#The Leekley Bible

[finndiseicla]

Who is the Doctor's mom?

They are half human on their mother's side right?

Here's my incomplete list of candidates:

Leela of the Sevateem

Penelope Gate

The Loom of The House of Lungbarrow

Magda the Eastern European mermaid

the woman from The End of Time that RTD intended to be the Doctor's mother

the woman in the barn on Gallifrey from The Moffat era

Tecteun

the timeless child's bio parents (Bel and Vinder?)

Merlin's mother the nun Adhan (my speculation)

the mother(s) of the several great old ones that are/became the Doctor (the Other/ the Red Guardian/ Nyarlathotep)

Annalisse the human peasant girl (Leekley bible)

Anne Joyce (step mom) Ulysses's second wife

Bonus! The Doctor's mothers from false memory scenarios:

Verity Smith (Human Nature)

Ruth's parents that lived in a lighthouse.

Meg (Ascension of the Cybermen)

[zhessemer]

A history of how the exterior of the Gallifreyan citadel has been visualized from 1996 to 2016.

I suspect there are earlier visualizations which influenced the Leekley Bible, which then in-turn influenced New Who, but I'm not sure how to find those pre-1996 visualizations. Y'all have any info on that?

[6-and-7]

Time Ramvent Day 18: Don't Shoot, I'm Half-Human on my Mother's Side! It's Paul McGann, starring in 'A Town Called Mercy'! I'll swear to you on the Leekley Bible, it's a Time Ram three-way, where Grace does no harm (but takes no shit), Chang Lee wants to be a Cyb, and the Doctor goes for a ride on Helen Mirren. YEEEEEE-HAWWWW!

[diamondisunmemeable]

I guarantee there's at least one person who thinks the 1994 John Leekley pitch bible was the ideal direction for Doctor Who to go in

[dalesramblingsblog]

I'll at least put my cards on the table and say I've never really interpreted the Timeless Child as a Chosen One narrative. Nor, for that matter, have I ever interpreted Lungbarrow as such. I get *why* some people interpret them that way, mind you, but both stories pretty explicitly use the Chosen One narrative only as a stepping stone to get to *rejecting* said narrative.

We're very clearly not operating on the level of a basic reiteration of Campbell in either case. We leave that to John Leekley, to be quite honest...

Anyway. Without spoiling too much, I will say that this conversation has pretty much set my mind on the track of using the Lungbarrow review to discuss the mystery of the Doctor's origins more broadly. Part of that'll include the Leekley Bible, part of that will include the Timeless Child - and look, although I personally don't resonate with it, and will probably be reasonably critical, I will endeavour to remain fair - and hell, part of it will probably even include the original, preliminary versions of An Unearthly Child from Webber and Coburn.

I think it'll be an interesting one, if nothing else.

[rassilon-imprimatur]

I’ve been thinking about this again, good ole’ Phil Segal building a Cushing Dalek and talkin’ about the Leekley Bible and how the (eventually) Eighth Doctor’s half-humanity was his own foggy recollection of Hartnell and Troughton’s pre-Gallifreyness, and I cracked open my copy of Regeneration. ‘

This just... wonderfully misremembered and expanded Dalek timeline. A Big budget remake of Genesis going to The Dalek Invasion of Earth, then to Revelation of the Daleks and the Imperial/Renegade war, then to The Daleks’ Master Plan and The Chase. All with the Spider Daleks. 

[aristidetwain]

The Eighth Doctor in live-action (1996-2016)

TOP TO BOTTOM: Eighth Doctor Audition Tape dir. Philip Segal (c. 1996) Doctor Who: The TV Movie dir. Geoffrey Sax (1996) The Night of the Doctor dir. John Hayes (2013) Tale of a Timelord dir. Steve Healey (2016)

[type40capsule]

I suppose there’s nowhere to begin other than the big reveal, given that it is by an outlandish margin the single worst lore reveal in the entire history of Doctor Who. Making the Doctor the secret origin of all of the Time Lords is absolutely appalling—the sort of “the main character must be the center of the mythology” crap that Doctor Who is historically at its best when it rebels against. Instead of being the schlubby mediocrity who ran away and stumbled through becoming a hero without ever realizing that was what they were working towards, the Doctor is now the Most Specialist Time Lord That Ever Did Time Lord, with magic powers above and beyond the other Time Lords and origins stretching back beyond even the days of Rassilon. The series is now committed to an endless parade of reveals about the secret history of Gallifrey, all of which the Doctor was apparently there for. It’s genuinely terrible—a reveal that takes the dumbest instincts of the Virgin era and strips off the brakes and hedges. It’s not the Other but the Doctor themself that’s at the heart of Gallifreyan history now. It’s as if the Cartmel Masterplan fucked the Leekley Bible and then gave the illegitimate child away to Ian Levine to foster.

