Has anyone ever seen The Curse of The Daleks, Seven Keys to Doomsday, The Ultimate Adventure or even Recall UNIT? Or even an amateur adaptation of a story?

Good point. Is there any video footage around too?

OK, I found some info in issue 200 of Doctor Who Magazine. The Curse of the Daleks was written by David Whitaker and ran for two weeks in December 1965.
According to David J. Howe's article:
"While the script had been written alone, it was credited to both Whitaker and Terry Nation.
"It has a fairly straightforward plot. A spaceship, Starfinder, en route to Earth makes an emergency landing on Skaro where the Daleks are lying dormant in their city.
"It transpires that the ship has been sabotaged by a member of the human party, who subsequentlt reactivates the Daleks in the hope they will help him become 'king of the universe'."
"Instead, they extertminate him... the other humans join forces with two Thals and together they are able to cut off the Daleks' power and return them to a state of inertia."

And this from Dr Who Guide(http://www.dwguide.demon.co.uk/curse.htm):
"In the year 2179 an Earth spaceship carrying two prisoners is forced to land on Skaro. The humans meet the Thals. One of the prisoners reactivates the Daleks. Eventually they are defeated by the crew and the Thals."

I guess the 2179 date could be the one bone of contention but who's to say the spaceship didn't leave quite some time before The Dalek Invasion of Earth and later landed on Skaro?

Two weeks? That's a bit embarrassing.

Some plays have had shorter runs - just one night, in some instances.

Two weeks could mean many things - 14 days of performances or just every Thurs, Fri & Sat. We don't know.

Actually, does anyone know if any of the scripts are in existence? Any online?

I hear Terrance Dicks was interested at one point in novelising The Ultimate Adventure.

I have an interview from 10 years ago where he said he was going to do it but working out all the rights - because there are so many different Doctor Who elements in it - was a nightmare. And it seems they never managed to sort it all out.

I have a great deal of props from the Ultimate Adventure which I saw in Wimbledon with Pertwee, has anyone else any props or stuff from Who?

Have you noticed a lot of amateur groups are now doing stage adpatations of TV stories - I read where one group in England did The Web of Fear on stage.

What episodes do you think would lend themselves to stage adaptation?

I'd hate to go and see it, but Edge of Destruction would be the one. Talons of Weng-Chiang might work well - you'd probably get a better rat. But in any production it'd be better to have a big stage, pyrotechnics and optical effects than some am dram town hall, which the Portsmouth group did for The Web of Fear.

They apparently got round the location by splicing the stage in three parts, and lighting only one of them at a time to allow for other scene changes. The yeti costumes would have worked better for a stage production of Nightmare of Eden. I'm not knocking what they do, and it should all be taken as a lot of fun, but of all the mediums, the stage works the least for Doctor Who.

I was thinking along the lines of Who stories that have a confined location and small cast - so, yes, Edge of Destruction fits the criteria but it's not engaging enough for the audience.

I was thinking Horror of Fang Rock - a little tinkering to get around any outside locations to keep it mainly within the lighthouse.

With a Talons production, if the theatre had a Royal Box you could actually enact bits of the story outside the stage!

It's not just the location that plays an important deciding factor though. The script has to be more than workmanlike, and I think that in most Who productions, you would need to redo pieces of dialogue just to make them more interesting. What works on TV is atmosphere, and the stage has to compensate by creating effect through speech and acting. Horror of Fang Rock would be a good choice, but I think you'd have to monkey around with it - perhaps expand on some of the characters and give them more to do.

I never saw the Ultimate Adventure thing which had Jon Pertwee and Colin Baker and David Banks assuming the Doctor role, (just imagine how cheated you must've felt getting the night David Banks did it), but photos of it unnerve me. Lines of tin foil crummy aliens called Zog, plots that wouldn't make a Lexx episode, and beloved monster costumes, (Daleks and Cybermen primarily), used in a Dimensions in Time kind of way. (shudder)

I know someone who managed to do a Red Dwarf episode on stage. I think I read where some group did The Tomb of the Cybermen back in 1992 - that's one main location and a small ensemble cast.

Has anyone ever seen these productions? I'm involved in a couple of amateur theatre groups myself and the idea of putting Doctor Who on stage is quite tempting...

Do it, do it!!! Of course, you'll have to write your own script first, it doesn't sound as if any of the plays that have been put on so far would be worth inflicting on anyone.

The trouble is I would want to play the Doctor, which means I couldn't really direct it, but finding someone with the amount of passion for Doctor Who, without wanting to be the Doctor, would be the problem.

YOU the Doctor! Oh, the hubris!!

Um...on second thoughts, I suppose SOMEONE'S got to be the Doctor, and I'm sure you'd do a fine job. If in doubt, just reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.

Someone in one of the theatre groups I belong to suggested I would make a good Doctor - but I imagine any Who fan would want to play the Doctor in any sort of production.

I can't say the thought hasn't crossed my mind...

Well, there's no reason it shouldn't be a multi-Doctor production...

Well, if the Aussies need somebody to play the Doctor with zero acting experience, I'm their man.

On second thought, what with the beard, I would be better utilized as the Master. I am sure there is many a Who fan who dreamt of playing that role.

