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Table of Contents EDITOR ’S NOTE Editor’s NoteNote.............................................................2 A Christmas Carol Review Jamie Beckwith ............3 Though I only knew Patrick Troughton from SFX Weekender Will Forbes & A. Vandenbussche.4 “TheThe Five Doctors ” by the time I rediscovered Out of Time Nick Mellish .....................................7 Doctor Who when I was in my teens, I knew A Scribbled Note Jamie Beckwith ...........................9 I loved the Second Doctor. He always seemed Donna Noble vs Amy Pond Aya Vandenbussche .10 like the only Doctor one could reasonably go to for a hug. My admiration continued to The Real Pancho Villa Leslie McMurtry ...............13 grow; my first story from the Second Doctor’s Tea with Nyder: TTZ Interviews Peter Miles ........14 era—“SeedsSeeds of Death ”—may have left a rather The War Games’ Civil War Leslie McMurtry & Evan lukewarm impression, but the Missing Adven- L. Keraminas ...........................................................21 tures novel The Dark Path made up for it. Season 6(b) Matthew Kresal ....................................25 In this issue, we have gone monochrome, in No! Not The Mind Probe - The Web Planet Tony honor of Troughton, his last story “ The War Games ,” and of the significant part the Cross & Steve Sautter ............................................28 Second Doctor’s era had to play in influencing The Blue Peter Guide to The Web Planet Robert all subsequent incarnations of Doctor Who— a Beckwith ..................................................................30 role that continues to be evaluated in such Carstairs & Lady Jennifer Leslie McMurtry ...........32 places as Doctor Who Magazine. Terrance War Games Paul Castle .........................................32 Dicks may evince some skepticism in his Cult Heroes Will Forbes ........................................33 interview over whether laymen could find the “black-and-white” era accessible, but I think Is The War Chief Really the Master? David in this issue you get a resounding “yes!” MacGowan ..............................................................35 It’s not all Troughton all the time, TTZ Interviews Grant Bull ....................................37 however. We have (the first part of) a The Fanzine Trap Jamie Beckwith .........................38 smashing interview with Terrance Dicks Adventure Games Reviews Will Forbes, Hannah conducted by roving reporter Matthew Kresal, Rothman and Stacey Frost ....................................,40 and Jamie Beckwith and I were invited to have tea with Nyder--er, interview Peter Miles, that Back2theWhoture ....................................................43 is. We look at Faction Paradox, the Eighth Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Man? J. Dyer ........48 Doctor and Tamsin Big Finish stories, Who My Adventure with the Doctor pt2 A. Bruinsma .49 that makes you think, SFX Wekeender, as Madocfest Tony Cross .............................................52 well as our regular features, and as always, Beginners’ Guide to Faction Paradox L. Burton ...53 new artists and writers coming aboard for the Running Through Corridors Review B. Edwards ....55 first time. Special thanks go to artist Lady Yate-xel for her gung-ho attitude on this issue. Hope for the Future Jamie Beckwith .....................56 I should say something, too, about TTZ Interviews Terrance Dicks Pt 1 .....................61 this being our tenth issue and 2-year Peter Cushing IS The Doctor Susie Who?.............64 anniversary. In TTZ1 I had the cheek to Theta Stigma Part 2 Hannah Rothman ................65. end the mag with a quote from the First Who That Makes You Think B. Edwards .............69 Doctor, “ What did you say, my boy? It's all Eighth Doctor & Tamsin Adventures Review Deb over? That's what you said . but it isn't at all. It's far from being all over. .” I guess Stanish ....................................................................72 this issue proves that right! Hopefully by the Reclaming The War Games Matthew Kilburn ........75 time this issue is out, we will be on our way The Pandorica’s Stolen Aya Vandenbussche ..........77. to having the first-ever TTZ meet up. Have You Never Wondered? Jamie Beckwith ........77 Enjoy the Troughton-love and the Blog High for Happiness Steven Sautter ..............79 far-ranging offerings this issue has for your Zoe Paper Dolls Leslie McMurtry ..........................80 perusal . Tribute to Nicholas Courtney ................................82 End Material ...........................................................83 With love, your editor Leslie McMurtry 2 A Christmas Carol Okay, so, my review. I like Steven Moffat’s writing, not just on Doctor reviewed by Jamie beckwith WhoWho; I still maintain that Press Gang is the greatest children’s drama of all time, and I can happily re-watch “BlinkBlink ” or “TheThe Eleventh Hour ” over and over again. But some of his episodes I find strange because every time I re-watch them my whole opinion changes. Finding something new is always