Heralding The Torchwood Archive

The Torchwood Archive vol#1 hit the shelves this week and not only is it a treasure trove of great comic strips and text stories it also has a story with artwork by my Noe The Savage Boy collaborator Stephen Downey. I think he is in China at the moment. He does get about. Bringing his handsomeness to the world. This is a great volume brimming with ideas, by turns exciting and disturbing. Everything Torchwood should be in whatever incarnation those stories present themselves. The Big Finish cds, box sets and single plays, are just some of the best examples out there. and boy are some of those stories Really Out There.
              The most recent story I listened to Visiting Hours was one of the most raucous and outrageous and very very funny stories I have heard to date. Kai Owen and Nerys Hughes are just fantastic, like two badly behaved but very endearing children who find themselves in a desperately dangerous situation. Even the extras are a hoot. Loud and loony and a joy to listen to.
               Also out this week was the truly amazing 3RD Doctor collection Heralds Of Destruction. It is written by the immensely talented Paul Cornell with artwork by Christopher Jones/ ably assisted colour-wise by HI-FI. A lovely ode to a period past, an era remembered with much love and affection by not just those who lived through its original transmission but a legion of fans for Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning and the much missed original UNIT family. There are other familiar faces in the story and some genuinely unexpected twists and turns. Its cheeky, irreverent and full of life.
              Just like Doctor Who at its very best.

From Here To Centauri.

What a great episode last nights Doctor Who was. Not only a return to Mars but the return of an old alien character I never expected to see or hear again. And I am not even talking about The Ice Warriors who off course are always a welcome sight in any story. I am referring to the cyclopian hysterical alien diplomat Alpaha Centauri who I have not seen any  context other than as a representative for Galactic civility and is a wonderful mirror to the notion of infinite diversity in a huge universe. Also the fact she/he/it/they is a very BBC alien.Even the voice was like the familiar voice of an old companion one never expected to see again.
             Could we be returning to Peladon in the near future?
             Another wonderful moment in  a really great new series.

John Wayne Is Indeed Big Leggy,

                                                              (From my sketchbook.)
They were not around for very long but I loved Haysi Fantayzee. Punky Victorian waifs dancing and singing dirty songs. Dreads and hats and skanky dance moves. When I try to explain why I like things I sometimes proceed straight to boobie-babble but thats okay. People speak it more than they know.

Moonwalking with Ryan.

(From my sketchbook.) My nephew Ryan makes it to the lunar surface and is about to meet a familiar lifeform. Hope it is a bit more friendly than the ones in Alien Covenant. Their hostile actions and natural ferocity might well be unclouded by notions of morality but who would want to spend any time in their company.

Plague City,

Just finished the new Doctor Who book by Jonathan Morris Plague City. "Fear is contagious" so says the blurb on the cover and I quite agree. I have been in a crowd when some one began to panic and I have watched that impulse leap and spread through that crowd like an airborne virus. The Doctor, Bill and Nardol land in Edinburgh 1645 . The Doctor having promised to take Bill to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. So they are actually a bit off target, time-wise. Plague is sweeping through the Scottish City , victims and their families are barricading themselves in their homes, trying to avoid contact with their neighbors in the hope of skirting infection. Exactly the sort of subject matter that would sit comfortably after an episode of Pointless Although given their limited understanding of bacillus they are more scared of meeting the risen dead  (Not without cause in this book.) than germs. On top of this nightmare there also visits from a masked cloaked figure   who claims the dead thus also breaking the hearts of the bereaved. This being a Doctor Who story things are not just what they seem. In fact, despite how grim things seem they are actually about to get worse for all involved. Ancient aliens and grief Leeches, yes they are bad as they sound, are thrown into this heady mix.
              This novel is by Jonathan Morris who is no stranger to the worlds of Doctor Who past and present. He brings an assured hand to things and even a dynamic familiar to us now watching the new series. Which is remarkable given that he must have written this book way way before anyone really knew how things were going to play out. Even access to a script bible would only have given him a bare bones to the way characters would have interacted. There is so much alchemy which only comes out in the playing. The Doctor is just words until the actor does his magic thing.
              The new series has been a delightful series with a renewed joy and freshness. Maybe its the power of having an end in sight that motivates all involved to give it everything. The Tardis team are warm and endearing with Bill establishing herself as a worthy best friend to The Doctor quite quickly. There were some lovely moments in The Pilot. And I gasped with disapointment when I saw Nardol laying apparently dead on the floor of the Tardis in the second most recent episode and I found myself asking "When did I start caring so much about Nardol?". Matt Lucas has won me over as I feared goofy extremes which would distract from good storytelling.
                Plague City is one of three new Doctor Who titles released by BBC books.I went for this one first as it was set in a period which interested me, the time period and whatever. With an amazing city like Edinburgh in one of its darkest periods.
                One of my favorite moments is a sequence Jonathan Morris comes up with(SPOILER!) when the Doctor does a pied piper, using his guitar instead of a James Galway tube, playing a selection of some of the very best tunes written by a couple of the best British bands ever, to effect a rescue.
               Oh yes, the devil may have all the best tunes but The Doctor knows how to play them.
             

The Most Romana of Romanas.

Just look at Lalla Ward. Is'nt she just lovely. No wonder Tom Baker was hit by a thunderbolt back in the day. The dynamic between The Doctor and Romana's second incarnation was so special. Two naughty Galifreyan children at large in the universe. Always running, mostly laughing. A season and a half of Whovian joy that is carrying on now thanks to the wonders and talents of Big Finish.
               Timeless space and time  tales.

Dethros.

Well, how about that, this is the first story this season I restarted right after listening to it for the first time, clickety click, right back to the start again and that opening theme tune. Always gets me. The Doctor and Romana find themselves on board a World War  Two sub which despite appearances, is not swiftly and silenty moving beneath the waves but is(SPOILER!) in fact ..some where else entirely (NOT MUCH OF A SPOILER!). It all has a cosmic junkyard feel to it and junk yards have an interesting history in who. For instance; An Unearthly Child or Junkyard Demon.
            There are many disparate elements to this strange little tale of advanced evolution and a talking monkey, Hurrah! Oh yes, a talking monkey, whats not to like about that. The young guy who plays Franklyn, for that is the monkeys name, really goes for it and I guess his performance and the enthusiasm he endows it with seems to have positively impacted on the more seasoned performers he is surrounded by. It all holds together very well and boy does the story fly by. Mind you, I am such a sucker for a charming monkey that I am probably building up his part. Mind you, even The Doctor falls under his spell. The writer, Adrian Poynton, tells an epic tale with a small main cast, exploring themes such as scientific hubris and stone cold revenge. With characters who are by turns optimistic and brave and nihilistic and bitter. These are two very human traits which do not sit well together, diametrically opposed, they are the stuff of great stories.
              Thank Heavens The Doctor is around to save us from ourselves.