By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright Derek Power
Filthy Henry is Dublin’s first and foremost fairy detective. Something of a niche job since most people do not know that fairies are even real, let alone need a detective. But when The King of the Leprechauns has his crock of gold stolen by some humans he requires the services of a detective. Lucky for him Filthy Henry is just the man he needs. The only problem is nobody in the world can stand him. Which does not really bother Filthy Henry as he is not too fond of the world either…
The 13th (actually 14th) Doctor’s first Dalek encounter was a shambles with a terrible design and here we meet the metal dustbins all over again. The last two seasons have been poorly written with as a life long fan it’s been a shaame to see the show sink. Argue all you want but the facts are in the figures as is current marketing where the 13th Doctor has been teamed up with the eternally popular Tenth Doctor to sell comics. The last time I looked at Doctor Who Magazine its comic strip was showcasing Christopher Eccleston instead of the current Doctor and crew. If having to use the past to raise the profile and bring those who have faded away from the poor stories then it’s hardly a good sign. Curiously that is exactly what has happened here in this episode.
Captain Jack Harkness is back to help the current team fight the Daleks once again. We also see the return of crooked American businessman Jack Robertson played by Chris Noth (Yep, that Mister Big.) Stealing the remnants of a Dalek shell thanks to an equally crooked Prime Minister to be Jo Patterson played by Harriet Walter, Robertson builds a new drone to keep Britain secure. Unknown to him a Dalek mutant has regrown thanks to his assistant Leo and created a Dalek clone factory allowing all the new drones to be occupied. Only Yaz, Graham and Ryan know the danger but ten months without the Doctor and a Tardis they cannot pilot, they are limited until the Doctor arrives with Jack Harkness in tow. The whole Doctor in prison thing seems like a filler to be honest serving no purpose other than keeping her from her companions. It was nice to see some old faces in the prison but we are left with a weak explanation of why the Judoon actually imprisoned her and why she didn’t attempt to escape sooner.
It’s also kind of strange how UNIT or Torchwood didn’t react to the Daleks sudden appearance. We know the crack in time erased a lot of people’s memories of the Dalek invasion in The Stolen Earth as seen in Victory of thee Daleks. Amy Pond, to the Eleventh Doctor’s surprise, doesn’t recognise the Daleks.
The first twenty minutes or so seems to drag but things quickly pick up. Jack and Yaz make a good team while Graham gets lost in favour of Harkness. Ryan finally gets to show some acting chops and ironically and as with many of these shows when he is about to leave. It’s a shame because Graham has been very much the heart of the team on the same level as Bernard Cribbin’s Wilfred Mott.
So far so familiar using past elements to make a story that actually entertains and tis up loose ends like the additional Tardis and scout Dalek. The mutant Dalek octopoid creatures are very well done and reminded me of the old movie Tarantula when in their cases. This is a trend began back in Resurrection of the Daleks. Another nod to the past was summoning pure Daleks to destroy impure ones as in Revelation of the Daleks. This was spectacular. I also have to say I like the new Dalek design with the red and the black. It’s a huge improvement on the previous one. Even Yaz’s conversation of how not being with the Doctor gives both her and Jack new depths. She knows the Doctor will disappear one day but doesn’t care. the pain is worth it. Again this harks back to the Tenth Doctor’s School Reunion with Sarah Jane and Rose echoing the same themes.
How the Doctor gets rid of them is a nice trick and well done. This was on the same scale as the Stolen Earth with the Daleks flying through the air slaughtering people all over the planet. But with every victory comes a price.
Anyone that knows me is well aware I hate goodbyes and we here we get a double whammy. For me Ryan has been criminally underused with his illness seemingly a tick measure. here he shines and his quiet moment with the Doctor about who they re is priceless. Bradley Walsh has had some nice moments so their goodbyes and reasons for staying echo true for me. What is more important to a person? Seeing th universe on a journey that can end any time or using that time to see what your grandson will achieve in life? it’s always been about family and there is no better reason to leave the Tardis. Speaking of family, it was great to hear Jack had met up again with Gwen Cooper and that she now had a son.
Overall an enjoyable episode that only succeeds on using old elements in a new way. When the show returns in 20211 we already know the Weeping Angels and Sontarans are back so maybe this is the show finally turning around.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright BBC
Once again we take our weekly look back at characters who have helped make The Doctor the Timelordwe love today, be they big or small, every person in his life has helped create him…
Two for one here as Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright are, to this day in Doctor Who lore, the couple that were bound together forever as man and wife from their Tardis adventures.
