In the early days of the show, the production team planned a variety of stories and had the loose categories of ‘past, future and sideways’.
Whilst the past and future stories are obvious - and numerous - the sideways stories featured more rarely. In the first couple of years there was The Edge of Destruction, Planet of Giants and the first episode of The Space Museum.
Which other stories - or episodes - may be categorised as ‘sideways’ stories throughout Doctor Who’s 60 plus years? Which are your favourites?
The Celestial Toymaker?
The Web Planet?
Inferno (a ‘literal’ sideways story)?
The Mind Robber?
With Gatwa’s recent season leaning into fantasy more heavily and with sideways style stories like The Devil’s Chord and 73 Yards featuring quite prominently, is the ‘sideways’ story due for a comeback?
I love a ‘sideways’ - Turn Left is an obvious one, as are a bunch of SJA stories like Wedding and Curse of Clyde Langer. I would also probably say Gallifrey: Spirit (also known as one of the greatest episodes of all time ever) is sideways. I guess I like the ones where they go ‘wow wouldn’t that be messed up??’ but nothing really ‘‘happens’’ if you will in the real world
Oh, excellent topic… and I humbly suggest one of my all time favourite stories; the majestic ‘Inferno’. A significant part of the story happens on a parallel Earth, allowing them to actually show us the destruction of our planet in one of the bleakest episodes ever. it was extraordinary stuff for a family friendly sci fi drama in 1970 and I still think it’s pretty extraordinary to this day.
“That’s the sound of this planet screaming out its rage!”
(I do need some help adding to this list and double checking them!)
I enjoy a “sideways” story although many of them involve a “big reset” at the end, which is a bit of a narrative crutch. Although if there is character development during it, even something like Turn Left where at the end no-one remembers what happens, we the audience still get to experience what our characters would do in a totally different reality, which can be really fun!
Inferno is one of my rare 10/10 Doctor Who stories. I think it is utterly superb and one of the few longer stories that doesn’t drag. Everything about it is thrilling, the regulars get to show their nasty side and Doctor Who gets to do a proper disaster movie vibe where, for once, the Doctor actually doesn’t manage to save the planet Earth. The parallel Earth stuff is some of my favourite episodes in Who.
Incidentally, I suggested The Web Planet because with the lack of any human or humanoid characters it feels like a sidestep into another universe where humans didn’t evolve but insects did. I imagine many people categorise it as ‘future’ because it is on an alien planet but I like the idea of it being ‘sideways’.
I agree, although the wonderful thing about a really GOOD sideways story (e.g. Turn Left, Inferno) is that we still see and feel the consequences for those in the alternate timeline or parallel universe. Because, in Turn Left, Donna actually has to make the decision to die in order to correct things, the impact feels momentous. It’s not that it didn’t happen. For that version of Donna, in that timeline, it absolutely did happen, and it was awful.
The same is true for Inferno. We are presented with a parallel Earth in a parallel universe. Everything that happens to those characters actually happens in their reality. There’s no reset for them. It’s over (and horribly). This is, I believe, partly why the Doctor is so very shaken by the end. It isn’t just a warning of what could happen. It actually did happen.
Adding onto this my personal favourite ‘parallel earth’ story that has lasting implications for that world, that of course being Extremis.
Everyone dies. Like, literally everyone. Sure they’re not real, they’re not the characters we’ve been following this whole time, but they they all get straight up deleted and mostly on screen.
Oooh - that needs tidying up. The Ice Warrior Radio Times comic strips are explicitly set in Mars’ past if I recall correctly so that’s not exactly ‘unclear’. Also, I wonder why the novelisation of Web Planet (along with a bunch of others) is there, but the TV stories don’t seem to be.
Anything to distract me from real work.