Arnold
Tash Jayasinghe
CibbuanoVideo spinoffs of Doctor Who
January 2nd 2007 06:30
Delving into the ever esoteric extended world of Doctor Who, here are some strange offshoots of the Doctor Who franchise that have cropped up on video in the last decade or two. You could probably term them as 'Spin offs' of Doctor Who, but they are - as a majority - fan-made productions and I don't think any serious Doctor Who fan would probably count them as truly a part of the show's official history. They are all straight-to-video adventures utilising certain aspects of Doctor Who (where permission has been granted by those who hold the copyright to these things, or where it can simply be gotten away with without too much worry), often also making use of the actors and actresses who have been involved with the show in the past.
Wartime
I think Wartime is probably the first of these videos. It was initially released in 1987, and features John Levene reprising his supporting character, Benton, from Doctor Who's early 70s stories. It ran for 35 minutes and was co-written by Andy Lane, who has since written various science fiction TV tie-in novels. It was released and financed by Reeltime Pictures - a British video production company responsible for various other unofficial Doctor Who-related releases.
The Auton trilogy
These three hour-long video specials ('Auton', 'Auton 2: Sentinel' and 'Auton 3: Awakening') made use of the Autons, living plastic manequins controlled by a malevolent alien consciousness known as the Nestene. The Autons and the Nestene featured in a couple of 70s Doctor Who stories, and made a return for the first episode of the current new series of Doctor Who. These videos also feature the organisation known as UNIT, who have featured in many Doctor Who stories. I've seen the first one and a half of these videos, and whilst they achieve and realise the Autons rather nicely, the other aspects of the production quality left a little to be desired. This series was produced by BBV productions, another Doctor Who-focused video production company. All three were written and directed by Nicholas Briggs, who has gone on to provide the voices of the Daleks for the new series of Doctor Who, along with those of the Cybermen and a couple of other monsters.
Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans
Probably one of the better-budgeted (I'm loathe to use the word 'bigger' when referring to straight-to-video productions) Doctor Who fan-made spinoffs, this 70 minute video was actually written by Terrance Dicks - probably the most prolific writer of official Doctor Who scripts and novels in the series' history so far. This video features the Sontarans and the Rutan, aliens that have appeared in Doctor Who several times. It also features Carole Ann Ford and Sophie Aldred, who played the Doctor's first and last companions in the 1963-1989 series (respectively), although here they appear as different characters. 'Shakedown' was produced by the people who make Dreamwatch magazine (a sci-fi/fantasy magazine), and was released by Reeltime Pictures. 'Shakedown' was also novelised by Terrance Dicks as part of the Doctor Who New Adventures line of novels.
Mindgame and Mindgame Trilogy
This duo of videos was made after the success of 'Shakedown', with Terrance Dicks providing the scripts once again. This time the story centres on a human, a Draconian and a Sontaran stuck in a prison cell together. The human is played by Sophie Aldred, this time it is implied that it is the same character she played in Doctor Who - though she isn't named as such to avoid copyright issues.
Downtime
I've got this one, and it sucks. Despite the appearance of a classic Doctor Who monster from the 60s - the Yeti - and the appearances of not one but three classic Doctor Who companions (Victoria, Sarah-Jane and the Brigadier), it comes off as fairly low-budget and altogether plodding in the script department. Deborah Watling (Victoria) is probably the worst offender though, her acting in this is pretty bad. Written by Marc Platt, who also wrote a couple of Doctor Who novels and some Doctor Who episodes in 1989, and produced by Reeltime Pictures. Like 'Shakedown', this was also turned into a novel for Virgin's line of Doctor Who books, the cover of which you can see above.
Daemos Rising
A sequel to the classic 1971 Doctor Who story 'The Daemons'. This video is scripted by Doctor Who archivist David J. Howe, and incorporates aspects from the Time Hunter novels (a line of Doctor Who spinoff novellas). It also acts as a kind of sequel to 'Downtime', being as it features supporting characters from that video as the main characters in this one. I haven't seen this one and - if I'm honest - I don't really intend.
