As requested by the Traveller.  I figure we can leave this floating for future use too.

Without getting overly specific about Time of the Doctor, I'll just note that with every one of these mythology-heavy episodes I end up holding my breath to see what outright contradictions Moffat is going to throw at me. :)

A few things -

Trav went to the Prydonian academy with Theta Sigma. She's known his name since they both started adventuring.

Of course, we can hand wave this by simply saying that by the time Trav finds out (ie, gets the signal from the opening of Time of the Doctor), it's all over with.

Now, I understand the difficulties of trying to slavishly follow the show (and if Gary needs to go off canon, I understand. But I'm wondering how things will play out when Trav meets 12.

Also, the Time Lords gave 11 a whole new set of Regenerations. So, new rules!

Never tell me the rules!

I like to imagine that a future Marshall and her Robotech allies helped the Papal Mainframe defend Tranzalore from the fleets of Cybermen and Daleks that besieged it. But that's my headcanon.

Only thing is if that was the case; wouldn't she have died when the Daleks infiltrated? Or did she buzz off before then?

Are we talking Trav?

I'd ignore it until you want to do something with it. It's silly that the message is everywhere and everywhen. Maybe we're far enough in the future to miss it or missed the translation. Or maybe "Time" is always just a few episodes or a season ahead of where we are.

This is our Who-niverse, so we don't have to follow the show (especially since continuity is shot).
This message was last edited by the player at 01:38, Sat 28 Dec 2013.

Actually, Moffat taking a blow torch to Continuity benefits us - Gary can change things on just as easy a whim. What may even be interesting is that Trav is the last remnant of the Doctor actually using the Moment - she's evidence for that timeline, that it was a fixed point in time and that it's not so easy to go backies. "Booby, you idiot, I was THERE when you did it - you can't just wave your hands and say magic time lord bullshit! Time Lord triumphant, my ass!"

Eh. I like Moffatt more than I like RTD; but my biggest issue with him is 'timey-wimey wibbly-wobbly'. As in his argument is that the Doctor not using the Moment -always- happened; it's just that he only remembers it now. See The Wedding of River Song for another example of that.

Smoke Alarm's right. If you're setting a game of DW in a particular time period; it's best you just ignore anything that came after it; unless it suits your purposes. Much as I admire a lot of Moffatt's work; he's a lot harder to just work into a game than RTD is. Moffatt loves using time travel as a plot device more than just a 'getting from point A to point B'. Which means trying to work within his evolving universe is very hard.

Well, have no fear: figure that the baseline assumptions for the game (Time Lords: gone; Daleks: gone; Doctor: missing and presumed dead or unavailable) will persist at least until I'm good and ready for things to be otherwise.

This follows on from a certain state of affairs which has ramifications for what I see as your big challenge to deal with, but as Smoke Alarm said, this is your story, not a tiny piece carved out of Moffat's.

*Our* story, but yes.

Speaking just for myself, I do hope that the Daleks do come back at some point, perhaps in a much reduced state, similar to how they were in Eccleston and most of Tennant's run. The Daleks figure hugely in Trav's back story, but she has yet to see one since the Time War. I want her encounter with them, no matter what form it takes, to be as dramatic as when the 9th Doctor encountered the last Dalek in the episode Dalek in Season one of New Who.

.... I'm burned out on Daleks. I have issues with seeing that Daleks could escape a Time Lock when Timelords couldn't. I wouldn't mind if we didn't see Daleks again for a very long time. I'd like to see Draconians before we saw Daleks; though I admit that's unlikely.

Admittedly; Day of the Doctor does provide a slight rationale for some Daleks escaping. And let's be honest; since Victory of the Daleks there is absolutely no reason to think the Daleks won't be back en masse again.

Busy couple of days, but I've now seen "Time of the Doctor" and it wasn't as good as I had hoped. There were some elements I liked, but the pacing felt a bit off in my opinion.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:41, Sat 28 Dec 2013.

Well, that beggars a very important question - if the Parliament of the Daleks are all New Paradigm Daleks, then why haven't they swept forth and conquered the galaxy overtly?

1) They're wiser Daleks. While still every bit as hateful and monstrous as their forebearers, they understand that weapons of mass destruction and use of time as a weapon will only result in destroying the universe they wish to rule. These Daleks, as shown in Season 7, seem more intent in subverting and transforming others into Daleks or Dalek slaves.  It seems that being a Dalek is not so much now as a genetic ideal as a philosophical one, and that the aim of the Daleks is to conquer by way of transformation - the ultimate subjugation.

2) The New Paradigm Daleks, while being wiser, don't have the technological prowess of the Time War era Daleks. We don't see any of the new generation of Daleks time travel, for example. Another possibility is that these Daleks deliberately limit their temporal excursions because they understand that gross manipulation of the time stream will draw the attention of other time aware groups - which we have established in our setting are folks like the Time Agency (which has been mentioned in rpg.net threads), the Great and Bountiful Human Empires (which might have their own brands of temporal defenders), the Chamber of Unwrought Time and the Justice Department (the folks behind the Teselecta, the man shaped robot that impersonated the Doctor in The Impossible Astronaut/Let's Kill Hitler/other season 6 eps), Torchwood's future incarnations, Faction Paradox (some of whom may have survived the Time War), and, if Trav is successful, the Parliament of Time. Let's not forget Phillipe/Fortuna/Evers.

3) The new Daleks are terrified of the Traveller.  With the Doctor gone (or at least perceived to be - I like to assume in my headcanon that what Clara The Dalek did has hidden the Doctor not only from the Daleks, but from casual discovery by the Traveller) They remember the Marshall, and remember that the Marshall would have committed genocide on them if she could have. I'd like to think that these Daleks would rather hide, wait and see, and try to work for subtler method than their forebearers.

4) Our current story could be taking place relatively before the New Paradigm Daleks arise. Wibbley wobbly timey wimey. The events of the 2005 Dr Who revival don't have to take place in sequence with regards to our campaign. For example, from Kate Stewarts POV, Day of the Doctor and the UNIT Vault incident could have taken place a month ago, but the Torchwood outfit is up and running over on Canary Wharf and the finale of Dr Who Season 2 hasn't taken place yet. From UNIT's POV, Doctors and Travellers of various makes roll in all the time. Sgt Patel made the comment, "Oh, a new one." for all we know, she could have spent 5 years travelling with the 8th Traveller who looks like Whoopie Goldberg but she's smart enough not to spoil the Traveller's younger 5th self.

5) Other Time Lords. We have Mister Saxon (Trav: "Yeah. Your prime minister is an ex boyfriend of mine. Don't ask.") who may or may not be part of Gary's Whoverse, the Corsair (who I refuse to believe is dead - a transgender Time Lord is too cool, and Time Lords can grow back arms!) and other unaccounted Time Lords. I as a player thought that the Rhani was behind the Splintered Sisterhood, for example.)

All speculation on my part, of course.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:21, Sat 28 Dec 2013.

Oh wanting not to see Daleks is purely for the TV series. What happens here as is established is our own version of the Whoniverse; so I'm not fussed.

In regards to Daleks in the TV series though -

Since the new Paradigm Daleks have come up; they turned up to lock the Doctor in the Pandorica at the close of Season 5; forced the Doctor into doing their job in The Dalek Asylum; at which point their memory of him was wiped, and then again they waged war at Trenzalore.

I don't think they're worried about the majority of those groups. Most of them don't have tremendous time travel capabilities - nothing beyond a Vortex Manipulator for example.

I -do- think the Doctor still scares them though. And I think the possibility of the Time Lords returning scares the crap out of them.

I am also really pissed at that particular piece of backsies. The idea that the Doctor unwillingly commited genocide added real dark heft to Dr Who and really made me take the series seriously. I model Trav a lot of off Eccleston's 9th Doctor.



This is true as well. If we're actually working in a setting where Gary draws a line at Last of The Time Lords and says nothing else counts, then I'm fine with that. An alternate whoverse where the last Doctor was The War Doctor who died activating The Moment (which is what Trav thinks happened) is fine too. But part of me irrationally wants for Smith or Capaldi's Doctor to be around the corner, from the Shadows, letting Trav do her thing, seeking out Gallifrey while his protege and onetime romantic interest (way back in his 5th incarnation, her 2nd) is forging her own legend with her own companions.

I'm sure that Gary will keep it all suitably vague in the interests of game play ;)

I can get that. My bigger beef is end of The End of Time; where it's implied the Doctor quite deliberately commited genocide on both because he didn't trust the Time Lords anymore. Way beyond any issues he'd had with them before. I'm not really a huge fan of the Time War in general honestly; but I get it had to move on from where it had been when it was last on TV.

So this implies that the Doctor is somehow a key or means for the Time Lords and the Time War returning. What's ironic here is that the New Paradigm Daleks are as scared of the Time War as anyone else, and that includes being scared of their progenitors (the Time War Daleks under the Dalek Emperor and Davros) as everyone else. The War Was Hell, to quote the 10th Doctor, so they don't want it back. A story idea is "The Nightmare of the Daleks", where the Daleks beg the Traveller to save them - from the Time War.

If Capaldi's Doctor were to make an appearance here, that would be a big point, depending on how they write him. The Marshall learned to hate and despise Rassilon and what she was forced to do in the Time War (remember all those weapons in the Vault of Omega? Someone was forced to pull the trigger!)  They fought back when she was the Marshall. I'm toying with the idea of a future Traveller being a reformed Marshall, they might clash again. But that's more grist for Trav-Doctor fan fic in my headcanon. "Gallifrey must stay dead!"

Smoke Alarm's right? Well, of course Smoke Alarm's right! :D

We had a similar problem running the Forgotten Realms D&D setting. The community started ten years ago, and a few years ahead of the then setting date. Since that time, about a year has passed in-game, while the setting advanced ten years, underwent massive changes, destruction and warfare, then went made and destroyed itself and advanced a century and two editions. We were much better off not trying to keep up. Sitting in the past is safe, especially with the slow rate of PbP.

It's why I prefer setting Who games pre–Time War: continuity and the time-lines are stable, Daleks are available, and you don't have to jump through hoops explaining the existence of the Time Lord PC.

But it really only affects Traveller, and doesn't really concern Smoke Alarm. I have my own, old-fashioned conception of Time Lords. I should play one one day.

I'm amused that the new series Time War has now completely retrod all the ideas and arcs of the EDA's War in Heaven arc, even down to weaponised regenerations (Time Lord suicide bombers, sigh). They both have their good and bad points, mostly bad. Did Davies and Moffat learn nothing?

Ugh, can't stand New Paradigm Daleks. They just look awful. I'm glad I haven't seen them since that stupid "Victory of the Daleks" (I ragequit at "Day of the Moon" and only got back for Season 7B and the Capaldi Doctor).

I wouldn't mind our own encounter with Daleks ('Cleaners!') or Cyberman, but frankly I'd prefer classic series, historical Daleks and Cybermen. (In my personal time-line, one of the two was likely responsible for people being evacuated to Paradise Towers.) They're not as powerful and easier to explain. Which raises the issue of, e.g., such-and-such Daleks being a part of history and a fixed point in time or whatever.

One encouraging sign is that most of the Daleks that we see in Time of the Doctor are bronze RTD era Daleks. I presume that they only made the 5 new paradigm Dalek props and any other Dalek props that they use have to be the RTD ones - that can be hand waved by saying that Ipod Daleks are all leader types and that standard soldiers are the RTD era bronze design (my favorite Dalek design EVAR)

I kinda agree with Smoke Alarm (Again! This is getting to be a habit.) I'm not sure I agree that the Cyberman are any nastier than they've ever ever been; but it could just be they weren't as upgraded as the Daleks were. Doomsday is the best example I have of that with 'This isn't war, this is pest control'. Yes, hilarious line, but it amps up the threat value of Daleks, or downgrades Cybermen quite a lot.

I've been hoping they'd given up on the awful Apple Daleks and gone back to the bronzies — whatever else, they were a great design. (Guess whose family brought them a framed full-size poster of a Paradigm Dalek for their birthday? :( )

The Cybermen were certainly superpowered in "Nightmare in Silver": super-speed, nanites, almost indestructible. Basically, they became the Borg.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:49, Mon 30 Dec 2013.

... I'd blocked out Nightmare in Silver.

It does support my headcanon that Cybus-Cybermen are nothing compared to the real ones though.

There's a very good possibility of the Cybermen turning up.  In Trav & Stanley's last big adventure, they opened up negotiations for a non-aggression pact with a future Cyber-empire.  (They'd found some Cyber scouts who'd been stranded on Earth and got their clocks cleaned by an Osiran; subsequently some of their information and tech helped Trav to defeat it.)

So at some point you may get back to a conference that involves figuring out how to coexist peacefully with Cybermen, which is possibly much more challenging than just beating them.

-possibly- more challenging? I think it's definitely more challenging. I mean, Ace showed us that all you need to beat cybermen is a handful of gold coins.

Ace also destroyed a Dalek with a baseball bat. The key element here is "Ace". ;) Or maybe the coins were superpowered like the baseball bat.

Yeah, let's just discount all Cyberman stories with "Silver" in the title. :D

I kinda tried to nudge things a little bit by Trav directly mentioning the Cyberiad, as if it was something she had encountered in her pre-RIFTS days (back when she ran around with Jon Pertwee in technicolor). I also tried to work with Gary in highlighting how the Time War changed things.

Of interest to Who fans -

So turns out that Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred) was in the two Dr Who Peter Cushing movies! I had no idea!

http://www.doctorwhohub.tv/?p=1593

That was the first thing I knew about him.

But he was only in the second movie, as the policeman who replaced Ian.

More interesting, is that Bernard Cribbins auditioned for the role of the 4th Doctor. And when asked what he could do, he said he could fight a bit.

"Sorry, the Doctor doesn't fight."

First thing he sees on TV, is Tom Baker knocking someone out.

A nice selection of Murray Gold music I found on Youtube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFKwWbe-UxA

Because it gets me in a Trav/Who mood.

Ugh, Murray Gold. D:

Hey, I love Murray Gold!

Murray Gold is fine; but if you liked the classic music, it's somewhat at odds.

I find the music too orchestral, not weird enough for Who, and so in-your-ear with forced emotion.

And if I hear ooh-wa-wa-wa one more time...

But what do I know, I used the Unique II dance cover of "Break My Stride"... ;)

I had to share this -


This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Mon 10 Mar 2014.

Dear River -

I'd like my gun back. If I don't get it, I shall shoot you with the other one.

kthx, The Traveller ;)

BTW - a pair of turbopistols and a vortex manipulator only makes you look like you're trying too hard, baby. Leave being bad ass to the professionals!

(Heaven forbid should Trav actually meet River. ;) )


This message was last edited by the player at 20:28, Tue 15 Apr 2014.

Ugh, River Song. I think Smoke will kick her in the shins.

.... alas, I cannot hold her down, because then it wouldn't be a fair fight.

Now I'm imaging all our PCs mugging poor River.

"SWEETY, HELP!" Whump whump whump thwack KICK KICK KICK

I love Alex Kingston, but River as a character? Yeesh.

This might be interesting:

Over on the Humble Bundle site there is a Doctor Who Comics Bundle. Pay-what-you-want for 60 issues from IDW publishing and the Doctor Who: Legacy android game.

Link: https://www.humblebundle.com/books
This message was last edited by the player at 22:04, Wed 14 May 2014.

Yay! More Trav... hey wait. These are all boobie comics.

