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By the time Season 30 was finished, fans and public alike were pleased with this new version of Doctor Who. Despite extensive location filming in America and a redesign of a couple of the older fan favourite enemies, the stories were enthralling and the rapport between the Doctor and his companion was well liked.
The co-producers and the BBC retained their warm working relationship. Terrance Dicks left as Executive Producer, leaving Gerry Davis and Terry Nation fully in control of the series. Additional American funding allowed the season to be expanded by another two 45-minute episodes, producing the equivalent of a 30 episode season, the longest in twenty-five years.
Now that they were firmly in control over the creative output of the series, Davis and Nation announced that they would be using Season 31 to test the boundaries of Doctor Who. While returning monsters would feature prominently in the opener, Season 31 would not have the Cyberman and Dalek monster thrashes that marked the year before. Early reports of the new season suggested that a mix of futuristic and historical stories the producer’s goal, although problems with some of the stories played havoc with those plans.
Edward Peel-Smith and Sara Griffiths’ contracts were renewed, and both actors expressed an interest in staying with the program at least into Season 32. With the success of Season 30, hopes were riding high for Season 31. |
The Martian Colonies (16750 words) by James Bow |
Earth in 2004 is suffering the effects of the Greenhouse Crisis, with massive hurricanes, droughts and the prospect of a worldwide famine. The only hope for saving humanity seems to be the success of the new human colonies on Mars. Unfortunately, when the colonies were being established, somebody forgot to consult the Martians. |
Trenchcoat’s first and only appearance by the Ice Warriors (although they are mentioned two stories later in Mammoth), The Martian Colonies attempts to tie up some continuity loose ends of how the Ice Warriors eventually made peace with Earth, among other things. |
Jabberwocky Dreams (15000 words) by James Bow |
When routine maintenance on the TARDIS computer releases a latent force which abducts the Doctor, Fayette must rescue him, first proceeding through a supernatural dreamworld created by the monsters of her subconscious. |
The first of Trenchcoat’s two “Celtic Who” tales, Fayette carries the story almost on her own. The Doctor does not appear until the very end, and she must rescue him for a change. |
Mammoth (13000 words) by Lyn Davies |
Can the Doctor save the crewmembers of the ship, Mammoth, from a ravenous creature? |
Mammoth is significant for portraying Trenchcoat’s vision of Earth and Mars in the aftermath of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. The memories of Ice Warrior ships running the Dalek blockades to relieve the human colonies on Mars, the Moon and Venus should have had its own story. |
Millennium’s End (10750 words) by Chris Kocher |
The millennium is ending, and a group of apocalypse proclaimers appear to be working to make their predictions come true. |
Millennium’s End is a sequel, of sorts, to London Fog since it is set at the beginning of the environmental crisis described in the earlier story. Incidentally, the name of a major supporting character in this story, Douglas Camfield, had been used by Chris Kocher before, in some of his own fan fiction, long before he heard of the famous Doctor Who director of the same name. Honest! |
Company of the Rani (12000 words) by Shawn Sulma |
Can the Doctor stop the Rani’s interferences with the time stream? What does she want with the shock troops of a major corporation in the future? |
Shawn Sulma’s cyberpunk-influenced tale is set at roughly the same period in Earth’s history as The Caves of Androzani, which shows you the atmosphere that Shawn tries to achieve, with some results. |
Death Expedition (13250 words) by Melanie Dixon |
The Doctor and Fayette land in Vancouver in 1994 and are caught up in a series of paranormal events that require the intervention of UNIT. |
Despite the setting and the subject matter, Death Expedition was not paying homage to The X-Files. The tale was written early in 1993, well before Fox’s series premiered. |
The Empty Man (19000 words) by Patricia Smith & James Bow |
The good cheer for Christmas 2035 can not mask the problems that suddenly surface when the Doctor pays a visit to old friend, Dr. Neil Jerome. With his friend consumed with the task of discovering an alternative mode of travel to T-mat, the Doctor discovers that there is more than one way for a scientist to lose his soul… |
This story, penned by the editor’s mother (a published author) playfully revenges the Star Trek: TNG’s “The High Ground,” which suggests that the T-mat technology (a.k.a. Dimensional Shift) generally seen in the Doctor Who universe is inherently flawed. Despite suggesting in turn that Trek’s matter-energy-matter transporter was also inherently flawed, the author and editor must still thank the kind Trek fans on GEnie who assisted the project by providing “technical” information. |
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