibly powerful scenes that really make you stop and think, and the acting is phenomenal at times, particularly from Eccleston. Billie Piper has impressed me more often so far this series, mostly because she wasn't an established actress like Eccleston at the time, but he shows just how incredible he is here, and has done more and more as the series has gone by. He's so different to Tennant and Smith, and because he only had one series it's easy to forget moments like this, but he's a fantastic kind of different. Piper is still great, her scene where she's about to get shot outside the bulkhead a particular highlight, and there's just something so easy to relate to with her as the wide-eyed companion along for the adventure. 

How It Fits Into The Series As A Whole

This is, of course, the return of the Daleks, The Doctor's greatest foe, although it's only a single Dalek in this episode. More, LOTS more, will come by the end of the series.

Bad Wolf Sightings

Henry van Statten's private helicopter is called 'Bad Wolf One'.

Overall

The best episode so far of the revived Doctor Who, and possibly of all seven series by the time I've revisited them all. Full of tension and drama, and some phenomenally good acting, this should be one of the starting points for converting non-Doctor Who fans. Unmissable.

10/10

The Journey To Publication-Hood - Part 1 - Writing

The Journey To Publication-Hood - Part 1 - Writing

It's every person's dream at some point to be a published writer. Whether it was a fleeting moment when you were a child, or a constant dream all the way through your adult life, there's always a time when you'd love people to read something that you've written and think, 'Wow, that's amazing.'

I'm no exception. I've been writing stories and attempted humour-based articles since I was young, all in the hope that someone will read them and praise them. I'm terrible at finishing them off, but I can come up with an idea for something new in the blink of an eye. Currently, I have ideas for one adult fantasy trilogy, two dystopian teenage thrillers, one teenage fantasy thriller, one teenage magic-based mystery thriller, three childrens adventure series, and several childrens picture books. Out of all those, I have about four chapters written for the adult fantasy trilogy, several pages of notes and attempted first pages for all the young adult and children's stories, and two complete childrens picture books that have been through at least two drafts each. As I said, I can come up with ideas but I don't exactly find it easy to finish them off.

You may have noticed, however, that I listed two complete childrens picture books in there. Yep, I've actually managed to complete a couple of stories. Although this may seem less of an achievement when you realise that a standard children's picture book is made up of 32 pages, and each of these pages only has two lines of rhyme each when I write them. Still, I'm damn proud that I've managed to stick with these through to the end, through a couple of drafts no less. So, what to do now? Well, there's only one step really, isn't there - of course, I'm going to try and get them published.

The picture books actually just started out as ideas for using at storytimes with the young kids at the library. As a challenge, I thought I'd try and write some stories myself so that I'm not just relying on the books we have in stock that week to deliver a storytime - hence we have a story about a giraffe looking for love for my next jungle/zoo-themed storytime, and a story about a monster who eats everyone for a monster-themed session. As you might expect, I've showed them to people now that they're written, and because people are polite, the response has been very positive. 'You should get them published!' I've heard several tiems. Does this make me think they're good enough to get them published? No, of course not. As I said, people are polite, and this is what you say to someone who gives you a story that they've written. What makes me think it's worth a shot is simply that they're written, and therefore there's nothing to lose. I might as well dream.

This is by no means the first blog that's ever been written that aims to share the journey towards getting a debut story published, but to keep my brain focused on improving at writing, I thought I might as well.

So, after the intro spiel, where am I up to?

Well, when looking into childrens picture books, I learned a few things:
1. The average page length of a picture book is 32 pages
2. The average word length is nearer to 500 but up to 1000 words
3. Get a literary agent

My strongest typing of writing in this field appears to be rhyming ever two lines, so I very dilligently went about ensuring that my first story, Clarence Giraffe Looks For Love, rhymed every two lines, and that it was split into 16 verses of four lines each (two lines per page, so four over a double spread). The word length ended up being something like 584, so I'm right where I need to be for word count. I sent the first draft off to friends and family, took on some comments (mainly about how the lines flowed) and edited it into a second draft. Deciding that I'd made it as good as I could after this second draft (there are, after all, only so many different terms for marriage and rhymes that go with them in the English lexicon), I moved onto Step 3, searching for a literary agent. I loaded up page after page that dealt with childrens picture books, only to discover that most of them recommend sending in three separate books if you want to write picture books. So, back to the drawing (writing?) board I went.