There are also some other spinoffs from BBV productions - 'P.R.O.B.E.' (featuring Liz Shaw from the early 70s Doctor Who stories, and written by Mark Gatiss - of League of Gentlemen fame) and 'The Stranger' series. These are a bit more complicated than the other videos I've spoken about here, 'The Stranger' is more a tribute to Doctor Who than an actual spinoff, and I haven't seen any of them so I doubt I can really comment on them any further than that.
Wartime
I think Wartime is probably the first of these videos. It was initially released in 1987, and features John Levene reprising his supporting character, Benton, from Doctor Who's early 70s stories. It ran for 35 minutes and was co-written by Andy Lane, who has since written various science fiction TV tie-in novels. It was released and financed by Reeltime Pictures - a British video production company responsible for various other unofficial Doctor Who-related releases.
These three hour-long video specials ('Auton', 'Auton 2: Sentinel' and 'Auton 3: Awakening') made use of the Autons, living plastic manequins controlled by a malevolent alien consciousness known as the Nestene. The Autons and the Nestene featured in a couple of 70s Doctor Who stories, and made a return for the first episode of the current new series of Doctor Who. These videos also feature the organisation known as UNIT, who have featured in many Doctor Who stories. I've seen the first one and a half of these videos, and whilst they achieve and realise the Autons rather nicely, the other aspects of the production quality left a little to be desired. This series was produced by BBV productions, another Doctor Who-focused video production company. All three were written and directed by Nicholas Briggs, who has gone on to provide the voices of the Daleks for the new series of Doctor Who, along with those of the Cybermen and a couple of other monsters.
Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans
Probably one of the better-budgeted (I'm loathe to use the word 'bigger' when referring to straight-to-video productions) Doctor Who fan-made spinoffs, this 70 minute video was actually written by Terrance Dicks - probably the most prolific writer of official Doctor Who scripts and novels in the series' history so far. This video features the Sontarans and the Rutan, aliens that have appeared in Doctor Who several times. It also features Carole Ann Ford and Sophie Aldred, who played the Doctor's first and last companions in the 1963-1989 series (respectively), although here they appear as different characters. 'Shakedown' was produced by the people who make Dreamwatch magazine (a sci-fi/fantasy magazine), and was released by Reeltime Pictures. 'Shakedown' was also novelised by Terrance Dicks as part of the Doctor Who New Adventures line of novels.
Mindgame and Mindgame Trilogy
This duo of videos was made after the success of 'Shakedown', with Terrance Dicks providing the scripts once again. This time the story centres on a human, a Draconian and a Sontaran stuck in a prison cell together. The human is played by Sophie Aldred, this time it is implied that it is the same character she played in Doctor Who - though she isn't named as such to avoid copyright issues.
Downtime
I've got this one, and it sucks. Despite the appearance of a classic Doctor Who monster from the 60s - the Yeti - and the appearances of not one but three classic Doctor Who companions (Victoria, Sarah-Jane and the Brigadier), it comes off as fairly low-budget and altogether plodding in the script department. Deborah Watling (Victoria) is probably the worst offender though, her acting in this is pretty bad. Written by Marc Platt, who also wrote a couple of Doctor Who novels and some Doctor Who episodes in 1989, and produced by Reeltime Pictures. Like 'Shakedown', this was also turned into a novel for Virgin's line of Doctor Who books, the cover of which you can see above.
Daemos Rising
A sequel to the classic 1971 Doctor Who story 'The Daemons'. This video is scripted by Doctor Who archivist David J. Howe, and incorporates aspects from the Time Hunter novels (a line of Doctor Who spinoff novellas). It also acts as a kind of sequel to 'Downtime', being as it features supporting characters from that video as the main characters in this one. I haven't seen this one and - if I'm honest - I don't really intend.
There are also some other spinoffs from BBV productions - 'P.R.O.B.E.' (featuring Liz Shaw from the early 70s Doctor Who stories, and written by Mark Gatiss - of League of Gentlemen fame) and 'The Stranger' series. These are a bit more complicated than the other videos I've spoken about here, 'The Stranger' is more a tribute to Doctor Who than an actual spinoff, and I haven't seen any of them so I doubt I can really comment on them any further than that.
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