“We’re all capable of the most incredible change. We can evolve, whilst still staying true to who we are. We can honour who we’ve been, and choose who we want to be next – now’s your chance. How about it?” – The Doctor

I think a lot of people forget that Doctor Who is a series where anything can happen and that change is the reason it has lasted 55 years. The people who seem to forget this are some fans, sometimes the production team …and me. I am going to be completely honest, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to see a female Doctor. Now, I know this is dangerous territory because I have seen well-respected people such as Peter Davison himself chased away for sharing this view. I never looked at not being sure about a female Doctor because women were inferior (as I feel the exact opposite) nor because they would not be able to handle the rigors of the role. I have been a fan for 34 years (starting to watch the show when I was 10) and as someone who is averse to change, this was tough for me because this was all I knew. I feel like I am much more confident now how I feel about a female Doctor after watching tonight’s episode.

The Woman Who Fell to Earth, as we all know, is the series premiere to Series 11 of Doctor Who, the first episode of the new era under Showrunner Chris Chibnall, and of course the first episode to feature Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. Yes, I am following THAT numbering system. I am giving you so many reasons to stop reading on with this review! The episode starts off with a video Ryan Sinclair posted on YouTube about the greatest woman he ever knew. I don’t know if this was a red herring but I think we all knew he wasn’t talking about the new Doctor as that would have been too obvious. Ryan has dyspraxia which is a chronic neurological disorder that begins at childhood. Because of this, things that many people take for granted, to be able to do such things as ride a bike, is very difficult for Ryan. Ryan is 19 years old and his Gran, Grace and her second husband Graham are trying to teach him. After falling off the bike, Ryan literally throws the bike over a cliff. This is where the story starts.

Where the bike landed, in a tree, Ryan finds a big pod and with the pod, he sets in motion something that will bring him and others together with The Doctor. In fact, remember at the end of Twice Upon a Time last Christmas, the newly regenerated Doctor is pulled out of the TARDIS and is free falling to Earth?. As Graham and Grace are on a train returning home, something enters the train. It’s withering coils and electricity is bounding its way through the train. That’s when the Doctor arrives, or rather, falls through the roof of the train. Basically, the creature on the train is looking for a man named Karl because he is being hunted by Tzim-Sha, a member of the Stenza warrior race who kill their targets through physical contact with their exposed sub-zero bodies and claim a tooth as a prize. The Doctor needs to not only stop Tzim-Sha but also figure out who she is!

I’m not going to cite the entire plot in this or in any of my reviews. You should watch it to know what happened. My job is to give my opinion on what this new era of Doctor Who is all about. There is a lot to talk about here. The first thing to hit me in the face was the pacing of the series. It’s funny to look back at Series 1 with Christopher Eccleston which, at the time was ultra-modern television storytelling and it is much slower to what we had in the last number of years under Steven Moffat. The pace of The Woman Who Fell to Earth is much slower than what we have seen in quite some time. I wonder if at times it is too slow in some areas?. I struggle with my thoughts for this because there is a need to take time to allow all the new elements to sink in. This is the first time we’ve had a complete change of production since The Eleventh Hour. It’s not just the Doctor we need to meet but also the new crew that will be joining her on her adventures. What I feel The Woman Who Fell to Earth does is ground the series and this is, in my opinion, very needed. I sometimes feel like continuity can be the series worse enemy so here we have an episode that has very little reference to the past. I would have been bothered about that in the old days but this was refreshing. It’s crazy that one of the only things familiar watching this is the regeneration animation while the Doctor is on the couch and the sound effect to the Sonic Screwdriver.

I feel the story isn’t necessarily anything remarkable. It some areas, I felt it really dragged. I wanted to give the plot a kick to get it going. I think some of my problem with it was that I wanted to get to the Doctor. She appears 9 minutes into the episode and that is a long time to wait. We have been waiting forever for her to start yet to be honest, I think it’s been just about 15 months from the time of her announcement to the role. So I do think when I sit down to watch it again, I have seen it twice so far, that I will be lenient to the pace. I think so much effort is put into focusing on the new Doctor that Tzim-Sha is just a side plot device but I really like the idea of Tzim-Sha as a cheater among his own race to get ahead. Also, I felt the concept of Tzim-Sha collecting teeth was a little hokey. That being said, the type of death he brought to people was gruesome. I love it when we don’t see stuff like this but we completely “get” how they die. It felt grown up; it felt important when these people died. The death of the grandfather at the construction company reminded us that these people lived a life and didn’t deserve to die; they were innocent bystanders.

