News!

[mtemplar_fic]

Everyone in CA ok?

The missing scene from THANTH *should* be posted tomorrow, barring any major catastrophes with the 3rd edit. I'm thinking about making it 'friends only' for now and will maybe open it up for general consumption later... yes, I'm that nervous about it (it's prolly a mom thing)! I have no plans to cross-post it as of right now; I really can't post it to time_and_chips (where the rest of THANTH was originally posted) as Rose is only mentioned in passing. Any suggestions? I'm guessing that readers in other fic communities wouldn't be interested in slogging through all 30 chapters of THANTH just so they could read a missing scene.

And I'm probably the last one to know about this stuff as usual, but if anyone is interested, here's more info on the slate of Doctor Who novels coming out in April 2009.



The Slitheen Excursion
by Simon Guirrier

1500BC - King Actaeus and his subjects live in mortal fear of the
awesome gods who have come to visit their kingdom in ancient Greece.
Except the Doctor, visiting with university student June, knows
they're not gods at all. They're aliens. For the aliens, it's the
perfect holiday - they get to tour the sights of a primitive planet
and even take part in local customs. Like gladiatorial games, or
hunting down and killing humans who won't be missed. With June's
enthusiastic help, the Doctor soon meets the travel agents behind this
deadly package holiday company - his old enemies the Slitheen. But can
he bring the Slitheen excursion to an end without endangering more
lives? And how are events in ancient Greece linked to a modern-day
alien plot to destroy what's left of the Parthenon?

Judgement of the Judoon
by Colin Brake

Elvis the King Spaceport has grown into the sprawling city-state of
New Memphis - an urban jungle, where organized crime is rife. But the
launch of the new Terminal 13 hasn't been as smooth as expected. And
things are about to get worse... When the Doctor arrives, he finds the
whole terminal locked down. The notorious Invisible Assassin is at
work again, and the Judoon troopers sent to catch him will stop at
nothing to complete their mission. With the assassin loose on the mean
streets of New Memphis, the Doctor is forced into a strange alliance.
Together with teenage private eye Nikki and a ruthless Judoon
Commander, the Doctor soon discovers that things are even more
complicated - and dangerous - than he first thought...

Prisoner of the Daleks
by Trevor Baxondale

The Daleks are advancing, their empire constantly expanding in to
Earth's space. The Earth forces are resisting the Daleks in every way
they can. But the battles rage on across countless solar systems. And
now the future of our galaxy hangs in the balance... The Doctor finds
himself stranded on board a starship near the frontline with a group
of ruthless bounty hunters. Earth Command will pay them for every
Dalek they kill, every eye stalk they bring back as proof. With the
Doctor's help, the bounty hunters achieve the ultimate prize: a Dalek
prisoner - intact, powerless, and ready for interrogation. But where
the Daleks are involved, nothing is what it seems, and no one is safe.
Before long the tables will be turned, and how will the Doctor survive
when he becomes a prisoner of the Daleks?



Anyhoo, looks like Ten will be companionless. Poor guy!

Comments

[principia-coh.livejournal.com]

More Ten novels = good. Ten novels that randomly have no Donna because they wasted a bunch of time publishing Martha novels when they should've been publishing Donna ones = bad.

Seriously, if the standard is 'if the person's no longer the regular companion, they don't get novels', then why did we get another entire batch of Martha novels after she'd already been replaced by Donna?

Grrargh.

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Just how many sets did Martha get? Was it more than four? Doesn't seem very fair, does it?

*grumbles*

I suppose I should clarify that I don't mind Martha as such, I just don't like having the greatness that is Martha thrust upon me. I think they tried a bit too hard with her, you know?

[principia-coh.livejournal.com]

Martha, who was a full-time companion for one year, has been in a total of 12 novels, plus the one that's theoretically her own, which fills in what she was doing during The Year That Never Was.

By contrast, Rose, who was a full-time companion for two years, was in a total of 12 novels. Myself, I'd love to see a novel that's theoretically her own which fills in what she was doing during all that universe-hopping leading up to the end arc of Series 4.

As of next April's releases, there will have been a total of 4 Donna novels, and 4 Ten-by-himself novels.

Let's be fair and base this on number-of-appearances versus 'who do you like better?'.

Let's say that each episode with each of them as the sole companion counts as 1 unit, each where they had to split with another companion as half a unit. Rose, with 19 solo-companion episodes and 10 split-companion episodes, gets 24 units. Martha, with 10 solo-companion episodes and 8 split-companion episodes, gets 14 units. Donna, with 8 solo-companion episodes and 5 split-companion episodes, gets 11 units (I'm counting Midnight as a partial). Ten solo gets the Christmas special, plus the still-up-in-the-air number of specials next year - let's give him 5 units just to be on the safe side.

Set the template based on Rose, who was first at bat. 12 books were published featuring her during her first 22.5 units.

Using that math, Martha should have been in 7 books. Donna should have been in 6 books. Ten solo should be in 2 books (maybe 3).

That even works out with the publication schedule, which has had 6 books per series, plus let's say 3 books for Series 4.5 (since it's just under half a series' worth of material), for a total of 27 books.

Donna: Shorted 2 books

Rose: Shorted 1 book

Ten Solo: Over 2 books

Martha: Over 6 books

The rest of the overage is books that in theory should've primarily featured Jack or Mickey.