In the beginning, Doctor Who was intended as an educational programme for kids. The Tardis was originally supposed to travel throughout earth history at landmark events and viewers would be educated about them through the eyes of Ian and Barbara. There was to be no bug-eyed monsters, just historical people and places. Ironic in the end that the historical adventures proved the least popular, slowly being outed by the science fiction element.
Ian and Barbara were school teachers at Coal Hill, Ian a man of science and Barbara a history teacher and both their attentions were caught by the super brilliant pupil Susan Foreman, in reality the Doctor’s granddaughter. Her behaviour at seemingly brilliant leaps of logic and a knowledge of things she couldn’t possibly know intrigued them.
Following her home, they come across an old police box in a junkyard and a crotchety old man whom they believe is keeping Susan against her will.
Forcing their way into the box, they find themselves inside the Tardis and discover Susan and her grandfather are time travellers from another world.
Russell T Davies always said Earth companions work best because they act as the door for ordinary viewers to explore the Doctor’s world by asking questions the viewer would and reacting similarly.
Indeed, their first adventure took them to the era of the cavemen seeking the secret of fire. Originally, the Doctor was very much the anti-hero, prepared to murder a man to save themselves and get back to the Tardis. He resented the two newcomers’ invasion of his home and wanted to get rid of them asap but without being able to control where the Tardis travelled, getting them home was all hit and miss. Ian and Barbara that showed the Doctor the value of humanity and, I believe, brought him to realize he was not alone and the importance of family. Indeed, he was devastated by their departure after battling the Daleks in the Chase, the first time we saw how lonely the Doctor truly was.
Throughout their adventures, Ian and Barbara’s talents were put to the test. Ian was the action hero in the tradition of the Hollywood beacons of goodness. He was fiercely protective of his friends and frequently argued with the Doctor but they had a grudging respect which evolved to the point where the Doctor trusted Ian to get them home on more than one occasion and take the lead, especially in their trek with Marco Polo and Richard the Lionheart. Barbara wasn’t afraid to tackle the Doctor either when he behaved badly, forcing the Time Lord to look at himself and actually think about the consequences of his actions on others. They forced him to be human and the more time they spent together the more the Doctor enjoyed showing them the wonders of the universe without being condescending.
Barbara was a strong-willed lady, years ahead of her time and when presented with the chance to change history and stop Aztec human sacrifices, she willingly took on the persona of a god to stop these barbaric practices. Despite the Doctor’s warnings that certain things cannot be changed, Barbara tried anyway. In the end she failed and learned a little of the world of the Doctor, forever travelling but destined to be unable to stop horrors from time to time.
The historical stories were prevalent in their time, cleverly using Barbara and Ian’s talents without diminishing the characters. This Tardis team were all equal and faced death in the French Revolution, the burning of Rome, a journey with Marco Polo, the Crusades, as well as Daleks, Voorrd, Mechanoids, Mire beasts and they even returned to their right time except they had been miniaturised. But they faced it together, becoming the family the Doctor and Susan had lost.
For many this original team was the best, fitting their roles perfectly aboard the ship without just being there to make up numbers or demographics like today’s show or the fifth Doctor’s first team.
Their return home was celebrated with a montage of shots showing them doing normal things like taking a bus. It was widely believed they married after leaving the Tardis and it was further explored in the BBC novel series. Their team featured in more Missing Adventures, another book series showcasing stories set in between the televised shows. These remain some of the strongest tales and perfectly recapture the team sending us back to the beginning of this incredible 50 year journey.
William Russell, who played Ian, has done several plays for the Big Finish companion chronicles as well as narrating audios of old Target novels. With most of the missing episodes from the Troughton era, the majority of Hartnell shows still exist though there will be a DVD release of the Reign of Terror with missing episodes completed via animation. Once again Ian and Barbara will grace our screen in another adventure just as they did all those years ago. Jacqueline Hill, who played Barbara, passed away to cancer some years back but not before she starred opposite Tom Baker in the fourth Doctor’s story Meglos where she played a high priestess. Although it wasn’t the character of Barbara, fans were delighted to see her back.
There is something ageless about this team and in the recent Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor they are name-checked as still fighting the good fight as seemingly ageless people. It is a touching line that evokes memories and you really can believe they are married, still out there and carrying on everything they learned from the Doctor.
