DOCTOR WHO AND THE TIME QUEST OF FEAR

Writers: Si Hunt and Simon Rayner. Directors: Si Hunt and Simon Rayner. Set Designer: Si Hunt. Costumes: Mac Pig. Make Up: Lilly Savage. Incidental Music: Chas and Dave. Fight Arranger: Barry MacGuigan. Visual Effects: P Aintshop VII. Cameraman: Si Hunt and Simon Rayner. Studio Lighting: Ligh Tbulbs. Studio Sound: Mini T. Production Assistant: Chicky T Chicken. Assistant Floor Manager: Biscuit. Daleks Originated by Terry Nation AND Raymond P. Cusik. 

                                                                 First UK transmission.   Transmission time.   

Episode 1 - Dr Who and Tanni              18/05/03                           21.37

Episode 2 - Escape to Danger!             23/05/03                           19.52

Episode 3 - Beyond the Ice!                  26/05/03                           18.54

Episode 4 - The Death of Space           29/05/02                            18.38    

Plot  

The TARDIS brings crotchety old Doctor Who, Ian and Barbara to planet Dido where they rescue Tanni/Vicki from the evil Koquilion. They then travel to Vortis where a mysterious figure kidnaps the two teachers. The TARDIS next heads to Refusis where Vicki chooses to stay, while Steven and Dodo go with Dr Who to the South Pole. A Cyberman causes the Doctor to regenerate and become a sort of pixie which he's very good at and a trip to the Ice tombs of  Telos sees Steven and Dodo turned into Cybermen and Dr.Who joined by James Robert MacCrimmon.. The adventure ends on Skaro where the new Doctor must rescue Victoria Selina Waterfield from the Daleks.

Episode endings

1. The travellers are confronted by hideous aliens: a Zarbi, a Venom Grub and an Optera.

2. Having been shot by a Cyberman, Wise Old Who regenerates...

3. TARDIS brings Dr Who and the gang to Skaro...Victoria has been kidnapped by the dreaded Daleks!

4. Having just shot his load on Refusis, the Doctor heads off for more adventures on Stella Stora.

Cast 

All characters played by Harlequin Miniatures apart from the Cybermats (specially made by Si Hunt)

Popular myths:

*This story was originally written in 1995 for the Paul McGann TV movie (it wasn't)

*This story was a remake of an abondoned script from the original Season 23 (it wasn't)

*This story features all 8 Doctor Who's (it doesn't)

*The cast are actually repainted Citadel Miniatures (They aren't)

*The cast are actually the real actors shrunken down using a special ray (they aren't)

*This story won a Bafta for Best Screenplay. (It didn't but it did recieve a Brit Award nomination for Best Single by a female artist. It was beaten by "Hey Mickey" by Lolly)

Things to watch out for

*Brief but effective location work is done on a white duvet cover

*Al most all of the sets are on one small wooden board. See if you can spot them!

* Doctor Who changes his trousers several times

* A new look console room with outward opening doors and much higher walls is seen for the first (and last?) time

Things you probably never knew

*The cast of this story took about 6 years to assemble...

Quote, unquote

*The Doctor: "Bye then you wretched horse"

* Barbara: "I need a wee"

Analysis

    2003 saw Doctor Who fans damp with excitement  with a wealth of new rubbish Doctor Who on the internet. In May BBCi launched their new version of the Shada to an audience of dozens, and a few weeks later HaRpi launched Doctor Who and the Time Quest of Fear seemingly from nowhere and to an audience of single figures. Viewers were both surprised and delighted by this: ' I love it all - and you didn't even tell us about this last night!' said Jonathan Simmons writing on Planet Skaro following the transmission of Doctor Who and Tanni. 

    Other initial reactions were not so favourable over on Outpost Gallifrey. "Oh God, another comic type thing... at least this one is novel I suppose" cried The Secretive Bus. He then raised concern over the Dido/Dildo gag ("I could have done without the rehash of the alternative name for Dido joke") which was echoed by Ssarl a few weeks later: "the jokes about Dildo and Cockylickin having been done to death long ago". It is not difficult to understand these criticisms and the producers freely admit this early gag was a miss-fire and have paid for their sins by watching over a thousand episodes of the Les Dennis Laughter Show in order to master the true art of comedy and learn how to do impressions of Mavis from Coronation Street.

     As the adventure continued ratings soared. Following transmission of The Death of Space Ssarl went on to add "the series has really come through, particularly in this episode, which had me laughing out loud more than once! I love the ever-changing companions (and trousers), and the WONDERFUL one-dimensional, one-joke characters, who never outstay their welcome on account of always getting killed". Many viewers found the series got better as it went along and as the producers got more familiar with their ideas and strayed ever further from the conventions of storytelling and, indeed, sanity. 

     Further comment came again from Planet Skaro. The direction was singled out by no less than two viewers with Jonathan Simmons stating: "Love the photo looking down from above with the Menoptera. The shot of the Cyberman in the vortex looks stunning" and James Robson adding: "The 'Cybermen advance on Jamie and Doctor' shot is so good it must have been directed by Greame Harper". Praise indeed. 

    Robson also made the wild claim that "its like having Dr Who back!" while Miss Caroline Baynes believed she was witnessing images from some parallel universe where Doctor Who was made as a cartoon: "It almost looks like they're screen shots from a Who animated show!". 

     Matthew Denney perhaps sums up most viewer's feelings with: "oooooh! That was so good that I'm all of a kerfuffle and totally drenched in boy juices!!". He went on to praise the dialogue's "many classic lines". 

    Over on Outpost Gallifrey after transmission of the final episode, Mr Spadge summed up his views on the adventure: "Love the humour. Love the detail on the sets. Love the references and little series in-jokes. Love the continuity. Love the dialogue. Funniest thing I've seen in a long time... a delight to read. A big thumbs up chaps!".

    To conclude, it would seem that despite gaining one of the lowest audiences in Doctor Who history (yet still more than Battlefield) Doctor Who and the Time Quest of Fear was like the Zygma Experiment - a success, a glorious success, with those few people that saw it.

   The producers were delighted with this and apart from the Dido gag they feel that bar the odd blurry shot and unsatisfactory backdrop this first adventure was a triumph. They now intend to take what they've learnt from this story and apply it on a bigger scale to their next episodic interface of the spectrum....