Jackie Lane (1941 - 2021)

 It is being reported in several places that Jackie Lane has passed away, at the age of 79. She played companion Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet at the tail end of the William Hartnell era. Supposed to bring a fresh contemporary vibe to the series, with a character similar to original companion Susan, Dodo ended up being messed about with by the production team. In her first appearances we hear Lane using her natural Manchester accent, but this quickly reverts to BBC received pronunciation. Infamously, Lane departed from the series midway through the story (The War Machines) which introduced her replacement (Polly), with the character denied any kind of farewell.

Lane distanced herself from the programme afterwards, so it was a surprise to see her appear on the 50th Anniversary celebration programme. She latterly lived in France.

She gave up acting to concentrate on actor management, and had an agency which counted Tom Baker, Nicholas Courtney and Janet Fielding among its clients.

RIP.

Rumour has it...

 Lots of rumour flying around regarding the longevity of the Thirteenth Doctor. It was reported in the media some time ago that JW was quitting after this next, shortened series. Whilst never confirmed, it was noted that the BBC failed to deny either.

The other day the cover of the 2022 annual was revealed, and it doesn't have the Doctor on it. Just an image of the TARDIS. This has led some to speculate that we might have a new Doctor this side of Christmas. 

Latest is that JW will see out this next series, and then there will be a couple of specials only in 2022, the last of which will see her regenerate. 

Regarding the next series, there's a rumour that Donna Noble will cameo, and may actually be a relative of John Bishop's character. Monsters known to be featuring, because photographed in public areas, include Sontarans (with new silver and black costumes), Weeping Angels and Daleks. A word of caution about some of these is that scenes might not be filmed for the series itself, but for some spin-off project. Just look at all the filming that has gone into the Time Fracture experience. 

Galaxy Four animated

Apparently the Hartnell story Galaxy Four will be released soon in animated form. Good to see a move away from Troughton stories, and this one is an obvious choice for a Hartnell as it has a small cast, limited settings and easily animated robots. Also, only three of the four episodes are missing - although I suspect they will animate all four anyway (they did this with The Faceless Ones, so you could watch a fully animated story and not have to switch between live / animated).

Of course, those of us who bought The Aztecs Special Edition DVD already have this story animated to an extent. The surviving episode, plus the large chunk of Episode One which exists, were coupled with some reconstruction animation to give a near complete version of the story, edited down quite a bit.

Last year two Troughton stories were mentioned as being animated - Evil of the Daleks and The Abominable Snowmen - and there's been no more about them, plus we're still waiting for The Web of Fear with animated third episode.

Everything needs confirming.

Still around...

Finally getting around to a quick update on here. As it is, my ailment has proven more serious than first thought and, seven weeks later, I'm still in hospital. Still haven't seen Season 8 Blu-ray box set...

At least have some IT set up but main issue is fluctuating energy levels, making it hard to concentrate on one thing for very long. I will therefore start putting short items on the blog every so often to keep it - and myself - ticking over. Might be news comment or just quick musing. Biggest Who related story at the moments seems not to do with current filming but with the behaviour of Noel Clarke, including when he was promoting the series around 2005 / 2006, just as everyone is celebrating that first year with Eccleston reprising the Doctor on audio. Will the Clarke scandal get any mention in the next issue of DWM?

Many thanks for persevering and popping back.

Update

 Unfortunately I've been rather poorly over the last few days and not feeling up to posting. I think I'm on the mend now, though. Tomorrow I should be receiving the Season 8 box set, so I'm going to concentrate on watching that as I recuperate this week, and I'll be back with a review of the box set next weekend. 

See you then.

J is for... Jaeger, Professor

 

Jaeger was a somewhat inept and amoral scientist who was in the employ of the Marshal of Solos. The Marshal ruled the planet Solos on behalf of the Earth Empire, which was then in decline. The Marshal used Jaeger to conduct experiments to make Solos' atmosphere breathable by humans, so that it could be fully colonised, irrespective of the harm it might do to the native peoples.

When the Doctor arrived on a mission for the Time Lords, he was forced to help the professor, but found that he could easily trick him as he did not know half of what he claimed to know. Occasionally Jaeger would stand up to the Marshal, but would always then follow his orders.

One of the Doctor's ruses was to sabotage the machine which would alter Solos' atmosphere, which the Marshal insisted Jaeger operate, and the professor was killed when it exploded.

Played by: George Pravda. Appearances: The Mutants (1972).

• Pravda had earlier played Alexander Denes in The Enemy of the World, and would return to the series in 1976 as Castellan Spandrell, in The Deadly Assassin.
• Writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin named the professor after their actor friend Frederick Jaeger, who they hoped might be cast in the role. Jaeger would go on to play a couple of other scientists in the series - Prof. Sorenson in Planet of Evil, and Prof. Marius, creator of K9, in The Invisible Enemy, having previously played Jano in The Savages.

J is for... Jacondans

 

A race of bird-like humanoids from the planet Jaconda. This idyllic world had for many years been ruled by a Time Lord named Azmael, who at one point had been visited by the Fourth Doctor. An ancient legend told of how the planet had once been blighted by giant slug-like creatures called Gastropods, which devoured all the vegetation and left the population starving. This had been caused when the queen of the planet had slighted their sun god. The sun god relented and destroyed the Gastropods. However, the story was more than mere myth. One Gastropod egg had survived and this resulted in Mestor, a Gastropod with great mental powers. He took over the planet and his people once again laid waste to it. Once again the Jacondans starved, and anyone caught stealing food was executed by Mestor, aided and abetted by his unctuous Jacondan Chamberlain.

Azmael was forced to work with Mestor on a scheme to use neighbouring planets as food sources for Jaconda - bringing them into closer orbit with their sun. Azmael abducted a pair of mathematically gifted twins - Romulus and Remus Sylvest - from Earth to help achieve this. Azmael was given two Jacondans as helpers in this task, the friendly Noma and the duplicitous Drak. The newly regenerated Sixth Doctor stumbled into this scheme, along with companion Peri and an Earth space security officer named Hugo Lang.

The Doctor realised that Mestor's true scheme was to destroy Jaconda and its neighbouring planets in a cosmic explosion which would send millions of Gastropod eggs across space to colonise other worlds.

Mestor killed Noma after using him to psychically spy on the Doctor and Azmael. Once the Gastropod had been defeated, the treacherous Chamberlain attempted to escape the planet but Lang refused to allow him to take the TARDIS. Azmael had died in defeating Mestor, and Lang decided to stay on as the new ruler.

Played by: Oliver Smith (Drak), Barry Stanton (Noma), Seymour Green (Chamberlain). Appearances: The Twin Dilemma (1984).

• Seymour Green had earlier played Harrison Chase's butler Hargreaves in The Seeds of Doom.
• As I pointed out in my review of this story, it is very odd that the Time Lords would have allowed one of their own to rule another planet, even if benignly. A relatively junior space security officer then just sets himself up as new ruler, and the Doctor - who has only known him a short time - doesn't see anything wrong with this.