Doctor Who: The Lost Stories (The Seventh Doctor)
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Alixion |
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Writer: Robin Mukherjee |
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Notes: Mukherjee was new to
television when he was commissioned to provide a storyline for
“Alixion” on November 18th, 1987. It was still being worked
on a year later and was a candidate for inclusion in Season Twenty-Six,
but development was slow due to Mukherjee's inexperience. It then became
a strong possibility for the final slot of Season Twenty-Seven, before
the cancellation of Doctor Who in 1989.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, Ace |
Episodes: 3 |
Planned For: Seasons
Twenty-Six and Twenty-Seven |
Stage Reached: Partial(?)
scripts |
Synopsis: The giant beetles of the planet
Alixion, led by their Queen, produce an intelligence-boosting elixir.
However, the Doctor discovers that this is because the Abbot of a human
monastery on Alixion is feeding people to the beetles. The Abbot now
intends to see what happens when the beetles consume a Time Lord.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #255, DWM Special Edition #10 |
Avatar |
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Writer: David A McIntee |
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Notes: “Avatar” was
inspired by the works of horror pioneer HP (Howard Phillips) Lovecraft,
creator of the Cthulhu Mythos in the early twentieth century. The
serial's Arkham setting was a fictional town created by Lovecraft, and
indeed a supporting character was called “Howard Phillips”.
Since location filming in New England was not feasible, McIntee was
asked to rewrite “Avatar” for Cornwall; he also anticipated
that lack of content would result in the story being trimmed from four
episodes to three. He had completed the script for Episode One when
Doctor Who was cancelled in September 1989, resulting in the
story's abandonment. McIntee would later write numerous Doctor
Who novels for Virgin Publishing and BBC Books, beginning with
another Lovecraft-inspired tale, White Darkness, published in
June 1993.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor |
Episodes: 4 |
Planned For: Season
Twenty-Seven |
Stage Reached: Partial
script |
Synopsis: In 1927 Arkham, Massachusetts,
aliens with the ability to possess and reanimate cadavers plan to clone
the fossilised remains of a Silurian god.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #255, DWM Special Edition #10 |
Cat's Cradle |
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Writer: Marc Platt |
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Notes: In 1984, this unsolicited
idea was submitted to script editor Eric Saward, who rejected it as
being too complex. When Andrew Cartmel became Doctor Who's script
editor in early 1987, Platt offered him a reworked version of
“Cat's Cradle”. Cartmel felt that the concept could not be
achieved on the programme's budget, but encouraged Platt to continue
pitching story ideas; the result was 1989's Ghost Light. Platt later
redeveloped the storyline as the basis for his Doctor Who: The New
Adventures novel Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, released in
February 1992 by Virgin Publishing.
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Characters: The Sixth
Doctor (original submission; the revised version featured the Seventh
Doctor) |
Episodes: Unknown |
Planned For: Seasons
Twenty-Two and Twenty-Five |
Stage Reached:
Storyline |
Synopsis: The TARDIS is turned
inside-out, forcing the Doctor to navigate through an alien landscape in
order to restore his time machine.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #190 |
Clone The Drone |
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aka Drone The Clone |
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Writer: Ian Briggs |
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Notes: This was the first concept
proposed by Briggs when script editor Andrew Cartmel asked him to
develop ideas for Doctor Who. It was rejected as being too
steeped in cliche, and Briggs instead wrote Dragonfire.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, Mel |
Episodes: Unknown |
Planned For: Season
Twenty-Four |
Stage Reached:
Story idea |
Synopsis: The Doctor and Melanie help a
group of rebels in their struggle against a tyrant.
