The Mighty 200 Results

Here are the results of the Mighty 200. Thankyou to everyone who voted.

1. A Death in the Family (13.5%)
2. The Chimes of Midnight (12.9%)
3. Spare Parts (7.6%)
4. The Holy Terror (6.5%)
5. The Kingmaker (4.7%)
6. Scherzo (3.5%)
7. The One Doctor/Doctor Who and the Pirates (2.9%)
8. The Marian Conspiracy/Master/The Emerald Tiger/1963: Fanfare for the Common Men (2.4%)
9. Jubilee/The Natural History of Fear/Night Thoughts (1.8%)
10. Storm Warning/Project: Twilight/Colditz/Zagreus/Arrangements for War/The Last/Catch 1782/Live 34/Year of the Pig/The Condemned/Kingdom of Silver/A Thousand Tiny Wings/The Architects of History/The Curse of Davros/The Fourth Wall/Protect and Survive (1.2%)
11. Winter for the Adept/The Shadow of the Scourge/Seasons of Fear/Neverland/The Wormery/The Harvest/Thicker than Water/Other Lives/Son of the Dragon/The Death Collectors/The Magic Mousetrap/Legend of the Cybermen/The Feast of Axos/The Silver Turk/Gods and Monsters/The Wrong Doctors/Moonflesh/Mask of Tragedy/The Widows Assasin (0.6%)
12. The Rest (0.0%)

Here were the top 5 in the Mega Poll I did in 2011

1. The Chimes of Midnight (5.65%)
2. Spare Parts (4.77%)
3. The One Doctor (4.21%)
4. The Spectre of Lanyon Moor (3.99%)
5. The Holy Terror (3.88%)

Thankyou again for voting and hopefully when the Mega 250 poll comes around, people will vote again.

The Tomfiles: #24 - The Problem With Speculation

Being a Doctor Who fan, one of the things that I do is visit all the Doctor Who sites. One of the regular ones I go to is Kasterborous and a headline link was MAISIE WILLIAMS ISNT A RETURNING CHARACTER and the article was what Steven Moffat has said somewhere and implied that Williams’ character was not a recurring character because people had thought she might be Susan or Jenny (from The Doctor’s Daughter). My instant reaction was well of course and I cant believe that people would think this.

If it were Susan which is what people seem to think it is then it would require a lot of explaining in the story and people who have only watched new Who and haven’t perhaps got to and also bearing in mind the character hasn’t been on TV since 1983, would it be worth bringing back another timelord bearing in mind there would have to be a believable plot idea to bring her back bearing in mind that the Doctor and Missy/The Master are suppose to be the only Timelords left.

Here is the main reason why Maisie Williams’ character is a returning one. She plays Arya Stark in Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones is one of the most talked about TV shows on the planet. I can’t watch TV for more than five minutes without an advert or some news article talking about it. She isn’t going to quite that just to take part in Doctor Who which is also a much talked about show but G.O.T is a bigger show and from what I understand her character is quite important so it’s obvious that Williams’ character in Doctor Who isn’t a regular one.

Moffat said in this news article that the character was a brand new character and of course he has a long track record of misleading people but let’s just assume for the purposes of this piece that he is telling the truth and that the character is new.

It frustrates me sometimes when people try to read into things that clearly aren’t there. I know that it could be seen as a bit of fun and I have no problem with that but there are times when it seems like common sense has given way to madness. Go back twelve months and on the same website, Kasterborous do an genuinely interesting article about who Missy was and probably try to debunk some of the ideas or lend weight to the more plausible ones.

One of the suggestions was that she could be the Rani. This actually appears on several websites such as the Radio Times and Digital Spy ones but for now I am sticking with Kasterborous because they have the best articles.

Now first of all they actually blow a raspberry at this one because it had been revealed that the Rani would be appearing in a Big Finish piece and generally the rule (before Big Finish started blurring the lines) was that if a character appeared on TV then it couldn’t be used by Big Finish so if they were using it then it would mean that the character wasn’t appearing on TV. I remember when the Master was suppose to appear in The Hollows of Time which was released in February 2010 just a month after the Master had appeared in David Tennant’s final story. They had to take the Master out of that story which is probably one of the reasons why the story didn’t work.

