Heroes of Doctor Who: Amy & Rory Pond

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Amy and Rory Pond are the longest serving companions of the new era of Doctor Who. And their journey has been unlike any experienced before by any other person to travel in the Tardis.

Young Amelia Pond lived with her aunt and was haunted by voices in the night that came from a crack in her wall. She prayed for someone to come help her and, on cue, a flaming Tardis with a newly regenerated eleventh Doctor crashed on her doorstep. Together they discovered a new found love for fish fingers and custard.

At first the Doctor couldn’t control the Tardis and he arrived back years in the future where Amy was all grown up, angry at having waited for him to come back. Even then, she saw the Doctor as a way out of her life and once Prisoner Zero had been defeated – the monster living in the crack in the wall – the Doctor disappeared on her again for another two years before coming back again to collect her. She cleared off with him without telling him her secret. She was running out on her groom to be the night before her wedding.

In the beginning, Amy was very obviously lusting after the Doctor and, in the most distasteful scene in the show, she threw herself on the bed seductively but the Doctor knew she confusedout and in came Rory Williams. Also first seen in the eleventh Doctor’s debut story, Rory found himself taken back to Venice to fight vampires and his dislike of how dangerous the Doctor was to normal people was never hidden.

He loved Amy from she was a child, as seen in Let’s Kill Hitler, but she thought he was gay until her error was pointed out by her daughter Melody, in the guise of Mels in the same episode. Rory joined them mid way through Matt Smith’s first season and, in Amy’s Choice, the Dreamlord’s twin reality trap makes Amy realize that Rory really is her true love when he is killed. And that became Rory’s trademark.

The man that dies again and again but keeps coming back to life. He dies in May’s Choice and is murdered by the Silurians in Cold Blood before being wiped from existence and Amy’s memories by a crack in time, a crack that would be revealed as the result of an exploding Tardis as seen in the Big Bang. But the other thing that makes Rory and Amy unique is their love for each other that not even the universe could stop.

Somehow Rory is reanimated as an Auton replicant in the guise of a Roman soldier. When he is activated his love for Amy stops him converting to a full Auton but is unable to stop himself killing her by shooting her in the stomach. He spends the next two thousand years protecting her inside the Pandorica, a prison designed by the Doctor’s enemies to keep him from destroying the universe but becomes the only thing keeping Amy alive until she emerges in the 21st century with her younger self as the universe is collapsing. Confused yet?

It turns out she was exposed to time energy for years by the crack in her bedroom wall which allows her to see beyond changing timelines, something which is further seen in The Wedding of River Song when she remembers two realities; one where the Doctor is murdered at Lake Silencio and one where he isn’t. She has an office on a train covered in drawings of recalled adventures and even Rory is still in her memory. Only Amy remembers the universe as it was and was able to restore it when the Doctor sacrifices himself to reboot creation itself. And it is at her wedding that she is able to recall the doctor and bring him back from the dead.

For years she had told stories of her Doctor, the raggedy man, her imaginary friend and no one believed her. Until he turned up in the Tardis at her wedding on the dance floor. They told their families they were travelling Thailand when they both took full time positions in the Tardis. However their darkest hour was to come when at the end of The Almost People Amy was revealed to be a flesh avatar and the real one was being held prisoner in Demon’s Run by Madame K ovarian and her army. Rory had become a legend in history as the Last Centurion who had guarded his lost love in the Pandorica and in A Good Man Goes to War, the centurion comes back to face down the Cybermen as the Doctor gathers his team to storm Demon’s Run and rescue Amy and his baby Melody.

However, Amy’s exposure to the crack and her time travelling in the Tardis had left her baby part human and part Time Lord. And the trap had been set. The baby was successfully stolen and raised as the perfect weapon to kill the Doctor, a weapon that went by the name of River Song, the mystery woman that had helped them at various points in the series but always keeping her real identity a secret. When she revealed herself to be Amy and Rory’s daughter it was one of the highlights of the entire series.

Life with the Doctor had brought them pain as they lost their daughter and as we later discover, the experiments on Demon’ s Run left Amy infertile leading her to give Rory up and sign divorce papers. But, as usual, life with the Doctor showed their love was eternal and as they are trapped in the Asylum of the Daleks, Amy and Rory reunite.

They were also the first companions to be left behind to live a normal life and keep being visited by the Doctor again and again for adventures. As he tells Amy in The Power of Three, she and Rory were the first ones he met when he regenerated and they had burned themselves into his hearts. He is running towards them before they fade from his life just as he does with all the wonders in the universe. They are more a part of him than any other people he has met, especially when they become his mother and father-in-law when the Doctor has to marry River to bring history back on track with his death at Silencio. And they are the first to have sex on the Tardis.

It seems fitting that their final adventure in the Angels Take Manhattan that it is their love for each other that becomes the crux of the story. When Rory begs Amy to let him fall to his death to prevent the Angel farm from ever having existing, the viewer’s heart is breaking because these two are bonded together forever so when they commit suicide by throwing themselves off the top of the building, that beautiful slow motion shot of them in each other’s arms is the stuff of Greek tragedy.

However, with that timeline wiped, they all find themselves in a graveyard where the final heartbreaking irony happens. A lone Angel has survived and sends Rory back in time where no-one can help him, not even the Doctor. He is lost to them forever and Amy, as she chose in Amy’s Choice, knows her world is not worth living without Rory; that he is her world and the second she gives herself to the Angel to be with her husband as the Doctor screams in despair is so sudden and shocking that the only consolation the Doctor can give himself is that they are together and live a long life with one another.

Their journey is now ended, a journey that has left them in the past where all they have is each other. But in the end, take away the Doctor, the Tardis and all their adventures, and each other was all they ever needed.

The greatest love story ever told.

TW presents Defrost written by Laurence Doherty

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Here at the Time Warriors, not only is it a vehicle to promote the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues book series but it also stands for all the other writers, actors, model makers, filmmakers and artists like me who are trying to make it. We do what we do because it’s part of us and trust me it’s not an easy journey.

Laurence Doherty is an extra, director but more prominently a writer whose latest feature Defrost is now doing the rounds at film festivals.

Defrost synopsis: After the death of Anne; a loving mother to Hazel and a devoted wife to Ted, Ted and Hazel find themselves drifting apart and Hazel feels like she is drowning in her Dad’s apathy. Unable to turn to Anne for help, Ted and Hazel are frozen beneath the surface of a fracturing family.

