- The rec.arts.drwho Frequently Asked Questions list - CONTAINED IN THIS ARTICLE: Where to get Who material 1.0 File list. The Doctor and timelords in general 1.1 Who is Doctor Who? 1.2 What is the Doctor's name? 1.3 What is the distinction between regeneration and incarnation? 1.4 How many regenerations does a timelord get? 1.5 How old is the Doctor? Confusing plots and storylines 2.1 Please explain Romana's regeneration. 2.2 Was that really the White Guardian at the beginning of the Key to Time? 2.3 Was there a regeneration scene from Colin to Sylvester? Making the show 3.1 Will there be more Doctor Who? 3.2 Will there ever be a woman Doctor? 3.3 Is David Agnew really a pseudonym for Douglas Adams? 3.4 Was Castrovalva the first Peter Davison story filmed? Miscellaneous 4.1 What are the "missing episodes"? 4.2 Which story included John Cleese? 4.3 What is Temporal Grace? 4.4 Where can I get more information? 4.5 What other books are recommended? 4.6 How do I get Ryan K. Johnson's fan-produced episodes of Doctor Who? ========================================================================= FOLLOWING THIS ARTICLE: Another article with a list of episodes ========================================================================= 1.0 Where to get Who material (files, guides, etc.): The mailserver address is: amigo@hardy.u.washington.edu. Mail a message there with a Subject: line of the word 'server'. The body of your message should use 'get' and the name of the file of which you'd like to get. The last line of the mailserver mail should have the word 'end'. One other special command 'path' can be used to force the mail path to conform to "hard to reach" locations. All files are sent as straight ASCII text, and when decompressed can range up to 75K in length. The files are also available 'anonymous' FTP to [milton.u.washington.edu] in directory /public/StarTrek/DR_WHO. Hopefully either way will get it to you fast.. 1. Timelord list - a complete list of timelords that have appeared on DW. ("timelords") 2. Shada info ("shada") 3. Scarf patterns - knit your own scarf! ("scarf_pattern") 4. Companion analysis by James Armstrong ("companions") 5. Ascii pictures - Tardis, K9, dalek, and 2 logos ("drwho_pics") 6. List of Dr. Who novels ("drwho_booklist") 7. Dr. Who episode lists ("drwho_episodes") (containing author list & special notes of interest) ("drwho_guide") 8. Other roles of Dr. Who actors ("other_roles") ("drwho_roles") 9. This FAQ file ("drwho_FAQ") 10. The Romana 'n' Dave series: [with thanks to: Tom Golden (tgolden@cup.portal.com) & Raymond Chen (raymond@math.berkeley.edu) Note: Comments about Romana 'n Dave should be sent to Tom.] And now.. the list: Episode Guide ("romana.readme") Romana-'n-Dave-related articles from Tom Golden. ("romana_news") AN UNEARTHLY JOKE / THE WAD OF GUM (episodes 1 through 4) Romana invites Dave to travel with her; our heroes get an assignment from the Guardians; Davros attempts to find a new human factor for his Daleks. ("wadofgum") REVENGE OF THE BAKER-MAN (episodes 5 through 8) Colin Baker attempts revenge on the BBC for being sacked... but he's not the only one with sneaky plans. ("bakerman") AQUA-VALVA (episodes 9 through 13) Our heros track the Locksmith Guardian to an office building in Los Angeles... from which they may never escape. ("aquavalva") SIGMA (THE ULTIMATE FAUX) (episode 14) Oh no! Held hostage by Omega's smarter brother. ("sigma") 'N.', 'B.' AND 'C' (episodes 15 through 18) Dave contemplates resigning from 'Late Night' -- with mind-bending results. ("nbc") SHADAAP (episodes 19 through 22) Romana takes her Tardis to black-market time capsule service professional Noiros, who has secret plans to use her TARDIS to obtain the legendary Machine of Wellfargos. ("shadaap") VENGEANCE ON VALIUM (episodes 23 through 26) While vacationing on the planet Valium, Romana 'n Dave must prevent an invasion from a neighboring planet. ("vengeance") THE UNDIFFERENTIATED APPENDAGE OF GENERIC ILL-FEELING (episodes 27 to 30) Our heroes go back into Dave's past to stop the Daleks from obtaining the Undifferentiated Appendage of Generic Ill-Feeling. ("appendage") THE TRIAL OF A TALK SHOW HOST (STORY 1) (episodes 31 through 35) Dave is put on trial, and the first piece of evidence is Dave's escapades with Romana to rescue the Crystal of Carrington. ("tth1") THE TRIAL OF A TALK SHOW HOST (STORY 2) (episodes 36 through 40) Dave searches for an