Urban's 'Doctor Who' Thing

[Tristesse]

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

Simm was a terrible Master, whereas Jacobi showed all the qualities associated with the Master role.

You can't just state that like it's a fact, because it isn't, it's an opinion. And the Master shouldn't be portrayed in the same sort of way by every actor who plays him, just as the Doctor has a different spin put on him by each actor.

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

My Top 10(ish) List Of Actors & Actresses That Need To Appear In Doctor Who According To Me.




10. Kelly Adams
There's was tons of male eye candy during the Russell T Davies era, in fact in his 'The Writer's Tail' book he openly admitted to casting actors from other shows he thought were hot, so much so it's a miracle he didn't cast the entire male cast of Skins in Doctor Who. So with that in mind I'm casting Kelly not only because she's incredibly hot but because she was awesome in Hustle (Especially the episode where she pretends to be Kylie Minogue). She's also the only good thing about that dire comedy series Bluestone 42. She'd make a great pseudo companion, one of those characters you wish would go off in the Tardis at the end of the story but for whatever reason doesn't and leaves you imagining what could have been.



9. Johnny Vegas
Come on!!!!!! He would be awesome in Doctor Who.
They've already had Peter Kay & David Walliams playing crap aliens have Johnny Vegas play one too. I actually think they missed a trick not casting him earlier. He would have been awesome in 'The Lodger' instead of James Cordon. Normally I can't stand James Cordon but I really loved that episode but I can't help think that just the idea of Johnny Vegas & the 11th Doctor sharing a flat would have made amazing television and taken that episode to another level.



8. Reece Shearsmith
Reece played Patrick Troughton in 'Adventures In Space And Time' and I just had to do a double check to see if he had been in Doctor Who as well and it turns out he hadn't. This really surprised me because I was sure he had. In fact I'm really shocked he hasn't already, I mean your best mate is Mark Gatiss how the hell have you not been in this show yet. There are rumours that Season 8 will be Steven Moffat's last year in charge of the show and that Gatiss will be taking over as showrunner for Season 9 . If he can't get cast then I don't think he'll ever be in the show.



7. Amelia Bullmore
Been a massive fan of Amelia for years going right back to Big Train, This Life, Ashes To Ashes, Jam, Alan Partridge, State of Play, Twenty Twelve, Sherlock. She MUST appear in Doctor Who at some point surely. I think she's one of the most talented actresses on TV at the moment whether it be comedy or straight acting she manages to be believable in everything she appears in and I'm really surprised she's not a bigger name. a semi regular character would be nice, how about as a companions mother?



6. Idris Elba
There's been loads of talk in the past about the Doctor being a woman, also there's been talk about the Doctor being non white. I don't see why he shouldn't be, if he can be Scottish or Mancunian or Cockney I see no reason why he shouldn't be black either.
If they ever go that route then Idris needs to be the 13th Doctor, or failing that how about a one off appearance as a high ranking U.N.I.T. officer?



5. Andrew Scott
The obvious choice for him would be to play The Master but I wouldn't do that. The Master was created to be the Moriarty to The Doctor & The Brigadier's Holmes & Watson, so he's already played that role in Sherlock where he basically successfully did what John Simm tried to do as The Master but failed. I'd have him as this unhinged human megalomaniac to some alien race, much like Tobias Vaughn to the Cybermen in 'The Invasion' or my favourite Harrison Chase in 'The Seeds Of Doom'. Just tell him to totally play it over the top, sit back and watch him chew scenery for 50 minutes.



4. Sir Ian McKellen
Technically he's been in Doctor Who. He voiced The Great Intelligence during the 2012 Christmas Special 'The Snowmen'. I'd love to see him do a full on proper part. If he can appear in Coronation Street I see no reason why he shouldn't do Doctor Who too. Hopefully he could bring his buddy Patrick Stewart along as well. Also said that he was in love with Matt Smith. Who better to play the Time Lord president when they finally discover Gallifrey?



