Timestamps 1:52 Ben Aaronovitch 3:18 Douglas Adams 4:44 Bob Baker (and Dave Martin) 5:49 Pip & Jane Baker 6:53 Christopher H. Bidmead 8:22 Ian Marter 9:13 Colin Baker 10:13 Barry Letts 11:37 Ian Stuart Black 12:38 Matthew Waterhouse 13:23 Chris Boucher 14:12 Ian Briggs 15:21 Johnny Byrne 16:03 Chris Chibnall 18:46 Paul Cornell 20:11 Frank Cottrell-Boyce 20:57 Neil Cross 22:07 Russell T Davies 24:25 Sarah Dollard 25:29 David Fisher 26:45 Maxine Alderton 28:57 Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis 29:41 Joy Wilkinson 30:31 Terrance Dicks 32:03 Terence Dudley 33:14 Phil Ford 33:52 Toby Whithouse 35:05 Steven Moffat 37:35 Nigel Robinson 38:18 David Llewellyn 38:58 Cavan Scott (and George Mann) 40:18 Jim Mortimore 41:44 Stephen Cole 43:12 Nicholas Briggs 45:40 Simon Guerrier 46:39 Lawrence Miles 48:25 Dave Rudden 49:48 Mike Tucker 51:30 Juno Dawson 53:23 Jody Houser 55:12 Lance Parkin 56:06 Chris Chapman 57:05 Gareth Roberts 1:00:39 Jenny T. Colgan 1:02:29 Una McCormack 1:03:35 John Dorney 1:05:14 James Goss 1:06:47 Matt Fitton 1:09:31 Alfie Shaw 1:10:26 Roy Gill 1:11:22 Joseph Lidster 1:12:42 Nev Fountain 1:14:32 Neil Gaiman 1:15:59 Stephen Gallagher 1:16:50 Mark Gatiss 1:20:04 Matthew Graham 1:21:21 Stephen Greenhorn 1:22:17 Peter Grimwade 1:23:11 Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln 1:24:24 Ed Hime 1:25:59 Peter Harness 1:28:08 Brian Hayles 1:30:10 Malcolm Hulke 1:31:49 John Lucarotti 1:33:07 Robert Holmes 1:34:38 Tom MacRae 1:35:35 Louis Marks 1:35:57 Jamie Mathieson 1:36:45 Pete McTighe 1:38:15 Philip Martin 1:38:52 Rona Munro 1:40:03 Terry Nation 1:42:16 Vinay Patel 1:43:51 Helen Raynor 1:45:00 Eric Saward 1:46:06 Robert Shearman 1:48:32 Robert Sloman 1:49:34 Dennis Spooner 1:50:25 Robert Banks Stewart 1:51:05 David Whittaker 1:53:05 Paul Magrs 1:53:39 Gary Russell 1:54:58 Marc Platt 1:56:49 Kate Orman 1:57:28 Jonathan Morris 1:58:44 Scott Gray 2:01:54 Justin Richards 2:04:24 Guy Adams 2:06:22 Alan Barnes 2:07:52 Andrew Cartmel 2:09:23 Trevor Baxendale I am so tired.
I haven't started the video yet and just... The hell kind of order is this...??? Will be interesting to see the answer to that... Though seriously, this is greatly appreciated. You are incredible and I love you.
The same person wrote the Capaldi war monologue and Clara’s Kill the Moon desperate rebuke of the Doctor?!? OMG those scenes are both electric! He clearly has an incredible touch with charged emotional moments.
1:21:39 yeah man, Doctor's Daughter was intended as the centre-piece of Series 4. It was commissioned by Russell as a weird experimental story to lock David into another BAFTA (Family of Blood cited as a reference point). It fails on every account of its mission statement, but still good TV as far as I'm concerned. I could defend The Lazarus Experiennt ALL day. It has ONE flaw. That's it. Big, crippling flaw, but people overlook this story. It's an uncut gem and I adore it.
I've mellowed so much on Mark Gatiss. I used to hate how fluffy and unsubtle his stories were but nowadays I can appreciate the 45mins of harmless fun.
33:14 SJA was as much Phil's show as Torchwood was Chris's. The production team all moved over to Wizards Vs Aliens after. Russell made sure everyone (other than the cast, of course) stayed in work, without entertaining the ethical dilemma of recasting Elisabeth Sladen. Which I appreciate. It's things like that that keep me wanting to be a Producer myself. Smart and lovely producing there.
Gridlock is an underrated story, it gave us 'you should have seen it that old planet', which is our first real glimpse of vulnerability between Tennant and Frema
When you say that one of our favourite stories probably has James Goss as a writing credit, you're right. He's done some of my absolute favourites, not to mention THE favourite story of mine from the whole DW franchise as a whole
God, I just adore your long form content. Please rant more at us about things you love from Doctor Who. Do it, we need more positivity, and your insights are absolutely wonderful!
Gareth really wrote Ten taking his bird golfing before accidentally landing in a pub, using the word _"arse",_ referring to _"Half-hearted sex",_ and taking on a Dalek, huh? In a book specifically tailored to primary school kids to develop their reading, no less. I'd heard such good things about I Am A Dalek. God knows why.
I have to put Robert Holmes at the top of the list. Other writers, for the current series and/or Big Finish, have done DW stories that I find more emotionally affecting. But when you consider how brilliant Holmes was within the constraints of the original series -- where "deep character study," let alone "move you to tears," wasn't exactly something that writers were supposed to aim for at all -- I have to give the guy the maximum amount of credit. I wonder if even the best of 21st century DW writers could've done what Holmes did if you, well, sent them back in time to work on Classic DW.
