Yesterday I also received in the post the ‘Doctor Who – The Prison In Space’ script book. It’s an unofficial fan publication, meaning that it’s made for love, not money (quite the opposite) and is not trying to step onto any licensed toes.
It’s a huge, A4-sized, weighty tome, containing scans of the scripts for the legendary unmade Patrick Troughton Doctor Who story The Prison In Space. For quite a long time in 1968, it looked like the second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe would be having an adventure set on a future Earth ruled by women, an adventure which involved cross-dressing, disco-dancing, and some spanking. It would, no doubt, have been a classic adventure – as demonstrated by Big Finish’s fabulous adaptation of the scripts last year, by the annoyingly talented and pleasant Simon Guerrier. This script book isn’t mean as an alternative to that production, they are complementary, you have to buy both.
There are only two things wrong with The Prison In Space. Firstly, it has no monsters. Secondly, it’s very, very sexist. Because on this future Earth women are the monsters, aaah. And while it’s intended satirically, it’s quite blunt anti-feminist satire, filtered through middle-aged male fantasy. There’s a longer review/essay on the story by me included in the book, as well all sorts of other goodies; Dick Sharples' original scene breakdown for the story, Brian Hayles’ scene breakdown for an unmade Ice Warriors story, a special Time Team, and Andrew Pixley trying to make sense of the mad merry-go-round behind the scenes of Doctor Who in 1968, where scripts fell through, got pulled out of the bin, gained or lost episodes, and where the producer and script editor seemed to swap jobs on a weekly basis. The Prison In Space got so far as having a guest part cast, and sets and costumes designed before it was cancelled, suffering the indignity of being replaced by The Krotons.
To order this book, you’ll probably find the details at Nothing At The End Of The Lane in a few weeks’ time.