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References: Doctor
Who: The Complete History #44 |
Crime Of The Century |
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aka Action At A Distance |
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Writer: Ben Aaronovitch |
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Notes: The intended third story of
Season Twenty-Seven was meant to be a direct sequel to the second story
-- known as “Thin
Ice” -- which introduced Raine Cunningham as a baby born in
the 1960s. Now she would be seen again as an adult in modern times, and
become the Doctor's new companion. Script editor Andrew Cartmel
envisaged Raine as an aristocratic graduate of fine finishing schools --
providing a sharp contrast with her streetwise predecessor Ace -- yet
very adept at taking care of herself, given her father's career in the
London underworld. In particular, Cartmel thought in terms of the classy
spy Emma Peel, as played by Diana Rigg in The Avengers from 1965
to 1967. Only the first scene -- in which Raine stole away from a dinner
party at a country house and cracked a safe to find the Doctor inside --
had been mapped out when Doctor Who was cancelled in September
1989. Indeed, it was not a certainty that Aaronovitch would ultimately
have written these scripts. The title “Crime Of The Century”
was assigned by Doctor Who Magazine in 1997. Cartmel preferred
“Action At A Distance”, but hewed to the established name
when he created an audio adaptation for Big Finish Productions, released
in May 2011.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor |
Episodes: Unknown |
Planned For: Probably the
third story of Season Twenty-Seven |
Stage Reached: Story
idea |
Synopsis: In the present day, the
Doctor's goddaughter Raine Cunningham has grown up to become a burglar
and a safe cracker, even as her father -- once an East End crime boss --
is trying to go straight.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #255, DWM #433, DWM Special Edition
#10 |
The Dark Dimension |
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aka Lost In The Dark Dimension |
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Writers: Adrian Rigelsford and
Joanna McCaul |
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Notes: On June 10th, 1993 BBC
Enterprises announced that it was making a direct-to-video special to
celebrate Doctor Who's thirtieth anniversary. The script,
originally called “Lost In The Dark Dimension” and then
simply “The Dark Dimension”, was planned to be written by
Rigelsford and McCaul, before Rigelsford became the sole author. He drew
links with the Doctor Who: The New Adventures line of original
novels from Virgin Publishing: Summerfield was a take on Professor
Bernice Summerfield, the Doctor's companion introduced in the 1992 novel
Love And War, while Ace's full name had been revealed to be
Dorothy McShane in 1993's Set Piece. The producers of “The
Dark Dimension” were to be David Jackson and Penny Mills; BBC
Drama then decided to become involved with the project and former Head
of Series and Serials Peter Cregeen took Jackson's place. “The
Dark Dimension” was now intended to air on BBC1 on November 28th.
Former producer John Nathan-Turner was invited to participate as a
consultant, but declined. Graeme Harper agreed to direct, with filming
scheduled to begin on August 24th. It was hoped that either Brian
Blessed or David Bowie might be cast as Hawkspur. However, the project's
meagre budget meant that not all of the Doctors could play a major role,
and so Rigelsford chose to showcase Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor -- who was
seen as the most popular -- with a secondary role for Sylvester McCoy's
Seventh Doctor. This drew objections from Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison and
Colin Baker, who felt that they were being relegated to cameo
appearances. At the same time, Philip David Segal was negotiating a
co-production agreement with the BBC to bring Doctor Who back to
television on a regular basis. He felt that “The Dark
Dimension” might be unflatteringly conflated with his proposal,
which would eventually bear fruit as Doctor Who (1996). With all of
these circumstances working against it, the BBC chose to cancel the
special on July 9th.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, the Sixth Doctor, the Fifth Doctor, the Fourth Doctor, the Third
Doctor, Ace, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart |
Episodes: 1 (96
minutes) |
Planned For: 1993
Special |
Stage Reached: Full
script |
Synopsis: Professor Oliver Hawkspur is
running for Prime Minister, but is in fact trying to push the Earth
towards an ecological crisis. Troopers from the future, led by
Summerfield, arrive and encounter a schoolteacher named Dorothy McShane
and her boyfriend Alex, the son of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. They
find the Doctor, who is in his fourth incarnation because a force
prevented his regeneration at the Pharos Project. He has been an
amnesiac for fifteen years, but Dorothy -- really Ace -- possesses the
memories of his future incarnations, which heal his mind. The Doctor now
knows that they are trapped in a dark dimension: an alternate reality.
Using Summerfield's technology, the Doctor opens a vortex so that he,
Ace and the Brigadier can travel through time. They discover that
Hawkspur was possessed by an alien entity in 1936, and also encounter
the Third, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors. In the present day,
Hawkspur is unleashing an army of the Doctor's foes, cloned from the
Time Lord's mind; he plans to eliminate humanity so that he can
populate the Earth with creatures like the one that has possessed him.
