The Doctor Who Thread

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Just watched the Anneke Wills interview on Talking Pictures.

She's just so lovely, must be an absolute joy to properly talk to.

[Susan Foreman]

Doctor Who over the years: Episode quotes

The Face Of Evil – Part 1

The Doctor: Hello. Hello, did I startle you? Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you.
Leela: The Evil One.
The Doctor: Well, nobody's perfect, but that's overstating it a little. I'm the Doctor. What's your name?
Leela: Leela.
The Doctor: Leela. A nice name, Leela. I never met anyone called Leela. Would you like a jelly baby?
Leela: It's true, then. They say the Evil One eats babies.
The Doctor: You mustn't believe all they say. No, these are sweets. They're rather good. Go on, have one. (He holds out the paper bag to her.) The Doctor: Go on.
(Leela takes a black jelly baby and sniffs it, then tears it in half to eat.)

The Face Of Evil – Part 2

Neeva: They must all be totally destroyed. Throw them to the Horda!
The Doctor: What do you mean, throw them? What is a Horda, anyway?
Calib: No, wait! I do not believe he is the Evil One.
Leela: Conscience?
The Doctor: No, politics. He's trying to break Neeva's hold on the tribe.
Calib: If he can be killed, then he is not the Evil One, because the Evil One is a god.
The Doctor: Good point. Fifteen love.
Neeva: The litany says it can be destroyed.
The Doctor: Fifteen all.
Calib: I say we should put it to the test and see if he speaks truly.
Andor: But the test is for mortals.
Calib: If he can be killed then he is a mortal!
The Doctor: Game, set and match to Calib, I think.

The Face Of Evil – Part 3

The Doctor: Another shrine. Seems the Tesh are as ignorant of their origins as your people are.
Leela: What are their origins?
The Doctor: How does the litany go? That bit about Paradise. Leela, you said you knew it. You said you were taught it as children.
Leela: I do, I do. Wait a minute. The Sevateem were sent forth by God
The Doctor: Slowly, slowly.
Leela: The Sevateem were sent forth by God to seek Paradise. The Tesh remained at the place of land.
The Doctor: Yes, exactly. That means the Sevateem explored the planet, while the Tesh remained to work in the ship in the place where it landed. Here.
Leela: We're the same people?
The Doctor: Yes, the Sevateem were the survey teams and the Tesh were the technicians. You're all human beings from this colony ship.
Leela: So what happened? Doctor, what happened?
The Doctor: I'm rather afraid I did. I misunderstood what Xoanon was.

The Face Of Evil – Part 4

(The Doctor unlocks the Tardis.)
Leela: Doctor?
The Doctor: Leela. What are you doing here?
(She is carrying a gun.)
Leela: I thought you might need an escort. The creatures are still out here.
The Doctor: You don't need that, Leela. The phantoms were merely projections of Xoanon's disturbed subconscious. He's better now.
Leela: I suppose you're always right about everything.
The Doctor: Invariably. Invariably. Goodbye.
Leela: Take me with you.
The Doctor: Why?
Leela: What? Well. You like me, don't you?
The Doctor: Well, yes, I suppose I do like you. But then, I like lots of people but I can't go carting them around the universe with me. Goodbye. (Leela runs past the Doctor into the Tardis.) Come out of there. Out. (He enters the Tardis.) [OC]: Come out! Don't touch that! Don't touch (The Tardis dematerialises.)

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Anneke Wills as Polly Wright in a promo photograph for her debut story The War Machines (1966)

[Susan Foreman]

