Spinning off to a world without tele/visual Who!

[Paul Clement]

Thanks for pointing that out for me Paul, I've got a hangover and I've only been out of bed for 10 minutes, my brain is still 'booting up'!

If that was me, I wouldn't be fully operational till teatime tomorrow.

[Wayne]

Back to 'work' this morning with:

Downtime



And it was 'work' as well!
The pre-credit sequence points to what might be an interesting follow up to Abominable Snowmen/Web of Fear, but to be honest it comes across a bit all over the place. There's a few fleeting surreal images of Lethbridge-Stewart on a beach, & some computer hacker finding out about UNIT, but the main story seems to kick off with Sarah Jane Smith trying to find out about the 'New World' University, which seems to be run by Victoria Waterfield, who in turn tries to find info about the Brigadier from Sarah, & meanwhile one the Great Intelligence globes 'chases' after the hacker, who turns out to be someone called Winton, who's an ex pupil of the retired Brigadier.
There are more surreal sequences involving the Brigadier, who eventually wakes up from these 'dreams' after apparently 3 days. I'm not sure i'm fully understanding the signifance of these New World 'chillies', but it's clear that Victoria is being controlled by the Great Intelligence, who is instructing her to 'find the Locus'. (Whatever that may be!)
It's at this point where i start to lose the plot a bit. The Brigadier is stuck in a traffic jam, Suddenly a Yeti appears in a split second out of thin air, the Brigadier fires what looks like an ordinary pistol at it, which emits a red ray, & the Yeti vanishes as quickly as it came. What's that all about then? Next thing the Great Intelligence, which appears to be existing on the 'astral plane' & travelling as a virus via the internet, covers the university dj & in his equipment in webbing, & the Brigadier visits UNIT's current boss, Captain Cavendish, who also seems to be part of the New World/Great Intelligence conspiracy, but the Brig escapes & visits his daughter Kate who has also become embroiled in events, & meanwhile the chairman of 'New World' university arrives to meet with Victoria, & it turns out to be Professor Travers, who is controlled by the Great Intelligence.
By this point i'm only vaugely following the storyline. The next thing, the 'chillies' try to take the Brigadier, who seems to be having visions of warnings from Hinton for some reason, but he temporarily escapes again, before the Yeti suddenly materialize on Kate's boat, & take off with a Yeti chesspiece that the Brigadier has kept for years as a 'momento'.
Eventually Hinton & Kate try to combat the Great Intelligence via the computer system, Travers tries to rebel against it by destroying the database, but the intelligence is too strong. There's a battle between UNIT & the Yeti in the grounds of the New World university, & the Brigadier confronts the Great Intelligence in Travers body, before Kate shoots Travers, & Victoria persuades Daniel who has become a Yeti to destroy the generator, which destroys the Great Intelligence once & for all. Apparently.
There we are then. I liked the overall concept, but i found the overall story rather incoherent & patchy. (Not unlike a certain other famous Marc Platt story) Despite some good performances by Watling, Sladen, & Courtney, etc... I think this is another one that's ulikely to ever get a second outing at Chez Wayne, because it's ultimately rather dull.
Next up is: 'Mindgame'.

[Jonno]

I haven't read your post on Downtime, but I shamefully haven't got round to watching it yet, given that Mr C kindly donated me his some time last year. However, I'm going to fit in sometime this week now before S3 gets going - I was considering doing the first Yeti story this week, but that can wait a bit longer! Once I've watched it, I'll post my thoughts and read your post - I'm sure we'll largely be in agreeement!

[stuartdg]

The only truly enjoyable(IMO) spin-offs are the Auton Trilogy and the PROBE series-the rest veer from passable to embarrassing with varying degrees

FWIW the Downtime novelisation does fill in more of the gaps missing from the video

[Simon R]

"Mindgame" is mercifully short and features some great acting from an old-skool Lynx deodrant nozzle.

[Wayne]

Mindgame

"Mindgame" is mercifully short.

'Mercifully' being the operative word.
This is an extremely simple story from Terrance Dicks. Basically, Sophie Aldred plays a human who is imprisoned along with a Draconian & a Sontaran, by an alien who is making a study of their behaviour. But his three prisoners fake a fight & overpower the alien & make their escape.

What was Terrance thinking of? I mean just what is the point of this story? Nothing really happens at all, does it? The dialouge is full of recycled clichs, & the acting is painful, particularly the guy who plays the Sontaran. The guy playing the Draconian wasn't bad in a 2 dimensional way, but even the fairly limited Sophie Aldred was more convincing than either of them, really.
This was just a complete waste of 30mins. I don't know what this story was trying to say at all. It was just a complete non-entity.

[Pip Madeley]

You'd recommend it then?

[Wayne]

You'd recommend it then?

Not exactly. Next up is the infamous 'Daemos Rising'. From what people have said, i'm not sure if i'll survive the experience.

[stuartdg]

Are you missing out Mindgame Trilogy then?

