User:Glimmer721/sandbox/DWM

Collection of notes from Doctor Who Magazine, because my Sandbox is getting pretty full.

DWM 462 (27 June 2013)

 * p. 6 Ask Steven Moffat
 * Smith auditioned for Watson, saw him as more of a Sherlock, "angular, mercurial and fast"
 * Worried that he would be too young when his name showed up for the Doctor...had same features as above, but "in right role"
 * "Nailed" it, "the humor, the madness, the charm, and somehow even the great age"
 * Original title for "Eleventh Hour" was "The Doctor Returns", changed because he hadn't been away and hasn't done much returning


 * p.8 "Gallifrey Guardian" (article title?)
 * The Mill's TV department closed in March, formed Milk. Will be working on 50th anniversary special


 * p.11 "Public Image" (article title?). Tom Spilsbury
 * Ratings had decreased for 6 consecutive episodes, had not happened since Hartnell
 * Rebounded with "Nightmare in Silver", the start of which overlapped with the FA Cup Final
 * Finale rose to 7.45, highest since "Bells" and first time in weekly Top 10 since then too
 * The 8 episodes averaged 7.1 million


 * "Captain's Orders", 46-51, Matt Adams and David Southwell
 * Dicks planned to kill Yates off in Dinosaurs, Letts wanted him to come back for Spiders
 * Pertwee considered staying for Season 12 (maybe?) thought of doing more space adventures with Sarah Jane and Yates as a companion, adapted with Harry
 * Marter was the first choice to play Yates
 * Intended as love interest for Jo; was not realized
 * Didn't feel he was a traitor, just misguided (Dinosaurs)
 * Featured in 50th audio story Vengence of the Stones
 * Wrote The Killing Stone audio story about the character. Character had lonely childhood and found family and home in army. Autobiographical.
 * Didn't get to do too much in the last seasons because he was directed a youth theater
 * Companion to 4th Doctor in audios Hornets' Nest, Demon Quest, Serpent Crest. Originally for Brig, but Courtney was too ill
 * Found Baker easier to work with; never felt that Pertwee really warmed to him
 * Ended up in The Five Doctors because of fans writing in from Darlington, where he was living at the time

DWM 463 (25 July 2013)

 * "The Way Back Part One: Bring Me to Life", Cavan Scott, 17-23
 * 17: During initial 1998 meeting about bringing Doctor Who back, he proposed the idea of the Anne Driod on a futuristic The Weakest Link. Came from going to New York for Queer as Folk USA launch, and saw "a vast screen in Times Square with a gigantic Anne Robinson blasting us tiny mortals with her voice"


 * "The Fact of Fiction: The Ark in Space" by David Bryher
 * p.56: model of Nerva against blue background, CSO used for space. Unusual for time
 * Pink-green tint for first episode, blue/purple used afterwards
 * Original version (Lucarotti) had titles for each episode
 * Cryogenic chamber originally more like hospital; production designer Roger Murray-Leach made it more cathedral-like (height), with bodies turned upright
 * Harry's first trip on the TARDIS

p.57
 * First broadcast story from Hinchcliffe as producer
 * Lefts had already planned a story called Space Station before Hinchclffe arrived. He had also planned to produce Ark and Sontaran together like a 6-part story. Ark was all in studio, Sontaran was all on location. Good for budget*
 * Let's already planned for Rodney Bennett to direct. Hinchcliffe was pleased with him and asked him back for Mandragora
 * Not many problems besides a day overrunning

p.58
 * "Bennett Oscillator" is an in-joke referring to director
 * Holmes originally intended to set story in 300th century

p.59
 * First novelization Marter wrote. Wanted to correct some logical problems he had found.
 * Considered writing in first person from Harry's POV, but too much happened without him present
 * Added another r in Wirrn
 * Wrote 7 more novilizations (Rescue was completed by Nigel Robinson!)