Doctor Who over the years: Episode quotes

The Robots Of Death – Part 1

(In the wooden console room, Leela is playing with the The Doctor's yo-yo, and doing it quite well.)
Leela: Doctor?
The Doctor: Hmm?
Leela: Can I stop now?
The Doctor: If you want to.
Leela: It will not affect this?
The Doctor: Affect this? No, it's a yo-yo. It's a game. I thought you were enjoying it.
(Leela drops the yo-yo.)
Leela: Enjoying it? You said I had to keep it going up and down. I thought it was part of the magic.
The Doctor: Magic, Leela? Magic?
Leela: I know, I know. There's no such thing as magic.
The Doctor: Exactly. To the rational mind nothing is inexplicable, only unexplained.
Leela: So, explain to me how this Tardis is larger on the inside than the out.
The Doctor: Hmm? All right, I'll show you. It's because insides and outsides are not in the same dimension. (The Doctor gets two boxes from a cupboard.) Which box is larger?
Leela: That one.
(The Doctor places it on the time console then goes over to Leela with the other.)
The Doctor: Now which one is larger?
Leela: That one.
The Doctor: But it looks smaller.
Leela: Well, that's because it's further away.
The Doctor: Exactly. If you could keep that exactly that distance away and have it here, the large one would fit inside the small one.
Leela: That's silly.
The Doctor: That's transdimensional engineering, a key Time Lord discovery. (The Tardis materialises.) This is the exciting bit.
Leela: What's exciting?
The Doctor: Seeing what's outside. (The scanner shows that what's outside are metal walls and a sandy floor.) It's metal. We've landed inside something metal.
Leela: But how can we? How can the Tardis be inside something metal?
The Doctor: One box inside another. I just explained it to you.
Leela: No, not very clearly.
The Doctor: Well, it's a rather dull subject anyway. I wonder where we are?
Leela: You mean you don't know?
The Doctor: Well, not precisely, no.
Leela: You mean you can't control this machine?
The Doctor: Well, of course I can control it. Nine times out of ten. Well, seven times out of ten. Five times. Look. Never mind, let's see where you are. (Leela picks up the Tesh weapon.) You won't need that.
Leela: How do you know?
The Doctor: I never carry weapons. If people see you mean them no harm, they never hurt you. Nine times out of ten.
(Leela has her knife drawn as she leaves the Tardis.)

The Robots Of Death – Part 2

Leela: Someone's coming.
(Poul enters.)
Poul: I'd like to help you.
The Doctor: You could undo these clamps.
Poul: You said there was a possibility that we had overlooked. What is it?
Leela: Be careful of him, Doctor. He's not what he seems.
Poul: Why do you say that?
Leela: Well, you move like a hunter. Watch all the time.
The Doctor: Are you a hunter, Poul?
Poul: Never mind about me. What matters to you is Commander Uvanov. I know him, and I know it's only a matter of time before he decides that it's a waste of food, water and labour keeping you alive.
The Doctor: That concerns you?
Poul: I don't think you did it. I know she couldn't have strangled Cass, not without knocking him out first, and there's no sign of that. So tell me what you know and I'll try to help you.
The Doctor: Well (cough). (Poul uses the medallion on his tunic to undo the Doctor's bonds.) Thank you. One of your robots could have done it.
Poul: (laughs) That's your great theory, is it? Well, my friend, robots cannot kill. Their prime directive
The Doctor: I know, I know, I know. It's the first programme that's laid into any robot's brain from the simplest Dumb to the most complex Super Voc. But suppose, suppose someone's found a way of bypassing it.
Poul: It's impossible. It's just impossible!
The Doctor: Bumble-bees.
Poul: What?
The Doctor: Terran insects. Aerodynamically impossible for them to fly, but they do it. I'm rather fond of bumble-bees. Come on. There's something I want to look at.
Leela: Ahem. (Poul releases her.) Thank you.

The Robots Of Death – Part 3

The Doctor: Do you know what that is?
D84: It is a Laserson probe. It can punch a fist sized hole in six inch armour plate or take the crystals from a snowflake one by one.

The Robots Of Death – Part 4

D84: Please do not throw hands at me

[Susan Foreman]

The Dalek version of The Wicker Man

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Andrew Skilleter's cover for a 1990 Doctor Who knitting pattern book.

[Susan Foreman]

That picture is awful!

[Susan Foreman]

New vinyl coming in July

[Susan Foreman]