The heart of any good story has to be a human element which the audience can relate to. Identification like this is the hook that will transport the audience into your story which will help cement the events and characters into their minds. If an audience takes away a piece of your story away with them then that for me is a success.

For more information on Defrost’s cast and crew, check out the IDMb page by clicking on this link https://m.imdb.com/title/tt12723964/?fbclid=IwAR2R37iF6jzyU-Wz1GncIF7_NFt50AGcTiZ8aWGUbPqMCOj6TlaHBRp1Uig

The Time Warriors :The Mentara: A Lesson in Arachnophobia

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

copyright Owen Quinn Artist Stephen Mooney

Buy your copy here on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Warriors-Belbridge-Mystery/dp/B08KHGDZLK/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=owen+quinn&qid=1607287778&sr=8-2

From the get go when I first thought of worthy monsters and villains for the Time Warriors from the tender age of fifteen, I always knew the arachnoid Mentara were going to be the big bads.

When creating on a new villain part of what you think of is what scares people. What could potentially make people sit up and notice? What facets of your creation will burn themselves into an audience’s mind?

For me personally spiders do not annoy me in the slightest. I remember going into my back garden one morning to photograph some spider webs. To my amazement there were at least ten species of spiders living outside my back door. For some people that would freak them out to the point thy may never hang the washing out again. It only served to remind me that I had made the right decision in going with an arachnoid species.

But it had to be more than that to make them memorable. I have always loved giant spiders in television and movies so knew I had to honour that love of mine.

I decided the Mentara would hail from the planet Mentar. They would be the size of race horses and be centaur like in body shape. Rather than eight segmented legs their bulbous hairy bulks would be carried by six. Powerfully muscled they would have an additional set of arms to assit in the harvesting. They would retain their bulbous tarantula bodies but have a humanoid torso attached to the front. This would allow them to speak and interact with characters.

Imagine you’re standing on a empty motorway. The horizon is a curtain of shimmering hazy heat. From that curtain gallops a tarantula the size of a racehorse right towards you. It wields a mace or a weapon intent on braining you down. You are going to freak out right there. Your mind will try to reason it out as your body screams at you to run. The arachnoid appearance automatically brings a wave of terror to millions of people so imagine a group of Mentara in your street rounding helpless humans up for harvest.

Over the horizon come their scoop ships that reflect the Mentara appearance. Large circular craft in steel grey that have girders like spider legs folded beneath them. Shafts of purple light sweep down across the streets, scooping up humans like a hoover while the Mentara ground troops use their net guns to take down any stragglers. Their very appearance is enough to cause terror and confusion. Armies will be swept away beneath their might leaving them triumphant.

But that would be too easy.

What if I gave them limited time travel capability? Somehow they have stolen it from somewhere and don’t know quite how to use it.

Therefore their trips through time would be limited; confined to certain points in history. Thanks to things like Star Wars, Star Trek and the likes it’s really hard to come up with an unique alien that can make an impact but when I had realised the Mentara in my head, I immediately thought they’d make a great action figure lol. Well, they do.

but trying to describe them to someone is hard. Racehorse sized centaur tarantulas with 4 arms seems pretty straight forward but only one man has come close to what I see in my head. So I commissioned him to do the cover for the Belbridge Mystery. Stephen Mooney is a local artist and gets the stories which is all I can ask. Below are his concept drawings for the Mentara; mace wielding Mentar and scythe Mentara. A couple of these concepts I integrated into the actual story.

Copyright Owen Quinn drawn and designed by Stephen Mooney

In the first Time Warriors book First Footsteps (available to buy here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Warriors-First-Footsteps/dp/1461080894/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=owen+quinn+first+footsteps&qid=1607285503&sr=8-1)

In the story Infinity Web, something is causing ripples through time almost breaking down the barriers between realities. it turns out a Mentara scoop ship is causing it with an unstable time drive. Caught in a hopeless battle both ships are drawn into a pocket prison dimension. Here the Warriors are split up into scenarios designed to break their minds allowing the resident alien parasites to possess their bodies and escape their prison. Jacke is trapped alone on an alien world with her childhood imaginary friend where she faces a lone Mentara. Tyran finds herself in a future where Mihl is leader of a band of rebels but has formed an alliance with the Mentara in exchange for his freedom. Tyran is the first to see the Tir in action; wood lice like creatures that burrow into their victims and attach themselves to the brain. Their bodies split the skull with their their armoured backs protruding. Their victims are willing slaves which serve the Mentara. In the latest story the Belbridge Mystery we learn the Tir are desert rodents that are poisonous to the Mentara and digest their victims once implanted into their bodies.

Only by breaking the illusion do they all escape but the fate of the Mentara ship is not explained.

It isn’t until Summer’s End in book three entitled Red Water do we meet the hungry arachnids again. (buy here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Warriors-Red-Water-Book/dp/1463594275/ref=sr_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=owen+quinn&qid=1607286666&sr=8-11)

This time we discover the Mentara have been visiting one point in time for some years now. It is a Celtic village celebrating the annual Summer’s End festivals. It’s Halloween and what better to scare the children than demons in the shape of giant spiders? At some point the Mentara have managed to implant a monolith in the village which emits a mind control signal at Summer’s End, allowing them to subdue the villagers and make the harvest easier. The Time Warriors meet a group of druids who protect the village and when the sacred Shield of Scathach fails the Mentara launch their attack. Varrn manages to fly through the Mentara dimensional portal and destroy their centre of operations for the Summer’s End harvestings.

Capturing one surviving Mentara Varran keeps it prisoner on the Juggernaught starving it of all human flesh and blood. Carrying out tests he discovers the Mentara secret behind the harvests. In his fury he lets the Mentara die much to the disgust of Tyran.

In the Time Warriors book The Moon Once More and other stories history distorts in Twisted. Jacke and Michael end up in a future where the Xereban existence has been revealed. they have been taken into camps, the Juggernaught lies a stripped wreck in Hyde Park and Varran is apparently working with the enemy. General Castle leads the forces keeping the populace in hains and has made a deal with the Mentara. He will receive technology beyond his imagination if he hands over millions of Xereban people for the harvesting. Can Jacke and Michael restore the timeline with the help of a nest of rebels who blame them for everything?

