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The Wall of Lies Number 128 Newsletter established 1991, club formed June first 1980 The newsletter of the South Australian Fan Club Inc., also known as SFSA

STATE Adelaide, January--February 2011 WEATHER: Warmer Free Queensland flooded, fake reporter sad by staff writers “Barcelona Tonight” reporter’s loss saddens nation

TRAGEDY HAS struck in Queensland, with floods covering the state, killing many, destroying infrastructure and homes, and laying waste to abut half of the nation’s food crops.

Almost overlooked in the midst of this was a very personal loss for Seven’s David Richardson. The veteran news reporter forgot to remove his Italian loafers before wading knee deep in the flood waters for the all important “reporter knee deep in flood waters” live cross.

While Anna Bligh hasn’t directly addressed O Richardson’s loss, he was hopeful to draw com- ut t N No Ruined loafers were similar to pensation from the State’s emergency fund. We ow ! these, but not actually these. can only wish him the best of luck, because he wouldn’t lie about something like that. ABC’s Doctor Quick by staff writers

Will series six screen on the same day in the UK and Australia? ABC1’s Boxing Day broadcast of A Christmas Carol demonstrated the Chameleon Factor # 80 Corporation can get Doctor Who episodes within a day of BBC premiere (due to the time difference it was only fifteen and a half hours after the BBC O u N t premiere). No ow ! This quick turnaround has been attributed by commentators as an attempt to prevent illegal downloading, however ABC maintain it was simply con- venient to show a Christmas themed episode close to the holiday.

ABC are running out their repeat rights for series five, and can repeat the associated Confidentials, the 2009/10 specials and Torchwood: Children of Earth. They are eager to view the new episodes of Torchwood, which will be co-produced by BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide and US cable channel Starz.

“We’re just waiting for them to send us [discs],” confirmed a spokesperson. SFSA magazine # 27 Continued Page 2

Empire Strikes LoC, page 2. Our first issue, page 3. ABC’s Doctor Quick from Page 1

A Christmas Carol performed well for ABC1, winning its time slot and ranked eighth most watched show of the day. It drew 12.1 million in the UK, where it was BBC1’s Christmas Day flagship, and received 727,000 when it was broad- cast on BBC America on the same day, a first. The poor showing for the repeat of The End of Time part one (and subsequent improvement for part two) may be attributable to the absence of publicity.

Date Title National Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth

26/12 A Christmas Carol 880,000 257,000 221,000 150,000 123,000 129,000

2/1 The End Of Time (Part 1) 96,000 27,000 25,000 15,000 16,000 13,000 Ripples in the cosmic background microwave radiation. 9/1 The End Of Time (Part 2) 206,000 48,000 73,000 24,000 26,000 35,000

Sky Watch Overnight figures only. Source: TV Tonight. Multiverse or millpool?

Preservation Issues EVIDENCE THAT EARLIER universes preceeded the Big Bang has been published in a paper by mathemati- Library of Congress goes to the movies cal physicist Roger Penrose at the University of by staff writers Oxford in England and physicist Vahe Gurzadyan at Contacts THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS James Yerevan State University in Armenia, online on 16 H Billington has announced his list November 2010. Jamie Stidiford of 25 “culturally significant” films Their paper reports the discovery of circles in the (President) added to the National Film Registry. cosmic background microwave radiation, likening [email protected] The choices for this selection show them to ripples. They report three ”families” of these a more modern bent, with All the circles, and postulate these are remnants of “black President’s Men (1976), The hole encounters” preceding the Big Bang. Martin Dunne Exorcist (1973), McCabe and Mrs. Penrose’s cyclical model postulates a force makes (The Wall of Lies editor) Miller (1971), and The Empire the entropic universe produce another Big Bang. [email protected] Strikes Back (1980) on the list. "It looks to us as if they made quite a simple error George Lucas is represented in the end," said cosmologist James Zibin. The twice, with his 15 minute student model he and others propose accounts for these Tammy Vogel film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 rings with inflation, the theory that the embryonic (Magazine editor) 4EB (1967) also being selected. universe expanded at a tremendous rate for the first Star Wars (1977) was added to the milliseconds after the Bang. [email protected] Registry in 1989. Edison’s Newark The Planck space telescope has started to return Athlete (1891) was also selected, data from its microwave survey, and by 2012 it the oldest film yet added to the list. should have provided definitive answers on many of Postal address: Billington said "About half of the these issues. It was launched 14 May 2009 and is PO Box 3227 films produced before 1950 and as currently near the Earth’s L2 position, leading the Rundle Mall SA 5000 much as 90 percent of those made before 1920 have been lost to planet at 60 degrees in the same orbit. future generations.” The library The cosmic microwave background radiation was received 2,112 nominations in 2010 first detected in 1964 by Arno Penzias and Robert Mailing list with this selection bringing the num- Wilson, Bell Telephone employees who regarded it ber of films in the Registry to 550. as nuisance static interfering in their satellite exper- subscription: The complete list is available at iments. They both received the 1978 Nobel Prize for [email protected] loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-273.html. physics for this discovery.