That last sentence!

[doccywhomst]

The Doctor's parents are Ulysses and Penelope????????? What is happening?

in one timeline, yes! this is the timeline that the doctor remembers/refers to when he says that he's half human in the 1996 movie and some of the EDAs. this idea came from a planned 1990s reboot of the show that never took off, instead becoming the 1996 movie - you can find more information about this timeline in the Leekley Bible wiki page

[doctornolonger]

followup: Wait, since when was Borusa the Doctor's grandfather? outside of the Leekley Bible I mean...I always imagined the Doctor's grandpa being a sort of proto-Doctor eccentric with A GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARD, among other things.

What do you mean “outside of the Leekley Bible”?! That’s like saying “Since when did the Twelfth Doctor meet John Simm’s Master, outside of series 10”!

Jokes aside, between The Infinity Doctors and Unnatural History, the Nth Doctor scripts have been firmly cemented in my personal headcanon. And frankly, it’s just a matter of time until some story comes along and confirms it. I do agree that Barusa-as-Grandfather has to have looked stronger and bushier than Borusa-as-politician. How he appears in Vortex Butterflies is good inspiration here, maybe.

[weedle-testaburger]

Yes, Hollywood needs to star FAR away from Dr Who, it nearly happened with the TV movie, until it became…well, a TV movie. And thanks again, as I said I’ll let you know how it goes. And it was a firework explosion, if my sister is to be believed. There’s nothing about it in the news and campsites sometimes hold firework displays. We went to one in Brittany a few weeks ago. I remember because that we the day we watched Star Trek: First Contact. (I have odd ways of remembering things).

Yeah, tbh there is a part of me that's vaguely curious just how bad the result of the Leekley Bible would've been, but if it meant we never got the modern show then fuck that noise. And fair enough, people sometimes hold random fireworks displays around me too.

[taiey]

It’s as if the Cartmel Masterplan fucked the Leekley Bible and then gave the illegitimate child away to Ian Levine to foster.

Astonishingly, though, none of that actually captures how bad it is. It’s worth actually explaining the reveal out loud with words, so as to actually make your mind confront what happened here.

Walk up to your bathroom mirror and look yourself in the eyes as you deliver those exact words in an even and calm tone. Repeat until you can do it with conviction, without bursting out laughing. It’ll be a good, healing experience.

As for the episode around it… it’s tempting to just derisively laugh and say “what episode around it.” The Doctor stands around for forty-five minutes while men explain the plot to her. Then, for a resolution, a character whose narrative importance after two episodes consists of “he’s played by a guy who was a minor character in Game of Thrones” swoops in to save the day. The companions have nothing to do but make tepid contributions to the tedious action sequences that fill the gaps between the equally tedious infodumps. The only characters with motivation are the Master and the Cybermen, whose motivation consists of a tattered post-it note saying “be evil.”

A key piece of information is delivered to the Doctor in the form of “handily, there’s a legend that addresses the specific thing you’re wondering about.” The specific thing she’s wondering about, incidentally, is actually called the “death particle.” You may want to head back to the mirror and tell yourself that with a straight face too.

[downthetubes]

WebFind: The Chronicles of Doctor Who

WebFind: The Chronicles of Doctor Who

A concept sketch of Gallifrey from “The Leekley Bible”

After Doctor Who was cancelled in 1989 by the BBC, many attempts were made to revive the series, but there was one that almost happened, the work of John Leekley. A few years back, a groups of fans tried to recreate it as The Chronicles of Doctor Who, an audio drama series…

American writer, director and producer John Leekley is perhaps best…

[doccywhomst]

the show never addressed it, you're correct! however, if you'd care to walk with me, i'll tell you a little about how Susan's and Leela's paths overlapped in more ways than one.

