Great tribute to a great man
Leonard Nimoy, known best for his portrayal of Spock in the original Star Trek series, died this morning at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles. He was 83. His wife, Susan Bay Nimoy, announced that his death came at the grip of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
For a full and proper obituary, visit New York Times site.
I think it’s high time for a Star Trek rewatch. His memory amongst friends, family, and fans will undoubtedly live long and prosper.
Though Dan Dare nowadays is somewhat overlooked, it is still without doubt one of the most influential pieces of British Science Fiction ever made.
In many ways Dan Dare for me is like the British version of the The Twilight Zone in that its one of these things that is such a well of ideas, virtually every science fiction series that has come after it owes a little to it either directly or indirectly.
Sadly however because Dan Dare has bizzarely never really had a long life outside of the comic book medium then I think it tends to get overlooked in comparison to other prominent works.
In this article I will explore what it is exactly that the worlds longest running science fiction series owes the Pilot of the Future’s exploits as well as the relationship between both franchises.
Doctor Who and Dan Dare
Now for those of you who may be unfamiliar with it, Dan Dare was a British comic book series created by Frank Hampson that ran initially in The Eagle weekly comic strip during the 1950’s and 60’s.
It obviously centered around the character of Dan Dare, who was a fine, upstanding, square jawed space pilot in the futuristic “1990’s”.
The series tried despite its larger than life concepts to be as scientifically accurate as it possibly could, with acclaimed science fiction author, Arthur C Clark, then at the beginning of his career serving as the strips scientific and story advisor.
The series however still looks somewhat scientifically dated by todays standards as most of its strips which were set within our solar system involved life on planets such as Venus and Mars, which subsequent space probes have shown to be lifeless.
Dan Dare was hugely popular in its native United Kingdom, with sales of the strip at one point reaching as high a figure as 3 million.
Dan Dare would prove very influential on Doctor Who in quite a number of ways.
The most obvious example of the strips influence on Doctor Who is the way that Dan Dare’s archenemy the Mekon inspired Davros.
The Mekon was a scientific genius who ruled over the cold and logical Treens of Venus. He sought dominion over the entire universe and relied solely on his scientific intellect to battle Dare. The Mekon’s body was atrophied and weak so therefore he flew around on a levitating chair.
The Mekon was an immensely popular character. In some ways even more than Dare himself!
It was the Mekon for instance rather than Dare who made Empires list of 50 greatest comic book characters.
Now both Philip Hinchliffe and Terry Nation were huge Dan Dare fans, and they based Davros on the Mekon in terms of his character, leader of a group of ruthless would be universal conquerers and his appearance too.
One only has to look at Davros to see how much he resembles the Mekon.
Philip Hinchcliff admits to having taken inspiration from the Mekon for Davros on the DVD of Genesis of the Daleks.
The Treens meanwhile were not only an inspiration on the Daleks, but also on the Cybermen and the Sontarans too.
The Sontarans as you can see bare a a rather strong resembelance to the Treens in both looks and personality too as the Treens whilst logical do enjoy war and glory in crushing lesser races. One Treen however ends up becoming an ally of Dare’s much like Strax and the 11th Doctor. This Treen is even named Sondar!
The Cybermen’s cold and logical nature meanwhile was lifted somewhat from the Treens too. Kit Pedler co-creator of the Cybermen has cited the Treens as one of his biggest influences in creating the Cybermen.
Kit Pedler would even supply an introduction to a reprint of Dan Dare in 1979 “The Man From Nowhere” where he even stated that “the Cybermen are very like the Treens” whilst talking about how Dan Dare influenced his career as a writer overall.
In addition to this the first Cyberman story which Pedler co-wrote borrows directly from a number of Dare stories not only through the parallels between the Cybermen and the Treens, but also in the idea of a planet returning to our solar system as well.
In “The Tenth Planet” Mondas Earth’s identical twin planet returns to our solar system after a long absence and attacks the earth. In three Dan Dare stories planets venture into our solar system, and in two of them they attack the Earth just like Mondas.
However no writer on Doctor Who borrowed more from Dan Dare than Terry Nation.
The Treens much like the Daleks were portrayed as xenophobic, despising other life forms for being different to them. The Treens were even used as a metaphor for the Nazis too just like the Daleks were.
Frank Hampson said “Basically we were fighting the Second World War again the Treens were the Nazis”.
Furthermore take a look at the first ever Dan Dare strip and you can see it has a very similar story to the original Dalek story.
In “The Pilot of the Future” all of earths attempts to reach Venus have been blocked by a unknown force. Dare finally manages to find a way to land onto the planet, and soon explores a futuristic city and is captured by its inhabitants the evil, xenophobic and logical Treens. Dare escapes and contacts the blonde pacifists the Therons who ages ago had fought a centuries long conflict with the Treens and now forsake violence. Dare is able to convince the Therons to abandon their pacifistic ways and help him and a group of earth men defeat the evil Treens and safe the earth from them as well as capture their city.
The first Dalek story similarly sees the Doctor, Ian, Susan and Barbara land on the planet Skaro where they discover a futuristic city and explore it. They are soon taken hostage by the Daleks. Cold, logical, and xenophobic creatures. They manage to escape however and work alongside the blonde pacifists The Thals who faced the Daleks eons ago and now forsake violence. The Doctor is able to convince the Thals to abandon their pacifistic ways and help them capture the Daleks city.
The Dan Dare strip “The Reign of the Robots” also was an inspiration on the second ever Dalek stor “The Dalek Invasion of Earth”
“The Reign of the Robots” sees Dan and his team return to London after ten years away in space. The capital is completely deserted and they visit several landmarks and discover that the Treens in their absence have invaded and conquered the earth. The Treens have also created robot servants to help them rule mankind. The Treens also set up a huge mining operation in England too. Ultimately Dare and his team are able to defeat the Treens by taking control of a microphone in their base which they use to control their robotic servants, giving them new orders to turn on the Treens. The invasion is thus repelled and the Mekon is defeated and his spaceship destroyed.
In “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan arrive on earth after a long time away in London. They discover it is completely deserted and and pass by familiar landmarks only to discover that the Daleks have invaded the earth. The Daleks have created robot servants “Robomen” whom they use to help them rule. The Daleks have also set up a giant mine in England too. Ultimately the Doctor and friends are able to defeat the Daleks by taking control of a microphone that they use to control the Robomen and give them new orders to turn on the Daleks, which leads to the end of the Invasion.
Nation would again take inspiration for “The Dalek Book” the first ever piece of Doctor Who merchandise which featured the character of Jeff Stone who based very heavily on the character of Dan Dare himself.
Both Marc Cory and Brett Vyon were also very heavily inspired by the character of Dan Dare.
Finally “The Dalek Chronicles” which were actually written by David Whitaker featured the humanoids that the Daleks had been before they mutated into their current form. These humanoid Daleks much like Davros also greatly resembled the Mekon.
Finally the Dalek Emperor from “The Dalek Chronicles” also resembles the Mekon too. Not in appearance but character with David Whitaker mentioning that he based him largely on the Mekon. The emperor was even given a similar larger head to demonstrate his intelligence just like the Mekon.
Don’t think this means that I believe that Terry Nation was a hack or ripped off other people’s work or for that matter that any of the other authors of Doctor Who who borrowed from Dan Dare such as Kit Pedler were guilty of plagarism.
Nothing is original and it doesn’t matter how much you take from another source as long as you do something new with it, which obviously the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Sontarans all were.
However I still find it interesting to see how the Treens were essentially the forbears to many of Doctor Who’s greatest enemies.
The Daleks xenophobic nature, the Cyberman’s cold and logical personalities, the Sontarans passion for war all stem from the Treens.
In many ways however the Treens can be seen as the forebears in general to alien species in science fiction who are more of an organized society than just space monsters.
The Martians in “War of the Worlds” for instance are just alien monsters . We don’t see their whole society, we know nothing about them other than they are evil octopus creatures. With the Treens however we saw their city, knew about their history and how they react to ordinary every day things albeit in obviously different way’s.
Thus it was really in this way more than any other that I would say the Treens were influential on Doctor Who’s alien races, who would in turn go on to inspire other alien creatures in much the same way.
Other examples of Dare’s influence on Who include “The Big City Caper” about an alien menace that uses the Post Office Tower as a base of operations to conquer the world. This premise turns up in the first Doctor story “The War Machines”. Another Dan Dare strip features a Web trapping a spaceship whilst its in space, which is similar to the Web of Fear when the TARDIS is trapped in space by the Great Intelligence using a web.
“The Earth Stealers” also features a corrupt organisation “Earth Redistribution Limited” moving mankind to Mars to exploit them, which is a similar premise to “The Sun Makers”.
Finally Captain Jack Harkness was also to some extent inspired by Dan Dare. Though he drew from many influences, visually he owes a lot to Dare, and Steven Moffat even described him in the script for “The Empty Child” Jack’s first appearance as having “The jawline of Dan Dare, the smile of a bastard.”
Thus I think its fair to say that Dan Dare overall had quite a visible influence on Who throughout the years.
Crossover Between the Two Series
Many pieces of spin off Doctor Who material have referred to Dan Dare as a fictional character in the Whoniverse. Still despite this a crossover strip between the two series was produced for Comic Relief in 1991. Here Dare met at that point all 7 incarnations of the Time Lord, as well as Ice Warriors and Cybermen.
Sadly they could not get the rights for the Daleks to appear, though something is heard to chant Exterminate from off screen.
Obviously this strip is not canon to the main Whoniverse and it is played for laughs. It would be difficult for Dan Dare to take place in the Whoniverse as we would have to know about aliens during the 90’s, which the revival contradicts by showing us people in the 21st century who are unaware of alien life. Also there was no invasion and conquest of the earth by Treens in the mid 00’s which according to Dan Dare canon there would have to be, and I think it can be agreed that the Doctor has enough conquering, alien invaders to deal with without adding the Treens to the mix.