Another name that always seems to be bought up is Jenny. Now Jenny made her one and only appearance in a less than entertaining episode seven years ago. The Doctor thinks that Jenny is dead and since that time has not mentioned her once (to my knowledge) and the viewer hasn’t been reminded of her existence since the 2008 series finale. I personally think that the show has moved on that bringing her back would require more explanation that Susan’s and also what would be the point as the character hardly had anything to suggest she could withstand more than one episode in the viewers attention. Maybe casting someone other than Mrs David Tennant would breathe new life into the character but I doubt it very much.

Going back to Digital Spy for a moment their article about who Missy was is hilarious because they actually go to the trouble of revealing who agrees with these ideas. First idea is that it’s the TARDIS with one person (polite word) saying “"A physical aspect of the TARDIS was played by Suranne Jones in a previous episode, it doesn't mean it's going to keep the same appearance later on." Another one says "I see what you mean now. Of course it makes sense the aspect would change just as the Doctor has, and what with the new aspect mimicking his Scottish accent and the 'girlfriend' comment, I think you are spot on."

Everytime there is a mysterious female character introduced to Doctor Who then its either Susan, Jenny or the Rani. I think that none of these characters will EVER feature in Doctor Who but of course I could be wrong and if that is the case then I will happily post an apology but the whole point of this article is that people don’t use common sense when they wonder what a mysterious character could be and go for a mixture of the possible idea and the ludicrous ones and as much as sites do to try and dismiss the idea the fact that it gets mentioned.

I know that there is nothing wrong with having a bit of fun but to be fair after a certain amount of time, this routine gets a bit boring. Sadly as much as I would love it to stop, I don’t think that this will ever change because even if websites such as Kasterborous and other related websites stop doing it there will still be forums doing this.

The Mighty 200

The Witch Hunters (1998)

The Witch Hunters is a story that I read about two years ago if I am being honest so my review is based on what stuck in my memory and maybe not what I was thinking about it at the time. The thing about this book which sticks in my mind all this time later is how intriguing this book is. It felt like it had come straight from that era. The idea that a prolonged amount of time seems to have taken place is something that wouldn’t have happened during previous stories.

This story sees Susan wanting to change the course of history instead of Barbara. In fact reading this means that you have to think about the events of The Aztecs. I think that the Susan on TV was horribly served and its only during the Big Finish audios and novels like this that have showed what the character can do. I thought that she the strongest of the regulars with the Doctor and Barbara a close joint second. Ian did seem to be a bit left out and wasn’t really allowed to be the Ian that he was on TV.

I return to how the setting and how it doesn’t feel like its rushing. It’s the longest book I have read in the PDA’s. It’s only six pages longer than Synthespians and 3 pages longer than Illegal Alien but it’s the one that feels like it is taking the story in its stride. It is allowing us to savour the history of America in 1692. I know that this might not to everyone’s satisfaction but there is a bravery to take things this slow in a book that was released in the late 1990’s. In Synthespians and Illegal Alien I have commented on how long it takes for the action to get started but because there isn’t a well known alien or an alien at all and so it saunters in its narrative.

Despite my enjoyment of this story, there is one aspect that was always going to trouble. Well two actually but the first is the most important. Whenever you do something in history you know that things cant change and so if you use certain characters, you are pretty much restricted with what happens to them. Secondly there is the issue of whether you know what the event is.  I didn’t know a great deal about what happens in Massachusetts in 1692 but in a way that wasn’t a problem because the characters were interesting enough.

I don’t know whether it’s the best PDA ever written but it’s the one that has left a warm feeling with me and that is a rare thing in a book.

Illegal Alien (1997)

After reading how the Autons get the BBC Books treatment, I was interested to read how Cybermen would work. This story takes place during World War 2 and the height of the Blitz. This was due to be made for TV so it would have done a good job in making up for Silver Nemesis.

What I like about this book is that it does a better job than Synthespians in getting the villain involved. Whereas it felt quite late into the book before the Autons became involved it was quite early into the book when the Cybermen were introduced into story. Ok its still later on into the book before they are properly bought in but throughout the entire book I got the feeling that this was a Cyberman story.

The thing about the writing of Mike Tucker and Robert Perry that the action never stops. Sometimes that is a problem especially when it comes to Ace. I felt that she was quite badly treated at times and there were a few occasions where if it had happened to me then as soon as the Cybermen were defeated I would have left the Doctor for an easier life.

The character of Cody McBride is quite interesting because he seems like a fish out of water. He becomes the second companion to the Doctor and is a very well written character. Other interesting characters include Major Lazonby, Patrick Mullen and Wall. I do think that it was a bit odd that he pretty much disappears quite late in the book. After being so involved in the story he just seems to wander off and returns right at the end. I think that this was because they wrote the story and then someone realised that we don’t know what happened to him. Limb is a character that is outsmarted over the course of the book and it’s a bit clichéd which is where the ending of the book comes unstuck.

