Heroes of Doctor Who: Wilfred Mott

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

We’re back, looking at the vast history of characters both major and minor who populate the world of Doctor Who… this week, the great Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred.

Who would have thought that a simple news vendor alone on the streets of a deserted London on Christmas Day would become the most important figure in the tenth Doctor’s life?

Played by the superb Bernard Cribbins, Wilf was brought in as Donna Noble’s grandfather when the actor playing her father passed away from cancer. Bernard had previously played the Doctor’s policeman companion Tom Campbell alongside Peter Cushing in the movie version of the Dalek Invasion of Earth 2150AD in 1966. Surprisingly he never appeared in the television series then but he was born to play Wilf.

The bond between him and Donna brought some of the most heart-warming and heart-breaking scenes ever in the show’s history. Wilf was a dedicated star gazer, always up on his allotment with his telescope. Secretly he wanted to travel among the stars and thought everything was the fault of aliens. But he never spoke of his meeting with the mysterious Doctor. He missed Donna’s wedding due to Spanish flu so neither he nor Donna knew about each other’s meeting the Time Lord. Despite seeing his granddaughter fly off in the blue police box, he never made the connection until the Sontaran Stratagem when the Doctor arrived at his house with Donna to see what exactly the Atmos device was. He always worried about Donna and where she was and what danger she was in. So when he saw her walking up the street while putting out the rubbish it nearly broke both their hearts. Donna’s because she had just witnessed the deaths of thousands in Pompeii and Wilf because he was just delighted to see his granddaughter safe and well. For me though there was always a touch of jealousy that Wilf wasn’t in the Tardis experiencing all these amazing things for himself. Like many grandparents he was living his dreams through his granddaughter.

Wilf almost died from gas poisoning when the Sontarans launched their Atmos weapons, saved only by his daughter Sylvia smashing the windscreen with an axe. He was always the go between between his daughter and granddaughter but always came down on Donna’s side. But the story Turn Left took the entire Noble family centre stage when history changes as Donna never meets the Doctor when he is killed during their first meeting battling the Racnoss under the Thames. As history unravels and the world falls apart beneath all the threats the Doctor saved us from like the Adipose, Wilf is still there with his telescope. He is the first to see the stars going out which we later discover is due to Davros’ reality bomb. He is devastated to see England introduce labour camps for anyone not born in Britain, the one thing he fought against during the war.

Ever the old soldier, Wilf takes to the streets when the Daleks shift Earth across space in the Stolen Earth. Armed with a paint gun, he manages to blind a Dalek but is horrified when it clears its eye stalk. He and Sylvia are saved by Rose who blows the Dalek apart. Rose has come to find him as he is her only link to finding Donna. When Harriet Jones reunites the Doctor’s old companions through their computer terminals via the Copper network, Wilf reveals he isn’t allowed a webcam and Sylvia reveals he didn’t vote for Jones in the election despite Wilf’s claims to the former.

Donna’s secret is revealed at that moment to her horrified mother but Wilf leaps to her defence. When the Doctor returns Donna minus her memories of her travels, Wilf salutes the Time Lord. He trusts the Doctor completely and knows he did what he had to to save his granddaughter.

But in the tenth Doctor’s final hours Wilf is the keystone upon which everything lies. He is drawn to a church where the Tardis is inscribed in a stained glass window and a mysterious woman appears to him to tell him of the Doctor and his fate. Wilf mobilises the local pensioner network and finds the Time Lord via someone peeking from behind net curtains. The human race is suffering bad dreams showing the Master. Somehow Donna is acting on a subconscious level as she gives him a book of one Joshua Naismith who has kidnapped the Master to fix a piece of alien tech. The mysterious woman once again visits him appearing during the Queen’s speech to tell him he must take arms. Pocketing his old revolver, Wilf sees the Doctor and shows him the book. Wilf takes his last chance to travel in the Tardis.

Bernard Cribbins could bring a tear to a stone and in his one to ones with the Doctor, he begs him to take his revolver and kill the Master before the prophecy of his death comes to pass. Wilf sees the universe in ways others can’t and trapped aboard the Vinvochi ship above Earth, he gives a beautiful speech about his wife being buried down there and how even she isn’t safe from the alien threats that come to pass. He breaks down calling the Doctor the most wonderful man and telling him he must be saved. He feels the Doctor must see humans as insects but the Doctor stuns him by saying he sees them as giants and he would be proud to have Wilf as his dad.

In the final battle, Wilf gets his Star Wars moment and fights in an air battle akin to Luke and Han’s TIE fighter escape from the Death Star. But it is in the face off between the Time Lords, Doctor and Master, that Wilf finds the real reason he has been brought to the Doctor’s side.

The Doctor has been told ‘he will knock four times’ before he dies and he thinks it is the Master that will do the knocking but, surprised to find himself still alive, the Doctor’s face falls when he hears Wilf knock the door of the radiation chamber he is trapped in four times.

The system is on overload and will flood the chamber with lethal radiation within minutes, killing Wilf instantly. David Tennant gives a stunning performance as he rants against the injustice of it all. Wilf says to let him die as he has had his life and the Doctor agrees, making us hate him in that moment because we love Wilf so much. But with a final tear, the Doctor looks Wilf in the eye and tells him it would be his honour to take Wilf’s place.

Despite all his love and respect for the Doctor, Wilf has caused his death but it is not over yet. On Donna’s wedding day, Wilf meets the Time Lord one last time. They both know it is this but the Doctor has a gift for Donna. He gives Wilf a lottery ticket bought with a pound he borrowed from her late father, Geoff, in the past. With a final salute, Wilf breaks down as the Tardis dematerialises from his life for the last time.

For me Wilf embodies the beauty of modern day Doctor Who. He is an old man who thinks his life is over but discovers life is still full of possibilities no matter what age you are. His faith, passion and love of his granddaughter make him real and a superb addition to any series of Doctor Who.

How does the 11th Doctor regenerate at Lake Silencio?

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

copyright BBC

So when the Doctor went to Lake Silencia, a mysterious astronaut rose from the depths and shot him dead. Well, shot him and repeatedly shot him when he began to regenerate. We see him looking back at Rory, Amy and River just as the familiar golden glow of regeneration begins to consume him. Well, he solved that particular mystery only to be poisoned by a newly regenerated River Song. She kisses him with lethal lipstick which prevents the Doctor from regenerating.  Our hero is only saved when River fills him with regeneration energy in Let’s Kill Hitler to heal himself thus setting her on the path to find the love of her life. While this is all exciting stuff but there’s a slight problem.

