Spinning off to a world without tele/visual Who!

[Wayne]

My friend Steve has got it, I'll see what I can do. Is there anything else you haven't seen yet?

Thanks Paul. Spin-off wise, the only ones i can think of apart from 'Cyberon', are: 'The Zero Imperative', (The first PROBE story?) & 'The Mindgame Trilogy', (i only have the first 'Mindgame').

Ask your mate Steve if there's anything he wants, (or yourself) But better keep it to PM, because talking about swapsies makes the Admin a bit twitchy.

[SiHart]

Unnatural Selection is one of the worst spin off thingys from Doctor Who ever. It's dull, uninvolving, not fun in any way and is sloppily made too. Really awful. The gore is ott and there for the sake of it, since it adds nothing to the plot at all and it's simply not entertaining.

Why do all the Who spin offs take themselves so seriously? A little humour would have livened them up no end.

Si xx

[Wayne]

Unnatural Selection is one of the worst spin off thingys from Doctor Who ever. It's dull, uninvolving, not fun in any way and is sloppily made too. Really awful. The gore is ott and there for the sake of it, since it adds nothing to the plot at all and it's simply not entertaining.

Why do all the Who spin offs take themselves so seriously? A little humour would have livened them up no end.

Si xx

I love my 'serious' Who, but i have to agree with everything you say about 'Unnatural Selection', Si.

[Lord President]

I think the most bizarre thing about 'Ghosts of Winterbourn' is the fact that the dead teacher from 'Devil' has an identical twin who happens to be a teacher as well! A bit of a stretch there!

Great performance by Gatiss as G-G-G-Georgie in 'Devil' though!

[Wayne]

Thanks to Paul, i've got 3 more spin-offs, which pretty much fill the gaps in what i've already covered on this thread. So, first of all i'm backtracking to the first PROBE story:

The Zero Imperative



This Mark Gatiss story sees Liz Shaw and her assistant Bayliss investigating a series of bizarre murders, all committed near a soon-to-be-closed psychiatric hospital. It's got quite a good atmosphere this one, & as well as Caroline John, it features a strong Who related cast, including Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Jon Pertwee, Louise Jameson, Sophie Aldred, & a Peter Davison cameo. And Linda Lusardi!
But unfortunately, like many of the other spin-offs on this thread, Whilst it starts off intriguingly enough, It's so slow paced & talky rather than things happening, that i felt my interest begin to fade after about 20mins of this hour long production. I'd say it was better than the likes 'Unatural Selection', but not as interesting as the Winterbourn stories. Though, strangely enough, i thought Sylvester McCoy gave one of the better performances in this one. He was quite charismatic!
Ultimately though, i didn't much care what happened to any of the characters, so not a very good sign, really.......

Anyhow, Tomorrow i'll give sequel to 'Mindgame' a go, the so called: 'Mindgame Trilogy', & finish the day after with 'Cyberon', which is one that i'm quite looking forward to, as i enjoyed the 2 BBV cyber spin-off audios.

[Lord President]

I quite enjoyed Zero back in the day. The return of Liz Shaw, watching Linda Lusardi struggle with the simpleast of lines, and a multi-Doctor cast! Excellent!

It's not perfect, by any means, but seeing Pertwee with Baker and McCoy is a real joy. Gatiss is great, and the victim-in-a-bucket is v funny!

The reveal at the end came as a very pleasant surprise too!

[Wayne]

The Mindgame Trilogy



Good grief, What a load of old tat! I'd be seriously miffed if i'd paid good money for this rammel! It's just the 3 actors presenting 3 extremely dull monologues via reprising their characters from the original 'Mingame' story. They don't even interact, let alone take part in a proper 'story'.

Battlefield

Field-Major Sarg is in trouble. Trapped, wounded and alone on a battle-scarred planet, he is forced to accept he may die. But at least it will be a glorious death - or so he hopes...

John Wadmore's got the Sontaran voice down pat, i'll give him that much. But it's still basically 15mins of a dying Sontaran talking to himself, that's full of familiar Sontaran rhetoric from the original tv series that gets toited out in every single spin-off with the Sontarans in, ever. I like the Sontarans, & i love 'The Time Warrior', but if i hear: "The hair is finer, the thorax etc... etc..." one more time!

Prisoner 451
To be or not to be, that is the question! On trial for subversion, she faces the ultimate penalty. If she only knew the trouble she’d caused...

Miles Richardson gets all melodramatic & pseudo-shakespearean playing a Draconian locked in cell shouting to himself for 20mins about Draconian honour & such like. Riveting.