adventure which will show that he does not negatively affect the fabric of time. ("tth2") THE TRIAL OF A TALK SHOW HOST (STORY 3) (episodes 41 through 44) Romana enlists the aid of The Equalizer to rescue Dave. ("tth3") ============================================================================ ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: Contributors include: James C. Armstrong, Jr. Steve "BandanaMan" Makuch Dora Kilburn Jeff Hildebrand Todd Horch Ron O'Dell Michael Robertson Address any additions/comments about the FAQ, or anything about the mailserver & FTP site (such as "help me's") to: Michael Robertson [amigo@milton.u.washington.edu] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE DOCTOR AND TIMELORDS IN GENERAL 1.1 Who is Doctor Who? Doctor # Actor 1 William Hartnell* 2 Patrick Troughton* 3 Jon Pertwee 4 Tom Baker 5 Peter Davison (with one "d") 6 Colin Baker 7 Sylvester McCoy 8 (1992 ??? ) Also, Richard Hurndall* played Doctor #1 in "The Five Doctors", except for the old clip at the beginning (that was Hartnell). * indicates the actor has passed away 1.2 What is the Doctor's name? The main character of "Doctor Who" has been referred to by several different labels. These include: -Theta Sigma, used by Drax on the Planet of the Shadow (The Armageddon Factor). This is supposedly an old school name. It was used again in The Happiness Patrol. -Doctor Who, has been used in a couple episodes, most notably The War Machines, were WOTAN is calling for "Doctor Who". The role was credited as "Doctor Who" until Castrovalva, where the name changed to: -The Doctor. This seems to be what he is called most often. -Doctor van Wer, was used in The Highlanders. -In Colony in Space, a name was presented, but was unreadable, on a Gallifreyan computer. -Dr. Caligari was used in The Gunfighters. -Dr. Foreman was hinted at in An Unearthly Child. -Dr. John Smith was the alias the Doctor used while he was UNIT's unpaid scientific advisor. He also used this in The War Games. -In The Trial of a Time Lord, one section of the matrix had the Doctor almost saying his name while on Earth. He never finishes the sentence. -In Remembrance of the Daleks, a calling card was produced by the Doctor that may or may not have had his name. -Ace usually calls him Professor. 1.3 What is the distinction between regeneration and incarnation? When a regeneration occurs, a timelord renews his or her body. What that means to us is a new appearance (a new actor). An incarnation is a particular body. So far, the Doctor has had seven incarnations and six regenerations. 1.4 How many regenerations does a timelord get? Twelve. The fact that there is a fixed number is referenced in many stories, and I believe the first mention is in "The Deadly Assasin". The number twelve is stated in "Mawdryn Undead", and probably in other stories as well. 1.5 How old is the Doctor? Here are some clues: From "The Ribos Operation": The Doctor: "How old do you think I am?" Romana: "759" The Doctor: "756" Romana: "You've lost count somewhere." From "The Pirate Planet": The Doctor: "How long do you think I've been operating this TARDIS?" Romana: "523 years." The Doctor: "Right uh....has it been that long?" Well, I've got another -- From "Remembrance of the Daleks", the younger of the female scientists (who I believe is called 'Alison Williams' or something similar) asks the Doctor "How do you just rewire a piece of alien machinery?", to which he replies "It's easy... when you have 900 years of experience." (older than both the figures given in the file :-) ) (Provided as a public service by: Andy "mad as a penguin" Stevens) CONFUSING PLOTS AND STORYLINES 2.1 Please explain Romana's regeneration. There is no good explanation, but net discussions have yielded these possibilities: a: Romana is wasteful b: Romana had achieved a higher level in the Academy, and hence the ability to "try-on bodies" c: Romana, unlike the Doctor, regenerated "Without Stress". What I mean by this is that the Doctor could choose and "Try-on bodies" like Romana did *IF* there was no stress about his regeneration. 