The new team for the Doctor made their debut. I am looking forward to seeing their personalities but I feel like there wasn’t a lot of time to dig into who they were. We know that Ryan, Graham and Grace are a family. We know that Yasmin is a police officer who was looking for forwarding her career, not in a greedy way but in a way that would help people better. Yasmin and Ryan went to school together. She also was willing to follow the Doctor and risk losing her job by following the Doctor. Yes, this sounds like we know a lot about the characters but their personalities were all pretty agreeable. Over time, I look forward to learning more about them individually.

Then there is the Doctor herself. She is a fresh approach to the role. There is an eccentricity to her that doesn’t feel forced. She plays it in a sort of almost nutty professor sort of way. She’s forgetful, trying to remember things as she goes along. She does it with a fun energy but the part is played seriously. Perhaps my favorite characteristic with the new Doctor so far is that she is not some god-like power that is trying to intimidate to defeat evil. She doesn’t look at the human race as something that MUST have her guidance because she’s seen it all but rather she wants to help out wherever she can. She has a more polite tone when she tells Tzim-Shaw “Now, please – get off this planet, while you still have a choice.” It’s an approach I really appreciate and look forward to seeing more.

Behind the scenes, everything has changed too. Obviously Chris Chibnall has taken over. That we know. This is also the first episode since the series returned in 2005 that did not have music composed by Murray Gold. I have always been a fan of Murray Gold and will always champion his work but after over 10 years of music I think everyone deserves a rest. Enter Segun Akinola. The music is very low key. It’s not big themes but rather atmosphere that adds to the story. It’s different from what Murray Gold did and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean one is better over the other. It’s refreshing to hear something a little different and this lends itself to adding to the overall unfamiliarity to what we are watching. Uniquely, we did not see the new opening credits in this episode. My guess is that Chris Chibnall may have decided to hold off because she wasn’t the Doctor until the end thus beginning her era. That’s just a guess but we did get to listen the to the new theme arrangement at the end with the new end credits. It sounds good but I want to hear it a little more to decide. I think it is the best I’ve heard since Eccleston’s theme music in 2005 which also incorporated elements from the original theme. As a side note, Series 1 theme may be my all-time favorite arrangement of the theme.

The only thing weird about all of this was the strange procession of guest stars for the upcoming series. Some of them looked miserable and the whole thing was odd. I’ll be honest, I recognized maybe 4 people in that line up. I am not watching for the guest stars, I am watching for the stories. This year, all of the promos and trailer do nothing to show what we are going to see in the series as far as monsters or stories and I appreciate why it’s done but it made me feel like there was nothing to look forward to except for the new Doctor. I hope this strategy changes.

So much was made of the new lens for how the episodes would be shot and the cinematic aspect ratio. I see it! I really like it. Apart from the god-awful lens flares I thought that camera work and overall look was exceptional. I am really excited to see how it all looks when the action takes place on another planet.

Finally, there is Grace. Ryan’s grandmother who was full of love for everyone. I felt like she was the most thought-out character (besides the Doctor). I thought she was in the series on a semi-regular basis but she dies. It is emotional without forcing the emotion down our throats. It is a natural reaction to her dying and is more real than other deaths in the recent series. We find out that Ryan’s YouTube video about the greatest woman he ever knew was about his grandmother Grace. Is it possible that the title of the episode also actually alludes to her because she was such a strong character and like the Doctor, was Grace the woman who fell to earth to save others?

Next week: The Ghost Monument

GNR has heard from Ben Martin, the son of actor Trevor, letting us know that his father had passed away on October 5th 2017, he was 87.  Ben hopes that his Dad’s forthcoming Myth Makers will stand as a “lovely memorial” to him.

GNR would like to pass on our sincere condolences to Ben and his family at this sad time!

Trevor Martin was a British stage and film actor known for playing popular British characters.

Martin is perhaps best known for playing the Doctor on stage at the Adelphi Theatre, London in Doctor Who and the Daleks in the Seven Keys to Doomsday based on the popular television series Doctor Who. In the 1974 play he essayed the role of an alternate Fourth Doctor, a role he reprised in a 2008 audio adaptation of the play from Big Finish Productions.