Now I have mentioned this in a few previous posts including my Top 10 Contemporary Underrated Actors article, but I have decided to devote an entire article to it here, as I feel that Ingrid is such a good choice for the role of one of Marvels leading heroine’s that I really should put her case forward properly.
The character of the She Hulk for those of you who don’t know is the cousin of Doctor Bruce Banner aka the Incredible Hulk. She is named Jennifer Walters and she is also a lawyer too.
Jennifer is initially a somewhat mousy, meek, shy bookish character, but that changes when she is wounded by a crime boss and her cousin Dr Banner gives her a blood transfusion which saves her life, but as his blood is radioactive it also causes her to become a large green brute like her cousin.
As the She Hulk, Jennifer is not nearly as strong as the regular Hulk, but she is far more intelligent and is actually even able to hold onto her old personality in her Hulk form.
Over the years She Hulk has had many series revolve around her, though she has also been a member of both The Fantastic Four and The Avengers. She has also appeared in many animated series over the years and has been voiced by actresses such as Lisa Zane, Cree Summer and Eliza Dushku. There have been a number of attempts to produce a live action version of the character that have come to nothing sadly. Originally she was going to appear in the third Hulk telemovie based on the 1970’s series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, but sadly these plans were abandoned. There were also plans in the early 90’s for a television series on ABC and a film to be directed by Larry Cohen, starring Brigitte Nielson as the She Hulk, with Nielson even appearing in publicity shots as the character.
However again these plans sadly came to nothing. Now however with Marvel’s popularity having reached new heights with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’d say the chances of She Hulk appearing on the big screen are greater than ever. I’d say at the very least we will see She Hulk in a future Avengers movie, if not in a film of her own.
Though the character of She Hulk was initially nothing more than just a cheap, female knockoff of a male character. Ultimately she has managed to carve out her own identity and become a respected icon in her own right, with many even seeing her as potentially being Marvels leading female super heroine, including Peter David a former She Hulk author who said of the character.
“She-Hulk has the potential to be our Wonder Woman. A powerful female with a strong moral center and a determination to do what’s right. She’s also a unique combination of brains and brawn. The ideal She Hulk story is one that plays on both aspects of her make up, the intelligence, combined with her strength.”
So with this in mind yes its very likely that we will see the She Hulk introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe some time soon and I can think of no one better for the role than Ingrid Oliver.
Now Ingrid for those of you who might be unfamiliar with her work is an English actress and comedienne who is best known for her double act Watson and Oliver and her performance in Doctor Who as nerdy, cosplay loving, asthmatic Doctor fan girl Osgood.
Now at first glance Osgood might seem like a weird choice for the She Hulk, but hear me out on this one. In my opinion She Hulk is one of the most difficult characters to cast.
You need to get someone who can capture both the timid shyness and meekness of Jennifer, but the confidence, strength and aggression of She Hulk too. You essentially need someone who is a nerd and a tomboy at the same time.
Its kind of like casting Superman, you need someone who can be a big geek as Clark Kent, but also a big strapping hero for Supes.
A lot of the choices I have seen for She Hulk by fans online are often only right for Jennifer or for She Hulk, but not for both. Brigitte Nielson for instance would have made a great She Hulk, but would not have been believable as the mousy Walters. Similarly other picks like Angie Harmon and Lucy Lawless I feel might not be quite as believable as the shy and retiring Jennifer as well. Then obviously there are the actresses who would look too small and timid to be the She Hulk. However Ingrid I can definitely see doing both. To start with as her role as Osgood shows she could definitely play the more mousy and nerdy Jennifer. Some versions of Jennifer look like a cartoon version of Osgood already.
As you can see Ingrid certainly would make a good Jennifer, however she would also make a great She Hulk. Ingrid as I have said many times before is a very versatile actress. There really is no type of role she can’t play. One of my favorite performances of hers is in the British comedy Peep Show where she plays a character called Natalie who is the polar opposite to Osgood. Natalie is a butch, tomboy whom everyone thinks is a Lesbian. Later however we see this isn’t the case when she forces herself on one of the main characters named Mark, played by David Mitchell and she effectively rapes him. Though it is played for laughs the episode addresses a very serious issue of how female on male rape can often be seen in a less serious way as Mark refuses to acknowledge that he was raped when he clearly was.
Quite different to Osgood I trust you’ll agree.
Ingrid as you can see could easily play a more aggressive character and she has a good build for the She Hulk she is naturally quite broad shouldered and quite tall too. If she beefed herself up a bit she would look every inch the She Hulk.
You can see what I mean about how she does have the right look for she Hulk too. I think Ingrid would really capture the vulnerability of Jennifer and the cockiness and humour of She Hulk better than anyone else, and I really hope that somebody at Marvel casts her in the role.
Last week we took a look at Xena’s archenemy Callisto. This week we will be taking a look at Azazel, the main antagonist from the first two seasons of Supernatural.
Now Azazel was based loosely on the character of the same name from the Bible, though other than his name he bears very little similarity with the character.
Azazel or Yellow eyes as he is more commonly known has only to date appeared in a handful of episodes of the series. Still despite this he has ultimately gone down as one of the shows most popular and iconic villains and has also had arguably the biggest impact of any villain in the show.
He is certainly my favorite villain from the series and in this article I will explain why I feel he worked the best out of Supernatural’s impressive rogues gallery, as well as giving a complete over view of the character.
Character Overview
Azazel first appears properly in the final episode of season 1 “Devils Trap”, where he is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan whilst possessing John Winchester.
Prior to this however Azazel had appeared in fleeting cameos throughout season 1. He nevertheless had played a very important role in the two main characters, Sam and Dean Winchesters back stories.
His presence is first felt in the Pilot episode where we see that he murdered Mary Winchester, John’s wife and Sam and Dean’s mother by pinning her to the ceiling, slicing her stomach open and burning her alive.
This caused John Winchester to discover about the Supernatural and he spent the rest of his life tracking down the thing that killed his wife, whilst also training his two sons to become Hunters too.
At the end of the Pilot, Azazel murders Jesse, Sam Winchesters fiance the same way by pinning her to the ceiling, slicing her open and burning her to death. It is later revealed however that it was in fact one of Azazel’s minions that actually killed Jess.
At this point nothing is known about the creature that killed the Winchester boys mother and Jesse, but both Sam (who was ready to forsake his life as a hunter) and Dean soon take the road in order to track it down and kill it.
It soon becomes apparent that it was a Demon of some sort, with powers far beyond those of other Demons.
The two brothers later discover that the Demon has killed many more women in exactly the same fashion it murdered Mary and Jesse, and that it is also infecting many of the women it murders children in some way, giving them strange powers, with Sam himself having been affected this way.
The two boys eventually meet up and battle a group of Vampires who have stolen a special gun called The Colt that can kill anything supernatural. With John hoping to use it against the Demon. After testing it out on the leader of the Vampires, John and his two sons go to confront Azazel and though they are able to stop him from murdering another young woman and infecting her child. Azazel escapes and his two minions capture John. Though Sam and Dean later manage to rescue John, they discover that the Demon has in fact possessed their own father and finally come face to face with the monster that murdered their mother.
The writers had spent an entire season building Azazel up as the ultimate monster, showing us the impact its had on the Winchester family, the lengths they will have to go to destroy it and how vicious it is.
Thus when he finally gets to appear properly on screen, and not just as a shadowy figure in the background, they really pull out all the stops and show us how he is able to pin Sam and Dean against the wall and completely overpower them using his mind with virtually no effort. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is also on top form here, making Azazel seem powerful, and relentlessly cruel as he takes pleasure in reminding the boys of how he killed their loved ones. I also loved it when we discovered that two of the Demons Sam and Dean slew earlier where in fact Azazel’s children. It was such a nice twist that they had now destroyed his family in their quest fro revenge. Though I also liked the way Azazel didn’t actually seem to care about either one of his kids, it was more just a “how dare you destroy MY kids” type of a thing as he merely used their deaths as a way to taunt Sam and Dean.
“How would you like it if I killed your family. Oh that’s right (smiles) I forgot I did“.
This could very well be Morgans best performance in the series as we see him brilliantly switch from Yellow Eyes almost laughing as he sadistically tortures a helpless Dean, to John crying and begging Azazel to stop and give him back his body.
Most disturbing of all though is the way that Morgan plays Azazel as almost taking a sexual pleasure whilst torturing Sam and Dean in the body of their father!
Though Azazel does almost torture Dean to death, John is able to regain control of his body before the monster can finish the job. Though John begs Sam to shoot him before the Demon can escape him and end it now, ultimately Sam cannot and Yellow Eyes manages to flee.
At the end of season 1 he then sends a Demon lackey to attack them on the road. Season 1 ends with a cliffhanger as Sam, Dean and John are all badly wounded and at the mercy of a Demon.
In the season 2 premier “In My Time of Dying” we discover that Sam and John survived, but Dean still weak after Azazel’s torture of him is now mortally wounded. Knowing his son is going to die John summons Azazel and makes a deal with him.
He will trade him the Colt the only thing that can kill him in exchange for Deans life. Azazel agrees, but only on the condition that John give up not only his life, but his soul to Azazel. John with no other choice agrees, and thus whilst Dean is saved (with Azazel even possessing the Reaper that has come to take Deans soul away, played by Lindsey McKeaon who also briefly plays Azazel) John dies soon after and his soul is taken to hell by Azazel where he endures torture.
In this episode Azazel is played by Frederic Lehne. Now Lehne has gone on to be the actor most associated with the role and its not hard to see why. Morgan was good as Yellow Eyes, but it would be hard to find a villain more unnerving than Lehne as the Demon.
Much like Morgan, Lehne adds a somewhat Jack Nicholson quality to the characters mannerisms and speech. Still Lehne plays him in a much more sinister and manipulative fashion as we see the villain enjoy getting under the skin of John in their brief confrontation.