As we discovered in the Time of the Doctor, the 11th incarnation was in fact his last body and he spent his days fighting on Trenzalore to protect the town of Christmas. So how then could the Doctor have possibly been about to regenerate when shot at Silencia? But to add even more confusion to the recipe we now know that the Doctor is in fact a being from another dimension who can regenerate an infinite number of times but had his/her memory wiped. Yeah, sometimes you should really leave things alone. Thoughts anyone?

The Belbridge Mystery: The Lost Comic Strip

copyright Owen Quinn Mentara concept drawing by Stephen Mooney

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Buy your copy of The Time Warriors The Belbridge Mystery on Amazon by clicking on this link https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=the+belbridge+mystery&crid=1UPVMSPCXYUNQ&sprefix=the+belbrid%2Caps%2C199&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-a-p_1_11

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Long before the latest exciting book in the Time Warriors series debuted in full length novel form, it was almost a very different animal. At one point it was going to be a comic strip in one of Lightning Strike’s comic books. Alas due to various reasons it never happened.

There are some differences to the published book. The main change was the setting. Originally it was going to be a small town setting in modern day. It was still the Mentara who harvested the entire town’s population just as they did in the book. I changed it to the Wild West for the book so we got to see a bit more time travel and to give us a different perspective. I’ve always been fascinated by the Old Wild West and how it faded away to become the America we know at the turn of the century. In the comic version. It would have been a commentary on how we do not look round us any more and how the disappearance of an entire town either goes unnoticed or becomes the subject for a YouTube video. Who really looks out for their neighbours when how many likes we can get on social media is much more important than the welfare of others.

copyright Owen Quinn Scythe Mentara concept art by Stephen Mooney

Writing the comic script was my first time doing something like that so it was a real lesson. The dialogue had to be much sharper to allow the panels to flow better into each other. A good example of that is the sudden appearance of the town’s sole survivor jumping from the fountain just as Michael says ‘Nothing surprises me any more.’

In the book this role was taken by Elijah, the town’s resident gambler. Having grown up on comic books and shows like Doctor Who, cliffhangers have been a part of what draws me back to something whether it be comic strips or television. Who didn’t tune back in each week when the Doctor was in trouble? Let’s face it ‘I am Locutus of Borg’ left you you breathless for more as the end credits rolled. So we had to end it on a cliffhanger big enough to get the fans to buy the following issue. So the supermarket setting was replaced 2ith the horse stables for their shock appearance.

So I had the appearance of the Mentara in its full tarantula centaur form. I couldn’t wait to see if the artist caught what I saw in my head. It wasn’t to be sadly. It wasn’t until I met local artist Stephen Mooney. He has come closest to what I see the Mentara to be which to be honest was a god send. Hence I commissioned him to do the book cover. More than that he got what the Time Warriors were all about.

Copyright Owen Quinn Mace swinging Mentara concept art by Stephen Mooney

So here it is folks. The unmade first part of the Time Warriors The Belbridge Mystery. Oh and if any comic book companies out there want to adapt it drop me a line.

                                                    LIGHTNING STRIKE PRESENT

                                                          THE TIME WARRIORS

                                                    THE BELBRIDGE MYSTERY

                                                         WRITER: OWEN QUINN

                                                            PAGE NUMBER 1

Full page split into four images, lightning separates each one.

Image 1 Varran, mid thirties, thin face, sapphire eyes, white hair, short, dressed in black jumper, image is from the chest up portrait type. Image of an exploding planet in the background.

Worded like so: Varran, a scientist from a dead world, Xereba. He unlocked the secret to time travel, brought to Earth by a vision. He cannot age yet doesn’t know if he is immortal.He stands as the silent guardian angel of Earth.

Image 2: Jacke, black girl very beautiful, 24 years old,would remind you of Beyonce, again chest up portrait,long dark hair, almond eyes

Worded like so: Jacke (short for Jacqueline) Baker, an Irish girl descended from the survivors of Xereba. She is the calm in the storm and is a sensitive.

Image 3: Michael, stocky, brown hair, 20 years old, would remind you of Tyrone from Coronation Street, chest up portrait wearing an open necked checked shirt

Worded like so : Michael, an orphan from London, also a Xereban descendant, the dreamer who now lives the dream

Image 4: Tyran, girl of about 19, another child of Xereba, short bobbed hair dyed pink, pretty features, aquiline,

Worded like so: Tyran, the daughter of a multi millionaire, spirited and a technical genius.

They came from a world torn apart in a time experiment. They key to infinity became their death knell. The last survivors, huddled together in the Juggernaught, a military base craft, were led to Earth by a vision. Varran, the man behind the destruction, had seen the future. A darkness was coming to consume creation itself and the last battlefield lay on a blue green planet in a system of nine; Earth. Now they live among us, living by our laws and rules since the 19th century while Varran watches from above. They could be the lollipop man, your best friend, the banker or the old lady that watches the world from behind net curtains. Waiting for the call to battle when darkness falls. Now Varran along with Jacke, Michael and Tyran, descendants of the Xereban race are the guardian angels of Earth. They don’t know when or what form it will take but it is coming. Earth must be protected. They are the Time Warriors. 

PAGE TWO: 4 panels

Panel 1 close up of a pair of frightened male human eyes

  1. They used to say in space no one could hear you scream…

Panel 2 Man running down a dark alley in his dressing gown

           They lied….

Panel 3  Same man cowering behind bins expression of terror as shadows close in around him

On Earth no one can hear you scream amid a thousand others…

Panel 4 Something large and dark’s shadow falls over him, he is still cowering but is partially looking over his shoulder, terror etched on his face as he sees what looms up over him as the bins are scattered by something.

Because when the darkness came, our screams fell like angels from heaven as the darkness swallowed us all

Page 3: 5 panels

Panel 1: Widescreen shot of a street, papers blowing in a breeze as four figures materialize Star trek style; the beams are a double helix of blue energy. It’s Varran, Michael, Jacke and Tyran half formed as their bodies solidify in the beams. Varran dressed in black v neck jumper, three quarter length black coat and grey trousers with lace up brogues. Jacke in jeans, trainers, half jacket and top. Tyran is black top and bottom with black trainers. Michael is in t shirt and hoodies, again jeans and doc martins. The streets are littered with dead birds.

Wording: Welcome to Belbridge, population…god knows.

Panel 2

Medium close up of Varran as he looks about.