Previously Martin appeared in Doctor Who as a Time Lord in the 1969 serial The War Games opposite Second Doctor Patrick Troughton and later guested in the 1993 Doctor Who radio play The Paradise of Death alongside Third Doctor Jon Pertwee and the 2003 Doctor Who audio drama Flip-Flop alongside Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy.

Television credits are many ranging from the 1960s to the present day and include Sherlock Holmes, Jackanory, Van der Valk, Z-Cars, Special Branch, The Onedin Line, Coronation Street, Inspector Morse and The Bill. He has also been seen recently appearing as Mr Giddings in an episode of Call the Midwife.

Films include Othello (1965), Absolution (1978), Krull (1983), The House of Mirth (2000), Babel (2006) and A Little Bit Zombie (2012).

A Gallifreyan Newsroom Exclusive by Toby Hadoke

The Gallifreyan Newsroom is very proud to host the very first preview of a new BBC Radio 4 comedy drama.

Grand Designs of the Third Kind is a comedy drama from the pen of actor and comedian Toby Hadoke. “It concerns Hal, a wheelchair user, who has relocated in order to refocus his life after an accident. The house he is having done up is a very old observatory – but the project manager is a very strange fellow indeed, which leads Hal to think something peculiar is going on”…

Grand Designs of the Third Kind, like Hadoke’s last play (which was nominated for an illustrious BBC Audio Drama Award) is produced and directed by Charlotte Riches. It stars Jonjo O’Neill (McGillop in the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary episode The Day of the Doctor), Arthur Bostrom (Officer Crabtree from Allo Allo), Krissi Bohn (Jenna from Coronation Street) and Danielle Henry (Mandy Marquez from Doctors).

Ed: Grand Designs of the Third Kind will be transmitted on BBC Radio 4, September 4th, 2017, in the afternoon, check Radio Times for the exact time! We wish Toby every success in this latest venture!

A Gallifreyan Newsroom Exclusive by David J Howe

For as long as I can remember I’ve been collecting DOCTOR WHO merchandise and ephemera. It’s been something that has been with me for as long as I can recall. The first items I got which I still have are the 1972 Piccolo edition of THE MAKING OF DOCTOR WHO, and the Target books which started in 1973 … I then have cuttings from Radio Times from 1974 onwards …  it’s been a fun time seeking out and collecting items for nearly all my life!

But along with that passion, has been a desire to display them. I have always had a DOCTOR WHO room in my house. From my bedroom at my parent’s house, to the first house I bought when I got married – we had a DOCTOR WHO room there!  A spare bedroom given over to all the bits and pieces that I had collected. Then when we moved again, it was a converted attic room which became the display room and office … and another house later on also had a large bedroom dedicated to the collection …  But as these things go, each time my collection grew to overspill from the space we had available at the time …  And so when another house move beckoned, I really wanted to try and solve the problem for good!

So we started looking for a house with outbuildings, or similar, which we could use as a proper Museum … and we found what we needed in Lincolnshire!  We managed, in May 2014, along with a house, to buy a business premises which was ideal for what I wanted. It was large, roomy, solidly built, and pretty much perfect!  The only problem was money!  Because the house that we had also bought ended up needing so much work doing to it to make it habitable (including a new boiler, dry lining nearly every room, and issues with the roof which needed fixing), the money that we had set aside for developing the Museum had to be channelled into that instead … but never mind, I had a good job and would be able to pay for both in time!

But then, in May 2015, I suffered a massive heart attack, and very nearly died! I was in hospital in Cardiff for a week, and also I couldn’t work for 6 months, and we had no money coming into the house and so had to live off whatever I had saved … After the 6 months convelescence, the job I had let me go (I am an IT contractor so there’s no protections) and so I was out of work again. I managed to find something at the start of 2016, but this was only 3 months, and since then there has been nothing!  So the whole Museum dream was crumbling before my eyes!  We had the premises, we had all the things to display, but we had no money to do the essential work needed to turn the Unit from a ‘spidery shed’ into the nice, clean, Museum area we needed …

So at the end of 2016, my wife Sam and I decided that the only thing we could do was to try a fundraiser online and see if we could get the money that way … and it was partially successful … we managed to raise about half what we needed thanks to the incredible generousity of DOCTOR WHO fans all over the world!