Originally Lehne was only supposed to play the villain in this one episode, but the producers were so impressed with his performance that they asked him back for Azazels next appearance in the two part season 2 finale, “All Hell Breaks Loose”.
In this story Azazel whisks all of the children he has been infecting with his blood away (including Sam) to a remote area and forces them to fight to the death to determine who is the strongest.
Azazel favours Sam and even appears to him in a dream to give him advice. This moment showed a new twisted side to Azazel that he favoured Sam the most out of all of his Special Children simply because he was the kindest. If Azazel could twist his mind and bring him down to his level then he feels he would have truly won. Ultimately when another one of the Special Children named Jake wins and murders Sam, Azazel is almost disappointed and later is ecstatic when Dean brings Sam back through another deal with a Demon like his father did for him. Most horrifying of all is when Sam murders Jake in cold blood even when Jake begs him for mercy and Azazel cheers him on, almost showing a kind of fatherly love.
Ultimately Azazel is hoist by his own petard as he uses the Colt to open the Devils Gate, a portal to Hell. Azazel’s plan was apparently to free an army of Demons and then have one of his special Children lead them to overrun the earth. However unfortunately for Azazel John Winchesters soul also escapes from hell (after having endured a hundred years worth of torture, with time moving a lot faster in Hell) and attacks Azazel allowing Dean enough time to grab the Colt and use it to shoot Azazel right in the heart killing the Demon once and for all.
We also discovered earlier in this story how Azazel infected Sam and the other special children, by pouring his blood into their mouths when they were infants and we also see that he apparently knew Mary Winchester before he killed her, but the details of this are not known about until much later.
It wouldn’t be until after Azazel’s death that we learned his actual name. Throughout his time on the show he was always referred to as “The Yellow Eyed Demon”, “Yellow Eyes” or even just simply “The Demon”.
Post Death Appearances
Though Azazel had been finally destroyed, this would not be the last we would see of him.
In the season 4 episode “In the Beginning” Dean Winchester is sent backwards in time to the 1970’s. Here he meets his mum and dad when they were younger and discovers that his mother was in fact a hunter. Together Dean, Mary and Samuel, Dean’s grandfather soon battle Azazel who is revealed to be making deals with people. Dean tries to find the Colt, hoping he can use it to kill Azazel now and thus change time.
However unfortunately Azazel soon possess Samuel Campbell and overpowers Dean. Azazel tells Dean that he is making deals with people so that he can enter their house in ten years for some unspecified purpose. With Dean knowing its so that he can infect their children with his blood and make them into his special children. Azazel also lets it be known to Dean that his endgame is much bigger than simply having one of his Special Children command his “bargain basement” Demon army. Dean gloats to Azazel that he will one day kill him, and Azazel enraged over this murders Samuel and and later goes on to kill John. He does so so that he can make a deal with Mary to enter her house in ten years in exchange for John’s life, which explains how Mary knows him when she spots him years later standing over Sam’s crib. With no other choice Mary agrees to the deal and Azazel escapes before Dean can shoot him with the Colt.
Azazel goes on to appear in the 4th season finale “Lucifer Rising” where we see him posses a priest and slaughter several nuns in order to contact his “father” Lucifer.
Finally Azazel goes on to appear once more as a hallucination in the first episode of season 6 “Exile on Main St”. Here Frederic Lehne reprises his role as the Demon.
Azazels Legacy on The Series
Azazel’s endgame was ultimately revealed to be releasing Satan himself. Satan had been imprisoned many thousands of years ago, and the only thing that could free him was breaking 66 of the seals that were binding him to his prison. Azazel created the special children not lead his Demon army but to kill Lilith the first Demon Lucifer had created. Lilith’s death was the final seal that had to be broken in order to release Lucifer from his prison. The final special child who killed Lilith and set Lucifer free would also at the same time serve as Lucifers host and allow him to reach his full power and ultimately overrun the earth.
At the same time Azazel also needed to break the first seal too. The first seal could only be broken when a righteous man was sent to hell and tortured other souls in there. Azazel had originally hoped it would be John Winchester. Every day when John was tortured by the Demon Alistair he was given the option to have his torture stopped as long as he tortured others, which would break the first seal. John however refused for over 100 years and eventually escaped. However when Dean’s soul is taken to hell after he makes a deal to ensure Sam’s resurrection, Dean cracked after 30 years and ended up torturing other souls before being freed from hell, which broke the first seal.
Thus Azazel’s actions ultimately allowed Satan to get free.
Azazel’s impact on the show therefore is felt many years after his death. For years no one not the Winchesters, not even the viewers were exactly sure what his end game was.
However in quite a nice twist it is later revealed that Lucifer wants to simply rule the earth and that he hates Demons just as much if not more so than human beings, having only created Demons as a means to an end. Lucifer intends to wipe them out as soon as he has gained control of the earth.
Thus whilst Azazel may have been a master manipulator he himself was being tricked by his own father and had his plan worked it would have meant the end of his kind.
Lucifer hates Demons so much that he later allows Sam to torture the Demons that helped Azazel manipulate his entire life. One can only imagine what Sam would have done to Azazel had he lived to that point. In this respect Azazel was rather lucky that Dean killed him many years earlier.
Why I Prefer Azazel To Supernatural’s Other Main Villains
Now I think that Supernatural has one of the best rogues galleries of any series. I have enjoyed all of its main villains to some extent, but I still feel than none of them have been quite as effective as Azazel for a number of reasons.
To start with I don’t feel any of them had quite the same personal connection with the Winchester boys as Azazel did.
Azazel had murdered their mother, and later Sam’s fiance. Their whole reason for being hunters in the first place was to destroy Azazel, thus naturally his encounters with them seemed more tense for me at least. You really wanted the Winchesters to get him and make him pay. It wasn’t just like later villains who were the big bad of the year or two years.
Also Azazel I don’t think was quite as overused as some of the later villains have been. He only appeared in a handful of episodes. Unlike Dick Roman, Crowley or Lucifer who popped up fairly regularly, Azazel was used sparingly which meant his effectiveness wasn’t limited in my opinion.
Finally I also feel that Azazels plan was the most interesting. You genuinely didn’t know what he was planning for 5 years, three of which were after his death, but surprisingly for such a long story arc it all fitted together rather well and made perfect sense.
However having said all of that I am glad that they killed off Azazel after two years. As good as he was, they couldn’t have dragged out the Winchesters hunting him down for 2 years plot, so whilst I still feel that he was the most effective main villain of the series I also think they finished his story at about the right time.
Now this might seem like a bit of bizarre claim. When I say that Futurama inspired Doctor Who I am talking about the revival, and even then I am really only talking about the Russell T Davies era. I think a lot of the humor in Davies’ time owes something to Futurama. This is not to say that Davies humor was not unique, but I think Futurama, which Davies is a self confessed fan of helped to shape a lot of the comedy in those early Davies stories.
At the same time however it is worth noting that the original Doctor Who series was a big influence on Futurama too. Futurama has even paid homage to Doctor Who (as you can see above) many times. In this article we will be examining the relationship between both genre classics and ultimately what they owe one another.
Futurama’s Influence on Doctor Who
Futurama’s influence on Who can only really be found in the Davies era.
When Russell T Davies took over the show in 2005 he started to inject a lot more overt comedy into the show than ever before.
He had stories with burping wheely bins, farting aliens, women being turned into slabs of concrete, cursing aliens, game shows thousands of years in the future and modern day pop music being looked on as classical music in the future.
Many longstanding Who fans criticized Russell harshly for this with some critics accusing Russell of making the show into a parody of itself.
I myself tend to lean towards this way of thinking. Whilst I do love the Davies era overall, the humor in it is a bit too much for me at times. I don’t think overt comedy ever works in Doctor Who because it is such a larger than life idea.
The idea of a man travelling through time and space is a pretty wild concept, so in order to stop it from seeming like something like Futurama it has to be taken as seriously as possible.
This was also why I had a problem with Douglas Adams tenure as script editor and Adams himself later acknowledged that he regretted the level of comedy that was being injected into the series during his time.
Due to the fact that Futurama was one of the most prominent sci fi comedies of all time it would make sense that Davies would look to it for influence.
I think Russell actually took inspiration from Futurama more than other sci fi comedy classics like Red Dwarf and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
The stories of Davies’ run that are most like Futurama to me are the three year five billion episodes. “The End of the World”, “New Earth” and “Gridlock”. The future that we see in those episodes is actually very similar to the one from Futurama.
Both are more comical with the advances in technology being presented more as witty jokes. Other science fiction stories often present advances in technology as warnings such as in Terminator with Skynet or in Classic Who itself with the Cybermen or they present them as being inspirational like the original Star Trek series.
Both the year five billion Doctor Who stories and Futurama however instead present them as jokes and don’t even attempt to ground them in any kind of scientific plausibility. Though the Cybermen are complete fiction they are not quite as out there as someone making the speed of light go faster, casually reshaping the continents, or bringing the dead back to life and keeping their heads in jars and feeding them fish food.
Both also attempt to present the future as essentially being the same as today in terms of a lot of attitudes and problems. Even with all of the advancements in technology, Zapp Brannigan still has the same sexist attitudes of misogynists today as do other characters throughout the series such as Fnog and Professor Farnsworth, whilst Thomas Kincade Brannigan still has old fashioned attitudes towards a homosexual couple in “Gridlock”. Thomas Kincade’s surname is most likely an homage to the Futurama character too.
One Futurama comic book “Who’s dying to be a Gazzilionaire ” even features a futuristic version of a modern game show now controlled by aliens with the losers being disintegrated just like in “Bad Wolf”.
Both Futurama and the last year five billion story of Davies era are set in a future version of New York, which in both cases is called New, New York.
There are a number of similar jokes from Futurama littered throughout the year five billion stories. These include the idea of modern day pop music being thought of as classical music in the future, and also the idea of human waste being recycled as food. In both cases we have someone from the present, Martha Jones and Philip J Fry learn this whilst eating a sandwich much to their horror.
