"No, Not the Mind Probe!!?!"

Oh, you thought I’d maybe stopped with the pointless UNIT dating posts? You don’t have luck like that.

Previous parts can be found HERE and HERE. To cut a long story short – we (that is, I) had chiefly come to the conclusions that 1. The War Machines takes place in 1966, as helpfully exposited in the serial The Faceless Ones, that 2. the Whoniverse’s 1966 was somewhat more scientifically and technologically advanced than “our” 1966, possibly due to the machinations of a certain Institute, and that 3. the preponderance of evidence would tend to suggest that The Web of Fear takes place in either late 1967 or early 1968, around about the time of its real life recording and broadcast.

Thanks, too, to john_elliott, who in the comments to the previous post pointed out that the map of the London Underground that can be glimpsed in Web doesn't show the Victoria Line, which historically opened in March 1969 – yet further corroboration for the above dating!

( So, having established that, let’s consider the first proper UNIT story… )

tl:dr – I’m saying The Invasion takes place in the fourth quarter of 1971, or thereabouts.

Well, I didn’t get as far as Spearhead and a consideration of UNIT’s role in Season 6b (which totally happened!), but that’s enough of that for now. I’ve sort of told myself I can’t waste time posting about this stuff without completing a chapter of my Brig fic first, so I guess I’d better go and get cracking on that before we continue with these fascinating musings…

So, more supremely fanw*nky thoughts on UNIT dating, pulled together in the course of writing this Brig fic I’ve got on the go.

As at least one commenter on the previous post, and various people over the years, including the likes of Ben Aaronovitch, have astutely observed, if they hadn’t stuffed it up royally in explicitly setting Mawdryn Undead in 1977/1983 and stating that the Brigadier left UNIT in 1976, then there wouldn’t be a UNIT dating controversy at all. We could just take the comments in The Web of Fear at face value and assume that the main UNIT stories all took place in the then-futuristic mid-late 1970s, running into the even more then-futuristic early 80s, when the cars, clothes, money, hairstyles and social attitudes just happened to resemble those of a decade or so earlier.

On that basis, we could simply say, as the new series has at numerous points, that “time can be rewritten” and that Mawdryn Undead all took place in some weird parallel reality, possibly deliberately created by the Black Guardian to trap the Doctor. Except that on the one hand that seems like a slippery sort of solution to the issue, and on the other you’d expect the Doctor himself to notice and comment on something like that if that was indeed what was going on.

Also, where’s the fun in it? ;)

( It gets worse! )

tl:dr: On the basis of all of the above evidence, and in the spirit of “the death of the author” and all that jazz, I propose that while it’s impossible to say for certain, the preponderance of information we do have suggests that The Web of Fear takes place in either late 1967 or early 1968 at around the time of its real life production and broadcast.

And I went on rather longer than I intended to there. Next time (I know you can’t wait! ;D) we’ll consider The Invasion and Spearhead from Space and wade right into the stinking morass that is actual UNIT dating…

Dun dun dun!

I think it's pretty much a truism of Doctor Who fandom that everybody's - everybody's - favourite story is some other fan's most hated. And the reverse, of course.

For me, this bit of news is yet more proof that that truism is, er, true. Once again I am given cause to reflect what a long shadow, for better or worse, the Ten/RTD era still casts over the series, even when we're literally only a couple of months away from moving on to Twelve. Best moment in science fiction, horror and fantasy? Best moment in Doctor Who? Best moment in the post-2005 series, even? Not even close, for me. Not even in my top twenty, if I had to compile one. Could possibly be in my bottom twenty, but I suspect there would be quite a lot of Series 2 moments in there, tbh.

When, oh when, will people stop disagreeing with me on t'internets???!! ;D

So, er, like, y'know, I went and did a meme, like.

Yoinked from eve11 here.

The internet is an amazing place that has allowed us to communicate and share with each other, but there is just something about listening to someone else's voice and getting to know them through the things that make them unique. Cadence, accent, the amount of times someone says "UM" -- all of those things are a delightful way to appreciate the friends you already have and the friends you are hoping to make.

The instructions are super easy: record yourself answering the questions below the jump and then post it in the comments!

( The Meme! )

And as I say, I quite enjoyed doing that. I hope you enjoyed it too. It was quite recreational. If any of you have any suggestions about other things I could ramble about and post here, then please let me know. :)


EDIT: I've had a bit of feedback from a couple of listeners who have said that the sound on the linked recordings is very low for them, so be warned you may need to crank your volume up a bit. :)

I can't shake the image of that bit at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, with that knight and Count Scarlioni and so on:

"He chose...poorly."

Well, it had to be done. Consider this my entry in the who_at_50 fanwork-a-thon-a-thon, fulfilling this month's secondary theme "Multi-Doctors". I think it's going to be in thirteen chapters, but don't quote me on that as it's still a work in progress. It's also almost certain to be mercilessly Jossed by The Day of the Doctor, so hopefully people will still want to read the ending if it hasn't been posted by then...

Title: The Eleven Doctors
Summary: Eleven Doctors. One Game. A Multitude of dangers.
Part One: Commencing Countdown
In which once again we play the Game of Rassilon…
Author: jjpor
Rating: Teen
Word Count: approx. 1900 (so far)
Characters/Pairings: All eleven Doctors (at least); companions, enemies etc. to be revealed.
Notes/Warnings: Doctor Who and all of its associated characters, concepts and copyrights very much do not belong to me!

For those of you who haven't seen it already, please go and check out dbskyler's Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Ficathon, either via that link just there or via this most excellent graphic:

Click on the image

Read the Welcome post to get an idea of what it's all about and then maybe leave a prompt and serious consider signing up to write something.

Those of you who plan to take part in the closing rounds of the who_at_50 anniversary fanwork-a-thon-a-thon, meanwhile (signups for most recent round Three/Who Spinoffs still just about open - check it out!) will be pleased to know that dbskyler is more than happy for people to submit fic written for other 'thons and challenges - see the rules on the dw_50ficathon comm for details. For my part, I will take fanworks from absolutely anywhere, no questions asked, so if you wanted to kill two birds with one stone, the possibility is wide open. :)

Just a reminder that it's still not (quite) too late to express your interest in taking part in the next round of the who_at_50 Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Fanwork-a-thon-a-thon:

Round Seven: Five

(Secondary prompt: "Minor" Characters)

If you have an interest in Doctor Who fanwork of whatever form, take the time to look at the signup posts on the comm...and if it takes your fancy be sure to announce your intention to take part!

The Livejournal Version

The Dreamwidth Version

Remember - all fanworks of whatever form are more than welcome!

Well, everybody else on the flist seems either to have linked to it or aired their two penn'orth on it, and I am nothing if not easily led. Look, you probably know what it is by now, anyway, but in the interests of not getting shouted at on the internets I've put spoiler warnings all over it anyway, just in case.

Linking to the post I made about it on Who@50, not really to plug my comm, but just because typing it twice or copy and pasting it here seemed a bit of a waste of effort. ;)

IT'S HERE (WARNING FOR POSSIBLE EXTREME SPOILERS)

Just a reminder, it's still (just about!) not too late to express your interest in taking part in the upcoming next round of the who_at_50 Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Fanwork-a-thon-a-thon:

Round Five: Seven

(Secondary prompt: The "Expanded Universe")

If you have an interest in Doctor Who fanwork of whatever form, take the time to look at the signup posts on the comm...and if it takes your fancy be sure to announce your intention to take part!

The Livejournal Version

The Dreamwidth Version

Remember - all fanworks of whatever form are more than welcome!