Forever in my Life

The next issue of Doctor Who Magazine, hitting the shelves tomorrow, is a special edition celebrating forty years of the magazine. Forty years! It seems only thirty-nine and a half years ago that my mum brought home issue 26 to see if I’d prefer it to The Dandy. A year later – it took a while to get our newsagent to place an order – I became a regular reader with issue 55. And it’s kind of been a part of my life ever since, apart from that brief seven-year-period where I’d given up on Doctor Who. Bad fan!

Anyway, you don’t care about that, you want to know what’s in the magazine. Well, all sorts of loveliness, there’s even a free DVD, and on top of that there’s three bits by me. Firstly, a piece investigating how fan opinion of television stories has changed over the past four decades, according to Doctor Who Magazine’s readers’ polls. For this, I pulled out every past issue with any sort of poll and subjected it to rigorous statistical analysis. My favourite part of the article, though, is a box-out on Fifty-Six Years of Turkeys.

There’s also a few words from me on Terrance Dicks’ Doctor Who novel Made of Steel, and then there’s a quiz on the magazine at the end. It’s a no-prizes quiz, just to please, to entertain, to please the readers. I’m particularly proud of questions 37, 38 and 41 which made me hoot with laughter when I thought of them. It’s just a bit of celebratory fun, so I hope it amuses.

In other news, next month one of my Doctor Who audio stories, Max Warp, is going to be released as an LP. On vinyl! Exclusive to ASDA, everyone’s favourite supermarket. It’s very exciting to be available in a new medium. The story itself is one of my favourites, I’m still amazed to think that I’ve written for Graeme Garden, James Fleet and Duncan from Blue, as well as Sheridan Smith and Paul McGann. At the time I’d spent a few years plugging away in the lower reaches of comedy-land so I was very much in a comedy mode, writing lots of witty lines and silly business. It also marked a return to Big Finish after a few years, so I was also in showing-off-what-I-can-do mode as I felt I had something to prove. A mode in which I have steadfastly remained ever since.

Lots of people have said very many lovely things about it, so if you have a record player, or even if you don’t, why not pick it up when it turns up in ASDA on November 15.You can find out more about it here.

Sci-Fi

Just for fun, and my own reference – a list of science fiction films I’ve seen, based on the 1985 Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies (which includes things like James Bond films and some fantasy movies etc but doesn’t include stuff like Carry on Spying, Somewhere in Time and Ghostbusters) and then wikipedia. There may be a few I've forgotten - when modern films have titles like Transcendence and Advantageous it's hard to remember what the hell they were about!)

 

1926

Metropolis

1936

Things to Come

1951

The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Man in the White Suit, The Thing, When Worlds Collide

1953

Invaders from Mars, It Came from Outer Space, War of the Worlds

1954

20,000 Leagues under the Sea

1955

This Island Earth

1956

Earth versus the Flying Saucers, Forbidden Planet, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1984, Plan 9 from Outer Space

1957

The Incredible Shrinking Man

1960

The Time Machine, Village of the Damned

1961

The Day the Earth Caught Fire

1962

Doctor No

1963

The Birds, The Day of the Triffids, La Jetee

1964

Doctor Strangelove, First Men in the Moon, Goldfinger

1965

Alphaville, Dr Who and the Daleks, Thunderball, The War Game

1966

Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD, Fahrenheit 451, Fantastic Voyage

1967

Barbarella, Casino Royale, Quatermass and the Pit, The Terrornauts, You Only Live Twice

1968

Charly, Planet of the Apes, 2001-A Space Odyssey

1969

The Bed Sitting Room, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Zeta One

1970

The Andromeda Strain

1971

A Clockwork Orange, Diamonds are Forever, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Percy, Silent Running, Solaris

1972

Doomwatch, Slaughterhouse Five

1973

The Final Programme, Sleeper, Soylent Green, Westworld, Zardoz

1974

The Cars That Ate Paris, Dark Star, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Stepford Wives, The Terminal Man