The threads of Summer’s End play out in the latest book The Belbridge Mystery where we finally get to the Mentara homeworld where nothing is what Varran expected. They face off against the leader of the Mentara, General Cade. Cade and his father brought their species back from extinction through a literal gift from the gods. If a Mentara warrior is Spider-man then General Cade is Venom. Bigger, broader and more powerful than any Mentara alive he is ruthless in protecting his father’s legacy and keeping his people alive. Who are the Butchers of Carden? Who are the Nasgul? No matter what, the Time Warriors will never be the same again after this one.

Buy the Time Warriors the Belbridge Mystery now on Amazon by clicking on https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Warriors-Belbridge-Mystery/dp/B08KHGDZLK/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=owen+quinn&qid=1607287778&sr=8-2

Belfast Girls author Gerry McCullough

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Gerry McCullough, born and brought up in North Belfast, is an award winning short story writer, with a distinguished reputation. She has had around sixty short stories published, broadcast, or collected in anthologies. In 2005 her story Primroses won the Cuirt Award (Galway Arts Festival) and she has won, been short listed, and been commended in a number of other literary competitions since.

Gerry lives in Conlig just outside Bangor. She is married to singer-songwriter, writer and radio presenter Raymond McCullough, and has four children.

Gerry’s first novel, Belfast Girls, published by Precious Oil Publications, is a #1 bestseller on paid UK Kindle. Danger Danger, her second Irish romantic thriller, is fast catching up on Belfast Girls, as is her collection of 12 Irish short stories, The Seanachie: Tales of Old Seamus. Her new book Angel in Flight, featuring Angel Murphy, the new Lara Croft, described as ‘a feisty wee Belfast girl’, was published in June 2012. Gerry’s plan is that this new book will be the first of a series about Angel, the strong-minded Belfast Girl.

Now Precious Oil Publications has published a new venture – a YA Time Travel adventure, Lady Molly & The Snapper. This is a very different field for Gerry, who hopes that a younger audience will enjoy her writing just as much.

Being a Writer.

The other day, as I travelled on a bus to Bangor to do some shopping, I noticed a man sitting in front of me reading something on his Kindle. Presently a woman got on. She apparently knew him, for she sat down beside him and they started chatting.

‘What’re you reading?’ she asked after a few minutes.

‘Oh, it’s a book called Belfast Girls,’ he said. ‘By a local writer. You should read it, it’s very good.’

It isn’t the first time I’ve met someone who has recognised me as the author of Belfast Girls or has heard of the book. But it’s still an enormous thrill.

Not many years ago, the idea of someone reading a Kindle on the bus would have been unheard of. When Belfast Girls first came out, only two years ago, my family and friends expected it to appear in the local bookshops. They one and all, when buying it from Amazon, bought the paperback version. They had just about heard of Kindle.

But at a family gathering this past Christmas, nearly everyone in the room now had a Kindle and used it regularly. Moreover, most of them, when buying my second, third, fourth and fifth books, had at some point moved from paperback to Kindle, and had recommended the eBook version to many of their friends. How quickly life moves on!

I remember, about a dozen or more years ago, no one had a mobile phone. It was a pretty unheard of thing. But now, and for some time, those who don’t have one are the exceptions. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have a landline too. In the same way, a lot of people are now buying on Kindle – but they still buy paperbacks from time to time as well!

When I was first offered a publishing contract (not for Belfast Girls, but for a comic fantasy not yet published) the publisher intended to use the new Print On Demand system and sell through the Internet. I was worried and uncertain. How would it work?

In the end, I accepted the offer, but after six months, spent by me in hours of editing in line with this publisher’s suggestions, the agreement finally broke down. ‘Irreconcilable differences,’ I joked in explanation to those who asked. On the whole I was glad – the worries hadn’t gone away.

But when, a year or so later, Night Publishing, a small English Publishing House, offered to publish Belfast Girls, using Print On Demand and selling on the Internet, my views had changed dramatically. This was the year during which eBooks really began to take off. I hadn’t really understood, at that point. I still expected to sell mainly paperbacks. But by the end of the first year Belfast Girls had sold over 3,000 books, and the vast majority of these sales were eBooks. Three months later the book began to sell thousands per month, instead of per year. By this time I was fully aware of the eBook revolution!

By then I’d moved from Night Publishing for my second book, Danger Danger, and for my book of short stories, The Seanachie, to my husband’s newly set up publishing company, Precious Oil Publications, and in July of that year (2012) I transferred Belfast Girls to him as well. Shortly after this my next full length book, Angel in Flight: An Angel Murphy Thriller, came out, to be followed by my YA Time Travel Adventure, Lady Molly & The Snapper. Currently I’m working on the second Angel book (the plan is that this should be a series) to be called Angel in Belfast.

I’ve said, in my previous interview for this site, that I always wanted to be a writer. Included in that dream, I’ll now confess, was the expectation of making a lot of money and being recognised in the street.

Well, I’m a writer now, and neither of those things has exactly happened yet.

But the money is starting to come in – although in smaller amounts than I’d like!

And I saw a stranger on the bus reading and enjoying my first book!

It may not be the sort of fame and success that I’d dreamt of.

But, hey, it’s nice all the same! It’ll do me!

Links to my books.

www.amazon.co.uk/Lady-Molly-The-Snapper-ebook/dp/B00904MCMQ

www.amazon.com/Lady-Molly-The-Snapper-ebook/dp/B00904MCMQ

TW Talks to Legend Adrienne Barbeau

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Adrienne Jo Barbeau is an American actress and author best known for her roles in one-time husband John Carpenter’s horror films such as Someone’s Watching Me!, The Fog, Escape from New York, and The Thing, all John Carpenter-related projects. She has also worked with George A. Romero on Creepshow and Due occhi diabolici. Her work with other horror directors includes the Wes Craven comic book monster movie Swamp Thing. More recently she has become well known as the voice of Catwoman in Batman: The Animated series.

TW: How did you get into acting?

AB: My mother sort of prodded me to take ballet lessons when I was little and then voice lessons in the fifth grade, and by the time I was in high school, I was doing musicals with the San Jose Civic Light Opera, which was a very commercially successful community theatre organization in the San Francisco Bay area.

TW: You won universal acclaim as Rizzo in the stage musical version of Grease for which you also won a Theatre World Award. Do you like musicals?