1 Quiet. Jacke, anything?

Panel 3 Jacke and Tyran standing by a parked car, Jacke holding a hand unit that resembles a mobile phone (in the overall story they take the place of tricorders and portable scanners. They are disguised as mobiles to prevent drawing attention but if stolen they self destruct if someone hacks or tries to use it). She looks puzzled.  Tyran pokes a dead bird with her foot.

1 Jacke: I’m not getting anything. The town’s empty. And dead birds freak me out.

Tyran: Very Resident Evil. First zombie has a go at me, it’ll wish it were dead.

Michael: Zombies are dead as in walking dead

Tyran: Details, details

Panel 4 Michael trying the door of a pet shop, it opens for him.

1 I can tell you this for nothing. Whatever happened, happened fast. Bunny got fried.

Panel 5: Wideshot of the inside of the pet store. Every animal is dead.

Page 4 4 panels

Panel 1 All four together now

1Varran: The Juggernaught systems picked up some bizarre readings from here five hours ago.

2 Tyran: Five hours? We’re a bit late then

3 Jacke: Wouldn’t like to send you for a midwife

Panel 2 Varran: You don’t understand. Somehow, the energy wave didn’t register in normal time until well after the event.

Panel 3 Michael looking mischievous

Michael : Timey Wimey?

Panel 4: Varran looking grim.

You need to stop watching those sci fi shows but essentially yes. Question is how does a town full of people just disappear without a trace? We need a vantage point.

Page 5: Six panels

Varran and Jacke standing on top of a building looking down over the Town Square in which Tyran and Michael are standing. There is an angel fountain and Michael is standing on it. Jacke is scanning with her hand unit, a dead pigeon on the ledge before them while Varran is looking perplexed deep in thought.

1 Jacke: Much as I feel sorry for them, I’m glad the streets aren’t full of dead humans.

Varran: Must be some sort of temporal sonic boom. Kills animals instantly. Never seen anything like it.

Panel 2: Wideshot of something watching the Time Warriors from the shadow of an alleyway. Only a distorted shadow is seen, so you don’t know whether it’s human or not.

Panel 3: Michael and Tyran at the fountain. Tyran sitting on the edge, Michael tossing pebbles into the water.

Michael: It amazes me.

Tyran: What does?

Michael: They say the world is small with the net yet nobody’s even noticed this place has gone quiet.

What does that say about us?

Tyran: My dad once said the world exists in mobiles and laptops. People have forgotten how to even say hello. They could walk over a dead body just to make sure they don’t miss the latest celeb gossip.

Michael: End of the world for fifteen minutes of fame. Nothing ever surprises me anymore.  

Panel 4: The water erupts as a figure jumps from the water smashing into Michael. It is covered in a black tarpaulin tied at the wrists and ankles with eyes and a mouth cut for air. Tyran caught in the tussle.

Panel 5: Jacke close up as she looks down at their cries.

Jacke : Jesus!

Panel 6 : Tyran face down as she grabs something the figure has dropped from beside her. It’s a straw. Her expression is a mixture of alarm and puzzlement.

Page 6 4 panels

Panel 1:Tyran and Michael in pursuit of the figure. Tyran has a weapon drawn and fires succession of laser bolts as she runs. They miss.

Panel 2: Jacke and Varran running across the square. Varran tracking the others with his hand unit.

1 Varran: Take the next left Jacke. We’ll head them off!

2 Jacke: So much for no one left. These hand units suck!

Panel 3: Figure disappears into a store with large glass panel window just as Michael and Tyran round the corner.

Panel 4 Michael and Tyran flatten themselves either side of the door. Tyran has weapon raised as has Michael.

Michael: Love it when we go all Starsky and Hutch

Tyran: Did I ever tell you you’re a knob?

Michael: On many occasions but you love me really?

Tyran: Not if you were the last man, maybe second last.

Page 7: 6 panels

Panel 1 Wideshot, Varran and Jacke arrive. They have their backs to the reader facing toward Michael and Tyran.

Tyran: About time. It’s in there.

Jacke: Is it human? I can’t get proper readings. Area is drenched in temporal fallout.

Varran: Did you get a good look at it?

Michael: No too busy chewing grass at the time. It would have been really cool if our alien ancestors had gotten super powers like Superman when they go to Earth. All we get is blisters and sunburn.

Panel 2 Varran leads the way, silhouetted in the doorway, no weapon as he doesn’t believe in them.

Varran: Hello? We’re here to help. We won’t harm you.

Panel 3: It’s a grocery store so moving along the aisles. Shelves packed with food.

Michael: Whispers: Where the hell is he?

Panel 4 The figure leaps from cover at Varran but he puts him down.

Panel 5: They pull back the hood to reveal a black woman , short hair and unconscious.

Varran: What the…

Panel 6: Medium close up of Jacke as she hears something, a clik, clik, clik

Her expression is filled with fear as she sees something.

Jacke: Varran…..

Page 8 full page one panel

The window explodes inwards as a creature burst through it.

This is the Mentara, one of the big bads from the books.

It has the body of a tarantula but is the size of a race horse. Six powerful legs hold its bulbous body up and it is covered in thick spiny hair with red colourings along the body.Worst of all is there is a human like torso at the front as if someone grafted the upper half of a human body to the tarantula body but it is arachnoid also with mandibles and compound eyes. The red colouring running from the bulbous part of the body also run along its barrel chest. It has four arms, same covering as the rest of its body with a  spear in one of its hands. It rears above them glaring down evilly.

(When you picture this it’s as if someone crossed a centaur with a giant spider.)

End of part one

Doctor Who The End of Time: An Open Letter to Neil Gaiman

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

copyright Owen Quinn

I read an interview with Neil Gaiman recently in Doctor Who magazine. Now everyone knows Neil, author of Neverwhere and Coraline and a vast array of material which has made him one of the most respected guys around and, like me, he’s a huge Doctor Who fan. Unlike me, he has written an episode, the Doctor’s Wife. Any of you unfamiliar with the episode should really take a look.