Ah well. In my headcanon Big West and Harmony Gold are joint-producing the new Traveller/Robotech anime. The Trav franchise convinced all the parties to resolve their differences and we're getting awesome Trav adventures with giant robots!

Not only that, but as far as Trav knows, they're completely apocryphal.

A pity they don't have Assimilation². Then you can pay the $0 it's worth. :(

I already have all the ones I'd want.

I can't wait for the Smoke Alarm spin-off! :D

As opposed to the entirety of Robotech, which is absolutely Travcanon! ;)

That's OK. Trav loves her Bobobie, although she would mock him pretty mercilessly.

If she meets 9 -

"You look like you should be in a Ska band, baby! Look at that buzz cut hair!"

10 -

"OOH LOOK AT THAT HE MOUSES HIS HAIR HOW PRECIOUS."

11 -

"Boobie, bowties are so mid 20th century. Suspenders? Baby, barber shop quartets rock suspenders."

(later 11)

"Hm, that victorian look is much sexier."

12 -

"Yeah, new kidneys. Also, throwback to the Venusian Karate days much?"

I'd pay real world dollars to see Smoke Alarm guest star in Torchwood and Sarah Jane as well as in her own Smoke Alarm show. That's when her actress isn't appearing with other members of the cast along with Matt Smith and David Tennant on Graham Norton.

And at the the Doctor Who Proms, of course Sereth and Amanda appear in full make up and talk to the crowd along with Strax and Lady Vashtra.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:10, Fri 23 May 2014.

Well guest starring on Sarah Jane would be pretty hard now. I'm pretty sure the Smoke Alarm spin-off would be brought in to replace the forcibly defunct Sarah Jane adventures. Would appeal to a similar audience I suspect.

Sereth would clearly be ushered in as part of the proposed Patternoster Gang spin-off. He and Strax would clearly -not- get along though.

"What's the greatest weapon?"

"A grenade!"

-facepalms- "No, Strax. Words are the greatest weapon of all."

Although possibly not their parents.  A teen hero who vandalizes buildings and flings herself off them at high speed!  What could possibly go wrong?

By the way, I don't know if any of you listen to the Verity! podcast, but they're going to do a commentary on Paradise Towers at some point.  Should be epic ice hot.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:12, Fri 23 May 2014.

Oh, Sarah Jane Adventures. :( It's my favourite form of modern televised Who. It really could have kept going: the adventures of Clyde, Rani, Luke, and K-9 would have been perfect, like the K9 series done well. It's a pity SJA tied itself so heavily to Sarah: a show can rejig and survive by changing the main character (as Doctor Who did), but not if they're in the title.

A Smoke Alarm show would be the most anarchic thing around: vandalism; parkour; actively defying police, teachers, politicians; encouraging open rebellion against the ills of society; all in favour of community, grass-roots action, girl-power, and just being icehot to each other. :D So I suspect outside guest appearances, Smoke would find her home in a comic book. Where writers can really let rip on the madness. ;)

Okay, I'll play the game:

Fan lore has it that Smoke Alarm can first be glimpsed as an extra in the background of a crowd of Kangs in "Paradise Towers" (usually when the Blue Kangs invade the Red Kang brainquarters). Of course, they disagree on the exact character, with some fans insisting on a Red Kang, with a fan theory that Smoke Alarm switched colours at some point as a part of a Kang swap. In any case, the actresses in question are too old to fit Smoke Alarm's continuity, but this is in keeping with the general miscasting of the serial.

More to come!
This message was last edited by the player at 11:36, Fri 23 May 2014.

Smoke Alarm's first appearance was in Doctor Who itself, in a Season 7C Matt Smith adventure with the Cybermen (not "Nightmare in Silver", the other one). The character was designed for a guest appearance of an actress from US sci-fi/fantasy television: Alison Scagliotti (fresh from the end of Warehouse 13, where she played Claudia) was considered, as was Maisie Williams (Arya from Game of Thrones), though ultimately Ksenia Solo (Kenzi from Lost Girl, following her character's death) proved available and willing and best suited to the part. Giving her a strange Kang character, from a now-obscure late-80s serial of the classic series, was a controversial decision with fans prior to the episode airing.

Fortunately, she nailed the role: her acting range demonstrated by the street-kid thief character of Kenzi fitted Smoke Alarm perfectly, and her ballet dancing skills translated well to the action scenes in Lost Girl (such as in the Ruler of Forest Nymphs and Wood Sprites story) and thence to Smoke Alarm's "Kang fu". However, Ksenia's back injury and general safety concerns necessitated stunt-women and CGI for the parkour scenes, with wire-work for close-ups.

Smoke Alarm proved instantly and surprisingly popular with fans, who adored her madcap antics and unique voice and style. Kangs were also an easy and cheap option for cosplayers, with Smoke Alarms, Blue Kangs, and Red Kangs soon turning up at conventions, in all kind of styles, from traditional to punk to steampunk, all with dyed hair. (Ksenia actually opted to wear a wig for the part, having been used to them in Lost Girl.)

Naturally, Smoke Alarm and Ksenia were considered for a role in the Always Time To Travel spin-off.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:39, Fri 23 May 2014.

Blake Lively has often been criticized, after Gossip Girl, for running around doing mad cap antics in what was called by a competitor as a "stupid kid's show." She and Ksenia vocally defend the show on Twitter, as well as the larger Doctor Who franchise over all. "Oh, get over yourself. The show is all about heart and emotion and adventure and love and fun and what's best in people. When I first started on the Rifts I and Ryan marathoned the entire Doctor Who revival along with as much classic Traveller we could find. Now I'm a fan of japanese robot shows! All these other shows on TV are either about all this darkness, which is OK, while Rifts and now Always Time To Travel has none of that BS. There's lots of darkness in Doctor Who, but it never wins. I really owe all the prior Travellers and Doctors, I'm standing on giants shoulders. I can do this role for 10 years - I think I will." Indeed, Lively has been a rock of stability in the franchise, while Doctors leave their roles in an approximately 3 year cycle.

When questioned about who might succeed while interviewed on Graham Norton, lively joked with Ksenia and Kate Mulgrew that "it can be either one of these ladies, or maybe even my husband!" She then shouted to the crowd, "WHO WANTS TO SEE THE MARSHALL COME BACK AND KICK ASS, HUH?" The crowed roared, while Mulgrew covered her face in embarassment. Mulgrew: "I have to get busted out of lockdown first." (This was Mulgrew referring to her role as Red on Orange is the new black.)  Ksenia commented "we'll just say that she's an Orange Kang, no mousetrap can hold a Kang!" Ryan Reynolds replied, "Oh, Icehot."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:20, Sun 25 May 2014.

Trav's former companions seem to have done well for themselves -

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs7...rpwriter-d33u2nl.png

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs7...rpwriter-d5ftze6.jpg

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs7...rpwriter-d3a72w4.jpg
This message was last edited by the player at 05:00, Thu 29 May 2014.

I have to say, I'm amazed by all Traveller's backstory, in-universe and in a telly universe outside it. It's very impressive. I hope what I add to it all fits. :) Partly, I'm trying to finish up an aborted game for Smoke Alarm.

*

Smoke Alarm had had a number of scenes in her Doctor Who episode that cemented her reputation with fans. Her impressive run through the factory away from the partially Cyber-converted cultists, and defeating them with various bits of machinery, was the first time that parkour had been showcased in Doctor Who, surprising for a show that made such a big thing of running away from villains. The parkour scenes were devised by experts brought over from France. The adorable tea party scene in which Smoke Alarm and Puddy dined with the elderly characters aged backwards to childhood by the osmic projector was also much loved. These showed a great sense of adventure, fun, and innocence that appealed to many viewers tired of modern dark or angsty heroes (especially in the parent program of Doctor Who), and made her a perfect fit for Always Time to Travel, as a foil for the other characters and to get them in or out of trouble as the plot demanded.

Following her character Kenzi's apparent death in Lost Girl Season 4, Ksenia Solo chose to leave on a high note and accept the role in Always Time to Travel. This was a wise decision, as the once-novel and promising Lost Girl continued to meander aimlessly to a confusing and unsatisfying end. (Alas, poor Lost Girl.) They were later reunited when Anna Silk (Kenzi's friend Bo and star of Lost Girl) made a guest appearance as Doctor Sam, discoverer of the Kangs and a friend of Smoke Alarm, in several flashback scenes.

The character of Smoke Alarm was revised slightly for the series, with "Kang Fu" introduced to reduce her reliance on the crossbow, or "arrowgun", as well to showcase Ksenia's dance skills and gracefulness. A Kang dictionary was devised for a consistent Kang-speak, to which Ksenia added some Russian slang. Smoke Alarm was also written with, if anything, greater enthusiasm and liveliness, an expanded background and additional character traits.

Ksenia continued to wear a blue wig through her first season, but elected to dye her hair for the second. One odd request by costuming was that she grow underarm hair and dye it blue for the "nude" scene by the pool, notorious for its fan disservice in displaying the malnourished, scarred Smoke Alarm. Some commentators hoped it would reduce the fashion for shaving among young women; it did, at least, among cosplayers.

The switch introduced some continuity issues, however, with "Paradise Towers" apparently dated to the 22nd century, the Cyberman story set in the 26th, and Smoke Alarm's introductory episode in Always... set in the 195th. Some throwaway lines about the osmic projector and background info about Paradise Towers handled this. These also neatly explained away Smoke Alarm's apparent death in her first episode, with her escaping, naturally, through the osmic projector time machine. Not that it mattered, as Smoke Alarm fans continued to come up with all kinds of crazy theories, as crazy as Smoke Alarm's own ramblings and skewed view of the world.

At the time, Smoke Alarm was the only character to meet both the current Doctor and the current Traveller, though she remained unaware of the Doctor's true identity and was thus unable to tell the Traveller the Doctor was still alive. Though this plot point was sensibly ignored in Always..., fans continued to anticipate the revelation.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:39, Fri 06 June 2014.

Thank you! That's awfully sweet of you to say. To be honest, sometimes I worry that this goes into ego serving fan wank, but I love it when I see other players do it as well.

So, Gary, what are #travfans on Twitter saying? Who is the big couple being shipped? Tell us about the fandom!

For some reason, Imagine that the bulk of Ru Zheng fans in Trav Fandom don't like a TravRu ship because they want a non-romantic relationship between the two.

I bet the anime fans are all mad that Smoke Alarm cosplayers are flooding the anime cons with gangs of Kangs, overwhelming the Attack on Titan and Naruto cosplayers.

The only people who like the swelling Trav army seems to be other Doctor Who fans (who love that ATTT is airing during the regular Who hiatus) and Bronies (who have always had strong love and connections with Who fandom, and flood Deviantart with ATTT pony art. Sereth of course is a dragon, and Amanda is a cat creature, with the rest of the crew are Ponies.)

... err I'd doubt the majority of Ru Zheng fans dislike a TravRu ship. I say this as someone who has very few actual fandoms, but has watched ships attached to other shows a fair bit.

The group that is upset by the idea that this would compromise the ideals of a Buddhist monk are surely the loudest faction, regardless of its size.

Say -- is there any chance of you editing those big graphics out or half-sizing them?  The reason I ask is that they're fouling up the word wrap.

.. possibly true. Much like fandom in regards to the Doctor/anyone shipping eh?

(For what it's worth, I despise the Doctor pairing off with anyone; but I try not to impose my views too much.)

Or maybe just links to the pictures. Then we can see the source website.

I find the Doctor is just too weird, too unnatural to be considered a romantic figure. But more, he's always been a parental or family figure: a grandfather, a mad uncle, a father figure, a professor, an older brother, to the companions, to the audience, to the people he meets. So it never feels right or appropriate.


The canonical animal for Smoke Alarm is actually a rat, mouse, or possum, never, ever a pony. This was established in a famous arc in the Smoke Alarm Chronicles comic series, in which the crew were played by talking animals with no reason given. Smoke Alarm was a heroic possum in a blue bandanna, and the crew faced an army of actual goannas. The storyline incorporated Aboriginal Dreamtime themes and presented several major revelations and plot developments for the ongoing Army of Gehenna arc in AWTT, though some AWTT fans declared it non-canon as it was (a) about talking animals and (b) a licensed comic.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:12, Thu 29 May 2014.

I turned them into regular links. Check now.

I'm considering having Trav rock a Debbie Harry look, since 5th Trav has a punk attitude. While she's played by Blake Lively, the costume and makeup staff work with Blake to make unique looks for the TVs most popular female Time Lord -

With the continuing popularity of Smoke Alarm in Always Time to Travel!, thoughts quickly turned to a spin-off to replace the lost Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures, one that would star Ksenia Solo as Smoke Alarm. However, like the proposed Rose Tyler: Earth Defence early in the Davies years, it was decided to be a "spin-off too far". As popular a character as she was, Smoke Alarm did not seem suitable for a lead role, unable to carry heavier themes and plots. Besides, Ksenia Solo was still doing full series of AWTT and there were no plans to change that.

Concerns were also raised when proposed stories, in which Smoke Alarm was marooned on modern Earth and led a band of kids against alien threats and human villains, proved to be utterly anarchic, featuring vandalism, anti-authoritarian views, and encouraging open rebellion against the government. This had been controversial enough on AWTT, but a series based around it terrified executives and lawyers. The BBC wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. In later years, leaked synopses circulated around the Internet, and the idea was beloved by left-leaning fans, who thought it a missed opportunity for real social change. Much of these ideas eventually resurfaced in the Smoke Alarm Chronicles comics.

A cartoon was also considered with a voice actress replacing Ksenia as Smoke Alarm. The animated medium would have allowed greater freedom in story telling and action sequences, and those executives and lawyers would pay less attention to it. However, British animators like Cosgrove Hall proved simply unable to provide the full level of motion necessary for Smoke Alarm's parkour scenes. Lucasfilm Animation, responsible for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, was interested, but negotiations became mired in cross-Atlantic licensing deals, between the BBC, Lucasfilm, and Disney.

Ksenia and Smoke Alarm did, however, have a cameo appearance in the SJA reunion special, along with the rest of the AWTT cast.

Surprisingly, when the K9 series finally came back for a second season, a suspiciously similar character named Fire Alarm, played by a little-known Australian actress, arrived to help the regulars battle the Department, with basic parkour, graffiti, and rebelliousness. Dressed in red and described as coming from a world ruled by girl gangs, Fire Alarm was immediately pegged by fans as being a Kang. Fans have devised various theories that this was actually Smoke Alarm in disguise or working with the Red Kangs, or her sister.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:26, Fri 06 June 2014.

Strangely, talk of Smoke Alarm spin offs also occurs in various Robotech fora, since the new 2nd Traveller-Macross Frontier OVAs have proven so successful, especially with the Robotech localization release. A petition resides at Change.org demanding that Smoke Alarm get her own series of Big West-Macross crossover OVAs. Of course, more traditional TravFans have objected that seeing Smoke Alarm fight Invid with 2nd Trav and Scott Bernard's team would blow TravCon (a TravFan term for "Traveller Continuity") all to hell, but other fans rightly point out that this is ultimately Doctor Who, which laughs at hard canon. None of these ideas have gained any traction. However, Mari Ijima (who voices Lynn Minmay in the original Macross show and the 8 2nd Traveller OVA episodes, as well as in the current Traveller Macross OVAs) has tweeted about her love of Smoke Alarm, posing in a recent Smoke Alarm cosplay. Another strong supporter is Tara Strong, who voices the Second Traveller in the new OVA series when she is off season from My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic

I know zip about a Robotech and Macross and all that. All this time, I was thinking you were talking about Battletech. :\ But that turned out to be a different mecha series.

