#my first favorite was scratchman

[barnables]

SO what I'm seeing and hearing is that you all love Fifth Doctor whump in which case I HIGHLY recommend getting your hands on this novel if you haven't already

The author even preludes that he would like to take the Fifth as "far away from comfort as possible". Needless to say it's my second favorite Doctor Who novel I've read so far and it was highly enjoyable.

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 1 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

Divided Loyalties

Synopsis

There are some evils in the universe that need to be fought. And others that need redeeming...

Many years ago the Doctor, a student at the Academy on Gallifrey, lost a friend to the mysterious and malevolent force known as the Celestial Toymaker. Now, in his fifth incarnation, the Doctor receives a telepathic call from his long-lost classmate, begging for help.

As he sets out to rescue his friend and exact revenge, the Doctor's companions become increasingly involved. Adric, determined to justify his place aboard the TARDIS, opts to face the Toymaker's game challenges while Nyssa, angered by the Doctor's actions, finds herself excluded by the people she thought were her friends. And what is the connection between the Toymaker and the planet Dymok, whose comatose inhabitants find a new saviour in the shape of Tegan Jovanka?

Propaganda

Everyone’s heard of this. You probably haven’t read it, but you know the story anyway. Catalyst of all Deca fics. (anonymous)

Fear of the Dark

Synopsis

On the very edge of the galaxy lies Akoshemon: a putrefied world of legendary evil.

In the year 2382 archaeologists land on Akoshemon's only moon, searching for evidence of the planet's infamous past. But when the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa are drawn into the lunar caverns they find more than a team of academics — and help uncover much more than ancient history.

Something is lying in wait, deep inside the labyrinth of caves: something that remembers the spiral of war, pestilence and deprivation that ruined Akoshemon. Something that rejoiced in every kind of horror and destruction.

An age-old terror is about to be reborn. But what is the hideous secret of the Bloodhunter? And why does Nyssa feel that her thoughts are no longer her own? Forced to confront his own worst fears, even the Doctor will be pushed to breaking point — and beyond.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Fear Itself

Synopsis

The 22nd century: a few short years of interstellar contact have taught humanity a hard lesson — there are creatures abroad that are nightmare manifest. Powerful, unstoppable, alien forces. It's a realisation that deals a body blow to man's belief in his own superiority, and leaves him with the only option he has ever had: to fight.

When the Eighth Doctor and his friends are caught in the crossfire, they find humanity licking its wounds and preparing for war. But the fight against alien forces is no job for an amateur, and for a Doctor only just finding his way in the universe again, one misstep could be fatal.

Propaganda

Everyone is traumatised to within an inch of their lives and it's also shippy as hell. 10 out of 10. (anonymous)

12 Doctors, 12 Stories

Synopsis

This is an anthology of 12 short stories

Propaganda

It's a beautiful homage to the show and each story adds something to their respectives Doctors (my personal favorites are the First Doctor, the Eight Doctor and the Twelfth Doctor stories but they are all great) (@sesshomarusamas-blog )

Scratchman

Synopsis

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane Smith arrive at a remote Scottish island, when their holiday is cut short by the appearance of strange creatures — hideous scarecrows, who are preying on the local population. The islanders are living in fear, and the Doctor vows to save them all. But it doesn't go to plan — the time travellers have fallen into a trap, and Scratchman is coming for them.

With the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, the Doctor must battle an ancient force from another dimension, one who claims to be the Devil. Scratchman wants to know what the Doctor is most afraid of. And the Doctor’s worst nightmares are coming out to play...

Propaganda

this is very good (anonymous)

The Stranger

Synopsis

When young Claudia finds a sexy stranger near her home she discovers that he has lost his memory along with his clothes.

Having turned her back on relationships after the death of her husband, Claudia finds herself scandalising her friends by inviting the stranger into her home and her bed...

Propaganda

The Eighth Doctor Porn novel, Eights bisexual girl pal in this latter appears in Father Time which makes the novel canon. One of eights romantic partner cliche thus becomes middle aged widow who meets him and rediscovered their sexuality. (anonymous)

[truebluewhocanoe]

A Meeting of Minds Extended Author's Notes

Spoilers for my fic A Meeting of Minds! Please go read that first.

