Lethbridge-Stewart spinoff novels

[Ithekro]

I seem to recall a short story involving the Third Doctor having a day off and going to the cinema for a Peter Cushing double feature, that is implied to be the two Doctor Who movies.

 

[DrFrankhamstien]

I seem to recall a short story involving the Third Doctor having a day off and going to the cinema for a Peter Cushing double feature, that is implied to be the two Doctor Who movies.

I recall that, too. A brief encounter in DWM.

 

[Christopher]

I think I read on the show's Wiki that some book or story established that Barbara Wright had written the Cushing movies as a fictionalization of her real adventures.

 

[JoeZhang]

I think I read on the show's Wiki that some book or story established that Barbara Wright had written the Cushing movies as a fictionalization of her real adventures.

Which is pretty much what Moffat wanted to do in Day of the Doctor except as mentioned above he couldn't afford the rights.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I think I read on the show's Wiki that some book or story established that Barbara Wright had written the Cushing movies as a fictionalization of her real adventures.

Which is pretty much what Moffat wanted to do in Day of the Doctor except as mentioned above he couldn't afford the rights.

Ironically, if Moffat hadn't had Murray Gold write and an orchestra record a score that went unused, he might've been able to afford the rights to put the posters on display. I'd assumed at the time that the score was recycled from stock cues so that more money could be spent on actors and effects. Instead, they wasted money. This is not meant as a comment on the merit or quality of Gold's unused score. Star Trek: Generations had a similar thing happen; production money was spent on uniforms that were never used. When you're running a production on a tight budget, you don't want to spend money needlessly on wasted expenses.

 

[JoeZhang]

Here's the actual quote from Doctor Who magazine:

Which reminds me, strangely enough, of Peter Cushing. When I started writing The Day of the Doctor, I knew I wanted every Doctor to make some sort of appearance (well of course I did, everything else was lies). But what about Peter Cushing?! Now, I love those movies, and I don't care if you beat me up in the playground because they got Doctor Who wrong - they're fun and funny with great Daleks and a terrific Doctor. But they don't exactly fit with the rest of the show, do they? Ah, but...

You remember that line, in the Black Archive, when Kate us explaining about the need to screen the Doctor's known associates: "We can't let information about the Doctor and the TARDIS fall into the wrong hands - the consequences could be disastrous." She wasn't supposed to be looking at the vortex manipulator - originally she was walking past the posters for the two Peter Cushing movies. In my head, in the Doctor's universe those films exist as distorted accounts of his adventures and are a source of great embarrassment to him. Probably Ian and Barbara sold the film rights, after their attendance record got them sacked from Coal Hill School, and they decided to become Pip and Jane Baker of the British film industry. They later regretted it, of course, and withdrew the rights to their characters from the second movie. Later UNIT bought all prints of the film, and suppressed them. You see? The fan brain? I'm even trying to figure out the Cushing Doctor!

Sadly though, we couldn't afford the rights to the posters! You may now enjoy a moment of spinning rage at Doctor Who's budget and the fact this show would have to pay for those posters at all - welcome to my life.

 

[DrFrankhamstien]

Y'all may be interested in this podKast, in which Candy Jar Books and Hannah Haisman discuss the forthcoming book series...

http://app.stitcher.com/splayer/f/35967/36616961

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm disappointed to learn that Jim Mortimore has withdrawn from the project. I understand his reasons, but he was never a good fit for a Terrence Dicks pastiche in the first place. That would be like hiring the Beatles to play a polka concert.

 

[DrFrankhamstien]

I'm disappointed to learn that Jim Mortimore has withdrawn from the project. I understand his reasons, but he was never a good fit for a Terrence Dicks pastiche in the first place. That would be like hiring the Beatles to play a polka concert.

I have resisted wading in on this, both on GB and on here, but I want to make something very clear...

There is no Terrance Dicks pastiche. The full quote from my confidential email which should never have been shared, which seems to be cut and taken out of context by several people, is this...

"I have previously stated we're looking to recapture the feel of the Virgin days, which may have been misinterpreted a little. By saying that I mean the layered plots, the layered characters, the strong prose style. We're aiming for the mature fifteen year old, but as Doctor Who appeals to a much wider audience these days, and is not the cult favourite of the '90s, our books need to be written with the understanding that a ten year old could very well pick up a copy, and so the books need to be written with our house style in mind (see Forgotten Son for examples of that). The emphasis is on traditional, the Terrance Dicks school of prose."

As I have stated elsewhere, using Terrance as an example was simply a shorthand for the kind of prose style we want. I could easily have said McIntee, Parkin, Lane, Blum, and almost all of the authors who wrote for the Virgin/BBC range from '91 to '05.

There is no pastiche. As will become clear when the series launches next month, at which point the books will be able to speak for themselves.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

There is no Terrance Dicks pastiche. The full quote from my confidential email which should never have been shared, which seems to be cut and taken out of context by several people, is this...

