gordon_r_d Gave Me Peter Cushing Doctor for Christmas. I've just seen the first film.

[capri0mni]

And now, I have a question for gordon_r_d:

I know the Peter Cushing Doctor is your personal favorite, especially for your alternate-universe fics.

Is your, Private!Cushing Doctor an alien, like the others on TV? Or is he the mad-scientist, human, Earthling with the surname "Who," like in the movies?

Things I loved:

That the doctor was reading a comicbook while his granddaughters were reading serious science textbooks (for enjoyment).

That none of the women turned their ankles.

That the Daleks had shiny things on the walls of their corridors, for no other (apparent) reason than they were pretty. Hey, authoritarian regimes have art, too!

The maps of Skaro, in the Dalek control rooms.

The giant moon (or was that a sister planet?) in the Skaro sky, and in general, the whole Skaro landscape. That's a proper alien planet, that!

Things that wore a bit thin, after a bit:

I did feel bad for Ian, being written as such a butt-of-all-jokes.

I missed the TV TARDIS interior, but, as this movie version was just his machine/new toy, and completely seperate from his cozy home, I guess it made sense.

I know it's just a mark of the times, and I really shouldn't let it bother me, but I can't help talking back at the screen when the argument of "Like Humans" = Good, and "Different from Human" = Bad. What makes the Daleks truly monsters is their philosophy, not the fact that they're really green blobs in a shell. I'm just sensitive to body-ism.

And another thing:

How could Dr. Who read the Thals' history isohedrons, and know that they were millions of years old? Hm?

Other than that -- very shiny! Literally! Even Susie and Barbera were shiny...

Comments

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

*thinks back*

I had absolutely no plan when I wrote the orginal "Nth Doctor" story, which was for the Cat Who Walked Through Time charity fiction anthology. I just had an old man who looked like the Cushing Doctor running a second hand bookshop who is befriended by a young woman and ends up regenerating/rejuvanating at the end. I'm not entirely sure it was definitely the movie Doctor (the TARDIS console room description didn't match wither movie and was inspired by David Whitaker's novelisaiton of The Daleks) and I had no other plans for the character afterwards.

I never actually decided if he was a human inventor or an alien who didn't lknow he was an alien until he regenenerated/rejuvanated. Of course this all seems a bit wierd when they've brought in the whole Chameleon Arc/pocket watch thing in the new series.

I did then end up adding the Master in the 2nd Pro-Fun Hoedown, but again, didn't really nail anything down.

At the end of the day, my Nth Doctor is a version of the Cushing Doctor had he played it equivalent to his own age, more like his portayals of Sherlock Holmes or Van Helsing. There are still some definite character bits from the movie version (I specifically had him always refer to "TARDIS" rather than "the TARDIS") and one unwritten idea had Susan grown up as an Amelia Earhart style, steampunk sci-fi adventurer. There was also the whole reimagined Keys Of Marinus storyline that provided Silence's background referred to in the hoedown. I had a whole "season" of stories planned out, lost the notes three computers back, the only bit that survived was the first part of The Paradox Engine that's on my site and up on the Teaspoon.

If I ever get round to writing fiction again, my own TARDIS crew are the first priority.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

At the end of the day, my Nth Doctor is a version of the Cushing Doctor had he played it equivalent to his own age, more like his portayals of Sherlock Holmes or Van Helsing.

*Thinks back to the publicity stills that were in the extras on the first movie*

*Nod, nod* Yes, he does look very striking as himself. I approve.

(I watched the second movie last night, btw. I may post thoughts on that later today. Or I may not... ;-))

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

Also I don't know if I ever posted my whole thing about things being canon or not when I pointed out the "proper" canon version of this story was the last one I experienced. The movie was first, then the excellent novelisation by David Whittaker, then the telly one.

Of course, when reading the book, much of the imagery came from the movie, except the TARDIS and the crew, which I'd seen plenty of pictures of even then.

I think the TARDIS crew in the second movie is even shinier. :)

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

I never actually decided if he was a human inventor or an alien who didn't know he was an alien until he regenenerated/rejuvanated.

Ooh, I like the resonance of the second half of that. Yes, indeed, I do.

Would it be terribly cheeky of me to assume you're talking about Jill Curzon, there? ;-)

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

NO it wouldn't, although I do include Bernard Cribbens in the shiny too, been a fan of his since I was a kid due to him narrating The Wombles and hosting an improvisational comedy gameshow for kids called Star Turn, about twenty years before Whose Line Is It Anyway? showed up. :)

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yes. I thought he was very good.

I loved Roy Castle in the first movie, and I could tell he was a good actor with very good timing (especially [as I gather] since that was only his second film). But it was like he had a big flashing sign hovering over his head through the whole thing that read: "Hello! I am the OFFICIAL Comic Relief!"

Bernard Cribbens' comic relief was toned down to a more proper balance, imnsho, where there was always the hint of danger behind his comedy (like when he was trying to fit in with the RoboMen).

[gordon-r-d.livejournal.com]

With Roy Castle, for me it was "Why is the bloke who presents Record Breakers fighting Daleks?" which was a programme all about world records that he presented for twenty years or so, even breaking a few records himself. :)

He appears again in another Amicus film with Peter Cushing. Doctor Terror's HOuse Of Horror, which is one of the classic horror portmanteau films with several mini stories in one movie. He gets to show his trumpeting skills in that one.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

"Why is the bloke who presents Record Breakers fighting Daleks?"

Because he was surrounded by Daleks, that's why! (kind of like the chicken and the road)....

According to the commentary in the first one, Doctor Terror's house of Horror was his first ever movie, and that's where Cushing met him, and recommended him for Daleks. As silly as his role was in that movie, it did make me want to look up more of his stuff; he is fun to watch. There's no denying that.