So in the anniversary celebrations, here’s to Ian and Barbara, the original and the best.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
One of my favourite shows growing up was the New Avengers and, like Doctor Who, I was aware it had started in the sixties, so the seventies version was my first exposure to it and now that I have seen the earlier Mrs Peel, Tara King and Cathy Gale episodes, the seventies version with Purdey, Gambit and Steed is as much Avengers as its predecessors. Anything could happen and often did.
Between 1976 and 1977 larger than life villains, bizarre situations and even monster rats were every day life for our heroes. In one episode there was even a Pied Piper who controlled birds rather than rats. In Gnaws, a lovely spin on Jaws, the Spielberg great white shark movie, they fought a giant rat, grown to elephant size by means of a top secret government formula that accelerates growth. It was aimed to end world hunger but as always with these things, some was stolen. They would face one odd situation after another with some of the action transferring to Canada who had partly funded some of the 25 episode run.
Only in the Avengers could a fishing rod become a deadly weapon on an island where the body of Hitler is being kept in suspended animation and a gang of monks are actually Nazis that have stopped aging. They faced mad Chinese Mandarins and old school friends with a grudge as well as criminals that could put half of London to sleep to pull off the ultimate robbery and plastic surgeons that could take people, change their faces and replace people like the Prime Minister were ten a penny. There was nothing that Steed, Purdey and Gambit couldn’t handle. Watching them back now I think they are great stories, some have a logic problem, but it’s all done with such energy and enthusiasm. Gambit is in love with Purdey and constantly tries to get her into bed but she is a lady that has the deadliest high kick in the world and can take down anyone that got in her way.
Played by Joanna Lumley who is a national icon, let’s be honest, Purdey fitted the quintessential Avenger girl; beautiful, deadly and fun. For the first time ever, Steed had a male side kick in the form of Gareth Hunt’s Gambit who was a super spy and a martial arts expert though he could pull off a mean Irish accent. Steed, as played by Patrick Macnee, was…well, Steed. An English gent who enjoyed the finer things in life, loved the ladies and he was still lethal with an umbrella. Week after week these three acted as a team to keep the world safe and there were times they came close to failing but triumphed in the end.
One such battle was the Last of the Cybernauts…? which brought back an old enemy from the sixties series, the titular robotic Cybernauts. First encountered twice by Steed and Mrs Peel, played by Diana Rigg. It seemed they were gone forever but not so. It was this battle almost saw the end of all three of the Avengers.
The episode begins on Steed’s birthday when they receive a call that a double agent has been identified and they leave to take him down. Felix Kane is his name and in the ensuing car chase he is caught in an explosion. Fast forward a year later and we discover that Kane wasn’t killed and the events still bear heavily on Steed’s mind. Kane is now a wheelchair bound cripple who wears masks to convey his moods and he is hellbent on revenge. He tracks down the Cybernaut technology via the original builder, Frank Goff, now released from prison, and has him reactivate the robot. Killing Goff , he uses the Cybernaut to kidnap a surgeon, Professor Mason, who will be able to complete Kane’s plan. He wants to be augmented using Cybernaut technology so he can kill the Avengers himself. Steed is almost killed by the robot when Kane sends it to steal some technology that Mason needs to complete the surgery.
Gambit also has a run in with the Cybernaut along with Purdey on a staircase where they manage to throw it from the top flight. Mason succeeds in combining Kane with a Cybernaut and he targets Purdey first, knocking Gambit down along the way with a car. Mason manages to warn Steed about Kane’s plan. He intends to leave her in the same state as himself to torture Steed and when he invades her apartment, it seems Purdey is going to die. They really go for it in the fight scene and her flat is trashed. The famous Purdey moves are there but she is worn down by the Kane cyborg and he manages to grab her, ready to smash her body for her friends to find. However, Steed and Gambit burst in and spray Kane with plastic skin which freezes the Cybernaut tech and stops him in his tracks.
A lot works well to make this an unforgettable episode. The Cybernauts themselves are creepy, blank faced silver robots and can kill you by breaking your neck with one blow. Unlike the Cybermen in Doctor Who, the Cybernauts are mindless, controlled by remote using cameras in their eyes to allow the controller to see where they are going. The incidental music makes a huge impact in conveying their menace.