[Wayne]

Are you missing out Mindgame Trilogy then?

Yes. There's a few that i haven't been able to lay my hands on. Without shelling out big dosh, anyway.
I think Tim's going 'lend' me 'Lust in Space' & a couple of the PROBE ones, though. *cough

[Pip Madeley]

I think Tim's going 'lend' me 'Lust in Space'

You'll enjoy that, watch James Bree as he recovers from a stroke.

[Simon R]

I haven't seen "Mindgame Trilogy". I can imagine what it's like though.

Did you spot Sophie's characters refrences to "the professor"?

[Wayne]

Did you spot Sophie's characters refrences to "the professor"?

Actually, no. I must've been asleep.

[Wayne]

Daemos Rising



Aside from obviously meaning to be a sequel (of sorts) to 'The Daemons', there are links also to the aforementioned 'Downtime', chiefly represented by Beverley Cressman who reprises her role as the Brigadier's daughter: Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, & also Miles Richardson as Captain Cavendish.
Basically, Kate meets Cavendish at his house in the countryside. We experience Cavendish hearing voices in his head, & he claims the house is haunted. The story plods for half an hour as Cavendish talks about what he's learned from the UNIT archives, & mumbles about an incantation that he should never have read....
Kate touches a Daemon-like statue & has a strange psychic experience, & soon after the statue begins to move, & suddenly Cavendish is being communicated to by someone from the future, telling of an Earth controlled by a 'sodality' which uses the ancient power of the Daemons. This 'sodality' are also at work to try to stop any changes to the future, & use psionic forces to animate the statue, & appears in the form of Kate, which compels the real Kate to perform a ceremony which summons the Daemon.
The Daemon itself turns out to be a piss-poor, shallow, CGI version, which is very loosely based on the original Daemon form. The Daemon waffles on, & performs a few parlour tricks, but nothing substantial or menacing happens, whilst the 'sodality Kate' & the real Kate debate the pros & cons of love for the benefit of the Daemon, before the Daemon destroys the sodality & announces that the 'experiment will continue'.

Ultimately, it's a rather dull story, but i don't think this is the worst of these spin-offs. To be fair, the two leads do give earnest performances, but the script is simply not very good. Aside from the crappy looking Daemon, i think it also scores a few points at least for the visual look of the production, which does successfully manage to create quite a ghostly atmosphere, through good location work, & subtle use of lighting. But despite these points in it's favour, nothing can overcome poor material, & ultimately nothing of huge importance really happens. I would definitely put this considerably ahead of the likes of 'Wartime' & 'Mindgame', though.

Ok, all that's left to me now until Mr.Gently comes through, is the Cyber story 'Deconstruction' & the 'Auton' stuff. I think i'll save the Auton stories until last, as they seem relatively highly spoken of, it would better to finish on more of a high. So it's 'Deconstruction' next, then. I'm quite curious about this one. Especially as it seems to be a bit of an unknown quantity. All i know is, it's made by 'Random Pictures'. Whoever they are.......

[Wayne]

Deconstruction



Well that was erm.... different.
I managed to find out about it, It's not a video spin-off at all, but a downloadable fan made production by Westlake films.
I don't know where to start! This (mostly) black & white made film isn't really a 'story' at all. It's more like Andy Warhol & Pink Floyd do Dr.Who. It's like some kind of bizarre arthouse retro thing. It's only 20mins long, & here's virtually no dialogue at all, bar some largely unintelligable dialouge from the rather odd sounding Cyber voices.
Basically, it kicks off with a big battle between the humans(?) & Cybermen, & the apparent sole survivor of the battle, stumbles around for a while, & after escaping from a close encounter with a Cyberman, he finally finds his way to a mysterious orb on a pedestal, to which he attaches a timed explosive device.
Interspered throughout are flashback images (in colour) to a world before the Cybermen, where our hero is pictured with his wife/girlfriend(?). The film ends when the Cybermen catch up with him before his bomb detonates, & one of the Cybermen removes it's faceplate, & the face the woman in his flashbacks is revealed behind it.
And that's it.

Visually it does look superb i must admit, & i do like the eerie electronic music, which adds to the sense of atmosphere. But ultimately, that's all this production seems to be about: Creating an atmosphere. They've acheived that successfully, & the Cybermen look great. It's looks as though they've got hold of some original 60's costumes. But beyond that, you just end up asking yourself: Why? What was the point? WHAT'S IT FOR!?

[SiHart]

I must say those photos look superb, but I've never heard them before.

Si xx

[Paul Clement]

Westlake Films are quite well known in fan film terms, and their Auton Diaries was used as an extra on the BBV Auton3 dvd.

[Lord President]

I am a big fan of the 'Auton' videos, they are well written, well produced and well acted (with the exception of Jo Castleton, who makes Chloe Ashcroft in Resurrection of the Daleks' look like Olivier!).

