Here it is, folks! The 2024 TARDIS Guide Advent Calendar. The rules are simple-- open the door, and discover the item inside on the proper date! (Try not to work ahead–Santa may note it negatively on your performance review). Chocolate not included. (My childhood Advent Calendars never had any chocolate in them, anyway)
Discussion of the items is welcome, but do try to maintain the surprise for members of the forum who haven’t opened the item yet.
1 of December
Today’s item is the short story “Deep and Dreamless Sleep” by Paul Cornell (2006) Published in the Sunday Times (your Times, not my Times). Starting off December with good ol’ Tennant, I suppose. Deep and dreamless sleep
Discussion Question: What Doctor Who story makes you think about… HOPE
(I’m still trying to work out how this whole advent calendar thing will work, so if you encounter any problems, let us know)
This is an absolutely lovely idea! I always loved going along with all the different advent calendars! Interestingly there are not as many Christmas stories out there as Halloween/spooky themed ones which makes sense because Christmas is only once a year but you can make up a horror story any day you want to.
The Question of the Day (One)!
What gives me HOPE? Well there was a story that came out last day but only listened to it this year because well I only joined to the Big Finish gang this year- but the story is The Pursuit of the Nightjar by Tim Foley and it is a damn good one.
That story is all about hope and remembering where we all started. It is a very lovely story to say the least and very well crafted. I would tell more but I wouldn’t want to spoil the story to anyone who haven’t listened to it yet.
I’ve never participated in something like this! Seems really fun. Thank you for hosting this
Day 1: Hope
Regeneration stories, I think. For me, Doctor Who is about change and the future, the two things that are immensely fascinating but also scare me. Regeneration stories deal with that moment when our favorite titular character dies, and look forward to the unknown. They do what fairy tales do for kids: allow them to face fear from a safe distance.
I’m so glad for this thread already if for nothing else than making me aware of that short story!
Deep and Dreamless Sleep - 8/10 (Spoilers)
That was just utterly delightful.
The Tenth Doctor interacting with children in this way always takes me back to when I was a kid, and him trying to show them the joy of christmas without fully understanding what the kid wants is great.
And then the twist reveal that the child is dying, and wants to make it through the night, that this is all a dream for him. There’s no logical explanation as to how this works, but the emotional weight carries it, and Ten going out of his way to make sure Christmas at the hospital is calm and working for him is just brilliant, the way it’s written is nothing short of beautiful.
As for the discussion topic
The first Doctor Who story that comes to mind when I think about hope is Heaven Sent. The final few minutes of that story are just beautiful. The reveal of the diamond wall and the doctor just punching at it gives us a sense of hopelessness, realising that there’s apparently no way out of this for the doctor, a sense that’s only made worse when the veil gets to him, and he dies, restarting the loop.
The doctor talking about how long it’s been, seeing the skulls pile up, the punching the wall getting nowhere is just crushing. You lose all hope you have and have no idea how he’s going to get out of this one…
And then there’s the moment you realise the story he’s telling is getting longer each loop, you realise that he’s making progress, you realise that despite the odds, despite how long it’s been, despite everything, there’s still hope that he can succeed.
This was a story I’d never heard of before. It’s lovely, filled with Christmas spirit and Cornell’s strong emotional writing. Loved the The Snowman and Christmas Carol vibes in this one.
Question of the Day
The first story I think of when I think of hope is The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. It’s set during the darkest of times: in the middle of a pointless, deadly war with pointless, innocent casualties every day. And when everything else seems hopeless, the Doctor is there to instill just s little bit of hope into the Londoners enduring the Blitz. The words “Just this once, everybody lives!” are some of the strongest ever uttered on Doctor Who!
I always find Cornell just really gets the character of the Doctor and I love stories where he just does something completely insane in the pursuit of a little victory (like spending over half a year trying to save the life a four year old he just happened to stumble across)
Question One
If I had to name a Doctor Who story that really gave me hope, I might have to remain the number one Shearman fan and say The Chimes of Midnight. Just a wonderful message about having worth in a cruel world that doesn’t respect you.
Thank you @lwebb for organising this and @shauny for enabling me to access the website.
Doctor stories that inspire HOPE (contains spoilers)
I typically find the stories where companions return give me hope.
When Sarah Jane was jettisoned from the TARDIS she and the Doctor had a ‘stiff upper lip’ British goodbye. Then, in School Reunion life went on, Sarah Jane has been achieving amazing things. She gets closure with The Doctor, and continues to have fantastic adventures.