What makes you think I can't put on the accent? I've done lots of different accents on stage before.

I don't doubt it. Australians are better than us Yanks at copping a British accent. I am not quite sure why you brought it up. Must have missed something.

Misinterpreted what was said before - that's what happens when you work five days a week, do three radio shows a week and rehearse/perform three times a week - sleep becomes a luxury you just can't afford any more.

I saw The Ultimate Adventure twice, the first time in Manchester in May 89 with Jon Pertwee and the second in Leeds a month or two later with Colin Baker. The show was great fun, if rather less serious than the tv show although it did have some exciting moments and of course it was great to have Daleks live on stage. The casings weren't perfect but they were quite impressive and there was a near perfect replica of the Emperor Dalek from Evil of the Daleks. The Cybermen were either original BBC versions or near perfect replicas. The show had a mixture of drama and humour and even a handful of songs, the best and most memorable of which was undoubtedly "Business is Business" sung by a character called (I think) Madam Delilah who ran a mercenary for hire type setup which included rather strangely a Draconian painted silver and a Vervoid (perhaps they weren't all wiped out after all). Both versions were very enjoyable but Colin Baker was unquestionably the better stage actor. The show was definitely aimed at a general audience but there was plenty of enjoyment for the fans and Terrance Dicks proved that he is the man to write a 'traditional' Doctor Who story. The play even featured a part for Margaret Thatcher (then Britain's Prime Minister and probably the most frightening and evil character in the play!) who was played (I think) by the same woman who played Madam Delilah. If I remember correctly Pertwee was very respectful towards her (calling her "My Dear Margaret") whilst Baker was rather less so ("What is it now Maggie"). Whether this was a reflection of their characters or real life politics is unknown. I have heard rumours that there are videos of some performances floating around though I have never seen one. I am rather surprised that the script has never been published (perhaps there are too many problems with the rights, I think this was the reason given for there not being a novelisation) All in all I really enjoyed this play in both versions. I also saw an even less well known play - The Trial of Davros. This was truly a one off, performed only twice as part of the Remembrance 93 Convention held in Hyde near Manchester in November 93 this saw Davros put on trial by the Time Lords and featured the late Michael Wisher and Peter Miles playing Davros and Nyder. I think Michael Jayston was involved too. Wisher, in full costume, recreated his role almost perfectly and dominated the proceedings. Miles was also excellent in a fairly small part. I am afraid I cannot recall too much about the dialogue but I do remember that the climax involved several Daleks rushing the courtroom in the closing moments and, with the performance not on a stage but at ground level, they seemed very menacing. I think the same convention organisers put on another play a few years later but it was much less interesting with a moving K-9 that blew up being the only thing I can clearly remember about it. As an aside I remember seeing a poster for a production of Seven Keys to Doomsday that was put on in Buxton, Derbyshire in either 1980 or 1981. I didn't see that one though.

Check out the Red Dwarf and Shameless Plugs boards for a stage adaptation of another BBC sci-fi series (yours truly is involved).

Look what I stumbled upon:

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=doctor+who+colin+baker+ultimate+adventure

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=doctor+who+jon+pertwee+ultimate+adventure

So...no one's going to Doctor Who Live, I suppose?

Well, since I'm in Canada, it would be a bit far for me to travel

Curse of the Daleks:

Well, I (obviously) haven't seen the stage play, but it had to be better than the Big Finish audio version. If only because it didn't have a ponderous narrator explaining everything, despite the fact the characters themselves were incapable of so much as blowing their noses without spending a good five minutes explaining this action to each other. ('A large number of them were destroyed in the war fifty years ago.' 'Yes, strange to think it was almost fifty years ago...')

'Water won't boil at the speed of light' - why not?

The Prof's never been to Skaro but has been within a million miles of it - why?

'It's a strange fact but a true one, you can't destroy a Dalek,' announces, um, someone before going on to totally contradict themselves, waffling that humanity was just too compassionate to do it. Or some such implausible explanation.

Daleks certainly take their time turning up. I have a horrible suspicion this was supposed to be tension-inducing, or something.

Even the other characters comment on the patheticness of the accusations against Ladiver. Though of course if the prisoners WEREN'T being accused left, right and centre every two minutes this would only have been half the length.

'The last time I was on Earth, about a year ago, girls were supposed to be gentle creatures - very much the weaker sex. What happened to you?' 'I happen to be one of the few female space travellers. You're the same as all the others. Men! Either you treat me like a silly little girl who ought to know better than working and doing a man out of a job, or else you treat me like Dresden China.' 'I can see you belong to one of those twentieth century groups. "Women are as good as men" and all that rubbish.' 'Well they are.' 'As a matter of fact they're better. Do you know there are seven men to every girl?' 'Seven point five' - it continues in this vein for some time but I was too busy howling with laughter to record the rest for posterity. (Yes I KNOW I should be apoplectic and, indeed, wondering what the hell happened to the sex ratio but I REALLY can't be bothered. I AM a little more upset about the fact she behaves like such a soft cowardly stupid GIRL when the going gets tough, though.)

A fifty-shilling watch? Bless!

