Featuring- The First Doctor Ian, Barbara and Susan. Set in between Planet of Giants and The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
There are many things I could say about this story, how long it took and the tweaks/redrafts, expanding scenes, fleshing out the characters and species. I realised early on the Doctor and Susan had most of the dialogue/action, so had to really flesh out Ian and Barbara’s journey. This was a challenge but also led to developing the delegates as well.
The Sculptor group is a nearby collection of galaxies, though a more recent change has seen some absorbed into the Local Group. The Atlas of the Universe I’ve mentioned several times as a great source of inspiration, though it looks like the website hasn’t been updated for a while.
So on the video I go through my history with TDWP, how I started a story in 2012, but dropped out and been pitching a few ideas. I did do some reviews, but never got used, though my review of City of Death went into Whotopia in 2013 (see publications page)
So, hopefully that is my final post on this story. 11 mentions since the start of June! Next one up is Inquisition, a 5th Doctor tale. Better get my skates on with finishing that one over the summer.
So, here it is. The scene is the lounge aboard the Midnight Runner, with the Doctor Ian and Barbara. Susan and Marchor aren’t featured. The picture in the background is the Sculptor galaxy, or at least it’s supposed to be. It looks to me like the Milky way, but in the story it’s NGC 253/Sculptor, which I’ve labelled as Acteon
So what happens? Well, the entire premise of the story is based on the tall tale the Third Doctor tells Jo in Frontier in Space-
DOCTOR: Did I ever tell you the story about how I was once captured by the Medusoids?
JO: What are they?
DOCTOR: Medusoids? How can I describe them to you? Well, they’re a sort of hairy jellyfish with claws, teeth and a leg.
JO: Erk!
DOCTOR: Anyway, they put me under one of these mind probes things, you see, and tried to get me to tell them where I was going. So, I said I was on my way to meet a giant rabbit, a pink elephant and a purple horse with yellow spots.
JO: What happened?
DOCTOR: Well, the poor old machine just couldn’t believe it, had a nervous breakdown.
JO: And then what happened?
DOCTOR: Well, they put me under another one of these mind probe things and the same thing happened.
JO: But you weren’t telling the truth. I mean, you weren’t really going to meet a giant rabbit, a pink elephant and a, what was it?
DOCTOR: A purple horse with yellow spots. Yes, I was. You see, they were all delegates for the third Intergalactic Peace Conference.
JO: How did you get away from these things?
DOCTOR: Well they had to turn me loose eventually.
JO: Why?
DOCTOR: They ran out of mind probes.
Third Doctor and Jo Grant- Frontier in Space
I mean, it sounds like a joke, but what actually happened? Tune in at the weekend to find out!
Special thanks to Bob and the The Doctor Who Project team!
There are going to be several milestones passed this year. Not least my 50th birthday. Then there’s the 45th anniversary of Alien (in space no one can hear you party!) the 30th of Friends (the one with the anniversary) 10 years since I started Infinite Whoniverses, 25 for the Doctor Who Project, 11 for Travel vlogs and 14 for the actual blog. Though one that nearly passed by was four years since Making the First Move was published in the final issue of Hearts Kiss magazine. The irony of trying to get an SF story published and the first one was Romantic! What a fluke! I got paid £38 for that, just before the pandemic and lockdowns (well, apart from Bojo partying)
Then it’s nearly three years since Stripe of a different color (US spelling, not UK!) went into Galaxy’s Edge magazine issue 50, which is still in the archive section on the website.
So, there’s probably more anniversaries than I know about but there’s the main few!
As the reporter Laura says, it is intended to help, but having watched the Cybermen from Doctor Who for over 40 years and then their 90’s US equivalents the Borg, as well as my own Centuroid stories, not forgetting Arnie and the Terminators, Robocop,The Pirate Captain from the key to time, The Cap from the Tripods, the Ilia/Decker amalgam from star trek the motion picture and many others. Plus with AI and VR it’s a dystopic nightmare in the making, though maybe I’m just thinking of watching Dark City again.
