November 29th, 2007
The 10 Doctors: Page 69
The 8th Doctor sums up the events of “Trial of a Time Lord” for Leela, and ponders the possibility of the Valeyard having survived, just as his old mentor, the hermit K’Anpo Rimpoche, still in his 3rd incarnation aka. Cho’Je, steps out of his old cave.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:05 am
This just gets better with every new page! =D I know you have RL and other projects to think about, but every day i wonder and worry when the next one will be. Please keep up the fantastic work, as im watching, like so many others. =)
November 29th, 2007 at 7:12 am
Cho’Je reminded me of Ed Helms for some reason. I think it’s the glasses…
Anywho, nice to see the 8th Doctor clueing in. He needs to meet up with 1 and 10 and tell them what he’s figured out.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:20 am
I just have to say, I LOVE how you draw Eight. He’s actaully my favourite of all Doctors - no, seriously. I enjoy the books and audios, some very high quality stuff there too. Well done!
Also, your hermit has me giggling at the screen. I think it’s the hat.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:46 am
Hey, Meg, I can believe it.
I thought he had the potential to be one of the best onscreen. Retro Tom-Bakery/William Hartnelly classical look, really COOL TARDIS interior, jelly babies, great humorous spontineity…
I’d love for him to make an appearance ina multi-Doctor or flashback sequence in the new series.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:12 am
I second the love for how you’ve drawn Eight and K’Anpo. Although I’m confused. The third and fourth Doctors talked about a Hermit the Doctor knew when he was a boy, and then K’Anpo appeared in Planet of the Spiders. Are they really the same person in the series? Or just in your comic? Or was the other Hermit a different person? Sorry that almost each time I post here I’m confused about something. I do try to figure it out on my own first.
And nitpicks: ‘hair-brained’ and ‘disomodied’?
November 29th, 2007 at 8:44 am
In the last panel, the hermit says “effects” when he should have said “affects”. Common mix up.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:58 am
I think we can overlook a couple of spelling bloopers when the comic is this darned good! I’m hooked like Amy Winehouse to the brown!
November 29th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Rich ~ I agree. Davison coming back was spectacular, even though he’s not my fave (erm, 8 is …). But it was wonderfully written, and perhaps a sign of things to come.
Because we know once RTD uses a plot element once, he won’t let it die. ^.~
November 29th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Very good - I stumbled on this and have been enjoying it. The 10 Doctors won’t ever happen on screen so comics are the closest we can get, and you’re doing a very good job with the characterization and art.
Btw, 5th panel word should be disembodied (saying not to criticize but to make a good thing even better)
November 29th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Aww, K’Anpo! I always liked him.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
you know, im really gonna have to wath planet of the spiders again, a favourite among who episodes, seeing as i first started watching Doctor Who from pertwee, but i can’t recall if jon pertwee knew the old hermit was the very same from his childhood!
November 29th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Not that the typos matter, but in case you want to fix them:
3rd Panel: BETRY -> BETRAY
5th Panel: DISOMODIED -> DISEMBODIED (as Dan says above)
8th Panel: EFFECTS -> AFFECTS (as Brenda states above)
Not a big deal, but just in case you’re obsessive/compulsive like that. This comic keeps better, but sadly, this revelation has me thinking that we may be at the halfway point or beyond now. Can’t it go on forever? Oh well. I suppose all good things must eventually come to an end.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Sorry mate. It’s “disembodied”, don’t feel bad, I is rubbish ats these spellings and grammers too
November 29th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
K’anpoe! Woohoo! If he can’t shed some light on this, nobody can.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Right, that’s it! I’m going to sit on here every day and pull apart the spelling and grammar of every individual poster!
Carry on with the good work Rich, I’ll take care of the spelling fascists!
November 29th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Love this so much. K’anpo is awesome!
November 29th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
It ALWAYS hinges on the Doctor, doesn’t it?
November 29th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Guys, I’m his wife, I often see the strips before or immediately as they go up on the site, and 9 times out of 10 he won’t change typos and spelling errors after *I’ve* pointed them out. Good luck on that.