This fic was an interesting one, since it’s for a corner of Who I haven’t quite touched before: fan Doctors. A Meeting of Minds is based on a pitch for an animated Doctor Who series, drafted up by I.N.J. Culbard during the Wilderness Years but never presented to the BBC. You can read his pitch and the story behind it here; it’s only a couple paragraphs and the rest of these notes will be me talking about how I adapted said ideas, so please do read it.

Okay, now that you’ve read the Culbard pitch, let’s talk about it.

Character fusions are interesting. It’s not made clear in the pitch whether the resultant fusion of the Doctor and Master has one unified personality or both the Doctor and Master’s personalities hanging around, but the comparison to the Fourth Doctor and the Watcher fusing to make the Fifth Doctor makes me think it’s the former. Let’s be honest: he probably meant the latter, but multiple personalities is a sensitive subject I don’t feel qualified to write on and the trope of the Evil Alternate Personality needs to stay dead for a few goddamn centuries at least, so that option was off the table from the start.

So, the Doctor and the Master regenerate together into one body, with one resultant mind. How would that happen? The presence of the Fourth Doctor’s scarf and Harry Sullivan’s jacket implies it happens during, well, the Fourth Doctor’s era. Of course, we know that the Fourth Doctor never met the non-crispy Thirteenth Master on screen due to Roger Delgado’s unfortunate passing, but this is fanfic so I say it can happen. Harry’s jacket doesn’t necessarily imply Harry’s presence- maybe he left it in the TARDIS wardrobe- but I like Harry Sullivan a lot and Four/Sarah/Harry is one of my favorite TARDIS teams so I decided to set it roughly around Terror of the Zygons. Terror, of course, marks the end of the UNIT era (depending how you classify it), and a tipping point in the Doctor’s overarching characterization: he’s sick of running around doing the Brigadier’s bidding… so he takes off, and that’s that.

Harry’s stint as a companion seems very short-lived, with each of his stories leading directly into the next and thus apparently cutting him off from any other adventures with Sarah and the Doctor during the UNIT era, but Scratchman ignores this continuity and thus so can I. 

The rest really wrote itself. The Doctor, in his fourth incarnation and traveling with Harry and Sarah Jane, merges with the Master in a freak regeneration accident. How? Because the Master was trying to steal the Doctor’s remaining lives. I didn’t give an explicit reason, just implied that for whatever reason the Master feels the need to get more regenerations, now. Why is the resulting person wearing Harry’s jacket? Because Harry died, of course.

Sorry Harry, I love you, but this was the most interesting way this could go. Harry’s death cuts off the Fourth Doctor’s arc before it can even get off the ground- literally- by giving the Doctor a slap-in-the-face reminder of why he runs around protecting the Earth: because he cares about the people on it.

Just one problem: is this person the Doctor? Or the Master? Or neither?

Of course, the original pitch was for Doctor Who: The Animated Adventures, not The Master: The Animated Adventures. I left it somewhat open-ended for our poor nameless Time Lord who’s not quite sure who he is, but of course he’s the Doctor. At least, mostly. He has the Master’s memories, too, and had the rather ruthless impulse to loot the corpse of a friend- even if I’d say that’s not outside the realm of possible actions for the Doctor.

But ultimately, the probably-Doctor chooses to run towards the Doctor’s TARDIS, not the Master’s. Harry’s death hits him hard. He doesn’t want to show his new face to Sarah Jane and the Brigadier, because he cares about how they think of him, and fears that they’d be revolted by his fusing with the Master. (And perhaps because he doesn’t know if he’s safe to be around, not with how close to the surface his ruthlessness is.)

But why is it the Doctor who had far more influence over the merge than the Master? Well, because he was the one supplying the regeneration energy. The Doctor and the Master got glued together, but the Doctor was also the glue. So if anything, the Doctor absorbed the Master.