The Pirate Planet is one of my all time favorite Doctor Who stories and I really don't get how it doesn't get more love. City of Death is good but it's relatively down the list of stories I'm likely to grab at random for a rewatch.
42:33 Stephen Cole also wrote the Astrosaurs kids books, I remember those being one of the earliest times young me recognised an author's name across different books
Also, another factoid that blew my mind when I heard it was "time agents" being name dropped in Talons of Weng-Chiang. I'm surprised there was never a tie with Captain Jack and Magnus Greel. I'm sure he would have been the dictator of Jack's time.
Wow, I applaud you man, for doing that list. About Kate Orman, if you ever pick up any book of hers, please make it 'Unnatural History'. That book is basically the idea of broke canon in a nutshell. What bits of contradictory DW lore is true? Doesn't fucking matter, all of it is. The villian is literally someone who wants to pin the Doctor's history down to one version, he is basically just a stand in for canon purity obsession. Also, Fitz gets robbed by a unicorn and the Doctor rides in the Wild Hunt. I won't explain. Also, in defense of Justin Richards, he has written a lot of great Benny novels and his entries in the Gallifrey series are among my personal favorites. Oh, a writer I would have been curious on your opinion is Dave Stone, cause their writing can be quite divisive. Stone has a very meandering style of prose, a little bit comparable to Douglas Adams, but instead for commedy its used for horror. I always walk away from a Dave Stone book that I have no idea what was going on but I enjoyed the ride.
The Gatiss thing only just hit me in this video. It makes sense, considering his backstory in TLoG is "man cursed in the victorian age". What I'm saying is I would cut out my tongue and place it on the altar to see an episode written by the entire league. It doesn't even need to be *good*.
48:25, give Dave Rudden an episode I say, see what he does. In a time of creative bankruptcy over the Chibnall era, reading those two books was like having a glass of Classic Coke after being given diet Tesco cola for years.
I LOVED this video. It really gave me a comprehensive look at a lotof expanded media I need to check out as well. Thanks Sam! This video was more than worth making.
You're so bloody entertaining, I love spending time in your company, mate. Quality stuff! Stuff being a very fitting word for most of your content, now that I think about it... in the nicest way possible, of course😎
1:24:00 Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln’s estate do actually own the Brigadier and are credited whenever he’s used. There’s even a bit of drama at the moment with BBV making Brigadier audio dramas even though their estate revoked their licence, so interesting to see where that goes.
And now to absolutely crush Sam with a few biggies he missed (I'm so sorry): Tim Foley, Rob Valentine, Steve Moore, Jacqueline Rayner, Lisa McMullin, Lizzie Hopley, Lizbeth Myles Andrew Smith, Mark Wright, Gareth David-Lloyd, James Kettle and Sarah Grochala. I know way too much Big Finish...
I also for some reason thought that Sophie Aldred had written more stories than just the one book, but I think it might be one additional short story and some intos to other books
This really is fantastic work. You're ability to turn scattered thoughts into entertaining diatribes is something else, I'd love to keep seeing work like this.
Apart from getting royalty fees for the Brigadier and Yeti, Henry Lincoln struck gold as co-author of runaway best-seller "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and its sequels. These purportedly historical books (but, as it transpired, largely pseudo-historical twaddle) inspired the fictional "Davinci Code", which made Dan Brown even more money.
on James Goss, worth remembering he signed off the 10th Doctor era with 'Dead Air' in 2010. Really bridged into rebranding of show and such a great release for young fans back then
Man, I remember the days the New Adventure novel writers hung out and just chatted daily with the fans back on the old Usenet forums way back in the day! Paul Cornell, Lance Parkin, Kate Orman...I actually got my current screen name from following a long argument between writers Ben Aaronovitch and John Peel over the latter's retcon of the former's destruction of Skaro from Remembrance of the Daleks! Good times...
The reason Chris Boucher fell out of Who was because he got employed (on the recommendation of Robert Holmes) as the script editor of Blake's 7 in 1977/8. After B7, he then went on to script edit Bergerac, Juliet Bravo and The Bill before then falling out with the BBC over the treatment or his own show Star Cops (which got cancelled after one series due to low ratings). I think he did try to submit more scripts to Who during the mid Eighties, but they were either ignored or rejected.
This video really drives home how far I've gone down the Doctor Who rabbit hole, as I recognize the majority of these writers for at least 1 thing they've written. Absolute blast of a video, thanks for the fun watch!
Phil Ford only really contributed 'Something Borrowed' to Torchwood but to the Sarah Jane Adventures? He was practically a showrunner! He wrote 'Eye of the Gorgon', 'The Lost Boy', 'The Last Sontaran', 'Day of the Clown', 'Enemy of the Bane', 'Prisoner of the Judoon', 'The Eternity Trap', 'Mona Lisa's Revenge', 'The Vault of Secrets', 'Sky' and 'The Curse of Clyde Langer'. A huge range of quality as you can see...