1. Susan married David Campbell, a human, and had a son: Alex Campbell.

despite being Susan's biological son (ergo the Doctor's great-grandson), he was only 7% Gallifreyan. no explanation is given, but i think it's a nod to the Doctor's origins in the Leekley Bible, since Alex would be ~7% Gallifreyan if the Doctor were half human.

(this would also mean that one of Susan's parents and three of her grandparents were human - so the Doctor and ALL of his descendants are obsessed with humans. typical.)

2. Leela married Andred and they had a kid, and that half-human, half-Gallifreyan kid grew up to become........ drumroll......

the Doctor.

yeah. him. im not shitting you.

Marc Platt, author of Lungbarrow and co-architect of the Cartmel Masterplan, implied that "Leela and Andred's child would eventually travel back to the Dark Times and become the Other," (wiki) who relooms himself into the Doctor, explaining how he can be "half-human on [his] mother's side" but also Loom-born. (DWM 305)

so uh...... yeah.

Leela is actually Susan's great-grandma, twice removed.

Thinking about the Doctor leaving a Gallifreyan girl (Susan) on Earth with a human guy and a human girl (Leela) on Gallifrey with a Gallifreyan guy, almost certainly resulting in the creation of human-Gallifreyan offspring on both planets, and how it seemingly never came up again ever.

[ramblesandmumblesofanerd]

Yes, Those Were Words - The Doctor Who Never Was

WARNING: Lengthy Post Which Involves Things You May/May Not Need To Know.

YouTube Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa28cfSi5GI

Welcome to “Yes, Those Were Words”, the series within RaMoaN where I talk about the things that make my mind bend to the nth degree in order to figure out where common sense ends and madness begins. When last I talked about Doctor Who, I talked about the Eighth Doctor’s first and only on screen appearance until 2013’s “The Night of The Doctor”. Here’s a brief recap of my opinion of the made for TV film “Doctor Who: The Enemy Within”: 

“Why? Why? Why? Oh, that looks nice. Why? Why? Why? Oh God. Why? Why? Ew. Why? Why? Why? Are you kidding me right now? WHY?!” 

As you can see, my opinion isn’t exactly a positive one. While the film had it’s moments where it captivated me, everything else only succeeded in annoying me. For a more in depth look at my opinion, you can start here or watch the new YouTube version here. Now, we all know that the movie failed so hard that Paul McGann’s Doctor was banished to the realm that is Big Finish Productions (which is not necessarily a bad thing), but did you know that there was a plan for The Doctor had the TV movie actually succeeded? Neither did I until I discovered a something called “the Leekley Bible”.

The Leekley Bible is a document originally created and proposed by John Leekley, an American writer who met with Philip Segal, the man behind The TV Movie, on the Universal movie lot. What soon followed was the two being forced by Universal to work together on making the TV Movie, and subsequently the document that would become a bible some time in 1994. While it is nice to know that there was a plan for a series after the film, the ideas for the series itself were as much of a mess as The TV Movie. So, what exactly did Leekley and Segal have in mind? Well, we’re about to take a look. Keep in mind, I am not making any of this up.

Firstly, the new series was meant to be a complete reboot of the franchise starring Paul McGann as The Doctor. Already, we have a red flag due to a continuity error. How is Paul McGann supposed to play The Doctor if he is not the same Doctor from The TV Movie? Any fan of the original series who had seen the film would have been confused as to how The Doctor does not know about certain things his character had been in contact with in the previous series. Maybe this would have worked better if The TV Movie just starred Paul McGann as The Doctor, but Segal had to have Sylvester Mccoy pass down his role as The Doctor for the sake of continuity. So, in other words, The TV Movie and The Reboot are not linked in any way whatsoever apart from Paul McGann. We haven’t even gotten into the meat of the Leekley Bible, and already the series has fallen apart.