These really are lethal weapons and the fact they have no expression to read means that you never know when they are going to break your neck. And again, when Gambit and Purdey go up against it they might as well be fighting air as nothing they do can stop it or slow it down. Kane himself is a Davros-like villain made even creepier by the false plastic masks which he changes to convey his mood. He is also reminiscent of the John Lumic character in the 21st century Doctor Who’s Rise of the Cybermen and Age of Steel starring David Tennant. But he is much more sinister, living in a place that is covered in pictures of Steed, Purdey and Gambit’s faces as well as life-sized cardboard cut-outs, all the focus for his hate and vengeance making him the quintessential Avengers villain. There was almost an appearance by Diana Rigg but it never happened and the episode works well none the less. A complete classic from a classic show.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Once again we look back at the legacy of Doctor Who and pinpoint the characters that have helped make him the hero he is today…
Copyright BBC
There are few Doctor Who companions that immediately spring to mind if you asked ordinary Joe public but there is one that everyone remembers. Jamie, played by Frazer Hines, later Joe Sugden of Emmerdale Farm fame, was the second Doctor’s constant companion bar one story.
A young highlander from the Battle of Culloden, Jamie was never meant to be a companion but producers were so impressed by Frazer’s performance they signed him up as a regular with the departure of Ben and Polly on the horizon.
This late addition explains his being kept unconscious in the Moonbase where the Cybermen lurked. It was only when the other characters left in the Faceless Ones that Jamie really came into his own.
Frazer had a really close off-screen relationship with Patrick Troughton and this spilled over onscreen. The banter between the second Doctor and Jamie kept audiences entertained right to the end of the era. Jamie’s playful put downs of the Doctor and his abilities were a joy to watch but the young Highlander was resolute and deeply protective of his Doctor. He would face many of the series’ most classic foes in his stories – many of which are missing from the archives – and the battles with the Yeti in the Target novelizations spurred many childrens’ imaginations, including mine.
It was this era that introduced the Ice Warriors, the Yeti, the Seaweed monster, established the Cybermen as the new big baddies and saw the introduction of the Time Lords.
With every encounter, Jamie faced these new creatures head on and was never afraid to disagree with the Doctor, especially in Evil of the Daleks where he left the Doctor over his decision to help Waterfield in his experiments for the deadly pepperpots. But they could never fall out for long and Jamie could also be a hopeless romantic and became the big brother to both Victoria and Zoe who also travelled with the Doctor.
No matter what, Jamie would be at the Doctor’s side ready to fight whatever monsters they encountered. It was only when Troughton decided to leave the role, that Frazer also moved on, even though he was asked to stay to become Pertwee’s companion. It says a lot about their off-screen relationship that Frazer stayed to the War Games to see off the second Doctor. He was returned to Earth by the Time Lords with his memory wiped of his time in the Tardis bar his first encounter with the Doctor.
But as always in sci-fi, nothing is ever permanent and Jamie returned to the Five Doctors as a phantom and later in the Two Doctors where he was paired with the sixth Doctor and Peri losing none of the magic of his onscreen persona. He has even been named in a couple of the Doctor’s post regenerative crisis as his mind recalls past companions.
In the comic strip World Shapers, the sixth Doctor returns to find Jamie remembers his travels after all but is an outcast as a crazy old man from the rest of his clan. They embark on an adventure against the Cybermen which sees Jamie sacrifice his life to save his old friend.
But in the Big Finish world, their reunion was much happier with Jamie returning to the Tardis to travel for three stories with the sixth Doctor but with no memory of his past in time travel. However events soon conspire to change all that.
Having met Frazer at conventions, I can tell you he is as enthusiastic and fun loving as Jamie. He has time for everyone and when he talks of his time on the show there is a real sense of history in his voice. With new Doctor Who rampant and the 50th anniversary coming up, there may be a chance for Jamie to make one final trip in the Tardis with his old friend. Here’s hoping…
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright Owen Quinn
When I originally conceived the main characters of the Time Warriors, it was always going to be ordinary people made extraordinary by the situations they are thrown into. Part of the plan was to put young people in Varran’s life to bring him out of his self imposed solitary lifestyle.
When I thought of Tyran i pictured someone like the singer Pink in appearance. Tyran would be very much her own woman even at eighteen. By an act of serendipity someone drew this impression of her thinking I meant she had pink hair. The minute I saw this that was Tyran. Confident, sassy and unafraid to speak her mind, Tyran is the daughter of a multimillionaire technology company. She has two brothers, Robert and Simon, whom she rules with an iron fist. As much as thy both hate to admit it Tyran is usually right with her inbuilt bitch detector when they bring new girlfriends home. Her knack for tech comes second nature to her.