So we started work on it at the start of 2017 … The first thing that was needed was to level the floor – the building had huge troughs running the entire length (it used to be a rabbit farm!) and these had to be filled with concrete to level the floor …  then the walls and ceiling of the display area all needed battoning, insulating and boarding, to remove the unsightly walls and metal ceiling …  Along with this we had to make repairs on the roof to stop it leaking when it rained, and to undertake some groundswork outside to try and manage the water around the property and to stop it seeping in … And also the electrics needed rewiring for new lights and sockets throughout.

So far this is all we have managed to achieve.  The battoning and boarding have ended up taking far longer than expected as every piece has to be cut by hand as nothing is square and even in the building … plus we can only afford to do half the space I had originally intended – the money we had just would not stretch!  We have added our own funds to it as various payments and pensions mature and allow us access to more funds … but work is slow!  We have managed to get about half the area needed completed (apart from the floor), and there are plans to try and complete the rest this year.

I am at the moment hoping that we can get the museum ready for ‘public show’ in Summer 2018 … but this depends on funds not running out, and the builders being able to get what we need done in time.

Once we have walls, floor and new lighting all installed, then I need to purchase display cabinets and bookshelves, and then I can finally start to unpack the hundreds of boxes which have been sitting, waiting patiently for some three years now (and others which have not been looked at for some 15 years!)  I know that we have suffered some damage to items – a box of advent calenders has been attacked by mice, and we have some mildew on other items … which is  so frustrating for me as until the museum area is ready, I cannot properly unpack and see what state everything is in!  I am obviously hoping that most things are OK and can be retained …

The idea is that it will be a Private Museum. So you cannot just turn up and see it.  It’s only going to be available for viewing by prior appointment. We are also hoping to have some Open Days – garden party type events, with food and drink and music, maybe some DOCTOR WHO guests too, and those attending will get the chance to see the Museum as well … But it’s early days and we’re still working out how best to manage all this.

What is so exciting for me, is to finally be able to display and show the vast collection of things that I have amassed over a lifetime of collecting … there are some original props and costumes as well, toys and games, models and books and magazines … as well as production paperwork and photographs … there’s so much I have in my boxes and files that I’d like to share with people …

David J Howe has been involved with Doctor Who research and writing for over thirty years. He has been consultant to a large number of publishers and manufacturers for their Doctor Who lines, and is author or co-author of over thirty factual titles associated with the show. He also has one of the largest collections of Doctor Who merchandise in the world. David was contributing editor to Starburst Magazine for seventeen years from 1984 – 2001. Since 1994 he was book reviews editor for Shivers Magazine until it ceased publication in 2008. In addition he has written articles, interviews and reviews for a wide number of publications, including Fear, Dreamwatch, Infinity, Stage and Television Today, The Dark Side, Doctor Who Magazine, The Guardian, Film Review, SFX, Sci-Fi Entertainment, Collectors’ Gazette, Deathray and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

He edited the bi-monthly newsletter of the British Fantasy Society from 1992 to 1995, and also edited and published several books for them, including the British and World Fantasy Award shortlisted Manitou Man, a limited edition hardback and paperback collection of short fiction by horror author Graham Masterton.

He wrote the book Reflections: The Fantasy Art of Stephen Bradbury for Dragon’s World Publishers and has contributed short fiction to Peeping Tom, Dark Asylum, Decalog, Dark Horizons, Kimota, Perfect Timing, Perfect Timing II, Missing Pieces, Shrouded by Darkness and Murky Depths, and factual articles to James Herbert: By Horror Haunted and The Radio Times Guide to Science Fiction. He wrote the screenplay for Daemos Rising, a film released on DVD by Reeltime Pictures in 2004. In 2010 David was asked to work on another Doctor Who  related screenplay by Reeltime Pictures. The resulting project was announced in March 2013, as White Witch of Devil’s End, a series of Talking Heads style monologues. David wrote the story, Daemos Returns, for this, and co-edited the finished screenplay. White Witch of Devil’s End stars Damaris Hayman, reprising her role as Olive Hawthorne, first seen in the Doctor Who serial The Daemons.

Another notable work of fiction is talespinning, a collection containing David’s many short story pieces and screenplays. Other short fiction, co-written with Sam Stone, Survival of the Fittest¸has recently appeared in the April Moon Books anthology, Flesh Like Smoke.

He is currently Editorial Director of Telos Publishing Ltd, a UK based independent press specialising in horror/science fiction Novellas, crime novels, and guides to a variety of film and TV shows. In 2006 the company won the World Fantasy Award for their publishing work and in 2010 and 2011 won the British Fantasy Award for Best Small Press.