The Wall of Lies

Number 148 Newsletter established 1991, club formed June first 1980 The newsletter of the South Australian Fan Club Inc., also known as SFSA

Final FINAL Adelaide, May--June 2014 WEATHER: Pernickity Free Computer to write news! by staff writers

Journalists need never use the power of banality again.

After last week’s record cuts were announced at Fairfax Media Limited, the com- pany has revealed their replacement: the Media Cliche 3000. This powerful new computing tool will prove to be the epicentre of truthiness in the media, claimed Fairfax editor Earnest Hackman. “At the end of the day an outpouring of support for these unsung heroes will not lead to an eleventh hour about face,” he said. “Neighbours describe them as ‘quiet’.”

However, at the time of printing we learned editor O Hackman had passed away. The Media Cliche 3000 u N t assured us he died doing what he loved. No ow The Media Cliche 3000; cutting ! edge technology? But how vapid his quote is, we seriously doubt he ever existed. ABC cuts everything but Doctor Who! by staff writers Federal budget 2014 to cut ABC staff, services. ABC management had feared their budget would be cut by as much as $204 million but instead will see $35 million cut over four years, with the termination of the international 50th Programme broadcaster Australia Network leading to a shortfall of $120 million. ABC Managing Director Mark Scott told The Wall of Lies, “The ABC suffered a $120m budget cut over four years -- which is very disappointing, but at this stage it wouldn't have any impact on our O plans for broadcasting Doctor Who on free-to-air television. The Government said the cut u S t was a 'downpayment' on future funding efficiencies. All ABC supporters would be con- So on cerned at further big budget cuts. The ABC needs to look to find efficiencies of course, but n! we need to invest those savings into future programming innovation for audiences. But so far, so good for the Whovians.”

The Budget Paper (Part 2: Expense Measures/ Communications) reads in part “As a down payment on the ABC and SBS Efficiency Study, the Government will achieve sav- ings of $43.5 million over four years through a one per cent reduction in the base funding of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Special Broadcasting Service Corporation.” This has been interpreted as meaning more cuts in future budgets.

With the BBC output deal expiring in June this will be one of few ongoing arrangements to be honoured, BBC Worldwide distributed drama and comedy to now premiere on the SFSA magazine # 31 BBC First cable channel from August. The BBC refused to comment on ABC’s budget. q Continued Page 2 Oh, the Humanity! Twin Dilemma page 2. dilemma, page 4. ABC cuts everything but Doctor Who!

q from Page 1

As reported in WoL 146, in December 2013 Ian Levine claimed to have found five redundant season six episodes in Taiwan (The Dominators 2 and 3, The Seeds of Death 2 and 1 and 2), adding five more in January (The Keys of Marinus 6, The Enemy of the World 6, The Krotons 3 and The Ambassadors of Death 1 and 3). However, on 10 April his informant Keith Perron said he was upset by the publicity and would not release the prints, calling the story into doubt. The only unreleased recovered episode known to exist is The Underwater Menace 2. Eleven catches up to last year’s repeats with on 19 May, and continues on through series two and three (Children of Earth). They have not committed to scheduling the free to air premiere of Miracle Day in this run, and have no news on new K-9. Syfy The sun’s closest neighbours. Source: Penn State repeats Torchwood series one and Doctor Who classic seasons eighteen Centre for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds. and twenty, and new series three and five. UKTV ends its run of series Sky Watch seven on 18 May, and say it “is being rested from the schedule for a little while”. Nickelodeon have no plans to repeat The Sarah Jane Adventures Brown dwarf neighbour or any other Doctor Who programming.