With a thirst for knowledge she annoys Varran with constant questions about their alien heritage. isn’t afraid either of venting her feelings and disagreeing with Varran on a number of occasions as seen in Venom and Summer’s End when she berates his treatment of the Mentara prisoner. She and Michael develop a brother/sister relationship and while she is fiercely protective of them all, Michael in particular she defends. Rachel, Michael’s partner, feels her wrath in particular over the events of the Michael showcas story, the Survivor. They are captured in Victorian london by the mysterious Mister Wainwright and tortured in his asylum.
Tyran is flung into the deep end of this new life with Varran when she is kidnapped by an organic ship sent from the mythical planet Ether. There she gets caught in a planet wide hostage situation where the Egherian, Sril, believes that Tyran is the one that will murder every last invader from their planet. Similarly in Last Will and Testament Tyran is almost killed when her Dagger shuttle crashes onto an alien planet. Restored By the intervention of nanobots, she is chosen by the only human alive to be her successor, Maggie and become mother to her family of robots. The problem is Maggie’s robotic daughter Tina has other ideas plus the contaminated soil has mingled with Tyran’s blood to create Blood Beasts intent on hunting her down and killing her.
The Collector takes a shine to Tyran and because of her unique solution to saving the Etherians he needs to track her down to Earth especially when they meet again on Cavalandria. In Second Best she is possessed by an alien being mistaken for a ghost. Throughout the course of her adventures Tyran is right there by her friends’ side whether it be Homecoming, witnessing a Sasquatch and a Skinwalker fight in Red Water, Summer’s End or Legacy. In Meltdown Tyran becomes a violent psychotic when a nerve gas is released aboard the Juggernaught changing their personalities.
Tyran and her family are targetted by the Family. Her father’s company is destroyed in a bombing while her parents, James and Lisa, are arrested as terrorists. Her brother, Robert, is also duped and hurt in the attack. It is only thanks to Rachel that brother and sister aren’t killed in Area 52. It is this family loyalty that causes a massive row in The Gift threatening her friendships.
When history changes Tyran becomes part of the rebel resistance, a resistance similar to the one she faced when a prisoner of the dimension parasites in Web of Infinity.
The Belbridge Mystery sees the climax of the clash of personalities between Tyran and Varran when they are trapped on the Mentara homeworld. Tyran sees first hand what the Mentara do with the humans they harvest and ends up teamed up with gambler Elijah. She is charged with saving the citizens of Belbridge from their prison which puts enormous pressure on such a young person. It speaks volumes of Varran’s trust in her that he would leave her to find the answer.
The events of the Belbridge Mystery have changed Tyran forever but there is more to come. The past as they say has a way of showing up when you least expect it.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Once again we look back through Doctor Who’s long history and look at one of the characters who shaped the Timelord we know and love so well…
Copyright BBC
Having left Victoria behind in modern day England with her new adopted family, the second Doctor and Jamie encounter young scientist Zoe Herriot, played by Wendy Padbury, on a space station being targeted by the Cybermen. In the Wheel in Space, they came to see the genius of Zoe’s intellect and she quickly boarded the Tardis to find out more about the strange men that had saved them.
She is the first companion ever to be cautioned by the Doctor about the dangerous life they faced in the Tardis. To this end, he showed her their adventure Evil of the Daleks as a warning. This was really done to lead into a repeat for the BBC but it showed that the Tardis recorded every landing it had ever made, forming them into a chronicle of sorts.
Zoe also showed, even in the future comic strip, that heroes existed when she conjured one up in the Mind Robber where they when trapped in the Land of Fiction where they encounter various characters from books and stories while avoiding the white robots. She was also the first companion ever to be caught in the most bizarre cliffhanger at the start of this story when the Tardis exploded, leaving her clinging to the console in space screaming her lungs out. Even today it remains a powerful image where not even the Tardis is safe.
Her intellect matched the Doctor’s as in the Krotons they are both subjected to the Krotons’ mental tests to see if they are worthy of serving the crystalline creatures. The Doctor fails but Zoe saves him from death by correctly solving the puzzle.
She teamed up with UNIT in the Invasion where the Cybermen attacked the Earth. She refused to be the quiet little woman along with photographer Isabelle and threw herself headlong into danger.
She and Jamie became best buddies and neither he nor the Doctor realised how much Zoe was relied on to save the day. Even in The Mind Robber, she takes the lead and solves many of the traps set by the Master of the Land of Fiction.
