"The Other Doctors" article

[ToddKent]

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/120148

I had never heard of "The Eight Morbius Doctors", "The Other Fourth Doctor: Stage Doctor", or "The Shalka Doctor". Does anyone have any more info on any of them?

 

[Sindatur]

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/120148

I had never heard of "The Eight Morbius Doctors", "The Other Fourth Doctor: Stage Doctor", or "The Shalka Doctor". Does anyone have any more info on any of them?

Shalka Doctor is from the Animated Scream of the Shalka, played by Richard E. Grant in 2003. This was supposed to be a relaunch of the Doctor Who Franchise, but, it didn't survive beyond the first story (6 episodes). So, in 2005 RTD successfully relaunched Doctor Who with Christopher Eccelston, and he became the 9th Doctor, rather than Richard E. Grant. I really enjoy the story, and wish there had been more episodes, I really liked the Companions, and the Doctor whining about the Time Lords controlling his life, as in Classic Who

I'm not familiar with the other two though

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I had never heard of "The Eight Morbius Doctors"

"The Brain of Morbius" shows us that William Hartnell was not the first Doctor and that there were at least eight Doctors before him. These Doctors were George Gallaccio (Production Unit Manager), Robert Holmes (script editor), Graeme Harper (production assistant), Douglas Camfield (director), Philip Hinchcliffe (producer), Christopher Baker (production assistant), Robert Banks Stewart (writer), and Christopher Barry (director). Camfield's Doctor has subsequently appeared in Lance Parkin's novel Cold Fusion.

"The Other Fourth Doctor: Stage Doctor"

Trevor Martin. He appeared in The Seven Keys to Doomsday.

or "The Shalka Doctor"

Richard E. Grant played the ninth Doctor in an animated episode for BBCi. Sophie Okendo (as Allison) and Derek Jacobi (as the Master) were his companions. This version of the ninth Doctor, along with Rowan Atkinson's ninth Doctor, are mentioned in Lance Parkin's The Gallifrey Chronicles; the Castellan Marnal discovers that Paul McGann's eighth Doctor has multiple contradictory futures.

 

[captcalhoun]

nah, that was Morbius' other incarnations. Peter Davison's Doctor told the Richard Hurndall version of William Hartnell's that he was the 'fourth' regeneration, thus the Fifth Doctor.

 

[Davros]

nah, that was Morbius' other incarnations. Peter Davison's Doctor told the Richard Hurndall version of William Hartnell's that he was the 'fourth' regeneration, thus the Fifth Doctor.

Exactly.

 

[Sindatur]

I had never heard of "The Eight Morbius Doctors"

"The Brain of Morbius" shows us that William Hartnell was not the first Doctor and that there were at least eight Doctors before him. These Doctors were George Gallaccio (Production Unit Manager), Robert Holmes (script editor), Graeme Harper (production assistant), Douglas Camfield (director), Philip Hinchcliffe (producer), Christopher Baker (production assistant), Robert Banks Stewart (writer), and Christopher Barry (director). Camfield's Doctor has subsequently appeared in Lance Parkin's novel Cold Fusion.

What gives you this impression? I don't recall this story ever giving me the impression it told us Hartnell wasn't the first

 

[Redfern]

That's where some fans can land in heated debate. There is a line Morbius utters (and I'm sorry I can't remember the exact words), something to the effect, "Just how far back can you go, Doctor?" As he's aying this, we see upon a monitor an image of Baker, then Pertwee, then Troughton, finally Hartnell. But it doesn't stop there. We continue to see faces, the production personnel listed above, each dressed anachronistically.

yeah, like you, I "write it off" as being previous incarnations of Morbius, but when that serial was being recorded, the "intention" by the creative staff (as has been stated in a few interviews) was that those faces were meant to be the Doctor.