November 29th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
So when did this whole Valeyard thing happen and is it on DVD?
November 29th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
“The Trial of a Time Lord” isn’t on DVD. It was a pastiche of episode fragments that constituted Doctor Who’s twenty-third season, in 1986. Production of that season got interrupted by a strike. I haven’t seen it, either!
November 29th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
*waits paitently for Ten*
November 29th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
I miss Eight…..*cries* WHY oh WHY did he just get a MOVIE?!
November 29th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Leela’s face in Panel Two is really funny.
November 29th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Still reading, still loving — and, as others have said, glad to see Eight getting some “screen time.”
November 29th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
K’anpo Rimpoche and Leela! Its getting better and better! But like a real series of Doctor Who, I am torn between loving it all and desperate to see the resolution.
Well I say every series, I wouldn’t worry too much about ToaTL…the opening shot is fabulous and then its downhill from there.
And Rich, as a teacher, please ignore the spelling police and keep the pages coming, I am telling every sci-fi fan I know to come and look. Can I post a link on my blog, please?
November 29th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
“The Trial of a Time Lord” isn’t on DVD. It was a pastiche of episode fragments that constituted Doctor Who’s twenty-third season, in 1986. Production of that season got interrupted by a strike. I haven’t seen it, either!”
So… it was just a Clip show? Or rather… and entire SEASON of clip shows?
November 29th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
You know, this could become an animated movie. You shouldn’t rule that out.
November 29th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Yeh, TA, a “clip season,” although they framed it in extra footage that they produced after the strike was over, and so they could use what portions of the stories they’d been able to record. As I understand it, the “frame” was the trial itself, where the evidence was the recollections of the witnesses (presented as clips from the partly-completed stories).
November 29th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
In regards to getting hammered by the BBC, previous page, how about approaching DWM? If not to publish it themselves perhaps to suggest an way that would make it feasible (I’m thinking something simple, like they show it to RTD, who of course falls in love with it and produces it as a fully animated series
fingers crossed). This is well and away good enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get get official interest in it anyway.
Also, is Valeyard a real word? It has the feel of one, but I’ll be danged if I can find any reference to it outside of it’s Doctor Who connection. Nothing on the Etymology site either, and that’s usually pretty good with archaic words.
Totally agree with your reasoning about Leela’s age too, I don’t think an explanation was needed in the strip, there’s enough there that it’s easy to extrapolate that there’s a reasonable explanation.
I love the look on 8’s face in the fourth panel, seems to be thinking, ‘even as an evil version of myself, I still rock at what I do’.
Disomdied, isn’t necessarily a spelling error spellcheckers; perhaps it’s a technical Gallifreyan term, considering the Valeyard only had a temporary faux-body, perhaps ‘disembodied’ would be the incorrect terminology…. since he didn’t have a real body to be ‘disem’ed from. It’d only be a spelling mistake in our universe anyway, in the ‘DW:10 Doctors’ universe, the 8th Doctor said it, so it must be right. ;D
November 29th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
It wasn’t a clip show, though it appeared to be. All of the stories comprising the season were commissioned after the show reentered production, though apparently Eric Saward did write the linking “Trial” scenes, except for the last two parts which were by Pip and Jane Baker. None of the scripts from the proposed (and cancelled) season 23 were used and it was a cancellation/hiatus that caused the break, not a strike. (Are you thinking of Shada?) See http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/season23.shtml
November 29th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
“It all hinges on you, Doctor.” OOOOOH! Goosebumps! Classic, classic tension, Rich. Love it!
November 29th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Hey, I just wanted to say this is a great comic. I linked over after getting caught up with YAFGC and as an SF&F fan I’m so glad you’re doing these great strips. My dad is a huge Doctor Who fan and he’s just been going on about the great attention to detail and the exciting storyline. We will be waiting patiently for every page.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
“It all hinges on you, Doctor…” Dun-dun-DUUUUNNN *Dramatic reverb*
Wow! Talk about leaving us panting for more.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Ugh. Okay, a public apology for my abhorrant spelling.
