By Shannon Lush
The foggy mists of time always reveal some hidden gem from
the expanded Whoniverse, notable for its rarity, its whimsical nature, or sometimes
for the guilty pleasure value it holds. Prior to the BBC's attempt at mature
and adult-oriented spinoff material, which began in earnest with the 'New
Adventures' series of novels, most 'Doctor Who'-themed spinoff and expanded
Whoniverse offerings pandered to the lowest common denominator.
Either they
revealed their limited grasp on the 'officially licensed material', and as such
either ignored relevant details that were introduced and promoted within the
series itself (witness the abomination that is the 'Timelord' role playing game
source book, a future subject for review within this blog if ever I lay my
hands on it again), or else they simply abandon all hope of reconciliation with
the Whoniverse from which they spawned and instead sought to create their own
mini-universe of canon (such as the Marvel U.K and U.S comic stories). Every
once and awhile, however, even in the gaudy days of the 1980's, when everything
from music to fashion was loud and abrasive, an unexpected entry into the
expanded Whoniverse would come along that defied criticism from Whovians for
these reasons. After all, this was an officially-licenced audio play, created
by the BBC themselves, intended for transmission on BBC Radio Four. This was
only the second time 'Doctor Who' in audio form would be presented by the BBC
(the first being the LP 'The Pescatons', narrated by Tom Baker and starring his
fourth Doctor), and it would mark the first in which the story was not a
narration or a book-on-tape, but rather a new, original story featuring the
loud and abrasive, not to mention gaudy, Sixth Doctor. This was 'Slipback'.
Perhaps, in a renegade, classically low-budget way, the
first 'true' audio plays were those created by the young fans of the show, that
first generation who marvelled to the black and white adventures of the
doddering old fellow as he awkwardly traversed tinfoil worlds and plastic
skies. Utilizing the microphones and primitive tape recorders of the time,
these proto-Whovians held their devices up to the tiny speakers from their
black and white televisions, and recorded entire episodes as they happened in
real time. In a generation before the advent of VCR's, this truly was the only
way in which one could 'capture' a story and preserve it forever. Otherwise,
precise details would be lost to a young mind's imagination in the days between
the Saturday evening airing and the Monday re-enactment for the benefit of
their peers during the recess playground gatherings. Little did these children
know, in addition to supplementing their own library of 'Doctor Who' stories in
an era when the BBC did not budge from their unofficial stance of never
repeating stories unless absolutely forced to, they were doing a valuable
service both to the BBC and to the generations of Whovians like them to come.
For, today, a great majority of those black and white classic era stories have
subsequently been 'junked' (or, to use the correct terms for it, 'copied over,
as the cheap BBC had exploited their use to their satisfaction and simply
re-used the film reels and canisters they had been placed on and in'). These
stories, long thought lost forever, have been brought back to 'life', in the
form of worthwhile ventures such as the Doctor Who Restoration Team, which animate
them using a combination of 'telesnaps' (again, young fans who held primitive
cameras up to their TV screens and literally photographed entire episodes)..and
those very audio recordings made 50 years ago, cleaned up with the latest
software where applicable. Often, the Restoration Team will also partially or
fully animate the stories, and combine that with the audio, for as close a
presentation to the original as is possible with today's technology. Clearly,
'Doctor Who' in audio form has its own long and glorious, though little-known
and unheralded, history. These fans did this out of love and devotion to their favourite
show, and in essence were themselves time-travelers, causing the creation of
their own fan-generated 'Big Finish audios' 30 plus years prior to the real
thing!
By 1985, 'Doctor Who' appeared, on the surface, to be doing swimmingly.