Preservation Issues ON 25 APRIL 2014 Penn State associate professor Kevin Luhman anounced his Wide-Field Infrared Survey Alternate Hindenburg footage aired Explorer (WISE) derived discovery of a brown dwarf 7.2 by staff writers light years from Earth. We asked if increasingly common Contacts AN alternate film of the Hindenburg extra-solar discoveries could make for more neighbours. disaster has been broadcast by Kevin Luhman: It is possible that new objects will be Jamie Stidiford WCAU-TV Pennsylvania. Held by found as close to our solar system as this latest discov- ery, but it's unlikely. If additional undiscovered objects (President) the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society, the footage came to light in exist at closer distances, they must have very low mass- [email protected] 1987 when they screened it at a es (a few Jupiter masses or smaller) in order to avoid 50th anniversary commemoration. detection by WISE. We have pretty good estimates of Four newsreel films exist; Pathe, the abundance of brown dwarfs (<75 Jupiter masses). Martin Dunne The number of brown dwarfs is roughly 1/6 of the num- Universal, Paramount and ber of stars in a given volume of space. (The Wall of Lies editor) Movietone, with the second two WoL: At three to 10 Jupiters, this is estimated to be well held by copyright owners. All are [email protected] below the traditional threshold of 13 Jupiter masses. Is shot from the same front perspec- the definition of brown dwarfs inclusive of a lower limit tive (a common news area at the Tammy Vogel and how widely accepted is it? Lakehurst Naval Air Station) where KL: There isn't a single classification for free-floating (Magazine editor) the amateur footage is filmed from objects below the deutrium limit (~13 Jupiter masses) [email protected] a right angle to the port side, prob- that is accepted by all astronomers. Some, like myself, ably by navy personnel. The quality consider any object that formed like a star and is below is poor, but it is discernible that the the hydrogen burning limit (~75 Jupiter masses) to be a Postal address: tail is badly out of kilter, indicating brown dwarf, even if its mass is also below the deuteri- PO Box 870 the airship was off balance. um burning limit. That definition is based on how an Additionally this film shows the object forms. Meanwhile, there are others who instead North Adelaide event from the start, where the adopt a mass-based definition, and use a different name SA 5006 Australia newsreels begin with visible flames. (sub-brown dwarfs or free-floating plants) for a free- The Hindenburg burst into flames floating body below the deuterium burning limit. The and crashed at Lakehurst, New presence or absence of deuterium fusion has a negligi- Mailing list Jersey on 6 May 1937, ending the ble effect on the evolution and properties of an object, so subscription: era of fully rigid airships. Goodyear there's little reason to adopt a new name when crossing that threshold, in my opinion. [email protected] put semi-rigid Zeppelins into pro- duction in 2011. Kevin Luhman, thank you.

This is a publication of SFSA: the South Australian Doctor Who Fan Club Inc., a non profit organisation. No attempt has been made to supersede the copyright of any holders of trademark or copyrighted 17/5, 21/6 AGM, 19/7 images, text, or information. $5.00 $4.00 Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the contents of the newsletter is accurate at the time of printing, SFSA cannot accept any liability for inaccura- cies that may appear. Meeting details are subject to change at short notice.

2 www.sfsa.org.au May-June 2014 Printed by the Federal Printing House July 19 General meeting 15.00 Chamelleon Factor 18, Venue: Adelaide High School June 1984 [Edited by Carole Gibbs and August 2 Pub meeting 17.00 Transmission schedule Brian Alford] Venue: The Windsor Hotel May-June 2014 COMMENTS FROM THE VOID Classic Doctor Who on SyFy, weekdays midnight Archive Dear Carole and Brian, 15.30 The Wall of Lies 88, May 2004 I have noticed that the letters to Matt Smith 20.30 Fridays [Edited by Martin Dunne] the Editor column has dropped Torchwood Saturdays 23.00 off to an almost non-existent NATION ESTATE UNFAIRLY BLAMED entity, a most regretful circum- UKTV 18.00 Sundays stance, I must say. “I couldn’t ~ 18/5 Nightmare in Silver/The Name of The BBC are responsible for the think of any think to say is not an “Dalek embargo” excuse in this day and age, it’s a Despite musings in the press, and con- COP OUT! ... Torchwood on Eleven, Mondays 21.30 demnation by Doctor Who fandom, a Anyway I always look forward spokesman for Terry Nation’s estate has to reading my copy of the C.F. ~ 5/5 confirmed there is no reason from their and your puzzles etc, keeps me out of mischief, for about 10 min- ~ 12/5 Dead Man Walking perspective that the stories the ABC are utes ... I think you all tend to for- ~ 19/5 A Day in the Death missing could not be screened, once an ~ 26/5 Something Borrowed get that what you think, and want offer is agreed upon with the BBC. to know is just as important to ~ 2/6 From Out of the Rain, Stories currently slated for non-broad- other members as it is to you ... ~ 9/6 cast over the Dalek issue include: Day of so write and say what you have ~ 16/6 the Daleks and Planet of the Daleks. The on your minds. ~ 23/6 War Games went unscreened over the And to you Editors all the best ~ 30/6 Day Two ten second clip of a Dalek in episode ten. and keep up the good work. Brian J Cotter Check local and daily program listings Conversely, a similar clip in The Mind of Evil will not disclude its broadcast, like- wise Death to the Daleks will be shown... Club “When everything has been agreed with Membership BBC Worldwide I am sure that the Daleks -- Annual membership rates are $20. both new and old -- will return to ABC.” This entitles you to one year’s subscrip- writes Tim Hancock. tion to the club’s publications: bimonthly The Wall of Lies and SFSA magazine, [Hancocks and the BBC came to an and the Doctor Who themed yearbook agreement on 4 August 2004, the Dalek Chameleon Factor. Also included are embargo continued to the end of the ABC discounted entry fees to SFSA meet- ings, and discounts at various stores classic series repeats in 2006.] around Adelaide.