My one excuse is that -again- I type the text quickly over my handwriting and can’t always see what I’ve done. It was late at night and I was rushing through to get it done and didn’t do a proofread at all.
Thanks for rushing to my defense all of you, but no obviously no offense was meant by those who corrected me, and none was taken at all. I have, however, gotten a message.
I will be taking more care to correct my spellings, with help from my beloved, from now on and at some point, if time allows, I will go back and try to fix some of my previous errors.
Thanks for reading and enjoying!
Gallifrey, YES! Please do and enjoy!
James: Your Dad is obviously very cool. And a geek.
November 29th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Ibishtar, I’ve always assumed that K’anpo Rimpoche was that same hermit who used to tell the Doctor ghost stories as a kid. Unless there’s some reference somewhere that implies otherwise that I’ve forgotten/missed. Please let me know if this is the case.
He, of course, went under a different name then, as did the Doctor, since the 3rd Doctor didn’t recognise the names K’anpo OR Cho’Je.
November 29th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Actually, guys, if Rich here wanted he could submit the final draft to IDW Publishing because they are coming out with a Doctor Who Comic here in the States as well as reprints in Doctor Who Classics. Because I know most independent comics will publish fan art and works as long as they have the approval and licensing of the characters. It definitely would be an enjoyable read.
I do love the Chuck Jones/animated style of this comic and how it flows and alludes back to classic Doctor Who episodes. Yes, Trial of a Time Lord was actually a plethora of episodes unaired stitched together for the 23rd Season. I was sad they gave Colin Baker a raw deal before he had a chance developing his Doctor a bit further.
I also love how Rich has captured the characteristics of all The Doctors as well as the in-jokes. Speaking of which, in one of the Futurama Comic issues, they spoof Doctor Who where Fry, Leela, Bender and Zoidberg end up in Farnsworth’s TARDIS-like loo (no kidding a TimeSpace Travel Potty XD) and even parody The Daleks and K-9.
Anyway, I love how this is going and can’t wait to see what happens next, I’m still wondering where Jaime went off to. As well as Doctor #5 discovering The Master at the Galactic Federation.
Keep up the excellent work!
oh, if you want to see some of my art work: fangarius.deviantart.com.
November 30th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Um, did they say in the Trial of the Time Lord that the High Council made the Valeyard?
I don’t remember that. Mind you, the explanation of what exactly the Valeyard is was so confusing that I might have completely misunderstood it.
November 30th, 2007 at 1:11 am
Actually I think The Master implied they did because he admitted the Valeyard was somewhere between the Doctor’s Twelfth and Thirteenth Incarnation. Basically at the moment The Master had originally intended on blackmailing the Council for what they had done. Mainly because he had presumed the Valeyard was helping him gain access to the APC Net (from what I vaguely recall, so bear with me, sometimes I think my memory’s going like The Doctor’s)..
All things considering, I have noticed with the Eighth Doctor (from the comics, graphic novels and books) how we’re now realizing how corrupt the Time Lords have become, and how they’ve always used The Doctor as the dupe for most of their plans.
Think about it, Borusa tried becoming an Immortal so he could infinitely rule over Gallifrey. Someone gave out The Doctor’s BioData Extract to Omega as a foolish attempt in bringing the corrupt Time Lord back from the AntiMatter Dimension. Then, of course, the Celestial Intervention Agency sending The Doctor back in time to deal with the Daleks.
The list is endless, but I fear I’m geeking myself up quite a bit. Love the story, can’t wait for the next installment.
November 30th, 2007 at 3:53 am
“Actually, guys, if Rich here wanted he could submit the final draft to IDW Publishing because they are coming out with a Doctor Who Comic here in the States as well as reprints in Doctor Who Classics. Because I know most independent comics will publish fan art and works as long as they have the approval and licensing of the characters. It definitely would be an enjoyable read.”