Those fans who once held tape machines to their TVs while their parents made
supper and pined for the late news, gave way to a new breed of fan who were
more sophisticated in their tastes, more technologically oriented, and more
voracious in their consumption of all things 'Doctor Who': the consumer boom of
the 1980's did not go unnoticed by either the BBC or by John Nathan-Turner, the
producer of the series. Sales of Target novelizations of selected episodes were
strong and growing, as were sales of VHS releases of those and others. Forays
were being made 'across the pond', as 'Doctor Who' continued its non-stop
broadcasting appearances on PBS (Public Television) stations throughout the United
States and Canada. New fans were being created in the U.S, and these markets,
in large American cities such as Detroit and Chicago, were eagerly being
courted by Nathan-Turner, who quickly arranged for convention appearances by
not only the current Doctor Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant, but former Doctors
such as Peter Davison, Tom Baker, and Jon Pertwee. After a brief spell of
declining due to his long-standing reluctance to speak to the press, a trait
which worked against publicity of the series during his era, Patrick Troughton
was won over and became a fan favourite. Sadly, Troughton died while appearing
at a convention in the U.S, as did Pertwee a few years later.
When it came to promotion of the series abroad, the man fans
would name 'JN-T' was your man. He had catered to every whim, from stories that
brought back the Cybermen, to the Daleks, to even the Second Doctor, to
approving scores of new merchandise requests. Fans could order a 'Gallifrey
Beach And Body Towel' to take to the beach with them. It would appear that life
was good.
But, for all this attention to the outside details that the
BBC itself would later create an entire division within their corporation just
to oversee (BBC Exploitation, now known as BBC Enterprises), JN-T overlooked some
key details within the creative output of the series itself that, ultimately,
led to an abrupt and prolonged 'hiatus'. The true nature of the 1985 hold on
production that stretched to 18 months is still debated to this day, mostly due
to the key players involved. Both those who pulled the trigger and those
affected by the decision offer differing opinions as to the 'why'. Fan research
and numerous interviews point partially to an internal BBC decision to once
again save money by either not producing 'Doctor Who' or else producing it as
cheaply as possible. In that case, the creation of the BBC's daytime service
resulted in a full season's order of the expensive soap opera 'Emmerdale',
which would need to be paid for in advance. A 'trimming the fat' mentality
became prevalent at the time. The BBC Controller in overall charge, Micheal
Grade (see the Colin Baker Q&A here in this blog page for further details
during this period of time in the series' history), decided against continuing
to fund the production of what was once described, during the glorious Tom
Baker era, as their 'flagship show'.
JN-T had allowed the series to become a soft target for
scorn, ridicule, and criticism. The Doctor's clothing was considered tacky,
over-the-top, and unsubtle. Storylines became increasingly adult-oriented,
focusing less on traditional and straight-forward action-adventure and more
upon violence and unsuitable content such as numerous alien beings 'lusting
over Peri'. JN-T blamed his script editor, Eric Saward, for allowing these
running themes to prevail in the body of scripts. Saward insisted he had
re-written numerous scripts to bring them more in line with the 'spirit' of
'Doctor Who'. Yet, upon filming, JN-T either encouraged the inappropriate behaviour
or else failed to curb it, and rarely chastised the directors. Colin Baker
began to grumble his own comments and suggestions were beginning to fall on
deaf ears, despite his role as the one person who was front-and-centre and
taking the slings and arrows (which he still does, sadly, to this day, though
the efforts of Big Finish and his numerous convention appearances have assisted
fans in seeing the Sixth Doctor in a new light). Nicola Bryant, unhappy with
the skimpy and revealing clothing she was asked to wear as Peri, nevertheless
held her tongue, aware the role of a companion is all-too-easily replaced and
not having the requisite acting experience or credits, she decided not to make
a fuss. In short, the only people happy around this time were those fans who could
snap up increased merchandise options, meet and greet one of the actors who
played the Doctor and/or a companion, and, in an odd way, the division of the
company that became BBC Enterprises. Despite the premature 'axing' that the
main corporation's big wigs had given the series, they were reaping the
financial rewards of book sales. Even with the series on hold and its future
cloudy, as long as the merchandise machine was kept greased, it was all gravy,
according to BBC Enterprises.
