The Schism of Doctor Who

Re-watching The E-Space Trilogy of Doctor Who on DVD and watching it with the commentary on, you realize there was a lot of moving parts going on in season eighteen. Mostly there was a near complete revamping of the show in 1980 when John Nathan-Turner took over as showrunner, which alienated series star Tom Baker and costar Lalla Ward (and their romance troubles began to bleed into the show as well, which created even more tension). After six series with Baker in the lead the show was a crossroads. While Doctor Who remained popular, under the reign of the fourth Doctor, the show’s ratings grew in spite of (or because of) the vocal criticism of BBC executives and some viewers that felt the shows dark themes and Gothic horror meant the series was no longer an appropriate  kids show that it had started out as way back in 1963. Even as the series tried to scale back some of darkness during season 16 and 17, the scripts were considerably less interesting than the ones under showrunner Philip Hinchcliff, who ran the show for four years (though his first year he shared those duties with Barry Letts). For the 1978-79 and 1979-80 seasons, new showrunner Graham Williams was under orders to reduce the shows reliance on violence and horror. While season 16 had a unique theme –a season long arc called The Key to Time- the show began a slow devolve into parody by the start of season 17.  

But for his seventh and final year as the Doctor, it became clear that things were about to change. With the huge success of Doctor Who, Tom Baker’s ego grew exponentially as well, but as the 18^th season started he found that he no longer had any control with the new regime running the show. A lot of what Nathan-Turner did to the show in his long-term as showrunner gives a perfect example of why it was cancelled in 1989 after 26 years. With the shows huge success here in America, it became clear that Nathan-Turner was appealing more to the American audience than the British ones. 

And both Baker and Ward hated almost everything that Nathan-Turner introduced, from new theme music, a new logo, to Baker’s change in costume (including the question mark motif that would remain with the series until its end) to stories that were a combination of the old style serials, mashed with some high concept storytelling that would become the TV norm (and motion pictures) ten to fifteen years later. 

It was also around this time that public learned that the Baker and Ward were in a romantic relationship –one that seemed doomed from the start. By the start of production on season eighteen, the two were barley speaking to one another (though they would be married before Baker bowed out of the show in early 1981) and that schism between them simmered behind the scenes and became obvious on screen as well. If you watch the serials of Ward’s last 20 episodes of that season (encompassing the serials The Leisure Hive, Meglos, Full Circle, State of Decay, and Warriors’ Gate) Tom Baker barley looks in the eyes of his co-star and future wife. It was also during this time that Baker had developed some sort of neurological disorder that greatly affected his weight and straightened his curly hair. So the strain of his relationship with Ward, his illness, and the changes to “his” show brought on by John Nathan-Turner (including the casting of Matthew Waterhouse as new companion Adric) were probably all the reasons Baker decided to quit the show after a record seven year run as the Doctor. 

But it’s shocking to realize, when you listen to the commentaries on both Full Circle and Warriors' Gate (which were recorded in 2007), how much Lalla Ward not only disliked the character of Adric but the actor who played him, Matthew Waterhouse, as well. You do get some hints on the DVDS as to why she continues to carry on this aversion for him, but it strikes me that whatever caused their division, you would think after some 35 years they could bury the hatchet?

I wonder why they haven’t.

Books: The Prophecy Con (Rogues of the Republic #2) By Patrick Weekes (2014)

“Who would have thought a book of naughty poems by elves could mean the difference between war and peace? But if stealing the precious volume will keep the Republic and the Empire from tearing out each other's throats, rogue soldier Isafesira de Lochenville - "Loch" to friends and foes alike - is willing to do the dishonest honors. With her motley crew of magic-makers, law-breakers, and a talking warhammer, she'll match wits and weapons with dutiful dwarves, mercenary knights, golems, daemons, an arrogant elf, and a sorcerous princess. But getting their hands on the prize - while keeping their heads attached to their necks - means Loch and company must battle their way from a booby-trapped museum to a monster-infested library, and from a temple full of furious monks to a speeding train besieged by assassins. And for what? Are a few pages of bawdy verse worth waging war over? Or does something far more sinister lurk between the lines?”

While I favored the first book in this series, The Palace Job, I do think The Prophecy Con does come out a better book. Perhaps, as with most books in this genre of late, the writer spends so much time world building that the plot, the characters motivations, and growth take a backseat to all the detailed explanations. With the second book, the writer is freer to explore the world they create, but also give us a better look into the main characters. However, while the heroes here are refreshingly diverse, most of the dialogue is in the form of quips and one-liners. What helps, though, is that the characters also have depth that can catch you by surprise, even the villains seem less two-dimensional. Yet there are times I began to wonder how unbelievably clever Loch and fellow team members seemed and there was a lot of times the book lived too closely to the corner of convenience and coincidence. And Weekes creates these fantastic set pieces –though the whole last act involving a card game is laborious. I mean it’s hard to present these scenes in novels, which is why to certain extent they're better suited for the TV or movie screen- but seems unable to stop himself from figuring out a clever, even logical way out of the situations –it’s again, mostly handled with jokes. 