Scout Ship
A dying ship drifting in space. A Pilot faced with certain death. Time may be relative...but it still runs out!

Sophie Aldred spends 20mins working up to some severe overacting to such a degree that it makes David Tennant seem like Roger Moore on valium.

WAYNE'S VERDICT: Don't bother. Just don't bother!

[Ralph]

Sophie Aldred spends 20mins working up to some severe overacting to such a degree that it makes David Tennant seem like Roger Moore on valium.[/I]

WAYNE'S VERDICT: Don't bother. Just don't bother!

Hey you! At least Rog wouldn't appear in such crappy productions!

[Wayne]

At least Rog wouldn't appear in such crappy productions!

Good! That would make 'em even worse!

[Lord President]

Hey you! At least Rog wouldn't appear in such crappy productions!

Have you not seen Bullseye!?

[Wayne]

Cyberon



"Doctor Anderson's patients have permanent brain injury or suffer from brain diseases for which there is no cure. When Thomas Mordley begins introducing tests of Cyberon on her patients, Dr Lauren Anderson thinks she already knows how the trial will end - there will be some benefits, but no significant improvement in their condition.
Doctor Anderson is wrong...
Cyberon is different. Mordley knows it's a wonder drug, and it's going to revolutionise medicine. He thinks it may even revolutionise the world. But does he realise that Cyberon has its own plan?"

Actually, this wasn't too bad. (reilef!)
I found it a very refreshingly straightforward, makes sense/no bullshit/nothing shrouded in mystery type of story from Lance Parkin. The characters are realistic & believable, & the acting for the most was fairly decent. Especially from the much improved Jo Castleton.
The one thing that lets it down is strange tellytubby-esque version of the Cyberman. It's looks a bit like the cyberman equivalent of those inflatable daleks. And the voice wasn't quite right. Not just the voice 'effect', but the actor's inflections seemed a bit too whimsical, which coupled with it's comically cheap appearance, didn't exactly help to foster any sense of menace.
Still, in all the other aspects, this was a pretty good one to finish on. I like the concept of the story, & it might even have worked well as story for the New Series, had the Cybermen not already been done.
Thanks to Paul for these last 3 stories.

That's all folks! Mission accomplished. (Phew!)

[Lord President]

Cyberon sounds great, I'm really looking forward to Attack of the Cybertubbies!

[Wayne]

It's already in the post.

[Dirk Gently]

Cyberon is the only one I've not seen. Shame as it sounds like it's the one of the better ones.

So no more Wayne Spinninng off! The end of an era(error)?

[Wayne]

Cyberon is the only one I've not seen. Shame as it sounds like it's the one of the better ones.

I can help you there.

So no more Wayne Spinninng off! The end of an era(error)?

[Lord President]

I agree with Wayne, the Cybertubbies is not a bad little story at all, and Jo Castleton seems to be able to act (who'd've thought it?). Nice to see her in her undies too!

Odd little story, but quite engaging!


Mindgame Trilogy was a waste of an hour of my life!

[Wayne]

Nice to see her in her undies too!

It didn't go unnoticed.

Mindgame Trilogy was a waste of an hour of my life!

Isn't it just? It's got to be the biggest non-entity/rip-off of all time! People on here warned me about 'Daemos Rising', but that's brilliant compared to this that!

Btw... Tim, I've just been to the Post Office.
BEWARE THE MINDGAME TRILOGY!

[Dirk Gently]

Cheers mate.

[Wayne]

You may find the packaging particularly unique & difficult to get into.
This is to protect the postman from any residual sucidal tendencies that may eminate from just being near the Mindgame Trilogy, & also because i've used all my envelopes up flogging stuff on eBay.
I learned everything i know about impregnable packaging from Lprd President.

[Dirk Gently]

Thanks. Fore warned is fore armed, I'll get the chainsaw.

[Lord President]

I learned everything i know about impregnable packaging from Lprd President.

@ Wayne!

[Pip Madeley]

I plan to watch Do You Have a Licence to Save this Planet? this evening.

I'll be brave.

[Simon R]

Has anyone clocked the ad on the back of the current DWM....forthcoming this autumn the hideously titled: "Zygon: When Being Me Is Not Enough".

Promises male and female nudity and everything.

How utterly shameless. The "PROBE" series went for gratuitous gore and now this...

[SiHart]

I hope Wayne will be getting that and watching it, so that none of us have to!

Si xx

[Simon R]

We might hold a premier for it at HaRpi Towers like we did with "Deamos Rising".

Bring your own concentrated scorpion venom...