Smoke Alarm in a mecha. Gods help us. :o

Smoke Alarm in a mecha? The gods are obviously angry, and trying to make us crazy.

I dunno, the image that pops into my head is Smoke running up the side of a mech to spraypaint over the whole windscreen.

Now that would be cool. :D

But going in a parkour run in a mech would likely flatten a city.

What springs to my mind is

"I wonder what this button does."

All of Robotech is available (in pretty scratchy form) on Youtube. Imagine the animation styles of mid 80s anime combined with this.

Imagine this girl, but with guns and twice as hyper, fighting Daleks and Zentraedi giants -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlLN2yk24P8

I imagine that the new 2nd Traveller OVAs have fantastic battles between her and Delgado's Master, as 2nd Trav and UNIT Dallas struggle to protect the Earth from the Master and his Krayloss allies!
This message was last edited by the player at 03:19, Sat 07 June 2014.

OK, Twitter is now officially Flipping The Fuck Out, with the Smoke's revelation.

And now for a treat -

An artist at Dreamation (a gaming con in NJ that happened this part march) was offering free drawings of folk's favorite RPG character, for free. Well, guess who I asked him to draw.

GENTLEMEN, BEHOLD.


This message was last edited by the player at 05:19, Sat 07 June 2014.

What's really funny is that I didn't specify Trav wearing a Superman T, but that is something she'd totally wear. And I told him Uggs, but I can see Trav rocking furry raver boots, because "fuck it I'm a Time Lord and I get to wear eccentric fashion."

I can see the meme now. Smoke knows the Doctor is alive. Smoke knows Gallifrey stands. Smoke knows all the mysteries of the Whoniverse. Smoke knows how to solve UNIT dating.

Nice.

.... so basically, the answer to life, the universe and everything isn't '42' it's 'Smoke Alarm'.

Seriously, if she can answer UNIT dating, I have a new hero.

I solved UNIT dating once. Then some new things came out to stuff it up again. :(

Anyway, the first UNIT date comes from "The Web of Fear", where it's said that "The Abominable Snowmen", set in 1935, was "over forty years ago". But that can be very a rough estimate in normal speech. Ask someone when something happened, roughly, without time to think about it, and they can be up to ten years out. I know I've often added an extra ten years to things.

For example, answer this question immediately, straight off the top of your head:

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
How long ago was World War II?

---

And given doddery old Professor Travers, in shock at seeing the Doctor and co. again? Revise that to thirty or so years, date "Web" to 1969 and not 1975, and things start making more sense. At least at this point. Fans often take date references as exact, but people are rarely so precise on the spur of the moment.

My theory went on with a few more roughed dates and I think I some changing of history.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:59, Sat 07 June 2014.

Sarah-Jane is the biggest problem I had with UNIT dating. The rest of it seemed, pretty much, to be as though it was the same year. But then all of a sudden Sarah-Jane came from '1980'.

Of course part of it is that UNIT first popped up when he was still running around everywhen, and so they could just add a few years here or there and no-one would care. But then they moved it to the point where he couldn't, and so they had to be more consistent.

That is the trickiest bit, given how solid and frequent the reference is. There's an EU story that has young Sarah living for a while in 1980, a few years past her own time, and suggests she referred back to that. I don't know the story though.

Here's a thought: the 1977 Brigadier recovered his memories shortly after the events of "Mawdryn Undead" and returned to UNIT for six years, during which Sarah arrived in 1980. Then UNIT wiped his memories and returned him to the school in 1983 to preserve the time-line. :D


Well, UNIT dating is better than Phantom comics dating. Seventy-eight years of comic book time, no reboots, with twenty-one Phantoms stretching back to 1536 and covering known historical events. Eventually, it seems the current Phantom was active when his own grandfather should still have been the Phantom.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:34, Sat 07 June 2014.

Oh gods. I'd forgotten about Mawdryn Undead.

How's that fit with the Five Doctors and his retirement party I wonder?

Eh. I'm usually willing to write it off. Even ignoring the relaunch, it had been going on for a long time, some continuity errors in general will happen.

"Five Doctors" happened after "Mawdryn", no problem there. A second retirement, maybe.

I heard a fan theory, possibly an EU suggestion, that the Brigadier never really retired in 1976, that he actually went to teach at the school undercover while investigating alien activity, namely Turlough and the monument. When he lost his memory, he only remembered the cover-story.

Eh, continuity issues are always a fun thing to discuss, at least for a certain type of fan. :) "Timey-wimy" or "Time War" are unsatisfying excuses when you can actually go back over the stories and read in retcons or new interpretations, or find specific changes to history.

For a show like classic Doctor Who, it's amazing that it had as few continuity errors as it did, considering it's long run.

From around the time period of the Traveller Macross special OVAs. A 3rd Doctor spinoff got an unaired pilot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt3qZYUPi2Y

Oh wow, that's amazing. The Pertwee era looks amazingly suited to anime: UNIT, the martial arts, the capes, the hair. :)

There's really no cohesive storyline except that a bunch of Doctor Who monsters fight over Tokyo. Also, the Master and the Doctor sword duel at Tokyo Tower! I Imagine the Traveller Robotech OVAs look like that, except with Veritech Fighters and Trav and Minmei being chased by Cybermen and steampunk Kryaloss soldiers.

For that matter, Kangs are also well suited to anime, especially with big, colourful, spiky hair. :)

Oh no, I hope you're not referring to Warmonger by Terrance Dicks. D:


The Puddy prop, far from being a second-hand stuffed animal, was specially made in several versions for its appearances on Always Time To Travel, new, worn, burnt, leaking fluff, and so on. Fans clamoured for their own Puddies — for their children, of course — but manufacturing new pre-worn and re-stitched stuffed animals was difficult to justify. Instead, they were encouraged to use their own well-loved stuffed toys. In the end, patterns for sewn and knitted Puddies were designed and circulated among cosplayers who wanted authentic Puddy props. Non–Smoke Alarm Kang cosplayers preferred their childhood toys.

One popular fan theory is that Puddy is in fact a Cyber spy, as the surveillance unit in the original Doctor Who episode also took the form of a stuffed cat toy. Indeed, the props had been made off the same pattern.

This is similar to how fans have made custom scutters ever since they first appeared in the RIFTS TV series. Over the years many Trav cosplayers have made custom radio controlled scutter props, and fans have been demanding a crossover ATTT/Red Dwarf episode to show when 2nd Traveller got the scutters (who first appeared of, ironically, when Zu Rheng also first appeared in their aborted 1 season TV pilot. The scutters appeared chronologically in the RIFTS TV series first, but in-continuity it's the 2nd Traveller who constructs them, some time after her Robotech adventures.)

Red Dwarf and Traveller fan art and fiction abounds, usually of The 2nd Traveller getting lost and stuck on the Red Dwarf for a time, and getting involved in various hijinks with Rimmer, Lister and the bunch. A running gag in fan fic is how 2nd Trav tries to get Rimmer a new body and it always ends up being a disaster. Also, 2nd Traveller can never seem to be able to get Red Dwarf home in the fan fic.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:15, Tue 10 June 2014.

If this comes near where you live, this may be of interest -
http://www.doctorwho.tv/worldtour
This message was last edited by the player at 00:28, Wed 11 June 2014.

Gee...

Depends on -where- in Sydney I guess.

Not exactly Who Lore, but definitely Trav lore. Trav was present for all 4 Robotech wars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMX4UIrzW0E

This is now available at Drivethru RPG. I purchased my copy.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/...on-Hardcover-Edition

I just got my real-world copy of the 11th Doctor edition boxset yesterday, on special from Book Depository. It's nice, though a pity it's done up for my least favourite era, but at least there's some new stuff in it. I hope to run table-top games some day.

A single book like that would have been nice though. I'm the kind of person who'd rather photocopy the sheets and cards than scribble on the originals, would rather not mess with a hundred itty-bitty tokens, and I have my own d6s already.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:34, Fri 13 June 2014.

That's what's always deterred me about this particular ruleset. Boxed sets for the core rules. Which not only means more things to lose, it ramps up the price.

I'm still on my PDFs of the original edition box.  From what I've gathered about the new all-in-one, it's probably got little that I don't have or will not have, eventually -- I got in on the preorder deal for the set of Doctor sourcebooks, so I presume that most of the fancy new up-to-date writeups will be recapitulated in the Eleventh Doctor volume.

Though at C7's development speed, we'll probably have two Capaldi series done by that time.

C7 still beats Eden Studios by a country mile. I don't know when they started releasing Doctor sourcebooks, but given we're already up to the fourth, that's not too bad.

Fifth, actually.  That's in about fifteen or sixteen months.  I think their printer supply issues have had the line on hold for a few months now.

The reason that we're not seeing a hardbound Traveller edition of DWAITAS is because Kevin Siembieda is tying up the rights in court, due to his ownership of the Robotech rights. He's demanding from C7 an exorbinant cash payment instead of just simply a rights swap (where he can use Trav in RIFTS products). This has enraged Trav fans in both the RIFTS and DWAITAS communities. Siembieda has even gone as far as to issue DCMA takedown notices against RIFTS fansites that include Traveller material. In response, Steven Moffat was quoted as saying that "he absolutely blew" any chances of BBC America authorizing a Traveller RIFTS supplement from Blake Lively's first HBO appearances. The fan community has responded with several multi-system Trav supplements, mostly for RIFTS, DWAITAS and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying. Blake Lively, who has done Trav panels at Origins and Gencon, was shown on Twitter holding up a printout of a Traveller RIFTS fan produced PDF. She's also been featured along with other actors from ATTT playing D&D Next on Wil Wheaton's Youtube show, with Felicia Day acting as DM. This has added to the rumours that Day will be chosen to be the 6th Traveller.

As well as duplicating all the rules from the Player's Guide in the Gamemaster's Guide. :( Well, at least that's two copies to share around the table.

I do like the story at the beginning, with the gelatinous cube and Rory saving the world with his knowledge of D&D. :)



I spent ages waiting for new books, stopping paying attention for a while, then suddenly they had half a dozen of them out.

Still reading. I like that a lot of things are explained more clearly, though still surprised that Screamer was changed so completely.

Ahem.

One popular item in the Always Time To Travel! toy-line was Smoke Alarm's Arrowgun, a small crossbow that could fire plastic suction-darts and nerf pellets like many other toy guns on the market. The Arrowgun was unique, however, in being marketed primarily at girls, with blue-wigged girls shooting them in advertising and on the box; and, like the TV prop, being decorated in flowers, animals, sparkles, and rainbows in manner similar to a plethora of girl's toys.

Naturally, this triggered a small controversy among conservative sections of society, who complained about violence among girls, but largely wished to maintain the traditional sexist dichotomy of boys' and girls' toys. More alarmingly to them, boys also enjoyed playing with them. Their concerns were thankfully dismissed as ridiculous and the Arrowgun allowed girls to annoy their brothers for a change.

A blank design was also released, which children and cosplayers could personalise by decorating with stickers, doodles, and sparkles as they liked.

Authentic arrowguns proved tricky for cosplayers, due to the difficulty of obtaining or building actual crossbows and weapons licenses.

C7's Sixth Doctor book got sent out to subscribers a couple of days ago.  Because they only have 11 serials to fill up the book without hugely changing the format, there are a couple of sections that go into a plot and adventure seeds looking at the Sixth Doctor's TV adventures through the lens of a Time War prelude.  It's very strange.

Time War prelude? The Sixth's era is the least applicable, I would have thought. "Genesis" and "Resurrection of the Daleks" are made for it, but "Revelation" hardly matters.

And a Sixth Doctor sourcebook already? Eee, I really want the Seventh, I need to see what they do with Kangs. And everything else from that era.

Less to do with straight-up tussles between Time Lords and Daleks, and more to do with the Time Lords suddenly beginning to stick their oar in to a lot of situations -- up to the Trial stuff, which has them flat out working strategic mischief across the timeline.

The only way I can see a "time war prelude" with the 6th Doctor is somehow connecting the Valeyard with John Hurt's War Doctor?

As stated; I think it has more to do with the Timelords, for example, moving earth across the universe and renaming it; than with the Timelord-Dalek stuff.

I think the Valeyard is more likely to be connected with the Dreamlord than with the War Doctor. The War Doctor; despite his beliefs, was still a good man. He still deserved the title 'Doctor' - and would have even if you want to ignore the anniversary special's retcons. He did what needed to be done.

The Valeyard though, was dark, dark, dark. Darker than McCoy, darker than Eccleston. Certainly darker than the War Doctor.

Well, I've gone and bought myself PDFs of the Fourth Doctor Sourcebook, the Time Traveller's Guide, and the adventure Medicine Man. Online shopping is getting worryingly easy.

Do you mean the Time Traveller's Companion? I want to make sure I haven't missed a book.

That's the one. I just got the name wrong.

I imagine in the imaginary Trav franchiseverse that after all the rights got cleared There's the Always Time Travel Guide, the Traveller omnibus that details her from the original 1st and 2nd Traveller animated Robotech adventures all the way through Always Time To Travel. It's one of the biggest books in the C7 line because all of the Traveller material is in one book. An online web supplement written by Bill Coffin of Palladium as an "unofficial fan supplement" covers the Traveller's war against the Shedraya Time Demons and has full RIFTS stats for the entire Traveller canon, including support for people who want to do Trav gaming in RIFTS and ROBOTECH.

Various fan groups have created free products to do Robotech and Rifts under DW:AITAS rules, including an abbreviated magic rules set and a Mekton conversion!

Trav takes no responsibility for this recent discovery amidst her old pile of VHS tapes. This was another one of those hidden regenerations.

http://www.nerdist.com/2014/07...dest-and-best-thing/

I thought you were going to link to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...ersist_safety_mode=1

You can tell that is Trav, because she has a goose for a companion.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:11, Wed 09 July 2014.

Wow, she must have regenerated into an idol singer - Minmei's infectious influence on the TARDIS and Trav is still there after centuries.

The Doctor had Frobisher (or whoever that Penguin companion was), so Trav has Gooseberry!

Something for me to watch tonight.

Frobisher!

Damn you all -

GOOSEBERRY THE GOOSE MUST NOW BE A THING IN TRAVLORE

... maybe it's holed up with the Us?

"All hail the big talking bird!"

I have decided on a few things -

Gooseberry drinks gin. And whatever other booze he can get his beak on.
Gooseberry has a foul mouth.
Gooseberry travelled with the 1st Traveller.
Gooseberry has a past he doesn't like to talk about, and is being chased.
Gooseberry left with Al Capone. This was the very first time Trav was left completely alone. This was shortly before the trip to Macross Island and her regeneration into 2nd Traveller.

...Oh no.

Gooseberry has a TARDIS key. Gooseberry loves booze and casinos.

Be careful when you go into the sauna.

Watch your valuables.

One last thing about Gooseberry. He's a sociologist by trade, and has written several scholarly  papers on social structures and economics of one-celled civilizations.

I'm considering starting an ATTT Pinterest board. We can pin up pics of people and things for the game. It's working really well for my vampire game and, besides, we all know you can't get enough pics of blondes wearing fedoras.

Always Time To Travel now has a presence on Pinterest! Pin up your favorite pieces of fan art and pics, Trav fans!

http://www.pinterest.com/kaiuk...ways-time-to-travel/

If anyone needs an invite, let me know and I will get you signed up. It's an open board so anyone should be able to access it.

Now I've got to work out what Pinterest is...