Doctor Who over the years: Episode quotes

The Talons Of Weng-Chiang – Part 1

Leela: This is a big village.
The Doctor: Yes.
Leela: What's the name of the tribe here?
The Doctor: Cockneys.
(They hear a man scream.)
Leela: The sound of death!
The Doctor: You stay here. (He walks on to see a group men struggling with another one on the ground.) Excuse me, can I help you?
(The men attack him. They are Chinese. Leela runs in to help but is no real match for their karate. Then a policeman's whistle sounds. The Chinese run off, carrying the man. The Doctor trips up the last one and Leela pounces on him.. The Doctor chases the others)
Quick [OC]: Hold you there. (The Doctor runs back to Leela. The police have arrived.) Now then, what's all this?
Leela: Touch me and I'll break your arm.
Quick: Now don't be foolish, miss.
The Doctor: Good evening.
Leela: Keep back, Doctor. Blue guards!
The Doctor: Good evening, Constable.
Quick: Good evening, sir. You know this young female, sir?
The Doctor: Oh yes, yes. We were attacked by this little man and four other little men.
Quick: When I got here, sir, he was being strangled with his own pigtail, sir.
The Doctor: Really? Girlish enthusiasm, officer?
Quick: You might call it that, sir. I call it making an affray. I must ask you to come down the station with me.

The Talons Of Weng-Chiang – Part 2

Litefoot: I've taken some of the organs for further tests, but I must confess to being beaten.
The Doctor: Beaten?
Litefoot: They were both poisoned, of course. One orally, the other intravenously. I understand you suggested scorpion venom?
The Doctor: Yes, in concentrated form.
Litefoot: I'd like to hear more about that. You're in this line, I take it?
The Doctor: I've dabbled a bit. Dilettante.
Litefoot: Surely more than that. I got a zoologist colleague to look at our last cadaver. It seems he thinks it's the work of a rat, too. What an amazing night it's been.
Leela: It is not over yet.
Litefoot: It's been jolly interesting, wouldn't you say? Most of the corpses around here are jolly dull. Now I've got a couple of inscrutable Chinks and a poor perisher who was chewed by a giant rat, having been stabbed by a midget.
The Doctor: A midget?
Litefoot: Angle of the wound. Oh, upon my soul. I'm sure we shouldn't be discussing such things in front of the fair sex. Forgive us, ma'am.
Leela: What for?
Litefoot: For being so indelicate in the presence of a lady of refinement.
Leela: Does he mean me?
The Doctor: I don't think so.
Leela: It's very interesting. You say you can tell the height of the attacker by the way the blade was thrust? But when aiming for the heart, we were always taught to strike under the breastbone.
Litefoot: Upon my soul!
The Doctor: Savage. Found floating down the Amazon in a hat box.
Litefoot: A hat box?

The Talons Of Weng-Chiang – Part 3

The Doctor: Ice!
Litefoot: The sheer criminal effrontery. Things are coming to a pretty pass when ruffians will attack a man in his own home.)
(The Doctor puts a bunch of icecubes tied in a napkin on Litefoot's head.)
The Doctor: Well, they were Chinese ruffians.
Litefoot: I wonder what they intended?
The Doctor: Robbery?
Litefoot: Well, there are some pretty valuable things here. That K'ang-hsi vase, for instance. My family brought that back from Peking. Or that Chinese puzzle box. (The 'box' is a massive cabinet taller than the Doctor, with a large circular strongroom style dial on the front.) It doesn't open. Chap spent a week here once looking for a secret spring.
The Doctor: Fused molecules.
Litefoot: No, no, no, no. Lacquered bronze.
The Doctor: It's extraordinary. It's from this planet.
Litefoot: A parting gift from the Emperor.
The Doctor: Technology this advanced? Ah! Got it! Well, of course, that's the answer.
Litefoot: What the Dickens are you raving about, Doctor?
The Doctor: Weng-Chiang.

The Talons Of Weng-Chiang – Part 4

(Leela is looking at the brightly coloured programme when Jago creeps in behind them. She turns, but the The Doctor does not.)
Jago: Psst.
The Doctor: Good evening, Mister Jago.
Jago: Pleasure to welcome you, sir, and your charming companion.
The Doctor: Thank you. Are you quite comfortable down there?
Jago: Oh, I know the value of discretion in matters like this, Doctor. May I ask if you've come to any further deductions?
The Doctor: Oh, quite a few, quite a few.
Jago: Ah. I thought as much when I saw you here. I take it you're on the point of solving the mystery of the missing girls.
The Doctor: I'm expecting further developments very soon, Mister Jago.
Jago: Ah. Well, if you need any help, The Doctor, I hope I know where my duty lies.
The Doctor: I knew I could rely on you.
Jago: Oh, to the limit, though I suppose you've got your own men scattered throughout the audience.
The Doctor: No.
Jago: No? You mean nobody?
The Doctor: Nobody. When the moment comes, Mister Jago, you and I can face our destiny shoulder to shoulder.
Jago: Oh, corks.