But none of them saw what was coming when they landed in a series of war zones where soldiers from Earth’s history were fighting in a battle created by the War Lords to fill their armies with the best fighters. From Roman centurions and World War II soldiers to Mexican bandits, Zoe faced them all with strength and determination. However, unable to stop them all, the Doctor is forced to call the Time Lords, the people he has been hiding from all these years, resulting in his being put on trial and exiled to Earth for interfering in the universe. Zoe and Jamie are returned to their own times, their memories wiped of all their adventures in the Tardis bar the first one.
She did make a reappearance in the twentieth anniversary story the Five Doctors as a Tomb of Rassilon phantom designed to scare the Doctor away but the fact they remembered who the Brigadier was alerted the Doctor that his friends weren’t real.
Zoe has returned time and again in the Missing Adventures range of books as well as the BBC range and the audio stories from Big Finish.
Indeed her mind wipe is the focus of a Companion Chronicle when an alien race discovers she is a time traveller but she is indignant as she has no memory of it. As they piece together what happened, it is quite an adult exploration of the ramifications of life with the Doctor so don’t think it’s just about the past, it’s so much deeper than that…
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright Owen Quinn Promo art designed by Conaire McMullan
When an old friend of Varran’s calls the Time Warriors to the town of Red Water after he hears Bigfoot has murdered a local, they begin a journey that will not only bring old faces back into Varran’s life but reveal a previously unknown part of the Xereban’s life. Deep in the forests awaits something dark that intends to consume the planet.
There’s no greater fascination for me than the possibility of monsters out there which should not exist. My biggest love has always been for Bigfoot or Sasquatch. It’s been a love of mine ever since I can remember. The classic battle between the Six Million Dollar Man with Bigfoot in the two part story the Secret of Bigfoot only cemented it in my head forever.
When I created the Time Warriors series I always intended for them to follow in the footsteps of Steve Austin and face the giants of the mountains. But how?
Believe it or not my first concept was to have Varran and the others discover a group of Nazis that had been brought to America after the war. While they agreed to work for the American government, they were carrying out their own agenda along side sympathisers to the Nazi cause. The scientists have captured a tribe of Sasquatch and are controlling them via implants. They Intend to build an army of these ape men to take control of the country and begin the Fourth Reich. Hey I was only a kid when i thought of these things so it is kind of hokey but if someone can think a tornado made of sharks is a good idea then nothing is off the table.
Again I rethought it. I realised this was a chance to delve into another part of Varran’s past which had not yet been revealed. In First Footstep I said he had a Native American hand made blanket adorning his wall. Well time to see how that happened. But still how do I work in Bigfoot? The legends are intertwined with Native American myth and artwork. He has been known to them and there are over 108 names of which Sasquatch is but one. No matter how I tried I couldn’t make a connection to Varran’s past. The Skinwalker was an easy addition as it is also part of Native American legends. That would be the villain and there would be a huge punch up between it and Bigfoot very much in the tone of the old Hulk comics where Hulk and whatever equally bulky foe he faced beating the crap out of each other.
So basically at that point the story essentially was there but was missing the spine. Now being fascinated by the subject of Bigfoot I watched every documentary I could find and there it was as if God himself pointed it in my direction. I always had in my head that reality was like a giant honeycomb where certain points were weak allowing access to other dimensions. I also had the lost history of Earth in my head so why not add this in? What if millenia ago there was a war between demons and ancient humans where the demons were sealed in a dark dimension? What if they stayed there, licking their wounds until the day they could break through and reclaim the Earth for themselves. This lent itself to adding the world of the supernatural to the Time Warriors’ universe which expanded it. Therefore the real killer became a innocent wolf possessed by one of these demons twisting it into something unholy. It intended to jump bodies and take over a Bigfoot which would allow the other demons to follow through and do the same.
What Bigfoot really is I explore here and give my own take on it using every part of lore I have ever learned.
Yet I still hadn’t got the missing link to make Varran part of it. By chance I was watching another documentary about a captured young Bigfoot called Jacko. Story goes that Jacko was found by some loggers and captured. He was put on a train to become part of a travelling show run by George Tilbury. However for some reason Jacko disappeared from the moving train from inside a locked cage.
That was it. That was how I connected Varran to the Bigfoot legend and gained the trust of the Native Americans who were more than aware of the Bigfoot species and their purpose in the world.
That was it, that was Red Water complete, all I had to do was string it all together and make it an exciting story. I would love to see the Bigfoot and Skinwalker smackdown on screen or even as art like in the Marvel comic vein.