Watching Arrow season 2, I think I've found a new Smoke Alarm: Bex Taylor-Klaus, playing Sin. Scrawny young punk girl, and they even had a free-running chase scene. :)

You can sign up to Pinterest with your Facebook login. I urge members to log in and pin ATTT relevant media.

I think you need to invite people.  I'm following the ATTT board, but it won't let me choose it to pin something at the moment.

I see the Doctor has picked up Smoke's habit of sitting on top of the TARDIS:
http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2...ctor-who-listen.html

And I'm on Pinterest and following the board.

No, I can't pin anything to the board either.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:32, Sun 27 July 2014.

I will need folks to message me here the emails that they are using over at Pinterest so that I can "invite" you to the board. Stupid system.

Sorry, I don't do Facebook.

You can give Pintertest a regular e-mail.

Okay, here's my email, PLed since this is a public thread (not that it affects much if someone really wants to stalk me):

I've got two things about Kangs ready to pin. :)

In reply to Smoke Alarm (msg # 127):

OK, I see your icon. Let me know if it worked.

Yep, it looks like it worked, thanks. I'll pin a few things.

I am developing a potential DW:AITAS PBP of my own, where the majority of PCs are Time Lords =

link to a message in another game

Doctor Who:Adventures In Time And Space:The Survivors

Let me know what you think. Specifically, I'm wondering how all three of you would do as young Time Lords who are refugees from The War.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:27, Mon 28 July 2014.

I'm interested. Well, I'm always interested in Who games. :) I've got a few ideas and things I'd like to play kicking around my head. I'd love to try a Time Lord, but I've never quite found a Time Lord character concept I've wanted to play.

I'm not sure I'd want to play a timelord; honestly.

Hmm.  I'm kind of worried that getting involved would divide the headspace I'm using to dream up post-Time War shenanigans right now to run this game.

I hope that how Time Lords deal with post Time War PTSD isn't too off putting. Trav had a very I Want To Be Evil On These Fuckers moment, and being one of the best and most moral Travellers (actually, they all were) is how she is dealing with it. Also, I like having her talk all 19th century like.

It seemed a bit out of the blue. But I like Hartnell Traveller. :D


I'm wondering if it's possible to play a TARDIS, like the humanoid Type 103 from the other great time war:
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Type_103
Getting inside might be a bit weird...

Let's talk about it, but direct all conversation about The Survivors to the relevant thread, since I don't want to clutter up ATTT with talk about that game.

Ah, I was just tossing ideas around to see what sticks. We're not allowed to discuss character concepts in the proposals board. I've got a few bubbling around, and would pick something to fit the rest of the group.

Let me get the game set up then. I wasn't sure I should start it unless I had specfic interest. Also, I want to give Gary a chance to *play*.

Ahem.


Although the proposed televised spin-off had fallen through, the character of Smoke Alarm remained popular and the idea of giving her own series remained a hot issue. Finally, her creator and BBC Worldwide decided to try licensing the character to a comic book. IDW had lost the rights to Doctor Who comics, and was generally too bland anyway, and so was passed over. Titan Comics was running Doctor Who series at the time, but Smoke Alarm was now wholly a part of the Always Time to Travel franchise, and so a separate licensing deal needed to be struck. Fortunately, Marvel (a much more fun comics company) acquired the license to run Smoke Alarm stories, with The Smoke Alarm Chronicles soon released.

The Smoke Alarm Chronicles had a different writer, artist, and style each story, keeping the stories highly varied and unique. Notably, it went out with Skottie Young's Baby and Animal variant covers as standard covers. The series thus took a very gonzo turn, taking the form of a series of disconnected stories told by Smoke Alarm, with no clue given to continuity, canon, or common sense, as suited the rotating stable of writers. They were notorious head-scratchers for fans, provoking the traditional arguments of canon.

Many stories were very much in the universe of Doctor Who and Always Time to Travel, with Smoke Alarm having crazy side-adventures while the Traveller and friends dealt with more traditional threats, or served as back-ups to current TV stories. Although many elements of Doctor Who (bar "Paradise Towers") and AWTT remained out of the license and thus off-limits to The Smoke Alarm Chronicles, writers and editors had a ready-made solution in Smoke Alarm's wild imaginings and skewed POV, simply substituting creatures as Smoke Alarm might see them (Daleks for Pepper-pots, Gehenna for Goannas, etc.), thus handling the DW/AWTT elements via metaphor, or by having the Who and AWTT elements just off page. However, on a few occasions, they told AWTT tales directly, such as in the famous Army of Goannas arc, with all characters played by talking animals with no reason given. Smoke Alarm was a heroic possum in a blue bandanna, and the crew faced an army of actual goannas. The storyline incorporated Aboriginal Dreamtime themes and presented several major revelations and plot developments for the ongoing Army of Gehenna arc in AWTT. These were promptly ignored by fans who worried about canon and talking animals, only for the AWTT series to follow up on them.

Other stories went entirely off-the-wall. One week, Smoke might be retelling an old fairy tale like "Hansel and Gretel", with two Kangs lured to an apartment made of candy and home to an old Rezzie who attempted to eat them before they pushed her in the over and robbed her; it was very much a cautionary tale. The next story might be sharp political satire, such as when Smoke Alarm let a herd of pigs into Australia's Parliament House then pushed PM Tony Abbot in a mound of dung. Then Smoke might rip-off and parody a popular movie or tv series, like "Game of Kangs" (depicting a feud between Red and Blue Kangs and depicting the downfall of the Green Kangs) and "Rat-Woman" (with Smoke Alarm as a superhero protecting the people of a city). There were also a few popular crossovers, such as the notoriously loony "Smoke Alarm Kills Deadpool".

A number of stories were more serious in tone, even quite dark, telling flashbacks to Paradise Towers and Smoke Alarm's origin story. These detailed the disasters and urban decay that beset Paradise Towers and the rise of the Kangs, and presented Smoke Alarm's tragic backstory. Others depicted Doctor Sam's discovery of Paradise Towers and filled the gaps between the original serial and Smoke Alarm's appearance in Who and AWTT. They also detailed Kang society and philosophy, and explained some of the more puzzling phrases of Kang speech, such as the traumatising truth behind being "taken to the cleaners".

By the end of the series, it was revealed that Smoke Alarm — now a wise old Kang — was telling these stories to a group of young Kangs (some implied to be her children) to prepare them for the future. Every story had contained a bit of wisdom, practical knowledge, or advice for forming a good, fair, and equal society. In the last, the young Kangs had an idea to journey into the bowels of Paradise Towers and repair and activate the ancient engines of the artificial world of Paradise Towers and fly it around space, exploring in the Kang way. Smoke Alarm had advised against it, warning it would be very dangerous and of the fierce peoples they might encounter (as many of her stories had reflected), and she didn't want to change the Kangs' peaceful existence. But the young Kangs considered her words, then ignored them, and went off to do it anyway. Smoke Alarm found them, but surprisingly congratulated them on ignoring her advice. Thus, the series imparted its last message, that the future belonged to the young and that the old should give their advice and stand aside for their children to make their own decisions. Smoke Alarm went off with the young Kangs to help them, on one last adventure.

Ah, the Traveller and comics! Let's not talk about how...

...the 2nd Traveller was licensed by Go Nagai and appeared in a semi-official Mazinger Zed story arch where The Traveller and the Photonic Studies Institute join forces against Doctor Hell and the Splugorth from RIFTS. Lots of Trav panty shots and horrible ecchi, this is part of what convinced the BBC to never license out the Traveller again.

...The Marshall and Absalom Daak teaming up in 2000 AD - first in competition (as to who could kill the most Daleks) and clashing with the infamous Judge Dredd. This is the only time the Marshall of Daak ever appeared in 2000 AD, and exists outside of the continuity of the Marshall/Traveller and Daak stories.

...The Marvel UK EXCALIBUR vs THE MARSHALL SPECIAL, where the Grand Universal Omniversal Majestrix tasks Exclaibur with returning the key of chronos, that has fallen into the hands of the Marshall, who intends to use it to unlock the Skasis Paradigm (1992, now considered out of continuity)

...The 1st and 2nd Traveller make various silent cameos throughout Robotech and Marvel comics over 20 years.  With the RIFTS tv series and now ATTT, blondes in trillbies are often seen running into or poking their heads out of blue phone boxes.

...In Avengers vs Justice League, the writers wrote backstory notes of how Krona's Great Sin was originally that Oan scientist's great misuse of Time Lord technology to see into Event One, a realm of technology expressly forbidden by the Laws of Time. This same leaked document also talks about how, in the Dark Times, Rassilon leads a coalition that assembles and creates the Infinity Gauntlet, using this artifact to restrain and bind the Phoenix Force with the only power greater than the Phoenix's cosmic reborth - the inevitable march of time, The Bad Wolf. In the planned story, Rassillon scatters the infinity gems and keeps the gauntlet for himself, now a powerless token. The coalition to restrain the Phoenix includes the Oans (who become the Guardians of the Universe and form the Green Lantern Corps, and contribute their Power Battery for the project), the Elders of the Universe (who contributes each an Infinity Gem), and the Time Lords (who possess the vast knowledge of temporal science to restrain the Phoenix in the White Hot Room, it's natural home, which Krona later breaches.) Other attendees are representatives of Asgard (including a young Odin, who curses Rassilon for being an arrogant fool), the Eternal Vishanti (mystic entities from the Dr Strange stories), and others. 3 assistants of Rassilon and Omega are named - one Koschei, one Theta Sigma, and one Travellerandenturiata, all three young scholars of the Prydon college. This ties in to Krona's great sin and why the Phoenix is such a threat, and has ripples into the later Avengers vs X-Men.

...How there is a fedora pony who has appeared on MLP:FIM who is often accused of being Trav Pony -



...How supposedly Marvel/Disney and the BBC are in negotiations RIGHT NOW for a full line of Dr Who comics, including a monthly ATTT series which will supposedly be in continuity with Marvel''s Earth 616. Being that it's been canonically established that Earth 616 is also the Earth of Doctor Who by way of Death's Head.



There's talk of Capaldi's Doctor and the 5th Traveller appearing in Marvel's line of cosmic space adventure books.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:52, Fri 01 Aug 2014.

I wish I knew more of what you reference, Trav. :)

Really, a blue-haired pony, and people say Traveller and not Smoke Alarm? I dunno...

Awesome new stuff for you to check out! Go Nagai created Mazinger Zed and was an amazing influence on modern anime, he's one my heroes.

Nah, has a fedora. Definitely a Traveller.

Maybe Trav becomes a Blue Kang after all. Or maybe Smoke inherits the legacy of being a Time Lord!

Hmmmm!

I saw Guardians of the Galaxy last night. It was SO GOOD. I'm almost to the point of demanding that Gary merge the Marvel Movieverse and the Whoverse!

I take no responsibility if Trav starts dancing around to this one while exploring ancient ruins with you guys or in the control room.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...V4aFgCjw&index=8
This message was last edited by the player at 18:43, Sun 03 Aug 2014.

Yes, in the final issue old Smoke Alarm was wearing an old fedora like one of Trav's. ;)

I think you mean "Time Kang". :D

Also, one popular story was "My Fair Kang". :)

I am starting a new Dr Who:AITAS game which will be related to Gary's Travcanon but will also diverge at certain points (because I am certain that Gary doesn't want his game beholden to mine in any way).

All of you are invited and get first crack. Unlike the ruck and run, I will permit folks from here to app a somewhat experienced Time Lord, or bring diverged versions of ATTT PCs - you can't have too many Smoke Alarms, right? And cat people are certainly allowed!

Because I trust y'all, I will entertain AU versions of the Doctor himself, The Master, the Rani or the Corsair, with certain allowances and restrictions so as to not overshadow the other PCs. I for one would love to see a PC Corsair, for instance.

Link is here - link to another game

I'll give it a look when I get home; I don't tend to apply for games from work. Except DnD because I can do characters for that in my sleep.

Great! I'll work on my RTJ today. I have a few PC options for you.

I'm afraid I get more than my recommended daily dose of Smoke Alarm here. So much sugar. :) On favourite characters, I like to apply them to multiple games, since the die-off rate is so high. But ATTT is running so well I don't have to worry. :)

What about fish people? ;)

What about AU/advanced companions? Sereth will know I'm talking about Destrii from the comics. Anyway, I'll put her in my RTJ.

Work from home, Sereth!

Deal with too much confidential information to work from home!

Technically, I do too, I just have to delete my work after 5 days. Or whenever I get around to it, ahem.

A warning for The Survivors - I'm not really that up on off screen lore. I plan on studying up on the Faction Paradox, and I may be using some cross over stuff (because Marvel Comics are technically Who Canon ;) ), but my knowledge of Doctor Who comics and novels is very thin. However, I am also easy going. I'm sure we can work it out.

I just posted my lengthy RTJ. Sorry. I've written up all Destrii's background so it doesn't need research, and I can explain whatever else you need. The Time War can be something of a soft reboot for the character.

I'm in favour of retconning elements of the War in Heaven time war of the EDAs into the later Time War.

I never really got extensively into the novels; and didn't do the comics at all. My onscreen lore is pretty good though; starting from Hartnell all the way through.

I'm now tempted to join just to see Destrii in a game that seems likely to go somewhere. -sigh-.

If folks can point me towards sources with both Destrii and Izzy, I'd really appreciate it. I fell in love with McGann when I saw him in The Night Of The Doctor.

Well Smoke Alarm will have definitives, but I know Destrii was a comics character. Not sure about Izzy; I suspect the same; but the name is tugging on my memory banks.

I'd also like a reading guide to the Whoniverse version of the Faction Paradox. I've always been fascinated by them, but I know terribly little about them.

Well this is a start; it does provide links to stories as well. It's my go to for whenever Smoke Alarm starts talking novels/comics:

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Faction_Paradox

I highly recommend the Eighth Doctor comics from Doctor Who Magazine, 1996 to 2005. They're collected in Endgame, The Glorious Dead, Oblivion, and The Flood, though may be hard to get now. They had long-running story arcs; mad, fun, and experimental stories; interesting companions; and did a lot of what the new series would do, first and best. "The Flood" is a very New Who alien invasion: big, public, on the news. The Doctor and Destrii both solved problems by gaining flashy godlike powers in the finales. The first gay companions too, Izzy and Fey, meaning the Doctor only travelled with lesbians for seven years (except for Kroton the Cyberman briefly, and Destrii seems straight, but she was locked in Izzy's closet for a while...)

They're my era of Who. :)

The articles aren't complete, but give a good overview:
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Izzy
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Destrii

Oh, and Fey/Feyde really should be the top secret agent of the Time War:
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Fey_Truscott-Sade

I never followed the Faction Paradox spin-offs, but I'm familiar with their presence in the Who novels. It's been many years now though. Feel free to ask me any questions.

In reply to The Traveller (msg # 145):

Thanks for the offer, but I don't think I have the time to play in another game.

Does Sweet Boy have an adventure setting?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_TfU8bTpqo

Didn't you once allude to there being a (presently disconnected) Wheel-Of-Fortune component that plugged into the console?  Sort of like the classic Randomiser, except that it had a big wheel to spin?

Oh, the WHEEL OF WONDER. I actually invented the Wonder Wheel as a background thing during the Rifts game!

The WHEEL OF WONDER was a 2nd Trav thing. It was essentially a prop hooked up to a randomizer, but instead of just a few buttons like the Doctor used, Trav had hers as a carnie wheel with all sorts of different wacky locations!