The mark of a good channel is when I disagree with a lot of your new who episode opinions but I always come back because I'm interested in what you have to say
Paul Cornell is hands down my single favorite Who writer and if he ever became a showrunner/head writer/one of the most common writers of a different showrunner's era, I would write a check right now to the BBC for $1000. His multimedia work is phenomenal and his small amount of contributions to the main show are some of the greatest stories Who has to offer. Father's Day is spectacular and is truly what solidified NuWho as my favorite television program when I first discovered the show back in 2011. And in my humble, slightly less hardcore fan opinion, Human Nature/The Family of Blood is the single greatest 88 minutes that has ever been broadcast with the Doctor Who name. A double episode masterpiece that perfectly encapsulates everything that makes Doctor Who so special. Coupled with my favorite Murray Gold score and it's literally a perfect Doctor Who story. An honorable mention to James Goss who has a ton of incredible Big Finish content. I'd love to see him pen a script or two for television Doctor Who under the upcoming era.
1:16:38 Yeah I was also surprised when I found out that another classic writer, Andrew Smith, writer of Full Circle, has written a surprising amount of Big Finish stories too.
Moffat is the big man! By far my favourite era of the show and my favourite writer. I really think Toby Whithouse would have been a potential genius show runner. Also, I can't hate chibs, some I love (counter to you I love the two maxine Alderton scripts) and a few disappoint me but I rarely hate his era or his scripts.
It's odd. Una McCormack has mostly flown under my radar in terms of Doctor Who too, which is weird because she's one of the greatest Star Trek writers ever. Seriously, if there is any crossover fans here who aren't aware of her work, I cannot recommend her Star Trek novels enough.
My mam whose not in the very least a Doctor Who fan could acknowledge that Davies was a fantastic writer, he just understood the show and knew exactly what he was doing
Glad to find someone who agrees with me that Peter Harness and Jamie Mathieson should've been brought back by Chibnall! They were experienced enough to counter the inexperience of the new writers for Series 11, but still new enough to not have run out of ideas yet. As I see it, anyway.
The assessment of Gareth Roberts gave me pause for thought because I also adored the Shakespeare Code, one of the best episodes of New Who that wasn't written by Davies or Moffat, I felt none of his later episodes matched up to that despite interesting ideas and some fantastic dialogue, I could never work out why. I do now realise it's because his stories put unpleasant and slightly bullying characteristics into The Doctor. I loved the concept of The Lodger but hated the vibe of Eleven effortlessly 'out bloke-ing' and running down another character. They just about get away with that one because Matt Smith's portrayal allows that to come across as unintentional and haphazard. The Caretaker despite being high comedy value is not a comfortable watch because Twelve is uncharacteristically aggressive and determined to undermine and put Danny down.
@@mayotango1317 umm yes I am aware he is a fictional alien? I don’t see how that counters my point? I’m merely saying I agree with the analysis in the video and the reasons why
@@mayotango1317 Oh, I'm not suggesting it's not seen in other stories, just that it's particularly prevalent in Roberts writing. Actually I was never a fan of that Tennant arc where they openly had a romantic relationship in front of him and waited for him to exit quietly. That felt like something outside of my interpretation of what Doctor Who should be.
1:55:30 Ghost Light actually started off as Lungbarrow and then got dialed back cause JNT thought it'd be too pricey. Probably for the best but honestly a bit of a shame. Plus then I wouldn't need to pay HUNDREDS OF ACTUAL DOLLARS to read that fucking book.
I read Lungbarrow back in the 90s. It was a bit of a ponderous unwieldy moody slog from what little I remember. My only regrets in not still owning it is that I can't reread it and then promptly sell it for HUNDREDS OF ACTUAL DOLLARS. One of those Doctor Who stories that sounds more intriguing than it actually is. Ghost Light is much better, IMO.
@@SurlyInsomniac damn, well at least now I know it's not worth selling a kidney for lol. Might just read the e book or something. (If I ever even get to the VNAs honestly)
@@simonchabot390 Problem with the ebooks of the VNAs, as I have discovered, is that a lot of them are really just dreadful quality. I actually bought a couple VNAs (not Lungbarrow) just to see if it was the ebooks or just the books in general; its the ebooks. Lungbarrow I haven't gotten around to yet, but I don't know how much of the old Doctor Who website is in the Internet Archive, and I wouldn't be surprised if the official ebook is now partly missing.
100% agree with you about Scott Gray. I have 6 dwm comic strip collections and his name is on all of them. Wrote some of my favourite stories of all time. Gave my favourite doctor (McGann) a proper era. I love his stories so much.
_Cyberwoman_ wasn't a terrible script. The story is okay. Mostly it's just terrible because of the costume design, which was apparently RTD's idea. Imagine Lisa looking like Ashad and it's a much stronger episode.
Davis. I’ve got some thoughts on the upcoming tennant stuff that I’d really wanna speak with you about . I know your opinion on the show doing that isn’t positive. But I’ve got some points that might change your view on it. What would be the best way to reach out ?
Was pretty cool that you were able to give a really positive response to Una without having to refer to her Star Trek work. (which, for the record, is also amazing)
Finally finished this vid, man what a journey. So many names I never realised were attached to so many of my favourite stories and so many writers I absolutely need to check out. You're built different for making this.
I don’t know if you are aware of joy Wilkinson’s story for the Doctor Who lockdown book, where 13 decides not to stop warships being created because “aw well they were going to be created somewhere weren’t they” but it is some of the most centrist bs Ive read. Peak neoliberal. I was really enjoying that book and her story just really put a sour taste in my mouth. I really don’t know what the hell she was thinking
just gonna point out that brian hayles also wrote the seeds of death, which you missed when talking about him. personally i think it's an unremarkable but fun story, and probably the best of hayles' work besides the peladon stories.