The Talons Of Weng-Chiang – Part 5

The Doctor: Get him a drink. (Leela sniffs the contents of the decanter.) In a glass. In a glass. Professor, how did they get in?
Litefoot: I've, I've no idea. I locked and bolted all the doors as soon as you left. Thank you, my dear.
(The Doctor goes into the hallway and tears a label off a rack.)
The Doctor: Were they all Chinese?
Litefoot: Tong-wallahs. Criminals. The gutter scrapings of Shanghai.
The Doctor: And one midget.
Litefoot: Yes. My dear Doctor, how on Earth did you deduce that one of my attackers was a midget?
The Doctor: Elementary, my dear Litefoot. He came in the laundry basket and let the others in.
Leela: The same creature that attacked me!
The Doctor: The Peking Homunculus.
Litefoot: Who?
The Doctor: Yes, the time of manufacture, its disappearance, it all fits.
Leela: Doctor, what is the Peking
The Doctor: Homunculus.
Leela: Homunculus.
The Doctor: It was made in Peking for the Commissioner of the Icelandic Alliance. It was in the Ice Age, about the year five thousand.
Litefoot: Preposterous.
Leela: Shush. Go on, Doctor.
The Doctor: The Peking Homunculus was a toy, a plaything for the Commissioner's children. It contained a series of magnetic fields operating on a printed circuit and a small computer. It had one organic component. The cerebral cortex of a pig. Anyway, something went wrong. It almost caused World War Six.
Litefoot: What?
The Doctor: Yes, somehow the pig part took over. So Weng-Chiang has brought the Peking Homunculus back through time. He could have done. It disappeared completely. It was never found.
Litefoot: I say, I may have had a bang on the head but this is a dashed queer story. Time travel?
The Doctor: Unsuccessful time travel, Professor. Findicker's discovery of the double nexus particle sent human science up a technological cul-de-sac.
Litefoot: Are you following this?
Leela: Not a word.
The Doctor: This pig thing is still alive. It needs an operator, of course, but the mental feedback is so intense that somehow the swinish instinct has become dominant. It hates humanity and it revels in carnage.

The Talons Of Weng-Chiang – Part 6

(The Dragon's eyes start flashing and moving. The Doctor moves a piece on Weng's chess board.)
The Doctor: I was with the Filipino army at the final advance on Reykjavik.
Weng: How can you in the nineteenth century know anything of the fifty first? You lie!
The Doctor: Listen. What's your name? What were you called before you became a Chinese god?
Weng: I am Magnus Greel!
The Doctor: Oh, yes, the infamous Minister of Justice. The Butcher of Brisbane. (The Doctor moves a cockerel on the board.) Checkmate.
Weng: It is impossible for you to know these things!
The Doctor: I know you're a wanted criminal and that a hundred thousand deaths can be laid at your door.
Weng: Enemies of the state! They were used in the advancements of science.
The Doctor: They were slaughtered in your filthy machine.
Weng: So, you are from the future, and I, for all my achievements, are only remembered as a war criminal. Of course, it is the winning side that writes history, Doctor. Remember, you would not be here if it were not for my work.
The Doctor: Your work? (Sin has the Doctor firmly in the weapon's sights.) Your work?
Weng: Yes! I made this possible. I found the resources, the scientists
The Doctor: The zigma experiments came to nothing. They were a failure. Nothing came of them.
Weng: No! No, they were a success! Why, I used them to escape from my enemies. The first man to travel through time.
The Doctor: Hmm. Look what it did to you.
Weng: A temporal distortion of my metabolism. It can be readjusted.

** NOTE - This is another adventure where I could easily have quoted the whole programme. The interplay between Jago and Lightfoot is hilarious, with each of them playing Watson to the Doctor's Sherlock. Remove a couple of pieces of 1970's / 1880's racist language, and Robert Holmes has possibly written the perfect episode

[Susan Foreman]

Filming for the new series has begun, with scenes being shot in the grounds of Gloucester Cathedral

This location has already been used by the show, and it was featured in the 2008 Christmas story 'The Next Doctor'