In it the eleventh Doctor comes face to face with the Tardis in human form when it is captured by a mysterious entity that exists outside space and time, House. It feeds on Tardis artron energy and as the last living Tardis, The Doctor really is in rouble this time. The Tardis soul is transferred into a woman called Idris. It’s a cracking episode allowing for some wonderful dialogue. In it Idris says she stole the Doctor rather than he stole the Tardis. She took them deliberately where to where he needed to be which explains how the Doctor always lands where the adventure is. Although she also says he has been opening the Tardis doors wrong since it says ‘Pull to Open’ and as we all know the Tardis doors always push open. This is a mistake since the ‘Pull’ on the exterior refers to the little compartment containing the phone originally used when the police boxes were in use in the sixties to phone the emergency services. And better still it is clearly seen as so in the episode The Empty Child when the ninth Doctor answers the phone, a phone that doesn’t work. He opens that little panel as it says; ‘Pull to open.’ This episode was written by Steven Moffat who now runs the show and should have known better. Shame on you Neil and Steven for letting this mistake slip through. Don’t you guys know your Who?

BUT that’s not what this letter is about. In the interview Neil says he thought the tenth Doctor swansong the End of Time did not need the last twenty minutes where he visited all his previous companions. He regards it as sentimental and over indulgent.

You are so missing the point. The End of Time is a celebration of the tenth Doctor’s time and in this era the rules of regeneration had been rewritten. Did you forget the cliffhanger to The Stolen Earth where a fatally injured Doctor must regenerate to save his life from a Dalek attack? He stops it by channelling the energy into his severed hand from the Christmas Invasion, using just enough to heal himself rather than change into a new body. Similarly in Turn Left, he is killed outright before the regeneration cycle can kick in. Nothing we knew before applies. We don’t even know if the Doctor really has thirteen bodies. In the Sarah Jane Adventures the Death of the Doctor, Clyde asks him how many times he can regenerate and the Doctor answers 507 so nothing is set in stone anymore.

But I digress. AS I said the End of Time was a celebration for the tenth Doctor’s time on the show which lets face it cemented it in our culture once more. But for me it isn’t an indulgence to hold the regeneration off so he can travel to visit his former companions. In fact for me, it is akin to a terminally person who knows their time is finite and are going to do exactly what they want to do before they die. What the Doctor wants to do is see if he has been right to involve others in his life and if their time with him has made a positive contribution to their lives. He knows time is running out and we discover in Death of the Doctor that he in fact visited all of his surviving companions, not just the ones that travelled with the tenth incarnation. He knows he is dying and with everything that has happened to him especially his guilt over Donna Nobel’s fate where he had to take away all the positive change her travels gave her by wiping her mind. This also applies to his rant at the end of Waters of Mars when he thought he was Time Lord victorious and Adelaide committed suicide to keep the time lines in order. He was filled with doubt and remorse so it was only logical he find some sort of peace before he passed. Given he rarely dips into companion’s lives after they leave this also shows a maturity that comes with age despite his youthful appearance. So for me the extra twenty minutes were by no means self indulgent tosh just to celebrate the tenth Doctor but a vital part of the Doctor’s continued development as a flesh and blood character. This is borne out by his returning the Pond’s to their normal lives at the end of the God Complex. Better that rather that than standing over their dead bodies he tells Amy and with the loss of their baby Melody, he has had a devastating enough effect on their lives. And that is a direct knock on effect from the End of Time as he is proud of everything his old friends have achieved after they have left him. It was fitting this should happen in Death of the Doctor, a former companion’s spin off show. He gets to tell Jo Grant to her face of all the wonderful things she’s done in defending the Earth and Sarah Jane rhymes off a list of former companions that are all defending the Earth in one way or another because of him. Ace raises billions through her charity A Charitable Earth, Ian and Barbara are still on the go, Tegan fights for aboriginal rites in Australia, Ben and Polly run an orphanage in India while Harry Sullivan has cured many diseases. All this because they dipped into a Time Lord’s life. So that proves conclusively that the End of Time was right to bend the rules and delay the regeneration which acted in that instance as a degenerative disease allowing the Doctor to find peace of mind

Heroes of Doctor Who: Leela

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photo copyright Owen Quinn

Once again we look at the massive catalogue of characters from Doctor Who’s history, those who helped make him the man – Timelord – he is today. This week we look back at Louise Jameson as Leela…

I love Leela. There, I said it. She was perfect in every way and is as much a part of the golden age of Doctor Who than anyone.

She was unlike any other companion ever to have graced the Tardis. Raised in the jungle under the rule of Xoanon, she saw through his false God image and challenged his power. Aligning herself with the fourth Doctor, she drove him mad with her quick reflex to kill her enemies as whether it be with Janus thorns which paralysed and killed you instantly or a quick knife to the ribs. Having defeated the mad computer that the Doctor helped to create, she forced her way aboard the Tardis.

Now it is well documented that Tom Baker wanted to be a solo Time Lord and was dead set against the idea of a companion, especially a savage killer. For him to not see the appeal of a companion wearing a leather bra every week is amazing but there are many dads out there who were very happy to see her. But sense prevailed as Leela adapted her dress sense to the era eg Horror of Fang Rock and the classic Victorian urchin look in Talons of Weng Chiang.

But Leela was more than just a bikini. She was a noble warrior who saw the Doctor as the wisest man she knew and she was his protector. So the Doctor decided to tame the savage beast and they evolved an Eliza Dolittle relationship where he would educate her in the finer facets of civilisation. However she taught the Time Lord more than he ever taught her.

Together they embarked on some of the best known and regarded stories ever. Whether it be the Robots of Death or the supernatural driven Image of the Fendahl (this one is my absolute favourite) Leela protected her Time Lord at every step. There was also the political satire of The Sun Makers which saw Leela nearly steamed to death and face the Sontarans’ arch enemies Rutans for the first time in the show’s history in the Horror of Fang Rock. I remember this one well and it is another personal favourite of mine. In this Leela’s eyes changed colour from brown to blue as the contacts hurt Louise’s eyes. She later found a new friend in K9 in the Invisible Enemy and it was Leela who carried the story as she battled to save the infected Doctor falling to the virus that was trying to invade our level of existence.

In the classic six-parter – and for many the only six-parter to ever work – she and the Doctor faced Magnus Greel, giant rats and the Talons of Weng Chiang. I remember being terrified as Leela was dragged off by a giant rat. Critics laughed at the puppet rat but for this young one it was the only time I thought Leela was going to die. And her Janus thorns came in handy to save the Doctor from the minions of the Black Tong.

Behind the scenes things were intense between the lead actors which led Louise to eventually decide to leave. In the Invasion of Time Leela became the first companion to be allowed to visit Gallifrey to battle the Vardans and Sontarans and surprisingly this is where she stayed along with a certain robot dog that was as loyal to her as she was to the Doctor. Her loyalty was severely tested when the Doctor seemingly betrayed Gallifrey and banished her to allow the Vardans to invade. Even trapped outside the walls of the capital, she defended the Doctor, her belief in him unwavering that he was up to something. She was right. The Doctor had been faking all along but the Sontarans tricked him instead as they had used the Vardans as a cover to gain access to Gallifrey and all its secrets. But in the end she stayed for the love of a soldier, a most wimpy thing by any warrior’s standards, but the producer had prayed Louise would change her mind about leaving right up to the last minute which explains the soft exit.