1:57:05 always thought that was weird, yeah. Okay, Doctor Who's coming back. All we've had for fifteen years is VNA, PDA, Big Finish, and EDA. So you're bringing in the best writer from each range, yeah? Obviously gonna have to be Paul Cornell, Mark Gattis, Robert Shearman, and Kate Or- sorry, who? Oh. The Comic Relief guy. Huh. No, yeah, I remember. Sodding sewers ha ha ha. No I see it. You do that. I mean good call in retrospect. Just a strange one to make at the time.
I would disagree that Doug Adams was the closest thing to a showrunner at the time. Surely the producer, Graham Williams fufilled far more of those duties. Douglas Adams was just the script editor. That duo of Script Editor and Producer become the creative lead. Think Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks, JNT and Eric Saward, Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes!
I can tell you what's to like about _Orphan 55_ - it manages to breathe some life into Ryan. He's actually kind of an interesting character when he's bouncing off Bella, and Yaz teasing him about his inept flirting attempts was gold. Most of the episode is okayish, and IMO the hatred for this episode mostly comes down to two things (a) the painfully hamhanded dialogue in the last 30 seconds of the show, and (b) the mistake of ever showing the Dreg costume in full light - it was actually pretty terrifying before then. Optionally (c) Beeennniiiiiii! - but I suspect that would've just been filed under Doctor Who being amusingly camp if it weren't for the other two. Beyond that, it flips the 'base under siege' formula on its head, which is neat. The idea of someone setting up a shonky spa on an unauthorised planet as a fundraising venture was quite clever. And the Planet-of-the-Apes style twist is fine. Derivative, but surprisingly uncommon for this particular show. I'm not sure why some people regard _Orphan 55_ as the worst Chibnall story. Like, _The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos_ and _Arachnids in the UK_ and _The Tsuranga Conundrum_ exist. It's not even the worst S12 story - we have _The Timeless Children_ (and arguably _Spyfall Pt 2_ ) for that.
I entirely agree with your statements about Scott Gray. He has written so many good things, it's really hard to think of one that I do not like that much.
i just listened to the captain jack boxset before putting this bacl n as backgrtound metrial, and tyyhe point i stoped this video last time was the exact poiunt where you talk about David Llewellyn
I loved this upon a second viewing so much so I had to delete my previous comment from five months back. This time I found the length of time fly by. As an analysis freak I enjoyed this immensely. Why it took me a second time round to appreciate this doco and I can't understand. Spoken as is Davis is in the lounge room with you. No heavy intellectualisation but truthful and nevertheless insightful commenatry.
2:01:53 beep the meep beat ya to it. The youtuber. Has a bunch of the comics actually. Sound effects, music. Cliff hangers. Pretty good editing for what they're doing.
In answer to your Brigadier question: yes, every time the Brigadier is in a new Big Finish, he gets his own licensing credit with thanks to Hannah Haisman and Candy Jar Books
Timestamps
1:52 Ben Aaronovitch
3:18 Douglas Adams
4:44 Bob Baker (and Dave Martin)
5:49 Pip & Jane Baker
6:53 Christopher H. Bidmead
8:22 Ian Marter
9:13 Colin Baker
10:13 Barry Letts
11:37 Ian Stuart Black
12:38 Matthew Waterhouse
13:23 Chris Boucher
14:12 Ian Briggs
15:21 Johnny Byrne
16:03 Chris Chibnall
18:46 Paul Cornell
20:11 Frank Cottrell-Boyce
20:57 Neil Cross
22:07 Russell T Davies
24:25 Sarah Dollard
25:29 David Fisher
26:45 Maxine Alderton
28:57 Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
29:41 Joy Wilkinson
30:31 Terrance Dicks
32:03 Terence Dudley
33:14 Phil Ford
33:52 Toby Whithouse
35:05 Steven Moffat
37:35 Nigel Robinson
38:18 David Llewellyn
38:58 Cavan Scott (and George Mann)
40:18 Jim Mortimore
41:44 Stephen Cole
43:12 Nicholas Briggs
45:40 Simon Guerrier
46:39 Lawrence Miles
48:25 Dave Rudden
49:48 Mike Tucker
51:30 Juno Dawson
53:23 Jody Houser
55:12 Lance Parkin
56:06 Chris Chapman
57:05 Gareth Roberts
1:00:39 Jenny T. Colgan
1:02:29 Una McCormack
1:03:35 John Dorney
1:05:14 James Goss
1:06:47 Matt Fitton
1:09:31 Alfie Shaw
1:10:26 Roy Gill
1:11:22 Joseph Lidster
1:12:42 Nev Fountain
1:14:32 Neil Gaiman
1:15:59 Stephen Gallagher
1:16:50 Mark Gatiss
1:20:04 Matthew Graham
1:21:21 Stephen Greenhorn
1:22:17 Peter Grimwade
1:23:11 Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln
1:24:24 Ed Hime
1:25:59 Peter Harness
1:28:08 Brian Hayles
1:30:10 Malcolm Hulke
1:31:49 John Lucarotti
1:33:07 Robert Holmes
1:34:38 Tom MacRae
1:35:35 Louis Marks
1:35:57
Jamie Mathieson
1:36:45 Pete McTighe
1:38:15 Philip Martin
1:38:52 Rona Munro
1:40:03 Terry Nation
1:42:16 Vinay Patel
1:43:51 Helen Raynor
1:45:00 Eric Saward
1:46:06 Robert Shearman
1:48:32 Robert Sloman
1:49:34 Dennis Spooner
1:50:25 Robert Banks Stewart
1:51:05 David Whittaker
1:53:05 Paul Magrs
1:53:39 Gary Russell
1:54:58 Marc Platt
1:56:49 Kate Orman
1:57:28 Jonathan Morris
1:58:44 Scott Gray
2:01:54 Justin Richards
2:04:24 Guy Adams
2:06:22 Alan Barnes
2:07:52 Andrew Cartmel
2:09:23 Trevor Baxendale
I am so tired.