DWM 464 (22 August 2013)

 * "Oh, My Stars!" by Jason Arnopp, p. 48-53 (Neil Cross Interview)
 * "Hide"
 * Wanted it to be scary first
 * Set in 70s because of The Stone Tape
 * Wanted it to be a "very small, very restricted ghost story", but was asked to make it "bigger" in the end. Already had different :*universe, but was "smoke and mirrors" and climax took place in the house - just in daylight in the alternate world
 * "Time travel and ghosts are echoes of one another. What is a ghost, if not a fragment caught in time?"
 * The script process involved no face-to-face meetings since Cross has been living in New Zealand. Did fly to watch it being filmed with wife and kids
 * Love story twist wasn't in there in the original. Cross was concerned about it being "horrific" and making the Doctor scared. Moffat like the idea but didn't think it fleshed out the monster completely, so they added another twist. Cross chose it to mirror the human love story
 * Had only seen Coleman's 5-minute audition for "Asylum". "Smooth process" except for a few lines that were trimmed because it despite being funny they may have sounded "bitchy"
 * Director had Cross's children (who were eleven and nine at the time) be "monster consultants" and tell if it was frightening


 * "The Rings of Akhaten"
 * Moffat asked him to write it while he was in the UK after "Hide" was shot
 * Ended up having more in common with a Flash Gordon speeder bike
 * Original pre-credits sequence different: showed contrast between Earth and the place they were going to. Long scene in the kitchen; :*Clara was telling the Doctor she couldn't come and travel because she has a job and responsibilities. The boy asked if he was her boyfriend. "The idea was that you'd go from this mundane kitchen sink scene to a massive planet somewhere"
 * However, Moffat wanted to investigate Clara's origin through her parents. Cross revised it and Moffat really liked the leaf idea
 * Original the climax was just the Doctor defeating the planet with a speech, likened to "facing down one of Lovecraft's Old Gods: an alien so alien that it's practically a supernatural being." Moffat pointed out this had happened before similarly and and wanted Clara to save the day. Cross decided the leaf was the way to do it
 * Murray Gold wrote the songs
 * Acknowledged it had a mixed response, but was cheered up by kids 9-15 who had experienced bullying and whom were inspire by the episode. One girl told him it had changed her mind about suicide
 * Clara features heavily in the beginning because Smith was doing pick-ups or reshoots for "Nightmare in Silver"

Professor X explored in Nightshade, Cynundrum, and No Future The fate of the girl was related in the short story in DWM 195 called "In the Community" Counter Measures spin-off: 2012 onwards
 * "The Fact of Fiction: Remembrance of the Daleks" by Jonathan Morris, p. 56-67
 * p.63 The depiction of the "darker Dictor and more modern approach" in this story and particularly its novilisation influenced the Virgin New Adventures. Hints about The Other were oicked up in Cold Fusion and Lingbarrow. Kadiatu is mentioned in passing and features in Transit, The Also People (by Aaronovitch), So Vile a Sin, and Set Piece
 * p.67 BBC Books edition of the novel out now (should find another source)

DWM 465 (19 September 2013)

 * "TARDIS Tales" by Jason Arnopp, pg. 26-31
 * "The Curse of the Black Spot"
 * Had worked on Sherlock with Moffat and Gatiss
 * First meeting with Moffat: very short (11 minutes), had been working on finishing up post-production on "The Eleventh Hour". He said he needed an episode about pirates, leaving Thompson to come up with his own ideas
 * Originally the production team couldn't find a ship, so the first draft had pirates with no ship; they were afraid to go on it because of a sea monster
 * Some of the plot originates from that draft, like the Siren using reflective surfaces
 * Shot all at night, needed CGI ocean
 * Avery not a reference to Smugglers; son had a pirate encyclopedia which he looked through, and found that Avery was responsible for the biggest pirate heist and then vanished, so wrote what happened
 * Had to keep plots a secret, so kids couldn't tell they knew it was about pirates
 * Spends part of the year in Cornwall, where at a pub he saw a legend of a singing, temping mermaid
 * Made less dark and complex to lighten up first half of series
 * Put in Kovarian and pregnancy scan at last minute
 * Had to cut out Boatswain scene
 * "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS"
 * Couldn't show everything; had to leave some mystery. Smith wanted to see Doctor's bedroom but they chose to leave that out, keep mystery. Moffat only requested seeing the centre
 * TARDIS can rebuild itself: created the Architectural Reconfigurations room. Other rooms briefly shown have all been mentioned before
 * Wanted outsiders in the TARDIS, because if it was just the Doctor trying to find Clara then he wouldn't have much dialogue, which Thompson enjoyed writing
 * Original idea: school trip crashing into TARDIS, teens running around...changed because the Doctor didn't have much to do
 * Salvage team: saw TARDIS differently, something with a price tag
 * Latex rubber monsters (cheaper than CGI, could spend money on the sets)
 * Deleted: Doctor and Clara running through labyrinth that kept disappearing, but couldn't touch the walls or they would die. Too short to build a set for
 * Had to wait to film quarry scene, because Casualty was filming there
 * Also had Doctor's storeroom scene be longer, more hints of past adventures and Doctors, but there were cost pressures