----------------------------

Anyway...

It's like the BBC decided that they really wanted to push Martha, and so they've spent the entire time she was on the show and then off again trying to cram her down everyone's throats. And I say the BBC rather than TPTB, because you'll notice (as even Freema Agyeman has started to comment on, bless) that both towards the end of Martha's run and when they brought her back, she's been all by herself a whole lotta the time.

And now she's probably headed to Torchwood as Owen's replacement, with Mickey replacing Tosh. Versus RTD leaving her to Moffat's tender mercies, 'cos god knows with the way he was foaming at the mouth at SDCC he might've up and killed her off.

[garpu.livejournal.com]

Actually I've heard she's not going to be in Torchwood because she took a role on ITV in their Law & Order show. :/

[principia-coh.livejournal.com]

If that's true, after all the hooha and energy the BBC invested in making sure that all eyes were on her... BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.

Anyway.

Are you sure that's the case, and you're not thinking of Georgia Moffett being in the Spooks spinoff?

[garpu.livejournal.com]

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/torchwood/

Was in the Sun, as well, but I'm not sure how credible either source are. I didn't mind Martha's character, but they were really inconsistent with how she was written.

[principia-coh.livejournal.com]

If it's true, that is an awfully big bridge to burn so early in one's career.

However, I don't think the Beeb are that vindictive, because if they cared that much they wouldn't have let Billie back on the show after she did SDoaCG.

Although, the case could be made that while Billie did a great deal for the BBC, the BBC did a great deal for Freema. The fact that anyone knows her from a lamppost is all down to them.

[garpu.livejournal.com]

Those two sources generally don't get all the facts right...it could be that Martha's not in Torchwood *this* season, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't be in 2010.

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Somehow, if RTD remains in charge of that show, I doubt it (if the rumors are true).

[garpu.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I kind of liked her in Torchwood.

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Reportedly, RTD didn't attend Comic-Con because of the frantic re-writing of TW scripts that had Martha in them. They start filming soon.

[principia-coh.livejournal.com]

Wow. I knew he was meant to attend, but didn't... if it's true, the next edition of the Oxford English Dictionary ought to have a picture of her for the illustration of 'ingrate.'

[larissa-j.livejournal.com]

If he had to do the rewrite thing? Bad move on her part. Really, really bad move. You don't f*ck over your first big gig. If the Law and Order thing falls through? She's screwed. No one will want to work with her because she's unreliable.

Yeah, Law and Order goes on and on but they replace cast members like crazy

Why didn't she wait a year? What in the hell?

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Well, if that is indeed the case, I can sort of sympathize. Five eps of TW vs an entire series of Law and Order.... I'd want the work, myself, but that is a very large bridge to burn.

[principia-coh.livejournal.com]

I would think one or the other's schedule could be flexible. I guess since ITV's a direct competitor they can be deliberately obstructionist, but still. Not good karma.

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

*nods* Not good at all.

[principia-coh.livejournal.com]

If he had to do the rewrite thing? Bad move on her part. Really, really bad move.

Yeah, if she let it get to that stage and then bailed? So not cool. Reminiscent of Terry Farrell bailing out on DS9 at the last minute after having signed a contract with a pay rise stipulated on her staying through the end of season 7. She left with so little notice that they had to rewrite the last episode of season six in a week.

If the Law and Order thing falls through? She's screwed. No one will want to work with her because she's unreliable.

That the L&O people would be willing to poach someone from that kind of a locked-in gig doesn't speak well for either their character (it is ITV, though) or their sense. It's like marrying someone you met when they were cheating on their prior spouse with you (*cough*KathieLeeGifford*cough*)... can you either act surprised or say anything when they later cheat on you?

I don't understand why she didn't just hold off. Or see if they could schedule it around the Torchwood filming. It's not as though a five-ep miniseries is going to take all damn year.

[larissa-j.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if she let it get to that stage and then bailed?

As I told you previously, it's part of RTD's job to adjust but if he had to cancel other commitments to fix this? That's going a bit far. Also, if they had to do a major rewrite? They won't have favorable things to say about her and that's not a good thing after having been a rather large part of New Who. Something like like New Who you would want to be able to use. *shakes head*

I certainly wouldn't want to screw over the departing showrunner of the BBC's flagship show quite that badly.

That the L&O people would be willing to poach someone from that kind of a locked-in gig doesn't speak well for either their character

I certainly don't remember the folks from the US version doing anything like that.

I don't understand why she didn't just hold off. Or see if they could schedule it around the Torchwood filming. It's not as though a five-ep miniseries is going to take all damn year.

No idea. Billie was able to do SDoaCG just fine.

[principia-coh.livejournal.com]

I certainly wouldn't want to screw over the departing showrunner of the BBC's flagship show quite that badly.

And since the other two parts of the TPTB have gone on to or are going on to even more senior jobs at the Beeb? Not too swift.

No idea. Billie was able to do SDoaCG just fine.

And her Sally Lockhart projects, and her stage work, et al.

I just don't understand why Freema's agents would let her do this. And let's be honest - making some assumptions here - her in the equivalent of the assistant DA's role? Not exactly credible. I don't think she's doing herself any favors.

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

I'll bet backstage at the Proms was interesting.

[principia-coh.livejournal.com]

It might explain why she was all 'um, uh,' in excess of her usual verbal tics.

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

It would explain a lot, yes.