AB: Not really. I’d much rather read a book than see a musical. There are a few I love doing (my first Broadway role was Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof and this past summer I did the show once again, this time playing Golde) and I love the score to Jesus Christ, Superstar and to Chess, but I’m not really a musical comedy fan.

TW: Maude was a huge success with Bea Arthur who would later go onto the Golden Girls. What are your fondest memories of your time on the show?

AB: It would be easier to answer what my least fond memories were – none. I loved doing Maude for the entire six years we were all together. They truly were my family – Conrad Bain, especially. He played Maude’s next door neighbor, Arthur. Connie just passed away a few weeks ago and I feel his loss deeply, as I do with Bea.

TW: It must be wonderful when an on screen relationship boils over into real life. What was Bea like to work with? She is a favourite in our house.

AB: Bea was the most giving actress I could ever hope to work with. All she cared about was making the show the best it could be; if that meant giving someone else the joke, she was the first person to suggest it. She was the ultimate professional. Always the first in the rehearsal hall and the last to leave. Knew her lines by the end of our first work day. And a warm, loving, funny, funny surrogate mom who could cook rings around the rest of us.

TW: You are to this day a sex symbol to millions. Are you comfortable with that?

AB: You know, the funny thing about that label is that I’ve probably only done two or three sex scenes in my career – and the first one was with a slimy green monster. But I don’t mind, not at all. As long as that’s not the only label they pin on me.

I’ve probably only done two or three sex scenes in my career – and the first one was with a slimy green monster

TW: You wrote your autobiography There Are Worse Things I Could Do which is very insightful. you come across as a very open and honest person. Are those qualities you respect in people?

AB: Oh yes. Communication is of the utmost importance to me. Probably why I don’t like texting. I want to hear the emotions in your voice, especially if I can’t see the expression on your face. And honesty is a given. I’m always stunned with astonishment at discovering someone I know might have lied. I tend not to know them for long after that.

TW: You were married to John Carpenter for a time and appeared in several of his movies. Which one holds the fondest memories for you?

AB: Oh boy, that’s a hard one. I love The Fog because I love the location where we filmed, and the entire cast and crew were like family. I love Escape because I love my character, Maggie, and I had such a good time with all the guys – Kurt, Donald Pleasance, Ernie Borgnine, Harry Dean, Isaac Hayes. And Someone’s Watching Me is the film on which I met John, so that’s special, too.

TW: John seems a very hands on director who brings out the best in his casts and knows exactly what he wants. Does it inspire actors when they watch a director like this at work?

AB: I guess it depends on the actor. I loved being directed by John; I’ve never heard one of his actors say otherwise.

TW: The Fog is one of my personal favourites ever, the remake was awful. Did you like the way Stevie’s storyline was a virtual standalone movie on its own? She was a strong lady who faced the pirates alone.

AB: I love Stevie, yes, definitely. I never really thought about the fact that she was all alone throughout the film, at least not at the time we were shooting. I just loved that she was willing to sacrifice so much to do her job and help save others.

TW: That sequence on top of the lighthouse was breathtaking. Was it a hard one to do?

AB: It was only hard in that I had to act the entire scene in reverse – to allow for the fact that they couldn’t make the fog evaporate on cue, they could only shoot it into the scene, not suck it out. It’s a lot easier to understand if you read the chapter in my book. I still get exhausted just trying to explain!

TW: You also did Escape from New York. When you were doing these movies did you realize they were classics?

AB: No. Not at all.

TW: Kurt Russell seems a very intense actor that has fun along the way. Is he a delight to work with?

AB: Kurt is definitely a delight. A great actor and a good, good guy. We don’t share the same political views, but that never stopped us from enjoying each other.

TW: You have also done voice work for Batman and other animated shows. Is that a harder genre as the performance lies in the vocalization rather than visuals?

AB: I don’t think it’s half as hard; it’s just pure fun. And I don’t have to put on make-up or stand out in the freezing cold at 3 a.m. in some flimsy costume or worry about what my hair looks like! Who could ask for a better gig?

Kurt is definitely a delight. A great actor and a good, good guy. We don’t share the same political views, but that never stopped us from enjoying each other

TW: Did that lead to the computer game characters? Are you a games fan?

AB: No, I’m not a gamer, but I love the way my stock went up with my older son, Cody Carpenter, who’s been playing games for 25 years, and my almost 16 year olds, who love them, too. Of course, they play FIFA most of the time, but they’re still impressed that mom is ‘in’ Halo 4 and God of War and some of the others.

TW: In Star Trek you played a Romulan.Do prosthetics bother you?

AB: Only when the make-up artist screws up and they have to be re-applied a bunch of times. That didn’t happen on Star Trek, though. They had their procedure down to a science.

TW: You filmed a scene for the Halloween remake which ended up cut from the movie. Is that frustrating as an actor to discover you ended up on the cutting room floor?

AB: That was the first time that had happened to me and it was just more of a surprise than anything else. I guess it hadn’t crossed my mind that it could happen. But in that case, the fun was in doing the scene with Malcolm and working with Rob Zombie, so it really didn’t bother me to lose it from the finished project.

TW: Carnivale was a great show. What attracted you to the role of Ruthie?

AB: I loved Ruthie. Loved the whole show and everyone attached. Even the caterers were great. But just imagine, at a time when most roles for women my age are nurses or judges or lawyers, being able to play a sensual, spiritual, psychic, snake dancer who has a love affair with a boy half her age, and sees dead people to boot!

TW: You also starred on stage as Judy Garland. What research does an actor have to do when playing a real life celebrity? Are you a fan of Judy’s work?

AB: I really wasn’t familiar with her work before I started my research. What I became a fan of, more than her singing or acting even, was her wit and her ability to tell a story. She was a true raconteur – or raconteuse, if that’s the feminine form of the word.

TW: And you also starred in Argo which is a great movie. It must be very satisfying to stand back and see all your hard work click into place in a movie that everyone loves?

AB: I’m very proud to be a part of Argo. I absolutely love it.

TW: What are you working on at the moment?

AB: Well, that’s the downside of having done Argo. The last three projects I’ve been offered pale so in comparison that I turned them down. Next week I start on a new video game, but that has to remain nameless until it’s released. And my third book (second vampire novel) Love Bites just went on sale as a digital ebook on Amazon.