The Cybermen are used perfectly well in this story and their plan is perfectly sound. Perry and Tucker use the setting as a way of keeping the Cybermen’s plan at bay until it was needed to take up the reigns of the story. I like that the Cybermats are used in this story and are quite dangerous. There is one scene where the Doctor traps one in a safe that springs to mind and this brief scene is one of my favourites in the book.

Illegal Alien is a good story but I think despite the promise that the story showed in the early part of the story, my expectations may have been raised so much and that meant that the second half of the book would only go on and disappoint. The setting is perfect and there are large chunks of the book that work quite well but I think that its in the characters that things start to get weak.

Snthespians (2004)

Synthespians is a story that features Autons as the villain and after being disappointed with their only appearance in new Who its good to see that they are used in a good way. The story sees the Doctor and Peri arrive on Reef Station One which appears to be a copy of Earth. What I like about this story is that at first it seems like it’s a question as to whether the people realise that they aren’t really on Earth but it’s a copy. His is answered after a reasonable amount of time but its fun to see how the Doctor and Peri have their own adventures and both aspects of the plot are well worked out.

The show Executive Desires is pretty much at the centre of the story and the shenanigans of the people involved in the making of it seem just as outrageous as the show itself. Its’ obvious (even without seeing the cover) that this is using the shows Dallas and Dynasty and Craig Hinton does a good job of transporting us back to that period whilst injecting the elements of Doctor Who that we all know and love.

I thought that some of the characters that feature in this book are rather good. Claudia is one that comes to mind because she starts off as this young girl who comes across as a rather spoilt brat but she becomes a rather brave and clever young lady. She forms quite a good working relationship with Peri and the two are quite entertaining on the page.

The book does spend quite a long time before it gets going into the action. The first half of the book is spent going between the Doctor’s story and Peri’s story. It was interesting enough so I am not too bothered by how long it takes for the Auton’s plan to get going. Once it does, it never stops and builds to a thrilling conclusion. It’s quite difficult to make the Auton’s work on the page but Craig Hinton manages to pull it off with limited success. I think that the difficulties of making this work mean that is why we have to wait for them to be involved in the story.

Synthespians TM isn’t a ground-breaking story but sometimes it’s fun to have a story than enjoys just being a story and I found this story to be enjoyable to read. It lets me wallow in some nostalgia whilst keeping me firmly interested in what was going on and more importantly what was going on with Peri and the Sixth Doctor.

Equilibrium (2015)

Being the middle story of a series which has a story arc running through it is never easy. So credit must go to Matt Fitton for at least giving it a go. The story sees the TARDIS land on Isenfel and they are after the interface stabiliser that was stolen in the previous story. It’s obvious from the front cover and the sound effects used that this takes place in the snow and ice but it’s the setting that should be more interesting and indeed it is.

There is a nice plot idea about there being a one in and one out policy that they have on Isenfel which does seem to be at least partly based on the rule that they had in China were they were not allowed more than a certain number of children. It does lead to a question being asked by Tegan as to why people bother to have children and Nyssa says that sometimes it can’t be helped. I thought that the performances from the regulars was quite good. Sarah Sutton is always someone that I think gives a solid performance. I think that Mark Strickson though is somewhat disappointing because all he does is moan and this is becoming somewhat tiresome in these adventures.

The supporting cast is interesting. Annette Badland is of course well know as Margaret Slitheen in the 2005 TV series and at the moment can be seen on Eastenders. In this piece she plays Queen Carlina and I thought it was a strong performance. Another strong performance came from Nikolas Grace as Lord Balancer Skarsgard. Skarsgard & Carlina work together with the general impression that what they are doing is in the best interest of the residents of Isenfel. It seems usual in these stories that they start off with this point of view but when the Doctor joins them then that opinion changes.

Credit should go to Richard Fox & Lauren Yason for creating a wonderful atmosphere. I think that I don’t give enough credit to the music and sound effects used in these stories but I was impressed with what they have come up with.

The problem ultimately is that I wasn’t wowed by this story and despite the best efforts of the cast I just didn’t find the story very interesting. I can’t quite put my finger on what the problem was. I think that it took a while for me to pick up on what the actual plot of the story was and by that time I had sort of given up on it.  As a middle story it does what it needs to do but I cant help think that if I listened to this again in the future that I might start to value this more.