#terrance dicks

[someonecalledyes]

I'll never say it enough but The War Games is such a perfect story. It's really long but it's so good, I don't get any second of boredom watching it!

[science70]

Trevor Martin as the Doctor, publicity photo for the stage play Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday, Adelphi Theatre, London, 1974.

[pluralzalpha]

Tim Buckle has gone on to create three more "Morbius" Doctors:

First up is a swashbuckling Barry Letts

This one is actually feasible in a world where Doctor Who started earlier, as Letts was an actor in the 40s and 50s.

Next is old Uncle Terrance Dicks, captain of his ship

And finally, at my suggestion, Terry Nation

I always thought he had a Doctorish look to him.

I think in my headcanon it now runs:

Jo Martin

Verity Lambert

Waris Hussein

Barry Letts

Terrance Dicks

Terry Nation

Christopher Barry

and all the rest.

Now to ponder why the Doctor shifted from a more variable regenerative style to a long run of white blokes (with the brief respite of the unique Graeme Harper Doctor).

[dalesramblingsblog]

OK well, about ten per cent of the way through The Eight Doctors and there's already a bit in which sixty-two year old writer Terrance Dicks thought it'd be really funny to include a moment in which a school teacher jokes about sexualising a student in Year Five - which as far as I can tell translates to "about nine or ten years old" in the English school system - and then has our new companion comment internally on just how "well developed" said student is, so um... yeah that's basically one of the worst things ever, really. Christ.

I mean, we all knew Terrance had some... issues with sexism but this is... this is on a whole other level. Very bold to try and go toe to toe with John Peel's "The Doctor tells Ace that she should just be totally chill about Gilgamesh sexually assaulting/harassing her" in the "shitty things to include in your new book series' first novel" stakes, but he certainly did make that choice.

Rassilon preserve us.

[sixties-doctor-who-stan]

It feels weird that Terrence Dicks only died in 2019, like a lot of his contemporaries (like Malcolm Hulke and Robert Holmes) died decades earlier and even Barry Letts died in 2009.

Was watching the Terrance Dicks tribute on the Season 8 Blu-Ray and was shocked that he had Doctor Who figures in his house! Not just Classic Who, he even had the Anne-droid and a Kerblam! robot (Kerblam! came out in 2018!)

Was also surprised that Frank Skinner was presenting and not Toby Hadoke (since it’s usually Toby Hadoke)

It was an interesting tribute, I didn’t know there was a place called East Ham.

And I think his writing principles were something to admire (“don’t turn a late writing day into a no writing day” was my favourite)

His sexism was mentioned a little bit but is mainly just a “humorous” anecdote. I don’t think they NEEDED to dwell on it, btw, since this is a tribute but maybe treat it a little more seriously?

I do think he was an important figure to Who but the fact he lived much longer than other writers and interacted a lot with fans definitely makes him more “familiar” to fans than someone like Robert Holmes or especially David Whittaker (who were equally important writers — even if I personally don’t like a lot of Holmes’s writing)

This is a bit of a ramble but just my thoughts I guess

[rassilon-imprimatur]

What surprised the Doctor was not the mere fact of Romana's regeneration, but the seeming casualness with which she was treating the occasion—not to mention the degree of regeneration control she seemed able to exercise. 

The Doctor's own regenerations had been rather haphazard affairs, usually in response to some kind of crisis, and the bodies he'd acquired had been very much a matter of pot luck. 

Romana, on the other hand, seemed to be changing bodies as casually as she might have changed her dress. Except that the body she'd finished up with was a direct copy of someone else's. The Doctor frowned, remembering that in a purely academic sense, Romana's qualifications from the Time Lord Academy were rather higher than his own. No doubt that accounted for her superior control. 

- Doctor Who and the Destiny of the Daleks, Terrance Dicks 

“[...] Time Lords of those ‘newblood’ Houses for whom a change of body is as trivial as a change of fashion, and who come straight from the loom with a secondary heart.”

- Christmas on a Rational Planet, Lawrence Miles

[thedoctorwhocompanion]

Reviewed: Warriors of the Deep -- Doctor Who Audiobook

Reviewed: Warriors of the Deep -- #DoctorWho Audiobook

Ah, Warriors of the Deep. A story that, with a few little tweaks, could have been one of Peter Davison’s best. It holds an infamous place in the history of Doctor Who, thanks to its hasty turnaround, its over lit sets, the Myrka with paint still dripping off it, and some marvellous overacting from its guest stars — it’s no wonder that Michael Grade would one day use this story as a way of bashing…

[please-attend-carefully]

Terror of the Autons, Book Review

Terror of the Autons (Novelisation) by Terrance Dicks, 1975

Terror of the Autons is the novelisation of the 1971 Serial with the same name. It is the introduction to The Doctor’s new companion, Jo Grant, and also rival Time Lord, The Master. 