Jesus Christ, doing God's work you are.
I haven't started the video yet and just... The hell kind of order is this...??? Will be interesting to see the answer to that...
Though seriously, this is greatly appreciated. You are incredible and I love you.
I regret I have but one like to give...
Anyone know what the logic behind the order?
@@darynvoss7883 it was originally gonna be in alphabetical, but then davis got sidetracked and mixed it up
Can't wait to just put this on in the background as I do something else. I love these long discussion videos.
Hello from harbo wholmes discord
So you're what i become. You could say You've redecorated
The same person wrote the Capaldi war monologue and Clara’s Kill the Moon desperate rebuke of the Doctor?!? OMG those scenes are both electric! He clearly has an incredible touch with charged emotional moments.
I think moffat wrote the speech as he is co credited for the Zygon inversion
"I've gotta ask after Orphan 55, was It Takes You Away accidentally good?"
No 😏
1:21:39 yeah man, Doctor's Daughter was intended as the centre-piece of Series 4. It was commissioned by Russell as a weird experimental story to lock David into another BAFTA (Family of Blood cited as a reference point). It fails on every account of its mission statement, but still good TV as far as I'm concerned.
I could defend The Lazarus Experiennt ALL day. It has ONE flaw. That's it. Big, crippling flaw, but people overlook this story. It's an uncut gem and I adore it.
Looking forward to/dreading the next 2 hours and 10 minutes of my life. thanks Davis.
I've mellowed so much on Mark Gatiss. I used to hate how fluffy and unsubtle his stories were but nowadays I can appreciate the 45mins of harmless fun.
33:14 SJA was as much Phil's show as Torchwood was Chris's. The production team all moved over to Wizards Vs Aliens after. Russell made sure everyone (other than the cast, of course) stayed in work, without entertaining the ethical dilemma of recasting Elisabeth Sladen. Which I appreciate. It's things like that that keep me wanting to be a Producer myself. Smart and lovely producing there.
Phil's, like, the third or fourth most likely future showrunner lmao. WIDEN THE LIST BBC.
however i really dislike wva compared to my love of sja
This is the first time ever I see anybody other than me mentioning Wizards vs. Aliens lol
Gridlock is an underrated story, it gave us 'you should have seen it that old planet', which is our first real glimpse of vulnerability between Tennant and Frema
When you say that one of our favourite stories probably has James Goss as a writing credit, you're right. He's done some of my absolute favourites, not to mention THE favourite story of mine from the whole DW franchise as a whole
Go on then whats your fav
fear her
@@HumansBornPhresh The Art of Death
I was really surprised when Chris Chibnall was announced rather than Toby Whitehouse
God, I just adore your long form content. Please rant more at us about things you love from Doctor Who. Do it, we need more positivity, and your insights are absolutely wonderful!
Gareth really wrote Ten taking his bird golfing before accidentally landing in a pub, using the word _"arse",_ referring to _"Half-hearted sex",_ and taking on a Dalek, huh? In a book specifically tailored to primary school kids to develop their reading, no less.
I'd heard such good things about I Am A Dalek. God knows why.
Nev Fountain is also my favourite Big Finish writer. He writes a lot of Peri which is not a coincidence as he's Nicola's partner.
I have to put Robert Holmes at the top of the list. Other writers, for the current series and/or Big Finish, have done DW stories that I find more emotionally affecting. But when you consider how brilliant Holmes was within the constraints of the original series -- where "deep character study," let alone "move you to tears," wasn't exactly something that writers were supposed to aim for at all -- I have to give the guy the maximum amount of credit. I wonder if even the best of 21st century DW writers could've done what Holmes did if you, well, sent them back in time to work on Classic DW.
The Pirate Planet is one of my all time favorite Doctor Who stories and I really don't get how it doesn't get more love. City of Death is good but it's relatively down the list of stories I'm likely to grab at random for a rewatch.
it's the robot parrot
it has ceased to be.
42:33 Stephen Cole also wrote the Astrosaurs kids books, I remember those being one of the earliest times young me recognised an author's name across different books
All I want is Paul Cornell back
Also, another factoid that blew my mind when I heard it was "time agents" being name dropped in Talons of Weng-Chiang. I'm surprised there was never a tie with Captain Jack and Magnus Greel. I'm sure he would have been the dictator of Jack's time.
Wow, I applaud you man, for doing that list. About Kate Orman, if you ever pick up any book of hers, please make it 'Unnatural History'. That book is basically the idea of broke canon in a nutshell. What bits of contradictory DW lore is true? Doesn't fucking matter, all of it is. The villian is literally someone who wants to pin the Doctor's history down to one version, he is basically just a stand in for canon purity obsession. Also, Fitz gets robbed by a unicorn and the Doctor rides in the Wild Hunt. I won't explain.
Also, in defense of Justin Richards, he has written a lot of great Benny novels and his entries in the Gallifrey series are among my personal favorites. Oh, a writer I would have been curious on your opinion is Dave Stone, cause their writing can be quite divisive. Stone has a very meandering style of prose, a little bit comparable to Douglas Adams, but instead for commedy its used for horror. I always walk away from a Dave Stone book that I have no idea what was going on but I enjoyed the ride.