THAT must be the best dying-man-knows-who-the-traitor-is-but-doesn't-quite-manage-to-tell-them-before-he-croaks scene EVER. Said dying man manages to string it out for a good five minutes...priceless!

Fair play to them: I didn't guess that Ladiver was a good guy, mainly because it would be screamingly insane for a good guy to spend three years becoming an interplanetary criminal and nearly starting space wars and then getting captured and chained up in order to, um, whatever the hell he was trying to achieve, I can't be expected to CONCENTRATE on this thing. I also didn't guess that Sline was the Daleks' Master, mainly because a) he was dead and b) I didn't give a toss.

The Stage Plays: Seven Keys to Doomsday.

Well, well, well. What an incredibly cynical idea.

Listening to the extras is an interesting experience, as it goes to great lengths to say how complex and technical the original production was, and then insists that the audio version be as faithful to the stage version as possible. Do you see the problem with this?

The result is a surprisingly boring story that probably looked fantastic as a live event, but squelches out of your speakers like a wet fart. Terrance Dicks's script is dull and rote - amusingly it looks exactly like the endless Dalek rehashes he chided Terry Nation for submitting - the characters tedious and the casting thoughtless. Just because one of the original companions has a daughter who is an actress, that doesn't mean you cast them in that role. If you had followed this logic we would have had Martin Freeman as the Master of Karn - SO WHERE WAS HE?

Trevor Martin is acceptable as the Doctor, but has little opportunity to distinguish himself. Even his stage costume was cobbled together from the previous Doctors'.

And there isn't even the slightest narrative reason for Jimmy and Jenny to be in a theatre at the start. Where does the TARDIS materialise? On the stage? Why does no-one react? It's because the script editor couldn't give a ••••.

Well, well, well. What an incredibly cynical idea.

What, the play, or turning it into an audio?

Listening to the extras is an interesting experience, as it goes to great lengths to say how complex and technical the original production was, and then insists that the audio version be as faithful to the stage version as possible. Do you see the problem with this?

Maybe Big Finish thinks IT'S also complex and technical...bless!

Where does the TARDIS materialise? On the stage? Why does no-one react?

They all think it's a special effect and don't realise this is their one n'only chance to be whisked off through time and space...?

The bad news is that DWM has seen fit to do an Archive Special about The Ultimate Adventure. The good news is it's a LOT more entertaining than the usual archives (and, indeed, The Ultimate Adventure). They had TWO DAYS rehearsal time?! And everyone was issued with a copy of Banks' Cyber-origins book?? Still, it's a pity it totally omitted to tell us if the play broke even/made a profit/lost millions.

Terrance Dicks in DWM, re The Ultimate Adventure: 'At the end of the third act I couldn't think of a way to get the Doctor and his companions back to the TARDIS, where they had to be for the beginning of the next act. I eventually just had the chief villain say, "Take them to the TARDIS and execute them!" Terrance laughs uproariously' - ah, bless!

Saw Colin Baker's performance in THe Ultimate Adventure.

Saw it on Youtube starting here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MLLoDczX5U

Quite a fun spectacular also involving companions not seen in the TV series, Jason Crystal and a small furry creature called Zog with traditional villains in the Daleks and Cybermen plus a Prime Minister that is a veiled depiction of then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Oh dear god.

She's called "Mrs T" so it wasn't *that* veiled.

DWM on John Ostrander's The Inheritors of Time stage play (a bullet we dodged):

'John is not giving away all the plot details' it announces, before spilling several paragraphs-worth of plot details.

It has to be admitted, the concepts of a dying Gallifrey targeting Earth, Earth disappearing, and a sort of half-life Doctor created thanks to an unnatural regeneration seem kinda...familiar.

But 'He wants the TARDIS to disappear and re-appear seven times, each time by different means' and he wants $500,000 to do it (in the 80s!)...I'm feeling a sneaking sympathy for the backer who backed out at the last minute...

I have to say, 'I Need a Doctor: The Whosical' is good fun.

I Need a Doctor

Cheap and cheerful and OBVIOUSLY a work of love towards Our Hero. In a non-copyright-infringing kinda way. The rapping Da Master was a joy, and I TOTALLY need my own K10.

Fairly nit-proof, sadly.

'For the first time in Doctor Who's on-stage history, the show will actually feel like Doctor Who - scary, funny and exciting. Which is why my pleas for the return of the Clawrantulars, Madame Delilah, a break-dancing Vervoid and Zog have been cruelly rejected' - Gareth Roberts in DWM. I REALLY wouldn't mind him slagging off all the OTHER stage plays if only Doctor Who Live hadn't been such a flop...

The Ultimate Adventure (Big Finish version. Obviously):

Spectacularly dreadful. Of course, it was SUPPOSED to be, but still...even the original must have been better, on the grounds that SURELY it didn't explain every single thing that's going on, in loving detail. ('To make sure you remain our captive, we will now destroy the TARDIS.' 'Activiate the suspension beam.' 'Look at the TARDIS floating up in the air!' 'All of you, open fire!' [sounds of fire] 'They're all shooting at the TARDIS!' 'They've blown it to bits!' - Big Finish are actually QUITE GOOD at sound-effects (if nothing else) by now. We don't NEED the running commentary, thanks all the same.)