2.2 Was that really the White Guardian at the beginning of The Key to Time? There are two camps of opinions to this question, obviously one yes and one no. The No Camp believes that the pursuit of the key was motivated solely by the Black Guardian, and use as evidence his masquerade in The Armageddon Factor as their proof. They also feel that the White Guardian at the start of the sequence was threatening to the Doctor, and therefore out of character. I [James] personally disagree. When masquerading, the part was still played by Valentine Dyall. In The Ribos Operation, the part was played by Cyril Luckham. Cyril also played the White Guardian in Enlightenment, when both Guardians were present, so we may be confident that Cyril's appearance is the "normal" appearance of the White Guardian. 2.3 Was there a regeneration scene from Colin to Sylvester? This is how Time and the Rani begins: Voice of BBC1: "A new series, a new physical form and a journey to an altogether more far-flung shore. Sylvester McCoy stars as Doctor Who." [OK, so that bit was only on the BBC, but I'm saying that so people know that these nexts bits come before the title sequence.] Computer animation space sequence: swirling stars. Out of these come spinning the TARDIS. Multicolored beams come from the left. Some miss, some hit. Those that hit cause the TARDIS's gyrations to alter, so that the TARDIS is spinning in three (maybe four!) dimensions. There are two of these sequences, actually. Inside the TARDIS: The Doctor and Mel are lying on the floor. The Doctor is face-down [and surprisingly short, since it's actually McCoy in a wig and Colin's immense costume]. The exercise bike falls over. On Lakertya: Ikona climbing atop the quarry, er, serene rocky mountain. He looks into the pink sky and sees a color-cycling rainbow. Down this bow comes the TARDIS. Inside the TARDIS: Red-clothed feet enter. Pan up. It's the Rani, holding a gun-like object (which the Doctor recognizes later in the show), which she used to shoot down the TARDIS. Rani speaks: "Leave the girl; it's the man I want." Inside the TARDIS: Furry feet. (Urak) They lumber over to the face-down Doctor. Furry hand reaches down, and turns the Doctor over, just as the fx people turn on a video bleed. The wig disappears as the shot is changed to a wig-less McCoy, and the fx people slowly turn off the bleed, as the whooshy music rises portamento higher and higher and higher. As the bleed stops and we see the face and the music climaxes, the opening title sequence begins. MAKING THE SHOW 3.1 Will there be more Doctor Who? Maybe, maybe not. Not anytime soon, anyway. The official announcement is: "Doctor Who will be back but not in the near future. We are not close to a deal with any company. When Doctor Who returns the programme will be vibrant, vital and improved, not a tired old Time Lord who comes back too soon" * * The BBC has announced it start production of Dr Who in 1992. This leaves the questions though: 1. When will the first episode be aired? The latest reports of show times could be as early as the '92 season, but is mostly speculation now - and for U.S. viewers, it could mean a year at least after the first season ends. 2. Who will play Who? (The Doctor) We know offically that Sylvester McCoy won't be continuning as the Doctor. The list of people nominated to take over the part have included a run-down list of impossibilities, so hence the real word has yet to be given. 3.2. Will there ever be a woman Doctor? While it may be possible for a male<->female regeneration, it is unlikely that a woman will be cast as the Doctor in the near future. This whole controversy started with Tom Baker intentionally stirring up the hornets nest by saying when he left the part, "And I'd like to wish the new Doctor, whoever he or she may be..." 3.3 Is David Agnew really a pseudonym for Douglas Adams? David Agnew was a house pseudonym that was used twice. The first time was on "The Invasion of Time" and that one was written by Graham Williams and Anthony Read. The second episode with that name was City of Death and that one was Douglas Adams (as script editor) and Graham Williams. 3.4 Was Castrovalva the first Peter Davison story filmed? Castrovalva WAS the fourth Peter Davison story made. The others were made in advance to allow the Doctor character to settle (hard to do with three other characters to write for...). In order, they were: Four to Doomsday, The Visitation, and Kinda. MISCELLANEOUS 4.1 What are the "missing episodes"? During the early seventies many Doctor Who stories were destroyed by the BBC, along with vast amounts of other material kept by the BBC, in order to cut costs in storage. This was before they knew they could market much of the stuff. Copyright laws had much to do with this also. Many of the lost episodes are of the later William Hartnell and much from the Patrick Troughton era. As much as 115 episodes are still missing (equivalent to 2 to 3 seasons). 