Even visually Davies year five billion looks like the future from Futurama, full of hover cars, animal people and heads in jars.
The idea of animal people is a common trope in science fiction but both Doctor Who and Futurama present it in an absurdly comical way, even dressing their animal people from the future in contemporary clothing to almost highlight how ridiculous they look.
The Futurama parallels don’t stop with the year five billion stories however.
The Doctor Who 2007 Christmas special “Voyage of the Damned” revolves around the idea of the Titanic in Space which is exactly the same premise as the earlier Futurama episode “A Flight to Remember”.
Both stories essentially remake James Cameron’s blockbuster in space, having the main characters in both instances become involved in a tragic love story with someone on board the vessel who doesn’t survive the catastrophe.
Whilst I would never say that Futurama was one of Doctor Who’s main influences, overall I think its fair to say that a lot of the humour in Davies’ time comes from Futurama and certainly the year five billion in Doctor Who is essentially like a live action version of the future in Futurama.
Doctor Who’s Influence on Futurama
Matt Groening the creator of Futurama is a huge Doctor Who fan. He has included a number of references to it in his other classic series The Simpsons.
Groening’s favourite Doctor is the 4th Doctor played by Tom Baker has appeared a number of times in both Futurama and the Simpsons.
However Who’s impact on Futurama goes bigger than a few references. The character of Leela from Futurama is both named after and largely based on Leela from Doctor Who. Neil Gaiman has conformed that Doctor Who’s Leela inspired Futurama’s.
Both Leela’s are strong, amazonian type of women who completely reverse the idea of the female characters in science fiction being weak and are actually far more powerful and violent than any of the male characters they come into contact with.
A Futurama comic titled “Doctor What” is a complete parody of Doctor Who. It features parodies of the TARDIS, Daleks and K9.
Panels from Doctor What issue of Futurama.
Its quite funny in a way that Doctor Who inspired Futurama and then Futurama inspired Doctor Who. It shows how Doctor Who is unique in terms of the fact that it practically does go on forever. It can inspire something, but then because it will go on long after that has finished, the next version of Doctor Who after that can ironically take a certain amount of inspiration from it.
Now this comparison is a bit more vague. British Horror is quite a vague term. The period of British horror movies that I am really referring to is what many see as a golden age of the genre, the 50’s-70’s which saw Hammer studios emerge and really dominate the market just like Universal had done in the 30’s and 40’s and also where the likes of Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and American actor Vincent Price (who appeared in many classic British horror movies) took over as the leading actors of the genre.
The period of Doctor Who that really draws on “British Horror” the most is the Hinchcliff, Holmes era, which is in turn often seen as a golden age of Doctor Who.
There are also many other strong connections between the golden age of Doctor Who and classic British horror movies which we will explore in this article.
Examples of British Horror Movies Influence on Doctor Who
Many Doctor Who stories have their roots in old Hammer movies.
The first such example was the third Doctor story “The Daemons”. It took inspiration from many hammer films such as “The Devil Rides Out” and “The Witches” in terms of its setting and also its subject matter, Witches, black magic, devil worship and satanic cults in small isolated communities.
However it would really be during the Holmes, Hinchcliff era that Doctor Who began to draw on Horror movies in particular. Indeed horror movies really replaced the spy espionage genre from the Third Doctors era as Doctor Who’s main influence for the beginning of the Fourth Doctors era.
The Holmes and Hinchcliff era is often noted for its gothic and darker tone. Both Holmes and Hinchcliff were big horror movie fans, so its not surprising that elements and tropes from classic horror stories crept their way into their stories.
The Brain of Morbius is the most obvious example of this. The Brain of Morbius as many have pointed out is essentially “Frankenstein in Space”. Whilst there have been many versions of Frankenstein on film and television and stage. Its definitely the Hammer version that The Brain of Morbius takes the most from.
This can be seen in the way its stand in for Professor Frankenstein, Professor Solon played by Philip Madoc is portrayed.as a ruthless, determined character who is willing to murder for the success of his experiments. This is closer to Peter Cushing’s performance from the Hammer movies than any other version of the character.
In the original novel professor Frankenstein was a more sympathetic character and in the original Universal movie starring Boris Karloff where Henry Frankenstein was played by Colin Clive he was even somewhat of a heroic character who genuinely felt guilt for his monsters heinous actions. Peter Cushing’s Professor Frankenstein meanwhile is the villain of the piece. He is willing to murder innocent people including even a pregnant woman who is bearing his child for the sake of his experiments, Much like Solon there is no line he will not cross.
Solon is thus essentially Peter Cushing’s Victor Frankenstein in space.
Another similarity between the Hammer Frankenstein films and Brain of Morbius is that Morbius focuses more on the professor than the monster. The monster doesn’t appear properly until the final episode. This was a trait of the hammer Frankenstein film series which helped them stand out from the original Universal Frankenstein films that had focused largely on the monster instead.
Philip Hinchcliff had in fact originally hoped to cast Peter Cushing in the role of Professor Solon which would have literally made him Hammer’s Frankenstein in space. Cushing was very interested in appearing, but sadly he was busy and thus Madoc was cast instead. Even though Cushing is one of my fave actors I don’t honestly see how anyone could have done a better job than Madoc in the role of Solon, still its quite a fun what if for fans to ponder over.
Pyramids of Mars was also closely inspired by a number of Hammer Mummy films too, with Robert Holmes having cited them as inspiration when writing the story.
The Talons of Weng Chiang meanwhile also borrows many aspects from Hammer horror movies, such as its Victorian Gothic setting and its main villain who is a deformed and bitter genius, both staples of many Hammer horrors. Talons has been compared with the old Hammer horror classics by many critics. Lawrence Mills and Tatt Wood described the story as “Doctor Who does Victorian Hammer horror” though they also stated, “in all honesty no single Hammer film is as accomplished as this.” Overall I think that the Hammer movie that Talons draws the most from would be Hammers version of The Phantom of the Opera starring Herbert Lom, with Magnus Creel in some ways being a stand in for Lom’s Phantom.
The Deadly Assassin also meanwhile draws very heavily from old British horror movies too. Once again there is Hammers version of The Phantom of the Opera rather obvious influence, with the Master now being a deformed, vengeful and scarred sociopath rather than the charming and elegant villain from the Pertwee era.
The deformed Master or the crispy Master as fandom has come to refer to him as has shades of many similar deformed, bitter, hateful villains from British horror movies. His flamboyant and over the top nature make him somewhat similar to Dr Phibes a character played by Vincent Price in two British horror movies. His cowardly desire to live above all else is also similar to the character of Dr Georges Bonnet from the Hammer film The Man Who Could Cheat Death. Bonnet who is played by Anton Differing (who later guest starred in Doctor Who in the story Silver Nemesis) murders young women in order to get their parathyroid glands to use in his experiments to remain young forever. At the end of the movie when his experiments fail he ends up as deformed freak. Bonnet is also somewhat similar to Magnus Creel the main antagonist from Talons who similarly murders young women to keep himself alive.
Many of the Hinchcliff/Holmes era stories borrowed elements from horror movies even when their stories weren’t directly inspired by them. Mad scientists, haunted houses, spooky gothic castles, were during the Hinchcliff Holmes era as much a staple of Doctor Who as they were of British horror movies themselves.
Doctor Who’s Connection With Classic British Horror Movies
The Doctor being tortured by Count Dooku. How’s that for a crossover.
Many actors from Doctor Who appeared in Hammer Horror movies. Indeed I could probably make a whole seperate article that was just a list of Hammer actors who have appeared in Doctor Who.
Instead I will just list the most prominent connections.
Patirck Troughton who played the Second Doctor appeared in a number of Hammer Horror films. His most prominent role was as Dracula’s servant Klove in the movie The Scars of Dracula. Troughton apparently considered this to be one of his favorite roles and even had a picture of him being tortured by Christopher Lee’s Dracula hung on his bathroom wall! He also joked that his character Klove actually enjoyed being whipped by Dracula and referred to him as “Kinky Klove”.
Also just as Doctor Who borrowed some elements from Hammer Horror so did some later Hammer movies take inspiration from Doctor Who.
The Hammer movie The Satanic Rites of Dracula is essentially a Third Doctor story. It features Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing who is an eccentric, maverick professor (that also serves as a special advisor on the paranormal to the government) battle his archenemy Dracula played Christopher Lee who is a psychopath that dresses in black, has hypnotic powers and seeks to destroy the world. Van Helsing is also assisted by a young dashing, Mike Yates, Benton stand in, and his young and brainy female assistant played by a young Joanna Lumley.
Christopher Lee at one point even says “I am the Master”
Christopher Lee as The Master battles Doctor Van Helsing.
The Satanic Rites of Dracula was actually written by Don Houghton who wrote two Doctor Who stories Inferno and The Mind of Evil.
The largest connection between Hammer and Doctor Who however is the fact that Peter Cushing played the Doctor in two films “Doctor Who and the Daleks” and “Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD”. These films are set outside of main Who canon, with Cushings character being an eccentric human scientist who has Who as his surname.
The films were almost made canon in a way by Steven Moffat for the 50th anniversary. Moffat intended to have scene where a poster for the movies would be seen briefly, supporting the fan theory that the Cushing movies within the Doctor Who universe were made by either Ian or Barbara based on their adventures and starring Peter Cushing.
Peter Cushing was not a fan of Doctor Who, but he did respect the series immensly. He was in fact one of their choices for the second Doctor, but turned it down as he didn’t want to get tied down to one series, though he later mentioned that he regretted this decision.
Here are some quotes from Cushing about Doctor Who.
On the way it changed his image as a horror movie villain.