great, but I’m talking about loving it one time, hating it the next, then liking it, then being ambivalent, then being bored, then loving it again. “TheThe Girl in the Fireplace ” did this to me (I’m currently on disliking it) and so does “AA Christmas CarolCarol”. I accept I was still under the influence of jetlag when I first watched it and so while I liked it I knew full well the numbness in my brain meant I hadn’t really taken much of it in. The second time I watched it I really loved it and thought it was the most Christmassy Christmas episode DoctorDoctor Who has ever attempted (take that “TheThe Feast of Stephen ”!). The third time, however, to refresh my memory so I could write this review, I really took against it. I’ve not watched it a fourth time yet so goodness knows what I’ll think then. The things I loved about it first time round include the unashamed grabbing of Dickens’ text and being DoctorDoctor Who going for it full throttle and not pretending otherwise. It’s not the first adaptation of A Christmas Carol which openly references the text upon which it’s riffing (the Bill Murray film Scrooged does it too for example) but surprisingly it almost felt something of a cheat for the TARDIS to keep whizzing back and forth through Kazran’s timeline. Still focusing on the positives, Matt Smith still continues to dominate the screen with his irresistible performance as the Doctor. Many draw parallels between Smith and Troughton or Smith and T. Baker and they are not unwarranted, for all three have perfected the unpredictable blend of humor and steel. All three can play the clown and yet beneath all that bluster can save the day. Smith can fall out of a chimney and rattle off gags, but then when squaring off to Kazran, the menace is beautifully understated but there nonetheless. Michael Gambon brings his usual gravitas to the role Before I get in to the review of this story of Kazran Sardick, though from the off he is still somewhat proper I would like to note how amazing it more of a softer character than the mean-spirited Scrooge and is that I actually watched this episode on it’s the glimpses of his humanity that convince the Doctor he Christmas Day. I was in Florida to spend is a man capable of saving. It is a great irony, therefore, that Christmas with family and as any true Doctor in enriching Kazran’s life the stack of consequences are still not Who fan worth his salt would’ve done I enough to help save the out-of-control spaceship from crashing immediately flicked through their channels to through the atmosphere. see if they had BBC America as part of their Herein, though, lies my problem with the episode and cable package! The show has always had a why I disliked it on my third viewing. Having now been satiated global following (and hopefully one day fans on flying sharks, Marilyn Monroe and a million Christmas Eves in Zambia will stop hoarding those missing throughout history, I was able to get at the meat of the story Troughton episodes!) but it’s amazing to think rather than the trappings. In Dickens’ Christmas Carol,Carol, Ebenezer that the broadcast of episodes is also now Scrooge does at least have a real connection with Jacob Marley, going global. As a further side note, as a and the visitations upon him are given meaning because of that. result of my finding BBC America at a point By contrast, in Moffat’s “AA Christmas Carol ” the Doctor has when they were playing “ The Unquiet DeadDead” never met Kazran Sardick before in his life and while it is true my 15-year-old cousin is now a convert to that his actions are motivated by a desire to save the life of his the show within a few episodes and seemed two traveling companions and their fellow passengers on the quite unfazed that Eccleston became Tennant endangered spaceship, he takes it upon himself to go beyond and then Smith over the course of a few days! simply showing Kazran the “errors of his ways” and actively The Terrible Zodin Art by Alies Bruinsma meddles in the journey talking about all sorts of his personal programs. Yes, we did, of course talk timestream about Doctor Who , but, to be honest, it and utterly was mostly about Glee 2. The last part changes of the journey was by taxi, with a cabbie him as a who claimed to not to be a huge sci fi person. It fan but still talked about his favorite is a hall- films on the way there. mark of the revived se- ries that people around the Doctor find themselves changed by his company; they are able to stretch beyond their confines and perform great tasks. Rose Tyler is held up as the most obvious example, the drifting shop girl who saves the universe from the Daleks. That’s all well and good, being a source of inspiration, but when the changes are unsought, doesn’t this bring the Doctor into very dangerous territory? What right does he have to interfere with Kazran’s childhood? Do the ends really justify the means? I’m hoping that there will be repercussions to this later in the series (and knowing Moffat I suspect there will) but viewed in isolation this is worse than the Tenth Doctor straying in to Time Lord Victorious territory by fighting time on Mars.