Unfortunately getting your fan-work published isn’t as simple as all that. The IDW Doctor Who comic is more then likely under very tight editorial guidelines by the BBC and RTD. Specifically continuity-lite tales that won’t get fried by latter in-show retcons. Not to mention looking for established writer and artist names to help move books off the shelf (because in American, IDW’s primary market, Doctor Who as a brand isn’t going to move units a whole lot unfortunately)
It’d be great if Rich would get noticed, and his story fleshed out and inked the colored and put out for the whole world to see as official cannon. But sadly it just can’t happen. There are serious legalities that get involved about story ownership, mostly because Rich is writing this without being under commission of the BBC. Technically, Rich owns this story, not Doctor Who or the other characters obviously, but the story itself. If the BBC suddenly fired out some kind of Time War based mini-series or comic that had elements that blatantly resemble Rich’s story, Rich could actually have a case to sue for plagiarism against the BBC.
That’s why most comic publishers (that deal in work-for-hire type work, like DC, Marvel, IDW, etc…) do not accept noncommissioned scripts, and in fact throw them away if they are receive in the mail, so there is no chance of a plagiarism suit appearing out of the blue.
Honestly, the lower the profile of this project the better, because then there’s a less of a chance of the BBC kicking in Rich’s door with a cease and desist letter in hand.
November 30th, 2007 at 6:17 am
I can’t believe the trial of time lord is a clip show. Whilst the court scenes re annoying and poorly done especially in the first two stories, there is undoubtedly bits of the plot in the first story that simply don’t work without the overall framing sequence. Glitz’s search and the earth’s new location need the rogue timelord presence which isn’t revealed to the last episodes. Also according to the BBC website, the final section of the storyline was the first section that that Bonnie Langford filmed so it would seem that they had an overall plan during filming.
Also well the story hasn’t been released on DVD, it certainly was released on video as I used to have a copy.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:42 am
I don’t think ToaTL was a ‘clip show’. I think the intention was to do a season-long overarching story with episodes linked with the trial sequence. Like the “Key to Time” episodes.
Unfortunately, it was crap.
I did like the Trial bits in the first two episodes. Probably the best bits of Colin Baker’s run. But the end fell apart and made no sense and by that point you really don’t care anymore.
November 30th, 2007 at 11:49 am
Trial is due for release on DVD in the not too distant future. I have it on VHS in a box set collection, contained in a nice tin TARDIS.
Actually the tin TARDIS is the best thing about it.
December 2nd, 2007 at 6:08 pm
There are some missing serials of the 6th Doctor. They weren’t part of “Trial” though.
I remember reading novelizations on two of them. One was called “Mission to Magnus” and featured the Ice Warriors. The second was called “The Nightmare Fair” and featured the return of the Celestial Toymaker. Both were done by Target so this means going through used bookstores to find them.
I want to say that there were three missing stories, but I can’t be 100% certain on that. I hope this clears things up.
December 2nd, 2007 at 7:05 pm
The other one was called “The Ultimate Evil” and featured the Thoros Betan “Sil”.
I’ve got the novelized versions.
They were written for the season that got cancelled. Trial of a Time Lord was a sort of ’start from scratch’.
Thanks for bringing it up!
March 16th, 2008 at 1:30 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial_of_a_Time_Lord
Robert Holmes wrote the 1st quarter of the two-part finale to Trial, then died. Eric Saward and Pip and Jane Baker reworked it.
“The original ending to this segment (and, indeed, the whole Trial story and possibly the series) would have seen the Doctor and the Valeyard in an inconclusive cliffhanger, both (seemingly) plunging into a void to their deaths as an extra “hook”. However, Nathan-Turner felt this was too downbeat and believed that it was important that the season did not end on an inconclusive note since it was important after the hiatus to prove the series was back in business.”
Good news - the DVD boxset is on the way.
Incidentally, Australian actor Rohan Nichol reminds me of Michael Jayston, if they every wanted to bring the Valeyard back. Of course, Doctor 8 encountered him in the NA’s and his storyline was wrapped up (but who knows with RTD).
http://www.starwars.com/episode-iii/bts/production/img/rohan_nichol.jpg