“I had played Winston Smith in ‘1984’ on television, and the next thing I played ‘Doctor Who’. I was doing it in the cinema while Bill Hartnell was doing it on TV! That’s the way it goes. It was no surprise to me to learn that the first ‘Doctor Who’ film was in the top twenty box office hits of 1965, despite the panning the critics gave us. That’s why they made the sequel and why they spent twice as much money on it. Those films are among my favourites because they brought me popularity with younger children. They’d say their parents didn’t want to meet me in a dark alley but ‘Doctor Who’ changed that. After all, he is one of the most heroic and successful parts an actor can play. That’s one of the main reasons the series had such a long run on TV. I am very grateful for having been part of such a success story.”
Here’s a full interview he took during Tom Bakers era where he discusses how he was almost the Second Doctor, his almost landing a role in The Brain of Morbius and whether or not he considered the films canon to the tv series.
Q: What do you remember of the two ‘Dr. Who’ movies you made?
A: They were very enjoyable. A little frustrating, though, because they were not quite what we planned.
Q: What do you mean by that?
A: I think I speak for everyone involved when I say that we intended to make them a little darker. But they turned out well, very good entertainments and a hit with the children.
Q: How close did you come to making a third?
A: Very close. I thought we would, and possibly a fourth. Sadly it didn’t come to pass.
Q: Were you a fan of the TV series?
A: I thought it was very good. Very well made. But I didn’t watch TV then, and I don’t much now.
Q: The character you played in those two films was very different from the character on the TV show. Were those films a complete remake?
A: Well I’ll tell you something I thought once. I just said I didn’t watch TV, but one of the few episodes of the ‘Dr. Who’ series that I saw was one that involved a kind of mystical clown (‘The Celestial Toymaker’? – ed.), and I realised that perhaps he kidnapped Dr Who and wiped his memory and made him relive some of his earlier adventures. When Bill Hartnell turned into Patrick Troughton, and changed his appearance, that idea seemed more likely. I think that’s what happened, so I think those films we did fit perfectly well into the TV series. That would not have been the case had I taken the role in the TV series.
Q: Were you ever asked?
A: Twice, as it happens. When Bill Hartnell was forced to quit, I was asked if I would be interested in taking the lead in the new series. I turned it down, which I now regret a little. It would have been fun. But at the time, you know, I considered myself a serious film actor and stepping into a television series seemed like a step backwards. I don’t know how serious the producers were about hiring me. But perhaps if I’d said yes, they would have been pleased and you would have had me fighting Daleks and Cybermen week in, week out. But I’m glad I didn’t in some ways, because Patrick was so wonderful.
Q: You said you were asked back twice.
A: Yes, another time was quite recently, with Tom Baker’s Dr. Who. I don’t know the part, but they wanted me and I was interested by scheduling conflicts scuppered it. But perhaps in the future I’ll be able to take a part. I’d be very keen on that.
Peter Cushing as I’m sure most film enthusiasts will know was one of horrors greatest stars having appeared in many Hammer horror films including most notably their Dracula and Frankenstein film series where he played Professor Victor Frankenstein and Professor Van Helsing.
A different Doctor Who kills Count Dooku.
Overall as you can see there are quite a few connections between Doctor Who and old classic British horror movies. Though classic British Horror films like Dr Phibes and the Hammer films only really inspired one era of Doctor Who, the fact that is was such a prominent era. One that is still seen even today as the golden age of the shows history means that their influence on the programme I think should always be mentioned.
In this article we will only be looking at the revival as the original Doctor Who series finished 7 years before Xena started. It was also about as different a show as can be imagined to Xena anyway.
Russell T Davies has regularly cited Xena along with other American sci fi and fantasy series such as Charmed, Smallville and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin off Angel as being among his greatest influences for his take on Doctor Who.
Russell wanted the revival of Doctor Who to be as popular as possible right away, hence why he kept direct references to the original series to a minimum so as not to alienate new viewers, included references to popular culture, and modelled the show overall very much on American genre series which had come to completely dominate the market in Doctor Who’s almost twenty year absence from our screens.
Doctor Who during Davies’ time came to embody all of the tropes of late 90s, early 00s American genre series. We had the Doctor become more of a pop culture obsessed, angsty, tragic hero, we had the good guys talking in “Buffy speak” including even the Doctor himself “Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey” and the bad guys talking in big grandiose, pompous, flowery speeches “I reached into the dirt and created new life I AM THE GOD OF DALEK KIND.” We had story arcs, big bads, the heroes one true love they never stop going on or angsting about even when they are not there (Rose, Buffy or Angel, Lana, Gabrielle) we had the person who loves the hero, but the hero doesn’t love back and who angsts about that for a while before becoming their best friend who arguably does the most for them, even more than their one true love (Martha Jones, Chloe Sullivan, Xander Harris) and we had the crazed villain whom the hero feels a certain sense of guilt over and tries to help rather than outright kill (the Master, Callisto, Faith, Lex Luthor).
Of all of these American series Buffy and Angel unquestionably had the biggest impact on New Who. Indeed Buffy’s influence on Who would extend even into the Steven Moffat era, with many having drawn comparisons between the Silence and the Gentleman from Buffy.
However still one should not underestimate Xena’s influence on the revived series and in this article I am going to examine the similarities between both series.
Xena’s Influence on Doctor Who
The strongest comparison between both shows are the similarities between the central characters of the Doctor and Xena.
The Doctor during Davies’s time was an angst ridden character who had done horrible things to innocent people in the past. He had killed billions of innocent men, women and children in the time war and was now in some ways trying to atone for this atrocity, though there were moments where he very nearly gave into his dark side again such as in his dealings with the Daleks.
However the Doctor is able to hold his dark side back with the aid of a young blonde woman named Rose who starts out travelling with him because she is bored of her life at home. The two develop a close relationship and eventually fall in love though their love is not usually outright stated apart from a few crucial moments.
There are moments where the two have huge fights, such as when Rose gets shocked at his ruthless actions, or when she lies to and betrays the Doctor for the sake of her family in “Fathers Day”.
Xena meanwhile is similarly an angst ridden character who has done horrible things in her past. She slaughtered hundreds of innocent people in her wars and and is now seeking redemption for her past sins. There are moments however where she very nearly gives into her dark urges. However she soon meets a young blonde woman Gabrielle who travels with her because she is bored of life back home with her family. The two develop a close relationship and fall in love though their love is usually only hinted at.
There are moments when they come to blows. Gabrielle is appalled at some of Xena’s more ruthless actions such as in “The Debt” where Xena plans to commit an act of cold blooded murder. At the same time Gabrielle’s betrays Xena and her trust in order to protect her family, her daughter Hope.
Now it is true that the Doctor and Rose did owe something to Buffy and Angel and the Ninth Doctor definitely owed a lot to Angel too. Ultimately however I find Xena and Gabrielle to have been the bigger influence on their relationship.
The Doctor and Rose and Xena and Gabrielle are both about how two people can make the other person better in a relationship. Xena and the Doctor are made better people by Rose and Gabrielle who hold back their darker sides, whilst Rose and Gabrielle are made better people by Xena and the Doctor, as it is Xena and the Doctor who rescue them from their life of mediocrity and allow them to reach their full potential.
Buffy and Angel do not have this same kind of dynamic. Whilst Buffy does put Angel on the path to redemption to some extent, she also is the one who lets his dark side out. Also Neither Buffy or Angel where living boring or dull lives either like Gabrielle and Rose.
Another example of Xena’s influence on Davies’ Who was in the character of The Master who bore many similarities to Callisto Xena’s archfoe.
The Master as a character debuted many decades before Callisto, but the classic series version of the Master was a very different character from the version we saw in Russell T Davies’ era.
He was a cold, manipulative, sly, cunning genius who enjoyed manipulating people. He was a megalomaniac, but not a complete psychopath. He usually other than a few instances did not kill at random. Only if he felt he had to (which was often a lot) or for revenge. He and the Doctor did respect one another, but there was certainly no gay subtext involved. Indeed the idea was always that they were brothers anyway.
The two Time Lords hated one another and tried to kill each other all of the time.
However the Master in the Russell T Davies era was a complete and total lunatic. He killed people for no reason other than his own amusement, he was a manic character overall and the Doctor now looked on him with pity and rather than try and kill him like the Third Doctor, he tried to help him. There is also a very strong gay subtext between the two characters, with the brother angle having been completely written out by Russell T Davies.
The Davies era Master played by John Simm was inspired by many characters. In my review of him I wrote that he was really a pastiche of crazy, psychotic villains such as the Joker, Hannibal Lecter, John Hurts Calligula from I Claudius and yes Callisto too.
Callisto and Xena have the same type of dynamic as The Doctor and the Master. Xena refuses to kill Callisto for years as she feels sorry for her and tries to help her, even when many people including Xena’s friends want her to finish Callisto. Even when Xena does finally kill her in “Return of Callisto” she doesn’t actually as she still can’t bring herself to, so she simply does not save her. The Doctor meanwhile as we know doesn’t kill the Master in Davies time even when the people around him including his friends such as Jack and Martha want him to.
Both Xena and the Doctor don’t want to kill Callisto and The Master as it would make their guilt over their past sins worse. The Doctor seemingly killed all of his kind, but now one of them has survived and he wants to help him. If he can only just convince the Master to change his ways then it will ease some of the guilt over the rest of his people’s deaths. If he does kill the Master then he will be just finishing what he started in the Time War. Similarly Xena cannot kill Callisto as she murdered her family and drove her insane as a result. Thus if she kills Callisto now she too will be merely finishing the evil act she committed years ago when she murdered her family.
Despite being their bitterest enemies both Callisto and The Master have an emotional hold over the Doctor and Xena unlike any other.
The Master and Callisto also were both driven insane by an horrific tragedy that happened many years ago when they were children. In the Masters case he was driven mad when forced to stare into the untempered schism. Since that day he heard a constant drum beat in his head that pushed him over the edge and turned him into a monster. In Callisto’s case it was watching her family burn to death.
In both cases we are left to wonder what would have happened had it not been for this one tragic event in their childhood. What would The Master and Callisto have been? Would the Master have been like the Doctor a heroic renegade Time Lord? Would Callisto have been sweet and innocent like Gabrielle? At the end of their story arcs we do see that there is some good in them after all, as Callisto becomes an Angel and ultimately saves Xena and Gabrielle’s souls whilst The Master at the end of Davies’ time sacrifices himself to save The Doctor.