Whether you're a devotee of Margaret Thatcher or - more sensibly - regard her as the Spawn of Satan - I fail to see what you're trying to achieve by having a sickly-sweet Maggie encounter a terrified Sixth Doctor. What in hell's name is the POINT? (Also, her enthusiasm for disarmament is...surprising.)

'Unless you humans change your ways, this planet will end up a radioactive cinder' - but it won't, will it? It'll endure until the Twenty-Seventh Segment of Time. (Or the year 5.5 slash Apple slash 26. WHATever.)

Look, Day of the Daleks just about got away with this 'There's only one man who can save the world from nuclear annihilation! One man the Soviets AND the Chinese will come to a Peace Conference to listen to!' cos Day of the Daleks is actually...GOOD. To repeat this trick with THIS envoy is...somewhat less convincing. I mean, old Styles wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box but at least he wasn't...AMERICAN.

Why doesn't the Doc rush off to rescue whatshisface in the TARDIS, instead of hailing a taxi (Maggie couldn't lay on a car for him?!) and arriving TOO LATE?

'They killed most of the boydguards' - MOST of them? Well, the survivors are being...awfully quiet.

Also, no sign of the POLICE.

Crystal, alas, has a certain...Mel-like shrillness about her. Still, no reason for the Doctor to be QUITE so offhand about her being kidnapped.

Why does the Doctor keep speaking in alien languages?

The contrast with Journey's End when the TARDIS is captured and dragged into the Dalek ship with Our Heroes inside is...painful.

The Dalek ship isn't shielded against meteors?

Chris takes a nap, and Jason says 'Take my coat' rather than, say, show her to a TARDIS bedroom?

'When you said you thought you loved me...' - Jason and Crystal are suddenly singing a duet. Despite the fact neither of them HAS said they loved the other. Or so much as exchanged the slightest meaningful glance (or, trust me, there would have been dialogue along the lines of 'Oh Crystal, why are you giving me a meaningful glance?')

'It's not that we don't TRUST you, Doctor...' - why is Crystal so reluctant to exit the TARDIS after she had a nice flying trip the last time? Time before THAT she dived eagerly out the doors despite previously being kidnapped by evil flying insects who were gonna drop her down a volcano (or, um, something).

There's a trouble-avoiding switch on the TARDIS since WHEN! And if the Daleks threw it into reverse, how come the TARDIS STILL landed on that nice fun low-gravity world?

'No profit at all, I'm afraid' - did it not occur to you to LIE to the mercenaries?

'That's ridiculous' says the Doctor, of the Daleks putting a bounty on his head. Oh? Why?

'You may not have noticed, but you are surrounded by my men' says Delilah. How come they DIDN'T notice? 'They're all around us!' - gee, THANKS, Crystal.

'That is the space-time craft of the One Known As The Doctor' - since when have the Daleks talked like THIS!

'It was just a Dalek illusion to make us think we couldn't escape!' - the Doctor re Sexy's destruction. Why would they BOTHER?

The Doctor misses his Companions every day of his life? The SIXTH Doctor?

What the HELL is the point of that French Revolution scene? How much would it have COST to stage those two minutes of additional, er, excitement?

I actually preferred Curse of the Daleks. At least it had some sort of coherent storyline.

Ah, bless, DWM mentions a hitherto unsuspected stage play from 2000 (Hellblossom) whose Ninth Doctor is 'a fellow with long, scraped-back hair who favours the "crushed velvet" look of his Third incarnation' - so not exactly spot-on with their Ninth Doctor predictions, then...

Oh, and it's got Spring-heeled ••••••• Jack. I'm getting even more sick of HIM regurgitating himself in various Who media than I am of Jack the Ripper.

Seven Keys to Doomsday:

'Oh dear, not again...oh yes I do believe you're right' - you've just DIED AND BEEN REBORN, you git, TRY to show some EMOTION.

(Still, fair's fair - Trevor Martin's gravelly voice pretending to be the Doctor is more convincing than anything ELSE about this audio.)

The Doctor 'always comes out of regeneration feeling a hundred years younger' since WHEN! Especially as, let's face it, you're no Matt Smith.

'This bloke's a nut' - perfectly justifiable reaction to Our Hero, providing, of course, that you're not STANDING INSIDE HIS TARDIS WATCHING HIM REGENERATE.

'If someone's prepared to kill me for it, this crystal must be very important' - what nonsense, half the universe must be out to kill you Doc, crystal or no crystal.

'The Masters of Karn were brilliant scientists' - the WHAT of Karn!

'He's our enemy because he isn't our friend' and not because, say, he's hiding the CRYSTAL OF ALL POWER?

There's an interplanetary empire that destroyed itself in a civil war, mutants wandering the radioactive wasteland, even giant crab-creatures, an all-powerful crystal to be assembled out of several pieces...gimme some ORIGINALITY, guys!

'I think we should trust him - how else will we find out what he's up to' - think you're slightly misinterpreting the word 'trust', there...

Oh my god. That native LITERALLY gasps 'Gotta - stop - doomsday plan' to the Doctor before expiring. How the Doctor resisted doing a Naked Gun-style 'Anyone else almost dead?' is beyond me.