The Gatiss thing only just hit me in this video. It makes sense, considering his backstory in TLoG is "man cursed in the victorian age".
What I'm saying is I would cut out my tongue and place it on the altar to see an episode written by the entire league. It doesn't even need to be *good*.
48:25, give Dave Rudden an episode I say, see what he does. In a time of creative bankruptcy over the Chibnall era, reading those two books was like having a glass of Classic Coke after being given diet Tesco cola for years.
I LOVED this video. It really gave me a comprehensive look at a lotof expanded media I need to check out as well. Thanks Sam! This video was more than worth making.
You're so bloody entertaining, I love spending time in your company, mate. Quality stuff!
Stuff being a very fitting word for most of your content, now that I think about it... in the nicest way possible, of course😎
You've outdone yourself, Sam, gonna watch this through when I have time free. It'll be really useful to cite in my future videos!
Do not be shy to do more of these, I am listening while fucking about on Tier Maker and loving it.
1:24:00 Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln’s estate do actually own the Brigadier and are credited whenever he’s used. There’s even a bit of drama at the moment with BBV making Brigadier audio dramas even though their estate revoked their licence, so interesting to see where that goes.
And now to absolutely crush Sam with a few biggies he missed (I'm so sorry): Tim Foley, Rob Valentine, Steve Moore, Jacqueline Rayner, Lisa McMullin, Lizzie Hopley, Lizbeth Myles Andrew Smith, Mark Wright, Gareth David-Lloyd, James Kettle and Sarah Grochala.
I know way too much Big Finish...
I also for some reason thought that Sophie Aldred had written more stories than just the one book, but I think it might be one additional short story and some intos to other books
This was just cruel
This really is fantastic work. You're ability to turn scattered thoughts into entertaining diatribes is something else, I'd love to keep seeing work like this.
Apart from getting royalty fees for the Brigadier and Yeti, Henry Lincoln struck gold as co-author of runaway best-seller "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and its sequels. These purportedly historical books (but, as it transpired, largely pseudo-historical twaddle) inspired the fictional "Davinci Code", which made Dan Brown even more money.
Only a fool, madman or hero would attempt such a video. Let's watch and see which one Sir Davis of media analysis belongs to.
Glad to see this posted just as my own needlessly long video about this show processing. Happy I’m not the only crazy one.
on James Goss, worth remembering he signed off the 10th Doctor era with 'Dead Air' in 2010. Really bridged into rebranding of show and such a great release for young fans back then
yep, I can see the title and the runtime of this video.
As can i!
You can't be a Doctor Who fan if you've never psychoanalysed at least one of the writers
Man, I remember the days the New Adventure novel writers hung out and just chatted daily with the fans back on the old Usenet forums way back in the day! Paul Cornell, Lance Parkin, Kate Orman...I actually got my current screen name from following a long argument between writers Ben Aaronovitch and John Peel over the latter's retcon of the former's destruction of Skaro from Remembrance of the Daleks! Good times...
The reason Chris Boucher fell out of Who was because he got employed (on the recommendation of Robert Holmes) as the script editor of Blake's 7 in 1977/8. After B7, he then went on to script edit Bergerac, Juliet Bravo and The Bill before then falling out with the BBC over the treatment or his own show Star Cops (which got cancelled after one series due to low ratings). I think he did try to submit more scripts to Who during the mid Eighties, but they were either ignored or rejected.
2 hours of davis? dont threaten me with a good time baby lesssgoooooooo
You are very brave to take this task on. Mad respect! Great video as usual. 😃
finishes watching video at 3:43am
right, time to watch it all over again!
This video really drives home how far I've gone down the Doctor Who rabbit hole, as I recognize the majority of these writers for at least 1 thing they've written. Absolute blast of a video, thanks for the fun watch!
Phil Ford only really contributed 'Something Borrowed' to Torchwood but to the Sarah Jane Adventures? He was practically a showrunner! He wrote 'Eye of the Gorgon', 'The Lost Boy', 'The Last Sontaran', 'Day of the Clown', 'Enemy of the Bane', 'Prisoner of the Judoon', 'The Eternity Trap', 'Mona Lisa's Revenge', 'The Vault of Secrets', 'Sky' and 'The Curse of Clyde Langer'. A huge range of quality as you can see...
Inferno & Mind of Evil’s Don Houghton and Fury from the Deep & The Pescatons’ Victor Pemberton. I need to know Davis’ opinion. *GIMME*
really happy to hear you praise John Dorney and James Goss! both are two of my fave DW writers, if not my fave two honestly
The mark of a good channel is when I disagree with a lot of your new who episode opinions but I always come back because I'm interested in what you have to say
Fully on your side with Underworld. Underrated fun
id love to see you and harbo wholmes team up and just talk about and critique episodes
Very nice overview of various.writers throughout the franchise!
this is where the fun begins
Paul Cornell is hands down my single favorite Who writer and if he ever became a showrunner/head writer/one of the most common writers of a different showrunner's era, I would write a check right now to the BBC for $1000.
His multimedia work is phenomenal and his small amount of contributions to the main show are some of the greatest stories Who has to offer.
Father's Day is spectacular and is truly what solidified NuWho as my favorite television program when I first discovered the show back in 2011.
And in my humble, slightly less hardcore fan opinion, Human Nature/The Family of Blood is the single greatest 88 minutes that has ever been broadcast with the Doctor Who name. A double episode masterpiece that perfectly encapsulates everything that makes Doctor Who so special. Coupled with my favorite Murray Gold score and it's literally a perfect Doctor Who story.
