Two of Brian Hayles’ stories have now appeared in TV Club but neither featuring his most famous creation, the Ice Warriors.
What are your thoughts on Hayles’ writing for the show? With such wildly different stories like The Celestial Toymaker, The Smugglers, The Ice Warriors and The Curse of Peladon, is it easy to ‘label’ him as a writer in the same way we might manage with Malcolm Hulke or Eric Saward?
Have you heard any of the Lost Stories adapted from his proposed ideas: The Dark Planet, The Queen of Time or Lords of the Red Planet?
What about his novelisations of his TV stories?
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Not heard any of his audio stories, I think. I overall like him as a writer on TV, but I strongly dislike The Celestial Toymaker. It has a fantastic concept, that’s a given, but I loathe that story. It took me months to “watch” it (only had recons way back then, besides the novelisation, me thinks).
The Curse of Peladon is so, so good tho. I have lots of fun with The Monster of Peladon. The Smugglers I find a bit underrated. The Ice Warriors and The Seeds of Death are both fine/nice enough.
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The only Hayles story I’ve experienced is his novelisation of The Ice Warriors, which was good, I guess?
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The thing with the Celestial Toymaker is that it isn’t, really, a Hayles script as it was heavily rewritten. I always wonder what the original would have been like with the who George and Margaret aspect.
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First off, he’s of course the creator of the Ice Warriors, and while they’re not a favorite of mine, I don’t find them particularly interesting or like their debut story much at all, they are a significant and well known Doctor Who creation, so I’ll give him some credit there.
I actually quite like his Peladon stories, which I think are his best ones that weren’t heavily rewritten by someone else. I like the setting, I like the sort of political themes he’s going with in them, and actually, when the Ice Warriors are generally beyond their warlike past, I find them to be at their most interesting.
The Toymaker is an interesting creation, even if I find his story with him to be severely lacking (though how much of that is actually Tosh’s doing is unknown). It’s another character he created that definitely has had an impact on the series, regardless of how one thinks of the Toymaker in later stories.
The Smugglers is still the best Doctor Who TV story featuring pirates (I mean of the traditional, nautical variety), and actually I think quite a lot of fun. Its missing status I think makes it a bit harder for some to get into, resulting in it being thought of less fondly, which I think is a shame.
Overall, I think his work on the show was passable, though not going to be topping my list of favorite writers, rather more middle of the pack. I think his more lasting contributions to the show are greater than the sum of his writing specifically, but of his 6 serials, I think 4 are at least pretty good, so that’s not too shabby.
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According to the CD extras for The Queen of Time, Big Finish was actually given a whole bunch of Hayles scripts/story treatments.
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I think he is a great Writer, actually. I either like or really love all of his Stories, minus his first and last one for the televised show.
As if it’s easy to label him as a Writer, I don’t think so. The closet I could think about is maybe the Fact that like Nation, he wrote mainly for his big Creature invented for the Show, but that’s just kinda is.
Can’t sadly comment on any of the Lost Stories or the Novelizations yet, but excited to get around to it. But hey, I can do a Ranking of his TV Stories:
- The Curse of Peladon: Amazing, the Crown Jewel of Season 9 honestly
- The Smugglers: Super underrated, I think it’s genuinely one of the best Hartnell Historicals
- The Seeds of Death: Really enjoyable with a strong Supporting Cast
- The Ice Warriors: Very okay with a solid Supporting Cast
- The Monster of Peladon: There are Things I really like and Things I really dislike with this one
- The Toymaker: I love the Concept, but genuinely think this Story is just a mess, I think you can also tell how this isn’t really a Hayles Script like mentioned here already.
Actually, that I now think of it, perhaps one of his Constant is a solid - strong Supporting Cast of Characters and since the Ice Warriors Story, he does some great Settings such as Peladon.
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