Maybe later, right now I’m gonna submit Terror and Time of the Centuroids again, then make a cup of tea, or put the heating on for ten minutes, or finish an application form, whatever.
This is a bit different from the story, mainly because the audio/narration was recorded back at the end of October, plus it’s the Infinite WHOniverses version- talking about Alternate Doctors. So- The NeoDoctor, Surgeon, Dr Rrr, Dr Ool, the SnowDoctor, the Last of the Timeladies, plus others all feature, including the Dark Doctor, so that means I will have to crack on and see what I can do by September and the 10th Anniversary of Infinite Whoniverse.
DOCTORSPOTTING- THE STORY-
DOCTOR WHO-INFINITE WHONIVERSES-
DOCTORSPOTTING
By
IAN CAI MERCER
Featuring- The 21ST Neo Doctor and Star
He was fighting his medication again, the two orderlies could tell.
“The Loch Ness monster in the Thames!” he blurted. The two burly guys swopped glances and shook their heads. They had heard this one over a dozen times already.
“Yeah Matty, like the Giant Robot and a girl,” one said.
“Or the Yeti in the Underground,” his colleague added as they escorted him back to his room.
Star left the hospice, feeling a bit bewildered. Her brief talk with Mathias had been very disconcerting. She had a good inkling of why The NeoDoctor had sent her, waiting in the STARDIS, the Super-Time And Relative Dimensions in Space travel capsule, modified to allow a Gallifreyan access to its core. This she had done, gaining the ability of Regeneration. All she had seen and been through over the past few centuries had been amazing. Terrifying and dangerous, yes, but a thrilling journey and the greatest adventure she could have ever imagined. Even after being stabbed by the Privateer and regenerating. She gave a sign, looked round to make sure no-one was observing her, then vanished into thin air.
Her hologrammatic form reappeared in the STARDIS. While her physical body was ‘plugged in’ so to speak, she could still interact with the outer world in the form of solid-state holography. The Doctor was still there, still dressed in black. In her twenty-First Incarnation, she had cut her hair short, though she still favoured the all-black ensemble. Star had a few questions, so stood facing her.
“You knew he’d be here, even though we’ve only been in this universe a short time. How?” she asked.
The Doctor shrugged. “A calculated guess. There are Fixed points in Time, but it also seems there are fixed points in Multi-Time, I just wanted to be sure,” she replied.
Star understood. “You’re referring to the theory of Sum- over histories popularised by the ancient Human scientists Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking?”
The Doctor laughed. “Well, Imaginary Time is a fun if primitive way of regarding Multiversal travel, but in the case of Matty Shawcraft, yes,” she agreed.
“Or in your case, Doctor, or Neo-Doctor,” Star countered.
That wiped the smile from her face. “Indeed, there’s nothing like meeting alternate versions of yourself, or myself,” she admitted. Star nodded in understanding. “You’re thinking of the Dark Doctor, the evil version that had kidnapped alternate Doctors from different universes? Yep, don’t forget I got tortured by a scary alternate me called Scarinna as well. Guess the OmniLords took care of them, before they got wiped out by the Rassinator,” she finished.
That made the Doctor smile again. “Well thanks for the info dump Star, but yes, you are right, never mind Doctorspotting, we’ve got to get on with our own quest. But to get back to Matty Shawcraft. I had been there on Contact Day in 2029 and heard of him. The Centaurian Princess had crashed, so her ship was giving off exotic radiation, but we fixed it. I always wondered what happened. This confirms that Contact Day is a Fixed point in Multiple Dimensions,” she finished, shrugging.
“But we’re on this quest to find your father,” Star reminded her.
“Yes, but now I’m over halfway through this cycle. I’ve regenerated twenty times, more so than most other Timelords. This time we’ve found a trace, the path of the Omeganauts and the Timebreakers, we need to follow it, but doing so will take us away from Dr Roar and the Omniwars,” she sighed.
Star remembered Matthias last words. “There’s a figure, an alien, a mysterious traveller. Different men and a few women who belong to the same group, like Templars or whatever.