So, what would have been the story for this series? Well, it turns out The Doctor and The Master are half-brothers and are both the sons of a legendary explorer named Ulysses. He thus needs to explore the whole of time and space with his grandfather Borusa (who is essentially Zordon from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, as he is inside a Time Crystal within the TARDIS), and restore peace and balance to the universe after The Master becomes the Lord-President of Gallifrey. While there is certainly potential in a story like this, the plot somewhat undermines an important part of the franchise: it’s name. Doctor Who. The title of the franchise is a question, one which nearly everyone in the show asks from time to time. No one knows that much about The Doctor, in spite of some hints and clues sprinkled here and there. In spite of episodes that take place on Gallifrey and ideas like The Cartmel Masterplan (which you can learn more about on Radio Dead Air via this link), not much is known about The Doctor. Why would this series go out of it’s way to answer that question from the first episode? And before anyone says “Because reboot, shut up”, this reboot was being made by a man who had been trying to revive Doctor Who before it was even cancelled in the first place. That’s right, Segal was a massive fanboy who wanted to bring back Doctor Who, and in the process made not one but two stories that completely dismantles pre-established Doctor Who lore, which I assumed Segal liked otherwise he wouldn’t have taken interest in reviving the series in the first place. Maybe a nerd more dedicated than myself can explain how this was supposed to work, but in the meantime I’ll just shake my head at this nonsense. And, again, we’re barely getting started.

The episodes that had been planned at the time this reboot was conceived were mainly remakes of episodes from the classic series, ranging from the Pilot episode adapted from the classic Genesis of the Daleks, Fang Rock (a remake of The Horror of Fang Rock), and Tomb of the Cybs. Yes, Cybs. Not Cybermen, Cybs. What are Cybs? Well, Cybs are essentially the Cybermen of this reboot, but not as...well, Cyber. Essentially, the Cybs were a race of partially cybernetic pirates. Yes, rather than be a metaphor for humans discarding their humanity aside to become what they perceived as stronger, the Cybs were just pirates with robot bits here and there. 

And the horrible choices don’t stop there, as even the Daleks, the most iconic character of the franchise, got a redesign as well. Rather than be the death machines piloted by the mutated remains of a dead world, the reboot made them into Transformers. No joke, according to the concept sketches found in the Leekley Bible and a test animation found on YouTube, the Daleks had numerous modes dictated by circumstances.

 If they were mobile, they took on their iconic egg shape. 

When communicating, they would slightly open up to reveal a human head in order to speak. 

And when they wanted to kill something, they would completely open up to reveal...a thing. I’m not sure what to call this, but it is not a Dalek. Maybe it’s what Doctor Octopus would have been if he were Spider Man, but it is not a Dalek. You know what I call it? A bad idea.

So, in the end, what would Doctor Who had been had the TV Movie succeeded? A series where a half-human Doctor would be searching time and space for his dad while the Master tried to block his enemy’s way with iconic monsters who were no longer iconic due to redesigns. Do you not see how ridiculous this would have been? While reboots are sometimes necessary in order to liven up a franchise, some ideas for said reboots are not as well received as others. This is why, in spite of it’s numerous flaws, I will tolerate what the fandom calls New-Who above what would have been. Heck, New-Who does things better than the reboot. There was talk about the Daleks possibly discovering and inevitably fighting the Time Lords on Gallifrey within the Leekley Bible. This actually did come to pass, as there was The Time War between Paul McGann’s run as The Doctor and Christopher Eccleston’s debut in 2005.

However, all of this doesn’t mean that everything involving the Eighth Doctor was absolute tripe. As I mentioned before, Paul McGann has worked with the people of Big Finish Productions to create an exclusive series of audio drama adventures which are more or less disconnected with the movie and the series that never was. No mentions of being half-human, no Master being a slimey Lord-President of Gallifrey, just The Doctor on some adventures with a multitude of companions like Charlie Pollard and Lucie Millar. If you want to listen to some of these adventures, I highly recommend stories like Invaders from Mars and Chimes of Midnight, both of which have a $2.99 price tag and are absolutely remarkable for their own reasons.

In the meantime, never stop rambling,

TM

Sources: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/John_Leekley http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Leekley_Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unmade_Doctor_Who_serials_and_films#1990s_US_reboot_-_Leekley_bible https://storify.com/WhoSFX/story-57494d9e795f9e40158cc5cc

[rassilon-imprimatur]

I’ve only just now noticed that Cushing’s second TARDIS interior has a sort’ve helm…??

Makes me think of the Leekley pitch so firmly separating a “steering control” in the main room from a “central” console?