I’m very proud to be a part of Argo. I absolutely love it.

TW: Where can our readers find out more about you and your upcoming projects?

AB: My website is www.abarbeau.com and my twitter account is also @abarbeau. There are several Facebook pages that purport to be me, but the one I oversee is Adrienne Barbeau and you can tell it’s the real one because I mention my boys’ soccer team in my profile. I’m pretty good about keeping in touch. And if any of your readers are in London this summer, I’m planning on appearing there to sign photos and say hello. Check my website for the specifics.

TW: Adrienne, many thanks.

Heroes of Doctor Who: Dodo

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Every week we look back at one of the characters from Doctor Who’s long history, it could be a major character or a minor one, but they all helped create the history – and character – of the Doctor.

Dodo literally stumbled aboard the Tardis without explanation. Played by Jackie Hill, Dodo seemed to be the victim of behind the scenes politics and bad writing in an era where change was about to sweep the show.

Before long, we would see not only Steven and Dodo disappear but the first Doctor too. In her handful of stories Dodo was a resilient girl who slipped right into the trio but with very little character development. It was believed by Steven that she was the descendant of one Ann Chaplet, a woman he had become close to but had been forced to leave behind on the Doctor’s orders during the Massacre. History had, according to the Doctor, decided she was to die but it seemed he was wrong when fate threw Dodo through the doors and into their lives. The sloppy entrance was explained in the BBC novel Salvation where Dodo becomes a fully-rounded character with a background. Aliens impersonating gods threatened the world and Dodo was part of it all.

But on television she served as the viewer’s hook to the Doctor’s world. She was the first companion to sing as the adventure the Gunfighters saw her and Steven become an unlikely duo at the battle of the OK Corral where the Doctor is mistaken for Wyatt Earp.

She was also the first companion responsible for changing the course of an entire species when she passed the common cold to humans aboard the Ark. This allowed the one-eyed alien slaves, the Monoids, to become the dominant force aboard the generational ship. It was also the first time a real live elephant appeared on the show. As with many episodes of this time, some are missing, having been wiped by the BBC as per their policy of the day. Therefore we are missing the majority of the Celestial Toymaker, a fondly remembered story where the Doctor faces an eternal entity called the Toymaker who trapped space travellers and forced them to play his games. However they were fixed to fail and those poor souls became pawns in the Toymaker’s games for all eternity.

Dodo and Steven face the majority of the story alone against the games where they have to rely on their own wits to survive while the Doctor is trapped at the mercy of the Toymaker.

This gave Dodo a real drive and showed the potential she could have had in the best traditions of a Doctor Who companion. However, her day was over when Steven left them in the Savages. She and the Doctor land in modern day London where they meet new companions Ben and Polly in a battle against the force Wotan and its War Machines. And she didn’t get a proper exit, something I still find disrespectful to any character in any show. Dodo simply disappeared, having gone home and leaving the Doctor a note. As I’ve said before, if you put a character on screen to help viewers identify with the Doctor’s world, then viewers invest time and emotion in them. To simply wipe them off like a second thought is an insult to both the actor and audience alike.

Jackie has rarely given interviews about her time on the show, she has done some conventions but mostly remains private. Thankfully, the novels have helped in redefining the characters of old as it seems writers see the opportunity to enhance those that weren’t well served by their time on the show. She hasn’t as yet done any Big Finish audio plays but there is always the chance. In this upcoming fiftieth year, it is more important than ever to look back and realize that every companion has helped build the legacy that is Doctor Who. Dodo is no exception and she may one day return through those police box doors in one form or another.

TW talks to Brent Spiner

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Few fans of modern sci-fi will not recognise the face of Mr Brent Spiner. One of the few who can truly be called a living legend in the world of sci-fi. From the iconic Mr Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation, to Independence Day, from Frazier to Warehouse 13, from The Big Bang Theory to his new webseries Fresh Hell, Brent is a big part of what we here at the Time Warriors love so much. Owen had the honour of chatting to Brent recently…

TW: Was acting something you always wanted to do?

BS: As far back as I can remember I wanted to be an actor. I used to do pratfalls when I was a small boy. An homage to Jerry Lewis, I think.

TW: You have a wonderful singing voice. Was music part of your childhood?

BS: Yes. I had a stepfather between the ages of 6 and 13. He had owned a record store at one time and kept many of his favorite recordings. We listened to them at dinner every night. Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Louis Prima, you name it.

TW: You moved to New York and acted in several musicals including Sunday in the Park with George. Was that daunting the first time you did it or did you think, man , I’m living the dream here?

BS: It wasn’t really daunting because that’s what I’d been trained to do. It was exciting. But, I had a great teacher in high school who directed a musical every year. He was really a sort of genius. I’ve been in Broadway musicals that weren’t as good as the shows we did in high school. So, I was really prepared when I got my first breaks. Of course, working with the likes of Stephen Sondheim was beyond a dream.

“Humans don’t really need to shoot each other. It’s not one of the essentials”

TW: Who were your musical influences?

BS: Truly, everyone I ever listened to. As I said before, Sinatra, who was, of course, the greatest. But I liked Bing Crosby and Perry Como and Roy Orbison and Elvis and, well, I could go on and on.

TW: What gives you the better challenge as an actor, breaking a character down in a script or giving him an additional voice through song?

BS: It’s all challenging and fun at the same time. Acting is very ephemeral. You never really know whether you’re going to solve all of the problems and come up with something believable and interesting. You just give it your best shot. Acting, singing, it’s all the same. A series of problems to be solved.

TW: You are also have great comedy timing as shown in the recent Big bang Theory and Fresh Hell, your new web series. Is comedy a quality you try to being to any role?

BS: Yes. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever done anything that wasn’t seasoned with a little comedy. It’s what I do best. Of course, it corresponds to my world view. I see everything as a bit of a comedy.

TW: I have to ask were the cast of Big bang Theory star struck when you came to the show?

BS: You’d have to ask them. They didn’t bow or anything. But they were very nice. Remember, Wil Wheaton and Levar had already been there (both starred with Brent in Star Trek: The Next generation as Geordie and Wesley). So, I don’t think it was that big a deal to them.

TW: Threshold was an amazing show, Such a high concept and intelligent story line, way ahead of its time. Were you disappointed it never got the chance to go further?