Gods, could we not have had a couple of CHEERY temporary-Companions? The Doctor's just got into a physical tussle with Jimmy which is just UNDIGNIFIED.

I kid you not, I'm actually...*embarrassed cough*...missing the songs from Ultimate Adventure. This is a REALLY bad sign.

'Another crystal! How many does that make?' Jenny can't count up to four? Even using her fingers? (Plus, don't DRAW ATTENTION to the fact you can't walk five yards without bumping into YET ANOTHER segment of the Key To All Power. It's just EMBARRASSING, especially given how long the Daleks have been trundling round on this planet looking for 'em...)

Why is the Doctor bothering to look for the stupid bits of crystal anyway (even given that, let's face it, he doesn't really HAVE to go to all the trouble of LOOKING)? Just scarpering with the crystal or two he happened to have about his person would scupper the Baddies' plans since they need all seven bits. And it's not like THE DOCTOR wants to become Master of the Universe or anything.

Is there ANYONE who didn't realise what was coming when the Doctor said to the supercomputer 'Let me ask you one simple question'? Is there ANYONE whose heart didn't sink?

'The Masters of Karn were never really evil, just proud and arrogant' - sure, who HASN'T arrogantly and accidentally conquered a few dozen planets in their spare time?

The Doctor wants to assemble the crystal SO THAT HE CAN HAND IT OVER TO THE TIME LORDS FOR SAFEKEEPING?! What, to make it easier for the Master to nick the next time he drops by for a few Doomsday files, presumably.

'You friend trusted me with his crytstal. Will you do the same?' 'Why not?' - WHY NOT?! I could give you half a dozen reasons why not off the top of my head and at least I know the Doctor pretty well by this time...

'The shock of defeat destroyed him' - the so-called Masters of Karn were total wimps?

'They won't all survive that attack, you know. Maybe none of them will' - OK, maybe you shouldn't MAKE 'em do this stupid suicidal attack to unnecessarily get your hands on a stupid crystal then Doc?

'Cold is the one thing the Daleks can't stand' - since WHEN!

What's the Emperor Dalek doing on Karn? And hearing him addressed as 'Your Majesty' is pretty weird.

So ONE Dalek escort is considered sufficient for the Doctor and his Companions?!

Jimmy can instantly identify the Dalek-casing-with-Jenny-in from all the other Daleks? (Hope the Doc didn't go carving her name on her or anything. That sort of thing was a BIG MISTAKE in Evil of the Daleks.)

'Can you turn even Daleks to your cause?' - the rebels NEVER ONCE thought of getting inside a Dalek?

I was just wondering why the Daleks kept going on about only conquering the galaxy when we got 'Every planet in the galaxy and every galaxy in the universe!' Sorry I asked.

So the Daleks are gonna use cosmic rays to drain the lifeforce out of everyone in the universe except themselves. And they're gonna get the Doctor to press the switch to start the process - hey, what could possibly go wrong?

So the Doctor TELLS the Daleks he's defeated them and then he and his Companions all run away. When they get to the TARDIS they get captured again but...they all run away (into the TARDIS) again. Well, maybe it would all be more convincing if we could SEE the Daleks tripping over rocks or taking a tea-break or WHATEVER THE HELL THEY'RE DOING INSTEAD OF EXTERMINATING THE DOCTOR ALREADY.

'I think the Daleks will have had enough of Karn after this, we'll be free' - ••••••• morons. And ••••••• Doctor, abandoning them to such a delusion. (Cos 'The Time Lords are waiting for my report' - boy have they got THIS one on a leash.)

'Since we all get on so well...' - you and Jimmy LOATHE each other!

This is non-Who but when i was a child i did some amateur youth theatre. Zuzu in It's A Wonderful Life, Marta von Trapp in the Sound of Music, Fan in A Christmas Carol and Molly in Annie.

Trevor Martin is good as the Doctor, but the play isn't.

ANY usurper pretending to be our Doctor is even more of an abomination than the admittedly godawful plays -

*Checks own posts*

'Trevor Martin's gravelly voice pretending to be the Doctor is more convincing than anything ELSE about this audio' - oh OK, I might give him a pass on this occasion but he shouldn't think I'll make a HABIT of it.

Forget - if you already haven't - the Doctor Who/Star Trek comics!

Finally, Doctor Who has crossed over with the greatest TV space series of all time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSRAoSCO2O0

OK, on the plus side David Tennant's obviously realised what a terrible mistake he made betraying n'abandoning us, on the other hand OH DEAR GODS...

No, the actual statement of the producers is "we wanted Jodie, Peter or Matt, but we heard that David will drop his pants for food".

That's the 21st century equivalent of saying "we wanted Sylvester, Colin or Peter, but we're prepared to make do with Tom".

Oi! Don't you diss our JODIE! by comparing her to Sylvester, Colin OR Peter...

Oh, they did get Peter as well...

*Pitiful whimpering noises*

I'm sure Tim wishes they had Sarah Sutton on stage wearing nothing but "Terminus" camisole knickers and a smile.

Yes, but that was no doubt a play for children.