Remember, they played fast a loose with the background material during the Hinchcliffe era. Until "The Deadly Assassin", it was assumed that TimeLords (and thus, the Doctor) could regenerate indefinitely, effectively being immortal. But to give the Master adequate motivtaion, the concept of a 12 regeneration limit was introduced. That idea stuck; the "prior to Hartnell" incarnations didn't.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Sindatur]

That's where some fans can land in heated debate. There is a line Morbius utters (and I'm sorry I can't remember the exact words), something to the effect, "Just how far back can you go, Doctor?" As he's aying this, we see upon a monitor an image of Baker, then Pertwee, then Troughton, finally Hartnell. But it doesn't stop there. We continue to see faces, the production personnel listed above, each dressed anachronistically.

yeah, like you, I "write it off" as being previous incarnations of Morbius, but when that serial was being recorded, the "intention" by the creative staff (as has been stated in a few interviews) was that those faces were meant to be the Doctor.

Remember, they played fast a loose with the background material during the Hinchcliffe era. Until "The Deadly Assassin", it was assumed that TimeLords (and thus, the Doctor) could regenerate indefinitely, effectively being immortal. But to give the Master adequate motivtaion, the concept of a 12 regeneration limit was introduced. That idea stuck; the "prior to Hartnell" incarnations didn't.

Sincerely,

Bill

Thanks, I'll have to keep this in mind, next time I pull it out

 

[Captaindemotion]

2. The Other First Doctor

When the series turned 20 in 1983, it was decided to do a spectacular feature-length episode featuring all five Doctors. However, two were unavailable: Tom Baker had other commitments

Other commitments my arse. Didn't want to share the limelight, you mean!

 

[Sindatur]

2. The Other First Doctor

When the series turned 20 in 1983, it was decided to do a spectacular feature-length episode featuring all five Doctors. However, two were unavailable: Tom Baker had other commitments

Other commitments my arse. Didn't want to share the limelight, you mean!

He did have other Commitments. he was Committed to having nothing further to do with Doctor Who, same commitment Eccelston currently has

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Wasn't there something about him tentatively agreeing to appear in it, but only if the Fourth, rather than Fifth, Doctor was the focus of it?

 

[Sindatur]

^ Wasn't there something about him tentatively agreeing to appear in it, but only if the Fourth, rather than Fifth, Doctor was the focus of it?

Dunno, never heard that, but, then I'm American, so, my knowledge is all long after the actual facts occurred.

 

[Redfern]

In recent years Tom has gone on record that his choice was a mistake.

Still, given the story was allotted roughly 90 minutes, what scenes and sequences could have been "shaved" to work Tom (and whatever companion) into the story? It was rather "crowded" as it was.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Allyn Gibson]

What scenes and sequences could have been "shaved" to work Tom (and whatever companion) into the story? It was rather "crowded" as it was.

In the original plan, Tom Baker would have been paired with Lis Sladen. (Pertwee would have been with Nicholas Courtney, Troughton would have been with Deborah Watling, and Hurndall would have been with Carole Ann Ford.)

We know that the fourth Doctor would have been the one to work confront Borusa in the Capitol instead of the fifth Doctor.

Terrance Dicks has said that the story would have been structured in a way to make the fourth Doctor look like the villain (or at least have villainous motives). He's also said the the first Doctor didn't have anything to do and that he would reach Borusa's tomb in the TARDIS. Based on that, I suspect that much of the Master's storyline would have gone to the fourth Doctor (and "The Five Doctors" would have been Master-less) and the fifth Doctor, not the first, would have had to work out the "it's as easy as Pi" riddle. (But how he would have gotten the clue I don't know.) I can kinda see how the story would work in that way.

Yet I like the story we ended up with. I especially like the rather heroic take on the Master because it gives us a different perspective on the character.

 

[23skidoo]

2. The Other First Doctor

When the series turned 20 in 1983, it was decided to do a spectacular feature-length episode featuring all five Doctors. However, two were unavailable: Tom Baker had other commitments

Other commitments my arse. Didn't want to share the limelight, you mean!

Baker had actually committed to do the special (which at one point was called The Six Doctors, the Sixth being a robot duplicate of the First Doctor) but pulled out early on. The official party line is he felt it was too soon to go back.