BS: I think we’re going to do another season. It’s not written yet, but we have a lot of ideas for it. In fact, we have enough ideas for at least two or three more seasons.

TW: How did Fresh Hell come about? It’s very Curb Your Enthusiasm in nature and you play it so well. It’s a great examination of the culture of celebrity and fame where you really take yourself to new heights. it’s almost docu-drama of a sort with the comedy element like the porn star agent.

BS: It’s an idea I’d toyed with for a long time. I met the director, Chris Ellis, and told him about it. He liked it and brought on the brilliant writer, Harry Hannigan. We like to think of it as a sit-trag. It’s funny, but it’s also painful. And as much as it is about the double edged sword of celebrity, it’s really about all of us who’ve gotten older and feel used up. The character has been kicked out of a fraternity he’s always wanted to be in and is desperate to get back to where he once belonged. That’s happened to a lot of people. Particularly during these uncertain economic times.

“I see everything as a bit of a comedy.”

TW: Is there a chance it could do to a full television series?

BS: I wish. I’d like to have a budget so we could pay the people who work for us. If you know anyone who wants to finance it for tv, send them my way.

TW: In the heckling scene in the theatre you get told to talk like a Borg and engage, all Star Trek references. Was that based on a real life experience?

BS: Not at all.

“I think we’re going to do another season [Of Threshold]. It’s not written yet, but we have a lot of ideas for it”

TW: How do you relax?

BS: I don’t.

TW: Are there any musical roles that you still want to play?

BS: I did a production of “Man of La Mancha” in Los Angeles. It was an extraordinary production. Brilliant director with a brilliant concept. I’d like to do it in New York or London, but the lyricist, who holds the rights, won’t give them to me. He doesn’t seem to think I’m a big enough star to do it. Shame.

TW: If Brent Spiner became president, what would the first thing you would change about the world?

BS: No more guns. For anyone. If you get caught with one, you go to jail. Humans don’t really need to shoot each other. It’s not one of the essentials, like food or freedom. And no more genetically modified food.

TW: Would you take part in any reality television like Dancing With the Stars?

BS: Not in the least. Is being on one of those shows a good thing? I don’t know maybe if I did, the lyricist of “Man of La Mancha” would give me the rights.

TW: Looking back over your career, what has been the highlight so far?

BS: I’ve had many. But they all involve the people I’ve gotten to meet and work with. I’ve always been a fan, myself. And working with people I’ve admired has been the biggest thrill.

Heroes of Doctor Who: Sarah Jane Smith

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Once again we wander with the Doctor through the many people in his travels who helped define the man, the time traveller and the character. Of all the ones we’ve covered so far, it’s arguable that none have been more important that today’s…

You know that old saying you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone? Well, I never really knew what that meant until Elizabeth Sladen passed away.

It’s hard to believe it’s over two years (20th April, 2011) since this talented actress passed away from cancer. Indeed it’s easy to think she’s still out there making a brand new series of the Sarah Jane Adventures.

When her death was announced it was like a family member died. Liz was so young looking and full of life and yet, in the space of a few short months, she was gone. It truly was a blow to fandom and the showbiz world in general. No one had a bad word to say about her and she was genuinely loved. She was the bridge between generations, amassing a whole legion of new fans as well as all the classic Who fans.

Sarah Jane debuted in the third Doctor story the Time Warrior, a spirited journalist who ended up fighting a Sontaran in medieval England. She was deeply suspicious of the Doctor at first, believing he was behind the disappearances of the world’s leading scientists. Not only did she witness this new monster but it was also the first story to name the Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey. It was also June Brown’s only Doctor Who appearance and is now the nation’s favourite busybody Dot Cotton in EastEnders.

Realizing her mistake, Sarah Jane struck a quick rapport with the Doctor, battling Ice Warriors, seeing a dinosaur invasion, Daleks and giant spiders which ultimately led to the Pertwee regeneration into Tom Baker.

And here was where the magic really began. To this day no other era or companion stirs such fond memories as the fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane. Together they embarked on true classics which seemed to just flow week after week. She was the first to encounter Davros, the deadly creator of the Daleks which came full circle in Journey’s End when she faced Davros once more alongside the tenth Doctor. From the Zygons, to the Krynoids and Mandragora, Sarah faced them all, her relationship with the Doctor was one of deep love and friendship. She and Tom had a fantastic chemistry off screen which translated on screen, cementing the fourth Doctor and Sarah in everyone’s hearts. It seemed she would be there forever and became the second companion ever to be thrown off the Tardis (the first being Susan) because the Doctor had been recalled to Gallifrey and aliens were forbidden and in the comic strip the seventh Doctor told her he changed that rule when he became president. To change a fundamental law that had stood for centuries is a true testament to how much the Doctor admired and respected Sarah. It could be said that he wanted to travel alone after this because it hurt too much when Sarah left.

But such was the impact of Sarah Jane Smith that she was asked to return to see in the fifth Doctor’s arrival but Liz declined. But she did return in the first ever spin off – K9 and company. Intended as a launch pad to a new series, it wasn’t to be but she teamed up with the third Doctor in the Five Doctors where she faced the Cybermen and a Raston Warrior robot. She appeared in Downtime, a video spin-off staring Sarah Jane, Victoria and the Brigadier. This was stuff of pure fan boy dreams and just left people wanting more.

Although she continued her adventures in numerous novels and comic strips, it wasn’t until the tenth Doctor’s first season that the bridge was truly made between the old Doctor Who and the new and it came in the form of Sarah Jane Smith when she and K9 met the Doctor again in a battle with the bat-like Krillitanes in a school. The moment she saw the Tardis and turned to face the new Doctor was pure magic and for me personally, this was the moment David Tennant became the Doctor. Seemingly having forgotten the events of the Five Doctors, Sarah revealed she had been in love with the Doctor and she waited for him but when he never came back, she thought he was dead. This meeting freed her from the past and she left with a brand new K9 (above) and zest for life but not before telling Rose life with the Doctor was worth getting her heart broken.