Tim: To paraphrase George Carlin (known to kids for Thomas the Tank Engine) at his very adult stand-up routine: "Hey, kids! You're about to learn a whole lot of new words!"

Still, it was nice of David to agree to appear.

Nice?

Nice?!

I just listened to the Ultimate Adventure, as soon as I heard the jazzed up theme tune I knew it was going to be a laugh.

Yes it’s over explained, yes Crystal sounds too similar to Mel but it was a lot of fun. According to the behind the scenes stuff the stage show had Jason speaking with probably an Australian accent, Colin couldn’t quite remember but he said that he was sure the actor spoke in his normal voice. That’s why Jason’s backstory said went to school in Britain, to kind of hide the fact that the original actor couldn’t do a French accent. Maybe he tried his best to speak in an English accent or something.

They also said that due to John Pertwee’s illness a few productions had David Banks as the Doctor, wearing a Greenpeace t-shirt, amoungst other things.

Just type Doctor Who the Ultimate adventure into YouTube and you can find a few sneaky recordings taken of the show. The special effects weren’t bad especially considering it was a stage show.

Also the Daleks were according to Nicolas Briggs “they had all the right elements of the Daleks but there was something odd about them, they were like a kids drawing” also they were a lot taller so the Dalek actors could stand up in them. This sound familiar to you ;-)

Why the hell would Dalek actors need to STAND UP?

Tbf they have to do everything perfectly in one take on stage so anything to make life easier for the Dalek operators.

You wouldn't think SITTING DOWN would be that hard for them...

It’s not so much the sitting down, but you have to hit your marks just right, move around a confined area etc. And i expect it’s exhausting to move those cases from a seated position. I mean it’s not exactly a natural manuver is it. Just a few things to make it easier for the actors.

Also at work anyone moving around whilst still seated on a swivel chair has louder footfalls than when they’re normally on their feet. Imagine the racket that would be made on a stage. It would spoil the effect to hear stamping feet whenever the Daleks moved around.

They could have used actors of short stature. They do exist.

As for what turned Maggie into a unilateralist. Maybe the close brushes with WW3 in Day of the Daleks and Robot were enough to pursade her that it was time to get rid of nukes. Or at least place them under UN control to deal with invading aliens.

It would take more than any of THOSE to turn Maggie Maggie Maggie OUT OUT OUT! (Sorry...it's a Pavlovian reaction. Or something.) into a unilateralist nuclear disarmist...

"Maggie Maggie Maggie OUT OUT OUT!"

Let's kick Michael Foot's stick away!

I take it this "Maggie" is a reference to Mrs. Thatcher.

By the dead gods of Krypton, she left office nearly thirty years ago. 95% of the current Doctor Who audience were probably not even alive when she was PM. Move on, already!

Lol I’m sure even Maggie could have her mind changed by a few alien invasions. Especially as they’ve not been of any use in defending the Earth since the Cybermen attack in the Invasion.

Move on, already!

I didn't buy the Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead song in order to push it to Number One the week Thatcher died.

But that's ALL the moving-on and getting-over-it I intend to do vis-a-vis That Woman.

I’m sure even Maggie could have her mind changed by a few alien invasions.

Yeah, but probably more in the direction of a public-private partnership to Cyber-convert the unemployed rather than in the direction of unilateral nuclear disarmament...

You know, Emily, I would have thought that, as a feminist, you would have been happy that a woman could became PM, regardless of how you felt about her political views.

Tim: Thatcher was a radical conservative misogynist who furthered the oppression of women. So, no, Emily doesn't support her.

I would have thought that, as a feminist, you would have been happy that a woman could became PM, regardless of how you felt about her political views.

I have to confess to a sneaking feeling of satisfaction that a woman clawed her way from nowhere to the top of the greasy pole in defiance of the grotesque sexism of the times but...feminism is about equality between the sexes. If someone happens to be REALLY REALLY EVIL then you don't give 'em a free pass just because of their gender.

Thatcher was a radical conservative misogynist who furthered the oppression of women. So, no, Emily doesn't support her.

Yup. This.

And not only was there not a single other woman in her Cabinet and not only was rape-within-marriage legal during her premiership but there were the vile anti-gay measures and the poll tax and the three million tossed onto the dole queue and, infinitely worse than anything, she supported the Khmer Rouge. AFTER they had turned their entire county into a concentration camp and tortured to death one-third of its inhabitants in less than four years (Hitler was a pussycat in comparison in HIS first four years) she supported their war to return to power. That is evil in its purest form.

(And I speak as someone who SUPPORTED her bringing the unions down a peg or two after they sabotaged Shada.)

If someone happens to be REALLY REALLY EVIL then you don't give 'em a free pass just because of their gender.

I wonder what all those women who support preventing fathers getting sole custody, regardless of the facts of the case, would think of my father's first wife who ABANDONED him and their five children to join the Children of God cult?

she supported the Khmer Rouge. AFTER they had turned their entire county into a concentration camp and tortured to death one-third of its inhabitants in less than four years (Hitler was a pussycat in comparison in HIS first four years) she supported their war to return to power. That is evil in its purest form.

And she was never brought to trial for this, why?

