Honestly, I’m upsetting myself and getting into a bit of a tizz, because I’m imagining telling my 10 year old self that there might come a point where the thing that brought them the most comfort and escapism in a terrifying world might no longer do that. I don’t want to give up on it, mainly, and as cringe as it is to say, for the sake of my inner child. Is pelted with tomatoes for acting like a child.
What spin-offs would you guys recommend in the interlude? I watched all of Torchwood and SJA when they aired. I’ve never seen Class - heard mixed things? I’ve started listening to some BF (8 and Charley - just listened to Blood of the Daleks). It was alright!
I’ve also never seen Classic Who, except bits of The Time Warrior and The Five Doctors, and some scattered bits elsewhere. So I’m totally open to particular eras and stories.
I love Class! Super underrated. It came out when I was in my 2nd last year of high school so I was very much target audience but watch for Quill alone! She’s fab!!! The audios are great too.
So much BF to recommend honestly, so much good 8 stuff (not Charley imo ), the Torchwood stuff is particularly excellent. There’s a very brief sequel series to SJA called Rani Takes on the World which has sadly been cancelled, for now at least.
If you want BF spinoff recs, nobody will be surprised to see me at the helm of Gallifrey and Counter-Measures. Gallifrey only requires you know who Leela and Romana are (though you could go as deep as you wanted in homework there), and for CM I’d suggest watching Remembrance of the Daleks (but I’d suggest that anyway bc that episode is ACE!)
Well I would 100% get on to this! There is so much good stuff in the classic era. You’ll get 100 different answers to what is best, of course but do you have access to the Bluray sets? Or are you going iPlayer (or another source).
Hartnell Season 1 and 2 are great and mostly existing. Season 7 for Pertwee. Season 14 for Baker. Season 12 is good too. Season 19 for Davison and Season 26 for McCoy are all strong runs.
If you’re going audio you will have seen a lot of love for Gallifrey round here. The initial runs of 8 and Charley are good for a range of audio experiences. Following the Main Range from the beginning can lead you into some duds, but there are plenty of people here who could guide you to the best ones (and the Audio Club threads will give you an idea of the average ratings for TG members).
And my advice about going back in time is borne out of experience. I really disliked Deep Breath on first watch. I am a huge 11 fan and the change was too much for me to absorb in that moment. I hated Capaldi throughout Series 8. And yet when I went back and rewatched Deep Breath a few years later I loved it and couldn’t work out what I had found so egregious. Capaldi’s still not a favourite incarnation but I’ve found more and more to like about his era even if the main things that irritate me still do. I’m more able to see past that and find the positives.
If you like Donna Noble, I recommend the boxset Donna Noble: Kidnapped. It’s just Donna and one of her friends, but it’s a ton of fun that also deals with Donna’s relationship with her mother.
Big Finish has a volume of Twelfth Doctor Chronicles (which aren’t full cast, but have at least one guest star per story, and Jacob Dudman narrates in his normal voice but uses his Capaldi voice for the Doctor’s dialogue). That might be a logical next step for you.
I started with the Tenth Doctor Adventures, which has two volumes (six stories) with Donna and one (three stories) with Rose. There’s also a series of Ninth Doctor Adventures, but they’re mostly with BF-original companions, though there’s one volume with River. A full season with Rose is coming soon.
For Classic Who, I think series 7 or 8 would be a good jumping-on point. Series 7 is the debut of the Third Doctor and was a soft reboot (new companion, new showrunners, newly in color). Series 8 is the debut of Jo (my second-favorite classic companion) and the Master. I’d say s24 (Seven’s debut) as well, but its opening story is Time and the Rani, which… is bad.
Then again, you might like the First Doctor for his grandfatherly persona. Some of his episodes are missing, but you can skip those serials and understand the others; you’ll just miss Vicki’s entrance iirc.
I think I know who they are? Forgive me if this is insane - Leela is a tribal woman from Gallifrey, and Romana is a time lady?
Thank you! I’ll have a rummage into these. I don’t have the sets - I’d be looking on iPlayer.
I love Donna & Catherine Tate, and this sounds great. Is Yasmin Finney in it? Are these set pre or post-Journeys End?
This sounds great. How good is the impression? I just love Capaldi.
SO excited for this.
I think this is something. I’ve watched some of Unearthly Child/The Daleks, but I found it hard to get into it being black and white. It shouldn’t matter, but it did a little bit.
Nearly! Romana is a Time Lady indeed, and Leela is a tribal woman but she’s from a distant future human colony, and ends up on Gallifrey when the Doctor leaves her there to get married.
Dodo appears in the final scene of The Massacre but here first full story is a fair enough introduction to her, The Ark, and that still exists. In fact it’s more the depatures of companions in the Hartnell era that are more affected with Vicki and Steven’s both being missing.
The good thing about iPlayer is they’ve even put a lot of the animations for the missing episodes on there so there are very few stories not available on there. Sadly the very first story is still unavailable because the rights to it are owned by a bigoted nutjob. It’s freely available on DVD (and other places) though.
Donna Noble: Kidnapped takes place during series 4 (I forget which episodes), so pre-Journey’s End and neither Rose Noble nor Yasmin Finney are present (it was released in 2020).
), the Torchwood stuff is particularly excellent. There’s a very brief sequel series to SJA called Rani Takes on the World which has sadly been cancelled, for now at least.