An honorable mention to James Goss who has a ton of incredible Big Finish content. I'd love to see him pen a script or two for television Doctor Who under the upcoming era.
Also thanks for some great background listening material while I'm slogging through work! A very nice distraction from the real world.
Human Nature and Family of Blood were adapted from Human Nature, a 7th Doctor book by Paul Cornell.
Oh wow "The Sky Man" and "Daleks!" are by the same guy? I guess I love James Goss.
I hope Juno Dawson gets to write the new Rose, the character played by Yasmin Finney.
You have such an extensive knowledge of DW! Future showrunners will study your videos.
1:16:38 Yeah I was also surprised when I found out that another classic writer, Andrew Smith, writer of Full Circle, has written a surprising amount of Big Finish stories too.
And suddenly I realize where the picture with Sarah Jane and the Sixth Doctor is from.
The guy who wrote Minuet in Hell wrote Zagreus?! Whaaaaaaa
Moffat is the big man! By far my favourite era of the show and my favourite writer.
I really think Toby Whithouse would have been a potential genius show runner.
Also, I can't hate chibs, some I love (counter to you I love the two maxine Alderton scripts) and a few disappoint me but I rarely hate his era or his scripts.
I was like " oh this might be fun" then I looked at the run time.
Perfect timing, I can have this on while I clean my house
It's odd. Una McCormack has mostly flown under my radar in terms of Doctor Who too, which is weird because she's one of the greatest Star Trek writers ever. Seriously, if there is any crossover fans here who aren't aware of her work, I cannot recommend her Star Trek novels enough.
I really want a broken canon based on bbv spin off and the reeltime pictures
My mam whose not in the very least a Doctor Who fan could acknowledge that Davies was a fantastic writer, he just understood the show and knew exactly what he was doing
Oh boy...RTD kill the show now.
Glad to find someone who agrees with me that Peter Harness and Jamie Mathieson should've been brought back by Chibnall! They were experienced enough to counter the inexperience of the new writers for Series 11, but still new enough to not have run out of ideas yet. As I see it, anyway.
The assessment of Gareth Roberts gave me pause for thought because I also adored the Shakespeare Code, one of the best episodes of New Who that wasn't written by Davies or Moffat, I felt none of his later episodes matched up to that despite interesting ideas and some fantastic dialogue, I could never work out why. I do now realise it's because his stories put unpleasant and slightly bullying characteristics into The Doctor.
I loved the concept of The Lodger but hated the vibe of Eleven effortlessly 'out bloke-ing' and running down another character. They just about get away with that one because Matt Smith's portrayal allows that to come across as unintentional and haphazard. The Caretaker despite being high comedy value is not a comfortable watch because Twelve is uncharacteristically aggressive and determined to undermine and put Danny down.
Please, the Doctor is a alien. ¿Remember that?
@@mayotango1317 umm yes I am aware he is a fictional alien? I don’t see how that counters my point? I’m merely saying I agree with the analysis in the video and the reasons why
@@tufty1990Sorry but Tennant did that a lot with other males characters, Mickey to the king of France.
@@mayotango1317 Oh, I'm not suggesting it's not seen in other stories, just that it's particularly prevalent in Roberts writing.
Actually I was never a fan of that Tennant arc where they openly had a romantic relationship in front of him and waited for him to exit quietly. That felt like something outside of my interpretation of what Doctor Who should be.
What's the background video you used
1:55:30 Ghost Light actually started off as Lungbarrow and then got dialed back cause JNT thought it'd be too pricey. Probably for the best but honestly a bit of a shame. Plus then I wouldn't need to pay HUNDREDS OF ACTUAL DOLLARS to read that fucking book.
I read Lungbarrow back in the 90s. It was a bit of a ponderous unwieldy moody slog from what little I remember. My only regrets in not still owning it is that I can't reread it and then promptly sell it for HUNDREDS OF ACTUAL DOLLARS. One of those Doctor Who stories that sounds more intriguing than it actually is. Ghost Light is much better, IMO.
@@SurlyInsomniac damn, well at least now I know it's not worth selling a kidney for lol. Might just read the e book or something. (If I ever even get to the VNAs honestly)
@@simonchabot390 Problem with the ebooks of the VNAs, as I have discovered, is that a lot of them are really just dreadful quality. I actually bought a couple VNAs (not Lungbarrow) just to see if it was the ebooks or just the books in general; its the ebooks. Lungbarrow I haven't gotten around to yet, but I don't know how much of the old Doctor Who website is in the Internet Archive, and I wouldn't be surprised if the official ebook is now partly missing.
@@tamaramacadam8650 oh yeah a lot of them are awful from what I've seen but when it's that or pay 500 dollars, I can deal with the poor quality.
@@simonchabot390 My thoughts exactly. I did actually do my own digitisation of Timewyrm: Genesys just to make something better though, heh.
Alfie Shaw wrote a really interesting ShortTrip called "Death Will Not Part Us" from Short Trips: Volume 11. A really unique story
Never realised just how wonderful Paul Cornell is, what a writer!
100% agree with you about Scott Gray. I have 6 dwm comic strip collections and his name is on all of them. Wrote some of my favourite stories of all time. Gave my favourite doctor (McGann) a proper era. I love his stories so much.
The Doctor Who video I never knew I needed until I watched it.
_Cyberwoman_ wasn't a terrible script. The story is okay. Mostly it's just terrible because of the costume design, which was apparently RTD's idea. Imagine Lisa looking like Ashad and it's a much stronger episode.