"WHEEL OF WONDER turn and turn, spin round and round so we may learn! Today we're going to... THE MESOZOIC ERA, EARTH!LETS MEET THE SILURIANS!"

I don't think this group is ready for the WHEEL OF WONDER yet.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:55, Fri 22 Aug 2014.

Silurians are a myth! There's no such thing as Silurians. Or there are; but the name was all wrong.

I remembered it was some sort of wheel.  I was pretty sure it wasn't a Wheel of Morality....

Yeah, just like Draconians and Time Lords are myths ;)

Smoke Alarm so is.

... noo. Silurians was a misnomer. They weren't Silurians. The Doctor commented as much in the follow-up story.

Wait, wait, I've got this one!

The Doctor tried to fix it to "Eocenes" in The Sea Devils, because that was a somewhat less wrong geological era, and people also tossed around the term homo reptilia, which was also scientifically ridiculous.  Then the Virgin NAs decided that was racist (?) and started using the term "Earth Reptiles" which was broadly accurate but dull.

However, this point of nomenclature actually turned up IC in the previous season of Always Time To Travel, and the following was located on a database when Trav & Stanley first visited Arden, Amanda's homeworld:



I got Sphenodon from the genus of the tuatara, the three-eyed lizard species.

... well except for the bit from previous incanrations of ALways Time to Travel which I obviously didn't know...

Ding Ding Ding.

I don't know what you win though!

In reply to Sereth (msg # 166):

Ah yes. Earth Reptiles or Eocenes. It's good you mentioned that -  I remember Gary correcting me, my IC justification for Trav entering that in as a search term on Arden is because she was so used to UNIT dudes calling Earth Reptiles (which she prefers) "Silurians" that she figured that they might be using that term in this time zone. Also, unique keyword. Trav was super pleased that they had reached the starts and had integrated, which meant that all the work that she and the Doctor did had worked!

I invented a bunch of new Travcanon, but that Gary pointed out that Silurians *had* appeared. But, what the hell, here it is -


The Traveller never appeared with the Silurians properly on screen in live action, since her live action presence is of course rather short in her classic run, and her animated appearances in the 80s era take place on an alternate Earth. 2nd Trav makes a brief reference to Silurians when she, Scott Bernard and Lancer are trapped in an Invid Genesis Pit - "Silly, those aren't real dinosaurs, those are just genetic constructs - the Invid Regess has the eras all wrong! Besides, if they were real Dinosaurs, there would be Eocene people here! Earth Reptiles!" Scott: "'Eocone' people? Traveler, you're not making sense again.'" Trav: "Eocene people! Earth Reptiles! Don't make me use the word Silurian, it's a bad word, a slur!" Trav later goes on to tell the Invid Regess that the Rani was better at making Dinosaurs, "And she's a half rate hack!"

In the revival era, fans of the 2007 RIFTS series lobbied hard for the appearance of various Doctor Who aliens as Dee Bees, but the BBC was very stringent with rights release, with archival Dalek footage being used for the Mulgrew-Eccleston sequences. However, a few Doctor Who aliens were spotted in both the town shots of New Kentshire and the crowd scenes in Center when Trav and her team and the TARDIS visited Phase World. These included two Cybus Cybermen and a classic Silurian. None of these have been acknowledged as canonical appearances.

In the recent IDW Paternoster crew comics, there have been reverse appearances - A blonde in a fedora and a blue haired girl with a raggedy cat doll have been spotted in crowds during Jenny and Vastra dialog scenes, as well as Strax showing up late to a meeting - "I found the wrong police box, Madam. I am sorry for my tardiness. Also, the Doctor's TARDIS would never have an american flag decal on it. I am certain my cannon fire destroyed it."

Fans have been lobbying hard for Silurian appearances. At SDCC, writer Chris Bell was heard to remark at the Trav panel - "Listen, we already have a Kang and a Draconian on board. You were lucky Gary and I were able to get that out of the Moff. You were lucky we got the Arden Wiki lookup through. We would LOVE to have the Paternoster gang on ATTT!"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:00, Fri 22 Aug 2014.

Well, I'm glad we cleared that up.

For my next trick, I'll prove that there are no such things as Macra.

Another scientific name, from the NAs, is, deep breath, psionosauropodomorpha, meaning "psychic lizard-foot shaped":
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Silurian

I once read a theory that Macra were the origins of a surprising number of old monsters.

Actually, it shouldn't be too hard to get Silurians and so on into ATTT: for the most part, licenses for various characters and creatures are held by the original authors or their estates. That's why the BBC has to get permission from the Nation estate to use Daleks, and why fan-vids exist that use Sontarans and so on. I imagine there's only a restriction if the TV series plans on doing something with them at the time.


BTW, the Mailman sounds like an awesome renegade Time Lord. :)
This message was last edited by the player at 04:38, Fri 22 Aug 2014.

... of course, I'm stuffed if I can remember who came up with Silurians. I know Holmes came up with Sontarans; and Pedler was Cybermen...

But yeah; that was why there was almost no Daleks in Season 1 of the new series. The Nation estate was holding out. And the latest run of Doctor Who classic series here; had to skip every single Dalek episode; because the Nation estate refused to give the rights for the old series. And you have to negotiate separately for stuff from the new series or classic; if they're in both.

Malcolm Hulke, same as the Draconians and of course the Sea Devils.

Your litmus test to detect Hulke stories: is there an empire behaving badly?

Oh yelp. Thinking on some other Hulke stories now and that's scarily accurate.

That is smarter than it sounds. There was someone interfering with stuff going all the way back to ATTT Season One (March 2013 at RPGNet)



Context - Trav meets with three versions of who you guys know as Warlock (Phillipe, Evers and Fortuna) who is being chased by the Chamber of Unwrought Time. This creates a temporal backwash which creates a bunch of medical problems in people, which gets Stanley involved. Trav, Stan and Phillipe talk everyone down, negotiate, and backwind the backwash. Stanley joins the TARDIS crew.

RPGNet thread (need membership to read) - http://forum.rpg.net/showthrea...ays-Time-To-Travel!/

I have to say, I enjoyed "Deep Breath" and like the new Doctor. I'm actually liking the new series now. :)

A break from the manicness of Smith and Tennant was welcome. Capaldi has a feel of Hartnell about him, and not just due to the age.

I got more of a Pertwee vibe, but yeah.

If Trav meets this one - "Boobie, you look *so* Vegas!"

His fashion sense is Pertwee. His personality was a lot closer to Hartnell; Pertwee was very happy-go-lucky.

I couldn't see any particular other Doctors in him, which I think is a good sign. Some people are saying Tom Baker, which is a good fit. Some moments seemed borrowed from other Doctors (especially Tennant's "Ohhhh!" thing), but you get that in a post-regeneration story.

But he hasn't made any obvious catch-phrases yet, which is simply glorious. The forced wackiness also seems to have gone, post-regenerative trauma notwithstanding. He's also the least costumed (i.e., no novelty clothes) since Eccleston, and before that, Troughton, which is surprisingly refreshing. I hate the red slashes though.

I think that Capaldi is going to be a very grim, brooding, scary doctor. That might not appeal to Tennant or Smith fans, but it appeals to Eccleston fans, like me.

Anyone catch the chips and 'no money' reference at the end of the episode? Do you think Capaldi might take some inspiration from 9?

The 'scary' Doctor aspect is how he reminds me of Hartnell.

I think Capaldi; as a lifelong fan, will likely take some -inspiration- from all the previous Doctors.

I think the Doctor is best when he has an air of danger and unpredictability. He began as the the antagonist, after all. Hartnell, McCoy, and others had it just right, Colin Baker much too much. The new Doctors have generally been rather safe, bar contrived moments and unsupported claims. Capaldi carried it off very naturally though.

I have to say actually, Eccleston never scared me. Capaldi did have it right; and no catchphrases was my dream come true.

Don't jinx it, Capaldi may end up getting a catchphrase ;)

Actually in honesty most have - but they weren't forced. 3 and 4 certainly did; and along with 2, they've been my favorites.

Dig it, some real science! And I want Trav to talk about Stellar Haloes at some point.

https://medium.com/starts-with...-beyond-42feb99f6d66

From the Always Time To Travel Season 3 OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmVxiEXWJWQ

High energy music involving Smoke, Sereth and Trav dealing with bad guys!

Some science!

Very appropriate for Time Travel, Block Transfer equations, and so on - http://gizmodo.com/5-reasons-o...tual-real-1665353513

New bio slot - last one was too depressing!

Ahem.


Following the appearances on Doctor Who, Smoke Alarm's regular role on Always Time to Travel, and the niche popularity of the Smoke Alarm Chronicles Marvel comic series, a Kang fandom soon grew up around these properties, forming a subsection of the fandoms of all three and some attracted from outside. Kangs, as they were known, were a small but dedicated subculture of geeks, cosplayers, sports enthusiasts, and girl power activists, mostly women. They adopted Kang-inspired dress and philosophies, such "brave and bold as a Kang could be".

One unique expression of Kang fandom was in the women-dominated sport of roller derby. For roller girls, who already adopted punk, gothic, lolita, and grunge fashions for their games, and played under novel nicknames, the attraction of Kangs was obvious. Kang-themed roller girls appeared in games, followed by a whole Red Kang roller derby team. "Catch me if you can" adorned a few backs and backsides.

In homage to the sport and the Kang roller girls, Smoke Alarm appeared on roller skates in a high-speed chase/fight scene in AWTT.

Let's not forget when Blake Lively organized her Blue Kang Paradise Rollers for breast cancer research, coming to roller derby matches as her Blue Kang cosplay character Speed Bump. Her performing the Kang how-do-you-do trended on Vine and Instagram for *months*.

Coming soon from Marvel Comics, the hotly anticipated crossover event — Squirrel Girl & Smoke Alarm! The mutant with squirrel powers and the Blue Kang team up in an epic adventure to save the entire multiverse itself, aided by Tippy-Toe and Puddy, with cameos from the Avengers and Always Time to Travel!. Can the roof-running, wall-climbing, rodent-rapping duo defeat Galactus and the entire Dalek Empire? Of course they will!

http://www.ign.com/articles/20...-squirrel-girl-comic

Silly reporters, getting Doctor and Trav cosplays mixed up - http://io9.com/steven-moffat-f...and-shoul-1668433760

So, caught up with Who. Missy's arc was rather... anticlimactic.

In ATTT canon, I presume that Missy was distinctly avoiding Trav because Trav ironically had already been through the entire been a general thing and would have cut entirely cut through Missy's shit. I also feel that Missy basically committed Suicide By Doctor, if indeed that's what happened. The visual was a blue effect, not a red one.

I kind of have the feeling that Trav is a lot further a long in recovering in her post war emotional arc than Capaldi's Doctor is. "Yeah, boobie, you are an idiot, and so is Jackaninny (what she would call a female Master.)"

"Sweety, what is up with the whole Mary Poppins thing?"

I was very disappointed that Asthma Girl did not become the next companion. But I am now very psyched we now have Cyber Brig!

What's really ironic is that if Trav and Clara knew each other, Trav would not hesitate to use the Corsair sample to download Danny Pink's mental pattern and bring him back with a new body.

Well, other than the fact that it's been confirmed that Cyber-Brig joined Danny in committing suicide; yeah.

Also, Gomez has already confirmed she's in talks to reprise her role. The Master never dies. It's becoming a bit... old. IF they insist they Master doesn't die, stop setting up things to make it look like he has.

I can't remember anything from the episode that indicates that the Cyber-Brig committed suicide.

He was still around to shoot the Master and that was after Danny and the other Cybermen had already exploded. I thought the last we saw of the Cyber-Brig was him flying away. Also his page at the Tardis wikia doesn't say anything about him dying a second time. http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/A...n_Lethbridge-Stewart

It was a bit of a disappointing end to a great season, but this time around I'm more "meh" than actively offended. I wish Who could do away with epics, season finales, and non-character arcs altogether, but I think they're sadly endemic to modern television.

Yeah, it was Cyber-Brig who shot Missy, then he flew off into space. Maybe he becomes Kroton?
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/K...oul_of_a_Cyberman%29
I don't like it. It's a tacky, tacky end for the character. Literally, the corpse of the Brigadier dug up and paraded around for an obligatory non-appearance. It's especially a waste since the Mistress/Master isn't even going to stay dead.

I think the writers see his constant coming back from the dead as part of the gimmick of the character, just something he always does. At least they didn't go to any great effort trying to explain his resurrection like last time. But, yeah, escaping to provide a looming threat would give the character a bit more menace.

Osgood would have made a great companion, but was probably too much of a joke fan-girl character (and non-standard leading female role) to keep around without changing. It's annoying that she's so smart and genre-savvy the whole time, but falls for such an obvious trick by Missy. She should have raised the alarm immediately.

You do have a good point. In order to be a full fledged companion and not a fan in joke, Osgood would have had to have been changed I feel.

I would have loved to have seen Danny Pink as a full blown companion, and was dearly hoping for the Doctor and a single male companion.

In Travcanon, I can see some in the imaginary fandom making claims that ATTT was created to allow Dr Who to stay more traditional and to take risks that Dr Who couldn't. For example, two male companions and a female Time Lord in season 1 of ATTT. Also, the PC mix in ATTT you'd never see on traditional Dr Who. Also, while attractive herself, Trav hasn't felt romantic feelings towards any of the companions, but not due to any censorship from me as a player - Trav loves and adores Stan, but has a relationship of profound respect with him similar to the Donna/10 dynamic, except not with the same kind of humour. Of course, there's no doubt a thin but deep Stan/Trav shipping fandom - about as big as the Trav/Smoke shipper and Trav/Amanda shippers (cue tons of Trav Tumblrs and such ;) )) I can see the fandom making paralells between Stan and Danny, and them saying Moff killed off Danny because he was becoming too much like Stan from ATTT. I can see ATTT fans saying that Danny (and Clara) need to be moved from Dr Who to ATTT because the 5th Traveller as a character is more at ease with lots of companions than the 12th Doctor is.

What's weird about Trav is that character I as the player think she'd be interested in she turns out feeling maternal towards instead. Trav's backstory on RIFTS Earth massively informs her, as does the 3 years I played her in that game. Unlike the Doctor, who is a mountain range that takes on the mask of a cute guy, Trav is a hurricane who takes on the mask of a quirky hot mom.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:03, Tue 23 Dec 2014.

Nothing from the episode; but Moffatt has said he went off to join Danny in suicide. Personally, I'd hate the idea of a Cyber-brig staying around. Hasn't he done enough?

I'm OK with that. In fact, I'm of a changed mind. Yeah, it was kind of ghoulish for them to trot out The Brig.

Watched the Christmas episode. New monsters is a bonus. I don't mind the occasional returns; but lately we've had too many returning monsters; not enough new ones.

And yes; MOffatt considers the Master will always live. But the Delgado Master; and the Ainley-Master to a certain extent; never had a 'assumed to be dead' moment. THey escaped; you saw them escape. Heck, much of the arc on earth had to do with UNIT finding the Master.

Generally, I'm a MOffatt-fan. I think he's done more good than bad; though some of what he's done is horrendous for me. But I really wish he'd stop doing this stuff setting up for a 'future showrunner' - when he currently has no plans to hang up the boots.

I don't mind the Time War being resolved as it was. I've had enough of angsty-Doctor. But I do mind the "Oh I can find Gallifrey!" aspect; when MOffatt has himself stated he hates the timelords; so you know they're not going to find Gallifrey under his watch.