Discounts Pulp Fiction Chameleon Factor 18, June 1984. 10% off comics and graphic novels Events Fandom 53rd Australian National In March we enjoyed That Doctor Who Convention Sound (thanks Iain Wilson). In April we played Doctor Who Trivial Continuum X Pursuit . Carnival of

May 17 General meeting 15.00 6 to 9 June 2014 Venue: Adelaide High School InterContinental Melbourne The June 7 Pub meeting 17.00 Rialto, 495 Collins St, Melbourne Venue: Buckingham Arms Guests: Jim C Hines and Ambelin Kwaymullina June 21 Annual general meeting 15.00 Venue: Adelaide High School [email protected] http://continuum.org.au/c10/ July 5 Pub meeting 17.00 The Wall of Lies 88, May 2004. Venue: Buckingham Arms www.sfsa.org.au May-June 2014 3 Subscription due if Yet another appraisal a red dot appears of The Twin Dilemma in this box By Stephen Lord This article is a reply to one written by Kate Orman The above portion of the script brings me to my next in the first CF I received (No. 59, way back in ‘91). In point, that of the infamous strangulation-of-Peri her article, she suggested that fans should watch the scene in Part 1. On the surface, this is an unforgiv- story and make up their own minds about it. When able transgression of the ethics of Doctor Who, but The Twin Dilemma was finally repeated recently, I those who ranted and raved about it in 1984 failed to got the chance to do just that (though I was stupid take a couple of things into account: enough to lend the tape to a friend who still hadn’t got around to watching it two month’s later). 1. The Doctor was in the middle of a post-regenera- tive trauma, his actions were NOT typical of his The verdict? Well ’s introductory story actions in later stories. isn’t half bad as it’s made out to be. True, it is tacky 2. Afterwards, he clearly regretted the attempted and the marvellous (!) Womulous and Wemus ruin murder of his fellow traveller, otherwise they wouldn’t their parts by by turning them into one long Elmer have gone to Titan 3 in the first place. Fudd impression (where are the voice coaches when you need them?) But the story still has a certain In the ’s case, regeneration caused appeal to it. severe mood swings which were neither permanent nor demonstrative of his character as a whole. the Fans often talk about the ‘inappropriateness’ of the Doctor’s instability was a good idea which added an Doctor’s character throughout The Twin Dilemma. I element of suspense to an otherwise drab story think this is because audiences weren’t ready for which, some argue was taken too far. such a vast contrast to Davison’s ‘nice character. When the spent much of his time saying, In most regeneration* stories (apart from “I don’t know”, the Sixth was more likely to admit he and ) the plot is did know and spend much of the rest of the episode undiluted nonsense and Twin is no exception. This boasting about it. doesn’t matter, because we concentrate on the plight of the Doctor, (who in this case is calm one minute Colin Baker brought a sense of ‘alienation’ to the role and raving like a madman the next - as well as being of the Doctor which had been absent since the infuriatingly egocentric) and in Colin Baker’s case, Hartnell years. The best example of this lies in Part we are made to keep guessing because on first 2 of Twin where Peri has to explain the concept of viewing, we are never quite certain of what he will do compassion to the . next. This alone makes the story worth watching.

Doctor: You ... cared? So next time you watch Twin, laugh at the ridiculous Peri: “Of course I did” costumes (apart from the Doctor’s of course!) cringe Doctor: “I’ll never understand you humans. I have at the twin’s verbal skills, and curse the fact that the spent the day using, abusing, even trying to kill you. surface of Jaconda is identical to the surface of If you had done the same to me, I should have been Androzani Minor, but don’t watch the story with neg- pleased at your demise.” ative preconceptions about the Sixth Doctor. It Peri: “It’s called compassion, Doctor.” always helps to keep an open mind.

In closing, some people blame the Colin Baker era for the current state of the show, but personally I’d send my letter bombs to Peter Darvill-Evans (Whoops, I’ll get into trouble for that one ...).

* When I say regeneration stories, I mean stories where a new Doctor is introduced rather than one when an old one is farewelled.

4 www.sfsa.org.au May-June 2014 From Chameleon Factor 66, May 1994