Davis. I’ve got some thoughts on the upcoming tennant stuff that I’d really wanna speak with you about . I know your opinion on the show doing that isn’t positive. But I’ve got some points that might change your view on it. What would be the best way to reach out ?
First off, go to his Tennant video not to this completely unrelated one and then just write a comment there...
God I couldn't even remember the great man theory speech.
It's fascinating going from Capaldi's speech about being an idiot to *that*...
Was pretty cool that you were able to give a really positive response to Una without having to refer to her Star Trek work. (which, for the record, is also amazing)
Should do a review series or deep dive of the target novelizations
You should review years and years, I really wanna understand what you mean about it
Just happy to see zaddy Laurence miles. Wish he was still in the canon. Faction paradox ideas are so pog
Haisman and candy jar owns the brig, it’s on all the BF stuff. Which is kinda cool for them
Honestly finishing this 2+ hour video on Trevor fucking Baxendale is such a power move
Finally finished this vid, man what a journey. So many names I never realised were attached to so many of my favourite stories and so many writers I absolutely need to check out. You're built different for making this.
I don’t know if you are aware of joy Wilkinson’s story for the Doctor Who lockdown book, where 13 decides not to stop warships being created because “aw well they were going to be created somewhere weren’t they” but it is some of the most centrist bs Ive read. Peak neoliberal. I was really enjoying that book and her story just really put a sour taste in my mouth. I really don’t know what the hell she was thinking
The way she's been written, I wouldn't be surprised if Thirteen was a TERF
just gonna point out that brian hayles also wrote the seeds of death, which you missed when talking about him. personally i think it's an unremarkable but fun story, and probably the best of hayles' work besides the peladon stories.
How do you know I'm doing house work? Are you spying on me? Also am I the only one who loves time flight. Over the top cheesy but fun
I was listening to this in the background, and that Garth Marenghi reference at 1:26:50!!
1:57:05 always thought that was weird, yeah.
Okay, Doctor Who's coming back. All we've had for fifteen years is VNA, PDA, Big Finish, and EDA. So you're bringing in the best writer from each range, yeah? Obviously gonna have to be Paul Cornell, Mark Gattis, Robert Shearman, and Kate Or- sorry, who? Oh. The Comic Relief guy. Huh. No, yeah, I remember. Sodding sewers ha ha ha. No I see it. You do that.
I mean good call in retrospect. Just a strange one to make at the time.
Is it just me, or does the picture you used of Barry Letts look a lot like the Delgado Master?
28:58 took me so of guard holy shit
Can you do a video on A Good Man Goes to War or Eleven's arc?
I would disagree that Doug Adams was the closest thing to a showrunner at the time. Surely the producer, Graham Williams fufilled far more of those duties. Douglas Adams was just the script editor. That duo of Script Editor and Producer become the creative lead. Think Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks, JNT and Eric Saward, Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Holmes!
41:41 I think it's hilarious how you had Campaign front and center and didn't say a word on it. Lmao.
This was a belter of a video!
I can tell you what's to like about _Orphan 55_ - it manages to breathe some life into Ryan. He's actually kind of an interesting character when he's bouncing off Bella, and Yaz teasing him about his inept flirting attempts was gold. Most of the episode is okayish, and IMO the hatred for this episode mostly comes down to two things (a) the painfully hamhanded dialogue in the last 30 seconds of the show, and (b) the mistake of ever showing the Dreg costume in full light - it was actually pretty terrifying before then. Optionally (c) Beeennniiiiiii! - but I suspect that would've just been filed under Doctor Who being amusingly camp if it weren't for the other two. Beyond that, it flips the 'base under siege' formula on its head, which is neat. The idea of someone setting up a shonky spa on an unauthorised planet as a fundraising venture was quite clever. And the Planet-of-the-Apes style twist is fine. Derivative, but surprisingly uncommon for this particular show. I'm not sure why some people regard _Orphan 55_ as the worst Chibnall story. Like, _The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos_ and _Arachnids in the UK_ and _The Tsuranga Conundrum_ exist. It's not even the worst S12 story - we have _The Timeless Children_ (and arguably _Spyfall Pt 2_ ) for that.
I entirely agree with your statements about Scott Gray. He has written so many good things, it's really hard to think of one that I do not like that much.
i just listened to the captain jack boxset before putting this bacl n as backgrtound metrial, and tyyhe point i stoped this video last time was the exact poiunt where you talk about David Llewellyn
Doctor Who desperately needs a showrunner who isn't a fanboy
Would be an interesting experiment.
That said I’d prefer a showrunner who is at least versed in fantasy and/or sci fi of some kind.
I think you missed David McIntee, Craig Hinton, and Steve Lyons all from the Virgin range of books
And did you cover Keith Topping ?
I loved this upon a second viewing so much so I had to delete my previous comment from five months back.
This time I found the length of time fly by. As an analysis freak I enjoyed this immensely. Why it took me a second time round to appreciate this doco and I can't understand. Spoken as is Davis is in the lounge room with you. No heavy intellectualisation but truthful and nevertheless insightful commenatry.
2:01:53 beep the meep beat ya to it.
The youtuber. Has a bunch of the comics actually. Sound effects, music. Cliff hangers. Pretty good editing for what they're doing.
In answer to your Brigadier question: yes, every time the Brigadier is in a new Big Finish, he gets his own licensing credit with thanks to Hannah Haisman and Candy Jar Books
Awesome stuff.