This entity is made of chronal energy, and used the Doctor's aborted
regeneration to create the dark dimension. Alex is killed as the Doctor
draws the creature out of Hawkspur's body and banishes it into the
vortex. Time resets, and the Doctor regenerates back into his seventh
body.
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References: Doctor
Who: The Nth Doctor, Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition
#5 |
Destination: Holocaust |
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Writer: David Roden |
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Notes: When former producer John
Nathan-Turner agreed to create a short 3-D Doctor Who sketch for
the BBC's 1993 Children In Need charity appeal -- which would
double as a celebration of Doctor Who's thirtieth anniversary --
he contacted David Roden to help develop a storyline.
“Destination: Holocaust” was Roden's first attempt, but it
was quickly dismissed on the grounds of cost. Nathan-Turner and Roden
would instead write Dimensions In
Time.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart |
Episodes: 1 (5
minutes) |
Planned For: 1993
Special |
Stage Reached:
Storyline |
Synopsis: In the English countryside, the
Brigadier collects the Doctor for a UNIT reunion. However, the Cybermen
have been tracking the Doctor and their ship crashes nearby. The
Doctor and the Brigadier take refuge in a church as the Cybermen advance
towards them.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #324 |
Earth Aid |
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aka Bad Destination |
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Writer: Ben Aaronovitch |
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Notes: During the summer of 1988,
Aaronovitch and script editor Andrew Cartmel collaborated on War
World, an ultimately unused script for the Doctor Who stage
play which became The Ultimate Adventure. When considering ideas
for Season Twenty-Seven, they decided to revive an alien race created
for War World called the Metatraxi. The likely season premiere
would have been that year's three-part, studio-bound serial. However,
Aaronovitch had only roughed out the script for the first scene and
developed vague ideas about the rest of the storyline when Doctor
Who was cancelled in September 1989. At this point, the adventure
was untitled; it was dubbed “Earth Aid” by Doctor Who
Magazine in 1997, although “Bad Destination” was also
later proposed. “Earth Aid” was eventually adapted by
Aaronovitch and Cartmel as an audio play, released by Big Finish
Productions in July 2011.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, Ace |
Episodes: 3 |
Planned For: Probably the
first story of Season Twenty-Seven |
Stage Reached: Story
idea |
Synopsis: Ace poses as the captain of a
spaceship in a conflict against the Metatraxi, alien insectoid creatures
with a Samurai-like code of honour.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #255, DWM #433, DWM Special Edition
#10 |
The Endgame |
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Writer: David Roden |
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Notes: In July 1993, it appeared
that Dimensions In Time -- the
proposed thirtieth-anniversary Doctor Who sketch designed to air
as part of the BBC's Children In Need charity telethon -- would
have to be scrapped due to issues with the planned crossover involving
characters and locations from the soap opera EastEnders. Roden
developed “The Endgame” in its place; he had recently
appeared with Michael Gough in the play Wittgenstein and believed
that the actor would be willing to reprise his eponymous role from
1966's The Celestial Toymaker. Roden
hoped that the special could be filmed at Dreamland in Margate, while
production manager Gary Downie thought that permission could be granted
to use Chessington World of Adventures for free. However, “The
Endgame” was dropped when the EastEnders situation was
resolved.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, the Sixth Doctor, the Fifth Doctor, the Fourth Doctor, the Third
Doctor, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart |
Episodes: 2 (5
minutes) |
Planned For: 1993
Special |
Stage Reached:
Script |
Synopsis: The Celestial Toymaker has
captured the Doctor's earlier incarnations, whom he wants to possess and
turn into more Toymakers. The Seventh Doctor agrees to compete against
the Toymaker in a game, with all of his lives at stake. Brigadier
Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT must locate the TARDIS in a funfair guarded
by Cybermen. When the Brigadier wins the game, the Doctors join together
to attack the Toymaker. The Brigadier takes advantage of the opportunity
to shoot the Toymaker, who is sucked into the sphere he had used to hold
the Doctors captive. The earlier Doctors are returned to their proper
place in the timestream, while the Seventh Doctor and the Brigadier plan
to deposit the sphere in a black hole, trapping the Toymaker forever.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #324 |
Hostage |
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Writer: Neil Penswick |
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Notes: This was an unsolicited
submission which script editor Andrew Cartmel deemed too expensive.