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 15/1/2011, 19/2. 19/3 images, text, or information. 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 January-February 2011 Printed by the Federal Printing House Archive Wall of Lies Issue 67 Dec 00/Jan 01 NEWSHEET Transmission schedule No.1 [Undated, January 1991?] January to February 2011 [No editor attributed] Doctor Who Film Update

Doctor Who on ABC1 Sundays 17.30 Welcome to the first of the NEW South Over the November 25-26 Australian Doctor Who Fan Club NEWS- weekend, the Sunday Times in SHEETS, which have been planned to the UK broke a new film-related ~ The End of Time part one 2/1/2011 replace Chameleon Factor at certain times story. Entitled “Dyke calls ~ The End of Time part two 9/1 in the year. C.F. will now be double the to take on Hollywood,” ~ The Eleventh Hour 16/1 page count, but will only be released 3 the article by media editor ~ 23/1 times a year, with the NEWSHEETS keep- Nicholas Hellen suggested that ~ Victory of 30/1 ing you up to date on what you need to a new Doctor Who film is immi- ~ The Time of Angels 6/2 know between issues. As a result your sub- nent. ~ Flesh and Stone 13/2 scription is not affected - in fact you are ~ The Vampires of Venice 20/2 getting more for your money. [The story is erroneous] as net ~ Amy's Choice 27/2 site Outpost have been able to confirm. Check local and daily program listings

Club

In November we enjoyed Peter’s and a positive review of Stephen J Lord’s book The Killing Words. In December we had our annual picnic.

Membership Annual membership rates are $15. This entitles you to one year’s subscrip- tion to the club’s publications: bimonthly The Wall of Lies and SFSA magazine, and Who themed yearbook Fandom Chameleon Factor. Also included are discounted entry fees to SFSA meet- ings, and discounts at various stores Armageddon Expo 2011 around Adelaide. Peter Davison repeats may be screened Adelaide 5/6 March 2011 this year. The ABC has been less than helpful with our enquires, but it seems likely Adelaide Showgrounds Publications that Seasons 18 and 19 will return to their 6.30pm timeslot, if the rumours concerning armageddonexpo.com/au/ SFSA #27 the Afternoon Show moving to 6pm are [email protected] Post-thirtieth anniversary! true.

Discounts The big news is that DR. WHO will definite- ly continue into it’s 27th Season. Cinema Pulp Fiction Verité, the company run by the shows origi- Look Who's Talking 10% off comics and graphic novels nal producer Verity Lambert has signed the contract to obtain the rights to produce Colin Baker and John Leeson Events Season 27. At this stage it seems unlikely that Sylvester will return for the full Season, 26 March 2011 January 15 General meeting 15.00 if at all. Venue: Adelaide High School The Police Club [Doctor Who was off ABC until the 27-29 Carrington St, Adelaide February 5 Pub meeting 17.30 November 1991 season 17 repeats. The Venue: Buckingham Arms Hotel Afternoon Show remained at 5pm. The http://bit.ly/i86nfW Cinema Verité rumour was wrong. NEW- February 19 General meeting 15.00 SHEET became The Wall of Lies by issue Venue: Adelaide High School 22, June 1993.]

www.sfsa.org.au January-February 2011 3 Subscription due if : The Doctor a red dot appears in this box from Chameleon Factor 58, Jan-Mar 1991 by Corey McMahon It’s time to indulge in the past of Doctor Who; and With episode one of The Web of Fear as an exam- more specifically the era of Patrick Troughton — ple, season five consisted of quality scripts Doctor Who No.2... Troughton played the Doctor in (except Wheel in Space) top direction (Douglas seasons four to six (1966-’69) and in that time, the Camfield - what more can I say) and great atmos- show matured, changed and almost became phere. With Web part one, atmosphere is repre- respected! sented by the endless murk of the underground tunnels, the eerie silence of the streets of , The reason I say this is that being a non-Hartnell and the scene (the highlight) where the in man and finding very little to be exciting from his era, Julius Silverstine’s museum comes to life! As with Troughton’s seasons are on the whole well written, season four, season five had it all. We are fortu- directed and they have a real atmosphere of sus- nate that one story is virtually complete, with pense; unlike the often laughable actor-on-holiday episodes 1, 4, 5 and 6 of safe, in story lines and the space filling stories (The Rescue the BBC archives. Throughout the season and are examples) that appeared in Troughton displayed consistency and excellence, Hartnell’s seasons. which was to be necessary for the next season.