According to different accounts there are a dozen or so, then there are apprentices or companions, some kind of assistants. I found all this out after the octopus alien crashed. I helped her fix her ship and then she was gone.
He will return again, that traveller, but I don’t know if I’ll be around to meet him.”
She nodded. “You have this one thread. All those other Doctors, all across Alternity have their own battles and paths. This is yours, you must take it, Doctor,” she finished.
The NeoDoctor nodded. “Right you are, let’s get to it then” she smiled.
The STARDIS vanished with a roar and a groan.
They were off on another adventure in Time and Space.
Ian cai mercer 2024
ABOUT THE STORY-
So I’ve had an idea of looking at the consequences of the Doctor’s visits/interference for a while, with different versions started. Might make a trilogy of stories for The Doctor Who Project, once I’ve finished the very long Brief Encounter I’ve been working on since last summer! Anywho, getting the NeoDoctor’s story arc finished is taking longer than I thought. It’s in progress, but with Dr Rrr’s Guide taking time, it might be the 10th Anniversary of IW in September when it gets done, have to wait and see. The Ending is a bit rushed, but since this was supposed to have been done for the show’s 60th in November, not bad going.
I think this is the 76th video is the series. It’s also a great point to finish for the year.
It’s been a long road, a lot of effort to keep on track, even letting other things go to keep on a (sort-of) schedule. Since I’m missing Series 10 and 12, leaving it makes sense until I can afford the dvds
Anyway, It’s a great story, the whole Christmas day malarkey with the Turkey and the Doctor going to Naked Church is a bit mad, but that’s Steven Moffat’s plotting for you. He ends up on Trenzalore, the place we saw his Tomb in The Name of the Doctor, defending the town of Christmas from every enemy he has ever had and stop the Timelords from returning.
Hat’s off to Moffat though for giving Matt Smith a great story to end with. He’s what? 1,600 years old. The ageing makeup adds to the fact that this is it, he is the last Incarnation. He even explains it all to Clara (and the audience) That with The War Doctor and two Incarnations sharing the same face (Tennant) it all adds up. He is the Thirteenth Incarnation, there’s no more.
Well, until Clara intervenes, begging the Timelords for help. Which they do, as the Daleks defeat every one else and attack the town, Regeneration energy pours through the gap, giving The Doctor another Regeneration cycle, another twelve lives and he regenerates for the 13th time.
There are also the other Christmas specials on the dvd- The Doctor Widow and Wardrobe, Snowmen and Christmas Carol, which has Katherine Jenkins singing to a space shark of all things!
And thinking about whether Taylor Swift or Muse should be in the next Christmas special, found a surprising list of singers who have been in Who-
I am going through a bit of a disillusionment phase with Who, again. Last time was the most recent series, then before that was Series 6 and the middle of Series 7. So I didn’t actually watch much when it was on air, apart from The Snowmen and then The Name of the Doctor, which is a shame as it’s actually quite good. Cold War is the highlight, a base-under-siege-type story.
Mystery companion Clara Oswald pops up in several places, even inserting herself into the Doctor’s Timeline to save him from the Great Intelligence (should I have said Spoiler alert- oops- my bad!) In the process, she meets all his past incarnations and gets a glimpse of a shadowy figure- could that be the Valeyard???!
Speaking of spoilers- Steven Moffat said in Doctor Who Magazine that there was “something you’ve all missed”, which would be answered in the 50th Anniversary Special- but that’s for next time!
I have reviewed the first part of Series 7 before, back in the mists of the blog in September 2012; I even gave Asylum of the Daleks 10/10, so I must have enjoyed the episode.
A good season with the Ponds getting some great character development, though I’m still not sure about the way they were written out, but hey, so what, timey wimey right?
So, part 2 of Series 7 sees Clara on board and I will be posting Doctorspotting at some point, just not finished it yet.
Also- The Doctor Who Project (TDWP) has ended its Season 44 series of stories with A Mild Curiosity in a Junkyard, so go check that out.
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