Having a couple of lines in my head about an old lady mistaking a monster for her husband due to very poor eyesight, this quickly became Ethel & The Monster. Again it ended up being 32 pages of 16 four-line verses, and again it went to friends and family, I received some feedback, and edited it to create a second draft. I'm still not entirely satisfied yet, so there's still some work to be done, but it's close.

And then to a third book, and my first major headache. A couple of years ago, my wife and I came up with a concept that we thought could span a whole series of books, about a time travelling dog called Little Ed Dog (named after a friend) who uses the cupboard in his owner's bedroom to visit all different historical eras, which would make the books both educational and fun. We even came up with about 8 different titles, none of which had anything to do with time travel - my favourite was Who's That In The Mirror Ed Dog? That's right, it's you!. 'Aha,' I thought to myself, 'the third book will surely write itself!'

Alas, it's never that simple. Try as I might, I just could not get historical facts about Rome to rhyme well enough to make it feasible. I'm sure this is something a much better-skilled writer could accomplish, but that's certainly not me at the moment. So, what's the next step? Do I write it as a general storybook (which would showcase a different, non-rhyming style to prospective agents)? Do I change the concept of Little Ed Dog altogether? Do I rack my brains for a new story entirely?

It helps sometimes to have someone to talk through these problems with. Yesterday, sitting on the swings with my wife and son, talking through how I'd gotten stuck, we struck on the idea of these adventures taking place in the library, rather than Little Ed Dog's owner's bedroom. From there, it seemed obvious that he should be reading books about a subject, and to try and get across the idea about how awesome libraries are (they are dear reader, as you know, awesome) we thought that the books themselves should magically transport Little Ed Dog to the era he was reading about. And then we suddenly came to the idea that I think could make this series stand out. I've no idea how we hit on this idea, but all of a sudden it seemed perfect that Little Ed Dog would read about fairy tales, be transported to the fairy tale world, and end up helping the hero. Thus, the first Little Ed Dog story was written in about 10 minutes, seeing our hero visit the library for the first time, spring into Little Red Riding Hood's world, and end up being the hero who gets the woodcutter to save the day. An initial attempt at rhyming this was unsuccessful, so I went back to trying a different style and writing it as a straight story.

One little snag - I just couldn't get the word count down to less than about 1300 words, which I've been assured is far too many for a picture book, no matter what age. So close, and yet so far?

Not neccessarily. As you know, there are plenty of fairy tales still to write about which Little Ed Dogg could enter to save the day, so I've set myself another task now - writing a compilation of short stories on this very theme, just like with Just William or My Naughty Little Sister. I've got ideas for other fairy tales, so there's plenty to work on there, and as far as I'm aware there haven't been stories on this theme widely published before, so hopefully this is a slightly new niche.

None of which is any use when it comes to my third picture book, because of course I'm right back at the beginning of needing a new topic.

So there you have it. I've got two pretty much complete childrens picture books, and the start of a compilation of stories for slightly older children. I need a third picture book before I submit to literary agents, and then the process of trying to become a published childrens author can begin.

I hope I haven't waffled too long in this article (I'm sure the next one will be shorter with less introduction to be made), but hopefully it might give an insight into the publishing process if you've never read about it before. I certainly don't know much, and I'm looking forward to finding out all the steps along the way.

Hopefully there'll be a positive end to all of it!

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 5 - World War III

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 1, Episode 5 - World War III

We return from last week’s cliffhanger of the world about to fall into alien hands, to see that The Doctor has managed to disable them all by turning their own electricity things on them. Mickey rescues Jacqui and Harriet Jones and Rose search for the emergency protocols, getting stalked by a Slitheen as they do so. The Doctor has to flee as his perfectly truthful ‘The Prime Minister is an alien’ speech doesn’t fool the army, and although he is soon captured and threatened with execution, he escapes using the lift. As he runs around various floors, Harriet Jones and Rose hide from the Slitheen chasing them. The Slitheen dressed as the Acting Prime Minister and General decide that they’d rather be naked together in the lift, so we leave them to it. After a bit more running around, the three Slitheen meet up and discuss eating Harriet Jones and Rose, but just as they’re discovered The Doctor squirts them with a fire extinguisher, giving them chance to escape.