When the show went dark for those 18 months, Baker was one
of the few who could afford not to worry overmuch. He had a contract, and would
continue to be paid his fee regardless. JN-T was a BBC producer; he could and
did acquire other short-term projects, which included dreaming up Christmas
pantomime programs for children that were mounted throughout the country and
often featured 'Doctor Who' actors such as Baker and Bryant. Script editor
Saward likewise had projects that would keep the cash flow alive. But despite
the public backlash against the Colin Baker era that was beginning to ferment
at the time, despite the thrashing it was taking in the take-no-prisoners
British press, specifically the tabloid and 'scandal rags', despite the
all-time-low of being taken off the BBC airwaves for the first time in its
history (save pre-emptions due to long-running Cricket and Olympic
coverage)..BBC Radio Four still contracted it's script editor Saward, it's lead
actor and actress, in addition to casting Vaentine Dyall (who had played the
Black Guardian in the series), the actress Jane Carr (who had a popular role in
the hit series 'Minder'), John Glover (who was at the time providing voices for
the infamous 'Spitting Image' puppet series), and writer and stand-up comedian
Nick Revell. Why? In order to create, write, record, and produce 'Slipback',
the only original audio play at the time, of course.
'Doctor Who' was creatively on its last legs and beginning
to truly show not only it's age but that, perhaps in hindsight, it 'needed' a
rest badly in order for everyone involved to assess what was going wrong and
what needed to be fixed. Of course, they failed to take advantage of the rest
they did get, anyway, with the mixed bag that would be the truncated season
known as 'The Trial Of A Timelord', but that's a different story. None of this
would stop BBC Enterprises from attempting to squeeze more financial life out
of it. A quickly-penned contract with Eric Saward to not only write the story
but also the Target novelization 'of' the story (which became the first, but
not the last, of the Target novelizations of a non-televised story), in
addition to the spike in popularity several weeks’ worth of advertising for the
story in advance would no doubt bring to the associated merchandise meant that
BBC Enterprises may not have had the TV series to exploit at the time but they
sure were going forward with another revenue stream, creativity be damned.
It is with this 'do it for the money' approach that sours
many on 'Slipback', this reviewer included. Call it cynical, but when the left
hand of BBC is publicly questioning if they even 'want' to bring the TV series
back, while the right hand of the BBC is heavily promoting a 'new, original
story featuring the Doctor and Peri', it's a safe bet it's not being done for
the fans. The story itself, what little there is to discuss and review, is
essentially this: The Doctor and Peri arrive for no reason on the space liner
'Vipod Mor', where they quickly get accused of being art thieves by detectives
on board who are investigating thefts. The usual confusion abounds regarding
the Doctor's identity. Eventually, after a whole lot of nothing happens, a
mutant being is let loose in the cargo hold, in order to break up the monotony
of the story, I suppose.
Turns out the mutant exists due to Slarn, the
captain/overlord of the ship. He continually threatens to unleash a horrific
virus that his species is capable of exuding while he relaxes in a toxic ooze bubble
bath. Like just about every other monster/bad guy of season 21 he gets a real
mad-on for Peri. Some other stuff happens, don't worry you aren't missing
anything, until finally it is revealed that the entire ship is not only
traveling back in time, it's rapidly approaching Event One, and it's blowing up
will cause the Big Bang.
This plot point comes smack dab in the middle of the final
episode and is totally there to clumsily clue the whole thing up on a semblance
of drama, except first the Doctor attempts to 'stop' this activity, which means
those pesky Timelords magically appear and talk him out of doing so, which just
smacks the taste out of the mouth of the word 'anticlimax'. This story also
pushed 'Terminus' up against the locker in school, called it a momma's boy, and
is waiting for it behind the monkey bars.
Yes, the depicted events of 'Terminus' the TV series will,
of course, always take precedence over what is considered 'secondary canon' by
Whovians. But the mere fact this sloppy, second explanation for the Big Bang
was allowed to be written and dramatized n the first place, by the series'
script editor of all people, is unforgivable. Not only was 'Terminus'trasmitted
in recent memory of the current TV production team (and most of them worked on
'Terminus' anyway!), but, as the producer of 'Slipback' was a BBC Radio
producer named Paul Spencer and not JN-T, Saward literally had and has nobody
to blame for this one but himself.