Both The Master and Callisto even utter the line “You Made Me” to the people whom they blame for sending them down their dark path. In Callisto’s case to Xena who burned her family, in The Masters to Rassilon who implanted the drumming in his head.
Finally both Callisto and the Master also have the same twisted sexual obsession with the main hero. Both flirt with the main hero, blow kisses at them and even demonstrate a degree of sexual sadism with the main hero, with both the Master and Callisto even strapping their mortal foes in bondage gear at one point.
The finale example of Xena’s influence on the Doctor Who franchise can be seen in the character of Captain Jack Harkness. Captain Jack much like Xena herself was a somewhat darker character who was redeemed by the main hero from another series. In Jacks case the Doctor’s influence turned him from a coward to a hero, whilst in Xena’s, Hercules had turned her from being a brutal warlord to a hero. Both Xena and Jack also had romantic feelings for said hero too.
Ultimately both go on to star in their own much darker spin off series where their dark past is explored in more detail. Xena and Jack are also both LGBT icons too who embark on same sex relationships and heterosexual relationships on their own series, though their most prominent are homosexual relationships, Jack with Ianto, Xena with Gabrielle. Jack’s relationship with his brother John Grey is also similar to Xena’s with Callisto too. John Grey was left at the mercy of aliens by Jack when they were young. The aliens subsequently tortured Grey for decades driving him completely insane. Grey returns at the end of season 2 of Torchwood and blames Jack for ruining his life and seeks revenge on him. Just as with Xena and Callisto Jack can’t kill Grey as he feels guilt for how he has turned out.
Whilst Jack had other influences such as the vampire Angel, ultimately I think Xena was also a main influence on Jack too.
I am not the only one to notice the similarities between Jack and Xena. Polina Skibinskaya a writer for AfterEllen.com noted the characters both having a dark past that still haunted them. She also referred to Jack and Xena as a “queer basher’s” worst nightmare as both are “weapon wielding, ass kicking” superheroes in contrast to the normally effeminate homosexual characters on television.
Creators of Xena’s Opinion of Doctor Who
Fortunately unlike Nigel Kneale the makers of Xena were big Doctor Who fans, including the shows creator Rob Tapert. One episode of Xena even paid homage to the classic series of Doctor Who, “Between the Lines”. This episode sees Xena sent through time and the effect for it is based on the opening credits for Doctor Who during the Tom Baker era.
Many have also drawn a comparison between Xena and Leela the 4th Doctors companion. Though I have never read that Leela was an inspiration on Xena however.
Lucy Lawless who played Xena is herself a life long Doctor Who fan. Apparently she grew up with the show. New Zealand was always one of the places that the show was most popular outside of the UK. Her son is also a big Doctor Who fan and she even got him Matt Smith’s (see picture above) autograph.
Join me tomorrow when I will be looking at how British Horror movies influenced the adventures of the Time Lord.
Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes fandoms have seen quite a lot of over lap in recent years thanks to one man, Steven Moffat.
Steven Moffat who was already one of the most popular Doctor Who writers took over as showrunner in 2010. During his time the show was restored to its former status as a global sensation. At the same time Moffat has also produced a modern day version of Sherlock Holmes. Called simply “Sherlock”. “Sherlock” has proven to be a massive success critically and commercially around the world.
Indeed both Doctor Who and Sherlock are arguably among the two most popular British scripted television series around the world right now.
However the two franchises have been quite closely linked with one another for many years prior, and long before the days of “Wholock” there were a number of comparisons that were drawn between the characters of the Doctor and Sherlock Holmes. Even the makers of Doctor Who including Barry Letts and Robert Holmes often compared the Time Lord to the Great Detective. In this article we will be looking at the many similarities between the two British icons as we examine Sherlock Holmes’s influence on Doctor Who overall.
Sherlock Holmes Influence on Doctor Who
The character of the Doctor was always very similar to Sherlock Holmes in some ways. The two were old fashioned, somewhat gentlemanly heroes who were very British. Even though the Doctor is an alien he still fits that mould.
Both are also heroes who use their mind to solve their problems and both the Doctor and Holmes are also somewhat difficult to live with. They are arrogant, have no social skills and can be quite rude and even condescending to their friends.
The Doctors relationship with his companions was often comparable to Holmes with Watson. Both Watson and the Doctors companions look on the Doctor and Holmes in awe due to their intellect, but also in some ways cut them down to size and keep them on their toes too.
Both the Doctor and Holmes are also asexual too. In contrast to heroes like James T Kirk and James Bond or even supposedly loner heroes like Batman who still always have to have a love interest of some kind, Catwoman, Vicki Vale, Poison Ivy etc, the Doctor and Holmes (at least the Doctor during the classic era) have no romantic relationships at all.
Whilst these parallels between the two characters could always be found way back to the Hartnell era, it was really during Jon Pertwee’s time when Sherlock Holmes began to have a strong influence on Doctor.
The Doctors new archenemy introduced in the Pertwee era, The Master, was based entirely on Professor Moriarty, Holmes nemesis.
Barry Letts the producer of the show during the Pertwee era said that what the Doctor really needed was a Moriarty, a rival who was his equal in every respect. Letts said that he himself felt the Doctor was essentially the same type of character as Sherlock Holmes, and that the Brigadier, a regular at that point was his Watson.
You can see how Delgado’s Master is very much modelled on Moriarty in every respect, from his status as the heroes dark twin and mastermind behind his lesser enemies to Delgado’s calm, restrained and charming performance.
Other actors and writers would continue with the Moriarty angel on the Masters character. The Doctor and the Masters confrontation in “Logopolis” the 4th Doctors last story was very closely inspired by Holmes and Moriarty’s final confrontation above the Reichenbach falls in “The Finale Problem”.
Just like Holmes and Moriarty, The 4th Doctor and the Master battle atop a high place which ends with one of them falling to their apparent deaths. It should also be noted that this was the final appearance of the 4th Doctor whilst “The Final Problem” was intended to be the final appearance of Sherlock Holmes. Both final battles see the hero grappling with their arch foe above a huge drop, and though both apparently fall to their deaths, they ultimately manage to survive. In the Doctors case however the 4th Doctor does actually die, but the character overall survives.
Another prominent example of Sherlock Holmes influence on Doctor Who can be seen in the 4th Doctor story “The Talons of Weng Chiang” which draws on many Holmes stories overall and even goes to the extent of dressing the Doctor in a Sherlock Holmes outfit.
Robert Holmes who wrote the adventure strangely enough was not a fan of Sherlock Holmes, but said he found the setting of the stories in Victorian London interesting which is why he gave Talons a similar setting.
“I’m not a fan of Sherlock Holmes, although I’ve read all the books, but I am a fan of that fictitious Victorian period, with fog, gas lamps, hansom crabs and music halls… We look back on it and say that’s what it was like, but of course it wasn’t. People were slaving in dark, satanic mills and starving in London gutters.”
– Robert Holmes on his interest in Victorian London
It is ironic that Robert Holmes the author from the classic Who that drew the most obvious comparisons between the Doctor and the great Detective didn’t even like Sherlock Holmes at all!
When Steven Moffat took over Doctor Who as its showrunner not surprisingly the comparisons as well as the tributes and nods to Sherlock Holmes became a lot stronger than ever before.
“The Wedding of River Song” much like “Logopolis” draws very heavily on “The Final Problem” in fact arguably even more so. “The Wedding of River Song” sees the Doctor face his greatest challenge yet. His impending death that is a fixed point from which there is no escape, that has been orchestrated by an old enemy. The Doctor much like Holmes in the final problem must face his death for the good of everyone else. Lake Silenco is the Doctors Reichenbach Falls.
However the Doctor much like Sherlock Holmes is able to escape this certain death and allows everyone even those closest to him to continue to believe he did actually die for a long while afterwards
Another story that would have drawn on “The Final Problem” was the much earlier “Trial of a Time Lord” from the classic era, which would have seen the 6th Doctor and his adversary the Valeyard fall whilst fighting with one another into a deep pit from which there was seemingly no escape. This would have served as the ending to that particular season, with the next season seeing the Doctor somehow come back from the abyss just like Sherlock Holmes did. Ultimately this ending was scrapped by producer John Nathan Turner
The characters of Madame Vastra and her wife Jenny Flint created by Steven Moffat, are two crime fighters from 19th century London and in the 2012 Christmas special “The Snowmen” they were revealed to have been the inspiration to Sir Arthur Conan for Sherlock Holmes. Vastra who is a Silurian would even be referred to as “the female Sherlock Holmes from the dawn of time”.
The 11th Doctor would also much like the 4th Doctor dress in a Sherlock Holmes outfit in this same episode.
However whilst Steven Moffat has taken some inspiration from Sherlock Holmes for his Doctor Who work he has interestingly enough said that he feels the Doctor and Sherlock Holmes are actually polar opposites.
Moffat has referred to “Sherlock” as a dark foil to his take on Doctor Who. He has said that the Doctor is a virtually omnipotent being who needs his human friends to keep him down to earth, whilst Sherlock Holmes is an ordinary human who wants to prove he is better than everybody else and shuns close relationships with people. Moffat said “The Doctor is an Angel who wants to be human. Sherlock is a human who wants to be a god”.
Still despite this I don’t think it can be denied that there are certainly a number of strong comparisons that can be made between the two characters and that Sherlock Holmes has had quite a large influence on Doctor Who over the years.
I say, this is like something by that novelist chap, Mister Wells.
Now Wells impact on Doctor Who is rather obvious. One of Wells most famous works “The Time Machine” helped inspire the very concept of the series itself. However Wells influence on the series runs a little deeper than the fact that Doctor Who simply revolves around time travel, a science fiction trope that Wells perfected and defined with his classic novel.