If you’re turned off by black and white stories, then you are miss- Whilst being an era hard to equal, it did slump in the ratings, (a ing out on some of the best episodes from Doctor Who. high of 8.33 [average in millions] for , and a low of Troughton’s Doctor Who was real. There was no over-the-top 4.94 for , in comparison to a high of 13 for dominating character to be found, (a la Tom Baker); Doctor No.2 Hartnell) especially in Troughton’s final season. Season six was was sincere, often quiet, and unassuming, taking in all that was hardly consistent, but that is not surprising with trouble emerging around him and although on the surface appearing to be an from the first story. The Dominators proved to be an unworkable incompetent, always being one step ahead of everyone else. He script, but with props already built (the Quarks) the story could was the dotty uncle, the boffin, the anti-hero all rolled into one. not be cancelled. As a result an episode was chopped from the This, I think, is the true essence of the Doctor’s character, some- story line; the script was tightened and the remaining episode thing thrown out of the window with Tom Baker, and only partly was tacked onto the beginning of The Dominators. The move re-established with Sylvester McCoy (a virtual carbon copy of was a prudent one, as The Dominators, even after alterations still Troughton) in seasons 25 and 26. For the casual viewer it was turned out dull as dishwater. Hasty re-writes took place to fill the hard to invest a lot of confidence in Troughton’s Doctor, but for one week gap and The Mind Robber became a five part story. the fans you knew this Doctor would always come out on top. The skills of (then script-editor) cannot be denied with episode one of the story proving to be one of the most pow- His first season, still under the influence of , was a erful ever written, and certainly not showing up as an ‘add on’. mixed bag, with the last historical story (until S19 - Black Orchid), two Dalek stories, another story (which was a repeat As the season progressed Troughton announced his departure. of Hartnell’s final story) and of course a dud. Were the line-up to The show was under the first threat of cancellation. At the time appear in a season today I for one would be in my element. Of BBC bosses decided to re-think the direction of the show, with what exists from this season (very little by the way) I am confident failing ratings and poor scripts (The Dominators and The Space in saying that season four was exciting, dramatic, scary and even Pirates are examples) going against renewal. As the decision funny (in some cases unintentionally!). became drawn out, the writers found that more episodes were being tacked onto the end of the season with story cancellations. With specific reference from The Moonbase (try to grab a copy of The Invasion went from six to eight episodes, and The War the Doctor Who Bulletin photonovel of this story) and episode two Games ran for ten with writers and of Evil of the Daleks, Troughtonn shows finesse and engrossing writing an open ended script until a decision was made. characterisation (especially his speech from episode two about the evils of the Universe) in his portrayal of the Doctor, standing Troughton’s skills came to the fore this season, with all his efforts up to the Daleks, breaking free from the ‘little man’ shell that often needed to support entire stories. I found that his portrayal of the surrounds him. To me, and I’m sure to those who have seen it, Doctor was at a high in stories like The Mind Robber (easily the Evil of the Daleks part two represents the best of the existing best of the near/complete stories) and The Invasion (which could episodes from Troughton’s era, with top direction (Derek have been the best were it not for the extra two episodes) espe- Martinus, also responsible for The Ice Warriors and Spearhead cially with this “Is this what you want? To be the ruler of a dead from Space) design quality, and acting. It exists, and if you world!” speech to Tobias Vaugh in episode seven. The Invasion haven’t seen it, ask for it to be shown at a meeting! boasts Douglas Camfield’s direction (in his military element) and the added bonus of Kevin Stoney as Vaughn; one cannot help but Obviously Troughton was to hit a high with his reputedly ‘all time be in awe of his frightening portrayal of a megalomaniac. classic season’ — five. Virtually nothing exists from the stories that matter from this season. Nothing from Tomb of the Thankfully though, Doctor Who continued. With season seven Cybermen, all but episode one of The Web of Fear is missing, the arrival of the new Doctor and colour meant a new era, but and nothing from the ‘ultimate behind the sofa’ story, Fury from also the sad loss of another. For those not taken with Troughton’s the Deep exists. But from the recollections of those involved with era, please review your opinion and try to see some of the stories production of these stories, Tomb, Web and Fury can be guaran- I have mentioned. Because, for me, Troughton was the Doctor. teed as classics. Nine months later Tomb of the Cybermen was recovered. Text edited and formatted.

4 www.sfsa.org.au January-February 2011