In 'Slipback', the Doctor is secondary to the plot (which
would also happen in Saward's 'Revelation Of The Daleks' episode...OK, I know
Saward disliked just about everything to do with the Sixth Doctor's era and in
fact resigned in a huff mid-way through 'Trial Of A Timelord' and disallowed
JN-T to use his original script to close that saga out, but the script editor OF
'Doctor Who' ought to, I don't know, write stories that feature THE DOCTOR
prominently!). Peri is given little to do save run around, get captured at one
point, and essentially serve as eye-candy for yet another slug-like bad guy.
Slarn, voiced by the late, great Valentine Dyall, gets all the best lines, and
is essentially Sil, if Sil sounded just like the Black Guardian. It's too bad
that 'Slipback' marked the final work as an actor of Dyall's long and
distinguished career, as he passed away not long after recording his part, and
one month prior to the story's original radio transmission. But, hey...Orson
Welles voiced Unicron, and that capped his career, too. Life is rarely fair.
The production end of the story is only so/so. While it in
places is plainly evident that the principal actors are all gathered around a
microphone, as there is no feeling of 'depth' to some of the actions they take,
overall it holds up about as well as can be expected; the BBC were and are no
slouches in the radio production side of things. Most of the cast were veteran
radio actors and presenters (Dyall and Baker had done years of radio work in
their careers), and that experience can be heard in their confident deliveries.
It is the lack of plot and of action, the reliance upon 'stock sound effects'
such as 'generic space ship hum' and 'generic futuristic whoosh of door
opening', which contributes to the absolute certainty one feels upon listening
to each and every episode of this hour-long bore fest (6 episodes of 10 minutes
duration), that it was created solely in order to suck more money out of people
with the sure-thing book tie-in and the favourable BBC press releases and cassette
tape and CD release. It is, quite simply, quantity rather than quality.
In a time when 'Doctor Who' sorely needed people of vision
and insight, people who could grab the creative reins and deliver a superior
product, 'Slipback' ultimately was more of the same, and more from the same
people who had been responsible for the situation it was in on television.
'Slipback' could have been much more than simply a cash-grab. It could and
should have been a brief but shining example of what a 'Doctor Who' given a
re-birth could be, what a 'Doctor Who' it's superiors at the BBC demanded it
change into. It didn't need stock situations, it needed a strong story that
would have reminded the BBC,Whovians, and casual fan alike that 'Doctor Who'
was back, and better for the rest. Saward at no point in the script
acknowledges the elements that caused the BBC to pull the show off the air,
elements he contributed to! He instead perpetuates them again and again in this
story!
As it stands, 'Slipback' is yet another failed experiment in
an era that, sadly, saw more than its share. It is a small sliver of an
original story, a slight 'bonus mini episode' to sandwich between the televised
seasons 21 and 22, but it's not much more than that. BBC Audio has in recent
years sold the story for play as an mp3 and digital download, and in 2010 the
U.K newspaper The Daily Telegraph, perhaps in some small way as an atonement
for the relentless media bashing they and their brethren heaped on 'Doctor Who'
not merely in Colin Baker's time in the TARDIS but throughout the 1980's as a
whole, actually gave the story away on CD for free in one of their daily
editions. I have to say, as bad as it is, I'd listen to it for free!
As a forerunner to the great Sixth Doctor audio plays to
come with the Big Finish range, and the 'Real Time' BBC flash animation webcast
featuring the character, it is good that there are contemporary audio stories
involving Baker that are superior to 'Slipback'. Because if it was alone in the
universe in terms of audio stories, it would be a bleak and rarely-discussed
story. The hiatus was bad, all around...or haven't we discussed 'Doctor In
Distress?';-).
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