I'm going to share this to the Pinterest board, but I see that the BBC has released the official ATTT T shirt!

http://www.lookhuman.com/desig...going-time-traveling

The Ainley Master was often seen dying with no apparent possibility of escape. In Castrovalva, he's beaten by a mob in a collapsing pocket universe. In Planet of Fire, he's incinerated. In Mark of the Rani, he's trapped in a runaway TARDIS surrounded by tyrannosaurs. Then he comes back without a word as to how he got out of it.

According to the TARDIS Eruditorium blog, Moffat seems to be a writer who often seeds plot hooks for later use. Some he comes back to and makes it looks like he planned it all along, some he doesn't. Like whoever put the Doctor and Clara together in "The Bells of St John", which he probably didn't have any plans for in Season 7. Even way back with River Song. Equally, he can seed stuff for later showrunners.

"Get in loser"? Seems harsh. :(
This message was last edited by the player at 05:16, Tue 30 Dec 2014.

Yeah; but equally the Ainley-Master was also seen sometimes to flat-out escape. But yes, it is that habit he sometimes had that Moffatt is drawing off; and has stated that the Master/Missy will return without any explanation as to how they survived.

Dunno, is it a Twelfth Doctor quote?

(I suppose a GO AWAY HUMANS T-shirt would really not sell.)

I'd wear it. :)

All the shirts at the link say it. It's too harsh even for the 12th Doctor. It might be from Supernatural, it would fit.


It's probably due to the limited number of appearances the Master gets in the new series. In the Pertwee and Davison eras, he appeared so often he had to unambiguously escape sometimes. With only three appearances in the new series, each time goes for the "destroyed forever!" gimmick. You get similar situations with the Daleks and Cybermen, each apparently completed destroyed at their first appearance, and many times after.

Yeah, it kind of is harsh for Trav to say. It instead would be "GET IN BABY". Not "sweety," that catchphrase has been swiped by another certain rip off character played by the awesome Alex Kingston. ;)

Travcanon fakenews - Community fans love the dishevelled, happy, clumsy bespectacled J pop loving weeaboo girlfriend of the Inspector, The Tourist!

Travcanon Marshallore - On Villains escaping - Back in the Marshall days, Kate Mulgrew just as often always just slipped out of the clutches of Davison, Colin Baker, McCoy and McGann (in the Big Finish audiobooks). She often mocks the Doctor by using such things as bobby pins, gum, and other "Traveller-ish" methods of clever escape - "I remember all the tricks you taught me, Doctor!" Her famous declaration of "I shall return!" was as famous as her "discipline and order" line. Mulgrew, at Travcon panels, often relates that Directors would let her simply make up stuff on the spot. "I did the role initially for extra money, but I found that it was great fun. The 1996 Fox movie was supposed to be about the Marshall's capture, but it was determined by Fox that my exposure through the Star Trek franchise was a little too great. Ah well, what could have been!" The Internet is rife with animated GIFS of Mulgrew using her time ring to teleport away with a manic grin and text I SHALL RETURN or BE THE MARSHALL.

And, of course, there are a lot of stories where a captured Marshall returns with apparently no explanation.

"Oh crap! Stan, we missed one! Damned Osirians!"

http://io9.com/do-these-nasa-p...tm_medium=socialflow

12 hours of sweet boy -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfdcQlfud9c#t=4507

:), I like how the "UFO enthusiasts" want NASA to turn the rover around for this rock.

Osirian cultists who wish to free their lord from Gallifreyan block transfer equations, obviously. They want to undo our good work, Stan! :)

The Eighth Doctor Sourcebook came out yesterday, and I quickly bought the PDF, but have only had time to skim.

It only covered The TV Movie and The Night of the Doctor, as expected. It suffers a little from the small reference pool, only able to talk about those two. I'm sad it can't say anything about the comics, novels, and audios, but Cubicle 7 just doesn't have the license for it. :( It does mention the Eighth Doctor's multiple contradictory timelines and multiple possible Ninth Doctors as a result of the Time War, which is a quiet way of acknowledging it all.

Oddly, the Master's jelly snake in the TVM (well, I've always thought of it as a jelly snake) is statted out and called a Deathworm Morphant — the Deathworm is from the novels, the Morphant is from the script and comics, and the two were merged unnecessarily into the Deathworm Morphant in the audios. So this one creature gets to represent all three ranges.
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Deathworm_Morphant
Maybe there are other sneaky references. I'd say rels, the Dalek unit of time, but they already appeared in the new series.

There don't seem to be any new traits or gadgets that aren't monster- or adventure-specific. :(

The main part of the book is "The Doom of the Daleks" adventure path, 13 complete adventures inspired by each of the Doctors' eras and forming a quest to bring back the Doctor after he's been wiped from history in the Time War. Most seem easily adaptable to regular campaigns. Oddly it suggests setting it before the Time War or after the Time War, but not during.

You do all understand that this is the very first canon 5th Traveller Dalek story, yes?

This is the first time Trav has had to had to deal with Dalek stuff outside of backstory.

I'm considering this story as having started from the beginning of the Mailman arch with Space Vegas.

Truly momentous for the current 2008 Traveller revival! The fanbase is ecstastic!

Suggested episode title -

Kingdom of the Daleks (because we're dealing with a Silurian King)

I'm playing Trav in Champions Online as an inventor, using ATTT as her backstory. Chronologically, it takes place in some amorphous time between ATTT adventures where Trav investigates a CVE that leads to the CO setting (which is really no different from the Rifts and Phase World settings which are part of Travcanon.) In dialog there she refers to her ATTT adventures. I presume this is when she drops the companions off to take care of business. It would be pretty hilarious if you guys decided to play CO as Smoke Alarm, Sereth, Stan and Ru. Champions Online is free to play!

She likes chilling in Millenium City because here she can be just a nobody as opposed to The Last Time Lord. She's making sure that none of the CO universe threats bleed over into ATTT and vice versa.

Here is Trav chilling in Club Caprice with some friends and her new inventions, the Chibi Bots -

Note that she is hatless because the hats in CO look awful -


This message was last edited by the player at 06:08, Thu 29 Jan 2015.

Woohoo! Doctor Who Lego! Two of my favourite things come together!
http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2...go-040215170008.html
Though I'm not sure that Lego can handle dimensionally transcendental construction...

I want to make a Smoke Alarm minifigure, but Lego don't have any good blue hair pieces. :( Just one pale blue spiky anime style.

You read The Book of the War, right?  Remember ParaBlox^TM?

No, actually, though I wish I could.

I don't want my blocks disappearing before I get a chance to use them...

There's an awesome Auton/Nestene & Lego story waiting to be told. :)

Who has been messing with the transversal power system?

The Last Time Lord considers her options.

Shiori Experience is a manga is obviously inspired by 2nd Traveller's adventures with her first virtual assistant based on Jimi Hendrix -

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE CORSAIR HAS RETURNED?

http://io9.com/check-out-maisi...tm_medium=socialflow

If Trav sees this girl she's gonna flip her shit, even if it's not Corsi.

If the Corsair *has* returned...

Oh goodness.

I don't think that Moffat would do that though.

He wouldn't.

Would he?

...

I see nothing to suggest she's the Corsair.

Honestly; there are enough renegade timelords mentioned throughout the series; if he really insisted on bringing back one rather than make a new one, he wouldn't have to resurrect one that we know absolutely is dead (not presumed dead like say, every single other one barring the Master and the Doctor). And stuck in a pocket universe.

I don't even think she's a timelord; though it'd be awesome if it was the Rani done right...

But the Rani will probably never return; because fans keep assuming every bad-ass female villain is the Rani.

I'm generally inclined to agree. Also, Gaiman has staked out the Corsair as his Time Lord, so if the Corsair were to return, it would probably be in a Gaiman story. Also, Maise Williams is slated to become the next Companion, so I doubt she's going to be the Corsair. But still, if Trav is stopping by UNIT HQ and catches an image of this girl, she'll probably twitch a few times.

However - now that we know that Gallifrey is absolutely not dead, the door is wide open for surviving Time Lords to come in and out of the show. What's ironic is that the time has never been better for a Traveller-like character to appear (more resembling the pre-Time War Traveller, obviously.)
This message was last edited by the player at 17:25, Wed 06 May 2015.

Maisie Williams is not going to be the next companion. She's basically still American-based. She's more likely to be the next Sally Sparrow.

I doubt we'll really get any other Time Lords; besides the Master/Missy, to return whilst MOffatt is showrunner. He doesn't like Time Lords. He did what he did to leave the door open for a future showrunner; not to bring them back himself. I think, if/when they return, they need to go back to what they were when they first appeared, pre-The Deadly Assassin - enigmatic, rarely seen. Like the Doctor himself, we found out too much about them.

I'm up for suggestions on the next port of call for the TARDIS.  I've been doing weird hours for training at work, so my brain is a little sluggish this week.

She's pretty clearly dressed up as an old-fashion Dick Turpin–like highwayman character. Not a pirate. That's 17th/18th century, and so probably in the "The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar" opening two-parter, which has Missy.

The Rani has less chance of coming back than the Monk. Only fans know of the Rani, and bringing her back runs the risk of bringing back Pip & Jane Baker (or now just Pip).

Maisie Williams won't be a companion. She'll be in movies next.


What are we doing right now? Are we still with the Collinswoods or in the town, or going off on a new adventure so soon? I'm happy to continue raising havoc on contemporary Earth.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:47, Thu 07 May 2015.

Well yes; but I think the same can be said of any classic-series timelord barring the Master. I find the idea that they bring back the Corsair ridiculous - unlike any others who would be "presumed dead", we know he died. House ate him. I think a brand new timelord is probably more likely than any being brought back.

I set up things so we can basically do anything. I figured people had their fill of the Phillipe subplot for now. An adventure on modern day Earth in Stanley's time zone might be cool, around the time period with Stan's mom, similar to some of the adventures 9 had with Rose and Jackie Tyler. Maybe we can run into some of those Torchwood Yobbos.

... you just want an excuse to have Sereth in a human skin for longer....

So you're trying to tell me that you don't to tell me you don't want to look like Sam Jackson any more?

Fine, fine, I'll turn it off... ;p

A random idea:
An undersea base...on a alien planet, something or someone trying to get in, section being flooded, etc.

Or maybe a pick up at UNIT Headquarters. I need to raid some talent for the team:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doc...9e-9c75-34e0cae1af56

I *adore* Osgood.

Talent? Smoke Alarm would never fallen for the Master's trick like that. Nor fallen out of a plane. That was a rather dumb moment for a usually much cleverer character. And how's she coming back? Is it her Zygon double? Or was it the Zygon who died?


Sounds like a classic base-under-siege, Stanley!

I've heard comments also about how it's a show about time travel, so suggesting it's before she died.

I do tend to agree with Smoke actually. Her original appearance in the 50th anniversary was awesome. Not so fond of her subsequent appearance.

If I'm remembering my Who mythology right, Zygons keep those they're doubling for alive, because they can only use their shape if they're alive. I think that's even what happens in Terror of the Zygons; a prisoner dies and the Zygon who was impersonating him reverted to it's original form; thus letting the Doctor have an idea of what he was up against.

I think that's right. And when a Zygon died, a prisoner awoke. However, the Zygons in Day of the Doctor didn't need to take prisoners. Zygon Osgood took Osgood's form just by looking at her.

Yeah, we haven't had one of those yet. Most of the time we end up attacking the enemy's base instead of the other way around :).

I'm pretty sure I can do something interesting with either one of the ideas currently kicking around, the TARDIS exploration being discussed or the sea base.

In the latter case I hope I can beat the high bar set by Warriors of the Deep

I dunno... Warriors of the Deep was a pretty high standard to beat.

You just can't beat the Myrka.

Oh, one other adventure possibility:

Don't we have a UNIT Colonel to rescue from a time paradox?

You can't karate kick a Myrka either.


I think Smoke's got the Unadventurous trait right now, after her encounter with the Qplotl. Anyway, I have no strong feelings for the choice of next adventure.

Hey Gary,

What we the name of the UNIT Colonel who is time trapped again? I keep forgetting that we have to rescue him.

Colonel Rayburn? link to a message in this game
This message was last edited by the player at 20:11, Mon 11 May 2015.

That's it. Who wants to go rescue the good Colonel?

WHEN IS TRAV GETTING HER OWN LEGO GAME DAMMIT

It's probably tied up with Palladium/Rifts rights. Damn that Siembieda.

http://blogtorwho.blogspot.co....ture-doctor-who.html

Live by the crossover, die by the crossover.

I know right. Just like that THE TRAVELLER'S GUIDE TO THE THREE GALAXIES he promises like 15 years ago for Phase World, feh.

I'm still waiting for my Sereth figurine.

Complete with a removable helmet which reveals Samuel L Jackson's face underneath...

The annoying thing is that the Dimensions instructions don't actually have instructions for the models, you have to run the game, for which you need to buy the game and the console. Bah. It won't be the first time I've worked out a build from an image and parts.

I really need to make a Smoke Alarm minifigure. A bunch of leftover blue and black parts, a crossbow. If only Lego made blue hair.

I hear that a PARADISE TOWERS supplement is planned as as spin off book for DW:AITAS as part of their ATTT game book line, with dual Savage Worlds stats, due to recent Pinnacle/Palladium partnership. Supposedly half the book is devoted to Smoke Alarm and the Us. Talk about meta!

And you know whose glasses and coat Osgood is wearing. She may have even knicked them from the UNIT vaults -



This message was last edited by the player at 19:43, Tue 02 June 2015.

Including a much-wanted Kang to English dictionary and grammar guide.

... there -is- a Kang to English dictionary? WANT.

I thought that was sold as a seperate product by the BBC.

I personally want a Kang-to-english subtitle track.

Knowhow to Kang-Speek, a glossary of Kang terms and phrases, Kang-to-English and English-to-Kang dictionaries, a pronunciation guide, and an introductory course on how to speak like a Kang and how to integrate new slang words, children's phrases, and architectural terminology. All based on the ATTT writer's notes, and in turn used for future episodes. Including a Kang-ified version of a Shakespearean play, Kang Leer.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:16, Wed 03 June 2015.

Knowhow to Kang-Speek holds the notorious distinction of being officially condemned by the professional teachers' associations of nearly every predominantly English-speaking country.

This drove the guide onto international bestseller lists.

Blake Lively has been known to threaten to Kang Speak in interviews with reporters she does not like.

There is also a Kang Language Studies and Kang Culture sub fandom in Dr Who and Trav Fandom, as well as a thriving Paradise Towers LARP scene at Gallifrey One. Kang and Whovian LARPERS have been known to invade Zombie larps such as Dystopia rising and undo their cynical post-apocalyptic plots, even forming Kang gangs (with secret Time Lords and companions), much to the chagrins to Larp judges of these venues seeing their games hijacked by positive Kang culture. The Kang "how do you do" is the secret pass sign. Male Kang cosplayers identify themselves as "Pex".
This message was last edited by the player at 14:52, Wed 03 June 2015.

You owe me a scene, Gary.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:59, Mon 10 Aug 2015.

Relevant to our interests.

http://forum.rpg.net/showthrea...e-101-opening-scenes

In Travcanon, this threatens to split the larger Who fandom into respective camps as Trav and Doctor fans try to claim Hayley Atwell to be their respective favorite Time Lord -

http://io9.com/hayley-atwell-w...tm_medium=socialflow

Obviously, Atwell watches Always Time To Travel. ;)

The fandom wars over Atwell continue to rage!

