#christopher baker

[oldschoolfrp]

Encounter with the wizard's minions (Christopher Baker, aka Fangorn, White Dwarf 2, Aug/Sept 1977)

[tvmigraine]

FORGOTTEN LIVES: Christopher Baker

Before we begin! Remember to get a copy of the Forgotten Lives Omnibus at this link! I believe pre-orders are open until the 1st of September, you may miss your chance to get this book - don't miss out!

It's no secret to any Classic Who fan (or even modern Who) that the BBC failed to maintain classic stories, with a many missing episodes reanimated to fill these spaces and a majority of Who's third season completely lost to time. Of course, without Doctor Who at home, fans had to find other places to have the Doctor's adventures at home. In 1964 we'd see the first Doctor Who novel released, alongside something much more important to today's discussion - the TV Comics.

I originally made the claim that Christopher Baker (1937-2011) had no proper ties to the show, but I was actually wrong about that. While he wasn't tied down by Doctor Who like other Morbius Doctors were, he was a Production Assistant at the BBC during the 70s. He also went on as a director for shows like Emmerdale and Star Cops later in his career during the 80s.

While the Doctor himself is certainly interesting, I think it's more interesting to discuss his companions for this story. Rather than running into a companion surrogate on an adventure, the Doctor travels with his two children - Jilly and Cedric. As one of the few Doctors in this book with a definitive final story, we get to experience the lives of Jilly and Cedric fully as they travel with their father through time and space.

We've never had the opportunity to meet the children of the Doctor before, so this presents a unique chance to learn more about the Doctor without pulling away the curtain. The idea of the Doctor travelling with two of his children may feel familiar to fans of the TV comics, which introduced us to John and Gillian Who, two other grandchildren - the TV Comics were unable to use the television companions for a time, so instead had the 1st and 2nd Doctors travel with two other grandchildren on adventures. Getting to see more of the paternal side of the Doctor was refreshing, a side that I'd argue we haven't seen since Hartnell's care for characters like Susan, Vicki and Dodo. Cedric and Jilly present a fun dynamic with their Doctor, where he can try and raise them to follow some of the lessons he's taught himself while they offer him a relationship he rarely has the luxury for.

There is other notable things about this Doctor that I personally love. Have you ever read a classic sci-fi from 50, 70, 90 years ago only to find it makes some radical prediction of the future that never came true? This story does much the same thing, with the astonishing year where man has managed to make it to Venus being 1975. For a story written as if it came out in the 40s, 1975 helps it both fit with the fiction of the time's improper predictions while also... honestly just being fun.

The design for the Doctor stands out due to his Pilgrim aesthetic, a nice way of making him seem more anachronistic than even some later Doctors after him. It also nicely contrasts with the design for his TARDIS - the metal pillars give it a feeling reminiscent of the 8th Doctor's TARDIS, while the overall design feels like a cathedral. Considering the subject matter of his first story, The Cross of Venus, it feels apt.

I'm going to be more candid than usual, because the Third Doctor has a personal importance to me. I want to be a writer someday and I'd wanted to write for Doctor Who since I was a kid, but I had fallen out of my passion for both since starting uni and struggling with mental health for a while. Last year, before my second year of uni started, I chose to pick up Forgotten Lives 1&2 because the money went to a good cause (please support Alzheimer's Research). All of the stories in these books helped pull my love of Doctor Who back out, even prompting me to bring out all my old DVDs and start collecting again. As much as my renewed love for the show is thanks to Obverse Books and everyone else involved, my love for writing and storytelling was brought about by "The First Englishmen". It's hard for me to properly explain, but it was @pluralzalpha's story that specifically made me write again, telling the first proper story I had since I was in school. So as dopey as it is, I have immense gratitude both to him and everyone else who worked on Forgotten Lives for getting me to create again. And it's why, so long as pre-orders are open, I'll insist anybody with interest should pick up this book. Support the release and raise money to fight Alzheimers.

For more insight into the creative process of every author that worked on Forgotten Lives, you can go to @forgottenlivesobverse and find interviews from everyone involved across the books. If you're looking for insight on how the outfits were designed, you can go to Paul Hanley's Patreon and find what went into designing each Doctor.

Here's what to expect from the Third Doctor's adventures, travelling time and space with his son and daughter. Expect to see a saboteur on Venus and covered up history.

THE CROSS OF VENUS by Andrew Hickey

THE FIRST ENGLISHMAN by Daniel Tessier

RETROGENESIS (Part Three) by Philip Purser-Hallard

SWAN SONG by Andrew Hickey

Our next Doctor will be the Philip Hinchcliffe Doctor, who shows how art can influence the writing. Until then, I wish you all well and don't be scared to create something.