Finally, in the main cabinet office, The Doctor manages to get some answers out of the Slitheen, after Harriet Jones very helpfully points out that she thinks they’re aliens. Although she didn’t think The Doctor was an alien because of his Northern accent. He IS very Northern, isn’t he? Anyway, it turns out that ‘Slitheen’ is just their surname, and that the three of them are a family business. They’re out to make a profit, although they’re not giving away any details. When the Slitheen start getting a bit uppity, The Doctor locks them safely away inside the cabinet room, before realising that they’re now trapped.

Mickey and Jacqui make their to Mickey’s flat with the Slitheen in Police clothing still searching for them, and we get a nice little cameo from Andrew Marr outside Downing street, who introduces us (unknowingly) to more Slitheen in disguise, who fart to let us know this. The farting is explained at last, as a by-product of squeezing their large form into human disguises, so we should probably let them off if they can’t help it. Back in the cabinet rooms, The Doctor makes Ricky Mickey look bits up on the internet, as Jacqui demands to know whether Rose will be safe with him, but he is saved having to answer as Mickey accesses U.N.I.T.’s databases. The Slitheen interrupts Jacqui and Mickey, leaving The Doctor, Rose and Harriet Jones to desperately find the reason behind the invasion – calcium decay. And therefore, they obviously come from Raxacoricofallapatorius, which I really think was rather obvious and they should have got earlier on, but hey ho. Vinegar is the key to defeating them (again, obvious if you think about it), so lobbing some pickled eggs at it blows the Slitheen up in Mickey’s apartment.

Following this, The Acting Prime Minister makes a speech making up alien forces in the clouds so that they can get their hands on the nuclear access codes from the United Nations. The Doctor opens the cabinet rooms up again to confront the Slitheen, and we finally learn that their plan is to nuke the Earth to reduce it to molten slag and then sell it on for profit. The radioactive chunks of planet can power plenty of spaceships it seems, but this isn’t the sort of deal that The Doctor is going to allow, so he threatens them again in his best Northern way, and closes the cabinet rooms off once more.

Overnight, news reports detail how the United Nations are meeting to prepare for humanity’s first inter-planetary war. In the cabinet rooms, The Doctor declares that there is a way out, but he can’t guarantee Rose’s safety. Although if he doesn’t do it, everyone on the planet will die. Rose does what we expect of her, and says he needs to do it anyway, even though she doesn’t know what it is, and we fall in love with her that little bit more. Harriet Jones then pipes up and shows her dominant side as the only formally elected person in the room by commanding The Doctor to do it, saving him the burden of having to make the choice. The Slitheen seem more concerned again by getting naked to celebrate, which I have plenty of sympathy with, but as we all know, this is probably going to be a premature call. Mickey hacks into the Royal Navy databases and fires a missile at Downing Street, which now we now the plan, would certainly seem to be the sort of thing that would put Rose in danger. The Doctor, Rose and Harriet Jones hide under some shelves and manage to survive the blast, but the Slitheen are decidedly more dead. As our intrepid trio climb out of the rubble, Harriet Jones brings out her dominant side again, so much so that The Doctor suggests she become the next Prime Minister. Ha, they wouldn’t would they? Well, apparently she’s going to be elected for three successive terms and lead humanity’s golden age, so I’m sure that’s all going to work out just fine.

Rose and Jacqui are reunited safely once more, and start arguing for a change. Jacqui wants to cook him a shepherd’s pie and safety pin meal, but he rings Rose to tell her he’ll be back in a couple of hours after surfing a nebula. While he waits for Rose to choose the TARDIS over hear tea, he tells Mickey that he’s done well, and asks him to upload a virus that will erase all mention of him from the internet. After an emotional goodbye, The Doctor and Rose head off, leaving Mickey and Jacqui awaiting their return in ten seconds time. Although the TARDIS doesn’t materialise. Tut tut.