Of course, George W Bush was never tried for his illegal invasion of Iraq (and the current chaos in the Middle East are a direct result of that invasion).

And you have Putin supporting separatists in Ukraine.

Seems Hermann Goering was right when he said that the only reason he and his fellow Nazis were on trial is because Germany had lost the war. Seems you're only war criminals if you're on the losing side.

Wow, we've really gone off topic here, haven't we!

Wow, we've really gone off topic here, haven't we!

Well, I mentioned Shada.

I could also talk about Richard Franklin's Recall UNIT: The Great Tea-Bag Mystery but then I would lose the will to live despite there being ONLY A MONTH UNTIL JODIE!!

I s'pose one could discuss The Happiness Patrol or Thatcher's surprisingly heroic appearance in Doctor Who and the Krikketmen but again, there's a whole will-to-live issue...

You leave a thread for a few days and look what happens lol.

At least Doc 6 got s joke at her expense Emily, maybe Pertwee did too but Judging by Edwin’s comment in 2002 where he says how respectful he was I doubt it.

TIM: Seems you're only war criminals if you're on the losing side.

See also: The US refusing to be part of the International Criminal Court. for the same reasons as the Germans took post-1918.

In answer to your question from 2015 Emily, the guy in charge of the stage show had various props or actors he really wanted to be in the show so Terrance Dicks had to write round them. TBF as it’s a time travel show there isn’t any reason they can’t just pop into the French Revolution for 2 minutes besides t(e fact that it’s too expensive for TV, so they might as well take advantage of the opportunities stage and audio gives them.

I was listening to the extras and Colin Baker said that when they did his version of the Ultimate Adventure they removed Jon’s karate, however they didn’t do it at first, the version on YouTube has Colin throwing people over the bar and Karate chopping a Vervoid.

The behind the scenes extras said that it was almost like a panto in its style, and they meant that in a nice way, it is intended to be fun.

I wonder what a Doctor Who panto would be like. I saw Sylvester McCoy in panto once, he played a good villain.

there isn’t any reason they can’t just pop into the French Revolution for 2 minutes

Yes there is and he's called Jason.

the version on YouTube has Colin throwing people over the bar and Karate chopping a Vervoid.

Bless!

I wonder what a Doctor Who panto would be like.

KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN!

Well it’s a bad idea for Jason to go there but it certainly gives the play an epic scale. In fact it the time hopping bit reminded me of the Dalek’s Master Plan.

It’s a shame the follow up was so basic, you have this labour of love to recreate the play, you get Terrance Dicks to write a sequel then you scrimp on the cast,

Oh no I won’t lol. Maybe they should try making the next Christmas special a panto. Oh No It Isn’t found a way to do it well enough, I’m sure the Doc getting trapped in a virtual reality world that went wrong can’t be too hard to think up. Of course the problem is that his three earth companions would recognise it, maybe only the Doctor could keep her personality, just like Bernice did. Don’t tell me the Daleks chasing Widow Twanky wouldn’t be amazing tv

Well it’s a bad idea for Jason to go there

Actually I meant it's a bad idea for the Doc to go there because he picked up Jason there, frankly I'm ABSOLUTELY FINE with returning to the French Revolution for a couple of minutes if it means Jason gets guillotined...

It’s a shame the follow up was so basic, you have this labour of love to recreate the play, you get Terrance Dicks to write a sequel then you scrimp on the cast

The pathetically small cast was the LEAST of Beyond The Ultimate Adventure's problems...

Maybe they should try making the next Christmas special a panto.

Over my dead body.

Oh, what the hell, can't be MUCH more disappointing than Resolution.

What I ACTUALLY would have been happy to risk was having a Who musical. In the days we had TWO pop stars - Billie Piper and John Barrowman - as Companions.

True, that said Jason wasn’t a bad companion, he’s no Mel.

Yeah so I hear, it’s a shame beyond the ultimate adventure was so bad, I could listen to more of that.

A musical would be good but they need to have a seriously good season for the fandom to tolerate it. Right now I fear rather than being a brilliant bit of fun I fear it would be viewed as more a Chibnal Stupidity.

This story is set before the Dalek’s invasion of Earth, however the Dalek’s already have time travel and know of the Doctor. The Mutant Phase depicted them as not knowing of him in the 22nd century.

The Doctor did say that there were places with cities made out of song, so a musical episode could work.

My big worry is finding decent songwriters for such a thing. I think the main reason the Hollywood musical died is the loss of great songwriters.

The behind the scenes extras said that it was almost like a panto in its style, and they meant that in a nice way

I think only an Englishman could mean it in a nice way. ;-)
One of those inexplicable cultural things. Only the English could love pantomime. ;-)

Cities made out of song sounds too abstract to show. They could always do what Buffy and Batman the Brave and the Bold did. Have a villain with telepathic powers that name them sing.

There are still some good musical movies and the above mentioned TV shows got some good song writers in. Doctor Who and the Pirates did a pretty good job on the musical front too,

Only the English Love Panto? On yes we do.