[silverfoxstole]

Never thought I’d see Chris Eccleston in a multi-Doctor photo! With Paul and Colin today at Comic Con Yorkshire in Harrogate.

[blufruity]

Because I couldn't resist... You get one more! Who doesn't love a self-portrait? What a journey! Thanks for coming along! The background of this piece has a TON of easter eggs from across 60 YEARS of Doctor Who! What can you spot?

[nothingofpracticalgardening]

20 Versions of Sherlock Holmes Ranked from Most to Least Likely to Set a Building on Fire in a Fit of Rage

[thena0315]

[mizgnomer]

"...Is The Doctor" magazine covers from Doctor Who Magazine From 1982 to 2024 Honorable mention: Including Sylvester McCoy's first cover even though it doesn't say he "is The Doctor" - because it seems rude to exclude him from this post:

[weirdlookindog]

Christopher Lee and Anouska Hempel in deleted scene from Scars of Dracula (1970)

[typewriter-worries]

It's world poetry day so here are some of my favorite poems:

Failing and Flying by Jack Gilbert

What the Living Do by Marie Howe

Night Walk by Franz Wright

Crossword by Lloyd Schwartz

The Great Fires by Jack Gilbert

Love Train by Tomás Q. Morín

Divorced Fathers and Pizza Crusts by Mark Halliday

Perhaps the World Ends Here by Joy Harjo

in another string of the multiverse, perhaps by Michaella Batten

acknowledgments by Danez Smith

Death Wish by Josh Alex Baker

San Francisco by Richard Brautigan

How to Watch Your Brother Die by Michael Lassell

You Are the Penultimate Love of My Life by Rebecca Hazelton

On Political(ized) Life by Kanika Lawton

All the Dead Boys Look Like Me by Christopher Soto

It Was the Animals by Natalie Diaz

In Time by W.S. Merwin

It Is Maybe Time to Admit That Michael Jordan Definitely Pushed Off by Hanif Abdurraqib

Dear Life by Maya C. Popa

I Could Touch It by Ellen Bass

To The Young Who Want To Die by Gwendolyn Brooks

Accident Report in the Tall, Tall Weeds by Ada Limón

[the-dictionary-verified]

The Doctors Ranked by How Easily their Number Fits into their Name

Basically Poetry

David Tennant

W1lliam Hartnell

Peter DaVison

Jod13 Whittaker

You see the vision but it's a bit clunky

Patrick Twoughton

John Perthree

Colin 6aker

Sylves7er McCoy

It's still legible but the methods are getting worse

TOIVI Baker

Really Struggling here

Ma11 Smith

Petwelve Capaldi

Require Explanations and Apologies

p8ul McGann - I just picked a letter at random sorry p8ul

Cnristopner Eccleston - when you think about it what is h but a really tall n?

cIaVid tennant - four and ten? you kinda see it right?

IVcuti GatVVa - three fives? fifteen? hmm? right??

[atarial]

ok now i've got all the doctors done! :D

[pluralzalpha]

Oh my god, I love it! Thank you so much!

Be the change you want to see in the world

Desperately needed someone to draw that scene in The First Englishmen where Jilly teaches cavemen to make tea while using a skull, so I decided to do it lmao

For curious people, I drew a Merc's Rhino skull (reference picture under the cut)

(also pretty sure this is the first FL fanart on this site lmao)

[antiphotogenicfilmographer]

sometimes i ask myself who my favorite doctor is and i start listing them out:

well the 11th doctor was my first, so he has a special place in my heart

but the 12th doctor is poetry in motion

and then 9 is absolutely iconic

15 is really growing on me too

yet all those answers are wrong.

it is and always has been that cunty diva 6 with his cat pin and homicidal tendencies

[esqueletosgays]

SLEEPAWAY CAMP (1983)

Director: Robert Hiltzik Cinematography: Benjamin Davis

[silverfoxstole]

When Doctors collide Part Three (I) (II)

[doctormastertardis]

Excuse you, this panel has all THREE "most unpopular" Doctors... and I just wanna ask WHO PUT THIS TOGETHER?

Eccleston, I love you bro. Your brutal honesty will always be my favorite aspect about you. And Colin Baker seems like such a lovely uncle hehe... and PAUL MCGANN MY MAN IS LOOKING GOOD AND SEXY ASS VOICE AS USUAL UGH

Nicola is so pretty I wish she would have come back during Matt Smith's tenure. Has she ever had an audio story or novel with the Eighth Doctor? I feel that they may have chemistry.