This book builds on the already strong premise of the Television serial, expanding it in a way that is both faithful and interesting. Conversations are extended, characters given more depth to motivations and actions in ways that would slow down the snappy pace of a 25 minute episode. Scenes are connected together, and re-written to allow for a flowing narrative on the page, rather than cutting back and forth between multiple scenes like you would see in the visual medium of Television.  The written form allows expanded scenes where characters challenge one another, and don’t just have to accept the orders given to them for the sake of pacing. Characters are able to act in ways that may have been restricted by the physical capabilities of the actors on screen. My favourite example of this is the Master’s introduction. 

Both the Protagonists and Villains of the story are given more rounded characterisation, and have their own internal conflicts amongst themselves. The friction is not restricted to just good vs. evil. Jo and Yates put up a fight when they are ordered to remain on base while the Doctor and Brigadier go out to investigate Farrell’s plastic factory, which feels more natural for the two of them wanting to accompany their superiors instead of sitting around UNIT headquarters drinking hot chocolate together. In the TV serial Jo is seen flirting with a member of the science department to acquire equipment for the Doctor, which the novel brilliantly informs us that she is doing this intentionally to butter up the man on the end of the line, and is not in fact just flirty with her colleagues. For her introductory story, her internal dialogue is key to learning about her intentions and actions, rather than accepting the watered down plight of a woman in a male dominated workplace. Additions like this create a more rounded version of the characters and adds to them rather than just imitating their on screen counterparts. 

Dicks is able to show UNIT in a far more capable light, with their military operations not limited by a pre-watershed time slot and BBC budget restrictions. Their weapons are effective, and they patrol around in appropriate military Jeeps instead of the blue sedan seen on TV. Their anti-tank missiles make quick work of the plastic Autons, with the line “Firearms won’t work on them!” cut completely. The lack of budget limitations extends to the plastics factory and the Autons, with more sinister visuals of bubbling chemicals and churning production lines bringing the villain's base of operations to life. This imagery creates a greater sense of danger, and shows that the Master is producing a large scale army ready for invasion. The climax of the story even gets an overhaul, with a giant octopus crab monster being drawn through the radio tower signal, rather than just the flashing lights seen in the original broadcast (the recent blu rays have since added the monster in) Again, this helps to give UNIT more to do, bigger and more numerous threats equals more need for heavy artillery and UNIT presence. Illustrations throughout the novel help to highlight some of the creative changes, including an updated version of the Master’s killer plastic doll.

Dicks corrects slight continuity areas, and adds in details that at the time were unavailable to them. The Sontarans wouldn't be on our screens for another two years after Terror of the Autons, but with their creation, Dicks can add details of their weapons into the text of the novel, arming the Master with Sontaran Grenades. This gives a wonderful expanded identity to the Master’s arsenal, bringing together lore from the Universe around him and connecting ideas together that the TV Serial wasn’t able to at the time. 

Ending the novel, Dicks expands the Doctor's thoughts on the Master returning, giving us more than "Actually, I'm rather looking forward to it!". His sentiment in the book mimics the Master's line from The Five Doctors, "The cosmos without the Doctor scarcely bears thinking about.” A line that Dick's won't write for another 7ish years. It shows how the Master and the Doctor clearly share the same thoughts about one another, despite being so different. They define their relationship in the same poetic way, and given that the same author wrote both lines, it's clearly intentional.

Terror of the Autons is a strong adaptation, and the standard I will be measuring other novelisations against. It has everything that you would look for in an adaption; character’s interactions and choices explained and expanded, imagination and visualisation unhindered by lack of budget, and additions of lore that connect it to the wider universe of Doctor Who. I couldn’t recommend this enough if you are looking for more Doctor Who content to consume.  

[gen-is-gone]

Round One, Bout 3

[timeagainreviews]

Me every time I see the cover for “The Planet of Evil”

[reddalek02]

[licensetocannibalize]

finally put book and movie together :)

[isayhourwrong]

Round Two, Group Six

[nerds-yearbook]

In the 10th episode of War Games on Doctor Who that aired on june 21, 1969, Patrick Troughton's Doctor regenerated into Jon Pertwee's. The serial was the first to introduce the Doctor's race the Time Lords. Said Time Lords were upset in the Doctor's meddling. As pubishment they returned his campanions Jamie (Frazie Hines) and Zoe (Wendy Padbury) back to their original times and place and wiped their memories of their time with the Doctor. They forced the Doctor to regenerate, disabled his time/space machine the TARDIS, and banished him to Earth. ("War Games episode 10", Doctor Who, TV event)

[dalesramblingsblog]

In preparation for Wild Blue Yonder, why not join me as we take our first step into the Eighth Doctor Adventures with The Eight Doctors?

Oh dear.

[azazel-dreams]

Doctor Who and the Robots of Death by Terrance Dicks

Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️