Wayne, I don't think you'll be disappointed!

[Wayne]

Wayne, I don't think you'll be disappointed!

We shall see. I actually put 'Auton' in my dvd player this morning. I just never got around to pressing the Play button. Maybe after dinner.

[Wayne]

Auton

We shall see. I actually put 'Auton' in my dvd player this morning. I just never got around to pressing the Play button. Maybe after dinner.

I watched this earlier, & in comparison with a lot of stuff on this thread, it was rather good. I wouldn't go overboard on it - It was pretty slow & talky for about the first half hour, although it did have a certain amount of atmosphere, what with the claustrophobic UNIT warehouse setting, & it did pick up a bit & get fairly tense in the last 20mins.
Hwever, as LP said earlier, the performances were good: Michael Wade as Lockwood was quite charismatic in a dry sort of way, & i was surprised to see Reece Shearsmith from 'The League of Gentlemen' taking a fairly prominent role!
The idea of the Auton's being re-activated in the warehouse was a good concept, but i was a bit confused by Lockwood's apparent psychic link(?) - to whom or what, was never explained. The Autons themselves were well realised, & it was good to see all the props from 'Spearhead From Space' again.
All in all, i'd say it was the best of the spin-offs so far. Tomorrow, i'll be watching the sequel: 'Auton 2'.

[Pip Madeley]

I nearly bought Mindgame on video the other day for a pound.

But my sanity returned and I put it back.

[Wayne]

If you get desperate to see any of these, PM me.

[Wayne]

Auton 2: Sentinel



After the comparitively good 'Auton', i had high(ish) hopes for this sequel, but i'm afraid i found it rather dull. I didn't think the storyline was up to much, for a start.
The trouble begins when some Autons which are being trnasported from one UNIT facility to another, are activated & they hijack the vehicle. It transpires that the Nestene Conciousness is using Lockwood's pychic abilities for it's own ends, & UNIT decidede to pair him up with another psychic operative - Natasha Alexander.
The escaped Autons are traced to Sentinel Island, Where Winslet is maqquerading as the local vicar, & seems to've brainwashed most of the island’s inhabitants. Apparently, they're using the combined mental energy of the church’s congregation to awaken a Nestene creature buried beneath. The idea is that there are dormant Nestenes lying underground around the world that were there before the development of mankind, & their locations have become known to humanity as holy sites and are connected by ley lines.
Although it doesn't sound bad on paper, aside from perhaps being a bit too mythological to fit with what we know about the Nestenes, the story really does plod along at a snail's pace. It doesn't have the claustrophobic atmosphere of it's predecessor. It's very talky, & frankly nothing much really happens until near the end, when the Nestene in the church is revived. That bit looks quite good actually, but it takes so long to get there that it doesn't really seem worth it.
All in all, a disappointing sequel IMO, but nevertheless, i'll shall do the further sequel: 'Auton 3' tomorrow, & that will be my last of the spin-offs for the time being, as that's all i've got at the moment. At this point in the procedings, i can't say i'm that bothered, although i would like to see 'Lust in Space'.

[Simon R]

"Auton 3" is very ambitious with a lot of CGI and some "quick lets shoot on a sunday morning!" location work on Southampton (I think) high street. Look out for the futuristic ray guns which look suspiciously like water pistols sprayed silver.

The thing that lets down the "Auton" trilogy is that it doesn't make any use of Nestene's having control over plastic. It could have been any old villain really.

[Wayne]

Auton 3: Awakening



Hmmm...... Again i found this rather dull, i'm afraid, but perhaps just a tad better than 'Auton 2' as at least more stuff happens, but it seems just a bit of a runaround.
It's established that Lockwood has an alien implant in his brain, through which the Nestene Conciousness is trying to invade, whilst Winslett has survivived & the Autons are at large in the city of Milhampton, where another Nestene lurking below is revived. There's yet another psychic operative working for UNIT, & so on & so forth..... blah blah blah......
To be honest, i started to lose interest half way through. The CGI Nestene actually looks quite good, but again the story itself is pretty average, & as Simon said yesterday:

The thing that lets down the "Auton" trilogy is that it doesn't make any use of Nestene's having control over plastic. It could have been any old villain really.

It really could be any old villian - Particularly in the sequels. I maintain that the first 'Auton' is reasonably good, but neither of the sequels manage to capture the atmosphere or the certain suspense that the first one had, IMO.

That's it for me on this thread for now, as i've watched everything i've got. Despite being rather arduous at times, it has been interesting to delve into the world of spin-offs, if only to fill in a gap that's been missing in my awareness of all things 'Who'.
In retrospect, looking back over the thread - I think best ones are:
Auton
The Airzone Solution
Eye of the Beholder
Breach of the Peace
Deconstruction (just for the fab music)

These are really the only ones i might watch again sometime in the next 50years. Maybe. The rest: Hmmm...... No, i don't think so.
I hope the thread's been of interest. If only to warn people off!