Many stories and prominent characters and concepts in Doctor Who have been lifted from Wells novels and the franchise has even paid tribute to him a number of times.
Doctor Who is not unique in taking inspiration from Wells. Wells truly is one of the founding fathers of science fiction and his influence can be seen in many prominent genre stories across many different mediums.
However as Doctor Who is probably the most prominent piece of time travel fiction other than Wells iconic novel itself, then I think Doctor Who will perhaps always be more associated with Wells than other works.
Examples of Wells Influence on Doctor Who
The whole concept of Doctor Who about an eccentric scientist travelling though time obviously owes a lot to Wells classic novel “The Time Machine.” However stories in particular which draw on Wells work include the first two Dalek stories “The Daleks” and “The Dalek Invasion of Earth”. Terry Nation the author of both stories cited Wells as one of his favourite authors.
“The Daleks” bares many similarities to “The Time Machine”. Both stories are set in the future. Though its not made clear in the narrative that the Daleks takes place in the future, Nation intended it to be as revealed in the next Dalek story, “The Dalek Invasion of Earth”. Both stories also see a society splinter into two factions. One peaceful, but ultimately useless, beautiful humanoids, the other frail, but technologically and intellectually superior creatures.
The Daleks are essentially the Morlocks (Morlocks, Darlecks, Daleks) whilst the Thals are the Eloi and the Doctor and friends are substitutes for Wells time traveller who tries to convince the peaceful, but placid humanoids to stand up to their oppressors.
Of course whilst there are similarities between both stories, it would be wrong to say the Daleks is derivative of “The Time Machine” The Daleks used the same basic idea of two societies, one peaceful but stagnated being persecuted by the other more advanced but weaker physically and added the race hatred aspect to it.
The story is able to make its Morlocks, The Daleks serve as a brilliant metaphor not just for race hatred and the Nazi regime in particular, but man’s inhumanity to man in general, as well as man’s destructive effect on the environment and the threat and consequences of nuclear power. “The Daleks” takes on a whole new life to “The Time Machine” and serves as a powerful story in its own right.
The comparisons between the Daleks and the Morlocks and the Thals and the Eloi get even stronger when you take Nations short story “We Are The Daleks” into account.
This story which Nation wrote for the Radio Times marked the first time Nation attempted to give an actual origin for the Daleks. It revealed that the Daleks were in fact human beings from a point in the future and the humans who would become the Dalek’s evolution was accelerated, which turned them into the Daleks on the planet Ameron by a race known as the Halldon.
As the Daleks were once human beings so logically therefore were the Thals, as Ameron it is implied would one day become known as Skaro with the Thals being the humans whose evolution was not accelerated.
The Thals and the Daleks therefore much like both the Eloi and the Morlocks were actually our descendants too.
“The Dalek Invasion of Earth” meanwhile draws on “The War of the Worlds” The Daleks are comparable to Wells other most famous creations The Martian Invaders.
The Martians are octopus like creatures who house themselves in near indestructable robotic casings exactly like the Daleks. Like the Daleks they also come from a dead planet. Both the Daleks and the Martians manage to conquer the earth too and both stories show us the earth under these cruel invaders rule.
The film version of “The Daleks Invasion of Earth” titled “Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD” meanwhile sees the Daleks just like the Martians get destroyed by a natural force on the earth, a force that does not affect human beings. In the Martians case it is bacteria that poisons them whilst in the Daleks it is the magnetic power of the earths core that pulls them into it and destroys them.
Both cases show the planet itself destroying the invaders rather than humanity.
Whilst they may have taken on their own life ultimately, in many ways the Daleks in their earliest appearances can really be seen as an amalgam of Wells two most famous creations. The Morlocks and the Martians.
One thing in particular that “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” and many other Doctor Who invasion earth stories do, that comes from H.G. Wells “War of the Worlds” is show the alien oppressors marching in front of familiar earth landmarks to demonstrate how the alien menace has triumphed over us as it has now claimed an iconic symbol of humanity for its own.
The chances of anything coming from Mars, Skaro, Planet 14 and Raxacoricofallapatorius are a million to one, but still they come.
Whilst the Daleks are essentially the Martians and the Morlocks combined, Davros can also be seen as something of a Doctor Moreau figure. Whilst Davros obviously draws on a number of sources both literary and real life, there are aspects of Moreau in Davros, and Davros’s failed experiments in Genesis are comparable to the monsters Moreau creates too.
Another story to draw on Wells influence specifically is the three part Season 3 finale. “Utopia, The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords”.
The future the Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones and Captain Jack visit is very like the future in the Time Machine. Here humanity has split into two sides, one degenerate and one peaceful like the Morloks and the Eloi. However in quite a good twist the degenerate side are the more primitive. The Toclafane meanwhile much like the Daleks could also be seen as an amalgam of the Martians and the Morlocks. Like the Morlocks they are our degenerate deescendants, but like the Martians they are also withered creatures who are housed in mechanical shells and the Toclafane’s subject of humanity is comparable to the Martians.
Wells influence runs right throughout Doctor Who, but definitely the strongest examples are on some of the most prominent icons and characters of the series such as The Daleks, The TARDIS and even the main character the Doctor himself.
Nods and Tributes to Wells in Doctor Who
The Doctor meets that guy that ripped off all of his adventures.
In this series I am going to take a look at the various tv shows, film series and pieces of literature that have inspired Doctor Who.
Throughout its long history Doctor Who has taken from many different sources and like everything else it has meshed them together to create something new and unique.
We will start with Quatermass. Now for those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Quatermass was a science fiction franchise created by the late great Nigel Kneale. It ran for four television serials The Quatermass Experiment, Quatermass 2, Quatermass And The Pit and Quatermass. There was also a 2005 remake and three films released by Hammer Studios based upon the first three serials.
The franchise revolved around the Holmseian scientist Bernard Quatermass who was the head of the organisation British Rocket Group. Quatermass faced a variety of strange alien foes and the series themselves dealt with a variety of social themes with Quatermass and the Pit serving as a metaphor for the Nottingham race riots of 1958.
The character of Quatermass was intended to serve as a contrast to the main characters in contemporary American series at that time. Nigel Kneale wanted Quatermass to be more human and relatable and also rely on his intellect to defeat whatever threat he came across rather than lethal force.
“I wanted to write some strong characters, but I didn’t want them to be like those horrible people in those awful American science fiction films, chewing gum and stating the obvious. Not that I wanted to do something terribly ‘British’, but I didn’t like all the flag-waving you got in those films. I tried to get real human interest in the stories, and some good humour.”
-Nigel Kneale on what he wanted with the character of Quatermass.
Now its no secret that Quatermass was a big influence on Doctor Who. Many fans over the years have commented on and written about the similarities between both series including Mark Gatiss, a lifelong Doctor Who and Quatermass fan who has also written and acted in both franchises.
I think Quatermass’s influence Who has perhaps been a bit overstated however. For instance I don’t think that the overall premise of Doctor Who really owes anything to Quatermass.
Indeed Doctor Who’s premise in some ways was the complete opposite to Quatermass.
Doctor Who was about a character who could go anywhere to any point in history. The character of the Doctor is also an unpredictable alien and in many ways an anti establishment character. He has defied the society of the time lords, and he lives by his own rules and often challenges authority everywhere he goes.
Quatermass meanwhile is entirely earth bound and revolves around a man who is a very human character and who is very much a member of the establishment, though he is a bit of a maverick, he is nothing like the Doctor who is essentially a bum.
The Doctor was also a failure back on Gallifrey. He even failed his exams at the Time Lord Academy.
Quatermass however is very much a respected academic figure. He is anything but a failure in his own society.
Thus yes in some ways Doctor Who could actually be seen as the polar opposite of Quatermass.
However it just goes to show how broad the concept of Doctor Who is that it is able to incorporate elements of Quatermass something which at first glance seems like it couldn’t be more different to it.
This is really because Doctor Who in actual fact has no fixed concept. It can be Quatermass one week, Star Wars the next, even a fantasy series like Buffy the Vampire Slayer too.
I don’t think there was any Quatermass in the Hartnell era at all. Though the Doctor was always somewhat comparable to Quatermass despite the many different aspects of their personalities as both were always very much Holmseian, British, gentlemanly heroes who use their intellect rather than force and they both generally seek a peaceful solution to most problems.
Both contrasted with the more action oriented heroes of science fiction who carry weapons and use their fists to solve problems and always have to have a love interest of some sort like the much earlier Flash Gordon.
However I think its really during the Troughton era that the Quatermass influence begins to creep its way in and it has really lasted in some form or another even to this day in Doctor Who.
I think that’s probably why Quatermass is more associated with Doctor Who than any other series. Its not so much that Doctor Who’s premise was inspired by Quatermass or even that the character of the Doctor was inspired by the character of Quatermass. Just simply that Who has continued to take little bits and pieces from Quatermass throughout the decades.
Specific Examples of Quatermass’s Influence on Doctor Who
The first Doctor Who story that I feel really tried to evoke a Quatermass feel was the Patrick Troughton story “The Web of Fear”. “The Web of Fear” features an alien menace lurking in the London Underground just like “The Quatermass Experiment” and over the years a number of reviewers have commented on the similarities between them including the official BBC website.
“The Invasion” an 8 part Cyberman story also bares some similarities to Quatermass 2. The Doctor himself takes on a somewhat Quatermass style role as the eccentric professor working with a British organisation to counteract an alien threat. UNIT owed a rather large amount to The British Rocket Group, the organisation that Quatermass worked for. The idea of aliens brain washing high profile leaders for their own plans in “The Invasion” was also inspired by “Quatermass 2” as well.
However whilst these Troughton era stories do share some similarities with Quatermass it would really be during the Jon Pertwee era that Quatermass’s influence on Doctor Who would be at its greatest.
Producer Derrek Sherwin mentioned that he and the rest of the production team decided to set Doctor Who largely on earth to try and capture the feel of the Quatermass serials.