If Atwell does not become Capaldi's successor, I'm going to probably claim her for Trav:


This message was last edited by the player at 11:57, Tue 25 Aug 2015.

Given Capaldi seems to be hinting at gunning for Baker's record, I don't think she'll succeed Capaldi.

ALso, despite their playing around with it, I do not believe they'll have the Doctor regenerate into a woman. Personally, I'd prefer they changed his skin-tone rather than gender.

Sereth: I'm inclined to agree with you. And considering that Dr Who is a "family focussed" franchise, I think that the Doctor will for the forseeable future be a white male british guy, as much as I would adore the Doctor being Idris Elba.

With few exceptions (Capaldi, Ecclestone and Davison that I can think of), the Doctor has also been relatively unknown. No-one as big as Idris Elba is now, that's for certain. I just think it makes a bit more sense for a regeneration to mess around with what determines skin color, then what determines gender. That's of course subjective though.

Pity the Master couldn't have regenerated into somoene who looked non-caucasian rather than a woman; but that might have been seen just as racist as having all the regulars be white.

I'm not concerned about the Doctor's race or gender now, though I'd like to see it change somehow. I think it can, should, and will happen eventually, just for the sake of having done it. I just hope the character won't get written differently because of it.

The only proviso for me is that the actor be mature-aged, to have the experience and occupy the mentor/familial role for the companion.

I think everyone could pick their favourite for a female Doctor. I like Amanda Tapping after Sanctuary; she even said she wanted to be the Doctor at last year's Comic-Con.

Maturity is an interesting one. With the casting of both Tennant and Smith, the respective showrunners were quoted as saying something along the lines of "With all the running, you really can't have a 40-year-old Doctor anymore".

Then Smith's successor is Capaldi - following the youngest ever Doctor with one of the oldest. (I believe Hartnell -just- shades him - Capaldi is certainly in better health at the least).

I'm still uncertain about wanting the gender to change. If it did, I hope it's not written as just an ordinary regeneration. Should be special. Otherwise why has he never before changed into one?

I think a lot of it is the chemistry between the lead and the showrunners. That's one of the reasons that Eccleston didn't work out past one season. Plus 50 years of tradition. But we'll see. Part of the reason I created The Traveller for that Rifts game back in 2007 was to have a Doctor like character who wasn't the Doctor - female, American, different backstory and so on. You can do that in RPGs.

I've been playing with the idea of regenerating Trav soon - she's been around in active play longer than Tennant or Smith were in their TV tenures (Trav was generated under RIFTS rules back when Tennant was on the air)

About "why has he never been a woman before" - the Doctor has always been portrayed as not having a lot of control over his regenerations. Just luck of the dice.

Trav has the random regenerator flaw herself. So watch out!

Ecclestone's a weird one. He and RTD have always got on great - he only joined the show because RTD was involved.

Umm, but if it really was just luck, does it make a lot of sense that he's regenerated what, 12 times into a male body?

Gambler's fallacy! Sometimes that's how the dice fall!

And a boy Traveller will be the height of hilarity.

"Oh wow. flat chested. And check this out! Hee! That's how that works!"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:34, Tue 25 Aug 2015.

Myself, I'd be game to see the Doctor be female, but in the hands of a showrunner who would use it to open up different perspectives on the character and the sorts of mythological echoes that have been particularly explored in post-2005 Who.  And would not use it as a vehicle for crappy humor.  Which, much as I like a lot of his work, firmly excludes Steven Moffat.

(I don't buy the hypothetical you sometimes see in these discussions that a female Doctor should barely acknowledge the fact.  Decisions about what to do with the show should drive and spring from story.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:47, Wed 26 Aug 2015.

Yeah, doing it properly would be most important. Not like The Curse of Fatal Death.

We do not mention that travesty...

They honestly probably need some -good- female writers, even if the showrunner is still male, before they can consider it, to be blunt. I do play female characters on occasion, and whilst I've gotten some praise for them, I'm sure I don't write for them as well as an actual woman could. And at least one has descended into a cliche.

Yes, female writers and a female showrunner for a female Doctor.

I know that Trav sometimes comes off as less than convincing, and if she was played by a woman, she'd no doubt be way different.

Good news everybody!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...-time-Christmas.html

I'm -really- tempted to buy a set and retrofit a Sweet Boy and Trav figures, as well as Sereth, Smoke Alarm and Stanley Lego figs.

I basically do not buy any Who merch that isn't media of one sort or another.  This will be the exception.

That's the old news from back in February. Frustratingly there's been no news on the set since. And I really really really want to know.

They have shown the Dimensions sets though: mini TARDIS, K9, Capaldi Doctor, Cyberman, and Dalek, plus a video with the Lego Doctor Who level:
http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/71204_Doctor_Who_Level_Pack
http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/712...ho_Cyberman_Fun_Pack

I want to make a Smoke Alarm out of my spare/second-hand/broken blue and black minifigure parts. Unfortunately, Lego still don't do any good blue hair pieces.

Of course, Trav fans are all asquee at how they're going to combine the Dimensions playsets with their Robotech legos.

Now, I know they're not talking at all about our continuity. But considering our recent visits to Karn:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0326qkd

Near the end of it, in my headcanon I like to think that 12 is directly talking about and referring to Trav. Of course, that's not the case, but still.

Why is it that when I say that I'm done with Moffat, I still get excited?

Because, regardless of what you think of the current state or whatever, you still love Doctor Who enough to keep caring. :) I've been through that two or three times now.

I am not really excited for the new series if I am honest. There was nothing in the trailer and the prologue that looked cool or made me want to find out more (IMHO). I will still watch it, though.

I have rarely gotten -really- excited about it except for the first year; purely because it was coming back. It's still a good show, and I would still watch it over most other stuff on TV at the moment. I guess at heart I'll always prefer the Classic Series; which is probably why Seasons 3-4 were so terrible for me, and why, despite it's many, many faults, I didn't mind seasons 5-6.

I must be way easier to please than all of you. :)

At the moment, what I've heard hinted and rumored about the new series is nonspecific enough that I'm just interested to see what comes.  I'm pretty jazzed to find out what's up with Maisie Williams' character.  Mostly, I'm really hopeful that with most of the stories being two-part / linked episodes, they'll have the time to breathe like old school Who did.

I don't think I really get excited about anything. Even when new Who was announced in 2003, I was curious and cautiously optimistic, but I'd seen too many failed attempts to get my hopes up.

But I am looking forward to Series 9, and I'm currently rewatching the Series 8 repeats.

I'm wary of all the two-parters though. Though it might allow for more extended, complex, relaxed tales, I like having more variety in a season like we got with Series 8, where the single-episode stories never felt rushed like in all the seasons prior. More two-parters means less stories overall. :(

I presume everyone saw it on BBC America last night -

Gonzales has The Master's cleverness and is channeling some of Delgado and some of Simms. I like it.

The whole thing being a big fake out so he can get the Doctor to admit that his whole life's work is wrong a little transparent and old, but hey, I found myself enjoying it anyway, and the entire shout out to Genesis of the Daleks was good.

Anyway, it wasn't horrible, and for now, I will keep on watching.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:32, Sun 20 Sept 2015.

I think for once Traveller and I have come from opposite directions to have the same opinion on something. :P

It was a bit too much of a return to old new-series form for me, a messy sprawling epic driven by portent and artificial controversies and things only happening for the sake of spectacle (the planes are irrelevant, Colony Sarff could've just been a Dalek agent).

I pretty much worked out the whole thing from the opening scene. Of course the regressing war was Skaro's, so then the boy had to be Davros, and of course the issue is whether to abandon him or not, setting him on the path to the Daleks. Then he's called the lord of Skaro, so of course the space-station-like thing had to be on a planet. The quote from "Genesis" fortunately justified the whole thing.

The Doctor and Clara working with Missy just doesn't feel right, nor the Doctor getting all friendly with her after what she'd done, especially so soon after "Dark Water/Death in Heaven". I do like that they confirmed they really were/are old friends, not brothers or lovers, which would be so hackneyed.

And why are calling her Missy? If we called him Master, then we should call her Mistress.

Moral debates and not-so-different accusations between the Doctor and Davros or other villains are always ridiculous and artificial: Davros is a genocidal lunatic, his argument is invalid. The Doctor should always be able to out-argue him, maybe not changing Davros's mind, but never doubting himself.

But I didn't hate it, and will reserve judgement until the second half.

Prediction for next week, spoilered in case anyone cares:

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
The Doctor will use the Dalek gun to exterminate the hand-mines and rescue young Davros. Because the 12th Doctor always says one thing to sound like a hard-arse, then does something different in a way that doesn't contradict.

---

Was he getting friendly?  I kind of got the impression this was sort of the flip side of, say, the various times the Third Doctor bailed the Master out of the consequences of schemes that backfired on him.

(In amidst all the callbacks, I sort of expected a reference to picking up the Master's "remains" from Skaro in the TVM.  Although perhaps they're hoping we've all forgotten it entirely.)


I dislike how everyone has taken the Missy name on board too.  Master, in modern parlance, should be a nongendered term.  Unless one is using that meaning of mistress.  Which is not happening.

Overall I felt like this story is really indulgent fanwankery that I'm not eager to see pursued... executed really well.  It'd be a cool premise if it didn't have to be Davros and the Daleks again.

I kind of have to split my brain in two when i watch Who regular Whovian brain, and Travcanon, because what happens in the show directly impacts how I play Trav. After reflection, yeah, a good deal of the ep does seem kind of contrived. Gonzales is cute, but she takes too much after the silliness of the Simms Master. I'm thinking that the home office might have found a more aggressive and darker female Master perhaps a bit too much for the family audience to take, as well as there being an effort to move away from sexualizing the Doctor and "catering to the female famdom" (which I have heard the show accused of in some corners.)

And thats too bad. Missy lacks a magnificence that the Master requires.

I don't like how they didn't even try to explain how the Master survived. That's just lazy and bad writing. The same with Davros, didn't the Doctor leave him to die when the Crucible exploded?



Something doesn't feel right about how the Doctor interacted with the Master this episode. Like she is too easily forgiven for what she did in season 8.

During the "party" scene, IIRC. Maybe the Doctor was drunk?



It's not even the first time the Master's been exterminated by Daleks. :) I like that the Daleks have just gone with the "Why don't you just shoot him?" criticism, and run with it so hard.



Yeah. I'd have hated it under RTD or early Moffat, but it's fortunate I like the style, tone, and characters enough now to forgive it. Apparently it was meant to be a 10-year anniversary of the new series, so it might be understandable, though I don't see it.



I liked seeing Smoke Alarm's graffiti on Karn, that was a nice reference to ATTT. ;)



It's been said that the Master is a dark reflection of the current Doctor and their era, with Delgado's being an elegant establishment-like figure opposite the Pertwee Doctor; the gothic, eccentric, funereal Tom Baker Doctor (intended at the time to be the final Doctor) opposed by a crazed, corpse-like Master; and the classically good-man Davison Doctor opposed by the classic mustache-twirling villainy of the Ainley Master. Ainley stuck around too long to show us a good match for the Colin Baker Doctor (that would have been terrifying), but he became cruelly manipulative of young companions opposite the McCoy Doctor in "Survival". The Simms Master was young, flamboyant, over-the-top to counter the Tennant Doctor. And consider Jacobi's old man opposite the elder Hurt Doctor. So, with an older, elegantly dressed, eccentric Capaldi who putters about not being a big figure, the Gomez Master is older, elegantly dressed, and utterly demented and lurks around the edges.

Of course, I don't know why Capaldi is basically just dressing like a bum now. The Master now has to become a mad cat lady.


As for Davros and the Master always surviving without explanation, I think it's based on how often it happened back in the classic series. It seems to be a running joke now. They probably figure fans or the expanded universe will fill in the blanks, though I agree it's lazy writing.

Someone pointed out to me the other day that we get absolutely no information that Clara is or is going to be a teacher in Series 7b, only that she looks after some kids. She just suddenly becomes one in "The Day of the Doctor" as a reference to "The Unearthly Child". It makes sense in retrospect and suits her character, but it's invented wholly out of whole cloth. That's been the writing style since the beginning of the new series: if viewers can figure it out themselves or trust that it makes sense, then don't bother explaining it. Lazy writing, but the current TV style. Apparently RTD borrowed it from The West Wing.

I realised: with no back story, a predestined status as a companion, appearing in the run-up to a Gallifrey epic with a dark missing Doctor and a new Doctor, Clara Oswald is basically the Melanie Bush of the new series.

Finally saw it.

Moffatt actually stated at the time that the Master would be back; with no explanation, because that's what s/he does. Planet of Fire springs to mind. RTD also stated that he deliberately didn't show Davros actually dying because he figured he probably used an emergency temporal shift to escape; and he wanted it left open for future showrunners to bring him back.

I actually like Clara though, as opposed to Mel. Mel, for me, is the opposite of Donna - have no issues with the actor (though to be fair, haven't seen Bonnie Langford in anything else); but can't stand the character.

It was... okay. The Daleks have become the equivalent though of Pertwee-era Master. Overused, are fast losing their fear/shock value. I've never been terribly fond of the Daleks; but I did like Dalek and the series 1 finale. Every Dalek story since then I've either hated, or thought "This would have been nice except for the Daleks."

Outside of Delgado, I haven't really been fond of the Master; so this story was a bit of a miss for me. It wasn't badly done (Though, I really wish every time they referenced a classic Doctor it wasn't T. Baker), but with the villains being ones I don't engage with, it didn't grab me.

I could have forgotten things about the earlier series, but I think Moffat does it a lot more (or worse) than RTD. In series four there was the Master's ring to explain his resurrection, which might not be a very good explanation, but at least it is something.

Edit: I just remembered the nonsense with mind-wiped Donna having some sort of, never explained, protection. That was also pretty lazy.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:55, Fri 25 Sept 2015.

I'd prefer no explanation than one than doesn't make sense...

The End of Time, IMO, was just about the worst piece of fanwankery that has ever existed in Doctor Who; that is supposedly canon. Sound of the Drums was bad; End of Time was far worse. I have never come closer to quitting the fandom than after seeing it. In fact, the only reason I did was that it was RTD's final episode. It was ludicrous, made no sense in various parts; made you wonder why the Doctor is really mourning the timelords when they weren't collateral damage; the whole reason he did what he did in part was actually to stop the timelords. Not to mention Rassilon becoming exactly what he had set up the Game of Rassilon to stop people becoming.

Well, will ya look at that.  They imported Trav's glasses into the show with that other guy in it....

The Time Lords becoming monsters is a objection in some circles of Who fandom, but this has always been a running theme since the 4th Doctor. At least explaining it from Trav's POV - she saw her people become evil, and even succumbed to it herself. The actions of the leadership doesn't necessarily mean that the entire culture or people are lost.

Also, Doctor Who doesn't have a canon. Do a Google for "Paul Cornell Canonicity In Doctor Who" to find his article. Canon is a dirty word that fans use to try to claim a non-existent ownership over a media franchise and shame other fans for how they like to enjoy a media property. Doctor Who has a kind of continuity.

If Gary ever decides to pick up on it, the return of the Time Lords could be a big, big thing. Trav would regard a returned Rassilon as being the number A-1 threat to the cosmos. While she didn't partake in the vote, she saw it - she was there (as an officer of the Gallifreyan military, she wasn't part of the Parliament and didnt't vote). She'd be a true renegade Time Lord, in that she'd do everything in her power to organize a defense against Rassilon's high council and the Daleks to prevent their plan to annihilate the cosmos or another Time War. There's also the matter that nearly every evil thing she did during the Time War was at his direct order (using all the weapons in the vault of Omega, for instance.)