In the years that followed, Leela and the Doctor fought again in various novels including a sequel to the Robots of Death called Corpse Marker and the chilling Drift that sees a new force test Leela to her limits. She also featured in the seventh Doctor’s final story Lungbarrow.

And again Big Finish couldn’t leave the character alone and she became part of the companion chronicles. But bigger things were in store as they launched a new series called Gallifrey which saw Leela’s adventures on the Doctor’s homeworld following her leaving him. Various characters from the show joined her including Romanas 1 and 2. This has been a great success and it is down to Leela’s character and the fantastic stories written for her. She was also in the surprise cliffhanger for the Jago and Litefoot adventures, two characters she fought alongside with in the Talons of Weng Chiang who now have their own series with Big Finish. She was sent by the Time Lords as the two Victorians battle a new foe. Indeed we were blessed that she and the Doctor gave us more stories as Tom Baker agreed to reprise his role in the Big Finish series. Hearing them together again is a pure joy.

For many she is the best companion ever to grace the show and Louise is such a talented actress I could watch her forever.

To think that in 2011 we would witness not only the fourth Doctor and Leela returning to new adventures but some sequels to their original televised stories, I would never have believed them.

I met Louise finally at a comic con in Belfast and we spent quite a while just chatting about the show and life in Northern Ireland. The fact she was interested in more than just signing autographs just showed me the wait to meet her was worth the wait. An amazing lady that is genuinely loved by fandom. I also Remember Tenko and her role in EastEnders which was tragivcally cut short.

There is a timeless, magical quality about this era, filled with images that have stayed with viewers for years. If these new adventures are half as gothic and classic as their old ones then this will be one very happy man. And if I’m going to follow anyone into danger, it’ll be the lady with the Janus thorns and killer instincts that I’ll be following. Girl power never looked so good.

Doctor Who The First Sontarans

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Remember that moment in the Predators trailer when Adrian Brody was targeted by dozens of predators’ red triangles and it never appeared in the movie? Well, that’s how I feel about the title of this story featuring the sixth Doctor and Peri (Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant). Such a title suggests strongly that this will be Genesis of the Daleks for the potato-headed soldiers that have been updated for the twenty first century for the tenth and eleventh Doctors.

The Doctor and Peri find a transmitter on the surface of the moon in the year 1872 that keeps saying ‘We are here’. Landing in London, the Doctor is recognized as a time Lord, but who exactly knows him? By the end of the first episode he finds himself in a prison cell face-to-face against a Sontaran. This Sontaran is voiced by Dan Starkey, who has appeared on screen in all of the new Doctor’s encounters with the Sontarans, this  is a smart move, tying this into the new era. However, using the image of the poorly devised Sontarans from the Two Doctors isn’t so smart. In that story they were super tall and military buffoons, like something out of the Carry On movies, completely out of character for this species that first appeared in the Jon Pertwee era that had cemented themselves as dwarf-like aliens.

It turns out that the Sontarans are in fact being dissected by a husband and wife team, part of the Kaveech, a race that has developed a weapon that is Sontaran specific. Making them ex-partners is a nice twist, as the wife, Leandra, blaming her husband, Meredit, for the death of their children, is exactly what I’m looking for in a character. This gives them an identifiable connection with the audience and something I applaud. The Doctor’s horror is well founded but I must admit that I was bored by the end of the second episode. Although the actors give their all, the story lacked direction, but then everything spins out of control and the reason for the title , The First Sontarans, is revealed. This fills in the Sontaran background nicely; adding a new dimension to them, which is what a returning alien should do in a story.

Add to that the return of the jellyfish Rutans and the story suddenly takes off in a new direction. And, as a monster, the Rutans are always welcome back with their strange other-worldly sound effects that were last heard on screen in the Fourth Doctor story Horror of Fang Rock.

The Doctor and Peri have the relationship they should have had on the show, good friends that bounce off each other well, and the entire cast is excellent. I wonder if this story could have benefitted from a slight trimming of episodes. Nevertheless, by the end of the story I felt the Sontarans had been complimented well in this adventure and I had listened to something different akin to a twenty first century upgrade.

How The Timeless Children Completely Screws Doctor Who

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

copyright Owen Quinn

‘Be afraid Doctor because everything’s about to change!’

The Master’s chilling warning should really be directed to the audience. These words certainly do not prepare anyone for the revelations to come which would change, no shatter, the Doctor Who landscape forever. The problem is that the choices of writer and head honcho Chris Chibnall made in writing this story, single handedly wiped out the entire history of the show.

Reboots and resets are nothing new for example when the seventh Doctor in the 25th anniversary season declared to Davros in Remembrance of the Daleks that he was more than just a Time Lord. Lady Peinforte knew the Doctor’s secrets; secrets of the Old Time, the Time of Chaos. It thankfully restored the phrase Doctor Who? just as the 50th anniversary did with the Name of the Doctor when faced with the Great Intelligence. Indeed discovering a secret part of the Doctor’s life via the reveal of the War Doctor was nothing short of brilliant. It worked perfectly utilising existing parts of Who history like the Tenth Doctor’s regeneration in Journey’s End into himself. Its logic fitted in seamlessly with the history we knew demonstrating great planned storytelling. However, this doesn’t apply so much for The Timeless Children which only served to undermine everything we ever knew and shoehorning things in.

It also made every single emotional investment we as an audience have made meaningless. The lonely traveller from Gallifrey that ran away, the proverbial mad man in a box was made nothing more than a God. Such a fundamental change in the lead character literally makes no sense along with the overall story itself. The episode reflects the jarring cliché inconsistencies that undermine the character of the Doctor itself. Listen, with a show like Doctor Who that has a huge tapestry of story telling there is of course going to be inconsistencies and contradictions which we as fans love to try and connect to what we know.

I wrote an article once asking why the Doctor began to regenerate at Lake Silencio when he was shot to death by the Impossible Astronaut when he was in fact the last incarnation. In the Time of the Doctor he was only saved from death by another wave of regeneration energy from the Time Lords due to the desperate pleas of Clara Oswald. Now after the Timeless Children we the audience now know that the Doctor was going to survive after all because he is the Timeless Child. The Doctor is now immortal. The danger is gone. We no longer need to root for the Doctor because the Doctor will always survive.