And of course Russell T. Davies had other ideas and children’s television asked him to create a new show for younger viewers. So the Sarah Jane Adventures was born. Sarah would become the Doctor figure with two young friends and a new son in the form of Luke who had been created by the squid like Bane (top). The show was a ratings success and used its parent show’s aliens, including the Slitheen, Sontarans and finally brought back the Brigadier for one last adventure before his death tragically a few months before Liz herself, as well as creating new villains and monsters of her own. The kids loved it and so did everyone else. K9 returned eventually before being carted off with Luke to university. For a kid’s show, it dealt with hard-hitting adult themes including Alzheimer’s disease and the plight of the homeless in the Curse of Clyde Langer which showed even Sarah Jane and her team were helpless in the face of real human problems. Even the tenth and eleventh Doctors returned in two stories and so did Jo Grant (below) to stand beside Sarah Jane in the Death of the Doctor. Both series were tied together in brilliant and imaginative ways and the cast became ambassadors for the show as much as the Doctor Who team and the joy was that fans didn’t see them as a separate entity but part of the Who universe.

Liz was due to rejoin the fourth Doctor in a brand new series of adventures for Big Finish but her untimely death put paid to that. When the announcement of the team up came, people were genuinely excited at the old magic returning, but it wasn’t meant to be.

With only three adventures completed for broadcast, the last story was one of family and the cementing of new character Skye as Sarah’s daughter alongside Luke, her adopted son.

And that was it. It is hard to believe she’s gone and so is the series and we will never see or hear her again in new adventures, but the body of work that is genuinely loved by people all over the world is breathtaking and a real achievement to the lady herself.

If I achieve even half of what Liz Sladen has, I’ll be a happy man.

Heroes of Doctor Who: Adric

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

One of the most maligned companions ever, Adric, played by Matthew Waterhouse was introduced to replace outgoing companions Romana and K9 in Tom Baker’s final season.

The character outline was for Adric to be an Artful Dodger type, straight out of Oliver Twist. The signs were good; according to John Nathan Turner, Matthew gave an outstanding audition and I remember him being introduced on Top of the Pops a few days before his debut in episode one of Full Circle and feeling excited about this new companion.

The Tardis is drawn into another universe and lands on the planet Alzarius just as Mistfall comes – and when the mist comes so do the giants. Adric is a mathematical genius but yearns to be with his rebel brother who has rejected life aboard the Starliner which is preparing to return to their homeworld, Terradon, which is engaged in a relentless system repair. Challenged to prove his loyalty to his brother’s gang, Adric steals some fruit but is chased by a Decider who is swallowed by the swamp. Injured, he stumbles across the Tardis.

Despite his super healing abilities, Adric contributes little to the story and stows away when the Doctor resolves everything. Their next battle is against vampires and here’s where Adric’s character begins to unravel as he pretends to side with the vampires but the acting doesn’t really convince and the execution doesn’t pull it together. Again, in Warrior’s Gate – Romana’s final story – Adric does little but wander about and get captured.

But in Keeper of Traken he finds a friend in Nyssa, daughter of the tragic Tremas but Matthew’s acting is again lacking. It’s as if the writers aren’t sure what to do with him and his character is all over the place.

Now, it has been well documented that Matthew wasn’t well-liked by his co-stars who, to this day, haven’t changed their minds, despite meeting him for several DVD documentaries, and the infamous story of his giving national treasure Richard Todd acting tips have gone down in Who history. Again, in Kinda and Four to Doomsday he attempts his pretend to betray the Doctor trick and given the backstage gossip you have to wonder how much Janet Fielding’s real life dislike of him ran over into the scripts but you can sort of understand.

However, it also reflects lazy writing and complete lack of defining the character beforehand, so to put all the blame on the actor isn’t really fair. There is no point in sticking a character in a show just to fill numbers. What was intended never materialized character wise. In Castrovalva he is kept prisoner by the Master, his mathematical abilities tapped to help create the illusionary town of Castrovalva as a lure for the Doctor. It is Adric that saves them as the town, actually a space/time trap, begins to collapse and as Adric is the one that created it, only he can see the way out. Even in The Visitation and Black Orchid Adric does little more than eat and run around a forest including suffering the old classic: a sprained ankle. The classics never die do they?

However contracts had been signed and he had to appear in these stories. There was an attempt to show a possible relationship with Nyssa which ultimately went nowhere. Perhaps it was the increased numbers in the Tardis crew that caused his character to fade away. However in Earthshock not only did the Cybermen return and kick ass, but Adric joined an exclusive Doctor Who club that he shares with only two other companions.

He died.

The Cybermen have accidentally sent a bomb-filled freighter back in time where it was to crash and cause the extinction of the dinosaurs. It cannot be changed, it is history and the Doctor is helpless to stop it. As Tegan and Nyssa beg him to go back for Adric, the camera cuts to the boy, knowing what is coming, all alone and futilely holding the wires of the computer that could save everything, he says quietly, “Well, now I’ll never know” (see video below)…

Bang. Adric is no more. And the tragedy is, Adric will never know that he just saved the Earth. He dies believing his death is for nothing. He appears as a hallucination in the next story Time Flight but outside of that he never returns bar comic strip appearances and novels where he is actually used to great effec,t especially missing adventure Cold Fusion where the fifth and seventh Doctors meet and there is a beautiful moment where the fifth Doctor notices the seventh Doctor looking sadly at Adric and he cannot say what is to come.

In the Big Finish story The Boy that Time Forgot, it is revealed Adric survived the explosion and is now an old megalomaniac the Doctor must stop. However he isn’t played by Waterhouse but by Andrew Sachs. To date, Matthew has been the only surviving companion not to return to the role in Big Finish. He now lives in America and has published his autobiography which is fascinating stuff. He gives his side of the story and even in the DVD commentaries there is still a hint of old wounds.

Love him or loathe him, Adric is a part of history and in the seconds of his death, viewers forgot they disliked him and mourned his loss. Now if only that standard of writing had been put into his character from the very beginning then maybe history would have played out very differently.

Doctor Who The First Question

By Owen Quinn author o the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

It’s been fifty years coming! Tonight we may or may not discover the Doctor’s name and his greatest secret but did you know it’s been done before? Owen looks back twenty five years to the seventh Doctor’s battle with Nazis, Cybermen and the Lady Peinforte, a witch that knows his greatest secret, the secret that must never be told, Doctor Who?