…Yeah, okay, can we talk about how that’s kind of horrifying? Character merges always carry a sort of existential horror. There were two people, now there’s one, that implies some kind of death, right?

Yeah. I don’t think it’s just Harry’s death that will have a lasting effect on this Doctor, but also the fact that he essentially killed the Master by accident as well. Sure, he has the Master’s memories and some of his personality, but there’s no one left in the universe running around calling themselves the Master. They are effectively dead.

I don’t plan on writing a follow-up to this, but I can at least imagine the future of this Doctor. The Culbard pitch mentioned a story with Sea Devils in 1960s Brighton; I think this Doctor sticks around Earth, at least spatially, but hopping up and down its timeline as a self-appointed protector, maybe with just the slightest undertones of implied ‘ownership’ as a lingering mindset from the Master. I think it would take him a few adventures to gain the confidence that he’s the Doctor, not the Master, and that it would be safe for him to take a companion. Maybe he reunites with Sarah Jane, or maybe he needs a new friend for a fresh start. That’ll be for y’all to imagine.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

-The shift from past to present tense was originally at the moment where the new incarnation decides to run. I changed it to be at the POV switch to the new incarnation, since that made a lot more sense, and in doing so thought that removing contractions from the prose would fit as a quirk of this serious-faced new incarnation. He doesn’t get any spoken lines, but the implication is that he doesn’t use contractions when speaking.

-I planned to include a line saying that the new incarnation referring to himself with the ‘he’ pronouns was only out of habit, but I don’t think the Doctor or Master thinks about themselves in English, so that pronoun in the prose is due to the the fact that the TARDIS is translating their thoughts for us, the viewers/readers. I felt that they/them would’ve left it ambiguous whether the new incarnation was one personality or two, which is something I did want to definitively settle, so I stuck with “he.”

-This was my first time writing Delgado's Master, hopefully I didn't make him overly hammy. If I did: my bad.

Thanks for reading all through my rambles, I hope you enjoyed this weird little fic!

[who-scarf]

“Her name was Sarah Jane Smith and she adored a good question as much as I adored her”

(The Doctor about Sarah Jane)

sorry, i'm crying

One of my favorite quotes from Tom Baker's book “Scratchman”.

It is a wonderful book where Tom Baker did a great job of describing The Doctor in first person (as if the Doctor wrote about himself) , the structure of the TARDIS, and the characters of Sarah Jane and Harry. And he wrote about his best companions with great affection, I think in tribute to the memory of Elisabeth Slaiden and Ian Marter. I love it!

There are strange notes on the photo because I am learning English from this book.

[sezomsbookcase]

Who. Or, What to Read

With bookstores shut down for now due to COVID, and the ethics of ordering delivery things in my area sub-optimal for similar reasons, my bookcase is my bookcase. After some isolation cleaning and organizing, here are the four Who novels I own but haven’t read yet. Happy to have made a habit of picking up a paperback here and there for a rainy day—now safe at home days. If you ever wondered how to choose from a seemingly infinite amount of titles, here’s a little bit about why I bought these. I’m not a collector. Soldeed does not keep a lot of books at the lab. Doctor Whos are my go-to for reading while traveling, and until traveling resumes again for this reader, I’m as happy as an Easter egg for this great little stack to hold me over.

The Myth Makers- Ever since the 1980s, Target novelizations of missing episode stories have been hot commodities. All 4 episodes of this 1965 first Doctor serial don’t exist in the official BBC archives. Target novelizations have a form factor that makes them perfect for travelling light. At approximately 7 x 4.25 inches and under 150 pages, you can stow this in a back pants pocket with no stress. 

Last of the Gaderene- Mark Gatiss on the pen. The third Doctor, Jo and UNIT on the page. Spitfire on the cover. Call me a dolt. Certainly am. I know this is going to be good! Most of the Past Doctor Adventures, and The New Adventures have a similar length and width to the Targets, but double or triple in thickness, so these can still fit nicely into a sport coat pocket.

