The Time War

[Starkers]

If the past is a foreign country then the Time War is the Isle of Wight...

 

[Venardhi]

A prequel set in a universe of 'magic'-level technology can't help but be contrived, and much like Star Wars it will never live up to your imagination unless your imagination is shit. As I've said before: Show us the climactic moments of the war in a 50th anniversary special featuring 8-11 with them joining forces and being put in the position to make the same decision to destroy both sides again, giving him/them final closure that it was the right thing to do, though perhaps with a final goodbye or the like that he wasn't able to make before.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

It's only campy if one measures quality based upon special effects alone.

No. A lot of it is way over the top.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I don't know why Moffat would be involved in a Time War novel or anthology book, unless you included one of his own characters? Or he had an interest in telling one of the stories I doubt he would want to participate to be honest. I know he's the current showrunner but that doesn't mean anything to the novels. The Time War is Russell's beast.

 

[The Wormhole]

^^Also, I don't really get the impression Moffat really has any interest in the Time War. None of his episodes during the RTD era mentioned it. And in the Moffat era there's only been vague referances to the Time War. In The Beast Below when Amy asks if there are other Time Lords, the Doctor jsut says there were and hastily adds "it was a bady day, bad things happened." The Doctor's Wife also includes a few indirect referance to the Time War. 21 episodes into the Steven Moffat era, and only two have included referances to the Time War, and they're vague and indirect.

I agree, if a Time War novel were ever written, it's not likely Moffat would have any involvement with it. Really, RTD should write the Time War novel suggest in The Writer's Tale, though an anthology of short stories by different writers intrigues me.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ I was trying to think out of the box as well as the most plausible way of actually having this book come out. I'm surprised BBC Books hasn't approached Russell already.

 

[starsuperion]

^ I was trying to think out of the box as well as the most plausible way of actually having this book come out. I'm surprised BBC Books hasn't approached Russell already.

whose to say they haven't talked about it already..

I for one would love to see an anthology series, which is 4 books long and pretty much sets up all the classic events that led to the war, and the subsequent battles after, and merge it with the events of the end of time, and maybe even leaving it on a cliff hanger suggesting some other time lords may have escaped at the end..

there are already stories in which there was a time war and the CIA escaped..but it was a different time war..

if those events happened and were considered "canon" then it could be possible to bring back some time lords in the newer series..but then again, the books are always separate from the normal stream of things..

 

[Admiral_Young]

It's possible they have talked about it. Russell mentioning a Time War book in A Writer's Tale might assume there was some discussion. We don't know though they've talked about it which is what I was getting at.

 

[The Wormhole]

Let's try not to exaggerate the referance to "a Time War novel" from The Writer's Tale. All it really was was RTD talking various ideas he had about what went on during the Time War, and then adding "maybe someday I should write that Time War novel." While that could mean he has ideas in place about such a novel, it could also just be a glib one-liner with no real significance. Mind you, RTD had to have known sticking that sort of comment in the book would generate some obvious discussion in fan circles.

Though, honestly, I'd only want two Time War books written. RTD's master account covering all the important events, and an anthology consisting of short stories related to the Time War by various writers. That's all we really need.

Of course, one reason this hasn't been done is probably because BBC doesn't want books featuring previous Doctors. And while it has never been firmly established if it was the Eighth or Ninth Doctor who fought the War, it wouldn't matter because neither of them are the current Doctor.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I wasn't exaggerating anything, just referenced the book mention in response to starsuperion's post.


I think that an anthology series as I've suggested as edited by RTD works the best rather than a series of Time War books written by him or another writer. Honestly I don't think we will ever see the Time War fully revealed . It was mostly meant as back story for the restart of the series and to add background and possible create new characters and monsters for the show...if even that. This was just more or less a fan wish on my part.

 

[Pauln6]

Moffat's biggest strength over RTD is that he alludes to thing so that the fans can fill in the blanks. RTD rams his point down your with clunky dialogue that can sometimes take you out of the story. A 50th anniversary episode that involved mutliple Doctors and the Time War would be way cool.

 

[starsuperion]

I don't think the BBC has anything against previous doctors in novels.. as far as I know..they do the older doctors in the audio dramas..

but that is a different medium all together..

I can see a time war tie-in novel to the current doctor..

they did it (tie-in stories) with the adventure games..(which was cool), and kinda answered a lot of questions about the background of the newer series..

 

[Admiral_Young]

The reason why I don't think it will happen is because I personally don't think there is any intent on anyone involved in wanting to write a book like this. Maybe one day that will change, but since the Time War was first mentioned and used in stories we've not seen a book. Granted, there could have been talks about one and we've just not heard about them but really I'm not confident about this.

I'd like to see this maybe as a group fan fic project.

 

[Whofan]

The BBC books range hasn't actually had any classic Doctor books for quite a few years, as they've been focusing on promoting the new series.Although some classic villains have shown up in the books that haven't yet appeared in the series, such as the Zygons.


I think the Big Finish stuff is officially licensed but it's not exactly done by the BBC.

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't think the BBC has anything against previous doctors in novels.. as far as I know..they do the older doctors in the audio dramas..

Big Finish does the audio dramas. BBC suspended their line of books featuring past Doctors shortly after the show's revival in 2005, and since we've only had novels from BBC featuring the incumbent Doctor.