Inside Outside in 2: an Outside in Extra!
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INSIDE OUTSIDE IN 2: AN OUTSIDE IN EXTRA! Inside Outside In 2 as a compilation is ©2018 Robert Smith? All essays are ©2018 their respective authors. Outside In inside outside in 2 robert smith? (Originally published in the Nethersphere fanzine) Outside In Who The first two books cover Classic and New reviews, but with a twist. Well, technically a gimmickDoctor Who and storiesa twist. (including The gimmick Shada is). that, In the in second each volume, (recently there out is precisely one reviewer per story. So, in the first volume,Who there were 160 writers covering 160 Classic from ATB Publishing), that meant 125 writers Space/Timefor 125 New to Rainstories. Gods to How Time did Crash we toget Music to 125? of theWe Spherescounted. Notpretty to mentionmuch everything! all the televised So if it had stories a title of andcourse. a narrative, then it was included. Which meant everything from However, while a logistical triumph/headache/nightmareDoctor Who collection(delete asin appropriate), the gimmick is simply that: a way to anchor the collectionDoctor Who — making it, incidentally the most diverse professionally published existence — meaning that there are multiple styles. Much like itself, if you don’t like this week’s offering, somethingWho stories else will saying be along the shortly.same old things. So The twist though, is rather more delicious. The first volume was created as a hard.reaction Doctor to so Who many reviews of Classic the aim with that oneThe was Seeds to sayof Doom something different. Which, in a way, wasn’t that , like the weather, is endlessly discussable. So pulling out a new perspective on, say, , wasn’t all that hard. One of the best things I dicovered along the way was just how different some people could be. I was envisioning new insights and clever arguments, but some authors took “different” to mean precisely that. So they played with the format, giving us letters, a menu, insurance claims and a review of the Quarks as though they were a new iPhone. I loved this. It took my central idea and made it sing. With the second volume, this was a bit more of a challenge. Many of the later stories were only just out, so fan reaction hadn’t gelled into knowing which were the default classics and which were the stinkers. So instead I decided that the remit this time around was to say something interesting. As a result, I pushed for the variations in format even more. So now we have musical numbers, poems, a choose-your-own- sayadventure, something songs interesing (complete and with c) make sheet each music), article letters be the to the best Daily version Mail, of you that name article it. As editor, my job was to a) recruit writers b) make sure they were able to truly Outside In 2 is not only the book I’m that it could be. You’ll have to judge how well I succeeded, although I will note that 2the early reviews have been uniformly positive. father’s day by Neil Gaiman. most proud of, it’s (so far) the best-received as well. And that includes one endorsed To give you some insight into how theLast editing Christmas process works, I’m going to present some DVD extras: pieces that were cut or significantly altered, as well as two new reviews. The collection runs up to , so we decided to give you two entries for the two prequels to Series 9. Here are the four pieces that didn’t make it, for various reasons. All of the original writers have given theirOutside blessing In for their piece to be reused here. I’m extremely grateful for that, because it’s not always easy to let the joins show. But one of the sheer joys of doing an is working with all the different writers, who are invariably lovely, gracious and professional individuals. I’m still astonished at how generous they can be, both with their time and money. (All writers, along with the designer and your humble editor, donated their fees to the HIV/AIDS charity Avert. A percentage of each book sale goes there as well.Father’s Check Day it. I outreally at avert.orgliked this ifpiece you want to make a donation.) This is fandom at its best. First up is a piece that was submitted for and likely would have used it, had external factors not got in the way. As first drafts go, I think it’s excellent. 7. father’s day old glory michael s. collins Beware the Doctor. Hidden in the ruins of the old. He destroys. (Film blurb) A series of letters on a recent blockbuster film, made public by a disgruntled source * * * Dear Sirs, I hear you are planning to construct a film out of the catastrophe surrounding the Doctor. I presume it transpired so long ago as to have acquired a mythical essence. blueI’ve planet caught in an a undisturbedglimpse of the section studio of advertisement: time. A simple “Eightdisinfection young routinesoldiers, goes on their concluding assignment before decommissioning, are delegated to a listless, 3 Outside In wildly wrong when, one by one, they are picked off by a disturbed individual who seems to walk through time itself.” thenI as spoke in the to days the widowright after of the the sole tragedy. survivor We have of this a cenotaph atrocity decades to our fallen ago, comradeswhen she was nearly eighty. She still felt her loss, and the loss of seven other families, as keenly in the city centre square to mark the loss, and every year I am there to remember them,Professor so to make A.J.H. a film out of this devastation feels a degradation of disaster. AcademyYours, for Reaping * * * Dear Professor A.J.H., As director of this documentary, please let me encourage you that I understand your feelings acutely. The horror of our communal loss remains potent, even with lookthe passing over. century. I want this to be an accurate portrayal of what happened that day, without shirking on the details. As a result, I have you the draft script to have a Best, Sgt. 4561 * * * Dear Sirs, I have read over the script for this film, and wish to make the following corrections, based on the testimonies of the widow. As you know, her husband didn’t live too long after the event, and his mind was broken, but he did speak something of what1. he saw. The dwellers of the planet in question seemed to be comparatively ourpeaceful. men isThey therefore ran unrealistic.away a lot, but their weaponry was too 2. elementary. The scene in which a human shoots and injures one of 3. soldiers.The Doctor arrived in a blue box, not a red one. 4. His companion was female, not male. Some tribes use female Whilst the Doctor using a cave makes sense, logistically, I’m afraid the truth is far more sinister. As a base of attack, the Doctor and 4 his team took refuge in what appears to have been a religious father’s day institution. Under the Sontar Convention, use of religion as a 5. pretext for attack is illegal. This was not a case of our boys undone by a trick, but actually a war crime. You seem to be playing events as a horror. Certainly, they were horrific, as any war event is, but to treat it as titillation is, to my Yoursmind, a dereliction of duty. The Professor * * * Dear Professor, 1.As my final response to you, peaceful to me. Pockets of those infected resisted all across the affectedThey fought time back, zone. didn’t Our brave they? boys These have humans. sterilised Doesn’t time soundissues toofor 2. Fair enough. 3. Thecenturies, sole survivor and this mentioned is notably thisthe onlyin his time ramblings we have too. suffered I took itlosses. to be the sign of a diseased mind. I mean, the idea of this all-powerful Doctor needing an equally powerful aide alongside him doesn’t feel realistic to my mind. I am aware also that the sole survivor suggested this female aide was linked in some way to the older man, who committed self-sacrifice in the Doctor’s final destruction of time itself. Audiences gestureslike a good among bit of villains sacrifice, are sonot we cinema may friendly.use this scene. However, we 4. will have to give it over to one of our own fallen — seemingly, noble A church in which the Commander of the division was murdered trailing the Doctor’s team. I’m afraid this scene was axed by the censors. It was deemed to make the Doctor too unrealistically ourvillainous. audiences. Also, it involved showing our own boys trying to break 5. into the church, which would cause too many moral questions for Time itself was collapsing inwards. I find it hard to think of anything protection.more frightful! That One even by one one, survived every single that oneis a miracleof our boys itself. were forced to travel backwards through the time vortex without preparation or 5 Outside In The film will be released in six months’ time. We are weeks behind schedule and ticketon a strict to the military Premiere. timetable. As such, I shall be unable to respond to any further correspondences. However, I am sure the studio would be able to give you a free Best wishes “Father’sSgt 4561 Day” (named after the Day of Remembrance held each year for the squadron) was released on schedule. Critics praised its gritty, unflinching qualities, and the director’s braveness in leaving the Doctor mostly in the shadows so audiences never quite saw him fully.