Nonetheless, he liked “Hostage” enough to prompt a meeting
between himself and Penswick. However, it was not long afterward -- in
September 1989 -- that Doctor Who was cancelled. Penswick later
used some elements of “Hostage” for his Doctor Who: The
New Adventures novel The Pit, released in March 1993 by
Virgin Publishing.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor |
Episodes: 3 |
Planned For: Season
Twenty-Seven |
Stage Reached:
Script |
Synopsis: Elite soldiers pursue
shapeshifting criminals Butler and Swarfe, who have stolen advanced
weapons technology and brought it to a jungle planet where the Time
Lords once fought a race called the Scaroth.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #255, DWM Special Edition #10 |
Illegal Alien |
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Writer: Robert Perry and Mike
Tucker |
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Notes: Mike Tucker, a visual
effects assistant on Doctor Who, wrote under the pen name
“Greg Ashby”. He and Perry had already submitted one script
under a pseudonym and, when it was rejected, Tucker admitted to script
editor Andrew Cartmel that he was one of the writers responsible.
Cartmel encouraged Perry and Tucker to try again, and they developed
“Illegal Alien” in 1988. At this point, Ian Briggs was
working on The Curse Of Fenric,
which had a similar setting; as such, he advised the pair to wait before
submitting their work. They finally did so in early 1989, having written
two scripts and storylined the closing episode. However, any further
development ceased when Doctor Who was cancelled in September of
that year. Perry and Tucker later adapted “Illegal Alien” as
a novel for BBC Books, published in October 1997.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, Ace |
Episodes: 3 |
Planned For: Seasons
Twenty-Six and Twenty-Seven |
Stage Reached: Partial
scripts |
Synopsis: The Doctor and Ace confront the
Cybermen in World War II London.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #255, DWM Special Edition #10 |
Knight Fall |
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Writer: Ben Aaronovitch |
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Notes: This unsolicited idea was
submitted in May 1987. Script editor Andrew Cartmel liked some of the
concepts, but he felt that there were too many supporting characters and
that it was generally inappropriate for Doctor Who. However, he
encouraged Aaronovitch to pitch more stories, and this soon led to Remembrance Of The Daleks.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor |
Episodes: Unknown |
Planned For: Season
Twenty-Five |
Stage Reached:
Unknown |
Synopsis: Concerned privatisation.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine Special Edition #10 |
Lungbarrow |
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Writer: Marc Platt |
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Notes: Platt was working on
“Lungbarrow” by the autumn of 1988, drawing elements from
Mervyn Peake's 1946 fantasy novel Titus Groan and its 1950
sequel Gormenghast. “Lungbarrow” was meant to be a
milestone in script editor Andrew Cartmel's redevelopment of the
Doctor Who mythos, introducing the notion that Time Lords were
sterile and maintained their population through the use of genetic
Looms. The Doctor began to realise that he is related, through the Loom
at Lungbarrow, to the Other -- a mysterious figure in Gallifreyan
prehistory who was part of a triumvirate of Time Lord pioneers with
Rassilon and Omega. However, producer John Nathan-Turner was wary of
rushing into such a major revelation, and so “Lungbarrow”
was reworked as Ghost Light.