While it probably wouldn't stop me from being a fan of Who, whitewashing Rassilon would really, really fuck up my portrayal of current Trav.

Hey Gary, if Missy can stop all the planes of the world in mid flight, can I? ;)

Timelords being bad guys I don't object to. Rassilon being one I do. They should have left him dead, rather than actually flip his character like that.

And Doctor Who has a canon. It can vary from person to person; but if there's not a generally agreed upon things that definitely happened, then it is far, far too confusing. Generally, I think everyone should say the TV series happened. If some people want to add the books, or the comics, or whatever, that's fine; but you shouldn't ignore parts of the TV series because it doesn't fit.

So, it was... okay. It felt like it was assembled for the sake of revisiting Davros than for having a good story to tell. It relied on everyone doing something dumb: Clara just going along with whatever the Master told her to do (she should be wiser than that); Davros's plan being doomed to failure from conception; and the Doctor going along with it despite the cost and the risk. There's no indication that the Daleks were sick or dying, or needed to be renewed with regeneration energy, or that anything changed as a result, so it was pointless.

Please no sonic glasses, please no sonic glasses. Ugh. It's a horrible return to sad gimmicks like the bow-tie and fez.

I can accept the Time Lords as evil and monstrous in the late stages of the Time War. After all, I saw the War in Heaven arc in the novels it was based on, and, well... Things got so much worse. The new series Time War hasn't shown enough to fully justify it, but in light of prior EU continuity, I can well understand why the Doctor would feel the need to destroy Gallifrey, again, to stop it happening, again. Actually, I have plans for this in my own game. ;)

Rassilon was suggested to be villainous in The Five Doctors, his plot being as much to trap those who would challenge him. He wasn't even fully dead. EU lore goes further, his image being as much propaganda as truth, and the suggestion he was a vampire. Still, I didn't like him coming back, especially because the story was crap and Timothy Dalton was just such a generic villain.

For me, canon is everything that's licensed, all media and ranges. I may not have seen/read/heard all or any of it, I may not like it, but I accept it, even when it contradicts. That's limited by what I remember and what I choose to use.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:15, Mon 28 Sept 2015.

... so that means Curse of Fatal Death is canon?

The Five Doctors, at least as originally done, not necessary what was stated afterwards, stated that

"Rassilon knew that any who sought immortality were dangerous, thus he created this trap."

No, I don't count parodies and satires. I don't know why some fans would. They're set in the same universe, maybe, but not even remotely in continuity.

Even in the episode, the Second Doctor said "So the official history says, but there are many rumours and legends to the contrary. Some say his fellow Time Lords rebelled against his cruelty and locked him in the Tower in eternal sleep." Afterward, the First Doctor actually said "It was all part of Rassilon's trap to find out who wanted immortality and put him out of the way. He knew very well that immortality was a curse, not a blessing.", which is slightly different in purpose.

There's a transcript here:
http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/20-7.htm

I think it's ambiguous enough to be either. The last bit sounds to me more like he thought immortality wasn't a good thing, but anyway.

However, the real issue I have with End of Time; is that I don't think it jives with the modern series up until now (where it's suggested the timelords being killed was an unavoidable side effect of taking out the Daleks); or, not to start Trav on another 50th anniversary rant, afterwards.

I'm going to shut up now. But I can't go along with an argument which says "it should have been more like the way they did it in the End of Time".

My issue with "The End of Time" is that it exists. And everything in it. :)

I realised last week that, with Gallifrey and the Time Lords now being around but hidden, and Skaro and the Daleks being around but hidden, the Time War hasn't actually ended. The Doctor just forced a cease-fire.

Ironically, the 1997 EDA War of the Daleks by John Peel, once a ridiculous piece of fanwank and retconning, is now clearly the greatest novel of the Time War.
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/War_of_the_Daleks


BTW, I loved seeing classic-model Daleks, and actually doing stuff, and without those hideous Paradigms stinking up the place. They even seem to fly on 60s comics hoverbouts, if you squint at the long-range shots of the city.

The Witch's Familiar was better than I thought it would be. We finally got an explanation for how the Master survived being shot :).

No one's dead until you see the body, I guess.

I pretty much expected it, for the deaths in "Death in Heaven" and "The Magician's Apprentice". It was the same get-out clause in "Time Heist". It was that or the Doctor would change time so it never happened.

Eh. The Master has frequently 'died'. Him dying permanently is about as likely as the Doctor running out of regenerations. And we've been having that get-out clause since the Bad Wolf arc - Rose was supposedly exterminated during the season 1 finale. But wait, she wasn't. It was a trick.

Also, I agree with Smoke re: sonic glasses.

The Doctor's fashion has always been out there; pre Eccleston anyway. But he never carried on about it. I'd actually like the Doctor to have to go sonicless again for a bit.

To my surprise, the BBC announced a new spin-off series. It is a YA series set at Coal Hill school apparently.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doc...b9-8184-f1b6567260f1

What do you think?

Just no. That's not Doctor Who.

I just saw the episode. It was OK. Davros turning cackling at the end and the whole "hybrid" nonsense and then "well, that was what I planned to do" was kind of cheap, but on the other hand Clara being trapped in the Dalek travel machine was actually frightening. Overall, a B-. Also, Gonzalez is starting to grate a little.

In Travcanon, we can see that 12 has dug out the plans to 2nd Traveller's old glasses, updated to be shades (back in the very 1st rpg.net DWAITAS PBP, 2nd Trav didn't use a sonic, but had a pair of glasses - she was sonic-less.)

In reply to Stanley Newton (msg # 309):

I won't judge the show until I see it, but they my issue with spin off shows is that if they try to ride off of a character, then they need to have that character be in the show (for example, in Sarah Jane adventures, they actually had Sarah Jane have K-9 in the show, had Matt Smith guest star, had Dr Who monsters and had UNIT be an element.) If this is going to be a Whoniverse show, it better have Whoniverse elements. This is part of what Torchwood flop.

A -successful- spin-off has very little relation to the original material as time goes on.

As an example:
NCIS, was originally a spin-off of JAG. It's now it's own successful franchise.

Sarah-Jane adventures was not successful because of K-9, or Matt Smith; or even Jo Grant.

Torchwood was fine at first; it's failure was poor writing not lack of Doctor Who elements.

Ugh. I wish they'd stop reaching for Buffy, it's much too old to use as a model. And please don't copy The Hunger Games, post-apocalyptic drama is not really relevant to this. YA fiction seems to be an awful of lazy clones of whatever the last popular thing was, usually missing what teens are interested in.

Spin-offs and multiple shows divide the production team's focus too much, and usually one or the other suffers because of it. Some seasons of Who and Torchwood failed that way. I want the showrunner paying maximum attention to Who, because it needs it, and it is the flagship.

A spin-off is a delicate balance, I feel. It needs to have some elements and flavour of the original to draw fans from one to the other, but also needs enough that is new and different to stand on its own and justify itself. If it has nothing of the original, then why be a spin-off, why not just be an original thing? If it's got almost nothing, then it's a lazy attempt to trade off the name of a more popular series.

Class has to be the laziest, most uninteresting name ever. It's set at Coal Hill School, which has Who significance, but isn't interesting on its own. I don't know if Clara is going to be in it, but I don't think she can really carry it.

I liked The Sarah Jane Adventures, but enough is enough.

Though I was thinking a good crossover between ATTT and Doctor Who circa Series 8/9 could see Smoke Alarm going undercover as a student at Coal Hill School. :D


There was really no reason for the Master to be in that, was there? There was no big thing of the Doctor and Master not being enemies, that was the Doctor and Davros. She was there to pad out the running time (pruning back the unnecessary bits, this could have been a single episode), do things Clara could have done herself, and come back for the sake of coming back.

BTW, it's Gomez, not Gonzalez.

Well, "Under the Lake" should be something relatively straight-forward and simple, so fingers crossed for something better.

Yeah, sorry about that.

Gomez was actually kind of unnecessary in the whole thing, except maybe to establish her as being around for future episodes.

This seemed to me to be more or less a kind of Davros reset episode. Overall, it was kind of lazy. I dont know, must think more on this.

That wasn't even necessary. Taking out Delgado; as he was IMO by far and away the best Master; the Master is always at his best when unsuspected. By bringing her back, we now suspect. Which is going to lessen any impact.

I'm just sick to death of Daleks. Davros; as one of the few non-Timelords who have ever rivalled the Doctor for intelligence; could be a worthy foe if used sparingly. At least they haven't pretended the Daleks have ever had any love or respect for Davros. Despite everything, he is not a Dalek, and so will be exterminated.

I would actually like a series with all fresh villains, or if you insist on bringing back old villains, at least make them niche villains; not the ones every man and his dog have heard of. No Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans or even Ice Warriors. But if you want to bring back the Rutans or the Logopolitians, go for it. If there's a reason for it other than 'the classic fans will squee'.

And no Master, and for goodness sake, no bloody Rani. (Not that they have, or I expect them to, but the fans always clamor for it). Not the Meddling Monk either, unless you actually -do- get Patrick Stewart to agree. (Again, the possibility of this would be around the 0.000000001% chance).

Davros should have stayed dead at the end of "Genesis...", when the first Daleks exterminated him. Keeping him around just diminishes the Daleks.

It's sad that the new series hasn't yet come up with any recurring villains of the level of the Daleks, Cybermen, and the Master. Slitheen and Judoon are gimmicky, but done better in SJA and hardly big season-ending threats. Maybe only the Weeping Angels come close, but they hardly work for big threat stories. Classic ideas seem to work the best.

I feel Series 1 should have not used the Daleks. Originally, rights issues were such that they were going to use what became the Toclafene (which are basically Daleks anyway). They suck, but the new series might not have felt compelled to use them as a crutch ever since.

Or they could take a rubbish monster of the past, then revise it and build it up into something terrifying. Like Quarks. :D

What I find amusing is that, outside of the Daleks and Cybermen, very few of the 'iconic' monsters were really used -that- much. Ice Warriors had I think 4 stories in the classic series; Sontarans 3. Zygons had 1!

Weeping Angels might have been a very good iconic villain; except they keep recreating their mythology.

"Don't blink, don't look away, not even for a second... err but if you do that, then they get in your head, so forget everything I just said!"

When they use the Daleks, I like it when the Daleks are actually *smart* and they're clever and ruthless and tactical. It's very easy to write lazily with the Daleks. I think that overall the bulk of Cyberman stories are better than Dalek stories.

Also, I hated the reset with Davros at the end. I hate it when stories don't have *consequences*.

They're turning Doctor Who into a *brand*, which is killing it for me.

I like that ATTT has it's own unique villains, monsters and factions (the Chamber of Time Unwrought, the Gehennans, the Fists) and that we haven't seen a single Dalek travel machine, but only parts of them.

I'm really down with using monsters and aliens who appear only a few times, like Sereth as actual Draconian, or the cat people who were important during the New Galveston episodes of ATTT or our Cyberman/Osirian episode (which is still one of my all time favorites when we were gaming at RPG.net.)

IKR. That's because ATTT is a much better show with better writers and a much better show writer and ATTT has much better ratings. I hear that Moffat is begging for a crossover episode but that ATTT's showrunner isn't hearing it and won't take Moffat's calls!

Well, I liked "Under the Lake". It had a very classic-series-style start, with the Doctor and companion landing in an unknown place, discovering the various mysteries, and working things out for themselves. I don't think the new series has really done that before.

Then it moved into a rather well-done base-under-siege story. There's mysteries and puzzles, but ones the viewers can solve as they watch, not like Moffat showing off his cleverness.

I'm not sure why the Doctor is so willing to believe in ghosts and life-after-death, having encountered so very many that are lost time travellers, aliens, creatures from parallel universes, etc. He seems to veer between enormously sceptical and quick-to-believer, but that seems to be his thing after "Robot of Sherwood" and "Listen".

Also, ghosts? Actual ghosts? I'm going to go with stolen psychic energy, that makes more sense. :)

The connection of the words to coordinates comes right out of left-field, and the understanding of constellations is very dubious (at least someone knows they depend on perspective, but Orion's Belt is more of a V-shape from any other angle). I think I can rationalise that as alien writing and descriptions being filtered through human minds and voiceboxes.

So, the wretched sonic glasses made an appearance. Just the once, fortunately. Hopefully they'll be abandoned as quickly as New Paradigm Daleks. :p I really, really, really, really hope we don't get a Doctor who lowers his cool shades and says or does something "cool".

All these two-parters are going to get frustrating.

I'm hoping "Before the Flood" isn't going to be a temporal paradox story.

Hey, don't diss the glasses, now ;)

For the record, 2nd Trav never back in the old days had "sonic" glasses - her old Yomiko Readman glasses were sensory devices and did some hacking. She couldn't make holes in walls or do screwdriver stuff with them. Gary, back me up here, back in the game with Henry Boyd. 5th Trav would think that specs that could do active stuff would be kinda gauche.

Trav absolutely believes in magic, in that there are some things that simply refuse to be explained. But this is because of IC play experienced - she walked with angels, went to hell and met real gods. There were things which Gallifreyan science simply could not explain, including small mysteries of faith. Trav has seen evidence of that even before she went to R-Space, so, she's cool with it, and considers her people's scientific arrogance one of their failings. One of the reasons why the Faction Paradox and Morbius Cults arose was because the Gallifreyan heart ached for religion and mystery, which it had excised from it's heart in it's quest for absolute knowledge. One of the tragedies of the Time War was the lost chance at reconciliation with the sisterhood of Karn. And Trav is a specific AU character and not strict Whoniverse at all, because she was created for a RIFTS game. That's why I do more Robotech call outs - Robotech, despite it being transforming fighter planes and motorcycles, is still ostensibly SF, as opposed to RIFTS which has ghosts and dragons.

It's funny when I compare Trav to the Doctor and how they're developing, and I imagine what they'll finally say to each other when they do meet.

I'll be watching the new episode this Thursday most likely.



The 2nd Traveller gets a call from the Brig. Her TARDIS Library is such a mess!
This message was last edited by the player at 16:10, Mon 05 Oct 2015.

Back when I made 5th Trav in Rifts, I had this idea she'd be playing guitar, but then I realized what a dumb gamer idea it was. So, I filed it in the back of my mind that Trav would play guitar *badly*, and now I occasionally have her DJ dubstep and the like. Capaldi strumming in a Guitar like Bill and Ted kinda made me cringe.

I can forgive it, Capaldi used to be in a band and can really play.

At last, the Doctor Who Lego set:
https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/1-blog/post/44

A bit disappointing. "The Time of the Doctor" is two years old now, something based on the current setup would have been more relevant (plus I liked Series 8 more). I'm going to have to buy the expensive Dimensions set to get a proper 12th Doctor (well, I was going to buy that anyway, and I don't even plan to get the game).

Still, it's a lovely set. But I think I'm going to tinker with it endlessly to improve it. :)

Presumably this is set between "The Time of the Doctor" and "Deep Breath". And I have a big Lego T-Rex too... I'm definitely going to make a Doctor Who and the Pirates display. And maybe try for something with the Autons & Nestene Consciousness, because that would be just so fitting.

Now to find spare parts for a Kang.

ANd when you do, you must post photos.

So, this was a thing today:



But they buried the lead:



Now, I know that the Marshall is supposed to have been Kate Mulgrew: one can hardly have missed that.

However:

Cardinal Ollistra

Traveller

COINCIDENCE ?!?!?!?

8-o