1975

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Rollerball

1976

At the Earth’s Core, The Big Bus, Futureworld, The Killer Bees, Logan’s Run, The Man Who Fell to Earth

1977

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Demon Seed, Empire of the Ants, The Glitterball, The Spy Who Loved Me, Star Wars

1978

The Boys from Brazil, Coma, A Hitch in Time, Pirahna, Superman, The Swarm

1979

Alien, The Black Hole, Mad Max, Meteor, Moonraker, Star Trek, Starcrash

1980

The Apple, Battle Beyond the stars, The Empire Strikes Back, Flash Gordon, Saturn 3, Scanners, Superman II

1981

Escape from New York, Mad Max 2, Outland, Piranha II, Time Bandits

1982

Airplane II, Blade Runner, ET, The Wrath of Khan, The Thing, Tron, Videodrome

1983

Krull, The Man With Two Brains, Never Say Never Again, Return of the Jedi, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Superman III, War Games

1984

The Brother from Another Planet, Dune, Night of the Comet, 1984, Repo Man, Search for Spock, Starman, Terminator, 2010

1985

Back to the Future, Brazil, Cocoon, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Morons from Outer Space, Weird Science

1986

Aliens, Critters, The Fly, Howard the Duck, Short Circuit, Star Trek IV

1987

Batteries Not Included, Predator, RoboCop, The Running Man, Spaceballs

1988

Akira, Moonwalker

1989

The Abyss, Back to the Future II, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Ghostbusters II, Star Trek V

1990

Back to the Future III, Gremlins 2, The Handmaid’s Tale, Hardware, Total Recall

1991

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Star Trek 6, Terminator 2, Wedlock

1992

Alien 3, The Lawnmower Man

1993

Jurassic Park

1994

Stargate, Star Trek Generations

1995

The City of Lost Children, Congo, GoldenEye, Judge Dredd, Screamers, 12 Monkeys

1996

Independence Day, Mars Attacks!, Star Trek: First Contact

1997

Cube, Event Horizon, The Fifth Element, Gattaca, The Lost World, Men in Black, Starship Troopers

1998

Dark City, Pi, Sphere, Star Trek: Insurrection

1999

eXistenZ, Galaxy Quest, The Matrix, Muppets from Space, The Phantom Menace

2000

Pitch Black, Unbreakable

2001

AI, Donnie Darko, Jurassic Park III

2002

28 Days Later, Equilibrium, Impostor, Minority Report, Solaris, Spider-Man, Star Trek: Nemesis, Attack of the Clones, The Time Machine

2003

Paycheck, Terminator 3, Timeline

2004

The Day After Tomorrow, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2005

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Robots, Serenity, Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds

2006

A Scanner Darkly, Children of Men, The Host, Southland Tales, Superman Returns, V for Vendetta

2007

28 Weeks Later, I Am Legend, The Mist, Next, Sunshine

2008

Cloverfield, Iron Man, The Clone Wars, WALL-E

2009

2012, Avatar, District 9, Frequently Asked Question About Time Travel, Moon, Star Trek, The Time Traveler’s Wife

2010

Despicable Me, Hot Tub Time Machine, Monsters, Never Let Me Go, Tron Legacy

2011

The Adjustment Bureau, Attack the Block, In Time, Limitless, Paul, Source Code, Super 8, Thor

2012

Cloud Atlas, Dredd, The Hunger Games, John Carter, Looper, Prometheus, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

2013

Elysium, Ender’s Game Gravity, Her, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Oblivion, Snowpiercer, Star Trek Into Darkness, The World’s End, Under the Skin, The Zero Theorem

2014

Coherence, Divergent, Edge of Tomorrow, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 1, Interstellar, Lucy, The Maze Runner, Mr Peabody & Sherman, Predestination, Transcendence