During the Third Doctors era the character of the Doctor essentially becomes Quatermass. Though he still remains the same lovable eccentric alien, Pertwee’s time also sees him go from being a bohemian wanderer to a maverick scientist like Quatermass, working for a British organisation.
Jon Pertwee’s Doctor in contrast to Hartnell’s is very much a member of the establishment like Quatermass is. Verity Lambert the original producer of Doctor Who, who in many ways helped to create the show itself actually said that she disliked Pertwee’s performance as the Doctor as she felt he was too establishment.
However don’t think that this means that Pertwee’s Doctor did not still have a rebellious streak to him. Indeed ironically many of Pertwee’s stories ironically had more of a left wing slant to them than either of his predecessors. Jon Pertwee’s Doctor and Bernard Quatermass were both the classic type of British hero who is a member of the establishment, but ultimately hates it and grows tired of all its nonsense.
Many third Doctor stories where specifically inspired by old Quatermass stories. “Spearhead from Space” the third Doctors first story draws from Quatermass 2 much like “The Invasion” only more so.
Quatermass 2 and Spearhead from Space both involve an alien entity falling to the earth in the middle of a meteroite shower. Said alien menace in both cases then goes on to take over a factory before it goes on to take over governmental institutions.
The Daemons a beloved third Doctor story also owes a huge debt to “Quatermass And The Pit” .
Both stories revolve around aliens shaping mankind’s history and being responsible for early myths about demons, devils and horned creatures. Both even have similar settings too.
It could be argued that pretty much all of the UNIT era stories owe a big debt to Quatermass not just in the third Doctors era but right the way through even to the recent “Dark Water/Death in Heaven”.
They are all essentially following the Quatermass format. The Doctor is the Quatermass figure the eccentric, expert, British gentlemanly hero who uses his mind and tries to find a peaceful solution working alongside a British organisation, UNIT/ The British Rocket Group to contain alien threats.
In addition to this the alien threats in the UNIT stories often have similar schemes and methods of attack to the aliens in the Quatermass serials.
The aliens in a lot of UNIT stories have found some way to take control of people in the government just like the aliens in Quatermass 2. Examples of this include the Cybermen in “The Invasion”, the Autons from “Spearhead in Space”, Boss in “The Green Death”, the Zygons in “The Terror of the Zygons”, and the Slitheen in 10 downing Street in the revival.
The aliens in many UNIT stories may also be a menace that infects people that may have been created by an experiment that goes wrong exactly like the villain from “The Quatermass Experiment” . The Primords are an example of this having been created from a green slim that is unleashed from Professor Stahlmans Inferno project that turns people into savage, animalistic creatures. The Krynoids from “The Seeds of Doom” who infect scientists and turn them into hideous monsters are also an example of this and even the maggots who spread a lethal plague in “The Green Death” follow this template too. The Quatermass Experiment and every one of these Doctor Who stories all feature scenes of extreme body horror. The Krynoids bursting out from under people’s skin, the Maggots plague turning people bright green or the alternate Benton slowly and painfully transforming into a Primord.
Finally the villains in UNIT stories will also often be ancient aliens who were responsible for some prominent myth from earths past too, just like the Martians in Quatermass and the Pit. Examples of this include Azal from the Daemons who like the Martians is responsible for the ancient myths regarding Demons and Devils. Then there is the Zygons, whose pet the Skarasen is the source of the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. Morgaine in the 7th Doctor story “Battlefield” is the inspiration behind the character of Morganna from Arthurian legends, whilst her son Mordred is the inspiration for the character of the same name from Arthurian legends too. Missy meanwhile in the latest UNIT adventure was also revealed to have been responsible for every myth about the afterlife through her nethersphere.
All of these UNIT stories explore the same basic theme of “Quatermass and the Pit”. What if the ancient myths were inspired by an alien? Demons, the Loch Ness Monster, Arthurian Legends, even heaven itself. Now the idea of myths being based on some ancient alien visitation is not exclusive to Quatermass. in all fairness, its an old sci fi trope.
However the way it is presented in the UNIT stories is very much in the style of Quatermass and the Pit. Often these UNIT stories have a similar setting in rural Britain and again the both UNIT and the Doctor serve as surrogates for the British Rocket Group and Quatermass himself.
Its not just the UNIT stories that have been inspired by Quatermass however. “Image of the Fendahl” also draws on Quatermass and the Pit quite heavily too, featuring similar ideas about race memory and aliens creating mankind. The Tenth Doctor story “The Lazarus Experiment’s” ending meanwhile is virtually a remake of the ending of the first Quatermass serial.
The Eleventh Doctor story “Hide” is also very heavily inspired by Quatermass and the works of Nigel Kneal such as “The Stone Tape” in general. Apparently it was the intention of the writer of the story Neil Cross to actually have Quatermass himself appear in the final scene of the story. Sadly however they were unable to get the rights to the character and this scene was cut from the script.
Its no surprise that Quatermass has had such a long lasting influence on Doctor Who as so many of Who’s writers and producers are huge fans of Quatermass and have regularly praised it.
Derrek Sherwin, Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks all cited Quatermass as a huge influence on the Third Doctors era. Sherwin in particular said that the influence of Quatermass moved Doctor Who towards realism and away from “wobbly jellies in outer space”.
Robert Holmes was also a fan of Quatermass as was Ben Aaronovitch and Andrew Cartmel both of whom included references to Quatermass in Rememberance of Daleks. Aaronovitch even called his second story “Battlefield”, “Nigel Kneale light”.
Among the new series writers Russell T Davies has cited Quatermass and the works of Nigel Kneale as a big influence on his career, whilst Mark Gatiss is a huge fan of Kneale’s stating that he considers Kneale to easily be the equal of the likes of Dennis Potter, David Mercer, Alan Bleasdale and Alan Bennet.
Does Bernard Quatermass exist in the Doctor Who universe?
Throughout Who’s long history there have been a number of references to the character of Bernard Quatermass that seem to hint he is a real person in the Doctor Who universe. These include the following
As you can see whilst there have been references to Quatermass throughout Doctor Who there has sadly never been a full blown crossover between the two sci fi greats, though there were plans to in the 2013 episode “Hide”. With a new Quatermass series currently in development it is possible that we may one day see a crossover between Doctor Who and the series that inspired it so greatly.
Another sort of crossover between Doctor Who and Quatermass was in the 2005 remake of “The Quatermass Experiment”. David Tennant appeared in this production as the character of Briscoe. It was during the making of this version of Quatermass that Tennant discovered he had been cast as the Tenth Doctor. Jason Felyming who played Quatermass apparently changed one of his lines as in joke to this simply referring to Tennant’s character as Doctor rather than Doctor Briscoe.
Nigel Kneale’s Opinion of Doctor Who
Sadly whilst just about everyone involved in Doctor Who evidently loved Quatermass, Nigel Kneale the creator of Quatermass utterly loathed Doctor Who in every respect. He considered it a terrible idea and also felt it stole his ideas. He flat out refused to write for it despite being asked many times and regularly slated it. Here are some quotes that demonstrate his feelings towards Doctor Who.
“It sounded like a terrible idea and I still think it was. The fact that its lasted a long time and has a steady audience doesn’t mean much. So has Crossroads and that’s a stinker. I was approached by Sydney Newman, who was then running BBC drama, and it was his idea. It struck me as a producers idea and not a writers idea and I think there’s a difference. I think what offended me about it was that it was clearly to be put out as a Children’s hour story, and I didn’t write Children’s hour stories. It was to go out about five or six o’clock and the tinies could watch– and I’d find that very inhibiting because I didn’t want to bomb tinies with insinuations of doom and terror. In fact, that’s what they got doing. And the tinies were bombed and I found this horrible. I had small children of my own at the time and I found Doctor Who thoroughly offensive in that respect. And you get people saying “Oh yes, I was frightened. I hid behind the armchair when I saw the so-and-so . . .”. That doesn’t make it right to implant nightmares in the minds of little children. I think its a bad thing to do, and I wouldn’t do it.”
“I think a number of things turned up in Doctor Who that have been pinched out of my stories. I know switched on one day and was horrified to see practically an entire episode of one mine stuck straight into Doctor Who.”
I must admit that I was a bit disappointed in Nigel Kneale. It seemed very closed minded of him not to acknowledge at least that Doctor Who is a fabulous idea for a science fiction series. Fair enough he may have felt it wasn’t that well realised, but how could such a great science fiction writer honestly think that a show about a man who could visit any planet at any point in its history was a terrible idea?
The potential is virtually limitless. Far from being something that is not a writer’s idea, its the best idea of all time for a writer. Ironically its a writers dream as it allows them to do anything, but its always been a producers nightmare as because the writer is given virtually no limits then the producer with their limited budget often finds it difficult to bring their ideas to life.
I think Kneale’s dislike from Doctor Who probably more stemmed from his belief that Doctor Who stole his ideas rather than because he felt it was a genuinely terrible idea as he never really explained why he felt it was such a terrible idea. Its fair enough that Kneale felt the show took a lot from his work, but it must be remembered that Kneale also like anyone else also lifted ideas from his predecessors too.
Its a shame that Kneale couldn’t see that Who whilst taking inspiration from his work (among other things) nevertheless carved out its own identity.
I often wondered what it would have been like had Kneale actually written for Doctor Who. It would have been brilliant, but sadly he always disliked Doctor Who. Ironically however many people have discovered Quatermass through Doctor Who. I myself am in my early 20’s. I was born decades after the original Quatermass serials finished and it was only through my love of the classic who that my parents introduced me to on video that I discovered Quatermass after reading all of these reviews that compared some of my fave stories to old Quatermass serials.
Thus whilst Doctor Who obviously benefited from Quatermass that has been a constant well of ideas for it, Quatermass has at the same time benefited from Doctor Who that has helped to keep its legacy alive.
Join me tomorrow when I will look at HG Wells influence on Doctor Who.
burrunjorsramblesandbabbles 