That contradicts the death of the Tenth Doctor in 2008’s classic Donna Noble showcase Turn Left. The agonising of both the Twelfth and First Doctors about not wanting to regenerate in Twice Upon A Time means nothing. Now we as an audience look at it and think what a great story but they’re going to regenerate no matter what so the angst is empty. Add to that the Third Doctor sacrificing himself to stop the giant spiders of Metebelis 3, the Fourth dying to save the universe and the Fifth giving his own life to save Peri from spectrox poisoning are all now empty. The Fifth Doctor believed there was a chance he would not survive this time and that death would take him. Handy salvation thanks to regeneration was not guaranteed but with the Timeless Children it actually is. No matter how the Doctor dies he/she will always come back to life.

copyright Owen Quinn

All that beautiful build up about being such a lonely child, not fitting in which was highlighted in such episodes such as The Girl in the Fireplace (Madame Pompadour’s touching speech) and Clara being transported to the Doctor’s childhood where she sees first hand his loneliness and how he is treated. Now I know everyone has a story and an unhappy childhood is not a unique thing but it is vital to the overall story of the Doctor and why he/she is the way he/she is. The Doctor never fitted in and is forever always running away from the people he saw as complicit in allowing evil to run wild in the universe. Now however we know he/she spawned the entire Time Lord race and culture. His very DNA runs through every Time Lord that has ever existed.

The Doctor has always been the outsider. Now the reveal of the Timeless Children that the Doctor is not even from Gallifrey and has never been a true Time Lord is too much of a break.

Now we are to believe that the Gallifreyan Shobogan scientist Tecteun discovered this alien child near a mysterious portal whom she subsequently discovered had the power to regenerate their body. After decades of research Tecteun used that ability to create the Time Lord society we know today limiting the number of regenerations to thirteen.

So how does this fit in with the Shobogans from the 1978 Fourth Doctor story the Invasion of Time, Leela and K9 mark one’s swan song. The Shobogans there were Time Lords that rejected the Time Lord society that also included those deliberately exiled by the arrogant Time Lords. It is this method of exile that allows the Fourth Doctor to save companion Leela as he knew she would fit in perfectly with them protecting her from the Sontarans.

Yet when we reach the Timeless Children the Master has murdered every last person on Gallifrey. The dialogue indicates this is only the Citadel. What about the Shobogan tribes in the wastelands? Indeed we saw families living outside the Citadel in the Twelfth Doctor story Hell Bent. What about them? What about other places like Arcadia? Has Gallifrey suddenly been reduced to one Citadel?  What about those citizens that do not possess the regeneration gene? Are they dead too?

This lack of attention to detail reflects the shoe horning writing here in open disregard to the show’s history. A hidden unexplored history should be exciting and speculative but sadly the Timeless Children make it a frustration in blatant ignorance of what has gone before.

So what are just some of those things ignored for the sake of making you think the Timeless Children is a good and valid reboot and explanation of the Doctor?

I might note that we don’t really need an explanation at all. Mysterious origins install a character with a drive we as an audience love because we all devour a mystery. We prefer nibbles of a mystery rather than the full plate because very often it leaves us unfulfilled. Part of a writer’s success is leaving things to the audience’s imagination as it sucks them right in to the story. As I say, evil does not need an explanation hence why the Rob Zombie Halloween movies don’t work. Showing us Michael Myers felt the wrath of his mother’s abusive boyfriend and that he killed a school bully serves to dilute Michael Myers just as the Timeless Children dilutes the Doctor. Indeed that is an insult to all other kids who have been in an abusive situation and survived to be strong positive people in the world. Yes there are other factors but why is this part of the psyche of Myers? However that’s studio interference for you; generic stereotype rather than logic and hope. We don’t need to know why Michael kills. He is much scarier as a relentless silent killer who never stops. His presence is enough explanation for us. Similarly the time traveller with no origin is more delicious. We grabbed at the moment the Second Doctor told Victoria about his family. We gasped when questioned about Gallifrey the Ninth Doctor simply turned his head eyes full of tears. No words, just our imaginations doing the job for us.

copyright Owen Quinn

We have seen how regeneration energy can be powerful enough to destroy a Tardis to the point the ship has to repair itself. Indeed at Trenzalore it was enough to wipe out the Daleks and the entire planet surface. Yet in the Timeless Children a Cyberman can regenerate without so much as a scratch to its armour. Add to that when a Time Lord dies as we saw in Turn Left the body is just decaying flesh. Yet the Master has murdered all Time Lords and used their cold dead bodies for Cyberman parts. Fusing their lifeless flesh into cyber suits apparently allows them to regenerate once again…

.Come on!! Use a bit if sense. This ignoring of established fact reminds me of the short story in the 20th anniversary magazine called Birth of a Renegade.

In that we learned that Susan was not the Doctor’s real granddaughter but a direct descendant of Rassilon. The Master along with the Cybermen wanted her for his own machinations. Part of the alliance was that the Master has promised the Cybermen time travel and become rulers of time. Coincidence?

Where does Rassilon and Omega fit in to Time Lord history now? Together they harnessed the power of a black hole to give Time Lords the power of time travel. Indeed Omega was thought to have died in the attempt but ended up going mad in an antimatter universe returning years later to reclaim his home twice. Was this after Tecteun or a result of her actions? Why is Tecteun not held in the same reverence as Rassilon and Omega?

The Division had an endless resource in the form of a being that could endlessly regenerate and be used for the most dangerous missions as there was no risk. That was until the Doctor rebelled and left hiding herself on Earth in the form of tour guide Ruth. Yet even that dodgy premise, did the Division really fall with the death of Gat? Would they really allow Doctor Ruth to escape so easily? What happened then between that and the First Doctor going on th run with his granddaughter? With the introduction of the CIA, Celestial Intervention Agency they from time to time used the Doctor to sort a few things out for example the second Doctor in the Two Doctors and the Fourth Doctor in the Brain of Morbius.

Speaking of Morbius this is another example of the past being twisted to fit the Timeless Children. In the famous mind battle between Morbius and the Fourth Doctor, we see faces of the first three Doctors and others. For years fans have speculated those other faces may be other incarnations of the Doctor. The reality is it is Morbius’ previous incarnations in the form of production staff dressed up in costumes. Here when the clip is shown in the section where the Thirteenth Doctor floods the Matrix with her memories to escape it, it is clearly a hint that those faces were other Doctors like Ruth. So now we have an endless number of Doctors roaming space and time. Clive in the episode Rose must have missed all those other ones and he seemed a very thorough guy when it came to researching the Doctor and his blue police box.