If you read any criticisms about the Russell T Davies era of Doctor Who, one of the main ones will be that he can write an amazing cliffhanger, but he can’t satisfy the conclusion. Well, I’ve got two minds about it in this episode. At the end of the last episode, we saw the Slitheen kill a load of important political figures and look like doing the same to The Doctor, whilst basically looking set to take over the world – whilst this was a great cliffhanger, The Doctor throwing the electrifying object back at Slitheen and electrocuting them all through some (as far as I can remember) hitherto unannounced psychic link has a little bit of a cop-out feel to it. Having said that, I really enjoyed the episode as a whole, and thought the Slitheen’s plan and method for achieving it was great, with a genuine sense that there was a possibility it would partially succeed the first time I watched it.

The scene where The Doctor declares that he can save the day but he can’t guarantee Rose’s safety is one of the best acted so far this series. Eccleston's expression when he says ‘I could lose you’ tells us everything we need to know about how The Doctor and Rose’s relationship is developing. Rose’s declaration that he needs to do it even though she doesn’t know what it is that will put her in danger is also another showing of the bravery that a companion of The Doctor must have, and coupling this with Jacqui and Mickey’s panic at Rose being put into a dangerous situation makes it all the more powerful. It really is a stand out scene in a show that it full of them. There’s also a tender moment at the end of the episode where Jacqui begs Rose not to go, and considering Jacqui’s normal feisty persona, it really comes across as a desperate plea.

At the very end of the episode, The Doctor asks Mickey to upload a virus to destroy every mention of him, because he’s dangerous, and he doesn’t want people following him. In terms of contrast between The Doctor at the beginning of the series relaunch, and Series 6 where he reaches the height of his notoriety across the galaxy, this is huge. This Doctor has come recently from The Time War and wants to stay in the shadows because of what he’s done, but starting with the Tenth Doctor and continuing particularly with the Eleventh, the name of ‘The Doctor’ will continue to grow in recognition until it becomes so infamous that he has to choose to shrink back into the shadows for the good of the universe. What’s brilliant about re-watching these episodes now is discovering little pieces like this that mean far more now than they did when the show was first broadcast. Whilst I highly doubt that Russell T Davies ever knew that The Doctor’s name would become so feared he would have to erase all knowledge of himself again in five series’ time, I love that the show develops in such a way that I can connect the two eras together like this.

The Doctor’s plan to save the day by destroying Downing Street goes to show the extent he will go to to ensure that justice is served and the innocent don’t suffer. He only chooses to kill the Slitheen when he has no other choice and has warned them several times. It’s a trait of The Doctor that is shown time and time again, and is very apparent here.

The Slitheen themselves are a little bit too cartoonish for me, whilst accepting that Doctor Who is primarily meant to be a children’s show. Part of the problem is that whilst the costumes are very good, even close up, they appear really clumsy overall and not really that threatening. The plan itself is very threatening, and the fact that they can dress up as humans helps to give them this dark edge.

It’s good as well to see Mickey finally making some headway in impressing The Doctor, and Jacqui’s hard feelings toward him are also starting to soften. Whilst I’m pleased that The Doctor is becoming more accepting of Mickey and is growing on Jacqui, some of the funniest moments of the show so far this series have been around Mickey and The Doctor’s banter, or just Jacqui being Jacqui, so I hope things don’t get too amenable too quickly.

How It Fits Into The Show as a Whole

The alien invasion is dismissed as fake, so first contact isn't counted as occurring yet.

Bad Wolf Sightings

The American newsreader is named ‘Mal Loup’, with is French for Bad wolf.

Overall

A strong conclusion to the first two-parter of the modern Doctor Who. There are some truly excellent moments, particularly when The Doctor shows how much he cares about Rose with the despair about putting her in danger, and the plan the Slitheen have for the destruction of Earth is fiendish and scarily easy to pull off.

9/10