4.2 Which story included John Cleese? John Cleese appeared with Eleanor Bron as art critics in City of Death. 4.3 What is Temporal Grace? Temporal Grace is the quality which is alleged to prevent the use of weapons inside a TARDIS. It has not been working in the Doctor's TARDIS since Logopolis. 4.4 Where can I get more information? Doctor Who - Twenty-Five Glorious Years by Peter Haining Published by WH Allen & Co. Distributed by: USA: Lyle Stuart Inc. 120 Enterprise Ave Secaucus, New Jersey 07094 Canada: Cancoast Books 90 Signet Drive, Unit 3 Weston, Ontario M9l 1T5 "Doctor Who - Twenty-Five Glorious Years" is a book that tells the story of the first twenty five years of the longest running science fiction series. The book is a mish-mash of information that any Who-info starving Whovian will kill to get (maybe a little too strong), but it does have plenty to interest anyone who loves the Doctor. The book starts of with an introduction to the beginnings of this amazing series from the brainchild of Sydney Newman to the airwaves in 1963. It then proceeds to give a perspective of the quarter century of Doctor Who, from William Hartnell to Sylvester McCoy. Then comes an insight behind the cameras of Doctor Who with John Nathan- Turner. John gives us background to his work done with the show and working with Tom Baker, up to Sylvester McCoy. The next section discusses the seven actors that have played the Doctor since the beginning. Starting off with a long part about Sylvestor McCoy, it gives a two or three page discussion on the other six Doctors. Following is a little section on other persons that have played the Doctor, including Peter Cushing in the movies "Doctor Who and the Daleks" and "Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD", and Trevor Martin who played the Doctor in a stage play. It goes on to discuss the Doctor as viewed by his favourite female companions and includes a little write up of each. They include: Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), Dorothea 'Dodo' Chaplet (Jackie Lane), Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling), Zoe Harriet (Wendy Padbury), Liz Shaw (Caroline John), Jo Grant (Katy Manning), Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen), Leela (Louise Jameson), Romana (Mary Tamm), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton), Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding), Perpugilliam 'Peri' Brown (Nicola Bryant), Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford) and Ace (Sophie Aldred). Others sections include one of guest stars that have appeared on the show, separated into subsections of each of the Doctor's eras, excluding Sylvestor McCoy, and a couple of smaller sections on Doctor Who and the merchandisers and as well as Doctor Who in the comics. The final section is a listing of all the episodes, giving the name of the story, writers, directors, guests, how many episodes and when they were aired. 4.5 What other books are recommended? Neal Crossan writes: Well from Peter Haining, his best was probably Dr.Who - A Celebration, since then he has shown a remarkable talent for rewritting the same book. For individual stories, InVision can't be beat (this includes CMS Adventures In Space In Time). Dr.Who -The Early Years is an excellent account of the Hartnell Years of the Show. For an overall perspective, Dr.Who Monthly and DWB. O.K., so they're magazines and not books, but many of the topics in 25 Glorious Years have been covered in them in much more detail. And finally the best book on Dr.Who - David Bank's Cybermen book. 4.6 How do I get Ryan K. Johnson's fan-produced episodes of Doctor Who? Basically, all you have to do is put $3 and a blank (VHS) videotape in an envelope and send it to: Ryan K. Johnson, P.O. Box 85418, Seattle, WA 98145 and he'll send the tape back to you with the four Doctor Who episodes, _Wrath of Eukor_, _Visions of Utomu_, _Pentagon West_ and _Broken Doors_, plus _Star Trek: The Pepsi Generation_ (a parody of you-know-what.) That's basically it. He wants as many people as possible to be able to see these and encourages us to "show them around or make copies for friends, enemies, or people off the street." So there you have it...