Just at the mention of the Tardis this in itself is another disregard to the past. Ruth’s Tardis is a police box which shocks the Thirteenth Doctor.

Now a wiped memory would work if it hadn’t been for another character; the character of Susan. It is clearly established in the Dead Planet, the first episode of the initial Dalek story, that the Tardis became a police box because it landed in 1963. A Tardis changes shape to blend in with its surroundings so when it lands on Skaro the Doctor is clearly surprised at this. Problem is, so is Susan who has been with her grandfather for some time and clearly cannot understand why the Tardis won’t blend in any more. Are we to believe that Susan is mistaken? Is it even the same Tardis that Ruth had? Was the First Doctor influenced by a repressed memory to make his Tardis become a police box because something in him missed it?

I don’t think so.

After all the effort of the Time War, bringing back Gallifrey, redeeming the War Doctor only to have it all wiped away by the Master seems to be a smack in the face to everything that has come before. I understand reboots and resets but this one fails spectacularly because it takes only what it wants to make it fit. All the points above are ignored.

Perhaps the biggest one is the death of the Doctor at Trenzalore. In the Name of the Doctor we see his tomb. The Doctor explains all his travels are like a scar across time and space. The problem is if it truly is all the Doctor’s travels then Clara failed in her mission and it didn’t make sense. Both Clara and the Great Intelligence entered the Doctor’s timeline and yet were limited to only the ones we know. Wiped memories or not this tomb is in fact a trail of all the Doctor’s travels which cannot be wiped or premeasured. You cannot erase where you have been especially if you’re a time traveller. We know the other Doctors like Ruth time travelled. Brendan the Irish Garda didn’t but Ruth did so therefore her travels have to be part of the scar. So why aren’t they? The Doctor should not be alive because his/her entire timeline has not been saved. Add to that Clara states she has seen all the Doctor’s faces except for the War Doctor who wasn’t there. Again Ruth should be there in his subconscious. It triggers hidden memories in the Thirteenth Doctor when faced with the Master’s revelations. This is proof positive that Ruth is part of the Doctor’s mind.

The Timeless Children should have been an event as big as the Avenger’s Infinity War for the Doctor. Instead it became a damp squib that trips on its own attempt to reset things. Hopefully someone will come up with a story where these events are reversed and it isn’t the Doctor after all.

But until that happens the acclaimed trumpet that everything is about to change will remain the sad thud of the final nail in Doctor Who’s coffin.

The Mandalorian Chapter 14

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

SPOILERS

copyright Owen Quinn

To be honest I haven’t been enamoured by the Mandalorian like the rest of the world seems to have been. This opens some interesting discussions between myself and my buddy Stephen who loves it. Before you say it, I’ve bought my giant Funko Child figure, a Mando T shirt and I’m getting some action figures from Santa. For me, it’s been pretty weak but I still watch it hoping for that magic moment that will finally convert me.

Guess what?

I’m finally converted. We have progressed beyond the mere sprinkling Star Wars references and characters to cover up weak stories just as in the Tremors episode with the giant worm. Yes you R5D4.

But here we go. We finally have the answer to much fan speculation in an episode that is so quiet in its undertones that it screams classic.

We learn that the armour the Mandalorian got in the Tremors episode belonged to Boba Fett and now he’s back to reclaim it. To be honest the reveal could have been done a lot better. When we see Slave flying through the atmosphere it was clear who was coming. However seeing the cloaked scarred figure threw us off. Could it be him or was it just someone in a similar ship?

But like Luke Skywalker pulling his hood back when confronted by Rey at the climax of The Force Awakens, the reveal of the face of Temuera Morrison confirms that Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc pit. This is referenced by a throwaway line of being left for dead in the desert.

But this episode rectifies what I always complain to Stephen about. Now the show is using the elements of the Star Wars universe we know so well and expanding upon them in an imaginative way. This now only adds new dimensions to the characters we know from the movies but does it for the better. Boba Fett as a skilled almost Ninja like warrior is a joy to watch. It wets the appetite for his return in full armour to take down the Imperial ships is a punch the air moment.

Add to that the capture of the Child and his tapping into the Force at the ruin on Corvus as well as the loss of the Mandalorian’s ship was gripping stuff packing a lot into the thirty minute episode. It pushes the story forward as Moff Gideon has the Child in his clutches and his intentions are far from pleasant.

We know Thrawn is out there and things are bleak. If I were to rate this episode it would be on the Empire Strikes Back score. Things look hopeless so just how are they going to resolve it all?

I for one can’t wait to see.

TW remembers Quatermass and the Pit

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

copyright Hammer

Hammer Horror tackled every story possible to scare the life out us and in 1967 they ventured into science fiction territory and brought Professor Bernard Quatermass to the big screen. It was a perfect mix for Hammer as it incorporated elements of black magic and science fiction…

In Hob’s Lane, the old name for the Devil, a skull and skeleton are found, both of which predate human history. But when a strange craft is also unearthed Quatermass is called in. This craft defies all known attempts to open it and strange markings are found which form pentagrams. Further investigations reveal that the entire area is riddled with stories of ghosts and strange happenings. Claw marks are found on walls and the locals are wary of the place. The remains turn out to be both a primitive human skull and the body of an insect-like alien, aliens that may have a bigger connection to humanity than was first thought.

Quartermass links a volunteer to a machine which shows images of the aliens in full force as they cleanse Martian hives of any of their species that doesn’t fit the society anymore via mass slaughter. It turns out they took primitive humans from the Earth and augmented them to better serve their species. Hampered by the military and the government, Quatermass knows this thing is dangerous but is powerless to stop a press conference in the cavern where the ship was found which results in a new Martian cleansing as psychic energy floods the area, turning humans into killers and tears the area to the ground. As the image of the Devil himself rears above London, people start killing and Quatermass falls victim to the mass hysteria, can anyone save the planet?

