Doctor Who_ Lungbarrow - Marc Platt [145]
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Gallifreyan dice seem to be a law unto themselves. The eight-faced die may have indeterminate numbers, but it does have a secret agenda to guide its performance: it can throw up any score that the author feels like.
I've been vegetarian since 1988. But like most of us, I could still murder a bacon sarnie... unless someone put one in front of me, that is.
Chapter 17
Muffins - I recommend orange, lemon, lime and poppy seed. These go down well in the green room during recordings at Big Finish. Chocolate too, of course. And last Christmas, I invented muffins with mincemeat filling.
I was getting bored with the same three Time Lord Chapters being trooped out like a mantra in homage to the sainted Robert Holmes: Prydonian, Arcalian and Patrexes. So I added the Dromeian Chapter (probably Social Democrat) and the Cerulean Chapter (Blue in colour, Green in policy.) Neither have been heard of since.
Lord Ferain's Alternative History of Skaro picks up on the possible alternative Dalek history timeline created by the Doctor's intervention during Genesis of the Daleks, as described in Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping's indispensable Bible The Discontinuity Guide.
The masonic symbols in Ferain's office imply secret rituals and dark deeds (and the police force too.) Rassilon was originally described as an architect. Although that suggests he was the architect of Time Lord civilisation rather than just a few high rise blocks and a leisure centre round the Citadel. I'll stop this thread now before my brain runs amok with scenes of mighty Rassilon arguing with the builders over how many mirror tiles he wants in the bathroom or how long a tea break should be.
I didn't want to stage the equivalent of the "M briefs Bond for his latest mission" scene in a boring old Presidential office. Having a tea party inside Monet's Impressionistic water lily paintings is much more up Romana's frivolous, yet stylish, garden path. Or perhaps the idea of a garden path. Rather better than going to Monet's actual garden at Giverny (complete with loads of tourists.) Or you could go to the Orangerie Museum in the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris, where the oval rooms containing Monet's pictures encircle you so that you feel as if you're inside the paintings (complete with loads of tourists.) Only you can't at the moment - a sign on the door says Closed For Refurbishment Until 2004. So I apologise to Daryl. This scene is probably a nightmare to illustrate, only I get the impression(!) that he's looking forward to it.
I like the idea that the Time Lords' exclusive power comes at a price. If Gallifrey is already slightly outside the continuum of the rest of the Universe, surely a good observation point, then the Time Lords' investment in the stabilising influence of Omega's Black Star has only made things worse. The power that neither fluxes nor changes is slowly, slowly grinding the whole of Gallifreyan existence to a halt. At this rate, the Time Lords will eventual y be frozen in Time themselves and the rest of the Universe will come to look at them instead.
Encounters and Exits
It was de rigeur on TV Who that theology and religious belief got couched in the most simplistic of forms. Black hats versus white hats, especially fetching when worn as fashion statements by the Black and White Guardians.
But every seesaw needs a fulcrum on which to balance; a catalyst to inspire them; a pin to pop their overblown balloons.
The New Adventures suggest that between the Black and White Guardians, there is a Red Guardian of Justice to balance the scales and referee the perpetual battle. And on Gallifrey, between the imagination of Omega and the rationality of Rassilon, sits the balance of that other one, the one in the shadows, what's he called, you know... the one no-one ever remembers the name of. Somebody to blame. This archetypal figure, by turns mocking clown or judgmental whistle-blower,