It is the question that has been asked from the very first episode. Even then, the Doctor didn’t know or at least seemed not to. Ian Chesterton calls him Doctor Foreman and the Doctor mutters to himself, ‘Eh? Doctor Who?’. Whilst we learned that he was a Time Lord from Gallifrey who had stolen a magic box who was on the run from his own people, it seemed that was it. Now the question has become legend and is the first question, the oldest question in the universe and one that must never be answered. The answer terrifies the Silence who never want it revealed, so the Doctor must die before he reaches the Fields of Trenzalore where the question will be asked at the fall of the eleventh.

It seems a relatively new concept to most viewers but the question was tackled before. During the seventh Doctor’s era at the time of the 25th anniversary, Silver Nemesis saw the introduction of one Lady Peinforte played by Fiona Walker, a sorceress from the 17th century (see video below). It was revealed that she knew the Doctor’s secret and who he really was. In a battle that saw the Cybermen, Peinforte and Nazis race to possess the Nemesis, an ancient weapon of mass destruction from Gallifrey, the Doctor was almost revealed as he came face to face with the witch. She had previously encountered the second Doctor in an unseen adventure in which, somehow, she learned who he was. When they came face to face at the climax of the story, the question was asked: “Doctor Who? Have you never wondered where he came from, who he is?” Ace (Sophie Aldred) replies, “Nobody knows who the Doctor is.” Peinforte grins and answers slyly: “Except me.”

All of this was part of the Andrew Cartmel grand plan to reintroduce mystery to the character. We all thought we knew who the Doctor was, but did we really? As the old saying goes, you never really know anyone for sure and here it seemed the Doctor had a secret history. In the novelization of Remembrance of the Daleks, we saw flashbacks to Gallifrey when Omega and Rassilon gained the power of time travel for the Time Lords. Official history always said that these two were responsible but a third person was introduced. Known only as the Other, he was a shadowy figure that ensured that the event took place and when we later discover that the first Doctor had actually arrived on Earth to leave the Hand of Omega, another super weapon, for the Daleks to find, everything we knew went out the window.

It was indicated that the Doctor was in fact the Other and may at some point become this character from the dawn of Time Lord history itself. Other theories included that the Doctor had somehow become part of this character in an unseen adventure, almost a host of sorts, possibly at the moment of one of his regenerations Could it be his life as a wandering traveller was merely his way of blowing off steam as the momentous events that shaped the future of the Time Lord race faded into the background? Was he the Other who had somehow become immortal and survived from that day,assuming a new identity to cover some secret?

We know from the Three Doctors that Omega had become trapped in an anti-matter universe when he was presumed dead and that Borusa is alive and well in the Tomb of Rassilon at the heart of the Death Zone in the Five Doctors. So why couldn’t the Other have survived too, getting the best deal of the three; the chance to live a life travelling the universe. Could the reason he left Gallifrey be because he was a relic from another time and couldn’t live the life other Time Lords did? Had he in fact changed his own past to lay traps for the Daleks by getting his first incarnation to drop the Hand of Omega in 1963 for the Daleks to avert the Time War itself? If so, then the Doctor’s first meeting with the Daleks has to be seen in a whole new light.

Up to Remembrance of the Daleks, we thought the Doctor and Susan were just killing time in the 20th century in an Unearthly Child but twenty five years later we discover the Doctor had been there to set the Dalek trap and yet he gave no indication he knew what the Daleks were in the second story ever. Could it be the Tardis took them to Skaro on their second trip because the Doctor, having set his trap, had to ensure his meeting with the Daleks began properly? Which means he did have control over the Tardis after all so this does play into the Other theory. He knew of the Cybermen in the Tenth Planet yet we had never seen him meet them before and they became his second target for mass extermination in the 25th anniversary season in Silver Nemesis.

The seventh Doctor reveals a second weapon from Gallifrey, the living statue called Nemesis that is a massive bomb. It knows who he is and again we never saw how he came to get her on television. Lady Peinforte wants the Nemesis and at some point she briefly had it because it told her the Doctor’s secret. The Cybermen also want the statue as do a group of neo Nazis seeking to restore the Reich. It all comes to a climax in an abandoned hangar where Ace is about to be killed if the Doctor doesn’t hand over the Nemesis to the silver giants. They have already killed the last of the Nazis so it’s down to a battle between Peinforte and the Cybermen with the Doctor caught in the middle. Peinforte threatens to reveal all if he doesn’t hand it over to her. However the Doctor doesn’t seem that worried when he gives the power of the Nemesis to the Cybermen. Losing her prize, Peinforte grows angry when she continues: “I shall tell them of Gallifrey, of the Old Time, the Time of Chaos.”. The Cybermen reply that the secrets of the Time Lords mean nothing to them and Peinforte has lost her bargaining chip. Even at the end when Ace asks him directly “Doctor, who are you?” he smiles and puts his fingers to his lips. Now we know that the grand plan would have gone nowhere as you could never reveal the true story of the character. But it worked so well at the time. That second when Peinforte says those delicious words, ‘Doctor Who?’ viewers were on the edge of their seats. Not bad for an era that was generally slammed at the time but is now rightly regarded as containing many classics and the blueprint for the Russell T Davies era.

It was also here we learned that at some point a ginger-haired Doctor would become Merlin in another dimension, something that came as a surprise to him. So we know at some point the Doctor will get his wish and become ginger. Indeed, even now the eleventh Doctor is surprised to learn that his name causes such fear in the universe and when he arrives on Trenzalore, no lies can be told and the truth will come out. But why? What is it? Can a name bring down creation itself? In fact could there be more to the Time War than we were first told? The Doctor wiped out two empires in one go, so what is he really capable of? Armies have turned and run away at the mention of his name and he is known as the Oncoming Storm to the Daleks, when they had a memory of him, that is. What is it about the Doctor that is so terrible that the universe itself will hold its breath when the question is asked?

McCoy’s era reinvented the Doctor and gave us something to think about. A friend we thought we knew, now has a secret past which he can never speak of. A dangerous past that is too horrible to reveal. For Lady Peinforte, it was a bargaining chip that she was sure would make the Doctor cower in fear and do whatever she wanted him to. To the Cybermen,it meant nothing, but to us on this day, in this place, the Doctor is going to fall. In the Rings of Akhaten, he faces down the sun monster by revealing he knows things, terrible things that can never be said and maybe, just maybe, we are about to have some of those answered. Now, as we know the question will be asked, the first question, the question that must never be answered is about to fall…

Doctor Who, indeed?