Original Sin- Virgin’s The New Adventures was the first series of novels to occupy the void left by the show disappearing in 1990. Some books from this series go for very high prices on the used market. I missed them the first time around and my modern approach has been this: To purchase New Adventures where new characters are introduced that carry on throughout the New Adventures series. This one fits the bill, and historically—any Doctor Who story featuring any sort of adjudicators is great. 

Fear Of The Dark- There’s a reason this one was chosen to represent the fifth Doctor as part of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Collection re-releases. I’ll be starting this one next. At a size of approximately 8 x 5 x 1”, this one won’t be as pocket-friendly, making it an ideal safe-at-home read with one of my favorite classic TARDIS teams. Can’t wait!

I resist an academic sense of duty or completionist mandate to follow any reason or order for reading. I like to hop from Doctor to Doctor, era to era. If it’s nice out and I’m riding the subway without a jacket, I can fit Mission to Magnus In my back pocket, whereas the hardback of Scratchman is one I read riding Amtrak with a backpack. Yes I’m admitting my reading is based on how the book fits in my pocket—the prime demo for these new Target-style paperbacks that are coming out. We aim to do one write-up a month now until the show returns. We don’t spoil stories, or critically review. We’re just happy to be here. Hope you are safe and well and have some books you like too.

[templeofgeek]

With all the hype surrounding the latest Doctor Who announcement, what better way to get into the Doctor Who and Holiday spirit than by grabbing up some cool Doctor Who merchandise. We collected some of our favorite Doctor Who inspired merch and collectibles. These are all perfect for gifts and for a little bit of treating yourself! Check out this Doctor Who Holiday Guide we have created.

*This article contains some affiliate links and our website can potentially earn commissions on some of these products.

Ornaments 

DOCTOR WHO K9 DOG MOLDED ORNAMENT

DOCTOR WHO TOM BAKER 4TH DOCTOR ORNAMENT

Doctor Who: Dalek Ornaments Set

TARDIS with Wreath Ornament

Doctor Who: Thirteenth Doctor Ornament

Ugly Christmas Sweaters 

Doctor Who Tardis and Daleks Christmas Sweater – Official BBC Festive Jumper by LOVARZI. Amazon Link Here.

Holiday Cards 

Redbubble is an online marketplace for print-on-demand products. The designs are submitted by independent artists. So, it’s basically a cool place to get your hands on some pretty cool fanart! It’s a place to find some really weird and off the wall art as well.  One of the cool things you can find there is a large selection of Doctor Who Themed Greeting Cards! Just in time for the holidays. Click this link to see all the current and available cards.  https://www.redbubble.com/

Audio

John Barrowman, who plays the witty and charming Captain Jack Harkness on Doctor Who and Torchwood, announced his first album ‘A Fabulous Christmas.’  The album will be released on 6th December 2019 and features all your festive classics including, ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town,’ ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ & ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.’ Available at https://store.universalmusic.com/johnbarrowman/

If you miss some of your favorite Doctors and companions, then you can see that their stories may still live on in audio. Big Finish creates exciting new audio dramas for previous incarnations of the Doctor. Listen to stories from the first to the twelfth Doctor. There are also spin-off series from River Song, Missy, UNIT and Torchwood. https://www.bigfinish.com/hubs/v/doctor-who

Fine Art Collection

Classic Stills, a Los Angeles and London-based publisher of rare and iconic photographs, is launching 14 new limited-edition images from Doctor Who on November 19, in collaboration with BBC Studios. Doctor Who fans had been asked to nominate which iconic scene or moment they would most like to hang on their wall through a competition hosted by Classic Stills.

The 14 images feature on-set photography, rare behind-the-scenes moments, and publicity stills. One hundred individually numbered prints of each photo are available, with each sold hand-framed and presented with a Certificate of Authenticity. Prices start from $149 / £125.

The Doctor Who collection will be available for purchase in the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland. For more information on Classic Stills and the Doctor Who collection, please visit https://classicstills.com/ and https://classicstills.co.uk/.