When Tegan left, she had second thoughts and doubled back but was too late. Again, in The Power of the Doctor, she’s been moving forward and making a difference. Meeting the Doctor again allows her to air some stuff, but life went on.
That’s a really moving story!
Thank you for organizing this!
Also, for pay walls on news sites especially, the wayback machine from the internet archive is usually worth a try too (this is also how older links are backed-up on Wikipedia for example after the original sites get deleted)
Question one
For stories that I connect with hope the first thing that comes to mind is the Chimes of Midnight, like @Speechless said as well. For me, hope is about believing that tomorrow can be better, can be made better and the most important thing for that is being there.
I hope people are enjoying the advent calendar so far. You seem to be. It’s a little bit nerve wracking to be doing something like this, as I open myself up to the critique of public opinion, and the possibility of public failure. I hope that I can maintain your trust.
I’m sorry if you had trouble accessing today’s item because of a paywall; I thought I checked, and I couldn’t see one. One of the difficulties of creating something like this for an international audience is that there can be some differences in webpages across nations. However, I believe that the next items will be easier to access.
Discussion of Today's Items
I think that modern Who thinks a great deal about hope in general. I’m intrigued by the connection between hope and grace. The Eleventh Doctor, for instance, gets granted extra regenerations when it seems that there is no more hope for him. I think a great deal of the Twelfth Doctor’s personality has to do with trying to figure out what he is supposed to do with this act of grace. I suppose that the Twelfth Doctor also embodies a hope that Gallifrey can be found, and that he can make a difference in the world. I also seem to have gotten lucky by picking a story that seems to involve the Doctor spreading hope to others, but he does seem to do that frequently, doesn’t he?
This could seem like a suprising choice, but Survival is the first serial that popped in my head. For me, the theme of that story is… Giving a chance and standing for your beliefs. Even when you are trapped on an alien planet, even when you are caught in a pointless fight mastered by unknown forces, you can still remain humane. The scene where the Doctor just refuses to fight Master and says that they are not animals feels so beautiful to me. Maybe unintentially, but that final monologue just embodies hope for a better future. Even if the Doctor and Ace won’t be continuing their adventures on screen - they are still there. I cannot imagine how fans of the show must have felt in 1989, but the legendary “Come on, Ace – we’ve got work to do!” never fails to bring me hope for tomorrow
Lovely Idea! Really enjoy this Idea overall and no worries, don’t pressure yourself too much, Iwebb. Understandably it’s upsetting about some troubling accessing the site for some, at the end of the day you still are doing this out of your own will and that is to be applauded! As some pointed out, already the Wayback Machine would be a good call, as well as the internet archive, which can be quite helpful too!
As for the Story: I always like a Christmas Tale, which has both something tragic, and hopeful about (I mean just look at Chimes of Midnight). So I really enjoyed this Short Story. I think Cornell is always a delightful writer, so this was totally up for me. And what a lovely way to kick off things. The young boy here is pretty well characterized and as many pointed out how it all wraps up is very lovely. There is not much I can see other than it’s a lovely Christmas Who Story (dare I say one of my favorites when it comes to 10 )
Summary
As for the first Question, I think I will sit this out, there have been a lot of great Answers and I honestly wouldn’t be too sure what my pick for this Question would be. Perhaps Chimes of Midnight too, but I couldn’t add anything further that has been said by either @Jae or @Speechless
Twice Upon a Time, specifically 12’s regeneration. The Doctor is exhausted; weighed down by too much loss and too many failures but they manage to slowly inspire themself to carry on and keep trying.
I’m going to read this at bedtime - I think I might have read it back in the day, but not enough to remember a thing about it.
As for the question:
I think it would be genuinely be Delta and the Bannermen - everyone comes together to defeat the threat and the last of a race is given the chance to survive. And Ray gets a motorbike.
It’s Monday… will we survive? I’m not sure, but maybe this calendar will help!
2
Yesterday’s story was a profound, heartfelt tale about the high ideals of Christmas in which a modern era Doctor selflessly acts to the betterment of mankind.
Today’s entry is… none of those things.
Activity of the day: Because the (regularly occurring) Christmas special wasn’t invented until 2005, the show doesn’t provide much information on how the Classic Doctors like to celebrate. Imagine the Christmas celebrations for a classic Doctor, sharing with the forum if desired in a form of your choosing (Short vignette, picture, drabble, bulleted list, etc). Be creative, if you want to, and can find the spare time.
(Yes, I know that non-televised media has attempted to fill in the gaps. But why let them have all the fun?)
)