3. Anna Chancellor
No actress plays a bitch on TV better than she does.
Loved her in everything I have ever seen her in. She's been up against Sherlock playing Irene Adler, now let's see her go up against the Doctor. I know I said in a previous post that I'd love to see Ruth Wilson play The Rani, but if they want to go with an older actress playing the part (As Kate O'Mara was when she played the original Rani in the 80s) she would be totally perfect for it. Or if not she'd still make an awesome Doctor Who villain anyway.



2. Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie
Don't really need to add much here.
Stephen Fry has been linked with Doctor Who since the 80s and almost went as far as writing an episode for series 2, which was put back to series 3 and then sadly cancelled because he didn't have the time to write it.
Hugh Laurie has proven what a great actor he is in House where even I was surprised at how good he is at straight acting, and I've been watching him on TV since the early 80s.
Would have them both of them on the show in a heartbeat any way they could be accommodated.



1. Gary Oldman
Yes I'm just dreaming now but damn, him playing a Doctor Who villain would totally blow my mind and leave me a blubbering heap on the floor.

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

11/12. Keely Hawes / Ben Miller

Was going to list them but they've been confirmed for Season 8
Woohoo!!!!

[Unknown Soldier]

Now that you're back with us, are you going to continue doing this journal as it's the best on here? (apart from mine of course)

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

Oh yes, I'd like to cover the new series, maybe do a review of every episode as they're transmitted.

And I've also been watching a load of recons of missing episodes. Just worked my way through The Daleks Masterplan and I've done a bunch of the early Troughton stories.
I'll probably do something about those too.

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

The Missing Episodes


One of these people is not a member of the outer galaxies but a genuine legend in British television.

Mission To The Unknown

Doctor : None
Companions : None
Series : 3
Originally Transmitted: 9th October 1965

I was going to feature in my first look at the missing episodes the sprawling 12 part epic The Daleks Master Plan, but before I get to that we need to cover the one episode long trailer for that series transmitted 5 weeks earlier otherwise known as.... Mission To The Unknown.


The name's Cory, Marc Cory

Space Security Agent Marc Cory and his crew have crash landed on the hostile jungle planet of Kemble. Cory has been sent there by the authorities of earth to report on a suspected Dalek presence on the planet, however the rest of his crew members, Jeff Garvey and Gordon Lowery know nothing of why they are there . While they are repairing their ship they are at risk from the Vaaga plants that inhabit the jungle. Garvey is infected by the sting of a Vaaga plant, Cory shoots him explaining to Lowery that Garvey would slowly be transformed into a Vaaga plant. Cory also explains that Vaaga plants only grow naturally on the planet Skaro. So if there are Vaaga plants on Kemble so must the Daleks. Garvey's hands begin to move again.


Sorry guv I got a lot on at the moment, I can have it ready for you a week on Thursday

As the Daleks prepare for their conference with delegates of the seven great powers of the outer galaxies the Dalek Supreme orders the Daleks to kill Cory and his crew. Meanwhile Cory & Lowery are in the jungle building a rescue beacon. They hear ships flying overhead and realise that the Daleks are planning something. As the work on the rescue beacon is completed the Daleks attack. Running into the jungle to escape them Lowery is stung by a Vaaga plant, Cory is forced to kill him.


A Vaaga plant, In trousers

The Daleks conference with the delegates of the seven great powers of the outer galaxies begins and they discuss their imminent take over of Earth's solar system. Cory finds the Dalek city and begins to record a message to relay back to earth. While he is doing so he is discovered by the Daleks & exterminated, his tape drops into the undergrowth.


The hero returns to his base and heroically...... oh wait. Shit.

The episode ends with all the members of the seven great powers of the outer galaxies pledging allegiance to the Dalek cause.