The story of Red Water is far from over and the sight of a Bigfoot walking the corridors of the Juggernaught have to be revisited again. Strangely enough work has begun on Return to Red Water.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Copyright Owen Quinn cover designed by Conaire McMullan
Summoned to 1975, they find Brussels in the grip of a serial killer with a difference. All the bodies have been sucked dry leaving hideous corpses in its wake. As they race to save the latest victim, things go wrong. Jacke disappears while tribal warriors stalk the streets. With no clues, Varran and the others find themselves running out of time. But it may be too late as Jacke comes face to face with the killer. A killer she thought long dead…
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Skull is the second story in the two story book Spooklight & The Skull. I experimented with a two story book that would be easy reading as a choice against a more plot heavy novel or anthology book. They would be two stand alone adventures, one reflecting a new threat while the other would bring back an old enemy.
I love revisiting old monsters and villains and bringing them back for a rematch should never just be for sensationalism’s sake. The story has to warrant it and I try to bring new dimensions to them eg the Collector’s return in Cavalandria and the Mentara in The Belbridge Mystery.
In the Skull we see the return of the Veldrox, the creatures upon which the entire vampire myth is based. I’ve always been fascinated by the story of the crystal skulls and where they came from. Experts for decades have tried to decipher them and a certain Doctor Jones has also experienced their power first hand. So I adapted them into the skeletal remains of the Veldrox. They were somehow programmed to sustain the Veldrox in a deep suspension until they were able to rebuild themselves. They could still influence hapless humans to carry out their will in order to restore themselves. Somehow the crystal lattices are able to project the Veldrox’s mind to whisper in people’s dreams and influence them to carry out their will.
In the Skull the corrupted Belgian Jarvis Cochrane who has murdered his father to attain his fortune is the victim rather like Frank was lured in by the Cenobites in Hellraiser. He barely escapes from Peru pursued by the Tegzaria, a secret society of jungle warriors who in some lost history have been appointed to secure the skulls and ensure the Veldrox never rise again. I added them to give another layer of mystery which also tied into the themes of lost histories references in Return to Eden featuring the Numarans. Who said the history books are right? it’s much more fun to tear them up and rewrite. Who can resist lost civilisations filled with technology or men walking right along beside dinosaurs? It also allows the reader to fill in the blanks and spin yet another universe in their minds which brings them into the story.
To give us an international flavour I set the story in Brussels in 1975 to subvert reader expectations. The Time Warriors have been summoned to help investigate a series of dessicated bodies. There is a serial killer at large but one that is unlike anything the police have ever faced before.
Now diversity among characters is something that should be encouraged and is becoming more widespread. It would be very easy to shoehorn all sorts of nationalities or minorities into a story but it has to be organic. In this case I came up with the character of Catalina, a transgender character formerly called Thomas. Thomas had been married with kids but went through with the transition despite the stigma of the time. I wanted Catalina to not only be a trailblazer but a figure that would pave the way for those today. That was why it was important that she was a police detective whom had gone through all the prejudice and was still fighting the battle every day. Like Jacke, i wanted her to be an example to others and be a figure of hope for anyone in that situation. Indeed she is a beacon for anyone who feels they are different to everyone else and searching for their place in the world. She finds that the battle will be hard but worth it in the end from the Warriors.
Teaming up they track down the killer. Jarvis has been kidnapping women to feed to the Veldrox. Using their flesh it is regenerating its body and is almost complete. Using history they track the original victims but history changes when Jacke replaces the original kidnap victim and is taken by Jarvis instead. The Veldrox has sensed Jacke’s previous encounter in Venom when she became a vampire drone. The race is on to save Jacke and stop an ancient evil from resurrecting consuming the entire world.
For me this story works on the personal level as the character of Catalina learns more about herself in the bizarrest of situations including fighting alongside the Tegzaria. There are nice character moments and mirrors such as Jarvis and Catalina opposite poles in life yet taken down different paths.
By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
In our new regular feature each week we’ll be looking back at characters that have come and gone in the Doctor Who mythology and we do our bit to ensure they will never be forgotten. This week, the third Doctor, John Pertwee’s companion: Jo Grant.
There are few companions like Jo Grant. Played by Katy Manning, Jo was brought in as a more traditional companion as the producers felt that previous sidekick scientist Liz Shaw was too much the equal of the Doctor, played at the time by Jon Pertwee.