The Dark Dimension, the cancelled 30th anniversary movie, was going to focus on the Fourth Doctor, but it was killed because Philip Segal objected as he was working with Steven Spielberg to get an American Doctor Who TV series produced. This evolved into the 1996 Paul McGann movie (all this is discussed in last year's DVD release of the TV movie).

The Shalka scenario was an example of left hand not knowing about the right hand. Although BBCi (as it was called) fully intended for Richard E Grant to continue as the Ninth Doctor in a new series of webcasts, BBC One had other ideas, so even by the time Grant's webcasts were uploaded it was already known that his version of the Doctor was going to be "decanonized".

You can still find Scream of the Shalka on YouTube if you hunt for it; you can also look for the other webcasts of Shada (Eighth Doctor and Romana), Real Time (Sixth Doctor) and Death Comes to Time (Seventh Doctor; the inspiration for the current online audio series The Minister of Chance). Paul Cornell wrote a novelisation for BBC Books (good luck finding it), but plans for a DVD release were cancelled. The only other story featuring this version of the Doctor was a short story published on a special Vampires-related website the BBC put up. Fortunately, it's still accessible, 8 years later:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/vampires/newstory/scottwright.shtml

As for Moebius, it's one of those ongoing fandom debates. But the bottom line is the Fifth Doctor explicitly says how many incarnations he has lived in "Mawdryn Undead" and again in "The Five Doctors". After that there are only a couple of references, though: McGann identifies McCoy as the Seventh in the TV movie, and then it's not until Closing Time in 2010 that you have Smith identify himself outright as the 11th (coupled with the more recent "Fall of the Eleventh" business which is obviously a reference to the number of his incarnations to date).

Alex

 

[Tom]

That's where some fans can land in heated debate. There is a line Morbius utters (and I'm sorry I can't remember the exact words), something to the effect, "Just how far back can you go, Doctor?" As he's aying this, we see upon a monitor an image of Baker, then Pertwee, then Troughton, finally Hartnell. But it doesn't stop there. We continue to see faces, the production personnel listed above, each dressed anachronistically.

yeah, like you, I "write it off" as being previous incarnations of Morbius, but when that serial was being recorded, the "intention" by the creative staff (as has been stated in a few interviews) was that those faces were meant to be the Doctor.

This idea may have worked actually if the Cartmel Masterplan was full develped with the 7th doctor. The idea being that the pre-Hartnell incarnations were actually incarnations of 'The Other' .

 

[captcalhoun]

Tennant also says he's regenerated 'half a dozen' times since he left Sarah-Jane in School Reunion, confirming he's the Tenth.

 

[Tom]

Tennant also says he's regenerated 'half a dozen' times since he left Sarah-Jane in School Reunion, confirming he's the Tenth.

It only confirms that he is 6 more than 4, but was 4 actually 4? LOL The line in the Five Doctors proves that he is.

 

[Butters]

That's where some fans can land in heated debate.

This should be put to the vote.

Personally, I prefer to think that the Doctor is even more interesting as a character if only 11 incarnations is some sort of cosmic misdirection. Maybe the Doctor existed long before Hartnel, maybe he got too big that time, too loud, too noticed many times before, each time, having to cover his tracks, even from himself.

Knowing that we know very little of the Doctor's past is intriguing, but knowing that we'll never know the magnitude of the Doctors past is something else.

 

[The Doctor]

That's where some fans can land in heated debate.

This should be put to the vote.

Personally, I prefer to think that the Doctor is even more interesting as a character if only 11 incarnations is some sort of cosmic misdirection. Maybe the Doctor existed long before Hartnel, maybe he got too big that time, too loud, too noticed many times before, each time, having to cover his tracks, even from himself.

Knowing that we know very little of the Doctor's past is intriguing, but knowing that we'll never know the magnitude of the Doctors past is something else.

I like this theory. Makes more sense than slavishly trying to hang onto 'canon' of Hartnell as the first Doctor in a series that never much concerned itself with consistency.