This was originally a radio broadcast series written by Nigel Kneale and was part of a trilogy that included the Quatermass Experiment and Quatermass 2. Here, the aliens are part of our legends of black magic, the Devil and poltergeists. People report sightings of ghosts and goblins and the impact on their mental stability is well played through two scenes, one featuring a sweating policeman in a haunted house from which the previous family fled and a workman who witnesses the creatures for himself. This combination of black magic and aliens has been used to great effect in Doctor Who – most notably, Image of the Fendahl, The Daemons, which remains one of the most loved Who stories and The Awakening. Each uses the premise that human evolution has been interfered with by alien intervention leading to our myths and legends about the Devil. But instead of the Doctor, Bernard Quatermass is left to fight the battle against a force that uses our primal fears as a weapon to manifest into an unstoppable psychic force.

In the climatic scene where the full power of the alien ship is unleashed and the mass murders begin, Hammer went all out and the results are electrifying. Whole streets begin to crumble as buildings are torn down, the streets split apart as something forces itself up from below. Fierce winds storm through the city as hapless victims are torn apart on the streets by blank faced crowds who stand amid the burning landscape. The city is descending into meltdown and no-one can stand against the psychic force as it compels murder and destruction to pave the way for a new Martian colony. And then, from nowhere, a giant image of the Devil himself appears in the sky. Hell itself is rising.

In reality it was one of the horned Martian creatures, manifesting itself a new body from the chaos of the mental energy it had released through the populace. These images stand the test of time and remain some of Hammer’s most iconic. The huge ghostly white Martian creature blankly gazing over its new realm scared the life out of me as a child and the movie does a great job of meshing ghost stories with the alien culture. And given this alien threat cannot be harmed physically as it exists as an invisible force only serves to make the audience believe that there is no hope, no salvation. And with Quatermass affected, Hell on Earth has really arrived. The salvation lay in our own myths that iron was a defence against supernatural forces, something also used in the Daemons, and the scientist character, Doctor Roney, a friend of Quatermass’s and the only one who believes that he is right, climbs a crane and swings it into the Devil, short circuiting it and cancelling out its power.

Andrew Kier played the good professor but didn’t really enjoy this movie as he believed director Roy Ward Baker, known for his experience with technically demanding movies such as A Night to Remember, had wanted actor Kenneth Baker for the role. This was something Roy later denied, claiming Kenneth Baker would not be suitable for the role of Quatermass, praising Kier’s performance. Kier, who had also appeared as a rebel leader Tyler in the Peter Cushing big screen adaption of Dalek Invasion of Earth, played the role with fervour and conviction making him the perfect choice. Other cast members included Barbara Shelley who later appeared in Planet of Fire, a fifth Doctor story and Julian Glover who would also appear twice in Doctor Who and go on to not only Star Wars but Indiana Jones and, more recently, Game of Thrones.

This movie was also filmed at MGM in Borehamwood – where they now film EastEnders – instead of the usual Associated British Studios, but this was down to lack of space at the time. Quatermass and the Pit received good reviews and was successful enough to warrant Hammer announcing a second Quatermass movie but this was never to materialize. This is a classic movie quite rightly regarded as a gem in the Hammer crown and, as a footnote, the character of Quatermass would become part of Doctor Who lore when he’s mentioned by name in the story Remembrance of the Daleks starring Sylvester McCoy.

The Time Warriors Aliens: The Lothari

‘Your pain is their pain.’

Soul Scream: Book 2 The Voalox Horror

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

all photos copyright Owen Quinn

Offering the Juggernaught’s assistance to an alien colony the Time Warriors discover a cover up. Jacke is suffering from crippling nightmares, Michael faces a bully and Tyran plays with fire. Varran plays a battle of wits with the Morda leader Veloras. While the deadline approaches and the Mordans prepare to leave the new colonists behind a secret is revealed; a secret that will reveal Jacke’s past. The angels are coming. When they finish there won’t be a child left on the colony.

In The Time Warriors book 2 The Voalox Horror is a story that is one of Jacke’s landmark stories. That story is Soul Scream.

Varran has discovered an alien colony being set up and offers his assistance so he can learn more about the space neighbouring Earth. Using the jump engine drive given to them by the Etherians, Varran takes the entire Juggernaught to the colony world.

Their offer of help is accepted by Citizen Veloras, leader of the installation of the Mordan colony. But Jacke is being plagued by nightmares. Some dark figure pursues her to the point it is affecting her health.

Despite the happy feeling shown by the Mordans the Time Warriors are not convinced all is well. They are right to be. The angels are secretly visiting the children and whispering sweet promises to them.

By the time the Warriors discover the colony is in fact a colony of exiles the angels arrive en masse taking all the children. Why exactly they do this I won’t reveal here (you have to read the book) but Jacke finds her past catching up to her. What could possibly link Jacke and alien children from another world? It’s a secret that Citizen Veloras is ready to kill to keep from public knowledge.

When I wrote Soul Scream it was while I was still a teenager. I always envisioned them as humanoid butterflies. I have always loved butterflies and their beautiful colours. They also have spirituality about them carrying the souls of those we have lost. When they appear it is a sign that those we have lost are saying hello. So choosing them as the aliens for this story was an easy choice for me. Indeed while researching this article I discovered that there is in fact an organisation called Butterfly Angels that support families who have lost a child. You only read these words but let me tell you, I have just had to catch my breath at learning that. I honestly didn’t know that and now Soul Scream is a beautiful story whose themes have now grown even closer to my heart.

‘The tall salamander like creature flexed its wings threateningly at them, snarling, its baby face creased with anger. It moved in front of the children who were walking into the light, their faces filled with joy.’

The Lothari are in fact good guys and protecting the children. They can sense the fear in a child across the dimensions like a spider can sense a fly trapped in one of its web strands. They cannot stand by and let the children suffer no matter the species so they take them to safety in their own dimension. They had to be graceful in design especially for the children to think they were angels of some type.

Little did I know until years later when watching the Sightings TV show that there was in fact a report of real life Butterfly People protecting children in 2011. After a tornado that struck the town of Joplin, Missouri, children told stories of the Butterfly People that protected them from the tornado. One family told of how one of the Butterfly People put its body across a hole ripped in the ceiling to prevent any debris getting through or anyone of them sucked up through the gap. There were even reports of the Butterfly People carrying off those close to death to the afterlife.

Science fiction and fantasy is a wonderful genre that is easily dismissed by many. But when you see things like this you have to wonder. Soul Scream is an important story written to show those individuals suffering in silence that there is always someone else somewhere that understands your pain. It’s a lesson that there is someone hearing you even if you don’t realise it and can offer a helping hand. Soul Scream for me is a message of hope that there really are guardian angels in the universe; that there are still good people in the world that can show you the true meaning of love and family.

To say I’m proud of this story is an understatement given what I have learned today. I’m happy to share.