Me and my Projects II:
Now Playing: Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell - Meatloaf
Topic: Writing
Where did DW:tL come from? Often I am asked this, so I think it's time the truth all came out. This is also due to the fact that I found my notes last night... notes from 1997. Yep, "Doctor Who: The Legacy" has been around for that long, in one way or another.
It started off shortly after I pitched a novel idea to Stephen Cole at BBC Books for the new Past Doctors range. I was waiting for their reply, and me being the impatient person I am and being full of ideas, came up with a great way to continue the story I had pitched. So I altered the ending to fit this new idea...
In the original novel, "VRARG VNUTRY", I had the Master post-"Survival" going back to the point where the Doctor had only just begun travelling with Ace (sometime in between seasons 24 and 25 - crica 1987/1988). In this story, set in a small coastal town called Maiden Port, the Master sets up a complicated plot to alter the Doctor's future in an attempt to prevent the Master contracting the Cheetah virus as he was destined to do three years later.
It was a bit of an over-complicated plotline, and destined to be rejected, mostly because it was so reliant on Doctor Who continuity. Never a good move for a debut novel. Ah, my foolish niave days, eh? And look, something I only noticed recently, the location of the story (Madien Port) is way too similiar to one of the locations in the 1989 Doctor Who serial "The Curse of Fenric", a place called Maiden's Point. Like if Ace and the Doctor went there they'd not comment on the similarity between the names? Tut tut, Frankham.
Anyway, about that time there was an article in Doctor Who Magazine about UNIT, and a picture of Brian Blessed who might have been one of the Doctor's that UNIT encountered. Wonderful idea I thought, who better to play the Doctor? A big, boistrous Doctor with a full belly, loud voice and beard... so I hit upon this idea for a sequel. What if, not wanting to admit defeat, the Master decided to go back and attack the Doctor at a weaker point, say when the Third Doctor (newly regenerated into Jon Pertwee) had arrived on Earth to begin his exile? And what if the Master was partly successful? What affect would that have on the Doctor Who timeline?
My plans for the next two (yes, two!) sequels were as follows;
The Alternate Trilogy;
Part One: Vrarg Vnutry
Part Two: Catalyst
Part Three: Ramifications
Plot ideas for Part Two: Catalyst
As hinted in the Master's last scene in "Vrarg Vnutry" he goes back to "Spearhead from Space". It begins with him arriving by the Doctor's TARDIS, but the newly regenerated Third Doctor has been taken away. The Master hunts one way and the Kitling the other.
Then we go to where Liz meets the Brigadier. Run through episode one and put in the odd scenes of the Master and the Kitling searching for the Doctor. The Kitling finds the Doctor in the hospital and it sits under the bed and watches the scene with the Doctor, Brigadier, Liz and Munro. The Master sees this through the Kitling's eeys and makes his way to the hospital. The Kitling observes the attempted kidnap by the Nestene. The Doctor escapes. The Master heads back to the TARDIS, and the Doctor is accidently shot by a UNIT soldier. One asks if the Doctor is dead and the Master steps out in an attempt to kill the Doctor. He nearly succeeds but Munro intervenes. In the struggle the Master and the Kitling get away. Munro tells the soldiers to contact the Brigadier. They take the Doctor to the hopsital, and once there both Munro and Henderson watch the Doctor regenerate. The new alternative Doctor (Brian Blessed) recovers quickly with his mind fully restored. The Brigadier is convinced by the Doctor, but the Doctor will not be convinced to stay. He repairs the TARDIS and leaves UNIT to deal with the Nestene invasion.
The second half needs work. It must involve a future companion somehow, but in this new reality this person will never have met the Doctor. Must be set on Delphon (to parallel "Spearhead") and involve a b-story that will link with the Master.
The Master is dying very quickly, and the Kitling is already dead. The Master realises what has happened and he needs to change it back. He finally meets the new Doctor, but the Doctor refuses to allow thing to back to the way they were. It would be like committing suicide. The Master dies at the end and the Doctor goes off with a new companion. A ripple is rushing through time, changing everything, countless thousands of lives. Lives that no long will have been touched by the Doctor.
Plot ideas for Part Three: Ramifications
To be set directly after "Survival". Time is changing around the Doctor and Ace. They meet Sarah Jane and Peri, neither of whom have met the Doctor before. They realise that something has changed in the Doctor's past, prior to his meeting Sarah Jane. It has already reached his Fifth life, and will soon reach him. Ace will have a new life and the Doctor will cease to exist. They have to put things right, and quickly.
Along the way they meet the Brigadier (a very hardened Brigadier) and learn what happened after the Nestene invasion. They also meet the alternative Doctor and his companion (10 years after Part Two) and learn exactly what happened. The Doctor explains to Ace about what happened in Maiden Port.
They go back to stop the Master but at too late. Ace vanishes. The Doctor knows he is next. With the help of the alterative Doctor, the Seventh Doctor goes back to the planet of the Cheetah people to rescue the Master before the power drives him mad. they succeed and everything returns to normal. The alternative Doctor vanishes and Ace returns. They go back to Maiden Port just prior to wedding of Rusalka and Terrance. They learn that everything did happen in "Vrarg Vnutry" but it was not the Master who was responsible, but some other Time Lord. Time abhors a vacuum. The Master is out there somewhere, but he will turn up again. The Doctor and Ace set off on their new adventures.
As it turned out the novel was rejected and the sequels were shelved, although I had gone so far as to write the first eight chapters of "Catalyst". It was an odd story, set on Delphon where the leaves tasted of chocolate, and the Doctor was joined by the nurse from "Spearhead from Space", or Angela as I called her.
The idea remained in my drawer for quite a while, and it was while chatting to a friend in 2000 that I hit upon the idea of turning into a fan series on the internet. Some of "Catalyst" made it's way into "Cataclysm", the very first DW:tL short story.
From Outpost Gallifrey I got the assistance of Christoph Lopez and Niall Turner who both put their own spin on the general idea.
It's interesting to note that a few of those ideas from the two sequels did find their way into DW:tL eventually. Both the Doctor and Ace got involved, hunting for the Master, although the Seventh Doctor got eaten and Ace became Alf. The Master did indeed end up dying, and we eventually caught up with the hardened Brigadier and learned what had happened to Earth after the Nestene invasion.
Back then, in 1997, I never could have anticipated where it would all end up. Never, not even during season one in 2001, did I suspect we'd end up with 19 different writers getting involved. Indeed, how could I forsee that DW:tL would continue to run for five years (and shows no sign of drying up yet), with various editors coming and going, leading the way for fresh and new (innovative) fan writers on the net?
I look back and I am amazed, and feel very lucky to have created such a thing. One man's failed attempt at selling a novel... well, it's turned out better. Sure, it would have been nice to have three Doctor Who novels out there, but I'd much rather have a successful fan fiction series with 19 different writers taking part, and opening the way for even more new writers to express themselves and hone their talents.
Top banana, as someone would say.
Big thanks to ALL involved!
~A~
*edited to add;
I did attempt to put "Vrarg Vnutry" online, but the problem with only having a hand-written copy was that I had to type it all out again. And when your mind is awash with new ideas, taking so much time on an old idea (years old, at that!) just isn't a good thing.
But fear not, part of "Vrarg Vnutry" is online, and more is coming soon, since I adapted the end into a short story for "Encore", an anthology from "Doctor Who: The Legacy"...
don't ask