2015

Advantageous, Insurgent, EX Machina, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2, Jupiter Ascending, Jurassic World, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, The Force Awakens, Tomorrowland

2016

10 Cloverfield Lane, Allegiant, Arrival, Rogue One, Star Trek Beyond

2017

Blade Runner 2049, The Last Jedi

2018

Annihilation, The Cloverfield Paradox, Mortal Engines, Mute, Solo

2019:

The Wandering Earth

Not seen as far as I can remember, but would like to see:

The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Them!, The Quatermass Xperiment, X The Unknown, The Abominable Snowman, Quatermass II, The Fly (original), Journey to the Centre of the Earth, On The Beach, The Little Shop of Horrors (original), The Damned, Children of the Damned, Je T’aime Je T’aime, The Forbin Project, No Blade of Grass, THX 1138, Quest for Love, It’s Alive, Phase IV, Young Frankenstein, Death Race 2000, Capricorn One, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The China Syndrome, Time After Time, Altered States, Halloween III, The Last Starfighter, Lifeforce, Invaders from Mars (1986), Innerspace, Alien Nation, Earth Girls Are Easy, Millennium, Slipstream, Naked Lunch, The Rocketeer, Timecop, Tank Girl, Waterworld, Barb Wire, Contact, I Robot, Primer, 9, Upside Down, Pacific Rim, The Anomaly, Time Lapse, Ad Astra, Io

The Man I Used To Be

Out last week, and available in a few good newsagents across the UK, the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine has a couple of articles by me in it. Firstly, there’s another instalment of The Blogs of Doom, commemorating one of the most-loved characters of 1980s Doctor Who. 

And secondly, I’ve written an article exploring what we know about Time Lords and ‘regeneration energy’. This all culminates in a bonkers theory which fits all the facts and will hopefully surprise and delight.

Those of you with long memories may recall that I wrote another article about regeneration for Doctor Who Magazine over ten years ago, which I’ve archived here. So when I was asked to write this new article both I and the editor were very keen that it should not cover anything covered in the previous article. Because readers would notice! Can I just say how remarkable it is for a magazine to work this way; how many other magazines would go out of their way to avoid repeating content from over ten years ago? Even when they interview people they’ve interviewed before, it’s to get new stories or updates on what they’ve been doing. Compare this to, oh, music magazines where they ask Paul McCartney questions he’s been asked a hundred times before and where he gives the same answers he’s given a hundred times before. So, anyway, before writing my new article I went through the old one to make sure I didn’t repeat myself. I even cut a line about the eighth Doctor’s regeneration giving him super-strength because I’d mentioned that in 2009. So, yes, while it could be argued, “Oh no, they’ve got Jonny to write about regeneration again”, that means they’ve picked the one person who is determined not to repeat anything Jonny has said.

After all, the whole fun of writing (and hopefully reading) these sort of articles is to take a fresh look and come up with new ideas. And, of course, since 2009 there have been however-many Doctor Who stories giving us new information about regeneration. We’ve seen the Doctor regenerate four* times since then, and we’ve seen other regenerations and learned new information about Time Lord physiology and life on Gallifrey. There’s even been some stuff in The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood which I didn’t pick up on last time. So there’s a lot of new stuff to look at, and so my article is deliberately skewed towards the last ten years, all the way up to last year’s Rosa.

In other news, I got the chance to listen to Rose Tyler: The Endless Night last week, and thought it was amazing. My writing aside, the cast were all great, the music was gorgeous, the sound design was marvellous, and everything just came together beautifully. It really recaptured the feel of the era while also feeling modern and new. Some real chills and tears in there. So all credit to the director, Helen Goldwyn. I couldn’t be more delighted and proud. Let’s hope there are many more adventures in store for Rose, Clive, Pete and Jackie!

The Rose Tyler: Dimension Cannon box set can be ordered from Big Finish here.

* Plus a recap of the first Doctor regenerating!