Jo was ditzy, clumsy and rushed in, ever eager to please her new boss, not realising that the Brigadier had placed her with the Time Lord just to keep her out of his hair because her uncle was high up in the ministry.
Right in the path of harm’s way was just where Jo would end up for the next couple of years as she and the Doctor battled a whole plethora of alien creatures. Much has been written about the UNIT family both on and off the screen and Jo was the little sister that kept getting into scrapes. On more than one occasion, she almost ended up killing the Doctor.
In her first adventure, Terror of the Autons (January, 1971), she was hypnotised by the Master into triggering a bomb intended for the Doctor. Despite his initial reservations about her, the Doctor quickly grew to love Jo Grant. In some ways she was the first companion to be loved by the Doctor. Long before Rose Tyler, Jo’s eventual departure was one of the most emotional ever. She met her husband to be while battling giant maggots in Wales where miners were dying from touching a toxic sludge. Caught up in his eco beliefs and desire to save the world (and remember, this was long before our current ‘save the environment’ culture), Jo decided to travel to the Amazon with him. Everyone remembers that poignant moment where the Doctor silently raises his glass to her future before slipping off into the night alone. That final shot of him driving his beloved Bessie car into the night speaks volumes compared to Rose sniffling all over a wall in another dimension.
Katy Manning was Jo Grant in every way. She was clumsy but had the heart of a lion. She put her life on the line for the Doctor on more than one occasion as she believed completely in him. In the Daemons, she threw herself before Azal, the basis for the Devil as he was about to kill the Doctor under the Master’s influence. She was the first companion to encounter multiple Doctors in the Three Doctors and even the Master had a grudging respect for her in the end. From Ogrons to Draconians, from Seas Devils to Daleks, Jo displayed a bravery that would put many to shame. She went blindly to find the secret of Axos as she knew something was wrong and, despite her encounters, she didn’t believe the Tardis had taken her to another world but alien priests and primitives soon changed her mind.
At this point in time, the Doctor was stranded on Earth, his mind wiped of all time travel by the Time Lords, but at the end of the Three Doctors – when he was pardoned having saved the universe from the renegade Time Lord Omega – he wouldn’t leave unless Jo came with him. Out in the universe she found even deadlier situations including an army of Daleks on a planet populated by invisible creatures and fungus spitting plants, the dreaded Aggedor in the kingdom of Peladon. There she teamed up with Ice Warriors and almost stayed to become the Queen but life with the Doctor drew her back. They were also miniaturised in a travelling show full of creatures in Carnival of Monsters including the dreaded Drashigs, half dog, half caterpillar and became a prisoner of the Ogrons.
Even alone, as a prisoner of the Master, beautifully played by Roger Delgado, she was brave and spirited and wasn’t afraid of opening her mouth.
Jo’s adventures continued in novels and comic strips (including an adventure with the 8th Doctor in Genocide). But it wasn’t until the advent of the Sarah Jane Adventures that Jo finally returned to our screens, as mad and clumsy as ever and still battling to save the Planet. She was still married and now a mother of seven. When UNIT brought her to their base for the Death of the Doctor, Sarah Jane and Jo finally met and immediately formed a bond. Jo was saddened and jealous that Sarah Jane had met the Doctor again several times while he had never returned to see her. When the 11th Doctor materialises, she chides him for looking like a baby while he says she looks like she’s been baked.
Only when the Doctor transports himself, Jo and Sarah Jane to an alien world to escape the Shansheeth, does Jo finally get her chance to confront him. In a moving moment the Doctor tells her he has been watching her and knows all the wonderful things she has done with her life including throwing herself over Niagara Falls in a tea chest to protest against some environmental threat. He is so proud of her and everything she has become and in that conversation Jo finds the assurance she has sought all her life. She is happy to stay behind and let him continue his travels, knowing that part of her is still out there.
It is a beautiful full circle for the character but her journeys continue in the Big Finish range of audio plays where Jo’s character has been explored further including her tendency to throw her life away for the Doctor in the Many Deaths of Jo Grant.
Jo has never been forgotten, especially since she’s the first companion to pose nude with a Dalek. At the end of Death of the Doctor, Jo drives off in black taxi with her grandson to continue her fight for the world, a fight that began with plastic aliens, an evil Time Lord and nearly blowing up her best friend. If there is any justice we should see Jo Grant one last time for the 50th anniversary; if not, she may just pose nude again with a Dalek.
That was Jo Grant; the girl who always made an impression and will never, ever be forgotten.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 