I get how the full passage can be misunderstood. You begin the paragraph by writing you want "the feel of the Virgin days .. the layered plots, the layered characters, the strong prose style." But then you finish that with "The emphasis is on traditional, the Terrance Dicks school of prose." To me, those read like contradictory demands on the writer.

Also, you have every right to ask Mortimore to not share that e-mail. You wrote it, the copyright remains with you, and he's violating your copyrights by sharing it.

 

[DrFrankhamstien]

I don't see the contradiction at all, since Terrance wrote several of the novels from 1991-2005. Including the brilliant Exodus and Blood Harvest, which had many layers, and as much depth, as the book published either side of them.

And I do have the right to ask the emails to be removed, but the real question should be, by what right did they get published in the first place? That fact that they did says a lot more about the man who published them, IMO.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I don't see the contradiction at all, since Terrance wrote several of the novels from 1991-2005. Including the brilliant Exodus and Blood Harvest, which had many layers, and as much depth, as the book published either side of them.

That's fair. Exodus is brilliant, and I think it may be Dicks' apogee.

The reason I see a contradiction is this -- to me, and probably many other readers (and I suspect this is Philip Purser-Hallard's unstated argument on GB), the phrase "the Terrence Dicks school of prose" is an indication that you want unambitious, functional prose that's not far above a fourth-grade reading level, while "the strong prose style" of "the Virgin Days" means something along the lines of a Cornell, an Orman, an Aaronovitch. Virgin, at its best, aimed for Iain M. Banks or Kurt Vonnegut. "The Terrence Dicks school of prose," to me, says Dan Brown.

I realize that I (and probably others) filter the "Terrence Dicks" as a prose writer through the filter of the age of thirteen, and it's probably unfair to him as a writer to filter him that way. And probably best to pretend that The Eight Doctors and Warmonger don't exist.

Does that make sense? I'm not criticizing or trying to be agressive. I'm just trying to explain how, in something that I frankly admit I shouldn't have read, I received a mixed message. I think that if you had used "McIntee, Lane, Plum, and Blum" as your choices of "school of prose" in the e-mail that was distributed, there wouldn't have been the misunderstanding.

And I do have the right to ask the emails to be removed, but the real question should be, by what right did they get published in the first place? That fact that they did says a lot more about the man who published them, IMO.

I don't disagree with you, to be honest. Mortimore was fully aware that he was crossing a line by posting your email conversation in full; his statement on Gallifrey Base that if anyone objected to his use of their material in what he released makes that abundantly clear.

Frankly, I think Mortimore is his own worst enemy. That's been true going back at least as far as his Farscape debacle in 2001. Reading the conversation he posted, he sounds like a less hinged Alan Moore, if such a thing is even possible.

 

[DrFrankhamstien]

That's fair. Exodus is brilliant, and I think it may be Dicks' apogee.

I would agree. Which is why we have something connecting to that next year.

The reason I see a contradiction is this...

...Does that make sense? I'm not criticizing or trying to be agressive. I'm just trying to explain how, in something that I frankly admit I shouldn't have read, I received a mixed message. I think that if you had used "McIntee, Lane, Plum, and Blum" as your choices of "school of prose" in the e-mail that was distributed, there wouldn't have been the misunderstanding.

It makes perfect sense, and I totally understand the misconception. But in context, Mortimore knew exactly what I wanted, I told him often enough, and at no point did I suggest anything had changed when asking for the short story to be written. No other author contracted has any misunderstanding over what is required for the series (and that includes authors not announced and who are, arguably, bigger names than Mortimore).

Frankly, I think Mortimore is his own worst enemy. That's been true going back at least as far as his Farscape debacle in 2001. Reading the conversation he posted, he sounds like a less hinged Alan Moore, if such a thing is even possible.

Well, I shan't comment on that. Except the say, I agree with every comment made about Mortimore in this post. He is, without doubt, every bit the man his reputation suggests. Alas, since he does have some great talent there.

 

[DrFrankhamstien]

Mortimore was fully aware that he was crossing a line by posting your email conversation in full;

Which, of course, he didn't. Or he'd have posted the emails in which I told him I would share the characters biographies, etc, once we'd locked them down. Something which, apparently, I did not do.

 

[DrFrankhamstien]

Quick update. The manuscript and cover was finalised last night, and The Forgotten Son went off to the printers today.

In other news, we're launching the series at The Who Shop in West Ham, London, on Saturday 28th February. I will be there to sign copies, and will be joined by Hannah Haisman, Jemma Redgrave (Kate Lethbridge-Stewart) and Terrance Dicks! Other 'Lethbridge-Stewart' authors, David A McIntee, Nick Walters and Jonathan Cooper will also be dropping in.

For more info contact: events@thewhoshop.com or ring them on 020 8471 2356.

The Who Shop
39-41 Barking Road,
Upton Park, London