It strikes me that the gap between Planet of the Spiders and Pertwee coming back for The Ultimate Adventure is the same as that between the filming of Rose and the present day... which is just no time at all, right? ;)

I think *all* Doctor Whos should wear a Greenpeace t-shirt, don't you? ;)

So as Big Finish has made this show quasi cannon it turns out that it’s Thatcher we have to thank for keeping out nukes out of the Slitheen’s hands,

I assume that was the outcome of this conference as we clearly have nuclear weapons later on. That would explain what UNIT was going with one in Battlefield

Well Curse of the Daleks was no ultimate adventure. I bought it to hear the rocket ships and ray guns era Daleks back in action. Not that you’d know. They did use the old Dalek gun effect but aside of that everything was new series, the sounds of their eyes moving, the sounds of them moving about, their voices, all of it. Nothing like the Mutant Phase where Nick Briggs put real effort into doing the classic Dalek voice.

They get part way through trying to explain why decades of social progress would be reversed, 7 men to one women, you think they’re going to say they have to protect women to keep the species going then they just give up and start banging on about how women could have their pick of jobs.

It was nice to see the humans actually having some anti Dalek weapons for once. Acutely gives you the idea they had a war with them recently.

If you’re not going to bother to guard the Dalek city at least seal the entrances.

In Curse of the Daleks Lativer moans that eveyine has let their guard down as to the danger of the Daleks and how keeping the peace we’ve earned takes twice as much work. It ring every true after the events of the last few years.

Also the black Dalek warns the humans, just before it looses power, about how the Daleks will return one day. Sounds a stupid thing to say as the humans may well destroy the Dalek city this time, especially after a warning like that.

I know you’re not the biggest fan of this Emily but I’ve been listening to the trailer to remind me of happier times and I think it has the best trailer of any of of them. The way they have Strange Attractor playing around the lines of dialogue.

It makes it sound like a movie trailer.

Strange Attractor?

One of the songs in the Ultimate Adventure. Sorry I should have specified that.

Was just watching/listening to the original Ultimate Adventure on YouTube. It’s interesting how the dialogue isn’t exactly word for word, and not just where they’ve had to put descriptions in the audio drama, other lines are different too. But perhaps its the original script Big Finish used for their version and the one on YouTube was after a few performances so they changed bits.

Jason in the play sounds English. They said the Australian actor couldn’t do a French accent but it seems he could to English so they used the “educated in England” line to explain it away.

Interestingly the music in the original sounded less 80s that the Big Finish version. Or maybe it’s the audio quality on YouTube.

They said the Australian actor couldn’t do a French accent

It...didn't occur to them to look for an actor WITH A FRENCH ACCENT to play a Frenchman?

There is precedent. Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation is a frenchman, but he has a british accent. And so does his entire family.

I heard that Patrick Stewart tried out a French accent but he sounded like Inspector Clouseau.

As for why they didn’t hire a bloke who could do a French accent, presumably they didn’t think it mattered.

I heard that Patrick Stewart tried out a French accent but he sounded like Inspector Clouseau.

I'd have parted with real money to have seen Peter Sellars' take on Captain Picard.

A lot of actors can be fake Americans as well.

In the new Jumanji films, you could be forgiven for not knowing that Karen Gillian is actually Scottish.

I’d like to see that too Natalie

“Mr Data the Berg are invading!”
“The who Captain”
“The Berg, there is a Berg Cube approaching.”
“Oh you mean the Borg Captain.”
“Yes that is what I said, the Berg”

Btw it’s not just Picard’s family Francois, everyone in France has an English accent. Presumably whoever programmed the universal translator has a sense of humour

Anyway apparently accent faking wasn’t a priority for this. Fortunately Big Finish as put that right..

About Time on The Ultimate Adventure: 'The Doctor states that in fact Houdini studied under him rather than vice versa' - well Ultimate Adventure is lying through its teeth, as Star Tales and Smoke and Mirrors and Harry Houdini's War and about fifty billion comments by EVERY Doctor (I exaggerate, but only slightly) prove.

Aaaand on Recall UNIT: The Great Tea-Bag Mystery:

'Yates and Benton drag up to play Ugly Sisters and perform "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow" - before saving the world and discovering that the real Mrs T has been shrunk by the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminator and hidden inside a tea-pot...Let's just remind ourselves that Levine had refused to come back as Benton for a cameo in "The Five Doctors" a year earlier, as he thought that it would be an insult to the memory of such a popular character...'

*Sigh*

There's a rather nice Telegraph article about Time Fracture and Who's theatrical roots. I'm sure the statement that the Doctor 'represents the longest running identity crisis on TV' will make everyone feel a lot better about that Timeless Child stuff. (No? Oh, OK.)

The Ultimate Adventure - Restored:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqZNnl-nVlM&t=1596s

A video of The Ultimate Adventure stage play with the Doctor, in this case, played by Colin Baker.

As described by Josh Snares who posted this video who says that "this combines two fan recordings, along with a high quality audio recording to make a "watchable" version of the story. It's not incredible, but it's watchable!"

The Ultimate Adventure has the Doctor travelling with Jason and picking up Crystal and Zog along the way.

Not bad storyline involving Daleks, Cybermen and a mercenary by the name of Karl (played by David Banks who had played the Cyber Leader on television in the 1980s) and the quality of this video being barely tolerable whilst viewing it.