I know people who claim that the Doctor is always the same character and it's only the performances that set the various incarnations apart, but I'm having serious trouble imagining Jon Pertwee delivering the line "Half the universe is knackered, babes" with anything like the same conviction.
Philip Purser-Hallard
- 122 Followers
- 81 Following
- 454 Posts
Philip Purser-Hallard writes stuff -- mostly urban fantasy, Sherlock Holmes novels and Doctor Who criticism. Sherlock Holmes: The Monster of the Mere is out now. Posting about writing, science fiction, politics, language, crosswords, things I like, things that irritate me.
I wrote about Gridlock for Jim's newsletter. I hope you enjoy it.
The things Jim writes are very good, and if you're interested in Doctor Who you should look into subscribing.
https://buttondown.email/cooray_smith/archive/gridlock-god-knows-i-want-to-break-free/
The things Jim writes are very good, and if you're interested in Doctor Who you should look into subscribing.
https://buttondown.email/cooray_smith/archive/gridlock-god-knows-i-want-to-break-free/
I've written another Black Archive, this time about the 2008 Doctor Who story Midnight. I particularly enjoyed interviewing those involved in the three stage adaptations of the episode.
https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/69-midnight/
https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/69-midnight/
69. Midnight
'You need my voice in particular. The cleverest voice in the room.' Written in haste and mostly confined to a single set, Midnight (2008) is a masterpiece of minimalist Doctor Who. Three times adapted as a stage play, it rejects the conventions of the series to examine the nature of evil and how it can corrupt human society. In the process it deconstructs and interrogates the nature of the Doctor himself, in an absurdist retelling of the myth of Echo and Narcissus.
Obverse BooksAvailable to pre-order now - the 69th Black Archive, in which Philip Purser-Hallard climbs aboard the Midnight bus...
69. Midnight
'You need my voice in particular. The cleverest voice in the room.' Written in haste and mostly confined to a single set, Midnight (2008) is a masterpiece of minimalist Doctor Who. Three times adapted as a stage play, it rejects the conventions of the series to examine the nature of evil and how it can corrupt human society. In the process it deconstructs and interrogates the nature of the Doctor himself, in an absurdist retelling of the myth of Echo and Narcissus.
I'm increasingly using Bluesky for my social media needs (https://bsky.app/profile/purserhallard.bsky.social). I have some invitation codes, so if you'd like to join me there (and I know you're not a giant arse), let me know.
Philip Purser-Hallard (@purserhallard.bsky.social)
Philip Purser-Hallard writes stuff -- mostly urban fantasy, Sherlock Holmes novels and Doctor Who criticism. Sherlock Holmes: The Monster of the Mere is out now. Posting about writing, science fiction, politics, language, crosswords, things I like, things
'How far, Doctor? How long have you lived?'
Long ago, eight past lives were brought briefly into focus, only to disappear once more.
Now, those Doctors return in the final stories from their forgotten lives.
FORGOTTEN LIVES III - pre-order open from now to 1 December.
Forgotten Lives 3
A third and final set of FORGOTTEN LIVES tales... A person is the sum of their memories. A Time Lord even more so. But some people live so long that there is no longer room for all the memories; they find themselves diminished, whittled away piece by piece… For many years, Doctor Who has implied that William Hartnell played the Doctor’s first incarnation — but in The Brain of Morbius, we were given glimpses of eight stern-faced men in assorted historical costumes — Doctors before the one we know as the first. What were they like, these forgotten Doctors? What worlds did they visit, and what adventures did they have there? Who were their companions, and who were their enemies? And perhaps just as interesting — what sort of stories would this forgotten prehistory of Doctor Who have told? PRE-ORDER ONLY. PUBLICATION EARLY DECEMBER. ALL PROFITS FROM THIS BOOK WILL BE DONATED TO ALZHEIMER'S CHARITIES .
I'm increasingly using Bluesky for my social media needs (https://bsky.app/profile/purserhallard.bsky.social). I have some invitation codes, so if you'd like to join me there (and I know you're not a giant arse), let me know.
Philip Purser-Hallard (@purserhallard.bsky.social)
Philip Purser-Hallard writes stuff -- mostly urban fantasy, Sherlock Holmes novels and Doctor Who criticism. Sherlock Holmes: The Monster of the Mere is out now. Posting about writing, science fiction, politics, language, crosswords, things I like, things
I am enjoying rewatching Misfits, but some of the narrative choices are weird.
On the other hand, Kelly beating up Hitler while shouting "Oi Hitler, why do you have to be such a dick?" has to be the peak of something in Western drama. I'm just not sure what.
On the other hand, Kelly beating up Hitler while shouting "Oi Hitler, why do you have to be such a dick?" has to be the peak of something in Western drama. I'm just not sure what.
It's bizarre that Misfits season 3 ends with one episode where dead people are brought back as zombies, followed immediately by another where other dead people are brought back as fully corporal ghosts. Even odder that, when one of the regulars dies in the latter episode, everyone's like, "Oh, she wouldn't want to be a zombie" rather than, "Well, she might quite appreciate being a corporeal ghost."
(Incidentally, I'm almost sure there's a hidden message in the words which are "accidentally" repeated from line to line in the prose dialogue. I'd assume they were typoes, except that the first two are "its" and "will" -- i.e. "It's Will". I haven't managed to find all of it.)