I dunno about this, since for me, the least successful part of Bradley's Hartnell impression is his voice. His timbre and speech rhythms are just too different from Hartnell's. Seeing him onscreen, with the physical resemblance and expressions being reasonably close, I can tolerate the vocal mismatch, but with nothing but his voice, I don't think it'd work for me at all.
Agreed. It made the surprise reveal in "The Doctor Falls" an odd moment for me since we only hear his voice at first.
The War Chief is not The Master. I'll admit that, halfway through a War Games rewatch I wish he was (War Master would work just as well as a title), but he dies, and while Terrance Dicks tweaks that in the New Adventures he then makes it clear the Chief is not The Master.
Well, dying isn't really an impediment. All we see is that the War Lord's men shot him and dragged him out of the room. He easily could have regenerated after that.
In fact, Terrance Dicks' "Timewyrm: Exodus" makes it clear that that's exactly what happened to the War Chief. Although he also establishes that the regeneration failed, turning him into a hideously deformed multi-limbed mutant, who is most definitely NOT the Master. And as far as I'm concerned, if Terrance Dicks says something about
Doctor Who, it's probably true. (The only point with which I disagree is when he says that Susan is not his biological granddaughter.)
The "Planet of Fire" death was as conclusive as it gets -- he was literally vaporized on camera -- and yet he was back a year later without a word of explanation.
I just chalk it up to writer fiat and Ainley's deliciously arrogant performance when he delivers the line, "I'm indestructible. The whole universe knows that."
Rewatching War Games, the odd thing is that Bree, Brayshaw and Madoc seem to be in entirely different productions. Brayshaw seems understated and realistic against Bree's abrupt staccato performance, but then Madoc arrives, asserting his effortless superiority by lounging around on the furniture, and Brayshaw seems stiff and OTT in comparison to him.
Part of what I like is that they all carry such different flavors and have such differing agendas. Their performances are a huge part of what sustains that story over 10 episodes.
But Madoc is truly phenomenal in his understated performance. But, IMO, he was just as good and seemed to be having just as much fun giving a more over-the-top performance as Solon in "The Brain of Morbius."
Fanon. Headcanon doesn't make any sense, anyway.
I thought they meant different things. I figured, in order for something to be "fanon," it needed to have some kind of wider acceptance in the fan community, to the point where it appears in multiple unrelated fanfictions and even professional tie-in comics & novels. "Headcanon," on the other hand, is how one person views a particular element of continuity that may not be shared by anyone else. Each person's "headcanon" is probably slightly different from everyone else's.
Example:
Season 6B is a long accepted piece of "fanon" used to explain the 2nd Doctor's appearances in "The Five Doctors" & "The Two Doctors."
My theory that Susan was a bisexual 50-year-old who pretended to be helpless as a way of flirting with the other companions is pure "headcanon."