Books 

I Love the Bones of You: My Father And The Making Of Me by Christopher Eccleston. In this book, Eccleston unveils a vivid portrait of a relationship that has shaped his entire career trajectory, mirroring and defining his own highs and lows, from stage and screen triumph to breakdown, anorexia, self-doubt, and a deep belief in the basic principles of access and equality denied to generations. Amazon Link Here

Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor – The Many Lives of Doctor Who by Richard Dinnick (Author), Giorgia Sposito (Illustrator), Pasquale Qualano (Illustrator). An introduction to the brand new thirteenth Doctor, featuring multiple stories of previous incarnations of the Doctor. Amazon Link Here.

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor Volume 1 by Al Ewing (Author), Rob Williams (Author), Simon Fraser (Illustrator), Gary Caldwell (Illustrator). The collected Year One comic book adventures of the Eleventh Doctor. Amazon Link Here.

  The Heralds of Destruction Hardcover by Paul Cornell (Author), Chris Jones (Illustrator).  New adventures for The Third Doctor and U.N.I.T. Amazon Link Here. 

The Doctor, Harry, and Sarah Jane Smith arrive at a remote Scottish island when their holiday is cut short by the appearance of strange creatures – hideous scarecrows who are preying on the local population. The islanders are living in fear, and the Doctor vows to save them all. It doesn’t go to plan – the time travelers have fallen into a trap, and Scratchman is coming for them. Amazon Link Here. 

Stocking Stuffers, Fan Art & More 

Travel Hopefully vintage-inspired button by Logan Arch  / 13th Doctor Collection by Logan Arch

Doctor Who Pinback Sets by ButternutGouache

DOCTOR WHO! INDIVIDUAL PRINTS by Johanna The Mad

13 Round Bag by iHeroCouture

FunSuits

Fun.com has a cool selection of men’s Doctor Who themed suits! We’ve reviewed their suits before and can say that they are absolutely worth the price. Currently, their suits have been marked down in price and you don’t want to miss out! Get them while you still can!

DOCTOR WHO TARDIS POP INTERIOR SLIM FIT SUIT JACKET

DOCTOR WHO DALEK SUBTLE SLIM FIT SUIT JACKET

DOCTOR WHO TARDIS FORMAL SLIM FIT SUIT JACKET

Cosplay

  Last year we reviewed the Her Universe Thirteenth Doctor Cosplay Collection. You can still get your hands on this collection at Hot Topic and Torrid.

Coat Hot Topic https://www.hottopic.com/

Coat Torrid https://www.torrid.com/

Doctor Who Fifth Doctor Cricket Jumper and Seventh Doctor Question Mark Jumper Official BBC Licensed Sweaters by Lovarzi. https://www.lovarzi.co.uk/collections/doctor-who

Shop Temple of Geek Merch 

Buy Temple of Geek gear and help support our site. Proceeds from these products go directly to help us continue to create more geeky content. You can shop Temple of Geek Merch on Red Bubble or TeePublic.

Red Bubble Link https://www.redbubble.com/

Tee Public Link https://www.teepublic.com/

Check out more Holiday Gift Guides and Ideas below! 

https://templeofgeek.com/doctor-who-gift-guide-nine-gifts-for-fans-of-the-ninth-doctor/

https://templeofgeek.com/doctor-who-gift-guide-twelve-gifts-for-fans-of-the-twelfth-doctor/

https://templeofgeek.com/doctor-who-gift-guide-twelve-gifts-for-fans-of-the-thirteenth-doctor/

https://templeofgeek.com/holiday-gifts-ideas-for-every-the-office-fan-in-your-life/

https://templeofgeek.com/a-holiday-gift-guide-for-the-frozen-fan-in-your-life/

https://templeofgeek.com/holiday-gift-guide-for-fans-of-spider-man-into-the-spider-verse/

https://templeofgeek.com/our-2019-holiday-gift-guide-for-ghostbusters-fans/

We have your Doctor Who Holiday Gift Guide for 2019 With all the hype surrounding the latest Doctor Who announcement, what better way to get into the Doctor Who and Holiday spirit than by grabbing up some cool Doctor Who merchandise.