Tonight we're gonna party like it's 3999

Some facts about Mission To The Unknown

Mission To The Unknown is the only episode in the series entire run where no regular cast members appear. This was to give them an extra week's summer break.
-
Mission To The Unknown was original series producer Verity Lambert's final episode. Her successor John Wiles was more than thrilled to take over only to have a 12 part Dalek story dumped on his desk.
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Mission To The Unknown is one of three Doctor Who stories where no film clips whatsoever exist of the episode. The other two being Marco Polo & The Massacre.
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Mission To The Unknown is also the only standalone 25 minute episode in the series entire run.
-
Between Mission To The Unknown and The Daleks Masterplan was the 4 part story The Myth Makers set in ancient Troy. This story would see the departure of companion Vicki and have handmaiden Katarina join the Tardis crew in her place.
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There is some confusion about which of the alien delegate is which, some can be established easily because they are named in the show. With only the soundtrack and photos surviving of both this story and Master Plan as well as changing actors playing these roles and various delegates appearing and then disappearing makes it difficult to establish just who is who.
I shall cover this more fully at a later date.


When asking 'Do you know who I am' Cory was banned from the Daleks party. Luckily for him he had backstage passes.

If this story had been done today it probably would have been a webisode much like Night Of The Doctor or the short prequels that have appeared online in various forms online since the series return rather than a full blown episode like this one. However in 1965 they didn't have that luxury and this is what we got, or had seeing it doesn't exist anymore.

To say I was watching this by listening to an audio soundtrack recorded by a fan and watching a few stills from the episode it moves along quite nicely. You can't really judge it on it's own, it has a compelling storyline, none of the actors sound really bad and despite some of the dodgy alien costumes there's a real sense of menace and foreboding. In fact it zips along at such a pace it barely even registers that Hartnell & crew are missing from this episode. It would also be nice if they bring back the Vaaga plants for the new series. With the technology the Doctor Who production team have access to now they could make them downright horrifying.

Putting myself in the place of a child watching this in the 1960s I would be really excited to see the Daleks again and begin wondering the following week what happened to them. As a single episode this is neither here nor there, as a way to draw you into the forthcoming 12 part epic it does it's job admirably, and lets face it. That's exactly what it was supposed to do.

---


Some press cuttings from the period

[Unknown Soldier]

Great job on the Mission to Unknown above, because with that and the 12 parts of the Dalek Masterplan, Who was at its most epic and never reached those epic heights ever again in terms of pure length and ambition, both Invasion and the War Games came close but I've always preferred the Dalek Masterplan over those two (just)

The great thing about the Dalek Masterplan, was the Dalek's decision to form alliances with other alien races to achieve their ultimate goal, something which went against their purist principals. Kind of reminded me in a historical context of Germany's pact for Operation Barbarossa (not sure how good your history is Urban but the similarities are there.

.... and then of course there is how these aliens gradually fell foul of each other and the Daleks in a classic circle of treachery.

As for Patrick Troughton, for me adventure for adventure this was always my favourite period of Who anyway.

[Neapolitan]

Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ?

3. Anna Chancellor
No actress plays a bitch on TV better than she does.
Loved her in everything I have ever seen her in. She's been up against Sherlock playing Irene Adler, now let's see her go up against the Doctor. I know I said in a previous post that I'd love to see Ruth Wilson play The Rani, but if they want to go with an older actress playing the part (As Kate O'Mara was when she played the original Rani in the 80s) she would be totally perfect for it. Or if not she'd still make an awesome Doctor Who villain anyway.

If she does she joins a moderately long list of actors & actresses that both in appeared on Doctor Who and Jane Austen movie and tv adaptions. I would like to see Doctor Who characters interact with Jane Austen characters. I think it is time due that both worlds intersect. I think it would be so great to see Billy Piper appearing in Doctor Who but this time as Fanny Price.

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

12th Doctor / Malcolm Tucker Mash-Up Season 8 Trailer

[Neapolitan]

10th Doctor / Pride & Prejudice - (Doctor Who) Trailer