So the books sheer number of things happening at the same time, the shifting point of view, is a bit of distraction. Yet, even as I say this, I still found the book workable as hybrid fantasy novel that also blends some high technology (I wouldn’t call it steampunk per se, but it does have elements of it) within it. The characters are fun, the jokes work (most of the time), and the pages are highly turn-able. It offers, as I noted, a boat load of diverse characters which makes this series not designed for readers of fantasy where everyone is white, male, and straight. 

Again, it’s clear that Weekes agenda is to offer something new within the well worn path that is fantasy.  It’s worthy of read, mostly because it does not offer the same story we’ve seen before, and it’s light, but can be deep as well. To pull that off means something to me.

Books: Headless by Tristram Lowe (2016)

Before I begin, let me say I know the author and his wife very well. He did not give me this book –I paid for it myself. So I hope to give an honest take here:

“Being a photographer at a Tokyo newspaper is no walk in the park—unless you're Akio Tsukino and only get assigned to shoot parades and park festivals. All that changes when a serial killer starts chopping off heads in nearby Kofu. Akio maneuvers his way onto the assignment in order to prove himself and get closer to enigmatic staff writer Masami Sato. When the investigation takes a supernatural turn, the unlikely partners find themselves caught between solving the mystery and saving their own lives.”

While Headless starts out awkwardly –it’s a debut of a new author and has some rough edges- it eventually settles down become a competent thriller. The character of Akio is extremely annoying, however, a bit of a narcissist, and at times unlikeable. Still he has some enduring traits that fully don’t ruin the book for me. Meanwhile, Masami Sato is certainly a modern feminist struggling to be accepted in a man’s world. She is smart, sexy, and quite capable of getting her way when she needs to –even if it seems to kill her soul to do it.

I don’t think the book is a horror story or even a mystery, though both elements are present. It’s more falls under the urban fantasy genre, especially when we meet up with Lowe’s version of Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Miyahara –and where Mount Fuji seems to be this books version of the Hellmouth. 

Still, I enjoyed the book. It’s well paced and kept me turning the pages -I literally read it in a day- but I had hoped for more explanation of what supernatural themes are about and why they suddenly began to happen –if you’re going to suddenly have demons running around modern Tokyo, one thinks that there should be a reason for it other than a than the demon figured out how to escape Hell (shades of REAPER here). I mean, we do get a brief glimpse into some of it, but I’m a bit disappointed that Lowe never fully explored that aspect, as he spent way too much time dealing with Akio arrogance and libido. To be honest, I liked and wanted to spend more time with Masami’s thoughts than Akio –she’s clearly more interesting. So is Miyahara for that matter, as it’s hinted he appears to be something more than human as well. 

Perhaps will get more background information in the sequel?

Books: Girl Waits With Gun By Amy Stewart (2015)

“Constance Kopp is a Brooklynite who'd moved to Wyckoff, New Jersey, due to some personal drama. There, one July summer day, she and her sisters are involved in an accident with wealthy silk manufacturer Henry Kaufman. After a terse exchange, Constance vowed to get the man to pay (what a surprise, that even in 1914, wealthy business men never paid their bills) for the damages. She would write to Kaufman several times, invoicing him for the repair work that would need to done to her family's mode of transportation, but when he ignores her, she sues. Instead of repayment, she starts getting threatening letters from Kaufman and his buddies, signed with things like "friends of HK." The letters were similar to those being sent by Black Handers, mobsters who threatened wealthy families in order to extract payment; eventually Kaufman's cohort also demanded money and threatened to kidnap Fleurette, Kopp's teenage sister, to sell her into "white slavery" (sex trafficking) in Chicago. When Kopp continued her refusal to drop the suit, Kaufman and his cronies began prowling around the Kopps' farmhouse at night, shooting at the building and windows.”

Girl Waits With Gun is based on the true story of Kopp, one of America’s first female deputy sheriffs (it does seem a bit too weird of a coincidence that one of the first female cops in America has that last name). Author Amy Stewart draws heavily from contemporary newspaper accounts, web sites like Ancestory.com, and the few living descendants of the sisters, to tell the story of how Constance became that sheriff’s deputy. 

Stewart, who owns Eureka Bookstore with her husband in that Northern, California region, was researching another book featuring a smuggler named Henry Kaufman when she stumbled upon the story of Constance, her sister Norma, and young Fleurette and their real life, year-long tussle with another Henry Kaufman, a wealthy silk manufacturer, who caused the accident. While the book is fiction, it’s rooted in the historical record and Stewart brings the Kopp sisters alive, with an engaging prose that highlights the age when America was still stuck in its parochial roots. 

The books vacillates between the fast-talking style of screwball comedies (though this book is serious, the humor comes from Fleurette who resembles a 1950s teenager) to the sisters struggles to maintain their farm, from the elements as well as Kaufman. It’s a fast read, well researched historical novel that obviously takes many liberties. But even if the dialogue between the sisters and everyone else is mostly made up (beyond what was printed in the newspaper, and they sensationalized it, just like cable news does today) it’s a enjoyable beginning to a trilogy of tales surrounding Constance Kopp.

NOTE: While this is posted on January 1^st, I finished the book last night to complete 63 novels read over the year 2016.