Platt later used his original storyline as the basis for the final
Seventh Doctor release in Virgin Publishing's Doctor Who: The New
Adventures range; this Lungbarrow was published in March
1997.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, Ace |
Episodes: Unknown |
Planned For: Season
Twenty-Six |
Stage Reached:
Storyline |
Synopsis: The Doctor confronts his
bizarre family of cousins at Lungbarrow, his sentient ancestral home in
South Gallifrey.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine Special Edition #10 |
Night Thoughts |
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Writer: Edward Young |
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Notes: Young submitted “Night
Thoughts” to script editor Andrew Cartmel in mid-1989. Although
Cartmel felt that the script was undisciplined, he also saw a lot of
potential, and was interested in following up with Young. However, any
such plans were dropped when Doctor Who was cancelled that
September. Young later adapted “Night Thoughts” as an audio
play, released by Big Finish Productions in February 2006.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, Ace |
Episodes: Unknown |
Planned For: Season
Twenty-Seven |
Stage Reached:
Script, possibly complete |
Synopsis: University academics are
trapped at a remote house in the winter, not realising that there is a
murderer in their midst.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #255, DWM Special Edition #10 |
A School For Glory |
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Writer: Tony Etchells |
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Notes: Etchells and an unknown
co-writer submitted this anti-war polemic.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor |
Episodes: Unknown |
Planned For: Season
Twenty-Seven |
Stage Reached:
Script |
Synopsis: A story of alien possession set
in the British trenches of World War I and at an academy located in an
English country house.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #255, DWM Special Edition #10 |
Shrine |
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Writer: Marc Platt |
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Notes: After “Cat's
Cradle” was rejected, Platt developed this idea in late 1987 with
the help of Doctor Who script editor Andrew Cartmel and writer
Ben Aaronovitch. It was inspired by Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel War And
Peace, as well as the works of Gormenghast author Mervyn
Peake. During 1988, however, Platt stopped working on
“Shrine” in favour of “Lungbarrow”.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, Ace |
Episodes: Unknown |
Planned For: Season
Twenty-Five or Twenty-Six |
Stage Reached:
Unknown |
Synopsis: In 1820 Russia, the Doctor and
Ace arrive at the home of Alexei Semyonovitch. Stone-headed aliens
arrive searching for their God-King, who has been reincarnated as a
serf.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #190, DWM Special Edition #10 |
Thin Ice |
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aka Ice Time |
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Writer: Marc Platt |
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Notes: Sophie Aldred was contracted
for eight episodes during Season Twenty-Seven, and so it was planned to
write Ace out halfway through the year. Platt was asked to develop an
Ice Warrior story, and while his inclination was to write a futuristic
adventure set on a terraformed Mars, script editor Andrew Cartmel
requested that he use a 1960s setting in light of the success of Season
Twenty-Five's Remembrance Of The
Daleks. Producer John Nathan-Turner wanted to use the popular
London Dungeon attraction as a filming location. Platt's story would be
linked with the third story of Season Twenty-Seven (which has become
known as “Crime Of The
Century”), which would also feature Cunningham and his
daughter Raine, but in the present day. The adult Raine would become the
Doctor's new companion, while Platt hoped that the elder Cunningham
would be a recurring ally in the manner of UNIT's Brigadier
Lethbridge-Stewart. Cartmel hoped to involve Ian Briggs, who had
essentially created Ace, in the development of Platt's ideas, but the
entire project was scuppered when Doctor Who was cancelled in
September 1989. The title “Ice Time” was assigned by
Doctor Who Magazine in 1997. This did not find favour with Platt,
who changed it to “Thin Ice” when he adapted his ideas for
Big Finish Productions; the resulting audio was released in April 2011.
For this version, Cunningham's surname became Creevy to avoid confusion
with a real Raine Cunningham.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor, Ace |
Episodes: 4 |
Planned For: Probably the
second story of Season Twenty-Seven |
Stage Reached: Story
idea |
Synopsis: The Doctor wants to enrol Ace
at the Time Lord Academy on Gallifrey, but she must pass a final test to
gain admission. In 1960s England, parts of the armour of an infamous Ice
Lord have inadvertently become incorporated into a display at the London
Dungeon. Elsewhere, another Ice Warrior awaits the revival of his
longtime rival. The Doctor and Ace find an unlikely ally in a hippie
named Cunningham with underworld connections; when his pregnant wife
gives birth, the Doctor delivers the baby girl, called Raine, and
becomes her godfather. Having succeeded in her audition, Ace leaves the
Doctor to stay on Gallifrey -- where they both hope that she will become
a force for change in Time Lord society, dispelling the lethargy that
has burdened it for millennia.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine #255, DWM #433, DWM Special Edition
#10 |
Transit |
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Writer: Ben Aaronovitch |
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Notes: This idea was submitted in
June 1987. Aaronovitch later developed it into a Doctor Who: The New
Adventures novel of the same name, featuring the Seventh Doctor and
Bernice Summerfield. It was published in December 1992 by Virgin Books.
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Characters: The Seventh
Doctor |
Episodes: Unknown |
Planned For: Season
Twenty-Five |
Stage Reached:
Unknown |
Synopsis: In the future, a system of
transportation portals spans the solar system, but now seems to have
opened a gateway to Hell.
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References: Doctor
Who Magazine Special Edition #10 |
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